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<blockquote data-quote="wingsandsword" data-source="post: 3266289" data-attributes="member: 14159">I first encountered D&amp;D around 1991.&nbsp; I was in 7th grade, and had a friend who had become interested in it and wanted me to play it with him.Well, a day or two after he mentions he's found this really fun game called &quot;Dungeons and Dragons&quot; (which I recalled seeing a cartoon about when I was younger, but not remembering it well, just something about a little yoda-like guy called Dungeon Master, a unicorn, an inept wizard, and a guy with a magic bow all trying to get back to Earth), I am at a Toys R Us store in a nearby city.I don't remember exactly which came first, the NES version of Pool of Radiance, or a Basic D&amp;D box set, since I know I got one first, then the other one a week later.&nbsp; It was all they had of &quot;Dungeons and Dragons&quot; at that big store, and I didn't have enough allowance money to buy both.The box set was the black one with a Red Dragon on the cover.&nbsp; It only had rules for going up to 5th level, and came with a big dungeon-map mat and a lot of stand-up counters.&nbsp; The video game was a direct port of the &quot;gold box&quot; computer game.&nbsp; Then, a few days later my friend brings the D&amp;D books he has (Legends and Lore, one of the Taladas Dragonlance modules, and the Spelljammer box set, he'd found his D&amp;D stuff at a local used bookstore and was trying to figure out the game from those sources).So, together we sat down and tried to figure out how D&amp;D worked from a Basic box set, a smattering of AD&amp;D 2e suppliments, and the manual and gameplay of a game based on AD&amp;D 1e rules.&nbsp; We came up with some horrible mangled hybrid that barely worked from these sources (we never could conclusively figure out if Clerics got their first spells at 2nd level or 1st level, and if Elves and Dwarves and Halflings got an additional class in addition to their racial class).&nbsp; It was fun, but we burned out on it for two reasons.&nbsp; The first was we were getting frustrated with the lack of all the rules (we didn't know where to go to buy a Player's Handbook, that would have been a Rosetta Stone to us).&nbsp; The second was that we both got a lot of flack for playing the game.&nbsp; My father forbade me from playing anymore, he'd heard too many bad things about D&amp;D at Church about how it was nothing but thinly veiled satanic recruiting and it tricks little kids into committing suicide supposedly, while we both got teased and bullied and ostracized as &quot;satanists&quot; when word got out that we were playing a &quot;satanic game&quot; since many kids in our rural school had heard the same propaganda.&nbsp; At one point I was even summoned to the Counselor's office because some students had reported I was suicidal, their proof?&nbsp; I was playing D&amp;D, which was proof as far as they were concerned, and it was enough that the School Counselor wanted me to get professional help and considered me a suicide risk, just because I had been playing D&amp;D for a month or two. So, I stopped playing D&amp;D of any sort for about 7 more years until I got to College and found a gaming club.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="wingsandsword, post: 3266289, member: 14159"] I first encountered D&D around 1991. I was in 7th grade, and had a friend who had become interested in it and wanted me to play it with him. Well, a day or two after he mentions he's found this really fun game called "Dungeons and Dragons" (which I recalled seeing a cartoon about when I was younger, but not remembering it well, just something about a little yoda-like guy called Dungeon Master, a unicorn, an inept wizard, and a guy with a magic bow all trying to get back to Earth), I am at a Toys R Us store in a nearby city. I don't remember exactly which came first, the NES version of Pool of Radiance, or a Basic D&D box set, since I know I got one first, then the other one a week later. It was all they had of "Dungeons and Dragons" at that big store, and I didn't have enough allowance money to buy both. The box set was the black one with a Red Dragon on the cover. It only had rules for going up to 5th level, and came with a big dungeon-map mat and a lot of stand-up counters. The video game was a direct port of the "gold box" computer game. Then, a few days later my friend brings the D&D books he has (Legends and Lore, one of the Taladas Dragonlance modules, and the Spelljammer box set, he'd found his D&D stuff at a local used bookstore and was trying to figure out the game from those sources). So, together we sat down and tried to figure out how D&D worked from a Basic box set, a smattering of AD&D 2e suppliments, and the manual and gameplay of a game based on AD&D 1e rules. We came up with some horrible mangled hybrid that barely worked from these sources (we never could conclusively figure out if Clerics got their first spells at 2nd level or 1st level, and if Elves and Dwarves and Halflings got an additional class in addition to their racial class). It was fun, but we burned out on it for two reasons. The first was we were getting frustrated with the lack of all the rules (we didn't know where to go to buy a Player's Handbook, that would have been a Rosetta Stone to us). The second was that we both got a lot of flack for playing the game. My father forbade me from playing anymore, he'd heard too many bad things about D&D at Church about how it was nothing but thinly veiled satanic recruiting and it tricks little kids into committing suicide supposedly, while we both got teased and bullied and ostracized as "satanists" when word got out that we were playing a "satanic game" since many kids in our rural school had heard the same propaganda. At one point I was even summoned to the Counselor's office because some students had reported I was suicidal, their proof? I was playing D&D, which was proof as far as they were concerned, and it was enough that the School Counselor wanted me to get professional help and considered me a suicide risk, just because I had been playing D&D for a month or two. So, I stopped playing D&D of any sort for about 7 more years until I got to College and found a gaming club. [/QUOTE]

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