What first influenced you to start pen and paper gaming?

[Rain_Spider_08]

I always wonder this sometimes about fellow gamers I meet, what made them pick up the dice...? What or who made them interested in rpging...? I can honestly say that I first started contemplating gaming after I played the PC game Vampire the Masquerade Redemption, I was always fascinated by the supernatural and it was the first vampire game I had seen that didn't involve Dracula (I still remember that the first adult book I read was Bram Stokers Dracula at the age of 6, my mom thought I was a prodigy, poor woman :D lmao) I remember being fascinated by the concept of different groups/clans of vampires and I frequently poured through the games manual to read about the clans. Later on I discovered that books about the different clans existed! I was thrilled and before I knew it I was buying dice at the local comics and games store, readying myself for a game I never got the chance to play with anybody else till a few years later, due to the fact they thought my age was an issue (I was around 13 at the time) that and my mom didn't want me hanging around with 20 year olds in my preteens.

Long story short even now all I seem to be able to do is buy the books and study them and build character sheets... It's still difficult to find fellow WoD, D&D, and Star Wars fans that game how I like, I'll play a session and if the game isn't to my liking I leave (aka one of the players doesn't have any "respect" for the game or the fellow players or they just flat out don't take it seriously or are too freaking immature (I never got along with people my own age for some reason... must've been because I always surrounded by "adults"). The first game I ever TRULY played (aka more than one session) was Star Wars with my boyfriend at the time (now an ex) and his best friend.

[fmitchell]

Actually, I'm not really sure. I think it started when I found my first Microgame from Metagaming (Chitin, a $3 sci-fi wargame about warring bugs). Liking what I saw (although I couldn't get anyone interested enough to play), I bought other Microgames, including Melee and Wizard, which became the foundation of The Fantasy Trip, which eventually led to GURPS.

And then there was this D&D thing going around high school in the early 1980s. Plus I played one session or two of Traveller. In college I found a TFT campaign, plus a little D&D, plus RuneQuest, Champions and Ars Magica (and Pendragon and Call of Cthulhu and on and on and on)

What led to this obsession? I think it tied into my newfound love of science fiction (mostly literary, with a little Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who thrown in). The idea of creating a shared imaginary world with rules and dice also intrigued me. And then, too, my Friday and Saturday nights tended to be free ...

[PhishStyx]

Sadly, it has been a few too many years for me to remember more than a vague notion of buying the Basic box set in Waldenbooks, but most likely, it was the cover, combined with the fact that I'd never seen anything like it at that point.

But that was in 19mrph-mmrph, and now I feel very old.

[twesterm]

I tried Vampire a few times a very long time ago and never really liked it and really turned me off to pencil and paper gaming for a while. When DnD 3rd edition was released Wizards was pushing it pretty heavy and my friends finally got me to try it and I loved it.

[Skunkape]

A friend of mine in grade school had a whole lot of 1/35 scale tanks and soldiers and we played a 'wargame' over at his house one day using them. It wasn't the first time he used his tanks to play 'wargames' and it was a really fun time, I enjoyed it a lot. He also had a bunch of Avalon Hill 'wargames' and we played those as well.

Many years later, about junior high school, I ran across a line of games put out by Steve Jackson and a different friend and I started playing those during lunch. About the same time, we discovered a really cool game called, Melee. After playing that for a couple of years, we ran across this other cool game in a blue box called Dungeons and Dragons.

We started playing that game, with his brother taking the part of the Dungeon Master. I've been playing ever since.

[Ed Zachary]

We started playing AD&D in college, as a break from our studies.

It was a great diversion, we often wound up playing ourselves in a fantasy surrounding.

[Moritz]

My mommy. She gave me the blue box D&D set back in the late 70's.

[Ezrandi]

Sadly, it has been a few too many years for me to remember more than a vague notion of buying the Basic box set in Waldenbooks, but most likely, it was the cover, combined with the fact that I'd never seen anything like it at that point.

But that was in 19mrph-mmrph, and now I feel very old.


<chuckle>

For me, I loved Reading.. and A friend of mine was very much into the gaming scene in HS. He sold me on the idea by telling me that it was my chance to act out a story, in which I was one of the main characters.

The idea appealed to me, and my first character was born, a rune-singer from arduin!

