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Two underlying truths: D&D heritage and inclusivity
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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 8022537" data-attributes="member: 59082"><p>Good post--and some excellent solutions. I generally agree with what you're saying here, with the caveat of what I just wrote in my reply to Hussar, which I'll put slightly differently here.</p><p></p><p>The rules of fantasy are different from the rules of the real world. We all love that word "verisimilitude" (one of those big words used far more within the RPG community than outside it), which is quite relevant and I think goes along with what you are saying: the fantasy world must make sense within its own context, it must be internally coherent, but doesn't need to abide by how things work in our world. Thus an "all-evil" race can make sense <em>if, </em>as you say, it is grounded within the context of the world.</p><p></p><p>So, yes, "man is the measure of all things" and everything we imaginatively create will be a reflection of who we are. But orcs (for instance) aren't simply mirrors of who we are; they are mirrors of <em>certain aspects </em>of who we are. In Tolkien's world, they are the shadow to elves, which mirror those "higher" aspects of human nature. In a way we can say that in Middle-earth: Humans = elves + orcs. Elves are elves, orcs are orcs, but humans have some choice in who and what we are, and in that sense have a nature of freedom that potentially makes them even greater than elves.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 8022537, member: 59082"] Good post--and some excellent solutions. I generally agree with what you're saying here, with the caveat of what I just wrote in my reply to Hussar, which I'll put slightly differently here. The rules of fantasy are different from the rules of the real world. We all love that word "verisimilitude" (one of those big words used far more within the RPG community than outside it), which is quite relevant and I think goes along with what you are saying: the fantasy world must make sense within its own context, it must be internally coherent, but doesn't need to abide by how things work in our world. Thus an "all-evil" race can make sense [I]if, [/I]as you say, it is grounded within the context of the world. So, yes, "man is the measure of all things" and everything we imaginatively create will be a reflection of who we are. But orcs (for instance) aren't simply mirrors of who we are; they are mirrors of [I]certain aspects [/I]of who we are. In Tolkien's world, they are the shadow to elves, which mirror those "higher" aspects of human nature. In a way we can say that in Middle-earth: Humans = elves + orcs. Elves are elves, orcs are orcs, but humans have some choice in who and what we are, and in that sense have a nature of freedom that potentially makes them even greater than elves. [/QUOTE]
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