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<blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 7979766" data-attributes="member: 21169">Is it clear that it's initially from Moorcock and not Poul Anderson's Three Hearts &amp; Three Lions? In Playing at the World Jon Peterson considers the latter to be more likely.Law-Neutrality-Chaos first appears in Chainmail (1971), which is more Tolkien-esque than 1974 OD&amp;D. I'd say the majority of the troop types in Chainmail are either taken entirely from Tolkien or have a Tolkien-ian element. The major conflict in The Lord of the Rings is between good and evil. In Three Hearts &amp; Three Lions, Law = good and Chaos = evil.Holger got the idea that a perpetual struggle went on between primeval forces of Law and Chaos. No, not forces exactly. Modes of existence? A terrestrial reflection of the spiritual conflict between heaven and hell? In any case, humans were the chief agents on earth of Law, though most of them were so only unconsciously and some, witches and warlocks and evildoers, had sold out to Chaos.So in Chainmail we get mostly Tolkien-ian troop types, divided up into sides that are named using terminology from Anderson. Anderson, Tolkien, Howard, and Moorcock are the only fantasy authors named in Chainmail afaik.Law and Chaos only become Moorcock-ian later on in D&amp;D, once they need to 'make room' for Good and Evil as separate poles.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Doug McCrae, post: 7979766, member: 21169"] Is it clear that it's initially from Moorcock and not Poul Anderson's Three Hearts & Three Lions? In Playing at the World Jon Peterson considers the latter to be more likely. Law-Neutrality-Chaos first appears in Chainmail (1971), which is more Tolkien-esque than 1974 OD&D. I'd say the majority of the troop types in Chainmail are either taken entirely from Tolkien or have a Tolkien-ian element. The major conflict in The Lord of the Rings is between good and evil. In Three Hearts & Three Lions, Law = good and Chaos = evil. [indent]Holger got the idea that a perpetual struggle went on between primeval forces of Law and Chaos. No, not forces exactly. Modes of existence? A terrestrial reflection of the spiritual conflict between heaven and hell? In any case, humans were the chief agents on earth of Law, though most of them were so only unconsciously and some, witches and warlocks and evildoers, had sold out to Chaos.[/indent] So in Chainmail we get mostly Tolkien-ian troop types, divided up into sides that are named using terminology from Anderson. Anderson, Tolkien, Howard, and Moorcock are the only fantasy authors named in Chainmail afaik. Law and Chaos only become Moorcock-ian later on in D&D, once they need to 'make room' for Good and Evil as separate poles. [/QUOTE]

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