Re: Re: (TFT) Heritage/Philosophy of TFT

["Ty Beard" <tbeard@tyler.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "rsmith" <rsmith@lightspeed.ca>
To: <tft@brainiac.com>


> Hi all,
> I agree with what you say.  The D&D magic
> system was certainly based on Jack Vance's Dying
> Earth novels.
>
> Rick
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tft-owner@brainiac.com [mailto:tft-owner@brainiac.com]On Behalf Of
> Stan
> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 3:49 AM
> To: tft@brainiac.com
> Subject: Re: Re: (TFT) Heritage/Philosophy of TFT
>
>
> > Forgive me for chiming in here, but I do believe that the
> > majority of frpgs out there are based VERY CLOSELY on Tolkein.
>
> I think that the inspiration for most 70's FRP games is about equally
split
> between three things: Tolkein, Jack Vance, and R.E. Howard/C.A. Smith
genre
> swords and sorcery from the 1930's.  I'm tempted to throw in Moorcock as
an
> item all his own, but I'll consider him as part of that third category.
>
> Maybe the Tolkein elements are what we notice most, but if you're familiar
> with these other things, they're definitely in there too.
>
> In any case, I stand my my statement that if TFT is supposed to be
> re-creating Middle Earth, it's doing a p*ss poor job, what with its gates,
> raising the dead, martial artists, and 'wizard' being just another entry
on
> the job table.

I agree, though I think that one can adapt TFT to a Middle Earth campaign
with relatively little work. The combat system is already a pretty
reasonable one (there's a nifty TSG article on hobbits and their weaponry
for the curious) for Middle Earth -- give Boromir chain armor, large shield,
warrior and veteran and he'll take a lot of arrows before falling. The magic
system will need to be seriously pruned, though. One problem is that we see
very little magic in LOTR, so the implication is that it's not something
typically used by wizards in combat situations. I'd ditch the iron effects
on spells, however, since Gandalf wields a sword presumably made of iron.

--Ty
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