Would you or have you ever played D&D?

(submitted by: @Anonymous)

True story. When I was twelve, I took all the money I earned in a summer working for my dad to buy the D&D Basic and Expert sets, several Basic and AD&D modules, and a bookshelf full of the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Deities & Demigods. You know how many actual sessions of D&D I ever played?

I dunno… three? And they all sucked.

In reality, I bought all that stuff just to read it. Cover to cover, through the endless stat tables and lists. It was the ordered approach to improvisational world building that interested me. And the art. And the weird, obsessive attention to detail.

I didn’t really want to play. I wanted to make my own rules.