tolkien as an intro...

[MeepoTheMighty]

That sentence is a beastly anachronism.

That said, I think Tolkien actually makes a pretty bad primer. There's a lot of better paced fantasy out there which is a lot more accessible for those new to the genre. Fellowship of the Ring the single worst-paced book I've ever managed to read all the way through. At least with subsequent readings, I've known where it was going, but the first time through was a CHORE.

I agree... read her some Harry Potter or the Lion, Witch, and/or Wardrobe.

Or the PHB

Heh..while looking around online the other day for something else, I found a post on some other message board from shortly after 3rd edition was released where some old 1st edition dinosaur was complaining about how 3rd edition was for "three year olds."

 

[Henry]

What got me into D&D?

Choose Your Own Adventure Books - the Gateway RPG of the millenium!

 

[Desdichado]

What got me into D&D?

Choose Your Own Adventure Books - the Gateway RPG of the millenium!

Good point, Henry! I've completely neglected the influence of these in my own gaming -- which is probably a big mistake, as in second or third grade or so, when these were brand new, I was practically addicted to them!

 

[Mark]

Steve Jackson, Ian Livingstone and their Fighting Fantasy books. Closely followed by the same things as Tsyr.

There's the man! Howdy Al!

I started with Tolkein, R.E.Howard, and Doyle, as well as, Asimov, Bradbury, and mythology (in general).

 

[Ace32]

What got me into D&D? Like most of my friends.. Baldur's Gate, the CRPG. I used to love playing that game (and Icewind Dale), and finally got interested in trying to run a D&D game of my own.

 

[Knightcrawler]

Literary Influence For Gaming

I started learning to read on the Hobbit and then quickly went to Lord or The Rings. When I was in elementary school I was a huge fantasy and mythology buff. Not the thing to be at a catholic school.

But yeah Tolkien pretty much got me pointed in the D&D direction.

Knightcrawler

 

[drothgery]

Actually, it was D&D that got me into reading fantasy.

Same here, for the most part. Before I started playing D&D, I read mostly Sci-Fi. I'd read a little bit of fantasy, but most of that was Niven's Warlock short stories.

I'd played D&D a few times before I started college, but my first real campaign was when I was an undergrad. One player was running an Aiel-inspired character. That got the DM and some of the other players (including me) to read Wheel of Time. Which led me to reading a lot of other fantasy.

I tried to read LotR while I was an undergrad (classic of the genre and all that), but didn't get very far; I ended up reading the books between the first and second time I saw the movie.

 

[Wikidogre]

all boils down to reading my fathers, Conan comics, then novels, and then well i was at Wallmart(go figure) and i saw the 1st ed PhP, hooked ever since about 6 or 7 ish

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I'd read Tolkien a good while before I became aware of D&D. I read mostly scifi back then, with Tolkien and Robert E. Howard pretty much the only fantasy I'd read. When I got into D&D, I began reading all the books that Gygax listed as inspiration in the 1e DMG, and branched out from there.

 

[Cedric]

heh, I started with D&D before I read any fantasy. But my first fantasy was the Icewindale Trilogy...loved it then. But in retrospect it hasn't aged well (I've read much better series since then).

Cedric