"Old Gamers" and "Young Gamers"


3.5/d20/OGL

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I see a lot of discussion about how things "used to be" and how "old gamers" do things differently than "young gamers" so I thought "Gee... what is the defining characteristic that separates old gamers from young gamers?"

So let's hear it then. What makes an old gamer an old gamer? Is it actual chronological age? Does it have to do with what editions/modules/etc. you started out with? I suppose it is implied that anyone who is NOT an "old gamer" is therefore a "young gamer" (since we are assuming that they are SOME kind of gamer in our narrow scope of reference here).

I can tell you the following statistics:

  • I am 24 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 9.
  • My very first character was made with 2nd Edition rules. He was a dual-classed human Fighter/Mage.
  • I remember a time when character classes were restricted by race and had minimum stat requisites.
  • I understand THAC0.
  • I began DMing when 3.0 first came out (I think 1995ish?).
  • I have been playing regularly ever since, though the vast majority (read: 95%) of my gaming experience has been with 3.0 or 3.5 rules.
  • I am familiar with Spelljammer only because one of my friends in high school was obsessed with it.
  • I played in a 2nd Edition Ravenloft module (Ship of Horrors) in 1999.

Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!


Fatespinner wrote:

I see a lot of discussion about how things "used to be" and how "old gamers" do things differently than "young gamers" so I thought "Gee... what is the defining characteristic that separates old gamers from young gamers?"

So let's hear it then. What makes an old gamer an old gamer? Is it actual chronological age? Does it have to do with what editions/modules/etc. you started out with? I suppose it is implied that anyone who is NOT an "old gamer" is therefore a "young gamer" (since we are assuming that they are SOME kind of gamer in our narrow scope of reference here).

I can tell you the following statistics:

  • I am 24 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 9.
  • My very first character was made with 2nd Edition rules. He was a dual-classed human Fighter/Mage.
  • I remember a time when character classes were restricted by race and had minimum stat requisites.
  • I understand THAC0.
  • I began DMing when 3.0 first came out (I think 1995ish?).
  • I have been playing regularly ever since, though the vast majority (read: 95%) of my gaming experience has been with 3.0 or 3.5 rules.
  • I am familiar with Spelljammer only because one of my friends in high school was obsessed with it.
  • I played in a 2nd Edition Ravenloft module (Ship of Horrors) in 1999.

Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!

My dad is definately an old gamer he actualy played with one of the guys who first invented D&D with no books, nothing but paper and dice!

I am 15

Liberty's Edge

Fatespinner wrote:


Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!

It's hard to say that. I'm 38, so yeah, you're a "young gamer" to me.

I wish I was 24 again, but there it is.
I went to a work meeting where they talked about Gen X, Gen Y, and the Millenial generation in the work place, and we could use those groupings if we wanted, until a baby boomer comes along and tells me I'm just a wee tyke of a whippersnapper.
One of the things I remember--as a Gen Xer, they explained to me that a Gen Y kid had his parents ask him/her where he/she wanted to go for the family vacation, and might actually go where the kid wanted to go.
For me, this is crazy sounding; my folks would never give that much of a crap about my desires. Kids are best seen, not heard, is what our generation was taught.
So the Gen Y kid comes to work, and thinks his opinion matters even if he's a low man on the totem pole, and the Gen Xer gets his mind blown by this. He can't believe that the Baby boomer boss guy is listening to this punk. But the Baby boomer boss guy likes it, because the Gen Y kid looks like a take charge kinda guy.
There are indeed subtle (and not so) diffferences in the generations.


Fatespinner wrote:
I see a lot of discussion about how things "used to be" and how "old gamers" do things differently than "young gamers" so I thought "Gee... what is the defining characteristic that separates old gamers from young gamers?"

Restraining orders?

Fatespinner wrote:


So let's hear it then. What makes an old gamer an old gamer? Is it actual chronological age? Does it have to do with what editions/modules/etc. you started out with? I suppose it is implied that anyone who is NOT an "old gamer" is therefore a "young gamer" (since we are assuming that they are SOME kind of gamer in our narrow scope of reference here).

