John Dallman
Hero
Plausibly connected with the draft in the USA?
Any old timers out there willing to help with a Master's thesis?
R_J_K75
Legend
Good observation.
practicalm
Explorer
I started in 1979 in middle school.
The GATE program in Irvine CA had a teach who introduced us. I was already a heavy player of warfare board games such as AH Battle of the Bulge and AH Midway. My family also played a lot of other board games.
I was lucky that I had a number of friends who were interested and we played a number of different campaigns and adventures in the Basic Set and then in AD&D as those books were released. I remember getting them at the old Gamesmanship store at South Coast Villiage (the store later moved across the street to South Coast Plaza)
I played a lot of different board, war and tabletop RPGs as well as computer games.
I never tried to build campaigns from the computer games but did take a hand at bringing my campaigns into the computer world as much as I could.
I was able to get hired at Gamesmanship in the later High School years and worked their full time to save money before heading to college. We played a lot of board games and RPG games with a group of employees and others.
We played a number of different RPGs at lunch in the library at University High in Irvine.
We also played Killer at school until we got caught at it. I started a Science Fiction and Gaming Club and we played after school as well.
When I headed off to college, I started a gaming club there and we played games in the student union many evenings. I had game nights in my apartment but we mostly had cooled from playing RPGs, mostly playing board games.
I still played and game mastered RPGs at conventions but didn't have a core group until I went to grad school in Washington DC.
There, my wife and I played a number of different RPG games with a group there. Still played a lot of board games though.
One of my first career positions was in educational game design and we played board games almost every Friday night in the cafeteria. Much fun was had.
When I moved back to southern California, I found a number of gamers to play in my home and I picked up RPGs again playing things like Life With Master and other smaller titles as well as games like James Bond, and GURPS.
Moved to Utah for a new position and found mostly board gamers.
Back to southern california after a few years and ran game night at my church for over 10 years now. When my kids were older they started an RPG group at church and I played some and then was the Gamemaster for a long time until I finally got someone to give me a break because I wanted to play Tomb of Annihilation.
Will probably go back to game mastering but might need to break the group into 2 smaller groups as we get as much as 8-12 people (though many times just 6). I was thinking of running a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy or a space campaign.
All in all I've mostly been a game master but I enjoy playing as well.
I'm in my early 50s and of German and Polish descent.
My father's family played board games all the time and will play a lot of interesting games I bring to family gatherings. (My cousin was the first person to beat me at Agricola scores were 31,30,29 for a tight game)
I generally have an idea of where I want the game to go and let the players know about it as part of session 0. I leave out hooks and player choose what they want to follow. If they don't follow hooks, I have a set of things that happen because of it and this either leads to new hooks or stories that some other heroes took care of it. I work to incorporate as much of a player's backstory as I can into the overall plot and I'm willing to be flexible if we come up with things that seem more interesting.
Our recent D&D games are pretty light hearted and with a lot of jokes and stories.
I do allow home-brew rules but I don't have too many house rules.
I used to but it just made it harder to add new people.
I did share some of my house rules in the days of Usenet and the Pyramid boards so many people used them.
The GATE program in Irvine CA had a teach who introduced us. I was already a heavy player of warfare board games such as AH Battle of the Bulge and AH Midway. My family also played a lot of other board games.
I was lucky that I had a number of friends who were interested and we played a number of different campaigns and adventures in the Basic Set and then in AD&D as those books were released. I remember getting them at the old Gamesmanship store at South Coast Villiage (the store later moved across the street to South Coast Plaza)
I played a lot of different board, war and tabletop RPGs as well as computer games.
I never tried to build campaigns from the computer games but did take a hand at bringing my campaigns into the computer world as much as I could.
I was able to get hired at Gamesmanship in the later High School years and worked their full time to save money before heading to college. We played a lot of board games and RPG games with a group of employees and others.
We played a number of different RPGs at lunch in the library at University High in Irvine.
We also played Killer at school until we got caught at it. I started a Science Fiction and Gaming Club and we played after school as well.
When I headed off to college, I started a gaming club there and we played games in the student union many evenings. I had game nights in my apartment but we mostly had cooled from playing RPGs, mostly playing board games.
I still played and game mastered RPGs at conventions but didn't have a core group until I went to grad school in Washington DC.
There, my wife and I played a number of different RPG games with a group there. Still played a lot of board games though.
One of my first career positions was in educational game design and we played board games almost every Friday night in the cafeteria. Much fun was had.
When I moved back to southern California, I found a number of gamers to play in my home and I picked up RPGs again playing things like Life With Master and other smaller titles as well as games like James Bond, and GURPS.
Moved to Utah for a new position and found mostly board gamers.
Back to southern california after a few years and ran game night at my church for over 10 years now. When my kids were older they started an RPG group at church and I played some and then was the Gamemaster for a long time until I finally got someone to give me a break because I wanted to play Tomb of Annihilation.
Will probably go back to game mastering but might need to break the group into 2 smaller groups as we get as much as 8-12 people (though many times just 6). I was thinking of running a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy or a space campaign.
