I thought this would be a curious repository of nostalgic drabble of old days and dreams gone by for those of a unique generation, when D&D was still a strange mysterious game of cult-rumors and bad Tom Hanks movies (hey, everyone has to start somewhere). To begin I thought I would share my experience of a few years ago...
Sometime ago, in the anonymous RPG mosh-pit that is RPOL.net, I found a friend I gamed with as a teenager (a span of almost forty years) way, way back in Northern New Jersey. I can't even remember how we found out who the other one was, bit it happened quickly.
The images of those days at 50 Lincoln Street pushed my fingers to the keys and I wrote this.
50 Lincoln Street
It was 50 Lincoln Street, the giant apartment building deep in Union City New Jersey, between Kennedy Boulevard and Bergenline Avenue, a dated solid brick building nesting with various stores and restaurants. A shame the corner news stand is gone, no surprise, since magazine and newspapers don’t exist anymore.
On the third floor, smelling of ancient town house and roach motel, flakes of paint and rusted bannisters lead me to lands of wonder.
We played, we played hard, three to six teenage boys sacrificing their Saturday for fortune, glory and the lesser known of the three- experience points.
Where our peers sought the malls, movie theaters and parks, trying to figure out ways to round the bases with the ladies, we chose the company of elves and dwarves. In those 80’s, all of us wanted the company of fiction over fact.
Lost in that Vasquez apartment, feeding on tuna fish and milk, our company raided temples and feasted on treasure. Drank deep in taverns and bent our knee only to the finest of kings or the darkest of demons. Sitting in stolen school desks and folding chairs, we lounged in Gygax’s mind, lost to the cold war world that was just waiting for someone to push the button.
Our parents probably called us American psychos, products of a feverish American dream, but we were Heroes by Torchlight, our souls nothing but portable holes filled to the brim with arcana unearthed by a bookmark or a random d100.
Fighter, magic user, or thief, the only careers we could conceive at the time, fueled our passions and dreams into a accountable nothingness. But oh the fun.
While most teens remember the time the smoked, shot, or drank something illicit at the back of a convenience store; my company remembered the storming of castles, the rolling of hits, cracking a glowing chest of unimaginable riches or beaming over a character sheet so filled there was not even room to cross a T.
50 Lincoln Street, the altar of my imagination, where we lifted goblets of time and platters of responsbility in sacrifice to powers better found among dieties and demigods- than on M-TV.
Old Days & Dreams
Re: Old Days & Dreams
Wow, some great memories there!
I got my start with D&D in 1978 or so, with a Holmes Basic set. The Monster Manual followed along with the PHB and DMG when they came out. Later the OD&D OCE White Box set and supplements. I had to subscribe to Dragon magazine of course, and had to have all the modules! Really anything I could get my hands on. Initially I just read the books and imagined the hell out of playing, but I still remember that feeling of wonder and excitement every time I cracked one of those books. Here was a whole world for you to create and play in, however you liked. I am grateful to my parents for fully supporting my interest in D&D back then, as a shy 11-year old. I spent more time in these books than with friends, but they did not seem concerned.
When I did start playing, it was AD&D with my best friend, in his basement, to 8-tracks of AC/DC and Bad Company. Monty-haul to be sure - my first PC was a Monk named Gregor who made it to 13th level. Later I got in with a group led by one of the local scout leaders. We played AD&D through 1985 when I went off to university. I didn't pick gaming up again until 2009, with my own kids, but I haven't stopped since.
I got my start with D&D in 1978 or so, with a Holmes Basic set. The Monster Manual followed along with the PHB and DMG when they came out. Later the OD&D OCE White Box set and supplements. I had to subscribe to Dragon magazine of course, and had to have all the modules! Really anything I could get my hands on. Initially I just read the books and imagined the hell out of playing, but I still remember that feeling of wonder and excitement every time I cracked one of those books. Here was a whole world for you to create and play in, however you liked. I am grateful to my parents for fully supporting my interest in D&D back then, as a shy 11-year old. I spent more time in these books than with friends, but they did not seem concerned.
When I did start playing, it was AD&D with my best friend, in his basement, to 8-tracks of AC/DC and Bad Company. Monty-haul to be sure - my first PC was a Monk named Gregor who made it to 13th level. Later I got in with a group led by one of the local scout leaders. We played AD&D through 1985 when I went off to university. I didn't pick gaming up again until 2009, with my own kids, but I haven't stopped since.
