D&D 5E Sword & Sorcery vs. Heroic Fantasy
Parmandur
Book-Friend
On one hand, yes; on the other hand, Greenwood's original has Aslan and Narnia built into it. FR started up as fan-fic gumbo, which you could also argue if Greyhawk, but Gygax had decidedly more Sword & Sorcery influences by volume.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Add drinking and harlot tables if you really want a S&S feel (Howard, Leiber)
Like AD&D had. :/
Like AD&D had. :/
Parmandur
Book-Friend
Ain't no class like Gygax class.
Hussar
Legend
I'm going to paint with a really broad brush here, but, bear with me. Epic fantasy (or high fantasy if you prefer) tends to focus on the idea of preserving the status quo. We have to stop this big event from occurring or the world will change (probably for the worse). Throw the ring in the volcano so that the big bad guy doesn't get it and everyone can go home.
S&S fantasy OTOH, seems to relish the idea of the individual changing the setting. Conan becomes king and radically alters the setting. John Carter travels to Mars and becomes the Warlord, again, completely upsetting the status quo of the setting.
If you want to drive this home in a S&S setting, there needs to be some sort of mechanics that allow the PC's to actually alter the setting. How do they carve out a kingdom of their own and then run that kingdom? It isn't enough just to stop the big bad guy, but, actually place themselves in a position afterwards which changes the setting. Become lords, kings or even gods.
In a S&S campaign, that campaign setting should look very, very different at the end of the setting than it did at the outset.
S&S fantasy OTOH, seems to relish the idea of the individual changing the setting. Conan becomes king and radically alters the setting. John Carter travels to Mars and becomes the Warlord, again, completely upsetting the status quo of the setting.
If you want to drive this home in a S&S setting, there needs to be some sort of mechanics that allow the PC's to actually alter the setting. How do they carve out a kingdom of their own and then run that kingdom? It isn't enough just to stop the big bad guy, but, actually place themselves in a position afterwards which changes the setting. Become lords, kings or even gods.
In a S&S campaign, that campaign setting should look very, very different at the end of the setting than it did at the outset.
Harzel
Adventurer
I have to take a bit of issue with your example. The Third Age is ending; the only question is what will follow. Some epic fantasy may be in the lives-happily-everafter camp, but I think that is in the intersection with fairy tales. Other epics, like LoTR, provide more of a contemplation on things gained and things lost in a world that is inevitably and forever changed.
Maybe, although it might be essentially the same place with different folks in charge. I guess we'd have to pull apart a bunch more examples to really say though. Also, I claim nothing more than that I am talking off the top of my head. Has not some scholarly pedant attacked this question?
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/io9.giz...een-epic-fantasy-and-sword-and-1617687425/amp
A good exploration of subject, although I wouldn't put Lord of the Rings at the peak of Epic/Heroic fantasy, I'd put the Wheel of Time series there.
A good exploration of subject, although I wouldn't put Lord of the Rings at the peak of Epic/Heroic fantasy, I'd put the Wheel of Time series there.
As for is Forgotten Realms Heroic Fantasy or Sword and Sorcery, it's something else entirely.
See some novel in FR are absolutely epic fantasy the Sundering series, the Avatar Trilogy, the Return of the Archmages, and others.
Then others are more S&S novels like the ones about Drizzt, Venom in her Veins, the Priests series, the Fighters series, and so on.
Then there are the writers that lean more towards fantasy horror, like Paul Kemp, the Broken Chain Duology, and a few others.
There are even a few steam punk elements, although those don't get explored as much in the novels, but Lantan, Shadovar, and Mulhorand have expressed steam punk tendancies at times.
See some novel in FR are absolutely epic fantasy the Sundering series, the Avatar Trilogy, the Return of the Archmages, and others.
Then others are more S&S novels like the ones about Drizzt, Venom in her Veins, the Priests series, the Fighters series, and so on.
Then there are the writers that lean more towards fantasy horror, like Paul Kemp, the Broken Chain Duology, and a few others.
There are even a few steam punk elements, although those don't get explored as much in the novels, but Lantan, Shadovar, and Mulhorand have expressed steam punk tendancies at times.
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