TheRPGSite

I'm sure there's probably been a thread like this before, but oh well.

What game did you play when you were introduced to RPGs? Do you look back on that ruleset fondly and with a hearty dose of nostalgia? Or do you laugh at yourself?


With me, it was AD&D 2nd Edition. It was fun and it kept me glued to RPGs, but I don't think I'd play it these days. Being numerically lysdexic, I like to keep my games trim.

Moldvay Basic D&D.  I was very, very young (maybe 6) and my brothers had just gotten a mountain of D&D stuff with their Christmas money.  Since they were stuck babysitting me when my parents were out of the house (which was often back then), they grudgingly let me play with them.

Over the years, I moved on to AD&D, then 2nd edition AD&D, and then on to other games (I vaguely remember TMNT in high school, messing with Pendragon, and thinking Shadowrun's first edition looked really cool).  Over the last two years, however, I've come back to the old BX D&D books.  They're all I really need to run or play a game; everything's contained in two 64-page books that fit nicely in a looseleaf binder along with some graph paper and the ever-present Mead (or whatever brand notebook was on sale in September at the local market).

I also started with Moldvay Basic D&D back in the day.  I think that I was introduced to 1st ed Gamma World around the same time.  We also played a ton of FASA Star Trek, too.  


TGA

Moldvay D&D. I don't look back and laugh, but my nostalgia for the period is centered around things other than the rules set.

Seanchai

Quote from: Seanchai;248028Moldvay D&D. I don't look back and laugh, but my nostalgia for the period is centered around things other than the rules set.

I agree.  Most of the good times were products of over-active 13 year olds' imagination, no sleep, and large amounts of caffeine.  I do like the simplicity of the roots, system-wise, and I think that the (relative) simplicity was a good thing for the young teens we were.  My nostalgia is mostly missing old friends, as we were then.

Monty, Jeremy if you are out there our good times are not forgotten, man.


TGA

Mentzer red box Basic D&D. We ran it mostly with a bunch of 1e modules that my friend found at a yard sale. Man those were good gaming days.

Quote from: jswa;248013I'm sure there's probably been a thread like this before, but oh well.

What game did you play when you were introduced to RPGs? Do you look back on that ruleset fondly and with a hearty dose of nostalgia? Or do you laugh at yourself?

Some version of pe-A D&D - probably Red Box - which accreted into iE and 2E AD&D. I don't look on it with nostalgia, nor with laughter. I just look back at it with kind of tired acceptance. I just played it too long without a break, and it does nothing for me anymore.

To be honest, Nostalgia pretty much doesn't exist for me. Sometimes I see a TV show I used to love and wonder what the heck I ever saw in it. Other times, like with Northern Exposure, it's just as fresh and interesting as it was the first time.

-clash

The first role-playing game I ever played was the Basic Solo module Latham's Gold, which I played when I was 8 years old.  My babysitter John, 13, ran me through it, reading the options given in the book aloud and handling the game mechanics for me.  I (or rather my dad) bought the Moldvay Basic set two years later after I saw it in a (board) game store and recognized the D&D logo.

I, like most people who played it, have TREMENDOUS amount of nostalgia for red Box D&D, and it's still one of my all-time favorite system.

I think it was red box D&D that a friend had bought and I got into from there (he actually had Expert and the green one as well). However I also played a lot of the sole adventure books - lone wolf, final fantasy etc.

I don't think I'd laugh at the ruleset and we approached it with refreshing mix of common sense and lack thereof (encumbrance is too hard so lets not bother + roll for treasure = 30 magical swords)

After that it was WFRP that really got me into gaming - not conincidentally when I was able to also play in a larger group

I started with the J. Eric Holmes boxed set, and I wasn't introduced, I introduced.

Nostalgia is for suckers. But I don't laugh because you've got to start somewhere.

My gateway RPG was 2e Gamma World back in the early 80's.  I do have a certain fondness and nostalgia when I think about those days, and the Gamma World RPG in all it's editions.  I still think that the 2nd edition is the best, with the 4th edition being a nose behind.

Oriental Adventures for AD&D.

