D&D General Which edition of D&D did you grow up with?

[Mercurius]

Mention of Bargle in the iconic villians thread got me thinking about how back in the 80s, there were really two streams of D&D players: those who played BECMI and those who played AD&D; I was the latter, and thus had to look up Bargle. I had heard the name before, but didn't know who it was. It was curious to me that such an iconic figure (for BECMI) folks would barely register on my radar, despite playing since the early 80s.

Anyhow, when did you jump on the train? What did you grow up with? During which edition were you indoctrinated? Which edition is "home"?

I'm making some choices with the poll - like grouping 1st and 2nd edition, 3E and 3.5, as I'm less interested in specifics and more about which "branch" people started with. I was tempted to include Pathfinder with 3.x, but thought it might be interesting to see if anyone started with Pathfinder.

One final note: I am less interested in your very first game, and more in which game you grew up with. Meaning, which was your "imprinting" phase? I'll take myself as an example: my very first session (in which I was ushered into the back of a VW bus by a group of kids at a Buddhist festival and handed a character sheet) was probably either Holmes or Moldvay--I can't remember as I was 8 or 9 years old--but then when I got into D&D (some family friends gave me their AD&D books, as they got into early video games - their loss, my gain), it was AD&D all the way. I bought a few BECMI modules over the years, but I was very much indoctrinated into AD&D.

Feel free to share any specifics or your "origin story" in the comments.

 

[darjr]

Really started with BE Moldvey edition.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Started in B/X and moved to AD&D 1e. B/X isn't really my "starter' game, because we played it for a decent amount of time, and even continued to play it when we played 1e. But 1e was the biggest one I played from 1981 until 2012, so that's my foundation.

 

[TwoSix]

Voted for AD&D, although I do think 1E and 2E are worth differentiating. The whole culture around D&D was different in the '90s than in the '80s.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I started with Moldvay Basic in 1982 and then played a bit of AD&D 1e. My first rpg group's tastes were very eclectic - we tried lots of different rpgs such as Traveller, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Gamma World, Tunnels & Trolls, Melee & Wizard and many others. Our most successful games were two campaigns of Villains & Vigilantes, a now largely forgotten superhero game. So I didn't really grow up with any edition of D&D but with many different rpgs.

We never played D&D as a campaign starting from 1st level (I didn't do that until 2e AD&D) and I didn't even know about 'mega-dungeons' until much later. Modules and scenarios in White Dwarf and Dragon were our guide, we played D&D as a series of oneoffs with different PCs.

 

[Morrus]

While I started with BECM, I grew up with AD&D, so I voted for that.

 

[Charlaquin]

I voted for 3.5 because it was the first version of D&D I played, but 4e was really the edition that made me fall in love with the game. I didn't think I really liked D&D that much after my experiences with 3.5, and my friend really had to work to convince me to give 4e a try, but I'm very glad she did.

 

[Mercurius]

Interesting to note that my story--first exposure with BECMI, but grew up with AD&D--is a common one. I wonder if the marketing of "Advanced" had something to do with it. I vaguely remember thinking that "basic" was OK, but "Advanced" was where it was at. Kind of amusing in retrospect.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Mention of Bargle in the iconic villians thread got me thinking about how back in the 80s, there were really two streams of D&D players: those who played BECMI and those who played AD&D; I was the latter, and thus had to look up Bargle.

Yep, same here.

Anyhow, when did you jump on the train? What did you grow up with? During which edition were you indoctrinated? Which edition is "home"?

1980. I started with the c1979 Basic Set, very much NOT B/X or BECMI basic, it turns out, something I never suspected at the time.
1e AD&D is the version of the game I really got to know, and feels defining for me. And, as little-different as 2e may have been initially, it lost me in the end, so I don't much care for bundling them.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Interesting to note that my story--first exposure with BECMI, but grew up with AD&D--is a common one. I wonder if the marketing of "Advanced" had something to do with it. I vaguely remember thinking that "basic" was OK, but "Advanced" was where it was at. Kind of amusing in retrospect.

Can't speak for everyone, but I bet some of it is because many of us were kids in the early 80s, and the boxed B/X sets looked more kid friendly than the AD&D books, so that's what we were given as gifts, or were drawn to immediately