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Message: <blockquote data-quote="univoxs" data-source="post: 8090953" data-attributes="member: 6668320">Nothing is all that fantastic in D&D settings and that is the difference between LotR and most RPG fantasy settings. The Elves were strange and wonderful to the Hobbits when they first met them.  LotR is "low fantasy" in a lot of ways and I feel such a settings is less commonly played. A celestial fire breathing half-orc barbarian titan mauler is not all that interesting to play, or special, because everyone is just as wacky as you are. The Default has become "high fantasy" where every character stands out so much that no one stands out so much at all, and no one is all that surprised when a fiendish beholder ghast teleports into the middle of the tavern, buys everyone a drink, and splits an english muffin with the city watch. There is a definition to the word fantastic that is "so extreme as to challenge belief". Nothing in D&D challenges the characters beliefs, or players expectations when the settings are so permissive to allow just about anything. Don't get me wrong, I have made many wacky characters. But I want to return a sense of wonder to my games, a sense of wonder that LotR produced. Not the ho-hum that Forgotten Realms does for me.I don't think new players would feel this way. This is about perspective. Someone who has never played D&D or watched/read LotR might feel like Game of Thrones is the default and find Elves and Dwarves quite novel.</blockquote>