So, I am curious how my fellow geeks ended up the way they are--you know, hanging out in card/comic shops; spending more money in one month on source books than they do on their cars, ever; etc.
For me? Well, around the age of six or seven I got hooked on choose-your-own-adventure books, especially Lone Wolf. Also in my early youth, I remember the local PBS station played Japanese dramatic-soap-opera type shows every sunday afternoon. I have no clue what it was I was watching, but I loved the foreign culture, not to mention sword-play and ninjas!
I was entirely moldable, and by the age of ten I started playing D&D (the red box). I remember my first adventure my brother ran me through was Alicorn, I think out of Dungeon 29.
I've never been able to shake it, and looking back I have to blame ninjas and Lone Wolf.
Hmmm...I'd have to say it was a combination of my mom, my dad and my brother.
My mom was always big into fantasy paintings - she would repaint Boris and Frazetta pictures for people and get paid for them, as well as her own stuff. One of my favorite artists, me mum! Big into Conan and other comics as well and encouraged my brother and I to read anything we could get our hands on, pretty much. When we lived in Alaska, we would go out rambling in the back woods, making up stories as we went along. She also recreated the map from the Hobbit, complete with the moon letters (she used lemon juice).
My dad was the tech geek. He was always into electronics and radios and most definitely into computers, especially when they started becoming available for home use (he was in the Air Force). He really sparked my interest in all things technical and scientific. National Geographic and PC Magazine were the two magazine subscriptions that we had that followed us around everywhere we moved to. So I got a magazine full of fantastic photography and maps (I still love maps to this day) to read whenever I wanted to, and a magazine full of computer techie stuff that I didn't understand completely, but gradually did, two habits that stick with me. (Dang it, if I don't understand it now, I'll keep reading and researching until I do!)
And of course, my brother introduced me to D&D sixteen years ago, and I haven't looked back since. :-D
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Sinbad the sailor movies started it along with a healthy dose of Thundercats and my father's old Lord of the Rings hardcover books. But the thing that pushed me over the edge into geekiosity was definately Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
Started playing in 78 or 79' at age 8or9, purplish box set with poorly drawn dragon on the box and color-in numbers on the dice. Wish I still had that set.
FH
Anyone remember Heroquest? That was the first step for me. I learned D&D from a younger friend at the age of 12 or so and was instantly and irrevocably lost to geekdom. Neither of us understood the concept of role-playing at that age so it was all munchkin/monty haul; I've never been able to be a hardliner against that type of play.
And the Gods saith: the world shall be granted to the geeks!
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Sinbad the sailor movies started it along with a healthy dose of Thundercats and my father's old Lord of the Rings hardcover books. But the thing that pushed me over the edge into geekiosity was definately Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
Started playing in 78 or 79' at age 8or9, purplish box set with poorly drawn dragon on the box and color-in numbers on the dice. Wish I still had that set.FH
Thundercats = the cartoon from the 80's?
So, I am curious how my fellow geeks ended up the way they are--you know, hanging out in card/comic shops; spending more money in one month on source books than they do on their cars, ever; etc.
I have quite a few reasons. My father is a classicist, so our bedtime stories were Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. My mother wanted to be an archaeologist, so she encouraged us as well.
I remember reading Lord of the Rings in 3rd grade. _The Hobbit_ has been a "family story" for all my uncles and my father since it came out.
Cartoons, games, my father being a wargamer (All my base are belong to Avalon Hill), living in the Deep South where the storytelling tradition was very much a part of my family...all of these things contributed to my geekdom.
What sold me, though, was the Big Box.
My father's re-enactment buddy owned a hobby store in Jackson, Mississippi. His new wife was Born Again, and wanted him to get into a more 'wholesome' line of work (don't ask). What did he do? He packed up all the gaming stuff in his store and shipped it off to David's kids, because he knew we'd love it.
Can you imagine being in 1st or 2nd grade and getting a box bigger than you /addressed/ to you? It was awesome! There were LotR miniatures, rulebooks to a half-dozen wargames and independent games. There were dice, paints, and comics. Most importantly, there was D&D.
We found ourselves the owners of all the Basic, Intermediate, and Expert rules. We owned Keep on the Borderland. AD&D - the PHB, the DMG, /two/ MM's (one with the dragon fighting the pegasi, the other with the cheesy 2-d profile with monsters in a tunnel and a treant above ground). We were hooked.
I've always wanted to find my dad's friend and thank him. I would have found my way to roleplaying without that moment, but it was the Eureka moment for my hobby.
I think the earliest exposure I had was when I was around 4 or 5. My dad worked shift work back then, so I rarely saw him some days. Once, though, he was at home during the day, and I remember watching Star Trek with him. It's my first memory of spending any time with my dad. I even remember the episode. It's the one about the salt vampire that looks like McCoy's old girlfriend. I scared the crap out of me that the lady could go from normal looking to this scary space monster.
Anyway, that started my interest in geeky things, along with my obsession with comics, which I owned before I could read.
To be honest, I slightly object to the term "geek." If someone who can tell me the third baseman's name from the Atlanta Braves was in 1983 is a "fan," then I'm a "fan" too, dangit! :-)
Ed
Man, I totally forgot to mention Star Trek. How could I???? My dad passed on fond memories of seeing Star Trek when it originally came out, and got both the Original Series and Next Generation on tape. We'd all (being my dad, brother & I at the time) sit down and watch 'em all. The salt vampire one was great, but my all-time favorites are still Trouble with Tribbles, A Piece of the Action, and Devil in the Dark.
My dad also like the original Battlestar Galactica. I just couldn't get into it. The new series, however, r0xx0rs my s0xx0rs. It kicks some serious ass - last week's episode was far far too cool for words.
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Sinbad the sailor movies started it along with a healthy dose of Thundercats and my father's old Lord of the Rings hardcover books. But the thing that pushed me over the edge into geekiosity was definately Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger.
Started playing in 78 or 79' at age 8or9, purplish box set with poorly drawn dragon on the box and color-in numbers on the dice. Wish I still had that set.FH
Thundercats = the cartoon from the 80's?
Yeah, guess that was after first starting to play. Probably just before I went on to AD&D.
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It was the cartoon of The Hobbit that grabbed me first. Then my older brother and some of his friends started playing. Eventually I conned my way into one of the games (five-year olds can be cunning...) and played a paladin with a bow. Yeah, I know, against the rules in 1st Ed., but that's what I wanted to play and the DM was cool enough to let me. I kept going on and on about this black arrow that was passed down to me from my forefathers and had never missed. I would only use it in the most special of situations. I would save it for when the chips were truly down, and I needed a miracle. Then we ran into our first encounter, a bugbear scout. Being five and forgetting my resolve to save the black arrow for an important encounter, I whipped it out as fast as I could, shot it, and missed.
While I suppose my Dad's propensity for sci-fi action movies probably kicked things off, I stumbled into fantasy by accident, going straight from Dick-and-Jane-style primers to Richard A. Knaak's "The Crystal Dragon" (which I picked up in first grade or so because it had a shiny cover) and never looking back. Though the literature came first, true geekdom began in 5th grade, when my teacher introduced a bunch of us to Dungeons and Dragons on our lunch breaks (he later went on to bring civilization-style empire-building games into the class itself... such an awesome teacher. Anyone know a Mr. Tom Tivnan?) Once that ended, my class went nuts for RPGs, with everyone creating their own worlds and systems (our "Redwall" ripoff game must have lasted 6 months).
It was about that time that I received my first magic cards (Drudge Skeletons and a fairy that I can't remember) as part of a playground bet - I had collected comics and cards before that, but nothing had ever hit me the way those did. I had no idea how to play, but I loved those cards - I even remember how they SMELLED (for those interested, they smelled like pure, unadulterated awesome). From there on out I was hardcore geek. I can still recall trading the Royal Assassin from my first booster to my then-best-friend for two common 2/2 creatures, only to have his mother (who knew more about these things than I did) make him trade it back. (10 years later, my Magic collection has long been sold, but I still have that Royal Assassin, and he's still my best friend.) Battletech, Warhammer, Shadowrun, L5R, Vampire - though only D&D and Battletech/Warhammer had any staying power, we played them all.
So yeah - though music and writing may have taken the main stage in the years since, gaming has always been there in the background, waiting for summer break or a convenient excuse (like getting hired at Paizo!) to emerge. Never since those middle-school days would I have guessed that I'd one day be crewing one the gamer geek flagships, but now that I'm here, I couldn't be happier.
