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With all the talk going on about d20/Dnd's success I am wondering if there is anyone for whom DnD was NOT their first rpg? And if so, what game was their first rpg?

Nope.
 
Palladium Fantasy (1e), then Traveller, followed (a bit later) by Rifts.

Dungeons and Dragons was my first game, but back then it came in a red box with two rulebooks, a module, and some dice you had to color with a crayon.

Quote from: James McMurrayDungeons and Dragons was my first game, but back then it came in a red box with two rulebooks, a module, and some dice you had to color with a crayon.

Wow! that brings back memories. That was the first RPG books I owned and played as well.

Quote from: Zachary The FirstNope.
 
Palladium Fantasy (1e), then Traveller, followed (a bit later) by Rifts.

I have played a number of Palladium games but never the Fantasy game. it seemed to have a grittier feeling than DnD. And I have totally missed out on Traveller. Something I am trying to remedy. Sounds like a good game.

Have you played DnD since Zachary? What were your impressions of it after playing so many other games first?

yes, AD&D 2nd ed.

I got a D&D boxed set as a gift from my mom for my 21st birthday - this was long before AD&D. Before the week was out - and before I played D&D - I bought the Traveller boxed set. I played in a D&D game soon thereafter, but I ran Traveller before I ran D&D. I ran a D&D campaign for twenty years, and only ran Traveller a few times before utter indifference on the part of my then-current group made me pack it away not to be looked at for more than twenty years. I always loved Traveller more, and it was an enormous influence on my first RPG despite not looking at it once in those twenty years. D&D left no tracable influence at all that I can see.

Take your pick.

-clash

Nope.  Star Wars D6.  then on to DC Heroes, and then the Palladium line of suckfests, and then to WoD.

I didn't get into D&D until a year or two ago, after I started really playing NWN.  

I bought 3.0 the day of release, just because I wanted to support them for offering the price they did mainly.  I was somewhat impressed, in the sense that it was certainly better than previous versions, but I wasn't really a fan of D&D at all, in particular the character systems.

NWN I actualyl bought earlier as well, played it briefly as a barbarian, but didn't get far, i nfact it bored me.  It wasn't until a good year later that I popped it in again, deciding to give it another shot, and fell rather in love with it.  

From there, I moved on to the real version of D&D.

Basic Edition D&D Red-Box Set.

Dragon Warriors in paperback novel format here.

Quote from: Michael MI have played a number of Palladium games but never the Fantasy game. it seemed to have a grittier feeling than DnD. And I have totally missed out on Traveller. Something I am trying to remedy. Sounds like a good game.
 
Have you played DnD since Zachary? What were your impressions of it after playing so many other games first?

I have--from 1E to 3.5. For me, D&D had a lot of, well, D&Disms that other games didn't have. Not a plus or a minus, really, just the way it was. I eventually played it because, hey, it was what the most folks knew or had as a reference point--the lingua franca of our gamer community. And yeah, it was a lot of fun. :)
 
Loved the Rules Cyclopedia. Thought to myself, "WOW! This is really, really everything I'll ever need for D&D!".
 
Yeah, the 1st Ed. PFRPG was medium-gritty, I suppose. A lot of 1e fans don't like the 2nd Edition because they feel it's gotten more "Rifts-like"--a contention I don't really support. I'd put 2e about on the same page as D&D for grit or lack thereof, meaning it just depends on the DM/GM. Likely my favorite 3 things about PFRPG (aside from a unapologetically old-school setting and enthusiastic tone) are the active combat, divergent magic systems and sooo many traditionally monster races available as rationally playable classes--and not just as "Woo! I'm a monster!", but as an important, well-considered part and role in a larger world.

Well, this is my first post here, please be gentle, guys! :)

Yes, the first RPG I played ever was old D&D (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, remember?). It's strange, because old D&D, AD&D and D&D3 feel as if they were completely different games, but they get (almost) the same name.

Basic D&D here.  I forget which version it technically is, but it was the one with the red cover, three-hole-punched binding, and the kickass painting with the sorceress and the dragon.

I remember there were 3 + a DM who played one day - Keep on the Borderlands - and then I still wanted to play the next day while all the rest were doing something else.  Aaron, the DM, ran my wizard through a bit more of the dungeon.

Before they left, he either gave or sold me the book and the module.  Later on down the road, he sold me his 1e DMG/PHB/MM.

