Not Your Father's D&D

[JoeBlank]

I am a 1st generation gamer, but I am raising a brood of 2d generation gamers, ages 7, 5, and 3.

This past weekend, we spread out all the maps for the World's Largest Dungeon on the living room floor. The 5 year old is working on his letters and numbers, so he would pick a room that he thought looked interesting and had to identify the room (such as "A55"). I then looked up the room in the book and read them the description, and told them if any monsters were to be found therein. The 7 year old had the MM, and would look up the monster and show the picture to everyone.

The 3 year old drove his tonka truck over the maps, every time he could get past me. Now I am thinking about having the maps laminated so that we can play with them and not tear them up.

 

[nethervoid]

How old were you when you started playing?

I started playing odnd boxed when I was about 12? I played it during this one summer my cousins and I worked on my grandpa's farm (sorta, we helped build a shed and chopped wood). It was a lot of fun.

I picked it back up when I was about 14. This time Adnd. I think version 2? I played for about a year I think.

How often did you play?

The first time around, every weekend. The second time, about 3 times a week, usually after school.

What did you like best about the game when young?

Well this was before mainstream MMORPGs, and Zelda was pretty much the new standard for RPGs as well as pretty much the only one out at the time (with quests etc not just hack and slash). I guess my favorite thing about dnd was I never really knew what was going to happen next. Something you can't say for any other game. In almost every other game out there, you pretty much always know what to expect.

Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?

I wasn't taught to make adventures. In fact, all I ever really made were dungeons, now that I think about it. The towns were always 'on the fly' to 'pick up gear' and head out to the nearest crypt or whatnot. I did start doing some world contstruction, etc, around the age of 20 when I wanted to get back into it, but I didn't know of anyone playing at the time, and the internet wasn't really there yet.

Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?

Not really. Well yes and no. Mainly we kinda skipped the weird combat stuff like swing speed and things, and pretty much stuck to THAC0, attack rolls, damage, and rounds, oh and initiative. We didn't use any other books than the core, and we didn't do anything odd enough to need seroius rules for.

Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?

Well my son has been playing games since 3 (now 7), where I started him on Diablo II, which he still plays. I also told him he needed a gaming handle. lol! He's andrewpunk. He always wants to play the games I'm playing, which means he's played: Ultima Online, Everquest, Planetside, and a couple others (pretty good resume for age 7!). His mom doesn't like Dnd (old church girl), so he won't be learning about dnd for awhile. Someday I'm sure he'll play. He LOVES games. Oh, his older cousin is trying to get him into dnd. lol

What would you do differently? The same?

Well I always thought I would have been more social in school if I could do it all over again, which means, conversly, that I might not have been into dnd at all (my friends got me into it). In fact, I probably would have had different friends all-together.

As far as what would I have done differently as far as strait dnd? Probably kept my box sets and old copies of adnd (during my early 20s). I threw it all out when I thought I'd never play again. =(

 

[Henry]

Our very own mod Hypersmurf is a 2nd generation gamer -- if he sees this I'll let him fillin the details, however.

I'm a 1st gen myself, but a fellow player in my group is raising his son as a 2nd gen gamer right now. He (the son) plays with us almost every week, and is still in the "Hack & Slay" stages, but he's taking an interest in exploration, role play, etc. occasionally.

 

[caudor]

I'm a 1st generation gamer looking forward to bringing in a 3rd generation gamer. That's right, my grandson is only two right now, but in a few more years ...

Of course, my adult son (and daughter to a lesser extent) are 2nd generation gamers.

Thankfully, I still have many years of gaming left myself. I'll be playing in the olds folks home if I ever end up in one.

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

How old were you when you started playing?
How often did you play?
What did you like best about the game when young?
Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?
Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?
Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?
What would you do differently? The same?

I suppose I'm a second generation gamer, Though I didn't learn about gaming from my folks. I started gaming in the D&D club at school when I was a freshman in highschool. Found a couple other gamers while on a Boy Scout trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. The D&D club died out shortly after the beginning of sophmore year and I didn't find other gamers until my senior year. Sometime during the senior year, I found out my folks had once been gamers. I added my folks' old dice to my collection. I've still got their old pamplets 1st Edition AD&D (I won't call them books) and their character sheets. I've even got a map for an adventure they played.

