Male, 28 going on 29, began playing around 2005 with 3.5, and a 10 year Army vet.
Really? I always thought of you as older and more experienced, yet you only have 2 years more game experience than me?
31, aka too old for this.
Playing intermitently for 15 years, to be honest WEG D6 Star Wars and D&D3rd Edition are my favourites.
Male. No military service.
Btw TOZ I though you were younger (I saw a pic of yourself you posted some time ago).
Male, 23, never served in the military, started with 2E AD&D in the late 90s.
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I'm 33, male, never served. I started playing with the Dungeons & Dragons boxed set (basic set with a Dragon guarding treasure on the front. The adventure was "B1: In Search of the Unknown", dated 1979). I thought the maps were cool, but didn't understand the rules ( I thought it was a funny board game and didn't understand it). I saw this box all the time growing up but never really played, just looked at the map over and over.
My gaming started when first, I received "the crystal shard" as a present, and shortly after that my neighbor received a d&d board game that had the same cover. From there we started playing in earnest through late elementary school and junior high with 2nd Ed AD&D. My gaming died off in high school, but did a little in college. It didn't really pick up again until I moved in with a friend and discovered that he played when he was a kid. We started playing again right as 3rd Ed came around so we made the switch, followed by 3.5.
My current group consists of that same friend, my brother, his wife, and my wife. We meet infrequently and are finishing up a 3.5 campaign that we've been working on since like 2004 or something like that. Once that is done, I'll be running them through the RotRL hardcover when it comes out.
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41 as of October, former Army but had played for nearly a decade before going in. And whoever said the military changes you WASN'T LYING. Some for good, some for ill, but mostly for good.
Started in 1982 with my uncle running me in a one-man game, we did Basic module B4: The Lost City. Got a 3rd-level fighter to start with, and got jumped and eaten by two giant gecko lizards in room (checking the module...) 9 - Abandoned Priest's Quarters.
Here's the sentence that got me (and hooked me, because I had only gone through a handful of rooms and just HAD to see more of that daggone pyramid): "If the party enters the room without looking, they will be surprised by a second Gecko that drops down from the ceiling."
Guilty as charged. I've checked EVERY ceiling of EVERY chamber ever since, and detected slews of piercers, stirges and darkmantles aplenty.
To all my former co-adventurers who benefitted from that: you're welcome.
Just shy of 37, male, failed the physical when I went to enlist so I have never served (though not for lack of trying). I started playing the summer of 81, so in the vicinity of 30 years give or take. And I started out in my cousin's 1st Ed AD&D game with a half-orc fighter. Moved over to the Red Box Basic D&D 5 months later when I got it for christmas, and started DMing for a group about six months later. I've played through 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5 and I almost quit buying new material at 4th Eds., but I discovered Pathfinder about a year or so ago.
I've also done numerous other systems over the years (Call of Cthulhu, WoD [Storyteller, not the new one], FASERIP Marvel Superheroes [How I hooked my Younger brother on gaming], Gamma World (3rd Ed, snagged a few of my high school friends into the hobby with it), and RIFTS to name but a few). I currently alternate as GM in my gaming group with two seperate campaigns going (his a 3.5 D&D, mine a Pathfinder, so that's what, 3.75?).
Incidentally they rest of my group is :
Male, 28, never served, played for 15 years
Female, 30, never served, played for less than 5 years (my wife)
Female, 26, never served, played for 7 or so years
All three of them were brought to table top RPGs from a dissatisfaction with the LARPing community where they were.
Also I am introducing my boys (4 and 7) to a very simple RPG called Crypts & Critters. It uses battle maps and Play Mobile Knights (as well as my larger monsters) and the monsters run off and abandon their stuff when defeated (have to make it not too scary for a 4 year old), but it's a gateway to Role-Playing. Incidentally the 7 year old is also showing signs of interest in Post-Apocalyptica so I'll probably be introducing him to Gamma World (the current edition, makeing 4th Ed. D&D good for soemthing besides litter-box liner after all).
Male, almost 27, never served, playing for 18 years. thats 2/3 of my life, damn.
started with 'Das Schwarze Auge' (The Dark Eye).
I'm male, nearly 36, started playing when I was 7 and I've never served.
