We have 19 people (as of todays date) who have joined the game jam which was probably more than I was expecting for an unknown game. So thank you and welcome to the jam.

We still have a number of weeks before the game jam starts but I was going to see if we can get to know each other a little bit better in the run up to the start of the jam.

The question I was going to ask as a way of introducing yourselves is,  when did you first start playing TTRPG games and what were the first few  games you remember playing?

I started playing B/X D&D (Moldvay edition) in the early 80's which was our main game of choice but I also recall playing a bit of Traveller, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Dragon Warriors, MERP (Middle Earth Role-Playing), TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Paranoia  before progressing onto AD&D aswell as reading lots of the Fighting Fantasy (Choose Your Own Adventure) books.

I ran my first campaign in the summer of 1977 - starting with D&D (Original Edition) and moving on to the Basic Set. After which I played AD&D (1e) for several years, then shifted to Gamma World, Traveller, Tunnels & Trolls, The Fantasy Trip: In the Labyrinth, DragonQuest, RuneQuest, Bushido, Aftermath, Space Opera, Morrow Project, Torg (Classic Edition) and other even lesser known old-school games. Played tournaments at Tex-Cons 1-3. I am married and have three children of which my son plays regularly and my youngest daughter and my wife also occasionally sit in for family games of Munchkin (cardgame), Posthuman (boardgame), and Maximum Apocalypse (boardgame & RPG).

I started quite recently about 3 years ago but I've been interested for a long time, I haven't played much myself sadly. I have effectively completed 1 Campaign of DnD 5e that lasted around a year, the hiatus seems to have been permanent sadly. I've played some Low Fantasy Gaming, and was allowed to GM a couple one shots over the years, OSE, Low Fantasy Gaming, and Forbidden Lands. I play OSE and LFG solo and not much else.

Sadly I don't have a physical group to play with so I mostly play online, currently I am on a new running LFG game that has had 2 sessions so far, but its more of a dungeon crawn really. 

I started playing in 2021. Began with watching Critical Role. Then I got VERY into D&D, very quickly. Played a few ttrpgs since then, and have amassed a decent collection of books. Been fun! 

Red Box (Mentzer) in the 80's for me. That lurid red box drew me in at a 5&Dime in Colorado on vacation. Picked it up (and a little number called Top Secret S.I.) for 5 bucks each.

My brother got me the Mentzer Red Box set for Christmas around 83 or 84. We also got the AD&D 1E Player's Handbook and Monster Manual. I think he DM'd the sample dungeon for me and my sister once and that was it. I have spent the majority of my life from then til about 2015 reading RPG books and never getting to play. I loved that 1E MM so much. Lost it when my mom found my stash of D&D books and Dragon Magazines and threw them out when I was in High School.

I played... once in High School with some kids from school but it was fairly underwhelming. I then played 2 or 3 times when 3E came out, my friend and I found a group in our area and went to play, it was an interesting experience. The guy hosting in his apartment was hell-bent on playing a monk and over the course of the 2 sessions we played, I think his monk died about 3 or 4 times... Also the DM was a tad on the weird side.

When 5E came out I introduced RPGs to my wife and 2 daughters and DMed them through Mines of Phandelver and part of Red Hand of Doom. That was a lot of fun and I was so proud of my daughters who were I think about 10 and 9 at the time.

I eventually got a long-term RPG group going around 2015 that only fizzled out due to Covid, but they were mostly interested in playing Star Wars/Edge of the Empire. We did do some D&D between SW campaigns but I had to DM it. So, since first getting that Red Box in 1984 I have been a player of D&D/fantasy RPGs a total of about 5 sessions. I don't mind DMing and I'm a designer/fiddler by nature anyway, but gosh darn it I really want to be a player in a campaign eventually! Fortunately my 9 year old son shows every sign of becoming an extraordinary DM as he levels grows up - he already regularly makes up games and "campaigns" and such though they mostly seem to be made of incomplete rules made up on the spot :)

I've been fiddling with home-brew rules and tweaks to things like S&W White Box, Knave, etc for awhile, but I'm really taken by Heroes of Adventure. So far its scratching all the itches I have for a system. I had just started a new campaign for the family using my homebrewed S&W rules in early Dec, and immediately switched us over to HoA though we've only had about 1 or 2 sessions since then so it's early to claim total victory, but I like it. It reminds me of a mix of the best from old D&D, Dungeons & Delvers Dice Pool Edition, and some of the more modern OSR stuff like Knave and Forbidden Realms