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Ardashir
Senior Scribe
USA
544 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 00:35:07
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Dunno where else this goes, so I'm doing it here.
Just how and when did you get introduced to D&D? And what made you decide that you liked it?
Myself, it was about when I was 10. You know the drill -- quiet, imaginative, loved to read (mostly Conan and other fantasy/horror books, as well as mythology).
Then at a local store I stumbled across a box that showed a warrior and wizard fighting with a huge red dragon that was snarling at them from atop its horde. There were a few other books nearby -- paperbacks like Eldritch Wizardry and Blackmoor -- and they looked fascinating. I got it for a Christmas gift -- but my love affair with D&D didn't really take off until I got a copy of the original Monster Manual. I recognized so much of what was in there even if some of it seemed odd ("Why is a gorgon a scaly bull?") -- Norse giants, Tolkien orcs and goblins, will-o-the-wisps, giant spiders, demons and devils (remember that illo of the succubi?  )... I was a hopeless D&D junky from then on.
Some of those early gaming memories: me and the gang getting jumped by a horde of gnolls, having a giant spider drop on my back after I decided to look under the bed in one room ("Everyone knows monsters hide under beds!"), a deep dungeon chamber where we found a group of angry pit fiends having a discussion...
And then a few years later I saw something new at my local bookstore, something titled Waterdeep and the North. For some reason it just made the game come even more alive, and after I got the Old Grey Box I was hooked.
So what was your first experience with D&D and the Realms?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36966 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 01:12:27
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I watched the cartoon before I ever knew there was a game...
When I was about 13, I picked up some polyhedral dice, mainly because they looked cool.
Looking for fantasy stuff to read, I first happened up the Dragginglance stuff, due to my friend Gino. It was from there that I got into both D&D and the Realms. The Realms I got into simply because the fiction was published by the same folks that published the Dragginglance stuff.
D&D itself came from one of my dad's friends. He was a big gamer... First, he just let me look thru the artbooks, and then he let me look thru the 1E monster books. Some time after that, I acquired the 1st edition DMG. I grew more and more interested, and started picking up the (2E) books for myself, but I didn't play for the first time until I was 18. Sadly, I've not gotten to play nearly as much as I've wanted since then.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 03:14:51
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| The basic red box set age 15 in 1988. Additionally, like wooly, the cartoons back in the day, when they were on the tube. I believe they were early Saturday morning fun. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36966 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 03:27:04
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quote:
Originally posted by scererar
Additionally, like wooly, the cartoons back in the day, when they were on the tube. I believe they were early Saturday morning fun.
In case you didn't know, they came out on DVD last year.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 30 Sep 2008 03:27:20 |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 03:29:56
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excellent. I had heard, but never checked them out. I should pick it up for "my kids"  need to get the next generation of gamers going. they liked the Dragonlance one that came out recently, I even got my oldest son started on the trilogy. |
Edited by - scererar on 30 Sep 2008 03:30:57 |
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Nerfed2Hell
Senior Scribe
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 03:39:38
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| I was introduced to D&D with the grey box Forgotten Realms goodness. |
Some people are like a slinky... not good for much, but when you push them down the stairs, it makes you smile. |
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BARDOBARBAROS
Senior Scribe
Greece
581 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 08:42:28
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| through the pc-game series EYE OF THE BEHOLDER which i have finished 6 times... |
BARDOBARBAROS DOES NOT KILL.
HE DECAPITATES!!!
"The city changes, but the fools within it remain always the same" (Edwin Odesseiron- Baldur's gate 2) |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 11:31:21
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My first actual game of D&D I tried the Thief (back in BASIC d&d) and immediatelly met a Gold Dragon. I was an immature pre-teen at the time so I saw I had a climb ability so I tried to Climb the dragon....that was the whole session  |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 20:18:16
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| The original Baldur's Gate CRPG was my introduction to the Realms and D&D in general. It just so happened that I had not been introduced to D&D before then (1999-2000), even though I had heard of it. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
Edited by - Rinonalyrna Fathomlin on 30 Sep 2008 20:19:18 |
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Christopher_Rowe
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
879 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 20:36:27
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| I gotta go with the made-for-tv movie Mazes and Monsters (starring a ridiculously young Tom Hanks), and the novel it was based on by Rona Jaffe, which my mom had a copy of. I suspect they had the exact opposite of the intended effect on me in terms of interest in RPGs. And Mama, gods bless her, watched the movie, read the book, and still drove me the 70 miles to the closest bookstore to buy a copy of the red box. |
My Realms novel, Sandstorm, is now available for ordering. |
Edited by - Christopher_Rowe on 30 Sep 2008 20:36:52 |
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 20:58:32
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| Initially, one of my friends had one of those D&D board games, at least that is what I think it was, one person controlled the party, the other the monsters, and you put up barriers and doors and stuff in this otherwise static dungeon game board/map. Then, I think my freshman or sophomore year of high school I read the Moonshae trilogy and then the Icewind Dale trilogy and I was hooked on the Realms. I did not start playing roleplaying games until about 6 or 7 years ago when a friend of mine bought the Dark Ages Vampire book. D&D was about a year later when I picked up the 3e FRCG because of my great love for the Realms and realized that having the core books would be useful. |
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Edited by - Hawkins on 30 Sep 2008 21:30:39 |
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Uzzy
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
618 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 21:00:14
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Baldurs Gate 2 was my first exposure to the Realms and D&D in general. Bought that, played it for a few hours, realised that it was really good, put it down, bought Baldurs Gate + Tales of the Sword Coast, played through that, went back to BG2, finished that then Throne of Bhaal.
