metadigital

Tolkien did not purposefully tap into the demand. He indicated so himself afterwards by estranging himself from the "popular" fantasy movement, which he labeled as the cult-like dredge that inevitably latches onto greatness. What you fail to understand, however, is that Tolkien's detailed studies in appendices had little to do with his popularity and influences on high fantasy. As the good professor himself observed, people were not so much interested in depth as they were interested in surface archetypes. Hobbits, elves, wizards, orcs, and the struggle between good and evil (often characterized as West vs. East), nature and industry, all set against a medieval "epic" time - these were Tolkien's so-called "legacies" on high fantasy. The rest wasn't popular, and therefore are no more than footnotes in history. As far as my credentials with LOTR goes, I would refrain from making impossible suppositions, metaldigital. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That depends on whether you make ludicrous statements that cloud any learned wisdom you may have. I don't know why you think that the details are not important to Tolkien's popularity. How can anyone say that: has there been a study done to explain the popularity, or is it just a bunch of speculation by certain individuals?

1. People don't die at twenty without technology. Without knowledge, maybe, but not technology: farmers don't need super-growth fertilizers, they just give a higher yield. 2. You hope that genetic manipulation wouldn't be banned. Some religio-political systems don't agree with basic medical practices: Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, don't permit blood transfusions.

Nice posture: don't give up the deportment lessons. "

Careful about the negative charisma effects ...

http://www.gamespy.com/articles/693/693211p1.html

You can time your ejaculations that well?

I'm still wondering how the President of the United States started quoting a Simpson's character ...

Johnny ****ing Depp, absolutely fantastic. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Baley: really, put some cash together and make the visit. I don't need ze drugs. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why are you watching it again, then? Envy?

The cold one?

You don't call a species becoming more dependent on artificial technology a real, long-term ramification? Except that genetic manipulation can be prohibited by politics even when permissable by science. Maybe beyond the point of no return for said species.

Zing!

*click click click* What's happening? *click clack click*

Yeah, but not every game has trolls.

I guess the only way forward is distributed model, like that of NwN.

What if you cast a Wish spell first ...

Just so long as I'm not compared to YOU!

I remember really enjoying the movie, but the only part I really remember is the stoning scene, and the wierd spaceship part. Both gold though :D <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Fixed. The grafiti scene is an absolute classic, too. In fact the film is just a bunch of great vignettes put together around an interesting theme. Up your dosage this time.

Tolkien's tastes and biases were not so much the tastes and biases of an individual as they were of a society. If Tolkien was eccentric and exceptional, then his ideas would not have been widely embraced. Popularity, and thus legacy as a cultural icon, only comes from a writer's ability to match the sensibilities of a nation or, at the very least, the cultural elite. His success, therefore, came about for the same reason Harry Potter did - because he captured the imagination of the masses. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> So Tolkien just tapped into a zeitgeist demand? What a load of horsefeathers. I don't know too many other Professors of Anglo-Saxon, still fewer who can write children's (or adults') fiction, and even less who can be bothered to write anything for anyone else's consumption. Have you actually read The Lord of the Rings? There are hundreds of pages of appendices containing extra histories and language details. And not stupid languages like those in SW; proper linguistic analyses based on actual detailed studies of actual languages. The story was just a (at times poorly written) container / presentation device. So all this fuss over Mozart is unwarranted? Beethoven is pass

Exactly. Not Tolkien. We're in a world where Tolkien is DEAD, remember? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Um, yes, which was my point. You seem to be arguing both sides. If halflings, for example, are quintessentially Tolkien, and Tolkien never existed, then neither would halflings. But everyone would interpret the myths in their own way. Without the weight of work done by Tolkien there aren't any halflings, specifically, for example, and no broad Tolkien flavour. Take out all the Tolkienesque fantasy fiction, and assume it never existed. Would it somehow spontaneously appear, under the pen of someone else? Doubtful. Certainly not in it's present form, and probably even taking a lot more time it would never be so. We'd have more of the non-Tolkien-fantasy, definitely. Would this take some of Tolkien's popularity? Maybe, and maybe not. Your comments are two-fold, either: Tolkien did nothing special, everyone else would have been able to do it, given sufficient motivation (all the myths are there to read, after all); or Tolkien had no lasting impact, the genre of fantasy would be almost identical without his magna opera (it's just more of the same stuff that's out there). ther is no mention of pointy ears in lotr. that is the thing 'bout lotr... tolkien describes physical aspects of elves and dwarves and orcs n' such very little. he gets credit for inventing, but recognize at least that without no physical dscription offered by tolkien, his readers seemed to come to similar conclusions 'bout those appearances nevertheless... 'cuse as tolkien expected, those things were already part of the collective mythology o' english speakers. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I certainly agree he certainly was more interested in the cultures: poems, songs, languages; rather than the physical attributes like hair styles and ear sizes. I think it's the cat-like pointiness of the ears that so bewitches people: the looks are very animal-hybrid.

I couldn't possibly comment. "

Chocolate beer? Those sneaky Swiss!

True enough. And I don't mind using distance as a tool to create isolated areas that are difficult to deal with because the PC can't just jump back to town and heal and jump back into the middle of the same battle *cough* KotOR *cough*. I just think that Morrowind overdid it. A lot.

Not just the females, Volo.

That's not a bad idea for a company to gain a marketing edge: active DMs.

Imagine being a super-duper Mage and expending almost all your XP to create a super-kick-ass magic item ...