I can honestly say Star Wars got me into roleplaying,

I met my best friend of the last 21 years playing a game of football (a surprise to any one who actually knows us), while playing we struck up a conversation and alighted on the fact we were both big into Star Wars, and both having an up to date collection of novels at the time. He was meeting a group a friends after the game and invited me to join him, and it was here I was introduced to WEG Star Wars RPG, made up my first character, and was hooked.

Since then I have played many RPGs, and every form of Star Wars RPG to date, I have become a reluctant GM, and introduced many other players to the hobby. Admittedly, every once in a while I feel the tug back to WEG SW RPG, it will always be my first love, and at the heart of my fondest memories of the hobby.

I grew up in a Christian home and was told D&D was "evil"

Are you american? This only seems to be a thing in America for some reason(I could be wrong). The christians I know here in Norway(as rare as they are) play dnd, support gay rights and are pretty cool. Why are christians so crazy in other parts of the world?.. I guess it`s the same with other religions too, some people and places are crazier than others. Yea, yea, whatever, didn`t mean to offend anyone. Mat the Force be with you all. And no, the Force isn`t Satan.

Yes I'm American (but don't hold that against me )

Not to make this a religious thread but you are right most Americans fall into the Evangelical Protestant category, or at least they are the ones who make the most noise. No offense to any Christians here.....

I do have to laugh at people who think D&D is evil but love "Lord of the Rings" which D&D was inspired by....

Star Wars came first for me. I was 5 when I saw the original film in a theater in '77.

In the early '80s, conservative parents were all "up in arms" over RPGs - especially D&D - apparently brainwashing kids' minds. So, yeah, I missed out on most RPGs until I was in my teens.

My first RPG experiences? Palladium's "Robotech" and "TMNT" (before the days of multi-colored bandanas and blimps) and FASA's "Star Trek." Had a lot of fun with these.

And then I had the good fortune to pick up WEG's "Star Wars RPG" and "Star Wars Sourcebook" Absolutely loved 'em, particularly because they incorporated elements from my much-loved Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy.

Good times.

I got into Star Wars at a very young age. Like 4 or 5. I got into roleplaying in college. It was D&D 3.5 then. I later discovered other systems, including that there was Star Wars roleplaying, though Edge was the first I actually played of Star Wars rpgs.

As a Christian roleplayer, I can tell you the whole anti-roleplaying movement has little to do with religion. There was a campaign of misinformation and distortion spread by a guy named Mr. Chick a few decades ago (the very mention of whose name is banned on the WotC forums.) The biggest and most concerning lie of which is that D&D is a pathway to Satanism. I find the most helpful thing to do when I find people with these misconceptions is to confront them and have an honest discussion about what roleplaying is about...primarily that it's a cooperative game of imagination. With anything like that, what matters is not so much the game, but rather who you play with. A game of Apples to Apples can get really perverted nasty with the wrong people (or the right people, depending on your view). A roleplaying game has the capacity to be much worse, but at the same time, that gives it the capacity to be much much better. *steps off soapbox*

I was a kid of the '80s so I watched the original trilogy on VHS tape, cable television and the occasional broadcast. I liked the visuals but as far as story-telling goes, I preferred Star Trek.

The storytelling, huh? Then you mean Next Generation of course.

Naturally.

Personally, I find "storytelling" in Star Trek to be much better paired with TOS and (especially) DS9.

TNG was extremely plot-driven with 'cosmic phenomena of the week' being the norm. Which would be OK ... except for the fact that TOS was there first. With the added benefit of actual characterization.

There was a campaign of misinformation and distortion spread by a guy named Mr. Chick a few decades ago (the very mention of whose name is banned on the WotC forums.)

Ah, Dark Dungeons! I had a print-out of that on my wall in the room we played RPG in when I went to the university. It always got a laugh. I also own the fantastic book by a christian mom detailing all the dangers of D&D to our kids' very souls, including turning them into highway robbers.

The other topic banned on the WotC forums was discussing whether Katanas are better swords than European counterparts or not, by the way. Those were the days ... ;-)

ah. Dark Dungeons.

ah. Dark Dungeons.

Oh yea!

I might have to watch that for a laugh. Some of the best parodies are ones that aren't trying to be parodies IMO. My parents and I were Christians but they didn't have a problem with me RPing as as a kid so long as we didn't go literally into demon worship territory (We mostly play and played space RPGs with the occisional Age of Sail, Steampunk, or DnD campagin so there was little chance of that) By the time I was a teenager they were almost completely hands off on what I did for fun as long as no drugs, sex or full-scale porn w.ere involved, we weren't being so loud we gave them headaches and nothing was broken. (When I was eleven my group banned an RPer who got so mad at a dice roll that he threw one of the dice which knocked a vase onto the tile floor of the kitchen.)

