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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: petron_age on November 04, 2020, 07:23:47 AM

Title: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: petron_age on November 04, 2020, 07:23:47 AM
hey everyone . i was wondering how old were you when you started gaming ?
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: soltakss on November 07, 2020, 03:33:09 PM
I started playing RPGs when I was 18 and never looked back.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Snowman0147 on November 07, 2020, 08:25:44 PM
This thread doesn't belong here.  Can someone move this please?
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Necromage on November 10, 2020, 08:56:36 PM
I started in my early teens. Several decades later, I'm still kicking. This is a hobby for life.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Hawkwing7423 on November 11, 2020, 11:33:36 PM
Middle Earth Roleplaying around age 14, Battletech 15, DnD 2nd Edition maybe 18.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Joey2k on November 24, 2020, 02:36:37 PM
First real RPG was WEG's Star Wars 1E around age 14 (was interested in D&D but this was during the "Satanic Panic" era so I wasn't allowed. 

First got into the idea of RPGs through Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy game books though
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: consolcwby on November 24, 2020, 11:11:29 PM
hey everyone . i was wondering how old were you when you started gaming ?
You asked gaming? GAMING?! Well, here's the abbreviated history:
I was 3yo when I first played Candy Land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Land
I was 11 when I first played (watched more than played, however) Stalingrad. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8363/turning-point-battle-stalingrad
I was 12 when I first played D&D. https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Basic_Set_(BX_D%26D)
I was 15 when I first played Civ (Played a full 7 hours long game, baby!). https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71/civilization
I was 16 when I first played BattleTech. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1540/battletech
I was 23 when I first played MtG (Last time I ever joined "The Kult Of The New"). https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/463/magic-gathering
I was 28 when I first played a Euro. Can't remember the exact game, but this will suffice: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/catan
And that's just the milestone games! ;D

And now I'm going on 51 years old.
 :(
Not much gaming left for me. I got more time behind me, than in front of me. Soon I must leave this green Earth. But, at least I'm one of the lucky ones!
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Vladar on November 27, 2020, 02:50:35 PM
Around 8 for PC gaming (IBM i286) and about 27 for tabletop D&D gaming.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: zircher on November 30, 2020, 02:43:48 PM
I think I got Tactics II when I was 15, but had no players.  Got into RPGs when I was 17.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Timothe on December 02, 2020, 06:29:08 AM
My Mom bought me the Basic D&D boxed set for Christmas 1980 when I was twelve. When I got to high school everyone had the AD&D 1e hardbacks and it was very confusing to learn that races were no longer classes. I played AD&D (pre Unearthed Arcana) and a few other games through high school, but didn’t DM until college.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Chris24601 on December 02, 2020, 11:38:11 AM
I bought the Red Box when I was 10 because of the animated series. I've been gaming ever since.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: HappyDaze on December 02, 2020, 11:44:13 AM
I played a D&D session at age 9, but i really didn't get into it until about 2 years later.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Klytus on December 02, 2020, 01:33:51 PM
I started gaming in 3rd grade, so 1982-1983 when I'd have been around 8-9. I've gamed consistently since then, aside from a 4 year hiatus from 2010-2014.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Mishihari on December 02, 2020, 01:43:51 PM
I got Holmes Basic for Christmas when I was 10 years old.  My first game was Christmas day with my mom as DM and the rest of the family playing.  My dad didn't continue, but the rest of us played like this for about a year.  After that I started DMing for my friends, and the rest is history.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: lordmalachdrim on December 02, 2020, 01:46:19 PM
Started around the age of 9 with Robotech from Palladium books.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Vidgrip on December 02, 2020, 03:25:34 PM
12 years old, with white box D&D.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: jhkim on December 02, 2020, 06:04:04 PM
I was first exposed in pre-school, age 5 (back in 1975). My best friend's older brother had played D&D, and his older brother was cool. So my pre-school imagination games were all "playing D&D" - but of course, that wasn't actually playing the game.

I tried playing in school in 2nd and 3rd grade, but it was still more like "Let's Pretend" then really playing by the rules. I got the Basic boxed set in 5th grade, and that's when I started to play the real game.