-O

Yup, 'twas: the Finnish translation of the Red Box, to be more precise, back in '88. I moved on to MERP soon afterwards, though.

Dungeons and Dragons was my first RPG.  More specifically, the Basic Set with the Erol Otis warrior fighting the green dragon whle the chick with the torch watched on from the stairway was my first RPG.  It came with a 64 page rulebook and B2: The Keep on the Borderlands.

Then after I got it, no one wanted to play.  Apparrently, I had bought the "baby game".  I wasn't like the cool kids who owned the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons hardcovers.

My second RPG was the Universe second edition RPG by SPI.  My third was the little black box of Traveller with the 3 basic rulebooks.  My fourth became Advanced Dungeons & Dragons when I was given $50 as birthday money.  I think my fifth was the original Marvel Super Heroes Basic Set.  After that, I lose track.

Nope,...not really.

 The first 2 or 3 RPG sessions where I was a player it was a D&D game  - but that never turned into a campaign. Also 2 friends of that DM were killed in the WHO Concert tragedy  - so we never did more than hose 2 or 3 games.

 The first game where I was a player  and that actually had an ongoing story to it was classic TRAVELLER. I was 15 or 16 at the time.


- E.W.C.

Yeah, D&D was my first game.

I started with the original Basic Set, the blue one with the cover by Sutherland and written by Dr. Holmes.  

This one. (http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/setscans/basic4th.html)
:cool:
It came with chits instead of dice!

Playing good ol' Basic D&D was my first RPG experience, and the very first RPG book that I ever owned was the 1st Ed. AD&D Monster Manual that I got for Christmas.  It was all downhill from there... :)


TGA

First game we ever played was a homebrew version of Fighting Fantasy, derived from the solo gamebooks. Then we got RuneQuest (2). A friend bought CoC, and we rolled up characters but couldn't get into the idea of it (we were twelve). I got D&D Expert before I got D&D Basic - the Expert was the older version, the Basic was the newer one. We quickly graduated to AD&D 1st Ed, and we played that, RQ, and Traveller. I gave up on AD&D when Unearthed Arcana came out, because I felt it was pointless trying to keep up. After that, it was mostly BRP games (most notably Stormbringer) and homebrews. Although, we did dabble with AD&D again for Dark Sun and Planescape. After that, we played all sorts of stuff.

- Q

Quote from: O'BorgDragon Warriors in paperback novel format here.

Hee! I remember those. Never got round to playing them though. They were my third RPG purchase.

Yep, basic d&d, then MERP, then Dragon Warriors.

Quote from: One Horse TownHee! I remember those. Never got round to playing them though.

You can still download them in PDF from Home of the Underdogs, if nostalgia strikes. Actually, I think that someone had a PbP game running at RPGnet a while ago.

Yep, Moldvay D&D, crayons and the rest, circa 1980/81. Just bought it again on ebay. It's SO cute.

Quote from: GrimGentYou can still download them in PDF from Home of the Underdogs, if nostalgia strikes. Actually, I think that someone had a PbP game running at RPGnet a while ago.

Indeed. I heard in rumour land that James Wallis was working on a hardback re-print that contains all six books. Nostalgia heaven!

Quote from: ClaudiusWell, this is my first post here, please be gentle, guys! :)

Yes, the first RPG I played ever was old D&D (Basic, Expert, Companion, Master, remember?). It's strange, because old D&D, AD&D and D&D3 feel as if they were completely different games, but they get (almost) the same name.

Welcome Claudius! =)

Looks like we've got a good supply of Red Boxers here. All you folks rock! :)

Quote from: AkrasiaYeah, D&D was my first game.

I started with the original Basic Set, the blue one with the cover by Sutherland and written by Dr. Holmes.  

This one. (http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/setscans/basic4th.html)
:cool:
It came with chits instead of dice!

ditto!  purchased sometime in 1978-79...

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Rpg1st.jpg)

Same here.

Quote from: kregmosierditto!  purchased sometime in 1978-79...

Another Ditto...Purchased around the same time...from I don't know where.  I think my brother (7 years older) bought it and just gave it to me as he couldn't find anyone in his peer group with whom to play. I was playing within a week.

EDIT: And the Intro module was B1 - but I can't remember the name of it and I'm at work.  The one with the dungeon of the mad missing wizard if I remember correctly - and a Troglodyte!

And yes, I still have it.

Quote from: kregmosierditto!  purchased sometime in 1978-79...

