D&D General Tell us about yourself

[Hawk Diesel]

Welp, I'm in my late 30s and live in Chicago. I played college football and track (thrower) and then rugby for 10 years after graduating. Currently a therapist working with DCFS and considering private practice. Just had knee surgery, got a full hip replacement 18 months ago, and have had even more surgeries in the past because my only speeds are "Stop" and "Ludicrous Speed." I'm happily married going on 5 years, and eventually managed to get my wife and her friends to play D&D.

As for D&D, I got started around 16 with AD&D, and was super thankful I could ditch THAC0 because 3E was released soon after. I had no one to play with for a long time, so I just reread and memorized the rules. Being a total Edge Lord, I eventually found my way to the now defunct Realms of Evil forum. There I learned about the joys and frustration of Play-By-Post games, and even became the forum's resident expert on Eberron and got to be moderator of their Eberron section (which I thought of as a huge flex at the time). When I got to college I finally found a group, and eventually accepted my fate as a forever DM (with couple games here and there I'm lucky to play in as a PC).

 

[pukunui]

I’m (nearly) 41. Originally from the City of Brotherly Love. Now a long-time resident of the City of Sails. Started with 2e in the 90s when some classmates invited me to join them. I think I was about 12 or 13 at the time. My mother had obviously heard some of the stories that came out of the satanic panic, so she was a bit nervous about me playing at first but soon got used to the idea and didn't object as I amassed a large collection of D&D novels and 2e game books (mostly at her expense).

When I moved countries, I left all my D&D things behind as I didn’t think I’d ever play again. But my wife’s younger siblings got me back into it with 3.5e. Burned out on that just as 4e came on the scene. Played that for a bit but didn't really like it. Been playing 5e since it was still Next.

My wife now plays in one of my games, as does my middle daughter. (My oldest played for a bit but got bored of it.)

EDIT: Also, I eventually reclaimed most of my 2e collection.

 

[JustinCase]

I like this idea. Getting to know a little about my fellow posters.

I am a 39 years old Dutchman, a psychologist working in addiction care, and married to a woman I met through D&D. We don't play as much as we used to, mostly due to having a kid and the various social lives of our friends and us.

A friend introduced me to the D&D miniatures game (this was sometime during the early 4E period) and as I found the RPG interesting but that friend didn't have a game I could join, I found one through social media around 2008 or 2009 (so I was about 25) in my former residence of Amsterdam. That first game was 2E, and it is where I later met my wife.

She introduced me to 3.5, which we still play. She also introduced me to a (now offline) Dutch webforum where I started PbP games, and after that website went down I found this one. We've played 5E together, but my wife prefers to stick with 3.5 (or another RPG entirely, like World of Darkness or Agone).

Eventually I'm sure our daughter will be playing D&D with us (she's obsessed with dragons and can name goblins in art), but she's too young now.

 

[dave2008]

Hello, I'm Dave and I like Dragons! Anyway...

I'm almost 50, born and raised in the suburbs of Ohio, USA. Now I live in the city. I have a Master of Architecture and have been an architect for about 26 years. As a young intern I built a one-bedroom, 2-story home for my partner and myself and 25 years and 2 children later it is a 3-berdoom, 3-story home for just us, our dog and 2 cats.*

My D&D adventure started in the '80s with purchase of the books (BECMI boxed sets, 1e PHB, DMG, & MM) and minis. I read the books and built a huge (at least 4' x 8' maybe larger) diorama for years before I actually started to play in the mid '80s.

I've played with the same group (mostly) since the mid. 80's with a mash-up of 1e AD&D & BECMI that eventually evolved into a 24 page house-ruled game that relied more on our own rules more the books! We played 1e for years and then life took us away for the game for a bit. I have a few 2e books, but never played it or 3e but kept an eye on the game.

When 4e came out it felt very much like D&D and started to get the group back together. I was also coaching my sons in soccer at the time and another coach was into D&D. We decided to teach our children 4e and ended up being the DM for a group of young (6-8) for about 4 years along with my old group. The boys started to run their own game and my original group transitioned to 5e when it came out. However, we have been on a hiatus since Covid and other personal issues for the DM (me) came up.

