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Message: <blockquote data-quote="piper909" data-source="post: 9715446" data-attributes="member: 7052169">If you are of a certain age, you grew up with only books (or comics), pre-dating any of the D&D games or any of the movies -- hence, people like me and my friends, in middle school/early high school, reading fantasy and sci-fi, discovering wargames (Avalon Hill, SPI), and Lord of the Rings pretty much simultaneously.  I am happy that my first two complete readings of LOTR (and then catching up to the Hobbit) were done while Professor Tolkien was still alive!  When I was introduced to (original) D&D in summer 1977 it felt fairly familiar -- very Tolkienesque (it still included hobbits and ents) and very Conan-esque. I came to read D&D influences like  Vance, Leiber, Anderson, Moorcock, etc. later, in college, while already playing and DMing D&D.  And I was very well-versed in Greek mythology from childhood. I'm not sure the classical myths are even part of public school classrooms anymore, but I loved all that stuff as a kid (and still do!).I kinda feel sorry for the folks who only know of Tolkien's writings from movie adaptations or knock-off fan-fiction like "Rings of Power."  I think they've missed out on a lot, and probably have formed some very different impressions of what Tolkien was all about or intended.  Kind of like I feel sorry for gamers who are used to being spoon-fed their adventures and game settings from publishers. Admirable as those often are, they mean substituting someone else's vision and imagination for your own.  In the beginning, RPGs were, for the Dungeon Master,  more about crafting YOUR own world for your players to share. It was a lot more work, of course; and I suppose a number of DMs weren't really up to the task. So it's good that there areprofessional,  prefab modules and worlds to explore as well.PS: The Silmarillion (and its spinoffs like The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, The Fall of Gondolin) never gets its due!  I adore this posthumous work and feel it's due for an expanded, corrected (?), re-edited deluxe edition (including the Ted Naismith illustrations).</blockquote>

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