Re: (TFT) Daily Life...

["gem6868" <gem6868@verizon.net>]

Interestingly, at the GURPS forum at SJ Games, or in a response to an email 
I wrote him (unfortunately, can't remember which), I think he said that he 
"couldn't" buy anything from Metagaming b/c of Howard Thompson's "mysterious 
disappearance" from the gaming world.  Another old-timer from Clash of Arms 
where I work occasionally said that no one has been able to reach Howard 
since he closed shop.  That mystery has never been solved, but Area 51 
theories abound...

RE: Tolkein, I think the difference is that Tolkein is writing "Tuchman 
history" with the modern mind in mind (so to speak) - things make sense 
internally and are explained, b/c that was the background he wanted for his 
world.  Vance and Leiber are writing "Herodotus" history, where legend and 
rumor are included if that makes for a good read or there's nothing more 
conclusive around.

90% of the population doesn't know the difference between such hard and soft 
history, so they keep repeating what they learned in 3rd grade (or much much 
worse - saw in movies...especially Oliver Stone films), which was often 
erroneous, is now dated, or was so simplified that it holds no real value. 
Just the other day I heard someone quote the old saw that the Colonists won 
the American Revolution by hiding behind bushes while stupid redcoats 
marched in straight lines, as though the entire war was Lexington / Concord. 
The same sort of "everyone knows it" history is repeated about everything 
from the Fall of Rome, the role of the Catholic Church, the Crusades, to 
WWII and Vietnam.

Personally, I don't mind that people hold fashionable, erroneous or 
simplistic ideas - we can't all be experts at everything.  But if you know 
you're not an expert or highly trained / experienced in a field, then at 
least defer to those who do while you go look it up yourself.  Even a quick 
trip to Wiki isn't entirely wasted, I've found, if you're in a hurry - you 
just can't take it as gospel.

-----Original Message----- 
From: raito@raito.com
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 1:23 PM
To: tft@brainiac.com
Subject: Re: (TFT) Daily Life...

Quoting gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net>:
> Tolkein was writing mythical history, to replace the "lost / suppressed"
> Anglo-Saxon tales the Normans squashed as part of their takeover.   He
> didn't regard it as the equal of "history" as Barbara Tuchman writes, or a
> (respectable) university might present as a major.  However, your 
> statement
> that you consider Tolkein = history makes it easier for me to comprehend
> some of your posts.

I probalby don't mean what you think. When I say Tolkein was writing
histories, I don't mean that the events were real, but that the voice
he uses is a historian's voice. That's why you see him doing things
like explaining everything, etc. His point of view is removed from the
action.

> The difference might be
> seen in GURPS v. TFT.  Steve Jackson seems to have wanted to ground his
> system more in "reality as we know it", but that may only be b/c he 
> intended
> GURPS from the beginning to be universal, and therefore you can role-play 
> an
> historical supplement, a fantasy supplement, or one like "GURPS Greece"
> where you choose btw mythic Greece and historical Greece.  Having been 
> away
> from TFT for a good solid 25+ years the style difference is much more
> noticeable to me, and that's part of what makes it so retro-fun.

> From those who I know who know him, the prime impetus for GURPS was
that he couldn't afford to buy back TFT, and that TFt would have become
universal if he had been able to do so.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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