who got you started?

[big teej]

I was reassuring my girlfriend the other day that if she was patient she'd learn the game just as well as I do. (I've got about 3 years on her)



and she asked me "how/why did you start playing"

and that got me to wondering.

how did YOU get started? who introduced you to the game?
what got you hooked?
why do you continue to play?

well, to get us starting.

I was trolling the net, when I came upon a website called Flashportal and on this site was a flash series called "the unforgotten realms"
which was a dnd parody.

I found them hilarious and showed them to a friend who's response was "dude! we should totally play!"
I was greatly skeptical but he eventually convinced me, and our (then) girlfriends. to play.

I wanted to play an Ogre Butcher (from warhammer)
it was atrocious, we didn't know hardly any of the rules or stats or whatnot. so I ended up with 20 strength (he was DMing and ruled ogres had +2)

but I digress.

it was an unmitigated disaster.

but I had been hooked. I wanted to play a monster, to be a hero or a villian, to quest where-ever my imagination may take me.

so I brought it up to another friend of mine. and we put a group together and made it work.

I find it greatly ironic that the person responsible for my becoming a gamer doesn't like the game at all.

and I have to admit, the idea of playing an ogre is what got me hooked. (and the dice.)

and I continue to play because it is the single greatest outlet for creativity I have. I enjoy the game immensly and I can honestly say the highlight of my week is when I get to sit down (either behind the screen or in front of it) and kill things and take their stuff with my friends.

so
how did you get started?

PS: you know you think about dnd too much when you walk into a pet store and think how great a terrain piece the fish tank stuff would make.

PPS; there's no such thing.

[Mr. Zolrane]

How/why did I start playing?

Pretty simple really. A friend of mine from college who'd been playing for years asked a bunch of my other friends and I if we wanted to play? We did. There were some... hitches, shall we say amidst the learning process, and while he's my friend and I love him, he wasn't that great of a DM and he frankly enjoyed playing more than DMing.

What got me hooked?

After the semester ended, the campaign was continued the semester after that with the cleric's player being the new DM, and the old DM took over as a TW Fighter from another campaign of his. It was much better after that, and the story had a satisfying conclusion. Since then my wheels have been turning like mad as I design my own campaign setting with hopes of DMing in the fall.

Why do I continue to play?

The endless possibilities. I love the idea of an open-ended template on which you can project just about anything. I'm a novelist, and that kind of pure, unadulterated creativity is like cheesecake mixed with heroin for me, just without the calories or debilitating lifelong addiction.

[thompur]

My older sister brought it home from college back in the summer of 1977. She had what we call 'the Blue Book' and she DM'ed. My brother and I would usually each have 2 characters. Eventually, every body took turns DMing. Then, one of my sister's friends invited us to join a campaign. The DM had created an entire world, incuding cosmology,languages, etc. The planet we were on was actually the moon of a gas giant with rings, which the moonpassed through twice a year. It was very cool. And very popular. At times we had 15 players at a session, and would play from 2pm to 1am on Saturdays. They were Epic campaigns.

[Morbis Meh]

When I was in my 3rd year of university my girlfriend got me into it, but I almost started playing in highschool when a friend suggested it; however, the DM bailed so the desire went dormant.

[Yuki Akuma]

My parents bought me Planescape: Torment for Christmas when I was twelve.

Then I bought the Player's Handbook and found an online D&D forum (not this one).

My first character was a Monk/3e Psion.

[King Atticus]

It took me a long time to start playing. A buddy of mine from work had been trying to get me to play for years. But after decades of only hearing about the stigma of D&D and the "type" of people that play it, it was hard for me to get passed my own bias. But eventually he wore me down and I borrowed his PHB and DMG and he said he was starting a campaign in a couple of weeks and I should at least give it a chance. So I sat down and read those two books almost cover to cover. I built a horribly unoptimized Pali (that actually turned into a fairly BA character) but from that point I loved it. The whole idea of doing the footwork, studying the books, memorizing feats, seeing what I could put together. I found that awesome. To this day character creation is my favorite part of the game. But I'm starting to get into the roleplaying aspect of it more and more. It just keeps opening doors to more creative release for me and it works...even if it turned me into one of "those" people who play D&D :smallbiggrin:

[Luckmann]

My parents bought me Planescape: Torment for Christmas when I was twelve.