Viva le geek!
-James
[and a fairy that I can't remember]
Scryb Sprites perhaps?
Reading the first "Thieves' World" anthology on a lark hooked me on fantasy in general. This was while I was still in grade school. From that I met other fantasy readers, and some of them were into D&D.
I've been hooked ever since.
[and a fairy that I can't remember]
Scryb Sprites perhaps?
YES!!!!! Thank you! :)
It was about that time that I received my first magic cards (Drudge Skeletons and a fairy that I can't remember) as part of a playground bet - I had collected comics and cards before that, but nothing had ever hit me the way those did. I had no idea how to play, but I loved those cards - I even remember how they SMELLED (for those interested, they smelled like pure, unadulterated awesome).
I remember my ... it had to be 16th or 17th birthday. My brother and I (identical twins) had this hotel room set up to have the kewlest partah evah. My girlfriend was there. We had booze. Everything.
Then my friend Joey gave us our presents - starter decks and a couple of booster packs of M:tG (just after The Dark came out). That party went the way of the dodo, my friends. The inner geeks came forth and we spent all night playing Magic.
I think it was the fact that my brother's first card was a Lord of the Pit that sold us. Maybe. Me, I just got green weenies. =)
You people are sparking my undernourished brain--Redwall (the copy I checked out from the library "accidentally" fell into some mud, so my mom had to buy it from the library...I still feel kinda bad about that...), Richard K's LEGEND OF HUMA (first AD&D specific campaign book I ever read) followed closely by the first Greyhawk book about Gord the Rogue, by Gygax (those pictures were probably a little too spicy for a 10-year old, in retrospect), and all the following literature--Jordan's Wheel of Time, Lawhead's Chamber of the Sleeping Dragon, tons of stuff I have forgotten about...but of course, by that time I was already, officially, a geek.
(Sorry to those that object to "geek", but I'm not just a fan...I'm just one step down from a Trekkie. After I finish my history degree I'm going to try to get some job requiring a lot of playing D&D, or a lot of free time to play it on my own.)
After I finish my history degree I'm going to try to get some job requiring a lot of playing D&D, or a lot of free time to play it on my own.)
Ahhh...memories. I remember saying much the same thing when I was a History major in college. =)
(Sorry to those that object to "geek", but I'm not just a fan...I'm just one step down from a Trekkie. After I finish my history degree I'm going to try to get some job requiring a lot of playing D&D, or a lot of free time to play it on my own.)
Oh, I don't really mind you using the word geek. I mind when folks who have no idea about any of this stuff try to use the word as an insult. Especially when they're wearing sports jerseys or have NASCAR stickers all over their vehicles. It's the double standard I object to, mostly.
Hey, I play D&D, I collect comics and action figures, I know obscure facts about Star Trek (mostly original), I can quote Monty Python, AND I'm a puppeteer. I should run for king geek. :-D
I wasn't exposed much to swords & sorcery before I started playing D&D in 1980. I mostly saw kids in the cafeteria playing D&D at lunch time and when some friends of mine invited me to join their D&D game, the swords & sorcery floodgates were opened and I snarfed up everything involving fantasy, from Moorcock to Tolkien, to Robert Adams' Horseclans books.
Prior to starting to play D&D, I enjoyed (and still enjoy) Science Fiction. I drew my own comic books as a kid (mostly fighter plane stuff) and even wrote a short story in 3rd grade involving a spaceship landing on a dinosaur infested planet.
Guess I was born into it......I saw Star Wars in 1977 in Germany and I think that was my defining geek moment as a 10 year old. Oh, I still played soccer and later on American Football after coming to the U.S., but I was a geek....
Been a geek about as long as I can remember. Between the ages of 5 and 10 I spent most of my spare time (when not exploring down at "the levee" or playing cops and robbers or wiffle ball with my friends) looking at maps and reading the World Book encyclopedia. I got into fantasy when I read the Hobbit at age 10, while living in England--regular trips to castles, Norman churches, etc. fuel the imagination. C.S. Lewis and more Tolkien followed, along with lots of other fantasy and sci fi novels. In jr. hi my best friend was into wargames and we played a lot of stuff from Avalon Hill and SPI. Then one day he came home from the hobby store with one of the OD&D box sets and a set of miniatures, and both of us were completely hooked. I think wherever I went in high school I went around with a backpack full of D&D stuff.
