Going back in time to play your novice days again

[Bullgrit]

If you have been playing D&D for more than 10 years:

If you could go back in time to your first days, weeks, months, years of your gaming career, and replay the game, knowing what you know now, with the experience in the game you have now, would those early games be as fun, more fun, or less fun?

Would you replay the game like you did then, or would you change things based on what you know now?

Has experience jaded you to what/how you used to enjoy the game, or has long experience confirmed your enjoyment of what/how you used to play the game?

Bullgrit

 

[El Mahdi]

If you have been playing D&D for more than 10 years:

If you could go back in time to your first days, weeks, months, years of your gaming career, and replay the game, knowing what you know now, with the experience in the game you have now, would those early games be as fun, more fun, or less fun?

Definitely at the least, As Fun! As much as I wouldn't choose to play AD&D again, the fun I had was less about the rules than it was about the people I gamed with. It was an awesome group! Times change and people move on, but it was still the best group I was ever a part of... (so far)

Would you replay the game like you did then, or would you change things based on what you know now?

I can't help but tinker with the rules, so yeah, I'd try to change things. But, I'd also set myself up to buy TSR first then publish D20 myself and be rich beyond the dreams of Avaris...(Bwuhahaha!)

Has experience jaded you to what/how you used to enjoy the game, or has long experience confirmed your enjoyment of what/how you used to play the game?

Experience has neither jaded me nor confirmed my enjoyment of how I used to play. It has helped me define what my play preferences are, especially as concerns system and mechanics...but as far as enjoyment, Experience helps me realize how important the group is. In the end, it's about having fun around a table with good friends, good talk, good food, and lots of memories. The game itself kind of becomes secondary.

 

[malraux]

I think my knowledge of game mechanics would greatly increase my enjoyment of the game. Knowing that the 3e monk was well below the power curve while the druid was way above would have helped when I created my first character.

That said, having no idea what mind flayers, carrion crawlers, etc certainly maid the game far more awesome.

 

[Umbran]

I had my first experience with RPGs while I was in grade school. I took up D&D when I was in Junior High School. I'm not 12 years old any more, and my tastes have changed. My experience with games is not material, as compared to my experience of life

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

If you could go back in time to your first days, weeks, months, years of your gaming career, and replay the game, knowing what you know now, with the experience in the game you have now, would those early games be as fun, more fun, or less fun?

Probably more fun. Frankly, nowadays I have the good sense and means to seek out a group that's as into it as I am, something I lacked back then in the early 80s.

Would you replay the game like you did then, or would you change things based on what you know now?

I think I'd be more inclined to try more (and more different) things in-world. Having read so much more at this point, known so many more people, travelled to so many more places, etc, I'm pretty sure my imagination is better now than when I was 10.

Has experience jaded you to what/how you used to enjoy the game, or has long experience confirmed your enjoyment of what/how you used to play the game?

Experience certainly hasn't jaded me to the game or my enjoyment of it. I think I'd still appreciate a dungeon structured by "precocious little kid logic" today. Honestly, I've recently been chomping at the bit to go back to BECMI and try, both in the style of a child, as well in a more serious grown-up fashion-- assuming those two things are actually different!

 

[Rykion]

I started playing in grade school, age 6 or so, and I feel half the fun was not knowing the rules. It helped me to play my character, not the rules system. I would flip through the monster manual and read the monster fluff, but didn't understand most of the crunch. I really wouldn't want to go back and change that.

I've changed, and the way I game has changed with experience. Now I mostly GM. I still enjoy the game, but in different ways now.

 

[athos]

I started in 1977, when I was in 5th grade. I was learning algebra, reading the lord of the rings trilogy for the first time, and falling madly in love with Kim M. and her big blue eyes.

And to this really good year, I got to add Advanced Dungeons and Dragons !!!

It was a very good year.

My biggest mistake as a new player was that I was so excited by the game that I tried to force it on ALL of my friends. Most only played because I begged them to, not because they really wanted to. I should have begged my folks to take me to a hobby shop and let me play with other enthusiasts, but I didn't realize that anyone else was as excited by this new world as I was.

I had a paper route, so I bought EVERYTHING, and to this, I wrote a hundred adventures of my own, mostly modeled on the modules of Mr. Gygax and his world of greyhawk, which I used for everything, and still enjoy to this day. I created my own races, one half spider race I still actually use.

I think I played nonstop for 7 years, until I joined the Army, and then I was too "grown-up" to play. Later, when I relaxed a bit, I started playing again, along with Rifts and Shadowrun, I gamed a lot in the early 90's. Again, I left off for a while, until 3.5 came out when I started living greyhawk with my daughter. We went to all the conventions, had a great time and got to spend a lot of father / daughter time together.

Overall D&D has brought me some of my best memories and fun.

So, I guess I would tell my younger self, don't be so serious, relax and savor it, it is a game and is meant to be fun, not a real life, life and death experience. Your character isn't YOU. And, neither you nor your character needs to be perfect, just roll with the flow and you will enjoy it more.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I would have more fun. I am a better DM now than I was then. I certainly have a finer appreciation for the elegance of Holmes Basic and 1e than I did then, and I would make better use of the tools available.

BUT, long experience has confirmed my enjoyment of what/how I used to play the game. Only more so, and with better knowledge of how to proceed.


RC

 

[amerigoV]

I would say 'no'. As they say, you can never go home again. You cannot truly relive that magical moment when you started gaming. I would hate to ruin those early days of wonder by inserting a grognard's experience . I prefer to keep my nostalgia intact.

 

[ggroy]

I would say 'no'. As they say, you can never go home again. You cannot truly relive that magical moment when you started gaming. I would hate to ruin those early days of wonder by inserting a grognard's experience . I prefer to keep my nostalgia intact.

This is how I would feel about it too. One can never go back home again.

Back in the day, the DMs of my early D&D games frequently had really cheesy music playing in the background. Stuff like Journey, Blondie, the Bee Gees, Boston, etc ...