I've lately been reading about the Inklings -- C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, and their buddies, who used to hang out together in Oxford to drink beer, eat ham, and talk about literature and religion. They functioned as a writers' workshop, not unlike the redoubtable CSFW which tolerates my presence.
But lately I've been thinking about the Inklings with my roleplaying game designer hat on. Reading about Tolkein's detailed world-building, and Lewis's creation of imaginary lands as a child, I find myself wondering if roleplaying games help or hinder that sort of creativity.
Does the existence of Dungeons & Dragons encourage budding Lewises and Tolkeins by example -- giving them a community and a (marginally) socially acceptable framework for creating imaginary settings and characters? Or does it stifle them by diverting their talents?
I've occasionally joked that, were the Inklings around today J.R.R. Tolkein would have the best D&D campaign ever -- and a half-finished draft of a novel about a hobbit sitting on his hard drive. There's an interview with Tim Powers by Darrell Schweitzer in which Powers comments that he finds the idea of roleplaying games fascinating, but avoided getting involved in them because he's afraid they would suck up all his creativity.
So, I'd like to know what other gamers and writers think: do games promote or stifle literary creativity?
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