[...]You have the best parents ever.

[Mr. Zolrane]

It took me a long time to start playing. A buddy of mine from work had been trying to get me to play for years. But after decades of only hearing about the stigma of D&D and the "type" of people that play it, it was hard for me to get passed my own bias. But eventually he wore me down and I borrowed his PHB and DMG and he said he was starting a campaign in a couple of weeks and I should at least give it a chance. So I sat down and read those two books almost cover to cover. I built a horribly unoptimized Pali (that actually turned into a fairly BA character) but from that point I loved it. The whole idea of doing the footwork, studying the books, memorizing feats, seeing what I could put together. I found that awesome. To this day character creation is my favorite part of the game. But I'm starting to get into the roleplaying aspect of it more and more. It just keeps opening doors to more creative release for me and it works...even if it turned me into one of "those" people who play D&D :smallbiggrin:

Ah, yes, the Dark Dungeons effect, in addition to the stigma of being labeled a "geek" (a title which I wear publicly and with pride, but that took me some time) is one of the biggest barriers to getting new people into the game.


You have the best parents ever.

I was just thinking that. Haven't played it myself, but I've heard amazing things.

[Yuki Akuma]

I was just thinking that. Haven't played it myself, but I've heard amazing things.

Play it.

You can get it on gog.com (http://www.gog.com/en/frontpage/) for pretty cheap.

[ninja_penguin]

I got into a gundam freeform RPG run by friends in high school that was online. I wandered around other freeforms for a while, and got into D&D 3.5 with the intent of infiltrating a gamer group and running off with one girl I had a crush on. Alas that group suffered a nuclear meltdown before I could start playing, but I played online for a while, and moved on to other systems over time, especially, as to my surprise, my friends all decided they wanted to try this D&D thing around the time that 4th edition came out.

[Archwizard]

My neighbor when I was 9 had the Red Box. So we started playing (about 5 of us total). From there I just kept buying new editions as they came out and finding people who liked playing. I went to a boarding high school and we were part of the AV club (yes, D&D and AV, woo!) and the faculty sponsor of the AV used to let us use that room all night and on weekends. It was awesome. The local pizza/sub shop owner used to deliver food to us personally.

What keeps me going is both the fantasy escapism of it, and the camaraderie of good times with people I like.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I was in a class with a friend, when he brought out the Icewind Dale trilogy, I asked about it, he talked me about D'rritz and the game then invited me to a LARP game (it was a camping trip) and on the first night his dad brought out the 3.5 books and ran an improvised game.

My first character was a full blooded orc barbarian:smallcool:

From there I kinda got hooked on the game, then I went into other games, BESM, WoD, Paranoia, 4e, Anima Beyond Fantasy; but my true and first love will always be 3.5

[Hiro Protagonest]

My first character was a full blooded orc barbarian:smallcool:

At least it's more optimized than a half-orc barbarian. What was the characters stats?

[Dusk Eclipse]

At least it's more optimized than a half-orc barbarian. What was the characters stats?

I don't remember; it was about.. 5 or 6 years ago, it had atrocious int (did the cliché hulk talk) and definitely a bad will save (I remember bisecting another player's elf after failing a charm person... it was fun; but just cause I didn't like that player)

[Das Platyvark]

An old gamer friend of mine said "Hey, you ever played this game?"

[Thurbane]

My interest in D&D was sparked by a couple of things.

I was always into fantasy novels (Hobbit etc.) - then I came accross a Fighting Fantasy gamebook in my school library. I also read in a book about the history of games (again, school library) about this game called Dungeons and Dragons. It sounded awesome.

