D&D General Genres of Horror (per Ravenloft) Lets discuss

[Paul Farquhar]

WotC also has Folk Horror (which the other one groups as supernatural)..

The Folk Horror episode of Torchwood "Countrycide" is unusual for not having anything supernatural or SF.

The Wicker Man doesn't really have anything supernatural either.

 

[Tonguez]

The Folk Horror episode of Torchwood "Countrycide" is unusual for not having anything supernatural or SF.

The Wicker Man doesn't really have anything supernatural either.

Ae, Countrycide was imho the best Torchwood episode and all the more horrifying because it was just mundane humans doing things.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I add the surreal horror.

Surreal Horror - TV Tropes

As much as they might scare some people, at least monsters, Serial Killers, and Primal Fears are scary in a comprehensible way. This is where Surreal Horror comes in. It's not just nightmare-inducing; it's nightmarish in a literal way, by being, …

tvtropes.org

As the page says, it overlaps with others. It's really up to you if you want to treat it as a separate thing or not. The whole of Ravenloft is somewhat surreal, something that some people seam to have issues with.

 

[Aldarc]

That breakdown seems at least as flawed as WotC's, if not more so. Why does "vampire" and "wolfman" get their own categories, but Frankenstein get lumped in with "classical and mythological"?!

What is interesting though is that Dracula is not listed under "Vampire," but, rather, under "Classic and Mythological" alongside Frankenstein. So it may have to do with pre-existing characters that are part of public domain (e.g., Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What is interesting though is that Dracula is not listed under "Vampire," but, rather, under "Classic and Mythological" alongside Frankenstein. So it may have to do with pre-existing characters that are part of public domain (e.g., Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.).

What does "classical" mean anyway? It could refer to classic literature, or it could refer to Greek and Roman myths. If you study "Classics" it means you are studying Greek and Latin. So, The Gorgon. Dracula and Frankenstein are both literary classics. Vampires are mythical. "Frankenstein" is pretty much a genre in itself, including things like The Terminator, Blade Runner, Demon Seed, and pretty much anything where humans create the monster with science.

 

[Aldarc]

What does "classical" mean anyway? It could refer to classic literature, or it could refer to Greek and Roman myths. If you study "Classics" it means you are studying Greek and Latin. So, The Gorgon. Dracula and Frankenstein are both literary classics. Vampires are mythical. "Frankenstein" is pretty much a genre in itself, including things like The Terminator, Blade Runner, Demon Seed, and pretty much anything where humans create the monster with science.

A minor point of semantics regarding your initial question. The category doesn't say "classical." It says "Classic & Mythological." What distinguishes the vampire category from the classic and mythological one? I don't know. I only know that this list includes Dracula as part of the latter and not the former. I suspect that the article the image belongs to breaks down their reasoning. I do, however, agree that the categories they present are flawed so I'm not terribly interested in debating that point.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

A minor point of semantics regarding your initial question. The category doesn't say "classical." It says "Classic & Mythological." What distinguishes the vampire category from the classic and mythological one? I don't know. I only know that this list includes Dracula as part of the latter and not the former. I suspect that the article the image belongs to breaks down their reasoning.

It gets even worse if you read the rest of the article:

Classic Monsters and Mythological Monsters

This sub-genre regroups the monster films that have either been inspired by early roman (e.g. Frankenstein in 1818 or The Invisible Man in 1897)

The 19th century is early Roman?!

 

[Aldarc]

It gets even worse if you read the rest of the article:

The 19th century is early Roman?!

I think that you are misunderstanding what they likely mean by "roman" in this context. Note that it's lowercase "roman." It's a reference to novels and literary books rather than Roman history. This use even exists in other languages: e.g., the German word for 'novel' is "Roman" (capitalized because a noun) as is the French word for 'novel' likewise "roman." And this exists in certain literary terms used in the field: e.g., Bildungsroman, which refers to a novel about a character's formative period, education, or a "coming of age" story. So they are talking about early "horror" novels and novellas (i.e., 19th century): e.g., Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I think that you are misunderstanding what they likely mean by "roman" in this context. Note that it's lowercase "roman." It's a reference to novels and literary books rather than Roman history. This use even exists in other languages: e.g., the German word for 'novel' is "Roman" (capitalized because a noun) as is the French word for 'novel' likewise "roman." And this exists in certain literary terms used in the field: e.g., Bildungsroman, which refers to a novel about a character's formative period, education, or a "coming of age" story. So they are talking about early "horror" novels and novellas (i.e., 19th century): e.g., Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.

Not a term I've ever come across, but it certainly makes more sense. But it still doesn't seem like a particularly useful way to categorise things. Dracula is based on much older myths. Frankenstein is pretty much "the genre starts here". The Invisible Man is science fiction, and a variation on Frankenstein.

As for D&D, it has monsters - all of them - by default. So all that matters is what kind of story you tell with them.

 

[Faolyn]

It gets even worse if you read the rest of the article:

The 19th century is early Roman?!

Probably meant to say romance, which basically came from idea that they were written in vernacular languages derived from Latin, as opposed to actually being written in Latin.

Romanticism - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org