It was nearing the high crest of the period I call the Fantasy Renaissance. I received the old Dark
Tower board game that year. The Christmas before I got the coveted Atari home system with the Space Invaders cartridge. Big stuff that. By the following year, I was begging for the Atari Adventure game. That same year, at the beginning of the school year, I had been introduced officially to the D&D brand. A couple boys in study hall drawing maps. Again it was confusing, but I my curiosity was piqued. My parents even bought me a Monster Manual for Christmas, thinking it was some Myth and Monsters book. The rest of that year was spent listening to various kids debating this or that rollplaying game, bringing their various rulebooks, and taking it all in. My sophomore year in high school saw me go to a local gaming group that met on the weeknights in the basement at a local First Federal. I was there to pitch an idea for making a WWII version of risk. Sort of a board game inspired by the Second World War. Obviously I missed that boat.
I looked around and noticed a couple tables with kids playing this game that by now I was becoming familiar with. This was what I call the high point of the Fantasy Renaissance. Movie theaters had, in addition to Raiders of the Lost Ark (not Indiana Jones and the...), and E.T., movies such as Conan the Barbarian, Dragonslayer, and Excalibur dominating the big screen. Fantasy was everywhere. That following January, 1983, I played my first D&D game.
So I link D&D and Christmastime, as many do. In addition to the basic nostalgia of the season, it brings back memories of years gone by. So I plan on just throwing out little bits of this and that this season.
