How were you introduced to RPGs?

[Mr. Wilson]

I voted for "through friends", but that is only partially true.

When I was in 4-6th grade, I played a ton of HeroQuest with my friends. My friend stumbled across the Rifts RPG book while at Barnes and Nobles one day, bought it because it looked cool, and we played later that week.

So, yeah, it was kinda through friends, but none of us had ever played before and it was a spur of the moment kind of deal.

 

[Daern]

I was intrigued by the ad for the Red Box Set in the back of X-men comic books. A cousin had an old set he wasn't using any more, so he gave it to me, and the rest is history.

 

[InVinoVeritas]

I'm one of those pure introduced-myself people. No one around me played it, I decided to try it, never looked back.

I've recently gone back and read the Red Box again, and wow, the way it was laid out and explained step by step was pure genius. It really does an excellent job of explaining how to go from a boardgame mindset to an RPG. I hadn't even heard of Fighting Fantasy yet!

I can only imagine that the number of self-introductions to RPGs today are far fewer, and I'm not convinced that's a good thing.

 

[Dzyu]

There was this guy, big brother of one of my friends, who played D&D with some friends, and me and my buddy soo wanted to join, but they wouldn't let us kids join in. Then, it turns out, his smoking hot, but very twisted sister, who was a few years older than us, stole his books and wanted to DM for me personally. She wouldn't let her little brother join... Because, as it turned out, she wasn't really as interested in the game as she was in the fantasy and twisted things she did with me.



[sblock]Well, at least it would've been a fascinating story... But what REALLY happened is that a friend DMed a little for me, then lent me the books when I was going away on a holiday, and I started DMing for my younger siblings. [/sblock]

 

[thedungeondelver]

Leafing through a copy of A2 SECRET OF THE SLAVERS STOCKADE during lunch one day at school.

The people who played were certainly not my friends, though.

 

[Zil]

I ended up voting "Through another type of game" although via friends would also be true.

During junior high days I was really into wargames and miniature gaming. I had read an article in MacLeans magazine about the rise in popularity of gaming at the time with the mention of D&D which I wasn't familiar with then. I was intrigued by the D&D sub-article because I'd been devouring science fiction, fantasy and horror stories since I was in elementary school. When one of my wargaming friends brought the AD&D players handbook to one of our games of Avalon Hill's Third Reich (in the summer just before we started high school), I was hooked - we all were. High school was just a long series of D&D and Traveller games. ;-)

 

[Storm Raven]

It was the summer in between my 3rd and 4th grade year. I was living in Tanzania, but was in the U.S. for a month and visiting a friend of mine I had known before I moved overseas for an overnight visit. we had both been Tolkien and fantasy fans before I left (he gave me a copy of The Book of Three as a going away present the year before). He had a new game we could try. It was D&D. I made an elf, armed with a longsword and a detect magic spell, accompanied by four men-at-arms (who lasted about fifteen minutes), I descended into a four level dungeon until the wee hours of the morning before being killed by a band of trolls.

I was hooked. Unfortunately, I had to go back to Tanzania without any books, and with no way to get any. I had to wait almost a year before I could play again.

 

[SigmaX0]

When I was 12 years old my parents had a party, I can't remember the occasion, but one of our neighbours was there, and I heard him talking about this game he was playing, and he introduced me to the concept. I remember thinking it was a computer game at first ('are the graphics good?'), and that night he gave me his MERP core rule book.

I knew the kids I was friends with wouldn't be into this (they're no longer my friends) so I asked around in the playground the next day at school for people who might want to play. Got 5 people together, and the rest is history. 12 years on I play with my 4 best friends, only me and one other guy from the initial group though, but I never would have been friends with him if it wasn't for D&D!

 

[beldar1215]

I was in Big Brothers and my little brother asked if I played D&D or knew anyone who did. I happened to work with a lady who ran a game and we went and played. I was hooked that night and now play and run in mutliple groups. Don't know what ever happened to my little brother, but he helped me meet the friend's I still game with now.

Beldar

 

[CubeKnight]

Bought Neverwinter Nights as an impulse buy, and as I started playing around with it, I decided to look into this "D&D" it was based off.

Then again, I can vaguely remember a board game I used to play with my sister and cousins when I was a kid that had you choosing from different classes (Fighter and Wizard are for sure, but there might be Rogue too) and going into a dungeon to fight monsters and get their treasure. Everyone had to be back at the entrance of the dungeon after X turns, and the one with the most loot won. I'll try looking around for it in my house later.