John Eric Holmes
| John Eric Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 16, 1930 |
| Died | March 20, 2010 (aged 80) |
| Resting place | National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific |
| Occupation | Educator, author |
| Nationality | United States |
| Genre | Non-fiction, fantasy, science fiction |
| Notable works | Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set |
| Relatives | Wilfred Holmes, Isabelle West Holmes |
John Eric Holmes M.D. (February 16, 1930 – March 20, 2010) was an associate professor of neurology at the University of Southern California School of Medicine, an author and promoter of fantasy role-playing games, a noted fan and enthusiast of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and an American writer of non-fiction, fantasy and science fiction. His father, Wilfred "Jasper" Holmes was also a writer of adventure stories under the pen name Alec Hudson. His writings appeared under his full name and under variants such as Eric Holmes and J. Eric Holmes and the pen name Sidney Leland.
Holmes's non-fiction relates to both his chosen profession and the role-playing game phenomenon. He was a one-time editor of the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set RPG rule book. His fantasy consists of a series set in a D&D-influenced world, including four short stories and one novel, while his science fiction includes two pastiches of the Pellucidar novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Buck Rogers novel Mordred.
Holmes was the author of the Pellucidar pastiche called Mahars of Pellucidar. The first of his Pellucidar pastiches, Mahars of Pellucidar was authorized by the Burroughs estate, but it reportedly blocked his follow-up novel, Red Axe of Pellucidar. Ready for publication in 1980, it only saw print thirteen years later in a private printing. A planned third novel in the series, Swordsmen of Pellucidar, remains unwritten.
Holmes approached TSR with an offer to write an introductory version of D&D, to expand the game's demographics to younger players and possibly get it into the mass market as well. His Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977) was a revision of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson's original game plus the early supplements, Greyhawk, Blackmoor, and Eldritch Wizardry. Holmes created the wereshark D&D monster, first publishing it in Alarums & Excursions #13 (July 1976).
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