Chronological age defines old, and if you just started playing yesterday but you belong to the AARP you're technically an old gamer, but not what we mean when we say old gamer. Then again, if you've been playing since you were 6 and now you're 22, do those 16 years of experience make you an old gamer in most people's eyes? Probably not.

Fatespinner wrote:


I can tell you the following statistics:
  • I am 24 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 9.
  • My very first character was made with 2nd Edition rules. He was a dual-classed human Fighter/Mage.
  • I remember a time when character classes were restricted by race and had minimum stat requisites.
  • I understand THAC0.
  • I began DMing when 3.0 first came out (I think 1995ish?).
  • I have been playing regularly ever since, though the vast majority (read: 95%) of my gaming experience has been with 3.0 or 3.5 rules.
  • I am familiar with Spelljammer only because one of my friends in high school was obsessed with it.
  • I played in a 2nd Edition Ravenloft module (Ship of Horrors) in 1999.

Show off. I feel like I was just flashed in the street!

Showoffspinner wrote:
Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!

You sir, are a just right gamer.

Scarab Sages

I would have to say that, in my opinion, it is a combination of age and playing experience. The way I see it, anyone who gamed with at least 2E rules and is over the age of 30 can be considered and "old gamer".


I guess I'm an old gamer.

I'm 34 years old.
I started playing when I was around tweleve (1st ed.).
Although I never played any of the original modules (didn't start using modules until 2nd ed).
I have DM'd from about day one, getting some player time here and there.
I played in and own most everything for 2nd ed Ravenloft.
Same for Darksun and Spellgammer.
I have characters sheets for most of the characters I have ever played and even a fair share of the characters I have DM'd for.
As a DM I starting doing all homebrew and now run mostly modules.
I own way too many mini's and Dwarven Forge to be healthy. ;)
My kids love dice.
My son plays a little (he's age 8).

Yep old gamer it is.


I would say the "old gamers" are the ones that play the game by the rules. They like a good dungeon, some pretzals in a wooden bowl and a mug of beer. They play around a barstool and chainsmoke and look across at each other with that Clint Eastwood gaze. They know it's a game, and expect no more from it. They get together to laugh and play and do things they couldn't really do in real life. They don't get serious or angsty about it--and laugh at those who do. They build a character expecting him to have the lifespan of the average gnat, but believe that his party taking him back to Town (a town actually named "Town") is their oathsworn duty.

New gamers cut their teeth on later games like Vampire and L5R. They are into making and exploring characters and telling stories that mean something and that are worth telling--even to a crowd of people who have never roleplayed ever. They are into drama and tragedy even more sometimes than they are into action or intrigue. For them, sometimes, losing makes for an even better story than winning. They bend the rules around till they're unrecognizable or just huck them out the window entirely. They can be a bit smug and elitist sometimes, but it's only because they love the game so durn much. They will cry and throw their arms around someone who's run them a good game and will heft upon their shoulders and carry around the room the kind of player who brings a tear to their eye with a really rich performance. They like cool looking dice, sure--but they really like dice that fit the mood and personality of their character.

That's my take.

EDIT: Oh I'm 32, first character was a Red Box Magic User called The Weird Wizard. I was 5.


Fatespinner wrote:
  • I am 24 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 9.
Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!
  • I am 35 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 6 (I kid you not).
I consider you an "old gamer," but just barely. ;)


Vegepygmy wrote:
Fatespinner wrote:
  • I am 24 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 9.
Am I an "old gamer" or a "young gamer"? You decide!
  • I am 35 years old.
  • I have been playing D&D since I was 6 (I kid you not).
I consider you an "old gamer," but just barely. ;)

Hey, me too! Age six. I was the mascot brought along to play with a bunch of college kids in Boston back in the 70's box set days.

I still have all of my early notes. They aren't in crayon per se, but my manic primordial font looks like the scrawl of a deranged mathemetician.

Edit: Hey, I just found this old post of mine on the messageboards.

