It's 1984; Dad's in the Navy and receives his next orders after Antigua, and we fly to Orlando, arrange to drive to the Pacific coast in order to catch an international flight to Tokyo International, Japan. Our final destination: Yokota Air Force Base.
I'd yet to encounter roleplaying games of any kind, and the most sophisticated game I'd played up to then was probably Risk or Stratego.
But I'd met someone at school who would introduce me to the 1980 Basic D&D and Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands.
(Dennis Yates, if you're out there, drop me a line sometime. Sorry I got bored at the first session. Sometimes it takes me a few months to get into things.)
That first session didn't really take. I found myself becoming tired, and I was admittedly more fascinated by my host's Commodore 64 at the time. Later, Star Frontiers would capture more of my attention (SF, then as now, help more of my attention than fantasy, though fantasy would soon come to consume at least as much of my subsequent attention). Eventually, I started using the computer as a support device for my hobbies, which at that time including writing, fantasy roleplaying, and writing games and my own modules/adventures.
There were no game stores on base.
The closest thing we had was the Stars and Stripes Bookstore and the base exchange, which, I would later come to learn, possessed a quirk of distribution which meant then-old stock remained available through 1985/86.
This included a lot of the gamebooks and modules for AD&D, Star Frontiers, and other games (like Dawn Patrol) which remained available on the shelves. G1-2-3, the D series, A series, all of them displayed front out on the rack, still sealed, for my perusal.
I remember the prices very well. A Basic or Expert rulebook alone cost $6. A boxed set was $12-$15. Most of the AD&D books were $15, except for the Dungeon Masters Guide, which ran $18. Modules, $5.50 each, except for G1-2-3, which was $8.00.
These were pricey for someone with my budget. I was not permitted anything like an allowance—I had to earn anything via chores, mowing others' lawns, or other duties. In 1985 I took my first ever job, screwing up paperwork in the orderly room on base. (If there's any servicemembers out there who, uh, experienced bureaucratic complications thereafter, I sincerely apologize. I was unfamiliar with the minicomputer in the office and the directory structure was labyrinthine.)
In spite of this, I would up purchasing nearly all my materials used from other folk who needed to unload possessions in order to fit within the Air Force's weight allotments. The Navy was much less restrictive, so I was happy to dumpster dive and buy for quarters or dimes on the dollar most of the materials I wound up with.
Even so, it wasn't a lot. I had also entered the hobby of home electronics, and maintaining supplies were substantially more costly—even off-base, where the exchange rate was an immensely favorable 250 yen to the American dollar.
I also bought a lot of models and toys. In my defence, these were really cool.
Anyway, I was en route to being a collector. I think my first purchase was brand new from the store: dungeon module X2, Castle Amber, a great purchase even if I didn't have anything else yet. I … did things wrong back then. Can't be helped now. But I still have that copy of X2—it's absolutely tattered, of course, but I wouldn't part with it for any money.
Rulebooks (all used) followed shortly thereafter; I acquired materials very slowly. Not all of this remains with me—I was dense person in the early months of 2004 and surrendered many modules (N1, U1-3, a first printing of S1 in shrinkwrap) and almost all of my AD&D books (yellow spines, all), except for my 4th print of the Monster Manual, which I bought in, of all places, Edmonton, Canada during a drive en route to Adak in 1987, my Fiend Folio, and my copy of Dieties and Demigods, which was even steven traded straight up for a Dieties and Demigods I held without the Cthulhu mythos &c. (thank you Cathy Scott). Still have those, and replaced nearly everything else from used bookstores, so much so that I've somehow wound up with three copies of the Dungeon Masters Guide (all efreet covers) and the Players Handbook (all Trampier covers).
I've recovered some of what I traded away or sold. There's still a bunch of things on my want list, but I can be patient. N1 and U1-3 in particular are hard to get because of their current value. I regret those immensely. N1 cost me a dollar. The three U-series modules were a $1.25 each at a Half Price Books in Tacoma and oh I am a stupid stupid man.
Well. Hindsight's 20-20, it's easy to be smart later and so on.