[Rant] Fantasy - beyond the "standard" paradigm

[Jürgen Hubert]

After reading through this thread, I realized that many people here interpret fantasy rather narrowly - to be specific, to them it's only fantasy if it adhers to a pseudo-medieval paradigm (or possibly to an even more primitive technological level).

To me, that's rather close minded. Why should fantasy be limited to these genres? Why can't we admit that other varieties are fantasy, too?

Take Eberron, for example - it mixes magic and D&D with societies and attitudes resembling Earth after WWI. Minor magic items are manufactured in an almost industrial way, and are relatively easily available for those with gold to spend.

What makes this any less "fantasy" than the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Planescape or all the others? Just because it isn't like the D&D settings you are used to it doesn't mean it isn't fantasy!

And there are other varieties of fantasy, too. There is the World of Darkness and the whole "urban fantasy" genre, where the supernatural and monsters hide within mundane society. There are GURPS Technomancer and Shadowrun, in which magic returns to modern Earth after a prolonged absence. There is Fading Suns, which mixes the supernatural with blasters, energy shields, and starships.

And all of these are fantasy, without resembling the Forgotten Realms. Now, whether you like them is up to you - tastes differ, after all - but that doesn't change the fact that they are all valid examples of the fantasy genre, even though they might be short on knights in plate mail riding forth to slaughter orcs...

 

[jdrakeh]

For me, Arduin is about as close as I get to the standard paradigm (and, really, it differs from said paradigm in a great many ways, the inclusion of highly advanced technology not being least among them). Currently, I'm working on a setting called "Twilight" about a world that has stopped spinning on its axis (the only safe place to live is in the resulting ring of permanent twilight that encircles the globe).

Twilight has an entire nation that conrols the technology of moveable type and, subsequently, is composed of different Publishing Houses that are (for all intents and purposes) primitive intelligence agencies. It has a city state that is effectively a privatized penal colony in the form of a mining compound that uses the criminals from surrounding lands as its primary labor force. Twilight is as non-standard as water is wet.

Standard can be fun, but it gets old real quick. Most peopel simply fear change, I've found. The familiar is comforting and the idea of trying new things (e.g., playing in a different kind of fantasy setting, driving over 160 mph, or skydiving) is something that a great many people resist. It's this same kind of phenomena that is responsible for some people damning new editions of certain games without ever actually giving them a try first.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Standard can be fun, but it gets old real quick.

For the record, I don't have anything against "standard" fantasy, either. I ran a nine-month Forgotten Realms campaign and it was lots of fun.

I just want to point out that this is not the only legitimate variety of fantasy out there...

 

[Hussar]

Hear hear Jurgen! Well said.

 

[jdrakeh]

For the record, I don't have anything against "standard" fantasy, either. I ran a nine-month Forgotten Realms campaign and it was lots of fun.

I just want to point out that this is not the only legitimate variety of fantasy out there...

I knew what you meant. I play a lot of bog standard fantasy and enjoy it, but I'm also aware that many other kinds of fantasy exist. The notion that fantasy is only psuedo-medieval analogue is a bit disconcerting, and makes me think that many gamers have little familiarity with the broader body of work categorized under the genre heading in question (e.g., Jack Vance's Blue World, China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, Neil Gaiman's Neverhwere, Vernor Vinge's Grimm's World, and so on).

 

[rounser]

What makes this any less "fantasy" than the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Planescape or all the others? Just because it isn't like the D&D settings you are used to it doesn't mean it isn't fantasy!

I don't think anyone was arguing that in that thread. Nice straw man though, should burn well.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't think anyone was arguing that in that thread. Nice straw man though, should burn well.

Actually, the first post in that that thread specifically dismisses Eberron as not being fantasy, but some misguided attempt at "science fictasy". Jurgen's post seems spot on in that context.

 

[rounser]

Actually, the first post in that that thread specifically dismisses Eberron as not being fantasy, but some misguided attempt at "science fictasy". Jergen's post seems spot on in that context.

"Science fictasy" could be interpreted as fantasy with the half-science fiction template applied.

 

[jdrakeh]

"Science fictasy" could be interpreted as fantasy with the half-science fiction template applied.

You're ignoring the fact that the original poster specifically prefaces the backhanded 'science fictasy' comment with "It doesn't seem like fantasy at all." We could go rounds about what the original poster in the other thread could have said, but I feel it's probably more productive to address what he actually did say

 

[Vascant]

For the record, I don't have anything against "standard" fantasy, either. I ran a nine-month Forgotten Realms campaign and it was lots of fun.

I just want to point out that this is not the only legitimate variety of fantasy out there...

I guess I have to ask is .. Why? or Who cares?

I have been playing the same Greyhawk setting since 1e, why change?