OD&D Introduction, Annotated

These rules are as complete as possible ... 

The introduction to OD&D provides an overview of the rules and structure of the booklets. From this opening paragraph readers are introduced to the idea of abandoning the mindset the rules are inviolate (your time and imagination are about the only limiting factors, or New details are added and old "laws" altered ...) but instead subject to the referee's whim.

And referee it was, the term dungeon master or DM appears nowhere in this work. As a historical side note: dungeon master and its abbreviation DM did appear in the first edition of that "other" game Tunnels & Trolls (on page 3 of that work, for example). Dungeon master doesn't appear in a TSR rule book until Supplement II: Blackmoor and there it appears as a compound word "dungeonmaster" (Foreword).

A good writer should always introduce important concepts and overarching themes first. Here in the introduction referees are advised to approach the rules as easily altered to suit their vision for their campaign. What are players told, one may well wonder? The second paragraph explains knowing the rules is an advantage and to keep a pencil handy for noting changes to the printed word. This implicit permission begins to shift with the publication of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) and the Dungeons Master's Guide which warns readers you must view any non-DM player possessing it as something less than worthy of honorable death (p. 8).

This quote, in turn, provides a glimpse into how the game and EGG's writing style began to change with time. Gygax began to write rules of increasing complexity and detail in response to what he saw as a demand from fans for same. After many decades, he finally returned to a simpler style of rules with both his Lejendary Adventures and using OD&D as his "go to" rules for running pickup games.

The final paragraph of the introduction maps out an overview of the three booklets. We start by learning how to make and equip a character, what monsters these characters will face and the treasures those monster are guarding. Last of all, we are introduced to the concepts of conducting combat, movement and exploration, and running adventures in a variety of settings (land, sea, air). As stated right up front: as complete as possible ...