Ah, maybe a difference in setting, then. Because in fact the campaign where we started thinking Asterix was pre-Occupation - there were Lunars wandering around, but I don't think we ever met any. The whole "do an adventure, come home and have a feast" theme was spot on. Very young PCs, so the lack of thought about possible long-term consequences worked well, too.
If we'd carried on, they'd have beaten up some Lunar patrols, and to start with the Lunars *were* clueless foreigners. The darker side would have been much later.
If I'd waved a Saga at them, they'd have left on the spot. Sagas are *boring*, and Asterix isn't.
>From another email:
"I warn them about what in my opinion is the most
interesting aspects of the style - the complete lack of internal character
dialogue and the laconic descriptions. "
Tastes most definitely differ. To my mind, that isn't an "interesting aspect", it makes the whole thing boring at best and incomprehensible at worst.
OK, Asterix doesn't have much in the way of internal dialogue either, but it has larger-than-life characters who need no explanation. As does Beowulf, in a rather different way. And you can tell them apart.
Come to think of it, that's the other problem with the Sagas. It's as if everyone took "Orlanthi warrior" as their keyword, and never used their 100-words at all. The only way you can tell who's who is by remembering <unpronouncable name> son of <other unpronouncable name>. All the same cult, all the same homeland, all the same skills, all the same interests... In the unlikely event that someone's got a distinguishing characteristic, it goes in the name, but never gets referred to other than that. "The Hairy". Wow, big deal.
I've read a lot of the Sagas, and I can think of only one individual who I can remember and where I cared what happened to him next. Egil Skallagrimsson. Because he insisted on being different.
As historical sources to be read for details of technology, costume, and so on - great. But as entertainment - no.
> A battle with enough magic and heroes might as well have the
> gods taking a
> personal hand - is that Old Man Varmand and Umak Redhand or
> just a bunch of
> amped up Colymar heroes? Is that Destor or is that an
> Orlanthi disciple?
Good point. I think the Iliad makes it clear that it really is the gods/goddesses, with the heroes being separate beings, though. To get the same effect, you'd have to have Nameless NPC suddenly being possessed by Uleria or whoever, doing their bit, and then running away when they realised the middle of a battlefield was a dangerous place to be.
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