Hurrah, more useless shit

Recently I decided to start doing something bizarre--something else bizarre, that is. I've decided to start collecting material from previous editions of Dungeons & Dragons I've never played. Not that I'll be much of a collector--I fully intend to open and read everything I acquire. This is actually pretty liberating; it means I can even buy damaged stuff! So long as any box sets I find have all the books and stuff inside, I'll buy it! I was already kind of doing this--I've owned a water-damaged copy of the original Fiend Folio for a few years now.

Some exceptions: I don't plan on collecting any 3.5 stuff--in fact, I just sold off most of my remaining 3.5 books. I still have my old Player's Handbook, since the spine's damaged and I didn't think Powell's would take it. That will, in all likelihood, be the only 3.5 book in that collection.

Why? Simply put, I had so many unpleasant experiences playing that edition I've come to hate it. Every group I've played it with wound up violently hating one another after about three combats; my involvement with the last one ended so acrimoniously that not only did I not play D&D again until 4th Edition (which I like, should you wish to flame me for it), it left me hating the entire human race (well, left me hating the entire human race more). That, and I might be interested in actually playing some of the stuff I find, and I will never play 3.5 again. I know it's unusual for D&D players to despise the edition they started with, but then I also thought modrons and Spelljammer were cool.

Also, I doubt I'll be doing this with the original 1974 "tan box" D&D that started this whole female-repelling mess. Not because I'm not interested, but because it's just not economically realistic, especially if I'm not doing this for some theoretical monetary gain. There's a copy of it for sale at Guardian Games, where I picked up the stuff below. The box is in HORRENDOUS shape (it looks like someone hurled a bucket of santorum over it) and one of the three booklets is missing. And they STILL want $100 for it, leading me to conclude I'd have to take a shit directly into the box before it'd lose value.

So, yesterday I went to Guardian Games (possibly the best hobby store in the Portland area, notwithstanding its odd location) in search of an inaugural addition or two. I came home with these:


In case you can't make it out (when, exactly, did I smear my cell phone's camera lens in Vaseline?) those are copies of the 1981 "Red Box" edition of the D&D Basic Rules Set and the Hollow World campaign box set. See what I mean about damaged stuff? The Hollow World's in great shape, but the Red Box looks like Comic Book Guy sat on it.

Their overall condition can wait, though. See, I plan on reviewing each new acquisition right here in this blog. I'll be including photos, general rundowns on each piece's condition, and of course massive quantities of snark on the game material itself. My Red Box review should be up in the next day or so, right after I finish reading both booklets, with Hollow World forthcoming. I'll also be sticking in reviews of the Fiend Folio and *sigh* the 3.5 PHB somewhere along the way. I can feel my attractiveness to women shriveling as I speak. Not that I had much of that anyway.