How I got into Dungeons & Dragons

I started playing D&D back in the late 1970s and was instantly hooked. I played virtually everyday throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Now I only get to play a few times a year with my best friend but I still enjoy creating dungeons and adding to the fantasy world that we created years back.

When we started playing regularly we took it in turns to be the dungeon master and many, if not most sessions, were created off the cuff however this did not deter our the enjoyment of the game.  After a while certain places reoccurred in adventures and I decided to gather up all this information and to create a map of the land where most of our adventures were taking place. In my adventures I have been to many places and faced many challenges and I'll be letting you know more as time goes by.

Let me know how you got into D&D and if you still play.

played a little in 95-98 never found a good group to play with sadly.I actually kinda enjoyed the acting and goofing off.if I could find a decent site to play on since no one around in the area even knows  what it is here I'd play again.

I've never played online hazeleyes, I was tempted by World of Warcraft but playing chess on this site currently takes up all the time I get online. It's a shame you can't find a group because it can be so much fun.

I'm working on an online version for ppl like me that cant leave and travel to find games due to time and work problems.aka predrawn maps.dice roller etc.Still working on the code as I have time.(its looking similar to neverwinter knights).

I started live but as times got tough I had to quit due to work/school

I have played d&d for a few years and i must say, its a game like no other(i played with my 4 best friends in 2000-2005, my friend jon was the dm). I really like the depth to the game, u cant compare it to anyother, i have not gotten the chance to play since because we all kinda split up but i would gladly play again.

Wayne, it surely is a great game and although I've tried playing computer games it just isn't the same as sitting around with a bunch of your mates and an evil grinning dungeon master (being the DM can be even more fun than playing)! We managed to keep a core of players together for over 10 years but now I just see one friend a few times a year but it doesn't stop me creating new dungeons and expanding on the world that we created.

What type of character did you prefer to play?

How did I get into D&D? Well, my dad was at a friends playing and I got to see all the really cool miniatures that his friend had painted up. I was about 9 then. After that I got into a game at the age of 13 (Dragon Quest) and have been hooked ever since. I didn't play AD&D... But after years of not being able to find anyone who played Dragon Quest system I was needing a fix really bad, so I started playing 3.0 and into 3.5. Love 3.5 and don't plan on moving to 4.0.

i started by reading the dragonlance novels and the r.a.salvatore 'drizzt' novels. a friend offered to teach me to play so i could run through a quest as drizzt with tasselhoff as his companion! i was hooked. that was around 1991-92 or so

Unfortunately the way we played meant that I never really got to play in a campaign long enough to build up a relationship with many NPCs. We used to play every Sunday afternoon from 2 until around 11pm usually, although occasionally we'd play all night (not good for work the next day though), but no one ever made up a campaign, we would just take it in turns to DM and either rolled up some new characters or chose from the characters we had already played previously.  This meant that generally adventures were short and lasted only a few sessions or maybe just one session, although it was great fun and meant I got to play many varied characters of different races and levels.

We rarely had anything set up to DM, most of it was off the top of the head stuff and to be honest we had some great adventures. After a while the group changed and I was the only person left who had any real experience DMing so I got to play less but it meant more stability, that was when I made the map of the world which I posted earlier. After a while one chap began to DM and I managed to start playing more but he met a girl and I got married and now we only play 2 or 3 times a year.

sounds similar to how my D&D experience went. i ended up the full time DM after a few years with greenhorn players and one experienced player to help teach the newbies. and yes i only get to play a few times a year due to marriage and life situations of my other players (and they all live at least a hour away with them not having transportation.) we also ran characters from different campaines and quests together in new situations and even worlds or rolled up new characters for the night . i miss those days

I miss those days too. I guess it was before I had to conform to something like normal and accept the responsibilities that seems to come with age.

Give me an eager set of players, some pens, paper and dice and I'm well away.

pens were illegal at my table...#2 pencils with good erasers only baby! we had this DM for a while we would play with about 2 a month, his name was Lester, and his primary joy in life was tormenting characters. he had wife and child but his basement was a shrine to AD&D and warhammer. now this was 2nd ed mind you and he would let us roll up and play the most outlandishly powerful creatures, example we played a party of Draconians (mostly sivak if i remember right) all triple class all 16th level in EACH class (i was a 16"anti"ranger, 16thief, and a 16cleric who could dual wield two two-handed weapons!) he let us pick whatever magical items we wanted from the DM's guied short of artifacts and i was the only one who lived through that quest-i was naked, pink, smaller than a kinder and had 1 hit point when in stummbled through the portal out of Lesters hellishly devious and brutally deadly "city of sin."  he had a rubber stamp with red ink that clearly and boldly put "DEAD!" on your character sheet...he used it often too...god just the stories from his quests would take up pages to write about. but ya know what... i miss him...havent seen hiim since around 1996 last i heard he fled the country to costa rica left his family behind and never contacted anyone in our town again...he wasnt even involved in illegal activities i think he just wanted away from his wife truthfully...anyway colorful characters make a good party, colorful people make for good stories...

Iv'e only just started with the 4E rules.  I originally was playing the Star Wars Roleplaying Game also by Wizards of the Coast, but that line of products has been discontinued :(  I had heard a lot of things about D&D so I decided to give it a try and was instantly hooked.  Sadly here in South Africa, hardly anyone does D&D here so I am struggling to get a decently sized party together.

its hard to keep or find a group here in the usa often times too. back before computer role playing games it was slightly easier to find players but it was hard to keep a group together, at least thats been my experience in rual west virginia. ive lived in two of the largest "cities" in WV (Morgantown and Parkersburg) and it was difficult to find someone who still played. sadly the computer has killed the old fashioned pencil and paper, roll the dice, face to face RPG. within 10 years there may just be a few of us who hang on to "the old days" and keep our books and dice around, mostly as memorabilia and less because we actually get to use them. I love world of warcraft but its just not as enjoyable as the face to face, free flowing fantasy adventure where everyone is  jacked up on caffiene munching on pizza and chips delierious from sleep exastion because its 5am and youve been playing for 9 hours straight. close friends, bad-for-you food, soda, coffee, ciggarrets, dice, character sheets, paper and an imagination are the basic ingrediants to cook up memories that will last a life time. World of warcraft takes out the imagination, close friends, and the archaic paper pencil and dice but keeps the bad food, soda coffee and smokes.

That's the problem with RP computer games, they take out the imagination and the interaction of the party. I have DMed for many people and it always amazed me how many people lack that vital spark of imagination. They'd find it so hard to 'be' the character, it was like they could see the character but as seperate entity that they controlled but they couldn't become one with it. Does that make sense or am I rambling?

Also I'd rather roll a die than let a computer choose my fate.

Jess that Lester sounds like a right character.

no i understand perfectly. ive had many players who were just themselves with a sword. and others who played the same character under a differnt name (surley everyone has met the "dwarven fighter guy") or the guy who does anything but roleplay (like doodle, draw, watch sports center, read, talk on the phone etc) and only rolls a dice when told to because hes not paying enough attention to know whats going on...good guys but not much for role playing. every one of my group needs them though just to have enough to flesh out the roles. 

"Jess that Lester sounds like a right character." dude you dont even understand. he was pure evil as a DM. he made grown men cry, ive seen it...

I know what you mean.  When I have conned my friends into playing a round or two, they always seem to lose interest and start fooling around before we are halfway through the intricate dungeon I designed.  The main problem is that when they stop halfway through my plotlines, they forget what they were doing, and I can't restart the dungeon as they already know where half the traps are.

Jess that Lester?  Am I missing something here?