D&D General How Long Did You Play Only D&D Before Trying Another Game

[GuyBoy]

Started with D&D back in the late 1970s, whilst still at school, and after a few months tried Chivalry & Sorcery, Runequest, Bifrost and Gamma World. Still playing D&D though.

 

[el-remmen]

I voted "A year or so" but it could just as easily be "a few months" because of the weird time dilation that happens when you are 12 - but I tried both Star Frontiers and Marvel Super Heroes within a year of starting D&D.

 

[OB1]

In the summer of '89, my friends and I started with D&D, and by the end of the summer had also tried Robotech, TMNT, RIFTS, and some superhero game that I can't remember the name of. Played D&D, Robotech and TMNT pretty regularly for about three years.

 

[SteveC]

Back when I started, there weren't a lot of other RPGs out there. But I soon saw Traveller, RuneQuest, and Tunnels and Trolls around, and that ignited my "gotta catch 'em all!" mentality.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

i had forgotten about Clay-o-rama! If that counts I may have to revise my answer. I will need to think about that one.

We enjoyed the heck out of it, though always got mad when my brother used the one special ability where you got to use your shoe to smash an opponent. That seemed particularly OP.

I stumbled into D&D, but when I got my first issue of Dragon Magazine back in the early/mid 80's I found out that D&D wasn't the only RPG. There were ads for TOP SECRET, STAR FRONTIERS, GAMMA WORLD, BOOT HILL, TRAVELLER, VILLAINS AND VIGILANTES, and a new MARVEL SUPER HEROES Game was coming out or had just come out. Within a year of me reading that first Dragon magazine, I was playing Star Frontiers, Top Secret, and Marvel Super Heroes. I think that we didn't have such an adverse reaction to trying and playing a new game other than Dungeons and Dragons.

Dragon magazine was great for introducing people to new games, whether they were TSR's or not. Some of those ads were so evocative. I've never played a single game of Talislanta, but this ad still lives rent free in my head:

 

[jgsugden]

I played D&D only between 1979 and 1981. Then I played Gamma World - which was really just reskinned D&D. The next RPG we added to our lists were Top Secret, Marvel Super Heroes, GURPS, Call of Cthulhu and Paranoia in the 1980s, followed by Champions in the 1990s. I've sampled some of the other games in the years since, but found that I prefer just three styles/systems:

1.) D&D for a fantasy setting. I find that this is best for good storytelling for me.
2.) Paranoia for a palette cleansing. It is just a silly good time with the right people.
3.) GURPS for Western/Supernatural Western games that are more character driven rather than story driven.

 

[Mistwell]

It's hard to remember. I started with D&D for sure, I think in 1978. I don't know if Star Frontiers, Gamma World, or Marvel Superheroes was my next game to try. I'm guessing it was about a year before I tried one though.

 

[Koloth]

First rpg was D&D, late 70's. It wasn't long before I did the character generation game that you play before you play Traveller. Space travel in the future is deadly. Next was Traveller proper. Pretty sure there was some other rpg but not sure what. Hazy college memories. Spent a LOT of time playing Star Fleet Battles. Then down the road of AD&D and later versions with some GURPS and others tossed in.

 

[Stormonu]

Started with D&D '79-80 (got it for Christmas). First time I played a non-D&D game was 2 years later - Gamma World (run by a close friend), followed shortly after by Star Frontiers, and then Villains & Vigilantes all in pretty quick succession, once the realization there were other games/genres that could be played.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A mishmash of 1E AD&D and BD&D, then followed a few months later by trying out RuneQuest, Villains & Vigilantes, Gamma World and Traveller, although maybe we just had fun with the character generator on that one. I know we picked up Space Opera, Top Secret and maybe a few other games after that, but we were mostly some form of D&D through the 1970s and 1980s.