Latest Yardsale & Random Encounters

The summer is traditionally a bit too hot here in Tucson AZ for yardsale hunting but the weather is slowly cooling off, at least in the early morning hours, to allow the 'merchants' to flaunt their novelties and the seekers to seek their treasure. A casual stop while walking the dog at a sale around the corner from our house lead to this fine $10 purchase:



But that wasn't even the most interesting part. The seller had a number of interesting sci-fi books for sale. So we began to chat about that. He told me he had just started re-reading the Thomas Covenant Chronicles. So after some more chatting about that series I brought up the question.

"Do you have any old fantasy games?"

And BAM! He jumped right into talking about his days playing D&D! Drinking beer, listening to Pink Floyd and rolling dice having a great old time! He said that he hated the bad rap that D&D got back in the day - the whole geek and loner and devil-worshiping thing.He and his friends use to just have a party playing the game.

He had just given away all of his advanced 1st edition books to his nephew in hopes that he would pick up the game. I told him I was seeking the OD&D box / rules but he had started after those with 1st ed. AD&D. So we ended up chatting about Gygax and his original rules that he published in his basement and how the hobby changed to more to a marketed business than a fantasy hobby. He even talked about how he had a whole collection of lead minis, hand-painted of course, that were stolen a number of years ago when he lived up in the White Mountains.

It was fun running into a 'random encounter' of a true fan of the game. This guy, Pete, even offered to get his books back from his nephew to get them to me which I declined as I already have a set. Let the seeds be planted elsewhere! It's been interesting that within two blocks of me I have discovered an online classic game seller and a former 1st ed. AD&D enthusiast.

So, still no OD&D rules but my quest continues and I know I'm one step closer!