Anachronisms in Fantasy

[shilsen]

Well, since it is fantasy there's really no such thing as an anachronism possible. These things never happened, and thus something that's part of it can't be "out of time" -- it was never "in time" in the first place.

Fantasy without magic or anachronisms is called historical. Historical with magic is called Historic Fantasy. If it has magic and does not take place in the past on this world, everything is possible, nothing is forbidden.

Alas, the wonderfully apt and cogent point that I was about to make has already been stated, as above

To add to what these posters have already said, you can't actually have anachronism in fantasy. Anachronism involves an item or thing being chronologically out of space, and no fantasy setting was ever part of our history, so the twain can never meet. SUVs in Greyhawk may not suit someone's tastes, but they're hardly an anachronism.

 

[Emirikol]

Game worlds ARE anachronisms.

Conan, LotR, Shanarra, ACTUAL history ring a bell anyone?

Eberron: The only difference between Eberron and Greyhawk is that Eberron has 4 new words: Lightning rails ...oh, I take that back...only two new words. I've talked to a lot of people who know little about Eberron but automatically assume that because there is one sentence about alternate modes of travel (as opposed to TELEPORT, RINGS OF FLYING, CARPET OF FLYING, BROOM OF FLYING) that it must be one of those things to be avoided. Heh.

jh

 

[rounser]

If it has magic and does not take place in the past on this world, everything is possible, nothing is forbidden.

I disagree. D&D is not fantasy full stop, it's mostly a specific subgenre of fantasy - swords & sorcery fantasy.

In swords & sorcery fantasy, SUVs and trains are an anachronism because they present suspension of disbelief problems when put alongside medieval-level technology. In Lord of the Rings, there was no magic train - nor any motor scooters - to take the hobbits to Mordor, and if you think this would have improved the story, then keep your peanut butter out of my chocolate, so to speak.

So no, I think the direction this thread is heading in is wrong, and it's obviously been infested by Eberron fans.

 

[VirgilCaine]

That being said, silly british accents don't make the language any closer to a "medieval" setting that so many people apparently strive for. To the degree that anything can be considered anachronistic, I'd say that's the most consistently glaring (though I will note that it bothers me not at all).

But, do whatever makes you feel good (as long as its legal, anyway).

Someone once brought up the point that a Southern accent would be an interesting one to do for an RPG.

Hey, do whatever makes you feel good, as long as you do it responsibly.

 

[Starman]

This is why Eberron has absolutely no appeal to me.

Lightning bolt-powered trains? Ugh.

Not my cup of tea.

Out of curiousity, have you read through the setting book. I think that you'd get a better picture of the setting that way. It's a lot more than "trains that are pulled by elementals." I have never felt that Eberron had any "anachronisms," rather it has been influenced by dark, pulpy goodness.

Starman

 

[Emirikol]

You can't avoid the anachronisms, of the D&D worlds, I'll break some bubbles for all of us:

1. Eberron: D&D world. instead of carpets of flying and teleport circles, there are civilized nations with the ever-game-breaking 'lightning rail,' of which less than one sentence has been devoted.

2. Greyhawk: Not one, not two, but THREE alien spaceships. The WARDEN, Barrier Peaks, and Blackmoor's city of the gods (a whole civilized world). Psionics from Xan Yae. 6-shooters with followers of Myrlund. Radigast city named after Radigast the wizard from LotR.

3. Forgotten Realms: Rote rip-off's of all of the Finnish Gods (and then some); GUNPOWDER; Mongols, China, Japan, Egypt.

4. Mystara: flying boats and (again) Blackmoor's city of the Gods

5. Dark Sun: Everybody is psionic. You can play a thri-kreen

6. Kalamar: pretty honestly nothing new. This world is pretty closely aligned with what people would consider 'basic swords & sorcery'

7. Hyboria/Conan: It doesn't get any more classic than this world except...

8. Middle Earth: GUNPOWDER. Julian calendar (don't forget October). One of the original 'fantasy' experiment worlds.

9. Dragonlance: Draconians, Minotaur-run continent that is a direct ripoff of imperial Rome.


I guess if there's a standard, it would be Kalamar and Hyboria.

jh

 

[rounser]

rather it has been influenced by dark, pulpy goodness.

See, this is another thing I don't get - D&D is pulp swords & sorcery fantasy already. It doesn't need contemporary pulp added on top of that - why not play up or emphasise the S&S pulp which D&D is already all about rather than bring in jarring and anachronistic modern pulp concepts?

 

[rounser]

You can't avoid the anachronisms, of the D&D worlds, I'll break some bubbles for all of us

Yes, I think most of us already knew most of that. But it's a matter of prominence too - you could quite happily play a campaign in Greyhawk and never realise there was a spaceship on the world, or completely overlook FR's use of Set because you never went to Mulhorrand, and never run across anyone with an arquebus. Dark Sun gets away with alien weaponry, races and psionics because it's dark fantasy world is supposed to be alien, and it makes only a limited claim to being a standard medieval swords & sorcery world.

In Blackmoor after the ship had crashed, it would be harder, because it would begin to enter public events. Personally, I think crashed spaceships are fine; they're a much better option than building technological anachronisms into the culture by default, even if they're "justified" with magic (i.e. Eberron). At least the Beagle came from "somewhere else". Eberron has no such excuses, from what I gather.

 

[Emirikol]

Well, we don't have to go round and round about it.

I've learned to like Eberron for what it's not Greyhawk or Hyboria, and I'm a Greyhawker and also a Conan fanatic. The current support is excellent, compatable, and I'm looking forward to meeting people with the same excitement.

There's no other world doing that right now.

jh

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

While I find nothing intrinsically wrong with technology all over the joint, I think the world must be able to fit it.

I'm soon to develop a airships over a gas planet game of warring cities - the technology is an important part of the world. Vice versa, putting a gun into Hyboria would not ruin the setting but change it from it's genre - which I don't want to do. I firmly believe in sticking to genre-types for Continuity of the game.

I could see a one shot game with shopping malls, crystal ball internet (cyber-fantasy-punk?), fridges and great sorcerers as heads of large corporations. Not a full campaign.

Probably why I like Cyberpunk and Conan, but not Eberron or Shadowrun.

Ahh well.