Holmes Boxer
Christmas 1977. I was in 7th grade and my grandmother got me this strange game with a dragon on the cover of the box. I remember vividly reading the book and thinking what is infrared vision. I think it was talking about dwarves. I was soon hooked though and got other friends to play with me. No one in our little Iowa town had ever heard of D&D or roleplaying before. ................................................................................................ My art teacher who had also that year gotten me and some others into civil war gaming decided to try this D&D thing out too and that helped us get a handle on things much better. I remember hearing about AD&D when it came out and I worked all summer detasseling corn so I could afford to go to the only game store in Iowa in Des Moines to buy the books. The whole thing felt like an epic quest let me tell you. I still have those original three books and I got them signed by Gary Gygax later at GenCon in 1985. ....................................................................................................... By high school I was running three campaigns for different groups and was loving every minute of it. My campaign world maps covered an entire wall of my bedroom from floor to ceiling and 20 feet long. Great times. Then things got dark in our little roleplaying heaven. We lived in a very religious town full of Dutch Calvinists and others. We were hit with the full force of the satanic panic and many people were forced to quit playing the game by their parents. ................................................................................................. At this point I only had one group left which was a bizarre mix of adult farmers, quaker college students and some vietnam veterans and their wives. Still the best group I ever dm'ed. ...........................................................................................................After high school I joined the army and became an MP. I played rarely in the army and strangely enough even less in college after that. I kept my hand in mostly by reading Forgotten Realms books and playing things like Baldur's Gate and reading Knights of the Dinner Table. .................................................................................................... I also owned a game and book store for awhile and played a lot of Warhammer and Napoleonic wargaming over the years. .............................................................................................. Just recently I have started to play again using Dungeon Crawl Classics. The itch to start DMing again is growing in me all these years later. Its a good feeling. ...................................................................................................... (Please excuse the gratuitous dots. For some reason I can't make this thing show paragraphs)
Christmas 1977. I was in 7th grade and my grandmother got me this strange game with a dragon on the cover of the box. I remember vividly reading the book and thinking what is infrared vision. I think it was talking about dwarves. I was soon hooked though and got other friends to play with me. No one in our little Iowa town had ever heard of D&D or roleplaying before. ................................................................................................ My art teacher who had also that year gotten me and some others into civil war gaming decided to try this D&D thing out too and that helped us get a handle on things much better. I remember hearing about AD&D when it came out and I worked all summer detasseling corn so I could afford to go to the only game store in Iowa in Des Moines to buy the books. The whole thing felt like an epic quest let me tell you. I still have those original three books and I got them signed by Gary Gygax later at GenCon in 1985. ....................................................................................................... By high school I was running three campaigns for different groups and was loving every minute of it. My campaign world maps covered an entire wall of my bedroom from floor to ceiling and 20 feet long. Great times. Then things got dark in our little roleplaying heaven. We lived in a very religious town full of Dutch Calvinists and others. We were hit with the full force of the satanic panic and many people were forced to quit playing the game by their parents. ................................................................................................. At this point I only had one group left which was a bizarre mix of adult farmers, quaker college students and some vietnam veterans and their wives. Still the best group I ever dm'ed. ...........................................................................................................After high school I joined the army and became an MP. I played rarely in the army and strangely enough even less in college after that. I kept my hand in mostly by reading Forgotten Realms books and playing things like Baldur's Gate and reading Knights of the Dinner Table. .................................................................................................... I also owned a game and book store for awhile and played a lot of Warhammer and Napoleonic wargaming over the years. .............................................................................................. Just recently I have started to play again using Dungeon Crawl Classics. The itch to start DMing again is growing in me all these years later. Its a good feeling. ...................................................................................................... (Please excuse the gratuitous dots. For some reason I can't make this thing show paragraphs)
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