D+1
First Post
Edit: too much reminiscing.
I got into D&D in the first place because when I was a freshman in high school, during second school play that year I got to know Scott who was a sophmore. He called me up months later out of the blue and told me he's got this... GAME he thinks might be fun that I might be interested in.
I think I originally went to his house because I really DIDN'T know anyone outside my clique of Geeks at school. I saw it as a chance for purely social advancement; associating outside of school with an UPPER classman who was decidedly a non-geek but at least had geek sensibilities.
I kept playing because I LOVED it. One of my other geek friends had introduced me to Tolkien (specifically, he'd skimmed through FotR, thought some of the stuff in it was cool, told me about it and I DEVOURED it.) D&D had a lot of the elements in it that I liked about both Tolkein and HS Drama. I acquired a significant hobby, something I'd desperately lacked up to that point - I was not too keen on sports, was smart but got bad grades cause I despised homework and had quite uninspiring teachers [even BAD teachers - I can distinctly remember an episode in grade school where I had started reading all these reading comprehension stories and got REBUKED by the teacher for having read them OUTSIDE of the class time that had been set aside for it - and that really crushed my desire to read for enjoyment for YEARS to come] I liked fantasy and especially science fiction (rabid Star Trek influence there), but being in a very small, private, religious school just did not have access to much material to feed my SF/fantasy appetite. I got it from D&D and stopped thinking of myself as a Science Fiction fan and instead as a Fantasy fan.
By the time I graduated high school I was in a group that played religiously every Saturday for 12+ hours and sometimes until 4 AM! When I left for college D&D became a personal, almost mental exercise. I never stopped thinking about it, planning campaigns or talking and writing about it. When I gave up on higher education and got a JOB D&D started up again but got tough to keep going when the weather got warm every summer. Even now, 25+ years on in my gaming career it kills me not to have a proper game running, but I keep "playing" anyway.
When I'm actually behind the screen it's an exercise in improvisation for me - I make up stuff on the fly as much as use anything prepared ahead of time. When I'm a player and I get a character going it's like looking forward to a marathon of ALL-NEW episodes of your FAVORITE TV series. When there's no game at all I think about past games, look at rules, read occasional new modules or supplements, buy miniatures and prepare for the time when a campaign, ANY campaign, will begin again. I miss it a LOT when it's not there and that's what keeps me coming back for it. I may have long periods - even years - that I don't play, but like the game itself it never really ends.
I got into D&D in the first place because when I was a freshman in high school, during second school play that year I got to know Scott who was a sophmore. He called me up months later out of the blue and told me he's got this... GAME he thinks might be fun that I might be interested in.
I think I originally went to his house because I really DIDN'T know anyone outside my clique of Geeks at school. I saw it as a chance for purely social advancement; associating outside of school with an UPPER classman who was decidedly a non-geek but at least had geek sensibilities.
I kept playing because I LOVED it. One of my other geek friends had introduced me to Tolkien (specifically, he'd skimmed through FotR, thought some of the stuff in it was cool, told me about it and I DEVOURED it.) D&D had a lot of the elements in it that I liked about both Tolkein and HS Drama. I acquired a significant hobby, something I'd desperately lacked up to that point - I was not too keen on sports, was smart but got bad grades cause I despised homework and had quite uninspiring teachers [even BAD teachers - I can distinctly remember an episode in grade school where I had started reading all these reading comprehension stories and got REBUKED by the teacher for having read them OUTSIDE of the class time that had been set aside for it - and that really crushed my desire to read for enjoyment for YEARS to come] I liked fantasy and especially science fiction (rabid Star Trek influence there), but being in a very small, private, religious school just did not have access to much material to feed my SF/fantasy appetite. I got it from D&D and stopped thinking of myself as a Science Fiction fan and instead as a Fantasy fan.
By the time I graduated high school I was in a group that played religiously every Saturday for 12+ hours and sometimes until 4 AM! When I left for college D&D became a personal, almost mental exercise. I never stopped thinking about it, planning campaigns or talking and writing about it. When I gave up on higher education and got a JOB D&D started up again but got tough to keep going when the weather got warm every summer. Even now, 25+ years on in my gaming career it kills me not to have a proper game running, but I keep "playing" anyway.
When I'm actually behind the screen it's an exercise in improvisation for me - I make up stuff on the fly as much as use anything prepared ahead of time. When I'm a player and I get a character going it's like looking forward to a marathon of ALL-NEW episodes of your FAVORITE TV series. When there's no game at all I think about past games, look at rules, read occasional new modules or supplements, buy miniatures and prepare for the time when a campaign, ANY campaign, will begin again. I miss it a LOT when it's not there and that's what keeps me coming back for it. I may have long periods - even years - that I don't play, but like the game itself it never really ends.
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