All I need to do is close my eyes and I’m transported back to sometime in the mid-’80s, the unmistakeable scent of Cool Ranch Doritos wafting on the air and the sloshing of multiple liters of Mountain Dew as I creep down the basement stairs. “What are you doing down here for so long?” would inevitably be answered by “We’re playing Dungeons & Dragons, go away or we’ll tell Mom you’re bugging us.” That would happen for hours on end, and now it can again with a digital archive of the role-playing adventures.

I don’t know much about D&D, banished as I was to the upstairs realm by my impatient older brothers during their marathon playing sessions, but I do know that many will be happy to hear that the games from the past are being resurrected online.

Wired.com says Wizards of Coast launched dndclassics.com so fans of the games can purchase rulebooks, adventure series, supplement materials and some backlisted products. The company decided to make this move online to circumvent anyone trying to pirate the content for free.

“A lot people have a passion for and memories of these older products,” said Liz Schuh, who directs publishing and licensing for Dungeons & Dragons. “We don’t want them to go to torrent sites. Why not give them a legal route?” Schuh added that idea of re-releasing old products was a result of listening to fans on the forums, with the goal of letting “people play the D&D they want in the format they want.”

There are currently about 80 products available for download as of now, and the company is working on making more available in the future. Everything has been freshly scanned to look as good as the day you first laid eyes on it way back when.

Get the 20-sided die ready, everyone. Your parents basement might not be available anymore but there’s still plenty of Cool Ranch Doritos and Mountain Dew to be consumed.

New Digital Archive Resurrects Classic Dungeons & Dragons Adventures [Wired.com]

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