poll: What has most influenced your conception of fantasy?

[Tinker Gnome]

My first exposure to anything D&D-esque was Final Fantasy. Maybe I'm in the minority, with my epiphany happening during a videogame. But, to this day, FF defines some aspect of my games. I suppose you could call it Anime-esque...after that, I got into mythology, and spliced Final Fantasy half-baked philosophy and melodrama with that. THEN I discovered D&D, and the range of fantasy out there. I still find more inspiration in Anime, legends, fairy tales, and Final Fantasy than I ever did in Tolkien, but that may be just because Tolkien is a mine that everyone taps.

....and, yes, chocobos have replaced horses.

You are not the only one. Video games are what got me into fantasy as well.

 

[Turjan]

When I was a child, there were no video games or fantasy movies in the modern sense. There was no Dungeons & Dragons, either. Although I liked to read Greek and Norse myths as soon as I was able to read, I would not say they had a great influence on my view of fantasy. At the age of 10, I started reading science fiction novels. I had a short glimpse at fantasy, too, but in those days most fantasy novels were incredibly bad.

This changed when I picked up "The Dying Earth" by Jack Vance, whom I very much appreciated as an author of SF. If I had knewn that it was fantasy I would not have started reading the book in the first place . Anyway, I really loved those stories, and so "The Excellent Prismatic Spray" and other spells of Vancian magic were my first glimpses on fantasy magic in a book, and I still have a soft spot for "Prismatic Spray" in today's D&D. This good experience brought me to have a look at other fantasy literature, and thus I stumbled over the LotR and books based on the Athurian legends. Btw, the "Dying Earth" is definitely not a copy of Tolkien, as it's several years older than LotR.

Today, I still don't read a lot of fantasy novels. I hate to say it, but most of them are still worse than the bulk of SF. Nevertheless, I love to read fantasy gaming stuff, and I don't want to miss out on my fantasy CRPG's, either .

 

[johnsemlak]

I voted mythology.

I agree with others D&D itself was probably the strongest influence.

I think there should have been a choice for epic fantasy writers besides Tolkien. My first fantasy read was CS Lewis.

 

[psychognome]

For me it's the first choice. I was already interested in myths and legends at a young age, and it was my fascination with these subjects that lead me to ol' Tolkien's works, and later into D&D. Tolkien's works just have a sort of a "realistic mythology" of their own that drew me into them. Plus, reading the Lord of the Rings has given me the status of the true Tolkien fanboy in my social circles. I could've practically spoiled the ending of the Return of the King for all of my friends, but I resisted the tempation.

 

[S'mon]

Moorock would be my greatest influence, although I came to MM, HPL, Leiber, and others through the old 1e DMG's Recommended Reading appendix. I had already been hooked on mythology, Star Wars, and Tolkien, by the time I got into D&D.

Moorcock (Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, Erekose) for me too - I voted 'pulp tales', although he could be classed as modern fantasy he seems closer in spirit to Leiber (my 2nd biggest influence), Howard etc. Sword & sorcery rather than fantasy. 3rd biggest influence was the first Conan movie, then probably Tolkien.

 

[WayneLigon]

I think first off was the cinema, since as a kid I was fascinated by the classic Disney films (esp. the very sword-and-sorcery-ish Sleeping Beauty, which I saw on the big screen during a re-release period in the mid-60's) and Ray Harryhausen films (Sinbad, esp.). Star Trek was also apparently a big influence. Mom said I was spellbound watching them in original release, but I barely remember it. The big screen was definately more captivating.

I read a tremendous amount when I was a kid; I read everything I could get my hands on. Ray Bradbury was possibly the first fantasy/SF author I ever read, since one of my uncles gave me a boxed set of all his works to that date for Xmas when I was.. maybe 8 or 9. Then when I was 10 or 11, I found both greek myth when our social studies class did an entire half-year on it, and Tolkien when another uncle gave me a boxed gift set of the Trilogy + The Hobbit.

I was also reading comics at this time, but I don't really count those in with the fantasy genre, save for the rare sword-and-sorcery books. I did like horror comics a great deal, though, and those more than anything else had fantasy content. (Ahh, House of Secrets, House of Mystery, etc...). Science Fiction was a big unfluence, once I started to read Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, and others. My reading exploded when I hit 13 or so, and I started getting most of the modern fantasy books of the time. Lin Carter's Adult Fantasy Series (and esp. the Flashing Swords series). The Forever War. Larry Niven. Andre Norton. Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth stories. Not a lot of fantasy was being done, really, not in novel-length. That wouldn't change for a few years yet.

Then when I was 15 or 16, D&D came out and I found that through the SF club I was in.

 

[Wombat]

Okay, wow, next to impossible to say...

I went for the Chivalric epics, because it was the tales of King Arthur that have influenced my path in academia (Medieval history) and in reading material (over 500 books, both versions of the tales and explinations).

But on the other hand I love mythology and folklore in all forms, devoured Tolkein, Earthsea, historical fiction (from Arthur Conan Doyle to Bernard Cornwell), and a host of other volumes.

Good grief, I'm a bibliovore! How am I supposed to decide!

 

[d4]

LOTR, Greek and Norse mythology, a little bit of Arthurian legends and the Mabinogeon, the Arabian Nights, and Harryhausen fantasy movies.

other than Tolkien, i don't really read fantasy novels. most of my reading is SF and nonfiction. but i still love fantasy RPGs. (similarly, i love superhero RPGs but i've never collected comics in my life. call me weird...)

 

[Dakkareth]

Mmhh ...hard to say. What brought on the track of the fantasy genre were the Tales of the Nibelung (sp?) and all the connected tales of old German folklore closely followed by the Greek mythology (both thick books I used to read over and over again). After that came science-fiction and eventually a bigger focus on fantasy and the 'conversion' to DnD with the discovery of Baldurs Gate 2. Of course I devoured the whole fantasy section of our library somewhere in between these steps. That my parents were against my preference of that genre may had its own influence, too . LotR came late and too early at the same time - much later than for many others here, but apparently to early for me to appreciate. I've wanted to read it again (and this time for real) for years, but circumstances conspire ... :S

But I see, this thread is about total influence, not a chronic of my ascent to addiction . In this case I'll have name Tolkien indirectly as main influence for the literature that influenced me most. One other writer must also be mentioned, Steven Erikson, whose grim and all-to 'realistic' fantasy has influenced me very much.

 

[Mista Collins]

I started playing D&D first. Then fantasy stuff became an interest. I could see more than one of those options being selected by one person. And what about RPG computer games/video games?