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Message: <blockquote data-quote="R_Chance" data-source="post: 8091244" data-attributes="member: 55149">The article was about culture, but the thread has certainly centered around Tolkien <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Personally, I like the look of the house. I do enjoy subverting what people expect their Elves, Dwarves etc. to be like. I did this with the world too. I want things to look like "the real world" and "Tolkien" Elves, etc. I stop with the looks.My world is built on the basis of the 4 elements and spirit (the non physical element). No cells, no science, no biology, gunpowder, etc. The world is flat, you can fall off. And one of my PCs did once. Doing a "whitewater" canoe run right out into empty air <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> The "races" can be the same. As the article suggested culturally different. Mine are. Mostly. I made my Dwarfs kind of stereotypical, but don't worry they are faking it <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> The look of the world is really useful. When you say "Elves", "Dragon" etc. people can "see" what it is. The real exploration (besides geography) of a world is in the behavior, cultures, and interactions of peoples in the world. The trappings of classic Tolkien fantasy are useful visual guides that obviate an awful lot of description / artwork / grunt work for the DM. If you make your primary human culture reasonably familiar in shape it sets off the other cultures (human or inhuman) quite well. It makes the familiar looking world rather exotic when the PCs  look "under the hood". And when you do introduce those new / different things you can spend the time / effort introducing it without burning your time describing the more common elements of your fantasy world.Is it wholly original? No, because what is? It's different enough to be interesting, to get your players into accurately role playing your non humans, and interested in the cultures around them. That is what I need (or want really) in a game world. So, in short Tolkien's house is d@mn useful. Like any movie prop or familiar visual reference that helps you "complete" the world and focus on the really fun and interesting stuff.</blockquote>

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