While each of us has a version of Dungeons & Dragons that evokes feelings of nostalgia, some versions of the rules were just better written. I liked the 1977 version edited by J. Eric Holmes (referred to today as the 'Blue Box edition'), and I liked the artwork of the BECMI version edited by Frank Mentzer, and I liked the adventure-creating advice in the DMG of the AD&D 1st edition, and I liked the modules and settings of the AD&D 2nd Edition but my all time favorite was the 1981 Basic/Expert version (referred to today as the 'B/X edition').
The rules were short and simple and were presented in a new player-friendly format, but still retained the 'old school' feel. Both the rules and the art felt like they were made by players for players. Polished but not over polished.
The Basic Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, edited by Tom Moldvay, was released in 1981 and is known as the 'B' part of 'B/X edition' today. It was (and still is) a great introduction to D&D. The basic rules taught new players how to adventure in dungeons with characters level 1 to 3.
The boxed set came with a beautiful box, the basic rulebook, a basic adventure module called The Keep on the Borderlands, and a set of the cheapest polyhedral dice known to man plus a weird wax crayon used to color in the numbers on the dice because they were unpainted and impossible to see.
The Expert Dungeons & Dragons boxed set, edited by David "Zeb" Cook, was released in 1981 and is known as the 'X' part of 'B/X edition' today. The expert rules taught players how to adventure in the wilderness and expanded on the basic rules with new spells, monsters for characters level 4 to 14.
It came with another great box, the expert rulebook, and an expert adventure module called The Isle of Dread.
The Basic and Expert rules hit that sweet spot. They offered new content that improved on earlier versions, but still remained easy to understand. The B/X edition had vastly fewer rules than any of the 'Advanced' versions of D&D to come, and encouraged improvisation or innovation of the rules. Rules that were boring and number crunchy (e.g. encumbrance) were made 'optional' and could be ignored.
To me, the B/X edition of D&D is the most playable and easiest to introduce to non-RPG players. Every version of D&D after this version added more rules to 'answer every question' and customized characters to the nth degree but became so complex that players spent more time looking up rules than playing, and that is boring.
The bad news
While you can find the original books and boxed sets on eBay, they are really expensive since B/X edition and retro-clones have made a comeback.
I myself rebought both original boxed sets on eBay for a less than decent price. The Basic boxed set I found was in stellar condition, but the Expert boxed set box was crushed (the manual and module are in perfect condition though). It seems really hard to find a boxed set where the box isn't crushed or damaged. I think that is because everyone stored their heavy hard cover AD&D books on top of their basic and expert boxed sets in their closets for years.
The good news
The Basic Rulebook PDF and the Expert Rulebook PDF are now available for download on DriveThruRpg for super cheap, and you can combine the two PDFs into one printed hardcover book on Lulu.com for less than you can buy a used copy of either on eBay.
The better news
Because B/X edition is so popular again, there have been a lot of retro-clones created that make the B/X rules accessible to everyone again as affordable printed books, and have a modern set of rules that new independent adventure writers can reference to comply with the WotC legal rules.
I'll chat about a number of the retro-clones in my next posts.