I am *ahem* an old guy. I have been playing games of various types for years, I mean decades. I have modules older than some of my co-workers. :D That said what got me into gaming was....wait for it...Elfquest! The story was intriguing and simple enough for my young mind to get into, (I was in sixth grade at the time). I watched a lot of early to late eighties kid's cartoons, of which the Dungeons and Dragons one was a fave along with He-man and the Masters of the Universe, but I digress. Elfquest was my first introduction to gaming as one of the kids at the lunch table had a game of it, I don't remember the details of it exactly but it did open a whole new world.
I then got interested in D&D oddly by my Dad who bought me the Intermediate Rules BEFORE the Red Box. This was all sorted out soonish and I had a Red Box and was tinkering with the concept of Elves and Magic and stuff in my room long after I *should* have been asleep. In Seventh grade, I was walking amid the shelves of the school library when I noticed the Fellowship of the Ring. I checked it out and read it in like two days, returned to gobble up the rest of the trilogy before reading the Hobbit and the Simarillion. I loved the lands of Middle Earth. In High School, I continued my D&D fix with the Grey Box, a christmas present from my non playing, and very wonderful mother. This introduced me to the Forgotten Realms, now my go to for all D&D worlds. As I told my wife, I to this day tie in details from that writing to my current games as easter eggs (to myself obviously)- like the fact that the local Duke has a great sword named Reptar's Ward, after Ed Greenwood mentioned that one the character's held a magical shield named Reptar's Wall.
So, no LOTR did not lead me to D&D, but they were intrumental in my coming of age, and together made me who I am.
I've seen the first LOTR movie and the first Hobbit movie, and I'm pretty sure I saw the animated Hobbit when I was a kid. I attempted to read LOTR at some point in high school, since it seemed like I "should", but couldn't get into it. I'm not a fan of it. Most mainstream 'fantasy' stuff is not what attracts me to something like D&D. D&D specifically attracts me because its the stuff I like about fantasy - magic, mystical creatures, fantastic battles, endless possibility - while putting it into the hands of me and my friends to create a world that has opportunities for us and people like us.
I think I got into D&D because I was searching for fantasy content that could appeal to me, since I love fantasy and have been writing worlds since I was little (and was OBSESSED with Greek and Egyptian mythology), but couldn't find many things to read or watch that felt accessible to me. D&D is accessible to all of us since we make and play within a world of our own making. So whether you got into it because you loved LOTR, and wanted to play within that world, or maybe mythology, or GOT, or Tamora Pierce, or Terry Pratchett or something more obscure; or just because you love the idea of magic and epic battles and endless possibility... D&D can offer that fantasy to you.
While I have seen LOTR (more times than I probably care to admit, lol) I wouldn't say that brought me into D&D. I've been interested for a while and got somewhat familiar with the mechanics from listening to podcasts and watching Stranger Things. Plus lots of my friends play and I'm nosy. ;)
Absolutely from LOTR. Read as a child, and as a teenager discovered D&D. My core DM roots from the lore of LOTRs, even while playing other worlds/domains.
While I had read ( and enjoyed) LOTR as well as large amounts of other fantasy, sci fi and westerns (and historical fiction) it was mostly by accident. I was at Grad school and had just made friends with an anthropology grad student who invited me to try a game with his group. That was back in 1979 and I've been playing and DMing ever since.
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.
Mine was also related to CR!
My best friend asked if I wanted to play over 6 years ago now, but I had strong reservations due to an earlier encounter with D&D players as a child. When I resisted, he asked me to at least check out a show. It might convince me to change my mind, he said. I took him up on the challenge, thinking that there was no way that would happen. The first episode I watched was Mighty Nein's Converging Fury, 2x27. I was blown away by the role playing and was convinced that it was a game worth playing. There was a few months between seeing this episode and when I actually played for the first time (my join date on DDB is the day I first played), but while I waited, I spent my time going back and watching Vox Machina from the beginning.
My first D&D game was at a picnic table on the playground in the early to mid 80's graph paper and a red box dice with numbers filled in with a crayon. been playing on and off ever since. Thanks Matt!!!
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CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I grew up during the Satanic Panic of the 80s, and between my brothers and friends we had LOTs of conversations about D&D, especially coming from the suburban area of the Twin Cities that helped start the game. The 80s D&D Cartoon also really got me hooked, but none of us were allowed to play the game.
