D&D General Are You There D&D? It's Me, J.R.R. Tol-KEEEEN!

[Hussar]

A most (if not all) of this stuff predates rowling, though.

Never said it wasn't. It's not like most of the stuff Rowlings came up with was entirely original. My point was that it wasn't Tolkien. Replace Rowlings with any number of other authors and it doesn't really make much difference. I mean, Wheel of Time starts in 1990. Philosopher's Stone is 1997. It's not a huge gap there. The point was that post 1990's fantasy has a very large impact on modern DnD that has largely over written a lot of the Tolkien influences.

In other words, I was using Rowling as a short hand reference that most people would easily know. Of course, I forgot that the ultra pedantic out there would much rather nit pick examples rather than discuss the actual meat of the changes.

 

[Azzy]

Never said it wasn't. It's not like most of the stuff Rowlings came up with was entirely original. My point was that it wasn't Tolkien. Replace Rowlings with any number of other authors and it doesn't really make much difference. I mean, Wheel of Time starts in 1990. Philosopher's Stone is 1997. It's not a huge gap there. The point was that post 1990's fantasy has a very large impact on modern DnD that has largely over written a lot of the Tolkien influences.

In other words, I was using Rowling as a short hand reference that most people would easily know. Of course, I forgot that the ultra pedantic out there would much rather nit pick examples rather than discuss the actual meat of the changes.

I agree that there's more modern influence in D&D now than Tolkien, it was just your specific example I didn't agree with.

 

[Parmandur]

If Wheel of Time was all that influential you'd think we'd see psionics be (or become) much more prominent in the game, to the point of even replacing a lot of current spellcasting, given that Jordan's magic system is nearly all mind-based.

Eh, not really? Channeling the One Power is more like the Weave as described in 5E lore, and how magic users access it.

 

[Parmandur]

Never said it wasn't. It's not like most of the stuff Rowlings came up with was entirely original. My point was that it wasn't Tolkien. Replace Rowlings with any number of other authors and it doesn't really make much difference. I mean, Wheel of Time starts in 1990. Philosopher's Stone is 1997. It's not a huge gap there. The point was that post 1990's fantasy has a very large impact on modern DnD that has largely over written a lot of the Tolkien influences.

In other words, I was using Rowling as a short hand reference that most people would easily know. Of course, I forgot that the ultra pedantic out there would much rather nit pick examples rather than discuss the actual meat of the changes.

But all that post-90s Fantasy is in reaction to Tolkien in some way or another: there is no escaping that influence.

 

[Joshua Randall]

Now the question is: Will @Snarf Zagyg ever actually finish the OP or will this remain a completely random thread?

This thread is the new Hivemind.

I, for one, welcome our new Snarf-y overlords.

 

[Maxperson]

This thread is the new Hivemind.

I, for one, welcome our new Snarf-y overlords.

 

[Chaltab]

In other words, I was using Rowling as a short hand reference that most people would easily know. Of course, I forgot that the ultra pedantic out there would much rather nit pick examples rather than discuss the actual meat of the changes.

That seems unfair. I just didn't understand where you were coming from.

 

[Hussar]

That seems unfair. I just didn't understand where you were coming from.

You're right. That was unfair of me. Been running into a rather extended spate of people jumping all over the example, rather than the point of late and I let it make me grumpy. My bad.

 

[Hussar]

But all that post-90s Fantasy is in reaction to Tolkien in some way or another: there is no escaping that influence.

Well, that's probably true. I mean, it's pretty hard not to be, really. But, to be fair, "not-Tolkien" fantasy has managed to establish itself pretty solidly in the past twenty or thirty years. And, while I'm not a Wheel of Time fan (never read any of them), I've spent more than enough time with Harry Potter to think that JK Rowling's primary influences weren't really Tolkien at all. Other than the sort of generic influence that Tolkien has in the genre. It's not like Rowling's elves are anything like Tolkien's. Nor the dwarves. Sure, you have a big, bad evil wizard, but, again, that's not really the inspiration.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But all that post-90s Fantasy is in reaction to Tolkien in some way or another: there is no escaping that influence.

Rowling claims to have never read Lord of the Rings, and to dislike the fantasy genre in general (quite sneery in fact). Potter is more of a "reaction to" Mallory Towers.

Personally, I think more 90s fantasy is a "reaction to" D&D than to Tolkien.