Orcs, Elves, and the One Clich� to Rule Them All

[Daynarr]

Ooook, now i have a headache.

[Morkilus]

Can you see Tolkein's elves making blood sacrifices, summoning devils, and calling lightning from the sky? The Dominions Vanir are so much more interesting, and the bonus is they're closer to the original myth. I'm having fun writing stories about the "elves" that dominate humanity and demand children for rituals, while coveting their numbers and fecundity.

I still can't figure out Abysia; I've lazily avoided them since I can't really conceptualize their flavor. Perhaps people want those fantasy standbys since they automatically create unit diversity with minimal imaginative effort; all the work has already been done. But with more ancient, diverse mythology you can always read up on a nation from hundreds of sources, not just stuff from J.R.R. and R.A. Salvatore.

[Nerfix]

So far Dominions is the only game with "lava people" I have played...

[Reverend Zombie]

Nerfix said:
So far Dominions is the only game with "lava people" I have played...

I think they were in Fantasy General(?), and are sort of a Dungeons and Dragons staple, no?

[Ed Kolis]

Dom2 lacks orcs, elves, and hobbits? Hmm, last I checked the Tuatha sure resembled elves (isn't "Sidhe" one of Tolkien's elf races?), and the Hoburgsmen are just another name for hobbits (Tolkien) / halflings (D&D) / hurthlings (ADOM)... the only thing really lacking is orcs
I still think that Clockwork Horrors should produce mecha-Horrors, though, not mecha-Hoburgsmen

[Vicious Love]

I ain't never seen no 'nother game with no Chinamen in it, is all. Plenty of flavor-of-the-month pseudo-Japanese titles, but absolutely none that do justice to a culture I consider at least as interesting as that of their sun-worshipping, bear-suckling neighbors.

I value originality in my games. Failing that, good use of genuinely interesting civilizations and mythologies is a welcome alternative. Dominions seems to have some measure of both, which puts it head and shoulders above nearly every other computer game out there at the moment.

[Psitticine]

Ed Kolis said:
Hmm, last I checked the Tuatha sure resembled elves (isn't "Sidhe" one of Tolkien's elf races

"Sidhe" is the term for the race of people who inhabitated the Otherworld after beinng chased by this one by the mythic ancestors of the modern Irish. They became the fey or fairie folk in time. The term literally means a sort of perfectly rounded hill that had a doorway in it. When the moon was right, you went in the doorway and, when you came out the other side of the hill, you were in the Otherworld.

Tolkien was inspired by both Nordic and Celtic mythologies. He fused a lot of what he liked from both, added some other elements, and gave it all a finish of his own.

[SafeKeeper]

Dom2 lacks orcs, elves, and hobbits? Hmm, last I checked the Tuatha sure resembled elves

Not JRR Tolkien elves. Hah!

(...) the Hoburgsmen are just another name for hobbits (Tolkien) / halflings (D&D) / hurthlings (ADOM)...

Here I definetly beg to differ. Halflings and hobbits are two widely different things. I think. Never read JRR's books, just watched the movies.

(...) the only thing really lacking is orcs.

Good riddance, I say. Although the Jotun giant brutes can act pretty Orc-ish at times.

I still think that Clockwork Horrors should produce mecha-Horrors, though, not mecha-Hoburgsmen

Hoburgsman v4.75
Intel Inside

[Nerfix]

Reverend Zombie said:

I think they were in Fantasy General(?), and are sort of a Dungeons and Dragons staple, no?

Well place emphasis on "I have played".

Though I haven't heard of DD lava people.

[Reverend Zombie]

Nerfix said:

Well place emphasis on "I have played".

Though I haven't heard of DD lava people.

And of course, the other way to parse Abysia is to make them even less "original," whatever that means: a race of demon warriors and their human followers.

Nope, that's never been done before.