The one my mom got me had to have been this one (http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/setscans/basic1st.html), as it's the only one that was available in November of 1977, when I had my 21st birthday. That was the year Traveller was released, and it was brand spanking new when I bought it. I don't remember what happened to the 1st printing basic set - whether I traded it  for something else or not I'm not sure, but I don't have it any more. I do have the red Errol Otus version as well, but I picked that up later as a second book for my players to use for reference.

-clash

Added: The first game I played wasn't Basic, though, it was OD&D - with the white cover. The GM had been running a game for a couple years. When AD&D came out, the first thing released was the Monster Manual, and for a long time we played a mix of Basic and AD&D as things were released. Eventually, we houseruled a lot of Basic D&D into AD&D. WE never actually played AD&D by the book.

Yep, D&D was my first game. Started with this one (got it for a Christmas gift in 1979):

(http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/setscans/basic4th.jpg)

Went on to 1e AD&D pretty quickly after that.

Quote from: James J SkachEDIT: And the Intro module was B1 - but I can't remember the name of it and I'm at work.  The one with the dungeon of the mad missing wizard if I remember correctly - and a Troglodyte!

B1 - In Search of the Unknown

(http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/modscans/b1mono.jpg)

Started playing 1st ed. AD&D when I was 7 with my older cousin.  The first RPG I bought was the Red Box.

Quote from: el diablo roboticoB1 - In Search of the Unknown

(http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/modscans/b1mono.jpg)

Bingo!

Thanks...that brings back memories without having to go home to find my version.

Was this version before or after the Red Box of which everyone speaks?

IIRC (and I've got a horrible memory so probably don't) that was before the red box. Red box had B2, Keep on the Borderlands.

Yup, it was pre-AD&D and wasn't RC, but I don't remember exactly what.

Quote from: James McMurrayIIRC (and I've got a horrible memory so probably don't) that was before the red box. Red box had B2, Keep on the Borderlands.

That's what I thought too.

Nope, my first was Chainmail, the precurser to D&D (the little white boxversion with 3 small booklets), which I then started playing in around 1976.  Crud, that was a long time ago.

Red box Basic D&D. After a year or two of that I moved on to AD&D 1st edition. From there to 2nd edition(with most of 1st thrown in).

Around the time of 2nd edition coming out I moved and found a new group and while our mainstay was 2nd edition, we started playing other games. Paranoia, 2300AD, Lands of Adventure, Tales from the Floating Vagabond, 1st edition White Wolf stuff (and we played it wrong! But had fun, so we didn't care :p ), CoC, Robotech Rifts, Mekton and even Twerps.

There may haven been a few others in there, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

I've moved again, so I am with out a group right now. My last group lasted 15 years and we mainly played AD&D 2nd edition, with some MtA 2nd/WtA 2nd thrown in for a break.( and we played mage/werewolf w/out the pseudo intellectualism thank you very much).

Quote from: James J SkachBingo!

Thanks...that brings back memories without having to go home to find my version.

Was this version before or after the Red Box of which everyone speaks?

Yes.  The 'Holmes Basic D&D' rules came out around 1977, about the same time as the Monster Manual (which was before the PHB and DMG), and sold until around 1979/80.  The rules assume that players will move on to play Advanced D&D (not 'Expert', etc.).  This was right before the Arneson-Gygax legal spat that led TSR to maintain D&D and AD&D as separate games.

A few years after the Holmes Basic set came out the Moldvay Basic Set was produced (that's the one with the magenta box with the Erol Otus illustration; published 1980/81).  The 'red box' Basic Set was edited by Frank Mentzer, and had an Elmore cover.  It's actually the 'late comer', which is why it always amuses me when gamers think of themselves as 'grognards' if they started with it.  They're neophytes!
:haw:

I'm feeling like a spring chicken here.  My first RPG was Shadowrun 3rd edition.  Picked it up because I loved the Genesis game so much, and I wanted to see the roots of computer RPGs.  Thus did my love for pencil and paper find its own genesis.

WEG Star Wars for me, too.

D&D was my second RPG.

Quote from: CodexArcanumI'm feeling like a spring chicken here.  My first RPG was Shadowrun 3rd edition.  Picked it up because I loved the Genesis game so much, and I wanted to see the roots of computer RPGs.  Thus did my love for pencil and paper find its own genesis.

I played the Shadowrun RPG for the first time last year and couldn't get that crazy theme music from the Genesis game out of my head.

