John Eric Holmes was born on Feb 16th, 1930, so today marks the 87th anniversary of his birthday (he passed away in 2010, age 80).
And 40 years ago this month, in Feb 1977, he had just finished editing the manuscript for the Holmes Basic rulebook. This summer in July we will mark 40 years since the publication of the Holmes Basic set.
As a tribute, please leave your Holmes Basic testimonials here or the blog post (started in 2012 and updated periodically): http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/02/holmes-basic-testimonials.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/02/holmes-basic-testimonials.html
This wasn't the first role-playing game I played but it was the first and the last where I didn't care about the rules. For that reason, it will never be equalled and I'll never be able to recapture that sense of wonder. I know, I've tried.
ReplyDeleteBack in 1979 the Homes box, with chits, was my first DnD purchase. I had played in only one game (which in retrospect was a session of Advanced DnD) but jumped headfirst into the little blue book. It was the rules for my first session of DMing, a game I ran for my two older brothers who had never seen anything like it. We still talk about that game, a long afternoon of exploration and tomb looting. Only one of them made it out alive. In my games now, I still try to equal that first sessions sense of magic. Thank you Dr. Holmes! (And yes, we used the chits.)
ReplyDeleteMy first role playing game and still my favorite :D
ReplyDeleteThis would've been the perfect day to release the zine!
ReplyDelete...Alas, some glitchiness means it's not ready, and since I'm Con-bound in a few hours, it won't be out til next week... : \
But Holmes was the first RPG I played, and I will love it forever.
Nice to read your thoughts all. Sorry Dwarven Ale had to play with the chits. Shows us it wasn't all about the dice.
ReplyDeleteMy 1980 Christmas present was the Holmes Basic D&D box (with B2 & chits!) the green cover G1-2-3 "Against the Giants", and C2 "Ghost Tower of Inverness". Whenever I tell of my first D&D games, I always forget to mention that my cousin sent me all 3 of these things in one package. G1-2-3 and C2 were the catalysts for eventually getting the AD&D books. I never really switched from Basic to Advanced, I used them together, and we never noticed any major rules collisions.
ReplyDeleteThis continued until I bought the Moldvay Basic & later the Cook/Marsh Expert sets. Then I mixed AD&D and BX rules in all my games. That's when I gave my beloved first set of Holmes to a friend, who later moved away. I think he played for awhile, but no longer plays at all.
Eh, some seeds blossom, others don't. :/
I gave my Basic set to nephews. It wasn't signed.
ReplyDelete