I am a 20th level gamer. Started in 1989 at 17. I started to play D&D (red box) with a dwarf fighter named Gloin (original, uh?) who made it until 6th level. One year later I moved to 2nd Edition. I have been dm'ing since then. Again, in 2001, I moved to 3th Edition. I have played many games others than D&D: Rolemaster, Marvel Superheroes, Runequest, Cthulhu, Star Wars (d6 and d20), Merp, Lotr Coda, and many more. My favourite campaign world has always been Forgotten Realms. So I think I qualify for being an "old gamer".
daedel, el azote.
hehe so I am a level 30 Great Wyrm if you mix our favorite mouse with books scale and lawgivers eh; hehe I can live with that; havent been around the longest, but longer than most in the game; a few of my friends have me beat by about a year or so, but only three of them; they are about a year older than I and started about a year before me; cant imagine anyone was playing much before a year or two before me as the game just wasnt really out; so, when was the first D&D game made public and for sale; around 1975 or what? So what is the maximum as the first year to now will be the same number of years regardless of when you started; i cannot imagine and 8 or 10 year old having much of a game really, but hey; as long as they have fun.
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To be fair, I started gaming in 1974, but it was board wargames, not RPGs. When I first started playing D&D in 1976, it was just an interesting new wargame, though, so I think the boardgames count. 8-) (Though my level in this schema should be 33, or 31 if you don't count the wargaming, not 34.)
My wife and I started playing D&D with our son when he was six; he's having lots of fun, even though the experience is mostly pure hack and slash. While I wouldn't recommend having an eight-year-old as a DM, I think playing works just fine.
You do have to limit the complexity quite a bit, of course. My son is running a hobbit* fighter and has been fighting kobolds, goblins, and skeletons. The game has even been helping him with his math.
* Not trading; not limited by trademark issues.
Note that he didn't say age 8, he said 8th or 9th grade:
1977 or so
'77 would be 30th level.
Oops…my bad. I was at work and didn’t have a lot of time for finesse and detail. Sorry.
31 if you don't count the wargaming…
Personally, I don’t count any “gaming” prior to my introduction to D&D. I used to play poker, Risk, Stratego, and a host of other miscellaneous games prior to that. It was the D&D that started my introduction to hard-core gaming, like RPG’s, Tobruk, Air Wars, et al, (we’ve got a nice list to review here in the thread – I’ve played almost all). So, for me it’s 31st. If you want to count the pre-D&D time and take 33rd, go for it.
But, that still leaves Ragnarock Raider, Zylphryx, The Jade, and an unknown number of undeclared others that have saved me (and possibly Doug) from being the “oldest” gamers on the board.
Although I am tempted to declare “foul”. I didn’t have the advantage some of the others had. I didn’t start until short after my 19th birthday. I wasn’t raised in an area more geographically situate to the origins of early publication, etc., etc., Those that began playing when they were 6 and 7 years old have more than a ten year advance (and therefore more than a ten year acceleration) of their level. Wouldn’t it figure, most of them play 3x…power-gamers who don’t really know what it takes to earn those levels…lol…!
Yeah, I know…whining. I’ll shut up. Frankly, I’m kinda glad I’m not older than dirt. Being as old as is bad enough.
hehe so I am a level 30 Great Wyrm if you mix our favorite mouse with books scale and lawgivers eh; hehe I can live with that; havent been around the longest, but longer than most in the game; a few of my friends have me beat by about a year or so, but only three of them; they are about a year older than I and started about a year before me; cant imagine anyone was playing much before a year or two before me as the game just wasnt really out; so, when was the first D&D game made public and for sale; around 1975 or what? So what is the maximum as the first year to now will be the same number of years regardless of when you started; i cannot imagine and 8 or 10 year old having much of a game really, but hey; as long as they have fun.
