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Message: <blockquote data-quote="HeinorNY" data-source="post: 3961350" data-attributes="member: 16178">Something tells me that the "feel" of the PoL has nothing to do with Diablo 2, but to Middle-earth.Before someone jumps at me, I don't think ME is a PoL setting, because PoL isn't just a type of setting, but more than that, it's a way to handle and build a setting, from a very metagame perspective, IMHO. Tolkien didn't use the WotC's PoL design philosophy.But the overall feeling from the in-game perspective, in a setting created used the PoL idea has a little of the ME's flavor.The Shire, Bree, Rivendell, they are PoLs. Beyond their gates it's no man's land. There is no government, kingdom, no law, nothing. The roads and distant borders are guarded by rangers (PCs in a possible game), and other individuals that a clearly are not commoners, and most commoners usually are not even aware about the outside dangers, they just live their lifes.Let's take a look at the description of Bree from Wikipedia (not that the source is that great, but the description reminds me of the PoL article): "Bree was a very ancient settlement of men in Eriador, long established by the time of the Third Age of Middle-earth. After the collapse of the kingdom of Arthedain, Bree continued to thrive without any central authority or government for many centuries. As Bree lies at the meeting of two large roadways, the Great East Road and the (now disused) Greenway, it had for centuries been a centre of trade and a stopping place for travellers, though as Arnor in the north waned its prosperity and size declined."From the PoL article:"The centers of civilization are few and far between, and the world isn’t carved up between nation-states that jealously enforce their borders. A few difficult and dangerous roads tenuously link neighboring cities together..."Now take this paragraph and read it thinking about the Shire:"The common folk of the world look upon the wild lands with dread. Few people are widely traveled—even the most ambitious merchant is careful to stick to better-known roads. The lands between towns or homesteads are wide and empty. It might be safe enough within a day’s ride of a city or an hour’s walk of a village, but go beyond that and you are taking your life into your hands. People are scared of what might be waiting in the old forest or beyond the barren hills at the far end of the valley, because whatever is out there is most likely hungry and hostile. Striking off into untraveled lands is something only heroes and adventurers do." (and baggins)So my point is, if you want to get some of the feel of what a PoL setting could be (using the PoL design philosophy), think about ME, or at least, Eriador.</blockquote>

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