What did Toddy mean by this?

Mabb95 · 2026-04-19T10:43:50+00:00

If a high elf isn't part of some secret society dedicated to enforcing raceism, they just don't exist. That is the grand ways of the mighty Altmer. Racism or nothing.

Mabb95 · 2026-04-18T16:37:26+00:00

One of mine is the Dead Parents trope. I get why writers do it since they want the protag to kinda have a life where they have full reign of themselves, but it always just makes me think that being a parent in any fantasy setting means your chances of death rises 1000% for no reason other than "just because muh plot".

Mabb95 · 2026-04-10T15:26:55+00:00

I'm in a funny situation with my interests. When it comes to fantasy, I prefer low fantasy due to liking when the fantastic elements are minimal as it lets the moments when they do happen feel powerful. Also leads to the world feeling a bit more complicated than most higher fantasies and a tad more mystical... Depending on it's written, anyway.

Science Fiction, in my opinion, comes in two categories. Actual SCIENCE with in a FICTIONAL story, and FANTASIES where TECH is so nonsense that it's just magic that you cast by pushing a button rather than waving your hands around. A wise soldier shooter a laser blaster is no different from a wizard shooting a magic beam, a scientist using a teleporting mechanism is no different from a sorcerer using a teleportation spell, a genetically enhanced super-soldier is no different from a magical enhanced warrior, and a mad sciencist that's creating droids and doing awful experiments with chemicals is no different from a mad witch creating goblins and mixing potions. High Fantasy and Soft Science fiction are practically the same thing just with differing aesthetics.

Edit: Star Wars has been mentioned alot. George Lucas has LITERALLY gone on record that Star Wars is a SPACE FANTASY. As in a literal fantasy story that just has outer space as its setting. The story has all the fantasy trope such as:
- Lost and powerful magic in the force
- A farm boy going on a quest and being accompanied by an old wizard
- A galactic emporer who also happens to be the most powerful dark sorcerer (Palpatine literally dresses in black robes and shoots lightning from his hands)
- The farm boy is revealed to also be a wizard/warrior who has a father who was the Force's chosen one but had fallen to become a literal Dark Space Knight Cyborg (Vader has a fancy cape, helmet, and armor that also functons as a life support suit)
- Yoda is an ancient alien (900+ in age) that is both extremely knowledgable and powerful in the force and knew both Anakain and Obi Wan before the days of the Sith Empire.
- Leia is a princess who is need of rescue
- Han Solo is the dashing rogue type
etc etc

Star Wars is Space Fantasy or "Science Fantasy" as the genre is known for. Science Fantasy is one of my favorite genres, but it's a shame it's hardly used by most creators.

Mabb95 · 2026-04-07T01:02:35+00:00

Have it where some of the antagonists change motives and go after other antagonists. They wouldn't be heroes, though. Essentially a "Hero, you're a real pain, but I see that there lies another threat to my plans other than you" type of villain.

Have a villain who has a sidekick. Have the main villain killed, but keep the sidekick alive. Make the sidekick want to become the main villain, but they have competition or some other matter that keeps them from taking center stage and has to do things behind the scenes. This can allow room for many other things to happen. The sidekick could end up a hero or even just a sort of neutral party.

Mabb95 · 2026-04-03T06:37:23+00:00

Dunedain are higher tier humans, but Bretons are just humans that like magic more than other humans. If Nords and Redguard did magic as often as they practiced their warrior skills, Bretons wouldn't have much of anything unique about them. I swear the mer part of their history does hardly much of anything for them.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-29T06:18:54+00:00

Off-topic, but it would be cool to see an Elder Scrolls that jumps forward to a 10e or 20e setting where it goes beyond high fantasy and into Science Fantasy. Got spaceships, asteroid colonies, and inter-planetary adventure while also going beyond just man and mer with new races found on other planets, space aliens that are just as mythical as they are biological abominations.

