I mean, I do get that everyone has their opinions, but there seems to be a generally negative approach towards Tolkien-esque settings on Veeky Forums.
I personally love settings that are inspired by Tolkien's work, and I honestly don't get this anti-Tolkien approach to worldbuilding.
Why do you dislike Tolkien influenced in your settings, Veeky Forums?
Why hate Tolkien-esque settings?
Ayden Moore
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Robert Mitchell
DnD has already bastardized it to death.
Plus Tolkien as a setting is basicaly "ELFS ARE BETTER THAN YOU, LOLOLOLOLOL!"
Austin Sanchez
oversaturation. Shits been done to death so it just comes off as generic at this point.
Cooper Long
I don't know man, DnD feels so bastardized that it looks nothing like a Tolkien inspired setting anymore.
It seems they only take the boring and mundane aspects as inspiration though, which explains why they end up feeling uninspired in my opinion.
For example, I am yet to see a setting where magic dies along with the villain. That was one of the most fascinating properties of Tolkien's world. No one uses the actual good aspects of his setting when they are trying to draw inspiration from it.
Isaac Russell
Magic in general is never done right in fiction anymore. You either get DnD-style "mages are demigods" settings, or videogamey "magic is just DBZ energy blasts" settings.
Carter Martin
>I honestly don't get this anti-Tolkien approach to worldbuilding.
That's because people started to copy Tolkien's "world first, story second" approach to worldbuilding. It worked for Tolkien, but it resulted in an ocean of messy unorganized and inconsistent settings.
Nicholas Wright
The only "Tolkien-esque" setting is Middle-Earth, and that has never been properly adapted.
(the One Ring comes close, but Elves and Dorfs as player character options should never be a thing)
Justin Fisher
People are contrarian enough to dislike the father of modern fantasy but not contrarian enough to stop playing the trainwreck that is DnD and it's clones. They think swapping around the roles is creativity.
>in MY setting orcs are actually a trading culture based off arabs and ELVES are the marauding savages
Ian Stewart
I mean, magic in Middle-earth also makes you into a demigod, but it is not something just anybody can do.
Magic is not learned, but it is something that is inherently in some creatures. Gandalf for example is literally an angel, and his magic comes from his nature, not from his studies.
I don't think there is a feasible way of balancing out magic in a setting without making magic boring. The best you can do is to limit access to it, which I think is the best way to handle it.
Julian Walker
>messy unorganized and inconsistent settings.
I mean narratives instead of settings.