Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons? Why/Why not?

... way back in ancient times, before PC games, in the 70s & 80s, YES.

I was the only one of my group of friends with the brain power to be the DM. I had the ability to speed read and memorize, so I commited ALL the rules and books to memory, then made a detailed Dungeon world and let my friends play their characters in it.

Have not played since the mid 80s.

Yup, I've been playing D&D and other rpgs for almost 20 years now. I play(ed) it because it's an outrageous amount of fun if you have the right group. :)

I play every week or two. In fact, I'm in a game that's been going on for several years. One of the other players keeps a journal of events from this characters' points of view, and I publish it on my web site.

Why? because it's fun!

Yes, I've just started my first campaign recently. It's fun so far. I never wanted to because I thought that it would be too nerdy- but now, I just don't care! I won't LARP though!

no but i have watched people play it before

I did for a bit, it was fun. Fun but not really my thing. I think it's a totally awesome concept, and everything about is amazing enough, how there's a whole world built around it, and how everything works and all. But as for playing it, well I'd rather play video games lol. I'm not very good at making personalities for my characters, they were always silent and boring.

I played a little about 4 years back and wound up quiting, mostly for lack of a good GM and a reliable group.

then i played Ryvah for a while was fun because I was in a testing group with my friends and we tested and helped find bugs and such and we helped the creator. My name is supposed to be in the thanks but im not sure if it is as i have not sen one yet.

My husband has recently gotten me back into DnD so we have been playing a bit and i am enjoying playing my druid allot

I did for a few years, until our group kind of fell apart. After that, I had a baby so it never again made the list of priorities.

Oh yeah! I always thought it was cool to take part in the universally stereotyped geek thing, y'know? Also, I loved my little level-two (we didn't play too often :'() half-elf bard. She had a wisdom of, like, 20, but intelligence of about 14, and I did THE DUMBEST, FUNNIEST things while playing as her, let me tell you...

One time, we had to play with graphing paper because we had no pre-made map. So our DM is telling us the room dimensions and drawing out the rooms as we go, and is like "The party ventures forth in the darkness.." and draws a line right in front of we are, representing a wall...
I go "OW! I bonked my nose on that wall because it appeared out of nowhere!"
And he rolled the damage die and gave me three damage points. Many lulz were had.

Also, in another dark dungeon (wow, trend?), our wizard had cast "light" on all of our weapons so we'd be able to see in the dark without torches, and I was all "OOH OOH DO IT ON MY EYES! Then my eyes can be all glow-in-the-dark and scare the crap out of people!"

I was blind for ten turns.... @_@

i joined the D&D club in hs becaue there was a hot chick.. she dropped out then I spent like 6 week drawing a character and lost intrest, never actually played

D&D is fun. Especially table top. You know pencile, paper and ACTUALLY rolling a D20. I've been playing for about 5 years now.
My current campaign is set in the Faerune (sp >.<) realm. an odd one at that, but very fun. I play a Druid, Ranger, Erudite Psion and a Cloisture half drow cleric. very fun classes to play.

Yup, I was the DM of my group back in the day, kept us out of trouble actually :)

I've played. I got into it in college. The circle of friends I fell into happened to be avid players and they started bringing me into their regular games. Ah, good times. I was such a crafty rogue...

Nine out of ten nerds agree that it is the best game ever. I tried to play it a few times with some nerds after school but they always killed me so I got frustrated and quit playing. I was on the chess team so I guess I was a semi-nerd in school.

No, the name kinda turned me off. It sounds really involved from what it looks like. I'm not able to pay attention for long periods of time. Maybe if there were a bong involved.

Do I play, huh? The most powerful character I've ever played with was a level 64 half-celestial Druid/Ranger/Rogue/Fighter. I was the toughest dude in that campaign, LoL, nothing like everyone being level 5 and then getting 150000 experience all of a sudden, lol.

Deck of Many Things, 4 rolls, I got 50000 experience three times, and 50 gems. I was the only one to get any experience boosts, and I was so lucky as to get three of them. Best day of my life, lol. Well, not quite, but close.

YES I've been playing for...4 years? I LOVE it, probably because the people I game with are incredibly smart individuals who make fantastic adventures for us to explore. And I'm a hot chick so there. LOL

I haven't actually played the paper and pencil way, but I absolutely love the computer games. My reason is that I only want it as a part time hobby and the full kit and kaboodle simply costs too much to buy idly.

No. Never had the opportunity.

Back when I was in college, and for a short time afterward, yes.

Why? I liked the DM, and the group that met every Friday or Saturday night at Purdue, until, it seemed, most of them turned against me.

This was years ago, before, and just after Advanced D&D came out.

Nope but I did watch the cartoon when I was a little kid.

Yes. I played often in college when everyone else was downtown getting drunk.

yes but not in many years

There were a group of people I played D&D with a lot when I was a young adult. I enjoyed the adventure aspect, playing a character and using my imagination to resolve problems.
Unfortunately these friends have all scattered.

I have played for about 8 years now. Been a player and a DM, I love the escape from the real world... As a matter of fact I'm getting ready to start DMing again this weekend :)

I have been a long time participant in D&D I enjoy the fact that I can practically attempt anything and the only one who can say 'No' is the Dice I roll.

I started playing D&D back when I was 8 years old in 1983. My uncle received the red box (D&D Basic) for Christmas in 1981, and he launched a campaign with his high school friends. I started off as a halfling until it died, and then continued playing other characters until I became quite proficient at the game.

