Your first brush with D&D (OF ANY STRIPE)

[tx7321]

1979, a monk (don't recall his name) who had some short adventures in town, but died 1 day out on way to old ruins (eaten along with his comrads by a shambling mound). Frustrating as the DM left town shortly after, and we never did see his dungeon, but hooked for life none the less.

 

[BroccoliRage]

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Although I started on First Edition, I never became an edition snob, since I think it's the story and adventure (and chips and soda) and NOT the mechanics that makes the game enjoyable.

But that's just me...

:\

Anyway, I started playing AD&D when I was seven years old after bothering my stepdad and his pals to take part in thier game. They were playing a 1e/2e hybrid that ia the basis for what I play today. I started at level one amongst thier level 20 gods, and I learned how to keep low level characters alive. I started DMing for my own group, and took about two years off until I found new people to play with.

 

[dougmander]

1977, at a gaming con in Bath, Maine (MaineCon 77, I still have the badge). I was in 7th grade. Came to play traditional wargames (which were HUGELY popular then), and my friend David told me I might like this new game called Dungeons and Dragons. A sailor from the nearby shipyard was running a game for $1 admission. I played an elf (still remember the Ral Partha mini -- an elf with a winged hoplite-style helmet and a spear). Opened a door, was killed by orcs.
I was hooked.
I bummed $5 off my friend Roger to buy the Holmes blue box set, which I still leaf through sometimes when I'm feeling nostalgic. I suspect now that the store that had the concession at the con had removed the introductory adventure, then re-shrink-wrapped the box. No module, but no problem, I started writing my own and by the following weekend we were all playing it back at home. It came with these encounter tables on yellow cardstock that included monsters who weren't in the rulebook. Footpad? What's that? We all thought they were sneaky little mouselike creatures!
I still can't figure out how you win the darned game.

 

[Rhuvein]

I had read Hobbit/Lord of the Rings in '77 and remember reading about D&D in Time magazine. So sometime in late '78 or Jan '79, I picked up the Blue Box D&D game with B1 In Search of the Unknown. I immediately took it home and read everything (including the module). Accck, I wanted to play in the game, dagnabbit. But as it turned out, after passing out the rules, no one wanted to DM, so I did it.

I loved populating the dungeons in my own way, and ever since, I always add/change/delete any modules/dungeons that I use.

I still have that box and will forever treasure it!

 

[kenobi65]

I had read Hobbit/Lord of the Rings in '77...

As had I...I'd gotten a boxed set of the four books for Christmas in 1977, and voraciously read them over the next few months.

I probably first heard of D&D in 1980 or 1981, but didn't know anyone who played. Then, in late 1981, I was over at the neighbors, and their daughter (who was a year younger than me) had a DMG and a PHB. I paged through it, as she told me about the game she was playing in (she went to a different high school than I did; turns out they were Monty Haul to the extreme ).

I was more interested now, but didn't really follow through, until late March of 1982. I had gotten some money as a 17th birthday present, and was at the Kay-Bee Toy & Hobby in the mall in downtown Green Bay. My intent was to buy a model rocket kit, but they didn't have any in stock that I wanted. I then made a 90-degree right turn from that display, and, on an end-cap display, there was the Moldvay boxed Basic set. The neighbor girl's younger brother was with me (he'd been playing the game with his sister), and said he'd teach me to play if I bought it.

So, I bought it, we went home, and I created my first character: an elf named Rolf. David (the neighbor) ran me through much of Keep on the Borderlands as a solo adventure.

Shortly thereafter, I learned that a friend of mine, Steve, had started working at a game shop. I went there and bought the PHB. A few weeks later, Steve invited me to go with him to a game that he'd been invited to by one of the shop's patrons. We were both juniors in high school; all of the other players there were in their 20s and 30s. I'd never played in a "formal" game before, and just ate it up (we were playing "White Plume Mountain"), and was thrilled when they asked if we wanted to come back for the next session, the following Saturday.

I think that Steve lasted one or two more sessions before dropping out; I still play with that group, almost 25 years later. The character that I played in that first session with them, a female fighter named Olivia, is still one of my active PCs.