Not Your Father's D&D

[howandwhy99]

I was wondering how many people who visit these boards actually qualify as "2nd Generation" gamers. I mean, did you have gamer parents? And did they teach you to play while you were young?

I'm really interested in knowing what your experiences were in general.

Here are a few questions just to get the ball rolling:

How old were you when you started playing?
How often did you play?
What did you like best about the game when young?
Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?
Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?
Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?
What would you do differently? The same?

 

[devilbat]

I've often thought that my dad may have been a gamer, although he denies it. I could see him lying about it, as I'm a closet gamer, so could he have been. The reason I suspect, is because I had a couple of gaming systems kicking around my room as a kid, before I could read. I clearly remember an old Batman game system, that came with cardboard character punchouts, and TSR's Star Frontiers system. I've asked him about buying them for me, and he says he doesn't remember. I think he's hiding something.

I didn't game until I was seventeen, and was introduced to it by some friends. I don't plan on sitting my kids down to teach them about the game. I figure they will see and hear about it on their own, around the house. My eleven year old daughter is already WAY too cool for gaming, and is a little mortified that her dad is secretly a geek. My seven year old son is the first to look through any new gaming book that comes into the house, so I expect he may show some interest.

 

[Wombat]

How old were you when you started playing?

I was 16, lo!, 30 years ago...

How often did you play?

Back in the day? At least once a week, often more. I remember the 24 hour games, the "game each day of the three-day weekend", and all like that. Nowadays, it's once every other weekend

What did you like best about the game when young?

1) It wasn't a minitatures wargame where there were hordes of arguments all the time and 2) that there were no "Winners" or "Losers". Ultimately, however, I was drawn in through a love of history and mythology -- here was a chance to act out some of my favourite tales! The fantasy literature aspect was pretty much secondary as there were not a lot of fantasy authors that I knew of that I particularly enjoyed (and most of the ones that I did like didn't translate over into D&D-of-the-time very well).

Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?

Nope. I was the only person in town for about six months who even had a copy of D&D. I was entirely self-taught at first. I have picked up ideas and tips in the intervening decades, but I still cleave pretty close to my own style.

Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?

Sure. I mean, those Three Little Books had a lot of gaps in them! There was no information on weapon damage until Greyhawk came out! There was a lot of "making it up as you go along" back then. Luckily eventually I found Alarums & Excursions...

Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?

Well, I don't have any kids of my own, but I have been teaching my niece and nephew (ages 9 & 10 respectively) as well as giving a lot of tips to teens who show up at local game stores (or contact me on the internet -- I should open up "Uncle Wombat's House o' Gaming Lore"...

What would you do differently? The same?

From the original days? Lots different -- dungeons-qua-dungeons are very rare, we do a lot more character development, I try out lots of different systems, I don't worry if I am playing the game "right" or "like everybody else", towns have reasons for existing other than to service adventurers; I could keep going, but these are the important points.

But what is the same? The sense of adventure, the notion of a shared world being created as we go along, the fun of getting together with friends to do something we all enjoy, the fascination with history and mythology.

Thirty years playing around at one hobby is a long time. A lot of things have changed, but many of the reasons I am still here are the same as what got me into gaming. I love this game!

 

[BlackSilver]

Not sure if I qualify as a 2nd generation gamer. My Dad has/had gamed with us when we were kids, but he lost interest very quickly. Mom never played and thought the whole idea was some kind of Satan worship until our nanny pointed out the fundamental benefits of gaming (she was actually the one to get me into it, not sure if my brother still games). Our nanny gamed with us for a couple of years (she was an avid AD&Der), and she was more my Mom then my Mom was, so I would guess that means ya, I am.

 

[Jdvn1]

I had a gamer brother, not parents, so I guess it's not quite the same.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

How old were you when you started playing?
How often did you play?
What did you like best about the game when young?
Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?
Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?
Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?
What would you do differently? The same?

My father taught me, we found a game at the foreign language building on the AFB he was stationed at when I was 11.

I liked "winning" and getting the treasure.

Later, as the AFB was closing and the group was splitting up, I was taught how to run a game.

I liked reading the DMG especially.

I have 3 kids and while my son (3 years old) likes playing with the plastic miniatures, they are a little too young still. Though I would relish the chance to focus their creative energies.

I think I would do things the same.

 

[IronWolf]

I am first generation gamer, started in the '81 or '82 era with the Moldvay Basic set when I was around ten years old. I played quite a bit back then, though a lot of it was "solo" adventures and on occasion just fighting everything in the critter section! A lot of time back then was spent reading the rules and writing adventures and campaign worlds, so while I may not have had a regular group all the time, I still was able to fill lots of my free time with the game.

