Question: The game War of the Ring by Simulations Publications, Inc. is based on The Lord of the Rings by which author?
Context: Middle Earth was a trilogy of board games published by Simulations Publications, Inc. based on "The Lord of the Rings" novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.  It consists of the games "War of the Ring", "", and "Sauron", all published in 1977. War in Europe is a board wargame designed by Jim Dunnigan, and published by Simulations Publications (SPI) in 1976.  It was an expansion of a previously published wargame, "War in the East".  In order to allow players to focus on the war in western Europe and North Africa, a "sub-game" was created known as "War in the West."  It was subsequently marketed separately from "War in the East" (which became known as "War in the East, version 2").  It was known as one of the premier games in the category called monster game, needing several square feet of room for the nine maps and days or months to play (the official estimated playing time was given as 180 hours). The Next War: Modern Conflict in Europe is a board wargame that simulates a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe in the late 1970s.  It was designed by James F. Dunnigan and published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in 1978.  The game used three 22" x 34" maps and 2400 diecut counters to simulate the war at a brigade/divisional level, making it a so-called "monster game". The Campaign for North Africa (generally referred to as CNA by wargamers), was an unprecedentedly detailed military simulation game of the North African Campaign of World War II.  It was designed by Richard Berg and published by Simulations Publications, Inc. in 1978. Panzer Armee Afrika is a board wargame that was published in 1973 by Simulations Publications, Inc. The game is a simulation of the campaign for North Africa during World War II, from the arrival of Erwin Rommel in April 1941 until November 1942 (when the Second Battle of El Alamein took place in reality).  The game was designed by Jim Dunnigan, with the system design and graphics by Redmond A. Simonsen and game development by Irad Hardy and Hank Zucker.  It was first published in the Strategy & Tactics magazine issue number 40, and later appeared in a boxed edition.  It was republished by Avalon Hill in the mid-1980s. Redmond Aksel Simonsen (June 18, 1942 – March 9, 2005) was an American graphic artist and game designer best known for his work at the board wargame company Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in the 1970s and early 1980s.  Simonsen was considered an innovator in game information graphics, and is credited with creating the term "game designer". Panzergruppe Guderian is a board wargame designed by James F. Dunnigan and published by Simulations Publications, Inc. in "Strategy & Tactics" magazine issue 57 in 1976.  It simulates the 1941 World War II Battle of Smolensk, between the German Wehrmacht and the Soviet Red Army, on an operational level.  The game pieces mostly represent German regiments and Soviet divisions.  It is played on a hexagonal grid board, where each hexagon represents 10.5 kilometers and each of the 12 turns spans two days. Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) was an American publisher of board wargames and related magazines, particularly its flagship "Strategy & Tactics", in the 1970s and early 1980s.  It produced an enormous number of games and introduced innovative practices, changing the course of the wargaming hobby in its bid to take control of the hobby away from then-dominant Avalon Hill.  SPI ran out of cash in early 1982 when TSR called in a loan secured by SPI's assets.  TSR began selling SPI's inventory in 1982, but later acquired the company's trademarks and copyrights in 1983 and continued a form of the operation until 1987. War of the Ring is a wargame based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", published by Simulations Publications, Inc. (SPI) in the United States in 1977. Simulations Canada is the name of a Canadian board wargame publisher established in Nova Scotia in 1977.  The company was founded by Stephen Newberg and was one of only a handful of companies devoted to publishing wargames at that time.  Other companies such as Avalon Hill and Simulations Publications, Inc. did not accept unsolicited submissions, resulting in the creation of the company.
Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien