Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="mhacdebhandia" data-source="post: 3333459" data-attributes="member: 18832">I sure as Hell would.In fact, it sounds like something I read from Matt Forbeck on Mike Mearls' LiveJournal back in mid-2005 (and responded to on my own journal, which is why I still have access to it:In college, a professor taught me that a western works like this: The in-group (usually townsfolk) is threatened by an out-group (usually outlaws). A hero with the values of the in-group and the skills of the out-group arrives to save the day. After succeeding, the hero must leave because his skills do not fit with the values of the in-group he's just saved.It seems that Tolkienesque fantasy is the opposite of this. A person from the in-group (usually a peaceful town) leaves that locale and acquires the skills of the out-group (wizards, warriors, etc.) so that he can save in the in-group. He then returns home to accolades.If your proposed setting's &quot;core story&quot; was like the above - which works just as well for wuxia tales as Western stories - I'd be really interested in it. But then, as I said in my own post back then:I also, personally, vastly prefer the former kind of story to the latter - and the fact that Tolkien's story partly hinges on this dynamic is probably part of why I don't enjoy it. &quot;Farmboy saves the world&quot; is for jerks.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mhacdebhandia, post: 3333459, member: 18832"] I sure as Hell would. In fact, it sounds like something I read from Matt Forbeck on Mike Mearls' LiveJournal back in mid-2005 (and responded to on my own journal, which is why I still have access to it: [i]In college, a professor taught me that a western works like this: The in-group (usually townsfolk) is threatened by an out-group (usually outlaws). A hero with the values of the in-group and the skills of the out-group arrives to save the day. After succeeding, the hero must leave because his skills do not fit with the values of the in-group he's just saved. It seems that Tolkienesque fantasy is the opposite of this. A person from the in-group (usually a peaceful town) leaves that locale and acquires the skills of the out-group (wizards, warriors, etc.) so that he can save in the in-group. He then returns home to accolades.[/i] If your proposed setting's "core story" was like the above - which works just as well for [i]wuxia[/i] tales as Western stories - I'd be really interested in it. But then, as I said in my own post back then: [i]I also, personally, vastly prefer the former kind of story to the latter - and the fact that Tolkien's story partly hinges on this dynamic is probably part of why I don't enjoy it. "Farmboy saves the world" is for jerks.[/i] [/QUOTE]

Verification