Where's the American Fantasy RPG?

L. Frank Baum's Oz series established American Fantasy as a genre, and yet it hasn't had much influence on popular tabletop role-playing games despite several fantasy authors providing the inspiration for co-creator Gary Gygax's Dungeons & Dragons. Why not?
L. Frank Baum's Oz series established American Fantasy as a genre, and yet it hasn't had much influence on popular tabletop role-playing games despite several American fantasy authors providing the inspiration for co-creator Gary Gygax's Dungeons & Dragons. Why not?

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Picture courtesy of Pixabay.

American Fantasy Defined

As described in The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature, the tenets of American Fantasy include a contrast between real world struggles and a fantasy land (Kansas vs. Oz), the Garden of the World set in the midst of the Great American Desert (Oz), and pastoral qualities that encompass the heartland like corn fields, crows, wildcats, and field mice. Baum's Oz is different in character but similar in texture to American agrarianism.

There is technology too, always at the cusp of becoming ubiquitous, with objects taking on a life of their own. Baum was uneasy about the impact of technology on society: concerned about the impact of "flying machines", worried about what would happen to premature children in "incubators", and wary of slick-talking characters using gimmicks and puppetry (the titular Wizard of Oz). Judging by the abuse Baum heaps on an animated phonograph, he wasn't a fan of recorded music either.

As Brian Attebery puts it in The Fantasy Tradition:

"Oz is America made more fertile, more equitable, more companionable, and, because it is magic, more wonderful. What Dorothy finds beyond the Deadly Desert is another America with its potential fulfilled: its beasts speaking, its deserts blooming, and its people living in harmony."

Gygax and Dave Arneson were following a European tradition, itself descended from historical battles of interest in Chainmail, infused with their own American influences, such that little of Oz appears in D&D. At least not overtly.

Ozian Elements in Plain Sight

Jack Vance's influence on D&D is significant. From the "Vancian" spellcasting system to the Eye and Hand of Vecna, Vance's work permeates the game. Vance was a big fan of Baum's work and cited him as a major influence. One character recreates the Land of Oz in The Madman Theory (written by Vance under the pen name Ellery Queen), but Baum's influence goes beyond that work and appears in the Dying Earth series, as explained in Extant #13:

"...I speculated that the Phanfasms inspired the village of Somlod, as seen through the lost lenses of the demon Underheard (Cugel the Clever), and that Sirenese society, in The Moon Moth, was inspired by the Whimsies. Among the scarce commentators on Vance there seems little interest in the Baum influence, while influences which are minor or even nonexistent are often emphasized, such as Clark Ashton Smith."

Cugel, whose adventures take place in The Dying Earth setting, has more in common with the Wizard of Oz than Dorothy of course, and his adventures would go on to form the thief archetype in D&D, as per Gygax:

Of the other portions of the A/D&D game stemming from the writing of Jack Vance, the next most important one is the thief-class character. Using a blend of “Cugel the Clever” and Roger Zelazny’s “Shadowjack” for a benchmark, this archetype character class became what it was in original AD&D.

The Dying Earth wasn't a fantasy world, but a post-apocalyptic one set long after technology had fallen into decay. And that's a hint of where we can find Oz's influence.

Talking Animals, Weird Technology, and Untold Wonders

D&D has strayed from its cross-dimensional sci-fi roots, but one game has never wavered from its focus on a post-apocalyptic world filled with strange beasts, ancient technology, and hidden secrets: Gamma World.

The parallels between Gamma World and Oz (where animals can talk, characters can play robots, and humans are relics of another world), as filtered through Vance, finally gives Baum his due. If Baum was so influential on Vance, why hasn't there been more discussion of the parallels? The editor of Extant #13 explains:

"Given Vance’s own repeated and enthusiastic declarations regarding Baum, as well as the obvious parallels between Vance’s favorite Oz book (The Emerald City of Oz) and several of his own stories, I cannot rid myself of the suspicion that this lack of interest suggests an enthusiasm about certain subject matters and styles rather than an interest in Vance as such. I also suspect the Baum influence lacks appeal because he seems old fashioned, quaint and childish. The fashionable taint of the weird is absent."

This may be why Gamma World has struggled to find its audience like D&D has. Where D&D's tropes are so embedded in pop culture to be ubiquitous these days, Gamma World—like Oz—has alternately been treated as ludicrous, deadly serious, or just plain wacky ... the same criticisms leveled at Baum.

