pogre
Legend
Maybe, but man when I was a kid in the mid 70's there was just something very cool about exploring a dungeon that captured my imagination in ways nothing else could.I think it is important to remember that D&D did not catch fire for half a decade or more. It took years for it to spread word of mouth and then ramp up. I have never seen ant compelling evidence that suggests it would not have at least started its life similarly had it leaned more into the Planetary Romance or Space Fantasy rather than Medieval Fantasy. He'll, D&D could have easily started out as Napoleanic Fantasy given its wargame provenance. I don't think there is any real evidence to suggest that it was the crappy Conan reprint milieu that drove D&D'Souza adoption rather than the new paradigm in play.
Not saying you are wrong, but I don't think those other genres would have captured my imagination the same way.
But, who knows?
As an aside, back in the late 90s/ early 2000 I sold Dave Arneson a bunch of mint condition Blackmoor modules I had picked up for cheap at a Kaybee toy store a few years earlier. One of the wildest ebay sales ever. He was extremely polite and cordial. I wish I could have kept his check, but I needed the $ at the time!
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