Has anyone mentioned Judge's Guild products? City State of the Invincible Overlord, CS of the World Emperor, Tegal Manor, were some of my absolute favorites. Frequently they made no sense at all, and the production values were...not the best. But wildly creative. In the hands of a good GM, priceless.
I haven't heard of these. Were they 3rd party modules? Or games in their own right?
I haven't heard of these. Were they 3rd party modules? Or games in their own right?Has anyone mentioned Judge's Guild products? City State of the Invincible Overlord, CS of the World Emperor, Tegal Manor, were some of my absolute favorites. Frequently they made no sense at all, and the production values were...not the best. But wildly creative. In the hands of a good GM, priceless.
3rd party modules and campaign setting material for use with D&D.
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Well, it wasn't in the 70's and I've spouted my love of it here before, but for me, the Judges Guild mega-adventure Dark Tower ruled the world back in the early 80's.
I was a little kid, see, and my elder brother ran parts of it for me from time to time and I was TERRIFIED every time. Like, having nightmares and wetting the bed terrified. Even looking at that wierd, creepy grrenish cover would scare me.
How I wish I could be part of a game that scared me like that now that I'm not 6.
Hi John,
My response is covered by two WWW articles:
a discussion on old school gaming and a funny look at some GMing horror stories.
It was loads of fun, and it was definitely different than the gaming today.
In service,
Has anyone mentioned Judge's Guild products? City State of the Invincible Overlord, CS of the World Emperor, Tegal Manor, were some of my absolute favorites. Frequently they made no sense at all, and the production values were...not the best. But wildly creative. In the hands of a good GM, priceless.
I haven't heard of these. Were they 3rd party modules? Or games in their own right?
They were 3rd party modules mostly, but JG did also put out its own gaming system too.
One of the most memorable encounters using only JG material was when my party was attacked by breakfast ... I can't see that happening in 4e.
You used to be able to buy a whole campaign that would last you years for $10. Awesome!
In service,
Thanks for the posts so far. It's been very interesting to hear what it was like back then. Another question if I may? Since D&D was so new back then, how did you hear about it? What drew you to the game? A couple of you have mentioned that so far. Also, what did hobbies/games were you involved with prior to D&D? I wasn't even born when D&D first came out so I didn't play until I was about 8 near the end of AD&D first edition. An older kid in the neighborhood saw my brother, another friend, and I, playing "knights" outside and rightly guessed that we would like to try to play D&D. As a child, I saw little difference between playing "knights" and playing D&D since the combats took place in my imagination.
I went to high school in Wisconsin, and that was the Mecca of role-playing back in the mid-70s when I started.
One of the students at the high school started playing and introduced me.
In service,
Rich
I was young, my imagination was limitless, and I had plenty of time to play with some good friends I still know today. Those days can't be replaced. But looking back on it, I often wonder how "advanced" it seemed in those days, and how simple it appears in regards to more recent games. Hopefully one of these days someone will create something that is the best of both worlds. The hardest thing to accept via the old school, is classes as races.
I am such a n00b. I did not start playing until '81.LOL
That's when I started.
Me three. :-)
We should start a Thread -- who all started playing in 1981.
*waves hand
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Here's the story on Judges Guild, as I understand it.
In 1976, which was very early in the D&D process, probably before Supplement II: Blackmoor came out, Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owens traveled to Lake Geneva and asked permission to publish D&D adventures. Either Gary or Dave Arnesson, having difficulty imagining why anyone would want to do anything like that, agreed.
And Judges Guild started publishing all manner of adventures for D&D: their campaign world, a major setting, and lots of really cruddy adventures featuring bad puns and implausible "puzzles" and "traps".
When AD&D came about, and TSR became a powerhouse game company, they tried to rescind permission, but the courts backed Judges Guild, which was itself making a substantial profit on TSR's coat-tails.