My son was exposed from even earlier since his mom and dad played a lot. I'd say he got into real play similarly around age 10. However, he never had a regular group of his own until college, because none of his local friends played.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: GameDaddy on December 02, 2020, 08:08:35 PM
I was seven in 1971 when I started building 1/72 scale WWII models and playing war. I was nine when I started wargaming with MB/SPI/Avalon Hill boardgames in 1973, ...still played with minis though, and was thirteen when I started playing (and running)  D&D in 1977.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: mightybrain on December 02, 2020, 08:17:52 PM
About 12. I think. It was a long time ago.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Razor 007 on December 02, 2020, 10:00:58 PM
24?  Man, time flies.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: thedungeondelver on December 03, 2020, 12:40:53 AM
Ten years old, back in 1980.  My first D&D was Keep on the Borderlands.  I had no rulebook but there was enough in the pull-out sheets that I could intuit a pretty decent game to keep myself, my sister, and my friend Tommy from down the street entertained for a few afternoons. :)

Later I got the Dungeon Masters Guide, the Monster Manual, and a copy of Tom Moldvay's edit of D&D and Expert D&D by himself and Cook, then a Monster Manual II, and a Deities & Demigods.  I think at the time the only other module I owned was Slave Pits of the Undercity, although I wanted more.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Trinculoisdead on December 03, 2020, 01:09:24 AM
I started war-gaming with Avalon Hill's Across Five Aprils when I was 11 with a friend of mine. We never did get the rules right. Around the same time he showed me a copy of 3e D&D. My mom wasn't down with the sickness though, so I didn't play any. When I was 23 I ran a simple Roll to Dodge forum game, and then a more complex one that was basically an RPG.
In the fall of that same year I joined a D&D group through Meetup. Since then I have GM'd a lot of games, and played in a few others. It has been six years and a few months.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Starglyte on December 03, 2020, 10:04:54 AM
Around 10 years old with the Rules Cyclopedia and the Hollow World box sex. Good times.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: soundchaser on December 03, 2020, 10:49:39 AM
It was 1977, so it was when I was 15. Whitebox.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Chainsaw on December 03, 2020, 11:54:20 AM
For D&D, 5th-6th grade, so 11-12 or so. A couple or years earlier for NES, maybe 9-10.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Eirikrautha on December 03, 2020, 02:50:16 PM
About twelve years old, I think (middle school).  Had the Basic game (still get goosebumps when I see the purple Keep on the Borderlands module that came in the set), but no regular players until high school.  Then we all switched to AD&D.  Been playing with some of that same group for the last 35+ years...
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: RPGPundit on December 03, 2020, 03:01:05 PM
Just shy of 12.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Bren on December 03, 2020, 04:20:04 PM
hey everyone . i was wondering how old were you when you started gaming ?
You asked gaming? GAMING?! Well, here's the abbreviated history:
I was 3yo when I first played Candy Land. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_Land
I was 11 when I first played (watched more than played, however) Stalingrad. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/8363/turning-point-battle-stalingrad
I was 12 when I first played D&D. https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Basic_Set_(BX_D%26D)
I was 15 when I first played Civ (Played a full 7 hours long game, baby!). https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71/civilization
I was 16 when I first played BattleTech. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1540/battletech
I was 23 when I first played MtG (Last time I ever joined "The Kult Of The New"). https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/463/magic-gathering
I was 28 when I first played a Euro. Can't remember the exact game, but this will suffice: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/catan
And that's just the milestone games! ;D

And now I'm going on 51 years old.
 :(
Not much gaming left for me. I got more time behind me, than in front of me. Soon I must leave this green Earth. But, at least I'm one of the lucky ones!
My first thought was, "What kind of gaming?" I'm glad I'm not the only pedant. Assuming the OP meant RPGs, I started as a teen with the original D&D brown boxed set in 1974.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: The Witch-King of Tsámra on December 03, 2020, 05:28:56 PM
I was 13 but I had known about Tabletop RPGs for a number of years prior.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: SirFrog on December 03, 2020, 05:35:17 PM
13...so 31 years ago with AD&D
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Heavy Josh on December 03, 2020, 08:04:50 PM
I was 9 years old, with my dad's barely-used Red Box D&D in 1986. It said "Ages 10 and Up" on the cover, and I felt like a serious rebel.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Bedrockbrendan on December 03, 2020, 09:45:09 PM
I believe I was 10 or so (in about 86)
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Son-of-Gaia on December 03, 2020, 11:30:37 PM
I was raised along side it. My parents picked up D&D before I was born.  Some of my fondest childhood memories is sitting behind the couch listening to them game.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Genly Ai on December 04, 2020, 03:22:55 AM
When I was about ten, in 97, my mother signed me up for D&D camp. I knew nothing about it but was immediately hooked and went every summer until I worked there as a teen. It was 2nd ed, right around the beginning of the end I guess.

