Standard Fantasy Setting: Difference between revisions
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You know it. The "default" fantasy setting, as codified by ripping off JRR Tolkien and/or [[Dungeons and Dragons]] (with a few going for the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] angle). | You know it. The "default" fantasy setting, as codified by ripping off JRR Tolkien and/or [[Dungeons and Dragons]] (with a few going for the [[Warhammer Fantasy]] angle). | ||
[[Image:GenericFantasyMap.jpg|thumb|right|]] | |||
The usual distinguishing factors include: | The usual distinguishing factors include: |
Revision as of 21:42, 8 February 2020
You know it. The "default" fantasy setting, as codified by ripping off JRR Tolkien and/or Dungeons and Dragons (with a few going for the Warhammer Fantasy angle).
The usual distinguishing factors include:
- Elfs, Dwarves, Humans, Orcs, Trolls, or their equivalents. Halflings and other races optional.
- There's usually at least one Always Chaotic Evil race; if not Orcs, then some kind of Demon.
- Dragons, usually intelligent.
- Undead, usually evil.
- Medieval Stasis, with heavily schizophrenic technology levels.
- Magic enough that "wizard" is a viable career path.
- Some kind of Evil Overlord, although he does not have to feature in this story.
- Fantasy versions of real world cultures.
- Either a "Dung Ages" or "Excessively Romanticized" approach to what the world looks like, sometimes both.
- Gods, usually with enough evidence for them (including Priests with actual miracles on call) that they can be said, objectively, to exist.
There's also a Gothic variant, where Angels and Demons are a thing, and Sword And Sandal versions, which are very Bronze Age; both are more likely to skimp on the Elves and Orcs (although in the latter case, the equivalents would be something like nymphs and Frazetta Man).
Note that this is slightly more rare in written media nowadays; the likes of Dennis L. McKiernan and Terry Brooks have mined the Literature side to exhaustion, and Fantasy Heartbreakers have similarly exhausted the Tabletop RPG side. Isekai still has plenty of 'em, but most Isekai is garbage.
That being said, since most people can be assumed to be familiar with it, it's popular with other media, including but not limited to Anime, Vidya, and Board and Card games.