Sometime around 1985, the company went under, a victim of their own low production values, and TSR thought that would be the end of that. What they didn't realize is that the original contract -- either just an oral agreement or a loosely written document -- was so ill-worded that the permission to publish "Approved for use with D&D" game supplements was transferable, that is, it could be sold to a third party; it didn't lapse with the closing of Judges Guild.
Mayfair bought the rights to the permission, and produced somewhat better quality products, all carrying the "approved for use with Dungeons and Dragons" stamp on the cover.
I can speak to how much this was driving TSR nuts, because I started freelancing for AD&D in 1987, and there was a problem: I had already written a couple of modules for Mayfair's "DC Heroes" game, and TSR had been operating under a strict policy for some time, that they would never hire anybody who'd done any work for Mayfair. My editor wanted to use me, and we were discussing the options of sneaking me in under a pseudonym (God knows how that would have worked with tax records) when upper management relented.
Bob Bledsaw died of cancer, less than a month after Gary Gygax passed away.
Call it 'Still Preoccupied with 1981'? :)
MTV, USSR, Hair bands and D&D. The 80's rocked!
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I started playing in the late 70's, probably around 1978 - I was about 10 years old. Heck, I even talk a bit about this in my little Paizo bio :)
I recall hearing a group of kids talking about the game at recess. I asked about it and was so intrigued I told my friends. I remember we quickly picked up the basic boxed set - no dice (you got little carboard chits with numbers on them instead) rules and the Keep on the Borderland module. Trying to figure out what we were doing as we first played that module was a wonderful, magical time.
Soon after, we all got the brand new hardback AD&D hardcover books - the Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide and Monster Manual. We then quickly found Dragon magazine and the amazing wealth of ideas and content it brought us each month in our mailbox. I used to pour over each issue. I remember photocopying stuff from each issue I liked and keeping the photcopies organized in a 3 ring notebook.
We played all the time. We went to a local magic shop that also sold gaming stuff about once a week to see what was new.
It really was, as I say, a magical time. I still love playing Pathfinder but there is a part of me that longs for those long ago games of AD&D ...
It really was, as I say, a magical time. I still love playing Pathfinder but there is a part of me that longs for those long ago games of AD&D ...
I think a lot of people feel that way, about whatever system you play. It's true, you always remember your first. I can't recall much about my first adventure, except I made a thief and I remember walking down stairs that suddenly turned into a slide...I think. But those first few years were definitely full of magic as you encountered every monster and trap for the first time. I enjoy very much playing Pathfinder but the best times I have now playing our when my friend that introduced me to the game comes back to my area for his yearly visit with family. Playing with the "old gang", no matter what system, brings me back to those early days.
Here's the story on Judges Guild, as I understand it.
In 1976, which was very early in the D&D process, probably before Supplement II: Blackmoor came out, Bob Bledsaw and Bill Owens traveled to Lake Geneva and asked permission to publish D&D adventures. Either Gary or Dave Arnesson, having difficulty imagining why anyone would want to do anything like that, agreed.
And Judges Guild started publishing all manner of adventures for D&D: their campaign world, a major setting, and lots of really cruddy adventures featuring bad puns and implausible "puzzles" and "traps".
When AD&D came about, and TSR became a powerhouse game company, they tried to rescind permission, but the courts backed Judges Guild, which was itself making a substantial profit on TSR's coat-tails.
Sometime around 1985, the company went under, a victim of their own low production values, and TSR thought that would be the end of that. What they didn't realize is that the original contract -- either just an oral agreement or a loosely written document -- was so ill-worded that the permission to publish "Approved for use with D&D" game supplements was transferable, that is, it could be sold to a third party; it didn't lapse with the closing of Judges Guild.
Mayfair bought the rights to the permission, and produced somewhat better quality products, all carrying the "approved for use with Dungeons and Dragons" stamp on the cover.
I can speak to how much this was driving TSR nuts, because I started freelancing for AD&D in 1987, and there was a problem: I had already written a couple of modules for Mayfair's "DC Heroes" game, and TSR had been operating under a strict policy for some time, that they would never hire anybody who'd done any work for Mayfair. My editor wanted to use me, and we were discussing the options of sneaking me in under a pseudonym (God knows how that would have worked with tax records) when upper management relented.