I think I liked the fantasy feel of the game the most. The wonderful monsters, the wizards, the shady rogues, the battle hardened fighters creeping into dungeons and caves. Heck, a lot of that is still true today. The game is an outlet, a break if you will from reality.

No one taught me the rules really. I just read and re-read until I was able to play the game. At the time I think several areas of the rules were pretty murky, but we played anyways and eventually those areas started to make more sense too. I seem to recall the pecentile dice being a bit of a mystery that first year of playing!

I don't plan on directly teaching IronPup unless he expresses and interest in it. If he expresses interest I will happily teach him how to play and even run sessions for his friends and such when he is old enough. I might encourage him here or there, but by no means pressure him into it. For instance, he owns nearly a complete set of fuzzy dice now.... No harm in that!

The only thing I would do different would be to not have taken the long gap from gaming like I did after college and up until the last couple of years. Other than that, I doubt I would have done much differently. And who knows, the break may have good for me, so even that isn't too much of something I would have done differently.

 

[rogueattorney]

2nd generation gamer here.

My dad was a lot more into war games, although he had a photo-copied version of OD&D from very early on. I think he introduced me to D&D mainly to get me interested in other war games. He mainly just ran a game or two for us and then let me go on my own with it.

R.A.

 

[Pseudonym]

I was wondering how many people who visit these boards actually qualify as "2nd Generation" gamers. I mean, did you have gamer parents? And did they teach you to play while you were young?

I learned D&D at my father's knee, literally.

How old were you when you started playing?

I was eight years old when I created my first character, but I had been watching the adults play for probably a year or so. This was back in 1982.

How often did you play?

Weekend sessions beginning Saturdays and sometimes resuming on Sundays.

What did you like best about the game when young?

It's hard to say. I suppose it was on some level the feeling of being included and participating in a group that clearly seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was in some way a bonding type moment; father and son sort of thing. I saw it on the same level and going fishing or playing catch.

On another level, I enjoyed the storytelling and the imagination. I could grasp the "let's pretend" aspect of it, but it was much deeper and enjoyable than playing cops and robbers in the back yard. The house was full of fantasy and sci-fi novels, and we used to listen to old radio serials, so it seemed a natural extension of that.

Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?

Not directly. My father ran his game with his Army buddies, I had a character of my own, but I never ran for them. As I got older, I began playing with kids my own age, and had my fahter to go to for advice and ideas. My first adventures were either me attempting to emulate what the adult group had done, or playing modules and pretty much winging it.

Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?

Not really. I have Mr Gygax to thank for expanding my vocabulary at an early age. I had the advantage of seeing some of the more complicated mechanics in actual play, so when it came to me it was more imitating the rules as explained orally rather than attempting to go from the DMG without any other frame of reference.

Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?

Should my wife let me, yes.

What would you do differently? The same?

I would take the same approach as I learned. I started by sitting on my dad's lap taking it all in and occasionally rolling dice for him. That seems as good a start as any.

 

[Hitokiri]

I started playing in '87 at the age of 7. Neither of my parents played (although I have no doubt that they knew at least a little about it) so D&D was only a vague concept to me at the time. My friend (just turned 8 at the time) had gotten the basic D&D rules and spent a few months learning them and reading through everything. Pretty soon I was blasting my way through dungeon after dungeon in classic roll playing style

We played whenever we could get together originally, which means as often as we could badger our parents into driving one to the others house for a day.

I honestly like the tactical aspect of the game, and the seemingly endless situations one could find themselves in with such complex rules. Over the years, I've definately grown to love the roleplaying side of it as well, but back when I was 7 or 8, it was all about finding the "best" way to slay the monster.

I learned mostly from watching my friend (who, incidentally, has only ever played as a PC during 2 one shot game sessions a couple years apart, 18 years of gaming and almost all of it behind the GM screen ). When I moved during highschool prior to either of us being able to drive, I then bought a copy of the DMG and read through that and started running my own games. Since them I seem to split my time about 50-50 between playing in games or running them.

Generally, no, I've not had problems with gaming materials. Some systems just don't appeal to me and I find them boring, but I've yet to run into a system that I couldn't understand (with the possible exception of the first time I read through Shadowrun, but I blame that on the poor layout of the book and a lack of time to really dig into the material).

Well, this question presupposes I have or will have kids (not guarenteed), but I suppose that if my children ever show an interest in gaming, I would be more than willing to include them in the hobby. Of course, I'd probably be running a much more family friendly game than I have tended to over the past few years.

Honestly, I don't think I would change anything. Gaming has definately enriched my life and been a funny hobby if a bit of a drain on the pocketbook. I've met some wonderful people and had some great times.