How did you get into D&D?

[alsih2o]

my grandmother saw the boxed set and thought it was guide to drawing dragons and such and bought it for her budding artist grandson.

 

[SemperJase]

I actually heard about the game in about 6th grade from some men in my church who played.

I never had the opportunity to play until I was a freshman in high school when my best friend taught me how to play. I was already a big fantasy literature fan, so it wasn't a hard sell.

My buddy hasn't played since high school, some 15 years ago. I've played off an on ever since when I could find a group.

 

[Napftor]

Believe it or not...Boy Scouts.

It was the mid to late-80's when the older scouts were playing this game late at night. Being a "greenie" I was not allowed to participate. But as I grew out of the greenie phase, I got involved. This was due in no small part, as I recall, to our own BadMojo. There was something that sparked my imagination about playing this fantastic game (which I didn't really understand at first) in the dark, crowded about a lantern or two. Using the orange spine, 1e books...ahh, the nostaligia. I always said that D&D was the only good thing I ever got from scouting.

 

[Buttercup]

I had been curious about it since the 70s, but never knew any congenial people who were into it.

I finally got into it a few years ago through some online friends who play CRPGs, of which I'm also a big fan. But it's funny. Now that I'm playing D&D, I don't play my computer games nearly as often as I used to.

 

[Maraxle]

I was writing a CRPG that I wanted to be kind of like the Gold Box series of games. I was at the bookstore looking for reference materials, and saw the MM for sale, and thought it would be great for giving me creature ideas. A couple years later, I bought the Player's Handbook because it seemed like a logical progression.

 

[fusangite]

When I was nine, I was sent to a child psychiatrist who, after several sessions, decided that the solution to my alienation and trouble with other kids in school was D&D.

It was a great day for the psychiatric profession.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

My dad played back in his college days. When I was just barely old enough to read, I found some falling apart book that had pictures of guys defending a castle, and tables for weird stuff like "iron rations" and "quivers." I didn't really know what it was, but I must have read it a hundred times. Later, I found some program on my dad's computer that, as it turns out, was used for character generation and, shorly thereafter, Pool of Radiance on the Apple II. I was hooked.

 

[SemperJase]

I don't play my computer games nearly as often as I used to.

Cool Buttercup. You just answered a question of mine. I was wondering if the Everquest RPG book would sell. I wasn't sure if computer gamers would be interested in switching to a table top game with the increased prep time.

There is at least one who made the conversion. Perhaps the computer gamers do crave personal (as opposed to virtual) interactioin after all.

 

[MeepoTheMighty]

Re: A better Alternative to the 3 Amigos

One summer, my little sister, who is much younger, got really into watching the Three Amigos. She would insist on watching at least once day, and there was no guarantee she wouldn't continue insisting unless the TV was off. So this doomed, my brother, myself, and our little sister's babysitter to a TVless summer.

It could be worse. My sister went through two phases like that. the first was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2. The second was Sister Act.

*shudders*

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

My brother bought the first AD&D 1st ed. hardback. I had to have it, too.

We both had all three books.

I doodled on graph paper.

We got a group together to play.

I was so excited to roll up a character and play.

We're about to start, and my brother says, "You're the DM."

"But I've never DM'd," was my reply.

He said (and I am laughing now, remembering this), "But you're the only one who has a dungeon prepared." This was in reference to my graph paper doodlings. No theme. No planning. No coherence. Just a bunch o' rooms with random monsters in every one. I did have staircases down to the lower levels, and the monsters got tougher as the levels got deeper, so it wasn't 100% stupid. Just 99% or so.

The dungeon was bad, but we all had fun. Watching everyone roll was run. 3d6, in order (the proper order: S, I, W, D, Co, Ch), and you're stuck with those numbers. A couple of the players had some experience playing, and so gave useful advice like "you've got a high dex--be an elf and you're the thief." I think we had four players, each playing two characters.

After all that, I was hooked.