Bob Bledsaw died of cancer, less than a month after Gary Gygax passed away.
That's an interesting story and thanks to everyone who filled me in on Judge's Guild. I'm surprised I've never seen/heard of it either word of mouth or lurking in the back corners of the discount bin of a gaming store. The DC Heroes game does sound familiar, though...
It really was, as I say, a magical time. I still love playing Pathfinder but there is a part of me that longs for those long ago games of AD&D ...I think a lot of people feel that way, about whatever system you play. It's true, you always remember your first. I can't recall much about my first adventure, except I made a thief and I remember walking down stairs that suddenly turned into a slide...I think. But those first few years were definitely full of magic as you encountered every monster and trap for the first time. I enjoy very much playing Pathfinder but the best times I have now playing our when my friend that introduced me to the game comes back to my area for his yearly visit with family. Playing with the "old gang", no matter what system, brings me back to those early days.
Start a group made out of nothing but newbs and live vicariously through them. Its not quote the same but its about as close as it gets for an old time vet.
Start a group made out of nothing but newbs and live vicariously through them. Its not quote the same but its about as close as it gets for an old time vet.
It really was, as I say, a magical time. I still love playing Pathfinder but there is a part of me that longs for those long ago games of AD&D ...I think a lot of people feel that way, about whatever system you play. It's true, you always remember your first. I can't recall much about my first adventure, except I made a thief and I remember walking down stairs that suddenly turned into a slide...I think. But those first few years were definitely full of magic as you encountered every monster and trap for the first time. I enjoy very much playing Pathfinder but the best times I have now playing our when my friend that introduced me to the game comes back to my area for his yearly visit with family. Playing with the "old gang", no matter what system, brings me back to those early days.
I had high hopes for my nephew. He's 12 now. When he was a little bit younger, he loved playing the "Dark Tower" board game and "HeroQuest" with me. I tried showing him some D&D books but it was an "epic fail." It's all Halo and Call of Duty for him.
So what are other people's experiences with D&D in the 70s?
I was into DnD before I ever actually found the game itself lol. I grew up in the early 80's, and fell in love with the DnD cartoon. I read a lot of comic books back then(my Dad is a collector) and I saw all these ads for DnD. My best friend and I would play like we were characters in the show, and by about '91 he got the Dragon Quest DnD board game. I had heard about DnD from all the weird news stories at the time, but this was the first time I saw an honest to goodness actual game of it.
Dragon Quest had everything we needed to start coming up with our own stuff, and eventually my friends and I made up our own "advanced"(over complicated) version of it and played it for a couple years(we were too broke to get into real ADnD).
It wasn't until '02 that I actually played a real DnD game(aside form the basic and intro board games), it was 3.0. A friend of mine had actually had some material he submitted to Sword and Sorcery Games published for the Scarred Lands setting, so he already had the books and we started up a game. It's been an obsession ever since!
I know it's not from the 70's, but dangit, I was close!
John, have you read any of what Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz, Dave Arneson, or any of the other founding forefathers have written about the early days? I'm sure you would find the accounts of the early adventures of Lord Robilar, Mordenkainen, Bigsby, Tenser, and other primal PCs in Castle Greyhawk or Castle Maure interesting reading. Gygax wrote a few articles recalling the '70s games in Lake Geneva in Dragon mag, Up on the Soapbox I think was his column. Sorry I don't have a link for you.
I remember one summer (circa 1979) hearing about the DnD exploits of the “big kids” of the neighborhood: Hill Giants were levitated and left to crash to their deaths (never figured this one out), the lead Fighter of the party had an 18 Con and 8 Str, but sported a Girdle Of Storm Giant Strength, and battling Judge’s Guild “Operation Ogre” was the last, brutal adventure completed before school started…
I think my favorite JG memory is from Tegal Manor. The entire room description was something like:
"A spectre is teaching a dozen zombies how to strangle."