OD&D, followed in short order by Holmes D&D then 1e AD&D.

I had fun playing in an OD&D one-shot a couple of months ago, but I don't have any strong desire to go back to any edition of [A]D&D.

I would play Top Secret, Flashing Blades, Boot Hill or Traveller pretty much at the drop of a hat, though.

AD&D 2E, Shadowrun 2E, and WEG Star Wars.

I bought most of the DnD 3E books for reasons of nostalgia, but haven't played it much.
Shadowrun, I'd like to get back into one of these days.
I hardly remember anything about WEG Star Wars, except that my characer's death would usually involve some sort of grenade.

Some iteration of Basic D&D, filtered through a schoolmates mind and adapted for 2D6, later I played Red Box D&D.

White Box OD&D. I actually played a fair amount of it with friends, then switched to AD&D. At some point I became much more disenchanted with the entire system than I can really justify today. I look back and laugh at myself more for the effort I spent ripping the game to shreds in the 80's, than for the fun I had playing it in the 70's.

Quote from: jswa;248013I'm sure there's probably been a thread like this before, but oh well.

What game did you play when you were introduced to RPGs? Do you look back on that ruleset fondly and with a hearty dose of nostalgia? Or do you laugh at yourself?

I started with red Box D&D, and I still like the game. As others have said, not a bit of nostalgia. I can play it again whenever I please. I could have nostalgia for other things than the rules, excepto for the fact that my life keeps being better every year.

I started off with Holmes Basic back in '82. Me and the guys had tons of fun with it, before moving onto AD&D. I have fond memories of it, and would like to pick up an old copy, so I can check it out again....

I started with the dark eye back when I was six or so, maybe a bit older.
The game system is crap for my gaming-style and the world is too detailed for meaningful world building exercises, looking back at it I don't feel the slightest bit nostalgic about the system or the sheer amount of setting they created, just happy that I found stuff that suits me better.
I however feel nostalgic about the days when we would spent some holiday week basically gaming 19-24 hours a day and just having a good time. I miss the days of "no responsibilities".

The first rpg I played was D&D.  It was a mishmash of Basic and AD&D we ran using my friend's older brother's books.  It was a lot of fun.

The first rpg I owned was TMNT&Other Strangeness.  I still own it, as well as all the supplements.  I guess that answers of question of "do you still like it" since most of the rpgs I've acquired in the many years since have been let go in various purges, but I still have my original TMNT stuff.  The palladium rules in general take a little bit longer for character creation then I prefer currently, but TMNT is better at that then most palladium games because for the most part PCs don't have a ton of skills.  The BIO:E system is still one of the coolest character generation thingamabobs out there, and I've got a persistent and growing itch to run a game of TMNT soon.

Holmes Edition D&D, circa 1979.

Very close to me, Colonel. Did you have dice or chits?

Quote from: droog;248289Very close to me, Colonel. Did you have dice or chits?

Dice. Really, really shitty dice that we bought at a toy store. The Holmes edition I had (and still have) was just the rulebook, not the box. I dunno why they sold it like that. At the time, I had no idea there was supposed to be a box.

I keep forgetting the Colonel and you (droog) are old timers - dice or chits ?

I started off with RQ (can't remember the edition) and then converted the campaign to BECM D&D.

Regards,
David R

I played some random D&D adventure once when I was quite young, but I started roleplaying with Shadowrun in 1989, and haven't stopped.

Quote from: droog;248289Very close to me, Colonel. Did you have dice or chits?

And to me. I used chits until I got sick of them and bought dice. I don't remember what version it was - whatever was current in late 1977. I gave my copy away back in the late seventies when I was running AD&D 1e. I kept my Traveller LBBs though.

-clash

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;248288Holmes Edition D&D, circa 1979.

Almost the exact same - might have been 1978. I had dice - with numbers you could not read and the d20 was 0-9 twice, IIRC.

Quote from: James J Skach;248351Almost the exact same - might have been 1978. I had dice - with numbers you could not read and the d20 was 0-9 twice, IIRC.

