What did you do during TSR's dark days of '97

[EricNoah]

Hey Sean, wasn't this around the time when you were TSR's webmaster? I still remember that old "beholder" intro page, where each eye was a link to something.

 

[Olive]

I was listening to hardcore punk. I only started playing DnD again the year after. But I also didn't buy anything until 3e came out. Now I buy religiously, including both major magazines.

We would have kept playing anyway with 2e (no players options and few kits) but I'm glad 3e came as it made everything more fun.

 

[BOZ]

i remember when sean's head(s) was there instead.

 

[DMauricio]

Shaved my head and got a job

In those dark days of 97. When gaming was scarce, and WOD was taking over my life... I did the only sensible thing I could think of.

I shaved my head, drove down to the recruitment office, and joined the armed forces for a while.

By the time I got back, D&D had hit full swing, and all things gaming was good again.

And now, a full 7 years on, d20 modern has taken over my gaming... sure, it isn't high fantasy, but at least its still d20


D.

 

[Zappo]

They didn't print for 7 months? Really?

Ahem... back in those days, I hardly had the money to buy one supplement per month, and just the stuff that the FLGS had in store would have sufficed for years. What did I do? I bought the books that were already on the shelves. After all, before the crack TSR put out a crapload of material and I'm not exactly an old-schooler. I hardly noticed the lack of new books.

 

[Ogre Mage]

Magic: The Gathering

After playing D&D for many years, in 1994 I found a new but equally geeky obsession -- Magic: The Gathering. I just forgot about D&D and played Magic from 1994-1998. I even played in a couple of local tournament leagues. So I pretty much missed the TSR dark days of 1997.

By the fall of 1998 I wasn't playing Magic as much and wanted to give D&D a try again. Unfortunately, that campaign ended disastrously after 6 months and I actually swore off D&D.

But when 3rd edition came out I felt recovered enough in the fall of 2000 to give it another try. I had a lot of fun and am still playing.

 

[Malin Genie]

I was out of the game by then too. Skipped 2E, played a couple of years of Magic '94-'95, back into DnD with 3e. Sounds like it isn't an unusual progression....

 

[Orius]

We had no idea TSR was in such poor shape - the first I heard of it was a blurb in an InQuest about the buyout (which I promptly forgot, since I didn't pick up AD&D until the next fall). Since I'm a terrible pack rat, I have it handy - here's a quick blast from the past.
[snip]
This was accompanied by a picture of some undead-looking things and the caption "'Don't bury me.. I'm not dead yet!' - TSR's new corporate motto?" True IQ style.

Hey, that's where I read about it, and I have that issue buried somewhere in my stash, too. I used to read IQ regularly for a short while back then, I don't know why, they focused pretty heavily on M:tG at least back then at any rate. I think it was the really irreverent attidute. When I stopped reading, it seemed they were branching out, and covering all sort of fun geek stuff.

 

[Thresher]

In those dark days of 97. When gaming was scarce, and WOD was taking over my life... I did the only sensible thing I could think of.
I shaved my head, drove down to the recruitment office, and joined the armed forces for a while.
D.

rofl

At least you didnt become a LARP'er or run around wearing black clothes pissed drunk thinking you where Robert Smith... or something else cliche'd and emminently worrisome.

Not that I'd know anything about the above... *cough*

 

[Gundark]

Hey, that's where I read about it, and I have that issue buried somewhere in my stash, too. I used to read IQ regularly for a short while back then, I don't know why, they focused pretty heavily on M:tG at least back then at any rate. I think it was the really irreverent attidute. When I stopped reading, it seemed they were branching out, and covering all sort of fun geek stuff.

Man I grew to hate IQ .