Interesting post.
I think it's deliberately difficult to pin down most campaign settings into a genre - because they actively try to be many at once.
Gygax was trying to appeal to a wide group - he wanted many different elements in there. Heck, one of his players loved westerns (Boothill) so he let him play a cowboy and threw in some Western into Greyhawk.
Greenwood was the same way. He put in many elements to the setting because he was trying to appeal to a wide base.
Sure some setting are more focused, but even there - it all depends on 1. how the DM presents things and 2. How the players choose to approach and play the game.
That's one HUGE difference. A moviegoer can't influence a movie by how they view it, a reader can't influence a book by how they read it. But a group can absolutely define a game by how they play it.
And in a campaign - it can change from session to session. One session is a rousing adventure story, next session is suddenly a horror story. Sure, changing too much too often can give players narrative whiplash - but the point is world can be different things to different people and groups.
I think that's one reason it has been so hard to pin down the Greyhawk in that prior thread. It was different things to different people. Especially since its heyday was prior to the internet homogenizing some of the play experience.
I think it's deliberately difficult to pin down most campaign settings into a genre - because they actively try to be many at once.
Gygax was trying to appeal to a wide group - he wanted many different elements in there. Heck, one of his players loved westerns (Boothill) so he let him play a cowboy and threw in some Western into Greyhawk.
Greenwood was the same way. He put in many elements to the setting because he was trying to appeal to a wide base.
Sure some setting are more focused, but even there - it all depends on 1. how the DM presents things and 2. How the players choose to approach and play the game.
That's one HUGE difference. A moviegoer can't influence a movie by how they view it, a reader can't influence a book by how they read it. But a group can absolutely define a game by how they play it.
And in a campaign - it can change from session to session. One session is a rousing adventure story, next session is suddenly a horror story. Sure, changing too much too often can give players narrative whiplash - but the point is world can be different things to different people and groups.
I think that's one reason it has been so hard to pin down the Greyhawk in that prior thread. It was different things to different people. Especially since its heyday was prior to the internet homogenizing some of the play experience.
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