You say you want "olde skool"? Well, you can't get mo' olde skool then this, dawg!
The original version of Dungeons & Dragons was published w-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-y back in 1974. At that time I was but a wee lad of only four winters and it would take nine more snowfalls before a timely article in Starlog Magazine caused the seed of my imagination to beanstalk within my fertile head.
I sought out, digested and then thoroughly explored the wilds contained within Mentzer's Expert...er, Basic Set, eventually graduated to AD&D, flirted with the Second Edition and then eventually came back to the table with the Third.
Over the years I'd hear fleeting tales about the original edition of Dungeons & Dragons, tantalizing whispers about a nondescript white box containing three bone-colored booklets of ancient lore: Volume 1: Men & Magic, Volume 2: Monsters & Treasure, and Volume 3: Underworld & Wilderness Adventures. I sought out these hallowed Holy Grails but the few copies I found were safe-guarded by unscrupulous merchants looking to drain my coffers for the privilege of divining the lost lore contained therein.
Mercifully, the good folks over at Wizards of the Coast decided to re-publish the original "White Box" edition of D&D on November 19, 2013 in the form of a gorgeous collectors edition. In addition to featuring a high-quality reprint of the original three books, it also included the Greyhawk and Blackmoor supplements from 1975 as well as Eldritch Wizardry, Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes, and Swords & Spells from 1976. Packaged with a deluxe set of dice and housed in a gorgeously-embossed oaken box I was more then wiling to part with my silver pieces.
And then I realized that the asking price was in platinum and not silver.
But alas, all was not lost. A year later the price of this precious artifact had dropped to a reasonable level and I was able to parley some joyous annum money into an online purchase. As soon as I managed to free it from its cardboard prison I knew that I had the grist for my sophomore episode of "What's In The Box?!?".
Here then is the result:
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Looking to chant "Neener! Neener! Neener!!!" at your grognard buddies? Then click on yon link below and this unearthed arcana can be yours as well!
But there's no copy of Swords and Spells in the box! Aaaargh!
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Agreed, Aaron. This set would be absolutely perfect if it included "Swords & Spells" as well as a reprint of "Chainmail", but, hey, what are you gonna do?
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