Coming Home

It feels like I barely left.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1981 with the Moldvay and Cook basic and expert boxed sets.

Expert left / Basic right

Over the next 30 years (has it really been that long?) each edition of Dungeons and Dragons has had its turn at my table, but always my thoughts drifted back to my first . . .

There's something magical about your first. Your first girlfriend, first car, first baseball game, you name it, your first is a moment of discovery and wonder.

Even the negative firsts can later prove fascinating when looking back. Your first dead character might seem briefly traumatic, yet later many of us old schoolers look back on that moment fondly often with laughter.

I suspect that the so-named Old School Renaissance is for many of us an attempt to recapture that magic and with it our enjoyment of the hobby we have loved for so long a time. Things have changed in the game. Not all of it is bad, so you won't see me engaging in acts of edition warring on this blog. In fact, you're more likely to see me talk about adapting things from later editions for use in my current and future old-school games. So yes, I'm trying to find that special sense of wonder from my original experiences and turn it up to eleven.