D&D 5E What genre is D&D?

[Morrus]

And by genre I mean a few things -- what time period (dark ages, medieval, renaissance?), tone, etc. do you generally associate with D&D as it is portrayed in official products?

Yes, I realize you can do bronze age horror or Victorian comedy or whatever you want; I'm not asking what it can do, but what you usually associate it with. And I'm referring to WotC's material, not your home-brew campaign, which can of course be anything.

For me I'd say it's not medieval at all -- more Renaissance through Victorian through an American lens. I mean, really it has created its own genre, and kinda gets to define the genre.

 

[Cadence]

Late medieval fantasy action/adventure spliced with much earlier myths and legends

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I don’t really think about it. I don’t try to place it any particular age and I don’t really have the history knowledge to accurately differentiate them. I guess pre firearms?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Fantasy: D&D

D&D is aggressively unlike other fantasy genres.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

"Classic" D&D (and I use the term loosely) is an American mythic western transposed into a vaguely pan-European historical setting that never existed, but largely mirroring a time period of roughly 500 A.D. through 1760 A.D., but inclusive of other elements.

Further Snarf sayeth naught.

 

[payn]

For me I'd say it's not medieval at all -- more Renaissance through Victorian through an American lens. I mean, really it has created its own genre, and kinda gets to define the genre.

This.

"Classic" D&D (and I use the term loosely) is an American mythic western transposed into a vaguely pan-European historical setting that never existed, but largely mirroring a time period of roughly 500 A.D. through 1760 A.D., but inclusive of other elements.

Also this.

 

[S'mon]

And by genre I mean a few things -- what time period (dark ages, medieval, renaissance?), tone, etc. do you generally associate with D&D as it is portrayed in official products?

'Heroic Fantasy'. It doesn't really have a time period but uses a fair number of late-medieval elements, ca 1400-1550, and a slightly lesser amount of 1550-1800 stuff.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

"Classic" D&D (and I use the term loosely) is an American mythic western transposed into a vaguely pan-European historical setting that never existed, but largely mirroring a time period of roughly 500 A.D. through 1760 A.D., but inclusive of other elements.

Further Snarf sayeth naught.

Has Snarf been hacked? that is unusually brief.

I only partially agree. D&D (and especially "Classic") is an American mythic western transposed to a hybrid of European folklore and myth with some medieval/renaissance trappings and set dressing.

 

[Scott Christian]

Its own.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Fantasy