[D&D 40th Anniversary Bloghop] Day Seven

Day Seven: First D&D product you ever bought. Do you still have it?

Let's see.... I've talked on several occasions about the first D&D product I ever owned. That would be the 1981 Basic Set, otherwise known as Moldvay D&D. Arguably all my knocking on doors and pimping crappy wrapping paper would constitute "buying" and I do still have this box and most of the contents.

However, I choose to be pedantic about it. Most of the "product" I purchased in those early years were miniatures; in fact, other than the copy of B-2: Keep on the Borderlands that came with the Moldvay set, I'm not sure I ever purchased another "module" or adventure for D&D until the turn of the century. Other games? Yes. (Star Frontiers and Car Wars products come first to mind.) But seeing as how the miniatures question is set for next week, I'll hold off on those items until then. Besides, one could argue those weren't truly D&D "products" as they were produced by third parties. Same argument about the dice I bought: produced by third parties. (Leave me alone; I sleep just fine at night with my justification as my pillow.)

So we have to fast forward to the turn of the century as I said. There was a slew of purchases that first year as I tried to get up to speed with 2nd Edition AD&D. But the very first item I purchased was a copy of the 2E AD&D Players Handbook. Well, I suppose it's properly the 2nd Edition AD&D Revised Players Handbook. Y'know, the 1995 version of the book, not the 1989 edition. I still have it and it's in great condition, even though it saw a lot of use that first few years. I must confess... I don't think it's been off the shelf more than a handful of times since the group switched over to 3.x Edition. It certainly hasn't been off the shelf in over three years, that's for sure. But I still have a lot of fond memories associated with it. I even have a second copy, one I purchased for my wife when a couple of us guys from the group were trying to get a "spouses" game started. That one's in even better condition than mine; I think it's only been opened three times.

But can anyone tell me what the heck is going on with that barbarian's arm? I mean, really? Did Jeff Easley have a brain cramp when he got to that part of the man's anatomy? Seriously, it's always bugged me. I would have much preferred if they'd used the same illustration from the 1989 version; I've always liked the warrior-on-warhorse Easley illustration instead.