My original D&D books??

I went to visit my brother Jon this weekend, and since he and his son were starting to play D&D together, there was a lot of D&D discussion, and for gifts I brought two new D&D books.  That was pleasant.  I'm glad the gifts fit in with their current levels and campaigns.  I went with the Humblewood campaign setting and the amazing Goodman Games big book of the Isle of Dread (history of the module, talks with the creators, conversion to 5e, and bonus items).  So: D&D is back.

A bit later, he mentioned that he had something cool to show me.  Completely unexpected: he pulled my original D&D books from the early 80s out of his box of old gaming books.  Sure enough, those were them.  The bindings were wrecked from those years of use (almost weekly sessions from 1980 to 1985).  He showed where I had added two little stickers to the covers, and I had to agree, those were hilarious, and exactly the kind of thing Young Me would have done.

But wait, about once a year, I remember coloring in illustrations in an old Monster Manual, and sometimes I look for it and don't find it anywhere in my apartment.  It was here all the time.  OMG, I flipped through it to find all those gorgeous colorings I had done forty years ago.  It turns out they were not as colorful as I remembered, they were mildly highlighted at best.  Maybe the pencil marks had faded.  More likely, my brain had embellished it in the intervening decades.

In the end, it was a delightful find.  And while he said I could have them back, no, passing them along to family was the proper outcome.  We both had fond memories, which was very special, considering how many years we had barely spoken at all.  We felt more together because of those old adventures.

Some games transcend the dice and paper that birthed them.