31 year old greek-american male. never served in military. learned about rpg games through dnd pc video games in 1993. (strahd's possession, menzoberanzan, stone prophet and more)
started true pen and paper roleplaying in 1994 with ravenloft, planescape, dark sun, and forgotten realms all 2nd edition.
loved all 3.0
loved all 3.5
avoided the fan base of of 4.0 (good game though) found pathfinder, and very happy ever since.
Male, 32, playing for 22 years. Never served.
Our group has 4 males and 3 females, and a female GM. Ages range from a few years younger - to me. Other than me and the GM, they've been playing for about a year. The GM has been playing for about 11 years (when did 3rd come out?). None of them have served.
I think the group is loosing/lost a male and a female...
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Male, never served, 44.
Tried once in '82 with a not so good teacher.
Tried again in '83 and got a better handle on it, since I actually had a rulebook this time (red box Basic).
Played 1e-2e until Magic the Gathering came out ('95) and took a break.
Started again with 3.0 in '00, played off and on until '08.
Since '08, been playing Pathfinder fairly regularly.
So, yeah, been playing about 28 years.
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Male, will be 31 by the end of the month. Started GMing 20 years ago in a Masters of the Universe game, with rules completely created by me. In fact, I never knew that something called "roleplaying" even exists, since I was living in a communist country. Five years later, I was introduced to AD&D 2nd Ed, but soon went over to Skills&Powers. Never played D&D 3.0 or 3.5. Started Pathfinder from Beta. Instead of serving in the military, I opted to be a Red Cross volunteer for nine months.
My longest campaign lasted from 1999. to 2007. It ended when one of my players lost his life in a car accident. Next campaign started in 2009. and lasted till 2011.
Now, I am preparing the third campaign. In the meantime there were a lot of mini-games, that lasted for several weeks.
I'm 48 and played my first game of 1st Edition AD&D in September of 1985.
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Male, 24, raised military but never served myself. Been playing since '04 with 3.5 with my dad as my first DM. Up until then I'd settled for Final Fantasy, Baldur's Gate, and Neverwinter Nights. Moved to 4e in '08, and played that until about a year ago when I found some copies of Pathfinder AP's. After trying to convert them for a while, I just moved to Pathfinder. My longest (and consequently best) campaigns have been a 4e Eberron campaign I ran for just over a year until a lot of the players got new jobs and scheduling became a nightmare and the Carrion Crown campaign I'm running right now.
Played (and still play):
D&D 2nd, 3.0, 3.5, and 4e
D20 Modern
NWoD
Pathfinder
Gamma World
Call of Cthulhu
Mutants and Masterminds
WFRPG
Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, and Deathwatch
And in the non-RPG department:
MTG (since '05)
WFB
and 40k
We do this a lot, but, male, never served, will be 42 on New Year's Eve, playing since 1981.
My wife will be 36 in January, is female, never served, and began playing RPGs in the mid-nineties, but did not play D&D until about 2000.
My son is 11, male, has never served, and has played with us in some capacity since he was about 6.
My players range in age from about 26 to 43, half are female, and one of the females has been playing as long as I have. I don't think any of my current players has served in the military, but I believe some past ones have.
I ask all you guys how old you are
41 (Yeesh, I feel old sometimes)
and how old you've been playingBeen playing D&D for 30 years, cutting my gaming teeth on the Basic Set (with B2 Keep on the Borderlands as the included module). Since then I've played the various versions of D&D (even tried 4e for a little bit, didn't find it to my taste), science fiction, cyberpunk, post-apoc, horror, supers, modern, western, and probably a couple that escape me right now. I keep coming back to fantasy, and am currently with Pathfinder.
are you a guy or girl?
Male, though I plan to make up for that by raising my three daughters to be gamers.
where you ever in the military?
I never served, though half of my most recent gaming group have (3 out of 6)
I'm 48 and played my first game of 1st Edition AD&D in September of 1985.
Just realized I didn't answer the other questions. I never served in the military (was told by a LOT of friends who did that I was not the kind of person who'd do a pushup for anyone without a fight first). I was never sure how to take that...anyway. I'm also a male.
I've not played as many games as many of you have. It's always been primarily AD&D (1st and 2nd editions), then D&D 3.0 and 3.5, and now Pathfinder (and I've been the DM/GM for nearly all of this time, except for the first year or so). Never dabbled in 4e; it just didn't interest me enough.
