Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set

Dungeons & Dragons Expert Set

The cover of the 1981 Expert Set rule book; cover art by Erol Otus
Author	David Cook (1981 version) Frank Mentzer (1983 version)
Genre	Role-playing game
Publisher	TSR
Publication date	1981, 1983

The Expert Set is an expansion boxed set for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was first published in 1981 as an expansion to the Basic Set.

The Basic Set saw a major revision in 1981 by Tom Moldvay. The overarching goal of the revision was to provide subsequent expansions to the game, each describing a specific set of levels of character development. The Basic Set described character levels 1 through 3, as had its immediate predecessor, the Basic Set edited by J. Eric Holmes in 1977. The Moldvay Basic Set was immediately followed by the release of the Expert Set edited by Dave Cook, supporting character levels 4 through 14.The Isle of Dread was included in the set as an example of an outdoor adventure and setting. The set included dice, and featured cover art by Erol Otus.

The Basic Set was revised once more in 1983 by Frank Mentzer, this time as Dungeons & Dragons Set 1: Basic Rules. Between 1983 and 1985 this system was revised and expanded by Mentzer as a series of five boxed sets, including the Basic Rules, Expert Rules (supporting character levels 4 through 14),Companion Rules (supporting levels 15 through 25),Master Rules (supporting levels 26 through 36), and Immortal Rules (supporting Immortals - characters who had transcended levels). The first four sets were later compiled as a single hardcover book, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

The Mentzer Expert Set featured art by Larry Elmore, and was published as a boxed set with dice and two books: the 64-page Expert Set rule book and the 32-page (with an outer folder) module Isle of Dread.