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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 2818139" data-attributes="member: 158">Some elements would not exist as they are now. Halflings would not exist; treants would not, and likely there would be no swords glowing blue in the presence of orcs.The other tropes would certainly exist, but possibly in slightly altered form; clerics, fighting men, magic-users, dwarves, still elves, but the game I think would have been largely unchanged up through the late 1970's.The biggest changes perhaps would be in the intervening years; the game influences would be more focused on Conanesque or Leiberesque tales; perhaps the game's popularity might have never really left the wargaming circles of the 70's and 80's. Keep in mind the biggest heirs of Tolkien:--the Dragonlance Chronicles--The Forgotten Realms (yes, inspired by Conan, but there is much Tolkien in the Realms as they developed)--Peirs Anthony--Zelazny--Robert Jordan--most Romantic Fantasy--even the Chronicles of Narnia might not exist had Tolkien not existed. After all, C.S. Lewis' interest in fantasy and his conversion to Christianity were either made possible by or heavily influenced by Tolkien.With no Tolkien comes no trends of Romantic Fantasy to dominance in the 1980's. Therefore, Greyhawk as envisioned by Gary and friends remains the primary focus. Where this takes the hobby's popularity I really cannot say. (Some folks may the wistful, though. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />) However, it wouldn't be the hobby I grew up in, and may not have enjoyed past my teenage years.</blockquote>

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