I still own every single piece of anything I ever bought or created for role-playing games except the three 2nd Edition AD&D Core Rule Books. Not everything is in good condition, but most of it is.
I have binders and binders full of creations going all the way back to the beginning, which for me was the mid 80's, starting with the 1983 Red Box (technically my brother's at that time, later acquired by me in a trade as he moved beyond D&D to other games) followed almost immediately and concurrently with other BECMI sets (again, his originally) and AD&D hardcovers. My first was the Player's Handbook. For Christmas, 1985 (I believe), I got Unearthed Arcana and the Marvel Super Heroes Box Set (yellow box) and the rest is history...
My brother owned the Dungeon Master's Guide, this one:
I would eventually acquire it from him, but until that happened, I copied page after page after page for my own records, Spell Costs, Poisons, Traits, To-Hit Tables, Saving Throws, Treasure Tables, Magic Items...
But, way before any of that, when it was just the Red Box in our possession and perhaps a module or two, I had a strong desire to create my own stuff, and so behold, the first dungeon I ever made...
Two of the three levels...
This introduction...HA! And that cursive writing...I've literally almost forgotten how to write in cursive.
Of course I made another...
Maps already getting better...
I made many more, but eventually we got lazy and started creating quick, randomly rolled, one-page dungeons...
This one's something of a gauntlet...
And how many of you remember these Adventure Log Sheets...?
How about some cut-and-paste character sheets...
The pose on the sheets below, do you know where it came from?
That's it for memory lane.
Looking back is nice, but nostalgia can be a trap. The older you get, the less you have to look forward to and the more you have to look back on. You can, and almost certainly will, get lost in the fog of yesterday.
Do not neglect the present.
