Your D&D Pedigree

[Dannyalcatraz]

I started back in 1978, with 2 minis (a Grenadine human ftr with chainmail & a 2hd sword and a Ral Partha Elf ftr with chainmail & a spear) the AD&D books and the Basic Box set.

A year or so later, I jumped into Traveller...and yes, my first PC did die during character generation.

After that, the deluge- over 100 different RPGs, a host of wargames, etc. Some classic, some crap.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Mentzer Red Box.
Then 2e
Then Decided I wanted to do BXCM and sold my 2e books.
I soon realized this would me more fun if I had a group.
Re-bought 2e.
Got invited by the people who I sold my books too.
End of High school/Magic/WoD
*hiatus*
3e,
3.5e

 

[theredrobedwizard]

Olde World of Darkness
2nd Edition AD&D
Wheel of Time
3.0 D&D
d20 Modern
1st Edition AD&D
Star Wars (d20)
3.5 D&D
Legend of the Five Rings (d20)
OD&D
Arcana Evolved
New World of Darkness
Mutants and Masterminds
Iron Heroes
True20
Legend of the Five Rings (d10)


That's just the ones I've played for more than 3 consecutive sessions. There've been many repeats, but that's the order I played systems, from first to most recent. Including others, the list would be much, much longer.

-TRRW

 

[T. Foster]

Spring 1984: Started with the Mentzer Red Box; Got the Cook/Marsh Expert rulebook a month or two later (it was cheaper than the boxed set, and why would I want a second set of dice anyway?); Got the Companion Set when it was released that summer, but never really played it (my highest level character was an 8th level dwarf)
Sept 1984-1989: Got an AD&D Players Handbook; picked up the other books over the next couple months, and by the end of the year had switched over to AD&D pretty much entirely; continued with AD&D (adding UA and the DSG/WSG as they were released) and also began to expand to other rpgs -- Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Stormbringer, WFRP, RuneQuest, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk, Traveller, lots of others (I was really rpg-crazy during this period); began attending local cons from 1986 and GenCon from 1988; picked up the Holmes Basic Set c. 1987 and OD&D white-box at GenCon 1988, but never really played either (also got a Moldvay basic rulebook, and Mentzer Expert, Master, and Immortal sets during this period, to fill out the collection)
1989-1991: Got the 2E AD&D books as they were released and switched over (started a new campaign in a new world with all new characters, retiring the 1E AD&D campaign/characters); played for about a year and a half, gradually moving closer and closer to 1E/OD&D, eventually dropped the campaign (and D&D altogether)
1991-1997: Played exclusively non-D&D rpgs (RQ mostly, but also Dangerous Journeys, CoC, Amber Diceless, Pendragon, Mekton, Traveller), with a couple 1E AD&D "retro/nostalgia" one-offs but no extended/campaign play; had a great deal of contempt for TSR and 2E AD&D and was very ambivalent about the whole WW/WoD thing too
1997-2004: RPG-hiatus -- kept my collection, coninuted to follow Traveller online, but didn't play anything; discovered ENWorld in 2002 (trying to find out what this "d20" thing all the kids were talking about on my Traveller board was), which led me via Gygax's Q&A threads to dragonsfoot (hey, look, other people still prefer the old versions of D&D!) which led eventually to...
May 2004 - present: 1E AD&D with a group of guys I originally met via DF, but we've since grown more traditonally/organically as people have recruited friends, co-workers, and family; I'd actually rather be playing OD&D, but the other players all seem to prefer 1E for whatever misguided reasons ; we all make fun of "inferior" 3E, but some of the guys play it in other groups on the side

 

[FireLance]

DM'ed the Basic and Expert D&D game for my younger brother. Had the Companion and Expert rules, but the game never got to those levels.

DM'ed AD&D 1e for my friends in secondary school (high school). Had the Unearthed Arcana rules, but I only used them for a Cavalier-Paladin PC in a solo campaign that I only played for one session.

DM'ed AD&D 2e for my friends in college. Played a elven fighter/mage in a solo campaign that only lasted a short time.

