Pen and paper RPG players: what was the first game you played?

[Sir Krustin]

My first game was Traveller, a couple of years after it first came out in '76. Later on, I got introduced to AD&D because of the dearth of interested Traveller players. Man, I miss those sessions...magical.

I, too, remember Boot Hill, Gamma World, and Top Secret (not SI). My first TS game was a real hoot - we all had James Bond knockoffs (independantly created). There was James Bond, Jane Bond, James Blonde, etc - no two names identical! [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

My favourites these days are Shadowrun and Wheel of Time (D20) ... I still play AD&D, but again because it's hard to find players that play anything else.

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

Does anyone play (Or has anyone played) Call of C'thulhu? I don't really know anything about it other than your character might go insane from reading things.

[Albromor]

Yes, Nerull, you are absolutely correct. The computer RPGs, though a pleasure to see what my mind has imagined, i.e., spells going off, they are, nevertheless, inferior to the P&P. Can you say poor AI for NPCs??? I believe this is the biggest constant gripe for CRPGs. I have read interviews with cutting edge developers and they say it is one of the greatest challnges they face. Of course some do better than others.

[Nerull]

Originally posted by Illumina Drathiran'ar: Does anyone play (Or has anyone played) Call of C'thulhu? I don't really know anything about it other than your character might go insane from reading things.

Reading things, running into things, seeing things, hearing things, waking up in the morning, etc. (I'm only slightly exaggerating). It is based off of H. P. Lovecraft's works, and the basic premise is this:

The universe is not a benevolent place. Banished away in the farthest reaches are the entities that used to rule all of existance. These alien entities are not only hostile, but they are beyond the (rational) comprehension of the mere mortals who run into them. They seek to return to the world, and your character is one of those who is there trying to stop them. To make it worse, there are those who are trying to aid their return, insane people who worship them. Magic, dimensional science, etc. leads you to contact with these entities, and in Lovecraft's stories, the protagonist usually ends up insane from the forces that they encounter.

Needless to say, a very dark game, with not a huge survival rate for the characters. From what I've seen, some gamemasters have people create more than one character before starting the campaign, that way if (or when) the characters die (or worse) there are other characters to step in.

[Boutte]

I played with my first group for a year and half without ever seeeing any of the mods or reading any bokks other than the players hand book. It was an agreement we mase with the DM. I think it made the game more magical to us. It allowed the DM to create a pure fantasy for us without getting bogged down in arguments about rules.

I saw my first module when we finally decided it was time for a change and I was picked to be the new DM. The first module I DM'ed was the original Ravenloft. I'd love to get my hands on a copy that. This thing really was a work of art. It published around 1980. Thinking about it makes want go see what the gaming stores have on the shelf.

[Nerull]

Originally posted by Boutte: I played with my first group for a year and half without ever seeeing any of the mods or reading any bokks other than the players hand book. It was an agreement we mase with the DM. I think it made the game more magical to us. It allowed the DM to create a pure fantasy for us without getting bogged down in arguments about rules. I saw my first module when we finally decided it was time for a change and I was picked to be the new DM. The first module I DM'ed was the original Ravenloft. I'd love to get my hands on a copy that. This thing really was a work of art. It published around 1980. Thinking about it makes want go see what the gaming stores have on the shelf.

Oh yeah, it does make it more magical. It also eliminates "rules lawyers" ("that's not in the rules").

I agree about the first Ravenloft. I loved the idea of seeing the fortune teller to "set" where everything was in the castle. It was that module that sparked the entire Ravenloft game setting.