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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 395875" data-attributes="member: 2020">I question the validity of neither.  I would like to comment that they are aimed at different audiences.  However, this does not mean that the entirety of the audience of He-Man is children, or that the entirety of the audience of LOTR are adolescents and adults.  There are plenty of adults who watch He-Man, and plenty of children who read LOTR.  In a stronger case than the above, there are far more adults who watch Bugs Bunny than there are children, apparently.  An outdoor expo at Pine Knob brought over 10,000 people to watch a large, outdoor screening of Bugs Bunny, and the majority of those attending were adults.  I think the primary difference between the two mediums is the threshhold of disbelief.  Consider the Oz Books, which are considered children's classics.  They push the threshhold of believability very greatly.    Or perhaps, they simply push it more bluntly, and use less subtlety.  For example, Oz is ruled by a 13 year old girl.  She is very intelligence, very wise, and very powerful.  More to the point, she is beloved by her people as no politician ever is.  She is so popular that crime is unknown in the Emerald City, or in the lands immediately around it.  The people of the Land of Oz do not age.  Adults remain adults, children remain children, and babies remain babies, and everyone is happy with this arrangement.  The Emerald City itself is one of the single most incredible bastions of wealth in existence, rivalling the treasure hoard of Smaug the Dragon, yet it's people take this for granted, and nobody in civilized Oz dreams of stealing from there.  Of course, it gets better (smiles warmly.)  Queen Anne of Oogaboo leads an Army of 4 Generals, 4 Colonels, 4 Majors, 4 Captains, and 1 Private (she hated that, having to have a private in her army) out to conquer the Land of Oz.  When that didn't work, she decided to conquer the Gnome King, nevermind his army of 50,000 trained warriors.  And if you think Queen Anne is out of it, remember that Ozma herself brought a similar army to Ev, to rescue the Royal Family of Ev from the Gnome King, and SHE invaded his Realm as well.    Now, I do not know if any Player Character in Dungeons and Dragons has assembled an Army of 4 generals, 4 colonels, 4 majors, 4 captains, and 1 private, in order to go off and conquer, say, Waterdeep, or Larloch's Lair, or Mordenkainen's Citadel of Steel, or perhaps the Empire of Iuz, but maybe someone did.  However, I doubt it. (If someone actually DID try this, please feel free to post the fact!)  People simply do not have their characters form armies of 4 generals, 4 colonels, 4 majors, 4 captains, and 1 private, to go take out the Zhentarim, Thay, the Empire of Iuz, or the Scarlet Brotherhood?  Why?  The answer, is obvious.  Believability.  It is not believable.  It goes too far past the suspension of disbelief, to be enjoyable for those playing the game.  Now, if the character gathers a great host of 100,000 armored warriors and mages, to go take on the Empire of Iuz, rather than 4 generals, 4 majors, 4 colonels, and 4 captains, then it could be said that the Suspension of Disbelief is made more possible, as belief is not stretched so far.  And yet, I could see children taking that army of officers and one private, right into Iuz's domain, and having a delightful time as they leveled Dorakaa to the ground with the invincible might of (cough) officers who have heart trouble, and thus might have heart attacks if they underwent any stress (as they actually told Ozma, to her face.)  That's the difference between He-Man and LOTR.  The Suspension of Belief.  And it seems to me that, the older one gets - at heart, the less one can suspend disbelief, until finally one can no longer do it at all.  This does not make either kind of story inferior to the other (although I do NOT rate He-Man as being as good as the Oz books, thank you very much.)  When I asked what differences you saw between the two, this was what I was asking for.  For I am curious as to your take on the subject.  This is a matter very relevant to the Hobby, to Dungeons and Dragons, and to every game played.</blockquote>

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