I don’t think anyone is that surprised by the results of last week’s poll, asking people to choose their two favorite Star Trek movies. J.J. Abrams recent entry into the franchise came out in the lead with 60% of the votes, with second place predictibly going to The Wrath of Khan at 53%. First Contact was in third place with 22% followed by Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country at 14% and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home at 12%. I am actually surprised that the TNG movies aren’t as enjoyed as the original series movies, but that’s probably because I grew up with TNG and not the original. Thankfully it looks like many people are quite happy with the reboot of the original franchise and hopefully any future installments will be even better.
This week I’ve been thinking about something that I don’t believe we have touched on yet, and that’s at what age people start playing RPGs. I’ve heard from quite a few people that are new to D&D with 4th edition from various ages, but even just yesterday I ran my D&D game with a player who had not played since 2nd edition many years ago and is now trying it out again. So with that in mind, tell us:
[poll id=”125″]
We’d love to hear what year exactly you started in also, and which game it was that started you out in roleplaying, in the comments!
I was 22. My younger brother took me to meet his friends in college and I ended up rolling a 3.5 Bard. (Yeah. Baaaad choice. It was fun, though.)
I was 10. It was AD&D 2nd. 1999.
Made a Cleric. Got eaten by giant frogs in the first 15 minutes.
Never made another Cleric again 🙁
Though really, the information here is slightly less informative without knowing how old the person is now ;p Like I started when I was around 11 or 12… but what edition I started with changes if I’m currently 18 or 28.
@highbulp: I actually think we’ve done an inquisition before asking people what edition they started playing the game with, but we hope that will be shared in the comments here! If it hasn’t been done before, we’ll do one soon for sure!
I started playing AD&D proper at 12, but we played a simplified version of Basic/Ad&D from the time I was 10 onwards. I’m 36 now.
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1st Edition AD&D, back in 1980.
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I started playing D&D (not advanced, not 2nd ed – just D&D) when I was 8. I “drew up” my first character by taking a piece of paper and doing a horrible sketch of a guy with some sort of armor and a big sword.
Then I played the adventure in the red book – the one with Bargle and the goblin and Aleena the cute cleric.
My first “real” character was an elf. I tried searching for secret doors in every single room of the module (I don’t know what it was) until the others at the table said that wasn’t useful. So I stopped. Then there was a secret door, and I didn’t search for it. I don’t think I’ve ever found a secret door.
A couple of years after that, I played a half-elf mage-thief in 2nd ed, named Silverwisp McMe. I stole a jewel from the party and hid it in my trumpet. I don’t think I’ve stolen from my own party since.
Ahh…memories.
I was 9. I remember chatting with someone from WotC who was convinced that you didn’t get players younger than 11… which coincidentally was how old he was when he started playing. ;D
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Started at 10 with the White Box edition, bought my first RPG in 1981 – the Moldvay edition.
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I suppose I should share my own also! I started playing RPGs with 2nd Edition D&D because our friend (and occasional author here) The O got me into Dave’s ongoing game. I was 14 or so at the time, and have played tons of tabletop RPGs since!
My first time trying was in high school. I attempted to set up a Vampire: The Masquerade game with some friends, but it never quite got off the ground. I think that was my junior year, so I was 16 or so.
The first time I actually successfully played in an RPG was my freshman year in college. That was a mixed Vampire and Werewolf: The Apocalypse game. It ran for the academic year, we finished it somewhat abruptly just before summer, and never managed to get a sequel together in the succeeding years.
After that I was in some D&D 2nd edition, had a very brief exposure to 3.0, and have spent most of the last 8 years or so in GURPS. Just recently started playing around with D&D with the new edition a bit, but I still like GURPS better.
I was 12 or 13 and playing Basic D&D (blue box, I think) with the 15 year old across the street. Then I went to summer day-camp where some new kids taught me about AD&D. I brought that back to our neighborhood. That would have been around 1979.
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Summer of 1976 (14 years old, between my sophomore and junior years in high school).
A friend of my brother (two years older) had graduated from our high school the year before and gone off to college (where he started playing D&D). At one point during the summer, we got together and he happened to have a small bag with a copy of Supplement III (Eldritch Wizardry) in it. I saw the booklet and asked about it (and yes, the cover may have had something to do with my initial interest – who knows…).
Following this, we all started playing – first with him DMing for the rest of the summer, my brother taking over from him for the next year and me replacing my brother as DM the following year.
Carl
Summer of 1976 (14 years old, between my sophomore and junior years in high school).
A friend of my brother (two years older) had graduated from our high school the year before and gone off to college (where he started playing D&D). At one point during the summer, we got together and he happened to have a small bag with a copy of Supplement III (Eldritch Wizardry) in it. I saw the booklet and asked about it (and yes, the cover may have had something to do with my initial interest – who knows…).
Following this, we all started playing – first with him DMing for the rest of the summer, my brother taking over from him for the next year and me replacing my brother as DM the following year.
Carl
BTW I love your blog!
I was either 12 or 13… I don’t remember exactly…
I think I was in the 6th Grade when I first started. So that would’ve been in 1992 or so and put me at 11yrs old?? I would have to confirm with Joshx0rfz as to my version of D&D played, but I don’t think it was AD&D 2nd. The only things I remember about the first time were that I had no equipment, was punching things to escape imprisonment and I didn’t like it. That year was a busy one for my brain, as I learned AD&D 2nd Ed., Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Warhammer Fantasy Battle. I have been playing RPGs ever since.
I’ve started when I was 10, in December of 1989, under the sizzling brand new AD&D 2nd edition rules, GURPS and regular D&D.
