Your First Gaming Book?

[Angel Tarragon]

AD&D 2nd Edition PHB.

 

[sir_ollibolli]

Hmmm, my first gamebook was the french version of a german game (L'Oeil Noir, I don't remember the German name), which was very similar to Basic D&D. I think I was 12-14 years old, so that would make it 1987-1989. Maybe a year later, my brother brough OD&D, then AD&D 1st Edition home.

Aaah, I owe so much to my brother!!

This should be "Das Schwarze Auge" (commonly known as DSA in Germany) also known as "The Dark Eye" to English speaking people (that which Fast Forward has released, but the writing has been done by FanPro). It is actually a quiet good role playing game with a very detailed world. There have been three computer games, that are known outside of Germany as "Realms of Arkania"...

 

[Algolei]

14 years old, 1979, my parents gave me the blue box set and the 1E DMG. Confused me for a few days until I figured out they were two different systems. The basic game seemed too simple, so I read the DMG first, shotgun-style--not in any order, just randomly hopping from page to page. Ate it up. Yum.

That particular copy is long gone. Somebody borrowed it from me in high school, thought I had given it to them for keeps, and then destroyed it because...I don't know. Stupid people. I've known lots of 'em.

My 'new' copy (my friend gave me his when he decided to give up trying to DM [thank you Lord!]) has lasted me ever since. I still read it some nights, rather than, y'know, fantasy literature or something. Still eatin' it up. Yum!

 

[Psion]

I think it was the blue expert set book. (My friend had the basic set...)

 

[VirgilCaine]

What was your first game book and how old were you when you read (and understood) it?

My first "gaming book" was homebrew 2e Netbooks. Just looked 'em up on the 'Net for fun.
My first "real" book, was a 1e DMG I got cheap. Of course, I played 3.0 at the time (and will continue to do so until Haste is normal again).

 

[Jupp]

It was the AD&D PHB in 1991 sometime in March and I was 17.

I bought it the day after I rolled my very first character for a RPG. The DM and I were sitting in a restaurant and he would ask me what I would like to play. I didn't have a clue what he was talking about and so he gave me the PHB to read through the different classes and races I was hooked up from that moment on when I saw the cool cover art of the PHB and the character descriptions. After about 30 minutes of reading and one hour of discussing rules I decided to create a Paladin. The DM almost fell off the chair because I was the first player in his career that would play a paladin on his free will
So I rolled the dice for Thor Al Rhonin the paladin. I think the stats were something like STR 15 DEX 14 CON 14 INT 11 WIS 15 and CHAR 17. Hehe the DM had eyes as big as plates when he saw me rolling those numbers I think those were the best dice rolls for a character I ever had up to today. The moment I bought the PHB I ran home and read through it in one night.

 

[valn]

This should be "Das Schwarze Auge" (commonly known as DSA in Germany) also known as "The Dark Eye" to English speaking people (that which Fast Forward has released, but the writing has been done by FanPro). It is actually a quiet good role playing game with a very detailed world. There have been three computer games, that are known outside of Germany as "Realms of Arkania"...

We had most books published in French from that series. I mostly played the solo books though. Then I GMed a game with friends at school, which led to a summer of AD&D (practically everyday, practically all day long!! )

I remember finding advanced rules somewhere on the Net, but it seemed to take place in a whole new world. But I didn't know they had made computer games for it! I'll do some search to see what i can find...

Thanks!

 

[WalkingDead]

Although I played for the first time in the summer of 1986, I bought my first RPG product a year later when I was 11 years old. It was the D&D Basic Set (red box) of the time. I missed out on the poorly-made dice and crayons to draw on numbers. I know the first adventure I bought was Drums on Fire Mountain (can't remember the letter/number designation).

 

[sjmiller]

Well, considering I did not get my first RPG books in 1979, when I was 14, I would have to answer that I was 14 when I understood them. The first RPG book I got was not one, but three little black books. Traveller was the first game I made characters in (about 10 minutes after opening the game) and is still one of my all time favorite games. I still fondly remember many of my early games, and some of the wonderful characters I made with it. Hmm, now I will have to see if I can get a couple of people to play that again...

 

[Dextolen]

12 years old (1981)

Players Handbook (1st edition).
DMG and Monster manual soon followed. I remember getting the Monster Manual at Meijer! (a grocery/retail store, sorta like Walmart)