I still chuckle about that.
John, have you read any of what Gary Gygax, Rob Kuntz, Dave Arneson, or any of the other founding forefathers have written about the early days? I'm sure you would find the accounts of the early adventures of Lord Robilar, Mordenkainen, Bigsby, Tenser, and other primal PCs in Castle Greyhawk or Castle Maure interesting reading. Gygax wrote a few articles recalling the '70s games in Lake Geneva in Dragon mag, Up on the Soapbox I think was his column. Sorry I don't have a link for you.
I haven't read anything they specifically wrote but I have read various articles that talk about them. My best friend's brother actually took a game design class with Arneson at Full Sail in Florida just a year or two before he died. He had never played D&D, so he thought Dave was a little on his high horse, I guess. I probably would have thought it was awesome.
It was mentioned earlier on the thread Gary Gygax's recommended reading at the end of the AD&D DMG. I went back to investigate and interestingly enough, after his lists his recommended readings, Gary lists the biggest influences on the game. Vance shows up as well as Howard and Lovecraft but surprisingly, not Tolkien. One usually equates the two but I felt the only thing Tolkien really influenced was the races of dwarves, elves, and halflings. The spirit of the game wasn't usually so epic or noble. What were you reading in the 70s when you delved into your first dungeon?
I remember one summer (circa 1979) hearing about the DnD exploits of the “big kids” of the neighborhood: Hill Giants were levitated and left to crash to their deaths (never figured this one out), the lead Fighter of the party had an 18 Con and 8 Str, but sported a Girdle Of Storm Giant Strength, and battling Judge’s Guild “Operation Ogre” was the last, brutal adventure completed before school started…
These Judge's Guild adventures seem to be popular. This thread is the first time I've heard of them. I'm intrigued...
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It was mentioned earlier on the thread Gary Gygax's recommended reading at the end of the AD&D DMG. I went back to investigate and interestingly enough, after his lists his recommended readings, Gary lists the biggest influences on the game. Vance shows up as well as Howard and Lovecraft but surprisingly, not Tolkien. One usually equates the two but I felt the only thing Tolkien really influenced was the races of dwarves, elves, and halflings. The spirit of the game wasn't usually so epic or noble. What were you reading in the 70s when you delved into your first dungeon?
You have to remember that OD&D originally had Ents and Hobbits and the presentation of the elves and dwarves was/is decidedly more Tolkien than mythology. Gygax had to change all the names Tolkien invented, and was probably so tired of people asking/thinking/saying Tolkien was the biggest influence on his and Dave's game (whether it was true or not; his Upon a Soapbox article went way overboard in denying Tolkien influenced D&D more than minimally) that, by the time the DMG came out, there was no way the dude was going to give it the credit it probably deserved.
Plus, I don't know if people understand how HUGE Tolkien was in the late '60s and '70s (in the same way I don't think people understand how HUGE - and what a cultural phenomenon - D&D was in the '80s). I doubt D&D would have been anything but a niche game, a nice diversion for wargamers, had Tolkien not captured the imagination of two generations. Gygax may have just ripped off a few names and a few concepts from Tolkien, but the success of D&D owes a lot to Tolkien taking fantasy fiction out of its niche and making it mainstream.
It was mentioned earlier on the thread Gary Gygax's recommended reading at the end of the AD&D DMG. I went back to investigate and interestingly enough, after his lists his recommended readings, Gary lists the biggest influences on the game. Vance shows up as well as Howard and Lovecraft but surprisingly, not Tolkien. One usually equates the two but I felt the only thing Tolkien really influenced was the races of dwarves, elves, and halflings. The spirit of the game wasn't usually so epic or noble. What were you reading in the 70s when you delved into your first dungeon?You have to remember that OD&D originally had Ents and Hobbits and the presentation of the elves and dwarves was/is decidedly more Tolkien than mythology. Gygax had to change all the names Tolkien invented, and was probably so tired of people asking/thinking/saying Tolkien was the biggest influence on his and Dave's game (whether it was true or not; his Upon a Soapbox article went way overboard in denying Tolkien influenced D&D more than minimally) that, by the time the DMG came out, there was no way the dude was going to give it the credit it probably deserved.
