Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

This edition was released in the mid-80’s and competed with BECMI Dungeons & Dragons even though both games had the same publisher (TSR). The rules were more complex than BECMI in an attempt to make the game more realistic and formalize many of the things that simply weren’t covered in the BECMI rules. This edition was fairly deadly to characters but not to the extent BECMI D&D was.

Along with detailed rules, the game included new character classes, equipment, and spells. Additional reference material was published throughout the 1980s to give both players and game masters more options to expand the game; from Oriental Adventures that brought in new classes, equipment, and creatures to Manual of the Planes and Legends & Lore that defined rules for exploring the other planes of existence and dealing with the gods of numerous pantheons. This is usually the version people mean when the talk about “old D&D” and it didn’t take long for this to put BECMI D&D out of print.