Then, oddly enough, I forgot about D&D and the Realms for ages. Picked it back up a while later when I bought Neverwinter Nights. Played that for a while, decided to pick up the 3 Core books, Fiend Folio and The FRCS in order to better understand the game. Before I knew it I had loads of them! |
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Varl
Learned Scribe
USA
284 Posts |
Posted - 30 Sep 2008 : 22:56:00
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D&D? I became instantly hooked on it the moment I asked the DM running the game in my sophomore history classroom in 1980 what it was that they were playing. I listened in and knew I wanted to do that. I didn't know at that time that that one day would change my life forever.
Realms? Shortly thereafter, I saw the gray box and had to get it. It was the culmination and the answer to my struggles to try and create my own world from scratch. I actually started with Greyhawk, but once the Realms released, it was so much more vibrant and precisely what I wanted that I never went back. |
I'm on a permanent vacation to the soul. -Tash Sultana |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 01 Oct 2008 : 11:24:56
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quote:
Originally posted by BARDOBARBAROS
through the pc-game series EYE OF THE BEHOLDER which i have finished 6 times...
This was my first experience with FR as well, but for me it was only on my SNES and I only finished it once  |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Fingal
Seeker
56 Posts |
Posted - 04 Oct 2008 : 15:15:56
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Way back in the mists of time (the early 80's) I got into Steve Jackson's and Ian Livingston's Fighting Fantasy game books and got into RPG's proper from there: Tunnels and Trolls, Middle Earth RPG, Fighting Fantasy RPG, Paranoia (my friends were bigger fans than I was I have to admit,) Warhammer rpg, Judge Dredd rpg (which was ace,) and of course, D+D. I think my mate had a few rule books and we used to just knock up our own little worlds.
I remember the fist session I ever played of D+D. Our party was hired to kill off a creature that had apparently being terrifying a nearby town. Said creature turned out to be a lovely bloke and we ended up protecting it from the narrow minded and vicious townsfolk. Ah, the memories!
Unfortunately, by the time the Realms material began to turn up, my parents (who were otherwise lovely people and now feel quite embarressed about the whole thing,) had bought lock, stock and barrel into the whole silly right wing Christian fundy role playing panic that got into it's stride in the mid to late eighties and I had to get rid of every game product I owned. I WAS allowed to continue to play Middle Earth briefly because some nut proclaimed that it was Christian analogy even though..well, this is all discussion for somewhere else I guess. The whole subject still makes me very, very angry.
Anyways...I pretty much decided that if ever I could afford it I would simply buy everything back which is what I've being doing for the last few years. I now have an impressive and continually expanding collection of Realms and D+D stuff. Thank you eBay and Amazon marketplace!
My real introduction to the Realms would probably have been the first Baldur's Gate game. I've been working on a series of NWN2 mods for the last couple of years. Nobody will be more surprised than I if they are ever finished... |
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Lemernis
Senior Scribe
378 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 12:25:59
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I was a relative latecomer to personal computing, and when I bought my first PC in around '00 the very first computer game I purchased was the Baldur's Gate game. BG2 had just been released but I wanted to try the first game in the series first. I soon realized the lore to the setting was richly detailed. A fan of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series of short stories since I was a teenager, I was quite impressed with the Forgotten Realms' depth and breadth. I was familiar with D&D through friends who played it when I was a teenager. Although I never got an opportunity to play it looked like a really fun time. At this stage of my life I am certain I will never play a tabletop game. But that's okay, I still very enjoy my hobby time with modding FR/D&D computer games, such as it is.
After playing the BG series I got interested in Persistent World design for NWN and NWN2 and spent quite a few years working on that. More recently I returned to Baldur's Gate series to create mods for that game. Honestly, as impressive as NWN2 is, and as convenient a vehicle it is for getting players together with a DM, personally I still just enjoy the gameplay of the BG series a whole lot more. Even though the BG series' story itself is static its replayability is amazing, and fan created mods help keep it fresh. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 07 Oct 2008 : 15:19:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Lemernis
At this stage of my life I am certain I will never play a tabletop game.