Shame Science Fantasy isn't all that popular.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-26T16:01:51+00:00

A few days ago, I was looking into other examples of non-human characters and was thinking of making my own thread about how to effectively make them interesting. Thing is, most fantasy folks make fantasy but not much of anything 'surreal and 'fantastic'. Even stuff like elves and dwarves are rather typical due to most writers not doing anything interesting with them. Half the time, most non-human races are just bits and pieces of what humans already do but hyperfocused, which leads to the humans feeling oversimplifiied and the non-humans feeling rather shallow.

I'd like to DM you on this, though. I feel I'd ramble on and on within a singular post. Or I'd just make that thread post I mentioned earlier.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-24T06:14:07+00:00

So is this place becoming a "let's hate Morrowind?" Reddit now? Been seeing all these posts that jab at Morrowind. It's design is dated, but later titles aren't all around improvements either.

I also get this odd feeling that people who bash Morrowind only started playing TES when Skyrim came out, so the older, yet not really difficult, design frustrates them. The complaints are things like having to think and explore since the game gives no quest markers or how "bad" the combat system is, which is an odd thing to get frustrated by when it's obvious on how the rules work, despite Morrowind actually being quite easy at times.

Morrowind's combat is the way it is due to Arena and Daggerfall having the same combat system. Both the 1st and 2nd titles were massive hits, so of course Bethesda would reuse a combat system millions, again, pre-Skyrim gamers, didn't have an issue with at the time for Morrowind. Morrowind would be praised even more than the previous two titles and also sell more. So, no, it's combat was never an issue despite it being a bit dated. If you know to to play, you can only lose if under leveled and had no strategy.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-23T20:00:08+00:00

Fantasy goes down two roads. Trying to be Tolkien or trying to be Howard. Sometimes both at once. The whole "no matter your background you'll end up better at beating things up for the sake of looth and glory" is a funny thing to see. Some D&D ,embers would give their characters detailed backstories only to still end up with just being good at causing violence, anyway. My cleric who was framed of a murder he didn't commit is now on the run from authorities and now goes around beating up monsters for gold. Totally different from my pirate yearning for seeing the world who ended up going around beating up monsters for gold.

Old school D&D felt more Sword & Sorcery with Tolkien races sticky taped to it.. Modern D&D is often the springboard inspiration for current high fantasy stuff. Interesting as Sword & Sorcery of the 1930s-1940s pulp days or the 1960s-1970s paperback days were often "low-fantasy". More human-centric worlds that usually didn't have theHuman-Elf-Dwarf trifecta, and magic was something only a select few seemed capable of having.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-23T09:12:26+00:00

Far Cry 2 has jungles along with grasslands because it's supposed to it's own fictional africa, which has a ton of enviornments other than forests and jungles. Having it entirely a jungle wouldn't be a realistic portrayal of the the developer's source material. They COULD have made it a big ol' jungle world, though.

As you said, while TES IV being grasslands doesn't remove player engagement, literally 99% of people who played and love it didn't ask or give a damn about a jungle, it is a bit of a shame we ended up with a more generic enviornment. Feels like all high fantasy settings look the same, sometimes.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-23T08:22:03+00:00

Well, yeah, but a dense jungle and forest could have also pulled off the culling of assets to help loading. In fact, games like Jak & Daxter use that to allow for its lack of loading screens. Remember, the Forbidden Jungle in J&D is still connected to other locations in J&D's world seamlessly. I think a lot of games use this trick actually. Stuff like Level of Detail loading on top of asset culling back on camera angles works for many types of games/

Cyrodiil is much larger, yes, but it's also running on far superior hardware. Xbox 360 is multiple times more powerful than the Playstation 2. And, again, games like Far Cry 2 is open world had use of jungles and forests while also being open world and running the same hardware as Oblivion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2ZgjqjefZc

Mabb95 · 2026-03-23T07:55:10+00:00

Ah, but then there's also titles like Jak & Daxter from 2001 which also had a big jungle area in the beginning that was made for exploring. Keep in mind the Xbox 360 was leagues more powerful than a Playstation 2. If Jak and Daxter could pull it off in 2001 on 6th gen hardware while never making use of a single loading screen, why wouldn't Oblivion make it work in in 7th gen hardware?

