Lord of the Rings thread on Adept Press forum

[GreatWolf]

There is a discussion of Lord of the Rings going on over on the Adept Press forum.  You can find the thread here.  I wanted to link to it because I think that Raven's comments are right on.

The reason that I'm linking from here is simple.  It is precisely this element of LotR that inspired Alyria.  It is also this element that is overlooked when looking at LotR (or fantasy in general).  Part of my drive to design Alyria was to have a game that focused attention on these issues in a fantasy setting without being distracted by the "traditional" fantasy tropes (e.g. elves, dwarves, grey-bearded wizards).

Besides, I wanted to post a "Me too!" post, so I figured I'd do it here.  :)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Mike Holmes]

What I like about Alyria is that you can get that fantasy feeling without having to rely on a work of fiction. I hate playing in Middle Earth because I always feel that I'm screwing it up. When playing in a setting like Alyria, you can't screw it up, you can only create something new.

Or, IOW, what Seth said.

Mike

[Jason L Blair]

When playing in a setting like Alyria, you can't screw it up, you can only create something new.

*flashes back to Origins 2001*

Uh...I'm not so sure about that, Mike.

[GreatWolf]

What I like about Alyria is that you can get that fantasy feeling without having to rely on a work of fiction. I hate playing in Middle Earth because I always feel that I'm screwing it up. When playing in a setting like Alyria, you can't screw it up, you can only create something new.
Mike

Well, despite Jason's comments ;-) I'd have to agree with you, Mike.  I always felt uncomfortable gaming in Middle-earth when I ran MERPS all those many years ago.  I was afraid that I'd be stepping on the work of a master.  In Alyria....  Well, you can't step on anything.

And Origins 2001 was going fine until cumulative fatigue caught up with us.  :-)

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

[Mike Holmes]

*flashes back to Origins 2001*

Uh...I'm not so sure about that, Mike.

I meant screw up the pre-existing setting (and you know that). One can, of course, screw up the setting they create. :-)

That said, I thought that game was "screwed up" in a good way. As opposed to a destructive sort of messing with the players preconceptions. ;-)

Mike

[GreatWolf]

Just to bump this for a moment.

The thread in question has now closed, but I wanted to point to Irmo's comments at the end.  The underlying worldview that he discusses is precisely what I had in view when designing Alyria.

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf