The World of Layonara
The Layonara Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: xXDenizeNXx on March 22, 2006, 03:29:35 PM
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For me it was CS Lewis. The wonder of having your imaginary world come alive so intricately appealed to me. Soon afterwards The Hobbit and Lotr sealed my fate. The first books that had anything to do with fantasy where you played a role where Lonewolf. Joe Dever was da bomb heh. Then I played a game called Dragon Warriors but it didn't take long to play D&D Basic as a .....Dramatic pause...Mage lol. His name was Dio Skysoul and he went all the way to immortal actually being taken prisoner in hell, about 20 years before Greenwoods novel Elminster in hell, and having to fight his way out. He eventually made it into ADD 2nd ED as a Mage/Paladin defender of the weave type like Lucindrites we have here. This amused me when i first saw it on this site and I have been actually tempted to play one but I kinda am reluctant to have come full circle so to speak and be back where I started from if you get my drift heh. Dio ended up retiring in our Campaign as one of King Azouns vassals, a minor Duke whose main castle was made of Bone from a huge battle he fought against Myrkul's Minions. The time of Troubles kinda let Dio off the hook, his nemesis being destroyed and all, so I guess since I haven't played him in like 17 years he just died of old age after fathering many half elves with his elven wife Verona. Ahhh the memories.....
So what got you started? Any fond memories of chars?
Peace
Den
P.S: Dio was Wiz Generalist 20 / Pally 10 after ten yrs of gaming with the same group so yeah kinda puts Layo in to perspective a bit eh, we can't whine too loudly at the xp system of Layo, it is generous compared to my old GM as a teenager as it is ! LOL!
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Nothing really. It was just always in me. From when I was just a child, I had a big book of fariy tales. In middle school it was fantasy books. I guess it was natural progression.
Geeks aren't made. We are born.
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My cousin back in the 70s was playing the new AD&D hardback (1st ed) game and I just happened to have cycled over to his house and seen him and his friends playing. They asked if I wanted to play and I was hooked.
Luckily in the mid-80s I found an awesome older group of intellectuals that Roleplayed the game in a really unique way because about a year prior, I'd stopped playing because it was just the same drab hack-and-slash...
Since that time I've moved on to running Vampire the Darkages, Werewolf the Apocalypse, and other such games, though now I've gone on to WW's newer WoD titles and run a Werewolf the Forsaken game on Saturdays.
I really don't like the mechanics for DnD and especially the 3rd edition stuff, only because they make things more difficult, just to do what you could do with 1st edition if you just thought it out (i.e., used your brain). I think now, from playing 3rd edition in the past, you spend more time working on a character sheet, then working on your character's personality. Imo.
I suppose I like NWN because you don't have to waste time with penning in your calculations for hitting, damaging, and all those skills...NWN give me the easy out by doing all that junk for me....and Layonara is a welcoming surprise to gaming. Love what they've done with this world.
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Started when I was 8, P&P D&D then AD&D, then we started running wild in the city I lived in doing semi-chuluth, nearly got arrested like 5 times in one day...have been hooked ever since *shrugs*
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I read many different mythology books when I was a kid. I was also heavily into comic books as well. Mytholgy really set it off for me and I think the first real book fantasy book outside of mythology was The Hobbit.
Then I got into D&D with a friend and started with the small boxed set by Dave Arneson (yeah, I'm that old), the one with three small books in it. Then it was basic, expert and eventually Advanced where I left off after I got married and sent all over the world in the Army.
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Baldur's Gate, if you can call it geekdome. Just like the Lord of the Rings it made me interested in the whole word around it. Never played PnP though, only BG and NWN.
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I played FFI as a child of 5, reading Xanth around the same age.
When my uncle gave me a PHB3e at age 13, it was over for me as a non-D&D Geek.
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It was also the Hobbit with me and the following trilogy. At the time Ithought Smaug was awesome and the other creatures and places just pulled me in. P&P then I tried the Pool of Radience series and the others that follwed. During that is when I became a big fan of Forgotten Realms and DragonLance. Got to love the Dragons . .. *Sighs*
~ Jil
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I was always into fantasy and mythology. The first novel I got into was in 5th or 6th grade and it was the Once and Future King. I always enjoyed the different stories of Merlin, King Arthur, and Excalibur. That was followed by the Hobbit and LOTR.