I've known Star Wars my whole life.

Used to play Warhammer 40,000 and through White Dwarf learnt of Dark Heresy. Inquisitor was my favourite game but Games Workshop dumped it. Unfortunately my brother, who was my only opponent, became abusive and he ruined the 41st Millennium more than the company. The games remind me of gaming with my brother, which reminds me of the verbal abuse and controlling behavior. It brought back the trauma and hurt so was best to put it far away.

While interested in Dark Heresy, and the other 40K RPGs, I noticed X-Wing. Star Wars was always a source of joy, and a reminder of happier times, so I started getting a couple of ships. Not got a big collection, but I plan on changing that.

I've always enjoyed creating fiction. Naturally I enjoyed it more when I could "play" the fiction and have my actions effect the story. In fact, I love the idea of creating a story and characters and not knowing what's going to happen. As an author, it's more fun not to know the ending.

So far, I've just gotten (literally) the Force and Destiny rulebook and one pack of dice. I've come to this forum to decide whether to choose AoS or this next. No promises I'll choose EotE, as AoS has species and ships I'd like rules for. But EotE seems to offer a lot more diversity though.

I grew up in a Christian home and was told D&D was "evil"

Are you american? This only seems to be a thing in America for some reason(I could be wrong). The christians I know here in Norway(as rare as they are) play dnd, support gay rights and are pretty cool. Why are christians so crazy in other parts of the world?.. I guess it`s the same with other religions too, some people and places are crazier than others. Yea, yea, whatever, didn`t mean to offend anyone. Mat the Force be with you all. And no, the Force isn`t Satan.

To be fair, you just compared US Christians of decades ago to Norway Christians of today. The backlash against D&D was decades ago, and I don't recall it being primarily about religion, but an unfounded fear fueled by a news article and a movie that made some parents worry that junior was getting into a "cult". I'm sure you can google and find some modern, extreme, quote about religion vs. RPGs by some obscure group/person, but my feeling is that backlash is far in the past.

I grew up in a Christian home in the US as a teen in the 80's and my primary hobby was RPGs. My mom drove me places to play D&D on the weekends. When that Tom Hanks movie hit TV, my mom simply asked me a couple questions about D&D and that was it. None of the questions regarded religion. She was worried about the cult aspect. None of my RPG friends reported a parent harping on them about religions vs. D&D. And no sermons on Sundays against the evil of D&D in my church in the 80's.

Today? I even know a minister that plays RPGs, including D&D, in the Midwest US of all places.

You can find 100's (1000's?) of gay-supporting US churches here: http://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/

And you can find a news article on the Church of Norway just last year voting against gay marriage here:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/church-norway-votes-against-gay-marriage080414/

But I'm not going to draw conclusions in broad strokes based on a couple samples.

I've always enjoyed creating fiction. Naturally I enjoyed it more when I could "play" the fiction and have my actions effect the story. In fact, I love the idea of creating a story and characters and not knowing what's going to happen. As an author, it's more fun not to know the ending.

Deep. Well said. Awesome. Needs to be quoted in, Dungeon Masters' Wisdoms.

I grew up in a Christian home and was told D&D was "evil"

Are you american? This only seems to be a thing in America for some reason(I could be wrong). The christians I know here in Norway(as rare as they are) play dnd, support gay rights and are pretty cool. Why are christians so crazy in other parts of the world?.. I guess it`s the same with other religions too, some people and places are crazier than others. Yea, yea, whatever, didn`t mean to offend anyone. Mat the Force be with you all. And no, the Force isn`t Satan.

To be fair, you just compared US Christians of decades ago to Norway Christians of today. The backlash against D&D was decades ago, and I don't recall it being primarily about religion, but an unfounded fear fueled by a news article and a movie that made some parents worry that junior was getting into a "cult". I'm sure you can google and find some modern, extreme, quote about religion vs. RPGs by some obscure group/person, but my feeling is that backlash is far in the past.

To be fair, a "US Christian" isn't something that really exists. There are Roman Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, Baptists, Evangelicals, Apostolics, Mormons, etc... "Christian" became a lump term from politics so that politicians could try and garner as much of the vote from the various denominations without having to be part of them. Remember the huge stink that was made about JFK being a Roman Catholic? No, well, just look back at Mitt Romney and the media about his being a Mormon and you've got some idea.

