Which year did you start playing D&D

[Goblyn]

I believe I entered 1993, but now that I think back more, I think I started with 1e in '91. I guess kingdoms shall fall and prophesies fulfilled in the wake of this momentous blunder.

 

[Gronin]

1976 for me, I was 15. Some friends got me started one afternoon (if I remember correctly I cut class to play - the first of many)

I played a wizard, he lasted about 20 minutes. I have been playing ever since with more success (just not with wizards).

 

[MaxKaladin]

I can say 1984 with about 90% certainty based on my memories of other things going on at the time. It _could_ have been 1983, I suppose. Anyway, I can remember it was August and a couple of friends introduced me to something that vaguely resembled the game. It was so horribly modified (to "simplify" it) that I hesitate to call it D&D but it inspired me to beg my stepmother to take me to the nearest town with a bookstore that carried it (I lived in a small town where the only bookstore carried mostly non fiction, "touristy" books and a bit of mainstream fiction) so I could buy it. I bought the red box set at a Waldenbooks and stayed up till about 1 or 2 in the morning that night devouring it. I remember thinking that we were playing it all wrong and set about trying to get my friends to play it the "right" way. That started me on the path of DM that I've pretty much never gotten off of.

 

[Semah G Noj]

1983. Keep on The Borderlands. Damn Owl Bear.

 

[David Howery]

1980, when I transferred to MSU.... never thought I'd find such a thing in the wilds of MT. For some reason, I was in a toy store, and they had a big display of D&D miniatures... which looked interesting, so I found out about the game that they were used in, and then began the long slippery slope down into D&D.....

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

I started in 1978. My father won the old boxed set with the main D&D book with the archer shooting at the dragon, all in blue. With those crappy old blue dice (I still have some!!!)

When the big hue and cry started against D&D, my father told my mother to shut her yap, leave me and my friends alone, since us playing D&D in the garage was better than doing time in Juvie like my older brother.

Unfortunately, like Master Gunns, my gaming group is 90% deployed.

One thing often overlooked, is AD&D 1E taught you vocabulary and how to use an index!