Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: In the Shadow of Tolkien
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Bri" data-source="post: 9715289" data-attributes="member: 7053278"><p>I saw Star Wars in drive in when I was 8 and it was EVERYTHING. We played lightsaber with broomsticks. First real novel I tried to read was Splinter in Mind's Eye, the first Star Wars novel.</p><p></p><p>Read Hobbit in 7th grade and it became EVERYTHING. Read everything Tolkien ever wrote and everything ever written about Tolkien.</p><p></p><p>D&D began about same time with boys from chess club. Miniature combat as a complex upgrade to chess.</p><p></p><p>Really hard to avoid influence of Tolkien. He used such broad source materials for his work. Note that orcs are out of Roman mythology and Greek epics are the greatest sources. Very little survived of northern European mythology. Even though primary characters are northern like Hobbits, others like Aragon obviously Greek.</p><p></p><p>Alignment? That's pure Tolkien. He was an extreme white hat/black hat kinda guy. This is what children need. Oh boy is Strider scary until you figure out he's just in disguise as a bad guy </p><p></p><p>Ambiguous morality is forbidden. That's Southern Goth like Ann Rice where a vampire can be a hero and has nothing to do with Tolkien. There can be neutrality like the Ents or Tom Bombadil maybe, but never ambiguity. Twisted souls in need of saving like Gollum or Darth Vader</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bri, post: 9715289, member: 7053278"] I saw Star Wars in drive in when I was 8 and it was EVERYTHING. We played lightsaber with broomsticks. First real novel I tried to read was Splinter in Mind's Eye, the first Star Wars novel. Read Hobbit in 7th grade and it became EVERYTHING. Read everything Tolkien ever wrote and everything ever written about Tolkien. D&D began about same time with boys from chess club. Miniature combat as a complex upgrade to chess. Really hard to avoid influence of Tolkien. He used such broad source materials for his work. Note that orcs are out of Roman mythology and Greek epics are the greatest sources. Very little survived of northern European mythology. Even though primary characters are northern like Hobbits, others like Aragon obviously Greek. Alignment? That's pure Tolkien. He was an extreme white hat/black hat kinda guy. This is what children need. Oh boy is Strider scary until you figure out he's just in disguise as a bad guy Ambiguous morality is forbidden. That's Southern Goth like Ann Rice where a vampire can be a hero and has nothing to do with Tolkien. There can be neutrality like the Ents or Tom Bombadil maybe, but never ambiguity. Twisted souls in need of saving like Gollum or Darth Vader [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: In the Shadow of Tolkien
Top