The wargames of veteran company Avalon Hill had no small
influence on the development of D&D; in fact, Gary Gygax and gang were originally
wargamers themselves. Outdoor Survival, a "game of wilderness
survival skills", was not only inspiration for outdoor exploration in
Original D&D, but was actually
required to play! (see page 5 of "Men & Magic", the first booklet in the
Original D&D set).
Outdoor Survival by Avalon Hill / Stackpole Books
This rather thick boxed set contains the following:
23-page digest-sized booklet, titled "a primer about WILDERNESS
SKILLS for players of the game -- OUTDOOR SURVIVAL"
two-sided sheet (folded into fourths, to produce a digest-sized
object), titled "Rules of Play / OUTDOOR SURVIVAL"
two-sided sheet, digest-sized, titled "OUTDOOR SURVIVAL / Get playing
QUICKLY -- read this card FIRST"
four roughly digest-sized, identical yellow sheets titled "Life
Level Index Chart". They are one-sided (the backs are blank),
bound together in a frail way (probably they are meant to be separated
from each other)
set of five double-sided, digest-sized sheets, bound together in
the same manner as "Life Level Index Chart" sheets. These sheets,
however, are green, and each contains a "scenario", 1 through 5, titled
"Lost", "Survival", "Search", "Rescue", and "Pursue"
roughly 9"x11", one-sided, glossy, full-color sheet, titled "MAPBOARD
MOVEMENT CHART"
pink flyer for "The Avalon Hill Co."
large, fold-out, thick cardboard map
heavy-stock paper sheet holding eight sets of punch-out counters
six-sided die
roughly 20-page, full-color, digest-sized catalog of Avalon Hill
products
Thanks to Jean-Philippe Suter for this info.
First (1972): No Avalon Hill logo on the front
cover of the box; rules booklets are copyright 1972.
Second (1973): Identical to the First print in all
respects, but bears "2nd printing, 1973" on the "Rules of Play" booklet
and a 1973 copyright on the Quick-Start guide.
Third: Produced from around 1974 through at least 1985,
the Third printing features the Avalon Hill logo on the front cover
of the box, bottom center, and progressively later copyrights on the
rules booklets. Otherwise, these sets are believed to be identical
to earlier prints.
Thanks to Eric Donaldson
for the scans.
This game, like the majority of Avalon Hill's "Bookcase" games, was mass-produced
on a scale far eclipsing anything produced for D&D (then, and even now).
As such, this game can be found easily, even in the shrinkwrap.
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