I have run into people on both sides of the line. Even my own parents expressed their fears about my playing D&D due to things they'd heard in church. So, while some in one church or another are fine with RPGs, not everyone is, even today. And that spread in the US is just like the spread of political views (think red states vs blue states) with some communities being more close-minded than others.

Star Wars was just some weird movies my dad made me watch when I was little. I really didn't remember much of it. I was not a fan in the slightest.

Then my dad ran EotE after first trying to get me to play a D20 game that I didn'T enjoy aT all. EotE was different! First I loved the game and then I went back and re-experienced Star Wars and I have been a fan every since.

I grew up in a Christian home and was told D&D was "evil"

Are you american? This only seems to be a thing in America for some reason(I could be wrong). The christians I know here in Norway(as rare as they are) play dnd, support gay rights and are pretty cool. Why are christians so crazy in other parts of the world?.. I guess it`s the same with other religions too, some people and places are crazier than others. Yea, yea, whatever, didn`t mean to offend anyone. Mat the Force be with you all. And no, the Force isn`t Satan.

To be fair, you just compared US Christians of decades ago to Norway Christians of today. The backlash against D&D was decades ago, and I don't recall it being primarily about religion, but an unfounded fear fueled by a news article and a movie that made some parents worry that junior was getting into a "cult". I'm sure you can google and find some modern, extreme, quote about religion vs. RPGs by some obscure group/person, but my feeling is that backlash is far in the past.

I grew up in a Christian home in the US as a teen in the 80's and my primary hobby was RPGs. My mom drove me places to play D&D on the weekends. When that Tom Hanks movie hit TV, my mom simply asked me a couple questions about D&D and that was it. None of the questions regarded religion. She was worried about the cult aspect. None of my RPG friends reported a parent harping on them about religions vs. D&D. And no sermons on Sundays against the evil of D&D in my church in the 80's.

Today? I even know a minister that plays RPGs, including D&D, in the Midwest US of all places.

You can find 100's (1000's?) of gay-supporting US churches here: http://www.gaychurch.org/find_a_church/

And you can find a news article on the Church of Norway just last year voting against gay marriage here:

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/church-norway-votes-against-gay-marriage080414/

But I'm not going to draw conclusions in broad strokes based on a couple samples.

Thank you for enlightening me:)

Hi,

interesting thread always funny what discussions develop from a simple question.

When we started roleplaying (with... 16 or 17) just one of our friends dad said he thinks its a "cult-game" but well he just said it once and never did smth against it... maybe he was just in a bad mood and wanted to nag about something^^ Well and lot of people think it is a nerd game or smth, but well... you have that everywhere. Golf is for snobs, soccer for idiots, metal for depressed, raggea for drug addicted. So who cares.

To the original question of the thread: I started with roleplaying when i was 16 or 17, i just played DSA (Das Schwarze Auge/the dark eye) and Shadowrun back then. One year ago I participated in a roleplay evening event at our local roleplay-and-boardgame-shop. This event is happening every two months and you can try out a system in a one-evening-adventure. I played Star Wars, and we were all so excited about that evening that we startet a weekly group out of that. I knew Star Wars before, i liked the movies but i wanst a huuuuge fan. Just since then i bought some backround books and also the x-wing game from FFG and cant wait for the next movie!

So, the roleplay made me a bigger Star Wars fan

Hi,

interesting thread always funny what discussions develop from a simple question.

When we started roleplaying (with... 16 or 17) just one of our friends dad said he thinks its a "cult-game" but well he just said it once and never did smth against it... maybe he was just in a bad mood and wanted to nag about something^^ Well and lot of people think it is a nerd game or smth, but well... you have that everywhere. Golf is for snobs, soccer for idiots, metal for depressed, raggea for drug addicted. So who cares.

To the original question of the thread: I started with roleplaying when i was 16 or 17, i just played DSA (Das Schwarze Auge/the dark eye) and Shadowrun back then. One year ago I participated in a roleplay evening event at our local roleplay-and-boardgame-shop. This event is happening every two months and you can try out a system in a one-evening-adventure. I played Star Wars, and we were all so excited about that evening that we startet a weekly group out of that. I knew Star Wars before, i liked the movies but i wanst a huuuuge fan. Just since then i bought some backround books and also the x-wing game from FFG and cant wait for the next movie!

So, the roleplay made me a bigger Star Wars fan

Based on the game you started with, I guess you are from Germany or another german-speaking country in Europe. Us europeans have to call it football, not soccer! How else will the rest of the world learn?...

