Arnie_Wan_Kenobi
Aspiring Trickster Mentor
I always enjoy reading these origin stories, so thanks for posting, @Reynard.
Aside from not really playing D&D until high school, I'm probably a lot like other folks here:
Born '78, so as a youngin', Star Wars, naturally was one of, if not the, biggest influence; toys, movies on VHS, the Ewok TV specials, and when they came out, the Zahn novels.
An uncle was a Star Trek fan, so TOS, TAS, and TNG were my other primary "Sci Fi" influences, plus I'd add in Buck Rodgers on TV and Last Starfighter. But I CONSUMED Barlowe, Voss, McKee, and the Terran Trade Authority books at my library. Honestly, looking at how much I read/watched sci-f, space opera, etc., I'm kind of surprised I'm not running a Starfinder campaign.
But GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe were influences on my perspective of adventure and heroism. (Comics, toys, and TV).
But let's talk fantasy, since that's what we're here for. Mythology: starting with Greek, spinning out of my dad's interest in backyard astronomy, then Roman, Norse, and others as I discovered books in my grade school library.
Films: Labyrinth, Willow, Princess Bride, and Neverending Story (and Krull, which I remember watching ad nauseum on reruns) probably have the biggest impact on the core of what I view as "Fantasy."
I was a latecomer to fantasy novels, I was a Hardy Boys, Choose-Your-Own Adventure, and Illustrated Classics reader all through middle school. But most of my reading at that time was probably non-fiction. About freshman year (14) I started reading Stephen King and Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. It wasn't until I was 15, 16 that I picked up Dragonlance, then Cleric Quintet, Drizzt, and Ravenloft novels. Didn't read LOTR until I was out of college. Still never read Shanarra or Wheel of Time.
Intro to D&D was Forgotten Realms a few different times, but didn't really play regularly until a campaign set on Krynn around 1993. (that led to the DL novels). From 93 to 96, I dabbeld in lots of geek media: played some Magic: The Gathering, made some Cyberpunk and Shadowrun characters but don't remember playing, played a Malkavian in Vampire (who's thing was he thought he was completely sane and so ended up painfully vanilla). We had a good RIFTS thing going for a while. Played some GURPS in College.
ETA: Discovered Castle Falkenstein around Junior year in high school. Absolutely fell in love with the setting. Never really got into SteamPunk, but the original gameworld remains a favorite.
But Dragonlance and Ravenloft are probably the two biggest influences from the "gaming" side ot things, and Shadowrun has stuck with me for Urban Fantasy.
Played a lot of Castlevania 2. That dovetails with Ravenloft.
Aside from not really playing D&D until high school, I'm probably a lot like other folks here:
Born '78, so as a youngin', Star Wars, naturally was one of, if not the, biggest influence; toys, movies on VHS, the Ewok TV specials, and when they came out, the Zahn novels.
An uncle was a Star Trek fan, so TOS, TAS, and TNG were my other primary "Sci Fi" influences, plus I'd add in Buck Rodgers on TV and Last Starfighter. But I CONSUMED Barlowe, Voss, McKee, and the Terran Trade Authority books at my library. Honestly, looking at how much I read/watched sci-f, space opera, etc., I'm kind of surprised I'm not running a Starfinder campaign.
But GI Joe, Transformers, Masters of the Universe were influences on my perspective of adventure and heroism. (Comics, toys, and TV).
But let's talk fantasy, since that's what we're here for. Mythology: starting with Greek, spinning out of my dad's interest in backyard astronomy, then Roman, Norse, and others as I discovered books in my grade school library.
Films: Labyrinth, Willow, Princess Bride, and Neverending Story (and Krull, which I remember watching ad nauseum on reruns) probably have the biggest impact on the core of what I view as "Fantasy."
I was a latecomer to fantasy novels, I was a Hardy Boys, Choose-Your-Own Adventure, and Illustrated Classics reader all through middle school. But most of my reading at that time was probably non-fiction. About freshman year (14) I started reading Stephen King and Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy. It wasn't until I was 15, 16 that I picked up Dragonlance, then Cleric Quintet, Drizzt, and Ravenloft novels. Didn't read LOTR until I was out of college. Still never read Shanarra or Wheel of Time.
Intro to D&D was Forgotten Realms a few different times, but didn't really play regularly until a campaign set on Krynn around 1993. (that led to the DL novels). From 93 to 96, I dabbeld in lots of geek media: played some Magic: The Gathering, made some Cyberpunk and Shadowrun characters but don't remember playing, played a Malkavian in Vampire (who's thing was he thought he was completely sane and so ended up painfully vanilla). We had a good RIFTS thing going for a while. Played some GURPS in College.
ETA: Discovered Castle Falkenstein around Junior year in high school. Absolutely fell in love with the setting. Never really got into SteamPunk, but the original gameworld remains a favorite.
But Dragonlance and Ravenloft are probably the two biggest influences from the "gaming" side ot things, and Shadowrun has stuck with me for Urban Fantasy.
Played a lot of Castlevania 2. That dovetails with Ravenloft.
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