Raised from the Dead: How I Got Started (30 Days of D&D)

I think I'm going to get back into doing this blog as I recently started running AD&D again and would like a place to post my reflections.

There's a thing going around called 30 Days of D&D in which some of the bloggers I follow are doing a themed post each day. I figure this is a good way to force myself to seed my blog with some relevant content. Also, the first day is "How I Got Started" which seems an appropriate start up when resurrecting my blog.

Raised From the Dead

Attribution: New Line Cinema via TheOneRing

Growing up, I got into the Super Nintendo generation of role playing games, starting when my cousin, Laura, loaned me Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest. Weird that my girl cousin got me into RPGs, right? Anyway, that game wasn't that great, but I loved it. I became aware later that these video game RPGs were based on table top games where anything was possible, and this intrigued me. However, I had been taught by my fundamentalist upbringing that D&D was evil (we had the famous Chick tract Dark Dungeons in our home and the lesser known Adventures in Odyssey radio drama episode Castles & Cauldrons), so I never sought out the forbidden materials.

 

Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest

Attribution: Square via Wired

Toward the end of high school, my Spanish teacher, Sra. Miller, told me that her daughter and I had a lot in common, and her daughter (who attended a rival high school) started writing me notes on my homework (probably not ethical educational practice, but oh well). That eventually turned into AIM conversations (this betrays my relatively young age for an Old School Renaissance type). I got the sense that this girl knew a lot about geeky hobbies that I had never had the opportunity to pursue, so on a whim I asked her if she knew about Dungeons & Dragons. It turns out, her dad ran a big AD&D game once a month for his daughters and their friends. So, I got the invite! Weird that a girl got me into table top gaming, right?

Brilliant strategy by the way: luring geeky boys to your home for D&D using your high school age daughters. I thought about posting a picture of a succubus here as a joke, but these girls (now women) are way too cool to be reduced to a sexist cliche.

 

So how about this instead?

Attribution: swerc on deviantArt

I attended that game only a few times because it wasn't particularly convenient for a guy without a car. So, I bought the first edition AD&D books and started running my own game when I got to college and was free to pursue whatever wickedness I liked. I met some lifelong friends that way, including Vedron of Vedron's Potion Shop.

How did you get started with D&D? If you're doing the 30 Day Challenge, please link your blog in the comments so I can follow you!