The Sources of D&D

[Doug McCrae]

This list is intended to be exhaustive though isn't yet.

Class roles – War(gaming). Fighter = infantry, magic-user = artillery, cleric = medic, thief = ranger/spy.
Ranger, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling, orc, half-orc, goblin, wight, worg, balor, werebear, treant, giant eagle, red dragon - Tolkien
Magic system, prismatic spray, ioun stone - Vance
Law and chaos - Poul Anderson and/or Michael Moorcock
Cleric spells, angel, demon and devil - Christianity
Werewolf, vampire, mummy, zombie, flesh golem – Horror movies
Thieves' and assassins' guilds, demilich, wererat – Fritz Leiber
Barbarian – RE Howard + norse berserkers
Monk – David Carradine’s character in Kung Fu
Illusionist - Lin Carter's Warrior of the World's End
Mind flayer, gibbering mouther, fishmen (sahuagin, locathah, kuo-toa) – HP Lovecraft
Troll, paladin - Poul Anderson's Three Hearts And Three Lions
Rust monster, bulette, owlbear – Kid’s toys
Displacer beast – Voyage Of The Space Beagle by AE Van Vogt
Skeleton – Ray Harryhausen
Dominating sword - Michael Moorcock's Stormbringer
Vorpal sword – Lewis Carroll
Lich – Clark Ashton Smith and/or Gardner Fox's The Sword Of The Sorcerer
Derro – Richard Shaver
Gargoyle – Medieval architecture
Girallon – ER Burroughs' Mars series
Purple worm – Frank Herbert’s Dune
Homunculus – The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad
Gnoll – Lord Dunsany
Grimlock – HG Wells' The Time Machine
Shambling mound - 70s comics swamp monsters
Oozes - The Blob
Shadow - Abraham Merritt's Creep, Shadow, Creep
Phantasmal killer - EE 'Doc' Smith's Second Stage Lensman
Medusa, chimera, pegasus, hydra, harpy, sphinx, centaur, erinyes, minotaur, nymph, dryad, satyr, triton, gorgon (name and petrification only) – Greek myth
Dragon, giant, manticore, unicorn, cockatrice, basilisk, gryphon, hippogriff, wyvern, hag, kobold, merfolk, ogre, nixie, pixie, succubus, ettin, barghest, gorgon, tarrasque – European myth/folklore
Rakshasa, naga - Indian myth
Golems, clay golem – Jewish myth
Djinni, efreeti, roc – Middle Eastern myth
Gold and silver dragons – Chinese myth
Couatl – Aztec religion

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Paladin - Three Hearts and Three Lions
Ioun Stone - Vance
Wererat - Leiber (and by inference, all the other werecreatures)

 

[SuStel]

Class roles – War(gaming). Fighter = infantry, magic-user = artillery,

Yes, but...

cleric = medic, thief = ranger/spy.

No. The cleric wasn't conceived of as a medic, and the thief didn't derive from wargaming. The cleric was a hero with powers, something like a crusader; the thief was a response to situations discovered while first playing D&D in dungeons.

Ranger, elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, half-orcs, goblins, wight, worg, balor - Tolkien[/quote

Rangers, worgs, halflings, and balors, yes. The rest only kind of so-so. To different degrees, those who included these elements into the game drew upon some of the same sources as Tolkien did. Now, some were more heavily influenced by Tolkien, like elves and dwarves. But it's not a straight derivative.

Werewolves, vampires, mummies and zombies – Horror movies

And the folklore whence the movies are derived.

Barbarian – RE Howard

Only the Conan sort. Other barbarians, like plainsmen, come out of anthropology, archeology, and history.

gorgon (name and petrification only) – Greek myth

No, these come from myths too.

Dragon, giant, manticore, unicorn, cockatrice, basilisk, gryphon, hippogriff, wyvern, hag, kobold, merfolk, ogre, nixie, pixie, succubus, ettin, barghest – European myth/folklore

Some are more widespread than that. There are legends about dragons, for instance, from all over.

 

[Raven Crowking]

gorgon (name and petrification only) – Greek myth

You might want to look at this: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/oddnotes/topsellgorgon.html

 

[Doug McCrae]

You might want to look at this: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/oddnotes/topsellgorgon.html

Thanks for the link.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Thanks for the link.

Any time. Thanks for the list. Given some time, it could be quite a useful resource.

BTW, wouldn't you say that the shambling mound was from Marvel Comics Man Thing?

 

[WayneLigon]

Homunculus – The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad

The concept of the homunculus as a twisted little manwas around for hundreds of years before the film. That, the gorgon and several other examples show how widely read a lot of your early game designers were. There are hundreds of books of obscure myths, bestiaries and the like. For people living in a large city with a really good library, all that became grist for the gaming mill so to speak.

 

[Hjorimir]

I noticed that WotC's upcoming miniatue set features a Bronze Golem in the shape of a Minotaur. That's Sinbad right there.

 

[PapersAndPaychecks]

Werebear - Tolkein.

 

[Vascant]

Just a few corrections that I spotted off hand..

Ranger, old french term for which JRR based his works from..
Dragon, dawn of time? This creature has been in everything from cave walls to the bible, even Asian countries had used it before Europe.