The Map That Started It All: The Caverns of Doom & Chainmail Rules

We're going back to the very start today people...to the very 1st dungeon I ever adventured in....set the WABAC Machine for 1981...or around there...
My parents living room...after school....a couple of buds, Myself & my younger brother...the guy acting as DM brought along his dungeon map from the Heritage Miniatures "Dungeon Dwellers" box set...rolled up characters & off we went...the very 1st time I played D&D...
My DM buddy was an only child...and had almost every TSR product you could get your hands on growing up in "The Sticks" as it were....but by the late 1980's/early 1990's he was bored with D&D...he was into Gamma World...and was going to get rid of most of his old D&D stuff....which is how I came into possession of these artifacts!

"The Caverns of Doom"! Great little 1 level dungeon. You can see the outlines on the floor where the 3 Dragon miniatures were supposed to be placed...I remember the Red Dragon...the other 2 not so much! This is the place where it all began for us...we didn't have to map it...treated it like a "treasure map" our characters had in their possession...and proceeded with extreme caution! Just looking at this map takes me back to our old house on the lake...the brown shag carpet, funky 1970's coffee table where we played the game...the fireplace...good times!
     A little latter on...as our characters grew more powerful & were able to have henchmen & hirelings...and eventually troops...one friend introduced what had to be (in retrospective) the original CHAINMAIL rules to our campaign...I'm guessing one of his older brothers had Chainmail! Our DM copied those rules into a cool "D&D" notebook....which he also gave to me later on!

Battle worn it might be...with the rings of a drink visible around the dragon's head...its still pretty damn brilliant! Check out my friend's reproduction of those Chainmail rules!

For a short time we were preoccupied with battling evil hordes with our own armies...it was great fun!
Here's a look at the back cover of the notebook.

$1.27 at Montgomery Ward's! This old notebooks, and the upgrade portfolios with the same images, go for big bucks on Ebay!
And for an extra "Flashback Bonus"...here's the very 1st homebrew Dungeon our DM ever drew up himself! He was/is a very artistic dude...pretty great dungeon for a 14 year old kid!

Hope you guys have held onto some of your old relics like this...brings back good memories of great times spent with old friends. 'Till we meet again...."Be seeing you."