It seems we already have our American Fantasy RPG, it’s just a little “weirder” than we expected.
 

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Michael Tresca

Michael Tresca

When I think of American Fantasy, there's one recent tale that I come back to: Over the Garden Wall. A dark, but whimsical, world of dangerous backwoods, paddle boats on winding rivers, and small communities of strangers, both mundane and mystical.


The trailer didnt give me a particularly American feel, however your description got me thinking of the movie Big Fish, which I suppose takes us back to Southern Gothic. Interesting the how the presence of the travelling circus seems to be an important trope to the American fantasy genre


Im also suprised (though I may have missed it) that no one has mentioned Orson Scott Cards Alvin Maker series..
 
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The trailer didnt give me a particularly American feel, however your description got me thinking of the movie Big Fish, which I suppose takes us back to Southern Gothic. Interesting the how the presence of the travelling circus seems to be an important trope to the American fantasy genre

Hold on... Ah. The first episode is officially on YT. Might give you a better read of the series.
 
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This is why Urban Fantasy is bigger in the US than Europe or Asia. The US is a young nation and shyed away from the history of the Natives for so long. It missed the boat on Medieval knights and Classical empires. And by the time it fully united, it was the Modern Era. So it's fantasy would be based around the thoughts and fears of the cities, the ruggedness and familiarity of the small towns, or the sense of exploration of going out on your own.

The United States did not spring forth fully grown from the forehead of Europe as some sort of historical tabula rasa. European history and literature is a core part of our education with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Beowulf, and Greek mythology commonly being taught in grades 6-12. We didn't miss the boat on medieval knights or classical empires any more than a modern French or British person did. Though we don't have all those cool castles right here in our backyard.

And there are European nations that weren't fully united until the modern era. Great Britain wasn't fully unified until 1707, Italy in 1861, and Germany in 1871. And the horrors of cities? Didn't Charles Dickens cover some of that in his books?

For example, factions are big in American Fantasy. Because the US is a melting pot of different cultures, there is always a sort of faction system in most American societies. American facial has racial groups, "racial" groups, gangs, cartels, unions, alliances, cliques and the like.

Historically speaking there have been plenty of factions based on religion, politics, and economic goals in Europe. There are whole books just written about the barber-surgeons, physicians, and apothecaries of London, all of whom were in competition with one another for centuries. Factions are big in every human society I can think of.
 

Fantasy itself is a very popular genre in America, but it's often fantasy that draws from European influences.

That's mostly because the Americas didn't have a traditional Classical nor MedievalAge. Not a traditional Iron age. A lot of fantasy tropes that exist in Europe, Asia, and Africa never existed in the Americas. And the information of the timea is so scattered or lost.

So the early American fantasy can pull from is the 1600s. Well into the days of Gunpowder. Therefore a lot of American Fantasy pulls from the later era.
1600 Pirates
1860s-1890s Wild West
1920 Prohibition
1930 Dustbowl
1980-2000 Urban
2050+ Cyberpunk
 

The United States did not spring forth fully grown from the forehead of Europe as some sort of historical tabula rasa. European history and literature is a core part of our education with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Beowulf, and Greek mythology commonly being taught in grades 6-12. We didn't miss the boat on medieval knights or classical empires any more than a modern French or British person did. Though we don't have all those cool castles right here in our backyard.

And there are European nations that weren't fully united until the modern era. Great Britain wasn't fully unified until 1707, Italy in 1861, and Germany in 1871. And the horrors of cities? Didn't Charles Dickens cover some of that in his books?



Historically speaking there have been plenty of factions based on religion, politics, and economic goals in Europe. There are whole books just written about the barber-surgeons, physicians, and apothecaries of London, all of whom were in competition with one another for centuries. Factions are big in every human society I can think of.

What American public schools did you go to? Canterbury Tales taught in junior or high school? Beowulf? You had one hell of an English department if that's true. I'm pretty sure that none of those works appear in the overwhelming majority of American public school reading lists. You're lucky, anymore, if Tolkien appears on any of those reading lists.

But, at the end of the day, it's hard to draw on American fantasy because of the technological level. 18th and 19th century technology means no more castles, widespread gunpowder use, widespread professional armies, and a world that is far more full than the previous few hundred years. By the time of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy would be familiar with technology that is, by and large, completely out of place in what we consider to be traditional fantasy.

In other words, the reason we don't really see American fantasy of this style influencing D&D very much is the time period is all wrong.
 

