The Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set was/is a set of rulebooks for the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) fantasy role-playing game. First published in 1977, it saw a handful of revisions and reprintings. The first edition was written by J. Eric Holmes based on Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's original work. Later editions were edited by Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, Troy Denning, and Doug Stewart. The Basic Set details the essential concepts of the D&D game. It gives rules for character creation and advancement for player characters at beginning levels. It also includes information on how to play adventures inside dungeons for both players and the Dungeon Master. 1977 version The original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set was published by TSR, Inc. in 1977. TSR hired outside writer John Eric Holmes to produce the Basic Set as an introductory version of the D&D game. It incorporates game concepts from the original 1974 D&D boxed set plus Supplement I: Greyhawk. The