I quickly started working as a DM (Dungeon Master) and Game mastered the following games:

D&D (Basic through Immortals)
AD&D
D&D 2nd edition
D&D 3rd edition
D&D 3.5 edition
D&D 4th edition
Star Wars
Star Wars Saga Edition
Pathfinder

Frankly, it has stuck with me my whole life. It allowed me a creative, intellectual outlet that has allowed me to succeed in life. Let me ask this:

Can your 9 year old describe the inner workings of a Trebuchet or even tell you what it is?

Can your 13 year old describe in detail the inner workings of a medieval fiefdom and its pros and cons?

Can your 17 year old describe in detail the inner workings of a dying pauper, the possible emotional troubles of a gallant knight, or why a trio of hags are jealous of one another? Maybe that's a stretch, but a D&D player could deliver a plausible answer.

Yes, I started playing in middle school, but not much since then, although I always loved to read the books at the book store. I don't know how many times they have changed the rules. I always liked a challenge, and could never play with people who wanted to start off with God like characters - giants and dragons and demons and dumb crap like that. It sucks to play with people who don't like a challenge, because then why even play if you have already won in the first place? So I kinda got tired of stuff like that and lost interest. The worst thing was when my DM would always let my other friend use DeVince Lorn, a character from Stormbringer who had a God-Sword named Mournblade that
could kill ANYTHING in 1-2 hits. We once went against
Tiamat, who in those days was the Arch-Devil-stand-in for the 1st Level of Hell. Well she killed my 7th
level Fighter and all 20 of my archers, but DeVince
Lorn just hit her once with Mournblade and drained all
of Tiamats lifeforce right then and there. Oh, those
were the good old days.

unfortunately people were too judgemental, so no. I never got it because I couldn't play with anyone

Yep, I was always the DM too. But not for my intellect cause mine is only average. It was my Imagination that put me in demand between about 7 groups throughout my life. Almost had my whole home town addicted too the game, but I learned that if you have an unimaginative or just plain bad dm everyone hates the game. DM is important. Without it the games more boring than risk.

I played for about 15 years. It is the best game in the world provided you have a DM who will do the work and judge consistently.
I was interested the first time I heard of it in the early 80's. I loved Arthurian legends and Conan at the time, so D&D was naturally something I could get into.
I understood the concept before I bought the rule books, so I just made up my own rules. We played like that for a while then moved onto the official rules.
We played like crazy during summer and winter school breaks, sometimes 10 hours a day, rotating to different campaigns after a few hours with one DM.
Consider this; after a three year campaign of heavy gaming with a fairly consistent cast, a well written ending to the story line actually brought a few of the gaming group's member as well as me the DM to tears.
I sure miss those days. Can't find enough people over here in Korea to support one game group let alone the 3 or 4 we kept up back then or I would start a game again myself.
I still write down scenario ideas even though my chances of ever playing them are low. That should tell you something. As I said, best game ever.
Old school table-top RPG's kick the snot out of computer RPG's, although they are more work intensive. They improve participants' writing, imagination, problem solving and communication skills. Actually in contradiction to those early reports about D&D causing insanity, suicide and murder; studies actually show traditional role-playing-games improve self esteem and avid gamers are less likely to commit suicide than people of the same age. This is really amazing when you consider the hobby really does attract some people (nerds like me) who otherwise would find it difficult integrating themselves socially.
Perhaps it's this exposure to RPG's that make us more aware of what is reality and what is fantasy. Of course there was that one time when my boss screwed me over that I thought, if only I had my +4 vorpal blade and elven cloak.

Just kidding.

Some people go out to bars, some people go to a movie or have a swinger party, my friends and I role play, because it is an interesting cheap and fun form of group recreation.

Been playing off and on for twenty years, these days on the pc. It is nice to be someone else for a while with less socially acceptable means to cure your problems and chase an adventure if only on your computer or table top if your lucky.

Of course. I'd lose all my geek cred if I hadn't. :)

Been playing on and off since 83, these days I only play online due to a lack of consistent free time and people to play with locally.

I've played D&D, AD&D, 3, 3.5 and 4E, plus a veritable plethora of other roleplaying games over the years.

Yeah, but just every once and awhile...

It can be really hard to find people serious enough to play though.

I've never played one (pen & paper verson or the game), but I am a fan of the spin offs like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights, although Neverwinter Nights 2 seems to be full of glitches which lead to me not beating it yet... but the only reason why I never played was because I never had the chance to unfortunately, if one of my friends asked "do you want to play?", I definitely would. But alas my friends are douches, most of them anyways.

Yep. D&D 3.5. Ummm...don't know why. It was fun....then I got pissed off at some dude that was playing with us and kicked his ass....I'm not aloud back. Oh well.

My boyfriend at the time introduced me to it about 7 years ago. I loved playing it, and I miss it!! I had about 30 sets of dice, and always played a fighter or barbarian. Actually got to be the DM a few times, although I wasn't really that good. Good times....good times.

No, I never did. It was very big in my household with the kids, but I was always busy with other things. Also, they didn't want Mom coming in their game room. It's something they needed to do on their own.

I used to read forotten realms and dragonlance books and that lead to playing D&D... I was curious about adventure and was interested in the mythological and supernatural... Its hard to find people to play with now...now I play balders gate 2 and make new characters... I tried world of warcraft but I never seemed to get and of the missions completed before my 30 day membership ran out...Now I read physics books and watch nova on PBS...

No, its gay.

No, because A:I never found the time or money to buy the books, and B:I absolutely HATE tabletop gameplay. Not to be offensive, but couldn't you get a D&D fix by making an RPG using darkBASIC or RPG Maker?