I've been a gamer since forever. Well, at least 3rd grade. Then D&D was something we played on the playground. No dice, just some kid as the DM. We'd walk around the field, making up the stuff we did, and the DM (I don't remember his name anymore) would say what worked and what didn't. It was roleplaying at its purest. It was recognizable as D&D though: We called it such and it had dungeons and dragons and such.

In 5th grade, I checked out the only copy of the 1E AD&D DMG and PHB for over a year. I read them cover to cover multiple times, and we played variants we invented instead of the "real thing." Something alliterative, though I can't recall the name anymore.

8th grade was when 2E came around, and I finally played D&D the way it was published. My DM was the most Monty Haulish DM I've ever seen. That went on all through HS; still have the stack of PCs.

College, of course, is the time to experiment. I played a few D&D games, but it was mostly White Wolf's storytelling system. I fell in love with Mage (it didn't help that the Call of Cthulu game I was in at the time was more a vehicle for the GM to hit on his girlfriend than for us to actually play---I spent most of the sessions reading the 1st Ed Mage book before he kicked me out...) and played the WW gamut. Also did a lot of LARPing, though with no established game system: Each GM made up variations of their own. It was a "golden age".

Grad school and everything was new again with 3E. My wife started her first campaign, and my dwarven monk was born. The campaign ended the month 3.5 came out. Never did finish the follow up campaign. Edit: She's still has some ideas, so it may come back (esp. once 4E has druids...)

I tinkered with more systems in the intervening years. Fudge and Fate drew my interest, and I liked Exalted, Aberrant, and Aeon (err... Trinity). But I fell away from WW as well, largely because I didn't care for where they were going with their metaplot. Same reason I don't care for playing in the Realms.

And now 4E is out. New things are always fun. I like it, though I still like and play 3.5 (several PbPs here and a few games in RL). I'm going to kick the tires and see where this takes me.

The blog, when updated, will be my thoughts on various game systems, notes from my PbP games, or development notes on my upcoming 4E Eberron game without a name. Enjoy.

stonegod