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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 2528511" data-attributes="member: 26473">Hussar, I'm really lost with respect to how you're defining "tolkienesque." (BTW, the "i" goes before the "e". <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> )Magic in Middle-earth is incredibly powerful and no less predictable than that of many D&D spells. That fact that there isn't a lot of flashy spell-casting (though there is certainly some) is a direct consequence of its power, not the lack thereof. It's understood that the power of magic may be a corrupting influence (in the same vein as temporal power) and that it draws the attention of the forces of darkness (divination, anyone?), so it is used circumspectly.It's really not all that rare, either - magic items pop up throughout the War of the Ring, and I would go so far as to call it abundant in earlier ages (considering for example the magic swords in the barrows).This is an interesting premise for which I would like to see other factors considered, such as how the marketing and retailing of books of all sorts and fantasy in particular has changed in the same time-period, or how authors approach fantasy as a writing genre. As it stands, I feel it may be important to remind you that correlation is not causation.I was inspired by this thread to take a stroll through the fantasy section of a B&N over the weekend, to check out some of the authors mentioned here.I would suggest that the correlation noted above could be explained by the fact that fantasy authors have discovered what popular authors like Danielle Steele and Sydney Sheldon discovered a long time ago, that turning out light-weight page-turners appeals to a broader audience than dense novels with challenging themes. The fact that this work is popular doesn't really sway me to the merits of relying on more contemporary authors for building a gaming experience.</blockquote>

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