How long have you been gaming?

[Morrus]

A quick, informal poll. A little different to those age polls in that it’s just asking how long you have been playing tabletop role playing games (specifically TRPGs - not boardgames, wargames, video games, live action, etc).

If you feel inclined, explain below what your first game was (if you can remember!)

I started at 11 years of age, in the 80s at school lunchtimes, with one of the basic D&D editions after a brief flirtation with an old Warhammer boxed set, though I’ve never been able to remember which. Within a year, we were using AD&D 1E, and experimenting with a whole bunch of 80s RPGs. I was a D&D guy most of that time, though.

 

[fjw70]

Stared in 82 with Moldvay Basic and quickly switched to AD&D. Played until very early 89 (mostly D&D but dabbled in a few others as well). Picked it up again about 10 years ago.

So started 35 years ago but have only played about 16-17 of those years.

 

[Miladoon]

My first wargame began when I got my first box of plastic army men. They were set up lovingly in a sandbox and then mercilessly mowed down by my BB gun.

 

[Arilyn]

First experience was making characters for basic DnD. My first time playing was advanced, and I did not like it. Played Warhammer and got addicted. After that, C&S, Champions and Ars Magica.

 

[Quickleaf]

Started around 1987 with AD&D at my friend's house in Boston. If memory serves it was a heavily homebrewed game with choice BD&D and OD&D elements floating around. I played an elf named Quickleaf. In the basement.

 

[MechaPilot]

About 30 years. I started in the late 80's with the 1983 Basic red box. I was able to determine it was the late 80's because I was also heavily into playing Legend of Zelda at the time, when it'd just come out. A lot of my early dungeons were designed much like the dungeons from the original Legend of Zelda.

 

[Bill Reich]

I started playing at a local SF club meeting on Halloween 1979. The GM, a graduate student in medieval studies, called his game D&D but the rules changed, depending on where in the world you were. I played in his game for a few years and then he got his degree and left the area. After I had been playing in his game for a few months I got an incomplete set of Old D&D rules at a hobby shop and started playing in and running games. Two players from that era were "named" RQ and C&S because they loved those games so much and promoted them so heavily. RQ ran a nice campaign; C&S couldn't get any players because he was a dufus, not because of the game rules. I got the first edition of AD&D when it came out but retained many OD&D features in my game, while playing in my friend Simon's game, where he made the switch more thoroughly. Then I wrote my own rules in the Eighties.

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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/218159/Glory-Road-Roleplay-Core-Rules
https://sites.google.com/site/grreference/

 

[ccs]

I've been playing D&D (as the DM) since Christmas day, 1980.

Ok, "technically" I guess it'd be about 3 days after that as it took me a few days to read through the Basic Rules, Keep on the Borderlands, & figure this stuff out well enough to explain it to my younger brother, our cousin, and a friend.
And the only reason it took that long was because we had a pile of new Star Wars toys, other games, a shiny new Atari 2600, etc competing for our attention.

I was the DM by default because it was my book. So it was my job to read the thing & then explain it to the others.

 

[JeffB]

Dec '77 maybe Jan '78. It was around XMAS, cos I remember the decorations. Played OD&D- LBBs and a Holmes Basic booklet.

 

[Elodan]

Been playing since 81 - 82. My brother's grade school had some sort of relationship where you were paired with a local college program. His college "buddy" introduced him to AD&D. I remember playing a couple of sessions with them. We then got the red box and formed a group with our friends, played for a year or two, and then moved on (or back) to AD&D.

With the exception of 4 -5 years while our group went to various colleges, we've been playing ever since and progressed through each version of D&D (including Pathfinder) as it came out. Happily playing 5E.