It was 1974. A brown box. The collegians that let me play with them had been playing with Chainmail rules for a few years, so D&D was probably just the next evolution for them. However, rudimentary as it was at the time, it was the biggest thing in my young universe. I remember things pretty dern clearly all the way back to age 3 (hundreds of conversations and events in their entirety) and my roleplay adventuring at age 6 remains as vivid to me now as games played at 16 or 26, if not more so. I still have all my horribly scrawled character sheets, experience point and treasure tallies, sketches for new coats of arms, weapon designs, maps, et al. I'll never toss that crap. I can look at some of this nostalgia and remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I penciled it.
When I was 13 one of my fighter got married to an NPC elf sorta lady from Dragon magazine and my party all celebrated it in the real world... throwing rice with dice that night and giving me a paper top hat and a mock medieval bachelor party (friend, two coconuts, stripper impersonation... oh, the horror). If that had happened in the age of YouTube I think it might have become a cult download.
You know you're an old gamer if you still call a rogue (rouge!) a thief.
well, on the mouse with some books on his head;
The mouse has a name and the name is Tim.
I am like a Great Wyrm as I have chainmail and certainly know the % character build and have played % for hits and all before it was converted to +1 = 5% in the d20 system.
Not sure my Lawgiver level; am 42 and been playing since about 1977 or so as the 1st DMG came out in 1978 and I had been playing for about a year now that I dig back through the fog of time. The game just didnt exist much before that outside of like the Great Lake area. That would be about right as I was in like the 8th or 9th grade when some of my friends were playing and it was a new thing then my friend Timmy got a basic boxed set for Xmas and we started playing that as it was new and something different. Ah; to be a young confused little hatchling with so much to look forward too. When I look back at all the game developments and material generated by this game and how I have a whole room and two closets full of mostly just my gaming stuff I guess I have a hoard worthy of any Ancient to Great Wyrm of D&D.
so, what level am I; am curious on Lawgivers scale.
hehe so I am a level 30 Great Wyrm if you mix our favorite mouse with books scale
Taliesin Hoyle. No, wait, Tim! OK! The mouse with books on the head. That is all I am to you people. You heartless swines, rodents have feelings. Librarian rodents have feelings and back strain, but still feelings.
and lawgivers eh; hehe I can live with that; havent been around the longest, but longer than most in the game; a few of my friends have me beat by about a year or so, but only three of them; they are about a year older than I and started about a year before me; cant imagine anyone was playing much before a year or two before me as the game just wasnt really out; so, when was the first D&D game made public and for sale; around 1975 or what? So what is the maximum as the first year to now will be the same number of years regardless of when you started; i cannot imagine and 8 or 10 year old having much of a game really, but hey; as long as they have fun.
You know you're an old gamer if you still call a rogue (rouge!) a thief.
And a wizard a magic-user :)
(which I do)
Good god, I'm old! Blue dice, boxed sets, "12 magic-user and elf spells," 1st ed. Boot Hill. And I'm a Loguean gamer par excellence: never used a battlemat yet. And miniatures were things to paint, not things to game with!
But I suspect I'm not unusual at "25th level." The mode for Paizo messageboarders seems to fit the Jacobean demographic of mid-30's, started playing early 80's. A few older than dirt, a bunch of newbies to round out the mix. And then there's Heathansson... if he started playing 1e in werewolf form, but never played as a human until 3e, what does that make him?
I also have Mordenkainen's Magnificent Paperweight.
Take care -- the OGL version is Magnificent Paperweight :P
When I was in elementary school (in the 90') I played Magic during most of those years. When I was about 10, I went on a school trip for several days with lots of other kids and some teachers.
One night, I was playing Magic with the teacher, trying to show how its played to other kids (who were more or less interested). Then something happened. The teacher asked us "Did any of you ever played Dungeons and Dragons?" Everybody said no, so he got out some WEIRD dice and some paper, and give us characters. Mine was a fighter I think. And that's how I was introduced to D&D on a cold night of february.
Right after that I went to play the Dark Eye, then I developped my own roleplaying game at about 13-14 (yeah I was a pretty smart kid!)
So I played my own game until I discovered DD3. I was 17, just got my first job and my first pay. So I bought the three core books my it.
