So where'd I get this idea about halflings being a hard core combat fighting race?
Jeff Dee.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Halflings are hard-core!
Labels:
Game: dungeons and dragons,
nostalgia
I realized early on in my gaming career that not everyone though halflings were a cool race to play in D&D. And indeed, as I began to re-read my Lord of the Rings at the age of 15 I realized that while Merry and Pippin were pretty formidable at the end of the trilogy -- they weren't anywhere near that butch throughout most of the trilogy.
Hm. How to make the halflings hard core combat machines that I remember?
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Alex, Jeff Dee rocks! He is way up there on my list alongside Erol Otus. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's amazing how those old pieces of art really inspired the sense of heroism and danger.
ReplyDeleteSam and even Frodo had their moments of bad-assedness, as well. (Cave-troll and Shelob, anyone?) And in the "Scouring of the Shire" chapter from RotK, all the other hobbits needed to rouse themselves and turn the occupying Men into pincushions was pro-active leadership. Their as-a-race excellent marksmanship with ranged weaponry is often mentioned in the trilogy.
ReplyDeleteHalflings are placid and complacent... until you really piss them off. Remember Gandalf's description of them as "soft as butter, yet tough as old tree-roots."
Anybody else here think that the hobbits shold have gotten themselves free of Old Man Willow as early proof of their "badassness"? Tom Bombadil is NOT my favourite character.
ReplyDeleteA bit late to respond, but: yeah! I mean Tom Bombadil was an interesting character, but to retain his mystery he should've been given way less page time.
ReplyDeleteHalflings ARE hard-core and frequent sole survivors in my B/X games. Just sayin...
ReplyDelete