Your first RPG purchase, in pictures

Muad'dib Pendragon · Feb 3, 2026

Muad'dib Pendragon · Feb 3, 2026

Muad'dib Pendragon · Feb 3, 2026

Duplicate

cranberry · Feb 3, 2026

MGibster said:
I remember seeing ads for Star Frontiers in Spider-Man and GI Joe comics wondering what kind of game it was.

I never knew that they advertised in the comics. I think I found out about SF in a bookstore when I was looking at D&D stuff.

SableWyvern · Feb 3, 2026

Unfortunately, I no longer have my copy. No clue what happened to it, but it got a decent amount of use back in 1986. My second purchase was MERP, the following year.

MGibster · Feb 3, 2026

cranberry said:
I never knew that they advertised in the comics. I think I found out about SF in a bookstore when I was looking at D&D stuff.

This is the one I remember.

TheHand · Feb 3, 2026

Star Frontiers was one of the classic TSR games I never got to play. One of the other kids in my D&D friends group had a few of the books and we’d rolled up a bunch of characters and speculate about the setting lore, but we didn’t seem to know how to craft adventures for it. We’d then speculate on how well Space Battleship Yamato would fare against the Sathar* Fleet, and that was about it.
(* I think that’s what they were called)

It always seemed like a very cool setting that faded into obscurity.

Jahydin · Feb 3, 2026

billd91 said:
I purchased this bad boy at my local Waldenbooks (and by local I mean 20 miles from home).
View attachment 428555

What were your thoughts as you began reading through it for the first time? Also, about what age?

For me, at around 10, I remember being amazed at how useful numbers could be!

Jahydin · Feb 3, 2026

TwoSix said:
First RPG-adjacent purchase, as it was what got me into RPGs later on.

View attachment 428569

I wasn't allowed to own anything D&D growing up (Satanic Panic and all that), but was able to cobble together my own game using video game manuals/guides. A mix of Eye of the Beholder and Dragon Warrior (NES). Lots of fun games during lunch recess!

Jahydin · Feb 3, 2026

Always wanted D&D 2e, but wasn't allowed, so parents compromised and got these for me on Christmas (4th grader at the time). Played Rifts the most, but enjoyed the occasional GURPS game. Traveler was too difficult for me to understand unfortunately, and my parents had zero interest in helping me figure it out, but I kept it around for years because I liked the artwork.