Game fantasy first or book/movie fantasy first?

[Herremann the Wise]

Hi Everyone,

For me, I suppose it started with choose-you-own-adventure books which led to the Fighting Fantasy Game Books. I had The Wizard of Firetop Mountain when I went to Cambridge to visit some relatives (other side fo the world from Sydney). There, I went into a bookshop and what did I find but Citadel of Chaos and the Forest of Doom. By the time City of Thieves and the magnificent Deathtrap Dungeon had been released, I was looking for something more to fuel my fantasy interests. The Basic Red Box was it which combined with reading Lord of th Rings was the first "real" D&D moment. From there, it just blossomed.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[The Shaman]

I checked literature and movies ---> D&D, since I was already a fan of the genre through books (LOTR, Sword of Shannara) and movies (Golden Voyage of Sinbad), but my exposure to D&D came from wargames - the store where I bought military minis carried D&D, and one of my gaming buddies bought it and learned how to play. In the span of about six months we went through OD&D, blue box D&D, and finally ended up with AD&D, which I played through college.

I think it would be equal parts fantasy genre and wargaming thar brought me to D&D.

 

[Bobitron]

I picked D&D first. While I read a fantasy book here and there as a kid, I didn't really get into fantasy until after I first played D&D.

 

[DragonLancer]

Movies and books (especially myths and legends) as a kid were what drew me towards D&D in the first place.

 

[Romnipotent]

I got into roleplaying because I got into it... movies and books... nah dont read all that much fiction now days and movies... I like em but I didn't get into RPG's for that reason.

And RPG's haven't made me read a single fictional book... so Im your oddball demographic BABY!

 

[dougmander]

Wargaming ---> D&D

 

[diaglo]

Wargames first.

 

[MonsterMash]

Fantasy literature (the Hobbit, C.S. Lewis' Narnia books) and historical wargaming (airfix wwII and American civil war) first -> D&D

 

[the Jester]

I read the Hobbit and a few other fantasy novels (the Black Cauldron series, f'rinstace) when I was just a wee tyke. I got into gaming a few years later.

 

[radferth]

The books and movies first. I can remember my mom reading Beowulf to me before I could read, so I guess I was destined to be a gamer! As a kid, I loved the D'Auleries books on greco-roman and norse legends.

Yah, those are the ones. The D'Auleries Norse book was just rereleased after many years out of print. Even though it's a kid's book, I'd recomend it to anyone as a campaign aid. (Note to FR authors: that's what Gods are supposed to act like, not soap opera characters).

Akrasia, I too started out with the Holmes basic set. Mine was the slightly older version that came with very low-quality dice. One of my friends got the chit version later, and we could not decide which was lamer (the chits or the crappy dice, the game was awesome, of course).