Good stuff so far, Zenopus!  Well done and thank you.  

I'd personally love to see a gallery of Chris Holmes' artwork if that's possible.  Quite a bit of talent there.

Also I'm assuming that the reason his artwork wasn't used is not because it's not good (it is), but because DCS and Trampier were the staff artists and there might have been some ire if an outsider's art was commissioned while staff artists were right there.

I also like the essay about Christopher Holmes as the Red Axe of Pellucidar:
http://www.erblist.com/erbmania/edgarde ... olmes.html

Part 4: "...And a Half-Human/Half-Serpent Naga", covering more sections on character creation. Some surprises here in the section on "Additional Character Classes"!

Cool stuff, good to see.

I think the back-flips in trying to resolve elf multi-classing are interesting because they allude to where Gygax was coming from when he was trying out different things to differentiate D&D elves from Tolkien's elves.

Holmes' take is interesting too.  The superstition that iron prevents elves (fairies) from using magic dates back to folklore, and if I remember it was also used in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions.  There's an allusion to iron's disenchanting power in de Camp's and Pratt's The Castle of Iron as well.  If I remember correctly, one of the alternate realms in Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits is a direct tribute to Three Hearts and the elven allergy to iron; I don't have a copy in front of me right now.

Of course, there's a few wrinkles.  Under this definition, elves should be able to wear padded or leather armor, even if they are acting as magic-users in a rule set that forbids metal armor.  Also, magic-users shouldn't be able to use iron daggers or darts (or iron spikes!) either, if the matter is taken to a logical conclusion.  I also think it's interesting that arcane magic in D&D is hinted at as elven (as opposed to divine) magic, meaning that magic-users are actually sages of elven lore in a way, channeling faerie.  I do wonder if this is the root of the "magic-users can't wear metal armor, but clerics can" enigma as well.

Needless to say, though, the ambiguities get too complex to use in a game!  It's easier to just say elves are wizard-warriors and they wear armor because they just do in Tolkien (and Dunsany?), and leave it at that.

And don't get me started on elfin chain mail!

Here are the most recent posts comparing the Holmes Manuscript and the published Basic Rulebook:

Part 6, "Fully Armored and Heavily Loaded", covering Languages and the first part of 'dungeoneering': time, movement, encumbrance and light sources.

Part 7: "Something Has Come Strolling Along", covering the rest of dungeoneering and wandering monsters.

Part 8: "Successively Deeper Strata", covering Experience and Levels.

Part 9: "Zombies Are Poisoned By Salt", covering casting and learning spells, making scrolls and saving throws.

Part 10: "Book of First Level Spells", naturally covering the first level spells. Magic Missile requires a 'to-hit' roll in the manuscript. The spell lists match Greyhawk, missing the "new" spells.

Part 16: "An Exchange of Two Blows with Ordinary Weapons", covering attacks per round in combat, including the infamous daggers...  

Time for another update methinks, Zenopus!  

I've just finished my blog series on the Holmes Manuscript. 54 parts total. The index is here, with links to each post:

Holmes Manuscript series

I've also just posted Appendix A: Manuscript Copy Order Form, which shows a picture (courtesy Billy Galaxy) of the order Holmes placed for 10 photocopies of the final version. Importantly, it's dated 2/4/77, which means he had finished the manuscript before that date.

Zenopus wrote in J. Eric Holmes collection:I've just finished my blog series on the Holmes Manuscript. 54 parts total. The index is here, with links to each post:

Holmes Manuscript series

I've also just posted Appendix A: Manuscript Copy Order Form, which shows a picture (courtesy Billy Galaxy) of the order Holmes placed for 10 photocopies of the final version. Importantly, it's dated 2/4/77, which means he had finished the manuscript before that date.

Amazing! Looking forward to your talk at NTRPG con in a couple weeks!

Mike B.

Thanks, Zach---that reminds me that I need to work on the slides for the reading for NTX!