Moldvay Basic

In a possible attempt to capture my youth, I have started to purchase old D&D rules. My last conquest was a decent copy of the Moldvay Basic set (Rulebook, B2, and even the box).

I had never owned this set, having started with Mentzer - which places me at being 10 years old when I started to play. I had had considerable fun with B2 however, and subsequently the 25th Anniversary 'Return to the Keep on the Borderlands'

I lovingly opened the box, the hole-punched side immediately caught my attention as I could not see through. There must be a piece of paper there, I first assumed that it was an invoice for the order - but was pleasantly surprised by this -

I have always scowled at the 'power gamer', I really do enjoy playing and DMing a game where the dice are a contributing factor to the outcome, rather than an annoyance on a natural 1. I still struggle to this day with 'Taking 10', if just because there are no dice rolled. I hate when I hear the words 'character build', 'dump stat', 'level dip', 'point buy', and any of a hundred other words that exist in the modern metagame vernacular.

But Borg touched my heart - I wonder when this guy was created and for what, even though I know the rules where not really looked at in the making - was the player amped about playing and then got sorely disappointed because he found nobody to play with - the lack of erasure marks speaks volumes to me when I look over items I bought for the game and never used - from time to time I look at notes I took about adventure ideas or maps I created and wish I had the time to play them all.

Looking at the sheet, I see someone who wanted to win, maybe at this point he hadn't seen where there are no winners or losers in D&D. I see someone who was afraid of the dungeon and inflated the numbers so that they didn't need to be frightened.

I am sad that no equipment was purchased, but can almost hear the guy who was going to be DM say, 'Don't buy any equipment, we will do that when you start to play.'

I see a kid that chose to be Neutral and know that Chaotic was likely not an option because the DM said so.

I am very glad that I had a chance to see this - I'm glad that whoever has owned this in the past didn't throw this out.