Look, I'm 53, and I've been rolling dice for more years on and off than I should probably confess to! It all started on Christmas 1983 with that iconic D&D Basic Red Box. I’ll never forget the look on my grandparents' faces when I brought it over—they were deeply religious and honestly thought I was summoning demons in the living room.
After I cut my teeth on Basic, I moved up to AD&D when my neighbor’s big brother started a campaign. That opened the door to Gamma World (we used those cool conversion rules in the 1st Ed DMG to port our characters over), and from there, I was hooked on everything: Top Secret, Star Frontiers, James Bond, Marvel, you name it. I went through a big White Wolf phase later on because I’ve always had a soft spot for horror.
I took a long break for a while, but the itch came back a few years ago. I dipped my toes back in with Barbarians of Lemuria and Labyrinth Lord, but eventually, I realized nothing beats the original—I'm firmly back in the AD&D camp now.