Editing Setting Aesthetics (section)

==Fantasy==
*'''[[High Fantasy]]''' - The default type of setting for most fantasy settings. Magic is commonplace, as is anything we normally associate with fairy tales and mythology. High Fantasy tends to be a bit more upbeat, as many civilizations tend to exist quite comfortably (apart from the odd dragon/zombie/[[BBEG]] attack). Big focus on cosmological conflicts, namely Good vs Evil or if on the edgier "everyone is neutral or evil" side Order vs Chaos.

Examples: [[Lord of the Rings]], [[Dungeons and Dragons]], [[Age of Sigmar]] for a particularly High Fantasy, [[the Stormlight Archive]]

*'''[[Low Fantasy]]''' - The dark and gritty counterpart to High Fantasy. Not necessarily Grimdark, although life does tend to be harsher. The biggest exemplar of Low Fantasy is [[Conan the Barbarian]]; magic is uncommon but very powerful, political strife is more commonplace, and violence is the norm.

Examples: [[Conan the Barbarian]], [[Game of Thrones]], [[Mistborn]]

*'''[[Heroic Fantasy]]''' - Intermediary point between High & Low Fantasy; High Fantasy backdrops and upbeat take on the world, but Low Fantasy-esque focus on [[Your Dudes]]. Grittier and more grimdark examples do exist - Warhammer Fantasy Battles and Roleplay are technically Heroic Fantasy.

Examples: [[Dungeons & Dragons]], [[Exalted]]

*'''[[Sword & Sorcery]]''' - The pulp magazine version of [[Heroic Fantasy]], traditionally leaning more towards the Low end of the scale and incorporating some level of [[Science Fantasy]] elements in it.

Examples: Conan again.

*'''[[Standard Fantasy Setting]]''' - When any of the above shows a large hole where the serial number should be, from all the times it's been filed off.

Examples: Any setting of a fantasy story that you can't remember due to not sticking in your memory for being so generic.

*'''[[Dungeonpunk]]''' - [[Heroic Fantasy]] with Punk stylings and [[magitek]], usually of the "industrialized magic" variety.

Examples: [[Eberron]], [[Planescape]], [[Iron Kingdoms]]

*'''[[Gaslamp Fantasy]]''' - Victorian-themed (or at least painted) world with magic in it, the fantasy analogue to [[steampunk]]. The term may go back to 1997 but was popularized as a way to describe [[Artist#Kaja_&_Phil_Foglio|Phil and Kaja Foglio's]] ''Girl Genius'' webcomic.

Examples: [[Masque of the Red Death]], [[Castle Falkenstein]], [[Unhallowed Metropolis]]

*'''[[Dark Fantasy]]''' - Grimdark or Horror take on your standard fantasy world. This can be either Low Fantasy or High Fantasy, it does not strictly preclude it.

Examples: [[Warhammer Fantasy]] for Low-Dark, [[Age of Sigmar]] for High-Dark (AoS is also an example of setting evolution over classic Fantasy and demonstrates that sequels can shift genre without retconning the core building blocks)

*'''Modern Fantasy''' - An alternate take on [[Urban Fantasy]], where you have a fantasy world that's developed magic and/or technology until it's reached a semblance of the modern world. Or at least a historical/futuristic analogue to our world.

Examples: [[Arcanum]] (fantasy analogue to Victorian England), [[Shadowrun]] (fantasy world gone [[cyberpunk]])

*'''Weird Western''' - Either a Western version of [[Urban Fantasy]], or a fantasy world that has Western themes.

Examples: [[Deadlands]], [[Horizons]]: [[Spellslinger]]

Trying to draw strict lines between Low and High Fantasy is something of a folly as it is perfectly possible to present epic High Fantasy battles in one side of the setting and have a shit ass peasant toiling in low fantasy in the other.