From Kill kittens, zoom dogs, and other strange and wonderful things, I was hooked.. My imagination finally had a playground in which to run free.

[twesterm]

My mommy. She gave me the blue box D&D set back in the late 70's.

I'm still scared to tell my parents I actually play and I'm 25. They think D&D and roleplaying are the devils things. I remember when they found out my sister played and they almost disowned her just for finding the crappy board game. Though I did test the waters one day in high school and told them I was going to play the Star Wars roleplaying game and they didn't have a problem with that. Guess it's all about the subject matter.

I am pretty sure they know I play now though. Some of my D&D experience is on my resume and I know they've seen my resume. Oh well.

[Moritz]

I had friends whose parents called D&D "That Game". IE: "Oh, you're going to go play 'that game' again?" , "Why yes Miss Comeaux, I'm leading your son down the path straight to hell where he can hang out with the devil and lose his immortal soul.

During High School, Father Ron (catholic priest) allowed us to use the Rectory to play our games in. Every Saturday night after Mass, we'd just walk next door and set up and play till the demon hours.

[Farcaster]

I am pretty sure they know I play now though. Some of my D&D experience is on my resume and I know they've seen my resume. Oh well.

What do you do that D&D experience is applicable on your resume? :)

[twesterm]

Level Designer :D

[PhishStyx]

I am pretty sure they know I play now though. Some of my D&D experience is on my resume and I know they've seen my resume. Oh well.

You work as a professional tomb raider? :p

[twesterm]

You work as a professional tomb raider? :p

Interesting enough, I was interviewing with Crystal Dynamics for a while (Tomb Raider: Legends) and they were pretty interested in me but sadly couldn't move to California so had to stop the interview process. Shame really because I really liked Tomb Raider: Legends.

[TheYeti1775]

Growing up in the country, the 2 other boys your age within a few miles of you. One gets it as a gift for his bday. And taday a gaming group is born :D .

[starfalconkd]

I recall looking in awe at the AD&D 2nd edition PHB in bookstores. I was in love with the idea of writing my own stories for people to play through. I got the Red Box as a gift for my eleventh birthday. Shortly thereafter I purchased the PHB and DMG and Monstrous Compendium. I've been hooked ever since.

[grimwell]

I was in the 5th grade, and it was my friends birthday. He had a group of us over for a party/sleep over. In addition to cake, dirt bike riding, and all kinds of childish silly, D&D was on the menu and I didn't know.

When they spread out the map of Greyhawk on the table and started going at it, I just watched and absorbed it - fascinated. When I went home I forced my little brother to play with me. Red Box was soon purchased. ;)

[QumullusTheNimblest]

What do you do that D&D experience is applicable on your resume? :)
"So, what Level Dungeon Master are you?" (haha. what was that from? just heard it tho...)

My "origin story" reminds me of the Jimmy Buffett song "Peanut Butter Conspiracy"! 6th Grade, my friend's mom drops us off at the mall with some money that he gets for his BDay. We end up at the Hobby Shop (wish I could remember the name...) Wandered the models aisle, the remote control cars & planes looked good, I stopped to admire some big box kites (we loved those, remember kites?), he, tho, has stopped and is mesmerized by the "Book Rack". I wander over, and it turns into a scene of clandestine! (all in harsh whispers w/ furtive glances, hoping no one we know will see us!) "What about that?" (he points at the Red Box) "Dude, your mom would freak!" "Yeah. Yours wouldn't. We'll try it at your house..." "No way, Man!" etc. For 30 minutes. Anyway, the rest is history. (oh, and he bought a model car just for "show". His mom didn't find out what he REALLY bought for quite some time)

[fmitchell]

"So, what Level Dungeon Master are you?" (haha. what was that from? just heard it tho...)

A commercial for Alltel's cellular service. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dungeons_&_Dragons_popular_culture_references#Miscellaneous)

Another answer from the Office of Useless Knowledge.

[Farcaster]

The Bards Tale computer games for the Commodore 64 were what initially drew me in. When my stepfather realized I liked those sort of games, he suggested I try D&D, which is something he had played on occasion. To echo the words of everyone else, I was hooked from the moment I picked up my first copy (of the Red Box Set.) That was about 19 years ago or so, and although I've had breaks here and there, I've been playing ever since.

