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Old 05-20-2019, 10:59 AM   #31
EltonRobb
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
In the 3/e supplement GURPS Mars, the Dying Mars chapter has humanoid Martian races that are clearly elves, men, hobbits, dwarves, and even orcs, just with the serial numbers erased a bit.
I know of which you speak. I have a copy of GURPS Mars (very well done, actually). Although now I have to re-read the book, since I didn't notice those races until recently.
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Old 05-20-2019, 03:07 PM   #32
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
That's why I went with Halloween monsters as the basis for my races in Sowan. While witches, werewolves and phantoms aren't the typical Tolkien array, they're still familiar enough that the players would instantly get the idea.
Phantoms certainly are.
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Old 05-20-2019, 09:25 PM   #33
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

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Phantoms certainly are.
Not as available player character types. The phantoms of Sowan aren't ghosts, incidentally. They're just invisible people.
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Old 05-21-2019, 09:32 AM   #34
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

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Not as available player character types. The phantoms of Sowan aren't ghosts, incidentally. They're just invisible people.
I don't remember any phantoms of Sowan. But the Dead Men of Dunharrow are certainly ghosts and the Ringwraiths arguably so.
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Old 05-21-2019, 11:54 AM   #35
Black Leviathan
 
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

How would you know if you created a non-Tolkienesque world?
Serious question!

Tolkien has been the inspiration for so many of the sources that inspire us as game masters that it's difficult to know for sure if you're drawing on a source that isn't putting a twist on the works of Tolkienesque. The whole of D&D, while original cannon is part-and-parcel Tolkien concepts and that whole genre is built on a foundation of of those tropes.

I've built games based on Norse Mythology or Gaelic and Germanic fairies but both of those worlds were set in very Northern European settings with non-humans and a malevolent force threatening the world. Is that Tolkein? I've run games with Elves and Dwarves but set in a variety of biomes, with no over-arching villain is that Tolkien? What about games with Dwarves and Elves but no magic? In 1870's?

If Tolkienesque is defined as containing elements from Tolkien's works then the whole hobby is either Tolkienesque or built on Tolkienesque concepts.
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Old 05-21-2019, 12:45 PM   #36
EltonRobb
 
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

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Originally Posted by Black Leviathan View Post
How would you know if you created a non-Tolkienesque world?
Serious question!

Tolkien has been the inspiration for so many of the sources that inspire us as game masters that it's difficult to know for sure if you're drawing on a source that isn't putting a twist on the works of Tolkienesque. The whole of D&D, while original cannon is part-and-parcel Tolkien concepts and that whole genre is built on a foundation of of those tropes.

I've built games based on Norse Mythology or Gaelic and Germanic fairies but both of those worlds were set in very Northern European settings with non-humans and a malevolent force threatening the world. Is that Tolkein? I've run games with Elves and Dwarves but set in a variety of biomes, with no over-arching villain is that Tolkien? What about games with Dwarves and Elves but no magic? In 1870's?

If Tolkienesque is defined as containing elements from Tolkien's works then the whole hobby is either Tolkienesque or built on Tolkienesque concepts.
J.R.R. Tolkien was an inspiration for D&D, yes. The whole hobby is Tolkienesque? Possibly. We are all heirs to Tolkien's work, The Lord of the Rings. But there has been efforts to be not Tolkienesque but be more original. While Cubicle 7 has the License to do RPGs based on J.R.R. Tolkien, there has been efforts to try something original.

Dark Sun is one such effort, and would have succeeded if it weren't for TSR's marketing department. There are others. Birthright, for instance, is an example of taking Tolkien's ideas and twisting them (some what successfully). I think the argument has been made. Everyone in the hobby is somewhat, heirs to Tolkien. IF he were still alive, I bet he would have one last laugh against his critics.
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Old 05-21-2019, 02:18 PM   #37
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Default Re: Tolkienesque Worlds or Non-Tolkienesque Worlds?

Mhh... so if my DF setting has Humans, (pretty) Elves, Orcs and Dwarves is it "Tolkienesque"? Or what makes a setting "Tolkienesque" for you?
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