The dice I had - and also still have - were actually inked (which was fairly unusual back then, I later found out), but were very badly made, with cheap plastic. The d12s are especially bad, with most facets of them slightly convex and dimples here and there. All the dice in the sets that I (and the other guys I gamed with) had then began to wear and chip at the edges and corners almost immediately. Oh, yeah - there were also no d10s to be had. We didn't have any for quite a while. We simply rolled a d20 numbered 0-9.

TRAVELLER,  the classic version, Little Black Books.  First RPG 'campaign' I was in that ran more than 4 sessions.  It was at a High School gaming club around 1979 -1980.



- Ed C.

Quote from: jswa;248013What game did you play when you were introduced to RPGs? Do you look back on that ruleset fondly and with a hearty dose of nostalgia? Or do you laugh at yourself?

OD&D without supplements. Greyhawk came out about the time I played in first game of D&D, but I did not see it in a store for a while after that.  It's still a great game to play. IMHO.

I think the thing that sets me apart from some of the other long-time players here is I was already an adult in 1977. Most folks picked it up when they were kids or teens. That made for a very different game.

-clash

My first RPG was Bughunters with two friends in Okinawa.  Some time later after I moved back to the US I got into DnD and I've been hooked ever since.

Quote from: Idinsinuation;248375My first RPG was Bughunters...

There's one you don't see everyday...

Seanchai

Quote from: flyingmice;248373I think the thing that sets me apart from some of the other long-time players here is I was already an adult in 1977. Most folks picked it up when they were kids or teens. That made for a very different game.

-clash

I don't know how much of an 'adult' you were, clash ;) but you are correct in my case in that I was somewhere between 11 and 13. I am old enough now that my memory is hazy as to when I first got the box...

"Red box" oD&D. I miss those magical days. D&D was so special back then. It seemed larger than life. Now? ot so much. I dunno if it was because I was 8 or because it was so new or maybe because it was so frowned upon by society. Maybe it was little from each column. But I still remember my first quests and the sense of nostalgia is almost burning.

-=Grim=-

Quote from: Seanchai;248381There's one you don't see everyday...

Seanchai

Yeah, I'm one of those oddball cases that didn't start in dungeons, although DnD was the game that really hooked me on roleplaying.

Quote from: James J Skach;248392I don't know how much of an 'adult' you were, clash ;) but you are correct in my case in that I was somewhere between 11 and 13. I am old enough now that my memory is hazy as to when I first got the box...

I was 21. That means adult in the legal sense... Mentally, I'm still scraping at the ceiling of 6. :D

-clash

Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, 1983 I think (I was 10), followed by the Fighting Fantasy RPG, homebrew free kriegspiel (we made stuff up), homebrew simple system that it turned out closely resembled Warhammer Battle 2e, and 1e AD&D.  From Fighting Fantasy to running AD&D took about 18 months I think.

I was introduced to RPGs with 1st ed. AD&D in about 1983.  I probably have more nostalgia for Red Box and Star Frontiers though.  Those were the two games my brother and I learned how to run games in all of their grade school glory.  I laugh more at what we did than the actual systems.  We played AD&D more than any other game and I think for many of us, really set our expectations to how games should be.

Quote from: David R;248312I keep forgetting the Colonel and you (droog) are old timers - dice or chits ?

Yes, but I only used the chits for one day before I went to the shop and bought dice. They were jolly good Gamescience ones and a couple are still around, with ever so slightly worn corners.

Though I started out with D&D (boxed sets) when I was but a wee tyke, it was in college that I really got into it as a full hobby and form of recreation outside of the grade school cafeteria at lunch.  I went to what used to be the location of a comic store in the town where I settled in for college, and it had become a gaming store.  Got to know the owners, one of their friends introduced me to one of the earlier editions of Champions and I was hooked and began expanding from there.

Moldvay D&D, circa 1981. I was nine, going on ten, and it changed my life forever.

Funnily enough I've been browsing the Moldvay B/X rules again recently. It's still a superb, atmospheric game, and I plan on running a houseruled version whilst waiting for my 4E players to become available.