I am now 21, have played D&D2e, DD3, D&D 3.5, some Vampire (but didn't like it), some Call of Cthulhu (but didn't like to DM it) and the Enemy Within Warhammer Campaign (and liked it a lot!), plus I'm currently working of the 5th edition of my own rpg. So I guess I'm a young player but I feel old at the same time...
'nuff said!
My first character class was a (dwarven) fighting-man, the pre-fighter class fighter.
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.
Looks like i'm an old timer too... though at not quite 34 i don't always feel like it. I started playing when i was 12 and new to Secondary School, i played with a kid i knew from middle school (with whom i had experimented with the massive delights of runequest as a travelling dentist...dont ask about that one!).
My first Character Was Erkil the dwarf, A fighter who was as tough as old boots. had a battle axe of speed and double specialization and was a mean killing machine with a near patholgical hatred of goblinoids.
Sadly he bit the dust during GDQ when he was left high and dry by an elven cavalier(typical... damn treehuggers!)and was killed by a large number of trogs who managed a few natural twenties and high rolls on the dragon crit hit tables... i think it was a perforated lung that killed him in the end...
still playing now with the same GM and one player from those heady days when 48 hours of every week were spent eating toasted sandwhiches and playing D&D... ah those halcyon days...
hey i figured it out... if you can be nostalgic then your an old gamer
Kendric
I'm 43 and started playing board games when I was 13. I played D&D from the white box days, though I NEVER owned a copy. My first D&D book was the AD&D Monster Manual ... it was the only book the hobby shop had and my mom wouldn't drive me there but once every three to four months ... I had to buy SOMETHING while I was there, so ... the Monster Manual had to do! We played AD&D and Basic D&D (including the Expert, Master and whatever else versions came in those light cardboard boxed sets).And, I, too, remember Gygax's inflammatory article. It put me and my buds off from D&D, as well. Arrogant cuss! In rebellion, we switched to playing Chivalry & Sorcery. That certainly had us going into the ROLE-playing instead of the ROLL-playing. In the intervening years, we played LOTS of different RPGs (GURPS, Champions, Tunnels & Trolls, Runequest, Warhammer FRP, Villains & Vigilantes, COPRS, Space Opera, Traveler, Empire of the Petal Throne, Star Frontiers, Star Trek RPG, WEG's Star Wars, Twilight 2000, Call of Cthulhu, Aftermath, Bushido, The Morrow Project, RoleMaster, MERP, Powers & Perils, DragonQuest, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes … and that's all I can think of off the top of my head). We came back to D&D with the 3.0 version and switched to 3.5 when it came out.
I say I'm an old-school gamer.
Wow. Your experience is almost identical to mine. If I was going to write up my gaming bio it would be almost verbatim. Except that I'm only 41 and didn't start playing D&D until I was 14. My first AD&D book was also the Monster Manual; I too was really offended by Gygax's flame article and left D&D to take up pretty much all of the games on your list, only returning to the fold when 3rd edition was released. The only games on your list I didn't play was COPRS (don't know what that is), Aftermath, and Powers and Perils. Add to my list The Fantasy Trip; Ysgarth; Traveller; Thieve's Guild; Chill; Toon; Mercenaries, Spies and Private Eyes; Top Secret; Gamma World; Call of Cthulhu; Role Master - that's about all I can think of off hand, but there may be a few others.
I'm not sure I'd call myself an old-school gamer though. I'm sure to many I am an old gamer, but its all relative. I have older friends that I game with who started out with Chainmail in the early '70's and they consider me a young upstart gamer.
Maybe we can't objectively define "old" and "young gamers," but, instead, should define "gamer generations" based on shared experiences. Many of the games you've mentioned and other things mentioned by other posters (like the Dragon Bone electronic number generator) readily identify people who are part of my gamer generation (regardless of chronological age). If you've ever purchased gaming supplements that were obviously typed on a manual typewriter in the author's parents basement, published via photocopier and packaged in a ziplock bag, you're also probably in my gaming generation.
People who "grew up" (in the gaming sense) with 2nd Edition or 3rd Edition probably have a whole different set of experiences and likely fit into a different gamer generation. But how do we define gamer generations?
Generational distinctions? Hmm. Mebbe:
Old box setter gamer
old 1st edition gamer
old 2nd edition gamer
I remember getting Dragon #80 when I was in middle school and typing in the 1000 lines of BASIC computer code on pages 18-21. "A program for computer-conducted combat" was the article's title or something...
now that is old shool.
. . . In the intervening years, we played LOTS of different RPGs (GURPS, Champions, Tunnels & Trolls, Runequest, Warhammer FRP, Villains & Vigilantes, COPRS, Space Opera, Traveler, Empire of the Petal Throne, Star Frontiers, Star Trek RPG, WEG's Star Wars, Twilight 2000, Call of Cthulhu, Aftermath, Bushido, The Morrow Project, RoleMaster, MERP, Powers & Perils, DragonQuest, Marvel Super Heroes, DC Heroes … and that's all I can think of off the top of my head). We came back to D&D with the 3.0 version and switched to 3.5 when it came out. . . .
I am right there with you guys. I would add "Strombringer" to this list as well.
I used to like to draw Stormbringer, Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, and Arioch's symbol and and and...
Hmm. How did I miss this thread for so long?
D&D was my 3rd RPG, after starting w/ Runequest and toying a little w/ Tunnels & Trolls. Even after playing D&D I kept up w/ Runequest (and then Stormbringer, of course). I think I started around 1979. The (older) guys who ran the local comic store were playing D&D, and I wormed my curious way into their group. Then I started playing w/ some new friends in high school, and one of those friends has become a friend for life.
I was "out of the game" for a while in the 90's b/c of grad school, but got back into it when 3rd edition rolled around. Kudos to those Dragon magazine articles for inspiring me to get back into the game.
I mostly DM'd, but had some of my own early characters become NPCs for later campaigns. In fact, a buddy's Runequest characters later became D&D NPCs. Ah, those were simpler times. When a dwarf (Frowgrin the Feared) and elf (Valer the something) could adventure side-by-side w/ little friction :)
I'm 42 now, an old-gamer by this thread. But not quite the oldest (whew!).
Don't have grandkids gaming yet - don't have grandkids yet. Started in 1979 or 80 in a friend's boxed set w/ a halfling. Didn't make the switch to 2ed AD&D because I'd gone from AD&D to GURPS and SWRPG D6. Seems like I'd dome some other stuff, but am not exactly sure about time-frame compared to D&D - discovered Car Wars around there somewhen. 3ed got me back to D&D because I was working on a magic system for D6 - and when 3ed was announced, I looked at my wife and said "Why should I bother? D&D is coming back!"
I'll be 37 in a week. I've introduced my stepdaughter and her now-husband to D&D (and HE has taken it to his duty-station and introduced MORE to D&D from there...), I have my 13yo son playing (started playing at 7 when I brought home 3ed) and my 6yo daughter (started at 4). Son and daughter double-teamed for an attempt at running an adventure for me and mom. Once my oldest and her hubby have kids and are back in the States, we'll have THEM playing, too, as soon as they can pay attention.
I call myself an old gamer - but GAMER long before OLD gamer.
Wow, five pages of posts - sorry if I repeat anything here.
You're an old-timer if you had to color in your dice with a crayon.
I started with box sets (blue - wizard and fighter vs. dragon) in '78 or '79. Accidently bought AD&D Player's Handbook and evolved into an "advanced" player in '80 or'81.
I still think the sample character "Morgan Le Fay", or whatever her name was, is pretty HAWT!
It was all my frined Matt's fault. He introduced me to the game via his older brother on one sunny recess in elementary school.
.... or something like the above happened, it was 28 years ago....
I still think the sample character "Morgan Le Fay", or whatever her name was, is pretty HAWT!
Morgan Ironwolf, dude. All us old-timers knew her!
