How did you get your start

[DarkJester]

I started when I was about 9 (I'm 20 now). My friends Cameron, Justin and me were all pretty into fantasy. Cameron's mom and dad introduced us to D&D and we played 1st edition with them, because that's what books we had.

It kind of grew from there, though I never did play second edition except online.

I remember in that very first game we each made two characters and played both at once. I made a elven fighter cleric of odin and a half orc assassin (whom had the best stats I had ever rolled, something like 3 18's, a 17, and nothing below 12). The most memorable things from those early games was having my assassin successfully assassinate a hill giant while I was low level. I think I had something like a 5% chance to pull it off and I did, and saved the group a ton of trouble.

 

[SolitonMan]

One time, at band camp...

I actually did get introduced to D&D at band camp, I was a high school freshman in 1980 and some of the seniors had their AD&D 1e books with them. I started flipping through the Monster Manual, understanding almost nothing (how many Demogorgons can you fight at once?) and started making a little store called Conflicts in Allentown, PA my second home.

Once I found a few other guys my own age to play we started to get together on a regular basis. One of the first adventures we ran through was the old Judges Guild module Dark Tower. AWESOME fun, I still remember the cleric I was running managed to smash the lich in the top of Set's tower (Pnessut?) with a mace of disruption, the DM rolled his save in the open and needed a 6 or better, but got a 5. The crowd went wild. Been playing pretty steadily since then with various groups, the latest going on four years of various campaigns. We usually play out a storyline until we're moderate to high level (12-17) and then start again with someone new in the DM seat.

I know that it's considered, mmm, let's say "unfashionable", in some circles, but I really couldn't care less and intend to keep playing as long as I can roll a die and can find fellow gamers.

 

[Rothe]

My dad got me into wargames around 1974-75. Sometime in 1976 a friend of mine was talking about this game (D&D it was) his brother was playing at college. I got introduced to his older brother, who after a while of being "forced" to hang out with some junior high kids (well, really he was droppoing out of college and didn't have anyplace to stay yet except in the basement where my friends room was, he only went to college to delay getting drafted into Vietnam IIRC). Anyway, that's how it started, after a couple of sessions with him my friend and our peer group started our own OD&D games that added on AD&D as it came out.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

My first exposure to RPGs was with Pool of Radience on the Commodore 64. I was sold instantly. From there it was on to Bard's Tale, Wizardry and Buck Rogers. I didn't have a chance to get into a table top game until many years later.

 

[atomn]

When I was in middle school I saw a commercial for the Hero Quest board game. Two of my friends any my brother played through all of the store bought modules and then started writing our own. For Christmas one year I asked for one of the more rare HQ modules but it wasn't available, so my parents got me an intro AD&D boxed set. After playing that I picked up the PHB, MM and DMG from my comic book store and we started to modify and expand HQ to include some of the things we found in the D&D books. Part of the way through modifying one of us came to the realization of "We want more options and complexity so why not just play D&D? It's already done for us." So we bought a few modules, started rolling up characters and have only gone back to HQ for old times sake novelty!

 

[The_Gneech]

I got started with "Crypt of the Sorcerer" from Heritage's "Paint 'n' Play" line. It was not exactly a robust RPG system, but it had a map, miniatures, and very cool cover art. That was enough at the time!

-The Gneech

 

[Pbartender]

In 3rd grade... with my big brother's hand-me-down Red Box.

By 5th grade I was using his hand-me-down 1e AD&D books.

From there, it was all down hill...

 

[Fifth Element]

I got a Fighting Fantasy book for Christmas, would've been 1986, when I was 10. Robot Commando. Played it, loved it, bought a few more myself. (I think I can still play through Masks of Mayhem by heart).

I had heard of D&D before that, and finally learned that one of my classmates played. (He was actually playing one of those solo modules in class - he sat in the back row). Picked up a used copy of the red box and never looked back.

 

[KB9JMQ]

A friend of mine introduced me to Gamma World.
After playing I said that was fun but is there a "Lord of the Rings" type version of it? Having just read the books.
He said sure and told me about D&D and I went to a bookstore and found the Red Box.
I have been a D&D geek since

 

[Umbran]

A long time ago (I honestly don't recall what year), my brother (who is 8 years older than I), brought home Flying Buffalo's Tunnels & Trolls game. I guess he thought it would be a fun thing to do with his two younger brothers and a couple of our young friends.

A couple of years after that, while he was in college, he came home for Christmas with a gift wrapped AD&D (1e) DMG, PHB, and a copy of U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, again, to play with us young folk. It stuck, and we became rabid gamers from that point on...

My brother, he's good people