We should all fall onto our knees and praise the name and memory of JRR.
With out his books, the Fantasy genra would not have exploded into popularity in the 60's.
With out that popularity in the 60's, D&D would have never sold as well as it has in the 70's and 80's.
With out D&D's popularity, many other games would not have been produced, including Magic, because the market would not be there.
So, in a round about way, you can credit Tolkien with making Magic, D&D, and Warhammer, along with many other games, books and movies, possible.
I've read everything he wrote, including the dry and boring Unfinished Tales. While I was still in school, I also wrote several papers on various thematic veins in his work, including but not limited too:
The presise corolation between Free Will and the nature of Good and Evil in Middle Earth.
The state of Sauron, the Dark Lord, being more or less a non-character and at the same time being the most important character.
The relationship between old Galic myth and Tolkien's invented mythology.
...and a comparasin of Gandalf to Christ by way of the Sacrafice and other Messiah-esque theams.
I could go on and on...
