Dungeons and Dragons (high school friends)

2000, Age 18

I started this campaign with a few girls I'd bonded with my senior year, and the best thing about it was that none of them had played before, so had no expectations. I used this to my advantage in that I pretty much eliminated battles from the game altogether (I had always found battles tedious, but in the past had played with AD&D veterans who were very picky about the rules).

My players didn't notice that a huge element of the game was missing, and had a blast ("okay, roll that dice....you killed the dude!" That was the complexity of my battles), we got to spend much more time on the more fun parts of the game. I also recall that occasionally, whenever they would enter a place or perform an action, I would say "okay, wait..." and roll a dice ..."alright, keep going." It was for nothing, of course, but it certainly kept them on the edge of their seats.