In 1974 I was a lil kid who followed some college students onto campus in Boston and into a room afterschool. I was an intrusive little brat and this was nothing new. They allowed it. I'd had the hobbit read to me that same year and, initiated into the lyric of epic fantasy, discovered D&D to be as colorful and appealing as crack-sprinkled Froot Loops.

My first character was a no frills dwarven fighter named Forgus, which I later realized was probably just an unambitious variant of 'forge'.

Forgus never got to second level. A Grimtooth style DM informed me that the large statue whose hands I'd climbed up, held out in front of it like steps, was actually just an extremely patient giant of particularly granite complexion. No one at the table bought it and I was given a reprieve but during the very next adventure I was forced to attempt to use a wand (I know the rules don't bear this out) to stop a rushing horde of orcs in a banquet hall. The wand went boom. The orcs were dead. The room had chests full of high level treasure alas, the treasure was quite dead as well. And Forgus was blinded. Then the sound of massive beating wings bearing down upon me. Two rounds later I was neck deep in a jacuzzi of farm fresh dragon poo.

I just retired poor Forgus before this particular DM could raise the dwarf's charisma score then shove him into a Turkish prison full of megaphallic hobgoblins. Who does that to a three foot tall kid? lol, bastid.

Liberty's Edge

An old gamer is someone who enters a conversation with, "Well, the first time I heard this argument/saw this mechanic/played this style ...."

So, the first time I heard this discussion, an old gamer was somebody who had played Avalon Hill's Gettysburg in its initial release. By now, I suspect it's anyone who played 3.0.

Dang kids these days; get off of my lawn!

ps. I'm 46 and started playing adventure games when I was 13 and D&D when I was 15. I stopped playing D&D, though not RPGs, for years after an annoying Gygax editorial in Dragon during the initial AD&D 1st ed. publication cycle, the thrust of which was that if you weren't playing by the RAW, you weren't playing D&D. He was right, I was playing Rune Quest. 8-)

Silver Crusade

It's tricky business. I'm in the "started when I was 6" crowd, although a couple years older than Fatespinner. I started with the box sets, although AD&D 1st ed had just come out. I think my first character was of the "halfling" class.

But being under 30, I don't think many people would call me an old gamer.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

2e: Good Age to be, not too old, not too young, just right.

3e: Young, practically a baby.

3.5: GET BACK IN THE WOMB!

That's my totally honest an unbiased view. FS, I'd put you mostly in the Young category.


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I think that if minis and rolling dice for character interaction are disconcerting, you're an Old Gamer. If the thought of playing out a battle using only words, dice, and imagination seems too unstructured, or the DM arbitarily determining whether or not you succeed at haggling based only on how well you role-play it is scary, you're probably a new gamer.

Contributor

Azhrei wrote:
I think that if minis and rolling dice for character interaction are disconcerting, you're an Old Gamer. If the thought of playing out a battle using only words, dice, and imagination seems too unstructured, or the DM arbitarily determining whether or not you succeed at haggling based only on how well you role-play it is scary, you're probably a new gamer.

By this standard I am definitely an old gamer. I have never run a game with minis in my life. I think the rise of the Mini has a lot of cool benefits for some gamers but for me, it kills the fun of the whole experience. I love the D&D minis game a lot, but when I roleplay I want to interact with the DM and the other players, not stare at a mat with plastic things on it. I know you can do both, but I find the minis draws the focus away from everybody else and sinks it down into the table. For me at least this is not as much fun.


Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

2e: Good Age to be, not too old, not too young, just right.

Lemme guess, Goldilocks... you're in the 2e just right crowd? ;)


Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

Yikes! I’m only 32 and I’m a Dinosaur! While I started when I was eight and my first character’s class was “elf” – Beginner and Expert rulebooks, red and blue, I missed the second half of 2e and all of 3e, so Dinosaur doesn’t seem quite right. I think we need to take into consideration years of playing experience as well as starting edition.

FS – I’d say between starting edition and years experience you qualify as an old timer. I don’t think I do by that measure.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

The Jade wrote:
Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

2e: Good Age to be, not too old, not too young, just right.

