Since I have been around for quite a while I thought maybe some people would find this interesting or could relate to it.

Back in 1979 or 1980 I bought the 1st edition D&D Basic Set.  Living in Boise, ID it was probably a minor miracle that I was even able to come across the thing.  Back then Boise was still a fairly small area of less than 100,000 people.  Boise didn't have any large chain stores that would carry a full line of D&D products.  There might have been a couple of independent book stores that might carry a few items.

It really wasn't until the mid 1980's that any type of RPG specialty store came in and by then I was entering my Dark Ages as far as RPG's were concerned.

In fact it wasn't until only a couple of years ago when by coincidence I stumbled on to ebay and saw some of the stuff I remembered.  I then began doing some research and found the Acaeum and I was amazed by the number of 1st edition items that I didn't even know existed.  I remembered some of the more common items from back in the day but most of the stuff I had no clue about.

That got me to thinking about what was actually distributed to Boise.  I'm almost certain that the original D&D Chainmail items never made it out here (I would have bought them if I saw them).  In fact of the few things I acquired many I had to mail order (some of the MERP's come to mind).  I recently discovered that TSR did some Indiana Jones RPG's in the 80's and I most certainly would have bought those had I known they existed.

I'm sure other forum memebers have similar stories based on where they live.

Maybe Idaho's RPG traffic suffered from its proximity to Utah?  It wouldnt surprise me to find out that anyone living in Utah in the latter part of the 70's and early 80's may have found it difficult to buy D&D in local stores.  There was probably an RPG 'black market' in some of the larger towns in Utah....it's members being relentlessly hunted by a bloodthirsty Mormon secret police force.  

Well, that's certainly an interesting concept.  It could very well be true as Idaho was (and still is in areas) very conservative.  I'm still not sure what retail chains sold OD&D and 1st edition D&D but whoever they were they weren't located here.  Toys R US and Hastings didn't come here until the 1990's.  

I was almost exclusivly a comic book collecter in the early 1980's and I'm sure that was because of the lack of a RPG market.  Comic books were all fine for what they were but they sure don't compare to RPG's, IMHO.

napoleonsdad wrote:
Well, that's certainly an interesting concept.  It could very well be true as Idaho was (and still is in areas) very conservative.  I'm still not sure what retail chains sold OD&D and 1st edition D&D but whoever they were they weren't located here.  Toys R US and Hastings didn't come here until the 1990's.  

I was almost exclusivly a comic book collecter in the early 1980's and I'm sure that was because of the lack of a RPG market.  Comic books were all fine for what they were but they sure don't compare to RPG's, IMHO.

Something tells me Mormonism or conservatives had little to do with it.  

People who are inclined to ban RPG's are also not particularly inclined to let their kids collect comic books.

Most likely, you just lacked a suitable game-oriented store.

There seems to have been more game stores back East back-in-the-day.  Portland had the End Games mini-chain and precious little else.  There were a few specialty stores scattered here and there...but nobody was stocking everything.

I saw Chainmail on a store shelf twice.  Once was in Medford, Oregon...which is right near the edge of the earth...so I know the publication must also have been available in Manilla or Havanna...also Beijing.  (Seriously...I believe that the Kanas song, "Poing of No Return" must have been about Medford.)

The other time I saw Chainmail on a store shelf was in American Eagles in Ballard, in Seattle.  It was on a shelf of cast-off and obscure gaming items that included Midkemia stuff and the like.  I often cry myself to sleep thinking of that shelf of treasures...that I did not know were treasures at the time.

Mark  

I lived in Klamath River CA and discovered the Hobbit on the schools bookshelf.  I moved shortly thereafter and discovered D&D and such in Fresno, 1980.  Some kids brought in War of the Ring to play on a free day...after they saw me gushing over that they introduced me to D&D.