Re: Old Days & Dreams
Good stuff! I started in like 82-83ish with the Moldvay basic set, pretty quickly moved to AD&D and regularly played close to every day from middle school till graduating HS. Joined the army and played infrequently, then life took over and I had a break for a few years, and then someone suggested I try a PbP at Dragonsfoot, and I got on one there, then found Goblinoid Games and Labyrinth Lord and all of these cool guys I'm playing in my game on here - a reunion of sorts, and I've been playing since then, I guess since like 2010, 2011?
Interestingly, I'm less impressed with "advanced" rules now, and I prefer BX and simple stuff. I still play almost totally PbP, occasionally playing with my 12 year old daughter as well, but she's a more casual player, and prefers Minecraft and Animal Crossing. My 8 year old son is curious about it now, so I think he'll be my best shot at being a regular player. I don't have the time to do in person gaming or even Roll 20 stuff, so PbP, while slow - is how I scratch the itch.
One thing, when I started playing back in the day, I was in Catholic school, and a lot of parents were really against D&D, and of all people my grandmother was super supportive of my gaming habit. She felt that it got us all together and doing something creative and constructive and not (as she called it) "Out smoking reefer." (sorry grams, not totally... but anyway) and she used to evangelize about D&D and she convinced several friend's parents to let their kids play the game. The coolest thing that old lady ever did, for sure.
So after Goblinoid re-did their forums, no PbPs, I tried DF, then Unseen Servant, and while Unseen is okay, never really played a good game there, so I thought my pBp run was over, then SHAZAM! This place came along and the rest is history. Love it here. Great people, great friends, great resources.
Interestingly, I'm less impressed with "advanced" rules now, and I prefer BX and simple stuff. I still play almost totally PbP, occasionally playing with my 12 year old daughter as well, but she's a more casual player, and prefers Minecraft and Animal Crossing. My 8 year old son is curious about it now, so I think he'll be my best shot at being a regular player. I don't have the time to do in person gaming or even Roll 20 stuff, so PbP, while slow - is how I scratch the itch.
One thing, when I started playing back in the day, I was in Catholic school, and a lot of parents were really against D&D, and of all people my grandmother was super supportive of my gaming habit. She felt that it got us all together and doing something creative and constructive and not (as she called it) "Out smoking reefer." (sorry grams, not totally... but anyway) and she used to evangelize about D&D and she convinced several friend's parents to let their kids play the game. The coolest thing that old lady ever did, for sure.
So after Goblinoid re-did their forums, no PbPs, I tried DF, then Unseen Servant, and while Unseen is okay, never really played a good game there, so I thought my pBp run was over, then SHAZAM! This place came along and the rest is history. Love it here. Great people, great friends, great resources.
Re: Old Days & Dreams
You are so lucky to have your grandmother. My parents didn't care about D&D, as long as I brought home good grades. I could be kneeling and something the spawn of Cthulu and Kali, but as long as I brought in the A's they didn't care. Though my immigrant father could not comprehend most of the things I was into that didn't exist (and still does not).
I had a Dungeons and Dragons club at my Catholic High School that was eviserated by the Newsweek article in the fourth season of 'Stranger Things'. They canceled us without even a thought.
It irks me more than a little bit. Like, hilariously ironic, that D&D is cool now. That there are articles about guys having a campaign going for forty years, movie-stars playing D&D (Vin Diesel and Joe Manganiello come to the top of my thoughts) and the main villian in Netflix's flagship is none other than Vecna (who I heard of only through Tomb of Horrors). When I was growing up his name was an obscure reference in a fringe-subculture. Now he's on every morning talk show.
Guess the 80's nerds made it, and took over!
But maybe that's why I like Whitebox/Swords & Wizardry- it is not prepackaged fun. It is not a 50 dollar damn handbook in your hand that if you don't play you lose your investment. No, I think that S&W is retro in many more ways than just the letters on the page.
Whoa that was a long one. Guess it was in me for a while huh?
I had a Dungeons and Dragons club at my Catholic High School that was eviserated by the Newsweek article in the fourth season of 'Stranger Things'. They canceled us without even a thought.
It irks me more than a little bit. Like, hilariously ironic, that D&D is cool now. That there are articles about guys having a campaign going for forty years, movie-stars playing D&D (Vin Diesel and Joe Manganiello come to the top of my thoughts) and the main villian in Netflix's flagship is none other than Vecna (who I heard of only through Tomb of Horrors). When I was growing up his name was an obscure reference in a fringe-subculture. Now he's on every morning talk show.
Guess the 80's nerds made it, and took over!
But maybe that's why I like Whitebox/Swords & Wizardry- it is not prepackaged fun. It is not a 50 dollar damn handbook in your hand that if you don't play you lose your investment. No, I think that S&W is retro in many more ways than just the letters on the page.
Whoa that was a long one. Guess it was in me for a while huh?