I played stuff like Palladium RIFTS, MSH, GURPS, and Space 1889 long before I got into D&D, I knew the 1e Dungeons And Dragons rules but never really got into them, I wasn’t much of a medieval fantasy guy at the time, 5e rules immediately enticed me into giving D&D a whirl, 2 years later, here I am!
Yes, I started with D&D in 1979 (I got the basic set, the blue book). That's the only RPG I played until 1983, when I got Call of Cthulhu 2nd edition (the box is still sitting on the shelf next to me!)
The interesting thing to me is how few came to DnD from other systems, I wonder if that same stigma that stopped me making the move years ago also stopped many others and kept them playing other systems.
The interesting thing to me is how few came to DnD from other systems, I wonder if that same stigma that stopped me making the move years ago also stopped many others and kept them playing other systems.
Well for a lot of us, especially the Holmes/Moldvay D&D & 1E AD&D veterans, there wasn't really anything else that was as accessible. Everything that could be easily gotten when I was 10 in 1982 were TSR products like D&D, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Top Secret.
Well for a lot of us, especially the Holmes/Moldvay D&D & 1E AD&D veterans, there wasn't really anything else that was as accessible. Everything that could be easily gotten when I was 10 in 1982 were TSR products like D&D, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Top Secret.
Yup.
There was one store, called "Games and Gadgets," at the local mall, which was a combo shop that sold video games, and also some board games and such. That shop had a rack of modules and RPGs and a shelf of D&D rulebooks/rule boxes. Occasionally another non-TSR game would show up there... That's who my best friend and I found "Champions." It was super rare, and some of our friends took months or a year to find a box of it. You couldn't just hop onto the internet and order it from Amazon, back then. In fact, after a couple of years Games and Gadgets became "Electronics Boutique" and got rid of all the non-video-games from their stock.
Eventually book stores started carrying a little bit, but still mostly D&D/TSR stuff. About 45 minutes away there was a place called, I think, "The Game Room" in another mall, too far to go to regularly, that was what we would understand today as a "Gaming shop" with tables in the back where people could play miniatures wargames or maybe occasionally D&D. They had an entire wall of RPGs, including all kinds of rare/hard to find ones. But we didn't find that store until 1988 or so... in 1982, I don't know if it even existed yet.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I was introduced to RPG's by D&D, and I still have yet to actually play anything else. I have the books for Pathfinder, 13th Age, and Shadow of the Demon Lord, I've just never found time to play them.
I was introduced to RPG's by D&D, and I still have yet to actually play anything else. I have the books for Pathfinder, 13th Age, and Shadow of the Demon Lord, I've just never found time to play them.
I will say... play some other ones besides D&D if you get a chance.
D&D is a fine game... but it is not the only way to play. D&D makes a lot of assumptions, and builds systems that make you think you need them, like levels, classes, and so forth, that other games don't use at all. It can be a very eye-opening experience to play something completely different from D&D, like a diceless game (eg. Amber), or a classes/level-less game (like Champions).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
My folks gifted me the red box basic set for my birthday in 1984. Been playing RPG’s of one sort or another ever since: from AD&D, on to AD&D 2ed, then GURPS, Star Trek, Rifts, TMNT, Palladium RPG, D20 Modern, Spycraft, D&D 3e, D&D 3.5, PFRPG 1ed and now 5e, with some small forays into an additional variety of systems but nothing extensive like the regular, ongoing campaigns I’ve had in those majors.
RPG’s are a cornerstone of my life. I met my husband when I joined his Rifts group and all of my friends, with a small handful of exceptions, are from gaming. My grown kid runs a game of their own and one of our current group members is the adult child of an original group member in that Rifts game where I met my husband. I’ve travelled to cons to meet people I had only known from online RP’ing prior.
Through all the ups and downs over all the long years since I turned 10, I’ve always had a game to play with my friends on Saturday nights. When I asked my parents if they had any idea what they were getting me or how highly it would figure in my future, they laughed. They said they figured I’d like it because of the dragon on the box cover but had no inkling that I’d still be going hard 37 years later.
Well for a lot of us, especially the Holmes/Moldvay D&D & 1E AD&D veterans, there wasn't really anything else that was as accessible. Everything that could be easily gotten when I was 10 in 1982 were TSR products like D&D, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Top Secret.
Yup.
