Most of the players in the Realms did not immediately jump
directly into a love of fantasy through the Realms. Similar to the theory of
the gateway hypothesis which states that the use of less dangerous drugs leads to the use of harder
drugs, what other forms of fantasy and role-play led you to the Realms?
Some people first found a love of fantasy through books; some through movies. Also role-playing games and computer
games may have been their first exposure to fantasy. I suspect there may
even have been other avenues into the Realms, such as acting in plays.
For me, it all started with books. My first “fantasy” book
was Watership Down. From there I eventually got into The Lord of the Rings,
which gave me a love of fantasy. However, I had one more step to take before I
“found” the Realms and that was tabletop role-playing games.
So, what was your “Gateway Fantasy”? What got you interested
in the genre of fantasy or role-playing and eventually brought you to the
Realms?