All in all I've mostly been a game master but I enjoy playing as well.
I'm in my early 50s and of German and Polish descent.
My father's family played board games all the time and will play a lot of interesting games I bring to family gatherings. (My cousin was the first person to beat me at Agricola scores were 31,30,29 for a tight game)
I generally have an idea of where I want the game to go and let the players know about it as part of session 0. I leave out hooks and player choose what they want to follow. If they don't follow hooks, I have a set of things that happen because of it and this either leads to new hooks or stories that some other heroes took care of it. I work to incorporate as much of a player's backstory as I can into the overall plot and I'm willing to be flexible if we come up with things that seem more interesting.
Our recent D&D games are pretty light hearted and with a lot of jokes and stories.
I do allow home-brew rules but I don't have too many house rules.
I used to but it just made it harder to add new people.
I did share some of my house rules in the days of Usenet and the Pyramid boards so many people used them.
Houserule? Yes, depending on the game or campaign. I do so to help make it easier for the game to run the way I want it to. Some systems I houserule a great deal, some I leave nearly pristine. However, it is a tool in my toolkit I may use or opt not to for EVERY system- my use depends entirely upon the nature of the campaign I’m running and how it interacts with the system I’m using.
Homebrewing is almost my default. I don’t think I’ve run a published setting as-is in 30 years, and more often than not, I’m just mining published material for ideas.
I have never formally published anything, but I have frequently shared ideas for rules modification, adventure/campaign designs, character brainstorming*, etc. with other players in person or on websites like this one. Well, particularly this one. I’ve signed up for others, but rarely lasted more than a couple years on any of them due to various reasons. (Never been banned or hounded off, though- all the reasons were internal.)
I've entered a couple of PC designs in contests. None published so far.
Some of those I have shared with have claimed they’d use my ideas, but I have no confirmation of whether that was the case or not.
* character brainstorming is actually one of my favorite things to do. If I can help someone realize their vision for a character or inspire them to borrow one of mine, that’s great. It’s not like I’ll have an opportunity to play all the ones I’ve come up with. As Walt Whitman said, “I am large. I contain multitudes.”
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
White, Male, 49
Started in 82/83 with OD&D, then AD&D 1e. Then moved on to Warhammer, Gama World, Paranoia, Boot Hill, Star Frontiers, and other games, include some that friends and I designed.
I was published once in Dragon Magazine, but those were more war game rules not TTRPG rules.
I, like most people in those days, had my own homebrew world and I organized games at the local library.
Also, like most of us in those days, I tweaked the rules a lot. Most notably after my first summer working with the the Student Conservation Association, I created and enforced much more realistic wilderness travel and survival rules. Hex crawling was more prominent in my games back then than now and wilderness survival was a more important part of the game.
I stopped playing around 1990 when I went to college (played maybe once or twice my freshman year but moved to other interests) and traded all my TTRPG stuff to an local couple who were heavy in the SCA (the Society for Creative Anachonisms, not sure what it is with me and organizations with SCA as initials) for a crate of home-vinted wines and they auctioned my gaming stuff off at Gen Con. The only thing I kept was the copy of Dragon Magazine I was published in and the first issue of Polyhedron which I asked Gary Gygax to sign the cover of.
Didn't play again until 2014. I had moved back to the area I grew up in and started hanging out with old highschool friends again. We were getting together regularly for board games and I started thinking that it would be fun to run the occasional TTRPG. But 4e discouraged me. It didn't have the feel I was looking for. It seemed to be too heavily focused on miniature wargamming. I know now that it unfair, but as someone from OD&D and 1e days looking at the game decades later, it was a hard pass after glancing through it.
A friend of mine from high school who was still a heavy gamer suggested Pathfinder. After looking throught it and reading up on it a bit online, I basically said "I don't have time for this s***!" and went one playing board games. When the 5e Player's Handbook came out, I went to my FLGS and paged through a copy and instantly fell in love. Something about the artwork and and the more readily accessible rules hit the nolstalgia button while also seeming modern. A classic car body with an upgraded engine and modern tech package. I played several games at a local convention to get a feel for it and started building my homebrew campaign.
I still run my monthly 8-hour game with most of the same people that I brought together at the end of 2014 and early 2015. After wrapping up my first homebrew campaign, I ran Curse of Strahd, and am no running Rappan Athuk.
I run 5e mostly by the book, though I've brought in some homebrew or third-party options that fit the campaign.
I run and play other games but generally only as one shots. These include Paranoia (current edition), The Expanse, ICRPG (Index Card RPG), Dialect, and InSPECTres. At my local convention, on the years I could attend, I play whatever game I haven't played that looks interesting.
Started in 82/83 with OD&D, then AD&D 1e. Then moved on to Warhammer, Gama World, Paranoia, Boot Hill, Star Frontiers, and other games, include some that friends and I designed.
I was published once in Dragon Magazine, but those were more war game rules not TTRPG rules.
