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I'm pretty sure everyone on my flist who has ever had anything to do with role-playing has heard by now of the passing of one of the creators of the modern role-playing game. I am quite and truly saddened to hear it. Thank you Mr. Gygax for putting out a game that has entertained me, frustrated me, fascinated me, devoured enormous amounts of my time, and brought me together regularly with kindred spirits who seek with me still to this day to fight evil with the might of pen, paper, a few dice, and overactive imaginations.
I can still remember my first few D&D sessions. My very first encounter was in the sixth grade lunch room. I was sitting with two kids from my class, Kieth and Matt, and they were teaching me how to play the game. One of them said, write these down in a column on the left hand side of the page. STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA. Now, right down next to each one of those the number 18. (This was both my first encounter with RPGs, and with power gaming. Who says I didn't learn correct right from the start.) The game we played at lunch didn't really pan out, because we didn't have any dice, and they couldn't really figure out how to play at the lunch table. However, the seed had been planted, and I was hooked.
I got that year for christmas the Beginners box set, and the AD&D Player's Handbook. (My parents had no idea that they weren't exactly meant to go together, heck at that point neither did I.) I passed up an opportunity at the time to own both the White edition, and the actual Chainmail rules. The hobby shop down the corner from me actually had some in stock. Unfortunately for me, that hobby shop would close down about a year or so later, so I never picked those up.
I can still remember some of my earliest sessions of D&D. I got sidetracked by all the creation of adventures, that I didn't fully read and understand the rules before I tried to run my older brother Steve through a dungeon. The first room he entered, he encountered a black dragon. We rolled initiative, and he won. My brother, the quick wit that he was, decided that going in close to a dragon was a bad idea. So he used his bow, and took careful aim, and shot at its underbelly. This, I knew. So I had him roll the large round die, and up came a 20. When I looked it up on my chart...lo and behold a 20 was a hit against the creature's armor class. Now, those of you familiar with the game might now expect my brother to be rolling damage. Unfortunately at ten, I hadn't quite absorbed the concept of Hit Dice and Hit Points for the monsters. So I declared the monster dead, and proceeded to give out the treasure and experience. Let's just say, my brother cleaned up on that first adventure rather handily. Thankfully we learned better soon enough.
It's not quite three decades later, and I'm still playing D&D. Two of my oldest, and dearest friends are still there playing along with me, in our monthly sessions. My mother was always convinced that I'd hit a certain age, and would be too old to play D&D. In fact, I think she's still waiting for me to "grow up, and stop playing those kids games." Sorry mom, but I don't see that happening any time soon. My former roomie bought my son a D&D book for Christmas this year. I don't think he'll get the chance to use that particular book, after all, it's 3.5R, and by this summer 4e will be out. By the time he gets old enough to even consider introducing him to the game, they'll be on like 5e or 6something. I look forward to the day when we can smite some evil together.
Thank you Gary, for years of entertainment.
I can still remember my first few D&D sessions. My very first encounter was in the sixth grade lunch room. I was sitting with two kids from my class, Kieth and Matt, and they were teaching me how to play the game. One of them said, write these down in a column on the left hand side of the page. STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA. Now, right down next to each one of those the number 18. (This was both my first encounter with RPGs, and with power gaming. Who says I didn't learn correct right from the start.) The game we played at lunch didn't really pan out, because we didn't have any dice, and they couldn't really figure out how to play at the lunch table. However, the seed had been planted, and I was hooked.
I got that year for christmas the Beginners box set, and the AD&D Player's Handbook. (My parents had no idea that they weren't exactly meant to go together, heck at that point neither did I.) I passed up an opportunity at the time to own both the White edition, and the actual Chainmail rules. The hobby shop down the corner from me actually had some in stock. Unfortunately for me, that hobby shop would close down about a year or so later, so I never picked those up.
I can still remember some of my earliest sessions of D&D. I got sidetracked by all the creation of adventures, that I didn't fully read and understand the rules before I tried to run my older brother Steve through a dungeon. The first room he entered, he encountered a black dragon. We rolled initiative, and he won. My brother, the quick wit that he was, decided that going in close to a dragon was a bad idea. So he used his bow, and took careful aim, and shot at its underbelly. This, I knew. So I had him roll the large round die, and up came a 20. When I looked it up on my chart...lo and behold a 20 was a hit against the creature's armor class. Now, those of you familiar with the game might now expect my brother to be rolling damage. Unfortunately at ten, I hadn't quite absorbed the concept of Hit Dice and Hit Points for the monsters. So I declared the monster dead, and proceeded to give out the treasure and experience. Let's just say, my brother cleaned up on that first adventure rather handily. Thankfully we learned better soon enough.
It's not quite three decades later, and I'm still playing D&D. Two of my oldest, and dearest friends are still there playing along with me, in our monthly sessions. My mother was always convinced that I'd hit a certain age, and would be too old to play D&D. In fact, I think she's still waiting for me to "grow up, and stop playing those kids games." Sorry mom, but I don't see that happening any time soon. My former roomie bought my son a D&D book for Christmas this year. I don't think he'll get the chance to use that particular book, after all, it's 3.5R, and by this summer 4e will be out. By the time he gets old enough to even consider introducing him to the game, they'll be on like 5e or 6something. I look forward to the day when we can smite some evil together.
Thank you Gary, for years of entertainment.
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