How Fantastical Do You Like Your Fantasy World?

I prefer the world to be both explainable and comprehensible. While I love weird, and for example think that Nitro Ferguson's idea of basing the gods of his world on 20th century pop stars is very cool, what is not cool is Nitro's desire to play "gotcha" with his players and keep them in a state of confusion. Real agency requires communicable knowledge and if your world is too numinous and weird such that knowledge isn't shareable and consequences predictable, if you are running a game that is cloud cuckoo land then you are just screwing with your players in order to stay fully in control of the game.

It's also a lot harder world building to make something truly weird and also have it work. You're likely to end up as shallow as you are weird. Which isn't to say that I like real world pastiche either, but it's a lot easier to take inspiration from the world and make something complex than it is to invent things whole cloth. For example, I like to blend two historical cultures and then spice it up with the fantastic to make something that feels unique, like pre-colonial India meets medieval Italy with heavy access to domesticated ice age megafauna. That gives me a lot to draw on while being unique enough that it won't be immediately obvious what my sources are. Age of Exploration France meets Luo culture of West Africa. Mongolian horde meets Aztec Empire. Ireland meets Japan while being ruled by semi-immortal alchemists. Iran blended with Holland. Republican Rome plus Edgar Allen Poe short stories as nation state. It's still easier that coming up with everything on my own.

I like magic to be complex but not arbitrary. There is a fine line to walk between magic as pure DM fiat and magic as technology. I don't like the former, but I also don't want the world of Disqworld or Eberron where it's just real world stuff done with magic.

Silvercat Moonpaw said:

Damn, now I want that setting.

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Autumnal said:

I would be all over a vampires, robots, and wombats setting.

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Since you asked so kindly, I started this thread with a setting featuring robots, vampires, and wombats.

For my current campaign, very fantastic. Islands floating in space, impossible seas, a captive Sun, but people just role with it. It is the way the world is, you know? That does not mean that they will not react with awe when encountering certain things but the world is self-consciously high fantasy.

But people are people and they adapt. If trees grow shoes, an industry grows up around that, for exmple.

I really love science fantasy / crystalpunk / magitech settings personally, because I find that they blend the best parts of fantasy storytelling and science fiction storytelling pretty well. You can tell stories about esoteric magic at the same time as more “modern” stories. They also tend to solve the biggest believability issues I have with renaissance-y high fantasy a la the big fantasy systems.

But more than that, the thing I care about most both as a player and as a GM is consistency. Settings that don’t make sense or feel weird or have odd inconsistencies are a real struggle. This is very subjective. It also doesn’t mean you have to explain everything.

Reynard said:

This question is not about how fantastical you like your PCs, or your villains, or your dungeons. Rather, it is about how fantastical you like your broader world -- the big backdrop of your fantastical adventures.

Do you want the world to feel very real and grounded and possibly even historical? Or do you like the world at large to be weird and wild and unusual? Do you prefer an anchor of believability in order to accentuate the fantasy elements, or do you prefer a world steeped in magic and mysticism and weirdness?

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I'm good with any level of weirdness that isn't illogical given its premises.

Reynard said:

What fantasy world sort of exemplify the degree of fantasticalness you prefer? Which ones are too much? Which ones are too little?

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I've enjoyed such diverse settings as Mouse Guard (Almost no magic, but talking animals, and mammals generally intelligent), Legend of the Five Rings (loads of clerical and evil magic, plus some Wuxia, plus deities still walking the planet), Pendragon (both without and with PC casters in the otherwise knightly party), and magitech type settings.
WHat I do need is a consitent rules interface. If the players can't make sense of the weirdness, then it's not worth it.

Reynard said:

And as an aside, how do you prefer the PCs to discover the fantasy of the setting? is it what they grew up with, or is it something new and formidable in their adventures?

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I prefer the PCs be aware of some of it. Much, not all

Reynard said:

Note also that this is not about D&D, though I expect D&Disms will be discussed.

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