Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
The First Fantasy Campaign - Playing Aid by Dave Arneson
Thus starts off The First Fantasy Campaign subtitled Playing Aid by Dave Arneson. IIRC the light background in the above picture is a fire elemental burning up the country side. I will do most of my commentary on the 1980 printing and will come back to the original version with the larger print later on. If you have the following cover image you do not have a first printing. This cover is in color and is virtually unreadable for those like myself who are color blind.
I am using this copy simply because with smaller print and a tighter layout it is easier to use, but I will later on show you the 1st print too. These days with my eyesight declining the 1st print is much easier to read as the print is noticeably larger. This document was first printed in 1977 and the images above are from the 1980 3rd printing.
Here is the Table of Contents and let me say again, how much I wish I had been able to know about and obtain back in 1977 instead of around 2010.
These are the things that I plan to discuss over the next few weeks and I will also dip into Adventures In Fantasy another version of Blackmoor that Dave Arneson and his friend Richard Snider published.
The First Fantasy Campaign - Playing Aid by Dave Arneson
Thus starts off The First Fantasy Campaign subtitled Playing Aid by Dave Arneson. IIRC the light background in the above picture is a fire elemental burning up the country side. I will do most of my commentary on the 1980 printing and will come back to the original version with the larger print later on. If you have the following cover image you do not have a first printing. This cover is in color and is virtually unreadable for those like myself who are color blind.
I am using this copy simply because with smaller print and a tighter layout it is easier to use, but I will later on show you the 1st print too. These days with my eyesight declining the 1st print is much easier to read as the print is noticeably larger. This document was first printed in 1977 and the images above are from the 1980 3rd printing.
Here is the Table of Contents and let me say again, how much I wish I had been able to know about and obtain back in 1977 instead of around 2010.
Regarding the cover - does the Acaeum has it wrong, then? https://www.acaeum.com/jg/Item0037.html. I recall some comments that with each subsequent print the color on the cover got worse. I also recall that black and white image from a title page. Was there indeed an earlier print with a b-w cover only?
ReplyDeleteYes, you are correct. Although it does not happen very often, sometimes the Acaeum does get it wrong and the first print is entirely black and white. On a true first print the black and white image that appears on a title page in the later printings was the cover on the first print.
ReplyDeleteI provided the following information for the Wikipedia page.
"1st Printing (1977): The Cover and entire booklet are Black and White. The Cover says "The First Fantasy Campaign Playing Aid" with Playing Aid as a subtitle. A large mostly circular picture with Trees in the foreground and a Fire Elemental in the background below which it says "by Dave Arneson" and "Judges Guild". There is no other verbiage on the cover and the price does not appear on the cover. The Back Cover has a product list titled "Booty List" with the highest number being 35 and "New Non-Sub Items" listing product numbers 36-39. It comes with the first printing of the First Fantasy Campaign Maps. This book consists of 92 numbered pages plus the cover, inside cover, back cover and Table of Contents for a total of 96 total pages. The dark red cover was used for the reformatted later printings that used a smaller font and fewer pages."
Thanks! I'm back home so I could have a look at my copy. It's exactly what you describe - the number of pages, booty list items and so on - but with the stock cover (large price tag, no "second print" note). it matches what the Acaeum describes as a first printing. So it appears that there might have been something between the first b&w printing and the second printing with an updated booty list and a slightly redesigned cover. Good to know. :)
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