Lemme guess, Goldilocks... you're in the 2e just right crowd? ;)

How'd you guess, grandpa? ;)

Liberty's Edge

Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

I guess that makes me Paleozoic, since I started before the dinosaurs.

Dang new-fangled dinosaurs; get off of my lawn!

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

Doug Sundseth wrote:


I guess that makes me Paleozoic, since I started before the dinosaurs.

Dang new-fangled dinosaurs; get off of my lawn!

You get bonus points for being old enough to be the father of most gamers that started with 2e. ;-)


I'm 28- Older than Fatey, younger than Heath. Wow.

I started playing D&D in high school but my first exposure to it was back in junior high in my church's youth group. I never played, but I got familiar with the parlance and when I got the chance to join a game years later, I jumped at it. I bought all the books, but a lot of the idiosyncracies of second ed's THACO system lost me. Since I was a little slow on the D&D angle, I was somehow elected to become either the "Rifts" guy or the "Shadowrun" guy for my group. I chose Rifts...and man, was that a mistake! But it got me into great worlds with mangled rules, so I looked at D&D with a new eye and found that I loved a lot of the weird (read: Not Forgotten Realms) stuff- Dark Sun and Spelljammer particularly. I played a couple of games, but it wasn't until I went down south for the summer with my dad and a copy of Werewolf(2nd ed)that I entered my gaming renaissance. So I guess in a way I am a "young" gamer- I didn't get serious until my WOD years- but I started with 2nd ed, so I'm also kind of "old". Maybe I'm middle-aged?


Sebastian wrote:
The Jade wrote:
Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

2e: Good Age to be, not too old, not too young, just right.

Lemme guess, Goldilocks... you're in the 2e just right crowd? ;)
How'd you guess, grandpa? ;)

Whudya say?

::pulls out his lissnin horn::


I think if you played 1st edition then your an old gamer. If your not old enough to have played 1st edition, then your not an old gamer.


Sir Kaikillah wrote:
I think if you played 1st edition then your an old gamer. If your not old enough to have played 1st edition, then your not an old gamer.

Whudya say?

::cranks his Jalopy:: ;)


Sebastian wrote:

I'd divide it by the edition you started with:

1e: Very Old. Dinosaur Old. Older than Dirt Old.

2e: Good Age to be, not too old, not too young, just right.

3e: Young, practically a baby.

3.5: GET BACK IN THE WOMB!

That's my totally honest an unbiased view. FS, I'd put you mostly in the Young category.

At 25 years of age, that makes me a dinosaur.

Started with 1st edition, when I was six. I still have my first "character sheet." A theif, written out on yellow lined paper (legal pad).

I found it tucked into my dad's old copy of keep on the borderlands, which is the first module I played.
we moved in to 2nd ed pretty darn quickly, though...

I resisted 3rd edition pretty hard when it showed up. Base attack bonus? but where's my THAC0? only three saves? and what the heck are those "feat" things?

so... yeah. I guess i'm a dinosaur.

edit:

Oh, and it's Strength, Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, in that order DAGNABIT!

Liberty's Edge

Cool. I can start m'boy out on D&D in 2 years. ;)


Heathansson wrote:
Cool. I can start m'boy out on D&D in 2 years. ;)

yep! One of my gaming group is running a simplified 3rd ed game for his 5 year old son, who's been obsessed with the adults and their minis for quite a while now.

Just remember to keep it simple and the kids will have lots of fun.

Dark Archive Bella Sara Charter Superscriber

windnight wrote:
Heathansson wrote:
Cool. I can start m'boy out on D&D in 2 years. ;)

yep! One of my gaming group is running a simplified 3rd ed game for his 5 year old son, who's been obsessed with the adults and their minis for quite a while now.

Just remember to keep it simple and the kids will have lots of fun.

Never. RAW or not at all. Make them track encumbrance damnit.


Wow...

I'm a dinosaur. 36.

AD&D - 1980s

Power-gaming: GURPS, Rolemaster and Champions w/miniatures - 1990s

The Gaming Interregnum 2001-2005

Straight to 3.5 last year.

