I'm a relatively younger player who started playing when 3.0 first came out in 2000. I got really into the game and was a huge supporter of 3.5 until I got a job at a comic and games store and learned there were other games out there. I strayed from D&D entirely for a few years until I joined the Army and I found a bunch of nerds in the barracks playing 3.5 (yes, we can smell our own). When I got out, I played 4e, which I enjoyed.
Now, my mother was the one who got me into tabletop games, as she played when she was younger. She dug up her old stuff for me when I got out of the army, which was just the innards of the Holmes box.
My biggest issue with 3.X games and beyond were always the rules. They were good rules, but there were just so many that it usually meant that the advantage of the game went to the one who built their character "correctly" and planned their progression from adventure one. This usually meant that the players who did the best were the ones who had memorized more of the obscure rules and figured out the best bonuses. In the circles I saw, Min/maxing became something to admire rather than to dismiss, which was fine for them, but I didn't like that.
I lured my wife into playing the Basic set with me and we both had a blast.
I amazon'd pre-3e books for a few years and ran a number of games since then, most of them being Labyrinth Lord or similar.
That said, I don't dislike 3.X or 4e, I just prefer earlier editions for what they promote and encourage.
I'm running three games currently in my old group of friends:
The Village Hommlet for my little brother and his friends
A Mutants and Masterminds game in Gotham, during No Man's Land
A Pathfinder, Forgotten Realms game set in Luskan
I can gush on about many games, but my favorites are 1e/Basic (I use Labyrinth Lord mostly), The DCC RPG ('dat funnel), and Pathfinder. I'm one of those people who can like any game I play within reason and owns a large number of games to run. I'm always down for running or playing, though I find myself enjoying myself running rather than playing. I like seeing players making adventures and campaigns their own. I like giving them danger and opportunities to triumph (also there's a side of me that likes to see characters die and fail, including my own).
Anyway, that's me. I hope to have some great adventures on this site!
