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Curious about how people came to the hobby, particularly about age dynamics in teaching & learning to play tabletop RPGs (which may or may not have been Pathfinder). Vote by favouriting the following posts, and feel free to elaborate by posting yourself.
What best describes your first experience in learning to play tabletop RPGs:
- I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
- I was taught by peers who were already experienced players.
- I was a child taught by adults in a game designed for or around kids (includes teacher/student groups, mom & pop + kids, or a group with multiple parents each bringing their own kids).
- I was a child invited to play with an adult group.
- I joined organized play.
Bonus: As an adult, I have run or played in mixed-age groups with kids learning to play.
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I taught myself. Just read the 3.5 PHB a lot.
I was taught by an adult who was also new to the game (along with a group of my peers).
(Sorry -- I know I'm messing with your poll, but I don't like the "a game designed for or around kids". As I mentioned in the thread that originated this poll, my friend's father LOVED buying new games and trying them out with his kids. 1st edition D&D was "just another game" he picked up and decided to try with us. So it wasn't "designed for" kids; we were just the only people he had to play with.)
OK, OK. Don't glare at me with those weird beady goblin eyes. I went ahead and checked it.
I started with a gamer group that consisted of the owners of the only comic book shop in the small town that I grew up in.
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I was taught by our Cub Scout leader when I was 8. He had the D&D Red Box Set, when Elf and Dwarf were classes.
I checked off that I was invited to play with an adult group. However, I first learned the game myself by reading the books and studying them. My knowledge expanded greatly once I got into a group, however, and I could see better how to apply what I learned.
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None of the above. I taught myself. I got the core books for D&D 3.5 when I was about 12 (inspired by some AD&D box sets I found at my local library), but I didn't actually find anyone to play with until I was about 18. By the time I actually got to play, I had already read through those books countless times, and knew most of the rules by heart. Obviously I learned more as I got into a group, but most of my knowledge of the system stems from those long, lonely years of leafing through my copy of the PHB.
I really think you need a post to vote for teaching yourself.
I was given the D&D Basic Red Box set and taught myself first from that, and then later from reading the 1st Edition AD&D Players Handbook and DMG.
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Wishing I'd checked this 15 minutes earlier to make some quick changes. Oh, well.
I really think you need a post to vote for teaching yourself.
I actually had one, but deleted it because I wanted to keep things simple and focus on the experience of playing with a group even if you learned the rules on your own. My experience was closest to Neirikr's, in fact - I had a very brief experience with AD&D in a group of novices at around age 12, but then spent years teaching myself the theory of 3.5 before finding a group to seriously play with.
I would consider that to best fall under "learned with other novices" since the point of that option is that you didn't have a more experienced person teaching you. Alternatively, favourite Sandal Fury.
I was taught by an adult who was also new to the game (along with a group of my peers).
(Sorry -- I know I'm messing with your poll, but I don't like the "a game designed for or around kids". As I mentioned in the thread that originated this poll, my friend's father LOVED buying new games and trying them out with his kids. 1st edition D&D was "just another game" he picked up and decided to try with us. So it wasn't "designed for" kids; we were just the only people he had to play with.)
OK, OK. Don't glare at me with those weird beady goblin eyes. I went ahead and checked it.
No worries, it's not a perfect set of categories, obviously. :p "Designed for kids" might not have been the best wording, but given the thread that inspired the poll, the point was to have an option for games that could easily have been all-adult games versus games that are conceived as youth/family games or otherwise would not have happened without kids/youth.
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I was a child invited to play with an adult group.
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I'm pretty sure I'm still a child. So, does this count?
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Was invited to play with a friend and his group.
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I learned on my own cause my a*+@~*! older brothers wouldnt let me join in
I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
... Played back in the 80's, still have the box set.
I'm assuming you want people to only pick one choice, and not go half-way between 2+ options.
]
You assume too much. What is to stop them from
picking multiple choices while you limit yourself to just one?
Their choices will mount-up and up, leaving your singleton-click
an impotent tally-mark.
