Why it was called "Dungeons & Dragons 3e"

JohnSnow said:

Anyway, I doubt WotC put that much thought into it, but I was woolgathering and thought it was an interesting observation.

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A2Z said:

I think they absolutely put that much thought into. I'm pretty sure one of the Dragon magazine previews back in the day mentioned this.

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Twiggly the Gnome said:

I think the thought was that it was the successor to the AD&D line, and since the the need to contrast it to the by then moribund D&D (BECMI/Cyclopedia) line no longer existed, they dropped the Advanced adjective.

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JohnSnow said:

So, counting this way, OD&D/Holmes was the game's "1st-Edition," and the successive split into two product lines is the game's "Second Edition." The reintegration becomes 3e.

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JohnSnow said:

Which makes 3e the successor to both. And explains why they dropped the "Advanced" name.

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• In the beginning in 1974 there was only D&D. There was no confusing editions or how they were or weren't numbered.
• In 1977 there was a version of D&D rules authored by J Eric Holmes. It was done WHILE the AD&D rules were still being put together, but deemed a good idea. It was intended to be an introduction to the D&D game, would cover only the first 3 PC levels and while there were differences, for all practical intents and purposes was otherwise the same as the original game. It was also gathered into ONE book instead of 3 booklets. There was still no confusion because it was now being called the Basic Set of rules, and it referred players looking to advance BEYOND 3rd level to look to the Advanced rules (which weren't even out yet).
• Later that year (still 1977) the first book of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules (no numbering, still just "advanced") was released - it was the Monster Manual. Lots of monsters for people to use in their D&D games, but they were otherwise still operating on the original 3-booklet rules or the Holmes introductory "Basic" rules.
• In 1978 came the Advanced D&D Players Handbook (PH). The "advanced" rules were finally being really seen, but they still weren't complete yet. Anybody using any portions of the MM or PH still was likely using the original D&D rules, or the introductory Holmes rules (or even the precursor Chainmail rules) as part of their D&D games. There was now SOME inevitable confusion because AD&D rules were significantly bulkier and different from what had been seen up to that point. But people still either mostly stuck to Original D&D/Holmes rules and left the Advanced rules out of it, or they based their games more heavily (if not entirely) on the Advanced rules, possibly with some rules still seeing use from previous releases. If you used the "Advanced" books you called your game Advanced D&D or AD&D. If you didn't use "Advanced" rules books, you still called your game just D&D, not "advanced" anything nor AD&D.
• In 1979, the Dungeon Masters Guide completed the release of the Advanced set of rules. Now you almost certainly saw a split. Some people didn't like the Advanced game rules, not everybody SAW them or knew they existed - and the Basic Set rules were still being sold! That meant confusion, but it was still not numbered anything - it was either Basic D&D, or Advanced D&D, depending on the books you chose to use/not use.
• In 1981 came another revision of the Basic rules, but they didn't end advancement with 3rd level characters, nor refer anyone to AD&D - Basic Rules became ENTIRELY its own thing. There were additions of more books for Basic and eventually all collated into a single volume, but also at some point there was a feud between Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson over who should be credited with what and therefore PAID for what. That resulted in Arneson's name being attached more permanently with the Basic Rules and Gygax's name being attached to the Advanced Rules.
• In 1989 came the SECOND edition of the ADVANCED rules. This is where confusion REALLY begins. To distinguish between the Second Edition AD&D rules, the rules formerly known simply as "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" became known as FIRST Edition AD&D. Meanwhile Basic D&D was still off doing its own thing quite separate from First or Second Edition AD&D.
• Then one day TSR died a (quite well-deserved IMO) corporate death. D&D OF ANY KIND ceased to effectively be published. Wizards of the Coast bought TSR and all of it's stuff, good and bad. They rescued D&D from oblivion. For a few years they mostly sold TSR products that they still had in stock, and completed some projects that were close to done and sold those too, but meanwhile they were working on an entirely new edition of D&D. They then ended the whacky notion of having two different versions of D&D rules being sold at the same time. They chose to name the new edition the THIRD Edition. It wasn't really a continued development of ANY previous edition. Ask anyone if 3E is a continuation of OD&D or Basic D&D - they'll laugh at you. Ask anyone if 3E is a continuation of Advanced D&D (either 1E AD&D or 2E AD&D) and they laugh just as loud. It wasn't a continuation of either in any practical perspective. That was all history now. From that point it was just D&D, and the version of rules was called the Third Edition. If you like, you could think of it as Original/Basic D&D being the First Edition, Advanced and then 2nd Edition Advanced being collectively the Second Edition (since 2E AD&D was very, VERY similar to "1E" AD&D), and then Third Edition was a completely new branch independent of either of those.

Man in the Funny Hat said:

Ask anyone if 3E is a continuation of Advanced D&D (either 1E AD&D or 2E AD&D) and they laugh just as loud.

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