NewJeffCT said:
Yeah, I think that "original" is highly overrated. What matters is the story, the characters, and the relationships between characters. The world is the backdrop. If a world "hook" intrudes into the foreground, then I think the campaign has the wrong focus.
For example, Tolkein's stories of love between elves and men can inspire pathos because it's a classic story that we can relate to on a purely human level. The story of unrequited love between a lava golem and an umber hulk just isn't the same. The more different a world gets from our own, the more disconnected it gets from our sympathetic responses. Dragons, elves, and dwarves, having deep roots in mythology and our cultural awareness, are very much a part of our world. Lava golems and umber hulks aren't.
The game is not there to support worldbuilding. Worldbuilding supports the game. For me, the game is primarily about stories and characters.
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