...when i moved to the `states in `80, i overheard all the kids at the bike racks after school talking about their 'armor class' along with various swords and figured huh, i guess fencing or kendo must be the popular sport for kids here in the `states, like soccer clubs back in ponce...later that fall, thanksgiving, a couple of older cousins introduced me to D+D at our grandparents' house and i suddenly made sense of what all the other kids were discussing back at school, after which i started playing in earnest in `81, but it was just that: a strange tabletop game with obscure rules, exotic dice, and ambiguous objectives...

...merchandising really kicked in the following year with action figures in `82, a cartoon in `83, and somewhere along the way i could start finding game material at waldenbooks rather than the back corner of our seedy local hobby shop populated by middle-aged scale-model enthusiasts...by `84, D+D was everywhere: local libraries maintained subscriptions to dragon magazine, dragonlance novels took the fantasy genre by storm, and you could find notebooks, stickers, and other branded paraphernalia at any local drugstore...

...so for me, the game came first and media second, but the mid-eighties media presence felt every bit as prominent or perhaps even moreso than today; it was absolutely dominant in way that only something like fortnite or lego feel right now...