15 hours ago, dpj1967 said:

Contracted a bout of Christianity for about 20 years, but got better.

51 minutes ago, papy72 said:

It truly amazes me how a hobby that is largely based on groups of people getting together to perform heroic deeds got so vilified back then.

Don't blame Christianity.

Gary Gygax was a devout and exceptionally knowledgeable Christian. His attitude towards those people who opposed D&D on some pretense of Christianity is unprintable, mostly because he refused to dignify their complaints with a rebuttal. He was also, as those who recall the D&DG incident, a major fan of the Mythos.

The game was vilified by people with an agenda, some looking for others to blame so they wouldn't have to accept responsibility themselves, others looking to cash in on a frenzy, and some few willing to use faith as a club. Ultimately I have encountered far more Christians (and Jews, and others) who support RPGs and related games than those who oppose them.

53 minutes ago, SamWeiss said:

Don't blame Christianity.

Gary Gygax was a devout and exceptionally knowledgeable Christian. His attitude towards those people who opposed D&D on some pretense of Christianity is unprintable, mostly because he refused to dignify their complaints with a rebuttal. He was also, as those who recall the D&DG incident, a major fan of the Mythos.

The game was vilified by people with an agenda, some looking for others to blame so they wouldn't have to accept responsibility themselves, others looking to cash in on a frenzy, and some few willing to use faith as a club. Ultimately I have encountered far more Christians (and Jews, and others) who support RPGs and related games than those who oppose them.

To be clear, I wasn't blaming Christianity or any other religion. I apologize if that is how my thought came across.

Looks like I started something here, so I feel that I have to tell a bit more about myself.

As I said I am 73 years old and I started gameplaying in 1978. Of cause I played games earlier than this, Monopoly and similar games, but in 1978 I saw ads in Analog Science fiction/Science fact magasine about wargames. I took a years subscription for one year for Strategy and Tactics magazine. It took some time before I got the first issue, but as I am interested in history as well, I was hooked when I got it. Have been a subscriber ever since.

But Norway was quite far off from the main stream, so I didn´t have anyone to play with for several years. Fortunately most of these games are playable solo.

The one day, a few years later, I found a bookshop where they sold wargames and they even had the second edition of Dungeon & Dragon game master book. I had read about this, and I knew that I could not play this alone, but I bought the book just the same.

A few weeks later I visited the same bookshop, and there I found a flyer telling me about a gaming club at the university in Oslo, so I finally met people with the same interest. That night I had my first D&D experience, early winter 1982, at the age of 37.

It turned out that the club had been going on for a few years, so I was not the first wargamer/RPGer in Norway, but I must have been among the first..

In the following years I played a lot of D&D when I had the chance, both as a player, but mostly as a Dungeon master, but with 2 kids, time was in short supply.

I do not know exactly when I started playing Call of Cthulhu, but it must have been just after the second edition of the rule-book came out. If I say 1987-88 I cannot be far off.

I must admit that I seldom played as an Investigator, since most people wanted me to be the keeper, which was all right by me. I must have been doing it OK since I have been voted as the years best keeper a few times at the annual gamecon we have here in Oslo.

My two kids have also been playing RPG, but my son has found other interrests, so now I am trying to involve his kids, but they still are a bit too young.

My daughter is well into gaming, RPG and live RPG, but she is also heavily involved with Cosplay, which is a litte away from my interrests. But her english husband is playing a lot, and together they now have a RPG game going live directly on the net with 20-30 people following them.

My wife is not into serious gaming, but she loves Settlers of Cataan, so we play that when we have a chance.

For my self I have just started a new CoC campaign that will be played this autumn.

And now I am also involved in the Arkham Horror Card Game, so I will not be bored this side of Christmas.

Kjell

I turn 56 on next week. I start playing RPGs in the 70s when the original version of D&D came out. I still have all of my books including first edition Deities & Demigods and Oriental Adventures among others. It's what introduced me to Cthulhu and Lovecraft. I owned a gaming store in Sacramento from 1995-2001. We were one of the first, if not the first store in the US to sell Catan, having to directing import it from Germany. Even at $100 in 1995, we sold over 50 copies.

