Still amazing to think that Dungeons & Dragons is 50 years old this year. Even more amazing to think is that I have been playing that ttrpg for over 40 years. I thought I would reflect back on my hobby life with D&D.
As I mentioned in the past, my introduction to the roleplaying game hobby was via Villains & Vigilantes. I played that for a few months, but eventually, we quit meeting altogether and I was left making up characters just for fun. It was during that time that a group of friends who had seen me with my superhero books and folders of notes approached me about another game called Dungeons & Dragons. I had been watching the cartoon, so I knew of the world. I loved fantasy literature, being a huge fan of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings already by that time. So when some of my friends from high school asked if I wanted to join their AD&D game, I was really excited.
That is, until I spoke with my mom. She had been fine with me playing the superhero game of V&V, and even accepted me trying out Dragonraid with my cousins. My mom, and many others in my community and at my church, had a very different view of Dungeons & Dragons. As I was new to the hobby, I was unaware of the controversies of D&D. It was not until later that I learned more about the Chick Tracts, Mazes and Monsters movie, and 60 Minutes special. I love my mom and have great respect for her, so I appreciate how much she cared for me and my hobbies. She knew of many of these controversies and was concerned about her son engaging in such a hobby. I will be honest, I was frustrated by her unwillingness at first to allow me to play D&D with my friends. I just viewed it as a game and didn’t understand the nuances at the time. We continued discussing it for quite a while. It took her speaking to the parents of some of the others in the gaming group before she would compromise. It helped that members of the group included the Valedictorian of the high school, other high academic students, and a member of our church. After my mom spoke with the parents, and talked to me more about my interest in the game, we agreed that I could join this gaming group as long as I kept up with my responsibilities at home, school, and work.
So, I joined my first true gaming group that met every Saturday morning. I vividly remember that first session. I was handed the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook and told to make a cleric. The party needed a cleric, and that would be my role. So, I created a human cleric named Boabdil (a name I snagged from studying him in Spanish class that week). That human cleric proceeded to get attacked, swallowed, and killed by a giant toad or frog (cannot remember exactly) within his first two rooms of my first every dungeon. I was shocked. I was disappointed. I was hooked! A game that has consequences? A game where you have to think tactically? A game you pour your creativity into? Wow. V&V had been fun, but as we had played it at first, it was just a glorified combat game. We made heroes and villains to fight each other, not campaign per se. AD&D was something very different and I loved it. I quickly moved from player to Dungeon Master. I love telling stories, reacting to the players and their characters, and improvising on the spot. I am most definitely a theater of the mind style game master.
AD&D (and other RPGs) in college helped me quickly build friendships, but this time was also when I first personally experienced the controversies of D&D and the vehemence some people can have against it and the RPG hobby. I had some very emotional confrontations, specifically because I played AD&D. Other RPGs were fine, but Dungeons & Dragons created numerous incidents during my college years. I loved gaming and really enjoyed it in college, but this backlash from people I thought were my friends and some of the leadership of the university really impacted me emotionally. I was not ashamed of my hobby, but I did tend to start withholding that I was a roleplayer until I knew someone better. At one point post college the negative D&D experience became so intense, I even purged my AD&D collection entirely and focused on other less controversial RPGs. I regretted that decision years later and have slowly been re-acquiring AD&D books for my library and returned to playing the game with my new gaming group.
My personal experiences with AD&D backlash kept me for years being unwilling, almost unable, to share that passion with my daughters as they were growing up. I played lots of board games with them, tried some non-D&D RPGs with them, and even let them listen in on my AD&D game sessions with my gaming group, but I honestly was fearful to have them share in my younger experiences with AD&D. I wanted them to enjoy their gaming hobbies without the stigma I felt regarding D&D for so many years. When the new D&D Fifth Edition was released, I fell in love with it. It had a feel of my classic AD&D, but with the modern storytelling and flexibility of games like Fate Core and Savage Worlds. I also saw D&D become much more mainstream with D&D 5e at game conventions, on TV, and people where I worked talking about it casually even. My twin daughters then asked if they could play the new D&D with me, even my wife (who has never gamed with me) asked if she could join. So, with a bit of trepidation mixed in the excitement, I ran my first adventure of D&D for my wife and daughters. I loved every moment of it. Finally getting to share openly a passionate hobby of mine was great. My daughters continue to play with their own gaming groups now as they can find the time in their busy schedules.
With all my experiences, I never thought D&D would become the mainstream game and media it has become today with computer games, live plays, podcasts, an updated to 5e, and a good movie! So what is next with my D&D hobby? I have always wanted to run the classic AD&D super module series of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, A1-4 Against the Slavers, G1-3 Against the Giants, and the D1-3 & Q1 Drow modules. With the 50th anniversary and life continuing to move forward, I shared this crazy idea a few weeks ago with my gaming group. They loved it! We realize this is a multiyear goal and we are going to give it a shot! We plan to do this using classic first edition AD&D with some house rules to really experience them as they were written. This is a crazy idea and I am so excited my friends are on this journey with me.
That is it really. Friendship. D&D has provided me over 40 years of quality time with my friends. Happy Anniversary D&D!