D&D General Did you get your start playing D&D, and what do you play now?

[TerraDave]

D&D has almost always been the main gateway to RPGs, and when it suffers, there is the long-standing feeling that the whole RPG industry, such as it is, suffers.

But, I do think that in the later 90's, Vampire and WOD reached a point were they could also do new player acquisition, and had some advantages in new player acquisition.

Yet, I do not see one person here that came in through Vampire on this thread, so I could be wrong. Or they just wouldn't be on these boards.

 

[Fanaelialae]

D&D has almost always been the main gateway to RPGs, and when it suffers, there is the long-standing feeling that the whole RPG industry, such as it is, suffers.

But, I do think that in the later 90's, Vampire and WOD reached a point were they could also do new player acquisition, and had some advantages in new player acquisition.

Yet, I do not see one person here that came in through Vampire on this thread, so I could be wrong. Or they just wouldn't be on these boards.

I actually first came across the idea of an RPG in a Hardy Boys book when I was about 7, and I was enthralled by the concept. I actually wondered whether it was real, or whether the author had simply made it all up. Taking inspiration from the Game Boy game, Final Fantasy Legend, I set out to create my own RPG. I hadn't the first clue as to how to design a game though, so it didn't go far beyond some drawings in a notebook that had Attack and GP values arbitrarily assigned to them.

A year or two later, I finally found a hobby shop that carried D&D, and I convinced my mom to buy the black box for me. So that's where I officially got my start. However, for the next 10 years I'd have a lot of trouble getting a stable gaming group. I played maybe once or twice a year on average. A disproportionate amount of my time was spent reading a variety of RPG books and working on my own material (most of which never saw the light of play).

Among the books I owned was Changeling, but I had avoided Vampire because I had gotten it into my head that Vampire was for goths (and I wasn't). All of my friends knew that I gamed, and while we were hanging out at a pool hall one day, one of them struck up a conversation with a guy who invited him to a Vampire larp. My friend said he wasn't interested, but pulled me into the conversation since he thought I might. I had my reservations, but ultimately decided to take a chance and I went.

I ended up enjoying larping Vampire, though I still much prefer tabletop RPGs. More importantly though, that larp lead me to meeting some folks who became a long term D&D group (several of whom were groomsmen at my wedding). We also played a number of other games, but it was usually D&D, often 2-3 times a week.

So, finally getting to the point. While D&D was my first RPG, without Vampire I would have probably never met my main gaming group. Without them, it's hard to say whether I'd even still be part of the hobby.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Way back in 1981 I made my first character for D&D. Since then I've branched out many times into a long list of games (too long to write down or even remember!).

Right now, I'm playing in a StarFinder game. I'm running a smaller 5e game, but also Deadlands: The Weird West (for the dude and his family who taught me D&D) and The Expanse RPG (for my daughter and her friends).

 

[Raith5]

Started with Basic and 1e. But I play with one 5e group and another group that dislikes 5e and we play Traveler, 4e, Pendragon etc.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

... Now a days I run Fantasy AGE (+ most AGE incarnations) ... .

How hard did you find it to get an AGE group together or did/are you running for your already established group? I'd like to play/run more of it, but haven't figured out how to sell it to others.

I do like that Foundry VTT has an unofficial AGE ruleset that is coming along nicely and that Green Ronin has stated that they have people making/converting the rulesets for Foundry, Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds which should really open up potential audiences...

Back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[jgsugden]

95% of the RPGs I play these days are D&D, but in the past I have played Paranoia, GURPS (primarily Western, Spy), Champions, Marvel Super Heroes, a few Star Wars RPGs, Pathfinder, Gamma World, Top Secret, Call of Cthulhu, and Vampire.

