I have several rare Metro Detroit Gamer items up for auction right now and one in particular has garnered a few questions.
The item is IGHIP #27. This is a newsletter produced in the early to mid '70s. This particular issue has a "preview" of Underworld - of the
Woodgrain D&D set. The preview is more of a summary of their playtest/review sort of thing. Obviously, this is post-D&D release. So it is weird to see it as playtest. But, knowing the guys who participated, and Mike Bartnikowski, who wrote the article, I can safely say they were playtesting but simply did not get around to it until after the
Woody was released. And no, I don't have the playtest copy or anything else related to D&D (products) from Mike.
This issue was produced in 1974* and if I had to guess, it was October or November of 1974.
* the listing says printed in 1975 - that is incorrect.
If I get some time, I will read through some of the earlier issues to see what else I can find. I have issues 4 and up (missing a couple others). IGHIP was converted into the more recognizable The Deck of Many Things digest-zine.