The only other game I ever played with any real investment in time was a 12 year long DC Heroes campaign. It's pretty much the favorite out of all the games I played in and not GM'd.
I've played some Call of Cthulhu, various Star Trek incarnations (including a rules set we created ourselves), a tiny bit of Star Wars, Gamma World, Boot Hill, and Torg.
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I'm 39 year old male.
I started playing Red Box D&D in private school in 1982 although got introduced to it as early as 1980. Within weeks were 'graduated' to AD&D, the first (and still beloved) rpg purchase I made with my own money was Monster Manual II for 1st Ed.
Games I have played and still have in safe keeping include:
- old Basic D&D (through the many boxed sets that followed)
- AD&D 1st and 2nd Ed (venerable Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Forotten Realms, Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, Spell Jammer and well loved homebrew campaigns)
- GURPS
- Gamma World (Old Box Set) and Star Frointiers
- Top Secret SI (but set in WW II)
- Marvel Super Heroes
- MERP and Rolemaster
- Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu
- Star Wars by West End Games (which I wrote for and still love)
- Cyberpunk (2013 & 2020 eras)
- Shadowrun
- Mechwarrior and Battle Tech (and Succession Wars!! Man I have seen friendships end because of that game! Like Axis & Allies on steroids!)
- Ars Magicka (this game made me stop playing D&D for awhile!)
- Old World of Darkness (Vampire the Masquerade & to a lesser degree Mage the Ascension )
I took a 7 year break from roleplaying to persue a career (and persue models and ballerinas) then realized how much I missed roleplaying and jumped back in with
- Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 (my first 3.5 game was a PFS game run by Branding Opportunity on these boards and I met Yoda8MyHead and Freehold DM that day as well
- and finally Pathfinder!
I currently play with some great groups right now, from a weekly PFS game in NY with some 40 or so dedicated members, (I just made Venture Captain in game!) with player ages ranging from mature 18 year olds to those who are very young 70 year olds, we wrapped up two Pathfinder Adventure Paths in the past two years in our home game and now that its my turn to run an AP I am gearing up to do Carrion Crown. (In 2nd Ed b~%%%es! WPL my arse! CR appropriate be damned!)
I got to go the old Gen Con before it moved and have been going to Gen Con and Comic Con in San Diego every year now, I come by these message boards almost daily, what can I say, I'm a gamer geek at heart.
Never served but went to military school for a year in Germany and one year in the US to 'ground' me. Heh.
Male || 22 || Never served, but my family has some strong ties to it || I started playing in April of this year. I've only played Pathfinder, and until recently only PFSOP. Oddly, my female characters have an easier time of it than my male ones (Flanked and grappled by barbed devils, turned into a eunuch and dropped into the negatives by a non-lethal blunt arrow and recently starting a fight with the party outnumbered 16 to 6. all different characters)
Male 40 (41 in a month or so), never went in military.Started playing with the "red box" basic D&D in 1986.Mostly played D&D (basic, advance, 3 and 3.5) but long love affair with Marvel Super Heroes, Robotech, Gurps 3rd ed, MERP, Cyberpunk 2020. A bit of twilight 2000, Star Wars both the West End Games and the D20 and can't remember, too many other titles.
Also, i'm italian.
How shameful of me, i didn't mention i now play only Pathfinder
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Male, 44, served 15 months in the German Bundeswehr.
First Contact with D&D in 1980, but was not able to establish a group.
Started playing RPG's at the start of college in '89 (beginning with Runequest and Space 1889).
After the end of college (1995) I entered my first AD&D campaign due to working in a FLGS (responsible for SF & Fantasy books and MtG). Really great campaign, cut short due to me moving to another town 400 miles south.
First GM-duties in the Runequest and Space 1889 campaigns as those were round robin campaigns.
First campaign GM'd with a Runequest/AD&D hybrid in the Earthsea archipelago (just adopted the map and some details about the political environment) with some elements captured from the Death Gate Cycle. Campaign stopped also because of the move to Frankfurt/Main after the second arc (First arc - bring the Band together and set the menace free they are going against, then scatter group again; second arc - bring the band back together and establish them in the world).