Mentzer's Red Box was my first RPG and was given to me as a Christmas gift when I was 12 or 13.  I introduced it to some other kids but they didn't care for it (personally I blame Keep on the Borderlands).  But many of those same kids did grab onto Marvel Super Heroes and was our system for a long time.

In high school, a friend of mine and I introduced a few guys to d6 Star Wars and we played that for about a year and had a lot of fun.

My first game was a sort of DnD 1e/2e hybrid. We didn't know what we were doing. We bought I think the 2e Monstous Compendium and then used 1e core books. Eventually it glided into 2e.

Quote from: Michael MWith all the talk going on about d20/Dnd's success I am wondering if there is anyone for whom DnD was NOT their first rpg? And if so, what game was their first rpg?

My first game was the D&D basic boxset.

We learned it all by ourselves. Best investment ever.

Quote from: GrimGentYou can still download them in PDF from Home of the Underdogs, if nostalgia strikes. Actually, I think that someone had a PbP game running at RPGnet a while ago.

You can also get the Bloodsword books from the same site.

Bulya was running two DW PbPs at TBP - I'm in one of them but the other seems to have spluttered to a halt about a month ago.

Moldvay edition D&D was my first RPG.  Somehow the book was lost when I went to University...

TODAY my new near-mint-condition Moldvay edition D&D boxed set arrived in the mail! The rulebook and B2: Keep on the Borderlands. It even has the original dice and crayon. :hyper:

Yes, 1st edition AD&D.  However, I had moved on to Traveller and RQII within a year and largely stopped playing AD&D within two years of beginning to play.  Essentially, it was the only game in town at the time.

!i!

AD&D 2E, then Shadowrun 2E. The year was 1994, IIRC.

EDIT: A thousand and one posts! Where's my Scheherazade? :p

April 1st, 1983, played this version,



June 15th, 1983, got for my birthday,



And so it goes on...

Note: the different editions and printings of D&D Basic are described here (http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/setpages/basic.html). It's a site telling us the value of various editions to collectors, with a bit of information describing each.

The 15th printing of Basic D&D (the big boardgame-style box with the Red Dragon on the cover) was the first "real" RPG I ever played.  (We were doing forgey free-forming with my old HeroQuest boardgame before that.)

My first rpg was Twilight 2000.  Had a great group that I fell into and a GM that was an absolute master at running ANY game.

Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

Shadowrun made me love dicepools, guns, and magic systems that don't involve spells per day.

It also made me hate really heavy rulesets.  I think I now realize why D&D never appealed to me. :D

"Lie down on zee couch and tell me about your first game."
"Well doc, it started with an armored troll and a .45 magnum with HE rounds..."

Quote from: CodexArcanumIt also made me hate really heavy rulesets. I think I now realize why D&D never appealed to me.

Shadowrun is a much heavier ruleset than the D&D most people are talking about in this thread... ;)

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

Not much, I think. After almost 24 years, I've played enough different games that it all cancels out and I just play according to my own personality...

Quote from: Michael MWith all the talk going on about d20/Dnd's success I am wondering if there is anyone for whom DnD was NOT their first rpg? And if so, what game was their first rpg?

Mine was "Doctor". With Gina, from across the street.

TMNT and Other Strangeness. Played it when I was eight or so, IIRC. I loved the Ninja Turtles.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

I think it's decisive. Age is also important. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't love (or "get") D&D the way I do (or think I do) if a) it hadn't been my first game, b) at the fairly advanced age of 16 or 17. I never had a "w00t my Drizzt got 2 katanas +7 d00d" phase to look back and down to.

That said, starting with Star Wars d6 must have been bunches of fun. Can you deal with classes and levels at all?

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

Our first games must have shaped us in some way. Not necessarily defining our preferences perse but by setting a certain watermark and perhaps defining comfort zones.

I've played various games but I do remember having a hard time at first with games other than DnD just in terms of structuring the experience. As a GM I still thought in terms of encounters, adventures, adventure parties etc. This didn't fly with running Recon, for example. =)

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Makes one wonder how much our first games shaped us as gamers, doesn't it?

It doesn't have to be that way, after all my first rpg was VtM, a few months later I switched to AD&D 2E, and here I am, years later and not a swine after gettin' into the hobby with Storytelling.

Quote from: WilMine was "Doctor". With Gina, from across the street.

Hey, I played that with my cousin.

What?! She was hot.

