[RPG] Identifying the late father’s D&D stuff found in the attic

odndproduct-identification

I recently found a box of Dungeons & Dragons stuff in the attic of my father's home. In addition to an old boxed set of Dungeons & Dragons (the Men and Magic booklet mentions hobbits and ents), there's a plethora of other materials that I couldn't readily get more information about.

Below are some images of a few of the items in the box and the boxed set itself. I also found miniatures which I believe go with the game in some way. (Also I think the miniatures are lead due to their age and softness.)

I'm investigating these because I want to try to better understand my father when he was a young man. (He would have been 14 or 15 years old in 1974). He hadn't shared this part of himself with me; I would have loved to play this or a newer version of D&D with him before he passed away.

The quality of the photos is awful, but I will try to improve that shortly.

Here are the titles of the found items:

  • Dungeons & Dragons, Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures Gygax & Arneson 3-Volume Set Published by Tactical Studies Rules Price $10.00 (Including three booklets, correction sets and item/weapon/monster lists)
  • The Ringbearer by Dan Bress and Ed Konstant Illustrated by Wendall Hill
  • Kranor-Ril Issue #1 (with an editorial by Chip Charnley, Editor): 'The Vadhagh' A New Class of Character As Developed from The Chronicles of Corum Vol. 1-3

What exactly are these items?

D&D Box The RingbearerKranor-RilThe VadhaghKranor-Ril #2

Best Answer

Your father's copy of Men and Magic was issued somewhere between between the first and third printing, as shown here in the summary of the early editions. The "Man on the Horse" illustration was replaced by a lone Fighting Man illustration somewhere between the third and fourth printing. (That's the one in my set).

The Kranor-Ril adventure looks familiar, but I am having trouble placing it in my memory. @JohnDallman points out that Kranor-Ril looks like one of the early D&D fanzines. @HeyICanChan has found some more information on it here. (Warning, some strong language, scroll down about half way down the page).

D&D (originally) didn't come with lead figures, or indeed any miniatures. People bought the miniatures separately, either from TSR/The Dungeon Hobby shop, or from a local game or hobby shop. Most of my own figures from that era are lead.

The Ringbearer game is rather rare with only 6,000 printed; it may be worth something to a collector. (@Yakk offers that it looks to be first edition - only 1,000 of those were printed).

"The Ringbearer - a wargame in which 4 - 10 players use dice and old-time school fantasy miniatures to either capture the "Great Ring" for the forces of evil, or destroy it by delivering it to the "Crack of Darkness".

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