The original D&D (often called OD&D now) was a far, far simpler game. AD&D was way more complicated.
They continued to be developed in parallel (AD&D had a first and second edition).
With Third edition (The first released by Wizards of the Coast instead of TSR), The Advanced label was dropped, and the original D&D line was effectively killed off.
What people play today is really AD&D, or rather it’s evolutionary descendant.
Edit: It’s actually slightly more complicated than that. OD&D actually refers to the truly original release which was a simple set of booklets. The well-known Basic, Expert, etc. boxed sets that came later are still called just D&D.
yeah, and ive played both. i just mean like who made the marketing decision that when you make a line of toys you throw the word “advanced” in there. only people who played would know what it meant.
it’s not like you could go out and buy “basic dungeons and dragons” toys.
it felt like a marketing failure for the toys, even at the time.
( it’s like how “the facebook” became “facebook”. the extra word is irrelevant and sounds silly. )
This is just my speculation with some half-forgotten memories I may have read or imagined, but I believe Gary Gygax preferred AD&D be the ONLY version of the game.
I . . . don’t remember that at all. Based on what he said at the end of that video, it aired at the end of the Saturday morning cartoon lineup, which would explain why I don’t remember it. We were only allowed to watch tv on Saturday mornings for a couple of hours, and then my Dad, when we were younger, kicked us outside, and when we were older, he just took over the remote and changed it to something he wanted to watch. Probably college football. So yeah, I probably never had the opportunity to watch that.
ETA: On the topic of D&D, my parents, in spite of the fact that we lived in Bible loving Texas, thought the whole satanic panic fear of D&D and all things fantasy was ridiculous. My introduction to D&D, if I remember correctly, was actually at church, playing with the pastor’s kid. I do know he played, I just can’t remember if that was my introduction to it or not.
I remember when that came out, and I watched the first episode and thought, “huh, cool.”
Then my mom found out, and wasn’t happy. Turned out she decided to mark the TV Guide with the shows that were “OK for me to watch.” But I’d had no idea-- I knew what I wanted and never even looked at the guide. D&D was the only thing I’d chosen that she hadn’t approved. My reply was something along the lines of, “it’s your typical fantasy show, kids get swept into another world and have try to find their way home every week. There’s even a moral at the end of the story. It’s harmless.” I don’t recall her answer, if she did (I think I’d surprised her)… but she didn’t object to me watching it again.
Really, it’s wasn’t much different than any other kid’s media at the time-- He-Man and Thundercats had the same basic format (adventure + moral), and they were more overtly toy/merchandise tie-in shows. Mom never told me why she was so worried, but I’m guessing now it was the Satanic Panic angle. I wasn’t that aware of it at the time, so it went over my head.
I never did play the board game, but I remember watching D&D the series faithfully as part of my Saturday morning lineup, until it was cancelled. (I also remember being agged that they never got to go home. Worst amusement park ride, EVER.)
Luckily my folks weren’t very religious, and by the time I started going to a pentecostal church on my own as a teen, the satanic panic had mostly passed.
I mean, you go on adventures to other people’s houses who you don’t like because of racial/species stereotypes, loot their home and break all the furniture as you (mostly) slaughter them right on the living room rug. Maybe they should call it Regressive Dungeons & Dragons? /s
