My Tabletop Story – What’s Yours?
What’s your story? How did you get into tabletop?
A bunch of us wrote up our retrogaming stories, so I thought it would be fun to do the same but about tabletop games.
Are you … game? 🙂
Here are the questions:
- When did you first get into tabletop wargames or RPGs?
- What first attracted you?
- Which games do you play?
- Which games WON’T you play?
- Do you play in person? Online?
- RPG Player, DM, both? Neither?
- Casual, competitive, or never wargamer?
- Do you also collect and paint miniatures?
- Do you craft terrain?
- Do you 3D print miniatures, terrain or bits?
- Has anyone on Hive been particularly helpful?
- What would you say to someone interested in getting into tabletop for the first time?
When did you first get into tabletop wargames or RPGs?
I’m guessing around 1983/1984. I was at junior school in the North of England.
My first experience of anything in this realm was Fighting Fantasy books. I absolutely loved them and got a bunch through the book catalog that the school ran. An excellent way to guilt my parents into buying them!
I was slightly aware of D&D, at the time in the early 1980s it was in the news a lot in a bad way. My mum, being religious, was extremely worried about it. We kept our involvement low-key so she didn’t think we were getting possessed by demons.
What first attracted you?
The stories by Terry Pratchett, things like Lord of the Rings, Conan. The ground was prepared.
I saw the Red Box in the small hobby store in town. When I say small, it had one shelf of books and boxes that probably had 10 things on it total. The majority of the store was Airfix models, model railway, and bikes.
A lot of things all started coming together – as mentioned above, the fighting fantasy books, and the whole satanic panic just served to publicize the game to people who would otherwise never have heard of it. I didn’t for a moment believe there was anything really bad about the game because in the playground when we pretended to be wizards and monsters our spells never worked then so why would they at our dining table?
There was a great for the time cartoon that came out shortly after, that just added to the interest.
Of course, once you know it is a thing, you can then start spotting all sorts of stuff like White Dwarf magazine and Dragon, etc.
Which games do you play?
I’ve got a lot more games than I get to play. Although many people absolutely HATE the big companies, they are the ones people are most willing to play. So, lately that has meant D&D 5E via Discord and Roll20.
Before the pandemic, Warcry, Killteam, Pathfinder 2E.
We are getting set up at one of my maker spaces for X-Wing and one of the Star Wars miniatures games, as well as probably Frostgrave or a One Page Rules.
Which games WON’T you play?
So far I haven’t met a game I didn’t like, but I am not a big fan of more traditional board games if I have a choice. I’ve nothing against things like Ticket to Ride, they just don’t appeal to me.
Other than that, really just certain scenarios which I wrote a whole post about.
Do you play in person? Online?
More in-person before the pandemic, now 99% online.
RPG Player, DM, both? Neither?
Forever DM, but also player. I like both.
Casual, competitive, or never wargamer?
Casual wargamer, I don’t care who wins and will be unlikely to do well in a tournament.
Do you also collect and paint miniatures?
Yes, I have a massive collection of unpainted stuff
Do you craft terrain?
Yep!
Best place to see my stuff is on my instagram.
Do you 3D print miniatures, terrain or bits?
Absolutely, and I CNC and laser cut and … 🙂
Has anyone been particularly helpful?
It was the whole Tabletop and RPG community that gave me the enthusiasm to come back after being away for a while!
What would you say to someone interested in getting into tabletop for the first time?
- Find where players hang out and lurk.
- See if anyone seems friendly and get talking.
- Ask if they would be willing to teach you.
This is extremely difficult for shy folks like me but strangely, there are enough welcoming, friendly people in the hobby that you can usually get a game if you are willing to put yourself out there.
Online really helps – there are often Facebook groups for your area, or associated with games stores. Getting to know people by their avatar first can help break the ice.
Don’t think if you don’t like a game right away that you don’t like ALL games – you need to find the flavours you like!
