"A hundred"

[Otaku-sempai]

Honestly, Stormcrow's post does not come across to me as either angry or unfriendly. Have we really reached a point where people cannot discern our intent unless we include emojis in our posts?

[zedturtle]

Honestly, Stormcrow's post does not come across to me as either angry or unfriendly. Have we really reached a point where people cannot discern our intent unless we include emojis in our posts?

While I strongly espouse (and believe) that every post should be read in the best possible light, I can understand how a post that picks at individual bits and misses the larger point is frustrating.

And, yes, everything you can do to aid communication and clarity of purpose helps.

[Earendil]

That's very interesting, Jon. Of course many of these literally mean a hundred (or about a hundred) as Stormcrow points out, but it does seem that it was a number Tolkien was fond of using. Perhaps he liked its literary effect, or the psychological feel of a hundred as "a lot, but still definable". Or maybe he wasn't aware he was doing it! I wonder if it's a thing that crop up a lot in Old English (or other ancient) writing?

Actually, maybe a thread for discussing Tolkienian language wouldn't be out of place here? Words, phrases, expressions, even stylistic quirks that we can use to make our games feel more like the books? I'm sure I've noticed, and maybe even used, such things before now - but of course I can't remember any off the top of my head...

[Jon Hodgson]

Oh hey, another thing I just noticed while searching.

As the novels go on, the frequent use of "a hundred" is not quite, but almost, replaced with "thousand" and "thousands". Words which appear a lot more as the tale unfolds than they do at the beginning. It's not a consistent occurence, and it does appear all across the 3 books, but use of thousands is weighted more toward the end of the novels.

I find it really interesting to poke at this stuff, just in case anything useful shakes out.

[zedturtle]

Dozen is another ‘counting’ word that I associate with Tolkien, although I use it in general conversation as well.

I love everything of this ilk... anything that you can do in your narration to make the feeling of the text come alive. “A glinting gleam of gold in the gloom” might be a little much, but as a one-time transitory bit of exposition? Maybe not...

[zedturtle]

Oh hey, another thing I just noticed while searching.

As the novels go on, the frequent use of "a hundred" is not quite, but almost, replaced with "thousand" and "thousands". Words which appear a lot more as the tale unfolds than they do at the beginning. It's not a consistent occurence, and it does appear all across the 3 books, but use of thousands is weighted more toward the end of the novels.

I find it really interesting to poke at this stuff, just in case anything useful shakes out.

Fascinating. I wonder if it’s associated with the shift to the higher, more Epic register as the story progresses?

[Jon Hodgson]

Dozen is another ‘counting’ word that I associate with Tolkien, although I use it in general conversation as well.

I love everything of this ilk... anything that you can do in your narration to make the feeling of the text come alive. “A glinting gleam of gold in the gloom” might be a little much, but as a one-time transitory bit of exposition? Maybe not...

Yeah there's a whole load of "dozens" in there! (I just searched again, natch)

There could an an interesting little lexicon for LMs to use here. I don't suppose anyone is surprised to find that saying "the orcs are 12 metres away" doesnt' sound as cool as using "a dozen strides".

[zedturtle]

Dozen is another ‘counting’ word that I associate with Tolkien, although I use it in general conversation as well.

I love everything of this ilk... anything that you can do in your narration to make the feeling of the text come alive. “A glinting gleam of gold in the gloom” might be a little much, but as a one-time transitory bit of exposition? Maybe not...

Yeah there's a whole load of "dozens" in there! (I just searched again, natch)

There could an an interesting little lexicon for LMs to use here. I don't suppose anyone is surprised to find that saying "the orcs are 12 metres away" doesnt' sound as cool as using "a dozen strides".

A hundred Orcs a dozen strides away does sound like a great in media res opening.

[Falenthal]

I always found fascinating all those "it is two days away at bird's flight, four by horse" and such ways of measuring time and distance.

Measures are never (or almost never) precise: people won't meet in "an hour", but "at sundown", and things like that. It's one of the details I found irritating with other fantasy books: the narrator is absolutely a modern person, talking in a modern way, about things that have an appearence (but not "feel") of ancient and old.
Reading Tolkien feels "out of old and myth" because of these details in the speech and narration, not just because people ride horses or use swords.

[Falenthal]

Yeah there's a whole load of "dozens" in there!

Is that why TOR uses a d12?

Maybe, in a subconscious way, it felt right upon designing the game.