Me, too, on both of those. Was in England from 89-94. :-D
I got into fantasy when I read the Hobbit at age 10, while living in England--regular trips to castles, Norman churches, etc. fuel the imagination.
*snip*
I think wherever I went in high school I went around with a backpack full of D&D stuff.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16
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My mother was a major sci-fi fan and a huge reader so I was doomed from the start. I remember being in (probably)second or third grade when our class took a field trip to the library. We were supposed to pick-out books for a book report. My friends are picking out small chapter books with pictures and I go looking for The Hobbit, I had seen the cartoon and was hooked--I was going to read The Hobbit! I found it and took it to the counter to check out. The librarian refused to check it out on my young reader card. Fortunately my teacher came to my rescue and checked it out for me. I've been a geek ever since. A friend later introduced me to D&D with the basic red box set--I still have the color your own dice that came with it.
And ditto the backpack.
For me, it came through movies. I didn't have parents who were into fantasy (my Mom liked the Beastmaster. . . but I suspect it was about the half-nekkid barbarians runnin' around - at least that's what my therapist says), but I loved any movies involving science fiction, action, fantasy, etc.
Star Wars, Dragonslayer, Clash of the Titans, and those kinds of movies were a big hit with me growing up. I was also a huge monster movie fan, and ate up the old Godzilla movies. Like F2K, I also did comics as a kid, but all of mine were about a three-headed Ghidera-type named Muthara, who fought epic battles against other giant monsters on air, land, and sea. He also fought giant robots and destroyed hundreds of tanks and planes. . .
I am a geek.
Between the ages of 5 and 10 I spent most of my spare time (when not exploring down at "the levee" or playing cops and robbers or wiffle ball with my friends) looking at maps and reading the World Book encyclopedia.
"Down at the levee" is a phrase I have not heard in quite some time. Where are you from, Peruhain?
The Black Cauldron series started it. The Hobbit and Doctor Who cemented it. A steady diet of comic books and GI Joe and Star Wars didn't help either. Once I discovered D&D in the late '80's, I was done for.
M@
I....... I don't know how it happened. I've always liked histories of knights and samurai and weapons and seige engines and stuff and I liked to play in school theatre........ but I can't remember anything really geeky about me.
I was never a fan of star trek or star wars (I actually thought most of the writing and stuff for Star trek was good but it wasn't something I was interested in). Tolkien was something I never cared for. I got halfway through the hobbit before I got bored and never picked it up again. I fell asleep in the theatre during the second and third movie. I was never very good in sports but I tried them until they got too repeatative to be fun (organized sports anyway I love a good game of football with my friends). I always thought card games were stupid, don't throw stones just yet my only knowledge of trading card games is from pokemon. I was litterally the only guy in my 7th grade class not to get a bunch of booster packs for my birthday. I do not know a thing about magic or anything else.
A couple friends just introduced me to the game when I was (15?). At first I was very reluctant but after they pleaded with me for like a week I finally agreed. I got hooked bad.
Oh and FH........ THUNDERCATS HOOOOO!
For me, it truly started when my father read to me from a huge book about Greek myths when I was little. I guess he figured he'd inject me with some culture while I was young rather than reading the normal children's bedtime stories. From there, I went on to comics and then to an obsession with knights and medieval times, always drawing fantasy pictures. In fourth grade, it was Magic: The Gathering. God, I'm so filled with nostalgia thinking about the first cards I ever owned, searching everywhere to get booster packs (there was a major shortage for a while where I grew up). In sixth grade, my teacher told me about D&D and how much fun he and his friends had playing it, so I went out and bought the D&D basic set with the Macho Man Randy Savage cd and everything. I was hooked from then on. It's a bit strange that, now that I'm studying to be an artist, I don't really do much fantasy related work anymore, yet I still love D&D and everything. Oh, well.
I remember loving any book involving dragons or goblins as a child. I watched the Hobbit cartoon, Thundercats reruns on Cartoon Network, and many, many other geek things. However, I still find it hilarious how I got into D&D.
