Collin Babcock: Blog 1
As a first blog entry, I’d like to tell the story of how I got into Dungeons and Dragons. D&D, love it or hate it, is the gateway game for such a huge amount of people that it commands a certain respect. I’d never dispute that. For me though, it started a life long interest in games. Games of all types: Video, Tabletop, Board, Live-Action Role-playing, and every single hybrid in-between.
I’d heard of D&D from video games long before I’d picked up a book. The late 90s, the Baldur’s Gate series. The Icewind Dale series. I just never had access to any of the books up to a point. No one I knew played it. Until I did a stint as a Scout Camp counselor.
Turns out, there was a camp-wide D&D game in progress. When I mentioned interest in learning, I was lent an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition book. I read that thing back and forth. I even had a character in mind, a Fighter-Mage specializing in prismatic spells. And, oddly enough, a Saurian. Mainly because I was told every other character was non-Human and had a grudge against the species. I was happy with my choices
I never got the chance to sit down and play though. Camp duties were busy and time grew short. That’s alright though. That year a new edition was released. Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition.
I didn’t have the cash to pick up the books, so I kept entering in to a weekly raffle at my Friendly Local Game Store. Altered States, in Syracuse, if you remember it. One week, my name came up! 100 dollars store credit.
Perfect. But… My parents didn’t have the time to take me to the store til the next weekend. Sure, no problem, I could wait.
Turns out I couldn’t. In my impatience, I designed my first RPG. I don’t remember all the rules to it now, and the notebook it was written in is likely lost to time, but I loved that little game. I ran it for my brothers and some kids from the neighborhood.
It was called Atlantis 2112.
Yeah, I listened to Rush. Why do you ask? The week went by and I got those books. For the first few weeks of reading and learning them, we played A2112. From that point I knew that creating games was even more fun and more rewarding than playing them. I haven’t looked back since. In the blog, I’m looking forward to detailing designs, philosophies, homebrews, butcheries, and more. I hope you’ll stick around and try a few for yourself. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll talk about Atlantis 2112. Maybe.