The harsh, meat-hook reality of the matter is that there is little to no effort being put into the core stories and world-designs for RPGs anymore. In this day and age of stellar hardware advancements, it seems that the creation of a new title falls into one of two categories: Lord of the Rings clones or re-worked sequels to previously established franchises. There’s far more to fantasy than Tolkein’s templates, and there’s sure to be untapped wells of creativity that would facilitate new, uncharted realms. Do we really need another medieval throwback that mixes in some green sub-human races and the occasional fireball spell? Is it truly so impossible to conceptualize something new? I would postulate “no,” but it sure does seem that way.