Then I was fortunate enough that a couple of guys I knew at school had started a lunchtime game of Basic D&D (Red Box) which quickly evolved into a regular AD&D 1E game (I still game with 1 or 2 of these guys over 25 years later).

...I've been playing pretty much nonstop ever since. My current regular Monday group plays 3.5 (although the current DM is running a heavily modified system that is 1/3 3.5, 1/3 1E and 1/3 pure homebrew). Our game is very much "beer n pretzels", and it as much of an excuse for a catch-up with the guys as it is for the actual gaming.

Our group is currently in a bit of a rough patch, with a few of our 7 guy group not really happy with the current game - but we hope to get it resolved soon.

[McSmack]

An old friend of mine started up a 2nd ed game my first semester of college. I had fun with Thorfinn Skullsplitter, until, while raging, I managed to kill the entire party and then hack off my own leg.

That's when I realized that THAC0 was Wack0.

The next semester a good friend of mine transferred to the college and was really excited about something called "3rd Edition". I gave it a whirl. My very first character had the best stats of any level one I've rolled up. 17, 18, 16, 14, 12, 18. I was a bard working on getting into my buddies homebrew conversion of the old blade kit from 2nd ed.

I've been hooked ever since.

[Malimar]

When I was about 11, my best friend joined a roleplaying website and pulled me in. I played there for about a decade before it started to go defunct, then when I got to my current college I was offered the opportunity to join a D&D game. It was basically an extension of my existing interests, so I did.

[Seerow]

Wow, I just skimmed all the posts here and my intro was one thing I didn't see from anyone else: My dad was an old school player, who started back in the 1st edition days. He got me started playing when I was about 8 or 9. I got to play a session or two with his group before they got tired of having the annoying kid around, and from there I started looking for others to play with.

[Dumbledore lives]

When I was about 9 my friend lent me an old school D&D book, I think it was second edition but I couldn't say for sure. Next year our teacher offered to DM for us, three of us and his son, and so we played for a while, and that was really fun.

I have been browsing the forums for a while as indicated by my join date, but when I really got interested was about a year and a half ago when I started up a game here, with me as DM. Friends began to really enjoy it, and the effort of being a DM pushed me to learn the game a lot more, and here I am.

[Divide by Zero]

A friend showed me this OotS strip (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0423.html) in chemistry class. I started following the comic, eventually found my way onto the forums, and began lurking.

[Feytalist]

I played the first Baldur's Gate way back when as it came out. It think I was around 12. I remember thinking what a detailed world and rule system it was. I then started reading up on D&D and Forgotten Realms in particular, and I was hooked.

I finally found a group playing AD&D 2nd Ed (I was the youngest player there, heh) and it just snowballed from there. I remember sitting in assembly one day while a friend told me about 3.0 Ed and how crappy it sounded. Infact, I got hooked on it the same way as with 2nd ed, through Neverwinter Nights, and only then I bought the PHB. Probably the only way I will actually start playing (and stop hating) 4th Ed is when they finally make a video game for it.

I still play all the old-school D&D computer games regularly.

[Valdor]

Ah man. Those were the days when i first got started on 3rd edition. It was a really good buddy of mine that introduced me to the game since at the time i was a huge fan of taking acting classes in high school. Well he assured me that it was like acting without a script (forgive m for not remembering what it is called, i just worked a 14 hour shift...) but i instantly said yes and was hooked ever since.

I think what keeps me playing is that every campaign i am part of feels like i am almost involved with writing intense books akin to some of my favorite book series such as A song of Ice and Fire (more commonly known as The Game of Thrones) or The Sword of Truth (some might remember the horrible show they tried to make. It feels as if my friends and I are writing this heroic (or villainous :xykon:) tale together. I just love it.

[big teej]

Probably the only way I will actually start playing (and stop hating) 4th Ed is when they finally make a video game for it.

