Thursday, August 2, 2012

First D&D thing you bought with money you earned?

I was just thinking back to Dragon Magazine #39. I think that it's my favorite issue of Dragon, objectively, but it also happens to be the first D&D purchase I made with money I earned from mowing lawns (as opposed to an allowance for doing chores). What was the first D&D item you bought with earned money (other than allowances)? Do you think that it affected your perception of its quality?

18 comments:

  1. Twilight 2000 via paper route money. I know I never played it 'correctly'. But my friends and I enjoyed it immensely.

    I think it did affect my perception of its quality. I'm pretty much indifferent to it now, but at the time I toted the game around to friends houses, school, church, pretty much anywhere. Mostly we just looked at guns and filled out character sheets incorrectly, but damn if we didn't have fun with it.

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  2. I got the Deities & Demigods hardcover because no one else in my group had it.

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  3. The first thing I bought was a binder with a photocopy of the Mentzer Basic and Expert rules plus a bag of dice. The overall effect of the purchase was a lingering interest in D&D over AD&D.

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  4. I wasn't earning my money until 1984, when I had my first real job. I would assume something having to do with Call of Cthulhu or Runequest, probably. Griffin Mountain, maybe?

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  5. Holmes edition Basic Set. And, yes, I think that something earned has far more value than something given. I still remember getting home and opening up the box; it was likely finding a magical grimoire, or buried treasure. I've never bought anything since that has been as magical or influential to my life.

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  6. Fiend Folio and Deities and Demigods at Toy'R'Us...

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  7. Mentzer red box. Definitely flavored my perception, as all things are measured against D&D now.

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  8. I believe it was my first set of dice. Of which I still have the d20, d8, and d4. It did not come with a d10 because the d20 doubled for that. I lost my d12 in 8th grade Study Hall. Had everyone looking for it. Even the teacher helped. It was a dark day.

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    1. I've still got the first dice I ever bought, too; a d20 with one-half painted red to signify 11-20, and a set of Armory dice that are so badly worn from use that they are almost rounded now.

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  9. i believe it was the Fiend Folio also.

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  10. Wasn't money per se, but I bartered a cassette of Men At Work's "Cargo" and a bag of Starburst for Village of Hommlet.

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  11. The first D&D item I ever bought (with my own money no less!) was the Mountain of Mirrors Endless Quest book. I still have and love that thing!

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  12. Does birthday money count? I'm guessing probably not, since it wasn't "earned" by anything other than me being awesome and having a birthday.

    My first actual job wasn't until the summer after my senior year in high school, but I was raised by a family of misers and don't think I spent any money on D&D stuff until over a year later, and at that point, it was most like the 2nd Edition Player's Handbook. :( Oddly enough, that's the one edition of the game that I've never actually played. How funny.

    I definitely remember the first purchase of a D&D product I made on my own, with "my" money, even though if was birthday money - Issue #72 of Dragon Magazine. It was the second issue I'd seen (I'd been given #76 as a birthday gift) and I still think it's one of my favorite issues, even though there's not a lot of great stuff in it. I think it's just the idea of what Dragon was that holds my imagination. Plus I was fascinated by the idea that there was a new "official" class (the Cavalier).

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  13. The Holmes Box Set. I had just recently played my in my first game of DnD (but it was really Advanced DnD) and was baffled by the differences between my game experience and the rules in the blue book. There were no dice, just chits but luckily I had bought some dice as well. The d20 was 1 to 0, twice. Had to ink in the "high" numbers. Spent many hours reading and rereading that little book. Pure bliss.

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  14. Holmes Basic. I was about 15 and had been mowing lawns all summer. I was at the base hobby shop at NAS Millington (TN) with a friend. There it sat on the shelf, with that dragon atop a mound of treasure, two brave adventurers about to join battle. Anyway, our house was only about a mile from the shop, so I had my friend guard it while I RAN home and got the money. It was the only copy, you see.

    I've read/played a lot of games since that day 35 years ago, but I measure them all against D&D and my experiences with it. And no matter what other games I try, or for how long I play them, I always come back to D&D. Always.

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  15. I don't recall... it was a darned long time ago. I'd have to guess some figures likely dungeon dwellers blister packs from heritage.

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  16. I bought the Holmes Basic Boxed set and the AD&D Monster Manual at the same time. I didn't quite understand the differences between the rules sets, just that both were that new D&D game that my friend had told me about.

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  17. GameScience dice, I believe. Might have been B4, but I'm pretty sure new dice was the first D&D thing I ever bought with my own earned money.

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