Plus, I don't know if people understand how HUGE Tolkien was in the late '60s and '70s (in the same way I don't think people understand how HUGE - and what a cultural phenomenon - D&D was in the '80s). I doubt D&D would have been anything but a niche game, a nice diversion for wargamers, had Tolkien not captured the imagination of two generations. Gygax may have just ripped off a few names and a few concepts from Tolkien, but the success of D&D owes a lot to Tolkien taking fantasy fiction out of its niche and making it mainstream.
I agree, though I think its worth emphasizing that part of the picture here is that Gygax personally did not like Tolkien's work that much. Makes it a lot easier to try and deny that credit (even when its due) if your not personally a big fan.
Most early D&D adventures were basically the Mines of Moria, and most adventuring parties from the beginning to the present are akin to the Fellowship of the Ring -- a band of heroes of mixed races that go on a quest or series of adventures together for whatever reason. To me, that alone makes the Tolkien influence obvious, admitted or not.
That said, the flavor of Gygax's D&D was alot more like that of Moorcock's Elric, Robert E. Howard's Conan, and Fritz Lieber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. And apparently Vance, but I haven't read any, so I can't comment.
Better than me. I started playing in '05.
Or me - I had nothing but the computer games and the NES version of Pool of Radiance till '95.
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These Judge's Guild adventures seem to be popular....
Yeah, but with only a couple JG exceptions the early Gygax 1E Mods were still the best. Tomb of Horrors, Vault of the Drow, Village of Hommlet and Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth blow away anything from JG.
And when you add Schick's White Plume Mountain, Hammack's Ghost Tower of Inverness, and Johnson's Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, 70's quality belonged to TSR.
My first DnD experience was after buying the basic boxed set at a place in Trumbull Connecticut in the Mall called Walden Books. It was a chain store, but there was the comic book and games section.
Small world -- I've bought game stuff in that same Waldenbooks. I used to run against Trumbull in track in high school. They had a much nicer track than we did.
Me three. :-)I am such a n00b. I did not start playing until '81.LOL
That's when I started.
Was that the year Fiend Folio finally came out? That's when I started playing, too. My friend got the book as soon as it was released and we all thought "number of attacks" was how many times the monster had attacked villages, and "damage/attack" was how many villagers were killed during each incident. So we bought the other rules and were quickly disillusioned.
I'm not sure. I started out when my Dad bought the Basic D&D box set for my brother and I. But Fiend Folio was the first AD&D book I ever bought (shortly afterwards). I thought the cover was pretty bad-ass. :-)
I'm not sure. I started out when my Dad bought the Basic D&D box set for my brother and I. But Fiend Folio was the first AD&D book I ever bought (shortly afterwards). I thought the cover was pretty bad-ass. :-)
Fiend Folio is on my list to collect. My friend had that book and I thought it was so cool. I bought the 3rd e book of the same name just based on my found memories of the old one. However, I think it's funny that now these old 1st edition books are collectible and going for cover price or more at some places. When 2e came out, I traded all my 1e books just to get the Monsters Compendium. Do people still have old game books/modules that are worth money now?
I bought the FF a few years back for a moderate price, IIRC. It is from 1981, btw. I do have some old stuff, but most of it bought later, as the original stuff was way too expensive over here (Germany) in the 80ies - an AD&D1 Players Handbook would cost about $ 25 or more (not sure about the exact exchange rate at that time) in the mid-to late 80ies over here. Luckily, translated books were available in the late 80ies (but sometimes with crappy translations...) I started playing 1984 with the German red basic box, btw. Here is even a scan of my box, which sits (empty) on my shelf to this day.