After college, I hooked up with my current group and we took turns to DM a Planescape campaign set in Sigil. I played an elven fighter/mage/thief with the infiltrator kit. When the Player's Option books came out, we re-tooled the characters and continued the campaign.

When 3e and 3.5e came out, we switched systems enthusiastically. It's considered a point of pride in our group that we're at the "cutting edge" of D&D rules.

 

[crazy_cat]

AD&D
(and also Traveller, CoC, WFRP v1, Tunnels & Trolls, and Runequest (GW edition))

*short break of about 10 years whilst RL got in the way *

Baldurs Gate 1 and 2, which led to Neverwinter Nights which led to...

D&D 3.5
(and also occasionally playing CoC, Traveller, TORG - and hoping/planning to play Serenity, D20 Modern/Future, Iron Heroes, Star Wars D20, and WFRP v2)

For all my D&D playing (whatever version) FR has been my favourite setting - but I have also played in Eberron, Dragonlance and Homebrew games over the years.

 

[Shades of Green]

1995-2000: AD&D 2E Hebrew version.
2000-today: D&D 3.0E English version.

In addition I've played Shadowrun in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions, Babylon Project, and Classic Traveller.

 

[Ranes]

77-78: O/AD&D hybrid
79-87: AD&D (with a phase of pure OD&D in 84)
90-93: AD&D (2e)
2001-03: 3e
03 - present: 3.5

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Stage 1: Holmes
Started with the "blue book" boxed set.

Stage 2: Holmes + 1E
Added 1E books as they came out. Gaming during this period was an unholy mix of rules from editions owned by various people: OD&D, Holmes, B/X (Moldvay/Cook/Marsh), and 1E. We tended to mix and match, freely. Games I ran were pretty much Holmes + 1E, though.

Stage 3: 1E
Gradually, my game became more AD&D based, until it was pretty close to RAW 1E.

Experiment Stage: 2E
Bought 2E when it came out. Hated it. The problem wasn't really the rules; mostly I didn't like the "look and feel" of the new edition. Despised the whole "let's not talk about demons and devils" thing, et cetera, et cetera. Didn't like the way Greyhawk was buried. Thought the splat books were goofy. Didn't like the adventures that came out. I tried to like it -- but it wasn't happening.

Stage 4: BECMI/RC
After my brief and disappointing dalliance with 2E, I decided to return to running a 1E game, but found no takers. The attitude seemed to be something along the lines of "if we're going to play AD&D, let's use 2E -- it's shinier and newer." Instead, I proposed a "back to basics" campaign using the Mentzer boxed sets. Much to my surprise, I got no arguments to this (maybe because BECMI was still being produced and 1E was not?), so away we went. Not long after the campaign started, TSR published the Rules Cyclopedia, and so I used that, too. That particular BECMI campaign was the longest-running and most successful D&D campaign I've ever run.

Stage 5: 3E
Gave 3.0 a try when it came out. Enjoyed low-level play with the core books. The arrival of 3.5 annoyed me, and I didn't buy the new books; instead I cherry-picked 3.5 rules from the SRD and house-ruled them in. As levels got higher and splat book stuff got incorporated I enojyed it less. Also, I don't like the look-and-feel of 3E, either. All that added up to...

Experiment Stage: Looking Around
Started trying d20 variants like Arcana Unearthed, Iron Heroes, etc. Ran mini-campaigns to get the feel of different systems. Looked at Castles & Crusades, True20, Savage Worlds, Lejendary Adventure, OD&D (the OCE white box set)[/i], B/X (Moldvay/Cook/Marsh -- which I had never owned or run, even though I was familiar with it from other gamers), FUDGE/FATE, and Basic Fantasy.

Stage 6: C&C
Trying those various systems reminded me what I like best about D&D. My favorites were C&C, B/X, OD&D, and Basic Fantasy. I settled on C&C because it's in print, has some modern approaches that are familiar to 3E players, but still has the old-school qualities I prefer. I also like the ease with which it's house-ruled, and how easy it is to use material from the various editions of D&D. And that's where I'm at, today.

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

1988: Mentzer Basic
1989-1999: AD&D 2e
2000-2005: D&D 3e
2006: D&D 3e with added 3.5