So as I was walking out of the biblioteca I noticed Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition for Dummies on the shelf and went back and checked it out.
Why?
I have no idea really.
Anyway...
I briefly played D&D back in 1983 and 1984 when I was just starting my career as a social outcast.
Apparently, I was playing 1st Edition since I had what looks like the original Monster Manual, Players Handbook, Deities and Demigods, Fiend Folio, and the Dungeon Masters Guide. I had some of the early adventures (I can't remember what they were called... Scenarios... something like that) and all I remember is that S3 was this great one involving a crashed spaceship and a Mindflayer that was wearing sci-fi armor and there was an Egyptian one too.
One of the things that made me different from the other loser geeks I played with was the fact that I wasn't into fantasy stuff. While I read Tolkien and such, it was never "mine". Even as a child I was far more grounded in history and historical sci-fi even and that really took my D&D stuff into different territory.
Everything I did and ran was based on a custome skewed classical Greco-Egypto cultural world I created. The only "monsters" per se were those based in human myth and religion.
Pretty fucked up for a 12 year old and definitely not the dragons, elves, orcs, and halfling stuff the others were playing.
Anyway... what was I saying.
Oh. Yeah.
Just perusing through this 4th Edition Dummies guide shows me how geeks completely sucked the fun out of the game.
Man oh man this shit's insane!!!
I got the red D&D boxset back when I was a kid. But role-playing games never really took off with me ...
Nala, all those old school D&D books you mentioned, adventures, and sets if you don't have them anymore can be downloaded in PDF now for about $3-$5 per book now at this website: http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php
Go figure, I paid $15-$20 or more for those books and sets back in the day, now they cost next to nothing.
I recently downloaded the Fiend Folio for the hell of it because I could never find it anywhere, back when I still played(1985ish).
I think it was 1992 when I first got into RPG's. My friends were hardcore and ran some great games. We did D&D a little but I think we got more into Champions and Cyberpunk. I really miss those days.
Ah yes, Cyberpunk. No Wizards, but plenty of bullets. I played the hell out of that, but despite my wide experience with RPGs I just outright refused to play D&D because of the word THAC0.
If you're worried about your geek level, I have friends in their mid-30s who still play on a weekly basis. I only get involved if they're playing Heroes Unlimited.
I knew I liked you, Frowny. Heroes Unlimited was one of my favorites. The best was when Villains Unlimited came out, and we started running as villains.