Started D&D with the paperbacks issued by Gygax & Arneson with some additions by Kuntz and Blume. Good ole TSR. I've played all editions upto the current 3.0/3.5. Other rpgs include Bishido, Gamma World, Marvel, Space Frontiers, Palladium, Heros Unlimited, Shadowspawn, Star Wars, but always found my way back to D & D (Greyhawk was always my favorite setting, even went so far as generating my own world and storyline.)
Computer games include...Bards Tell, the original Pool of Radiance series, Dragons Lair, up to the most current games such as Baldur's Gate, Icewindale, and of course Neverwinter Nights.
Yikes, looking back...I am really set in geekdome but heck it has always kept my imagination alive and its helped to bring alot of young minds to use their imagination.
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My father read the Hobbit and ancient greek mythology to me as bedtime stories. When I first found those little paperback D&D books in a white box (1970s) I was hooked. Started going to a store in NYC called the "Complete Stratagist" that had regular saturday games in the back and the older people let me role a character and play ( I was about 11 then ). Seemed like a way to interact in a story and I was hooked on roleplaying games.
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For all the old timers like me, some nostalgia, the original box D&D box set:
http://rdushay.home.mindspring.com/Museum/Fantasy/DDrevw.html
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Ack! that link just flooded my brain with a ton of memories. Wish I could find the old box.........must be in some relatives attic along with the first 4 years of Dragon magazine. Thanks for that link.
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Yeah, I somehow got a few of those paperbacks, even though I'd started playing in the 1st edition AD&D hardback stuff. Of course, I remember Aftermath and Space Opera too.
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Wow! Only ever actually seen that boxed set before once at a Convention in Melbourne here in Australia, My first PnP was late 70's possibly early 80's with the basic ed. ??? Kinda fuzzy to remember.... I used to play my Wiz all wrong too like he was a gallant or cavalier, which he later became sort of I guess lol.
I got a copy of Unearthed Arcanna still! I think thats the earliest book that I actually owned I still got. Used to have v1 add phb but it literally fell to pieces with overuse lol. I started Dm'ing late, like when i was about 19 after my old group who'd played togaether since about 9 split up...(peeps going to college etc etc, ) But i've yet to have the pleasure of dnd 3 or 3.5 :( Maybe when my kids get a bit older :)
Peace
P.S: Please don't be offended by the title of this thread the term Geek doesn't seem to hold the same negative connotations it once held, with the internet becoming so popular it is now shiek to be geek ! hehe :)
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Yeah, I somehow got a few of those paperbacks, even though I'd started playing in the 1st edition AD&D hardback stuff. Of course, I remember Aftermath and Space Opera too.
It's also seem shiek to read comics again...I remember being scoffed at for reading a comic in the 70s. Even though it was supposed to be for adults, seems people thought that only nerds or idiots read them...hmm, I suppose being a Nerd ain't so bad anymore...and now I think of all the scoffers (mostly beautiful cheerleader chicks) that placate to their boyfriend/husband's whim to go watch comic book Movies.
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A friend of mine knew some kids in his class who were into witchcraft and they introduced him to both.
He then introduced me to D&D.From there I played AD&D 1st ed. ,space opera,Gamma world,gang Busters,the one where you were a Parapsycoligist,twighlight 2000,runequest,etc,etc until I found Magic the gathering.
Then I got had my leg operated on. I was confined to the house(computer) and was introduced to NWN.
weeeee
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It all started for me as a kid of about 8 or 9; our teacher used to get us to read greek mythology, I used to love that stuff, the heroes, the fantastical creatures. I suppose this sowed the seeds in my mind for the future. I became an avid reader of anything I could get my hands on, Hobbit, LotR Narnia etc, then the 70s and 80s came and went, and the amount of literature available grew, and still I kept reading.
