D&D 5E Which parts of D&D came from Tolkien?

[TerraDave]

Gygax hated the comparison. But of course playable demihumans were put in to pander to LotR fans, and that pandering paid off! Treants, balrogs, rangers (which did not originate with EGG), dragon sub-dual (though not LotR), a few other specific things are taken from Tolkien.

Not magic swords or staves, rings of invisibility, most spells. Ogres (they dont turn to stone in D&D). Clever tricksters and rogues, These have other roots and many precedents.

Its also worth noting all the other sources EGG drew from, greek mythology obviously, medieval bestiaries, martial arts movies, the bible, and many other fantasy stories. Sometimes even his own imagination.

All this together makes D&D its own thing. It doesn't really feel like LotR unless you work really hard to make it feel like that. But why would you do that?

 

[Mistwell]

I am not sure anyone can really ever say with certainty.

Gary Gygax himself, on this forum no less stated he never read Hobbit or Lord of the Rings, that he hated the writing style and could not make it through the books.

No offense to the great Mr. Gygax (said without sarcasm) but he was fibbing. He had been sued by their estate, and after that he was claiming for the rest of his life he never had anything to do with any LOTR concepts ever. Which we all knew was a fib, because he had used some direct concepts early on which were later removed because of the lawsuit. He didn't get "hobbits" out of thin air.

Now did he personally dislike them? I think so. But he did read them. He said "In general the "Ring Trilogy" is not fast paced, and outside the framework of the tale many of Tolkien's creatures are not very exciting or different." He can't know the pacing if he never read them. He also said, "These considerations, as well as a comparison of the creatures of Tolkien's writings with the models they were drawn from (or with a hypothetical counterpart desirable from a wargame standpoint) were in mind when Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons were created."

So yes, he read them, and yes, he took some concepts from them. And yes, I don't think he was particularly fond of them.

 

[hejtmane]

Interestingly, Gygax was not a big fan of Tolkien, but the books were hugely popular in the 70s, so he couldn't ignore them. My list:
Mithral
Half-elves (cause of Elrond)
Magic rings (in folklore but Tolkien brought to forefront)
Eleven cloaks and boots
Antagonism between elves and dwarves
Giant spiders

Black Razor is a direct knock off of Morrcock and the Elric StormBringer which first appeared in like 1961 in small short stories way before his 1972 Novel

 

[JacktheRabbit]

No offense to the great Mr. Gygax (said without sarcasm) but he was fibbing. He had been sued by their estate, and after that he was claiming for the rest of his life he never had anything to do with any LOTR concepts ever. Which we all knew was a fib, because he had used some direct concepts early on which were later removed because of the lawsuit. He didn't get "hobbits" out of thin air.

Did a quick bit of searching Hobbit, as a term to describe a halfling sized race of humanoids was a Tolkien invention. If there were original oDnD books that used the term then yes Gary was fibbing, assuming he created 100% of the material for those books.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

All this together makes D&D its own thing. It doesn't really feel like LotR unless you work really hard to make it feel like that. But why would you do that?

Adventures in Middle-Earth from Cubicle 7 says hi! Awesome adaptation of the setting that combines well with the 5E rules. And with this series of books, Tolkien is now back in D&D in a legitimate way.

 

[Sacrosanct]

How much did he take? Well, seeing as how Gandalf is a 5th level Magic user, not much

 

[Morrus]

How much did he take? Well, seeing as how Gandalf is a 5th level Magic user, not much

5th level character can’t beat a Balor.

 

[Pauln6]

Stout halflings were based on stours, the river folk from whom Smeagol hailed. They have darkvision because Gollum could see in the dark, and in 1e, they made the point of saying that stouts could swim. Tallfellows were obviously inspired by Merry and Pippin after downing entdraught.

The spell like abilities of Drow are very like the magical abilities of the dark elf from the silmarillion.

1e rangers ability to use crystal balls was a counter intuitive homage to Aragorn.

 

[Tony Vargas]

5th level character can’t beat a Balor.

He's only a 5th level /magic-user/.

That says nothing about how many fighter or paladin or whatever levels he racked up 'in his youth' or what the LA on 'Maiar' might be....

... also, a 5th level 1e magic-user who rolled outrageously for psionics could trounce a Balor in that form of combat.

 

[Sacrosanct]

5th level character can’t beat a Balor.

I was referencing that old infamous Dragon article about how Gandalf was just a 5th level magic user.