I still think the sample character "Morgan Le Fay", or whatever her name was, is pretty HAWT!Morgan Ironwolf, dude. All us old-timers knew her!
Awe! I remember now... they mentioned Morgan Le Fay as the inspiration for the imaginary player creating Morgan Ironwolf. Thanks, it's been awhile.
Oh, you're also an old gamer if when Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" came out and it was the main song you played on your boom-box during combat in a game. It was on tape casette too. That and "Two Minutes to Midnight".
Generational distinctions? Hmm. Mebbe:
Old box setter gamer
old 1st edition gamer
old 2nd edition gamer
Hmmm... it has occurred to me that there is kind of a SNAFU with the name of the current incarnation of D&D. Here are the previous versions:
1. Dungeons and Dragons (original 3 booklet boxed set)
2. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (which Gygax insisted was a completely different game)
3. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd editon
4. The current version, Dungeons and Dragons 3rd editon.
The problem is that WotC did away with the "Advanced" caveat to the title, so what we are currently playing is, in fact, not the 3rd edition of anything. It is either Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition (in the strict literal sense of "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" being a different game) or, in the wholistic sense, Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. In order for the current version to properly be considered a 3rd edition it would have to have retained the title "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Notice I haven't even muddied the waters by incorporating the "is 3.5 a separate edition" debate.
Sorry for the off-topic nitpick - the whole discussion of who played what previous edition just got me to thinking and it struck me as kind of strange.
Oh, you're also an old gamer if when Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" came out and it was the main song you played on your boom-box during combat in a game. It was on tape casette too. That and "Two Minutes to Midnight".
Oh, man! That brings me back. "Powerslave" was a gaming anthem.
Contributor
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The problem is that WotC did away with the "Advanced" caveat to the title, so what we are currently playing is, in fact, not the 3rd edition of anything. It is either Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition (in the strict literal sense of "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" being a different game) or, in the wholistic sense, Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. In order for the current version to properly be considered a 3rd edition it would have to have retained the title "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Notice I haven't even muddied the waters by incorporating the "is 3.5 a separate edition" debate.
But... There was the 'blue book' edition of basic, plus another version of basic and expert rules (with Erol Otis covers), and then the basic/expert/masters/companion/immortal series. I no longer remember how much the basic rules changed in each of these three incarnations. These are all argueably neither D&D nor AD&D.
Except that the last series was reformated and printed in one book called the D&D rules cyclopedia. That was the real 2nd edition. Actually, I liked those rules better in many regards than AD&D 2E.
And as to whether you are an old or young gamer: If you were born before the day Apollo 11 was launched, you are an old gamer. If you were born after that day, you are a young gamer. If you were born on that exact day, it depends what mood you are in when asked the question. Simple really.
Craig Shackleton,
The Rambling Scribe
Well I got a copy of the red box set and started teaching myself to play on the fourth of July, 1984 (or maybe 85, the years are hazy.) I do remember coloring in the numbers of the ice by the light of the fireworks, looked a little crazy by the light of the next day. I started playing with my friends about two weeks later and never looked back. So I guess I'm coming up on my 23rd (or 22nd) aniversary of the game.
I rememeber playing through 4 vlasses to level 20 to qualify for immortality under the gold box rules. I remember missing two days of school when the Master set box came out so my friends and I could finally level up. I remember looking up "to hit" numbers on charts because there were no rules for calculating them. I remember throwing a fit when they announced 2nd edition because I had spent so much money on the old books. I rememeber the Comeliness stat.
I feel old, but not as old as I want to be.
Hmmm... it has occurred to me that there is kind of a SNAFU with the name of the current incarnation of D&D. Here are the previous versions:1. Dungeons and Dragons (original 3 booklet boxed set)
2. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (which Gygax insisted was a completely different game)
3. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd editon
4. The current version, Dungeons and Dragons 3rd editon.The problem is that WotC did away with the "Advanced" caveat to the title, so what we are currently playing is, in fact, not the 3rd edition of anything. It is either Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition (in the strict literal sense of "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" being a different game) or, in the wholistic sense, Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition. In order for the current version to properly be considered a 3rd edition it would have to have retained the title "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Notice I haven't even muddied the waters by incorporating the "is 3.5 a separate edition" debate.