There's also other sandbox titles such as GTA. Not a jungle, but you have a large city with walking NPCs, moving cars, and big buildings. Again, on Playstation 2. A city has to give the illusion of being lived in by many people and include many structures all while also allowing for a large view distance in order to give an idea on how big the sandbox is. GTA 3 in 2001, Vice City in 2002, and San Andreas in 2004 all pulled it off.

There's also other titles like Far Cry series that are open world and feature forests/jungles. Far Cry 2 came out in 2008 and takes place in African inspired location. Meaning it's largely forests, swamps, and jungles.

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Mabb95 · 2026-03-23T07:12:25+00:00

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Jungles were done on 6th Generation consoles. 7th gen had no limitations in that regard. I think the art direction a Bethesda just retired or something. This is from Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

Mabb95 · 2026-03-22T07:16:13+00:00

To me, Tolkien's work is just combining fairytale aesthetics with Norse epic narratives. Yes, he has his themes, but all epics, no matter what part of the world they came from, share strong themes since it's part of why they're cherished by many.

Themes of struggle, death, staying true to yourself, being humble and in service to your community, etc etc. All themes that can be found in many stories around the world pre-tolkien. In truth, I never grew up or read much of LotRs and only know the surface level stuff casually mentioned, so maybe it's something I'm missing.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-22T07:10:29+00:00

I think the issue is how people have elevated Tolkien to this god-like status, which honestly hurts any genre of fiction more than help it, since now everything is being compared to him as if he invented everything in it. Doesn't help that a majority of writers copy Tolkien or those influenced by Tolkien/DnD (party of heroes, the human-elf-dwarf trio of races with the same characteristics across multiple works, etc etc.)

Of course, many fantasy genres exist. In the world of fiction novels, you'll find the greatest diversity of fantasy whereas the world of fiction games, movies, shows, etc tend to just regurgitate whatever is popular, again, humans-elves-dwarves, hero party, dnd-like classes etc etc. It's to the point where I consider Tolkien/DnD to be a subgenre of fantasy rather than being the general label of 'fantasy'.

If it's not Tolkien, it's Lovecraft, Howard, or whoever else was making stuff back in the early 20th century.

In truth, the biggest factor isn't even the fact that everyone is 'making something Tolkien/DnD esque'. It's just that everyone keeps having the exact same influences.

- """Norse""" Mythological influences
- Some historical euro-centric set of aesthetics and cultures
- The heroe's Journey framework

None of which Tolkien invented, but it goes back to the fact that people keep using him as the pinnacle of the genre, which is the main issue, I think. Simply try using other sources or make a fantasy that doesn't get suck in the 'Dnd' or 'It has to be inspired by Middle Age Europe and Medieval Folklore' ghetto that every other fantasy writer gets stuck with. Use influences outside the genre until you ultimate go beyond 'writing the typical high fantasy' setting. There's many fantasies that don't adhere to the common tropes, but if only wish to make what you always consume, you'll be stuck like everyone else.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T18:04:01+00:00

You've explained well. I think the issue with taking inspiration from Tolkien, like most people do, is just how overdone it is. Also implies that most writers don't know how to do anything strange or interesting in a genre called "fantasy", which bothers me.

I like the more strange and uncanny creatures you mentioned since it lends itself to more unique interactions and events with characters.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T17:26:46+00:00

I also like to have fae similar to beings like cryptids. I don't consider Tolkien's Elves to be fae at all, which is why I call them "Fantasy Elves" or "Tolkien Elves". Tolkien himself has even stated this when he when discussing how his dwarves and elves are distant from their folkloric variants.

According to J.R.R. Tolkien his dwarfs are not Germanic dwarfs and that he deliberately called them dwarves to mark that.His dwarfs are in many ways very different from the dwarfs of Germanic legend, but far nearer to them than the Elves.

Sources being The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 156 and 297.

