D&D General What version of the Basic D&D/BECMI starter set did you first own?

[TerraDave]

Huhn, I didn't realize Holmes was initially '77. I got mine in '79, with B2 Keep on the Borderlands, for Chistmas. Still had the chits, instead of dice. I was only 10 and the rules were beyond me - my dad had to read and explain them to me. Sadly, I lost the rulebook after a month or so. Didn't have another rulebook until the '81 Moldvay set, which I loved to death.

Some of the earlier sets had dice, then chits, then the dice returned.

That 1977 box set included dungeon geomorphs and the monster and treasure and assortment. In 1978 they replaced those with B1 In Search of the Unknown, and then replaced that in 1979 with B2.

Which was also included in the very excellent Moldvay box set, which of course was the first D&D product I had.

 

[JediSoth]

We started playing with the Moldvay Basic set, the one my friend owned and introduced the game to me with, but when I finally found a copy of the Basic set to beg my parents to purchase for me, it was the Menzter Basic set (until then my group of friends had been checking the Moldvay set out of the public library on rotation when we needed another copy). We didn't really understand why there was a different set, nor did we comprehend the differences. I just know I hated Bargle for killing Aleena!

 

[Scott Christian]

I had 81, but it was 83 when I got it. Or rather, my older brother got it from my father's friend. He didn't want it, so I did a bunch of his chores in exchange for the box. I think it turned out to be a pretty good deal for me.

 

[Emrico]

81 Moldvay Basic. My mom got it for me in the summer of 81. A friend that played wargames with me (AH, SPI, etc) got it from his mom the same week. The two of us learned to play that summer and got a group together once school started. By Christmas that year we were jumping into AD&D and we all got loaded up with hardcovers, modules and Grenadier minis for Christmas.

Jim

 

[Zardnaar]

Exposed to red boxed set. Actually owned the RC.

 

[GetInTheHole]

I voted Mentzer's Red Box, but it was actually the Blue Expert that I first bought. Why? Because Waldenbooks didn't have the Basic box and I didn't know any better. Then I got UA. Why? Because it had classes and treasure in the same book! And Waldenbooks didn't have the DMG/PB that day and I didn't know any better. Added a few disjointed modules but my buddies and I basically scrawled out our own homebrew dungeons and somehow had fun.

I finally got the 1e DMG/PB/MM and we sort of morphed into mish-mash of 1e + Expert. I don't think we ever had Basic Red Box.

I don't recommend it, but pre-internet and no older players to lean on, a bunch of 13 year olds had to make do.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

None, the first books I owned where AD&D 1st edition.

 

[Willie the Duck]

First played a Moldvay-Holmes-AD&D mashup that the 'big kids' (9 and 10 year olds) were playing. First owned a first printing Mentzer B and E (so with Moldvay thief progression and Magic User's to-hit progressions placed on the wrong lines) I got for my 8th birthday.

Mine was Gideon, the Fighter.

Mine was Gwystion. Was yours also a take on Chronicles of Prydain's Prince Gwydion?

 

[Azzy]

Mine was Gwystion. Was yours also a take on Chronicles of Prydain's Prince Gwydion?

No, I was just in a rush for a name and chose something that sounded cool. I hadn't read the Prydain hronicles until much later (to my shame).

 

[Mannahnin]

I started with the Mentzer '83 "Red Box", but had/gotten a copy of the Cook/Marsh '81 Expert rules before the "Blue Box" Expert came out...which I then got anyway...

...cuz, you know,...had to get/have the matching sets.

Heh, that's what I did, too, except I never bothered picking up the "correct" Blue Box Expert set. Little-kid-me never realized they were really different editions! The little rules mismatches puzzled me slightly now and then, but we managed just fine.
And just to make the mismatch even more glaring, I eventually got the Companion set.

I voted Mentzer's Red Box, but it was actually the Blue Expert that I first bought. Why? Because Waldenbooks didn't have the Basic box and I didn't know any better. Then I got UA. Why? Because it had classes and treasure in the same book! And Waldenbooks didn't have the DMG/PB that day and I didn't know any better. Added a few disjointed modules but my buddies and I basically scrawled out our own homebrew dungeons and somehow had fun.

I finally got the 1e DMG/PB/MM and we sort of morphed into mish-mash of 1e + Expert. I don't think we ever had Basic Red Box.

I don't recommend it, but pre-internet and no older players to lean on, a bunch of 13 year olds had to make do.

Similar story for me. Got the Mentzer red Basic box in '85 for my 10th birthday, then went hunting for the Expert set and wound up finding the 1981 Cook version at Kaybee toys in the mall shortly thereafter. The mismatched art was a little confusing, but my brother and I and a couple of neighbor kids made do. Acquisitions shortly thereafter included 1E's Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures, a copy of Mentzer Expert and a copy of OD&D Supplement I: Greyhawk from an older adult, and eventually the remaining BECMI boxed sets, playing a weird mish-mash until 2nd Ed AD&D came out and we transitioned fully to that.

My first was Forgo the dwarf. Still grieving his death.

Raven the Elf, for me. Died to a poisoned needle in the sample dungeon, after successfully evading the Carrion Crawler and defeating the Kobolds in the courtyard with a Sleep spell.