How were you introduced to RPGs?

[Dice4Hire]

I was introuduced tothe gmae by a freind when I was a bout 8-10 years old, and I remember being confused on how there could be a castle and trees .... in the dungeon. I thought at first it was a game wehre we pretended that we ourselves(or RL selves) got sucked into a dungeon.

I still think that is a cool scenario.

My church ran some games also soon after, and my school had an RPG club at the time, but I mostly played with my brothers at home, and the friend above. I did not have a real group till I hit university, back in 1987.

Since then, expect for a 2 year break when I came to Japan( my books were home and I thought I was done with the hobby), I have been playing ever since.

 

[Quantarum]

Saw some guys playing basic D&D in Junior High. Came across them in the library and asked what they were doing, they asked me to play and I was hooked. Within a month I had taken over as DM. I still get that chill of expectation and it keeps me coming back for more. -Q.

 

[catsclaw227]

In 1978, we had just moved across country and I was starting 7th grade at a new school in a totally new environment (small town in South Carolina to hip upper-middle class Southern California). My mom bought me a new AD&D DMG and PHB.

The picture of the Efreeti on the cover of the DMG got me immediately. That book also had the smallest print of any book I had owned to date.

I didn't get to DM a game for a few months though, when I wrangled a couple of guys in my apartments to let me DM some encounters in a small dungeon I made. It had rot grub, two orcs, and a potion of speed.

 

[amysrevenge]

Went to a new school for high school, joined up with an existing group by early October. I have no exact memory of first broaching the subject (was I invited, or did I ask to join for instance?), but it was very natural for me. Zero to king of the munchkins* in about 2 weeks.

*I still hold my own in the realm of munchkinnery, but I am very much a big-fish-small-pond sort of king. I can't compete with the pros of CharOp.

 

[samursus]

I see I am the first in the Organanized Event Category.... I think I was 10 or so (1981) and was introduced to D&D through a club at the Boys and Girls Club....

 

[darjr]

I first saw kids playing with, what I now know, the Holmes boxed set. It was a hand me down from the owners older brother. The older brother had graduated to AD&D. I couldn't stop talking about it and annoyed my parents until they purchased the Moldvay box for myself. My older sister, unbeknown to me had already started an AD&D game.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Other.

We had been playing the board game "Verlies" a lot with a copy from our library. When I read in a board game magazine that "Verlies" had been canceled I desperately wanted to get my own copy and drove hundred of kilometers through the countryside; board games were usually sold in toy shops also carrying bicycles and baby outfit.

When I had no luck I read the announcement again and noticed that the English version, called "Dungeon" would still be available. The ad of a mail order shop offered this game and I ordered it immediately, only to realise that I had order a game called "Dungeons & Dragons" instead. Being too shy to admit my error I decided to wait and see, and several days later a shiny Red Box arrived at my home. The rest is history...

 

[Meridius]

One of my friends ran a website, and she had a little RPG on it. I participated but it was mostly dead. That sparked (renewed) interest, as I've been reading up on RPG's earlier.

Later, another friend suggested our group of people should start a D&D campaign, and she envisioned me as the perfect Greatsword-wielding barbarian...

About a year later, the idea actually became reality, and her boyfriend started to DM a game. Our first game was actually played out in the 'lunchroom' of the university-building we where attending at. Some of us had evening colleges so we used it as I time fill. I was hooked. I got myself a standard 3.0 Dwarven fighter who became (in-)famous for dying numerous times, smashing his weapon to bits regularly (annoying house rule made to pester those (me) who ignore 2-19 and only roll 1 or 20) and on one occasion for slamming a Bugbear straight through a wall (was a low level campaign, and a weak wall), which gave a LOT of satisfaction for something imaginary.

The game ended due to people quitting due to time constraints. 2 Years later I started my own campaign. Which now has mostly the same group, and a couple of new additions.

 

[Dykstrav]

I found the old 1E Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide in the local public library when I was eight years old. I checked them out and read them, and the concept of a fantasy role-playing game amazed me. Unfortunately, it was nearly a year before I was able to find a game. Some teenagers played a game in the conference room at the library over the summer and they let me watch, but wouldn't let me play (at first). When players started dropping out, I got in and the rest is history.

 

[kenmarable]

Stuff looked cool in the store, so I bought some (Red Box and Lost City).

First group play experience was soon afterward in an after-school class run by a local teenager. The group was just me, someone who dropped out half-way through who I don't remember, and another kid who wound up being one of my best friends for 20ish years.