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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
A Taxonomy of D&D and other FRPG Settings
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<blockquote data-quote="squibbles" data-source="post: 7999348" data-attributes="member: 6937590"><p>I think there's a question that precedes your premise. What do you want the taxonomy to do? Why is <em>authorial originality / degree of kitchen sink-ness</em> the primary axis of distinction?</p><p></p><p>The way I organize my setting books is by genre and degree of magic, i.e. high fantasy/high magic, sword and sorcery/low magic, sword and planet, etc., since those differences reflected my interests at the time I created the typology.</p><p></p><p>Admittedly, your taxonomy makes sense to me. I think the reason for that, though, is that <strong>Category A</strong> - kitchen sinks - are an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_type" target="_blank">ideal type</a>. Kitchen sinks share a set of similar elements: D&Disms like armored Catholic-esque <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism" target="_blank">henotheists</a> and swashbuckling magic lutists have inexplicable cultural niches, the middle region is a medieval Europe pastiche, north-ish of it is a viking pastiche, south-ish of it is an arabian pastiche, east-ish of it is an orientalist pastiche. They have different place names and particularities, but the standard components are there.</p><p></p><p>The other parts of the taxonomy are different varieties of departure from the ideal type.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Category B</strong> - Departures for deliberate thematic reasons</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Category C</strong> - Departures for deliberate rules reasons--though I'd put all of these except Birthright in Category B (and add Ptolus to C)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Category D</strong> - Departures because they predate the solidification of the standard D&D world (I'd put Talislanta in B too)</li> </ul><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This makes a lot of sense to me too, though I'm not clear which of these would be the 'axes.'</p><p></p><p>Is it:</p><p style="text-align: center">reifyin' like a boss</p> <p style="text-align: center">^</p> <p style="text-align: center">I</p> <p style="text-align: center">meta <------------------> not meta</p> <p style="text-align: center">I</p> <p style="text-align: center">I</p> <p style="text-align: center">subversive AF</p> <p style="text-align: center"></p><p>Also, I think lots of non-D&D settings would be appropriate to include. D&Disms are prevalent enough in the fantasy zeitgeist that many people with no knowledge of icosahedrons could tell you the proper noun for an armored Catholic-esque henotheist. Also, LotR and Hyboria are--maybe--essential enough to the D&D canon that they ought to be included in the typology.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="squibbles, post: 7999348, member: 6937590"] I think there's a question that precedes your premise. What do you want the taxonomy to do? Why is [I]authorial originality / degree of kitchen sink-ness[/I] the primary axis of distinction? The way I organize my setting books is by genre and degree of magic, i.e. high fantasy/high magic, sword and sorcery/low magic, sword and planet, etc., since those differences reflected my interests at the time I created the typology. Admittedly, your taxonomy makes sense to me. I think the reason for that, though, is that [B]Category A[/B] - kitchen sinks - are an [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_type']ideal type[/URL]. Kitchen sinks share a set of similar elements: D&Disms like armored Catholic-esque [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henotheism']henotheists[/URL] and swashbuckling magic lutists have inexplicable cultural niches, the middle region is a medieval Europe pastiche, north-ish of it is a viking pastiche, south-ish of it is an arabian pastiche, east-ish of it is an orientalist pastiche. They have different place names and particularities, but the standard components are there. The other parts of the taxonomy are different varieties of departure from the ideal type. [LIST] [*][B]Category B[/B] - Departures for deliberate thematic reasons [*][B]Category C[/B] - Departures for deliberate rules reasons--though I'd put all of these except Birthright in Category B (and add Ptolus to C) [*][B]Category D[/B] - Departures because they predate the solidification of the standard D&D world (I'd put Talislanta in B too) [/LIST] This makes a lot of sense to me too, though I'm not clear which of these would be the 'axes.' Is it: [CENTER]reifyin' like a boss ^ I meta <------------------> not meta I I subversive AF [/CENTER] Also, I think lots of non-D&D settings would be appropriate to include. D&Disms are prevalent enough in the fantasy zeitgeist that many people with no knowledge of icosahedrons could tell you the proper noun for an armored Catholic-esque henotheist. Also, LotR and Hyboria are--maybe--essential enough to the D&D canon that they ought to be included in the typology. [/QUOTE]
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