In my Discord group during one of are sessions I opened my mouth during a lord of the rings conversation saying that I've never seen any of the movies or books. The response was awful, luckily it was forgotten and we all moved on, but if left me wondering, how many people did come to DND from lord of the rings. So how many of you came from lord of the rings.

I came from The Hobbit, Mercedes Lackey's novels, Jacqueline Carey's Agent of Hel trilogy, Gerald Morris' Squire's Tales series, Brian Jacques' Redwall series, a wide variety of history books, an old TV show set in mythological Greece called Xena: Warrior Princess, a few other RPGs, several conquer-the-world computer games (Civilization IV, Age of Empires, and Rise of Nations, for example), and a bunch of other books I can't quite remember well enough to name.  Maybe another TV show or two and a few movies. 

I read The Lord of the Rings once, but I don't remember much from it and I didn't really like it.  I put it in the same category as books 3+ of the Harry Potter series: decent, popular enough that I can reasonably expect most people to have heard of them, but not worth rereading.  It also shares a category with Terry Brooks' Shannara novels, at least the three I've read: excessively verbose, loquacious, and long-winded. 

I was asked to play it and said yes. It was literally that simple - had no idea what I was getting into but when they described the game it sounded decent so I gave it a go. Loved it immensely.

I did fall out of playing it because I could only play it online (back then it was just over skype and a chatroom with a dice roller built in) and everyone's schedules changed. I then watched Critical Role. I can't even remember how I started watching it, but I did and it got me back into it. Plus I so much prefer 5th edition over previous ones and managed to get into some campaigns on Roll20. It's one of the few joys I still have in my life, I'm so thankful.

I was invited to a 4E game and I gave it a shot for a few months, but the group was not for me.  About a decade later I was invited to a fate game and got into RP a whole lot.  After I played in World of Darkness and Hero system games before finding my way back too D&D.  I absolutely love 5E so I am playing in one game and running another.  I'd consider more, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.  As for fantasy in general, I have been an avid fan since 2nd grade, so rpg's aren't too big of a leap.

I had definitely read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy before I played any table-top RPGs, but I wouldn't say that I 'came from' Lord of the Rings.

My initial interest in D&D was more fueled by Final Fantasy (and other video game RPGs of the '80s and early '90s) and Conan movies with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is who the character bursting through the door on the front cover of the Player's Handbook that I saw without any idea what D&D was and thought "I want that."

I did, actually. Read the Hobbit and LotR trilogy in 6th grade back in 1981, and got the Moldvay Basic box set for Christmas that year.  Yeah... old guy, still playing though!

I've seen the movies, but didn't love them in all honesty (have not read the books, though I'm sure I'll get around to it at some point).  My wife and I got in to D&D a couple years ago, mostly by trying to come up with a game our son would want to play with us.  He's never been one to willingly play "normal" family board games (Clue, Sorry, Monopoly, etc), but has always been a fan of History and fantasy, drawing a lot of knights and dragons since he was old enough to hold a pencil, and loves video games like Skyrim and the Dragon Age series. Merlin has been one of his favorite shows for years, and he's read tons of fantasy books (including the entire Ranger's Apprentice series).  Honestly, looking back I'm not sure what took us so long to connect the dots and try D&D with him. But once we decided to give it a go, we picked up LMoP, we all researched the rules and character creation together, my wife DM'd and he was off and running.  Now less than 2 years later, he's got a group of friends that get together every Saturday to play (one of their dad's is the DM).  Meanwhile, my wife and I picked up the D&D itch as well, and we look forward to continuing to enjoy campaigns together for years to come.

My introduction to fantasy was Dungeons and Dragons. I played as a young kid in the early Eighties. I had a friend that was severely asthmatic and he couldn't play outside often. He introduced me to the game and I was hooked. I went through the whole thing with my parents about satan worship and so on as many had in the Eighties. Luckily, they let me keep playing. I was influenced more by Ladyhawke, the Last Unicorn, Conan the Barbarian, and I LOVED the D&D cartoon.

My love of Satan led me to D&D.

Joking of course.  I was in 5th grade when I first played. That would have been in 1981, I had seen the hobbit animated movie and read the book.  I was very aware of the lord of the rings, I think my mom read it and told me the story a year or two before.  But I only played D&D because I saw some kids at school playing, I sat in a very brief session with them.  I Thought it was cool.  I got the Moldvay basic set and I was hooked.  

I was lucky that my parents didn’t buy in to the “DND is a tool of the devil” stuff. I also was super in to Heavy Metal, so I guess I dodged a couple of parent satanic panics of the 80s. I better thank them next time I give them a call.

I didn’t read LotR or the Hobbit until after I played D&D for a while. D&D lead me to LotR. Before D&D the only fantasy I read was Greek mythology. 

I was brought to Lord of the Rings /after/ I was brought to D&D, but by the same person.

I came from the books of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was 1979 and the fantasy genre was much smaller than it is today.

I had read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, but Conan and John Carter were more my thing.

Arthurian and Nordic Legends and other mythology got me interested in fantasy.  Fighting Fantasy game books got me into role-playing.

Way back in the mid 1980s, a friend that was also into Fighting Fantasy got Basic Dungeons and Dragons, and roped a few of us sharing Fighting Fantasy books into a game of it, the rest as they say is history.

D&D actually got me interested in Lord of the Rings.

Quote from Stormknight >>

What brought me to the Dungeons & Dragons game?

what show is that I've only seen one thing about it before 

Quote from Stormknight >>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons_%26_Dragons_(TV_series)

I was always into LOTR and fantasy, but never got into D&D until 29.  Knew of it but didnt know anyone growing up through high school who played, only people who were into Magic and other card builders...then during and after college the only people I knew that played were way into it and didn't quite make it inviting for me, we were just coworkers in cubicles so I wasn't too hurt, but always intrigued.  Later after settling down trying to avoid the bars and getting rowdy, I read the D&D For Dummies from the library, got the 5e core books and starter kit, rallied my pals, and we are still playing today.  Got some friends who hadnt played  since 3.5 and 4 growing up to dust off the ole dice bag, new friends who were into computer games to try pencil and paper, and new friends who are into fantasy and comics to join.

TLDR: LOTR and Fantasy got me here, but other factors helped and hindered.

I got into D&D with a character named "Logolas Copywrite", One of the worst characters I ever played. It was a High Elven Ranger who was also a Vegan, Pacifist, with an allergy to tofu...Ahhh, good times...