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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 8255387" data-attributes="member: 52734">This is a charged subject, be ready to bail on this thread by about the 8th page.I've played all the versions of D&D, several other fantasy RPGs and even beyond those walls.  I know what I want from my D&D, and when I'd rather use another system for something.  I can certainly tell you what is my favorite version ...and which isn't.  I use D&D (and the edition) for what it is, without trying to bend it too hard out of shape.  The game has limitations and I have no qualms using another rules engine (Savage Worlds being my favorite) to emulate a certain type of play.So what is D&D to me if I had to put it in a sentence?  It's a chance to crack some skulls and cast some spells while pretending to be someone far more interesting yourself in a game that plays out like a story.  Sure, you could do that with a half-dozen systems, but D&D does D&D itself the best - the mix of classes, races, monsters, spells and lore make it a unique thing.My life with D&D...[spoiler]I came into D&D with a copy of Holmes (in 4th grade, age 10, 1980) - and lost the rulebook a few weeks later, before I knew what I was doing.  Played with my friends and cousins for two years, just using my imagination and the reference sheet in B2.  In 6th, got my hands on B/X and started learning the rules a bit better.  As a graduation present for 8th grade, got the AD&D books (from Toys-R-Us, the ones with the Easley covers).  Sometime shortly after that, Unearthed Arcana came out and I got so sick of flipping between PHB, DMG & UA for rules I hand-rewrote the rules into a journal I had - basically memorizing things in doing so.Unfortunately, shortly after finishing that project I moved to Mississippi, the no-man's-land of gaming and bible belt in the middle of the satanic panic.  I eventually found a group - they started playing with my brother as DM using B/X and about six months later he turned them over to me and I took up the DMing duties using 1E.  Halfway into the campaign, we switched to 2E.  Played a few more campaigns through college and beyond, switching to the likes of Vampire as 2E got long in the tooth. I got married and moved away to Georgia for a few years, where I just collected and read, but didn't have a steady play group.  Did get an adventure published in Dungeon magazine, though!  After two years, moved back to Mississippi, and struck back up with my old group, when 3E came out.  After a couple years, that long-time group finally fell apart, and I found myself with two kids.After a couple of years away playing Mechwarrior: Dark Age, I picked D&D back up with a new group.  Played a couple campaigns with them until 4E hit, and then we decided to try various different games, eventually settling on Revised World of Darkness and Pathfinder as our favorites.  Just before 5E came out, the group drifted away.  I picked 5E up when it came out, played it with family and then eventually got together another group, who I am still playing with.  Occasionally, I get a bit burned out and I either take the player's seat or we switch to a different game system for a bit (last two was My Little Pony and then an Aliens one-shot).[/spoiler]</blockquote>

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