I remember my first character was a Cleric and I got fireballed, but that's about it. Didn't have a regular group until my early twenties but after I got one going I never stopped.

5e is eh, but it's sparked a new renaissance of players in my social circles and its quite refreshing to have players be actively invested in learning rules and running their own games regardless of the cause.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Bogmagog on December 04, 2020, 07:09:27 AM
I started when I was 8 years old in 1978.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Crusader X on December 04, 2020, 11:44:47 AM
I started when I was 11 years old in 1981, with Moldvay Basic D&D.  My next door neighbor Mark was the DM, running The Keep on the Borderlands in his basement for myself and two other neighborhood kids.  We quickly acquired the AD&D books as well (DMG, PHB, MM), and mixed them in with the Basic rules.  We thought everything with the D&D name on it was supposed to work together.  And it pretty much did, more or less. 
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Rob Necronomicon on December 04, 2020, 01:31:14 PM
13 on D&D red box (early 80s).
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: KingCheops on December 04, 2020, 02:05:31 PM
10 with the winged helm 2e AD&D PHB.  I'd been playing Battletech for about a year before the FLGS guy convinced my mom to buy it for me.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Lynn on December 04, 2020, 08:22:50 PM
I was 13 when I got the Holmes Basic Box in 1977. I played with a few different groups of primarily adults. When the Player's Handbook for AD&D 1e came out the following year, I started running games.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Slipshot762 on December 05, 2020, 05:42:59 AM
8.
started with becmi red box.
then did ad&d 1e and later 2e, marvel super heroes, some 1-shots of top secret gamma world etc. before weg star wars D6.
3e was the last edition of d&d i played, which i liked just fine, seemed to me like a return of 1e but with unified roll-high mechanic and unified system concerning supernatural/spell-like/extraordinary abilities/ petrification etc.
never had a fraction of the problems with it that many claimed to have. never tried 4e and have read some of 5e but never played it.
currently i do D6 system exclusively and probably always will.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Eric Diaz on December 05, 2020, 12:04:21 PM
9 or 10.

Went from Fighting Fantasy books to GURPS.

I barely played D&D (in comparison to other games), except some black box, and the "Dragon Quest" game.

Fell in love with D&D many years later (I thought 3.x was complicated, didn't like 4e, only OSR and 5e brought me back to the fold).
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: JeffB on December 05, 2020, 12:35:43 PM
First  couple games I was 7, started playing in earnest at age 8 (1977).

Took off some time for my primary hobbies (archery competition/bowhunting/guitars/girls/guns/powerlifting-- not necc in order)  from age 16 to age 23 or so ( SSI and other CRPGs scratched the itch at the time).
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Mistwell on December 05, 2020, 12:50:30 PM
1979, I had just turned 10 years old. Jewish sleep-over camp. AD&D 1e.

Got home and pleaded with my mom to buy the books. Eventually got the core three, read them, but my younger brother was just not up for it given the size of the books. So got the Basic edition (Holmes) and that did it. We played the crap out of that. And finally moved on to AD&D in middle school.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Hakdov on December 05, 2020, 04:35:40 PM
I count my first real game as Panzerblitz and I got it when I was ten.  Avalon Hill was so influential to me that I bought Magic Realm before D&D because I never heard of this TSR company. 
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Omega on December 05, 2020, 09:52:57 PM
Somewhere between 8 and 12 depending on viewpoint. My first exposure to role playing was the old Classroom Sims that were being used in schools before D&D came out. Essentially proto-LARPs.

