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The hazards of letting a writer run your game...
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<blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 1000767" data-attributes="member: 1288"><p>You know, that's an interesting question/observation. Let's see...</p><p></p><p>I wouldn't say I was influenced by Tolkien <em>directly</em>. I didn't actually read LotR until college. (I know, shame on me.)</p><p></p><p>But...</p><p></p><p>My initial ideas about what a fantasy world should look like came from D&D itself, Dragonlance (which I really don't much care for anymore, but loved as a teenager), Raymon Feist's Riftwar, and David Eddings' Belgariad. (My ideas have somewhat shifted over time, of course, but you never fully shake your original notions no matter how had you try.) None of those are particularly heavy on the minute details of everyday life, so I guess you've got the right theory, just the wrong source.</p><p></p><p>(Of course, all of these were themselves influenced to a greater or lesser extent by Tolkien, so ultimately, he <em>is</em> part of it.)</p><p></p><p>As I mentioned, I'm willing and able to create such details when it's demanded of me, such as in a professional project. For my own personal use, though, I'm a bit less formal about it. If some really cool idea for a local custom or tradition or feature comes to mind, I'll include it. I won't usually sit down specifically to create such things, though.</p><p></p><p>Partially, as I mentioned, it's because I just don't enjoy doing so. And also (again, I'm repeating myself), because some of my players like the freedom to create such things on their own. My wife, for instance, has a regular habit of taking a very general description of a nature or culture, and developing a character background that involves far more in-depth material about the culture than I would ever have considered writing unless I had to.</p><p></p><p>Also, by not developing such stuff ahead of time, it leaves me some freedom, as a DM, to develop it on the fly, if/when the ideas come to me. And since many of my nations (though certainly not all) are loosely based on real-world equivalents, my players have a starting point. For intsance, the nation of Tahr N'lohn is very clearly a Roman analog, so my players have an image already ingrained, even though they know not all the details will match.</p><p></p><p>I guess, in a nutshell, that describes my DMing style in general. I prefer to create the big picture, but fill in the little details as we go. I do it with many of my worlds (as Selion shows), and with my plots as well; I usually create the basic outline for the stories (always malleable, in case my players surprise me, of course), but the details and specifics are often last-minute or even ad-libbed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mouseferatu, post: 1000767, member: 1288"] You know, that's an interesting question/observation. Let's see... I wouldn't say I was influenced by Tolkien [i]directly[/i]. I didn't actually read LotR until college. (I know, shame on me.) But... My initial ideas about what a fantasy world should look like came from D&D itself, Dragonlance (which I really don't much care for anymore, but loved as a teenager), Raymon Feist's Riftwar, and David Eddings' Belgariad. (My ideas have somewhat shifted over time, of course, but you never fully shake your original notions no matter how had you try.) None of those are particularly heavy on the minute details of everyday life, so I guess you've got the right theory, just the wrong source. (Of course, all of these were themselves influenced to a greater or lesser extent by Tolkien, so ultimately, he [i]is[/i] part of it.) As I mentioned, I'm willing and able to create such details when it's demanded of me, such as in a professional project. For my own personal use, though, I'm a bit less formal about it. If some really cool idea for a local custom or tradition or feature comes to mind, I'll include it. I won't usually sit down specifically to create such things, though. Partially, as I mentioned, it's because I just don't enjoy doing so. And also (again, I'm repeating myself), because some of my players like the freedom to create such things on their own. My wife, for instance, has a regular habit of taking a very general description of a nature or culture, and developing a character background that involves far more in-depth material about the culture than I would ever have considered writing unless I had to. Also, by not developing such stuff ahead of time, it leaves me some freedom, as a DM, to develop it on the fly, if/when the ideas come to me. And since many of my nations (though certainly not all) are loosely based on real-world equivalents, my players have a starting point. For intsance, the nation of Tahr N'lohn is very clearly a Roman analog, so my players have an image already ingrained, even though they know not all the details will match. I guess, in a nutshell, that describes my DMing style in general. I prefer to create the big picture, but fill in the little details as we go. I do it with many of my worlds (as Selion shows), and with my plots as well; I usually create the basic outline for the stories (always malleable, in case my players surprise me, of course), but the details and specifics are often last-minute or even ad-libbed. [/QUOTE]
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