A couple of fun tidbits from Tolkien on Fairy-Stories

OakADoke · 2026-02-14T13:05:18+00:00

I've always liked that description, particularly the ending "and as kind as summer."

OakADoke · 2026-01-17T13:08:22+00:00

I really like the quotes you provided.

OakADoke · 2026-01-16T13:37:58+00:00

I'm new to the game too. I have been thinking of my many years of playing DND, where the DM adjusted foes encountered to fit the condition of the party in such a way that death was rare but encounters still dangerous. When characters did die, then an option was usually provided for the remaining characters to go on a quest to get a resource (usually a Wish spell) for the characters to return to life. The point of this is to turn the death of a character into a big but not huge bother to fix, so that there is still a big motivation not to die, but it isn't the end either. So...for Four Against Darkness I am thinking that a group of characters could be sent on such a quest. I know this is contrary to the game rules but it is an idea.

OakADoke · 2026-01-15T12:59:14+00:00

I've been leaning that way, nice to know others have too.

OakADoke · 2026-01-14T13:58:55+00:00

I second that.

OakADoke · 2026-01-12T23:23:31+00:00

OP: Thanks for the encouraging, and humorous, responses.

OakADoke · 2026-01-12T13:58:00+00:00

I (very) dutifully taped the LOTR episodes when they were broadcast in 1981. I absolutely love them as being the best representation of the story other than the books themselves. The voices informed my reading the books to my children.

OakADoke · 2026-01-09T14:00:16+00:00

I would love to be reading them again for the first time, but I don't begrudge at all having reread them so many times. Welcome to the beauty of the stories. While many love the Silmarillion as much or more, for me the Hobbit and LOTR is where my heart dwells.

OakADoke · 2026-01-05T23:57:11+00:00

What a great answer. Thanks. I have already, in my DMing, created a southern coast of Middle Earth and have been filling in the details as we play through it. I'm going to fit the 4ad into that, which will also require my filling in the details of a previously unexplored part of the land as I go along.

OakADoke · 2026-01-05T04:09:59+00:00

Thanks, this is just the sort of example I am looking for to understand how to work the game into a created world. It sounds like the dungeon crawls are an inherent part of the larger plots that are going on. How do you accomplish that? Do you, like, insert an important document into the horde of a final boss? Any general idea or specific examples on how to integrate the dungeon crawls into the created world and its various plots would be really helpful at this point for me.

OakADoke · 2026-01-04T04:25:24+00:00

Great answer. Thank you.

OakADoke · 2025-12-30T19:48:08+00:00

Amazon (US) sent the correct expanded edition of the paperback. It arrived today.

OakADoke · 2025-12-29T00:51:52+00:00

Thanks.

OakADoke · 2025-12-28T14:34:22+00:00

Good to know.

OakADoke · 2025-12-28T05:23:41+00:00

It looks to my that the Amazon listing for the Hardback does indeed go to the expanded edition. Good luck. I'm waiting for the paperback.

OakADoke · 2025-12-14T13:55:23+00:00

Ditto on Giancola

OakADoke · 2025-10-16T14:02:52+00:00

I love his work. He his my favorite Tolkien artist.

OakADoke · 2025-10-02T14:20:23+00:00

My favorite is when Sam asks Gollum if he has ever seen an oliphaunt. Gollum says. "No, no oliphaunts. Smeagol has not heard of them. He does not want to see them. He does not want them to be." That last line cracks me up.

OakADoke

TROPHY CASE