How were you first introduced to the roleplaying game genre?

[KenSeg]

I am glad to hear that many of the people also came into the game from reading. None of the games or computers were available when I was 8 - 12 in the early 1970s and all we had was fantasy fiction such as LOTR, Moorcock, even the old "Blade" adventure books.

 

[TheArcane]

So I was just curious, where are today's RPGers coming from? PnP or video games? Seems like the majority is still PnP.

Hi everyone, I'm kind of new here and I figured this is a good thread to start. I'm also 22, so I think I can answer the quoted question.

I first saw the game at my cousins while I was in high-school, but I didn't really consider it and didn't get very interested responses from my friends.
Then, I bought Baldur's Gate 2. It is the best PC game I have ever played, and it also got me really interested in D&D and the Forgotten Realms.
Following the game I bought a brand new 3E book set and convinced some friends to start playing. I was the DM and it ran pretty well until highschool ended. The we all went to the Army (Israel... what can I say?), and ever since I want to get back to playing but just can't get a game together. I guess 4E is a good opportunity to start over and play again.

So... Video games got my vote.

 

[Darkness]

I first saw some TT RPGs in a store. IIRC, though, I only bought any of them after playing some CRPGs first (e.g., Bard's Tale I).

 

[I'm A Banana]

Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior brought me in.

D&D made me an addict.

 

[Oldtimer]

BTW... The reason for the poll, I was curious as to how today's gamers are being introduced to roleplaying games.

I suppose my response will skew the results then, since I'm very far from your target of the poll.

My start came with reading about this strange new game called Dungeons&Dragons in a small, mimeographed (remember that, anyone?) fanzine called SuperNova. I got intrigued, bought two ten-dollar bills at my local bank and sent them in a letter to Tactical Studies Rules in Lake Geneva, USA. That was in 1974. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[Howndawg]

I started out in junior high playing AH, SPI, and Metagaming games. One day while looking at the games on the shelf of my local hobby store, I picked up a game with a picture of a wizard and a fighter in combat with a dragon. This was the Holmes boxed set. I could not make heads or tales of the rules. My brother made a stab at the rules and we wound up playing a game which bore no resemblance as to how D&D was actually supposed to be played. Bit by bit we figured things out until what we were actually playing was D&D.

Howndawg

 

[smootrk]

Red Basic Box for me. Loved it. Keep on the Borderlands! Got the Expert set, then slowly migrated in an entirely illogical way to AD&D (sorta hybrid for a while)

 

[EricNoah]

Interest in the fantasy genre came first, by way of CS Lewis and Tolkien. Played Basic D&D briefly, then AD&D. Initiated by older sibling.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Other: I read about the kids playing D&D in the novelisation of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and thought it sounded interesting, and then came across a copy of the "red box" Basic Set some time later.

 

[Glyfair]

I said pen n' paper (Holmes BD&D/OD&D specifically). However, "cops & robbers" type play is probably closer to the truth.