I still play all the old-school D&D computer games regularly.

at the risk of converting you.


they have just released a game based on 4th ed, Dungeons and Dragons: daggerdale

[Feytalist]

at the risk of converting you.


they have just released a game based on 4th ed, Dungeons and Dragons: daggerdale

Awesome. I'm getting that anyway.

Who knows, it might even work.

[Madcrafter]

Dungeons and Dragons: daggerdale

I heard that it was a very bad representation of the rules, and only a mediocre game.

As for me, as a kid I would go camping with some of my extended family for around a week every summer. They played D&D during that time (and MTG, and D20 Star Wars) and I was finally allowed to play when I was 6 years old. First character was Alex the Great, Human greatsword wielding fighter, in a solo game to get me used to the mechanics.

[big teej]

I heard that it was a very bad representation of the rules, and only a mediocre game.
.

I haven't touched it and don't plan too. I was merely pointing out it's existence.

[kyoryu]

I don't actually remember what inspired me, but I got a D&D Basic Set at Walgreen's, of all places.

This was somewhere around '80 or '81, so no net to get me interested :smallbiggrin:

[Amphetryon]

My parents went out of town for the night and my sister and I stayed at a friend's house. They were playing Keep on the Borderlands. I was a Halfling.

[Archwizard]

Oh man, Keep on the Borderlands. What a great module, I still have 2 copies of that thing kicking around. I ran it for my friends a long, long time ago.

[Feytalist]

at the risk of converting you.


they have just released a game based on 4th ed, Dungeons and Dragons: daggerdale

I was just at this (http://www.playneverwinter.com/) website, it seems like it's another 4th ed game. Can't find out much more about it, though. It's set after the spellplague anyway.

[big teej]

I don't actually remember what inspired me, but I got a D&D Basic Set at Walgreen's, of all places.

This was somewhere around '80 or '81, so no net to get me interested :smallbiggrin:

best.... walgreens.... ever.....


spellplague .

I keep hearing this term

what is it?

[Feytalist]

I keep hearing this term

what is it?

Huge magical plague/disaster that happened during the 3.5/4.0 convert in the Forgotten Realms setting.

For the convert, they moved the setting on about 100 years (might be longer? I disowned the FR 4.0 rulebooks after a very brief once-over), during which the deity of magic was killed off, weird magic started affecting areas and **** generally got down. Come the spellplague, which affects huge areas of land, and morphs creatures into mutants, with some extra resistances/vulnerabilities/SLA's/etc.

It's essentially areas you don't want to visit, and a template that you get if you do.

[big teej]

Huge magical plague/disaster that happened during the 3.5/4.0 convert in the Forgotten Realms setting.


is this also what I've seen referred to as "the plotplauge"?

[Talya]

Originally? I was (ironically, now, considering how much I generally dislike Anime) a fan of "Robotech" as a kid. I saw the Palladium Robotech RPG in a store and read through it and I was hooked. Started chatting with RPG geeks in school and soon we were playing a game.

On D&D specifically? Many years later, I have to say Bioware and R.A. Salvatore got me started. (You can guess how.)

[Feytalist]

is this also what I've seen referred to as "the plotplauge"?

Or, additionally, the suckplague.

[Handsome Pete]

I first heard about D&D in about '83, in elementary school. I had friends who played, I watched part of one session, and didn't get it. ("There's no board? The hell?") Probably just didn't have the attention span for it. (That's ADD, not AD&D) The cartoon came out, and I really liked it, but it only lasted one season. Then in high school, someone left a book in the drama lab, and I flipped through it. I loved the different classes, and the magic rings, and the spells, but I didn't know anybody anymore who played, or at least they didn't broadcast it. ("Hey ladies, I play D&D!" wasn't a great pickup line in the early 90's) In college, the guys across the hall played, my roomates and I became friends with them, and pretty soon every Saturday night, we played until 3 or 4 in the morning. My first character was a thief (not a rogue) named Vorax, who got a cloak of Arachnidia, and became Vorax the Spider. (Creepy, Crawly) When the DM started a new campaign after we finished that one, Vorax was used as the head of a guild who gave some help to the PC's. I felt honored. I've played as long as I was in contact with friends who played throughout the years.

