My son started D&D at 4. I wrote about it at the time.
He started PFRPG at 6. I wrote about THAT at the time, too. And he's still playing.
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My goodness.
You know, this is getting a little off topic, but when I tracked down my story of my son when he was 4, I noticed a post in that thread like this...
Hey Aaron Bitman, my son doesn't ever get to see me game but he is completely facinated whenever I play Computer Wargames and is always asking me when I will "play your game". He has already learned to identify different units and thier basic function (archers shoot from far away, horses charge, infantry make the line etc.).
So when you introduced him to the game did you talk about the rules at all first or just explain as you went along? I don't have lots of minis (hardly any actually) how important was the table top (I'm guessing very)?
I guess I'm asking for advice on how to get started, I was not planning on gaming with him at all until he showed interest but now he has got to the point that the considers "helping me fight wars on the computer" to be father son time.
How had I never noticed that post before? Now I feel bad for not answering that question. And after 3 years, it's far too late, but I guess it can't hurt to answer.
There is no one right way to start a child, but in my son's case, I started him with the "Aleena and Bargle" solo adventure in the old D&D Basic Set. I later explained to him the six ability scores (and maybe a few other things, but I forget what), and a few days later, proceeded to guide him through creating his first character. In other words, I told him SOME rules earlier, and some others only when they came into play.
He had been adventuring for some time before I introduced (cardboard) minis into the game.
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my sister ran a game for me and our father in 1982 when i was 5.
i can't believe i'm the youngest so far (except for aaron's kids).
There's a bit of age discrimination going on here. Some of us were unable to start playing at age 6 because the game hadn't been invented yet. :(
Last year, Pathfinder
Last year, Pathfinder
And you were .... ?
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A child.Last year, PathfinderAnd you were .... ?
just a babe in the woods
Hmmm, started when the 1e FF came out (1981?). My friend got his hands on it and we decided we had to learn any game that included cool monster books like that. We were about 9 or 10, I guess. Started with the red box Basic set and quickly transitioned to 1e AD&D.
The babe with the powerA child.Last year, PathfinderAnd you were .... ?just a babe in the woods
I have that exact same outfit
Seven or eight, cant remember which end of the year it was :p
13, 1981, Tom Moldvay Red Box. My first character was a cleric (can't remember his name) with my dad as DM and my two sisters as fellow PCs. He died twenty minutes into playing because I didn't know what green slime was.
.
.
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I was hooked. :D
D&D Basic Rules (red) and D&D Expert Rules (blue) I can't remember the year but we were playing 1st Ed. In High school (Graduated in 1985).
"Officially" AD&D at 11 years old. But, I was obsessed with high fantasy since I was a little kid in the early 80's. The D&D cartoon was like a lighthouse beacon, but I couldn't afford the books. So, my friend and I would use dice from Monopoly games and made a bunch of stuff up.
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This asks when you started tabletop gaming and with what edition
I started roleplaying in about 1989 at the age of 14 (I think) with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition.
In terms of D&D though, apart from literally two sessions of AD&D (not sure if 1e or 2e) one at university and one at GenCon, I started with D&D properly (i.e. I bought a D&D book) in September 2005 at the age of 30 when I ordered the 3.5 PHB but even then I barely played much (I am still reading the 3.5 MM).
So, RPGing for 24 years, playing D&D for nearly 8 years.
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Trying to recall exactly...
I know me and my neighbor started playing by 1980 (half-assed, "do not understand the rules" edition), but thinking back on it, I had my mom buy me my first AD&D Monster Manual at a Hallmarks (yes, the card store) and the 1st ed AD&D DMG was not out yet. So that would put it at 1979, with me being 8 or 9 at the time.
Unfortunately that book did not survive the 1st 700 Club Crusade against AD&D (early 80’s). I still have my original PHB, which has a small gouge on the back (right on the blurb) from a short sword attack (don't ask), but my MM and a few other original books were purged by my Aunt and Mother during that terrible time.
Of course had they known about the painted leather jacket, chains, boots and funny haircuts that were to follow a few years later they probably would have just had me focus on the game as full time hobby.
We played a mish-mash of AD&D and Basic. Got heavily into Basic/Expert with the 81 re-launch (1st Moldvay edition) in 81, after which I wore the DM hat for my group 95% of the time. Then there was Gamma World (which I love more than D&D), then 1st ed Chill in'84 (love more than D&D). Call of Cthulhu in '86 (GDW hardcover release). Then a slew if games throughout the late 80's and 90's.
