Been busy (and tired) this past week so I wasn't up for the read-through. So where did we last leave off? Oh yeah, we talked about the 8 Pillars of Fabula Ultima. Now we are at page 16. After providing us with the common pillars, tropes, and themes for Fabula Ultima, the book shifts to discussing subgenres within the space.
First is High Fantasy. While it is mostly what you would think when it comes to "high fantasy," it's also a sub-genre that still has things like flying ships, magical golems, and magical technology. We are still focused on more high fantasy tropes: e.g., knights, princesses, wizarding mentors, veteran soldiers, rural country bumpkin turned protagonist hero, etc. It tends to be about hope, friendship, and fighting, often with a more epic scope. We are also told three things about High Fantasy settings: Locations, Magic, and Antagonists. These three categories will be repeated in the remaining two sub-genres. We are given some snippets about themes, aesthetics, and such or how the villains are driven back and possibly become demonic/divine entities the heroes must defeat. I wasn't terribly interested in this section. It's brief and generalized. This is probably the easiest sub-genre for most people in this hobby to grasp, since it's pretty standard when compared to more contemporary aesthetics of D&D. That said, Eberron is probably the D&D setting that would get along best with Fabula Ultima.
Second is Natural Fantasy. This category, I feel, requires additional unpacking. I would first note that the game Ryuutama, whose system was a big influence on Fabula Ultima, describes itself as a "natural fantasy." You can even see that description on the image that I posted of Ryuutama's book cover.
So what does "natural fantasy" mean to Emanuelle Galleto? Natural Fantasy has a bigger focus on nature, wild beasts, elemental forces of nature, and the corruption of nature. Protagonists tend to come from smaller rural communities, with the harmony between humanity and nature playing an important role. Moreover, the characters tend to come from more humble backgrounds: e.g., village witch, wandering warrior, blacksmith, daughter of the village chieftain, etc. But at the same time, the world that the heroes knows is still often built atop the ruins of prior civilizations.
Locations tend to focus on natural landscapes, dark forests, ruins, etc. Magic tends to be tied the spirits, elements, nature, life, etc. The antagonists in these stories are often those that disrupt that natural harmony, but also embodiments of corruption, natural calamities, etc. I imagine that PCs in these games will likely struggle against both sentient and non-sentient corruption: e.g., gelflings trying to resist both the Darkening and the Skeksis in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, the corruptive touch of Calamity Ganon on the world and Calamity Ganon in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Dark Water and the Dark Dweller in Pirates of Dark Water, etc.
Touchstones: Particular touchstones for what is meant by "natural fantasy" aren't listed here. There are inspirations for Fabula Ultima listed elsewhere, and it's in the individual sub-genre Atlas books that we get a better sense for what inspired them. As I am not well-versed in JRPGs, I trust Ema's judgment about the JRPGs that inspired their idiomatic sense of this sub-genre: e.g,. the Atelier Dusk Trilogy, Monster Hunter series, Etrian Odyssey, Jade Cocoon, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, etc.
However, I personally feel like I got a better idea of this sub-genre when I looked at the non-video game influences: Hayao Miyazaki films (Princess Mononoke, Nausicaä: Valley of the Wind, Laputa: Castle in the Sky, etc.), Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit), Symbaroum by Free League Publishing, and others. Other things that personally remind me of Natural Fantasy that aren't listed as inspirations would be additional things like The Dark Crystal, Pirates of Dark Water, Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Chronicles, as well as the video game Kena: Bridge of the Spirits.
For comparison, this sub-genre is how I would likewise describe Daggerheart's Witherwild campaign frame, which shares similar touchstones. It's even how I would describe another favorite TTRPG of mine: Stonetop!
I would almost want to re-label "natural fantasy" as "Ecological Fantasy." When I say "ecological fantasy," it's not necessarily about saving the environment. Instead, the coexistence between the living world and its inhabitants (e.g., man, beast, spirits, etc.) as well as the coexistence between communities are common themes.
If you can't tell, this is probably my favorite of the three sub-genres. Once I get Fabula Ultima back to the table, I will probably be itching to play a game with this sub-genre as the backdrop.
Third is Techno Fantasy. This is the sub-genre that screams how most people think of Final Fantasy due to the influence of FF7. (But most Final Fantasy games are listed as touchstones for High Fantasy.) Techno Fantasy is high magic but also high technology. Cities, cars, machines, super science, technological marvels, etc. This sub-genre, however, often uses these high technological elements as a critique. These stories often focus on technology unbridled, environmental exploitation, corporate/government corruption, unethical scientific advancement, technological arms race of warfare, nuclear war, wealthy elites, etc. Protagonists here tend to be things like scarred heroes, former mercenaries, failed scientific experiments, wealthy heirs, etc. The locations here may be the topsides and undersides of megacities, the barren landscape of an overexploited world, or other places that contrast the lifestyles of the Haves with those of the Have-nots. Here magic and technology are likely exploited, used and abused, and have become another means of stratification between social classes. Antagonists here unsurprisingly embody the darkness, corruption, egoism, and exploitation of modern (capitalist) society, but do so while wearing white clean outfits and adored as "self-made saviors."
Touchstones: Final Fantasy VII, Xenosaga, Soul Hackers, and other JRPGs. But also media like Akira, Star Wars (Andor, Episodes IV-VI, Rebels), Alien, Blade Runner, and Cyberpunk Edgerunners. I also imagine that Shadowrun would fit here nicely.
This post has only covered six pages. Next time we will get into Game Materials as well as Play Principles for Players and GMs. Once we finish all that, that will be the end of just the Introduction. After that we can finally start getting into the Core Rules. One step at a time.