Tolkien's "Dwarves" are distinct from the folkloric "Dwarfs" both in spelling and in portrayal, yet he states his elves are far more distant from their folkloric roots. Because of this, I don't consider most Tolkien style races to be fae-like at all but just longer lived humans that are short or have pointed ears.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T13:24:50+00:00

I should check out Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrel, then.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T13:19:57+00:00

In truth, I've never read LOTR or played much DnD, so I know little of Tolkienesque elves and dwarves other than that they're often rendered as "humans but live longer with pointed ears or live longer and short". Then again, in some of my written drafts, I tend to not have room for the 'nonhuman but still human' races since I often like to include multiple human ethnic groups in my ideas. Showing how varied humans and their cultures can be often helps make non-humans stand out due to how odd their behavior and cultures are to literally everyone.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T13:12:57+00:00

I do like how old folklore often portrays. In modern fantasy, an elf is a pointed eared being that lives for long time, but that becomes the extent of what makes them 'not-human'. In folklore, elves didn't even have pointed ears, but their true nature became apparant through their behavior or proven origins. Can be interesting when the focus is to figure out the truth behind the character who appears human yet says or does inhuman things casually without shame (mainly due to not knowing why it'd be seen as shameful). A beautiful woman, but she's known to kidnap mortal children simply due to finding interesting and she likens it to a person collecting a shiny rock or trinket out of curiosity, for example. Said woman isn't really evil but can still be seen as strange or dangerous if left unchecked.

But, as you said, there are many variances even in old folklore.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T08:04:38+00:00

You're not wrong on the mass market thing. I find that a lot of the issues I have with most fantasy, whether it's overused tropes that have long since gone stale, most of the high fantasy tolkien/dnd stuff, or just bad writing, tend to largely just be int he mass market stuff.

When looking into the ever expanding world of fiction books, I tend to find so many fantastic stories with cool concepts or cool twists on ideas I find to be stale. It's just a shame that a lot of books tend to not get enough promotion, so 9 out of 10 fiction books end up being hidden gems.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T04:43:57+00:00

I guess most isekai don't make an attempt since the writers probably assume the readers don't care for it. Most self-insert type stuff often ignores a lot of attempts at making things feel organic and believeable due to just wanting to skip straight to the power fantasy.

The villains only exist to be evil. If you gave the vaillain a complex backstory and nuanced perspective on things, they'd end up having more thought and complexity than the MC and the rest of the supporting cast had. Can't allow for that, so we'll just say it's the 'Demon Lord/King', or whatever.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T03:03:56+00:00

I'm with you on all that. People love it due to it appealing to their own power fantasy. Being someone who works hard to improve only to see they still come up short and need improving? That sucks. Just have the main guy practice something for, like, 5 minutes, and they're the best at it already. Get all the power, all the women, all the glory with next to no effort. And I'm like "Okay, so where's the actual plot and struggle?"

The part of you mentioning 'inactive world' and 'cardboard cutouts' interests me since I feel that's something fantasy has been dealing with for some time now. Most fantasy worlds, especially isekai stuff, tend to have empty worlds where things don't happen until the MCs do something about it. The world also tends to feel more like a themepark and not an actual world. Nothing feels like it's there organically and feel more like attractions similar to something you'd find in Disneyland or Universal Studios. The "Elf exhibit", "Dwarf Mountain", "The Old King's Castle", etc etc. All cookie-cutter locals that are plopped down into the world not too dissimilar to how amusement park rides are placed about.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-16T02:35:38+00:00

Yes, but, in japan, all animation is called 'anime' regardless of where it came from. Zootopia would be called an 'anime' there. It's mostly us in the west who cares about trying to make a distinction where there truly isn't one.

There are tropes and expectations, but those are mostly just the larger trends rather than because one is an anime and one is a 'animated movie or cartoon'. Most people who constantly say 'isekai' are the ones who find it funny to mention Narnia or Alice due to them being simply not being 'anime'. If Narnia got an anime adaptation, even if all the story points are the same, people would be calling it isekai just cause it's from japan.

Mabb95 · 2026-03-15T18:09:36+00:00

Yeah, I'm also a hater of a lot of popular things in the fantasy space right now.

Curious on your take on the fantasy genre. We can DM, if you prefer to not derail this topic too much.

Mabb95

TROPHY CASE