¿How old are you?

[Valandil]

Just curious about the age of my fellow gamers. To get this started, I'm 19. I've been playing D&D for 2 years now. Started out with MERP, then 3.5, in that time I discovered this whole old-school thing, got myself a copy of S&W:CR, but then migrated to Whitebox, and I think I finally found my place (lost my MERP rulebook, recently sold my 3.5 books). What about the rest of you?

[coffee]

I'm 48. Started gaming in the late 70's, played AD&D for the first time in '81 (30 years ago).

(You'd think after 30 years I'd stop making rookie mistakes, but I still do...)

[arcadayn]

I just turned 42 on May 10th. I played Moldvay Basic for the first time in '81.

[noffham]

I was 53 on March 1st. Was playing Chainmail in '73 and the LBBs in Nov. 1974.

Where did the time go???

[tombowings]

I'm 21. Started playing when I was 9 - AD&D first edition. I played a couple years of 3.5 in high school, tried 4th edition, now I'm back to AD&D, OD&D, and B/X. Apparently I should stick with what works.

[Falconer]

I’m 31. I bought some MERP in ’96, and started playing AD&D 2e in ’97. Switched to 1e when 3e came out. Been playing a mixture of OD&D, 1e, and Holmes ever since, with a bit of Call of Cthulhu for variety (and eventually Star Trek).

[Aplus]

I am 31 as well.

Falconer, I always imagined you as a very old dude. Must be the avatar.

[terje]

I'm 34 and I started gaming when I was 11. My first rpg was WEG's Star Wars (the swedish edition) and Drakar och Demoner ("Dragons and demons", swedish brp fantasy). A friend bought the Mentzer D&D basic set and we played some of the modules (the Silver Princess) but we thought it sucked. Which it of course did since we tried to play it like a modern mainstream game and it did not live up to our expectations. It was many years later, after trying freeform and indie games, that I understood how to play classic D&D. ;D

[wulfgar22]

40 in a couple of weeks. Started with AD&D and The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh back in 1983 and was hooked. By the early 90s I'd stopped. Got back into gaming in 2007 quickly finding my way through all the new shiny games back to my roots.

[kesher]

41 this past April. Started in '82 with ye olde Moldvay Redbox, then swiftly moved to AD&D, then on to disdain of all things D&D as compared with, I don't know, Runequest, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, then some White Wolf games, then on into the indie game world, then back to the origins.

[Morandir]

I just turned 30. I played 2e a few times in the late 90s and really got into the game with 3.x thanks to a college roommate. I played/ran 3e until 4e came out, at which point I switched over. That didn't last long. I discovered old-school D&D a few months later, and that's what I've played since (with occasional forays into WFRP and Barbarians of Lemuria).

[waysoftheearth]

I'll be 40 in about two weeks.

I started playing D&D with the Mentzer Red Box in 84, and then played AD&D solidly from 85 and into the early 90s. Played a little 2E in the mid 90s, and looked at 3/3.5E, but never really played it in earnest. My interest faded for a few years but was rekindled with the build up to 4E around 2007ish, but 4E was a huge let down. That was when I discovered the retro clones, and then OD&D -- which was exactly the tonic I needed ;D

[Deleted]

43 years old. Began with Holmes in '81, quickly changed to 1e, had B/X and BECM (not I) rules but stuck with 1e. Didn't game during the 90s, then played 2e for a short while, followed by 12 months of 3e, but it wasn't my kind of thing. Several years back got back into 1e, but swapped to Labyrinth Lord a couple of years back. Hanging around the online scene for 10+ years now, loving the whole OSR, retro-clones and exploration of the 3LBs. Just started to pull apart Chainmail and reformat it to get my brain around it.

[Fandomaniac]

I turned 41 this past March and like Kesher, I started in 1982 with Moldvay Basic. Switched to AD&D in 1983.

[Mike]

I turn 46 this year... Been at it since 1981. The first flavour of D&D I played was AD&D 1, the first version I bought was Moldvay red book. Still got it too!

[gloriousbattle]

47. I got started in the early 80s with white box D&D. Followed pretty much every edition. Did not like 3, but I played for awhile, then ran. Never was willing to play 4.