Stefan
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I'm not sure. I started out when my Dad bought the Basic D&D box set for my brother and I. But Fiend Folio was the first AD&D book I ever bought (shortly afterwards). I thought the cover was pretty bad-ass. :-)Fiend Folio is on my list to collect. My friend had that book and I thought it was so cool. I bought the 3rd e book of the same name just based on my found memories of the old one. However, I think it's funny that now these old 1st edition books are collectible and going for cover price or more at some places. When 2e came out, I traded all my 1e books just to get the Monsters Compendium. Do people still have old game books/modules that are worth money now?
I don't have any of my old AD&D books BUT I did buy some very good condition copies of the DMs Guide, Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and a few great early modules on Ebay recently just so I have them for posterity. It brings back such great memories just paging through them!
Do people still have old game books/modules that are worth money now?
I have an 'Auggh you stupid child' version. I had the first print run of the Deities and Demi-Gods. You know the one with the Cthulu and Newhon Mythos...but I was a child. I beat the living crap out of that book - at one point I left it on top of the radiator...for two years. I still have it but its in terrible condition and no sane collector would take it off my hands.
My DM guide is in the same condition, and the other favorites are fiend folio, monster manual II and oriental adventures. As to modules the against the giants and vault of the drow series were epic! And I am surprised no one had mentioned ravenloft. But maybe I am skipping through a couple versions of D&D. I also played Judges Guild, and the other one that brings back memories is against the slavelords series.
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Anyone have or ever play Caltech's version of D&D: "Warlock"?
I guess nobody has played Warlock...
Basically, back in 1974, a group of Caltech students in Pasadena, CA thought that they could "improve upon" D&D (I guess they didn't like the combat system) so they published their own version of it...
From what I've read, it was quite popular here on the west coast...
For the record, I've never played it. And I've only seen a .rtf version of the rules (but that was years ago)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Anyone have or ever play Caltech's version of D&D: "Warlock"?I guess nobody has played Warlock...
Basically, back in 1974, a group of Caltech students in Pasadena, CA thought that they could "improve upon" D&D (I guess they didn't like the combat system) so they published their own version of it...
From what I've read, it was quite popular here on the west coast...
For the record, I've never played it. And I've only seen a .rtf version of the rules (but that was years ago)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Hmmm, that is interesting since original D&D came out at that time. Has anyone else heard of this? And if you haven't, feel free to keep posting about D&D in the 70s. Good stuff, everyone.
My DM guide is in the same condition, and the other favorites are fiend folio, monster manual II and oriental adventures. As to modules the against the giants and vault of the drow series were epic! And I am surprised no one had mentioned ravenloft. But maybe I am skipping through a couple versions of D&D. I also played Judges Guild, and the other one that brings back memories is against the slavelords series.
Original Oriental Adventures was my second favorite book next to Dragonlance Adventures. I still have my original OA. As much as I love samurais, probably the worst setting to play in. My western mind cannot grasp the concepts of honor and serving a group instead of an individual. But a fantastic read non the less and I still enjoy it over the 3E Rokugan setting (as well as Dragonlance Adventures over the Dragonlance 3E setting).
In the 70s, D&D players had to juggle between rolling dice and running from dinosaurs.
We were all kids, playing.
So there were NO mustaches.
Mostly we got around to other peoples gaming tables by riding our BMX bikes. mongoose, huffy, redline, diamondback seemed to be popular.
I dont remember bell bottoms, maybe we were too young and poor for trendy things. Just levis. But i do remember some kids wearing ugly addidas jackets like you see harry potter wear in one of the latter movies (did they bring that back in england or something?)
Heavy Metal was gamers music.
hair styles, there werent any, i dont think anyone combed their hair at all.
Everyone wore some kind of a heavy metal tshirt (so they were all black)
and chuck taylors (converse all stars) were pretty much the only sneakers that existed back then (they were called tennis shoes, even though , they were actually basketball shoes)
games stores for us didnt come about until the 80s
so all our stuff was bought at walden books (in the mall) or toys r Us
the first gaming store i was aware of was "the hobby cart" in the trumbull mall.
which eventually became a store unto its own.
thats when games actually began being held AT the store.
