First D&D/RPG Experience

[bytor4232]

I was probably about 9 or 10, around 1984. My friend had every AD&D and OD&D book ever published. It was amazing. He was the dungeon master, there was five of us. Eventually we all decided to DM our own systems, and took turns playing various games. I picked up Palladium ( couldn't afford AD&D ) and DMed that. The big selling point of only needing one book, and I liked the Palladium World at the time. A friend of mine DMed Beyond the Supernatural, another did Robotech, another did D&D, and our last member did Paranoia. We gamed for years that way.

Eventually though we got heavy into a FASA Star Trek. Not much roleplay there, we mosly built starships and beat the crap out of each other. FASA has some awesome starship building rules, the "Ship Construction Manual" was one hellova suppliment. I still remember the giant hex starfield. You placed planets and a stars on the map, astroid belts, etc. Hiding behind moons and pulling the picard maneuver, which works amazingly well btw, are some of my fondest memories.

 

[Pyoor]

I'll never forget Mom driving us half-an-hour to the only hobby shop we knew of that sold DnD stuff and buying OUR OWN COPY of the rules! It was the Red Box Basic Set, as I recall.

My parents were also very supportive. I remember them stopping at every hobby shop at my request. I later got into Car Wars which was super hard to find. I think only two places carried it; one was a pet/hobby shop called "Pets, Pets, Pets, Toys & Hobbies". The other was about an hour away somewhere in eastern Pennsylvania.

Thanks to everyone for sharing. There are a lot of great stories here, especially the blimp.

That sort of creativity seems to flow from new players. I had a friend tell me he had a 1E character that was a quasi-lightning elemental that shot a metal crossbow with a wire attached to it so he could electrocute his enemies. I initially wanted to say "that's crazy" or "your DM was crazy for allowing that", but I honestly felt that was one of the the most creative things I had ever heard; even more so since he was probably 10 years old when he created the character.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

he frowned and handed me a flyer., Turns out it was one of those old screeds against gaming that were so common back in the 80's-- my first experience with that whole aspect of history. I really wish I still had that pamphlet!

Did you tell him he was a "weirdo" for handing out stuff like that?

Alas, no. I just avoided him after that. Unfortunately, that sort of thing was the norm in that part of the country at the time. Most likely, I was the "weirdo" by the local social standards.

It actually took me several days to really figure out what that pamphlet was about. I understood it was anti-D&D for religious reasons, but I was thoroughly confused by the fact that it wasn't actually attacking D&D as I knew it; rather it was referring to some other game that was apparently quite a bit more graphic.

In any event, seeing as how my initial exposure to RPGs was by the son a minister, I figured the flyer was pretty stupid and baseless. My parents agreed, and the rest is history

 

[Feeroper]

I first heard of DnD as a dangerous game, where you are given a bag that contained a small knife and you had to go out and kill people. You eventually reached the next level and were given a better knife. Eventually you got magic powers, but only if you made it to the end. Of course I did not believe a word of it!

Years later, when Magic The Gathering got big, I was an avid player with my friends. One day I noticed alot of DnD (2nd edition) books at my friends house where we usually played. I asked him about it, and he said "we can play only on one condition, you have to take it seriously". From then on I fell in love with the game. That Friend went on to be our DM for a long time, but I. Retrospect he was kind of a dick when in the DMs chair, but overall his enthusiasm for the game was really infectous and that's what always had us pulling marathon sessions.

I didn't play a whole lot of 3rd as I got out of it for a bit when I moved away for college, but I always kept up with it. Started playing a bit more again after school was over near the end of 3.5. However since 4th came out I've been back into it again just as strong as a bunch of my new friends who have never played before became interested with 4th. I, being the most experienced of the new group, have become the DM and I'm loving every minute of it.

 

[Dilldappe]

When I was 11 I started with the gold box series from SSI. After playing Pool of Radiance, Champions of Krynn etc I found a book in the gaming store called "Players's Handbook" and bought it just because of the background informtion present therein, I was still thinking it was a book writen for the computer games.
After reading it I learned the truth, bought the DMG and MM and went looking for players.

 

[Rechan]

Before I knew what it was, I recall sitting in the bookstores looking at the Monster Compendiums. The first BOOK I bought was an AD&D 2e PHB. I couldn't find anyone to teach me to play. Then I bought issues of Dragon.

When I was 15 or so, I managed to play a few sessions - with my friend over the phone, with some guys at the game store. I maybe got 4 whole honest-to-god hours of gaming under my belt.

When 3e game out, I finally said SCREW IT and started DMing online.

 

[Amaroq]

Heh. I don't vividly recall it: it was a summer vacation to visit relatives when I was eight, and my cousins had a copy of Basic D&D, which we played .. apparently I enjoyed it, though I don't remember much of it.

For my ninth birthday, at the end of the summer, my parents gave me my own Basic Set with those pale blue dice .. and I remember playing it just me and my dad, with him DM'ing Keep on the Borderlands even though he'd never played before, and drawing out where our characters were on graph paper in pencil.

Epic!

I don't even remember the characters, and I only remember the plot from reading the module later .. but I've vivid memories of the room we were in, the graph paper, listening to him describe the rooms in living detail, and thinking "Oh, this is what its supposed to be like!!"

I doubt he's played since, either; once I found friends my age (5th grade?) who played, I gamed fairly exclusively with my friends, but ..

Thanks, dad. A lifetime hobby, and a favorite memory? .. not bad for a day's work!

 

[Haltherrion]

I remember it vividly even though it was late 1976 or early 1977 and I was 13 or so.

A friend asked me if I wanted to join him for a game. We were living at West Point (the military academy) at the time and the game was in the basement in one of the permanent officers quarters- a nice building but built in the first part of the 20th century with lots of stone and exposed rafters down there (good atmosphere).

Most of the players were cadets. College students are intimidating enough for a 13 year old, cadets more so. They helped me quickly roll up a dwarf fighter with 2 hit points (I still recall). I don't recall the adventure much except we were walking on a hay covered floor at one point and one of us fell through a hole in the floor.

It was fascinating but we also played lots of other games (it was the age of the board game) and we didn't come back to it for a few months when we started our own group.

I recall xerox'ing the original 3 booklets at the library and wondering whether we really needed the map to the old AH game "Outdoors" to play the game, as the rules suggested (we quickly decided no). Somewhere about that time there was a game convention at the officers club and that got us hooked on figures and the like. Also remember ruling shelf liner with permanent marker as our game map, painting our first figures. We dove right into it.

 

[WizarDru]

I was 11 when I had saved up my lawn-mowing money and allowance and bought the Moldvay Red Box. I roped a friend up the street into playing and we were off. He created a magic-user named Photos (cause he had the light spell) and I was the DM.

I've never looked back.

 

[jbear]

6 years of age: Warned by my parents to stay clear of Dungeons and Dragons at all costs as it involved demonic spirit guides that could posess you and drive you to homicide.

7 years of age: Saturday morning Dungeons and Dragons cartoons while Mum and Dad were sleeping. I sat near the screen to turn it over as soon as I heard anyone get up. A memory of emotions mixed with wonder, fear and terrible guilt.

9 years of age: Heroquest board game played at a sleep over at a new friends house. This set my imagination on fire. I began to make my own 'Fantasy RPG' which involved me drawing maps covered with tiny drawings. As it was not called Dungeons and Dragons (and I had no idea what D&D was really in any case) it felt safe. My friend would 'move' his way around the map and I would describe what would happen to him. He would solve the problems on his search to discover the 10 hidden rings of power. I can't remember any dice involved... or maybe a d6.