All this examining of the different editions has me wondering about the less-used or less-supported ones over the years. How many were there? TSR/WotC itself is no help, they couldn't keep a consistent numbering system for the major ones. I have yet to get a definitive answer whether "3e" is supposed to include Basic/OD&D in the lineage.

What I'm thinking of is tabletop stuff like:

Micro-1e. Holmes 1977. Hardly less-used, but a stand-alone with oddities like the 5-alignment chart. Maybe it should be considered OD&D 2.0.

Micro-2e. The AD&D Coloring Album. A 2D6 system.

Micro-3e. The solo choose-your-own-adventure style books.

Micro-4e. Oriental Adventures. It's been years since I've had a copy of this, but I seem to remember it had pretty much the rules/resources for a complete RPG. Correct, or am I misremembering?

Micro-5e. Dragonlance Fifth Age Storytelling Game. Definitely obscure to me.

Micro-6e. Introduction to AD&D. After TSR dropped the Mystara-based D&D game, it created a need for introductory material to AD&D. I've never  read the contents, are they worthwhile as a simple version of the game?

Micro-7e. Perhaps the obscurest edition of all, a resurrection of the D&D-without-an-'A' basic box. The whole existence of this edition seemed to fly under the radar, as it was released just prior to 3e. Here I'm not even sure if it's true D&D with unarmored AC = 9, 2D6 rolls for turning undead, & three alignments. Or is it a simplified AD&D? Anybody ever read this set?

Regarding the supposed "7e," the books are, basically, AD&D 2nd edition with the A chopped off. That's it. Unless you mean something like the Diablo books.

serleran wrote:Regarding the supposed "7e," the books are, basically, AD&D 2nd edition with the A chopped off. That's it. Unless you mean something like the Diablo books.

I'm not sure but there are a couple of sets that I remember that might fit into this category. The thick blue box with crappy plastic miniatures is one.

Regarding Holmes, stated in the preface is that the book is a condensed version of the original books of OD&D, plus Supplements I - III.  Having read through the darn thing with a fine tooth comb, there's little to nothing from any of the supplements in the book.  In fact, about the only thing that came from the supplements were Thieves.

Because of the preface, the abrupt "see AD&D for more details" references littered through the book and the presence of monsters that no third level character should survive against (like vampires), I believe that the original manuscript was far larger than what we got.  I also believe the Holmes' edition was shoehorned into a niche that it was never intended for: an introductory product.  Holmes' claim to fame for me is its initiative system, which is notable for requiring the monsters to have a DEX score.  I would have liked to see the full manuscript, but alas such a thing is unlikely to ever happen.