D&D = American + European Fantasy

Dungeons & Dragons draws on a rich mythology from the works of European authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock. And yet D&D was also influenced by American authors like Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and R.E. Howard. The end result is that D&D's tone sits somewhere between the two. Photo by Jorge Martínez on Unsplash European Folklore The bones of D&D have obvious...

Dungeons & Dragons draws on a rich mythology from the works of European authors like J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock. And yet D&D was also influenced by American authors like Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and R.E. Howard. The end result is that D&D's tone sits somewhere between the two.

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Photo by Jorge Martínez on Unsplash
European Folklore

The bones of D&D have obvious roots in European myths and legends; we see it in the dwarves, elves, hobbits, and orcs of J.R.R. Tolkien and the fairies, giants, and dragons that are scattered throughout the Monster Manual. Colleen Gillard explains how British fantasy flourished by staying in touch with its pagan roots -- and was even influenced by the landscape:

Landscape matters: Britain’s antique countryside, strewn with moldering castles and cozy farms, lends itself to fairy-tale invention. As Tatar puts it, the British are tuned in to the charm of their pastoral fields...

But D&D has many influences, not the least of which are co-creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, who brought their own American sensibilities to the game. For a fantasy role-playing game that is distinctly European, look no further than Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, now in its Fourth Edition.

American Influences

American fantasy, like the Europeans, was influenced by its terrain:

America’s mighty vistas, by contrast, are less cozy, less human-scaled, and less haunted. The characters that populate its purple mountain majesties and fruited plains are decidedly real...

But perhaps the strongest difference is a sense of control over one's destiny. This belief, carried over with America's earliest settlers from Europe, reinforced that self-enrichment was a moral right, as outlined by Max Weber:

...Weber wrote that capitalism in Northern Europe evolved when the Protestant (particularly Calvinist) ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment. In other words, the Protestant work ethic was an important force behind the unplanned and uncoordinated emergence of modern capitalism.

No wonder then that Gygax strongly adhered to a leveling system in which heroes can rise to success through the accumulation of wealth at significant risk. This was how heroes like Conan, Fafhrd, and the Gray Mouser did it, and it draws on a long tradition of American folklore:

Popular storytelling in the New World instead tended to celebrate in words and song the larger-than-life exploits of ordinary men and women: Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Calamity Jane, even a mule named Sal on the Erie Canal. Out of bragging contests in logging and mining camps came even greater exaggerations—Tall Tales—about the giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan, the twister-riding cowboy Pecos Bill, and that steel-driving man John Henry, who, born a slave, died with a hammer in his hand. All of these characters embodied the American promise: They earned their fame.

Unlike in European fantasy where boys become kings (or in Harry Potter's case, orphans become wizards), characters in D&D aren't usually born heroes; the very nature of leveling systems and experience points ensures they earn it.

A Motley Mix

Adding these two influences together creates Dungeons & Dragons, a rich tapestry of fantasy that draws on the works of European authors and then throws in American sensibilities where the heroes are in control of their destiny -- or at least their skills and attributes.

For all their American influences, D&D heroes are still small in the weave of the world. In early D&D games, they died by the handfuls at the whim of dice, a lesson distinctly at odds with American determinism.

D&D has come full circle to influence the fantasy that created it. You can see its motley pedigree's fingerprints on sweeping fantasies like Game of Thrones. As the fantasy genre continues to flourish and the world becomes more interconnected, it seems likely that we'll see more works that draw on other cultures...D&D included.
 

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Michael Tresca

Michael Tresca

Jay Verkuilen

Grand Master of Artificial Flowers
As has been stated from the OP...in many ways D&D has always been the American style of story with the European veneer.

It's the old West idea where a person can start as a Zero in a highly untamed wilderness, fighting against the odds become someone of note and ability to forge their own way in the world, and eventually perhaps transcend their own level or rank to get a higher social standing of wealth or power.

I'm not really sure that's uniquely American or even particularly related to the Old West. For instance The Once and Future King as a retelling of the King Arthur story is a "zero to hero" story. There's plenty of examples from Greek mythology as well, both Hercules and Theseus being good examples. I've watched and/or read many Westerns and they don't tend to be that kind of story. Many of them are more set pieces in an area with existing, established heroes, anti-heroes, and villains, although it depends a good bit. Moving west to restart your life and escape from your past? Going into the mountains after some gold that may not be there? Those are definitely Western tropes. I'm sure there are examples of "zero to hero", but many of the most famous Westerns really aren't in majority or at all. You can see it in The Magnificent Seven, which is an adaptation of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (itself highly influenced by Westerns) but interestingly enough the character that fits the trope actually decides to go back to being a farmer at the end, and gives up on being a hero!

