Dungeon Masters Guide (1979)

"Essential reference information for gamemastering Advanced D&D"

From the back cover:
"Dungeon masters everywhere, rejoice! Too long have you had to suffer along with crucial charts and tables spread through many works. Too long have you had to use makeshift references trying to solve the problem. You now have a complete compilation of the most valuable material for your refereeing, the DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE.
Herein you will find:

• Combat matrices
• Encounter tables
• Monster attacks alphabetically listed
• Treasure and magic tables and descriptions
• Gem values by type
• Random wilderness terrain generation
• Random dungeon generation
• Suggestions on gamemastering

...and a whole lot more. It is an absolute must for every dungeon master!"

Fourteen printings of this book have been documented at www.acaeum.com, but not all of them are true separate print runs. TSR had a lot of problems meeting demand for the DMG when it first came out, and there were severe mishaps on the second and third printings. TSR would use whatever parts they had on hand to get the books out, and if the goldenrod flyleaves ran out, oh well, white ones had to be used. This led to variations within a print run. The only firm dates on the printing are for the 1st in August 1979 and the 5th in December 1979.

1st: 232 pages. "ADVANCED D&D TM" too big for its space, so the last 'D' in "ADVANCED" runs off the top
2nd: 232 pages. Originally misprinted with Monster Manual pages, this book was largely recalled, the pages replaced, and the replacements shipped back out.
3rd: 232 pages. About half of this printing's covers were scored by a broken boxing machine leaving the books in unsalable condition. Some of these made it out. Most of these had their covers replaced and were then released. At one point white flyleaves appear.
4th: 232 pages. ISBN now appears. Flyleaves back to goldenrod.
5th: 240 pages. Revised Edition. Both goldenrod and white flyleaves.

And that's just 1979.

1980 and later
6th: 240 pages. Last two pages are no longer a survey (replaced by charts from throughout the book). White flyleaves only from here on out.
7th: 240 pages, face logo.
8th and later: New cover art. Eventually the printing info shows up on the title page around the 10th printing.

Microbadges:

D&D Player
AD&D fan (1st edition)
Dungeons & Dragons fan
Dungeons & Dragons fan
Dungeons & Dragons fan
I'm an old school D&D player
I'm an old school Dungeon Master
Gary Gygax fan
Gary Gygax fan