I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
This was me. 2nd edition AD&D is when I really learned to play (despite a single session of 1st edition with a schoolmate a few months before). Bought the 3 core books and the Council of Wyrms setting, and played with my sister and her now-husband, as well as my older sister (unfortunately). I was usually the DM as I was the only one that could figure out thac0.
Also learned how to play 3rd edition when first released with my younger sister and her now-husband, as well as a few friends from high school.
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Um... ok tell me where I fall.
I started out seeing some older boys playing at my brother's friend's house. This absolutely fascinated me so I made my own RPG with my brother using barbie dolls and GI Joes and some simple resolution system using 1d6... I only had d6s and it didn't occur to me to use multiples. Later around Christmas we convinced our Grand Father to buy us 2nd edition and I transitioned from game designer to GM of a real game with the neighborhood kids. Then after a year or so my brother stepped up to the GM seat and I finally got to play.
Curious about how people came to the hobby, particularly about age dynamics in teaching & learning to play tabletop RPGs (which may or may not have been Pathfinder). Vote by favouriting the following posts, and feel free to elaborate by posting yourself.
What best describes your first experience in learning to play tabletop RPGs:
- I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
- I was taught by peers who were already experienced players.
- I was a child taught by adults in a game designed for or around kids (includes teacher/student groups, mom & pop + kids, or a group with multiple parents each bringing their own kids).
- I was a child invited to play with an adult group.
- I joined organized play.
Bonus: As an adult, I have run or played in mixed-age groups with kids learning to play.
All of them?
We did some choose your own adventure/Tunnels and Trolls in gifted class at school, then I learned with a First Quest box set (Intro to AD&D 2nd Edition) with peers who were new to the game (we were all in 4th or 5th grade), then with their adult parents and siblings who included us, then with experienced groups in college, then organized play.
And I run mixed-age beginner box groups at cons.
My dad introduced it to me and my siblings when I was 10. Been playing together pretty much non-stop since then.
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Rob Duncan, ramblers like you are why I asked for first experience - entry to the hobby! In your case that sounds like option 3, the teacher/student group.
Aranna, I'd go with "peers new to gaming" since you were the leader in introducing the game to your peers. Passively seeing other people playing isn't quite what I'd call joining the hobby, any more than seeing an ad would be. Also, great use of Barbie!
Ok then, done. Keep in mind I asked "grognard" lots of stupid questions before making the game so he had an influence right from the start.
I learned with peers, though then we played with one of the party's older brother and his friends, who were more experienced. They introduced us to "everything is trapped"-style DMing.
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3. A lifetime of creative play and acting
2. Obsessively buying and reading the books
1. Computer games, computer games, computer games! Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights, etc proved to be GREAT ways for me to learn the rules - in fact, a guy at my local Pathfinder Society group who himself been playing since the days of "redbox" said I was "the best rules lawyer we've got"
Um... ok tell me where I fall.
I started out seeing some older boys playing at my brother's friend's house. This absolutely fascinated me so I made my own RPG with my brother using barbie dolls and GI Joes and some simple resolution system using 1d6... I only had d6s and it didn't occur to me to use multiples. Later around Christmas we convinced our Grand Father to buy us 2nd edition and I transitioned from game designer to GM of a real game with the neighborhood kids. Then after a year or so my brother stepped up to the GM seat and I finally got to play.
You should publish the Barbie game.
I heard about the game from a neighbor (3 years older than me), got the red box for my birthday, read it and made up a character on my own, but didn't get to play until said neighbor ran me solo through an adventure. After a while, I got to join the neighbor's group, none of whom was more than 3 years older than me. I didn't play with someone from a different age demographic than my own until I got to college and joined a game run by a friend's father.
How did I learn to game... A friend was really wanting to play but they needed at least 3 players to get off the ground so he convinced me to try it out. I've been playing ever since.
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Um... ok tell me where I fall.