First exposure to RPGs was probably around the mid 70s. Either Holms Basic or AD&D.

First RPG owned was BX D&D and Universe, soon followed by Star Frontiers and 2e Gamma World, then AD&D.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Mistwell on December 05, 2020, 11:46:22 PM

First exposure to RPGs was probably around the mid 70s. Either Holms Basic or AD&D.


Given release dates, had to be late 70s.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: S'mon on December 06, 2020, 02:22:27 PM
I was 10/11 - 1983, Warlock of Firetop Mountain & Fighting Fantasy, leading me to 1e AD&D.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Philotomy Jurament on December 07, 2020, 06:21:23 PM
I was 8 or 9, and started playing RPGs with the Holmes Basic set. (It was actually my father's.)
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: shuddemell on December 08, 2020, 10:55:25 AM
I was 13 in 1978, started with AD&D.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Charon's Little Helper on December 08, 2020, 12:51:15 PM
I was 18 my freshman year of college when I first started playing D&D (3.5 was my first edition & RPG), but I'd been interested in doing so for some time.

Plus, I'd already played Warhammer 40k for 3-4 years, so it wasn't a huge leap in terms of the rules other than softening them for the RP side of things. I was actually that rare breed of TTRPG player who read all of the rules before playing (and this was 3.5's crunch) and actually helped the DM with a few edge case calls.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Omega on December 08, 2020, 01:50:37 PM

First exposure to RPGs was probably around the mid 70s. Either Holms Basic or AD&D.


Given release dates, had to be late 70s.

I have no idea. At the time I did not know there were effectively now 2 or 2.5 versions of D&D out. And it did not really click till the 80s when BX came out.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Krugus on December 08, 2020, 08:00:58 PM
My mom bought me the red box set from the Sears Christmas Catalog in 1983.   

So I've been playing RPG's for 37 years!  Thanks mom!
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Trond on December 08, 2020, 09:00:46 PM
11 I think
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Ghostmaker on December 09, 2020, 03:03:20 PM
I think I started around 1986-1987. I date it from when I first got a copy of Dragon magazine (issue #126, Oct. 1987). I would've been 12 then, and started with BECMI (granted, we didn't have BECMI, just Basic and Expert).

Good times.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Wicked Woodpecker of West on December 11, 2020, 06:51:52 AM
I was around 20. 2nd years of Uni I think. 2006-2008 something like that.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: jeff37923 on December 11, 2020, 06:31:20 PM
I was 12 and at a Boy Scout camp out. I was watching the game and then one of the older boys said, "Hey, let Jeff play the henchman."
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Vic99 on December 13, 2020, 08:54:41 PM
I started when I was 12.  I'm 50 now.  D&D Red box Basic.  A world of possibilities opened up when we finally got enough money to get the Blue Expert set.

I want to introduce my kids, ages 8 & 10 Xmas break to B/X.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: myleftnut on December 15, 2020, 02:07:37 AM
1992 must have been.  Started with Rifts.  Some kid did a show and tell type presentation and I was hooked.  6th grade.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Abraxus on December 15, 2020, 08:26:36 AM
I was 13 when I started man I feel old. First with the Red Boxed set then 1E D&D then Robotech and the rest they say is history.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Semaj Khan on December 15, 2020, 10:53:46 AM
Long time listener, first time caller here.  8)

I started in the spring of '82... can't remember if it was before or after my 14th birthday. A friend introduced me to the Moldvay/Cook B/X sets... which you could get at Wal-Mart then before the Fundies started raising hell. Quickly transitioned to AD&D over the next year or so. He and I were the only real gamers in our little one-horse Southern town, and our play style reflects on how I play today.

Played some 2E in college and the Navy... didn't make much noise with me because it was just watered down 1E.

Got out and went back to college and fell into 3E, which I wanted to like, but our DM sucked balls and encouraged others to do so too.

Never touched 4E other than reading the pdfs. Then I washed my hands afterward.