Fast forward to my teens, and me and a few friends finally started playing 2nd Edition.
I knew what The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit were, but I also grew up during the heyday of fantasy movie releases.
Cheers!
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Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
I remember being introduced to The Hobbit/LotR and D&D at about the same time in the early '80s by my cousin. This introduction is probably responsible for my personal tastes in D&D running to settings that feature heavy, heavy Tolkien influence.
In my case it was the gamebooks "Endless quest". The true first age of TTRPG in Spain started with AD&D in 1993 nearly. The cartoon show was popular, but no child knew it was a RPG.
I grew up in a very sheltered English village in the 1980s. My friends and I were all big fans of the D&D cartoon but had no idea it was based on anything else, we thought Dungeons and Dragons was literally just a cartoon about 6 kids. It wasn't until I moved to a city for university I found out differently but even then despite nostalgia and a great love of fantasy I didn't try D&D until 2020 and Covid meant my friends an I had to find an excuse to meet up on Discord besides just chatting
Lord of the Rings was definitely a big gateway into fantasy for me. The worldbuilding, the epic journey, and the depth of the characters just pulled me in. After watching the movies, I got into D&D because I wanted to create my own stories with that same grand adventure feel. That said, I still rewatch the trilogy every now and then. It’s amazing how well it holds up, especially compared to some modern fantasy adaptations. I usually find a good place to stream it, and soap 2day has been pretty handy for that.
It's more complex than that, it's not a binary. My interest for tales outside the scope of the real world led me many places: Narnia, LoTR, Marvel, Asimov, and so on. Also DND.
But yes: I read Lord of the Rings - and later, I started playing rpg's.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Oddly, I think a lot of fantasy that followed (both good and bad) misses that point. Despite being long and at times too dense, LotR is an extremely simple book. Props to you for putting it into one sentence https://mobdro.bio/ !
Satanic panic and then friends showed me.
I am *ahem* an old guy. I have been playing games of various types for years, I mean decades. I have modules older than some of my co-workers. :D That said what got me into gaming was....wait for it...Elfquest! The story was intriguing and simple enough for my young mind to get into, (I was in sixth grade at the time). I watched a lot of early to late eighties kid's cartoons, of which the Dungeons and Dragons one was a fave along with He-man and the Masters of the Universe, but I digress. Elfquest was my first introduction to gaming as one of the kids at the lunch table had a game of it, I don't remember the details of it exactly but it did open a whole new world.
I then got interested in D&D oddly by my Dad who bought me the Intermediate Rules BEFORE the Red Box. This was all sorted out soonish and I had a Red Box and was tinkering with the concept of Elves and Magic and stuff in my room long after I *should* have been asleep. In Seventh grade, I was walking amid the shelves of the school library when I noticed the Fellowship of the Ring. I checked it out and read it in like two days, returned to gobble up the rest of the trilogy before reading the Hobbit and the Simarillion. I loved the lands of Middle Earth. In High School, I continued my D&D fix with the Grey Box, a christmas present from my non playing, and very wonderful mother. This introduced me to the Forgotten Realms, now my go to for all D&D worlds. As I told my wife, I to this day tie in details from that writing to my current games as easter eggs (to myself obviously)- like the fact that the local Duke has a great sword named Reptar's Ward, after Ed Greenwood mentioned that one the character's held a magical shield named Reptar's Wall.
So, no LOTR did not lead me to D&D, but they were intrumental in my coming of age, and together made me who I am.
I've seen the first LOTR movie and the first Hobbit movie, and I'm pretty sure I saw the animated Hobbit when I was a kid. I attempted to read LOTR at some point in high school, since it seemed like I "should", but couldn't get into it. I'm not a fan of it. Most mainstream 'fantasy' stuff is not what attracts me to something like D&D. D&D specifically attracts me because its the stuff I like about fantasy - magic, mystical creatures, fantastic battles, endless possibility - while putting it into the hands of me and my friends to create a world that has opportunities for us and people like us.
