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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 9043621" data-attributes="member: 7026594">Yes.&nbsp; Although the dungeon Svenny and those guys had their delve into in pursuit of the wizard and Balrog and retrieving the magic sword was already more akin to a D&amp;D dungeon than a castle basement/prison dungeon, as the accounts I've read depicted it.&nbsp; It was already a&nbsp; large multi-level complex.Adventuring bards, of course, have clear pulp fiction antecedents in two of the authors Gygax cites in Appendix N- Poul Anderson's Cappen Varra, and Manley Wade Wellman's Silver John and Kardios of Atlantis.&nbsp; While the original class write up doesn't mention them, in favor of citing historical and mythical Irish and Welsh antecedents instead, those three heroes seem pretty clear inspirations.Druids getting to shapechange into the forms of various woodland animals 3x/day at 7th level is not very similar to Beorn at all.&nbsp; Druid prestige classes which are more similar (focusing on shapechanging, or on bear form more specifically) date back to 3rd ed.&nbsp; Maybe a kit in 2nd?&nbsp; Certainly the 0E and 1E Druids bear virtually no resemblance to anything in Tolkien.Well, the mistletoe bit and a number of other things come from Pliny the Elder, some other details are based on stuff in Commentarii de Bello Gallico.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 9043621, member: 7026594"] Yes. Although the dungeon Svenny and those guys had their delve into in pursuit of the wizard and Balrog and retrieving the magic sword was already more akin to a D&D dungeon than a castle basement/prison dungeon, as the accounts I've read depicted it. It was already a large multi-level complex. Adventuring bards, of course, have clear pulp fiction antecedents in two of the authors Gygax cites in Appendix N- Poul Anderson's Cappen Varra, and Manley Wade Wellman's Silver John and Kardios of Atlantis. While the original class write up doesn't mention them, in favor of citing historical and mythical Irish and Welsh antecedents instead, those three heroes seem pretty clear inspirations. Druids getting to shapechange into the forms of various woodland animals 3x/day at 7th level is not very similar to Beorn at all. Druid prestige classes which are more similar (focusing on shapechanging, or on bear form more specifically) date back to 3rd ed. Maybe a kit in 2nd? Certainly the 0E and 1E Druids bear virtually no resemblance to anything in Tolkien. Well, the mistletoe bit and a number of other things come from Pliny the Elder, some other details are based on stuff in [I]Commentarii de Bello Gallico.[/I] [/QUOTE]

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