A Piece of History

While at a relative’s house, looking in the game closet for something to play for the children, we stumbled on this beauty.

A complete (dice included) box set of Holmes Basic DnD.

The box even had an ad for the first volumes of Dragon Magazine!

I found it interesting that the book called out miniatures as lead figures, nowadays many would pale at such a thought! And the references to being eaten by monsters and characters having families, even though there aren’t rules for either. It shows HOW people had played the game, because these were things on their mind. And never fear, the highlighting was added to the photo, not the actual document!

Another piece of interest was the Parrying rules. It is not very advantageous, I think, being a simple -2 to the ToHit roll. However, it’s something to spice up combat and I love it.

Finally, the most interesting relic in the box, I think, is the stack of at least 30 character sheets, all photocopied from a master. They were typewritten, and upon a cursory search, I don’t think they are official TSR sheets. It’s really neat to see the barebones character sheet with what these early players found important, especially the “Limitations” section, since certain classes and races did have restrictions in what they could use or even what level they could reach.

It’s exciting to share this treasure with you all!