Which year did you start playing D&D

[MonsterMash]

As for the age thing... there are almost a dozen players at my local club who were all born after I started playing - and all of them got into the game with the release of 3.0 or 3.5

I know that feeling. One thing that seems to be showing is that ENWorld (like some of the other message boards) is dominated by the Grognards (OD&D/BD&D/1e veterans) to an extent which surprises me.

 

[MonsterMash]

1979. Blue Book. Natch. Diaglo would be pleased.

Not as pleased as he would have been if it'd been the brown box or white box.

Still a good version of D&D though (blue book).

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

1991, using 1e. My mother introduced me to a friend of hers and his children, and he introduced me to the game. Got to play pretty much every weekend with them for a couple years.

It's amazing I still play; those were some of the worst D&D games I've ever played in that didn't involve illegal drugs or psychosexual fantasies.

Upgraded to 2e in 1995, when I got a bunch of new books for my birthday.

Bought the 3e PHB within seconds of the first copies coming out of the box at my local Waldenbooks, and the rest is history...

 

[MonsterMash]

Moves poll back up in search of more replies

 

[oldschooler]

Started with Moldvay/Cook in '82, when I was in Junior High. The first games I ever owned were the Mentzer D&D sets and Star Frontiers. When I finally got the AD&D books, I was bummed because the covers didn't look like everyone elses (the orange-spines had started then).

 

[CarlZog]

More than half the respondents have been playing for 25 years or more... Wow!

I suspect that's a pretty good reflection of Enworld demographics, based on similar polls I've seen on ages, etc.

But I wonder how this poll's results compare with the rpg community at large. Is this hobby really filled with that many old-timers?

I've certainly see plenty of threads about the problem with role-playing's aging populace and lack of younger players, but I don't know if the numbers back it up.


Carl,
who started wargaming in '75 and RPGs in '79.

 

[TerraDave]

Over 50% of respondents started between 78 and 84--over 20 years ago but also when the game was closest to being a true cultural phenomanon.

In the 30 years aniversary book, they note the "black box" of D&D released in 91 was a big success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies. No pickup in the pole in 91, but there is one in 92 and 93: could that be why? However, I have never read an EnWorlder who claimed to have started with that set.

 

[michaelj]

I started playing at age 11 in 1982. Someone brought a box set in during the last week of 5th grade and led us through a pure hack and slash. I didn't understnad anything - just that I had a 3x5 card with a bunch of numbers, weapons, and spells. I was a master with my darts and I was hooked. I played later a lot more that summer and then, in 6th grade, I got introduced to some kids that used my dad's high school class for gaming. I used to walk over from my school to the HS and catch a ride home. For three years, I played twice a week with 12th graders (who actually understood the game) and it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

I quit playing from about 1994 until the release of 3rd edition. It wasn't as much about 2nd Edition as our gaming group was all graduating, having families and just moving on.

 

[PaulGreystoke]

Fall semester 1980 - my freshman year in college - with AD&D as a player. I began buying books & modules the next semester. When I came home that summer I hooked my younger friends still in high school on the game. Our parents were a little worried because of D&D's rather unsavory reputation, but they trusted us enough to let us play. Some of the parents were so supportive that they actually bought copies of the Basic game for their sons - which I always pooh-poohed as the "baby" version of the game, not realizing for years that it was effectively a different system than AD&D.

 

[MonsterMash]

Big bulge between 79-81, which matches what I suspected given the ENWord demographics.