My first exposure to RPG's was through my sister's boyfriend Marcus when I was about 9 years old (1977 or thereabouts). I remember hearing stories of game sessions, and seeing those strange maps with all the hexagons. I didn't really know what it was all about then, but I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. Marcus gave me the first rulebook I ever owned, the first edition of Gamma World by TSR. I must have read through it a million times. I didn't actually play an RPG until I was a little older, and oddly Gamma World wasn't it.
I don't remember how old I was when I received the Basic Dungeons & Dragons boxed set (now referred to as Holmes Basic) or even where I got it from (I assume my Mom bought it for me), but that was the first RPG I ever played. Since I owned the rules, I was naturally the Dungeon Master, and my first players were my sister Kathy, my uncle Dick, and my aunt Jo. I even remember two of the characters: Dick played Luwanda, a female dwarf fighter with a 17 strength and a penchant for kicking down doors, and I believe it was Jo who played the male human cleric Ferd.
I also remember that I got part of the rules wrong when we played. In Gamma World, you determined your character's hit points by rolling a number of six-sided dice equal to your constitution score. In Dungeons & Dragons, you also had a constitution score, but your hit points were determined by rolling a number of dice equal to your character's experience level. I apparently missed or didn't understand the experience level bit. We rolled character hit points Gamma World style, and our little party of first level characters proceeded to kick tremendous ass and were nigh invulnerable. The first dungeon I ever made featured a 4th level mage and his pet black dragon, and the party mopped the floor with them! We still had a very good time, and was apparently memorable enough that I remember those bits to this very day.
It seems through the years, I've always ran games more than I've actually played in them, and I've read about games more than I've actually ran them. I have a very tender spot for rules and maps, regardless if they ever actually get used in play, which is a big reason why I made this blog. Here I can put up stuff for other people like me and maybe through them the stuff will get used.
Currently My wife and daughters and I are playing in a (semi) weekly game together, but it hasn't been going on for very long, and I don't know how long it will last. It started out with my older daughter LaTricia running some 4th edition D&D for us, but that sort of died out as my frequent depression makes me unfit to play a lot. After that, I started running a similar dungeon fantasy type game using the Savage Worlds rules, which we've played all of one session so far, and that was two weeks ago. It was a lot of fun, but when it came time to play again last week, I just couldn't gather up the gumption and set up an adventure. Tomorrow we will be picking it up again, though we may end this game (this session would complete the mini-storyline) and try some post-apocalyptic stuff using a game called Barbarians of the Aftermath.
I loves me some post-apocalyptic stuff, just like good old Gamma World those many years ago...
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