|
|
Post by hengest on Apr 13, 2021 16:58:04 GMT -5
I personally have never felt a deep connection between fRPGs and Tolkien, but many do, and he is an undeniable major source for much of the fluff that we take for granted in D&D. I love Tolkien, however (just for the record).
This thread is for answering the question: if you are a fan of Tolkien, what has kept you coming back to his work?
Second question, optional: do you think that what attracts you to Tolkien is related to what attracts you to gaming?
(I will answer once some other folks do.)
|
|
|
|
Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jun 13, 2021 9:09:01 GMT -5
I personally have never felt a deep connection between fRPGs and Tolkien, but many do, and he is an undeniable major source for much of the fluff that we take for granted in D&D. I love Tolkien, however (just for the record). This thread is for answering the question: if you are a fan of Tolkien, what has kept you coming back to his work? When I read The Lord of the Rings it feels authentic and substantial; not just a minimum of detail or world-building like some (many?) fantasy novels do. I guess the best way to describe it is that the journey FEELS epic instead of just being labelled as epic. I hope that makes sense. Although The Hobbit is a different kind of tale compared to LOTR I enjoy it tremendously also. Add The Silmarillion to the mix and it just gets more meat on the bone so to speak. On a side note I thoroughly enjoyed the three Jackson movies of LOTR. I know there were differences from the books but I also understand that sometimes for the sake of brevity, budget, and other concerns that changes from the source material are made. On the other hand - I'm sure I'll get burned on this - I absolutely hated Jacksons' take on The Hobbit. It was a bloated mess and just felt cheesy to me from start to finish. |
|
|
|
Post by mao on Jun 14, 2021 7:06:15 GMT -5
I think Conan And Christianity had far more influence, but I am squeamish about RPing Christianity,
|
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jun 14, 2021 10:03:51 GMT -5
I personally have never felt a deep connection between fRPGs and Tolkien, but many do, and he is an undeniable major source for much of the fluff that we take for granted in D&D. I love Tolkien, however (just for the record). This thread is for answering the question: if you are a fan of Tolkien, what has kept you coming back to his work? Second question, optional: do you think that what attracts you to Tolkien is related to what attracts you to gaming? (I will answer once some other folks do.) First Question: I thoroughly enjoy reading Tolkien and have read the LotR and The Hobbit somewhere between 16 and 20 times from grade school till now. It just sucks me in and I have to keep reading till I am done. Whereas the Silmarillion was one read and I'm good. I have really not read any of his other books. I think I just identify so closely with so many of the characters is the main attraction and I also like to cheer on the underdog. I also enjoyed the three Jackson movies of LOTR, but firmly believe The Hobbit should have been one movie that followed the book closely. As for the LotR, I wish they had filmed the Tom Bombadil part and other things and included all of that as part of the DVD releases so you had much longer movies on DVD, longer than a theater audience can set through without an intermission. Second Question: As a player I create a character that I can identify with and have at it. I love exploring a world, that is the primary part of the game for me. As a referee, first and foremost it is about the world building and second about the watching players explore and discover that world. Everything else is subordinate to that for me. |
|
|
|
Post by hengest on Jun 15, 2021 11:42:15 GMT -5
I personally have never felt a deep connection between fRPGs and Tolkien, but many do, and he is an undeniable major source for much of the fluff that we take for granted in D&D. I love Tolkien, however (just for the record). This thread is for answering the question: if you are a fan of Tolkien, what has kept you coming back to his work? Second question, optional: do you think that what attracts you to Tolkien is related to what attracts you to gaming? (I will answer once some other folks do.) First Question: I thoroughly enjoy reading Tolkien and have read the LotR and The Hobbit somewhere between 16 and 20 times from grade school till now. It just sucks me in and I have to keep reading till I am done. Whereas the Silmarillion was one read and I'm good. I have really not read any of his other books. I think I just identify so closely with so many of the characters is the main attraction and I also like to cheer on the underdog. I also enjoyed the three Jackson movies of LOTR, but firmly believe The Hobbit should have been one movie that followed the book closely. As for the LotR, I wish they had filmed the Tom Bombadil part and other things and included all of that as part of the DVD releases so you had much longer movies on DVD, longer than a theater audience can set through without an intermission. Second Question: As a player I create a character that I can identify with and have at it. I love exploring a world, that is the primary part of the game for me. As a referee, first and foremost it is about the world building and second about the watching players explore and discover that world. Everything else is subordinate to that for me. I am like you, PD, I have read LOTR a good number of times and I find it just as engaging every time. No amount of atomization or study of this or that part ever kills it for me. I think it is a unique work of art. The Silmarillion is a completely different kind of work (and assembled and finished by someone other than the author). I too have read it only once despite having friends who are obsessed with it. It just doesn't grab me in the same way. To me it feels like (at least sometimes, extremely good) notes that an artist took, sketches to practice with, but not a completed work. As far as the movies go, I think the LOTR adaptations are a million times superior to the Hobbit films. The Hobbit was so overblown and insane, like a video game. I get that's what they thought they had to do these days, but it did not work at all and is a failure, in my opinion. While the LOTR films are not so much to my liking, but they are not an abject failure. They put the story on the screen. I kind of agree about Bombadil and so on. Not that including those things would have made me love the movie, but I am of the opinion that a work like LOTR (can there be another such work?) would best be interpreted piecemeal. Just a scene or short sequence. The Mirror of Galadriel or the stories and songs leading into the encounter at Weathertop. A team could really get creative and as detailed or as "adaptationy" as they wanted without having to worry about slogging through making the entire story. Of course, that isn't going to sell, but I think that's the way to go for real "adaptation-as-art." |
|
|
|
Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jun 15, 2021 11:54:21 GMT -5
I am like you, PD, I have read LOTR a good number of times and I find it just as engaging every time. No amount of atomization or study of this or that part ever kills it for me. I think it is a unique work of art. The Silmarillion is a completely different kind of work (and assembled and finished by someone other than the author). I too have read it only once despite having friends who are obsessed with it. It just doesn't grab me in the same way. To me it feels like (at least sometimes, extremely good) notes that an artist took, sketches to practice with, but not a completed work. As far as the movies go, I think the LOTR adaptations are a million times superior to the Hobbit films. The Hobbit was so overblown and insane, like a video game. I get that's what they thought they had to do these days, but it did not work at all and is a failure, in my opinion. While the LOTR films are not so much to my liking, but they are not an abject failure. They put the story on the screen. I kind of agree about Bombadil and so on. Not that including those things would have made me love the movie, but I am of the opinion that a work like LOTR (can there be another such work?) would best be interpreted piecemeal. Just a scene or short sequence. The Mirror of Galadriel or the stories and songs leading into the encounter at Weathertop. A team could really get creative and as detailed or as "adaptationy" as they wanted without having to worry about slogging through making the entire story. Of course, that isn't going to sell, but I think that's the way to go for real "adaptation-as-art." I would love to have all of the LotR on film, can you imagine how long that would be? It took the whole crew being on site, what was it, three years to film as it was. Once of the things that I liked about the movie is that I thought the casting was really good. |
|