Advanced Heroquest count?

WFRP 1e, probably, tried some D&D, first proper roleplaying was Amber

V.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityI think it's decisive. Age is also important. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't love (or "get") D&D the way I do (or think I do) if a) it hadn't been my first game, b) at the fairly advanced age of 16 or 17. I never had a "w00t my Drizzt got 2 katanas +7 d00d" phase to look back and down to.

That said, starting with Star Wars d6 must have been bunches of fun. Can you deal with classes and levels at all?

I didn't used to be able to, actually.  It wasn't until 3.0 that I really got sold on the class/level thing.  Always found it too restrictive, but 3.0 managed to do the class/level thing whilsts still giving the player a fair bit of freedom, with skills and feets and multiclassing and all.

Quote from: Michael MI've played various games but I do remember having a hard time at first with games other than DnD just in terms of structuring the experience. As a GM I still thought in terms of encounters, adventures, adventure parties etc.

Hey, before the switch from D&D to MERP, it never really occurred to me that adventures didn't necessarily have to take place underground... That seemed like such a radical idea at the time.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityThat said, starting with Star Wars d6 must have been bunches of fun. Can you deal with classes and levels at all?

It was.  Classes and levels make sense to me, but that doesn't mean they're myfavorite way to do things -- I mean, I understand what artichokes are, but...

Yeah, same set as El Robotico (and same year - spooky!). Never played much AD&D, having moved on to Traveller and Runequest.

Ned

The first game I ever played was Marvel FASERIP, the original yellow box.  I only played it a few times.  A few years later, I got the Advanced set for christmas, and played that exclusively for a few years.  One of my game friends went to high school, and came back with this new fangled "TMNT" game.  Then we played that for a few years.  AD&D was well into second edition before I ever picked up anything D&D.

For some reason my expectation was that most people would say they started with AD&D 1e. There have been a lot of surprises here. I think it is encouraging the breadth of experience so many people in the hobby have had and yet heart warming how many have shared almost identical experiences (I'm looking at you red box players). =)

Quote from: Michael MFor some reason my expectation was that most people would say they started with AD&D 1e.

My group never played 1E "properly" we used 1E modules with Basic rules and then jumped straight into 2E when it was released, and still used the 1E modules with very minor modification.

I haven't been following the thread all the way through, so this might have been answered... but do the "Fighting Fantasy" books count? :D

Only if the Choose Your Own Adventure books count. In which case, I must revise my answer... brings me back to 11 years old or so, I think it was the Aztecs one...

Quote from: Michael MFor some reason my expectation was that most people would say they started with AD&D 1e. There have been a lot of surprises here. I think it is encouraging the breadth of experience so many people in the hobby have had and yet heart warming how many have shared almost identical experiences (I'm looking at you red box players). =)

In fact, I never played AD&D! :haw:

Gamebooks shouldn't count, as they aren't true RPGs. On the other hand, they're a wonderful introduction to true roleplaying. If not for them, very probably I wouldn't game.

The FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes Basic Set (the one in the yellow box) in 1984/5. Then we moved house next door to an older bunch of kids who played Classic Traveller. Never played D&D of any flavour until about a year ago I guess (and then it was a 3.0/3.5 with battlemaps & figures).

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7b/DandDBasicSetBoxCover.jpg/175px-DandDBasicSetBoxCover.jpg)

It was 1983, I was a precocious kid of 5, and it has figured in some small part of my life ever since, like a great hobby should.

I'm obviously too damn old.
When I bought D&D it came in a white box and, as I was upset to find out, required Chainmail to use! :mad:
Within weeks the Greyhawk supplement was available that included the "new" combat rules and replaced Chainmail.
I switched to RuneQuest when it was released and rarely played D&D since.

Now it's Savage Worlds, ftw. :D
=

Quote from: Michael MWith all the talk going on about d20/Dnd's success I am wondering if there is anyone for whom DnD was NOT their first rpg? And if so, what game was their first rpg?

I never bought D&D bit it was my first rpg experience. The DM was a dick and I quit after he pied my characters several times, but I liked the idea of RPGs and got into star frontiers as a SFRPG.

First game I owned (but never played)

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/conantsr.jpg

First game I bought.

http://www.rpg-resource.org.uk/images/article

First I played (barring a few abortive attempts and 1 shots)

http://www.pen-paper.net/images/rpgdb/ww05002.jpg

I am Swine!!!!!!