Does Anyone Come Into D&D 'Cold'?

[Glyfair]

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.

My answer (that I did) fits the assumptions of the pure question and your answer. It, however, doesn't fit the full question you have.

I did start playing D&D without being introduced to it by someone else and without taking part in a game. However, I did "know the slightest thing about D&D."

Back in the late 70's, the local newspaper did a story on a group that played D&D in my area (indeed, I'm now friends with the key players in this group). That got me interested in the concept of roleplaying.

I found a hobby/art store that happened to carry D&D, picked up the original basic set and DM'ed my brother. After a little bit, I stumbled into someone else who was looking at the D&D stuff at the store, we got to talking, and we started playing together.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I came in cold to every system I ever learned. There were only 3 of us gaming and we all learned together.

 

[Fieari]

I'd been raised in a D&D is EEEEEVIL household, so I was predisposed against it from the very start. But then one day when I was 11 or so, my mom was going to some seminar of some sort at the library and I tagged along... some other kids were playing a simple dungeon crawl in the hallway, although since it was so long ago and I understood so little at the time, I don't know whether it was 1e or 2e. They invited me to join, and I got to play a wizard.

Ah... I remember that first combat well. I cast sleep on the goblins, got five of them in the spell, and spent the next three turns or so going around and slitting their throats while the warriors were dueling the other goblins that were advancing from another corridor.

I went home and instantly tried to remember as many rules as I could... which were basically none, since I had more or less each turn asked for a list of things I could do from the other players and picked one. So I came up with some rules and some monsters and some spells and weapons and things, and even drew a dungeon together. No attack rolls... it was more Final Fantasy like. Massive HPs, keep whittling them down as we exchange blows. Better weapons simply meant rolling more dice... oh yeah, only had d6s. Made do anyway.

At any rate, I was hooked to the concept. Got some of my friends together and I DM'd my first game. To my memory, it was a darn cool dungeon too... one I should probably recreate with 3e rules. The players started in an underground town and were trying to excape to the surface. It was a miniature maze with treasure hidden in all kinds of secret places (finding a secret in my little homebrew rule system involved saying "I look THERE" and pointing on the map) and puzzles requiring one to find keys to unlock doors, pull levels, and obviously fight monsters.

There were five dungeons, five levels, each with a nasty boss at the end, and in order to get out they had to find the Sword of Light to cut through a barrier of pure darkness. The Sword of Light was the most powerful thing they'd found so far, and I think either rolled 5 or 6 d6 for damage. It was impressive.

At any rate, after a month or so playing with 100% entirely made up home rules, we actually went to the store and picked up the D&D Basic Game... 2e, IIRC. And also the 2e DMG (no PHB or MM). We noticed instantly that the rules were hard to follow, so we ended up making up most of the rules again, which was fine by us. But now we had rolls to hit, ability checks, a tiny handful of spells, and a small assortment of monsters. (The basic game didn't have much, though it DID come with dice, which rocked). So we made up monsters, made up spells (gads of spells, most of them broken since we made them get more powerful with more levels, and put no dice cap on them. Sometimes the spells increased exponentially in power, and at one point I remember us having to write a TI-83 program to roll 600 dice for damage... but since the monsters I was throwing at them had 3000+ HP, it didn't matter too much).

When 3e came out, we were VERY skeptical about it... mostly because all those hard to understand rules in 2e were suddenly easy to understand, and thus we couldn't just make stuff up anymore. But it grew on us.... and here were are now. A little more than a decade later. I finally was able to work up the courage to tell my mom I was playing -that- game, and even managed to convince her it wasn't inherantly evil.

I have no plans on stopping playing this game.

 

[jonesy]

I got into D&D thusly (it's a word, honest):

I was 12 years old when a friend at school came over and asked if I wanted to buy this book from him.

What he had was this:

He said it was somekind of a game but that he didn't really like it and wanted to get rid of it. I skimmed through it and bought it with my lunch money. The next day I tracked down a store that sold roleplaying games and bought the expert rules as well.

Got a whole bunch of my friends together, had them read through the books, and then we started playing. We were all total newbies to RPGs before that moment.

Edit: no wait...I got the years mixed up. I was 10 years old, not 12.

 

[Wombat]

That's pretty much me -- cold start.

Back in 1975, there were no other rpgs.

No one taught me.

I was the origin point for about a dozen or so others, though.

 

[Ferrix]

I saw the books that a friend of mine had who I played Magic with, but he never mentioned it, or talked about it. I then picked up a couple of books at the FLGS, read the rules, and started making myself characters and such without having anyone to play with at the time. I then went on to play with a bunch of people, but I definately came at it without someone else literally introducing it to me.

 

[apesamongus]

That's pretty much me -- cold start.

Back in 1975, there were no other rpgs.

No one taught me.

I was the origin point for about a dozen or so others, though.

I think this is even more important than whether individual started platying "cold". Right now, "cold" and "introduced to it" are running neck and neck. Change it slightly to include in the "cold" people those who are only one step removed from someone who started cold, and I doubt the numbers will be close at all. I don't imagine too many chains stretching back from player to player, but instead, a few people entering without an introduction, followed by them introducing lots of new players.

 

[IronWolf]

I came into it cold. As a young kid I used to sell mail order greeting cards, holiday cards to neighbors and family. Depending on the amount you sold you could get a prize that you chose from a catalog. In this catalog was the Tom Moldvay-Edited Basic Dungeons and Dragons set. I had enough points, the cover looked interesting and I ordered it with my award points. Pretty much taught myself to play and the rest is history.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

Seeing how everyone came to the Grand Old Game is really cool. I figured most people would have joined by being introduced but I guess that chain has to start somewhere! Glad I could do it for my cousin (who went on to have a successful gaming group that lasted over 10 years).

 

[Filby]

Came in cold, yeah. I'd heard about D&D as a kid, but only in negative terms... my family, too, is set firmly in the "D&D is evil" camp. Anyway, I was just browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble when I happened upon the 2E 1996 Monstrous Compendium Annual -- the one with all the nice illustrations by Tony diTerlizzi. Like a couple of others here, I originally used it as a drawing aid (bringing my notebook to the store, of course, since there'd was no way I could have purchased it and brought it home), and eventually started picking up on a few of the rules.