In my mind, anyone using D & D is already plagerizing Tolkien, the genius that created this genre in the first place. There were other fantasy writers first of course, but JRRT set the standard and if you look at it, almost everything written in fantasy or sword and sorcery these days is a spin-off of middle earth. If the people that control the copywrite of middle earth really wanted to, they could tie almost all of the fantasy-smiths into knots. The same goes for most of the Star Trek type of sci-fi. Rodenberry created the setting and the universe, many others have followed in his footsteps. Lavender has the correct idea, shave off the serial numbers. In my own fantasy world I rely heavily upon the Tolkien mythos, but try to seperate overt references to the triogy (Hobbits, we don't got no stinkin hobbits.) The same in my sci-fi settings. I have borrowed so heavily from so many that have gone before that I couldn't even begin to give credit where credit is due. Much like a Poser artist who has used 30 or so different props and textures trying to list all the credits. All I can do is try to add a wrinkle or two that will make this particular work a little 'unique' When you get down to it, there are so many geniuses that went before us, and we like sponges soaked up all they taught us. If what we soaked up is deemed an infringment on their work, then they are missing the point.