Your introduction to D&D: what order of books?

[Bullgrit]

Whether you began D&D in 1979 or 2009, I think the first D&D books you were exposed to, in your first months (2-24) of gaming, have a large importance on how you view the game as a whole, even 30 years later. They may have solidified your interest in the game more than your first play experience.

What D&D books, in what order, formed your introduction to D&D?

The books that introduced me to D&D (first ~24 months) were these (in this order):

1. Basic D&D rule book
2. B1 In Search of the Unknown
3. B2 Keep on the Borderland
4. U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
5. AD&D1 Fiend Folio
6. AD&D1 Dungeon Master’s Guide
7. A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity (we first played/ran both A1 and U1 with BD&D rules)
8. AD&D1 Player’s Handbook
9. AD&D1 Monster Manual
10. Dragon Magazine #68

There was a lot of homemade adventures during this time, but they were all derivitives/imitations of the official adventures we had read and played.

What was the initial book-path for your D&D career?

Bullgrit

 

[Mercurius]

I first played D&D at a Tibetan New Year festival in Boulder CO in 1981 or 1982, when some new friends pulled me into a VW bus and handed me a character sheet, which was like a parchment of pure gold. I was eight or nine years old. But I really struck it rich shortly thereafter when some of my older brother's friends, who had swapped D&D for computer games, gifted me what was, at the time, the four core AD&D books: DMG, PHB, MM, and Deities & Demigods. More than any single book it was that last one--and the DMG a bit later on--that formed an impression on me, in particular the Melnibonean Mythos, but also the Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, Arthurian, etc (I never cared much for Cthulhu).

After that it was Tomb of Horrors, which had a huge impression on me, MM2 and FF, and then a couple years later the Dragonlance novels (although I never played the modules).

 

[Nagol]

Basic D&D
B2 Keep on the Borderlands
AD&D Monster Manual
AD&D Player's Handbook
AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide
B1 In Search for the Unknown

After that, things started moving more quickly and branched out of D&D into other systems.

 

[Almacov]

Personally, I was way too young to remember what books were at the table when I was introduced. (If any.)
I was 6, and my cousin was running little adventures for a bunch of the family.
I think he was using a blend of 1e and 2e rules, but he did most of the mechanical stuff for us.
In terms of books I remember seeing around that time... Probably a smattering of AD&D books. Rulebooks, no modules. I remember being interested in the illustrations and spell descriptions.
There was also some kind of Intellivision D&D game I used to see my cousins play.


Much later on, in elementary school, a few friends got into 3rd edition, and I picked up the core rules for those. Shortly after, I got the Moldvay Red-Boxed Basic set at a yard sale. I gathered books pretty quickly, but I distinctly remember hunting down "Tome & Blood", "Masters of the Wild", and Green Ronin's "Jade Dragons, Hungry Ghosts", early on.

I've got to say though, I think my actual play experiences with friends and relatives probably proved much more influential than the books themselves.

 

[weem]

After we played, I was given all of these - my first D&D books as they were.

I don't remember what came next after these, in what order, etc.

 

[Gentlegamer]

I'm going to go a bit off-script for my reply:

1. D&D Cartoon
[gap of a couple years]
2. Endless Quest books (and several other similar gamebooks, notably the Choose Your Own Adventure series)
3. Dragon issues in the 150s-160s at local public library
4. D&D Hollow World boxed set (no basic set was available, only D&D set I could find)
5. D&D Basic (black box)
6. Eye of Tralder module
7. Dymrak Dread module
8. AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Edition
9. AD&D Dungeon Master Guide, 2nd Edition
10. AD&D Monster Compendium
11. AD&D1 PHB, DMG, MM, MM2 (obtained all at once from a used bookstore)

Aside from the D&D cartoon, my time frame is about 1988-1991. The order given is to my best recollection.

 

[Ravellion]

D&D cartoons when I was 7 or 8.
Basic D&D when I was 16 or so. Played about two sessions.
AD&D 2e, black cover, and a large number of splats, when I was 17 or 18. These were books I actually owned and read, nay, devoured.

 

[ExploderWizard]

1) Holmes Basic ( not my own)c. 1980
2) Moldvay Basic Set w KOTB (my first D&D books) 1981
3) Cook Expert Set w Isle of Dread

 

[Jhaelen]

1. AD&D 1e Player's Handbook
2. AD&D 1e Deities & Demigods
3. D&D Basic Set

I clearly remember being most impressed about the Mythos Pantheon (I hadn't read anything from Lovecraft yet) and Nehwon (I had read Fritz Leiber already).

It's also safe to say I never really enjoyed Basic D&D because I thought it was a step backward from what I'd seen in AD&D. It especially irked me that there was no separation of race and class.

 

[Ahnehnois]

My first book was the 3.0 Monster Manual. I read it thoroughly and interpolated many of the rules before getting the other books. (This was a gift by people who didn't know better). I had previously played 2e using other people's books and character sheets made for me so I had some idea of what was going on but didn't really know the rules.

I then bought the PHB and later the DMG (with much resistance from the DM who didn't want us to see what was in there). Shortly after, started running my own games.

I still have a passion for monster books.