Oh yeah, and going from AD&D to 3.5 was pretty staggering.


I'm an old gamer. 39 years old.

1st game ever: D&D, blue booklet thingy with the dragon on it, November 1980

Transitioned to AD&D 1e: December 1980

Transitioned to 2e: February 1989, I think?

Transitioned to 3.0: Never, didn't even know it existed.

Transitioned to 3.5: 2004....by sheer accident....got lucky and saw two PH at game store and one said 3.5 and had a later publication date, so I picked that one. Might have accidentally bought 3.0 out of sheer ignorance had I not paid attention.

You're a young gamer if you never played 1e/2e or original D&D. That's the bottom line. It'll move in about a decade.

Liberty's Edge

It's funny; when did 2e become old guard?
"Is this the little girl I carried,
Is this the little boy at play,....
I don't remember growing older, when...did...they...?"
Sunrise sunset....


Sebastian wrote:
windnight wrote:
Heathansson wrote:
Cool. I can start m'boy out on D&D in 2 years. ;)

yep! One of my gaming group is running a simplified 3rd ed game for his 5 year old son, who's been obsessed with the adults and their minis for quite a while now.

Just remember to keep it simple and the kids will have lots of fun.

Never. RAW or not at all. Make them track encumbrance damnit.

"WHAT'S YOUR TOUCH ARMOR CLASS, BILLY?" SAY IT!!! SAY IT!!!!!

QUIT CRYING.....OH GO AHEAD AND RUN TO MOMMA!!!!

Liberty's Edge

FAKEY CHECK!!! DO WE HAVE A PING?!?


windnight wrote:


Started with 1st edition, when I was six. I still have my first "character sheet." A theif, written ....

Did you convert him to a rouge?


farewell2kings wrote:
windnight wrote:


Started with 1st edition, when I was six. I still have my first "character sheet." A theif, written ....
Did you convert him to a rouge?

bah. Thief, theif, all the same to a six year old. (yes, theif is actually written on the sheet). He's also "nutral."

lol.


Not to seem like I’m trying to “one-up” anyone, but from what I’ve read so far, it seems that I’m destined to end up the Grand Patriarch of the batch. At best, I’m going to tie Doug Suddeth, and old doesn’t even enter into it. I gave advice on dinosaur creation, came up with the idea of their mass-extinction and helped co-DM the event!

I will turn 50 at the end of this coming August.
I started playing in February 1977, so I’ve been at it 30 years. (That’s why Doug and I may tie – he’s 3 years younger but has been playing 3 years longer – so it’s a tie, at best). I couldn’t play much earlier than that because the game had only been published for 2-3 years before that, and I had to enlist in the USAF to get out of the small town I grew up in and get introduced to real life before I found it.

I definitely started playing with 1e. In fact, I remember when the Greyhawk supplement was first published!

”Fatespinner” wrote:
I understand THAC0

THAC0 is cutting-edge innovation.

”The Jade” wrote:
Restraining orders?
”Sebastian” wrote:
You get bonus points for being old enough to be the father of most gamers that started with 2e. ;-)

Let me know when you’re old enough to have grand children that play!

”Grimcleaver” wrote:
"old gamers" are the ones that play the game by the rules. They like a good dungeon, some pretzels in a wooden bowl and a mug of beer. They play around a barstool and chain-smoke and look across at each other with that Clint Eastwood gaze. They know it's a game, and expect no more from it. They get together to laugh and play and do things they couldn't really do in real life. They don't get serious or angsty about it--and laugh at those who do. They build a character expecting him to have the lifespan of the average gnat, but believe that his party taking him back to Town (a town actually named "Town") is their oath sworn duty.

Excellent points all – I have to second (or even third) every one of them.

”Doug Suddeth” wrote:

An old gamer is someone who enters a conversation with, "Well, the first time I heard this argument/saw this mechanic/played this style ...."

…old gamer was somebody who had played Avalon Hill's Gettysburg in its initial release.

