D&D General Are You There D&D? It's Me, J.R.R. Tol-KEEEEN!

[Scribe]

Yeah, I know I sound all "kids these days".

Embrace it, we are right to say that.

 

[Deset Gled]

Yeah, I know I sound all "kids these days".

With anime, it's partially an application of Sturgeon's law.

Going back 20 or more years, anime was much more niche. Which meant not everything made it across the ocean. Mostly the cream of the crop made it over. Nowadays, much more gets translated, which means a lot less is selected out for quality.

Especially the filler. I remember the days when Evangelion was $20 per VHS tape. Ain't nobody paying that for all the episodes of Naruto or DragonBall Z where literally nothing happens.

 

[haakon1]

defend my point about the game being far more inspired by JK Rowling rather than

1. At will magic. That's the biggie right there. 5e is far, far higher magic than ever before. Nearly every class is casting spells and many of the classes are casting spells every single round.

Is there Tolkien influence in D&D? Oh, of course. Absolutely. That's undeniable. But, 5e has moved pretty far beyond that and is far more rooted in post 1990's fantasy than it ever was.

5e and D&D aren’t synonymous.

You’re right, though, 5e is significantly further from Tolkien than Older Editions.

Part of why I’m “meh” about 5e.

 

[Charlaquin]

With anime, it's partially an application of Sturgeon's law.

Going back 20 or more years, anime was much more niche. Which meant not everything made it across the ocean. Mostly the cream of the crop made it over. Nowadays, much more gets translated, which means a lot less is selected out for quality.

Yeah, although the ways in which the low quality stuff is bad has also changed.

 

[jayoungr]

Usually, younger players /DMs take ideas from these animes for character concepts and world-building, and WotC has been paying attention. For instance, the "wholesome" art we have in the 2024 5e, were you just find people hanging out instead of being adventuring (that was the thing of the older editions' art), is a direct influence of current isekai animes, which have a lot people hanging out and having a good time and that stuff, with battles and adventuring being left to specific story arcs.

Even if the artwork is inspired by isekai, I don't think that proves that the game is.

 

[Iosue]

UKL: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality" of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.

Holy crap, that was my exact same reaction.

 

[Aldarc]

I think if someone asked you what your favorite Isekai is and you said “Chronicles of Narnia,” they would have some questions.

Questions like "Shouldn't Peter be the one who defeats the Witch with his awesome wargaming skills and not some random lion? And where is his harem of devoted girls?"

 

[Paul Farquhar]

technically, wouldn't most of the Narnia series be isekai?

It's why I prefer Portal Fantasy. I see no reason to use a Japanese term for something that did not originate in Japan.

 

[Milieu]

Britishisms making it seem exotic is something that is also true of Tolkien though.

Tell me about it! I only learned a few years ago that elevenses was a meal real British people ate, not just Hobbits.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

....what in the name of Bargle is going on here?

Almost 300 comments?


I was thinking of trying to get the original essay back up today or tomorrow. But ... maybe I should forever leave the topic to the negative space? I am not sure that what I was going to write (and will write) could possibly drive your imagination like this! Every artist's greatest piece, after all, is the one that they never got to finish.