Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

My fascination for all that is D&D traces back to my pal Mike, a veteran AD&D player who regaled me with tales of his adventures fighting back the evil mastermind DM, Doug. Like approaching an island with his barbarian character and being rained down upon by no less than forty 1d6 arrows. Doug, you evil bastard.

Back in those early days, I recall my mind spinning to tales of Blackmoor.

And, of course, to the World of Greyhawk. RIP Gary Gygax.

But my first D&D adventure was from the back-of-rules manual for the Basic D&D Boxed Set. There was a really cool room that had four carved out niches covered in cobwebs--my very first encounter if I remember correctly. If you hesitated too long, as my character Brand did, four skeleton fighters would charge forth. It was a simple little dungeon that served to draw me in. And then the jaws snapped shut, no going back. Trapped, D&D geek for life.

Just waxing a bit nostalgic as we head into the holiday week here in the US.

Have a fav memory of your first "random encounter" with D&D? Feel free to share with the group.

Also: I consider the day after Thanksgiving (11/29) to be officially "Game Day." A day I can firmly proclaim to the missus, "This is my one full day on the computer so please please please just let me enjoy it." I'll "be in the lounge all day" folks, if you care to join. Man, I should probably have another coffee. Cheers guys.

Fun little topic... For me, I had many (MANY) characters in my first D&D 'group' which started during the summer between 5th and 6th grade and lasted until ~8th grade. I finally made a couple that stuck in the form of a Human Fighter (Tristan) and Elven Thief (Shadow) -- yes, I am very original! -- there were 3 players and a DM and we each had two characters. The shining moment in the campaign was when the party was quite high levels (~13-16th level, it was 2nd edition so the Thief was 16 and others were lower levels) and was captured by the Drow while exploring the Underdark. Shadow had somehow managed to free himself and Tristan when the two male drow and female priestess caught them, the priestess summoning an avatar of Lolth! With no time to properly equip, Tristan slapped on Shadow's bracers of defense and grabbed his uber-powered Flame Tongue Bastard Sword (which was a named, semi-intelligent weapon with some extra bonuses and powers) and began engaging while Shadow worked to free the rest of the party. It was an epic, pitched battle which saw the party devastated, but victorious.

Obviously there were many adventures before this that served to intrigue me and keep me playing, but that one always sticks in my mind.