But, I got no 'instruction.' I don't know if I'll teach my kids to game or not, but its possible. Guess I'llfigure it out when I have kids.

 

[Sledge]

Technically I'm 2nd generation, but my father didn't do more than give me his open box of basic.

How old were you when you started playing?
9 or so.

How often did you play?
Sporadically and poorly for a couple of grades, but by grade six it was almost daily.

What did you like best about the game when young?
Having great adventures

Were you ever taught to run the game or create adventures?
No I played with one kid that had no idea what he was doing as DM. After that I snagged my father's purple box that he looked at but probably never played. All self taught DM from then on.

Did you find any gaming materials hard to read or difficult to understand?
Nope

Now that you are grown, do you plan on teaching your own kids to play D&D?
They already have their own dice at ages 2 and 4.

What would you do differently? The same?
I'd actually offer them the fun. I've already got my wife, one of my sisters, and my brother playing. Muahahaha!

 

[howandwhy99]

There're some warm-hearted folks around here. Thanks for the replies so far.

I posted because I am interested in seeing how others learned the game at young ages. I really think the game is meant to start early in life. My own experiences are different. While my parents weren't particularly religious, they were blinded by the satanism lie.

Also, feel free to ignore the questions if you want. I'm interesting in what it was like growing up gaming with your folks in general.

 

[Patman21967]

I accidentally wandered into a new FLGS in 1980, in McAllen Texas. Me and my friends thought "game store" meant "toy store" We were 12 or so, and avid collectors of the old Marvel Superhero Figures. Went in and watched the older guys game. It was cool. There was a TV with Ultraman on, lots of posters and comic books, etc...so we started kinda hanging around, and they asked us to join in, and lo and behold, 25 years and 3 states later, I still game every Sunday night.

WE learned about the game, and how to play and run it from those guys. Several were contributing authors for Fortress Badabaskor and Under the Storm Giants Castle from JG, and back then we played alot of Empire of the Petal Throne. Then later, after moving here to Delaware, found another great FLGS, and some amazing gamers and lifelong friends at The Days of Knights here in Newark Delaware. Here I first started to learn the difference between gaming and Role-Playing. Bith of which have their times and places.


Great Thread by the way.

Neither of my parents gamed, and I have no kids, at least that I know of, and my sister always thought that gaming was a waste of my time. So, so far, first and only gamer of the family.

Pat

 

[JoeBlank]

Well, I didn't really answer the question before.

I started gaming in the 6th grade. Friends introduced me to the game. My school had a gaming club the included all games, so the chess guys and such were there too. Although she did not let on at the time, my mom was a little paranoid about some of the things she had heard about D&D. She actually researched it and came to the conclusion that the game was not so bad. We had plenty of all night gaming sessions, both at my house and over at friends.

I just remembered that I tried to get my sister, two years younger than me, to play. I DMed and let her run characters solo. She didn't seem to mind playing, but I guess it was just another game to her, not an obsession.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Our very own mod Hypersmurf is a 2nd generation gamer -- if he sees this I'll let him fillin the details, however.

Yup. Both my parents started playing 1E AD&D in about 1980 - they played weekly on Friday or Saturday evenings. My sister and I were carted along to their sessions, and we'd generally sit up and listen until we fell asleep. (Well, they started playing about the time she was born, so I guess she didn't do much sitting up at first.)

To this day, I can generally fall asleep anywhere - light and noise doesn't bother me

I had most of the 1E Core Rules effectively memorised by the time I was 6 (1983ish). My mother ran me through a modified solo version of Palace of the Silver Princess, and then I joined my parents' group. Looking back, I just can't fathom why a group of twenty/thirty-somethings would let a 6 year-old play, but they did!

My primary memory from that first adventure was having my Ftr-1 survive in a party of 7th-levellers, right up to the fight with the BBEG at the end. He opened with a fireball; I successfully saved, and half damage put me at -13

I never DM'd for that group, but I have subsequently DM'd a group that also includes my parents. And, in fact, they're playing in the same 3.5 campaign I'm playing in at present...

-Hyp.