I've also designed an asymetrical RPG. It is a single adventure set in an alternate world with technology balanced around 1920 levels. It used 4E D&D as an inspiration, but each of the 5 PCs for the game function differently - and it is designed so that you sit down and play with absolutely no instructions what-so-ever. You put 5 large envelopes/boxes on the table, each player takes one, and then the Game Master reads the introduction - without the players even opening up the box. The box/envelope is opened as the PCs proceed through the introductory scenario (in which they have no memories), and they learn the basics of their rules through a tutorial style introduction ... although advancing in the game is achieved through the PCs figuring out the mechanics of their PC and acquiring the power to safely use those abilities. This puts the heroes on a roughly 80 hour of gaming adventure that starts with a city adventure, and then expands into a globe trotting race. It has inspirations from D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands and Pandemic Legacy. I've run it twice, and refined it a lot each time based upon feedback.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I've also designed an asymetrical RPG. It is a single adventure set in an alternate world with technology balanced around 1920 levels. It used 4E D&D as an inspiration, but each of the 5 PCs for the game function differently - and it is designed so that you sit down and play with absolutely no instructions what-so-ever. You put 5 large envelopes/boxes on the table, each player takes one, and then the Game Master reads the introduction - without the players even opening up the box. The box/envelope is opened as the PCs proceed through the introductory scenario (in which they have no memories), and they learn the basics of their rules through a tutorial style introduction ... although advancing in the game is achieved through the PCs figuring out the mechanics of their PC and acquiring the power to safely use those abilities. This puts the heroes on a roughly 80 hour of gaming adventure that starts with a city adventure, and then expands into a globe trotting race. It has inspirations from D&D, Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands and Pandemic Legacy. I've run it twice, and refined it a lot each time based upon feedback.

That sounds awesome!

 

[Voadam]

I started playing with AD&D 1e, my parents got me the Moldvay Basic set and those were the two systems for a while. Non D&D early stuff eventually included GURPS, Star Frontiers, various Palladium stuff (Fantasy, TMNT Heroes Unlimited, Ninjas & Superspies, Rifts), Warhammer Fantasy RPG, Shadowrun, and a little Mechwarrior. Later Vampire the Masquerade came out and I did a lot of that, plus Mage, along with AD&D 2e, 3e, 3.5, Pathfinder 1e, 4e, d20 Modern, Mutants & Masterminds, a little BESM, homebrew systems, and 5e.

I only run D&D games, but I incorporate a lot of stuff from other games into my D&D ones from Ars Magica to GURPS, Earthdawn, Kult, Palladium, Rolemaster, and World of Darkness.

I am currently DMing a 5e game online and my face to face group is going to start up a new Vampire game after a year of me not being there.

 

[Stormonu]

Started with Holmes basic, lost the rulebook and did free form until I got my hands on the Moldvay basic game.

I’ve played quite a number of non-D&D RPGs over the years; long stints of Villains and Vigilantes, Marvel FASERIP, Gamma World*, Star Wars D6 & SAGA, Palladium Robotech, Savage Worlds, Spycraft, FASA & Last Unicorn Star Trek, Vampire (o & nWoD), Werewolf nWoD & Hunter nWod . I’m also familiar with a dozen more systems that I’ve either read and/or played a session or three.

I’ve also played/own multiple wargame/RPG systems such as 40K, Warmahordes, Battletech/Mechwarrior, Car Wars, Battlesystem & (90’s) Chainmail and Interceptor/Crimson skies. Recently I’ve been getting into a lot of WW2 games such as Flames of War and Bolt Action.

I’m still waiting for the right group to try Call of Cthulhu, and my biggest disappointment is although I’ve read GURPS, I’ve never done a game with the system - and probably never will.

* my favorite character was a quasi-Hoop from a tribe inspired by the rabbits from Watership Down

 

[elZombie]

I'm curious to see what RPG people started playing with, and what they currently play. Specifically, whether or not you started playing with a version of D&D (any version), or a different RPG, as well as what you are playing now.

I'm speaking fairly broadly in terms of "now" for purposes of this poll. If you are playing CoC currently, but your last or next campaign might be D&D, then you would be currently playing both for purposes of the poll.

2E was the first RPG-thing I played back in school in 2000 (damn). A year earlier, my folks got me a Hero Quest box, and I ran it a whole year, playing twice a week so I probably wrote countless dungeons for that thing.
After 2E, I picked up White Wolf's Vampire and Werewolf, and played those three until 3E hit the stores, when we switched editions of D&D, and so on. I GMed about 2/3 of the games we played.

I'm currently running 5E and about to start playing Mothership.

Right now, I'd also like to play Deadlands (SWADE), and the next edition of Werewolf, when it is out.