Got really hooked with 3rd edition with an exceptionally well crafted high-level campaign (10th-12th level, thank you, Daniel) and a group that started in Mannheim and went on to play for 8 years as a round robin group with different campaigns.
My first 3e GM steps with a small scenario from Fiery Dragon's "The Giant's skull" (the ogre attack on the fort), with my first adventure writing steps creating a small intro scenario about finding the skull itself.
Went on to GM a L5R d20 campaign, and started with Adventure Paths afterwards. "Shackled City" is my grail... started thrice (one as a online campaign on these boards), never completed due to collapse of groups because members moved away. One campaign restarted as a Freeport campaign in Greyhawk, but stopped when I moved to my new house because a couple in my campaign broke up.
Then came Pathfinder (see charter tag) and in our excitement for this daring move by Paizo we started a translation group for the Blog entries in the first months. When a German Publisher snatched up the license all participants were asked to become part of the translation team for the German Pathfinder Team. Many accepted. From translating (Crown of the Kobold King, Crucible of Chaos and some sections in the Core Rulebook and Bestiary) my work quickly shifted to editing and Pathfinder Conversions (Yes, all PF books from Ulisses are converted to the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game), nowadays I am responsible for Pathfinder Translation Glossary and layout prepapration (final editing pass plus bringing the different editing parts together into one document for layout).
Since buying our own house in 2009 I have not been able to run a Pathfinder campaign, but I plan to have my own gaming room in the attic. I had another group where we played Shadowrun, L5R 3e/4e, Deathwatch, Funky Colts, but this one also disbanded 2 months ago. I want to start a new campaign when the building in our attic is done, but that will still take a while. Plus, translation work is eating up a lot of my free time.
Male. No military though I'm thinking of going Navy. 21 years 1 month old. Started playing with 3e when I was 13, played terribly till I was 17 when I managed to scrape together a real game amd keep it together. Learned the rules almost entirely through word of mouth/playing/rules arguments. Good times.
The navy is a great service. If you have any questions feel free to ask them and I'll try to be of help. Unlike a recruiter I don't have a quota to fill.
What job did you want to be trained for in the Navy?Best piece of advice I can give you right off the bat. Get your G.I.Bill. it's a great and often overlooked benefit.
Oh god, looks like I'm the old geezer.
50 - playing since Chainmail !
No time for military - too busy committing orcicide.
Ops, I forgot to respond to the topic.
Male 41 yrs old and I have been playing since 1988 so that's a good 24 yrs.
I started with the tail end of first edition played 2nd most of my time then moved into 3rd then 3.5 and that's as far as I'm going.
No hate to any of the later editions they're just not for me.
Did my time in the navy for 4 yrs and loved it but decided to get out and pursue a better paying career. Still wouldn't mind going back out on cruise though, 6+ months away from home/family seeing places you only read about like Pompeii, Spain, palma DE Majorca, turkey, Italy, and a few other places. I really wanted to go on a west pack cruise so I could visit Australia but oh well the med was great.
I am male, coming close to 32, avoided obligatory military draft due to poor eyesight.
My first contact with RPG was in article in magazine somewhere around 1987, another one took place in late 1993 in another magazine. Actually started playing in early 1994 with homebrew system after reading about Amber - "you can play without dice?! really! yay!" (dice other than d6 was next to impossible to get then - and getting them from abroad costed a small fortune). Then we moved to another system made by Andrzej Sapkowski and published by the same magazine that got me hooked, later to native Polish Kryształy Czasu (Crystals Of Time). Then Polish translations of Warhammer, Cyberpunk and Call Of Cthulhu were published. Somehwere along those times I had my first contact with AD&D - which got published in Polish but I already seen and played it in English. My initial date with future true RPG love was there as well: GURPS but I wasn't truly enamored of it until 4th edition came (so yeah, using 4th for D&D 4th edition irks me a bit, it should be reserved for one true itteration of GURPS and not some level based system!).
Later came Vampire, Mage, Werewolf.
In 2001 I meet Fading Suns which was my main game for the following 8 years. Also in 2001 I started playing D&D 3rd edition. I was never real fan of that system but prefered it much better than AD&D (which I never really cared for - I like many of it's worlds, however). I think that the same year I discovered Legend Of Five Rings.
