I am not going to philosophise over world creation, nor ponder deeply over the rules. I've done that and it only eats up gaming time. I played a lot of D&D in school and look back on it as a time of simple exciting gaming before the real world impacted. So, I am going to simply fight out loosely connected skirmishes in a broadly D&D world. The rules are more or less irrelevant but here is a pretty strong clue as to the main inspiration....
You have wandered for days in the deep forest seeking the Cave of Chaos.....a clearing opens ahead of you with a dark skull shaped chasm in the rock face ahead of you. And so, it begins....
See you in the Dungeon
Maff