[starfalconkd]

That just made me realize it will 19 years for me come August when I turn 30. I'll refrain from my "I feel old" bit as I know there are a few people my senoir here.

[Moritz]

Yeah, I'm 38. Been playing D&D since 1978-79 (my best estimate), so that's like 28 years. 2/3rds of my life. Jacked up. And with many breaks over the years.

As for Super Heroic games, that's been since 1985 (Marvel Super Heroes), so 22 years there. Nearly without breaks.

I'll freely admit that I'm older than dirt.

[QumullusTheNimblest]

Speaking of "old"... we're playing Apples to Apples last night, and topic of "OLD" is laid out. I happen to have "The Universe" in my hand and whip it down, figuring "Ha! Easy winner, NOTHING is older than the frickin Universe!"
Alas, (what are the odds) the Judge casts mine aside, rejected (which brought me to my feet, needless to say - and a can of Yoo-Hoo was almost hurled at his head). He revealed the winner: "Nothingness". I sat down and shut up. Everyone else, however, found it pretty darn funny.
I mean, c'mon! WHAT ARE THE ODDS that someone has "Nothingness" in-hand to trump me!? Sheesh. Oh, and i'm 42. Do i win anything...?

[Skunkape]

Oh, and i'm 42. Do i win anything...?

Nope, I'm older!:D

[Moritz]

Speaking of "old"... we're playing Apples to Apples last night,

Is that the Apple IIc or the Apple IIe?

Yeah, that old?

My first video games were Pong to Pong.
Then it was the Atari 2600, TRS-80 Model 3, Timex Sinclair 1000, Vic 20, Commodore 64, Apple IIc, Apple/Mac, then the IBM 386-66, and after going 10 years without being on a computer, I bought a Packard Bell 486-66 which I upgraded to a P-100 (or some crap)... and now, i have this custom built wide screen laptop that does everything i could ever want it to and run WoW.

[PhishStyx]

I remember Pong. You got 3 games on it, Tennis, Breakthrough (or whatever it was called), and the practice game.

Well, I never had anyone to play Tennis with, so I did Breakthrough the most.

I don't have a clue what happened to mine.

[Moritz]

I still have both my pong games, my atari <all the cartridges> and most of my toys from my childhood. Don't know why I kept all that crap. It's all in storage. Yay.

[TheYeti1775]

I still have both my pong games, my atari <all the cartridges> and most of my toys from my childhood. Don't know why I kept all that crap. It's all in storage. Yay.
Brother and I were in the attic of my dad's house the other weekend and rediscovered the old pong game. Needless to say we didn't find what we were originally looking for.....

But I think I'm currently ahead by 3 or 4 games. :D

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

It was the Dungeons and Dragon cartoon and the anime Dragon Warrior (based on the NES game of the same name). I was hooked.

I picked up a copy of the Dungeons and Dragons game and promtly started creating characters/monsters/npcs/adventures/dungoens and I recruited all of my friends into playing. Although we never had a regular group everyone only ever played one game.

Then as a freshmen in high school I met a guy who had a ton of AD&D books and a bunch of Dragonlance stuff that he just up and gave me! Then I tried to recruit more and more folks into it and managed to successfully kill of my friends PCs and they never played again. To this day they still bring up that noone should ever play D&D with me because I will just kill them off.

Throughout all of high school I collected more and more rpgs, Aliens, TMNT, cyberpunk, WEG Star Wars etc... and playtesting all the systems on my friends. It wasn't until community college when I joined my first game group and it didn't last long. Then in art school I was working at Barnes and Noble, while I had my nose in the D&D 3.0 books there (I was on the clock too) I met a guy who was putting together a 1st level group for his girlfriend and a couple of other folks and asked if I wanted to join. That was when I fully embraced my love of rpg-ness!

now I have been steadily playing for the past 10 years, mostly D&D 3.05/3.5 and Star Wars d20.

[Ashtray]

peer pressure

[Moritz]

LOL - Peer Pressure

"Sam, Billy's playing it, Jack's playing it, everyone else is playing it. Now either you play it or we're gonna beat you up, label you as totally uncool, tell the cheerleaders you're gay, and you'll become a social outcast."

Seems to me that's role reversal.

[Farcaster]

peer pressure

Come on, kid, you know you wanna.... First book's free. :D

[Moritz]

I've suckered a few people into playing games like NWN, WoW, CoH and SWG. It's like crack to them.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

I always FORCED it on my friends!

Sitting around doing nothing after school... Lets play D&D or I'll go home!!

good times.

[Moritz]

Heh, I recall the code,
I'd ask, "Hey John, what you wanna do."
John would then ask Mike, "Hey Mike, what do you wanna do?"
Then Mike would ask, "Hey Moritz, what do you wanna do?"
And I'd answer something along the lines of, "Guess that means we're playing."

[Ashtray]

I used Wiffle ball bats... that and I towered the others, so...intimidation always worked.

[rabkala]

Late seventies, my best friends brother came home from college with a new game. It was so different than anything we had encountered. It was an immediate obsession of mine as well as most of the neighborhood. Soon the chits became dice, the pamphlets became books, and a whole new world of games were on the horizon.

[Moritz]

Rabkala
You were so lucky to have someone tell you how to play. My mother gave me that box back in the late 70's and I was stuck having to read the books and actually figure it out for my self. Coming from a board game mindset, I was drawing out a map on a large piece of posterboard and making pieces for our characters - (in retrospect it was a mini's game). But eventually, I figured out it was a game all in your head. Mostly after I read the game description.

[Skylon]

Dark Tower. Not the Stephen King books but that old electronic game from the early '80s. I played the crap out of that game and teh setting just made me want to delve deeper.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_%28game%29

good stuff...

[Moritz]

Heh, I played Dark Tower about 2 years ago for the first time.

[rabkala]

I loved dark tower. Pathetic by todays standard probably, but it was awesome. Did anyone ever play Divine Right? It was made by TSR and like Risk with a fantasy map and cardboard pieces. That game was one of my favorites, and I bet it would still be great today if I had it anymore.

[rabkala]

Rabkala
You were so lucky to have someone tell you how to play. My mother gave me that box back in the late 70's and I was stuck having to read the books and actually figure it out for my self. Coming from a board game mindset, I was drawing out a map on a large piece of posterboard and making pieces for our characters - (in retrospect it was a mini's game). But eventually, I figured out it was a game all in your head. Mostly after I read the game description.

Maybe some luck was involved. Wisconsin was the birthplace of D&D. I was lucky to have played with one of the original playtesters.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

"Wisconsin. The birthplace of D&D"

You should push to have that put on your license plates!! Or get that in the travel brochures!!

[rabkala]

Somehow, I doubt writing my congressman will do much good to get such recognition.

[Kelbin]

My stepbrother tried to get a game going but my Dad and Stepmom Freaked and that was the end for a while.

I was out delivering Newspapers and meet up with the guy that would eventually introduce me to D&D.

And it was love from the first roll of the dice.

[Moritz]

Kelbin,
Was it the throwing of the newspaper that drew the guy to you as he thought, "Boy, he'd make a great dice thrower." Or are you saying you met him on the paper run, or did he work for the same company?

[TheYeti1775]

Kelbin,
Was it the throwing of the newspaper that drew the guy to you as he thought, "Boy, he'd make a great dice thrower." Or are you saying you met him on the paper run, or did he work for the same company?

Why did the old guy with the old dog from family guy pop in my mind as he talked to Chris.

[Rain_Spider_08]

Why did the old guy with the old dog from family guy pop in my mind as he talked to Chris.

I'm almost afraid to ask... but I have moments like that too lol :D

[Moritz]

I'm familiar with the reference. But I'm actually afraid to ask what brought on the memory association.

[Kelbin]

I meet him on the run. I delivered to his house. Also he used to have that run a year or so before I did.

In the end things worked out pretty well.

As for the Dice I preffer to Roleplay when I can and fight when things get messed up.

[jisan74]

Well for me it was at 7 reading the old basic D&D red covered book.As i read it i became very interested in it.From that point on i was pretty much hooked

[Malruhn]

It was about three weeks into my first year of college. I had just started pledging a fraternity, and my best bud had pledged a competitor's frat.

One morning for breakfast he shows up looking like hell - and I asked him if they had started "Hell Week" yet. He just shook his head in the negative and looked across the table in my direction, but his eyes didn't focus on me... they were looking off into the distance.

"I was in a huge forest, and we got attacked by wolves. Just as my friends and I had killed most of them, the orcs attacked."

I had read Tolkien, so I knew what orcs were, but this kid was a CITY KID - so I was wondering what the hell he would know about wolves... and why he was killing them!!

That night, I rolled up my first character... with that rival fraternity. This was October of 1980... and it's been downhill ever since.

[MortonStromgal]

What do you do that D&D experience is applicable on your resume? :)

Well when I used to work for big blue if we had a hang up and had a couple hours to kill while all conferenced in we would play a diceless D&D or Mage depending on who was on the call. Granted I haven't put that on my resume.


I got introduced with the white box when I was 10 I think. But it was a fun little boardish game to us at the time and my parents were unsure about D&D and evil at the time. Somehow I ended up buying a AD&D 2e PHB, Street Samurai Catalog and Vampire 1e though I didn't play any of them. Later (17 I think) a friend took me to my first real GM and he started us up with Traveller the New Era... it was all downhill from there.

[diaperlord]

I have weak thumbs.
I can't stare at CGI for more than a few minutes.
Pretty dice!:rolleyes:
I can't remember that I need to press X,Y,B,B,A,up,up,down,right,start to take a leak and change weapons to the fuego cannon.
I can add!

[pawsplay]

When I was eight, a kid on a church trip had an A&D Monster Manual with him. I didn't know what it was, but it looked interesting. It sparked a year long feeding frenzy of reading about monsters and mythology. Before my ninth birthday, the next door neighbor kid, an older boy, introduced me, and as soon as I saw Elmore and Easley's illustrations of "demi-humans" I was hooked.

[Moritz]

You mean he didn't burst into flame carrying such an evil book on a church trip?

[Digital Arcanist]

Well I had fallen in with the Magic The Gathering crowd. I was in a bottomless pit of despair when a hand suddenly appeared from the dark and a voice said, "Hey lose the cards and come play this new game I got where we can be guys from Star Wars." I promptly threw down my deck, threw up the devil horns and said, "Wicked!!!! Sign me up for a Wookie." I turned to the other Magic troglodytes and said, "Smell you later, losers!"

From there we turned to D&D then White Wolf games, Cyberpunk, Tales of the Floating Vagabond, and then back to D&D for 3.0.

I have never looked back to card games.....

[RealmsDM]

My big brothers played D&D with their friends... a lot. I learned to read from Dr. Suess, Marvel Comics, & thumbing through my brothers D&D books.
I was the only kid in 1st grade who could read a book cover to cover & then tell you the stats for the 1st level dwarf my brother rolled up for me (my mom made him- I was a brat)
I would swipe the D&D books any chance I got. I'd hide within earshot of their gaming sessions. I'd act as the official book gopher & stray die finder- d20's are notorious for rolling across the entire distance of a room on a bad throw.
And now, many years later- I RUN my big brothers D&D campaign. I was raised to be a DM.... :o

[Moritz]

I have never looked back to card games.....

I personally find card games, board games, and the like to be boring and limited. Even video games (Halo, WoW, CoH) to an extent are also clumped into that boring box. Mainly because there are limits which cannot be moved beyond. While tabletop roleplaying games are the shiznit, you can do anything your imagination allows.

But don't get me wrong, I still play those other games, just reluctantly.

[Digital Arcanist]

I like boardgames like Risk that have a strategic component. I also enjoy puzzle-solving games like Zelda, but the only video games I play anymore are Guitar Hero, and Wii games that require 4 people to play. I'm sick of sitting in my room alone playing games. I love RPG's so much because of the social interaction.

Besides, I'm not forking out hundreds of dollars every 3 to 4 months so I can get all the new cards I need just to build a mediocre deck.

[Inquisitor Tremayne]

I like boardgames like Risk that have a strategic component. I also enjoy puzzle-solving games like Zelda, but the only video games I play anymore are Guitar Hero, and Wii games that require 4 people to play. I'm sick of sitting in my room alone playing games. I love RPG's so much because of the social interaction.

Besides, I'm not forking out hundreds of dollars every 3 to 4 months so I can get all the new cards I need just to build a mediocre deck.

Agreed! The strategic element is THE reason I use minis in RPGs. Role playing AND strategic combat!! It gets me hot!