I was ten, and it was two days before Christmas. I was in a bookstore, and I wandered over to Science fiction/Fantasy. And then I ran into a 3E Monster Manual. Now, I had heard of D&D but nothing specific, just a vague reference now and again, so I asked for the book based on what seemed like perfect criteria to a ten year old: I LOVED the pictures. I had never seen any of these monsters pictured before, and I wanted the book. I noticed the PLayer's Handbook had the same Logo, and that's what I got for Christmas. I had a Dungeon Master's Guide By February, with the Basic Game, or whatever they called it at the time. Now, I have something around 70 books and D&D is a cemented portion of my life
Hey James, do you have a website? I'd love to check out your stuff - us artists have to be inspired, you know!
It's a bit strange that, now that I'm studying to be an artist, I don't really do much fantasy related work anymore, yet I still love D&D and everything. Oh, well.
Anyone remember Heroquest?
Yeah, I remember HeroQuest. And I know that it's entirely too expensive on eBay. But I have fond memories of it.
Me, I was a nerd. As I gradually developed better social skills, I morphed into a geek. Got into computers in middle school, D&D in high school. And it's been all down(up?)hill from there.
I don´t remeber too exactly how it started, but I was always a bookworm, reading stories from the (now deceased) german author Michael Ende, starting with his books for children , and migrating to Neverending Story (thats how the title would translate, I´m not aware if there is an english translation) and Momo, both having been made into movies (The Neverending Story movie is awful...)and both being fantastic books, if not your typical fantasy.
Then it was The Hobbit, some classical stuff (I´ve always been interested in gods and heroes from the real world), and then on to other fantasy.
When I was fourteen (in 1984), I got into gaming, as friends of mine started with D&D and the german DSA (Das Schwarze Auge). This very year, I wished for the red D&D Box for christmas and got it from my parents, who never understood the whole thing. (Still got the box, btw - sans dice and heavily battered).
Oh, and - I don´t spend more money on gamebooks than cars. I´ve got two cars, one 11 year old Audi A 6, and one Audi 100 GL from 1972. I guess I´m an Audi geek also :-) Keeping the old one running costs some money, too...
Stefan
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For me, the question really was more "How could I not be a geek?" I was looking through encyclopedias and atlases from about the time I was two years old. My parents took me to the Field Museum to see the King Tut exhibit when I was about 7, getting me into archaeology. I got into D&D when I was 8 with the red box set.
Just remember if anyone asks, I don't know any of you people.
;)
GGG
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My inner geekness started with a stolen copy of the Hobbit. I went to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving and my uncle who was about 16 at the time teased me witht he book. He told me that I was much to young and could not understand the book ( I was about 9-10 at the time). I managed to get the book away from him before I left and started reading it. I was hooked hard and fast I read all night and hid in the basement reading the book. I was so facinated by the book I stole it from him and had to sit with the guilt and fear that my Mother ould find it on the way home for 6 hours. When I got home I finished the book in about 3 days and then read it cover to cover again each week till christmas. When we went back up there for christmas I returned the book and dropped it behind his desk so when he found it I would be nowhere near the crime. It only tool me 20 years to admit this to my mother and uncle who then told me he knew i had the book the whole time. So for the first time in 25 year a big public thanks to my Uncle Chris for starting me down the path to my inner geek.
My inner geekness started with a stolen copy of the Hobbit. I went to my Grandma's house for Thanksgiving and my uncle who was about 16 at the time teased me witht he book. He told me that I was much to young and could not understand the book ( I was about 9-10 at the time). I managed to get the book away from him before I left and started reading it. I was hooked hard and fast I read all night and hid in the basement reading the book. I was so facinated by the book I stole it from him and had to sit with the guilt and fear that my Mother ould find it on the way home for 6 hours. When I got home I finished the book in about 3 days and then read it cover to cover again each week till christmas. When we went back up there for christmas I returned the book and dropped it behind his desk so when he found it I would be nowhere near the crime. It only tool me 20 years to admit this to my mother and uncle who then told me he knew i had the book the whole time. So for the first time in 25 year a big public thanks to my Uncle Chris for starting me down the path to my inner geek.
That's a great story!!
Hey James, do you have a website? I'd love to check out your stuff - us artists have to be inspired, you know!
It's a bit strange that, now that I'm studying to be an artist, I don't really do much fantasy related work anymore, yet I still love D&D and everything. Oh, well.