I guess I would say I started when I graduated from Choose Your Own Adventure books to Lone Wolf gamebooks and found out what it was like to create a character.

First real rpg was WEGs Star Wars (D6 is still my favorite system).  My parents were on the "D&D is SATAN!!!" train so I didn't get to start there (although I did manage to sneak a copy of Mentzer Basic in some years later and hide it under the bed).

Star Frontiers, followed soon after by red box Dungeons & Dragons and Gamma World 2e.

I guess if we're getting that technical than Choose Your Own Adventure type books were my first as well.

Quote from: Technomancer;248637First real rpg was WEGs Star Wars (D6 is still my favorite system).  My parents were on the "D&D is SATAN!!!" train so I didn't get to start there (although I did manage to sneak a copy of Mentzer Basic in some years later and hide it under the bed).

My friend Brad has parents like that.  I was over for dinner one night after school, when one of my Magic: The Gathering cards slipped out of my backpack.  It was a mountain land card of all things.  His mom freaked out like the crazy christian lady from trading spouses.  Turns out years later she's not just religious, she's severly bi-polar among other things.  She does make a damn fine pot roast though, if you like dinner and a freakshow.

Holmes Basic D&D.  I was either 1978 or '79.  I still like Holmes D&D, especially if you add the Holmes Companion (http://www.philotomy.com/holmes.html).

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;248692Holmes Basic D&D.  I was either 1978 or '79.  I still like Holmes D&D, especially if you add the Holmes Companion (http://www.philotomy.com/holmes.html).

Thank you for that link :).

Quote from: Drohem;248713Thank you for that link :).

Ditto. Very interesting stuff. The Holmes edition seems to get very little love, and seems overshadowed by the Moldvay version (which I still think of as new).

Quote from: Drew;248624Funnily enough I've been browsing the Moldvay B/X rules again recently. It's still a superb, atmospheric game...

When I visited home recently I grabbed the B/X books, Keep and Isle of Dread and stated reading them again. You're right: the atmosphere! I always thought that the "magic feeling" of D&D was gone simply because I was older now. But reading those books the magic was back and it wasn't nostalgia. I immediately started working on a world/campaign. The same shit happened to me when I reaquired all of the AD&D 1e books. Weird. I wonder what it is that the newer games just don't do for me?

-=Grim=-

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;248850Ditto. Very interesting stuff. The Holmes edition seems to get very little love, and seems overshadowed by the Moldvay version (which I still think of as new).

Glad you guys liked it.

Also, there is some Holmes-specific discussion at the following locations:
Holmes at the OD&D Board (http://odd74.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=holmes)
Holmes at KnK Alehouse (http://www.knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=16)

I started into RPGs with the red and blue D&D boxed sets (not sure which versions) before quickly moving into AD&D (1981).  The Keep on the Borderlands was the first adventure that I ever ran, followed by The Isle of Dread.  Everything is muddled after that, since I have now played or ran more game systems than I can count.

The very first game I ever played was Marvel Super Heroes Basic set, the original yellow box.  WE played the Dr Octopus scenario that came with it and ran a few more things.  In junior high, I got the Advanced Set, and that was it for me, I was off and running.

I do look back on the game with a sense of nostalgia, but attempts to run it as an adult have not been fruitful or enjoyable.  I think my gaming has moved on past the FASERIP system, and while it has a simple elegance, I just don't enjoy playing it as much as I used.

Hrm, now that I think about it my friend Jason and I, who was the one who introduced me to Marvel, first role played by our selves, with heroes we made up, with no actual role play system.

All through early elementary, we'd play "Silver Hawks", "Thunder Cats", "Transformers", etc.  Reinacting tv shows we enjoyed.  Eventually, we started making up our own super heroes - Super-Bri and Super-Jay.  Then, we made up completely original characters - he made up Drawmaster, a Green Lantern ripoff who could create images with one hand and erase things with the other, and I made up Video Changeling - a guy who could shapeshift into any video game character, and had Cartridge, and Atari 2600 cartridge that was intelligent and could grow into a flying platform, and only VC could understand him.  Cartridge would plug into video game machines and computers and download information, and then transfer it to VC via a special belt buckle he had.  These four heroes formed The Challengers, and had a whole host of villains.  

