Low Fantasy

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I've never heard the term low fantasy used before this board. I would say that I have never heard the term low fantasy used in literary circles, too, but that would be admitting that I've been in literary circles that discussed fantasy, and that would mean instant grad student death.

As one of my favorite profs may or may not have said to me, "...better to be found discussing pornography."

But suffice it to say, I do not think that there is really grounds for a term like low fantasy. In my experience that term comes from the natural desire to create a low in comparison to high fantasy, but high fantay is a term that was never developed with an idea towards a comparitive system of genres. High was just the adjective chosen to distinguish it from every other type of fantasy.

I think that's why there is so much confusion as to what exactly you would identify as low fantasy: low magic, sword and sorcery, fairy tales, etc.

If you were really to set up as a category the proper genre would be something like Lewis Carrol and Jonathon Swift style satirical fantasy, since that would have been the literary genre high fantasy would have been most eager to distinguish itself from.

 

[Gellion]

I always considered the King Arthur mythos low fantasy. A lot of the things that people are labeling High Fantasy, i consider low fantasy.

 

[Tonguez]

I too like my game Low Magic-High Fantasy and so I run worlds where the supernatural is common and where 'Spirits' (Feindish Eels/Celestial Eagles) can be found lurking in every sacred pool or nesting on every mountaintop.

Nonetheless PC magic is rarely flashy and most of those spirits are NPCs who the PCs will need to negotiate with and maybe outwit rather than fight.

I also find that in DnD Low magic is only possible if you put a level cap on things - which is why I consider level 10 - 12 the 'upper limit'. Beyond this point the class abilities make PCs into superheroes. I want PCs who need to worry about how to deal with damaging effects of a storm not those who can turn the Sahara into a Vege Garden overnight.

 

[hellbender]

One of the best examples of Low Fantasy, in my opinion, are the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber. Epic, yet in a world where magic is usually deadly or leads to some treachery. There is something mystical in all of the stories, but the supernatural elements are often horrific and leave our heroes with internal and/or external scars. I love using elements of Leiber's work in games as he was such an imaginative person (and my player's haven't read the stories) and although set in a fantasy world, the writer brings a very down to earth human edge to each story, extrapolating upon basic human emotions, ambitions pains.


hellbender

 

[Beastman]

I like rare fanatsy settings, but not low fantasy settings, especially dark ones. This gives my players and me a sense of mystery, brooding darkness, fear and terror.

Although I'm currently running a forgotten realms campaign (for the first time), i will switch settings (perhaps kalamar), because the realms are toooo magic-heavy for my taste. buying magic items, a mage at every corner and such *pff*, don't like it.

 

[Gellion]

Im going to make a setting that makes FR look like a no magic setting.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

To me, this is a matter of attitude.

In high fantasy, things happens to the protagonists because they are, well, heroes - or at least in some other way Marked By Destiny. Things rarely happen randomly to them. And even if they fail, they will likely have had some impact.

In low fantasy, things just happen - there's so much going on in the world that many events feel just plain random. There is no such thing as destiny, and success is never certain. Success comes to those with a good plan, hard work, and a little luck, while those who have faith that everything is going to sort itself out will likely be disappointed.

 

[Rune]

I think, as it's usually interpreted, high- or low-fantasy is a misnomer.

There is a world of difference between power-level and wonder-level.

I, personally, run fairly low-powered games. Almost exclusively. It helps me to capture an intense sense of wonder and fantasy. That's right. My games are high-fantasy, even while being low-powered.

People often call the Forgotten Realms a high-fantasy game, but I'd say that, while it once (first printing) had a reasonably high fantasy level, that's been replaced with an escalating power-level. I think the Forgotten Realms is actually one of the lower-fantasy settings out there. There's just no wonder left in it, anymore.

 

[Tsyr]

Personally I think it defeats the purpose of the game to play a low fantasy game, but that is just my opinion.

Silly me, I thought the purpose of the game was to have fun...

I basicly echo the thoughts of Eric in his first post, and Mercule in the next.

 

[Desdichado]

Clearly there's no agreement on what low fantasy means.

To me, it's more a matter of tone than anything else. Low fantasy is gritty, potentially very grim, and dark.

High fantasy, on the other hand, is knights in shining armor, heroes and dragons.

The level of fantastical elements isn't what makes it for me, or the level of magic, it's the tone of the story. My personal preference is high fantasy in terms of fantastical elements, low magic, and low fantasy in terms of tone.