Ladies (&guys) tell me about your first time

I have always thought of D&D as a bunch of guys hacking away at orcs. I am pleased to see that women play also, I just never met any. Tell me where, when and why did you get started?

I started in high school and played a few times at the hand of a sadistic (chaotic evil)DM who regularly slaughtered the whole party. Then again a few times in college. The problem was that we could never find enough people to play or if we did someone who knew how to be a DM.

I have to say that the CRPG is a godsend because it allows people to play even if they cannot find others locally with the same interest.

[Memnoch]

The last time I played D&D was fifteen years ago, when I was in 6th grade Since moving to Australia I haven't been able to find as many people into PnP D&D.

CPRGs, that's a different story!

[Cloudbringer]

Hmmm...I had to check this out-that title, you know! LOL!

I had someone give me a D&D module in college, but never got anyone to play it with me, so it drifted off into the void somewhere in between my travels and moves and college changes. Found it again at one point, but never played. Then one day, I discovered the glorious COMPUTER and the fact that one can PLAY on it and not just do dreary reports and work-related projects. After playing Heroes of Might and Magic and Age of Empires, I needed a change. Baldur's Gate looked interesting.

What's this? *I* get to be IN an adventure?! Wow, waaaaaaay cool! So I played it for a while and got frustrated at being wiped out so often (tough going for a novice in the whole D&D universe- had NO clue what was good or bad for class/stats/weapons etc). Gave up til I got Icewind Dale. Discovered that dungeon crawls aren't all that bad, for the most part, and couldn't wait for the expansion even before I finished it. Got rather a huge amount of satisfaction wiping the floor with those darned blade skeletons!- er on my zillionth re-load! (giggle) Then I discovered BG2.....I am addicted.

Hello, all, my name is Cloudbringer and I'm a new BG2 (D&D-computer) addict......sigh.... (chuckle)

Well i am glad (kind of) to hear that scarcity of players is not just a problem related to western new york. Seems to be a global shortage, too bad.

[Sir Taliesin]

I played some in High School. Then stopped after I got to college. Our gang all split up and when different was. Never found anyone else to play. That was 19 or 20 years ago. I'm not sure I could do it anymore. I picked up the Players Handbook ED. 3. The rules are totally different now and there are about 10 times as many.

So it is official. Cloudbringer is unique, as of yet she is the only woman on the board willing to admit that she is into D&D.

Hats off to the courageous

[Cloudbringer]

(courtsey) Thank you! There are others out there, but they may not be online today...er most of them have a (whispers) real life!


Cloudbringer, just back from multiplay game

[Moiraine]

My first boyfriend (I was 17) was a real AD&D addict, and also a computer addict ... and kept forgetting about our dates all the time, so at the time I swore two things I would never do : play RPGs and do anything close to computers ! (You see, I felt that these two hobbies just turned people crazy ... )
Four years later, I started studying computer engineering, and my new boyfriend (who is now my hubbie) brought me into his AD&D team ... and I got hooked ! (I played a Gnome thief/illusionist, hence my fondness for Gnomes). We played AD&D, Cthulhu, Rolemaster when we were student and for several more years, then the team members got married (I hate wives !) and left the game (I never met another woman playing RPGs before you ladies on the Board !). So, after several years with only computer RPGs, we decided last fall to start again playing in family, my hubbie, my son (who is 9 1/2) and me, with the new AD&D 3 rules. I can tell you that my son has totally abandoned the Pokemon now !

[Moiraine]

You know, my first boyfriend was REALLY kinda crazy ... now, he is the president of the French fan-club of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show" movie ...

[Ladyzekke]

Well, my first time was at the tender age of...wait a minute. Oh! I get it! D&D!! HaHa! Alrighty then. Ahem. My husband got me into D&D when we first met 5,000 years ago. Well, we had been living together for about 3 months. Anywho, I remember one Saturday night it was winter and snowing pretty hard and we were stuck inside bored. He brings out this shoebox full of these little lead figurines (warriors and monsters, etc.), some are painted and some are not. I'm thinking "what is this? You wan't to play like a 5 year old or what? Should I dig up my old barbie dolls as well?! Then he brought out a rule book and started setting up all the men and monsters on the table, etc. etc. I was very reluctant to play D&D, when he started trying to explain things like proficiencies, hit points, etc. I felt totally confused. Of course, my husband has a way of talking a mile a minute! I ended up looking at the rule book myself, and getting an idea. We eventually started playing. It took me probably a good hour before I got used to it and then the addiction began! We played on and off for years, then got out of it for awhile. Then when we got a computer around 1990, we started checking out role playing games, and yet another addition to our addiction began. Around 1995, we finally got tired of fighting over computer time, and I got my own computer. Now we even have our own rooms to game in. Right now I'm typing this, and he's in the other room multi-playing Diablo 2! That is what rpgs and computers has done to us. We come home from work, say hello, separate to our rooms and our beloved computers! Some would say we are disfunctional, but I think after 14 years, we're doing OK!

Moiraine - Oh, man! Rocky Horror Picture Show? I still cannot fathom why oh why is that thing popular? There's something about a man wearing red lipstick?....