D&D General Fifty Years

[Tonguez]

Happy Birthday

My first memory was two bullywugs and a carrion crawler
then it was meeting Aleena sitting crosslegged in the dungeon

 

[Eis]

happy birthday! it just so happens that it is my birthday also and I am 55

first memory was hearing tales of the game from a classmate in elementary school whose brother played and my first actual experience was getting the red boxed set for my 12th birthday in '81

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Happy Birthday!

First Memory: I was on a Drama trip in high school (as the spotlight guy as I'd just joined the drama club). After the play was done, the whole cast went back to the motel where I was instructed to roll stats. I wanted to play a wizard. Awesome stats. Except for a Comeliness of 5. I was crushed.

"But you have a charisma of 15! You are like Jafar from Aladdin. He's not great looking but has lots of sway over the king."

And So, my first character was decidedly a villain. We played to the wee hours of the morning and
I also remember that the birds started singing at EXACTLY 4:30am.

 

[Rabbitbait]

My friend and I had really gotten into Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. We read that D&D was like that, only better. In 1980 we saved up enough pocket money together to buy the red box. I've been playing ever since (apart from a couple of years of travelling the world).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

My friend and I had really gotten into Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks. We read that D&D was like that, only better. In 1980 we saved up enough pocket money together to buy the red box. I've been playing ever since (apart from a couple of years of travelling the world).

Travelling is smart. Heck, the knowledge you gain will make your games better, if nothing else! (And it'll do a lot of 'else').

 

[bedir than]

What's your first D&D memory?

Some point in 82ish one of my friends said if you like The Hobbit (Rankin & Bass!) you'd like this game where you get to decide what your character does.

My first character was a halfling and for some reason we only rolled d6s

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Some point in 82ish one of my friends said if you like The Hobbit (Rankin & Bass!) you'd like this game where you get to decide what your character does.

My first character was a halfling and for some reason we only rolled d6s

Probably d6's were all you could find!

 

[Gorck]

I turn 50 today.

Ha ha, sucker, I still have 2 weeks left until I turn 50!

I played Baldur’s Gate 1& 2 and Icewind Dale 1& 2 while in college in the 90’s, but I didn’t start playing D&D itself until 2000, when I was a whopping 26.

My first character was a Halfling Rogue named Willow (because I had a celebrity crush on Alyson Hannigan). He only lasted a couple sessions until I needed to make a Balance check to cross a rope bridge. I had such a high Balance skill modifier that the only way I could fail was by rolling a natural 1. Care to guess how that turned out?

My second character was a Half-orc Barbarian named Gorck, who is the basis of my user name. He was a blast to play, especially because Barbarians in 3e were illiterate, so that led to some fun and funny RP moments.

Anyway, I hope you had a great birthday, and have a slice of cake for me

 

[MNblockhead]

Happy birthday! I'm 52. My first memory was getting the basic D&D box set, coloring in blue dice with a white crayon, and reading through Keep on the Borderland.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I turn 50 today.

On the one hand, it doesn't bother me at all, but on the other hand, I'm being reflective on the subject.

For example, not that I believe in destiny, but I enjoy serendipity: Maybe I was destined to play D&D?

One of the history books on the subject - I think it was Game Wizards - said that Gary packaged up D&D to send it to the printers TODAY (50 years ago!)

The same day I was born!

Me & D&D grew up together, though I was 12 before I played it. My fighter had green slime dumped on his head. That's pretty much all I remember from that first game. What's your first D&D memory?

Happy birthday! We are super close in age

The older neighbor kid tried to run me through isle of dread. It was likely 42 years ago. I had a fighter named “lance.”

I also remember my fiend’s older brother playing in their basement with an older friend. They went full chaotic on innocents and stole their stuff

But my first bratty memory around that time was playing a dwarf and nearly demanding gauntlets of ogre power…his mother listening in said “no that is not how it works. You have to earn them and find them!” That stuck with me.

By 8 or 9 I was already less of an asshat…

But it’s been a big part of my life ever since and now 42 or 43 years later, I am DMing my children. And they too have to earn their magic items!