Survivor Appendix N Authors- LEIBER WINS!

[Gradine]

Great Hungarian Romantic Comedies of the 1990s?

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls054373690/

That was just in like... five seconds of Googling.

 

[Sacrosanct]

This would hold weight, IF Gary hadn't mentioned Tolkien specifically by name in Chainmail three times, and referenced multiple other Tolkien specific names like Hobbits and Balrogs, as well as other things from Tolkien's world. Heck, he even said "Most of the fantastic battles related in novels more closely resemble medieval warfare than they do earlier or later forms of combat. Because of this we are including a brief set of rules which will allow the medieval miniatures wargamer to add a new facet to his hobby, and either refight the epic struggles related by J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, and other fantasy writers; or you can devise your own "world", and conduct fantastic campaigns and conflicts based on it."

Recreating Tolkien's world to conduct fantastic campaigns was part of Chainmail.

You clearly didn't even read what I wrote. Again, Gary making a reference directly to Tolkien in no way, shape, or form means that Tolkien was the foundational influence to D&D. Which is what you claimed. It only means he was an influence. And we know how much, because Gary addressed this many times. He's outright said he wasn't the biggest influence, but included him and some of his creations because that's what people were most familiar with, and of course he wanted to sell as many brown boxes as possible.

The only response to this is to call Gary a liar. Which is awfully convenient now that he's dead and can't defend himself any longer.

 

[CleverNickName]

We are all, by our mere presence here, nerds. I dare you to find me something we could not muster up "the feels" about.

Ennui?

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Gradine]

The only response to this is to call Gary a liar. Which is awfully convenient now that he's dead and can't defend himself any longer.

Here's the thing about influences; the things (and particularly cultural artifacts) that influence us often do so in ways that are as much unconscious and conscious. We're not always the best in naming our influences at the best of times, and in a time when Gygax really wanted people to get into Sword & Sorcery but knew Tolkien was what everyone was reading, he (and others, let's not forget) built a game that would be familiar to Tolkien fans while still carrying the tone and feel of S&S. Thus, he had every reason to (both consciously and unconsciously) downplay the influence of Tolkien on the work. But to try to argue that Tolkien isn't foundational to D&D is just silly. Of course it's foundational; as foundational as the works of Vance, Howard, Lieber, or Moorcock, at the very least. Not just the borrowed creature here or there, but the playable races as well. D&D's Elves and Dwarves are Tolkien's Elves and Dwarves. Full stop. And Gygax's Halflings were still so close to Hobbits that Wizards has been doing everything in their power to make Halflings as "not-Hobbit" as possible while still being recognizable as D&D Halflings.

I'm not so sure I would call Tolkien foundational to Gygax's home game, given what we know of it, but of the game he (and others, let's not forget) wrote down and put in a box and sold to a bunch of people? The argument that he's not foundational just doesn't hold water.

 

[Gradine]

Ennui?

You have clearly never seen nerds trying to out-edge each other before.

Fun fact No. 1- I have no feels.Just in general.

Fun fact No. 2- None of those are Rom coms from the 1990s.

BOOM!

Fun Fact No. 1- Gnomes and Paladins are both worthy additions to the game of Dungeons & Dragons

Fun Fact No. 2 - Not of the genre as we would recognize it in, say the US or UK, no, but several were romantic dramedies that seemed to be in vogue at the time (along with post-soviet farce, it would appear).

 

[OB1]

OB1, I feel bad about persistently knocking the author you are upvoting, if you tell me why I'm wrong I will reconsider (though I am fairly set against). Do you see influence on D&D or do you just like the author?

Really I’ve read very few of these authors but her biography struck me for some reason so I figured I’d champion her. Didn’t expect her to win, but found it annoying that so early in the game she was getting downvotes for being a “threat” to another author, which launched my vendetta against Tolkien fans.

There were 15 or 20 other authors to downvote, many of which had never gotten an upvote. Might be wise to go after those first rather than get into an endgame battle so early.

So it’ll be -2 for Tolkien every day from me. Do as you wish with MSC, I’ll find another author to champion if she goes down.

 

[CleverNickName]

If it weren't for Tolkien, I never would have gotten involved in this hobby. I read The Hobbit in my early teens, just as TS&R was publishing their Red Box Rules (which I got for my 13th birthday...thanks mom!) Tolkien's epic tale of elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons inspired me to seek out other epic tales of elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons. Eventually it inspired me to write epic tales of my own for my friends and siblings. And here I am.

Clearly, some folks didn't have that experience and it makes me a little sad. Not out of pity or spite, come on...I'm old but I'm not petty.

It's more like a pang of nostalgia...the same feeling I get when I realize that some people never got to eat a White Tower hamburger. Or never got to buy the really good firecrackers from a roadside fireworks stand. Or never got to see The Empire Strikes Back in the theater, before Star Wars became a multi-million dollar franchise and started focusing more on toy sales and special effects than the story. (See also: Lord of the Rings.)

It's nobody's fault; times change and we change with them whether we like it or not. Long after he is finally voted out of this popularity contest (which will probably happen sometime tomorrow, the way the concerted attack is going), Tolkien's influence on the game is both obvious and undeniable. Take comfort in that, my fellow Tolkien fans.

Also: Downvoting Tolkien is like downvoting Muppet Yoda. Why would you do that?

 

[TiwazTyrsfist]

Bellairs, John 7
Burroughs, Edgar Rice 17
Carter, Lin 14
de Camp & Pratt 7
Dunsany, Lord 17
Leiber, Fritz 15
Merritt, A. 16
Offutt, Andrew J. 14
Pratt, Fletcher 12
St. Clair, Margaret 11
Tolkien, J.R.R. 10
Wellman, Manley Wade 14
Williamson, Jack 16
Zelazny, Roger 15

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Much the same experience, for me. Discovering Tolkien followed by the Red Box was a one-two punch that I never recovered from, thankfully.

Also, while neither are Rom-Coms of the 90s, I can recommend both Kontroll and Taxidermia (that one’s not for the squeamish, to be sure). That’s the extent of my knowledge for Hungarian cinema, I’m afraid.

If it weren't for Tolkien, I never would have gotten involved in this hobby. I read The Hobbit in my early teens, just as TS&R was publishing their Red Box Rules (which I got for my 13th birthday...thanks mom!) Tolkien's epic tale of elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons inspired me to seek out other epic tales of elves, dwarves, orcs, and dragons. Eventually it inspired me to write epic tales of my own for my friends and siblings. And here I am.