I'm looking forward to my first visit to Arkham Nights. I'm lucky enough to live 30 minutes from the FFG event center.

I'm 41. got into pen & paper rpgs in college; where i played 3rd ed D&D, Shadowrun, and Vampire the Maskerade. (no Call of Cthulhu unfortunately). Always loved Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos. Two or three years ago i thought i'd give the Arkham Horror boardgame a go. Got some of my fiends into it too. Then i got into Elder Sign, and now this.

I'm 37. Very nearly 38.

I've been playing Pen and Paper RPGs since I was an early teenager - but actually started with Warhammer Fantasy Role Play rather than the usual D&D entry point; I guess it was only a short hop from the tabletop game. I still remember my first character - we were a group of travelling entertainers, and I was the guy who had to dress up in the crappy Chaos Spawn outfit and get kicked in by everyone else for the amusement of children in the Empire, and as a lesson to what happens to those who fall to worshiping Chaos. Oddly enough, it's only as I've got older and started experiencing the beginnings of aching joints on cold mornings that I've begun to be a bit more of a fan of Nurgle.

My dark secret is that I hate HP Lovecraft's writing. He's just terrible - with the exception of the Outsider, I think pretty much everything he penned is garbage. Conversely, while I'm never going to read him again, I am very grateful for what he did create because for the most part, I love games about the Mythos - hence why I'm here playing Arkham Horror. So I guess you could sum up that I love the concepts, hate his implementation of them.

Let's see. . . 2019 - 1956. 9-6=3. Oops. Can't do the rest. 201-195. Just kidding. They taught math in those days. I'm 63. Got started with pen & paper RPG's in 1979 while in the service. Drifted over to mostly computer war gaming though loved Baldur''s Gate and other of the like. I just love the old Battlefront games (computer). Still play them to this day. Did the Magic: The Gathering thing for several years till I went broke buying packs but stuck with computer and other CCG's for years and then Arkham Horror came along. Sold all the cards, (and mini's from war gaming) Jumped on board the Lord of the Rings LCG in 2013. Loved it so much I backed up and bought everything from 2011 to present. My games now are AH: LCG. Elder Sign, LotR, AH: Board game, Mansions of Madness 1st and 2nd editions and for some reason i can't figure out, Firefly. Anyway. Have AH:LCG set up for the first scenario of The Forgotten Age. The Circle Undone came in about a week ago so now I'll have to blaze through TFA, because Circle looks really interesting to me. Let's see . . . 2019 - 1956. Yeah 63.

34.

My dad got a computer when I was 5-6 years old and we started playing some simple computer games that were avaliable at the time. And computer games became an interest of mine while growing up, I especially remember Command & Conquer and Sim City 2000. I got into computer RPGs with the release of Baldurs Gate (1998).

Due to my interest in RPGs I got to talking with some people and got invited to a LARP (Vampire) when I was 16 and was instantly hooked. After that then got into regular RPGs (a Swedish game called Eon was the first regular RPG), and board and card games.
At the LARP I also met my wife, so she's also a gamer and we're trying to play Arkham Horror the Card Game when our daughter (who is 3 years old) sleeps, and we also play RPGs together once a week with our friends (currently Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).

We have a bunch of different games that we try to play with friends as often as possible. A lot of our favourite games are co-op games such as Arkham Horror (both card and board game), Pandemic, Descent, Pathfinder the Adventure Card Game, Elder Sign, Big Book of Madness etc.

So I’m 46.... and I’m a gamer....

First a mention to Nordway for starting this thread... it’s great to read other people’s stories and really helps reinforce a sense of community!! Thank you!!

I started when I was around 12 thanks to my older cousin and was soon playing AD&D at a club at school, run by our physics teacher!! I am honoured to say I still game with friends from that group!!

shortly after I got into my 2 all time favourite rpgs.... Call of Cthulhu (2nd Edition) and Warhammer Fantasy Role-play (1st Edition). The Enemy Within Campaign remains, to this day, the single greatest gaming experience of my life!!!

