Ed's Role-Playing Games

It was Election Night, and my 9th Grade Civics/English class was "locked in" overnight to watch the election returns. We had just had a stack of pizzas delivered, and as my best friend and I took place in line with hopes of scoring a couple of slices of pepperoni-and-mushroom, I could overhear him discussing with a couple of other guys as to how they were going to take advantage of the long night to "play a marathon game". (There was no school the next day due to Teacher In-Service.) However, they were short a player as one of the guys couldn't make it. My friend turned to me.

    "Hey, Eddie...wanna play D&D?"

    "Sure."

That was my first experience with role-playing games. A couple of minutes later, shortly after 7:00 PM on November 4th, 1980, I set down a couple cans of Coke and a paper plate piled with pizza slices and took my place at a couple of shoved-together tables in the corner of a double-sized classroom located in the southwest corner of the second floor of Bayshore Junior High School in Middletown, New Jersey.

More than a quarter-century later, I still remember that first game experience. In the intervening years, role-playing games have become my primary hobby; nearly everything I do in my spare time can somehow be related to my passion. That doesn't mean that I spend all my time gaming. However, nearly all of my interests -- from reading and writing to hiking and camping to historical reenactments -- can be traced back to having been inspired by my gaming hobby.

Likewise, most of my best friends were met through gaming. They range from computer professionals to restaurant managers, military senior NCOs to businessmen, high school teachers to college professors.

Games I've Played Over The Years