I would like to buy a Christmas gift for my nephew who likes Dungeons and Dragons. Any suggestions on what I should get for him? I’m looking to spend about 50 bucks.
Thanks!
Go online and find a used first edition players guide and The DM’s guide that way he can properly learn to play
How ever I don’t know if ya can still get both for 50 …
Assuming he plays 5th Edition (likely since it’s the most recent and currently popular version) then a new guide book (Xanathar’s Guide to Everything) just released which is coincidentally fifty bucks.
Otherwise, everyone loves more dice (maybe some fancy ones) or accessories like a nice dice tray/tower. Of course, if he lives locally to you, you can try to find a local neighborhood gaming shop that has gift certificates for him to pick out his own dice, miniatures, etc.
A bag of dice?
I like first edition and will possibly start a 1st ed campaign after the holidays. But, if the kid plays 5th edition than those books will likely never get used and it puts the burden on him to learn a whole new set of rules (plus he’ll need the monster manuals and perhaps other books) and then convince other people to do the same before he can put them to any use. More likely, they get flipped through a couple times as a curiosity and then set aside.
The bid is at $33 right now; 20 hours left on the auction! (Auction ends at 11:33am EST on Monday, 13 November 2017)
I played AD&D for years,
and its a terrible system on about a zillion levels.
Thaco anyone? I mean I forgive them for the mistake but deliberately playing in a system with negative armor class being a good thing is more than a bit strange.
race x is only surprised 1in8
race y surprises 3 in 6
That’s not the First Edition of D&D. 
It’s THAC0 get it right!!!
When I started playing, it was all we had. One learns and adapts. While I’ll readily admit simply making it the higher the number the better the AC is easier to understand, it really wasn’t hard to figure out.
Sure, one can adapt to silly rules, but better not to need to. Especially when there’s a way to get exactly the same mechanical effect with rules that are much simpler.
I have quite a collection of D&D stuff, including the blue Basic box set (with seriously used dice and book but a near-mint box) and the 3 booklet set (without the box, sadly).
missed my edit window while I cooked dinner:
If the OP wants to try and snag a 1974 edition, they run about $300 now on eBay (which is 600% of the stated budget).
THAC0 was introduced in the 2nd edition. The 1st edition was even worse, with to-hit lookup tables, different for every class.
All that talk aside, I doubt the OP cares if they’re asking us for gift ideas. Giving a 5e player a couple 1e books and saying “This is what you should be playing nerdflex” is like giving someone who plays Battlefield on their Xbox One a copy of Killzone 2 for the PS3 and saying “Learn to play a real game!” He can’t use it as is, his friends won’t be playing with him and at best he’ll one day play the single player campaign for twenty minutes.
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything is probably the best book selection just because he can use it whether he mainly plays as a player or as a game master. Plus it just came out so he likely won’t own it. Other good book choices might be Volo’s Guide to Monsters or the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. I’d actually do the Sword Coast book before Volo’s because Volo’s is only really useful if you’re leading games but SCAG can be used by players.
I like metal dice and, after using them for a while, miss the weight when rolling plastic dice. Lots of types to choose from but a good choice is a copper/bronze or antique finish. The reason why is because the underlying metal is a zinc alloy that’s usually reddish and so it shows less on those dice than it does against a silvery polished chrome finish should the dice get chipped or scratched.
The purpose of a dice tray is to keep the dice from rolling off the table. But it’s also nice for keeping those fancy dice from getting banged up or from you banging up your table/books by rolling heavy dice on them.
A dice tower is purely a luxury item (but hey, it’s Christmas) – you drop your dice in the top and they tumble down against some interior baffles thus assuring a fair roll. I’d recommend against anything too fancy or that requires a bunch of assembly since that can be a pain if he games at other people’s houses or shops. Something basic like this is better than some “built it yourself castle tower” device.
Miniatures are fun and a set like this can help get him started on painting his own. Or, if he already has paints then a set of figures is always appreciated.
A dry erase gaming mat is nice if he’s leading adventures. You lay it on the table and draw the dungeon (or whatever) on it and it’s a grid for putting miniatures on and determining movement.
Finally, a nice satchel can be handy for carrying books and stuff when going to games. I personally use this Czech military surplus map satchel which is a perfect size for my Player’s Handbook, character sheets, dice, pencils, sharpener, miniatures and other stuff without taking up too much room.
I don’t attest to any of the exact items linked (aside from the bag), just picked stuff around your price range to give ideas.
To the OP:
Unless you know which edition of the game your nephew plays, and what books he already has, I’d suggest avoiding buying a rulebook.
Dice are always appreciated (I’ve known very few D&D players who didn’t collect dice), and many players use miniatures, as well. Both Paizo and Wizards of the Coast offer lines of pre-painted miniatures; some are in boxes with random assortments, and others are in specific sets.
Paizo’s Pathfinder minis (Pathfinder is another role-playing game, based on an older edition of the D&D rules): http://paizo.com/pathfinderbattles
WotC’s D&D minis: Official D&D Miniatures | Dungeons & Dragons
When I started playing as a very young teen, there weren’t any simpler rules. Hell, the number of alternate rules were miniscule and impossible to find for someone limited to how far he could bicycle.
The purpose of gifting a 1e book wouldn’t be, IMO, to get them to play a “real” D&D game, it would be to give them something collectable that is the foundation of the game they enjoy. Giving a kid who’s into video games a Super NES set isn’t telling him that what he’s doing sucks, it’s sharing the history of what he loves in such a way that older and younger players can find common ground and enjoy the time they spend together.
ETA: The rest of your post has some excellent gift ideas. I second metal dice, a dice tray and a good satchel/briefcase. My D&D stuff has been in the same briefcase for <gulp!> almost 40 years now, and everything is in tip-top shape.
EATA: that 2 book set is up to $45! 1h45m left on the auction!
The post saying to buy it was literally:
(Bolding mine for emphasis)
That’s a far cry from “That way he’ll have a lovely bit of gaming history…”