Back on the tourneys front:  I entered and played in many, but the only one of consequence that I won was DragonCon #1's AD&D Open:  Gygax and Kuntz DM'd the final round, along with one or two other judges, and the team I was with won (we weren't judged by them, which may have been an advantage in our favor, since they wanted to go have a few brews; one of our players heard Gary say something to the effect of "Let's kill these guys fast")

Alas, I never got the prize/statue/plaque/whatever; on the plus side, though, that's show where I met Rob Kuntz, which started our long friendship.

This thread brings back memories.  I started playing this game in 1977 or 1978 with a friend in school.  It was the blue boxed set.  When this friend was visiting my home, he had the idea of putting a note up on a board to find other players.  Shortly, we had a group of 8 or so, everyone from different highschools in the area, and this group turned me onto AD&D.  We played for a couple of years, and then the group just kind of evaporated as the members developed other interests and some went to college.  I stopped playing in 1980, and haven't had any contact with those people since then.

But i do remember the fun time I had with these folks, all of which were really decent people.  And smart to: I know a couple became engineers and the 2 girls became doctors.  I remember first names, but that's about it -- I wish I had kept up with these folks.

What is really funny is that here I am -- almost 30 years later -- and I still remember the rules and many of the adventures.

Out of the blue, I justed thinking about this game, and understand the current rules have changed quite a bit.

How many have played continuously since they started this game so many years ago?

I started with the Moldy Basic and set with B2, and then got the Moldy Expert book. We played with these from '84 through to '88, all the time playing 1E AD&D in a club at school as well. So when we played Basic at home, it was suppliment by house rules.

We all live in Germany (parents in the forces), and when we spent money to post things over from the UK, it was almost always lead figures. So we never played any of TSRs modules except B2 and T1 (before ToEE was published).

We took turns buying White Dwarf from a shop that imported foriegn magazines and it did the rounds throughout the month. I don't remember playing any of the scenarios from WD except Chun the Invincible (or some such thing) and it was crap. Almost everything we played was our own creation, including one DM who though it would be cool for us to go and explore Mega City (2000AD) or some variation.

Once I moved up to Scotland, I played Battletech almost exclusively for three years, and then I started DMing Planescape when the first campaign boxed set was released. It fell appart on account of Planescape not being the best setting for an old time Dungeon Crawler. Time and location haven't seen me play since maybe '94. So collecting is a nostalgia thing.

Hello folks!
I've lurked here constantly for a while now, this is my first post.  All this nostalgia is giving me such a case of the warm fuzzies, I just had to contribute.

I was bitten by the bug way back in the eighties, when I was about 11-12 years old.  This was a bit too late for the OCE or Original D&D game.  I started out with the Basic/Expert Box Sets.

When I hit middle school, about 6th grade, I met a neighborhood kid who ended up becoming one of my best friends.  He was really into D&D and he introduced me to it, one day in homeroom.  Strangely enough, this kid's parents were strict Baptists, and thought the game was demonic.  I mean, they actually used that word when admonishing him (and me when I was at his house) not to play the game!  This being back in the heyday of the D&D witch hunts, he couldn't own any dice or books - but he was able to occasionally smuggle friends' books into his house and he had a pretty decent grasp of the rules from memory, and we just used a handful of regular six siders to approximate whichever roll we needed.   We played these ad hoc games almost every day, quietly in study halls and even in class when we could get away with it.

I was instantly hooked.  I got my older brother involved, too, and that christmas we got the Basic and Expert Box Sets.  Man, did we have fun with those!  I quickly gravitated towards DMing, and I ran my brother and many of our friends through many an adventure.  About the time I entered High School, everybody there was playing AD&D,  so we started using those rules.   I still remember the day I got my 1st Ed DM'S guide, with the giant red Efreet on the cover.  That was awesome!
Years passed, I joined the service.  I was transferred around alot and didn't get to play much except for an isolated ad hoc session here and there.  I bought all the 2nd Edition books when they came out, but because of the constant moving I didn't get to use them as much as I wanted.
Flash forward about 9 years.  I'm out of the service, settled in back home with a steady job.  Hadn't played D&D too much, or had time to think about it.  Then Third Edition comes out.  I picked up the new books out of curiousity, and determined to start playing again.  I got some of my friends and family together and started a group.  My fiance (now wife)  even got involved, and she really enjoys it.  When 3.5 came along, we upgraded.  I'm back behind the DM screen, and very happy about it.  One of these days, I'm getting my old 1st Ed books out and starting a campaign with them.  

So I've played Basic/Expert, AD&D 1st and 2nd Editions, 3.0 and 3.5 and I've liked them all very much.  I'd say there's definitely a different "feel" to each one, but there's just no bad anywhere, at least for me.  Also, I'm not a collector per se, just sort of by default, since I've never thrown away or sold anything D&D related that I've accumulated, and I could never bring myself to do so;  Too many happy memories!

Sorry for the long post!  :oops:

How many have played continuously since they started this game so many years ago?

    *Raises hand*  

    "I'm a gamer but I can change, if I have to, I guess."

Finally got my electricity back.  I'm getting very tired of hurricanes.

Grodog --  That must have been a "blast from the past."  I wished I had kept some of that stuff, but it was all thrown out a long, long time ago, after I moved away, and my parents retired to Florida.  

But it has been fun to reminisce about the past.  So much time has past; I must be getting old.

What's the deal with the different editions?  Was it simply a marketing ploy?

By the way, for you collectors take a look at AbeBooks Official Site - New & Used Books, Textbooks, & Rare Books.  It is a service which connects 1000's of used book stores throughout the states and UK.  I've been very sucessful in hunting down out-of-print books by using their search engine.  I bet you can find some old D&D stuff in these stores.

I started DMing D&D with Set 1 - Basic Rules Set - 14th Printing (Red Box). I played AD&D prior to this, and went on with it years later.

The problem with "impersonating young giants" is that it is not likely to work for long and the results of the deception are entirely up to the DM's whim.

    DEAD GIANTS, on the other hand, are remarkably cooperative.    

This Fonkin Hoddypeck says even Gygax can have a really bad idea.

Like associating your name with a product called Cyborg Commando?

or hiring a seemingly effective general manager with the initials LW?

see: Manga