Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why does fantasy dominate RPGs?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pdzoch" data-source="post: 7091580" data-attributes="member: 80982"><p>I think there are two combined factors, but I am not a pop culture historian, so take it as only its two cents worth. </p><p></p><p>The first is that RPGs were born from the wargames genre. D&D's predecessor, Chainmail, was a fantasy and hero focus take on medieval wargames rules. As the focus shifted from the armies to the heroes, the RPG genre took off. But because the original deviation was from Medieval wargames, the natural progression was to fantasy RPG, perhaps inspired by the first wizard, Merlin, of Arthurian mythos in the pre-medieval era. RPGs continue to draw heavily on the wargame structure (lots of combat) and legends from old world folklore (how many monsters in D&D are direct translations of mythological creatures?)</p><p></p><p>The second is the early success of the sci-fi genre on TV. Repeatedly, sci-fi genre in the early days of TV was a success, so future shows tend to follow the trend that has the audience. Part of this is the ease in which to produce a show with little change to the costuming or props. My Favorite Martian, Lost in Space, the Outer Limits, Dr. Who etc all had relatively minor costume/and prop costs and the story on the shows were compelling to the audience. The success of Star Trek, I think, really solidified sci-fi on TV, but its most complex and daring decision was its diversity of cast/crew. There may be a sense that any medieval/sorcery fantasy show would look to much like a history program and thus boring (or too gory if violent and realistic -- see GoT) (as an aside -- notice how sterile the deaths are in the sci-fi genre). I am not sure I can recall any early fantasy TV show that was a success. In America, where I think drove much of the early development of programing for TV, any harkening back to an older time (ancient history) did not reference the medieval area, or any old world period. Instead, it tapped into the old west history of America, and instead of medieval fantasy of the Arthurian legends, America produced Old West Fantasy instead --- Bonanza, Big Valley, Gun Smoke, Maverick, The Rifleman. Wild Wild West was almost pure fantasy. Even Kung Fu was set in the old west. American heroes were cowboys, not knights. (and really, Captain Kirk is a bit of a cowboy, just in a spaceship)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pdzoch, post: 7091580, member: 80982"] I think there are two combined factors, but I am not a pop culture historian, so take it as only its two cents worth. The first is that RPGs were born from the wargames genre. D&D's predecessor, Chainmail, was a fantasy and hero focus take on medieval wargames rules. As the focus shifted from the armies to the heroes, the RPG genre took off. But because the original deviation was from Medieval wargames, the natural progression was to fantasy RPG, perhaps inspired by the first wizard, Merlin, of Arthurian mythos in the pre-medieval era. RPGs continue to draw heavily on the wargame structure (lots of combat) and legends from old world folklore (how many monsters in D&D are direct translations of mythological creatures?) The second is the early success of the sci-fi genre on TV. Repeatedly, sci-fi genre in the early days of TV was a success, so future shows tend to follow the trend that has the audience. Part of this is the ease in which to produce a show with little change to the costuming or props. My Favorite Martian, Lost in Space, the Outer Limits, Dr. Who etc all had relatively minor costume/and prop costs and the story on the shows were compelling to the audience. The success of Star Trek, I think, really solidified sci-fi on TV, but its most complex and daring decision was its diversity of cast/crew. There may be a sense that any medieval/sorcery fantasy show would look to much like a history program and thus boring (or too gory if violent and realistic -- see GoT) (as an aside -- notice how sterile the deaths are in the sci-fi genre). I am not sure I can recall any early fantasy TV show that was a success. In America, where I think drove much of the early development of programing for TV, any harkening back to an older time (ancient history) did not reference the medieval area, or any old world period. Instead, it tapped into the old west history of America, and instead of medieval fantasy of the Arthurian legends, America produced Old West Fantasy instead --- Bonanza, Big Valley, Gun Smoke, Maverick, The Rifleman. Wild Wild West was almost pure fantasy. Even Kung Fu was set in the old west. American heroes were cowboys, not knights. (and really, Captain Kirk is a bit of a cowboy, just in a spaceship) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Why does fantasy dominate RPGs?
Top