Just kidding, I don`t even like sports. Tell me about that Black Eye game:)

I call it soccer here because i thought most guys here are from the us (could be wrong) and this way nobody gets confused.^^

"the Dark eye" is the dominating rpg in germany (and the other german speaking nations i guess) since the 80s. It uses a d20+d6 system, is starting now in its 5th version (this should be less complicated then the last one). It has a very, very, very detailed world(i think at least 15 books with each 200 pages, just for the main continent. discribing every landscape, every city, every trading good, every fart some has done some years ago^^).maybe the system is a little bit more focused on "life" then just adventures, giving u social status, a lot of crafting and social skills and so on. but of course in the end its about doing adventures, mostly with magic and sword, but sometimes also just with talking.

I think it got released in english, but just the core books. (the 4. edition was so in some parts so complicated, u could probably do a bachelor degree in it)

The Star Wars RPG is realy... simple, compared to DSA 4.1, but in a good way. EotE offers more time for playing, less time to look up things

What i realy love about DSA is the detailed world, it offers sooo many settings, is so well described, and so... oragnic... somehow. Just lovely. The rules in 4.1, well the magic part was good, because magic can be complex, it s magic! the fight system was to fuzzy and to slow, u could take hours for a battle, and the generation and charakter development were also to complicated. We will see how the just released 5th edition will do.

I got into them separately. I only really became a "fan" of Star Wars after laying JK2 (before that it was just one cool series of films I liked among many), which led me down the dark path of the EU and turned me into a massive Star Wars fan. Later on after playing D&D 3.5 (and later Pathfinder) I found Star Wars Saga edition (based on D&D 3.5) and played that a bit, but I didn't love it as the ruleset didn't really suit the way I know things to work in the setting. For a while I toyed with adapting Fate to Star Wars (as many others have before me) but then One Shot Podcast introduced me to EotE. I grabbed the Beginner's Box and browbeat some friends into playing with me, then after the success of that pulled together a campaign and started running it. Currently it's my all time favourite RPG.

Thank you for enlightening me:)

Hey no problem. I'm there for anyone when they roll a Despair on a Perception check.

Like many my first role-playing was D&D many years ago. Probably around 1978, or so, since that is when I'd have been 16 and able to drive from south Oklahoma City to Norman and get the D&D books from the University of Oklahoma bookstore which was the nearest available source back then. I had been playing war games, mostly Avalon Hill offerings, since back around 1972 when a friend who had several of them introduced me to the hobby. My first RPG that wasn't D&D was Champions back in 1981 (I still have my first edition rule book). I saw the original Star Wars movie when it was released theatrically. I don't think I played a Star Wars RPG until the first edition of the old West End d6 system was released.

Star Wars is amongst my earliest memories, I didn't see Star Wars at the cinema as I was only 4 years old at the time and my family didn't really go to the cinema so I can't say when I actually watched the movie but I can't remember a time before Star Wars.

When I was about 11/12 I joined an after school gaming club where I joined a game of ad&id and became hooked on roleplaying and used to visit the only gaming shop in town on a regular basis. A year or so after joining the club I wandered in to the shop and discovered a brand new copy of the Star Wars RPGs and sourcebook, they only had one copy and I only had cash for one of the books, luckily they were happy to reserve the sourcebook for me for a week until I could beg my parents for some extra cash. I seem to remember that each book cost £10, which was quite an investment for me at the time.

Anyway, I read the rule book as quickly as I could, bought the sourcebook and devoured all of the new Star Wars lore that was laid out before me, to me it was the best thing in the world, (and shortly after I picked up Tatooine Manhunt, which has been one of the best Star Wars rpg adventures ever produced). l had a close group of friends that I offered to run the game for, they also joined me at the gaming club, and I have been running Star Wars adventures ever since, playing WEG/D20/SAGA (although this wasn't a hit with our group) and now EotE.

I will always have a soft spot for WEG but I do think that the FFG system is the most cinematic iteration so far. The nice thing is that not only do I still play with one of my friends from back in 87 but I have had the opportunity to GM for lots of cool gamers over the years and my current group have met on as many Monday nights as possible for the past 16 odd years, and long may it continue.

Star Wars has been a part of my life for quite a bit longer than RPGs have. I started playing RPGs in about 1989, and mostly played Warhammer Fantasy the first few years. I remember seeing WEGs Star Wars game in my local game shop in, maybe, 1990 or so, but didn't really think much of it. I only recently startet combining RPGs and SW with Edge of the Empire. That won't end any time soon, though!