Is Fantasy changing?

[Desdichado]

Passing from the safe world of childhood/community out into the wider/supernatural world is a common literary and mythic story telling device it isn't necessarily the mixing of genres: Kansas to Oz, Home to the Hundred Acre Wood, England to Wonderland, Ithaca to Troy to The Sea to Ithaca, Shire to Mordor(and the rest of middle-earth).

While that's true, the earlier Harry Potter books do follow a specific "boarding school" genre very closely with the addition of magic.

 

[Greatwyrm]

You know, I just saw an ad for Troy and it got me thinking. Even though we've seen some newer twists on fantasy in recent years (Harry Potter, Final Fantasy, Dinotopia) the classical fantasy stories still have a strong audience. At the risk of sounding like an idiot, the Trojan War took place, what, 2000 years ago and is still worth making a movie about. How many remakes of the Arabian Nights, the Illiad, the Odyssey, or something with Merlin have we seen lately? Plenty. They may not have been all that good (ok, most weren't), but they're still making them.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Yeah, I would say it is moving away from its Medieval fantasy roots, and becoming something completely different. Which I do not mind at all.

 

[Desdichado]

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, the Trojan War took place, what, 2000 years ago and is still worth making a movie about.

3200 or so, actually. If Troy VI is the Troy of the Trojan War, as a lot of folks think, it burned shortly before 1250 B.C. after having it's walls toppled (by the Achaeans?)

 

[Acid_crash]

After seeing ads for Fireborn and Weapons of the Gods rpg games, I think fantasy is changing.

And if you haven't heard or read up on either of these two games, you will be missing out.

 

[barsoomcore]

The big difference nowadays (compared with the OLD days, back when I was a young lad) is that there's this HUGE genre called "Fantasy".

Sometimes it still startles me.

I must have been on to something, back when the only "Science Fiction" novels I liked were ones with swords instead of ray guns.

The ones with BOTH, of course, really kicked my butt.

 

[Desdichado]

The big difference nowadays (compared with the OLD days, back when I was a young lad) is that there's this HUGE genre called "Fantasy".

Right, I think that's the biggest difference. There's still a vast sea of "traditional" fantasy, but because the genre is so big, there's tons of other stuff doing its own thing as well.

Back in the day, fans of the genre all pretty much read the same things, because those were the books out there. Now, there's too much stuff out there for that to be true. Fans of the genre still congregate around certain classics and more popular works, but it's not the same. Fantasy has gone big-time, when it used to have more of a cottage industry, small community feel.

 

[JPL]

Here's what hurt me in that Dragon editorial:

The average D&D player's age is closer to 30 than 13.

I turned 30 last week.

I hope this game continues to evolve, and embraces new influences --- Harry Potter, anime, Pokemon, whatever else the youngsters like these days, because tabletop RPGs have been very good to me over the years, and I want that current crop of junior high schoolers to enjoy them as much as I do.

 

[Desdichado]

Here's what hurt me in that Dragon editorial:

The average D&D player's age is closer to 30 than 13.

I turned 30 last week.

I turned 32 earlier this year. But I appreciate the fact that it's easy to find people my age playing games at my maturity level!

As Mousferatu's other thread says, though, I wonder if we'll see a lot of "Son of Joe Blow gamer" games happening soon. If the average age is closer to 30, within a few years, some of their kids will be almost 13...

I hope this game continues to evolve, and embraces new influences --- Harry Potter, anime, Pokemon, whatever else the youngsters like these days, because tabletop RPGs have been very good to me over the years, and I want that current crop of junior high schoolers to enjoy them as much as I do.

How noble! I hope the game continues to evolve to suit me!

 

[Mystery Man]

It's okay to like Harry Potter.


If you're under the age of 12.