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

[Mark]

I've posted this elsewhere and it includes some tangential information but . . .

Some friends of mine and I addded (O)D&D to our gaming rotation (along with wargaming, boardgaming, and miniatures wargaming) in 1974. For my part, I have since followed the (O)D&D - AD&D 1E - AD&D 2E - D&D 3E - D&D 3.5E path (and I have played some D&D 4E but have not purchased, nor do I plan to purchase the game). It should be noted, though, that I have been a Core Rules Only kind of guy for the most part, so power creep and rules bloat have never been a part of my gaming equation. I am also primarily a homebrewer when it comes to settings and adventures, though I have enjoyed playing in many of the classics under other DMs (I was fortunate enough to play in the "Giants" adventure when part of the D&D Open at Gencon). Along the way many other RPGs were tried and played for varying periods of time, from Boot Hill, Metamophosis Alpha/Gamma World, Champions, and Traveler through Pendragon, Feng Shui and Paranoia; Tunnels & Trolls, Bunnies & Burrows, RIFTS, GURPS, TOON, WFRPG, ICE, etc. (I am leaving out many, many more, I am sure.) While I, too, have loved the attention to detail of D&D 3.5 and it is one of my favorite RPG systems, perhaps largely because of the OGL, I also think that simpler systems with concise rules that do not require a great deal of rules mastery and cross-referencing during play can be a great deal more fun and action-packed. I think there is, somewhere, a game that removes the complications in rules without disolving the complexity of play. If it cannot be found, then it needs to be written.

 

[Voadam]

Moldvay Basic D&D which came with B1 Keep on the Borderlands.

I don't remember how long after that I got the expert book and the AD&D 1e books. Also two Dragon Magazines in there pretty early.

 

[Wik]

Well, my dad had most of the books for 1e, and a couple of 2e books by the time I remember starting to play. But I think my first "real" books were the 2e PHB and DMG, along with the 1e DMG, 1e MM1, and 1e MM2. My dad and I would make characters, (1 each) and run them through the solo dungeon in the 1e DMG, with my dad being the "GM". He always played human rangers... and I always played characters based off Link from Legend of Zelda (Elven, um... ranger? Fighter?).

However, when I first started "real" gaming, the books I used were a combination of the 2e PHB and DMG, along with the BECMI red box set. I think my first ever D&D purchase would be the black BECMI boxed set (with Zanzer Tem's dungeon) or something like that.

 

[Shemeska]

3e PHB
3e MM
3e Tome and Blood
3e DMG
3e FRCS
2e Planescape box set
A metric ton of pirated 2e Planescape pdfs
The entire 2e Planescape run of books bought on Ebay

 

[megamania]

1) Wilderness Guide (2nd)
2) Dungeon Guide
3) Player's Guide
4) DMG
5) Monster Manual

Then it all came in a rush with the Monster book 3-ring folders and Darksun stuff



However, the greatest early influence is still by far comicbooks and movies.

 

[megamania]

I was thinking about this last week now that I'm a father and when would it be appropriate to introduce my son to D&D. He already likes my miniatures and refers to them as "Dada's men". Is 2 too earlier?

It drives my wife crazy still.... my son's first word spoken.... DICE

 

[Filcher]

Beginning the age of 8:

1. Basic D&D rule book, run by a babysitter. He gave away the games because they were "Satanic." Given the influence they have had on my life, they might very well have been.

2. Expert D&D. Spent the summer at my cousin's house playing D&D and running through the woods wacking each other with plastic sword.

3. B2 Keep on the Borderland. I ran it for my family. Dad died. The PCs put him in a backpack.

4. Deities & Demigods. Didn't know it was for a different system.

5. AD&D MM.

Then I found Toys R Us and their racks of TSR materials and never looked back.

 

[Pyoor]

It drives my wife crazy still.... my son's first word spoken.... DICE

That's awesome! I assume she was hoping for something like "mama", but every baby does that. How many other parents can say their child's first word was "dice"?

My son learned "zombie" and "bone" from some Heroscape mini's I had around when he was about 18 months old. The zombies took over his Little People bus and have resided there ever since. My wife was not too happy that he learned "zombie" or that the zombies live in the school bus. He upped the ante this weekend when he learned "Boneclaw". I guess he'll play a necromancer when he gets older.

 

[Pyoor]

Then I found Toys R Us and their racks of TSR materials and never looked back.

Toys R Us was a pretty good source for D&D back in the early 80's. I remember getting tons of modules from there. I think my best find was the original Greyhawk box set. A friend of mine spotted it, but I grabbed it first. He was angry with me for a long time about that. Serves him right...I still play and he doesn't!

As I recall, a lot mainstream retailers carried D&D. I remember getting Ravenloft I6 from a Walden Books. The spinner rack was prominently displayed in front of the store. That was good marketing. It worked on me.

 

[JediSoth]

I don't remember the exact order, but I know I was first introduced with the D&D Basic Set (Moldvay version) and B2: Keep on the Borderlands.

After that, I bought the Expert Set (Mentzer version) before buying my own copy of the Basic Set (Menzter version). I bought a lot of the AD&D Modules (Dungeonland, Land Beyond the Magic Mirror, Against the Giants, Queen of the Demonweb Pits), as well as AD&D Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, DMG, and Monster Manual 2.

I also snatched up just about every Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book I could find (both D&D related and non-D&D related).

This was between 1982 and 1985, when I first started playing D&D. After I moved to Germany in '85, the gloves were off and I really expanded my collection as well as the number of RPGs I had.