Early 80s I purchased one of the origianal Spectrum computers, and used to play some oif the fantasy ganes available for them (used to load them via an audio cassette). From there more Computers, texas TI99, Amiga, Atari etc and a whole host of games available for them, (my favourite was Dungeon Master on the amiga http://home.flash.net/~rayearle/Dfiles/DngnMstr.html and Faery Tale Adventure http://dorando.emuverse.com/html/faery-tale-adventure.html on the PC).
During my time in the Navy, whilst off watch, we used to play a whole variety of board games, some good, some not so; Dungeon Quest, Advanced Dungeon Quest are two that spring to mind. Early 90s I took up painting miniture figures, mainly Warhammer Fantasy, and progressed into Warhammers Adventures. Then Baldurs Gate, NWN and now here.
So my road to Geekdom has be long and arduous; huge swathes of forest has been sacrificed to fuel my passion for reading. I have contributed a huge mountain of obsolete computers and PCs to the dump. The monsters I have slain, could populate a small hell. But hey, what fun I have had.
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Never played PnP, never read fantasy books (history is better in my opinion), NWN is almost the only RPG I have played, but hey, I like Layonara! :p
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My dad. Three daughters and no sons, so he sort of treated me like a "son" and started feeding me hard-core scifi books. I was reared on Asimov and such. It was an easy step to fantasy from there, although as an adult I still prefer hard and military scifi to most fantasy literature.
~Honora
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I was a child of small stature and I got picked on by bigger kids. My school teacher suggested I try role-playing to let out my frustration and strenghten my personality.
She meant acting...
I thought she meant video-games and D&D
The rest is history.
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Let's see...
I started off on Rogue, graduated to Hack then to Nethack. From then on a long line of SSI's Forgotten Realms games and finally... Neverwinter Nights.
As for PnP, I was a lazy reader when I was a kid despite chewing on three to four books a month (lots of time while I waited for Duck Tales and Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers on TV - I still love those shows).
I got started in The Hobbit and Dragonlance like most others here but I stopped my trek into books and took up cyberpunk and modern sci-fi novels for a while until, about... seven years ago. Since then I've torn through Heinlein, Asimov, Heinlein, A.C. Clarke, Gibson, Dick, Heinlein, Stephenson, Heinlein, Stephenson and quite a few others.
Tolkien and CS Lewis are also high on my list and their books are very worn through from my rereads.
However, of all this I wrote, what started me into the world of D&D geekdom was the original Nethack, I so loved the game that I had to grok it's context so I got the boxed D&D games, then the AD&D books.
In fact, I still love it, despite NEVER ascending nor even getting to the Wizard himself - the game's so dense I can play it for hours and I can't really get over it. I have a copy of it on every PC I own, but I can't load it up unless I have two to three hours to kill. My work machine has it installed, eight servers I manage have it also - quad Xeons 3.8Ghz servers with 2.5Tb RAID5 storage with 16Gb of RAM running a text game, there's something about it that makes me very happy.
You know, talking about it makes me want to fire it up, but I'll resist or else Freldo's gonna go on a few weeks hiatus. :)
My work email signature is the Bridge of Khazad'dum scene from the Lord of the Rings depicted in Nethack fashion, with added "-- more --" goodness.
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My dad got pulled into it with LOTR and shortly after his best friend introduced him to D&D, which he ended playing for years and years after. He then introduced me into the game at a very young age.
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My son wanted to play D&D in the early eighties, back when it was considered dangerous to young minds. I became the neighborhood DM so that I could keep an eye on him. He lost interest after a while, but I was thoroughly hooked. I played single person computer games until I discovered online play--which is definitely dangerous to adult minds. I'm hopelessly addicted to Layonara.
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I actaully rmember playing early D&D (The "basic set" and eventually AD&D). Also, games like Top Secret, Gamma World, Boot Hill, and Paranoia.
But looking back, I was clearly more of a "roll player" -- I was just a kid, after all. Growing up, reading lots of fantasy and sci fi, and doing some high school drama work matured my thinking to the point where I was more capable of doing real "role playing", but by then, I didn't have a group to play with.
