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Probably not. I should have been a bit more clear that I was referring to normal governmental authority over the populace. Every fortress has a military commander in charge of its garrison. Not every fortress is the seat of a lord where he makes decisions on what this years taxes are going to...

To me, a castle is a fortified structure a local warlord or feudal lord uses as his base of power, or as a means of projecting his power over an area. As such it relies on two elements: it must be a military fortress, and it must be focal point for government power. I don't think its status as a...

Actually, no. I am strongly opposed to the idea of an Immortial Tier above Epic Tier. If you make a new Tier for that level of play, it would completely steal the role that Epic was intended to fulfill and further confuse and dilute the flavor of the various tiers. I don't think an Immortial...

I hate to say it, but your ideas exemplify what I think is currently wrong with 4E Epic tier and how people approach it. A demigod being a level 27-31 Solo is the very thing I was complaining about: the gods are considered to be on a level simply beyond the PCs. The other problem is exemplified...

I am aware that the Primordials serve the mythological role analogous to that of the ancient Titans, but there are enough differences that prevent them from presenting the same flavor of threat. The most notable difference is that the Primordials have all already been defeated and sealed away...

Sorry for not replying to this earlier. Anyways, I was actually referring to what qualified for BBEG material at Epic level. At low levels, you can fight political masterminds, the leaders of invading barbarian hordes, ancient undead schemers, and plenty more as main villains. However, epic...

I had hoped that the "role-playing vs roll-playing" discussion had died years ago and was long forgotten. The term "roll-playing" was just an invention by a certain group of RPG fans to disparage a playstyle they didn't like. I think it is too loaded of a term to be used in a polite...

Space-Time. So black holes to get rid of nuisances, and Big Bangs when he really gets cranky.

That really isn't an accurate generalization. Actual European folklore is completely loaded with people performing all kinds of over-the-top feats and unbelievable situations. Grim & gritty, with all of its implications of realism, isn't really an applicable term for old folktales and myths. I...

The difference is probably that Neuschwanstein was a castle built during the 19th century, and wasn't really built as a military fortress, but rather as a really luxurious house. Its walls and fortifications are nothing more than really elaborate decorations. On the other hand, most famous...

Part of the problem is that the Epic Tier lies beyond the scope of a lot of the fiction that D&D traditionally draws from. A lot of traditional fantasy tends to resemble the heroic tier and sometimes the paragon tier, but very rarely the epic tier. In order to create material for the Epic Tier...

I would have liked to see more non-european castles and forts on that list. All but one of the castles in the poll are from Europe or otherwise descend from European designs. India in particular should have had an entry or two, since it is a region that was perhaps even more prolific in its...

1) The Analects of Confucius. The Analects, along with the rest of the Four Books and Five Classics, make up the core of Confucian ideology, which formed the basis of East Asian government and philosophy for more than 2,000 years, and still serves as a major influence on East Asian thought...

Of course castle design would change in response to new technologies. But they don't stop being castles because their appearance changes. As you mention though, magic would have an impact on castle design. A wizard could do a lot of damage to a non-magical castle. The simplest solution would be...

I just had a thought about the castle issue. The general claim is that castles fell out of use because cannons made them obsolete, and Europeans instead switched to a mix of dedicated forts and nonmilitary palaces. However, the segregation of palaces and forts was hardly a new thing in the world...

I don't think people were saying that is was wrong for people to not have guns in D&D. Rather, I think the pro-gunpowder side was just preemptively debunking the silly "Medieval Europe didn't have guns, so why should D&D" argument, as well as the just as silly and much more pervasive "guns...

As many have said before, the only reason guns are not standard in D&D is due to long-standing genre conventions. However, genre conventions change over time, and I think Fantasy Gun Control is one of those genre conventions that is changing. Look at one of the most popular fantasy worlds...

I am all for guns in fantasy. Of course, I am a fan of East Asian inspired settings, where gunpowder weapons are very fitting since China had gunpowder for centuries before it reached Europe. I am also a big fan of the 16th century, where guns, archers, and armored warriors on horseback were all...

King Arthur was a terrible movie from the standpoint of historical accuracy, regardless of whether you think Arthur was an actual historical figure or not. Whoever wrote that movie clearly knew nothing about the actual period he was writing about. One of the most egregious examples is that the...

I don't recognize it, but it looks like a still image from a visual novel. It is way too high quality to be from an anime, and the lighting has that visual novel flair to it. That means there is pretty good odds that it's from an erotic PC game.