What if... D&D had been designed BEFORE The Lord of the Rings!

[Col_Pladoh]

Cool.. and I didn't even need to use a chalk circle, goat's blood or anything!

Seriously though, since you are here, what do you think would have been different (if anything) about the style or tone of the adventures themselves, there has been some considerable speculation above about how it might be different owing to the different time period in which it would have been conceptualized (20-30s).

Also, how about those funny looking dice? Still the same? Just d6? A spinner? Cards? not nearly as much random elements in the mechanics? none? What do you think?

Language didn't change all that much from the 1920s and 30s to the 60s and 70s. That said, who knows how different the tenor of the text might have been.

As for randomization, d6s singally and in combination would have likely been the main determinant, as one can get 1-2, 1-3, 1-6, 1-12, 1-24, and 1-36 on a linear curve without much trouble thus. There would have been more bell curves, of course, and in general the lack of other dice types would have made the game a bit less interesting.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I have a busy morning, so I am responding here in haste.

The Andrew Lang fairy stories are a good source of inspirational material. So is the old novel Orlando Furioso. The Secret Commonwealth is a serious book of non-fiction. It has been many yeras since I read it, but in searching it out I recall finding several other old books dealing with the subject of the fairy realms.

As toy soldiers have been aroud for many years, I don't see chess pieces taking their place

Cheers,
Gary

 

[w_earle_wheeler]

As toy soldiers have been aroud for many years, I don't see chess pieces taking their place

Ah-ha! An excellent point.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Ah-ha! An excellent point.

Of course back in the 1940s and 1950s I had quite a collection of 70mm and then 54mm metal figurines of WWII and then various other periods when I began to acquire Britons sets. We played "wargames" with them but never really managed useful rules, as flipping coins wasn't veryaccurate in sumulation, only marginally better than the ladyfinger firecrackers we shot at the opposing forces via cannons.

Anyway, I know some of my much older cousins had toy soldiers back in the 1920s.

Cheerio,
Gary

 

[fusangite]

Gary,

Now that we've got your attention, I'm wondering if you could comment on one of my speculations about this. Do you think the Hobbit and LOTR increased the expected party size. I think one of Tolkien's biggest influences would have been an expectation of large parties with high degrees of specialization.

 

[Col_Pladoh]

Gary,

Now that we've got your attention, I'm wondering if you could comment on one of my speculations about this. Do you think the Hobbit and LOTR increased the expected party size. I think one of Tolkien's biggest influences would have been an expectation of large parties with high degrees of specialization.

Howdy Fusangite,

Indeed, I do believe that Tolkien's tale, The Hobbit, (which book I read aloud many times to five of my children) encouraged the concept of adventuring bands consisting of more than a few members. That was most beneficial to the D&D game, of course, making it appeal more broadly.

There wasn't all that much specialization involved, though, just the "thief" I should imagine.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[fusangite]

Howdy Fusangite,

Indeed, I do believe that Tolkien's tale, The Hobbit, (which book I read aloud many times to five of my children) encouraged the concept of adventuring bands consisting of more than a few members. That was most beneficial to the D&D game, of course, making it appeal more broadly.

There wasn't all that much specialization involved, though, just the "thief" I should imagine.

True. The specialization was more evident in the first book of LOTR.

 

[buzz]

I can't believe no one has posted this yet:

Mazes & Minotaurs

 

[Col_Pladoh]

I can't believe no one has posted this yet:

Mazes & Minotaurs

A specious claim of course. The original RPG was surely children playing at pretend before books were being written. Also, there was only one role and one setting in which to play Mazes & Minotaurs.

Cheers,
Gary

 

[buzz]

A specious claim of course. The original RPG was surely children playing at pretend before books were being written. Also, there was only one role and one setting in which to play Mazes & Minotaurs.

Cheers,
Gary

You gotta admit, it's a nifty experiment.