From the introduction: "A few years ago, the first copies of a new game called Dungeons and Dragons appeared on the market. Fantasy fans and gamers in general were enthralled at the possibilities. Most of them became hooked on the game, due to its unusual and imaginitive nature. You could actually do unusual things: slay dragons, rescue the downtrodden, and just grab loot.

When our group first started playing the game, our overall reaction was that it had great ideas, 'but maybe we should change the combat system, clarify the magic, and re-do the monsters.' Warlock is not intended to replace D&D, and, indeed, would not exist without that classic game. What we have tried to do is to present a way of expanding D & D without the contradictions and loopholes inherent in the original rules and the various supplements. By putting together one set of rule changes and interpretations and playing by them for three years, we have developed something that works pretty well. We spent a considerable amount of time working out a solid combat system, a coherent magic system, and a more flexible way of handling monsters as monsters, rather than as men dressed up in gorilla suits. We have been (rightly) accused of making D&D into a different game altogether, but we think it is an enjoyable one, and hope you do, as well."

This is the rules supplement that appears as nothing more than a reprint of TSR's OD&D boxset in a single book compendium with selective changes, organization and additions. It first appeared in the Spartan magazine which was a wargaming magazine that was the main competitor of IFW which many of TSR's founding members were associated with.

There are at least 3 different covers to this in our library and yet another color variation was seen where the horizon line is the deep orange with the foreground being primarily uncolored. We are not sure if they are distinctive printings or if there was simply a printing error. Of the ones in research on cursory inspection, they appear identical interior-wise with no printing notations other than date of 1978. There is a slight miniscule difference in the size and mass of these copies. The copy with the orange wizard was cut slightly tighter in width and is slightly longer than the more monochrome copies.

Additional images are provided below of the cover anomolies in our archives.

Enlarged scans