[Feytalist]

"Hey ladies, I play D&D!" wasn't a great pickup line in the early 90's

To be honest, it's not now either.

I still fondly remember the thief class.

[Partysan]

Well, I've been into Fantasy since I can think, achieved my first wooden swords before I got into school. Aren't all children roleplayers and LARPers?
Then somewhere around 6th grade an older boy showed me DSA (The Dark Eye) and I was extremely interested, but the play never got off. I played a bit solo with him but never in a group.
Then about a year or two later I was in the middle of devising a LARP rule system with some friends, unbeknownst to me that something like LARP actually existed. I thought we were doing something new and cool. Oh well, another guy in my class (he repeated that one so I didn't know him before) told me about it and also invited some of us to play. That was my first P&P experience, I think we played Shadowrun. Needless to say I didn't even need to be hooked. I joined his group and we played regularly and a lot of different games and systems (and LARPed as well) until we graduated. We're still friends, I even was his best man.

[Taelas]

I first started playing D&D around.... '95, '96. I was 9-10 years old at the time. My best friend played and he invited me to play with his group. We were never particularly interested in the actual rules, back then (especially since we didn't speak English particularly well at the time). I started playing seriously some time after Baldur's Gate came out when I found a couple people online who actually knew the rules better than my friend and I did (and I dragged my older brother along too, as he was interested due to Baldur's Gate). Then 3rd Edition came out and I never looked back.

[Mr. Zolrane]

I watched part of one session, and didn't get it. ("There's no board? The hell?")

That's really not an unreasonable reaction. I know it's my reaction whenever the guy who owns our board can't make it or forgets the board. DnD is significantly better with a board.


...at least they didn't broadcast it. ("Hey ladies, I play D&D!" wasn't a great pickup line in the early 90's)


To be honest, it's not now either.

I still fondly remember the thief class.

Just wondering, how was the thief different from the rogue we know today?

It works pretty well for the kind of ladies I'm interested in :smallwink: Besides, it's a bit more acceptable in general now than it was before.


Well, I've been into Fantasy since I can think, achieved my first wooden swords before I got into school. Aren't all children roleplayers and LARPers?

So very true. Good thought.

[zorba1994]

I learned about the game, against all odds, at age 9 (is that a fertile DnD age or what? I'm like the 5th guy to say that) from the Foxtrot comic series, where Jason and Marcus would regularly play. Ironically, the games that Marcus and Jason run are absolute atrocities, and I would never want to set foot in one of their games.

At any rate, a few weeks later, I saw the beginner's pack for 3.5 on sale at a bookstore, so I bought it, and then summarily forced all of my relatives to play. Eventually, I bought the core rulebooks, and then about half of the 3.5 supplements ever published. Then I sort of waited seven years, endlessly poring over my books, until I finally found a group of friends to play with, as my previous friends got bored with the game (unfortunately, because I had to teach all of my friends to play, we play 4e, which I consider easier to learn, so my 3.5 books collect dust :smallfrown:).



Hey ladies, I play D&D!" wasn't a great pickup line in the early 90's

As far as empirical evidence that I've collected goes, however, once you're already in the "geek" sub-demographic, girls are actually considerably more likely to get into DnD (my gaming group is mostly comprised of girls, and most of my friends that are guys get bored by tabletop RPGs, preferring video games).

[big teej]

[QUOTE=zorba1994;11181213]so my 3.5 books collect dust :smallfrown:).
[\QUOTE]

there is a certain playgrounder that frequents these boards.... he's out to collect every 3.0 and 3.5 book ever published. and is always on the lookout for new purchases, I'm sure the two of you could come to a reasonable agreement and give your old books a good home.


I believe his name is Big Teej. :smallbiggrin:

GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!!! WHAT DO YOU HAVE!?!?