#RPGaDAY -- Catch Up (Days 1-3)

GenCon is fast approaching and I have been a bit neglectful of the Under Siege blog for a few weeks now.  I've been busy cleaning up, sorting through, and in many cases, reducing the gaming collection.  I noticed this whole '#RPGaDAY' series of tweets and blog posts and I thought it would be a GREAT time to jump in and run my attention back to my blog.  I will do the entire month but I expect it will come in spurts.  ;)

1. First RPG Played
2. First RPG Gamemastered
3. First RPG Purchased

All three come down to the same thing: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

My first experience with AD&D came with my introduction to the game with a couple of new friends inviting me to play.  Circumstances of my introduction were probably a horrible way to introduce someone new to the game... they have me a high level pre-gen and we embarked in, H2: The Mines of Bloodstone.

For those of you unacquainted with the adventure, the odds stacked against the characters are insane and after a series of challenges, one of which involved a Tarrasque, you possibly end up in a show down against Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead.  At best, you just fight a ridiculous encounter with undead forces and some high level cultists.

However, going through the adventure was a blast and within the start of the adventure, I was hooked.  I was hooked to the point that a couple of hours into our second session, the person running the game (it really looked like he was narrating more than anything else) started having problems with his voice.  Eager to continue, I volunteered to step in and read for him.  In some ways it presented an interesting way to learn the game.  Every so often I would stop, and ask what a particular thing meant as I was trying to decipher my first stat blocks.  After getting a taste of 'running a game', borrowing some books to get a better grasp of some of the rules, I bought my first gaming book.

Being confident enough to continue and run some games, my first book was the Dungeon Master's Guide.  Alas, 2nd Edition had just come out so it would be years before I got my hands on a 1st Edition copy of the book.  However, I came appreciate the 2nd Edition of the DMG and the PHB which ended up being my second gaming book purchase.  Some people would split 1st edition and 2nd edition into different categories but, truth be told it was all D&D to us ... 1st, 2nd, and even the Mentzer sets were what we rolled with.

Ah... good times.

M