-	-	-	-	-
-	-	Unearthed Arcana	-	-

Warning: This book is loaded.
Loaded with new information, that is.
In the time since the publication of the DMG in  in 1979, the AD&D@ game has not stood still. In
DRAGON@ Magazine, Gary Gygax has continued to expand
the frontiers of the game, offering new ideas, experiments.
and rules.
In this book those ideas are made concrete. The experiments
are completed. The suggested rules are now official
and final.
Much of the material within this book first saw the light of
day in DRAGON Magazine, but in the time since has
been playtested, questioned, discussed, re-tailored, represented,
and re-playtested. This was my role in the project,
under the handy umbrella-title of “design
consultant,’’ which is shorter than “gadfly, ombudsman,
and kibitzer.” (Okay, everyone out there, reach for those
dictionaries. . . .)

In addition to the magazine article material, this volume
also includes material that has never before been published.
This, too, had to be checked and re-checked before
being put into its final form.
All of the above had to be approved by Gary and Frank
Mentzer, including any proposals for all-new material that
may have occurred along the way. Everything was
checked out with the architects of the AD&D game system;
the structure of the system is their baby, and only
they know what ideas will fit into it. The tireless editor of
this text, Kim Mohan, and I are the engineers who executed
the plans - made sure everything was on solid
ground and brought the ideas into finished form.
That finished form, Unearthed Arcana, is in your hands
now. It is a book that will change the way the AD&D game
is played. Enjoy.
 

Jeff Grubb
May 1,1985
 

There are some advantages to being the editor of this
book. And now that the job is just about finished, a few of
them are beginning to occur to me.

One of the benefits of the job is that the editor gets to decide
what piece of text gets done last, and l decided a
while ago that it was going to be this one. This way I can
see what Gary’s preface and Jeff’s introduction are covering,
so I don’t have to worry about telling you all the things
they’ve said.

Pretty soon, when the nightmares about deadline wear
off, I will have pleasant memories of working with Jeff and
Frank and Gary on a project that demanded more of our
time than anyone could have foreseen. And, as of now, 1
can stop being a nuisance around their offices. If it wasn’t
me in person, it was me in the guise of a stack of papers.
In the beginning, the sheaves of manuscript had labels
like “Look this over when you get a chance.’’ In the final
days of the production schedule, samples of finished
pages were going out labeled “Now or never.” All three of
them gave me everything I needed and wanted, usually
well ahead of the nick of time.

After a few weeks for printing and binding, the book will
be out. I expect that to be one of the biggest thrills of my
life, and it’s sure going to be a fine feeling then, even
though the anticipation is almost killing me now. And I’ll
be a little disappointed if your pulse didn’t at least
quicken a bit the first time you saw this book and realized
what was inside it. Even if you didn’t know what you’ve
been missing, Unearthed Arcana is what you’ve been
waiting for.

My exhilaration over the book will last for as long as it
stays on your shelf, within easy reach - because that
means that what we’ve done is being used and enjoyed
by the people we made it for. The biggest advantage of
being the editor of this book is a good feeling that will
probably last me for the rest of my life. And it’s starting to
well up inside me right now.

Kim Mohan
May 1, 1985