I concur. I bought new copies a few years ago and, even tho I have OSE and RC, I still flip through the Moldvay stuff on occasion and just enjoy the memberberries.
I’m new to this scene, but I know exactly what you mean. I recently discovered Castles & Crusades, and it absolutely gave me nostalgia chills. I’ve been walking around with endless butterflies in my stomach ever since I learned about the game!
It’s like being 15 again and holding the AD&D 2e core books in my hands, paging through them and just being awestruck with sheer inspiration and creative joy!
Check out their Goldenrod character sheets! They sell pads of them in their store, but you can grab the files for around $6 right now on DriveThruRPG. Castles & Crusades just feels like *home*.
Planescape Campaign box. I lusted for it as a teen and wanted to crack one open so bad when they were new.
The Classic D&D Game box set from 1994 which I bought on sale from the KB Toys in the mall. My first minis and dice, first game rules that I owned.
That's the D&D box set I started with too! I still have the box and book (unfortunately lost the screen somewhere) and still use the dice everytime I play.
I've had 2 copies of it. I gave the first one away. Sold the second when I moved half way across the USA to reduce move items. Thinking about buying a replacement, not so expensive as some of the older ones but still a bit much to satisfy my nostalgia. I keep intending to recreate the dice set with loose dice. Something about that orange d20
The Holmes blue book (only had the book, not the box it came in) and the Moldvay red box both take me back to hours of misspent youth on the front porch, playing D&D with the neighboring kids all through summer vacation.
Blue cover D&D https://rpggeek.com/image/506653/dungeons-dragons-basic-rulebook-first-edition Because it was the first.
Rogues Gallery https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17024/The-Rogues-Gallery-1e
That illusionist fascinated me. That image captures "adventuring party". I have imagined all sorts of past and future adventure stories, for that group.
I love browsing through the Fiend Folio and studying all the illustrations. I was gifted some AD&D books from a fellow student. His mother had spilled perfume on them and he was going to buy new ones. Before I ever got the Red or Blue Box I would just marvel at all the great illustrations of weirdness. Bill Willingham and Russ Nicholson are two of my favorites. I still can’t stop staring at that Tirapheg.
I think it was Albie Fiore who illustrated the Tirapheg and the Caryatid Columns.
My old copy of The Traveller Book (because my 1980s LBBs all got worn to death).
My copy of RQ2 + Cults of Prax. They only survived because we all moved to using photocopies in presentation folders.
My copy of Atlas Games’ Over the Edge, 2e. Probably the only game in this set that I wouldn’t run in an old school way that was like the OSR, but having heard that there exists a version of OTE as a setting for LotfP in the 1630s, I think I could take my old OTE game and do a 1630s versio.
Pendragon 1e etc in the boxed set.
My original copy of Flashing Blades.
My copy of Lankhmar, for AD&D 2e. The 1e version got worn to death too. One of my favourite cities, it and Chaosium’s Sanctuary were (along with Paris from FB, and several cities/towns from WFRP 1e) used as the basis of so many cities, not just in FRP but also old cities on faraway worlds in Traveller campaigns.
…I’d like to claim Chaosium’s Thieve’s World Boxed set, but it seems to have gone permanently missing 8-(. All I have left of it are some reference photocopies.
Rifts, the first edition. It was the first RPG I ever GMed consistently for people. I loved the gonzo nature of it. More often than not, I would introduce creatures or characters from pop culture or history through a random rift. Sometimes the players would recognize them. Sometimes they wouldn't. But it was always crazy.
We never got it to work at the table, but I'm a bit nostalgic for that game anyway. I loved reading it, and we had fun trying to get our heads round the system for a couple of sessions!
Black Box D&D (with the red dragon on the cover). I loved the way it taught the game... each "lesson" was in a small folio that gave you the rules and then a partial scenario to run that reinforced the rules. After my best friends brother introduced me to the game, I had to find a way to learn it without him after I lost contact.
That single box introduced a whole slew of my friends to RPGs... and many of them still play. I moved on to AD&D 2nd Edition (still my favorite AD&D version) but as I have gotten older, I have grown to love the simplicity of B/X and BECMI, BECMI being my favorite.
Occasionally I see the black box up for sale someplace and keep thinking about picking it up again. I've rebought a lot of books I had when I was younger that I sold when I went to college and thought I would never play again. My favorite being my Rulecyclopdia... the best book ever published for D&D of all editions.
a handful of them, all for the same reason: they evoke the fantasy of knights, knightly orders and the cavalier, my favorite class from the unearthed arcana.