All that said, I don't disagree that D&D is American. It's not just American, it's very specifically Midwestern in origin.
 

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Shasarak

Banned
Banned
I would not. Japan IS highly technologically advanced, but a LOT of that is after they were rebuilt by the US with Western Money. As it is, though they have tried to branch out, they are still highly dependant on Western money. In that relationship, though Japan has some good trade, the US still has the upperhand and basically can tell Japan what to do (which is why the US still has military bases in the area to a degree. Japan has a Defense force now, but cannot have a real military, and the US ensures that they cannot. AS a result, another reason the US remains is because they ARE the military in the area...which suits the US just fine, but is not always beneficial to Japan.

China on the otherhand...they may have wealth, but that is wealth among ~1 billion people. It's not really spread around. While there are a few ultra wealthy...a great majority live in conditions that most in the Western world would be very adverse to living in. I would not categorize China as a Western state nor appropriating the wealth comparatively. They are an outside nation (outside the Westerners) trying to catch up and be equal, but being very far from that goal as of yet.

IMO.

That is a pretty Western view of things, China and Japan are the second and third biggest economies in the world because America is propping them up? I heard an interesting quote the other day, a Chinese business man was asked why he likes to drive BMWs and he replied that he likes American cars.
 

Sadras

Legend
I would not. Japan IS highly technologically advanced, but a LOT of that is after they were rebuilt by the US with Western Money. As it is, though they have tried to branch out, they are still highly dependant on Western money. In that relationship, though Japan has some good trade, the US still has the upperhand and basically can tell Japan what to do (which is why the US still has military bases in the area to a degree. Japan has a Defense force now, but cannot have a real military, and the US ensures that they cannot. AS a result, another reason the US remains is because they ARE the military in the area...which suits the US just fine, but is not always beneficial to Japan.

So in your view Japan is not considered Western because (1) US loaned them money (2) Japan doesn't have a military force and (3) US has a bigger GDP. :erm:

Your definition of Western might be skewed.
 

Starfox

Hero
Warhammer's Old World has been designed by some clever British dudes.

...

Oh, and let me tell you something about Oktoberfest (the original one in Munich)

1.) Usually it begins in mid September and ends in the first days of October. Therefore it is hardly an october-fest.

Two world wars just called to remind us that British and German culture are not identical. So if you are strict on cultural appropriation (which I am absolutely not), WHFRP is cultural appropriation, and worse it makes fun of the other culture. :eek:

The Oktoberfest might have its name from the Julian calendar, which by the time of the gregorian reform was severely off. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar#From_Julian_to_Gregorian
 



David Weihe

Villager
The Oktoberfest might have its name from the Julian calendar, which by the time of the gregorian reform was severely off. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar#From_Julian_to_Gregorian

The problem with that theory is that Julian Calendar October is late Gregorian October to early November, not late September. Most likely, they just expanded it to rake advantage of the tourists, just as US retail Christmas season now starts before Halloween whereas it used to start after Thanksgiving (or start of Gregorian Advent).
 

dragoner

KosmicRPG.com
The problem with that theory is that Julian Calendar October is late Gregorian October to early November, not late September. Most likely, they just expanded it to rake advantage of the tourists, just as US retail Christmas season now starts before Halloween whereas it used to start after Thanksgiving (or start of Gregorian Advent).

It moved to late September because the weather is generally nicer.
 

Grainger

Explorer
Interesting article. I always thought that D&D had as much an American frontier point of view as a medieval European one, despite the trappings. Civilisation on the edge of the wilderness, Sheriff*-like law enforcement etc., dressed up with a pseudo-medieval skin.


*Yes, I know the post of Sheriff existed in medieval England, as did Constable, but they meant something entirely different than their modern connotations.
 

Starfox

Hero
Eurpe actually had frontieers much longer than we normally think. Central France was almost uninhabited until the late middle age. Poland, Scandinavia, and the Baltic States had frontiers until the 19C. But colonization in Europe were organized, centralized projects. In medieval times, monks colonized many areas of Central Europe, while in other cases it was organized by rich noble families.
 

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