There was one store, called "Games and Gadgets," at the local mall, which was a combo shop that sold video games, and also some board games and such. That shop had a rack of modules and RPGs and a shelf of D&D rulebooks/rule boxes. Occasionally another non-TSR game would show up there... That's who my best friend and I found "Champions." It was super rare, and some of our friends took months or a year to find a box of it. You couldn't just hop onto the internet and order it from Amazon, back then. In fact, after a couple of years Games and Gadgets became "Electronics Boutique" and got rid of all the non-video-games from their stock.
Eventually book stores started carrying a little bit, but still mostly D&D/TSR stuff. About 45 minutes away there was a place called, I think, "The Game Room" in another mall, too far to go to regularly, that was what we would understand today as a "Gaming shop" with tables in the back where people could play miniatures wargames or maybe occasionally D&D. They had an entire wall of RPGs, including all kinds of rare/hard to find ones. But we didn't find that store until 1988 or so... in 1982, I don't know if it even existed yet.
With me, I think there was one book retailer, maybe the Waldenbooks chain that carried RPGs (we didn't put TT in front of it back then). Then there were hobby shops, where they'd be in some corner while plastic model kits, RC cars and airplanes, balsa gliders, model rocketry and lots of miniatures and terrain/diorama took up most of the floorspace. The comics boom in the late 80s early 90s, I don't know whether Diamond Distributors linked up with the game industry or not, but I remember games getting space at comic stores. In the early 90s Boston there was The Complete Strategist in Boston proper and Pandemonium Book and Games in Cambridge, the latter is still around, I believe the Strategist closed most of its stores but survives elsewhere.
As a kid, it was a basically at least a 30 minute drive to get to any retailers. I actually wound up getting most of my games through mail order companies advertising in Dragon Magazine. My paper route income usually went to Mountain Mage and Crazy Eddies until a comic store opened up that I could walk to after school and they'd order games for you if they didn't have what you wanted.
Conventions I actually went more for the dealers room than the events.
When my dad got his new laptop when I was 6 or 7, it came with a copy of the 5-disk Baldur's Gate PC game which was my first-ever experience with D&D. He didn't play PC games at all so he just passed it on to me and I played around with it without a clue in the world what I was doing and spent more time dying because I wondered why my AC should be in the minuses (-2 AC was awesome I much later I found!).
Then I never got in to online gaming until I was 12 and that's when I dropped in to Diablo 2's online multiplayer and finally got curious enough to give Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition multiplayer a go. I was dropped right in to the middle of a roleplay community who taught me what to do. Met a lot of interesting people, made a lot of memories and overall was a great experience that made me want to play tabletop more often.
Nowadays I just do a PBP discord D&D homebrew campaign based on a game I played and the developers just left all of its resources laying around so I figured why not? It's a waste to not put this stuff to use. Other than that, I've delved in to Warhammer 40k roleplay, meaning to give Warhammer Fantasy a go at some stage and maybe one or two other universes but nothing really tickles my tackle.
I played stuff like Palladium RIFTS, MSH, GURPS, and Space 1889 long before I got into D&D, I knew the 1e Dungeons And Dragons rules but never really got into them, I wasn’t much of a medieval fantasy guy at the time, 5e rules immediately enticed me into giving D&D a whirl, 2 years later, here I am!
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.
Yes, I started with D&D in 1979 (I got the basic set, the blue book). That's the only RPG I played until 1983, when I got Call of Cthulhu 2nd edition (the box is still sitting on the shelf next to me!)
The interesting thing to me is how few came to DnD from other systems, I wonder if that same stigma that stopped me making the move years ago also stopped many others and kept them playing other systems.
Well for a lot of us, especially the Holmes/Moldvay D&D & 1E AD&D veterans, there wasn't really anything else that was as accessible. Everything that could be easily gotten when I was 10 in 1982 were TSR products like D&D, Star Frontiers, Boot Hill and Top Secret.
Yup.
There was one store, called "Games and Gadgets," at the local mall, which was a combo shop that sold video games, and also some board games and such. That shop had a rack of modules and RPGs and a shelf of D&D rulebooks/rule boxes. Occasionally another non-TSR game would show up there... That's who my best friend and I found "Champions." It was super rare, and some of our friends took months or a year to find a box of it. You couldn't just hop onto the internet and order it from Amazon, back then. In fact, after a couple of years Games and Gadgets became "Electronics Boutique" and got rid of all the non-video-games from their stock.