Can we go all the way back to Kingmaker? SSI’s Airwars? North Africa campaign? Diplomacy? How much further back do we need to go before we start messing with paradox? Even Sebastian’s hair-splitting can’t save me from being labeled as “Old”. I’ve used mini’s on and off since I first started playing. Mostly it’s a matter of whether it’s good for that particular game. I remember when DM screens were new and the Citystate of the Mad Overlord was first advertised. I remember when Thunderhold and Palace of the Vampire Queen were the most popular and most current pre-fab adventures there were! Ral Partha (only THE premier miniature producer at the time – they were even ritzier than Grenadier!) was selling their Imperial Dragon mini (7 ¼” high, 21” long, wingspan 11 ½“, weight 5lbs, but still “in scale” for a 25mm figurine) only cost $35.00. I experimented with Empire of the Petal Throne, Metamorphosis Alpha, and the first-line Boot Hill. I still own the first 5 Strategic Review issues (precursor to Dragon Magazine!), thought that Starfire and Stellar Conquest were “cute” beer-and-pretzel games, and have completely lost my patience and perspective on all this new-fangled third edition that has nothing to do with my beloved D&D except the vaguest of conceptual links (sort of like saying that Julius Caesar is conceptually linked to Anna-Nicole’s baby!

By the way Doug, when you finally get the lawn cleared, remember you won’t get your allowance this week if it isn’t mowed…

*adjust bifocals*, *smiles toothlessly*, *lays down on bear-skin sleeping pallet*, * asks to be awakened when the trilobite stew is ready*

Dark Archive

Sir Kaikillah wrote:
I think if you played 1st edition then your an old gamer. If your not old enough to have played 1st edition, then your not an old gamer.

WOW I'm 32 and I first started with the red box edition, in fact (turning in my chair, looking at my bookcase of gaming materials) I still have it and its on my shelf. I still even have some of my old first edition modules that I use in my group and we play 3.5("Secret of Bone Hill" and "The Book of Wonderous Inventions" anyone???).


windnight wrote:
farewell2kings wrote:
windnight wrote:


Started with 1st edition, when I was six. I still have my first "character sheet." A theif, written ....
Did you convert him to a rouge?

bah. Thief, theif, all the same to a six year old. (yes, theif is actually written on the sheet). He's also "nutral."

lol.

LOL!!! I was trying to lure in Fake Healer.......

Liberty's Edge

Sebastian wrote:
windnight wrote:
Heathansson wrote:
Cool. I can start m'boy out on D&D in 2 years. ;)

yep! One of my gaming group is running a simplified 3rd ed game for his 5 year old son, who's been obsessed with the adults and their minis for quite a while now.

Just remember to keep it simple and the kids will have lots of fun.

Never. RAW or not at all. Make them track encumbrance damnit.

I don't even track encumbrance! What's heward's handy haversack fer, if not to free the dungeonmaster from inane accounting?!?

;)


farewell2kings wrote:

LOL!!! I was trying to lure in Fake Healer.......

huh.

I could help... I think If I go dig in the old box I keep my old OLD gamer stuff in I have a fiter/rouge in there somewhere... ;-)

Liberty's Edge

Actually, I think he's allright, because he's using "rouge" in some kinda context.
I'll await fake fakey fakester the fakemeister general's ruling though.


I'm old and lawgiver could be my dad.

Dad?


You know you're an old gamer...

... If you (the DM) keep refering to the monster's attack bonus as the 'To Hit' bonus or the THACO, you sir are an old gamer.

... If you've ever been to the keep on the borderlands, you're pretty old.

... If the words Rods, Staves and Wands makes you giggle, you're probably an old gamer.

... If you remember when Dwarf was a class, you're definetly and old gamer.

... If you've ever experienced the meat grinder (a.k.a. The Tomb of Horrors), you're pretty much an old gamer.

... If you still think that TSR makes Dungeons & Dragons, you're probably over the hill.

... If you own plain brown, plain blue, or plain red dice with white wax filing up the numbers, you're surely one of them.

