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Old 05-04-2018, 05:14 PM   #31
Bayarea
 
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

1980 or 81 I was 10 or 11 my brother decided we needed to die multiple times through Orb Quest. I hadn't seen Raiders of the Lost Ark yet(not sure it had even come out yet), but I was constantly saying "Kill them, Kill them all!". So when we saw Raiders, I got a new nickname.
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Old 05-14-2018, 12:05 PM   #32
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

Melee was my introduction to rpgs. I ordered it from an ad in Space Gamer magazine. I don't recall but I doubt I subscribed to Space Gamer, probably I got it at one of our local bookstores (which was a great one back in the late 70s).
Anyway I got a few titles, Melee and Wizard, Orge and Bugs. My friends only played Melee a short time, as we moved onto AD&D (since it had a box, then fancy books we could barely afford ). I was looking forward to The Fantasy Trip but gave up after a while.
I still love that Melee and Wizard style though. Hex maps were so cool!
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Old 05-14-2018, 02:24 PM   #33
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

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...my brother decided we needed to die multiple times through Orb Quest...
I crack-up and smile every time I read that phrase; it speaks volumes! LOL!

JK
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Old 06-08-2018, 05:31 PM   #34
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

Hi Everyone.
I was charmed by the Metagaming microgame ads. I bought Ogre, but the ones I was really interested in was Chitin I and Warp War. (I liked Science Fiction.) My friend Paul Danielson, bought Melee & Wizard (which I thought sounded kinda lame). I expected Melee and wizard to suck.

Eventually all these games arrived in the mail.

Wow was I wrong! Melee and Wizard, DID NOT SUCK.


After we got a bit bored with arena combat, I started building mini dungeons on the wizard board where you had to fight your way thru a maze to to get to the treasure / princess / boss at the center. A team of wizards, apprentices and fighters would have to win ~6 fights one after the other.

We were totally hooked.

Then I bought ItL, AM, AW and the GM shield when they came out. The most bang for my gaming dollar I ever spent, in my whole life.

Thanks Steve!

Rick
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Old 06-08-2018, 06:05 PM   #35
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

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Then I bought ItL, AM, AW and the GM shield when they came out. The most bang for my gaming dollar I ever spent, in my whole life.
These plus Ogre/GEV set the bar pretty high for me too.
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Old 06-10-2018, 08:48 PM   #36
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

A friend in junior high introduced me to Melee and later Wizard. Got hooked on both and the rest as they say is history...

Eventually in high school joined a gaming group of four friends (later five) and used the original Melee and Wizard rules to run our own campaigns. Later, of course, we adopted ITL and Advanced Melee & Wizard when they were released in 1980.

Our gaming group pretty much gamed non-stop throughout the eighties during high school and even into college. With no responsibilities outside of school, it was possible to game upwards of 2 to 3 and even 4 times a week, particularly during Christmas, spring break and during the summer.

We gamed so often we would build up characters with combined attribute points approaching 60 and with crazy, near super human abilities. I liked to play a longbow man with DX pumped up to the mid-twenties and put him in fine plate and with Warrior/Veteran. Crazy to think you could fire a longbow twice a turn with fine plate...

One member of our group played a dwarf with ST up to near 30 but only a DX around 12. I also recall a goblin merchant with St & DX around 8 or 9 each but IQ in the upper stratosphere.

Those were the days- a lot of good times and memories. Of course, all good things must come to and end in that by the early 90's the members of our group pretty much had scattered to the four winds or otherwise did not have time to game due to careers, family, raising kids, etc.

Now that TFT is being re-released I look forward to playing again, albeit at not quite the same torrid pace (perhaps one or two weekends a month instead).

The simplicity to TFT (but NOT simplistic) combined with the play-ability made the game near addicting, or at least much more fun than D&D and all its mindless charts and dice that seemed to bog everything down. Looking forward to getting back into it again.

Last edited by Some Guy From Mars; 06-11-2018 at 04:10 AM.
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Old 06-17-2018, 08:57 AM   #37
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

Circa 1977. My gamer friend Steve had a copy of Ogre and Melee. My recollection is that we had been playing D&D together since about '76, but Melee was fast and fun and affordable.

My first copy of Melee is the second printing version. Wizard is the first printing. I stopped actively playing when GURPS came along, but would still buy the missing book or two and play TFT on occasion. In fact, other than Classic Traveller, it is the one system from the '70s that I've gone back to revisit now and again.
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Old 06-17-2018, 10:04 AM   #38
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

I had seen ad's for Orge in Sorcerer's Apprentice Magazine. Can't remember if I got a catalog of the other games or finally saw a Melee ad, but got it 1980 or so. Whenever it was it had the first printing cover art on it. (Later on for some reason I also ended up with a copy that had the 2nd cover art on it).

Wanted it for solo play so didn't really do much with it until I was in Bremerton, Washington a couple of years later and came across Dragons of the Underearth in a JK Gill store and picked it up. Picked up Silver Unicorn later too when it showed up at the store.

Since they I've taught a couple of my kids to play, sold everything and have been buying it all back and running solo adventures again.

Last edited by Nebless; 06-17-2018 at 10:15 AM.
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Old 06-17-2018, 12:29 PM   #39
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Default Re: The Obligatory “How Did You Get Started in TFT” Thread

Once apon a time, (back in the late 70's) two pimple faced geeks were rummaging through a bin of "micro games" because they did not have jobs and, thus, not enough money for real, boxed, games. Having avidly read The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and Sword of Shannara; they were drawn to the Metagaming Melee and Wizard games. One bought Wizard, and one (that would be me) purchased Melee. They swore a pact, then and there, to thoroughly learn each game separately and then teach it to the other friend.

Countless hours were spent in creating characters, learning the rules, and testing out different tactics on the Melee board. I even bought and painted plastic 1/72 scale Airfix figures to give the game more flavor. We had such fun doing this that the two of us shared it with several other friends any time that we had downtime. I remember that we had a lot of downtime at track meets, and bus rides, with about six different friends that got interested. The portability of the Microgames and their quickness to play were sheer brilliance to us.

When the advanced books, and ITL, came out our RPG group happily dropped D&D for TFT. And... ten people were happier for the rest of their lives (at least until this wizard by the name of Tollenkar came along). The end.

Yours in story-telling,
Tolenkar
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Old 06-18-2018, 06:09 AM   #40
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Yeah Ty, I loved the microgames too. How could you go wrong? For $3 you were getting a fully playable game that you could play fairly quickly and multiple times. Even if it turned out to be a lousy game, you weren't out much, but most of them were pretty good and pretty much ALL of the early ones were superb.
Yeah, Microgames were an incredible concept & product. I think the main thing that made them attractive to us teenagers at the time was their portability. You really could bring them anywhere. I don't think most people realize, or remember, how much down-time teenagers have. There always seemed to be opportunities to pull out a microgame and play a quick match with a friend. Study halls, bus rides (rolling dice was interesting), after school, track meets, even the locker room (major geek alert). They were the Game Boys & I phones of their day. Nowadays, why would any kid carry around a pocket boardgame when they have so many video games at their fingertips?

Yours in nostalgia,
Tolenkar
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