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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6251753" data-attributes="member: 37579">Dungeons & Dragons and I were almost fated to be, given how I kept bumping into related things. Growing up a child of the '80s, I loved the cartoon. In the '90s I read comic books that had advertisements for D&D starter games (never available anywhere near me) and campaign settings, including a Ravenloft ad I remember fascinating me. Here's a couple of the ads, scanned from the backs of my comics:[ATTACH]60374[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]60375[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]60376[/ATTACH]For my 12th birthday (1991) I received the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. In the back of the first book were some notes on how the novel had its start in the game, with Raistlin's character inspired by the player who brought him to life and scenes in the book (Tas in the Wicker Dragon) coming from playtest sessions. (Which basically meant the first Dragonlance books were fanfic.) The idea of a game where you could play characters and improv situations like climbing into a wicker dragon fascinated me. But I had no idea how that would work. During a sleepover a year or so later, a friend improved a game for me, using number guessing in place of die rolls. It was amazing fun and I finally realized how the game worked. I continued to devour Dragonlance books and even started reading Dragon magazine (which my school library had a subscription to). I still had no idea how to play or where to get the books until I stumbled across someone reading the books and asked, and he directed me to a local comic/games store. I slowly saved the money to buy the books over the course of many months, slowly getting the three core books over the course of my birthday and Christmas. This would have been 1993. I met most of my friends in Jr. High and High School because of D&D. I might not have had any friends had I not recognised books and started talking to them. After University, in 2005, I lost half my friends as they were "school friends" and the other half moved elsewhere in the country. I turned to D&D to meet to new people, getting involved in Living Greyhawk. When 4e was announced and LG died, we started a homegame, which I'm running to this day. There's been a few changes and some turn over but it's a fairly solid group. The one newcomer I met via D&D Encounters and has become a really good friend at or away from the table. D&D used to be one of my hobbies. I've always had addictive hobbies. In the early '90s I collected comic trading card. I still have most of them, tucked away in boxes somewhere. I think. Then it became comic books, and I identified as a comic geek for much of my life. I learned to read in part because of comics books and as I type this in my office, I have several thousand comics in boxes behind me. Then, late in jr. high I started buying D&D. But I still spent most of my money on comics and only bought the occasional D&D product. I didn't really start spending until I got my first job and started buying used Ravenloft products in a comic/games/curio shop (My favourite setting.)D&D slowly moved from an occasional hobby to a major part of my life during late 3e when I started playing LG. It got me out of the house and interacting with people. I bought more and more books to use them at the table. And, slowly, over the last four or five years, gaming has become my main hobby as I've bought fewer and fewer comic books (after growing disenfranchised with Marvel and DC).D&D and gaming is how I met almost all of my friends. It's my main hobby that I spend money on. It's one of my main methods of social interaction outside of work and family. It helps me relax and keeps me sane in a world of stress and work. As I do a gaming webcomic and blog, even when I'm not gaming it's how I recreate. And having dropped comic books, most console gaming, trading cards... it's the only hobby I have left.</blockquote>

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