Trampling the legacy, remaking the myth: Re: Re: Re: Building a better Fantasy story

» mkletch - Re: Re: Re: Building a better Fantasy story

In response to message posted by proudfoot:

After reading this article, I have a feeling that there is something profound here that we are all missing; the comments are close but not on target.

For starters, the professor is dead. There is not much we can do except move on and occasionally look back. Tolkien was rare in that he was a legend while he was still alive. Let's wait until Jordan and Eddings have been dead for fifty years and see how popular they will be (if at all). All we can hope is that each book we read is entertaining in some way. On the other hand, life is full of disappointments of other sorts, so why should fantasy fiction be any different.

Of books that try storytelling in a different fashion from Tolkien (e.g. Jordan), I have mixed feelings. The 'new standard' has not been discovered, yet. New and existing authors need to try, and we need to read - only persistence and luck will get us where we want/need to go.

As for faulting role-playing systems, I would rather 'blame' the players that are either too lazy, from a creative standpoint, to do something different from stereotypes with their roleplaying, or they are too rushed in their need for escapism of any sort to put the time into it. It's just a reflection of our societies on a larger level.

Enough for my rant...

-- posted by mkletch