Robert E Howard vs JRR Tolkien

[HeavyMetalWarrior]

so guys who is your favorite author? biggest inspiration for your games?

Hyboria or Midgard? Conan or Frodo?

[Blood axe]

Midgard? You mean Middle Earth? You can take one look at LL & easily make that decision. Elves, dwarves, halflings. No naked slave girls. Tolkein for the win.

[HeavyMetalWarrior]

Midgard? You mean Middle Earth? You can take one look at LL & easily make that decision. Elves, dwarves, halflings. No naked slave girls. Tolkein for the win.

Middle Earth is English for Midgard!

yeah LL has te tolkien races, but all the dungeon exploring, magic spells and treasure pillaging is very Conan and king Kull to me!

i find that LL its a fair mix of both autors, and also depends of the setting the GM chooses!

[Blood axe]

90% of the settings I've seen look more Tolkein than Howard. We'll just agree to disagree.

PS. How many LL fighters have you seen with no armor & using a two-handed sword? LOL.

[artikid]

My favorites:
Clark Ashton Smith
Fritz Leiber
Jack Vance
Karl Edward Wagner

Neither Tolkien nor Howard (nor Moorcock) make my top list, but yes they are good.

However I've always seen D&D as is its own kid of fantasy and I rarely take cues from lit to design my gaming worlds.

[HeavyMetalWarrior]

90% of the settings I've seen look more Tolkein than Howard. We'll just agree to disagree.

PS. How many LL fighters have you seen with no armor & using a two-handed sword? LOL.

ahahah Conan is not always naked in the stories xD actually he almost always wears mail and scale amour.
But well, Tolkien rules too! the silmarillion is perfect for LL

[Vargr1105]

I would prefer a mixed setting with elements of the two, and I would second Heavy Metal Warrior's assertion that the grim-eyed barbarian didn't go around half-naked most of the time. After Conan became king he used plate mail (or field plate even) because he could afford it and had entire hosts of Aquilonian knights donning heavy armor.

While LL looks like Middle-Earth the similarities are more aesthetic than anything else. LL has magic coming out of the wazoo and 99% of its creatures and beings are not present in Tolkien lore.

With a few name changes and aesthetic differences, by-the-book LL can become quite hyborean. Make the Halflings pygmies from northen Kush, the Dwarves Himellian mountain-men and the elves Hyperborean sorcerer-warriors. The humanoid races all live in hidden valleys, lost cities, ruined acheronian enclaves, etc.
Pig-faced orcs could be mutants guarding the secret undeground temples of Bel; the city of Zamora is riddled with ancient tunnels where a race of tiny dog-like men (kobolds) are known to dwell, etc.

[kjc]

Why can't we all get along??

What if Howard and Tolkien had a love-child...a tiny but well muscled little dude with a square cut mane and hairy feet...named...
FRONAN THE HOBBARIAN!
Oh yeah, gotta get that copyrighted

BTW put me down in the Hyborian column

[greyarea]

LOL

[Scalydemon]

I like em both, but when pressed with a dirk to my throat would probably go with REH