Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post

ak_aramis · 10-09-2018, 01:40 AM

For me, I wasn't a big fan of fantasy as a reader, nor as a watcher.
I found TFT in sophomore year...
so, the complete fantasy list I'd willingly read by that point: Lord of the Rings; Bored of the Rings; Earthsea Trilogy; The Life of St. Simon of the Cross. 3 D&D pick a path books. And the first 100 pages of Beasts of Gor. (age 9 was NOT the right time in my life to read that...)

Comics: 2 issues of Heavy Metal. about 10 years worth of Hägar the Horrible.

I'd not watched much fantasy, either: Conan the Barbarian, the animated LOTR, the animated Hobbit, Excalibur, Monty Python's life of Brian.

Adding the musical stage, Don Quixote, Princess & the Pea, the Mikado, Camelot, Pirates of Penzance, The Magic Flute (Deutsch libretto), and half a dozen more that I don't recall the names of... (I had seen pretty much every opera done in Anchorage from 1976 to 1983. Mostly student passes to final dress rehearsals.)

And, of course, I'd played a bunch of D&D. (And Traveller. And a few sessions of Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn.) D&D felt then, and still feels now, more like Medieval Super Heroes than the sword and planet or sword and sorcerer novels I would later come to enjoy.

And then, both Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica franchises: comics, novels, film, and TV.

On the other hand, i'd had lots of exposure to classical greco-roman and biblical mythologies, as well as egyptian, and the harryhousen movies based upon them.

So, for me, TFT leant itself to the human power levels of the operas, with movie-conan action, and a healthy dose of Earthsea. But more than anything, the solos matched my fantasy expectations far better than D&D had... well, except for the lack of BDSM, for which I'm thankful..

Most of my friends didn't appreciate mid-fantasy that much; they wanted D&D level ultra-high. Well, almost all, except for Dan. Who happened to be the guy who got me started on TFT... with Melee.

It was about the same time that I discovered ElfQuest, Pern, and McCaffrey's short stories...

10-09-2018, 01:40 AM	#20
ak_aramis Join Date: May 2010 Location: Alsea, OR	Re: TFT Setting Influences For me, I wasn't a big fan of fantasy as a reader, nor as a watcher. I found TFT in sophomore year... so, the complete fantasy list I'd willingly read by that point: Lord of the Rings; Bored of the Rings; Earthsea Trilogy; The Life of St. Simon of the Cross. 3 D&D pick a path books. And the first 100 pages of Beasts of Gor. (age 9 was NOT the right time in my life to read that...) Comics: 2 issues of Heavy Metal. about 10 years worth of Hägar the Horrible. I'd not watched much fantasy, either: Conan the Barbarian, the animated LOTR, the animated Hobbit, Excalibur, Monty Python's life of Brian. Adding the musical stage, Don Quixote, Princess & the Pea, the Mikado, Camelot, Pirates of Penzance, The Magic Flute (Deutsch libretto), and half a dozen more that I don't recall the names of... (I had seen pretty much every opera done in Anchorage from 1976 to 1983. Mostly student passes to final dress rehearsals.) And, of course, I'd played a bunch of D&D. (And Traveller. And a few sessions of Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn.) D&D felt then, and still feels now, more like Medieval Super Heroes than the sword and planet or sword and sorcerer novels I would later come to enjoy. And then, both Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica franchises: comics, novels, film, and TV. On the other hand, i'd had lots of exposure to classical greco-roman and biblical mythologies, as well as egyptian, and the harryhousen movies based upon them. So, for me, TFT leant itself to the human power levels of the operas, with movie-conan action, and a healthy dose of Earthsea. But more than anything, the solos matched my fantasy expectations far better than D&D had... well, except for the lack of BDSM, for which I'm thankful.. Most of my friends didn't appreciate mid-fantasy that much; they wanted D&D level ultra-high. Well, almost all, except for Dan. Who happened to be the guy who got me started on TFT... with Melee. It was about the same time that I discovered ElfQuest, Pern, and McCaffrey's short stories...