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Which parts of D&D came from Tolkien?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mark Kernow" data-source="post: 7263325" data-attributes="member: 6797661"><p>Rangers, yes. I also think you could make a case that all the early demi-human races in D&D (elves, dwarves, halflings, maybe even half-orcs) have certain characteristics that come from Tolkien. If you look at a lot of the other books Gygax references in the back of the 1st edition AD&D DMG (Appendix N), they didn't feature these races in anything like the same degree or format. These other influential books were a lot more human-centric generally. It might help to list some of things that probably came from other authors so you can rule them out: memorising spells and using spell components from Vance, Law and Chaos (the alignment system) and probably also elementals from Moorcock, Thieves from Lieber (although there is a bit of Bilbo Baggins in there as well), Paladins from Anderson, Barbarians and the pulp style of early adventures from Howard. And Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith are in there as well influencing monsters and deities. Then you have the stuff that Gygax put his own unique spin on, even if there are folklore roots for it, e.g. the Drow. </p><p></p><p>But is there a bit of early dungeon design that is influenced by Tolkien's Moria? The early megadungeons seem to riff off the idea of an almost endless lost labyrinth, although they are a lot more 'fun house' and less doom-laden than Tolkien's version.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mark Kernow, post: 7263325, member: 6797661"] Rangers, yes. I also think you could make a case that all the early demi-human races in D&D (elves, dwarves, halflings, maybe even half-orcs) have certain characteristics that come from Tolkien. If you look at a lot of the other books Gygax references in the back of the 1st edition AD&D DMG (Appendix N), they didn't feature these races in anything like the same degree or format. These other influential books were a lot more human-centric generally. It might help to list some of things that probably came from other authors so you can rule them out: memorising spells and using spell components from Vance, Law and Chaos (the alignment system) and probably also elementals from Moorcock, Thieves from Lieber (although there is a bit of Bilbo Baggins in there as well), Paladins from Anderson, Barbarians and the pulp style of early adventures from Howard. And Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith are in there as well influencing monsters and deities. Then you have the stuff that Gygax put his own unique spin on, even if there are folklore roots for it, e.g. the Drow. But is there a bit of early dungeon design that is influenced by Tolkien's Moria? The early megadungeons seem to riff off the idea of an almost endless lost labyrinth, although they are a lot more 'fun house' and less doom-laden than Tolkien's version. [/QUOTE]
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Which parts of D&D came from Tolkien?
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