How D&D Changed My Life @ Salon

This isn't actually computer/video-game related but I thought some readers might enjoy How Dungeons & Dragons Changed My Life at Salon:

Every Friday night, from my eighth grade to my senior year in high school, I fell into a realm of wizards' towers, battle axes melees and exploding fireballs. This was an age before 21st century diversions — no Internet, e-mail, cell phones or social networking — and Dungeons & Dragons was my total escape. When I wasn't sleeping or in class, I'd draw maps of my Middle-earth-like lands, plan the exploits of my characters and scheme elaborate back stories of my world. From 1979 to 1984, I was under D&D's spell.
But wanting to be a cooler, beer-drinking, girl-bedding kind of guy, I stopped playing D&D when I went to college. There was shame in them thar imaginary hills. So I shelved that yearning for fantasy heroics, which looked so weak and antisocial. I told myself, You don't need D&D anymore.
Boy, was I wrong.

More information.

why would you play Dnd when you can LARP?

hey guys, did you know that david gayder larped as a vampire at one point?

That reply is Codexian to the max.

I've recently got a bunch of nerds back into D&D many years after they all shelved their own fantasy heroics and I've been running an OD&D (Basic/Expert/Companion..) campaign online for a month now via a virtual tabletop app. It's nerdy good times.

I have to say that if I have any regrets from my childhood, its that I never got into PnP RPG's. I wanted to, but I didn't really have anyone to play with. My best friends were that athletic types and while we geeked to Nintendo, Apple II's, C64's and eventually PC's, playing D&D never came up. I tried once to get them to play the ElfQuest RPG, but we only ever got as far as making characters.

I ended up becoming good friends with a group my senior year of high school that had previously been very active in the PnP area. They had pretty much played every Warhammer module that had been put out, but by the time I became friends with them, they weren't playing anymore. We played once in college, but I think buying several bottles of JD before hand might not have been the best idea!

This tale could be true for TDE as well.

Well, I think it could be true for *any* major pen & paper rule sets and/or settings !

Never played D&D in any form prior to Baldur's Gate. Although I was always a fan of the Monster Manuals, and actually owned several of them…

I played ridiculous amounts of PnP RPGs… I even played freaking Battletech for cryin out loud.

Never played any type of PnP and i have no idea how they are played .
This guy on the article seems to have a lot of fun.

*Salutes the Captain and nods in agreement about Battletech with memories of running around in Wasps and Locusts.* I always wanted an Atlas though, but our GM would never let me.

This thread makes me feel like the proverbial dinosaur. I played 1st ed-3.5 AD&D (including basic) dating back through my high school and uni years. My group of buddies went semi-retired and into middle-aged family-oriented mode during 4th Ed's rise and so we haven't really had the time to get back into our old campaign.

I've also had lots of fun with the likes of Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Talisman and Heroquest - to name a few of my other old favourites of yore.

As far as cRPGs go, I'm not as experienced as some - since my first was Curse of the Azure Bonds. I didn't get to play Pool of Radiance until a couple years later. AD&D and its derived cRPGs were an irrevocable "gateway" for me back in the 'day.

I just remembered. Anyone else play:

I'm having such a dorkgasm right now.

This is why I love RPGs so much. Playing all these PnP and board games got me into reading sci-fi and fantasy novels, and subsequently got me into playing RPGs on the computer. I'd still be playing PnP RPGs if I had the time and the space.

looks p.boring to me

i'm a better rper than you guys, i have a cardboard box and pretend its a rolling arthurian castle with busty wenches and a brian blessed like king.

Originally Posted by SAGO
looks p.boring to me
i'm a better rper than you guys, i have a cardboard box and pretend its a rolling arthurian castle with busty wenches and a brian blessed like king.

Do you also imagine that you're the village idiot?

Originally Posted by JDR13
Do you also imagine that you're the village idiot?

are you questioning my creative thinking?

ofc i can.

What's ofc ?

interestingly, I started playing D&D in college