Why is Medieval fantasy the standard?

[Tinker Gnome]

Okay, why is Medieval fantasy the standard type of fantasy. I do nto mean in social structure, but in the technlology level? Why is it held so high? I know a lot of people will freak out if you even put some kind of futuristic thing in a D&D game. But, to me fantasy was never strictly Medieval. Fantasy to me was, as one person on these forums once described it, "Fiction with no holds barred." I will pretty much accpet anything in a fantasy setting, I even like some Sci-Fi stuff in my fantasy settings.

So, does anybody have a clue why medieval fantasy is so much the standard?

I may not be able to reply till tomorrow morning because I am going to turn in a bit early.

 

[WayneLigon]

I think we dealt with this in a thread recently, but since I can't search yet...

1. It was that way when the game was created. Inertia is a tremendous force.
2. Most people don't really like genre-mixing outside of certain venues; some things can pull it off well, like the Final Fantasy series or some anime series. Most can't. It looks silly and anachronistic. It breaks the mindset of what to expect. In some cases this can be good, but see previous: most people who try this can't pull it off.
3. Most fantasy novels are quasi-midieval.
4. Tolkien did it that way.

 

[Altalazar]

It started as a medieval warfare - miniatures game. So that leads us back to tradition. And there is Tolkein. That is also that same sort of thing.

Never underestimate the power of tradition.

 

[rounser]

I disagree with your summaries, WayneLigon and Altalazar - the scope of that thread ranged far beyond the initial assumption that it's just tradition. That may be your personal interpretations, but I don't think they represent what was discussed.

 

[Psion]

RPG author and analyst S. John Ross mused that there are five elements to successful RPGs. (Note not good RPGs, successful, i.e., well accepted and well selling.)

One of these was "cliche". Meaning, really, familiar elements.

The reason this is important is that many players are not interested in devouring a lot of material to understand the underlying elements of the game setting; this is work to some people, and makes it a bit undesirable for a leisure activity.

So by making your game close to well understood setting elements, you make it easy to just lay out the big picture, and allow the players to fill in the blanks with what they already know. It therefore is easier to introduce a setting based largely on faux medieval elements than a setting like Talislanta or Tekumel or many Asian settings which require a bit more specialized reading or familiarization to bring players a comfortable understanding.

 

[skinnydwarf]

Okay, why is Medieval fantasy the standard type of fantasy. I do nto mean in social structure, but in the technlology level? Why is it held so high? I know a lot of people will freak out if you even put some kind of futuristic thing in a D&D game. But, to me fantasy was never strictly Medieval. Fantasy to me was, as one person on these forums once described it, "Fiction with no holds barred." I will pretty much accpet anything in a fantasy setting, I even like some Sci-Fi stuff in my fantasy settings.

So, does anybody have a clue why medieval fantasy is so much the standard?

I may not be able to reply till tomorrow morning because I am going to turn in a bit early.

I think the others above made good points; tradition and inertia are certainly major contributing factors. I think another factor is that people just *like* medieval fantasy. When you add sci-fi elements and others, it just changes the feel, and some people don't find the new feel as fun, and so they don't do it or buy books that do.

Another reason, related to the ones above is economic. Medieval fantasy sells, and judging from the types of fantasy books you see at the bookstore, better than other types of fantasy. So companies keep making the thing that sells.

In addition, another reason, and this is even more speculation than the ideas I have already discussed, is that people are more familiar with medieval culture and society than others, and that allows them to "get" the medieval fantasy worlds better than others.

One reason why the technology level remains medieval I think might be the mystique of hand to hand combat, where skill, endurance and a bit of luck determines who wins. Once you get to a higher technology level, you have guns, cannons and whatnot, and you lose that mystique. But that is just something I just came up with. I have no evidence to support it.

 

[The Mirrorball Man]

Players are hostile little creatures, they want to fight, and they want to kill, and they want to do that without having to worry too much about the consequences (things like dying in a matter of seconds, or getting arrested for murder). You can get that in medieval fantasy settings. In science-fiction settings, there's always the annoyance of getting vaporized by laser beams from time to time, and in modern settings, there's this irritating little thing called the legal system. Who wants to bother with things like that?

 

[Desdichado]

One reason why the technology level remains medieval I think might be the mystique of hand to hand combat, where skill, endurance and a bit of luck determines who wins. Once you get to a higher technology level, you have guns, cannons and whatnot, and you lose that mystique. But that is just something I just came up with. I have no evidence to support it.

And based on movies and the like, I'd say a considerable body of evidence refutes it.

 

[Altalazar]

And based on movies and the like, I'd say a considerable body of evidence refutes it.

Refutes what? The simple fact is, back in the days of hand-to-hand combat, your skill level and strength determined whether you lived or died. If you were good, you could defeat all foes in combat, period.

In modern days, an eight year old kid high on dope with an AK-47 can kill an entire squad of Delta Force Commandos. Though likely he'd only manage to kill a few, even with surprise.

Of course, this is why now you see armies made up of eight year old kids high on dope with Ak-47s - because it is very effective. In medieval times, kids would all just be slaughtered and not even make a dent in the armor of the warriors sent against them - so you did NOT have armies made up of children then.

 

[skinnydwarf]

Refutes what? The simple fact is, back in the days of hand-to-hand combat, your skill level and strength determined whether you lived or died. If you were good, you could defeat all foes in combat, period.

I think he was talking about my claim that people like medieval level tech. because hand to hand combat is cool. At least, I don't think he meant that movies provide evidence that it was not the case that skill greatly determined things in medieval combat. But it is unclear what part Joshua was referring to.