D&D General Tell us about yourself

[David Howery]

I grew up in a tiny MT town, and didn't discover D&D until I went to college in a bigger (but still rather small) town. All of my gaming years were in 1E and 2E years, and pretty much ended around 1990. My previous job kept me moving around a lot, so I found it impossible to get back into gaming, and my gaming urges were satisfied only at Gencon. I fell out of gaming completely around 2000. Nowadays, I'm settled down in one place, but I don't have any real urge to get back into D&D. Still, it's fun to talk about the good ol' days...

 

[Richards]

I was born in 1964. Fifteen years later, I was introduced to AD&D 1st edition by my cousins. We got the core books that Christmas and started playing: myself, my two younger brothers, and a few friends. We eventually branched out to add Gamma World and Champions to the mix, which all lasted until I went away to college. College was actually the beginning of a dry spell for me, gaming-wise; I was on an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) scholarship and got married at the end of my sophomore year. We had our two sons before I graduated, then I was off to months of training as an Air Force missileer before being assigned to my first duty station in Minot AFB, North Dakota, where we spent the next seven years. During that time, a crew partner introduced me to Dragon and Dungeon magazines while on alert; eventually I started writing for them both (becoming perhaps best known for my Monster Hunters Association "Ecology" articles and my ongoing "Challenge of Champions" adventures). I taught my sons AD&D 2nd Edition and we played, pretty much just the three of us, through 3.0 and 3.5. I finished out my 20-year Air Force career as a Major and they converted my billet to civilian as I left; I was then hired to replace myself and have been working as an Air Force civilian since 2007. My freelancing career pretty much ended overnight when D&D moved on to 4th Edition and I chose not to follow, but before it died I had a few gaming products printed by Mongoose Publishing, which was pretty cool. I started gaming with a co-worker's family and my own about 16 years ago and we now regularly run two 3.5 campaigns at a time, one where I DM and another where my youngest (now adult) son DMs (we're about to finish up his current campaign and then his DM hat gets transferred to the aforementioned co-worker for the next campaign). I've written up our last six campaigns as Story Hour threads and will likely continue to do so for future campaigns.

Johnathan

 

[Scott Christian]

The ol' Blue Box was a gift to my brother, that I managed to get after doing his chores. I was in elementary school and didn't understand anything. Then middle school came, along with reading comprehension, and it clicked. Some friends had the 1st edition books, and from there we formed a club.
In ninth grade I wrote pages and pages of adventures for our group. I was the DM, and we played nonstop, except when we played Ultima III, which we also played nonstop. College saw all of us playing more than we studied, but through the gift of D&D, we understood THACO, and therefore, could understand college lectures. During this time there was a lot more adventure writing and some game design. There was also jumping around to other games: Dangerous Journeys, MERP, Rolemaster, Earthdawn, Masquerade, etc. Along with MtG. For all of these, including MtG, I continued to write adventures.
Then we all moved and the gaming world stopped for our cohesive group.
I missed third edition and got married and moved around. I shifted from Florida to Alaska, back to Florida, then to Texas, to Illinois, to California, back to Illinois, then Virginia. And I say this sincerely, in every place I have lived, there has been nothing but kind, open-hearted, caring gamers that are empathetic and honest. And that is every group, sometimes two or three groups. In every state. So either we have the greatest community in the history of mankind, or it turns out, people are really just pretty darn good once you get to know them.
I teach high school and have run a lot of different D&D clubs. And am involved in a campaign with a great group now that plays weekly. (And a different one online that is spotty, but when we're together, it's always fun.)

 

[Hussar]

Just about to turn 50. Started with Moldvay Basic in about 1981(?). Moved around a lot in my 20's including a while in Korea and now Japan. I own a small school here teaching English. Been online virtual tabletop gaming since 2002. Played and loved every version of D&D while it was current. Cut my teeth in the early days with lots of other RPG's but, now, pretty much only play D&D.

I run a regular game on (my) Tuesday mornings and have done so for about 15 years now.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

54yo black dude of extremely mixed heritage, born in New Orleans. I am human gumbo.

Army Brat who has lived in 5 states and Germany besides. I learned a bit of several languages, but I can only REALLY communicate in German besides my mother tongue. Texas has been my home since 1982, albeit in a few different cities.

Genius son of a genius, both of whom refuse to join Mensa (much to Mom’s consternation).

Got musical talent & cooking skills from Mom.

Picked up D&D in ‘77 and it remains one of my most obsessive hobbies.

Most of my other hobbies revolve around some kind of collecting aspect (something from BOTH of my parents). Music is a big one: i stopped counting at 5k CDs at least a decade ago, I own 30 acoustic and electric guitars, and goodness knows how many stompboxes.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Will be 65 years old in May. Born and lived in Southern California near Los Angeles my whole life. Started with OD&D in 1975 right after Greyhawk came out; only stayed with D&D for a couple years, then hopped over to games like Runequest and the Hero System (helped playtest the first and had some indirect influence on the second to the point I was name checked in a couple of the editions) for many years, came back a bit during the 3e era, then left again.

Used to be both a library assistant and freelance editor (did some work in the game industry, specifically for Eden Studios) but I haven't done either for a few years now. Am married and have a couple crazy dogs.