Origins of a Dungeon Master: Nostalgia

[Matt Larkin (author)]

My first introduction to fantasy came around age 6, when my father read LotR with me. A couple years later we got the first ed MERPs game, which was still new then. We only played it a few times, but I was hooked and immediately had to go off and try making my own games, with all the brilliance one expects of a preteen.

My first CRPG was the original Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) for the NES, probably right around when it came out in NA ('89). At the time I found the game remarkable compared to Mario or even Zelda.

Of course, neither DQ or MERPs are games that would interest me now, so yeah, as LV says, tastes change as you grow up (and find your time more and more precious).

[LordVreeg]

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2009/04/rip-dave-arneso.html

[ooc]
[size=30]Raise Thread!!![/size]
[/ooc]
There are many times that an old thread has already covered the subject of a new issue, or an ongoing one.  And this is one of those cases.  All of us learned how to play form somewhere.  All of us owe a debt, no matter how we feel about 'system x' or 'system y', to the fact that by the time we got onto the scene, there was gaming.  
Any of the newer voices might get a kick out of some of these posts, and we'd love to hear from you as well.  

[snakefing]

The zombie thread lurches into action...

I expect the next time I actually play will be running games for the boys. Z is an obsessive story-teller, so I'm pretty sure he'll be into it. N, he's more the athletic type, so we'll have to find some kind of sport that a very small but strong and coordinated kid can do well at.

So I've got about six years to finish my game world. Not long enough, at the current pace.

Anyway, I started playing in 1979, I think, with the Basic D&D box set. I don't think the Advanced D&D books were out yet, or maybe they just weren't widely available. It was an article in the Toronto Star about this new thing in games that got me started. Prior to that it was strategy games and war games.

Went to college, found like-minded people, played a lot of other systems. In grad school, I ended up finding a guy who published his own system for his own world called Ysgarth. My groups have always been small groups of close friends, which probably explains why after grad school, it fell by the wayside. The prospect of going down to the local game shop and joining up with a group of guys who are much younger and don't have that much in common just doesn't appeal.

I'm hoping that when the wife is out of her classes, maybe I'll have some time to join some online games, but that isn't so clear.

[Llum]

Lets see, first game system Sega genesis. First game I loved? Zelda: A link to the past. Then probably a succession of RPGs on the Playstation, Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, Hoshigami some others.

For computer games is always been RTSs (Red Alert 2, Star/Warcraft, SupCom, others), D2, All the good Black Isle games (Lionheart:LotC, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale) as well as a few MMOs (WoW, CoH, LotR:Oline, GW, Lineage2).

When I was a kid I basically lived out doors doing the imaginary games thing with my best friend. At school in grade 3 or 4 we went through a phase of developping our own RPGs I guess, all done by word of mouth until that got killed by kid drama :D

No tabletops for me, just good 'ole vidya games and imagination.

[LD]

ED and Acrimone's posts in particular were quite enlightening.

I intend to write more, but considering my genesis in the hobby...

1980s- Born in Europe. Introduced to Norse Mythology. Also had illustrated books of Greek and Roman Mythology. The Norse Mythology, of course, was far superior.
Early 1990s- At an Amateur Radio convention with my father, my father picked up the blue book 1E DnD as a gift because he thought it would interest me. He knew nothing about DnD.
Year+1- Moraff's World! Introduced to the Green Faerie book, the Brothers Grimm, etc. Also found Heroes' Quest box set!
Year+4- Legend of the Red Dragon on the BBSes. I miss this game. I single-handedly invented Clans... and had that concept banned after everyone started ganking non-tagged players. Also played Usurper, though that Door game was not as fun.
Year+6- Flurry of invention; created dungeon crawls, own rules based off Heroes quest and encouraged (and kept records of) around 30 classmates' adventures. rolls were done with an eraser. Adventures happened between classes. One classmate managed to complete and conquer 30 levels. Purchased first 2E DnD materials.
Year+7 Finally managed to play 2E DnD... over a phone conference call. It was quite strange.
Year+8 Found a group to play 3E with. I ended up DMing even though I had never owned any of the 3E books. Eventually, I found one discounted to 5 dollars.
Year+12 Played 1st "Online" dungeon-crawl. Played 1st MMO. Did not enjoy.
And Several ++ Years have passed since then