First Non-D&D Game – Day 20 D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop

This is day 20 of the of d20 Dark Ages’ D&D 40th Anniversary Blog Hop Challenge! Based off of the challenge’s prompts I will be sharing personal stories about my history with Dungeons & Dragons every day in February. You can hop to another participating blog by using the links at the end of the article or click here to see my previous answers.

Day 20: What was the first non-D&D RPG you played?

The first non-D&D game that I played was Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition. Having only experienced the crunchy simulation of 3.5 I had never seen a game create mood through its mechanics. I understand that WFRP is dungeon crawling, sword swinging, monster slaying game that’s a meager stone’s throw from D&D. But D&D doesn’t have a whole book just to determine what kind of tentacle sprouts from your head after witnessing that which should not be witnessed. The crowning achievement of WFRP was the 1d1000 (!) chart that had results such as “your skeleton hops out of your skin leaving you a living blubbering mass of flesh and organs” and “your skin turns transparent”. I was in love!

As a green roleplayer WFRP 2nd was a very important experience. It was the first game I had played that allowed me to still be rewarded for interesting play rather than optimized play. Out of all of the game systems that I’ve dipped my toes into WFRP is the one that I have the most nostalgia for. While it’s always hard to separate the fun one has with friends from the system (and we had a great time) I can’t help but think that even my current group wouldn’t appreciate the gritty, gonzo, semi-serious semi-ridiculous nature of Warhammer Rolling a d10 to see how far blood squirts out of you after a critical hit never gets old.

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