Hey, Lilith. Sorry I haven't looked up this thread in a while. I don't have a website currently, though I definitely need one soon since I'm only one year away from getting my BFA and going into the scary scary real world to look for illustration assignments. I have an old Elfwood gallery that hasn't been updated for more than a year, though. http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/k/e/keegan/keegan.html is the elfwood address. I just looked at it and cringed. I've been doing more painting and drawing since then and I've improved immensely. For a better artist that I interned with a few years ago check out www.dandossantos.com, and at the Society of Illustrators in NYC on April 8th he, Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Greg Manchess, John Foster and a few other great sci-fi/fantasy artists will be doing a demo.
Hey, Lilith. Sorry I haven't looked up this thread in a while. I don't have a website currently, though I definitely need one soon since I'm only one year away from getting my BFA and going into the scary scary real world to look for illustration assignments. I have an old Elfwood gallery that hasn't been updated for more than a year, though. http://elfwood.lysator.liu.se/art/k/e/keegan/keegan.html is the elfwood address. I just looked at it and cringed.
Ohhh...I totally understand the "What in the hell?" when I look through my old stuff. Scarrrrrry stuff. But it is a good measure of how far I've come since then. A good barometer of your progress.
For a better artist that I interned with a few years ago check out www.dandossantos.com,
I love his work! I am currently saving to get one of his works tattooed he is amazing as a artist.
Geekdom for me resulted from my 6th grade english teacher. English for me in school was always my worst subject ath science history all those i was a AB student but i'd lose it somewhere in english with diction and sentence structure.(I.E. i know i still have problems) My teacher thought if i'd read more i'd see and understand. i got a copy of Piers Anthony's a spell for chameleon. I was hooked i read and read my grammer inproved a little but I still loved tot read then i got Salvatore's quest for the spear and was told by a freind about D&D i was 13 then I'm 25 now and have never regretted thejourney to geek-dom albiet i have had fun being a jock i was in the choir at school and now sport several tat's and a few piercings but D&D is the constant joy of slipping the stress of the real world adn being Bob the archer dragonborn fighter exotic weapons master deepwood sniper.
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I can't remember clearly, but I do know that (like some others) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger was a starting point, followed by Clash of the Titans, and reading the Chronicles of Narnia. Also, the old D&D cartoon from Saturday mornings.
But the two kickers were courtesy of both my Grandmothers. One of them (maternal) bought me my first comic book (G.I. Joe #39) when I was helping her do grocery shopping. The other gave me her well-read copies of The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (all still proudly sitting on my book shelves). The rest, as they say, is history.
So, I am curious how my fellow geeks ended up the way they are--you know, hanging out in card/comic shops; spending more money in one month on source books than they do on their cars, ever; etc.
Hey!
Great thread! And some great stories every gamer can relate to. :) Me? I never had a chance. It started with Dinosaurs; "Woah! Real monsters!". Then came the Fighting Fantasy books (Seven Serpents, Creature of Havoc, etc.). That lead to their Advanced series (Dungeoneer! Woo!) and roleplaying. Then it was on to ADnD, then Planescape; there's no turning back!Yeah, it's still (alot) about the monsters...
;P
Peace,
tfad
I don´t remeber too exactly how it started, but I was always a bookworm, reading stories from the (now deceased) german author Michael Ende, starting with his books for children , and migrating to Neverending Story (thats how the title would translate, I´m not aware if there is an english translation) and Momo, both having been made into movies (The Neverending Story movie is awful...)and both being fantastic books, if not your typical fantasy.
The book has an english translation.
I would say the movie was incomplete, rather than awful, as it ends halfway into the story. The completion, the second movie, definitely qualified as awful.
- Ashavan
We are not geeks. We are intellgent, charming, witty, awe-inspiringly beautiful, not to mention some of the coolest people
in the entire multiverse....... sorry got caught up I just always liked fantasy.
*sniff* *sniff*
Geeks? GET 'EM!
*/end joke*
It was a natural progression from unathletic awkward bookworm to unathletic awkward geek. The trick was to be reading novels way past my reading level from a young age, and comic books just to make sure I was outcast as far as possible. And through this screening process made a group of the GREATEST FRIENDS KNOWN TO MAN!
I discovered D&D 3.0 at about 16, (after having enjoyed a suite of WH games, but being to poor to constantly collect minis), I decided to buy the books. Haven't looked back since.