I started out seeing some older boys playing at my brother's friend's house. This absolutely fascinated me so I made my own RPG with my brother using barbie dolls and GI Joes and some simple resolution system using 1d6... I only had d6s and it didn't occur to me to use multiples. Later around Christmas we convinced our Grand Father to buy us 2nd edition and I transitioned from game designer to GM of a real game with the neighborhood kids. Then after a year or so my brother stepped up to the GM seat and I finally got to play.
You should publish the Barbie game.
I heard about the game from a neighbor (3 years older than me), got the red box for my birthday, read it and made up a character on my own, but didn't get to play until said neighbor ran me solo through an adventure. After a while, I got to join the neighbor's group, none of whom was more than 3 years older than me. I didn't play with someone from a different age demographic than my own until I got to college and joined a game run by a friend's father.
You think people would buy it?
It was rather simple in it's construction. Basically we just made everything into a skill that we could think of from medicine, firearms, acrobatics, ect; then we took each doll and assigned them a rating in each skill based on their theme and other supporting media. Doctor Barbie had medicine of 5 and a firearms of only 1 (she wouldn't kill people); while Batman doll had an acrobatics of 5 and a fighting of 4.
Resolution was 1d6 vs the assigned skill rating +/- any difficulty modifiers we came up with at the time. We didn't really use a GM... we just played with dolls and used my RPG rules to govern what happens. Scenarios were whatever any of us came up with at the moment, from rescuing the child from the monster (monster was a stuffed animal usually), to a sort of MASH setup where Doctor Barbie saved Batman on the operating table while GIJoe defended the perimeter.
Basically silly stuff.
Answer:
- I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
(A couple of friends and I figured it out on our own.)
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I started college and the local coffee shop I hung out closed. When a few of us went to another, we found a large group that invited several back to their place to play. It was 2nd edition, though they played just as much, if not more, OWoD. My first character was an elf ranger. My second character was a Homid Silent Strider Philodox.
So... Peers... I guess.
The thing is, I remember borrowing an earlier DnD book from a fellow in high school because I thought it looked interesting. I think it was my sophomore year... meaning I would have been around fifteen. I looked through some of Players Handbook and found it intriguing, but eventually returned it, and he never asked if I wanted to game.
In hindsight that was weird. Willing to loan a book out, but not willing to hang out. I am opposite. I'll give you some of my time, but I have to really like and trust you to loan you my books.
I'm surprised there aren't more family groups and teacher/student groups. I've heard a lot about both situations. Then again, maybe that's the next generation who haven't made it onto the Paizo forums yet...
My younger sister played for awhile in the 1e days, and my ex wife played for a long 2e campaign. My 21 year old son plays 3.5 or PF whenever he has time and the mood suits him.
As far as school groups go, no in my school had ever heard of it and if they had they'd have banned it for being satanic.
I learned with some of my friends from college, all of us were new to the game except our DM who had been playing for some years.
I picked up Star Wars: Saga Edition Freshman/Sophomore year of high school, and basically badgered my friends into learning the game with me. :P
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It was 1974. We were all new to the game, but then so was pretty much everybody else who didn't live in Lake Geneva :) We had been playing miniatures for years, including Chainmail and using the fantasy supplement in Chainmail. It was a natural transition.
I was taught by peers who were already experienced players. (namely, my older brother)
Curious about how people came to the hobby, particularly about age dynamics in teaching & learning to play tabletop RPGs (which may or may not have been Pathfinder). Vote by favouriting the following posts, and feel free to elaborate by posting yourself.
What best describes your first experience in learning to play tabletop RPGs:
- I learned with peers (friends, siblings, etc) who were also new to the game.
- I was taught by peers who were already experienced players.
- I was a child taught by adults in a game designed for or around kids (includes teacher/student groups, mom & pop + kids, or a group with multiple parents each bringing their own kids).
- I was a child invited to play with an adult group.
- I joined organized play.
Bonus: As an adult, I have run or played in mixed-age groups with kids learning to play.
I borrowed books and basically taught myself., while gaming with experienced players. Yes, I died a lot along the way. They did not pull any punches.