The quote function screws up in firefox, not sure why.
Um, not sure why you guys seem to be a little hostile or claiming I am grasping at straws. You haven't read the stories and you are trying to disprove me by reading the WIKI?
Sir, you can't read the Thorbardin WIKI and come to any conclusion about whether I am right or wrong about this. And if you're going to claim I'm some kind of conspirist, at least _address my points_ and explain why you came to this conclusion? Does ONE person here know whether Toady was actually inspired by these stories??
And (major LOL) I didn't come to my conclusions because both have elves, goblins, humans, and dwarves that use smelters and forges and build fortifications in mountains. For so many people Tolkien (one of my top 3 favs) is the beginning and the end and they know nothing beyond that. lol
The fact is, until you have read The Covenant of the Forge and the other books in the series, than you have no idea what I'm talking about. Believe me, I just reread them. The ah-hah moments are there. Many of them. Wonderful coincidence? Maybe. But very hard to believe. You may not agree after you have read them, but I think you wouldn't just dismiss my idea entirely once you had. There are a lot of generalities and similiarities, I absolutely agree. SO many of them that I believe Toady might have read these books at one time.
BTW, the possible seed for a fey idea are there...Pack Lodestone in Hammer and Axe (the second book). Again, read the books and come back and tell me I'm way off base here?
As far as the game being a Tolkien simulation, I disagree, and I will tell you why. To me DF is like all the other Tolkien influened games.... _very_ inspired by Tolkien, but not quite it. Kind of an alternate reality, with purring maggots to boot. On the other hand, you could have called this game Thorbardin easily.
I'm not claiming it's a ripoff or an exact version of Thorbardin, although the concept is definately exactly the same (find place for fortress, create fortress, defend/build fortress). The gateplugs and tractor worms aren't there (and no wonder... then it would be an obvious DL ripoff).
Toady put his mark on dwarves and I like it a lot. Really would love to hear from him, because after rereading the books after discovering this game.... well, sorry, but I'm convinced it had an influence on the game. If I'm wrong, I'm cool with that. A wonderful coincidence then.
Even if Thorbardin had no influence at all, I recommend you read the Dwarven Nations trilogy. They WILL make you want to play!