<story><title>The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons</title><url>https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-eldritch-roots-of-dungeons-dragons/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>at_a_remove</author><text>Like many exposed to D&amp;amp;D at a formative age, I too used Appendix N as kind of a jumping off point for exploration and was startled to see what came from where, and how undisguised it was.  Go through Vance&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;Dying Earth&lt;/i&gt; and you will find an Excellent Prismatic Spray, ioun stones, having to memorize spells (whose memory vanishes on use), and even that ever-uncomfortable addition: psionics.&lt;p&gt;Not a single mention of Dave Arneson in it, which pains me.  I can forgive the omission of fiction that was inspired by D&amp;amp;D (really, &lt;i&gt;Quag Keep&lt;/i&gt; and its greatly lagged sequel are terrible by almost any standard of fiction), but leaving out Arneson verges on the Downright Peculiar.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>wolverine876</author><text>Gygax had a habit of erasing some other major influences from history, including co-developer of D&amp;amp;D Dave Arneson, and JRR Tolkien&amp;#x27;s works.&lt;p&gt;Regarding Arneson, you can find documentaries online and books. Here are some other sources:&lt;p&gt;Rules for Middle Earth by Leonard Patt (~late 1970): 
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playingattheworld.blogspot.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;a-precursor-to-chainmail-fantasy.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;playingattheworld.blogspot.com&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;a-precursor-t...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tolkien was reportedly mentioned in versions of Chainmail (Gygax&amp;#x27;s precursor to D&amp;amp;D) and OD&amp;amp;D (the rare, staple-bound ~prototype&amp;#x2F;MVP version predating the breakthrough editions, Basic and Advanced D&amp;amp;D), but after an IP dispute the Tolkien references were removed and Gygax repeatedly disclaimed any interest in or influence by Tolkien, despite obvious similarities. There are also articles Gygax wrote for late-1960s fanzine, Thangorodrim, where he openly adopts Tolkien material:
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.org&amp;#x2F;search.php?query=thangorodrim&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;archive.org&amp;#x2F;search.php?query=thangorodrim&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons</title><url>https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-eldritch-roots-of-dungeons-dragons/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>at_a_remove</author><text>Like many exposed to D&amp;amp;D at a formative age, I too used Appendix N as kind of a jumping off point for exploration and was startled to see what came from where, and how undisguised it was.  Go through Vance&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;Dying Earth&lt;/i&gt; and you will find an Excellent Prismatic Spray, ioun stones, having to memorize spells (whose memory vanishes on use), and even that ever-uncomfortable addition: psionics.&lt;p&gt;Not a single mention of Dave Arneson in it, which pains me.  I can forgive the omission of fiction that was inspired by D&amp;amp;D (really, &lt;i&gt;Quag Keep&lt;/i&gt; and its greatly lagged sequel are terrible by almost any standard of fiction), but leaving out Arneson verges on the Downright Peculiar.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>musicale</author><text>&amp;gt; Not a single mention of Dave Arneson in it, which pains me. I can forgive the omission of fiction that was inspired by D&amp;amp;D (really, Quag Keep and its greatly lagged sequel are terrible by almost any standard of fiction), but leaving out Arneson verges on the Downright Peculiar&lt;p&gt;Definitely – Dave Arneson being the co-creator of D&amp;amp;D, via his legendary Blackmoor game&amp;#x2F;campaign. The original D&amp;amp;D rules, the Blackmoor supplement and setting, and the Temple of the Frog dungeon were all derived from Arneson&amp;#x27;s game.&lt;p&gt;Arneson was brilliant and his work is inspiring; I can only imagine how amazing it would have been to take a game design course from him when he taught at Full Sail in the 2000s.</text></comment>