How did you start?

[Mercule]

The thread about the FLGS vs. Amazon got me pondering. One of the big arguments is that people are introduced to gaming, or get their start, in a FLGS. Personally, I was introduced to D&D at a summer camp and bought my Red Box at a Walgreens. I've never met someone who, to my knowledge, just walked into a game store and picked up an RPG.

So, I'm wondering, how did everyone else start gaming?

Poll forthcoming.

Note: I'm looking for your gateway. Don't pick any kind of store if you were looking for a specific RPG when you went in -- pick whatever got you to go to the store.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

National Wildlife Federation summer camp (Ranger Rick's Summer Camp, to be precise) outside Asheville, NC in the summer of 1979. My father was reassigned overseas immediately thereafter and we ordered the AD&D books from the Dungeon mail order company in Lake Geneva.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Boy Scouts. And, my first character's name was Bambi. When we arrived at a city gate, one guy shot a guard, and we were TPKed. It's a wonder I enjoyed it enough to ever play again.

Then the Scoutmaster said it was evil and made us stop.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

I saw ads for it in comics and the like, thought "Hey, a game based on my favorite fantasy novels sounds cool!" and ended up getting the Moldvay box set after asking for it for my birthday.

So, while technically a gift from a family member, I saw the ads and got into it myself. My family definitely was NOT introducing it to me, in fact they were pretty clueless about the game, at least until the media BS.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Boy Scouts. And, my first character's name was Bambi. When we arrived at a city gate, one guy shot a guard, and we were TPKed. It's a wonder I enjoyed it enough to ever play again.

Then the Scoutmaster said it was evil and made us stop.

I have a feeling a lot of us from those days are going to have similar stories of "Evil". I wonder how much of the "forbidden game" hype contributed to getting new people into the game?

For myself, I'd have played it no matter what, but the circus at the time definately caused some friction.

 

[tylerthehobo]

Dad, a grognard into lead miniatures and wargames, bought my "big" brother the blue Basic set (prior to the red box, but after the brown box) in the 70s. He took to it like a duck to water, and soon invested in the AD&D books. I guess I always grew up around the game - he was running a campaign with his elementary school buddies in greyhawk by the time I was 2. They sent notes to one another at school in-character, to keep one another apprised of their characters' actions between games. I thought it was simultaneously dorky and cool. By age 4, I was rolling up characters w/ my bro, and not really understanding much of the game, but enjoying basically an interactive "storytime". (I started reading around 5, and I'll still attribute much of that impetus to RPGs and the TI computer that my dad bought us as kids.) By 1983 I got my first copy of the red box. By 1984 I got a copy of the marvel supers RPG - which had cardboard figures - what an idea - a grid and figures! From there it was star frontiers, Dr. Who (ouch - what a rules system), Indiana Jones, Traveler, DC Heroes, and James Bond (yikes - another a-whuh? kind of rules system).

 

[painandgreed]

I said "friend" because I first played D&D because a friend brought it to school and we played during lunch. However, I first discovered it at the local book store next to the SCI-FI/FANTASY books. I read the back cover and it sounded great and I knew I wanted it. I didn't have the money so I went home and made up my own game that night but was playing D&D later that week after a friend said he had it and would bring it to school.

 

[kenobi65]

Heard about the game from the neighbor kids, which piqued my interest, having been a fan of fantasy novels for years. Found the Moldvay box at Kay-Bee Toy and Hobby, and bought it.

That said, I do think that FLGS, these days, can play a big role in bringing players into the hobby. Many stores now host tournaments for CCGs and miniatures games...by exposing those players to the existance of other games, some may well try RPGs, too.

 

[RedWick]

Game books ala Lone Wolf and others. I don't exactly remember how I made the jump from those to D&D, but the progression was logical. I was probably in the range of 6-8 years old.

 

[Thunderfoot]

The winter of '78, my cousin David was talking about this cool game he was playing with his uncle Denny (also my cousin). Asked if I wanted to try afterschool and of course I said, "Sure." I remember we played with only d6 and no rule books, just imaginiation, dungeons on graph paper and arbitrary rolls that increased as we went up levels.
I then saw an advertisement for the Red Box rules (7th edition art) as a prize in the Olympic Sales Club chart in spring of 1980. I started selling greeting cards door to door in my small town of 300 and made enough points to get that and score about $60. (sometimes living in a small town is a good thing - they know who you are and all you have to do is look sad). With that $60 I bought dice, character sheets, a DM screen, the module that had the "Dungeon Tiles" in it (I forget which one) and the AD&D Monster Manual.

By 1982 I hade switched completely to AD&D and had every hardback book and doubles of the PHB, DMG and MM (I had to get all the ones with the new yellow-orange spine so they looked good on my bookcase.) By then I guess you could say I was an actual gamer since, I knew the rules, and played nearly weekly.