Does Anyone Come Into D&D 'Cold'?

[WayneLigon]

If you saw the PHB and the DMGII next to eachother, and didn't know anything about D&D (i.e. didn't know the terms player and dungeon master), would you think those two books were aimed at two completely separate audiences? No. You'd think they were for the same people of course.

That statement and others like it that I have seen over the last few years have me wondering something. Does anyone actually ever go into a store, not knowing the slightest thing about D&D, pick up a D&D book and go 'Wow, I must learn this!'. Do you know anyone that has ever done this?

My answer: No. I've never heard of this happening. Everyone I've ever known has come into the hobby by being introduced to it by someone else or by taking part in a game rather than by seeing the books and becoming interested.

 

[diaglo]

i guess i didn't either.

i was playing wargames for years before i gave OD&D a go.

 

[Tonguez]

I was.

I think it was my 11th birthday - I had been reading greek mythology and drawing monsters for some time so my mum bought me some plastic Bullywugs and a Carrion Crawler for my birthday, she also bought the book that went along with the toys (a basic set DMG and Players guide) - I read them loved them but it wasn't til 2 years later that I actually played them

 

[Zappo]

I did. I think I was 12 or thereabouts; I saw the red book in a shop and picked it up.

 

[John Morrow]

Does anyone actually ever go into a store, not knowing the slightest thing about D&D, pick up a D&D book and go 'Wow, I must learn this!'. Do you know anyone that has ever done this?

I first asked for D&D based on seeing an article about Gary Gygax in People Magazine in the late 1970s. I learned how to play from the book (though quickly moved over to Traveller). Many of my earliest role-playing games were GM-less and, in many ways, I'm glad I learned how to play myself. A lot of people seem to pick up a lot of biases and bad habits from the people that teach them how to role-play because they never get to see all of the possibilities and only see the single style of play taught to them as the one right way to play.

 

[ivocaliban]

I did. Back in 1991 with the Rules Cyclopedia and the Basic Set Black Box game (no idea what this is called in gamer jargon). I live in a relatively small town in Virginia and I was vacationing in Detroit, MI (this should give you a pretty good idea just how small a town I live in) when I came across the D&D section in a bookstore. I was fourteen or fifteen at the time and while I loved reading Greek mythology and works like Beowulf, I'd never crossed over into modern fantasy. I hadn't even read Tolkien at the time so I think that classifies as cold.

EDIT: Oh, and other than my cousins that I converted to gamers, I hadn't met any when I picked up these books. In fact, I ran D&D games independent of meeting another gamer (that I didn't bring to the game myself) for about five years.

 

[apesamongus]

Not only did I buy the book "cold", but it was several months before I figured out that it was a game (it was the MM, so there weren't actually any rules other than monster stats).

 

[JimAde]

My best friend got the old blue-book edition when it came out (dating myself here) and we learned it together.

Fighting mummies at 1st level...

 

[MonsterMash]

Yes, people I know did, but this is back in the 1970's and early 80's.

I voted yes as my brother picked it up from an advert in a military modelling magazine, but Diaglo's response makes me think twice as we were already playing games with miniatures by then, but most boys would have had soldiers and been using them back then.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I did too. In about 1981 I saw the red book D&D rulesbook in a local bookshop and had to own it. I asked for a ton of gaming books for Christmas that year and played D&D with my cousin all day