Well, the first module I ever got (as opposed to bought directly and alone) was, as with so many, B2: Keep on the Borderlands, which I got with the Moldvay Basic Set Christmas 1981.

The first module I ever purposefully bought alone was B1: In Search of the Unknown. I still remember buying it at Hallmark in Marquette Mall in Michigan City. I often went there as a kid, as my father's law office was in the office tower connected to the mall. I still have that same module, now much used and abused, with the sticky mark from the price tag visible in the upper right corner of the cover.

Shortly thereafter, I bought the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide from the same Hallmark store. I bought a lot of my early game books, all in the TSR D&D/AD&D lines, from that store, before and even after I discovered game stores and hobby stores; until I got my drivers license, I was at the mercy of my parents, of course, in getting access to places to buy games, as there were no such stores in our small town for the first couple years I gamed.

Wow, such a flood of memroies...

The first module I played was B2 Keep on the Borderlands (which was DM'd by my older brother John).

The first module(s) I purchase were at LaGrange Hobby Shop in LaGrange, IL (A1 - A4 Slave Lord Series).

Years later when my brother was in the Naval Academy (when the family got to visit him his first year there) I got to go into the PX store where I bought a Q1 for $4.00. I thought that it was really cool that they carried D&D stuff.  

Mine was B2 as well in the basic set (Moldvay), most of the modules were purchased by my older brothers. My first module purchased was G1 mono cover....

Add another one for B2 from the Moldvay basic set. I remember saving up the money to buy it from the old Rinks department store in Florence, Ky (near Cincinnati). I think it cost around 7 bucks in 1981. They still had some copies of the Holmes set on the shelf at the same time. I picked the Moldvay set because I preferred its box art.  

Castle Amber is the first module I remember purchasing separately. I loved running that one.

B2.



Strangely enough, that one works better with AD&D.



The B/X rules are as close to a perfect edition of D&D as I can think of.



Imagine how we were introduced to the game, and compare this to the thought of introducing someone to D&D through 3.5 (or even BtB 1E, for that matter). I don't know what 4E is like.



A set of simple teaching rules is totally needed (something that we forget, or find it hard to relate to after 10+, 20+ years of (A)D&D).



The only criticisms that i have of the B/X rules is that they weren't integrated with AD&D, and that they didn't have -HP (although death at 0 does make things a lot more intense!).



It would be beautiful to see a middle ground system written, with new illustrations by all of those original artists. Whoops ... dreaming again.



2E was a definite playability improvement over 1E (a better _game_), although it lacked some of the artistic magic of 1E, as well as the detail (appendices, ea.)



What's too bad is that they didn't write 2E to be completely compatible with the 1E adventures.



It's sad that these new editions 'invalidate' those old adventures.



The whole idea of get started for 10$, all you need is some dice, a 64 page rulebook, sheets, screen, and graph paper (hey, that would be a nice basic set), and one adventure (no need for minis : it's true ... you can actually make pencil marks on a piece of graph paper, and use your imagination) .... that whole idea/approach to (A)D&D is something that I hope doesn't get lost.



It's interesting that people take the game into other directions (me, sometimes, as a figure of speech, I've got a WSG in one hand and a scroll by Leomund in the other, wondering how to integrate the whole thing, and manifest it all through UA++/C++), but if that original idea :



no computers (heck, we didn't even own one when I first got the game), no minis, "just graph paper and imagination!"



gets lost, then I think that the meaning of what Dungeons & Dragons _is_ gets lost, it just becomes some kind of a trademark or an IP thing.



keep it simple, and have _fun_ with your friends!



John



eBay listings



PS. Thanks to all who keep (A)D&D alive.

Long live (immortality, I hope ... I drink to their immortal health!) TSR!

Well, most of them

Great bunch of folks, and I am looking forward to seeing them complete the AL HABET. Almost as much as seeing their art within the context of the original format.



Long live TSR!

My first module story is a little different.

In the early 80's, my grandma worked at Sells Printing in Milwaukee. One day she presented me with a gift: an over-run of the cover to X2 Castle Amber. Just the cover. I want to say it wasn't even scored or folded; It was just a flat cardstock sheet with the Otus artwork on one side and these wonderful blue maps on the other.

Even though it predated my very first game of D&D by a year or so, she thought it was something I might like. Boy was she right! My imagination went wild wondering at the maps and the artwork.

I have no idea what ever became of that cover. It disappeared some time between the ages of 10 and 30.

The first module I bought was N1- Against The Cult of The Reptile God.