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Why does fantasy dominate RPGs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 7096550" data-attributes="member: 59082"><p>I've only skimmed the first page, so don't know if what I'm going to say has already been said, but I think a lot of it has to do with the intrinsic differences between fantasy and science fiction, specifically their relationship to the present, and the degree to which they change. </p><p></p><p>Fantasy has an archetypal, timeless quality. Barring silly 80s visuals in which barbarians had mullets, elves looked like punk rockers, the images of fantasy are timeless and not bound to fad or fashion. In other words, fantasy in 1967 and fantasy in the 2017 could theoretically look and feel the same. And this may be why it is so hard to create fantasy on film: film, being so visual, cannot but be influenced by current fashions (thus the mullet-wearing barbarian).</p><p></p><p>Science fiction, on the hand, is more of a moving target: it is a glimpse of the future based upon the present and ultimately says more about the present (or when it was created) then it does about the future. Thus the Jetsons are really about the 1950s, and the original Star Trek series about 60s America and The Next Generation about the 80s and 90s. </p><p></p><p>I will also channel Marshall McLuhan and say that fantasy is more of a genre for print media, because print media relies upon the imagination, whereas science fiction works well with visual media. This doesn't mean you can't mix things up, but here is a "native" quality to fantasy and print, and scifi and film. Imagine reading <em>The Matrix</em> - it wouldn't have a fraction of the impact. Or we can look at <em>2001: A Space Odyssey</em> - in a way, Stanley Kubrick singlehandedly claimed scifi for the visual format.</p><p></p><p>With fantasy, no visual depiction of the balrog will every equal Tolkien's very expressionistic depiction in LotR. He barely said anything about the creature, but it became so iconic. Peter Jackson's CGI monstrosity was pretty good, but lost a touch in translation. </p><p></p><p>I'm reminded of an anecdote that Gary Gygax shared: He said a kid once told him that he liked books more than movies, "because the pictures are better." For reasons explored above, I think this is more true of fantasy than scifi.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 7096550, member: 59082"] I've only skimmed the first page, so don't know if what I'm going to say has already been said, but I think a lot of it has to do with the intrinsic differences between fantasy and science fiction, specifically their relationship to the present, and the degree to which they change. Fantasy has an archetypal, timeless quality. Barring silly 80s visuals in which barbarians had mullets, elves looked like punk rockers, the images of fantasy are timeless and not bound to fad or fashion. In other words, fantasy in 1967 and fantasy in the 2017 could theoretically look and feel the same. And this may be why it is so hard to create fantasy on film: film, being so visual, cannot but be influenced by current fashions (thus the mullet-wearing barbarian). Science fiction, on the hand, is more of a moving target: it is a glimpse of the future based upon the present and ultimately says more about the present (or when it was created) then it does about the future. Thus the Jetsons are really about the 1950s, and the original Star Trek series about 60s America and The Next Generation about the 80s and 90s. I will also channel Marshall McLuhan and say that fantasy is more of a genre for print media, because print media relies upon the imagination, whereas science fiction works well with visual media. This doesn't mean you can't mix things up, but here is a "native" quality to fantasy and print, and scifi and film. Imagine reading [I]The Matrix[/I] - it wouldn't have a fraction of the impact. Or we can look at [I]2001: A Space Odyssey[/I] - in a way, Stanley Kubrick singlehandedly claimed scifi for the visual format. With fantasy, no visual depiction of the balrog will every equal Tolkien's very expressionistic depiction in LotR. He barely said anything about the creature, but it became so iconic. Peter Jackson's CGI monstrosity was pretty good, but lost a touch in translation. I'm reminded of an anecdote that Gary Gygax shared: He said a kid once told him that he liked books more than movies, "because the pictures are better." For reasons explored above, I think this is more true of fantasy than scifi. [/QUOTE]
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