I played the original Arkham Horror board game back in the day, and still treasure my copy that the same cousin mentioned above game to me (although my brother contests that it is half his.... fool!! 😁)

I have played the various incarnations of Cthulhu Card Games... Mythos (the Chaosium original game), Cthulhu ccg/lcg and now Arkham Horror.... I have loved them all for one reason or another, AH is my favourite though!!

I'm 35. First got into games with the decipher star trek CCG back in the 90s, then played Magic The Gathering with a group of friends in college/uni, but stopped when that crowd drifted apart post University. Got into the Lotr LCG when that came out, and from there to Arkham. I like these two, as they provide a good solo experience for those long stretches between meeting up with friends of similar tastes.

I'm 39. Father of two. It's nice to have AH:TCG as a solo gaming experience. I also play this game with my gaming group and/or with my wife (I've gone through almost all the scenarios once with a group), but honestly the majority of the time I play it solo. It's just so much easier to break this out after the kids go to sleep and play quickly through a scenario when the wife isn't in the mood to play a game.

My game group started playing the CoC RPG in the mid 90s and it's been a game staple for us ever since. Naturally we adopted the AH 2nd Ed board game when that came out, but as time went on we rarely pull that anymore. These newer Arkham Files games are just more respectful of your time and more engaging narratively. We haven't tried AH 3rd Ed, but I think it's unlikely it would win out against AH:TCG in the gaming rotation.

I'm a half-century old.

I was a high-schooler playing pencil-and-paper RPG back in the scare-days of the 1980s. I wrote a letter to the moronic author of a sensationalist Newsweek op-ed, pointing out that his misplaced modifiers had a D&D-playing teenager taking down the Cheryl Ladd posters in his room, shortly after killing himself with fumes from the family car. I loved that picture of the kid coming back from the grave to redecorate. I think Deities & Demigods (1st ed., natch) was the first place I encountered Yog-Sothothery, but I quickly read up all the literature, and I ran a couple of short Call of Cthulhu RPG campaigns back in those days.

In the 21st century, I've played the Call of Cthulhu LCG pretty extensively, although not any organized play. I enjoy Elder Sign, but I've never had any powerful itch to play the Arkham Horror board game or Eldritch Horror. I also like Martin Wallace's steampunk semi-co-op Cthulhu games (Study in Emerald and AuZtralia) and Kingsport Festival.

Except for the rare solitaire play or Invocation event, I play all my AH:TCG with my 13-year-old daughter. She usually plays Rogues, and I'm all over the map (with a slight preference for Mystics).

I love that you refer to it as Yog-Sothothery everywhere you post since if I recall correctly that's what Lovecraft would have preferred. Cthulhu is relatively unimportant in the mythos so why does he always get top billing If these stories are ultimately about uncovering the truth (often ill-advisably so) then surely the outer god that knows all and sees all is a better pick.

I'm 33 and really didn't get into boardgaming as a hobby until about 7 or 8 years ago. Prior to that I was a big JRPG console video game fan, and had spent a small portion of my high school years table-top roleplaying systems that a few friends of mine had created and were GM'd by a guy with an incredible imagination. I enjoy reading weird fiction/sci-fi/fantasy but I'm a bit all over when it comes to reading genres, so I am no Lovecraft scholar, though I have read a decent chunk of the source material.

Arkham 2nd edition is what initially really pulled me into boardgaming as a hobby, and I've been incredibly fond of coop games since. Although it is unwieldy, the full set that I own felt like a toolbox that allowed us to tweak our games and play for as long as we wanted.

The idea of a game framework as a toolbox inspired me to create my own set of thematic investigators for Arkham 2nd edition using the amazing Strange Eons application, and I've since adapted those same investigators (with varying degrees of success) to Eldritch Horror, and now Arkham Horror the Card Game. They and their identities are special to me as they have followed my journey ever deeper into the Arkham Files line. I love taking those frameworks and re-tooling them for new games, but I'm limited in my computer and graphic design skill.

I play the Arkham Files games (as well as others such as Folklore, Gloomhaven, Dead of Winter, Betrayal at House on Hill) with my partner of 8 years and, often, a friend that I've had since elementary school will join us as well. I've done a bit of playtesting for Plaidhat Games, and it's always been a blast to be a part of.

