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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 1342386" data-attributes="member: 463">D&amp;D uses tropes of both high fantasy &amp; swords &amp; sorcery, eg the black &amp; white Alignment system works fine for High Fantasy with its JudaeoChristian-influenced Good vs Evil focus, but not for sword &amp; sorcery which is more Nietzschean in its approach to morality.&nbsp; By contrast the focus on amassing wealth as a character goal is very un-high fantasy.&nbsp; To me Forgotten Realms' exemplifies this schizophrenia at the heart of D&amp;D, what I call the &quot;Aribeth&quot; or&nbsp; &quot;gorgeous pouting elf paladin babe&quot; syndrome, after a character in the Neverwinter Nights game.&nbsp; Heroic elf paladins - high fantasy.&nbsp; Gorgeous pouting babes in cleavage-revealing armour - Sword &amp; Sorcery.&nbsp; Put them together - D&amp;D.BTW the best article ever on this field was in Dragon many years ago, 'The Highs &amp; Lows of Fantasy',&nbsp; the author used The Silmarillion vs Thieves' World as the paradigmatic examples of High Fantasy vs Low Fantasy.&nbsp; Low Fantasy can include the 'realistic' approach which is very different in feel from S&amp;S' 'pulp' approach - compare eg Harnworld with Hyborea - and Swords &amp; Sorcery can involve epic conflicts reminiscent of high fantasy, eg the Elric series, but clear-cut good vs evil conflicts at the heart of the fictional universe are relatively rare in S&amp;S.&nbsp; Thulsa Doom or the Rip Torn villain in 'Beastmaster' are evil, and the heroes who fight them relatively good, but these swords &amp; sorcery worlds are fundamentally ones where power not morality is what matters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 1342386, member: 463"] D&D uses tropes of both high fantasy & swords & sorcery, eg the black & white Alignment system works fine for High Fantasy with its JudaeoChristian-influenced Good vs Evil focus, but not for sword & sorcery which is more Nietzschean in its approach to morality. By contrast the focus on amassing wealth as a character goal is very un-high fantasy. To me Forgotten Realms' exemplifies this schizophrenia at the heart of D&D, what I call the "Aribeth" or "gorgeous pouting elf paladin babe" syndrome, after a character in the Neverwinter Nights game. Heroic elf paladins - high fantasy. Gorgeous pouting babes in cleavage-revealing armour - Sword & Sorcery. Put them together - D&D. BTW the best article ever on this field was in Dragon many years ago, 'The Highs & Lows of Fantasy', the author used The Silmarillion vs Thieves' World as the paradigmatic examples of High Fantasy vs Low Fantasy. Low Fantasy can include the 'realistic' approach which is very different in feel from S&S' 'pulp' approach - compare eg Harnworld with Hyborea - and Swords & Sorcery can involve epic conflicts reminiscent of high fantasy, eg the Elric series, but clear-cut good vs evil conflicts at the heart of the fictional universe are relatively rare in S&S. Thulsa Doom or the Rip Torn villain in 'Beastmaster' are evil, and the heroes who fight them relatively good, but these swords & sorcery worlds are fundamentally ones where power not morality is what matters. [/QUOTE]

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