"What follows herein is strictly for the eyes of you, the campaign referee."
And this is how one of the best RPG references written (bias mine) begins. The Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, First Edition Dungeon Masters Guide (Notice, it's not Master's btw) was written by E. Gary Gygax and published in 1979 (begun in '76).
My aim here is to write down those things that I find either important, obscure, or just plain bizarre. I'm not intending to stay strictly to the DMG, rather I'm going to traverse the first three books, but stay "mainly" to the grandfather, the opus, the DMG.
Today's tid bit:
Of the two approaches to hobby games today, one is best defined as the realism-simulation school and the other as the game school. AD&D is assuredly an adherent of the latter school. It does not stress any realism (in the author's opinion an absurd effort at best considering the topic!). It does litttle to attempt to simulate anything either. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is first and foremost a game for the fun and enjoyment of those who seek to use imagination and creativity.
p. 9 From the section titled "The Game"
I think that a few of us might benefit from reading this time and again. We seem to take our hobby pretty seriously. This statement alone also seems to go a long ways towards explaining (for the most part) why the rules are as "vague" as they are. Sure, they're plenty detailed when it comes to things like disease, and governments, but as far as mechanics they're pretty spartan compared to many of today's offerings.
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