If you had a chance to attend Arkham Nights 2018, I was one of the Dexter Drake's that were present. It was a blast, but I live in Pennsylvania so it will unfortunately not be a regular event. I'm absolutely loving The Circle Undone so far. Favorite investigator overall: Sefina, but I am anticipating both Gloria and Patrice in the card game as well.

30 minutes ago, phillos said:

I love that you refer to it as Yog-Sothothery everywhere you post since if I recall correctly that's what Lovecraft would have preferred.

Yeah, Grandpa coined the word "Yog-Sothothery" to refer to the Necronomicon, Cthulhu, Tsathoggua, and other novel arcana that he shared with the Weird Tales circle of writers.

The more common phrase "Cthulhu mythos" was originally invented by August Derleth, who did a lot of work to preserve and publish HPL's writings, but also tended to distort them to fit Christianized metaphysical premises. Derleth is also responsible for the eye-in-the-pentagram Elder Sign, which we now know (from HPL-to-CAS correspondence) to be inaccurate. "Cthulhu Mythos" branding got another shot in the arm from the D&D Deities & Demigods volume, which was an initial point of encounter for many gamers.

Arkham Files games really do use the "Cthulhu Mythos" as such, but I prefer the original Lovecraftian term to refer to an elastic body of tropes and motifs, rather than the Derlethian label which suggests a coherent stock of doctrines and lore.

Edited to add: AH:TCG gets Yog-Sothothery points for dedicating the first full cycle to the influence of Yog-Sothoth. But it also gets "Cthulhu Mythos" points for orienting to "The Dunwich Horror," which epitomizes the Derlethian good-investigators-fighting-evil-sorcery approach to the weird tale.

4 minutes ago, Soakman said:

If you had a chance to attend Arkham Nights 2018, I was one of the Dexter Drake's that were present.

Great! I can't wait for Dexter to hit the card game. He's always been a favorite of mine in Elder Sign.

3 hours ago, Carthoris said:

Edited to add: AH:TCG gets Yog-Sothothery points for dedicating the first full cycle to the influence of Yog-Sothoth. But it also gets "Cthulhu Mythos" points for orienting to "The Dunwich Horror," which epitomizes the Derlethian good-investigators-fighting-evil-sorcery approach to the weird tale.

How many points does it get for The Path to Carcosa, where it's entirely possible that nothing the investigators accomplish changes anything and they're actually under Hastur's thrall from the beginning?

16 hours ago, rsdockery said:

How many points does it get for The Path to Carcosa, where it's entirely possible that nothing the investigators accomplish changes anything and they're actually under Hastur's thrall from the beginning?

I wasn't concerned with the number of "points," but rather their flavor. After The Dunwich Legacy sewed up both "Cthulhu Mythos" and Yog-Sothothery cred, The Path to Carcosa made sure there would be satisfaction for players like me who like their mythemes Yellow.

Hi ,what an interesting topic ,I'm 69 in April, so Nordway the crown is yours to date .Always played with games ,model soldier wargames mostly but recently last couple of years into board/card games. D&D in the 80's. So you whippersnappers you've got decades of fun before you. The spread of ages is wonderful.

I'm 45, I have only been gaming for about 6 months. I bought X-Wing 2.0 to play with my 6 yr old and be are both loving that. I had been looking for something to play solo and many signs pointed me to Arkham Horror LCG so I bought it. I've been really enjoying it and once I've learnt how to play properly I will start down the expansions path. I have also purchased Dead Of Winter and my boy wanted a tabletop game with miniature people so I have just purchased Star Wars legion. As someone really new to tabletop gaming I have been really surprised at the depth and and the amount of creative thought that it must take to design these games. I haven't had a video games machine or television for over a decade, I wish I had discovered board and tabletop games earlier.

23 years old, just got into gaming not too long ago. Managed to get me SO into the game, she really really loves it. She's 27

On 9/7/2018 at 10:16 AM, papy72 said:

And that is EXACTLY what I was thinking of. I was only 7 back in 1979 so I highly doubt I have any direct memory of the incident. But I came to learn about it in later years.

I feel a bit lucky that I had parents who weren't swayed by such things.

Some of it was actually linked to the kids playing D&D in E.T.