Happy Birthday To Me!!!

Man! Sometimes birthday wishes DO come true!

It's been a great day so far...got to sleep in till almost 9 (after getting up at 5:30 to feed the beagles of course), then hung out at the coffee shop for a couple while fielding phone calls and Facebook messages from well-wishers. Saw my buddy Michael over lunch and Guinness at Mulleady's Irish Pub in Magnolia (another neighborhood of Seattle), AND it appears the cops may have finally caught the friggin' arsonist that's been burning down businesses in Greenwood for the last couple/four months. Thank goodness!

AND I also scored HUGE at the game shop today. No, I did not find a copy of GURPS The Prisoner. In fact, there wasn't much on the shelves at all worth purchase and my copy of Wormwood didn't come in either. But sometimes in pays to be ballsy.

"HEY!" says I to guy behind the counter. "It's my birthday! Don't you guys have anything kick-ass I can buy? Anything behind the counter?" Lo and Behold some dude had just sold a ton of D&D stuff to the store...two crates FULL of B/X, 1st, and 2nd edition AD&D.

It was the f'ing mother lode.

Apparently, the guy who sold the stuff had kept it in storage for a couple years and decided to get rid of it before it got anymore mouldy than it already was. I got first crack at the pile and went through everything with a collector's eye...here's what I picked up:

CM2: Death's Ride

CM6: Where Chaos Reigns

[I've never owned a Companion level module for BECMI...I'm hoping they will give me some good inspiration and insights for my B/X Companion]

I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City [f'ing MINT condition!]

N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God [near mint...haven't seen this module since I was ten years old; my introduction to ring mail, long swords and single class elves!]

S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth [I took the non mouldy copy]

Uk2: The Sentinel (part 1 of Adlerweg)

UK3: The Gauntlet (part 2 of Adlerweg)

[I own UK1 and had completely forgot these existed, though I remember their covers from the Pay n' Save by my house when I was a kid. Anything with magic gloves is good by me!]

X3: Curse of Xanathon

X4: Master of the Desert Nomads

X5: Temple of Death

[I only really wanted the Cook modules X4 and X5 as I feel Doug Niles has a lot to answer for regarding some of his publication choices; however, I now own X1-X6 which is kind of cool!]

WG4: The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

WG5: Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure

[a couple of Gygaxian treasures]

Angry Wizard Fez III from Role Aids [I've always loved the cover illustration and would have purchased this as a kid if I hadn't been so snobby about non-TSR products]

And the piece de resistance:

PRISTINE copies of the B/X Basic and Expert sets (Moldvay, Cook, and Marsh]

Ever since I started playing B/X again I have been looking for these and unable to find 'em anywhere! I mean, my Basic book has been in my possession for 28 years now and my Expert book for 27 (received on my 8th and 9th birthdays)...and they look old and beaten. Fortunately, I spent most of my youth playing AD&D or they'd probably be even MORE harder worn. But now I've got nice, clean replacements...and man am I LOVING it!

All right...I'm off to pick up my wife and hit the movies. I will discuss all my swag in the very near future.

Prost!

: )