Sorry for the off-topic nitpick - the whole discussion of who played what previous edition just got me to thinking and it struck me as kind of strange.
Well there was the 3 booklet brown and then white box set.
That's one.Then the box set with the blue book and Keep on the Borderlands.
That's two.
Then AD&D. Definitely a different animal.
That's three.
Then second edition.
That's four.
Then 3rd edition.
That's five.
Then 3.5.
That's the sixth incarnation of Dungeons and Dragons. Wow.
Oh, you're also an old gamer if when Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" came out and it was the main song you played on your boom-box during combat in a game. It was on tape casette too. That and "Two Minutes to Midnight".
I played Hallowed Be Thy Name (vox and bass) when I was 17, opening up for TNT. It was my first real show and 1,500 TNT, TT QUICK and Sacred Steel fans went nuts... because they actually thought they were going to see TNT later that night. Some kind of snafu with TNT pulling out last second because their entire pyrotechnic show was disallowed inside the county center at the last moment over insurance reasons.
I'm so glad I got off the stage when I did. Fifteen minutes later and they would have had my unsigned head.
I played Hallowed Be Thy Name (vox and bass) when I was 17
Let's see that pic of you in your gear!
Let's see that pic of you in your gear!
I played Hallowed Be Thy Name (vox and bass) when I was 17
Lilith has access to some decent, and more recent rock shots but that's on a closed site and I don't have any web space to upload to. If the demon queen knows of a way, I give permission to show my mug publically. In my defense... I do dress normally in everyday life.
I have a lot of the ol' band shots they're all in a two albums and I've never scanned them. Hmm... giving me ideas.
60 bucks at godaddy.com gets you a webpage.
You are an old gamer when:
you remember alignments were just law, chaos, and neutrality or the fact that each alignment had its own language
Oh my god! I completely forgot about alignment languages. Thanks for bringing me back...
El Skootro
See how snarky Shiny and snarky Heathy threadjack wackily and hack like snarky sharks?
See how snarky Shiny and snarky Heathy threadjack wackily and hack like snarky sharks?
But its so funny
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Oh, you're also an old gamer if when Iron Maiden's "The Trooper" came out and it was the main song you played on your boom-box during combat in a game. It was on tape casette too. That and "Two Minutes to Midnight".
Iron Maiden? No. Blue Oyster Cult maybe; Fire of Unknown Origin was a great gaming album and so was Cultosaurus Erectus. Rush maybe; Caress of Steel was aimed directly at the gamer demographic, and so were many of their other early albums. Black Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, for instance) or Deep Purple (particularly Machine Head), almost certainly.
Still, if you are in the market for a USB turntable, you probably qualify as, hmm, experienced. 8-)
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Oh jeez, back in the day, we didn't even HAVE fermented yak milk. We had to eat ROCKS. They didn't taste very good, let me tell you. Sort of like McDonald's Filet O Fish, but with more calcite.
And school? I had to walk thirty miles to school every day, which was hard, because it took me three days to go that far. It was uphill both ways all year round in the snow and bitter cold, bugs, heat, rains of acid, burning comet storms and dragon attacks. Often, all at the same time.
Oh, those were the days...
Iron Maiden? No. Blue Oyster Cult maybe; Fire of Unknown Origin was a great gaming album and so was Cultosaurus Erectus. Rush maybe; Caress of Steel was aimed directly at the gamer demographic, and so were many of their other early albums. Black Sabbath (Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, for instance) or Deep Purple (particularly Machine Head), almost certainly.Still, if you are in the market for a USB turntable, you probably qualify as, hmm, experienced. 8-)
You see me now a veteran of a thousand psychic wars. Yes, please.
When I'm not burning for you I'm flying by night past war pigs and highway stars.