How were you first introduced to D&D?

[Grazzt]

Yip. Learnt through the Basic Red Box D&D. It has to be said that the first 'solo' adventure went a long way to teaching a 10 year old how to play the game. Who could forget Bargle and that hot cleric (What was her name again? ) And things were a lot easier to learn back then.

Pinotage

Yep. That solo addy definitely helped a lot. So did the intro addy in the DM's red book. Harpies in the fireplace. Carrion Crawler under the fallen castle door. Kobolds in the courtyard, etc.

I've actually used that addy in the DM's book to intro new players to the game in 1e, 2e, 3e, and I may do it in 4e (if our group actually switches to 4e permanently...still not decided yet)

And the cleric's name was Aleera (or something like that I think).

 

[Victim]

My brother got the First Quest (the one with the CD) boxed set as a gift, so we both started playing by ourselves.

 

[Blackrat]

I friend of mine I used to LARP with invited me to his group when they lost couple of players. That was two months before 3e, I think. So learned a game and immediatily had to learn another one. My first character was a halfling mage which I recreated as halfling sorceror.

 

[el-remmen]

Watching Mazes & Monsters led to the purchase of the basic red box set.

 

[Gundark]

Through a kid at school

 

[Lord Mhoram]

It was the summer '77 (IIRC). By best friend had moved to Kansas the year before, and came back (I was in Utah). His older brother and he had been shown this game, and he invited me to it.

D&D. B1 (not even B2 at this point). I played a wizard. Got eaten by a living bush.

Never looked back.

I bought Gamma world, and ran that myself.

 

[Jabba Von Hutt]

I think Chris is on to something actually.

My dad bought me the red box set back in 1981 (for my 11th b-day). I learned to play D&D from there.

Friend of my mom's (went to college together) let me borrow the 1e PHB and 1e DMG in about 1983. I learned to play from the books.

Most of my group back then (some whom I still game with) learned the same way. They either got the boxed set, books, or borrowed them from someone. Other friends of mine in other groups learned the same way.

I'm curious why did you ask for the game as a gift? I'm of course assuming you asked for it. If not, you owe your dad a beer (I do too because I like your products allot ) for introducing you to a great way to make a living.

 

[Lhorgrim]

I was introduced to D&D in the early eighties by a friend from my church.

He told me about this cool game that his dad played with his whole family where they pretended to be warriors and wizards and such. He hooked me by telling me about some of the adventures his character had been through, and describing the party's nemesis Zarath.

Man was I hooked. I had just started reading as a recreation, and this seemed like being able to interact with the story.

He explained some of the basics in his description of the game, and I asked for the boxed set (Moldvay) for Christmas.

I taught myself and a group of friends to play from the boxed set, but not without some problems. My friend that had described the game to me had actually been describing AD&D. Talk about getting confused. The first issue I had was how to make a race/class combination when they weren't in the basic rules. I couldn't make a halfling thief, I could only make a halfling or a thief. My friend had been clear that his character in his dad's game was a half-elf fighter, and I could not for the life of me figure out how to re-create that with the rules I had.

I probably would have tried basic D&D eventually anyway. After I started playing I noticed some cool D&D ads in comic books (The fighter loses his sword to green slime etc.)

 

[xechnao]

Started from Heroquest and Space Crusade with friends. Then 40k. Then I found out about people playing a game named D&D. I bought the current PHB and read it through. Called a DM introduced by friends and started playing.

 

[S. Baldrick]

It was a piece of cake to learn how to play.

That version was my introduction as well. I saw some guys playing it a Boy Scout camp, thought it was really cool and I went out and bought it the first chance I got.