Gaming with Black Leaf and Elfstar - D&D in the 80s
Excerpted from Jack Chick's Dark Dungeons for purposes of illustration For those who entered the gaming hobby after the 80s it is difficult to imagine the impact D&D had on popular culture. I first encountered the D&D game in elementary school - I believe I was in 5th grade, probably winter and spring of 1982 which would fit in with the 8th printing of the D&D Basic Set - the first magenta-boxed rules with the Erol Otus cover. To this day I still have a soft spot in my heart for this version of the rules. At the time it was just beginning its upward swing in popularity - I purchased my copy of the rules in a Toys R Us. Fall of 1983 had me entering the 7th grade and the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon going on the air. I didn't get to see too much of it as this coincided with Saturday morning soccer (no Tivo, VCR, or streaming...) 1983 was also the year that a revision to the Basic Set was released, the Red Box with the Larry Elmore cover. In my circles t...