When I was a kid, I was so wrapped up in Tolkien that I came to judge any other fantasy writer by the bar I felt he had set. This, believe it or not, was hardly an unusual perspective in the 1970s. Prior to Star Wars, Tolkien and Star Trek were really all most of us had.
What Inspires Me
“In the sharing of fun and hobbies, the true meaning of friendship most often manifests itself”
– David A. Hargrave
"Take my word for it, there is no such thing as an ancient village, especially if it has seen better days, unillustrated by its legends of terror. You might as well expect to find a decayed cheese without mites, or an old house without rats, as an antique and dilapidated town without an authentic population of goblins."
- Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
"And if you've got no other choice
You know you can follow my voice
Through the dark turns and noise
Of this wicked little town"
- John Cameron Mitchell
“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
- C.S. Lewis
"Games were all that made things serious or gave them form. To be a serious person, it was necessary to embrace one."
- Robert Stone
"Maturity consists in having rediscovered the seriousness one had as a child at play."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
"One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out of touch with their instinctive selves.”
- Carl Jung
"Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth."
- Jean-Paul Sartre
"Wilderlands taught me how to make and run a good sandbox setting. Arduin taught me how to not limit my imagination."
- Illés Tamás
“Even if you have no intention to ‘do magic’ when you play D&D, you are immersing yourself in an alien, magic worldview which can gradually change the way you think about life and spiritual matters.”
- Bill Schnoebelen
"Not far away were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people."
- J.R.R. Tolkien
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