We created bookl after book detailing their powers and abilities like DC Who's Who and their super vehicles, the different rooms in their C-Tower, the three groups of evil villains who were after them.  The children of Drawmaster and Video Changeling became mutants and joined the team as they grew up, and then became the focal point of our adventures more than the adults.  We had drawings, lists of stuff, there must have been hundreds of pages of material we drew and wrote down for these guys.

Later, we created a pair of interstellar giant "Voltron" Robot Police - they didn't have seperate parts that formed into a big robot, they were just massive "Go Nagai/Great Mazinger" style robots (I had a Great Mazinger robot at that age).  They too had books, pictures, and details about them.

It wasn't proper "mechanics" or anything - just play make believe.  But we detailed it like an RPG with supplements and setting fluff.

Set the stage for later when we started playing Marvel Super Heroes.  I always had more fun making characters in MSH than playing them.

Quote from: GrimJesta;248920When I visited home recently I grabbed the B/X books, Keep and Isle of Dread and stated reading them again. You're right: the atmosphere! I always thought that the "magic feeling" of D&D was gone simply because I was older now. But reading those books the magic was back and it wasn't nostalgia. I immediately started working on a world/campaign. The same shit happened to me when I reaquired all of the AD&D 1e books. Weird. I wonder what it is that the newer games just don't do for me?

I think the real charm was in the presentation, from the Otus artwork to the (even then) outdated fonts. There was a feeling of age and depth about those books, that, if anything, was enhanced by the sometimes arcane and nonsensical rules. It was the perfect marriage of style and substance, and can still get me in the mood for play quicker than anything I've owned since.

1st edition AD&D.  My mother was deeply dismayed that I'd paid the exorbitant price of US$16.95 for the Player's Manual. I'd become very unhappy with it within six to nine months and was already moving on to other games that fellow players introduced me to (like Traveller at the very affordable price of US$12.00 for the boxed Books 1-3).

I look back on 1st ed. AD&D with a certain fondness now, but with little or no desire to ever play it again.

!i!

Quote from: S'mon;248444Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, 1983 I think (I was 10), followed by the Fighting Fantasy RPG, homebrew free kriegspiel (we made stuff up), homebrew simple system that it turned out closely resembled Warhammer Battle 2e, and 1e AD&D.  From Fighting Fantasy to running AD&D took about 18 months I think.

I keep forgetting FF gamebooks.  I LOVED the shit out of those as a kid!  Those and Interplanetary Spy and there were a few other ones - one about a ninja that was really hard to play.

Yeah, I did those LONG before I ever got into Marvel...

I actually saw the Otis box basic set in 1979 I think (when I was 7) but the neighbors playing it could not explain it well enough for me to understand the concept.  I think my first was actually the Palladium Fantasy and then Palladium Robotech.  Early on it was AD&D and Cyberpunk.
Good times... Good times...

1990 with TMNT. Didn't really get anything going until a buddy of mine bought the RC in 1992 and we started playing very freeform games more inspired by than using the rules contained within. We used chits and "cootie catchers" until 1993-4 when I got my first set of dice at a garage sale for two dollars.

Play-by-post, freeform "roleplays" (we didn't even have a "G" in there) heavily influenced by CRPGs and a few half-remembered bits of D&D I'd heard about ("so PCs fight monsters and there's this GM who basically handles non-PC decisions like the computer does"). When I ran I like to throw in some ad-hoc spells and to-hit and HP/MP/XP references; however, actual consequences affecting and resulting from these apparent mechanics were decided by nothing more systematized than the GM's discretion.

oWoD was the first recognizably "real RPG" I got into. From there our group moved onto Exalted,  then D&D 3.5.

Multiple attempts to stir up interest in Sorcerer and a few complaints about having to learn complex systems (we had a couple total newbies start as level four gestalts) later, we're back to systemless - except for things I'm slowly starting to weave in for those "say yes or roll the dice" moments.