For me it was during high school in 1980/81.
The members of the chess club (which I was part of) had all become good friends and were into board games, war games, etc, so it was only natural that after someone discovered a new game the rest would soon be introduced to it.
One afternoon during a study hall break a friend told me about this game called Dungeons and Dragons that a few of them had played earlier in the week. He described them sneaking around in an old dungeon hallway and having a group of goblins sneak up on them from behind a secret door while they were listening at another one. He told about the chase down some stairs and some combat and some treasure, and that was it, I was curious. I stewed, wondering about this game for the next three days until I could join them for a session.
My first character "Baylor", an Elf (basic boxed set, orange book), was created and joined them in the hallways of a graph paper map. we wandered around exploring and had faced a couple spiders, a couple skeletons, a gnoll, and then a couple gnomes. Well, after the bad experience with the gnoll and hearing the gno part of gnome being sounded out, I declared an attack and the fight began. When the bloodshed was over everyone asked me why I attacked the gnomes. "Gnomes? I thought they were gnolls ... oh well. Are they carrying any treasure?"
Twenty three years later I'm still playing, but I usually give consideration to the possibility that something might be a potential ally before attacking.
The members of the chess club (which I was part of) had all become good friends and were into board games, war games, etc, so it was only natural that after someone discovered a new game the rest would soon be introduced to it.
One afternoon during a study hall break a friend told me about this game called Dungeons and Dragons that a few of them had played earlier in the week. He described them sneaking around in an old dungeon hallway and having a group of goblins sneak up on them from behind a secret door while they were listening at another one. He told about the chase down some stairs and some combat and some treasure, and that was it, I was curious. I stewed, wondering about this game for the next three days until I could join them for a session.
My first character "Baylor", an Elf (basic boxed set, orange book), was created and joined them in the hallways of a graph paper map. we wandered around exploring and had faced a couple spiders, a couple skeletons, a gnoll, and then a couple gnomes. Well, after the bad experience with the gnoll and hearing the gno part of gnome being sounded out, I declared an attack and the fight began. When the bloodshed was over everyone asked me why I attacked the gnomes. "Gnomes? I thought they were gnolls ... oh well. Are they carrying any treasure?"
Twenty three years later I'm still playing, but I usually give consideration to the possibility that something might be a potential ally before attacking.
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