... If you can't look at a map unless it's uniform blue, you're an old gamer.

... If you can recall how the pages of the 'Art of Dungeons & Dragons' book kept falling apart because of poor book-making skills, you're an old gamer.

... If you know what a Magmin is, you're slowly getting there.

... If the word 'cantrip' makes you shiver, you're probably pretty old.

... If you ever bought D&D books that came in a box, you've gotta be pretty old.

... If you don't know what a 'gnome' is, you're an old gamer.

Ultradan


You know you're an old gamer when:

--You're still waiting for your replacement copy of Unearthed Arcana after you sent in that complaint letter to TSR in 1985 because it fell apart in a month.

---You see a stat block with a gargantuan's creature's touch AC of 3 and wonder how the hell it got such a good armor class....

---You realize your percentile dice for your new thief character are about as useless as t%** on a hog.

---You are saddened by the fact that newbies can actually understand attack rolls after just one gaming session.

---You had no trouble with surprise rolls that involved a d6 for one creature, a d8 for another, a d12 for the third.....

---You actually remember using your d12s!!!

---You have lead miniatures.....

---You poured your own lead miniatures using molds you bought out of Dragon magazine

---You made up your own "modules" because that's what adventures were called!!!

---You marveled at the technical wonder that was the 3-D maps in B4....

---You thought Erol Otus' drawn clothing on AD&D art would make good outfits to take to the disco...."check out those thighs!!"

---The bold challenge of filling in your own rooms in "In Search of the Unknown" gave you an incredible rush of creative power

Liberty's Edge

You colored in the numbers on your 20-sideds with the crayon that came in the red box...
You still think of Graz'zt as one of those "newer" guys outta S-4...
You know what module I-6 was.
You know what module I-5 was.
You know any I modules...
You call "sneak attack" "backstab"

Anybody you meet wearing leather armor and a longsword must be a thief
(instead of nowadays--he could be a ranger, a fighter, a "rogue" and if he doesn't have a lute maybe he's still a bard...)


Kruelaid wrote:

I'm old and lawgiver could be my dad.

Dad?

Worth nothing that you made me laugh with this.

EDIT: I MEANT 'WORTH NOTING!"

Sings: "What a difference an H makes..."


You're an old gamer if you know what the d4 trick is.
You're really old if you remember playing the d4 trick.
You're too old if you laughed when playing the d4 trick on others.

*sigh*

Liberty's Edge

You're definitely an old gamer if:

You still use "FM" as an abbreviation for "Fighter".

You know what "disintegrating dice" are. (Well, were.)

You took care not to show the cover of Eldritch Wizardry or the interior illustrations of Empire of the Petal Throne to your parents.

You gamed on the Starship Warden.

You played a Bard before it was a "prestige" class.

You remember the old 2d6 combat system as well as the optional d20 one.

You remember waiting for the next issue of TJGJ.

You know that "TJGJ" stood for The Judges' Guild Journal.

You noticed "% Liar" in the rulebooks before the Murphy's Rules comic about it.

You know what levels a "Myrmidon", "Theurgist", "Thief", and "Vicar" were.

ps. If your Rogue is a Roue', he might need rouge.

The Exchange

Heathansson wrote:
FAKEY CHECK!!! DO WE HAVE A PING?!?

Sorry, just got back from a week on vacation in Florida (of course it was the only rainy time in the last 6 week when I go there).

Too tired to F with spelling today, maybe tomorrow.

I started with the Purplish boxed set of OD&D (basic) that had a schoolkid's drawing of a dragon on it. Before red box. I am 36, started at 9ish. I am an old gamer, with the maturity level of a 23 year old.
Respectfully, Fate, you are a young gamer with more experience and exposure to differing varieties than most of your like-aged gamers.
You, sir, are a young gamer with an old gamer's soul. That is why you fit in so well with nostalgic ramblings that ooze onto the boards here.

my opinion,
FH
(going to bed now, see yall tomorrow)


Your definatley an old gamer if -

You played a 1st-edition bard (legititmately) and have the character sheets to back it up.

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