Yes, thanks very much for sharing! I once wrote to Gary when I was maybe 10 or 11. He was kind enough to write back a short letter. I wish I still had the thing but it was long to a messy boy's bedroom monster and the quest to recover it failed completely.
Perhaps someday it will appear in a box of lost attic or basement treasures... One can only hope.
It is funny you mention the d4. The instructions said to read the number on the bottom of the die, so I kept turning it over and looking at the bottom. The problem, of course, was there was always 3 numbers on the bottom side! How confusing to a kid!! We thought maybe you were supposed to add them together or something? So, our magic-users always had great hit points (6-9 per level!) and did awesome damage with the dagger. LOL!
Eventually, I figured it out that the bottom number on each side showing was the same... I felt silly, but just loved the game more for it.