I distinctly remember an armchair that was used as the DM spot over at my neighbors house in his den – I lost many a dice in that damn thing!
And dice were a commodity - you didn't buy them in small, clear plastic cases (we didn't), you just hoarded them from various boxed sets that provided them over the years.
Mentzer's version of the red box, bought with the money from my 7th birthday. A pal at school (who's older brother had all the boxed sets) had introduced me some months before.
This would have been 1990.
Just a tiny bit before I started. Hello there.
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I love telling this story. It pretty much defined who I grew up to be...
I started looking at my dad's AD&D books as soon as I was able to realize what books were. I really wanted to play, but he wanted me to be a "normal" kid and do things like play sports.
He told me that when I had read all of the AD&D manuals, then he would let me play.
So, I learned to read from Gary Gygax's writing. I was around four when Dad sat down with me and played my first adventure (around 1979), but I'd been paging through the books and the old boxed sets since I was two or three, maybe younger.
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I love telling this story. It pretty much defined who I grew up to be...I started looking at my dad's AD&D books as soon as I was able to realize what books were. I really wanted to play, but he wanted me to be a "normal" kid and do things like play sports.
He told me that when I had read all of the AD&D manuals, then he would let me play.
So, I learned to read from Gary Gygax's writing. I was around four when Dad sat down with me and played my first adventure (around 1979), but I'd been paging through the books and the old boxed sets since I was two or three, maybe younger.
My vote is that "Gary Gygax taught me to read" wins the thread!
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Maybe 1982/83-ish in late high school with basic box, but I had been paging through some friends AD&D books for a couple of years before that. After seeing the Monster Manual, I started drawing and creating my own monsters. Too bad I don't have the sheets anymore. Some of them were wicked cool.
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In 1980, my dad went on a business trip and brought us back a copy of the D&D Basic box set. I was 6 and my brother was 8. Best present ever!
2006, 3.5, 20 or 21 years old (those weeks are a whiskey-colored blur).
2003. Age 18. 3.5.
1994, Age 13, AD&D (2nd Ed) ... and I started as a DM using a boxset.
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My vote is that "Gary Gygax taught me to read" wins the thread!
I love telling this story. It pretty much defined who I grew up to be...I started looking at my dad's AD&D books as soon as I was able to realize what books were. I really wanted to play, but he wanted me to be a "normal" kid and do things like play sports.
He told me that when I had read all of the AD&D manuals, then he would let me play.
So, I learned to read from Gary Gygax's writing. I was around four when Dad sat down with me and played my first adventure (around 1979), but I'd been paging through the books and the old boxed sets since I was two or three, maybe younger.
LOL!
Not to derail the thread, but my grammar school teachers were always wondering where I was coming up with those words they had to look up...
:-D
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My vote is that "Gary Gygax taught me to read" wins the thread!
I love telling this story. It pretty much defined who I grew up to be...I started looking at my dad's AD&D books as soon as I was able to realize what books were. I really wanted to play, but he wanted me to be a "normal" kid and do things like play sports.
He told me that when I had read all of the AD&D manuals, then he would let me play.
So, I learned to read from Gary Gygax's writing. I was around four when Dad sat down with me and played my first adventure (around 1979), but I'd been paging through the books and the old boxed sets since I was two or three, maybe younger.
LOL!
Not to derail the thread, but my grammar school teachers were always wondering where I was coming up with those words they had to look up...
:-D
Yeh, I could spell and use "xenophobic" in a sentence kinda early...
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"regeneration"
i was 8, 1st ed, 1984
I used to get in trouble for knowing words my teachers didn't. Thanks E.G.G.
That's a good kind of "trouble" to be in when your enlightened parents catch wind of it though.
1979 or 1980, when I was 16. I don't remember which edition it was, but it definitely was a box set. My brother had come home absolutely raving about this nifty new game that he and his friends had discovered, and told me, "Sis, you gotta try this!" This was brother-speak for "Sis, you're gonna try this, so just come along quietly". He and his buds had learned about it from somebody who had a cousin in some burg I'd never heard of called Lake Geneva, WI. I think I got recruited because I had my driver's license, but I had fun anyway.
Around 1999-2000 at age 11-12; 2nd edition. Then break for some years and didn't get back into it until 2006 with 3.5.
