User summary: The Pits of Cil was a very early postal variant of Dungeons & Dragons (Original Edition). The variant rules and methods were published first in Chimaera, and the postal game then ran in that periodical from 1976 through 1980. This revised rule set later was published separately, essentially a variant D&D system where the modifications were intended to support Play-by-Mail (PBM). The document does not have a date, but based upon comments in Chimaera (Issue 36 - Nov 1977), it probably dates to ca. November 1977. The material presented in this document is very similar to the game as presented in Chimaera (Issue 20 - Aug 1976) and Chimaera (Issue 21 - Sep 1976).