Learning to Game
Nev the Deranged:
Heh. Ralph, you guys did Mazes too, eh? We had these things we called "Pyramid Mazes", because for whatever obscure reason, we'd draw a big triangle and put the maze in that. It was sort of a cross between a pencil and paper maze and a video game like Pitfall, and an rpg-ish kind of thing. Monsters and traps and doors and items, teleporters and switches and lava and all that jazz. We actually designed our own games of all kinds long before we got into D&D at the lunchtable in grade school. "Dark Forest" was one of my friends' inventions, where he'd take a sheet of graph paper and fill in the squares with random colors, and then create a map key that told what each color was. Only, the players didn't get to see the Key, you just rolled your d6 and moved, and found out what a color meant when you landed on it. That game was pretty cool, I might actually throw one of those together again some time...
Then, of course, Steve Packard brought in his red box D&D set, and ran us through regular lunchtime games. I still remember chasing d20s across the floor, man those suckers never stopped rolling. Eventually, of course, some busybody teachers and parents got wind of it and my parents forbade me to ever play. They'd heard about James Dallas Egbert and a few others, and decided that D&D was of the devil and made people insane. I wish I'd had the words back then to explain the truth, but I didn't. Of course, their opprobrium didn't stop me from playing on the sly whenever I could, nor from finding books of my own to feverishly read through in secret. I designed adventures, whole new races of creatures, statted myself up a level 20 elvish ranger and his golden dragon companion, complete with castle and treasure horde. Man, those were the days.
Later, we found Palladium, and played a combination of TMNT and Heroes Unlimited, with some Ninjas & Superspies thrown on once someone got a hold of that book. I eventually ended up with some Robotech books but I don't recall ever actually playing.
Later still I got a copy of Werewolf from a printing house I visited for my graphic arts class, fresh off the press so to speak. I read that thing to pieces. I read a lot of WW stuff (all Werewolf, I had no interest in the others) over the years, but played maybe once or twice, and briefly.
Then there was a long stretch during which I didn't do any gaming at all.
Then I found Sorcerer somehow, I don't even remember. And then the Forge. And I went through a sort of simultaneous awakening and stupefying. I let all the jargon and Edwardsian philosophy soak into my brain and became an instant convert- despite the fact that I am now realizing I mostly have no idea what a lot of it means; and consequently shedding it off until I have a strong enough foundation of actual play to grasp the concepts.
And that leads up to the present- where I am more or less starting over. For all the reading and pining and just flat out plain wannabeeing I've done for most of my life, I'm really just learning how to roleplay now.
Which is kind of cool.
greyorm:
Interestingly enough, I learned to play D&D by playing by myself using the Red Box D&D set.
I would sit in my living room rolling the dice and making things up on the fly about what was happening. I don't recall much about it, it was mainly just toying around until some time later I brought it to my friends' house and convinced them to play. A short time afterwards, the older brother of the two picked up the 1st Ed. AD&D PHB and DMG and we started playing that.
But, I want to note, it was the red box that taught me how the whole thing worked, which is an incredible feat in design and presentation. I still refer back to it as a prime example of good rules presentation and game design: the book was a game in itself that taught you how to play the game. And yet, in my experience, developers since then have not picked up on or capitalized on what is a very powerful technique.
Ilmryn:
I learned how to play with my cousin and his high school buddies. I was 13, my cousin was 30. Like Judd I can remember having to scrap for my on-camera moments. I took to that struggle well, due largely to having an older brother that made that kind of struggle an every day affair.
We played 1st Ed. with a bit of 2nd ED. thrown in. (Primarily Forgotten Realms hacks and the proficiency system) My first real character was a cavalier and the Unearthed Arcana is still one of my favorite books. I learned to hate Drow at that table and still catch myself saying "Die foul minions of Lloth!" when I squish a spider.
From there I went on to game with my own friends from school and played in an epic 2nd Ed. campaign for the last three years of high school. I still call those friends by their character's names even today. There was the odd session of Alternity, but if we weren't playing D+D we were usually playing L5R. (Kakita in the house!)
When I moved to Ithaca I fell in with a new group very quickly and got into the indie scene. I think my having gamed with older players before helped ease my transition into their table. Riddle of Steel was the first game I played in where I was introduced to scripting. We played Dogs, Conspiracy of Shadows, Sorcerer, PTA, SOTC and TSOY. (Maybe a few more that I can't draw out of my mind at this hour...) My favorite game was Burning Wheel. In our 'Vault' campaign I played the Elf I always wanted to play.
Dogs for me was gaming survival training. I became comfortable in the spotlight while playing dogs. Setting stakes, scene framing, merging dice and descriptors... all came from dropping sinners in the west that never was.
Essentially: Playing with Judd and our friends helped me learn how to drive to the hoop and not just shoot threes all day.
Judd:
Quote from: Ilmryn on February 26, 2008, 10:51:34 PM
I learned how to play with my cousin and his high school buddies. I was 13, my cousin was 30. Like Judd I can remember having to scrap for my on-camera moments. I took to that struggle well, due largely to having an older brother that made that kind of struggle an every day affair.
How'd you learn to do what you did, Aaron? Did you pour over the books or watch your cousin? What did they tell you to do, either with actions or with direct instruction?
Ilmryn:
There was a lot of direction from the rest of the table. I didn't start to really dig into the books until after I had been playing for some time. The rules came easily enough, it was the role-playing part where I struggled for a while. It took me a long time to get the nerve to really act the part. I remember there being a lot of "And then my guy says:..." I emulated the styles of the people around me, taking bits from each of their methods and trying to add my own flavor to it. I understood it all much sooner than I had the confidence to actually do it.
My real breakthrough moment came when we needed a big roll against a hydra. One of the guys shouted "Show up and make this roll! Don't be such a fucking squirrel!" My broadsword put it down that hit. I got my confidence and my nickname (squirrel) that night. It was one of those benchmark moments of my gaming career that I will probably remember forever.
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