When Did You Start Playing D+D?

[Nyaricus]

I started playing in 1983 in the 6th grade. My school had a teacher who was running D&D as a lunch hour elective (as in what do you do when the other half of the school is at lunch). The only thing I can say about that is: God Bless you Mr. Powell!!! You introduced me to THE hobby. Thank you.

I started when I was 11 {I think I said this upthread) but found out in grade 8 that my english teacher used to play. AT lunch hour, the D&D players would sit in the hallway and play, and she'd sometimes watch and laugh. At the same time, my dad thought that D&D was taking away from my schoolwork, and she actually reinforced that D&D helps reading, writing, and math skills, not to mention it was a great excercise in creativity. She also mentioned she was a former player

cheers,
--N

 

[Nalfeshnee]

I like the shape that graph is taking - it shows a lot about D&D history

 

[Fat Daddy]

Where have the really old grognards gone? Nary a one that played in 1973 or 1974 here?


Gary

Sorry Gary, in '73 and '74 I was 2 and 3 respectively.

 

[The Hound]

Wow! I'm surprised by two things - how broad the curve is, and the way it peaks way back in 1979-80 when I started playing. Guess I'm not such an old fogie after all!

 

[Belorin]

1977
We used a print-out of the AD&D rules a friend got off the computer at the U of W.
My first character was a halfling thief who only made it to 3rd lvl before being eaten by a dragon.

 

[Lanefan]

Looking at the responses so far...and with nearly 500 votes that's getting to be a reasonable sample...a few things leap to eye:

- an amazing amount of you (well, us) on here date back to the days of 1e...and glad I am to see it!

- the small spike around 2000 obviously represents the onset of 3e. I expected this spike to be a lot bigger, given as 3e anecdotally brought in so many new players.

- what's with the spike in 1992, though? That's not the 2e spike (that would have been about 1988-89 but there only a small spike there)...so what happened in 1992 to draw so many new players in? Yes, it could be a statistical aberration, but...

Lanefan

 

[Kanegrundar]

Didn't Basic see a release in 1992 that was found in toy stores like Kay Bee and Toys R Us? That could account for the spike.

 

[Maggan]

I voted 1983, but really I started with D+D in 1982.

"Drakar och Demoner" that is. I started with Dungeons & Dragons in 1983.

/M

 

[DestroyYouAlot]

- what's with the spike in 1992, though? That's not the 2e spike (that would have been about 1988-89 but there only a small spike there)...so what happened in 1992 to draw so many new players in? Yes, it could be a statistical aberration, but...

You got me... All I remember is that there was a storm of advertising for the 2e books around that time, in Marvel comics, especially. Maybe that's it - Spider-man and X-men were huge at the time (Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee hadn't jumped ship to form Image, yet). Just throwing it out there. (Also, the "Basic D&D" starter boxed set, with the big dungeon map, the folder full of rules cards, and the paper minis, came out around this time, right after the Rules Cyclopedia. I remember Hollow World being really popular around then.)

 

[RFisher]

- what's with the spike in 1992, though?

I don't know why 1992.

The D&D Rules Cyclopedia was 1991. I remember spending a lot of time looking at it whenever I went to the mall around that time--even though I never thought I'd play (A)D&D again because I'd "graduated" to "superior" games. (I guess the seeds of doubt about that attitude were beginning to sprout.)