Post originally by The Old Geezer at 2004-04-20 10:53:05
Converted from Phorums BB System

Well...

D&D grew out of (mostly) miniatures gaming groups in Minneapolis (Blackmoor)and Lake Geneva (Greyhawk).

We'd all read the same books (pretty much off Gary's shelves). So, even when we did our own world, they shared a lot of unstated assumptions with Greyhawk just because we'd all read the same books.

Though there were lots of Tolkien's critters, the 'cultural norms' were mostly influenced by Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, and Poul Anderson (with an unhealthy dose of Lovecraft thrown in).

Dunno how else to answer. We weren't "defining cultural norms", we were just playing a game. It was very loose and casual back then. (hak kaf wheeze {tm})

-- Old Geezer