Eventually book stores started carrying a little bit, but still mostly D&D/TSR stuff. About 45 minutes away there was a place called, I think, "The Game Room" in another mall, too far to go to regularly, that was what we would understand today as a "Gaming shop" with tables in the back where people could play miniatures wargames or maybe occasionally D&D. They had an entire wall of RPGs, including all kinds of rare/hard to find ones. But we didn't find that store until 1988 or so... in 1982, I don't know if it even existed yet.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I was introduced to RPG's by D&D, and I still have yet to actually play anything else. I have the books for Pathfinder, 13th Age, and Shadow of the Demon Lord, I've just never found time to play them.
I'm the Valar (leader and creator) of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/Anything Tolkien Cult!
Member of the Cult of Cats, High Elf of the Elven Guild, and Sauce Priest & Sauce Smith of the Supreme Court of Sauce.
If you want some casual roleplay/adventures in Middle Earth, check out The Wild's Edge Tavern, a LotR/Middle Earth tavern!
JOIN TIAMAT'S CONGA LINE!
Extended Sig
I will say... play some other ones besides D&D if you get a chance.
D&D is a fine game... but it is not the only way to play. D&D makes a lot of assumptions, and builds systems that make you think you need them, like levels, classes, and so forth, that other games don't use at all. It can be a very eye-opening experience to play something completely different from D&D, like a diceless game (eg. Amber), or a classes/level-less game (like Champions).
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
My folks gifted me the red box basic set for my birthday in 1984. Been playing RPG’s of one sort or another ever since: from AD&D, on to AD&D 2ed, then GURPS, Star Trek, Rifts, TMNT, Palladium RPG, D20 Modern, Spycraft, D&D 3e, D&D 3.5, PFRPG 1ed and now 5e, with some small forays into an additional variety of systems but nothing extensive like the regular, ongoing campaigns I’ve had in those majors.
RPG’s are a cornerstone of my life. I met my husband when I joined his Rifts group and all of my friends, with a small handful of exceptions, are from gaming. My grown kid runs a game of their own and one of our current group members is the adult child of an original group member in that Rifts game where I met my husband. I’ve travelled to cons to meet people I had only known from online RP’ing prior.
Through all the ups and downs over all the long years since I turned 10, I’ve always had a game to play with my friends on Saturday nights. When I asked my parents if they had any idea what they were getting me or how highly it would figure in my future, they laughed. They said they figured I’d like it because of the dragon on the box cover but had no inkling that I’d still be going hard 37 years later.
With me, I think there was one book retailer, maybe the Waldenbooks chain that carried RPGs (we didn't put TT in front of it back then). Then there were hobby shops, where they'd be in some corner while plastic model kits, RC cars and airplanes, balsa gliders, model rocketry and lots of miniatures and terrain/diorama took up most of the floorspace. The comics boom in the late 80s early 90s, I don't know whether Diamond Distributors linked up with the game industry or not, but I remember games getting space at comic stores. In the early 90s Boston there was The Complete Strategist in Boston proper and Pandemonium Book and Games in Cambridge, the latter is still around, I believe the Strategist closed most of its stores but survives elsewhere.
As a kid, it was a basically at least a 30 minute drive to get to any retailers. I actually wound up getting most of my games through mail order companies advertising in Dragon Magazine. My paper route income usually went to Mountain Mage and Crazy Eddies until a comic store opened up that I could walk to after school and they'd order games for you if they didn't have what you wanted.
Conventions I actually went more for the dealers room than the events.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Ah yes, the Compleat Strategist. I remember that store... I can't remember where it was now.... that was late 80s/early 90s for me too.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I think they were a three store "chain". One in Boston off Mass Ave, another in New York, and a third. I think they're somewhere in New Jersey now.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yup, the Jersey one would be the one I went to...
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
When my dad got his new laptop when I was 6 or 7, it came with a copy of the 5-disk Baldur's Gate PC game which was my first-ever experience with D&D. He didn't play PC games at all so he just passed it on to me and I played around with it without a clue in the world what I was doing and spent more time dying because I wondered why my AC should be in the minuses (-2 AC was awesome I much later I found!).
Then I never got in to online gaming until I was 12 and that's when I dropped in to Diablo 2's online multiplayer and finally got curious enough to give Neverwinter Nights: Diamond Edition multiplayer a go. I was dropped right in to the middle of a roleplay community who taught me what to do. Met a lot of interesting people, made a lot of memories and overall was a great experience that made me want to play tabletop more often.
Nowadays I just do a PBP discord D&D homebrew campaign based on a game I played and the developers just left all of its resources laying around so I figured why not? It's a waste to not put this stuff to use. Other than that, I've delved in to Warhammer 40k roleplay, meaning to give Warhammer Fantasy a go at some stage and maybe one or two other universes but nothing really tickles my tackle.