Your First Gaming Book?

[Gnarlo]

My first RPG book was the 4th edition blue Basic Set when I was 15; I had so much fun coercing my family and friends into playing Still have the rule book and B1 module, the front of the box, and those horrible, horrible dice

 

[Ed Cha]

I was like eight years old and shopping with family at Kmart or somewhere like that. We were probably looking for a basketball hoop or something. At the time, I was really into dinosaurs. I saw the Monster Manual, but I had no idea it was for a game. I had never heard of Dungeons & Dragons before. I thought it was just like a dinosaur book, but for monsters. The drawings were so AWESOME! I had to get it.

 

[Cithindril]

Like so many others...D&D Red Box Set in 1980 (I was 10). After trying to explain the game as I understood it to my kid sister and parents (a lost cause), I actually began gaming with friends about a year later and have been hooked since.

 

[hero4hire]

My mom and her boyfriend bought those little white pamphlets in, I am going to say late '76. (I was 7) They quickly lost interest but I was hooked. I really didn't get to play with other people (yes I was playing with myself) until 5th grade though.

 

[Gothmog]

I was 10, and had just finished reading the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings books. I was in a hobby store one day with my dad while he was getting model train stuff, and I saw the old red Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP) boxed set. I knew I had to have it, and I pestered my dad until he broke down and got it for me. I took it home and devoured it over the course of the weekend, understanding most of it (except for the movement and maneuver rolls- those still kinda confuse me). Within another week, I had some friends from gradeschool gaming, and we played that old Trollshaws module like crazy, with tons of character deaths. Good times.

 

[Wombat]

The Three Little Books (1975)

I was 16 years old; they hadn't been out for very long and I was the first person in my community to even hear about them, much less read them...

**sigh**

What a long, strange trip it's been...

 

[the Jester]

Basic boxed set and the Secret of Bone Hill, age 11, followed shortly by the PHB (1e).

 

[Eremite]

My first purchases were:

- the Basic set with the green dragon (IIRC) on the cover;
- the Gen Con IX Dungeons published by Judges Guild; and
- Top Secret.

I bought these three products at once.

Prior to that I owned a photocopied version of SPI's Dragonquest but the three products mentioned were my first purchases.

 

[kolikeos]

I think it was the Players Handbook 3E, I think I was 14.

 

[Turanil]

What was your first game book and how old were you when you read (and understood) it?

The original D&D white boxed set. (I was 16 years old)

Alas, I sold it one year later to a schoolmate for 10$... What a shame, I lost an invaluable collector that day. Fortunately I bought the recent Castle & Crusade boxed set to alleviate my suffering...