Our Let’s Read of the original 1974 edition of D&D continues as we open the eldritch tome of Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure. Topics covered in this video include:
How did D&D transform our understanding of fantasy?
What were the original three Tiers of play in D&D?
Why do cloud giants have a keen sense of smell?
Why are Arneson & Gygax directly responsible for the Twilight novels?
If you want to start watching from the beginning, you can do that here.
The Alexandrian’s newest video is the first part of a cover-to-cover Let’s Read of the 1974 Edition of D&D.
I find that a lot of Let’s Reads are basically just, “Hey! Look! There are words on the page!” Personally, I don’t find these particularly valuable because… well, I can just read it myself. My goal with this Let’s Read was to really dive into the history of D&D — not just how it came to be, but also how it was played and how that play evolved over time.
OD&D thus becomes a lens through which we can learn far more than just what’s on the page.