[jason taylor]

As I said there is room for gaming. The problem is that the good guys are now the top dog and it gets to be more like "Kipling with spooks and spirits" then Tolkien. Of course the good guys were always top dog if you go high enough, Melkor and Sauron being rebels. But Feanor was also a rebel, and the Valar didn't want to cause collateral to Middle Earth and so on. Now, not only are the cosmic rulers stronger then the bad guys, the Free Peoples are and that kind of takes away from the urgency. Whatever can be done, the new Numenorean empire can't be overthrown.

There is room for Heroic Fantasy but not for High Fantasy. And Tolkien preferred High Fantasy.

So like I said, the Fourth Age has room. But earlier ages have more room.