Quote from: tzunder;876624i am so very pleased that this has happened.

it means a historical document is available for all.

everyone can read the source for our hobby and make up their own minds as to it's playability and have fun with it.... or not.

That's why I bought it, at least:). I strongly suspect that if I was to play it, I'd simply use an OD&D clone like Backswords and Bucklers.
Of course, I'm also going to study it and see what I can take from there, and port to other games;).

And BTW, the Greyhawk supplement is also uploaded. I guess that was to be expected?
Actually, the question is "which supplement is next"?

I've said before that I'm of the school of thought that thinks that part of the intrinsic experience of playing OD&D (as opposed to playing Swords & Wizardry or some other retroclone) is the process of sitting down, casting out everything you think you know about D&D and RPGs in general, and coming up with your own personal interpretation of the rules.

That's one of the reasons why there's so many OD&D-inspired retroclones but not so many clones of, say, B/X: OD&D requires enough interpretation that there's rooms for very different takes on how to resolve the grey areas. Conversely, whilst the original B/X rulebooks are perfectly clear enough and there isn't sufficient room for interpretation to really allow for multiple clones that take the purist Labyrinth Lord approach. (It's notable that the more successful non-LL B/X clones are things like Lamentations of the Flame Princess or ACKS, which take a B/X foundation and put a very individual spin on it.)

Swords & Wizardry and other purist OD&D retroclones are great if you don't want to go through that process, mind, but playing them isn't the same experience as playing OD&D, whereas playing Labyrinth Lord and playing B/X basically give a sufficiently similar game experience as to be effectively identical, except for very minor differences that only absolute pedants could possibly care about.

Quote from: AsenRG;876640And BTW, the Greyhawk supplement is also uploaded. I guess that was to be expected?
Actually, the question is "which supplement is next"?

  I'd expect to see Blackmoor on the 9th, Eldritch Wizardry on the 16th, and Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes on the 23rd. If they're going with the Premium Reprints, it may be a while (if ever) before we see Chainmail or Swords & Spells.

Quote from: Warthur;876648Swords & Wizardry and other purist OD&D retroclones are great if you don't want to go through that process, mind, but playing them isn't the same experience as playing OD&D

While I agree with much your post, I think you are overstating this part. Yes Swords & Wizardry, White Box, and Iron Falcon to provide interpretations of various aspects of OD&D. The fact remains that they all share OD&D's characteristic that managing the campaign it going to require a lot more rulings than later editions. And how you make those rulings is going to account for much of how the campaign feels.

This results from the fact that by and large the clones covers what OD&D covers and no more. If your campaign has something beyond that then you will need to make some rulings/mechanics.

In fact OD&D does cover a bit more than the clones due to the inclusion of notes on Chainmail, naval, aerial combat. Material that is not found in the d20 SRD so generally not a part of OD&D that gets cloned.

The difference in the mechanics and what do to manage a campaign is inconsequential between OD&D and the clones.

But what OD&D does bring to the table is Gygax's writing style and organization. What he chooses emphasize and what he doesn't. Plus tidbits and advice from Gygax that doesn't make it into the clones. My view it is worth having for that alone.

I think the clones remain more playable out of the box though, whereas with OD&D you have to make a bunch of rulings before beginning play with earnest. (For instance, if someone is rolling up an elf you're going to have to decide exactly how their class-switching works, because the game tells you it happens and precious little else. And OD&D doesn't even specify that spells are forgotten once cast.)

Quote from: Warthur;876656And OD&D doesn't even specify that spells are forgotten once cast.)

A fact that wasn't explained until Strategic Review #2 released in the Summer of 75. Even then how many people got a copy of it?

UPDATE:
Well as it turn it out I figured out how to find the rule with the PDF search. It turns about to be on page 19.

QuoteSpells & Levels: The number above each column is the spell level (complexity, a somewhat subjective determination on the part of your authors). The number in each column opposite each applicable character indicates the number of spells of each level that can be used (remembered during any single adventure) by that character. Spells are listed and explained later. A spell used once may not be reused in the same day.

So you are technically right that it doesn't say they are forgotten. However it effectively the same thing. And it doesn't say quite what spellbooks are used for later.

So a variation could be that you learn a spell from your spellbook and once learned you can use it but once a day. And if you want to change the spell you need your spellbook again.

Here's a question for you OD&D folks here- is the Greyhawk supplement necessary to play OD&D?

Quote from: RunningLaser;876658Here's a question for you OD&D folks here- is the Greyhawk supplement necessary to play OD&D?

No, you can play OD&D without it. However, if you run OD&D with the Greyhawk supplement rules additions, it looks a lot more like what most people would consider "basic" D&D. For example, it adds Thieves, makes hit point dice vary by class, adds variable weapon damage, etc.

Quote from: ptingler;876676No, you can play OD&D without it. However, if you run OD&D with the Greyhawk supplement rules additions, it looks a lot more like what most people would consider "basic" D&D. For example, it adds Thieves, makes hit point dice vary by class, adds variable weapon damage, etc.

That's pretty much just what I want- basic D&D without race as class.

Quote from: mhensley;876680That's pretty much just what I want- basic D&D without race as class.

The Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Characters supplement plus LL itself (or whichever flavour of basic is your cup of tea) does that much more smoothly than OD&D + Greyhawk in my experience.

Are they selling the Greyhawke supplements?  Or are they part of the OD&D bundle?

Quote from: Christopher Brady;876704Are they selling the Greyhawke supplements?  Or are they part of the OD&D bundle?

3 LBB set $9.99


Greyhawk supplement $4.99

Quote from: ptingler;8767213 LBB set $9.99


Greyhawk supplement $4.99

Sweet!  I'll have to keep some funds aside for it.

This is good, though of no particular use to me.

Quote from: RPGPundit;877167This is good, though of no particular use to me.

Same, I've got all the OD&D material in pdf form already. I suppose I will order them simply to support wizards in the move to make them available again.