I remember the first time my friends and I first heard of D&D. It was probably 1976. I was at Mike Jones' house, my best bud back in the day, and he got this phone call from a friend of ours who had moved from Bowling Green, OH. to Ann Arbor, MI. Kevin was the guy's name and he was describing to Mike how he was playing this game and they were battling orcs and shit in a dungeon. It was the craziest thing we'd ever heard! We had to find out what the hell he was talking about. Next time Kevin came down for a visit he taught us how to play...there was no turning back after that! The love affair/obsession lasted until 1982, when we graduated from high school. Life changed somewhat for our core party of gamers. Some had somewhat steady girlfriends, some joined the military, some found other activities, not to mention we became of legal age to buy alcohol.At the peek of our gaming years in Jr. High and High School, my mom predicted we wouldn't be playing D&D into our adulthood. I remember looking at her as if she was speaking in a foreign tongue or something. "Impossible! What are you talking about? D&D is the coolest game ever!" was probably my reply. It was a lifestyle really. At that time I could not imagine life without D&D and the other Role Playing Games we played such as Traveller(Star Wars like game), Boothill(western gunslingers), Top Secret(James Bond-type action) and the countless other strategic board games. Of course mom ended up being right, but the six or seven or so years we immersed ourselves into the games was pure geek heaven. On March 4, 2008 D&D co-creator Gary Gygax passed away. Thanks for the great times Mr. Gygax. Even though it's been 25 years since I've played I still hold those memories in very high regard. I have an album of photos of the original D&D books and other items we used in the mid-1970's over on my Photo Web Site.