I, like most people in those days, had my own homebrew world and I organized games at the local library.
Also, like most of us in those days, I tweaked the rules a lot. Most notably after my first summer working with the the Student Conservation Association, I created and enforced much more realistic wilderness travel and survival rules. Hex crawling was more prominent in my games back then than now and wilderness survival was a more important part of the game.
I stopped playing around 1990 when I went to college (played maybe once or twice my freshman year but moved to other interests) and traded all my TTRPG stuff to an local couple who were heavy in the SCA (the Society for Creative Anachonisms, not sure what it is with me and organizations with SCA as initials) for a crate of home-vinted wines and they auctioned my gaming stuff off at Gen Con. The only thing I kept was the copy of Dragon Magazine I was published in and the first issue of Polyhedron which I asked Gary Gygax to sign the cover of.
Didn't play again until 2014. I had moved back to the area I grew up in and started hanging out with old highschool friends again. We were getting together regularly for board games and I started thinking that it would be fun to run the occasional TTRPG. But 4e discouraged me. It didn't have the feel I was looking for. It seemed to be too heavily focused on miniature wargamming. I know now that it unfair, but as someone from OD&D and 1e days looking at the game decades later, it was a hard pass after glancing through it.
A friend of mine from high school who was still a heavy gamer suggested Pathfinder. After looking throught it and reading up on it a bit online, I basically said "I don't have time for this s***!" and went one playing board games. When the 5e Player's Handbook came out, I went to my FLGS and paged through a copy and instantly fell in love. Something about the artwork and and the more readily accessible rules hit the nolstalgia button while also seeming modern. A classic car body with an upgraded engine and modern tech package. I played several games at a local convention to get a feel for it and started building my homebrew campaign.
I still run my monthly 8-hour game with most of the same people that I brought together at the end of 2014 and early 2015. After wrapping up my first homebrew campaign, I ran Curse of Strahd, and am no running Rappan Athuk.
I run 5e mostly by the book, though I've brought in some homebrew or third-party options that fit the campaign.
I run and play other games but generally only as one shots. These include Paranoia (current edition), The Expanse, ICRPG (Index Card RPG), Dialect, and InSPECTres. At my local convention, on the years I could attend, I play whatever game I haven't played that looks interesting.
Gilladian
Adventurer
Demographic: 55, white female, graduate degree, married, no kids.
Started at age 11 in 1976 when my older brother brought the game home from boy scouts. Never stopped playing. Met my husband of 37 years while playing DnD. It is my creative “writing“ outlet. I mostly DM, tho I love to play. The social, creative and family bonding over the game are what keep me involved. My whole family played: my 83 year old mom plays with us every week, as did my dad until he got too sick.
We always loved fantasy: mom read the Hobbit to us when I was 5. I’ve played or run many different games. TFT, Traveller, every edition of DnD, Gamma World, Boot Hill, Aftermath, and at least a dozen more.
I would be happy to answer any follow- up questions you have.
Started at age 11 in 1976 when my older brother brought the game home from boy scouts. Never stopped playing. Met my husband of 37 years while playing DnD. It is my creative “writing“ outlet. I mostly DM, tho I love to play. The social, creative and family bonding over the game are what keep me involved. My whole family played: my 83 year old mom plays with us every week, as did my dad until he got too sick.
We always loved fantasy: mom read the Hobbit to us when I was 5. I’ve played or run many different games. TFT, Traveller, every edition of DnD, Gamma World, Boot Hill, Aftermath, and at least a dozen more.
I would be happy to answer any follow- up questions you have.
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Gilladian
Adventurer
And having read the rest of the thread, we are currently playing 3.5e, Epic 8 variant. I have a massive campaign wiki, here: Vishteer Campaign / FrontPage which is as close to published as I have time for.
Stefan Huddleston
Villager
I get it, they can be a beast. Luckily for me, the history department at my university makes us do 3 smaller theses rather than one large one and this is the 3rd for me, so I have some experience from the first two to draw on.
On another note, I have a supplementary question. This one is even for folks who don't use house rules.
Have you borrowed anything from another player or GM's style that changed the way you or your group plays: a way they do initiative, a phrase or gesture they use to signal when they are speaking out of character, a way of voicing a certain type of character, or anything else along these lines?
Stefan Huddleston
Villager
Yes, maybe. My research indicates so far that in the seventies there were players who had both "dodged" the draft and served in Vietnam and that the political split in one small survey was about evenly left, light, moderate.
Still, lots to dig through, but once again I can't thank everyone enough!
There is no one thing/person I can point to, but...
For the first decade in the hobby or so, except for my very first game, I was more of a “roll” player than a “role” player. My characters were little more than pawns.
But as I moved around and gamed at different tables with different players in different systems, I rediscovered the role playing aspect of the hobby. And in 1990, I joined Alan Hench’s group in Austin, wherein we played so many different systems and genres, I almost had to lean into that aspect in order to keep the games and PCs distinct in my mind.
Since that time, 90%+ of my play has been as a “role” player.
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