5E? Meh. I have the core books. It looks interesting, and maybe one day I'll give it a shot at my FLGS, but I'm in no hurry.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: APN on December 15, 2020, 11:29:53 AM
Started with RPGs when this came out: (Picture not working? Moldvay Basic)

(https://i.postimg.cc/DzGtmbgf/Screenshot-2020-12-15-162035.jpg)

1981 so when I was 9 or 10 (in August of that year). Sold it to a friend to get them playing and intended to buy another but couldn't find any :(

Wrote a game (Dragonsword) based on D&D with loads of classes and basically it was junk but got a newbie group to play it and from there we went to pretty much everything in the early 80s, with the majority of play being AD&D 1e, BECMI, MERP and Marvel Superheroes (replaced by DC Heroes) but tried pretty much damn near every game that came out because I spent most of my pocket money on whatever I could find and one of the guys in the group had rich parents so he was spoilt rotten and bought all the pricey stuff.

I remember him thrusting Rolemaster plus pretty much every splatbook at me and telling me to learn it so I could GM it next session (the day after). I did so but it made my brain burn. I wrote so many homebrew games back in the day I lost track. Every time a new cartoon show came on, a game was scrawled out for it. Thundercats, Space Ghost, whatever.

These days the idea of learning a new game makes my brain burn.

Still running a play by post (since 2009, despite various real life calamities) using a very modified DC Heroes ruleset (scrapped tables, use D12s, ditched reliance on hero points, speeded combat up no end) but haven't played face to face in decades and probably never will again, which saddens me.

That said I got re-acquainted with school mates/old group members a few years ago and they made noises about getting me to run something. Ummed and Ahhhed about it, then covid arrived so all plans were cancelled but maybe next year?



Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: GriswaldTerrastone on July 23, 2021, 06:44:13 PM
Let's see, it was around 1979 at the latest, so, that Dundeons and Dragons Basic Set was...I was thirteen.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Vic99 on July 23, 2021, 10:48:27 PM
12 years old in 1982 Moldvay B/X

Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: palaeomerus on July 23, 2021, 11:42:36 PM
11 years old. Knew about it by seeing it in Christmas Catalogs and in the Toy Box in the Mall (B & X) and hearing about it at school. I got on a bus to go to a hobby shop I knew had some stuff after seeing it there because the hobby shop was near a movie theater and we'd go look at the hobby shop while waiting for the movie to let out and then open up again. I had $60 saved up and stuffed in my sock to get some miniatures (LEAD pewter lumps) and hardback AD&D books which I think were $10.99 then.   

1983 in early April I think.

The guy in the Hobby Shop was nervous because the MM had nudity in it, and he didn't like the game or the crowd so he was trying to talk me into cars, planes and trains models instead. 

Went to Austin Books later that summer to get into other games and board/bagged long box comics and weird indie comics not in the 7-11s,  and also got into an anime store called Alpha Sector and went to my first Sci-fi con that year Armadillo Con as anSFI trekkie or at the time I think it was Trekker. Don't even remember the name of the ship anymore. I stayed in that and went to meetings at Mr Gattis or the Bowling Alley or public library conference rooms right up until TNG came out. 
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: S'mon on July 24, 2021, 01:25:50 AM
11
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Shawn Driscoll on July 24, 2021, 03:03:34 AM
hey everyone . i was wondering how old were you when you started gaming ?
12 or 13 in the '70s. Before AD&D.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: tonybro001 on July 24, 2021, 03:48:54 AM
I was about 10 and had been playing wargames with my dad from about 5.

Growing up in the UK the RPG scene has for me always revolved around the club scene.  I started playing at a wargames club in Bradford before moving to a London and joining SELWG and then starting a string of clubs in and around South East London.

I am not sure if clubs are peculiar to the U.K. but it seems to me that the rise of the VTT and discord has split the hobby into two different camps.  Online and IRL.

Lockdown has convinced me that offline IRL is most definitely the style of play that I prefer.  It’s the social side of getting together one night of the week not bound by technology, bandwidth or the constraints of a screen which for me make my game play so much more nuanced and fun.

My current club Dragons Keep Roleplay Club (http://Https://www.dragonskeep.co.uk) has been back in IRL for about 7 weeks now and I can’t believe the effect it has had on my happiness.

IMHO tabletop RPGs are best played face to face and I know I will be trying to keep that dream alive till the day I die.

Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Trond on July 24, 2021, 06:02:18 AM
I started with RPGs when I was about 11, with “Drager og Demoner” a Norwegian translation of the Swedish game, itself based on a version of Runequest.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: The Spaniard on July 24, 2021, 07:30:13 AM
Started freshman year in HS 80/81 so I was 14.  Got the Moldvay Basic set, followed closely by the AD&D Players Handbook and Monster Manual.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Lynn on July 25, 2021, 01:46:24 PM
I got the Holme's D&D box in 1977, making me 13 at the time. Id seen the original D&D box set for a while but it just didn't leap out at me. I was still collecting comic books and gaming stuff started showing up at the one time best comic book store in town.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: shuddemell on July 25, 2021, 03:11:54 PM
12 years old, 1977.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Yeti Spaghetti on July 25, 2021, 05:44:55 PM
Since 1988 at the age of 13.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: jhkim on July 26, 2021, 01:49:57 AM
Did others have a significant gap between when they were exposed to D&D versus when they started playing? I'm curious if that relates to how people took the game.

As I posted earlier, I learned about D&D in preschool around 1975. My best friend's older brother played OD&D, and older brothers were cool so to us, D&D was cool. So my games of "Let's Pretend" for a while were all about D&D, even though I never actually played. It was many years before I actually got a Basic Set and got to play.

My son also grew up knowing his parents played D&D (along with other RPGs), and we've had a good relationship, and he's now a dedicated player and DM.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Bogmagog on July 26, 2021, 05:51:39 AM
Started when I was 8 back in 1978 I think. That's what I have been going with anyway.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: BronzeDragon on July 26, 2021, 07:47:35 AM
I had my first contact with "Choose your own adventure" books when I was 10, and fully fledged RPGs when I was 12.

Books were really hard to come by here in Brazil, so we did what we could. I was one of the few guys with a full set of the three AD&D core rulebooks, and they got used pretty hard. Most of the time people had xeroxed copies until the 90s rolled around, our economy became a lot better and imported books started showing up a lot more often and for far more reasonable prices.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: zircher on July 26, 2021, 10:59:20 AM
15, Got Tactics II from Avalon Hill as a gift.  But, the big hit that year with the family was Speed Circuit.
16, My brother has seen D&D being played in the school library, described it, and we wrote our own d66 based dungeon crawler game.  Later that summer, we got the Holmes edition of D&D Basic.  So yes, I was a RPG game designer before I was a D&D player.  :-)
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Zalman on July 26, 2021, 01:20:24 PM
When I was about ten, in 97, my mother signed me up for D&D camp. I knew nothing about it but was immediately hooked and went every summer until I worked there as a teen.

q.v. Getting Paid to DM!
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Steven Mitchell on July 26, 2021, 01:20:51 PM
Asked for and got the Blue Box Expert set for Christmas, 1980, age 13.  Sounded interesting, and I figured with cash tight, why start with Basic when you can go straight to Expert, right?  That's what happens when your only exposure to the game is a blurb in the Sears catalog.  :D

Fortunately, a relative had played before and ran a quick sample game.  I was hooked.  Also fortunately, birthday was soon after.  So got the Red Box Basic for that and ran my first game a month later. Been the GM ever since.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: T4topcat on July 26, 2021, 07:18:55 PM
I started playing when I was 11 years old back 78'.

Cheers

Chris
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: dungeon crawler on July 27, 2021, 05:39:05 PM
I started in late 1974 with Original D&D.
 
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: dkabq on July 28, 2021, 06:56:54 AM
Boardgames (first one was AH's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich) when I was ~14. RPGs (started with Holmes Blue Box) when I was ~15.
Title: Re: how old were you when you started ?
Post by: Nosaje on July 28, 2021, 01:38:03 PM
I was 11 or 12 Summer of 85 with the Red Box. The D&D Cartoon and Dragons of Autumn Twilight were the gateway drug ;D. Quickly found a group playing AD&D that fall. Been playing D&D ever since, skipped 4th for Pathfinder. Then back to 5e, but I'm pretty much done with 5e at this point, only playing due to ease of finding a group. Also started up a 2nd edition game with my old group this summer...its been a blast so far. I also play board wargames which I got into in High School, primarily ASL.