I think I just started a new fetish!

[Digital Arcanist]

Agreed! The strategic element is THE reason I use minis in RPGs. Role playing AND strategic combat!! It gets me hot!

I think I just started a new fetish!

Unlikely!! The Japanese, being the masters of fetishes, undoubtedly already have anime, manga, and porn about this fetish. They are on the forefront of so many industries!

[Moritz]

This gives the word "channeling" when referring to mini's a whole new definition.

[PhishStyx]

I personally find card games, board games, and the like to be boring and limited. Even video games (Halo, WoW, CoH) to an extent are also clumped into that boring box. Mainly because there are limits which cannot be moved beyond. While tabletop roleplaying games are the shiznit, you can do anything your imagination allows.

But don't get me wrong, I still play those other games, just reluctantly.

I agree with a lot of your thoughts there, except that I do enjoy some of the more classic board games (Scrabble, backgammon, 9-men's morris, chess, etc.), and my wife is a big Trivial Pursuit fan.

In video games, I generally just play briefly when I'm bored or am procrastinating about something (like a writing project or phone calls I'm supposed to make or the like). And usually, I prefer 1st-person shooters for that.

[jade von delioch]

My first rpg was palladium fantasy. i had a friend in high school who would tell me the same story about his dwarf everyday. seemed interesting and fun so i tried it out and have not quite in 10 years. even back in the day, though, i could not understand why people would play a horrible system like D&D (this is 2nd and 3rd edition). it lacked so much and there were so many better systems out there.

[Digital Arcanist]

My first rpg was palladium fantasy. i had a friend in high school who would tell me the same story about his dwarf everyday. seemed interesting and fun so i tried it out and have not quite in 10 years. even back in the day, though, i could not understand why people would play a horrible system like D&D (this is 2nd and 3rd edition). it lacked so much and there were so many better systems out there.

The same reason why every Christmas people spend more money and time than they have to buy gifts while complaining the whole time. It's tradition and expected of you....

[Skunkape]

Unlikely!! The Japanese, being the masters of fetishes, undoubtedly already have anime, manga, and porn about this fetish. They are on the forefront of so many industries!

And some of their porn fetishes are really strange compared to what is considered normal in the States! Not that I'm saying it's a bad thing mind you, I've never been considered normal, but it's defineatly not in the U.S. norm!:D

[jade von delioch]

stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D

[rabkala]

stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D
Is it a good reason to post inflammatory remarks about games some don't care for or their players?

Most people play with what they are most comfortable. Frequently people stick with what they are introduced to because it becomes easy and comfortable. If all their friends are playing it, it's hard to play a RPG all by yourself because you believe it is superior. Sometimes upbringing can influence what people like, and what you like is more comfortable. Often, the fact that they have found enjoyment with a game creates loyalty.

[Moritz]

stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D

I've a feeling that you just called probably half the populace on this board 'stupid'. You might wish to retract your slander and mind your assaults. It is perfectly allowable for you to have a personal opinion about a game. But when it turns offensive to others, then you are stepping across that line.

[PhishStyx]

stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D

No, but having fun is. If you want to hang with us, stop posting this kind of thing.

Oh, and learn to write a sentence before you talk about other people's IQ's again.

[jade von delioch]

i called no one specifically "Stupid" within a reply, nor was i being "inflammatory". I was just responding to what was put to me. my opinion is just that. if you are insulted by what is said then that is for you to think over as to why. If your were truly insulted by what other have to say, then you would not be posting on message boards to begin with. Which i feel none of us are the type to get to upset by other peoples opinions.

[fmitchell]

stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D

If we seem a little oversensitive to comments like this, maybe we are. However, we moderators recently had to ban a user who crossed the line many times; since the user brought some positive benefits to this community, banning him was an agonizing decision.

Some people could construe the comment above to imply playing D&D is as "stupid" an act as spending too much money. I'll take your word that such an interpretation was not your intent.

However, please be aware that a large number of people on this forum do, in fact, play D&D and enjoy doing so. (I am not among them, but others I respect are.) Not everyone has the same tastes in games, or seeks the same sort of experiences in an RPG.

In short, please think before you post, and remember that not everyone thinks exactly like you.

