Well, when I was in college back then, I heard that Tolkien and his friends were really into D&D. One long weekend, after consuming too much, umm, "pipeweed",

Well, when I was in college back then, I heard that Tolkien and his friends were really into D&D. One long weekend, after consuming too much, umm, "pipeweed", they had such a memorable adventure that "we should write this down" kept coming up. Tolkien, as he was a professor and so good with writing grant requests, was given the assignment... And, as they say, the rest is history.