Laying the Foundations, Pt. 2

Because I have several more chronology posts in the works, I want to make a few quick comments about dates and dating, if only because certain folks may wish to call me on this or that citation as I continue. The more precise and accurate we can be in assigning dates, the better it is for students of D&D's (and TSR's) history and the hobby's evolution. Good research and a sound understanding rely on all possible precision.

Even so, for several interrelated reasons, I'm not going to over-worry the dates given here. First, I'm not a D&D connoisseur, so I've neither the expertise nor the desire to distinguish, for example, between the "True First" and First printings of the 1e D&D Basic Set (AKA "Holmes Basic"). Authorities agree that the rules were first available in Jul 1977 at Origins III, and given my task here, no greater granularity is required. Indeed, more precision adds nothing but unnecessary complexity and potential for confusion.

Second, B/Xarcana isn't a definitive source for the dates and dating of physical D&D products or even a primary history of TSR and its production schedules. I've done my legwork, of course, and take primary research seriously, but this blog is focused on something else entirely -- contextualizing and engaging with B/X D&D as a rhetorical object, a game whose value is enhanced by multilayered rhetorical analysis.

Third, no one seems certain about dates in some cases. To take one instance: Did copies of B/X D&D ship at the extreme end of 1980 (per the "© 1980" on early boxes and rulebooks) or not until Jan 1981 (per the books' title pages)? The Acaeum posits that while some B/X D&D boxes and rulebooks may have a 1980 copyright, initial sets are indeed Jan 1981 printings. Tome of Treasures assumes the same. Some commentators and players instead choose to assign 1980 to B/X D&D -- Shannon Appelcline, among others, routinely does so in his excellent "Designers & Dragons" column.

While knowing for certain would undoubtedly be helpful, there's little to be done at this point but to fall back on the standard that academics use when citing any printed source, which is to use the title page, not other clues that, however "obvious," remain up in the air. Thus, unless and until more reliable (and verifiable) information comes to light, I'll continue to refer to both Moldvay Basic and Cook-Marsh Expert as being Jan 1981 products. Likewise, any other items with similarly murky production histories.

All of that said, I'll almost certainly make a factual error from time to time, and in those cases I hope readers will see fit to set me straight. I certainly don't want to propagate misinformation if it can at all be helped; it serves no one well to have incorrect data posted here -- especially in an era of instant Web searches, when bad information can spread like wildfire.