Fast-forward to present day. Games like KOTOR2 and NWN allowed my to play characters that had impacts to the decisions they made. I would select a persona to my character and try to be consistent when making choices, to reflect that persona. The limitations of the engines wouldn't always have the right result (i.e., playing LN, doing something because it made sense from a "law" standpoint, but get an alignment shift towards LG because the engine couldn't determine intent and assumed it was a "good" action), but were close enough.
Layonara is my first foray into a MP environment since text-based MUDs some 15 years or so ago. I'm enjoying it because I get a chance to truly "play" the character and interact with others doing the same. My first character (Aeoleth Ellyn) is kind of sitting on the back burner -- I think I was a bit ambitious for a first character. I fully intend to return to him someday (who knows, maybe he'll make an occassional appearance), but for now, I think I'll stick with a character (Zug) that's a little easier to play, both from the RP aspect, as well as the game aspect.
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SuperMunch - 3/23/2006 8:31 AM
However, of all this I wrote, what started me into the world of D&D geekdom was the original Nethack, I so loved the game that I had to grok it's context so I got the boxed D&D games, then the AD&D books.
In fact, I still love it, despite NEVER ascending nor even getting to the Wizard himself
I've gotten to the final level (Astral Plane) twice. Once, I got killed one of the big nastys (Pestilence, Famine, or Death -- I forget which). The other time, I completely was spacing out... and sacrified the Amulet on the wrong altar! D'oh!
I believe the scoreboard description was "escaped in Celestial disgrace". *Sigh*
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I grew up fascinated with stories of all kinds, my mother reading them to me (including C.S. Lewis, the Bible, the Hardy Boys, etc.) and handing me down her old books.
I did theatre quite a bit as a kid, as well as a lot of singing.
Then there was the good old Nintendo... the Legend of Zelda captivated me, and to this day I can navigate every nook and cranny of that 8-bit game with my eyes closed. From there my interest in fantasy soared, and I read every bit of sci-fi and fantasy literature I could.
By highschool I still did some singing and acting, but was lost in the love of the game of American football, so it wasn't until college that I returned to a more artistic lifestyle, pursuing a degree in theatre.
It was in college that I discovered DnD (much to my mother's dismay), and other RPG's, as well as online gaming. I found that RPG's complimented my interest in theatre nicely, in the mean time stumbling across NWN. I was immediately drawn to it as I had by then read through the Forgotten Realms sourcebook multiple times, even DMing some campaigns set in Faerun. I missed the whole BG experience, and still have yet to play it, unfortunately.
I guess that's about it in a nutshell. My newest interest is writing fantasy literature, but that's still in its infancy.
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miltonyorkcastle - 3/24/2006 12:50 AM
My newest interest is writing fantasy literature, but that's still in its infancy.
Good luck with that Milton. Maybe you should ask L if you can use his world as a source and maybe you'll both be rich! Never know they seem to be into making fantasy trilogy movies atm ;)
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*chuckles* that's a heck of a lot of writing.... would be more than a trilogy with Layo... and would need multiple multiple authors....
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not really sure when it started... Ive found old cartoons from when Ive must been 2 years or so (cant remember making them, but my sister could) of Robin Hood.
Ive just always been fascinated by knights and tales, and had huge imagination. Ah and BG can take part of the credit for me ending up in Pnp and Dnd.
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I was bored and had some friends that played "Chainmail" and it was a reason to hang-out and get drunk. (in my not-nice years)
Then someone bought the D&D book and we started to convert (it was still Gygax) So with D&D / AD&D / Traveler / AD&D 2nd / AD&D 3rd DMing for my son only / Thats my PnP history.
Computer: started with Rouge on DOS (yes before Windows) then Pool of Radience / Dongeon Hack etc etc and yes Rouge was out of boredom.
Misc. Games: Illumnati, Nucular War (card game), Magic Unlimited to just after WotC bought it and trashed it just to make more money.
ok as you can see I'm old hehe
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The Women
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NEXUS7 - 3/23/2006 8:38 PM
The Women
ROFL!