"Literary inspiration for the worlds of the fantasy role-playing games comes from many sources. The fantasy worlds of Dungeons & Dragons and Chivalry & Sorcery are based on the myth and fairy tale. This field of literature is dominated by the work of one man in this century: J. R. R. Tolkien. Without the popularity of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, fantasy role playing would not have found the wide public it now enjoys. Despite this, most fantasy games are closer to the wild, blood-thirsty worlds of Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and L. Sprague de Camp ... As Dungeon Master, I have drawn extensively on the works of A. Merritt, Andre Norton, Clark Ashton Smith, Lord Dunsany, Edgard Rice Burroughs and H. Rider Haggard" - J. Eric Holmes, Fantasy Role-Playing Games, 1981, pg 46.
The animated Hobbit film premiered 35 years ago in November 1977, just about six months after the Basic Set was first released in June 1977. A big year that also saw the release of Star Wars in May, Tolkien's Silmarillion in September, and the first AD&D hardcover, the Monster Manual, in late December.
More Holmes on Tolkien.
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