[jisan74]

My first rpg was palladium fantasy. i had a friend in high school who would tell me the same story about his dwarf everyday. seemed interesting and fun so i tried it out and have not quite in 10 years. even back in the day, though, i could not understand why people would play a horrible system like D&D (this is 2nd and 3rd edition). it lacked so much and there were so many better systems out there.
Me personally i played palladuim fantasy and found the game really well boring.I let my brother try the game and he said the same thing.Palladuim is good system i own robotech,macross and several others but i found the system to me needed fixing i had to make so many changes to the rules it wasn't funny.As for D&D i grew up on it and so did my brother.To this day i'm still playing D&D i find for me personally it a great system at least for me anyway.I also play d20 star wars revised.

To be fair no system is truly better than another there just different.Each person has what they like and dislike about a system and the parts most people don't like end up changing anyway.I try to understand people who thinking that one system is better than another or if it's new the older system is out of date.I love the old pac man game to death just cause it's old doesn't mean it can't be fun to play.I would if i could go and buy an old atari system or even old nintendo there were a lot of good games i loved to play on that system to this day.Well finally you have your opinions and i have mine.As long as you don't start making fun of people and putting them down for liking a system you'll be fine in my book

[jade von delioch]

As usual, once you say something that people take as offensive they stop listening to what you say afterwards. As i said before, i was not calling anyone stupid. If you want to jump in on this please read all that is said.
when i said, "stupidity is not a good reason to spend too much money or play D&D", i was commenting to Digital Arcanist (http://www.penandpapergames.com/forums/member.php?u=1031) when he said, "The same reason why every Christmas people spend more money and time than they have to buy gifts while complaining the whole time. It's tradition and expected of you".
Now what i was speaking about was that if you spend more money than you have for christmas gifts and that its tradition and expected of you then you are doing something "stupid". The same goes for when people say something like, its tradition and expected of you to play D&D. It means that you are doing something stupid. this does not mean that your IQ is lower than a 5th graders. All it means is that you just did something that has no logic behind it. Its like being told that as a gamer for have to be a over weight, pimp faced, man child that has no chance to ever get a girlfriend. Its expected of you and tradition and you can't go against it and you say "ok" and become that.

As to palladium fantasy: yes, there is some things lacking in the game. mostly small details like how far can the average person jump, or what penalty can a person get when prone. But i guess there must be something to the system if Wizard of the coast got sued by them for copyright infringement before 3rd edition came out. Apparently wizard tryed to steal palladium rules for 3rd ed. and got caught. However, this goes for all the game and it all depends on the GM. As to it being the best RPG system out there. I would have to say that 2nd-3rd edition Shadowrun is one of the best systems out there. (they screwed up too much with 4th) If they took the main rules and turned it into a fantasy rpg that would be great.

(someone said i sounded like i was insulted by someones remarks about palladium, if you think this then you are mistaken)

[Drohem]

I think a combination of things influenced me to start with RPGs. My grandfather encourged me to read extensively when I was young, and the books that he provided were fantasy and science-fiction. I was seriously dis-enfranchised with the whole 'click' scene of high school life, and hung out with several close friends extensively. I had an extremely vivid and active imagination. One of my close friends introduced my to Gamma World in summer between Junior High and High school, and I have been hooked ever since.

[PhillyLameSauce]

I tried playing ye olde school D&D when I was like 13, but I didn't possess the cognitive thinking abilites to allow me to wrap my mind around THAC0. I played one or two games then became disinterested, since Video games were so much easier to deal with. When I was 16 a friend of mine introduced me to my First Warhammer 40k experience, and I liked what I saw. two years later I joined the Marines, and met with a friend of mine (and BulletSponge's) whom we affectionatley call Doc. He still played the 2.0 series, and I started to understand it better, and eventually it became a Sunday tradition. Once he thumbed through the 3.5 stuff, and found it to be significantly easier to DM with, we made the switch, and had played up until I left active duty. Every so often I ride down to CT where he lives and we fire up the old campaign, though mostly we do it over the internet. So since then I been hooked, and addicted to making-believe. :P

[Olothfaern]

Half of our school day was spent in the auditorium which had been converted into free form 'learning stations' with a teacher running each one, so you went to a station, sat down and worked through the activity and when you finished, you got up and went to whatever one caught your interest next. There was a creative problem solving station, and we were given sheets that had equipment and abilities (1st ed. character sheets), a intro on how to use them, and then we were in a room with a locked door (part of a dungeon) that we had to figure out how to get out of, then the next room had some other sort of challenge, and so on...

got all the boxed sets and alot of the 1st ed. books from my uncle for my b-day, and it was pretty much constant since then...