Good times. 🙂
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I was 6-ish, right around 1988 with Mentzer. My teenage cousin would babysit and DM for just me. I could barely read or do the math, but I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I took all the money in my piggy bank and cashed it in to buy that boxed set. Technically, it was the first material possession I purchased with my own money. (I had bought plenty of candy and such with my money before, but this was the first thing not meant to go in my mouth.)
I still have the dice from that first purchase, and still frequently use them. It is a joy to take out that D20 and brag to younger folks at the table that, “This D20 is older than you are!” 🙂
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I started gaming with the Red Box set of Basic D&D. I remember playing back then, everything was new and exciting, I’d never played a game like that before, and it was the start of a wonderful relationship.
9 years old with Tunnels and Trolls (4th ed) and the Fantasy Trip, followed by 0D&D, in 1975. As is often the genesis, one of my friends had an older brother who was playing, and it was raining, and no one else was around. Bought some T&T solos that Spring, and we were off. 2 years later, the blue Basic book came along, complete with the dice DeadGod mentions (mine don’t really have corners anymore…).
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I don’t remember exactly when I started… those brain cells didn’t make it through the decade of debauchery around college + grad school. Here is what I do remember:
When I was between 8-12, I got a copy of the Hardy Boys book “Dungeon of Doom” from the library and became fascinated with it. I had already been creating my own very primitive (and largely incomplete) randomized “Choose your own Adventure” type games. Maybe I had also played some of the Lone Wolf games, but I don’t remember clearly.
I decided I just had to get my hands on the type of game they described in that book. I lived in a small tourist town in southern MO, so there was no way I was going to find it locally. Next time we went to Springfield, I made my parents find a gaming store.
At the store, I eagerly described the game I read about in the Hardy Boys books. The woman smiled at me and said “we have exactly what you need.” She showed me a few products, all of which were well outside my budget. I think I had been talking non-stop about this obsession, and my parents let me use a little of my savings to buy the game.
I walked out of that store with the (revised) basic set. I didn’t know anyone who played, so I devoured the books and taught my friends how to play. I did the best I could even though we were all dumb as crap and everyone but me was at best half interested. We struggled through 5th level, sharing only that single set of dice, before everyone but me lost interest.
The rest was history. Eventually, I met friends of friends who were active and experienced players. Also, I expect like many others, the Boy Scouts brought a lot of time, interest, and experience in D&D to my world. I played tabletop games continuously for the next 20+ years of my life, and do to this day.
LOL! I barely remembered that story until I just made myself retell it. I’m a little misty eyed remembering those first days!
One of my earliest memories – 1980 or 1981. My parents played with my dad’s Air Force buddies and I tried to tag along whenever I could. Can’t remember the edition we started with, but I distinctly remember playing (and reading) all of the original AD&D Books.
I was introduced to Computer RPGs at the same time… Wizardry I. A very distinct memory was my dad asking me what I wanted to name my character. I had just watched Flash Gordon and it was one of my favorite movies at the time. I was playing a mage so I tried to tell my dad that I wanted to name my character “Ming” after “Ming the Merciless” from the Flash Gordon movie. However, I was really young and I guess they didn’t understand me so they thought I said, “Mean”. And so it was… my first character was “Mean”.
I remember almost everyone’s names – Fuzzface, Wayno, Gandalf (yes, I know… not original), Luri Quicksilver, and Mean.
I played many other computer RPGs after that – Bard’s Tale, Might and Magic, Ultima, etc.
In middle school and high school, I picked up tabletop RPG’s again. I played 2nd Edition I think, but I mostly played the Palladium games, especially the TMNT books. Damn those were fun!
There was also a Sci-Fi tabletop, but I can’t remember the name of it. Frontier something if I remember correctly. Had tons of corporate-type espionage, futuristic cities, implants, police, etc.
Ahhh… the memories.
Marvel Super Heros, I was in middle school ~13 years old. FASERIP baby!
First character I played was a human snake hybrid named Fang, quickly followed by a humanoid dragon from another dimension, aptly named…. Dragon. (Erik Larsons Savage Dragon first appeared in a burning warehouse in his first issue, which surprisingly was where mine found himself when he was blasted into the Marvel Universe. I failed to copyright my character first though)
My fondest memory was when Dragons arms were ripped off by the god Set. Shortly after making some… annoying comment I cannot remember.
I’ve started play RPG with 17 years old and today, with 31 I continue adventuring myself by the Realms.
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I was probably 10, playing Top Secret, SI. Then Gamma World. And Battletech (combined with the books, it only made me want a real RPG). Then started seriously playing at around 13 with AD&D 2dE. All in the early-mid ’90s.
It was 1980 or 1981 and I was 13 or fourteen years old. AD&D, 1st edition.
Stopped playing any sort of RPG in my twenties. Just a few months ago decided I missed it and picked up D&D4E. I’m 42. Most of the players in my group are in the same sort of situation.
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Personally I started playing D&D while I was in college. I would have loved to have had the chance to play sooner, but I grew up in a very non-geek friendly town in Southern California. The local comic book shop started carrying D&D books in the last two months about 4 years after I started playing and 5 years after I had already left So Ca.
I haven’t really stopped playing since I started with only a few months breaks while school was too time consuming for our DM to plan out sessions.
Since graduation, we have found pre-written campaigns to allow us to continue playing even while working a 40+ hour regular work week and running a small business on the side.
My fond memories of playing in college are something I can always take with me, especially since I had my first D20 made into a custom D20 necklace.
I started rolling dice at 10 in 1981, am now 37, and sometime this month or next will be running my first campaign in I-can’t-remember-how-many years so that my girlfriend’s mom can play her first D&D game ever. She has wanted to play since it first came out in the 1970’s, but couldn’t ever find anyone to play with. My sweetie’s mom is 69 this year. She was so excited to hear that I was playing. I had to offer to run a game for her. Just had to. I’m sure you understand.