I didn’t start with Dungeons & Dragons. I want that to be clear. I became exposed to the Realms via video games first and then novels and then I played Lost Mines of Phandelver beginning in March 2018. But I had already been playing TTRPGs for years at that point. One, really, though I had tried one other.
Let's go back to the Summer of 2013. I was visiting Illinois for the first time since I had moved away in 2008. It was my childhood home, almost all my family is still there, including my eldest brother. I had not seen him for about a year, since we moved from Florida, and we were living in Texas at the time. If you note the year, Fifth Edition, my first D&D edition, was not yet released. At the time I played a decent amount of Magic: The Gathering. That feels so long ago as I haven't played it at all in several years. But we were going to the local game stores, and we stopped by a favorite of my older brother's, Armored Gopher Games. I'm not sure on the state of it now, but at the store my older and younger brother found something.
It was a beta test for a forthcoming Star Wars TTRPG. The way the guy-behind-the-counter spoke about it sure made it sound exciting, and guess what? The full thing had just released. Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, hot off the presses. We were broke teenagers, I think my older brother pulled through and we got the massive tome into our hands. We took it back to my friend's house, who we were staying with, and what ensued?
an ad for the game store in Saints Row IV, made by a local developer |
I'm not a big Star Wars fan, but my brothers were. We played Edge of the Empire almost exclusively for five years. In 2015, when I went back to Illinois, I received a gift of the Pathfinder box starter set. I tried that out and didn't like the gaminess, the rules. Even though I'm generally more of a fantasy fan, it didn't stick. I haven't played it since. I have tried many other systems though.
But those are asides. The world of TTRPGs was opened to me more than a decade ago. I did not know they existed, I did not know what I was missing. My mother had apparently played 2e when she was in high school, but that was her friend's hobby, not hers. Well, this became a big hobby of mine. I felt like I had found a treasure trove, endless and overflowing. I still feel that way. It is why I have this project.
I am curious, how did you get into TTRPGs? If you want to hear my brothers and I discuss our discovery of this amazing genre, check out the video below. Thank you!