So how long have YOU been playing D&D?

[sckeener]

I started in '80 when I was 8. D&D is what turned me on to reading. My parents liked non-fiction and never could understand why I liked fantasy, sci-fi, or horror. In the end my mother wanted me to read more than what I read and bought me my first boxset. I would play at swim meets with the other kids. It was a good way to spend the day while waiting for your event to come up....admittedly many of my books did get damp (never wet.) The Deities and Demigods book with HP. Lovecraft and Moorcock actually exposed me to those authors for the first time. Good times.

 

[Drago]

Boy am I going to date myself...
I started in the summer of 1975 at the age of 12 yrs.
Dang I miss those days of 3 book White Box, Greyhawk and Blackmoor.
Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demigods and Heroes hadn't come out yet.

Aww, the days of discovery

With feeling,
Dave

 

[Darth K'Trava]

Around Sept. 2000. It was right when 3.0 first came out. Our DM had pregenerated the characters on the original character generator that came with the PH.

Most of my group had been playing since the days of 2e.

 

[Mark]

Since `74

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Pure Magic

OD&D (White Box) + AD&D Monster Manual, December 1977. It was nothing short of pure magic. After my first game, I immediately created a bunch of new monsters and character classes. Changed my life.

Some years ago I met up with some of my old players at a wedding and all of them shared how OD&D and AD&D kept us out of trouble. We all knew some guys who had ended up in jail, drug addicts, and or fathered children out of wedlock. The rest of us ended up as a doctor, lawyer, CFO, 2 science professors, CPA, and 2 Directors of IT. Sadly one of us died some years ago as a result of contracting hepatitis in the Phillippines.

Hate to think how our lives would've turned out if it weren't for D&D.

Thanks Gary & Dave!

 

[KaosDevice]

I HATE these kinds of questions. I'm another one from the class of 79/80. I don't feel quite as bad, looks like there are quite a few of us!

 

[James Heard]

Some years ago I met up with some of my old players at a wedding and all of them shared how OD&D and AD&D kept us out of trouble. We all knew some guys who had ended up in jail, drug addicts & dealers, and or fathered children out of wedlock. The rest of us ended up as a doctor, lawyer, CFO, 2 science professors, CPA, and 2 Directors of IT. Sadly one of us died some years ago as a result of contracting hepatitis in the Phillippines.

I met a lot of the drug addicts, murderers, thieves, and malcontents in my life through gaming, including D&D. D&D is by no means a measure or indicator of moral behavior.

 

[sniffles]

I guess I'm a relative newbie in here. I started roleplaying in about 1994, but my friends were taking a break from D&D at that time, so I didn't get introduced to it until about 1998.
Just for the record, I didn't start roleplaying until I was 34 years old.

 

[Rhun]

I've been playing since about 81-82 when my older brother introduced me to AD&D. Played it in pretty much all of its forms since then.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I met a lot of the drug addicts, murderers, thieves, and malcontents in my life through gaming, including D&D. D&D is by no means a measure or indicator of moral behavior.

One must question personal experience as an accurate gauge of any broad-scale question.

Of course scientific studies do show that violent criminal behavior is far less prevelant amongst RPGers than in the general population.

Perhaps you make poor choices of associates...

Cheers,
Gary