#RPGaDAY2023 Day 22: “Best SECONDHAND RPG purchase”

Given the hundreds of items in my collection (down from thousands), it’s basically meaningless to ask, “Which of those secondhand items is the BEST purchase you’ve ever made?” So… two thoughts: first, you would do well to consider getting a secondhand copy of the early Basic D&D boxsets; second, my favourite right now is Arduin Grimoire!

1983 Basic D&D is worth owning because it gives you a pretty good introduction to running a dungeoncrawl scenario structure. It’s also towards the roots of the hobby (well, the first 10 years) and represents one of the best introductory games ever made. You get the two rulebooks and an adventure module which teaches you how to run the game.

Of course, you don’t really need to buy a secondhand box set if you are happy with a .PDF download from DriveThruRPG. I mean, it’ll set you back about $10 and you have what you need.

Arduin Grimoire, well, I wrote about that earlier in this #RPGaDAY sequence so there’s not much to add. The thing about secondhand books is that you get the full nostalgia impact plus the material from an earlier era. For me, Arduin connected me to the spirit of “do it yourself” RPG play that I realise now is very much my jam.

I also think buying GURPS First Edition stuff has been fun for me, helping me to connect back to the early days of what is my current favourite game. But I fear that the near-constant mantra of “hey, I like GURPS you know” might be getting old.

Game on!