Here is an index of Sham’s wonderful D&D Cover to Cover series. I couldn’t find a sequential list of the posts on Sham’s site, so I made one myself. If you have any interest at all in 1974 OD&D, you should read this. I’m about halfway through the posts myself. My content notes below are not reflective of all the subjects that the 3LBBs cover; they are a summary of what Sham is discussing in his posts.
Sham’s own introduction:
D&D Cover to CoverBeing a series of articles in which the author reads the indelible words of Gygax and Arneson as presented the Original Collector’s Edition of Dungeons & Dragons, published by Tactical Studies Rules. Beginning with Men & Magic, and concluding with The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, the author will consider those earliest passages, adding elucidations and interpretations along the way for your consideration.
Men & Magic
| Part 1 | Forward |
| Part 2 | Introduction |
| Part 2B | Introduction |
| Part 3 | Scope |
| Part 4 | Recommended equipment: outdoor survival (board game), chainmail (game rules), imagination, 1 patient referee |
| Part 5 | Preparation for the campaign |
| Part 6 | Characters: fighting-men, magic-users, clerics, dwarves |
| Part 7 | Characters: elves, other types, alignment, changing class |
| Part 8 | Determination of abilities; bonuses and penalties thereof |
| Part 9 | Languages |
| Part 10 | NPCs, equipment, experience tables, class stats |
| Part 10B | Basic equipment and costs; the cross and religion |
| Part 11 | Alternative combat system |
| Part 12 | Saving throw matrix |
| Part 13 | Spells table, turning undead, evil and chaotic clerics |
| Part 14 | Explanation of spells (pages 23-34), 1st level: read magic, read languages, protection from evil, charm person, sleep |
| Part 15 | Explanation of spells, 2nd level: levitate, phantasmal forces, invisibility, ESP. 3rd level: hold person, dispell magic, fire ball, lightning bolt, slow spell, haste spell |
| Part 16 | Explanation of spells, 4th level: polymorph self, polymorph others, remove curse, confusion, charm monster. 5th level: contact higher plane, cloudkill, feeblemind. 6th level: anti-magic shell, death spell, geas, move earth, control weather |
| Part 17 | Explanation of spells (clerics), 1st level: cure light wounds. 3rd level: cure disease. 4th level: cure serious wounds, turn sticks to snakes. 5th level: dispell evil, raise dead, create food, the finger of death. More on anti-clerics. |
| Part 18 | Magical research, books of spells |
| Part 19 | Conclusion |
| Part 20 | Conclusion: discussion of reader comments |
Monsters & Treasure
| Part 21 | Monster reference table, hostile & benign, monster categories |
| Part 22 | Bad guys: men, gnolls, trolls, giants |
| Part 23 | Dead guys: skeletons, zombies, ghouls, wights, vampires |
| Part 24 | Mythological: manticoras, hydras, chimeras, wyverns, dragons (size & subdual) |
| Part 25 | Myth. (cont.) purple worms (“lurk everywhere just beneath the surface”); Fairy tale: centaurs, dryads, dwarves, elves, rocs |
| Part 26 | Otherworldly: invisible stalkers, elementals, djinn, efreet; “great power demands great caution” |
| Part 27 | Clean-up crew: ochre jelly, black pudding, green slime, gray ooze, yellow mold; “nuisance monsters” |
| Part 28 | Mundane: large insects or animals; other: cyclopses, juggernauts, living statues, geletinous [sic] cubes; robots, golems, androids |
| Part 29 | Treasure types, tables, probabilities, swords, armor, miscellaneous weapons, rare magic weapons, potions |
| Part 30 | Scrolls, maps (“Maps constitute 25% of all randomized items from the ‘any’ category”) |
| Part 31 | Magic swords: intelligence, powers, egoism, alignment, bonuses |
| Part 32 | Armor (“Armor Class is not only defined by the armor worn, but also defines what armor is worn”) , magic shields |
| Part 33 | Potions: giant strength, longevity; rings: three wishes, delusion; wands & staves: paralyzation, staff of striking (“a 1974 beat-stick”) |
| Part 34 | Miscellaneous: medallions of ESP, protective items; elven cloak & boots; non-protective helms; gauntlets of ogre power, girdle of giant strength |
| Part 35 | Magical items’ saving throws (limiting magic item proliferation), artifacts (powerful aligned magic items) |
| Part 36 | Conclusion: “This IS the Holy Grail of RPGs, and it deserves attention and its truths need to be brought forth, that they might stand on their own merits.” |
| Part 37 | Conclusion: discussion of reader comments |
The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures
| Part 38 | Adventure styles, sample dungeon cross section, “the campaign is also the world which emerges from these adventures” |
| Part 39 | The underworld, dungeon size, sample dungeon level |
| Part 40 | Tricks & traps, distribution of monsters & treasure, maintaining freshness |
Awesome! Thanks!
Glad this is of use to someone else as well. This really is a great series of posts.
Thanks for putting this together!
No problem; nice to see that people are still getting use out of it.