This year I started playing Warhammer 40k (Rogue Trader) and started GMing Pathfinder. Mostly as an attempt to divert my D&D 3.5 group to Pathfinder.
There were some other systems that I played - those listed were only the major ones.
Male, 34. Served in the military (lol how that became a part of this thread I don't know) from 95-98. Started playing with 1st edition in 1988 when I was 11. Have played regularly since then, other than about a 10 month absence from the world in 2004 due to a divorce.
Been playing since I was 11 am now 33.
My dad is an artist, so I grew up in a room that was wall to wall murals of mushrooms, goblins and faeries. Read the Hobbit when I was 6 and Lord of the Rings when I was 8. Started Playing with my older brother and his friends, still play with the same (for the most part) group as when I started.
lol how that became a part of this thread I don't knowBecause the OP asked for it? ;-)
I asked because there seem to be a lot of military people here. Less than one percent of the Western population serves, yet many more than that have posted in this thread, which confirms my suspicion that many RPG fans are somehow attracted to the military.
Ah. My apologies I missed that part. I only saw "how old are you and how long have you been playing".
Well again yes I served lol.
I'm a 36 year old male, never in the military. I've played since I was 13. Wow... 23 years. I started with 2nd Edition, but played a mix of 1st/2nd my first few years.
@Anthony Adam,
No you are but one of a couple of "Old Geezers".
42 years old, never served (but probably should have), male, been playing since about 12 (about 1981).
Games I have played and still have in safe keeping include:
•old Basic D&D (through the many boxed sets that followed)
•AD&D 1st and 2nd Ed (venerable Greyhawk, Ravenloft, Forotten Realms!!!, Al-Qadim, Kara-Tur, Spell Jammer and well loved homebrew campaigns)
•Rifts, Heroes Unlimited
•Gamma World (Old Box Set) and Star Frontiers
•Top Secret SI (just a little)•Marvel Super Heroes
•MERP and Rolemaster (played RM but loved the MERP setting and maps!)
•Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu
•Star Wars by West End Game and Star Wars by WotC but not the Saga ed.
•Shadowrun
•Mechwarrior and Battle Tech
•Ars Magicka (only a little but I loved the setting)
•Old World of Darkness (Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf & to a lesser degree Mage the Ascension )
•Dungeons & Dragons 3.5
•and finally Pathfinder!
31. SPent ten years in the military. Started playing AD&D in 1995
41, male, started at age 10 in 1980 with the blue box. Came a hair's width away from joining the army, then got hit with a dose of smarts.
@Anthony Adam,
No you are but one of a couple of "Old Geezers".
Oh! Oh! I want in on this 'Old Geezer' club too!
I think you can pretty much consider yourself a Geezer to another player when you've been playing RPGs longer than that person has been alive. I just did the math... so all you players below the age of 35... feel free to call me a Geezer, ask about the Blue Plate Special, inquire about what dinosaurs were like, etc.
Now git off my lawn, ya damn hooligans!
~Geezer SR
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I've heard that the majority of Pathfinder players are older players who've been playing a long time. I'm curious as to have much truth this has, so I ask all you guys how old you are and how old you've been playing. I myself am 20 years and 8 months old, and I've been playing 5 years, having started with D&D 3.5 when a friend at school loaned me his PHB.
As a secondary question, are you a guy or girl? I've generally seen D&D as a more male than female hobby, but I've seen more than a few girls here, and Paizo has a lot of female staff. I myself am female (male body transgendered).
As a third question, where you ever in the military? I've seen a lot of people post here who were, and I'm curious about how common that is in the RPG community. I served in the US Navy, but I received a medical discharge before getting the chance to deploy anywhere.
Since this is a perennial topic, I whipped up a survey and can publish the results here if folks are interested:
@ stormraven,
Unfortunately by your definition I am not an "Old Geezer". I have only been playing since 2000. That is why I claimed the title of "Grouchy Old Fart" as my birth year is 1948.
@ stormraven,
Unfortunately by your definition I am not an "Old Geezer". I have only been playing since 2000. That is why I claimed the title of "Grouchy Old Fart" as my birth year is 1948.
'48, eh? That makes me feel younger and I thank you for that! I'm willing to waive your RPG Time Served Requirement. You are officially a 'Geezer' in addition to a Grouchy Old Fart. :)