Today marks the birthday of J. Eric Holmes (1930-2010). As a tribute I was hoping everyone could tell us why they like the Holmes Basic Set. To facilitate this I've added a new section titled "Holmes Basic Testimonials" to the Zenopus Archives website, which will link to threads (in various forums) where you can post about the Bluebook.

Tell us how you started with Holmes Basic, or remember it fondly for other reasons, or came to appreciate it later, or are using it now, or just plain like reading through it.

Why do I like the Holmes Basic set? Well, it was my first D&D set, and left an indelible impression on my psyche. But I also like it because because it's a concise edit of the original D&D invention by an enthusiastic volunteer who was both a player of the game and long-time fan of fantasy literature. It's not necessarily perfect but has a strong vibe of "this game is awesome so I want to share it with as many folks as possible, so here's an introductory version".

I could go on and on, but I'd like to hear from everyone else.

Zenopus wrote:
Tell us how you started with Holmes Basic, or remember it fondly for other reasons, or came to appreciate it later, or are using it now, or just plain like reading through it.

Why do I like the Holmes Basic set? Well, it was my first D&D set, and left an indelible impression on my psyche. But I also like it because because it's a concise edit of the original D&D invention by an enthusiastic volunteer who was both a player of the game and long-time fan of fantasy literature. It's not necessarily perfect but has a strong vibe of "this game is awesome so I want to share it with as many folks as possible, so here's an introductory version".

I could go on and on, but I'd like to hear from everyone else.

First of all, it was awesome to check out your website and see a link to my long forgotten Tower of Zenopus setting!!! Would you be interested in the completed dungeon I ran many years ago? Let me know.

Second, my first D&D experience was a Holmes box set, and a delve into B1 In Search of the Unknown (included with the version I bought).  A friend of mine from the Northeast had played D&D before in Maryland so he offered to DM.  We rolled up characters, I named my fighter Conan and  came up with an 18 STR (three sixes on three die 6)!  We equipped ourselves and went into the Halls of Quasqueton, made it as far as the room with the dead bodies, and were attacked by kobolds.  It was a disaster as everyone in the party was killed except for Conan, who finished off the last kobold, barely surviving himself. The DM was clearly flummoxed as he hadn't expected wholesale slaughter during the first encounter, so he said Conan found a plant outside the doors of Quasqueton that when applied to wounds was able to heal up the party so we could further explore the dungeon.  Anyway, I was definitely hooked.  I remember reading the Holmes Rulebook during classes in high school the entire week after we first played so I could become an expert on the rules for the next time we played.

Mike B.

I never played Holmes, my first set was Moldvay Basic.  I use some parts of Holmes in my current B/X campaign however.  Namely the ability for Mages to make scrolls at low level with the time and GP investment.  I do love to read through the Holmes rulebook - it has a wonderful early D&D vibe!

My first introduction to the Holmes set was on the playground.  The weird California kid, new that year, passed me a booklet and said "this game is cool."  The cover fell off.  I picked it up and started reading.  Already I was noticing this was quite different from a normal book.  I looked at the map, a series of rooms in a blueprint with number keys, and opened the booklet and started noting what was in each place.  I was rather puzzled to note that the caves were filled with horses, guards, an inn, a church ...


But already I was getting interested.  "How do you play?"
"You're a wizard or a warrior, you make choices and go in."
"So it's like Choose Your Own Adventure?"
"Kinda, but cooler."
"OK."

I had some pull with the teacher and convinced her that we could use this as a 5th grade group problem solving exercise that the kids would find interesting.  The next day, strange California kid brought his Holmes box, and he ran a few encounters on the overhead with transparencies.  I was the "caller" for the class.

And that was the last time I played that a rules argument or edition war didn't break out!

TollHouseGolem wrote:I used colored markers to neatly color in most of the illustrations in my Blue Book. It is probably the one piece of my collection that holds the most sentimental value to me.

I wish you would post an example of that. One of the things I love most about collecting comes from not even close to NM copies of rule books and modules that show a slice of the players who owned and obviously loved their copies BITD.

Zach

TollHouseGolem wrote:Zach,

[ Image ]
Every treasure table needs a magic sword, no?

One bit of trivia is that this sword is also by Tom Wham (per Tom, according to Rhuvein of Dragonsfoot).

*bump for 2013*

Please share if you haven't before or want to say it again! Thanks to everyone who contributed last year.

It's also up on the blog (and other sites) if you prefer to post there.

No (not yet at least). Looking back, I sent Mike a PM last year around this time, but didn't hear back. Offer is still open if he is interested.

In the first two printings of the UK edition, both Sutherland and Wham's artworks were replaced by Fangorn and John Blanche did the cover. Trampier's artwork was untouched.

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