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Reassesing Robert E Howards influence on D&D +
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9243618" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>Bingo. I don't really see any signs that Gary was imitating Tolkien with his worldbuilding. Greyhawk absolutely bears a lot more similarities to REH's Hyborean Age than to Middle Earth, except that it's pushed forward to a quasi-medieval setting rather than Ancient World.</p><p></p><p>To the extent to which Gary defined dates and events into a more concrete historical record than REH did, IMO that's more due to his background in wargaming, medieval and military history than drawing on Tolkien. And related to his principle about wanting clear records and organized chronology for a campaign ("re: STRICT TIME RECORDS MUST BE KEPT" from the DMG).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Gnomes (up-scaled ripoffs of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(book)" target="_blank">Gnomes from the very popular book</a> released in English in 1977) first show up in the PH in 1978 alongside Half-Orcs (Tolkien). Half Elves appear in 1975's Greyhawk for OD&D, as you guys covered later, and again they're pretty damn Tolkien. The Broken Sword has changelings but they're not quite the same thing. The protagonist Skafloc is stolen and raised by the elves; it's been a while since I read it and I'm trying to remember if he actually transforms and becomes more elfish in powers and nature as a consequence of being raised by them. But even if he does, I don't THINK Anderson actually uses the term "half-elven" as Tolkien does with Elrond.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Poul Anderson has elf and troll kingdoms capable of organizing into armies and making war in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Sword" target="_blank">The Broken Sword</a> (1954), and in a more Chainmail-style assorted army form implied in Three Hearts & Three Lions. The "Faeries" described in Chain Mail are a bit of a more flexible exception to the obvious pattern of half the unit list in Chain Mail being clearly and directly lifted from Tolkien so you can play battles in Middle Earth. Tolkien never (to the best of my recollection) refers to his elves as fairies, while Anderson does. This nomenclature appears to be directly borrowed from Anderson. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Greyhawk supplement is by Gygax and Rob Kuntz, I'll note. Speaking of "many hands". <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Right. Star-spangled robe, laboratory, wand, book-learnin'.</p><p></p><p>Merlin in popular culture was VERY wizardy at the time D&D was gathering concepts. Merlin as druid I think is a later conceptualization, arising after people dug more into Myrddin (himself one of the mythic figures Geoffrey of Monmonth and others seemingly amalgamated to create Merlin) and Taliesin in the late 20th century. The first place I can remember "Merlins" plural, it being a title rather than a unique person, was MZB's Mists of Avalon from 1983.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9243618, member: 7026594"] Bingo. I don't really see any signs that Gary was imitating Tolkien with his worldbuilding. Greyhawk absolutely bears a lot more similarities to REH's Hyborean Age than to Middle Earth, except that it's pushed forward to a quasi-medieval setting rather than Ancient World. To the extent to which Gary defined dates and events into a more concrete historical record than REH did, IMO that's more due to his background in wargaming, medieval and military history than drawing on Tolkien. And related to his principle about wanting clear records and organized chronology for a campaign ("re: STRICT TIME RECORDS MUST BE KEPT" from the DMG). Gnomes (up-scaled ripoffs of the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(book)']Gnomes from the very popular book[/URL] released in English in 1977) first show up in the PH in 1978 alongside Half-Orcs (Tolkien). Half Elves appear in 1975's Greyhawk for OD&D, as you guys covered later, and again they're pretty damn Tolkien. The Broken Sword has changelings but they're not quite the same thing. The protagonist Skafloc is stolen and raised by the elves; it's been a while since I read it and I'm trying to remember if he actually transforms and becomes more elfish in powers and nature as a consequence of being raised by them. But even if he does, I don't THINK Anderson actually uses the term "half-elven" as Tolkien does with Elrond. Poul Anderson has elf and troll kingdoms capable of organizing into armies and making war in [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broken_Sword']The Broken Sword[/URL] (1954), and in a more Chainmail-style assorted army form implied in Three Hearts & Three Lions. The "Faeries" described in Chain Mail are a bit of a more flexible exception to the obvious pattern of half the unit list in Chain Mail being clearly and directly lifted from Tolkien so you can play battles in Middle Earth. Tolkien never (to the best of my recollection) refers to his elves as fairies, while Anderson does. This nomenclature appears to be directly borrowed from Anderson. The Greyhawk supplement is by Gygax and Rob Kuntz, I'll note. Speaking of "many hands". :) Right. Star-spangled robe, laboratory, wand, book-learnin'. Merlin in popular culture was VERY wizardy at the time D&D was gathering concepts. Merlin as druid I think is a later conceptualization, arising after people dug more into Myrddin (himself one of the mythic figures Geoffrey of Monmonth and others seemingly amalgamated to create Merlin) and Taliesin in the late 20th century. The first place I can remember "Merlins" plural, it being a title rather than a unique person, was MZB's Mists of Avalon from 1983. [/QUOTE]
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