Quote:
Originally Posted by Black Leviathan
How would you know if you created a non-Tolkienesque world?
Serious question!
Tolkien has been the inspiration for so many of the sources that inspire us as game masters that it's difficult to know for sure if you're drawing on a source that isn't putting a twist on the works of Tolkienesque. The whole of D&D, while original cannon is part-and-parcel Tolkien concepts and that whole genre is built on a foundation of of those tropes.
I've built games based on Norse Mythology or Gaelic and Germanic fairies but both of those worlds were set in very Northern European settings with non-humans and a malevolent force threatening the world. Is that Tolkein? I've run games with Elves and Dwarves but set in a variety of biomes, with no over-arching villain is that Tolkien? What about games with Dwarves and Elves but no magic? In 1870's?
If Tolkienesque is defined as containing elements from Tolkien's works then the whole hobby is either Tolkienesque or built on Tolkienesque concepts.
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J.R.R. Tolkien was an inspiration for D&D, yes. The whole hobby is Tolkienesque? Possibly. We are all heirs to Tolkien's work,
The Lord of the Rings. But there has been efforts to be not Tolkienesque but be more original. While Cubicle 7 has the License to do RPGs based on J.R.R. Tolkien, there has been efforts to try something original.
Dark Sun is one such effort, and would have succeeded if it weren't for TSR's marketing department. There are others. Birthright, for instance, is an example of taking Tolkien's ideas and twisting them (some what successfully). I think the argument has been made. Everyone in the hobby is somewhat, heirs to Tolkien. IF he were still alive, I bet he would have one last laugh against his critics.