Don't be too certain--I once thought the same thing.
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"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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xaviera
Learned Scribe
Canada
149 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2008 : 16:33:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Ardashir
There were a few other books nearby -- paperbacks like Eldritch Wizardry and Blackmoor
Ah, D&D... Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Eldritch Wizardry, Gods Demigods & Heroes, Swords & Spells... the Basic D&D blue book set for levels 1-3... then AD&D and those really cool hardcover books so chock full of useful information (PHB, MM, DMG)... Dragon magazine, White Dwarf, and all the other fanzines... City State of the Invincible Overlord and all those Judges Guild products (*cough* are we allowed to mention them?  ), all the TSR modules.... So much for high school and university - education supplemented with frequent 36-hour gaming sessions assisted by liberal doses of chips, pizza & cola...
Gave all that up in the late 80's but returned to it with Neverwinter Nights, something DMs would have sold their entire families into slavery for back in the day of the Commodore 64. That was my introduction to the Realms, through learning about the background of the persistent world in which I currently play. WotC may hate me, but I have no D&D books later than the 2e PHB and have never read any FR fiction.  |
Writings on Sharess: Thoughts & Prayers by Xaviera ~ High Priestess of Sharess |
Edited by - xaviera on 08 Oct 2008 16:37:23 |
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Thrasymachus
Learned Scribe
195 Posts |
Posted - 08 Oct 2008 : 20:56:40
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20+ years ago a friend introduced me to the AD&D books, and it was “ok”. DMing off the cuff, making every town, encounter, what’s behind door #2 was enjoyable enough. As a hobby it probably would have died out fairly quickly though.
I picked up a Dragon Magazine that had an article about Skullport, which led to “FR1 Waterdeep”, and then the Waterdeep Boxed set. I started laying out the maps from the boxed set on the table, and quickly had to move to the floor to accommodate Ed Greenwood’s work. I remember this moment clear as any. Sitting down with these books, looking at the map, and watching it come alive.
The best way I can say why the Realms works for us would be this. Ed took a canvas and laid out the horizon line in the perfect spot. He sketched the whole of it, detailed some hard parts, and then handed you the brush.
I don’t tabletop much these days, but I still collect all the Realms novels (and even the rulebooks) just to gander the canvas.
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Former Forgotten Realms brand manager Jim Butler: "Everything that bears the Forgotten Realms logo is considered canon". |
Edited by - Thrasymachus on 08 Oct 2008 21:00:06 |
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stormdragon
Acolyte
USA
7 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2008 : 13:16:24
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D&D: First played it with a childhood friend in the 6th grade (which would make it 1984...Lo, these many moons ago ), using the Moldvay/Cook B/X Set. Didn't really get into it until 3 years later, playing 1E.
FR: My first exposure was Salvatore's The Legacy. After reading that book, I managed to get a hold of The Icewind Dale trilogy, The Dark Elf trilogy, and the 2E FRCS, and I have never looked back. I simply love the feel of the world, and everything in it.
Just as an aside, I'm currently running a FR Grey Box campaign, using the Castles & Crusades rules, and having a blast. |
Sometimes, I miss my sanity. |
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Na-Gang
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
348 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2008 : 13:27:37
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I got the basic red box when I was about 8 years old I think, so circa 1983. I made my dad buy it for me from the local hobby store that he'd dragged me into to get some of the model cars he collected.
He made me promise that I would get a lot of use out of it, and while I don't have that box anymore I've been playing D&D for 25 years; so thank you very much dad! |
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Pandora
Learned Scribe
Germany
305 Posts |
Posted - 10 Oct 2008 : 14:27:09
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I have always been fascinated by fantastic literature and even as a young kid I read stories about knights and fair ladies, King Arthur and the round table and some dude called Siegfried who managed to "solo a big dragon". My big fascination was the sea however and Captain Drake and Captain Hornblower were equally big and Jacques Cousteau and his marine tales of adventures (of today!) had great importance. One thing prevented me from following my calling to the sea: I dont really like swimming.
When I was 14 my sister had borrowed the "Lord of the Rings" books from the local library and we read these books together / aloud in a bath at a mountain lake (yes, swimming didnt really cut it against a book like that). I was instantly gone off towards that world and spent a lot of time with the trilogy and the other books of Tolkien. That changed when we got a new kid in our class, someone who had just moved back to Berlin (Germany) from Washington (USA) after his father got another job. That guy brought AD&D 1st edtion with him and "took us for a ride". Being a fanatic then it also changed my skill in english and my grades in school, hehe. |
If you cant say what youre meaning,
you can never mean what youre saying.
- Centauri Minister of Intelligence, Babylon 5 |
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Your introduction to D&D/the Realms?
