One of my favorite game catalogs Gateway to Adventure 1981 TSR

[MRP]

I got turned on to D&D on visiting friend sof the family on Christmas break in 1981 (I was in 7th grade) and about a month later my dad came home with the Basic set for me and inside was this lovely catalog opening me up to a world of wonder...



I poured over that catalog every day wishing for the things inside there (I would eventually get many of them over the years, but living in semi-rural Maine at the time this was my only chance of seeing many of these items until we moved at the end of 7th grade back to my native CT. The copy of this catalog I now own (replacing an original lost long ago) is displayed ont he wall with a few other vintage D&D items, and I didn't feel like pulling it down and taking it out to scan, so looked up some interior pages and found pics online...







and those T-shirt designs...



and not just D&D...









and then this...there were conventions where people who liked the stuff I liked go together...the idea blew me away and it took me nearly 10 years to get to my first GenCon (1990) (and it's now been almost 10 since I have gone, 2007 was my most recent one).



Getting this catalog was a watershed moment for this little fantasy fiend, my parents had stopped buying me toys at this point and wouldn't let me buy them myself either, but rpgs opened up a whole new world and along with comics kept me into "geek" culture though we hardly called it that yet.

-M

[Donkey Hoatie]

I found a boxed Basic D&D set at the Salvation Army last summer. Totally unused. Came with this catalog in it. What a blast from the past it was. I loved looking at this thing and always wanted to nab one of those t-shirts. Of course, my 11-year-old's desire to not get beaten up regularly always trumped getting one of them.

[sprytel]

Man. that brings back memories. Thanks for sharing this. I was infatuated with TSR (mostly AD&D, Top Secret, and Star Frontiers). I thought Gencon sounded like my own personal Shangri-La.

[Werewolf]

TSR Dungeons and Dragons! Oh my yes! I still have that catalog with my "pink box" basic set. I even have the RPGA form that went with it.

Lot's of good stuff in that catalog. Like the Dungeon board game. Love that game.

[Werewolf]

Vintage Dragon Dice with crayon.



I love this stuff.

[J.B.]

Such fond memories of these games. Got introduced to RPG's with D & D. From there it went to Boot Hill and Top Secret. My cousin was into Gamma World.

[megoat]

Those tees would so much cooler if they were printed designs instead of Iron Ons...

[MRP]

My copy of the catalog is currently on display on the D&D wall of my office...



flanked by the Basic and Expert rulebooks from the sets signed by Erol Otus at Gen Con in 2007 and above my copy of the AD&D Player's Handbook signed by Gary Gygax himself, a memento from the time I worked with him on his Castle Zagyg project just before he passed away. It's guarded by a shelf of dragons of course, and an even larger dragon below...



-M

[Werewolf]

My copy of the catalog is currently on display on the D&D wall of my office...

You have a very nice collection.

One of my favorite things to collect is D&D boxed sets and books.

[MRP]

You have a very nice collection.

One of my favorite things to collect is D&D boxed sets and books.

Thank you.

I like the Judges Guild stuff and other obscure third party products for D&D and fantasy games from the late 70s and early 80s myself, but right now I don't have much of it on display, most is in storage until we finish the makeover of the finished room in the basement back into a gaming room, but that might take until spring.

-M

[SKotK]

I got big into D&D back in 6th grade, and this catalog was the high point of those times. I was the first person to get a game going at my school along with my friend who was the DM. It caught on like wildfire soon after, and soon nearly every kid (even the popular sports kids) were playing it, staying inside during recess and adventuring at the big tables down in the school's basement level. However, soon after that people started cheating...re-rolling stats until they got the number they wanted, taking their characters through their own dungeons and giving themselves ridiculous treasures with easy-kill monsters, basically ignoring all the rules of the game. So my buddy and I switched games and started playing Tunnels & Trolls (the 2nd oldest fantasy RPG after D&D). No one else had the game, so if they wanted to play they had to go through us...and we didn't allow cheating.

I played T&T off and on from then all the way up through part of high school before finally shelving it when I could no longer find people interested in playing. I still have a lot of nostalgia for T&T and D&D as well, and recently had some ongoing games of both with some other veteran players.

Box art.jpg

--SKot

[Makernaut]

^ Tunnels and Trolls was the game me and my gang of friends played. I don't know why that was the choice over D&D, though. We played off and on for a couple of years until drivers licenses and freedom came into the picture.

[Werewolf]

I knew of Tunnels and Trolls but had never played it. I never ventured past TSR stuff. Mostly D&D and a little Ravenloft. I did hear they recently published a new Tunnels and Trolls rulebook.

[MRP]

I have a couple of editions of T&T down in the stacks too. When we ventured away from D&D it was Traveller, Car Wars, a little Gamma World and Boot Hill, and Villains and Vigilantes and Champions, and my favorite TOON but that was rare. I started playing in the 7th grade, moved, had no one to play with in 8th, found some folks in high school and played through junior year but had no time senior year, found some folks in college, then different folks after college, stopped playing in '98 or so and then met the woman who would become my wife who was an ardent gamer in 2001 and have been playing since, and even freelanced for a while between 2005-2007 writing for some 3rd party companies. I think I've played every edition/version of D&D and dozens of other tabletop rpgs, minaiture cames, and what not over the years.

-M

[Werewolf]

I did pick up a few of the Basic Fantasy rule books a while back. Not bad homages to 80s style D&D.