I was about eight years old the first time I cracked open a Dungeons & Dragons rulebook, and it felt like stepping through a portal into another world. A friend down the street had an older brother who somehow got hold of the original blue-box rules, and we spent hours hunched over the book at his kitchen table, rolling dice that clattered like thunder and scribbling numbers onto character sheets with worn-down pencils. The whole thing was pure imagination brought to life, and I was hooked from the first adventure. By the time I scraped together enough lawn-mowing money for my own set, the red-box Basic edition was out, and that was the one everybody played. (1)

It wasn't just fun - it shaped my life. I was already interested in computers, but D&D gave me a reason to start programming. My first "serious" projects on the TRS-80 Coco were a character generator, a dice roller, and little text routines that made the dice bounce across the screen. It was primitive, but it taught me logic, problem solving, and how to bend a machine to help tell stories. You could say that character generator was the very first database I'd ever built.

And when my friends weren't around to play, I still found ways to scratch the itch. I buried myself in those Choose Your Own Adventure and TSR's Endless Quest books. Remember those? Titles like Mountain of Mirrors and Revolt of the Dwarves pulled me in for hours. They weren't quite the same as a full D&D session, but they were the next best thing - a way to keep the stories going when the dice and friends weren't available. And then when TSR released the Dragonlance series, I was hooked. D&D not only gave me an enjoyable, fun, educational way to spend a weekend with my friends, but encouraged me to read - which is good for any child.

But not everyone saw it that way. If you were around in the 80s, you remember the Satanic Panic. I had been raised by my grandparents, but when my grandfather died I went to live with my mother, who was ultra-religious. By then I had already been playing D&D for years, but she condemned the game without ever having played it, or even watched us play. Her claim was that it "invited demons" because her pastor told her so. The truth is that the game is whatever you make it. In our groups, the monsters - demons included - were there to be fought and destroyed. Our stories were always good versus evil, just like any decent TV show or movie. It was an early lesson in how wrong people can be when they condemn something without even trying to understand it. (2)

The truth is, D&D gave kids like me something invaluable. It built storytelling skills, math skills, teamwork, leadership, and creativity. More than that, it gave nerdy, shy, socially awkward kids a place to belong. (3) We could sit around a table, roll dice, and let our imaginations run free. It was the perfect refuge for kids who were into Star Trek, who listened to Rush, who didn't quite fit in anywhere else.

And it's fun to see D&D validated in pop culture today. You see it in Stranger Things, Big Bang Theory, and even in the stars themselves. Vin Diesel has admitted to being a gamer. And Joe Manganiello (4) delivered one of my favorite mic drops when some gym bro flexed online with "I don't play Dungeons and Dragons." Joe responded with his own Muscle & Fitness cover shot and the simple words, "I do." Perfect shut-up-you're-an-a-hole energy. These aren't kids in basements - these are successful adults who grew up with the same hobby I did. It feels good to see it come full circle.

Now, as for editions - my favorite will always be the Basic D&D set. The rules were simple, clean, and more of a guideline to get the story moving. Advanced D&D piled on endless tables and rules - "how far can a character spit across a bar?" Give me a break. The fun of the game comes from the Dungeon Master. The DM is the referee, the storyteller, and the person whose job is to make the game enjoyable. It isn't about winners or losers. It's about telling a shared story. And when you get bogged down in rules-lawyering, the fun dies fast.

And yes, you can see the same spirit in Star Trek. The holodeck was the ultimate role-playing platform. Picard stepping into the world of Dixon Hill, Worf battling in Klingon legends, the crew getting dropped into Robin Hood costumes by Q - "I protest, I am not a merry man!" - those were role-playing games at their best. The fun wasn't in following a rulebook to the letter, it was in the adventure, the imagination, and the shared experience.

So here's the bottom line: if you're a parent, encourage your kids to play role-playing games. Not just video games - those are fine, but they're still limited by what the programmers allow. Even with today's vast virtual worlds, you'll never have the same freedom as when a human Dungeon Master is spinning the story. AI might get there someday, but we're not there yet. For now, the benefits of real role-playing games are unmatched.

Have any of you played D&D? If so, what was your favorite edition?

LLAP
RR

(1) They later called it BECMI - Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, Immortals. Every box set allowed you to take your characters to higher levels. And they were awesome. And had excellent artwork. To this day one of my favorite artists is Larry Elmore.

(2) She not only banned me from playing, she actually gathered up all my D&D books, dumped them into a wheelbarrow in the backyard, doused them in gasoline, and set them on fire. These were books I had bought with my own lawn-mowing money, and watching them burn was heartbreaking. Looking back, it still amazes me that anyone could think destroying books is a solution to a problem. History has shown over and over that book burning never fixes anything - it only shows fear of ideas. She has since apologized and admitted she was wrong. And I forgive her for it. But to this day I still joke with her that she owes me a few thousand dollars to pay for those books she burned. LOL.

(3) To be fair, I was never one of the shy, withdrawn kids myself. Nerdy, yes - I loved Star Trek and computers - but I floated between groups. I played sports, I was in band, I hung out with the nerds, and I got along with pretty much everyone. A lot of my friends were the quieter, introverted types, and I loved pulling them out of their shells.

(4) For those who may not recognize the name, Joe Manganiello has had a pretty wide career. He played a werewolf on HBO's True Blood, Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, Big Dick Richie in Magic Mike, and Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in Justice League. He's also appeared in films like What to Expect When You're Expecting, Archenemy, and Bottom of the 9th.