How long have you been gaming?

[R_J_K75]

I started with the blue box with the dragon on it in 1980 or 81. It was the module that started "Rumor has it", I said to myself, whose "Rumor"?

 

[Shiroiken]

Technically, my first TTRPG experience was a game of my own design. My older brother had started playing AD&D 1E with some friends in high school, and I had a chance to look over some of the books. I loved it, but my brother felt I was too young (and he didn't want me tagging along with his older friends). I took what I remembered and made up a fairly simple RPG filling in concepts from video games like Dragon Warrior. I took my two friends that were just a year younger than me and tried it out. We had a blast, but looking back it was pretty terrible (I was 13, so give me a break).

My brother's DM found out what I did, and invited me to join his game. When my brother objected, he responded "he's obviously going to play, and he may as well learn to play it right." This led to a lifelong love of RPGs; mostly D&D, but I dabbled in others as well.

 

[aramis erak]

My first wargame was Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival... about 1978... on loan from my therapist.
My first RPG played was AD&D, in 81 or so.
My first RPG purchase was the basic book and the dice pack... Picked up from Long's Drugs, Anchorage. They had 1.5 full aisles of games... only half an aisle of which was the typical family-fare stuff. The rest included a lot of Avalon Hill, Yaquinto, SPI, and 3M titles... but also a standard 4' rack section of RPGs... AD&D, D&D Basic (Moldvay), Dallas, DragonQuest... mostly AD&D modules...

it was great to be a geek in Anchorage in the early 80s... except for that whole satanic panic about 1982-1986... but still kept alive into the 2010's in Anchorage by several preachers. (Last book burning I heard of was in 2012...)

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Mid eighties sometime, killed the party 3 times at the entrances to Bargle's dungeon, let the next one pass, "Gelatinous Cube" is still a rallying cry for the survivors of that campaign.

 

[5atbu]

1980.. Traveller, then T&T, then AD&D

 

[Nikosandros]

I started just after Christmas in 1985 with the Italian version of the Mentzer "Red Box".

 

[darjr]

Oh man now I feel old.

 

[darjr]

Oh and I voted wrong, for the record, 39 years not 41

 

[Sacrosanct]

My first wargame was Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival... about 1978... on loan from my therapist.
My first RPG played was AD&D, in 81 or so.
My first RPG purchase was the basic book and the dice pack... Picked up from Long's Drugs, Anchorage. They had 1.5 full aisles of games... only half an aisle of which was the typical family-fare stuff. The rest included a lot of Avalon Hill, Yaquinto, SPI, and 3M titles... but also a standard 4' rack section of RPGs... AD&D, D&D Basic (Moldvay), Dallas, DragonQuest... mostly AD&D modules...

it was great to be a geek in Anchorage in the early 80s... except for that whole satanic panic about 1982-1986... but still kept alive into the 2010's in Anchorage by several preachers. (Last book burning I heard of was in 2012...)

I was in Ketchikan from 81-83, when I first played D&D in 81. I can still picture the hobby shop that had the minis and D&D stuff. I was in heaven. Then we moved to anchorage in 83, but only stayed for six months so I didn’t get much opportunity to see game stores.

 

[Gradine]

Had to double-check and do some math to make sure my (21-30) answer is still accurate, and it is, but not for much longer.