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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Where's the American Fantasy RPG?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8073993" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>I'd agree with pretty much all of this.</p><p></p><p>I do think Michael correctly identifies Gamma World as a peculiarly American take on fantasy (it's somewhat coded as SF, but it's solidly fantasy) which has been successful, and which links to a lot of Oz-ish ideas, but I agree with you that American fantasy isn't really defined by Oz any more than British fantasy is defined by Narnia (which is surely is not).</p><p></p><p>Some other peculiarly American fantasy/horror RPGs stick out to me:</p><p></p><p>1) World of Darkness - This could never have been written in Europe or anywhere else. The ideas, the concerns, the focus, the initial settings and so on, it's deeply American. Sure, there is a lot of Old World influence, and a lot of references to stuff outside North America, but Vampire, Werewolf, Mage? No way anything like these (particularly Werewolf) could have emerged elsewhere. Obviously you could have a vampire-centric RPG from Europe, but the concerns, focus, style would be different.</p><p></p><p>2) Shadowrun - It's very popular in Europe, and again has a worldwide setting, but this is also uniquely American. This is part of why it so badly lost its way when it got sold to the Germans. I know it is very popular there, but there's something different about how they perceive the whole setting and a lot of what was done was deeply misguided.</p><p></p><p>3) RIFTS - Again with the worldwide setting, but I think this is an RPG which has more than a little of an Oz-ian feel, and again, it's a setting which could really only out of the US.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Who have they influenced? Genuine question though I am asking in part so I can avoid them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8073993, member: 18"] I'd agree with pretty much all of this. I do think Michael correctly identifies Gamma World as a peculiarly American take on fantasy (it's somewhat coded as SF, but it's solidly fantasy) which has been successful, and which links to a lot of Oz-ish ideas, but I agree with you that American fantasy isn't really defined by Oz any more than British fantasy is defined by Narnia (which is surely is not). Some other peculiarly American fantasy/horror RPGs stick out to me: 1) World of Darkness - This could never have been written in Europe or anywhere else. The ideas, the concerns, the focus, the initial settings and so on, it's deeply American. Sure, there is a lot of Old World influence, and a lot of references to stuff outside North America, but Vampire, Werewolf, Mage? No way anything like these (particularly Werewolf) could have emerged elsewhere. Obviously you could have a vampire-centric RPG from Europe, but the concerns, focus, style would be different. 2) Shadowrun - It's very popular in Europe, and again has a worldwide setting, but this is also uniquely American. This is part of why it so badly lost its way when it got sold to the Germans. I know it is very popular there, but there's something different about how they perceive the whole setting and a lot of what was done was deeply misguided. 3) RIFTS - Again with the worldwide setting, but I think this is an RPG which has more than a little of an Oz-ian feel, and again, it's a setting which could really only out of the US. Who have they influenced? Genuine question though I am asking in part so I can avoid them. [/QUOTE]
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Where's the American Fantasy RPG?
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