Prior to DnD, I collected Comic books, my father actually had original copies of batman and superman. I had early xmen, which is pretty much what i read, i didnt get into spider man and the hulk into mid 80s when art and writing got alot better.
some kids collected baseball cards and we all had paper routes (hence the bikes)
ET (the extra terrestrial) came out in theatres and in the beginning of that movie, they are playing DnD. After that, there was a ton of new players all of the sudden... but that was 82, which, at least where i lived was practically still the 70s.
So if it was popular enough to sneak into a movie, then it must have been pretty well known by then.
my only other hobby besides comic books, before DnD, was making model WW2 planes out of balsa wood. Back then they werent plastic, and you had to do alot of sanding and work with a knife and detailing, now you came put a model together in 20 minutes.
I remember my first minis for DnD being much better than they are today.
We were all kids, playing.
So there were NO mustaches.Mostly we got around to other peoples gaming tables by riding our BMX bikes. mongoose, huffy, redline, diamondback seemed to be popular.
I dont remember bell bottoms, maybe we were too young and poor for trendy things. Just levis. But i do remember some kids wearing ugly addidas jackets like you see harry potter wear in one of the latter movies (did they bring that back in england or something?)Heavy Metal was gamers music.
hair styles, there werent any, i dont think anyone combed their hair at all.
Everyone wore some kind of a heavy metal tshirt (so they were all black)and chuck taylors (converse all stars) were pretty much the only sneakers that existed back then (they were called tennis shoes, even though , they were actually basketball shoes)
games stores for us didnt come about until the 80s
so all our stuff was bought at walden books (in the mall) or toys r Usthe first gaming store i was aware of was "the hobby cart" in the trumbull mall.
which eventually became a store unto its own.thats when games actually began being held AT the store.
Prior to DnD, I collected Comic books, my father actually had original copies of batman and superman. I had early xmen, which is pretty much what i read, i didnt get into spider man and the hulk into mid 80s when art and writing got alot better.
some kids collected baseball cards and we all had paper routes (hence the bikes)
ET (the extra terrestrial) came out in theatres and in the beginning of that movie, they are playing DnD. After that, there was a ton of new players all of the sudden... but that was 82, which, at least where i lived was practically still the 70s.
So if it was popular enough to sneak into a movie, then it must have been pretty well known by then.my only other hobby besides comic books, before DnD, was making model WW2 planes out of balsa wood. Back then they werent plastic, and you had to do alot of sanding and work with a knife and detailing, now you...
Yes, good stuff, thank you for sharing. Paper routes where still going strong when I started playing (in fact, I had mine for 7 years).
Doing a little bit of other research, has anyone played some of the other games that came out right after D&D. In addition to "Warlock" which was mentioned earlier, I just discovered "Tunnels and Trolls" and "Chivarly and Sorcery." The first one was supposedly more simple than D&D and the latter, more complex.
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My DM guide is in the same condition, and the other favorites are fiend folio, monster manual II and oriental adventures. As to modules the against the giants and vault of the drow series were epic! And I am surprised no one had mentioned ravenloft. But maybe I am skipping through a couple versions of D&D. I also played Judges Guild, and the other one that brings back memories is against the slavelords series.Original Oriental Adventures was my second favorite book next to Dragonlance Adventures. I still have my original OA. As much as I love samurai, probably the worst setting to play in. My western mind cannot grasp the concepts of honor and serving a group instead of an individual. But a fantastic read non the less and I still enjoy it over the 3E Rokugan setting (as well as Dragonlance Adventures over the Dragonlance 3E setting).
Oh man! We loved the Original Oriental Adventures book! We had a lot of fun using that book. In fact, one of our funniest gaming moments happened during an Oriental Adventures game.
Good times ...