- the first Greyhawk box with the knights in the field
- the 1994 "The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" D&D box, because its was the art for the "Shadows Over Mystara" D&D arcade beat 'em up
- the rules cyclopedia art
All the boxed sets I have from 2nd Edition give me the nostalgia feels, especially The Night Below, Menzoberranzan, and the Waterdeep boxed sets. Also the Red Box OD&D reprint that I bought at KB Toys in like 1992.
The box art for Star Frontiers and 2E Call of Cthulhu. The former was the first rpg I ever bought (in '83, split the cost with my brother) and the latter (bought in '86) was not long after I first started reading Lovecraft, which was like a whole new world of weirdness. Many *many* hours of fun for years with both rpgs.
Another one that really reminds me of my first days of playing D&D is the cover to 1E Gamma World. The box art was on a TSR flyer but I never saw the actual rpg in the flesh for several decades. Tramp's artwork always intrigued me.
Always the Red D&D Mentzer Basic box - so much promise of fun, imagination and the art was great throughout. I missed the initial release of the Moldvay set as I was too young when it was released - but yeah it is good too.
In my late teens/twenties it was my collection of 2e AD&D books.
For me, it will always be the cover of Moldvay Basic D&D. That Erol Otus art always sucks me right in.
I concur. I bought new copies a few years ago and, even tho I have OSE and RC, I still flip through the Moldvay stuff on occasion and just enjoy the memberberries.
Yep, me too! It was my intro game.
This guys gets it
I’m new to this scene, but I know exactly what you mean. I recently discovered Castles & Crusades, and it absolutely gave me nostalgia chills. I’ve been walking around with endless butterflies in my stomach ever since I learned about the game! It’s like being 15 again and holding the AD&D 2e core books in my hands, paging through them and just being awestruck with sheer inspiration and creative joy!
Check out their Goldenrod character sheets! They sell pads of them in their store, but you can grab the files for around $6 right now on DriveThruRPG. Castles & Crusades just feels like *home*.
[удалено]
Twilight 2000 1E. Those were some good times. I bought 2 complete sets off of ebay last year just to read them again.
That Dark Sun box was a whole mood
Planescape Campaign box. I lusted for it as a teen and wanted to crack one open so bad when they were new. The Classic D&D Game box set from 1994 which I bought on sale from the KB Toys in the mall. My first minis and dice, first game rules that I owned.
That's the D&D box set I started with too! I still have the box and book (unfortunately lost the screen somewhere) and still use the dice everytime I play.
I've had 2 copies of it. I gave the first one away. Sold the second when I moved half way across the USA to reduce move items. Thinking about buying a replacement, not so expensive as some of the older ones but still a bit much to satisfy my nostalgia. I keep intending to recreate the dice set with loose dice. Something about that orange d20
> The Classic D&D Game box set from 1994 probably my favorite D&D art ever
My good old Red Box. Also, whenever I spot the black box of Top Secret S.I. (wish I still had that one)
That sweet sweet light blue inside cover map of the Caves of Chaos.
Moldvay Basic. I own the white box but the magenta is my first.
Probably a tie between Stormbringer and the Thieves World boxed sets. Great stuff and lots of memories.
The Holmes blue book (only had the book, not the box it came in) and the Moldvay red box both take me back to hours of misspent youth on the front porch, playing D&D with the neighboring kids all through summer vacation.
Blue cover D&D https://rpggeek.com/image/506653/dungeons-dragons-basic-rulebook-first-edition Because it was the first. Rogues Gallery https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17024/The-Rogues-Gallery-1e That illusionist fascinated me. That image captures "adventuring party". I have imagined all sorts of past and future adventure stories, for that group.
I love browsing through the Fiend Folio and studying all the illustrations. I was gifted some AD&D books from a fellow student. His mother had spilled perfume on them and he was going to buy new ones. Before I ever got the Red or Blue Box I would just marvel at all the great illustrations of weirdness. Bill Willingham and Russ Nicholson are two of my favorites. I still can’t stop staring at that Tirapheg. I think it was Albie Fiore who illustrated the Tirapheg and the Caryatid Columns.
The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting gray box.