I think I got into D&D because I was searching for fantasy content that could appeal to me, since I love fantasy and have been writing worlds since I was little (and was OBSESSED with Greek and Egyptian mythology), but couldn't find many things to read or watch that felt accessible to me. D&D is accessible to all of us since we make and play within a world of our own making. So whether you got into it because you loved LOTR, and wanted to play within that world, or maybe mythology, or GOT, or Tamora Pierce, or Terry Pratchett or something more obscure; or just because you love the idea of magic and epic battles and endless possibility... D&D can offer that fantasy to you.
While I have seen LOTR (more times than I probably care to admit, lol) I wouldn't say that brought me into D&D. I've been interested for a while and got somewhat familiar with the mechanics from listening to podcasts and watching Stranger Things. Plus lots of my friends play and I'm nosy. ;)
Absolutely from LOTR. Read as a child, and as a teenager discovered D&D. My core DM roots from the lore of LOTRs, even while playing other worlds/domains.
While I had read ( and enjoyed) LOTR as well as large amounts of other fantasy, sci fi and westerns (and historical fiction) it was mostly by accident. I was at Grad school and had just made friends with an anthropology grad student who invited me to try a game with his group. That was back in 1979 and I've been playing and DMing ever since.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Mine was also related to CR!
My best friend asked if I wanted to play over 6 years ago now, but I had strong reservations due to an earlier encounter with D&D players as a child. When I resisted, he asked me to at least check out a show. It might convince me to change my mind, he said. I took him up on the challenge, thinking that there was no way that would happen. The first episode I watched was Mighty Nein's Converging Fury, 2x27. I was blown away by the role playing and was convinced that it was a game worth playing. There was a few months between seeing this episode and when I actually played for the first time (my join date on DDB is the day I first played), but while I waited, I spent my time going back and watching Vox Machina from the beginning.
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My first D&D game was at a picnic table on the playground in the early to mid 80's graph paper and a red box dice with numbers filled in with a crayon. been playing on and off ever since. Thanks Matt!!!
CENSORSHIP IS THE TOOL OF COWARDS and WANNA BE TYRANTS.
I grew up during the Satanic Panic of the 80s, and between my brothers and friends we had LOTs of conversations about D&D, especially coming from the suburban area of the Twin Cities that helped start the game. The 80s D&D Cartoon also really got me hooked, but none of us were allowed to play the game.
Fast forward to my teens, and me and a few friends finally started playing 2nd Edition.
I knew what The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit were, but I also grew up during the heyday of fantasy movie releases.
Cheers!
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
I remember being introduced to The Hobbit/LotR and D&D at about the same time in the early '80s by my cousin. This introduction is probably responsible for my personal tastes in D&D running to settings that feature heavy, heavy Tolkien influence.
In my case it was the gamebooks "Endless quest". The true first age of TTRPG in Spain started with AD&D in 1993 nearly. The cartoon show was popular, but no child knew it was a RPG.
I jumped across from Warhammer Fantasy to Dungeons and Dragons, though I'm a fan of LotR too.
It took me a long time to stop making warhammer assumptions when it came to DnD lore.
Same here.
I grew up in a very sheltered English village in the 1980s. My friends and I were all big fans of the D&D cartoon but had no idea it was based on anything else, we thought Dungeons and Dragons was literally just a cartoon about 6 kids. It wasn't until I moved to a city for university I found out differently but even then despite nostalgia and a great love of fantasy I didn't try D&D until 2020 and Covid meant my friends an I had to find an excuse to meet up on Discord besides just chatting
Lord of the Rings was definitely a big gateway into fantasy for me. The worldbuilding, the epic journey, and the depth of the characters just pulled me in. After watching the movies, I got into D&D because I wanted to create my own stories with that same grand adventure feel. That said, I still rewatch the trilogy every now and then. It’s amazing how well it holds up, especially compared to some modern fantasy adaptations. I usually find a good place to stream it, and soap 2day has been pretty handy for that.
It's more complex than that, it's not a binary. My interest for tales outside the scope of the real world led me many places: Narnia, LoTR, Marvel, Asimov, and so on. Also DND.
But yes: I read Lord of the Rings - and later, I started playing rpg's.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Oddly, I think a lot of fantasy that followed (both good and bad) misses that point. Despite being long and at times too dense, LotR is an extremely simple book. Props to you for putting it into one sentence https://mobdro.bio/ !
My big brother. Now I'm dming my own campaign, also with him, and I'm playing in another. Thanks bro