Recent content by Parmandur

I mean, they will make more.

I agree, it is a little absurd since Ravnica is clearly Urban Fantasy based on the well sourced laid out definitions in the Wikipedia page For the definition of Urban Fantasy, as given, equivalent is sufficient. Not according to the Wiki article... That does make as much sense as saying that...

It is successful because it has been run professionally. At this point, WotC is actually a successful software company, between the Arena and Beyond teams and the talent they have brought in.

Well, no, thst is how the Urban Fantasy article describes it. Thing is, that familiarity combined with difference also describes an Anthopomrpjic Elephant Wizard riding the subway to his P. I. office near corporate HQ.

Most people in Ravnica take the Subway (page 109). Thing is the equivalents to what you are talking about are not combat based, so don't appear in the card art...bit they are into he Urban Fantasy tie in novels WotC published and in the text of the RPG book. The lighting, like teher HVAV, is...

I would say that trying to argue that Ravnica is not Urban Fantasy is more analogous to trying to argue thst Dragonlance is really Gothic Horror, to be honest. What kind of fantasy, specifically...? Rsvnica, as a city, is full of modern amenities and structures (physical and social).

Genre is pretty much just semantics. And based on the definition of Urban Fantasy in the Wiki page, I don't see any basis not to count Ravnica as an Urban Fantasy. What genre is Ravnica?

Is Pwrdido Street Station Urban Fantasy...?

If you r ad Jim Starlin'e Marvel comics from the 70s-90s, the comic book DNA is actually extremely strong. Heck, Star Wars is rooted in 70s "Cosmic" Marvel books as much as Flash Gordon etc. That is why Lucas begged Marvel to make a comic series.

I mean, Ravnica does resemble the modern world? Eberron as a whole is not Urban Fantasy, bit one could have easily run an Urban Fantasy campaign in Sharon. Urban Fantasy does not preclude secondary world: otherwise Perdido Street Station (a major influence on Ravnica) would not be Urban...

Genre is slippery.

I think the resistance is not wanting to accept that WotC has succeeded at making Beyond a central pillar of the game: "WotC always fails at making tools" used to be a given, I remember the discourse when Beyond launched based on past efforts. I don't use Beyond, no interest in online tools...

To a large extent, the point of Tom Bombadil is that Tolkien was a discovery writer who just spent a good deal of time in revising and editing, but wasn't interested in ironing out all the weirdness that emerged from his subconscious mind.

And brand new ones have a bazillion options.

Yes, 100%, per the Wikipedia article provided. Ravnica is a secondary world Urban Fantasy, but secondary world is not a deal breaker. Urban Fantasy is, again per the article, about "exploring Modernity with Magic". Ravnica is a weird sort of Modernity, but Modern it is.