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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sacrosanct" data-source="post: 7271203" data-attributes="member: 15700">No it doesn't.  Looking at my 3rd edition of Chainmail right now.  Tolkien is mentioned exactly once in the fantasy supplement.  Paraphrasing: For those fantasy wargamers that want to recreate fantasy battles like those from JRR Tolkien, Howard, and others, here you go.  That's not exactly top billing.  That seems more of a generic call out to popular fantasy authors in general.  What is specific, however, is a callout under the Troll description to Poul Anderson Three Hearts, Three Lionsas far as OD&D in 1974, Gygax lists off several authors as direct inspiration to your (as the player) D&D game.  Tolkien is not one of them.  Then in the rulebooks later, he calls out other authors (like Lord Dunsany).  I don't care about Appendix N, because every fantasy author is in Appendix N.  Being included in Appendix N does not tell you how much influence that the person has, only that it is inspirational reading.So, back to my point, is that it seems clear that while Tolkien obviously had important influence, it's not as much as people are giving him credit for because he's not the one who is directly being called out in the rules as the source of inspiration for the game*, and many of the things people are giving him credit for he didn't come up with but borrowed it himself.*In fact, in a 1974 interview (before the lawsuit), Gary specifically states that Tolkien is not a good influence because the stories run counter to what D&D is all about: fast paced adventure and larger than life heroes--two things he specifically states Tolkien is not, but authors like Howard and Lieber are about.  That's about as clear as you can get as to what inspired the framework of the D&D game.</blockquote>

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