My old copy of The Traveller Book (because my 1980s LBBs all got worn to death). My copy of RQ2 + Cults of Prax. They only survived because we all moved to using photocopies in presentation folders. My copy of Atlas Games’ Over the Edge, 2e. Probably the only game in this set that I wouldn’t run in an old school way that was like the OSR, but having heard that there exists a version of OTE as a setting for LotfP in the 1630s, I think I could take my old OTE game and do a 1630s versio. Pendragon 1e etc in the boxed set. My original copy of Flashing Blades. My copy of Lankhmar, for AD&D 2e. The 1e version got worn to death too. One of my favourite cities, it and Chaosium’s Sanctuary were (along with Paris from FB, and several cities/towns from WFRP 1e) used as the basis of so many cities, not just in FRP but also old cities on faraway worlds in Traveller campaigns. …I’d like to claim Chaosium’s Thieve’s World Boxed set, but it seems to have gone permanently missing 8-(. All I have left of it are some reference photocopies.
Rifts, the first edition. It was the first RPG I ever GMed consistently for people. I loved the gonzo nature of it. More often than not, I would introduce creatures or characters from pop culture or history through a random rift. Sometimes the players would recognize them. Sometimes they wouldn't. But it was always crazy.
We never got it to work at the table, but I'm a bit nostalgic for that game anyway. I loved reading it, and we had fun trying to get our heads round the system for a couple of sessions!
The B/X boxes with the Otus covers are just seared into my brain - those images *are* D&D to me.
Forever.
REST IN HEAVEN
Temple of Elemental Evil, but really just T1 Village of Hommlett with the. Moathouse. The Temple itself is a solid meh.
Black Box D&D (with the red dragon on the cover). I loved the way it taught the game... each "lesson" was in a small folio that gave you the rules and then a partial scenario to run that reinforced the rules. After my best friends brother introduced me to the game, I had to find a way to learn it without him after I lost contact. That single box introduced a whole slew of my friends to RPGs... and many of them still play. I moved on to AD&D 2nd Edition (still my favorite AD&D version) but as I have gotten older, I have grown to love the simplicity of B/X and BECMI, BECMI being my favorite. Occasionally I see the black box up for sale someplace and keep thinking about picking it up again. I've rebought a lot of books I had when I was younger that I sold when I went to college and thought I would never play again. My favorite being my Rulecyclopdia... the best book ever published for D&D of all editions.
a handful of them, all for the same reason: they evoke the fantasy of knights, knightly orders and the cavalier, my favorite class from the unearthed arcana. - the first Greyhawk box with the knights in the field - the 1994 "The Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game" D&D box, because its was the art for the "Shadows Over Mystara" D&D arcade beat 'em up - the rules cyclopedia art
Return to the Tomb of Horrors - My favorite first-party D&D adventure ever.
MERP Boxed set always got me where the feels are I love the Angus McBride artwork and the softness of that cover.
2nd ed phb. Still have it on my shelf and sometimes i take it out just to breathe in the excitement the first time i read it.
Complete Book of Humanoids. My favorite race, the Saurials. My first character was a Saurial Finhead Paladin.
All the boxed sets I have from 2nd Edition give me the nostalgia feels, especially The Night Below, Menzoberranzan, and the Waterdeep boxed sets. Also the Red Box OD&D reprint that I bought at KB Toys in like 1992.
1994 Classic D&D game (black box). First version of the AD&D 2e players handbook. Ninjas & Superspies by Palladium. HeroQuest.
Everything you said except Ninjas & Superspies. I went from Hero Quest to Black Box to 2e.
The box art for Star Frontiers and 2E Call of Cthulhu. The former was the first rpg I ever bought (in '83, split the cost with my brother) and the latter (bought in '86) was not long after I first started reading Lovecraft, which was like a whole new world of weirdness. Many *many* hours of fun for years with both rpgs. Another one that really reminds me of my first days of playing D&D is the cover to 1E Gamma World. The box art was on a TSR flyer but I never saw the actual rpg in the flesh for several decades. Tramp's artwork always intrigued me.
Always the Red D&D Mentzer Basic box - so much promise of fun, imagination and the art was great throughout. I missed the initial release of the Moldvay set as I was too young when it was released - but yeah it is good too. In my late teens/twenties it was my collection of 2e AD&D books.
AD&D 2e Player's Handbook for sure! It's how it all started for me back in the days...
Star Frontiers. That art is just beautiful.
Original *Ravenloft. I6.* Isometric maps all the way, baby!