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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Blustar" data-source="post: 2457776" data-attributes="member: 34486">I think the impact of Tolkien on D&D cannot be underestimated. Popularity, substance, sales!!! From what I have gleaned from many late night message-board perusings, including Col. Plahdoh's, is that LOTR wasn't his favorite "fantasy" but it was all the craze and rage at the time. So, understandably, he altered his Vancian, Howard, Moorcock, influenced game and added JRRT flavor post-haste to jump on the proverbial bandwagon. A stroke of genius I might add.  As for me, if it wasn't for the Tolkien flavor being so predominant, it probably would have taken me a lot longer to find and then shell out the money to play the game. (I'm notorious for trying to hang on to my hard earned cash, unless its RPG's of course!!!) When I saw Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits (er, halflings), Ranger, etc...I was in; hook, line, and sinker!!! Thanks Gary!!! It was very sneaky of him but now I thank him for it because I was intoduced to the best game ever and it also turned me on to some authors I probably never woild have read. Vance, Leiber, Howard, etc. from the suggested reading in back of the 1ed DMG. I'm still hardcore Tolkien to the bone but I'm not as elitist in my "fantasy" musings and see the merit in many other "genre" authors. ( I love Poul Anderson by the way!)  As to why EGG doesn't give JRRT more credit is beyond me. Artistic envy??? Hell, I'm envious every time I read LOTR's and realize I wont be able to describe the earth in such evocative and emotional ways. Almost like the earth was alive and breathing. But I love him for it all the more because of his genius (Tolkien). The fans love of Tolkien, fueled their thirst and hunger for "fantasy", myth, adventure, etc. and D&D provided an outlet. (Intentionally or not) The rest is history.  As for MERP, I agree that it was a nice attempt but I always wished they would do a D&D version cause MERP was so deadly of a system. If I didn't fudge like a madman, someone's guts would be on the floor almost every combat!!! I loved the maps, didn't care for the non-canonical writings, and am still pissed they didn't make a D20 version of it! Aggghhh! Damn decipher! Yes I have that game too but it leaves a lot to be desired.   So there aren't any misconceptions, I don't think JRRT was the main reason or only reason D&D became so popular in its infancy but it was an important one. More so to the general public than to the "wargamers" of that time. I think it achieved unprecedented penetration to non-gamers because of this. As to why it's still popular today, well its a great game! People just need to give it a chance, D&D will take care of the rest. I would rank the different versions in this order: AD&D 1ed, 3.5, 2ed, ClassicD&D. Hackmaster would be close to 1ed, but I don't think it really counts. I never played OD&D. regards, Alex</blockquote>

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