[Mulsiphix]

A friend of mine introduced me to BattleTech. I was an avid solo console gamer since the age of five, so by the age of 16 I was more than ready to experience a real social gaming atmosphere. At first I was taken with the game itself and then it quickly became more about sharing a common hobby in a relaxed atmosphere that I was drawn too. I took an extended break after I moved far away from those friends but have recently come back to the glory of PnP as console games just don't really do it for me these days. I've started playing BattleTech again and am learning D&D. This time around I am more excited to create than I am to play. I very much look forward to DM'ing with one or more groups on a regular basis.

[Malruhn]

Man, all you experienced console gamers make me jealous. I came into gaming after only playing Asteroids...

But then, I am older than most of you young whippersnappers! ;)

[nijineko]

i have to blame my dad, and my church. when i was little he dumped a bunch of his old hardy boy and tom swift novels on me. i started reading voraciously. then whenever i was home sick from school, he dumped his old comic book collection on me. (and i took good care of it too, despite my age!) when i ran out of those, he let me have his dnd books, his car wars and champions-autoduel books.

i poured over them for hours (days, weeks... alright years already), and made up all sorts of dungeons and maps and characters, and built castles and keeps for the good guys, trying to figure out how to defend them against any and all comers. (after all, the good guys were busy plundering the bad guys' dungeons, i figured that they might try to return the favor....) i also built all manner of decked out cars and various superheroes and so forth.

a few years later i discovered that an elder at my church was running a dnd game with a bunch of priests, teachers, and deacons. they let me join and play, and i've been gaming ever since. that was over twenty years ago. since then i've played a little of most things, and if i haven't played it, i've probably either read it, or read about it. nowadays, i typically function as a rpg-consultant for everyone who knows me-idea generator for rpg stuff and all that.

[Mulsiphix]

Your childhood sounds delicious. Wish my dad was into that stuff. I had the opposite. My dad pushed sports on me and I fought it every inch of the way, pushing farther and farther away from him into my lair of video games. Now that I'm older I wish I had spent more time on things that were intellectually stimulating. So many wasted years that could have been filled with memories worth cherishing. I'm very happy I've still got plenty of time left :D

[nijineko]

my little ones already have some dice. (big squishy ones for safety, but still) =D

[tesral]

War gaming is an entry drug. Seriously they had to invent them first. I started playing in 1976 when I played a demo at Michicon 3, and bought the White Box set along with the Greyhawk supliment. It's a hobby I have enjoied since. Computers didn't play a part in it. We didn't have home PCs yet.

[Mulsiphix]

We didn't have home PCs yet.What is weird to me is I find this statement almost shocking in todays age. However, when I was a kid, having a home PC seemed about as probable and useless to me as owning a classic car that didn't work.

[tesral]

What is weird to me is I find this statement almost shocking in todays age. However, when I was a kid, having a home PC seemed about as probable and useless to me as owning a classic car that didn't work.

I wanted one the minute I laid eyes on one. Computers were so cool, even the TRS-80. What I didn't have was the 900 bucks it took to get into the market.

These days I do all my "pen & paper" work on a computer and frankly don't know what I wuold do without one. Back in '76 Candy's new Smith-Corona typewriter with the exchangable ribbions was the neatest geek toy we could lay our hands on.

Oh, and I had to walk two miles to each game, uphill, both ways, in the snow, in June. :)

[Mulsiphix]

Oh, and I had to walk two miles to each game, uphill, both ways, in the snow, in June. :)Thats a given :p

[tesral]

Looking back through other replies, I would say it was my Mother. She instilled the love of reading. My Dad is an old Calvinist that wants to try all new ideas for heresy. So I went from loving to read, then Star Trek led me to Science Fiction and Fantasy. War gaming led to RPGs and I have never looked back. My friends and I did a sort of Star Trek RPG free form before we ever heard of D&D. Once we did discover it we dived in with both feet.

The hobby has been good to me.