I've been posting on the board for a little while now, and I was wondering how everyone got involved in playing RPG/CRPG's...and what you like most about them.

I've been playing (in one form or another) since 6th grade, and began DMing a Greyhawk campaign in 8th. I've pretty much just played D&D. My favorite settings are probably Greyhawk & Forgotten Realms...What about everone else?

Well, the way I got into P&P RPG's was through my brother. When I was a little girl (maybe 9) he was always playing D&D with his buddies... Of course, he didn't want his little sister around so I'd hide around the corner and listen for hours.

Eventually, he figured out I was there and then had a heart and decided to let me play. I've been hooked ever since :)

The CRPG's mostly started after I moved away from my home city and I didn't know anyone and therefore didn't have a group to play with anymore. They're fun but I have to say I'll always enjoy P&P more!

I don't really know why i like RPGs i just find them...facinating...you control a being that has so much independence. I don't really know why, i just do...My dad introduced me though to the game...

I'm not really sure why my group started playing D&D. One of the guys just bought the PHB and the rest was history. The 6 of us just start playing and ever looked back. After about 2 years of D&D we started faning out into other RPGs. Each one of us learned a different system and would GM for everyone else. This is how we got into Shadowrun, GURPS, Rifts, BattleTech, and Vampire. We kept this up for around 7 years before people started moving away for college.
In college & Grad school I joined a LARP (Live Action RP)for about 5 years to get a flavor of that as well.
Well it's been a few years since Grad school but I still playing. Three members of of the original group are back together and we found two new guys to join. The five of use play almost ever week. And I never plan on stopping!
Role-playing and GMing is so much fun. You have the chance to experience and create so many new and interesting things. You can have any kind of excitment you want. It stimulates your mind (and your body in LARP). It's like reading the best novel in the world - because your the hero. And you get to deside what's going to happen next.

I was always fascinated with Greek Mythology when I was a kid. When I was like nine or ten, the very first Basic Dungeons & Dragons came out (back when wizards were called magic-users and halflings called hobbits and it all came in a flimsy cardboard box), and I had my dad drive me to Toy City in Anaheim CA to buy it, visions of medusae and pegasi dancing in my head, and I've been hooked ever since. Although I haven't actually played p&p since I was about 14 (now 31), due to lack of interested players (those bastards all grew up!), I've always remained interested and bought the books. When they released the Core Rules on CD-ROM a coupla years ago, it totally rekindled my interested in the game, and now I'm obsessed all over again. In fact, I just resubscribed to Dragon Magazine for the first time in like 10 years.

The CRPGs are great, but P&P is better - if you can find people to play with. :(

I never liked the ready-made settings (Greyhawk, etc.). I always found it far more interesting to make your own world with your own class variants and gods.

I tried a few other non-fantasy games over the years, like Star Frontiers and Marvel Superheroes and whatnot, but I always came back to D&D.

Yes, I'm a big geek.

I always loved Fantasy and science fiction, so RPG's were a natural step for me. It also helped that the first group i joined was mostly made up of girls.

Boon that is pretty impressive!

Until posting on this board, I've only known 1 girl that has ever been into RPG's/Crpg's. The group I started with was all guys. That's one thing about posting on this board...Everyone has different experiences with gaming - It's cool to see!

I got into it kinda like Mithrilhammer, but I couldn't play for long because everyone else seemed to have attention spans equivelant to those of newts. I have a really loooooooooonnnnnngggggggg attention span. I can sit and watch a wrestling PPV all the way through w/out taking a break.

well, while other kids played sports, i was fat, and i just liked being pale, so i stayed away from the sun, eventually i needed to find somethng fun to do that other people would also do, so i found D&D, and i've been hooked since, i've been running campaigns, gaming, and neglecting work, school, and social life for the sake of just a few more games since i can remember, ah, looking back, i think that those were the best days, ah yes, those good 'ol days.

Well, good for you BIG_WIGGLER. Can you sit through a whole wrestling card without getting up to go to the concession stands or the bathroom. That's a topic that seems to be of big importance for me and my brother at the cards.

Anyway, I've never played P&P once. I don't know. When you live in a small southern US town, that isn't exactly the kind of thing that people do. I probably would like it though. Anyway, I might get flamed for this, but it was Zelda on the old nintendo. Now I know, it isn't an RPG really, but I always really liked it. So when I saw Ultima 8 in the stores, it looked kinda like Zelda to me(just with way better graphics). Since then, I've been hooked on CRPG's with that type of look. I've never been able to get into those front view games, or other that just don't have the look. Don't know why. Something about the look of the Bioware Games and others like Dark Sun drew me in. I gotta say I'm pretty hooked on them at this point and I hope Bioware is allowed to keep producing quality games.

Some of you might be familiar with the Dragon Warrior series of games made for Nintendo by Enix. I started playing these when I was about 9. At the age of 11 or 12 I read Tolkien's Hobbit and LOTR books for the first time. If you add in the days as a child I spent in the park wielding sticks to slay my "foes", I'd say it's been a part of me for some time. After a year of playing BG 1&2, I'd like to get into the P&P scene. However, my friends and I party a lot, and most of them don't want anything to do with "that nerd ****". A few would like to do P&P, but nothing has come of it yet...

It all started with those little tin soldiers. I dreamed of building an enourmous army. At that time I really liked knights and Robin Hood. I had tons of Lego wich I had inherited from my father. Later I saw this awesome Hero Quest game which I got for Christmas. Already back then I irritated my poor family to act like they where dwarfs, elves and so on.
One day my mother found some books on the library with orcs and such. I think it was the old Jackson and Livingstone series.
Then I saw Warhammer. COOL! Orcs and elves!
( I FINALLY got that tin army)
As me and my friends played I realized that what I enjoyed most was the story behind those battles. What interested my friends was painting and playing. I tried to role-play with them but they where only interested in hack and slash. I begged them
to play their roles...but no. I was probably annoying like hell. As we played, the adventures leaned more and more towards playing roles and town adventures.
Unfurtunely everyone lost interest as time passed. I have now found a new group to play warhammer with, but GAWD I would like to find some role-players...

I first started fantasy years ago when my mother recommended me reading the Hobbit in stead of cartoons. Once I was at some of my parents friends, and I was bored and headed for their computer (sensation!). On the desktop there was an interesting icon named "Baldur's Gate", and I thought: "Wow, five CD's! This has to be a great game!". And so it was.

How did I get into it?

Pete brought out a blue and red Dungeons and Dragons book. I took them home and flipped through them, read the little insert of what D&D was like.

DM: Your torch illuminates the passage for about 10 feet and the sound of dripping water can be heard in the distance.

Fighter1: We push forward keeping an eye on the ceiling for any leaks or weakness in the passage.

That insert continued for 2 pages and hooked me in minutes.

How did I get into CRPGs?

Well, the very first adventure type exploration game I played was King's Quest. Lots of hours on that one when I was younger.

The first major CRPG was Ultima 4.

Syl...

[This message has been edited by Sylvus Moonbow (edited January 16, 2001).]