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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 3803394" data-attributes="member: 4937">I agree, but I don't ever get the impression that people want alternatives to the Tolkien 'Hobbit' because they want something more challenging to role-play.&nbsp; Rather, I think the driving force in Halfling redesign is to deliver more of the 'kewl'.&nbsp; Imagining yourself in the role of an adventuring portly hairfooted tweed-wearing country squire just doesn't have the same ego boosting properties as the alternatives.&nbsp; I think what you have going in the D&amp;D experience is largely the same attraction of modern vampires, larger than life action movie heroes, wuxia, anime, and comic book superheroes.&nbsp; I think that they are tapping into that most powerful ancient pagan experience - the notion of the bad-ass demi-god, particularly one that can violently impose his will.&nbsp; Essentially, this is all Hercules worship in a different form, and 'the Frodo' and all his cousins is most emphatically the anti-Hercules.&nbsp; So what the good professor was going for just runs completely counter to the majoritarian attraction of gaming, and his vehical is ill-suited to it.&nbsp; Naturally, its going to be scorned and abandoned in favor of something that brings more of the 'kewl'.&nbsp; I think in the long run you are going to see Halflings go the way of gnomes and be dropped from the PH because they just don't bring the 'kewl' like tieflings, vampires, werewolves, warforged, and even elves (the problem with elves being that they so overtly bring the kewl that it makes people uncomfortable conscious of thier motivations).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 3803394, member: 4937"] I agree, but I don't ever get the impression that people want alternatives to the Tolkien 'Hobbit' because they want something more challenging to role-play. Rather, I think the driving force in Halfling redesign is to deliver more of the 'kewl'. Imagining yourself in the role of an adventuring portly hairfooted tweed-wearing country squire just doesn't have the same ego boosting properties as the alternatives. I think what you have going in the D&D experience is largely the same attraction of modern vampires, larger than life action movie heroes, wuxia, anime, and comic book superheroes. I think that they are tapping into that most powerful ancient pagan experience - the notion of the bad-ass demi-god, particularly one that can violently impose his will. Essentially, this is all Hercules worship in a different form, and 'the Frodo' and all his cousins is most emphatically the anti-Hercules. So what the good professor was going for just runs completely counter to the majoritarian attraction of gaming, and his vehical is ill-suited to it. Naturally, its going to be scorned and abandoned in favor of something that brings more of the 'kewl'. I think in the long run you are going to see Halflings go the way of gnomes and be dropped from the PH because they just don't bring the 'kewl' like tieflings, vampires, werewolves, warforged, and even elves (the problem with elves being that they so overtly bring the kewl that it makes people uncomfortable conscious of thier motivations). [/QUOTE]

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