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General Tabletop Discussion
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D&D Has Never Been Suitable for Generic Fantasy
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<blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 5926805" data-attributes="member: 7635"><p>You're right, to an extent. </p><p></p><p>Generic fantasy isn't one particular author, setting, or world. Its the sum of multitudes of similar works that have boiled down to their bland, cliche'd bones.</p><p></p><p>For example, ELF is generic. A race of graceful, pointy-eared tree-huggers with affinity toward magic and/or woodlands. They specifics differ: a Tolkien elf is different than a D&D elf which is different than Norse myth, Magic: the Gathering or Final Fantasy. Generic fantasy has elves, but each author or work puts their own spin on them. </p><p></p><p>You can do the same thing with lots of sub-genres. One need only look at the evolution of "vampire" to see how Dracula, Count Orlock, Blade, Edward Cullen, Barnabas Collins, Sookie Stackhouse, Violet from Ultraviolet, Strahd Von Zarovich, Vampire Hunter D, Lestat, and Alucard all fall into the vampire name (more of less) yet have few underlying similarities. Vampire is generic horror; each author puts his own spin on the myth. </p><p></p><p>What is generic fantasy: a collection of tropes that represents everything and nothing: elves, dwarves, knights, wizards, dragons, goblins, thieves, castles, thewy barbarians, undead creatures, giants and fairies. Not all writers use all tropes and not all of them use them the same way.</p><p></p><p>The question is: Should D&D only be a framework for which to hang the DMs only personal spin on these tropes, or should it try to define them itself in the rules?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Remathilis, post: 5926805, member: 7635"] You're right, to an extent. Generic fantasy isn't one particular author, setting, or world. Its the sum of multitudes of similar works that have boiled down to their bland, cliche'd bones. For example, ELF is generic. A race of graceful, pointy-eared tree-huggers with affinity toward magic and/or woodlands. They specifics differ: a Tolkien elf is different than a D&D elf which is different than Norse myth, Magic: the Gathering or Final Fantasy. Generic fantasy has elves, but each author or work puts their own spin on them. You can do the same thing with lots of sub-genres. One need only look at the evolution of "vampire" to see how Dracula, Count Orlock, Blade, Edward Cullen, Barnabas Collins, Sookie Stackhouse, Violet from Ultraviolet, Strahd Von Zarovich, Vampire Hunter D, Lestat, and Alucard all fall into the vampire name (more of less) yet have few underlying similarities. Vampire is generic horror; each author puts his own spin on the myth. What is generic fantasy: a collection of tropes that represents everything and nothing: elves, dwarves, knights, wizards, dragons, goblins, thieves, castles, thewy barbarians, undead creatures, giants and fairies. Not all writers use all tropes and not all of them use them the same way. The question is: Should D&D only be a framework for which to hang the DMs only personal spin on these tropes, or should it try to define them itself in the rules? [/QUOTE]
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