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<blockquote data-quote="The Hound" data-source="post: 4875009" data-attributes="member: 30195">I started back in 1979 or 80.&nbsp; I think the first hardbound books were just coming out then, but when we first started our GM was too cheap to buy them, so we used the old copy paper rules with hobbits in them.&nbsp; Ours were strictly homebrew dungeon adventures.&nbsp; I wouldn't call them mega dungeons, because each level occupied at most one sheet of graph paper at 10' per square, and we never got through very many levels. They were dangerous, and we were very meticulous about cleaning out each one. It was assumed that there was some sort of town outside the dungeon where characters could buy equipment with the treasure they found, but the beginning of the weekly session always started at either the entrance of the dungeon or the last place in the dungeon where we left off last time. Things like bottle caps and Risk pieces were used to denote positions of characters - I don't know if there even were any such things as fantasy miniatures sets back then (but there must have been).Another distinguishing feature was that every player ran four or five characters - the full party compliment of a fighter or two, a magic user, a thief, and a cleric.&nbsp; Since we usually had three or four players, combat could get&nbsp; lengthy and complicated. Role playing, if you want to call it that, was not very complicated, consisting as it was of banter during combat and arguments about whether or not to go through this or that door.&nbsp; The GM was also stingy with experience points. We were lucky to get a few dozen per character per session.&nbsp; I don't know if that was just the GM or that was what the rulebooks recommended back then. A few others who decided to try DMing soon started adding plot elements and outdoor adventures.&nbsp; By the time I moved out of town and found a new group a few years later things had evolved into the types of complex fantasy plots and campaigns that we know today. Published modules were seldom used, and I don't recall miniatures being used by anyone until much later.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="The Hound, post: 4875009, member: 30195"] I started back in 1979 or 80. I think the first hardbound books were just coming out then, but when we first started our GM was too cheap to buy them, so we used the old copy paper rules with hobbits in them. Ours were strictly homebrew dungeon adventures. I wouldn't call them mega dungeons, because each level occupied at most one sheet of graph paper at 10' per square, and we never got through very many levels. They were dangerous, and we were very meticulous about cleaning out each one. It was assumed that there was some sort of town outside the dungeon where characters could buy equipment with the treasure they found, but the beginning of the weekly session always started at either the entrance of the dungeon or the last place in the dungeon where we left off last time. Things like bottle caps and Risk pieces were used to denote positions of characters - I don't know if there even were any such things as fantasy miniatures sets back then (but there must have been). Another distinguishing feature was that every player ran four or five characters - the full party compliment of a fighter or two, a magic user, a thief, and a cleric. Since we usually had three or four players, combat could get lengthy and complicated. Role playing, if you want to call it that, was not very complicated, consisting as it was of banter during combat and arguments about whether or not to go through this or that door. The GM was also stingy with experience points. We were lucky to get a few dozen per character per session. I don't know if that was just the GM or that was what the rulebooks recommended back then. A few others who decided to try DMing soon started adding plot elements and outdoor adventures. By the time I moved out of town and found a new group a few years later things had evolved into the types of complex fantasy plots and campaigns that we know today. Published modules were seldom used, and I don't recall miniatures being used by anyone until much later. [/QUOTE]

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