> >And if someone is, that would explain why they're
> >prepared to put up with that level of abstraction.
>
> Short answer: to get through a 50 year story arc in
> a reasonable number of sessions.
Not something I've ever wanted to do in a roleplaying system. Economic simulations (like KoDP!), yes, and those have about the same level of involvement with the characters (what was his name again?)
> >I've always found the Icelandic sagas barely
> readable
> >because they're so abstract: "X hit Y", with no
> >mention of what it felt like or what they thought
> >about it. You never get the feeling of being there.
>
> Assuming you've read the more modern translations
Yes. Beowulf is the only one I've tried in the original, and I'm not up to understanding it properly.
> There's a lot of humanity in the stories
> these people wrote down centuries ago.
Then it's hiding.
> And the characters are more sympathetic than many
> a modern tale.
Then the translators have missed it out. I've never yet found ANY internal view-points, it's purely external. A world of NPCs to be viewed, not PCs to get to know how they think and feel.
> And the writing's better than a lot of fantasy
fiction
Oh, probably, a lot of fantasy fiction is lousy. So, which translation would you suggest, and which saga, to give me some decent writing, scene-setting, and characterisation, not just view of actions from the outside?
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