torus wrote: ↑Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:26 pm
More generally, I think you might be falling into the trap of constructing the world primarily or even solely to replicate what Tolkien described in his stories, rather than as a setting for new adventures.
You don't know me and have never played in one of my games, so I won't take offense that you basically just, at best, patronized me and, at worst, called me unimaginative.
Anyway, it's certainly more
challenging to adhere to being Tolkien-esque while also introducing new and interesting elements, from individuals to entire adventures. (And I won't claim to be especially good at it; but I do try.)
I seem to be (so far) alone on my side of this debate, but I'll forge on ahead anyway: to make an analogy, I'm no Tolkien scholar but according to those who are, one of the things Tolkien does in the Hobbit and LOTR is try to use English words of Old English derivation instead of words of Latin or French derivation. And not just when his characters speak (that would be a form of 'realism') but even in his narrative descriptions. All for the purpose of reinforcing, through consistency, the illusion he is weaving.
(As an aside, this is why I thought the youngest dragons in Erebor should have been called Dragonlings or, even better, Wyrmling, instead of Dragonet. Both Dragon and the '-et' suffice are of French derivation. Worm and -ling are Old English by way of Germanic.)
Now, I could imagine that one's reaction might be, "But that limits word choice! Why not mix a few romance words in there to keep things new and exciting?" One could, but Tolkien takes the harder path, because it contributes to the overall poetry of the tale.
I think TOR skirts close to this at times, the way the rules force you to have 'Fellowship-like' adventures, so it is something I strongly resist, even to the point of including things that seem un-Tolkienesque...
But, yes, this further confirms that we're just coming at the game from very different viewpoints. I
love how TOR assumes Fellowship-like adventures. I have other itches, too, and games like D&D and Dungeonworld* scratch those itches nicely, so I don't need TOR to be the One Game to Rule Them All. I like it in its niche.
*(I was really hoping to include the new-ish Conan game by Modiphius in the list, but was greatly disappointed by the mechanics.)
....in the interests of a more immersive and interesting setting.
It's so interesting to me that you used the word "immersive" there, because non-Tolkienesque elements (such as, because we keep using that example, brothels) are what break the immersion for me: things that feel out of place kind of yank me out of Middle-earth and leave me in a generic RPG setting.
Maybe the right adjectives is "dream-like": my Middle-earth feels a bit dream-like. Too much gritty reality (too much Westeros?) wakes me up from that dream.
