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A point of order on Theris Nordo Ichka's review.
Gygax was not influenced by Tolkien he wasn't a fan. More Robert E Howard, Morecock ect.
Sorry to burst your bubble Aldoth, but Gygax was heavily influenced by Tolkien (where do you think halflings, orcs, or rangers came from? Just to name a few).
In his famous ‘Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading’ (from his ‘Dungeon Master’s Guide’) Gygax clearly states “Tolkien, J.R.R. THE HOBBIT; “Ring Trilogy””
Also, fantasy was hardly a genre before Tolkien’s works brought it to immense popularity. Without this boost of interest in fantasy, who knows whether Gygax would have made his game at all, and even if he had, would it have gained so much popularity early on to allow its long life?
I think it would be extremely difficult to create any fantasy (books, games, whatever) after Tolkien without being influenced by him, in the same way it would be difficult not to be influenced by D&D now. All works build on those that came before.
---Theris
I have nothing but love and true respect for both men; but it was quietly considered by a few that Mr. Gygax did borrow heavily from Prof. Tolkein. As did a lot of past and current fantasy authors.
But later on, yes there was indeed a distancing by Mr. Gygax from Prof. Tolkein's works, as to keep from being entangled with the Tolkein Estate.
That does not take away from the fact that both men were, still simply, quite genius.
A point of order on Theris Nordo Ichka's review.
Gygax was not influenced by Tolkien he wasn't a fan. More Robert E Howard, Morecock ect.
There is a bit of difference between 'not influenced by' and 'he wasn't a fan'.
As I remember, in the very original editions, Halflings were called Hobbits and Baalors(sp?) were Balrogs.
Just my tuppence
Might well be that Gygax wasn't much of a fan at all of Tolkien...
Then again-- *Dave Arneson* had a LOT to do with the original D&D game (Gygax was a tabletop miniatures wargamer originally-- Arneson was the one who came up with the idea of playing *individual characters* in the first place, and with the idea that characters could gain experience and become more powerful from session to session), so maybe he was the Tolkien fan who brought a lot of the stuff into it-- however, since the Chainmail game's fantasy portion had a lot of material in it that was clearly derived from Tolkien...
Tolkien's works did have a lot of influence on D&D.