Dragonlance: Our LotR?

[Technomancer]

It's amazing how perceptions differ. Me, all I can remember was Tolkien going on for three pages about the predilections and tendencies of Hobbits, and Hobbit communities, and the plans for the party, etc.

There is a lot of this in Tolkien's writings, and the fact that he could make this kind of thing interesting is what sets him head and shoulders above many authors.

 

[Hjorimir]

I would have to say, hands down, that LotR has had a greater influence than DL for me. However, DL did revolutionize the way I played D&D.

Before DL came along I saw a D&D campaign as nothing more than linked adventures. DL showed me that the story of a setting can be greater than any particular adventure or set of adventures. It also showed me that it was okay to stray from the norm, such as it was, and try to put a new face on things in the game.

DL showed me how great a character can be. And for that, DL will always have a place in my heart.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

How many teens out there will treat "Full Metal Alchemist" or "Princess Monoke" anime with similar devotion -- THEIR "Lord of the Rings"...

Great, there goes my lunch.

 

[Henry]

Great, there goes my lunch.

JR, before you, there was people saying the same thing about this Tolkien guy and how his fiction couldn't hold attention nearly as much as stuff from authors like Howard, Lewis, Leiber, and Moorcock. Who was this guy saying this kind of stuff... I think his name was Gary something-or-other...

 

[tenkar]

It isn't a statistic. It is a number pulled out of my keister -- with more than a little exageration thrown in -- to make a point. I mean, really -- you've never been to a con or in a game shop and overhead a LotR "debate" that was obviously fueled by either a) a lot of assumptions, or b) a degree of misunderstanding the text so great that it might as well have equalled "haven't read it"?

If your answer is "No", I implore you to count yourself lucky.

Heh, then I guess i am considered lucky

Find me a decent gaming store in the NYC metro area (compleat doesn't count) or a decent con and I'll be more then happy to eavesdrop on a LotR "debate". My friends and I haven't had that type of discussion in ages.

 

[Mallus]

Great, there goes my lunch.

I'd put Miyazaki up there with Tolkien any day of the week... and higher on alternate Tuesdays.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I'd put Miyazaki up there with Tolkien any day of the week... and higher on alternate Tuesdays.

OMG - please tell me you aren't serious...

As for DL, I thought it was trite, boring and frankly uninspired. Though there are aspects of the series that are worth exploring, there are two indelible marks left on D&D that to this day I despise Weis & Hickman for (which is sad, because they are very nice people):
Kender and Tinker Gnomes - these two black blots on the face of fantasy have IMO lowered the bar for roleplayers for generations to come. If I ever hear of another gnome named Goddybinkletwitwiller or a halfling that acts like a two year old I swear I will scream!

Halfings and gnome are two of my favorite races, since DL came out I cannot play them CORRECTLY without some wisenheimer quoting DL and telling me how wrong my RP representation is. Frankly it makes me want to hurl. Kender are best when lighty roasted over an open flame and tinkergnomes are much better when flayed and rolled in salt...
No, DL is NOT 'our' LotR

 

[freyar]

Regarding the OP, I have to say that LotR was my LotR, and I was born mid-1970s. Probably read it for the first time in the 3rd grade or so. (I do seem to be one of the few people who finds The Silmarillion a great read, FWIW. And off topic, can anyone tell me how much new stuff there is in Children of Hurin that's not in Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales?) In terms of D&D fiction, my personal introduction was R.A. Salvatore's stuff, but that's only in the last couple of years.

I don't know how many people claim to have read Tolkien but haven't, but I have run into a number of people who claim to know things about Tolkien's writings that they just don't. I recall someone who just insisted that The Hobbit was written after LotR, for example.

 

[pawsplay]

I don't know how many people claim to have read Tolkien but haven't, but I have run into a number of people who claim to know things about Tolkien's writings that they just don't. I recall someone who just insisted that The Hobbit was written after LotR, for example.

Bwaha!

Still, that's better than thinking LOTR is a "big time D&D ripoff," like one of my college acquaintance's friends.

 

[mmu1]

JR, before you, there was people saying the same thing about this Tolkien guy and how his fiction couldn't hold attention nearly as much as stuff from authors like Howard, Lewis, Leiber, and Moorcock. Who was this guy saying this kind of stuff... I think his name was Gary something-or-other...

Who cares what some overrated hack thinks about Tolkien?