for me i saw the 3 d&d films played a few d&d games (neverwinter nights,baulders gate 2,sword coast legends and the mediocre mmo that was neverwinter) and saw d&d on tv shows such as the it crowd, big bang theory and possibly the goldbergs and i thought well i loved all the spin off mediums so gotta try the rpg that started it all.

Plus i used to have friends who played d&d(dunno why i never joined in tbh) and warhammer and later i started playing mtg and yugioh at tcg shops and the d&d nights seemed popular and now years later i've decided to try it

I gave a more detailed explanation of my sort of complicated history with D&D here, but the short of it is I was interested in it over two decades ago, but I did not actually start playing until I came across Critical Role in early 2018. Been playing ever since.

Quote from Erik_Soong >>

I gave a more detailed explanation of my sort of complicated history with D&D here, but the short of it is I was interested in it over two decades ago, but I did not actually start playing until I came across Critical Role in early 2018. Been playing ever since.

Friday Nights got me into mtg although i had brefily played mtg on 360 

Tabletop by will wheton is a good show too

what interested me was its just cool and also there was an after school activity so im doing it also my brother plays which kinda inspired me a little bit

Quote from GoudyuGood >>

what interested me was its just cool and also there was an after school activity so im doing it also my brother plays which kinda inspired me a little bit

 my after schools acitivitys where singing club,modern jazz dancing,duke of endinbough choir,drama and male vocal group(a short lived boy band club)

The school library had a large selection of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

The school library had a large selection of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms novels.

 the school libary got me onto the hobbit and harry potter(that rare first edtion that was for libary use only) 

My Uncle had whole library on D&D, spin-off games, Warhammer 40k, novels, and school had a club for it.

Quote from Junglenoob100 >>

My Uncle had whole library on D&D, spin-off games, Warhammer 40k, novels, and school had a club for it.

 i tried to get into 40k but outside of the space hulk games i cant get into it but love age of sigmar and blood bowl

The older brother of a friend was out first DM. After his campaign we were all hooked and tried EVERY rpg we could find. Most no longer even exist today.
It all hit at the same time we were all reading Tolkien and others. The next year most of us took a summer course in Greek and Roman mythology.( given by our high school teacher at the local university).

What helped keep most of us in it was that our girlfriends didn't mind us playing even if we were drinking while doing so. We were not out in the local bars getting in trouble. Though at times we did that also. Most of the girls even joined and one or two still play to this day in their own groups.

My cousins introduced me to the game. It helped expand my circle of friends when i was a socially awkward  teen.  The gaming club in Jr High gave me lifelong friends  whom i still game with today though not nearly as much as i would like... curse being an adult

A new friend at a new school saw me writing my fourth novel about my imaginary world and invited me to learn about a cool game that his brother played with him.

Played one short session where my character died, and I was hooked, and a dew months later I was running my own games and building brand new worlds.

I am all about the world building, and the game mechanics, though.  I don't play as a player.

It was my parents that got me into it, without really realizing what they were doing. Way, way back in the day when VCR’s came with “remotes” that were wired to the unit, my dad’s video collection included Monty Python’s The Holy Grail and the John Boorman’s Excalibur. I was absolutely obsessed with these films and anything else remotely like them that came on the TV. As well, I got into my mom’s book collection and tackled The Hobbit at a pretty young age so when they saw a game box with a guy fighting the dragon on the cover, they figured I might like it. I did and I’ve been playing RPG’s in one form or another ever since.

I have asked them if they anticipated how important their gift would be in my life: all my good friends are from gaming; I met my spouse gaming; we’ve played an RPG together most every Saturday night for the last 30 years. They laughed and said they had no idea, just that they thought I’d prolly like a game with a dragon in it.

I was visiting a friend out of town, and decided to stay over a few days - he informed me that the next day, they were playing D&D, and I asked if I could join. Another friend just watched, but didn't play. The day after that, I GM'd their table for a 1-shot, before going back home. 

Never played with that particular group again, but I had tons of fun, so when I met some guys back home who played, I joined up.

Honestly? I was just bored. There's nothing more to it than that. I heard about a game store running D&D nights and decided "Eh, why not?"

what got me interested? about two years ago when i started HS, the school was runnin a lunch club specifically for D&D, i had no idea what it was at the time and all i was told is that it was an RPG and so i gave it a try, i was given a pre-made character sheet (one of the standard ones out of the box) and had my first session, i was imediatley hooked and the next year it was a "school sport" and i was part of one of the largest groups there (6 people including the DM), and it was the best campaign i've played in a while, unfortunately the teacher that ran it left and so did said DM, so this year i took up the role of DM and i have four PC's now, honestly a great experience with that number of players

Friend who knew I read a ton of Brandon Sanderson books thought I’d appreciate it. He was very correct and I got pretty involved very quickly

Podcasts

Quote from Born_of_fire74 >>

It was my parents that got me into it, without really realizing what they were doing. Way, way back in the day when VCR’s came with “remotes” that were wired to the unit, my dad’s video collection included Monty Python’s The Holy Grail and the John Boorman’s Excalibur. I was absolutely obsessed with these films and anything else remotely like them that came on the TV. As well, I got into my mom’s book collection and tackled The Hobbit at a pretty young age so when they saw a game box with a guy fighting the dragon on the cover, they figured I might like it. I did and I’ve been playing RPG’s in one form or another ever since.

I have asked them if they anticipated how important their gift would be in my life: all my good friends are from gaming; I met my spouse gaming; we’ve played an RPG together most every Saturday night for the last 30 years. They laughed and said they had no idea, just that they thought I’d prolly like a game with a dragon in it.

 This is just so beautiful, thank you for sharing!