EDIT: I thought I would add my most challenging adventure: Ir was a 12+ hr adventure over two days played while travelling in a minivan. It was a 4e epic level 30 adventure that culminated in a battle with Tiamat. I was a little lenient and the last player standing was able to banish Tiamat back to her home plane.

*I currently have one dog and two cats, but my list of pets over my life include:

• Iguanas
• Anoles
• Collard lizards
• Basilisks
• a Savanah Monitor
• Nile Monitors
• skinks (that I caught)
• Garter Snakes (that I caught)
• a rat snake
• a king snake
• red-eared sliders
• a snapping turtle (that I caught)
• caimans
• an alligator (that I caught)
• frogs (that I caught)
• salamanders (that I caught)

 

[Thunder Brother]

31. Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. Received my bachelors from the UW and then worked as a bartender for three years before moving to Germany to do my masters. I've been in Germany for around four years now and don't plan on leaving. I currently work in education. My German skills are less than stellar.

Despite being something of a fantasy and sci fi nerd since I saw Star Wars and Jurassic Park when I was young, I only got into D&D in 2018. It simply wasn't on my radar until a university friend of mine invited me to a campaign.

Outside of D&D and other games, I enjoy cooking and running. I completed a half marathon last year.

 

[Bupp]

TL;DR - I just had wrist surgery and am on drugs. I rambled.

49, Pittsburgh native that is currently trying to leave again. Besides a stint in Germany with the Army, I've lived in Ohio, New Mexico, and South Carolina.

In 1983, I got a new neighbor who had a red box...

My first couple years were spent as a player, though we usually played one shots. Ran a couple AD&D campaigns through high school, including a group of 8 players that made their way through the Temple of Elemental Evil.

While in the Army, I switched to 2e and discovered player-focused sandboxes, and haven't looked back. Ran in Greyhawk all through this time, and ran several long games in that time.

After getting out of the Army, I struggled to find a new group, and didn't play for over a decade. Bought, read, and made characters for 3.0, 4e, and Pathfinder, though never got to play. I also started world building during this time, with several proto-worlds that became my World of Eska.

At this time, my kids were old enough and interested in playing. I was kit-bashing together a fantasy heartbreaker pulling together Pathfinder, 13th Age, and several retro-clones when the Next playtest dropped.

We don't play together anymore, but my 16 year old twin boys play in two campaigns with friends. Being 16, they only grunt in response to any questions, so I'm not sure how their games are going.

My 21 year old daughter runs a game that I wish I could be a player at. It could be best described as an off the rails Twilight Saga set on the plane of Innistrad. They use Lego minifigs for minis, and she builds monsters and set pieces with Lego. We often bounce adventure and world buildings ideas off each other.

I currently run a pseudo West Marches style game. Only 5 players, but use "character trees" where each player has (currently) two characters.

 

[Dioltach]

I like cats. That's probably 90% of who I am.

 

[Scruffy nerf herder]

I like cats. That's probably 90% of who I am.

Too preoccupied with cats ATM to describe the eating, pooping, and sleeping involved in the other 10%?

 

[DND_Reborn]

48. From upstate NY.

Life-long learner (2 master's degrees- Mathematics and Educational Technology, working towards Ph.D. in Instructional Design).

Lived in Ukraine (was engaged actually to a Ukrainian woman) back in 2007-2009 and I am still very close with many friends I made there. So, I am very upset considering the current state of things, but I get daily updates from them and so far they have all remained safe.

Now I work contract jobs while I help take care of my parents and until recently, my grandmother (she passed a couple weeks ago).

Started D&D in '78 when I was 5. DMed when I was 8 and from then on, really. I've always really loved super long sessions (like 12+ hours) and when we were younger we would do entire weekends. Our record during one summer was 84 hours straight! That was crazy, Thursday 10 AM until Sunday 10 PM with only breaks for making food. Sigh, when we were young...

Finally, it is nice to actually learn about others. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Mind of tempest]

well I 23 born in the uk and live near the countryside the inspired tolkien personally I hate it I might just be a city mouse.
I started playing dnd relatively recently within the last five years and I can never find a group so I have only managed three campaigns ever.
I have several mental disorders and I will be a student again by the end of the month.
interestingly I learn a variant of ninjutsu and I am likely the only person here who never dms.