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Friday, February 7, 2014

About That Box in the Basement

'It's in that box in the basement' is a running gag at our house; it's the answer to every question that starts 'Have you seen..?' or 'Where did we put...?'    It stems from our history of packing up and moving, as in we moved ten times in the twelve years I served.  With all the moves, some things just never got unpacked between moves, like a complete set of Depression Ware dishes or the books my father-in-law gave us when he cleaned off his bookshelves.  Now we've dropped anchor in the Twin Cities for going on fifteen years, yet we still haven't unpacked some of those boxes.

  I was looking to see if I could unearth the first D&D book I ever bought for the Day 7 Blog Hop.  I failed, but look what I did come across.

Ogre - the original Microgame version from 1977.  I think the little cardboard pieces (this long predates the minis) are in the bottom of the bin.  There were a couple of other little booklet games too, more on the sword and sorcery side.  I'll have to look for them later.



D&D Supplement IV.  Forgot I even had bought this.  From 1979, so I know I picked up about the same time I bought the AD&D Player's Handbook.  At Games by James, now a respectable little shop at the Mall of America.  Then it was a head shop in Stadium Village next to Stub & Herb's - by the University of Minnesota.  I bought some, ah, paraphernalia there too.   I'll have to redo my post on Deities & Demigods, adding this into the mix.

The official D&D Monster and Treasure Assortment for Levels 7-9 in your dungeon   That Manticore on the front is a piece by Trampier, it's quite different from the Sullivan illustration in the Monster Manual.  The monsters run from 7-42 bugbears to a 10 headed hydra.  It has tables for random determination of treasure's container, guard and Hidden by.  These are the same as Tables V. H-J on page 171 of the 1e DMG.  Exactly the same for Containers and Hidden By entries.  Printed in 1978

 Judges Guild, Judge's Guild, wherefore at thou Judges Guild? - My apologies to the Bard.  Second only to TSR for canonicalness [is that a word, it should be as it's quite cromulent] Judges Guild was a big influence on gaming in the late 70's & early 80's.  Here we have random tables for building types - by government type.  Odd in retrospect. Also random village name generator tables and no less than 47 villages laid out on hex grids.  Village Book 1 - 1978.


Another entry from Judges Guild, the map for the City State of Tarantis.  I found the blank player's map too, but didn't see the book.  I picked up this one from a friend from college and fellow gamer, when we were both stationed in the Norfolk area  in the late '80s.  Published 1983.

 And the only actual AD&D piece in the bunch.  T1, The Village of Hommlet.  Precursor to the Temple of Elemental Evil, this is the 1981 printing.  I must not have picked it up until fall of 1982 or early 1983.  I remember my roommate and I ran our characters through it after the rest of our original group had graduated and gotten their commissions.  This has the maps printed in the 'uncopyable' light blue of the era.


So what treasures have you found while looking for something else?

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