Why is Medieval fantasy the standard?

[NewJeffCT]

2) Most DnD games I would guess are not Midieval. They are a hybred of modern ideas wraped around a polytheistic culture painted in the colors of Wizards and Knights and Dragons.

I think you are correct on this - why is the defeault a polytheistic pantheon when Medieval Europe of that era was decidely monotheistic and either Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christian for hundreds of years (with some followers of Islam in Spain, Sicily and a few other spots) Not to mention followers of Islam in the Middle East and northern Africa. That is one of my few problems with D&D.

It is modern ideas & culture with knights, dragons, wizards and polytheistic religions.

If it was truer to Medieval Europe, the primary worry would likely be malnutrition and disease for 99% of the populace.

 

[apsuman]

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.

because you need steel without steam,

platemail without cannon,

and fireballs without gunpowder.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

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.

What country do you live in, Iceland?

The German army was using kids in desperation in 1945. Ask them how effective it was.

 

[buzz]

FYI, you can read the thread that discussed this a few weeks ago here.

 

[Black Omega]

What country do you live in, Iceland?

The German army was using kids in desperation in 1945. Ask them how effective it was.

Yes, but were they high on dope and using AK-47's?

 

[WizarDru]

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?

The first thing that you need to consider is that D&D, by and large, represents an anachronistic view of medieval fantasy. It resembles a traditional medieval setting, but it is, by no means, even remotely representative of it. People didn't travel broadly like D&D characters do, didn't have ready access to armor, weapons and money the way that D&D characters do, and didn't see the diversity of cultures, architecture or technology that D&D characters consider common.

D&D is like the movie version of Excalibur. Noble knights in shining platemail...except that by the time plate was in use, Arthur's legend (in its many incarnations) was hundreds of years old already. Consider Robin Hood (who also has at least five or six variations) and how far back he stretches.

Medeival fantasy as D&D portrays it features a hand-picked set of elements to facilitate a setting for adventures, not a historical recreation by any mark. Consider how metal quality isn't a factor in D&D, for example, or how government systems can develop out of sequence against how we know they developed and the patterns we believe dictate such things.

D&D is about using elements that we all know from popular stories and romances, mixing them together and then making a world that is familiar enough to fuel those stories. Add a steam locomotive to a story, and some people will reject it, as it stretches their verisimilitude too far. D&D is about having a setting that feels like, say 1066 or 1300, but giving the characters access to technology from 1700.

 

[Black Omega]

Lots of stuff snipped.

And just to get back on topic, very well said WizarDru.

 

[tzor]

Medieval fantasy isn't really the standard, and the standard has moved back and forth over the years. Currently there is a tendency to have a pre-Renissance level fantasy. Rapiers, for example present a more Reinssance level. Elvin thin blades start pushing the technology into the 17th and 18th centuries, well into the age of gunpowder.

The general theme should be best described as "magic and meele." If you advance too far technology wise, you move from meele to ranged combat (the real reason why some people hate guns) but if you go back too far technology wise, you loose the advantages of the advanced armors. (The reason why Roman/Greek models are not the norm, even though we pull legends from those areas for inspiration all the time.)

Yet there is nothing wrong with technology in fantasy. Lieber had German speaking people popping into the world of Fafhrd and the Mouser, for example. Some of the early modules had a definite Sci Fi flavor to them, and the 1st ed AD&D DMG had conversions from gamma world. These tended to be droped as the genre focused towards the magic and meele model.

Conversely there are people who hate to see magic or meele in their sci fi roleplaying. It does work both ways. And there are some good exceptions both ways.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

Well, I guess all are good resons. I guess I am just odd. I do not mind having a Medieval style backdrop, but with high tech spaceships flying over the land as well.

 

[WayneLigon]

I think you are correct on this - why is the defeault a polytheistic pantheon when Medieval Europe of that era was decidely monotheistic ... It is modern ideas & culture with knights, dragons, wizards and polytheistic religions.

Because most of the fantasy novels D&D is based around have polytheistic religions. In fact, I think all of the ones mentioned in Gygax's intro to D&D are polytheistic (save for Barsoom, where I don't think the matter ever came up). Those kinds of books are where D&D draws most of it's 'culture' so to speak, not from textbooks on the Middle Ages.