I now play several OD&D clones, including Labyrinth Lord, Warriors of Mars, S&W, Star Blades, Age of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Sturmgeschutz and Sorcery, and Hideouts and Hoodlums.

I enjoy the system so much, that I will not run anything that is not OD&D (though I will play other systems).

[bluskreem]

I'm 28, I played a few 2nd ed games before leaving D&D altogether for World of Darkness and Battletech for most of the nineties and early 00's. I was introduced to classic style D&D in college, and have preferred it ever since. I got involved in the OSR gaming after being turned onto LL & Carcosa.

[talysman]

47, will turn 48 before the end of the year. Started, as I've often said, with a friend teaching me a house-ruled white box using a bunch of mimeographed tables, so I didn't actually see the LBBs for a couple years. First purchase was Holmes Basic w/ the geomorphs/treasure assortment. Later got the PHB. Thereafter, mostly played AD&D w/ several rules stripped out and some material from OD&D added, and also played The Fantasy Trip.

Later, did a little bit of a couple different games, but mostly did GURPS until I got sick of the fiddly bits. Played some AD&D again and was asked to DM 3e when it came out, but after buying the books and slogging through the endless material, I changed my mind. Everything I've played since has been (A)D&D, some indie RPGs, and my friend's ORC system games (FWTD, Tibet, In Dark Alleys.)

[Valandil]

I feel like a toddler right now .

[jacar]

46. Started in the mid 70s with White Box and Chainmail. Moved to AD&D when it came out.

[kesher]

Jun 10, 2011 0:42:28 GMT -6 Valandil said:

I feel like a toddler right now .

Well, now you see why the call it the OLD School Renaissance...

[ragnorakk]

So far, it looks like you are!
Turning 40 at the end of the summer, started in 79-80 with Melee/Wizard, then a Holmes/AD&D mushup my old brother ran.

[Koren n'Rhys]

42 next week. Started with Moldvay Basic when it came out in '81. Moved through AD&D 1e, then 2e. Stopped playing for years, then came back to S&W:WB and Rules Cyclopedia/BECMI D&D once my kids were old enough to play.

[oldgamergeek]

46. Started in the mid 70s with White Box and Chainmail. Moved to AD&D when it came out. I play/have played so many games even the dreaded fourth edition (both Traveller and D&D)

[thorswulf]

41, I started with Holmes when I was 9/10.

[tombowings]

Jun 10, 2011 0:42:28 GMT -6 Valandil said:

I feel like a toddler right now .

You're only two years younger than I am, valandil.

[spectresghost]

I managed to sneak into the 31-40 category for a few more weeks. Coming up on 41 in July. Started playing in the late 70s, played continuously through the 80s, off and on in the 90s and 00s. Jumped back in with both feet a couple years ago. Pretty much been there, done that, got the t-shirt, gave it to Goodwill, and paid a fortune to get it back thirty years later.

The coolest thing I'm seeing right now is how many people that are much younger are coming into tabletop gaming with the same excitement I saw in the 70s and 80s. The wide-eyed wonder faded for a while. Everyone had to be too cool for the old school. It's nice to see you youngsters getting excited again. You can all play on the lawn, but don't mess with the roses and statuary.

[DungeonDevil]

Four and twenty score moons have I seen rise, and of them six score over the miserable land of Nirgendwo.

[strangebrew]

28...was first introduced to gaming from watching my older brother and his friends play 2nd edition in the mid-90s. Soon after that I bought one of the black "Classic D&D Game" box sets from the 1990's with Rules Cyclopedia era rules for levels 1-5, and after a year or so we moved onto AD&D 2nd edition. So I feel like I had a strikingly similar experience as many of the late-70s/early-80s gamers, albeit ten or fifteen years later, and ended up playing a similar mix of the best of D&D and AD&D.

Like many others I'm now most interested in the early incarnations of D&D, and new spins on old rules.

[jasmith]

43 next month. Started playing AD&D in late 82 or early 83 (not sure.) Ran 1e until 3e was released and ran 3.X until right before 4e was announced, which was when I took a hiatus from gaming for a couple of years. When I was ready to get back into the swing of things, I discovered the OSR and that was that. Currently running LL, but I'm on a short break and may switch to S&W or OD&D when we pick back up, in July.