Gentlegamer
Adventurer
The discussion on D&D's past, present, and future along with Ryan Dancey's thoughts on the matter and the subject of how to introduce new players to the game made me think of my own introduction to the game.
When I was in 6th grade, I met a student named Dan. Until that grade, Dan had attended private school. Dan was a bit of a nerd, like me, and told me of a game he had played in private school called DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.
Please indulge me while I relate some background before I continue.
To me, "Dungeons & Dragons" was a cartoon (the CBS Saturday morning cartoon with voices by Willie Aimes and Donnie Most). I had loved that cartoon, and other 'fantasy' type programs, like Masters of the Universe. One of my favorite films that would be played fairly often on TV was Clash of the Titans.
I was also a voratious reader (and 'player') of Choose Your Adventure style books: Time Machine series, Choose Your Adventure, and the Endless Quest series, which was my favorite. Endless Quest was 'from the producers of the Dungeons & Dragons game,' which I didn't understand, since I thought it was just a cartoon. There were ads in the back for The Dragon, and the D&D Basic set, but I had never seen them in a store and had no notion what they were about.
So as you can see, my imagination was primed for what I was about to discover.
Dan explained to how to play Dungeons & Dragons. I still remember his words clearly.
"One player is the Dungeon Master. He draws a map of a dungeon and puts monsters and treasure in it, but only he gets to see it. He describes to you what you can see and hear as if you were really in the dungeon, and you describe back what you want to do."
My mental reaction is indelibly etched in my memory.
THAT IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD.
Dan and I then embarked on my first playing experiences with D&D. We had no rules. We would take turns drawing dungeons on scratch paper (we didn't have graph paper) and be the Dungeon Master. The game style was wholly descriptive action. We had no rules, since we didn't have access to a copy of the game. I don't know if Dan ever played using the 'real rules,' but it didn't matter to us.
Dan would describe the environment and I would describe back what my action was. For combat, my character would win or lose based on a judgment call by Dan. Mostly, I would avoid fighting since it was so easy to get killed (I had learned this from the rather deadly Choose Your Adventure books). My 'character sheet' was a piece of notebook paper I used for notes, crude maps, and writing down my 'equipment' and treasure found. Nothing had any stats.
This first experience with 'Dungeons & Dragons' shaped my view of the role-playing game-form ever since: Extemporaneous action in an imaginary environment that can be altered by the Dungeon Master based on player action, with the participants acting and reacting to each other as if they were in the environment described.
I did try to buy the 'real rules' because I wanted to play 'for real,' though. This was 1989/90, and at that time there was no basic D&D set readily available. I ended up buying the Hollow World boxed set. I found it amazing, particularly the hex outdoor map. But it didn't explain how to play, and I was disappointed.
Then I saved up more money, and bought the AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Edition. It explained some things mechanically, but didn't provide a lot of context of how the game was to be structured.
The big black D&D basic set came out in 91, the one with the 'flashcards' and things became much more clear, since there were step by step instructions on game-play, dungeon making, using monsters, traps, etc 'by the rules.' From there, I was off and running, and I shortly found the first edition AD&D books in a used bookstore. Far superior to the 2nd edition stuff, they seemed more 'indicative' of how the game was to be played, its objectives, and structure.
I embarked on a campaign with friends (whom I taught how to play) that used a mishmash of rules from D&D (Rules Cyclopedia), 2e, and 1e. I DMed mostly a core group of friends with others mixing in and out over time, played in a few others' games. All great fun.
Twenty years has gone by since Dan explained D&D to me. And it is still THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD.
When I was in 6th grade, I met a student named Dan. Until that grade, Dan had attended private school. Dan was a bit of a nerd, like me, and told me of a game he had played in private school called DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.
Please indulge me while I relate some background before I continue.
To me, "Dungeons & Dragons" was a cartoon (the CBS Saturday morning cartoon with voices by Willie Aimes and Donnie Most). I had loved that cartoon, and other 'fantasy' type programs, like Masters of the Universe. One of my favorite films that would be played fairly often on TV was Clash of the Titans.
I was also a voratious reader (and 'player') of Choose Your Adventure style books: Time Machine series, Choose Your Adventure, and the Endless Quest series, which was my favorite. Endless Quest was 'from the producers of the Dungeons & Dragons game,' which I didn't understand, since I thought it was just a cartoon. There were ads in the back for The Dragon, and the D&D Basic set, but I had never seen them in a store and had no notion what they were about.
So as you can see, my imagination was primed for what I was about to discover.
Dan explained to how to play Dungeons & Dragons. I still remember his words clearly.
"One player is the Dungeon Master. He draws a map of a dungeon and puts monsters and treasure in it, but only he gets to see it. He describes to you what you can see and hear as if you were really in the dungeon, and you describe back what you want to do."
My mental reaction is indelibly etched in my memory.
THAT IS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD.
Dan and I then embarked on my first playing experiences with D&D. We had no rules. We would take turns drawing dungeons on scratch paper (we didn't have graph paper) and be the Dungeon Master. The game style was wholly descriptive action. We had no rules, since we didn't have access to a copy of the game. I don't know if Dan ever played using the 'real rules,' but it didn't matter to us.
Dan would describe the environment and I would describe back what my action was. For combat, my character would win or lose based on a judgment call by Dan. Mostly, I would avoid fighting since it was so easy to get killed (I had learned this from the rather deadly Choose Your Adventure books). My 'character sheet' was a piece of notebook paper I used for notes, crude maps, and writing down my 'equipment' and treasure found. Nothing had any stats.
This first experience with 'Dungeons & Dragons' shaped my view of the role-playing game-form ever since: Extemporaneous action in an imaginary environment that can be altered by the Dungeon Master based on player action, with the participants acting and reacting to each other as if they were in the environment described.
I did try to buy the 'real rules' because I wanted to play 'for real,' though. This was 1989/90, and at that time there was no basic D&D set readily available. I ended up buying the Hollow World boxed set. I found it amazing, particularly the hex outdoor map. But it didn't explain how to play, and I was disappointed.
Then I saved up more money, and bought the AD&D Player's Handbook, 2nd Edition. It explained some things mechanically, but didn't provide a lot of context of how the game was to be structured.
The big black D&D basic set came out in 91, the one with the 'flashcards' and things became much more clear, since there were step by step instructions on game-play, dungeon making, using monsters, traps, etc 'by the rules.' From there, I was off and running, and I shortly found the first edition AD&D books in a used bookstore. Far superior to the 2nd edition stuff, they seemed more 'indicative' of how the game was to be played, its objectives, and structure.
I embarked on a campaign with friends (whom I taught how to play) that used a mishmash of rules from D&D (Rules Cyclopedia), 2e, and 1e. I DMed mostly a core group of friends with others mixing in and out over time, played in a few others' games. All great fun.
Twenty years has gone by since Dan explained D&D to me. And it is still THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD.
