Priest_of_Boccob said:
Hello Mr.Gygax. First I would like to say thank you for your wonderful creation of the original DnD. I don't know what I would have done without it, so thank you very much.
Greetings and welcome
I have played every edition of DnD, except for 1st edition, cause unfortunatly I can't find anyone to play 1st edition with
I know that you are not a fan of the latest editions of the game (which is quite understandable).
Try
www.dragonsfoot.com for a group playing OD&D.
I would very much like to know what you think about a recent thread started about your influences in creating the game, and the possible influence of Tolkien (I know it may be a touchy subject, so I'm very sorry if I have annoyed you, that was not my intent).
the link is here:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=669838&page=1&pp=30
...i know it is on the website of the company that now has control of DnD, Wizards of The Coast, but I couldn't think of any single person that could contribute more to the conversation on the thread than your self.
I would love to know what you think, so if you would care to reply, it would be greatly appreciated, even if you were to just give your thoughts in a post here on this site.
thank you.
Well...
This is not touchy but rather cabbage that's been chewed more than once. Still, I'll comment here. If you wish, refer readers of the thread in question to this one.
I did indeed use names that Tolkien used in his LotR books in order to attract potential players to the D&D game. When it was being written, was published, early in the 70s the Rings Triology was surely the best known fantasy work around. That said, compare the elves of the D&D game with those that JRRT extoled. Quite a difference between the two, eh?
From where did I get my take on elves? Mainly from fairy tales such as the one in which the 12 princesses went through a secret door into Elfland every night, dancd with elven princes so as to have holes in their slippers. Also, the folklore about etering the world of elves through a secret way under a stone that depicts elves as human-like in many respects. Much authored fantasy also treats elves in like manner, including their being soul-les.
I read literally thousands of SF, fantasy, folklore, and mythology books beginning in 1950. I can not recall exact references after so many years have passed, but I can assure all that Tolkien was not the first autor to consider elves as something other than tiny little fairy folk. In point of fact, fairies in fairy tales, and the French
Lutin fair folk, are usually more like JRRT's version of elves than any other sort of folklore "race" other than perhaps the Norse
lysoalfar, the "light elves." Of course, as Tolkien borrowed much from Norse mythology, it is likely that both his dwarves and elves came from there. I know my dwarves surely did.
Cheers,
Gary
