Happy Birthday!

D&D is thirty years old. It's hard to believe. I'm thirty-four, and I've been playing off and on for probably twenty-two of those years, from the "Basic" rules (B-1: Keep on the Borderlands!) through the "Expert" rules through two editions of AD&D an, a few years ago, TSR/Wizards/Hasbro's Third Edition Dungeons And Dragons.

Over the years I've flirted with other systems, sure. Traveller. GURPS. FUDGE. Deadlands. James Bond. DC Heroes. Several Star Trek RPGs. Forge. (Remember Forge? Sage and I were the only two people ever to play it, I swear.) But I always went back to D&D because...well, because what could be better than D&D?

Nothing, that's what. All of the best gaming memories come out of D&D. One of my favorites was when I was playing a psionicist who absolutely hated the undead. Naturally, we were attacked by undead, and when the party mage (1st-level!) had cast his spell for the day, he decided to kick back, leaving my character to kill all of the undead. After the battle, I said, "I'm attacking him, now." Did I knock him out? I forget.

D&D is the One True Source of gaming. Even though I'm bitter about TSR selling out to WoTC, and WoTC in turn selling out to Hasbro, and GenCon moving to Indianapolis (never!), I can set aside that bitterness and say happy birthday to D&D. We love you! Here's hoping for thirty more years.