The United States did not spring forth fully grown from the forehead of Europe as some sort of historical tabula rasa. European history and literature is a core part of our education with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Beowulf, and Greek mythology commonly being taught in grades 6-12. We didn't miss the boat on medieval knights or classical empires any more than a modern French or British person did. Though we don't have all those cool castles right here in our backyard.

Yes, but America the land doesn't havethat history. There's no American knights leaving an American castle to fight American dragons.

So yes, America leans to European history and fantasy. However that history and fantasy isn't American. The time period is all wrong.

And there are European nations that weren't fully united until the modern era. Great Britain wasn't fully unified until 1707, Italy in 1861, and Germany in 1871. And the horrors of cities? Didn't Charles Dickens cover some of that in his books?

However Europeans nations have more history to pull from. The relative youth of the United States means that the Modern Era is fonder to Americans than it would bee to Europeans, Asians, and Africans.

Historically speaking there have been plenty of factions based on religion, politics, and economic goals in Europe. There are whole books just written about the barber-surgeons, physicians, and apothecaries of London, all of whom were in competition with one another for centuries. Factions are big in every human society I can think of.

Didn't say Europe doesn't have factions. I said factions in an RPG likely mean more to American gamers as US history and media constantly bombards up with gangsters, criminal organizations, racial gangs, competing law enforcement, high school cliques, secret societies, class warfare, corporate warfare, and political drama.

My friend joked that why Americans like "Game of Thrones. You can root for your favorite gang."
 

That's mostly because the Americas didn't have a traditional Classical nor MedievalAge. Not a traditional Iron age. A lot of fantasy tropes that exist in Europe, Asia, and Africa never existed in the Americas. And the information of the timea is so scattered or lost.

So the early American fantasy can pull from is the 1600s. Well into the days of Gunpowder. Therefore a lot of American Fantasy pulls from the later era.
1600 Pirates
1860s-1890s Wild West
1920 Prohibition
1930 Dustbowl
1980-2000 Urban
2050+ Cyberpunk

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court And Conan would suggest otherwise
 

What American public schools did you go to? Canterbury Tales taught in junior or high school? Beowulf? You had one hell of an English department if that's true. I'm pretty sure that none of those works appear in the overwhelming majority of American public school reading lists. You're lucky, anymore, if Tolkien appears on any of those reading lists.

But, at the end of the day, it's hard to draw on American fantasy because of the technological level. 18th and 19th century technology means no more castles, widespread gunpowder use, widespread professional armies, and a world that is far more full than the previous few hundred years. By the time of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy would be familiar with technology that is, by and large, completely out of place in what we consider to be traditional fantasy.

In other words, the reason we don't really see American fantasy of this style influencing D&D very much is the time period is all wrong.

I didn't have Beowulf, but I did have Canterbury Tales in AP English at my public high school.


American Fantasy could lean more heavily into the myths and tropes of the stories told by the actual American peoples who have been here for thousands of years and DID have an Iron Age of sorts - in the Canada, Beothuk among other native peoples acquired iron some from Leif Eriksson's Vinlanders, and then centuries later iron and other European tech filtered in through trade to interior first nations, long before direct contact with Europeans existed for those nations.

That said, doing so as a white person without a connection to these cultures is just as perilous as engaging in fantasy based on East Asian fantasy - very easy to dive into racist romantic and/or barbaric caricatures. Still, these are the people whose stories are embedded in the land we live on, whose names echo in many of our towns and place names, even if our ancestors long ago killed or drove them away and our governments are still treating the survivors as second class citizens. If we listen respectfully and follow their lead, we can engage in good faith.

I recommend anyone who can - when the pandemic is over - to visit such places of learning as the Pequot Museum in Connecticut, where the stories are remembered and told by the surviving Pequots themselves.
 
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That's mostly because the Americas didn't have a traditional Classical nor MedievalAge. Not a traditional Iron age. A lot of fantasy tropes that exist in Europe, Asia, and Africa never existed in the Americas. And the information of the timea is so scattered or lost.

So the early American fantasy can pull from is the 1600s. Well into the days of Gunpowder. Therefore a lot of American Fantasy pulls from the later era.
1600 Pirates
1860s-1890s Wild West
1920 Prohibition
1930 Dustbowl
1980-2000 Urban
2050+ Cyberpunk
Maybe add an era of onvention and gagetry, relating to lightbulb, airplane, and backyard inventors, and garages.

Also cold war, nuclear post apocalyptic, space alien eras.
 


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