You know /tg/, fantasy is a HUGE word and it could mean any number of things. However most people seem to stick it directly into a medieval, iron age level plus or minus a few hundred years style of technology and society. But we can see that there is so much more.
Strange eons in the past with primal or tribal fantasy, science fiction in the future, modern fantasy that could be crazy or could be pretty normal with a sinister undercurrent. Or entirely alien worlds that are completely off the wall and invented.
What say you, /tg/? Why is so much of fantasy focused around emulating a single time period instead of the myriad of possibilities?
>Tolkien
>Chainmail with Fantasy appendix
>Folk tales of the time and earlier
There's a reason people are sticklers for a generic middle age time when it comes to Fantasy and it's not that they're hacks, it's an established set of things to go together.
Nobody is stopping you mixing it up, stick Dragons in space or equip Cave Men with laser guns from one of these "Strange Aeons".
Just keep a bear in your mind that combining two unoriginal ideas does not make a fresh new idea, it creates a gimmick.
>>44339890
>Nobody is stopping you mixing it up, stick Dragons in space or equip Cave Men with laser guns from one of these "Strange Aeons".
True, but there are SO many other eras that one could draw from. Caveman/native american style, futuristic, bronze age or roman, victorian or early industrial, modern day, etc. I'm just surprised there isn't more of it and people still like sword and board fantasy so much.
>Just keep a bear in your mind that combining two unoriginal ideas does not make a fresh new idea, it creates a gimmick.
Being original is always a step in the right direction, even if its shitty. Because now you have something that isn't boring and cliche, and if you make it less shitty then it could start being good.
>Being original is always a step in the right direction, even if its shitty
Oh god no.
>>44339924
>Being original is always a step in the right direction, even if its shitty
Jesus Christ no, what is wrong with you? Well done unoriginal is always vastly superior to most peoples crappy attempts at 'original' stories. Having it be good in the first place is always more important.
There is nothing inherently 'boring' about medieval fantasy either no matter how popular it is.
>>44339799
>myriad of
Fuck you.
We're spoonfed stories about brave knights and lovely princesses while we're kids, and it shapes our preferences. Deal with it.
>>44339973
>>44339986
You either didn't read the post or aren't thinking straight.
Something original, even if its shitty, gets the thought out there. As it goes on, even as people see it and think 'well that's terrible' they start to come up with ideas how to improve it, or at the very least things that they would enjoy about it more. They may steal one or two good bits of stuff from the setting's material, even if it be a single race or religion or a single magic spell or item. Anything creative and new gets more energy out there into the world and enhances ideas. If everyone did the same old same old there would be nothing new at all, where if we have new bad stuff it can lead to new GOOD stuff to go along with it.
FYI I also know the real reason why you are getting upset at my comment is because you are thinking of it through the lens of an anti-hipster like this gentlemen here >>44340004 , and while I don't necessarily disagree with you you should realize that throwing things out or disregarding other people's opinions out of habit is negative and will only weaken you creatively.
>>44340004
you misspelled brave samurai
OP, you are right. There are a bunch of other settings out there and folks shouldn't feel tied down to established middle age fantasy.
Except most of the time people don't feel tied down with it because for a long time this WAS the hobby. Fantasy gaming was an easy-ish sell to tabletop war gamers at a time Tolkien books were receiving very popular reprints, so this became the normal setting.
If you want a setting in Roman times, Victorian, Bronze age, whatever, write it yourself, give people the information and rules they need to play a setting you want to play.
You will have to accept, though, that if rules don't already exist by now, there may not be any demand for them.
>>44339799
What is Star Wars for 200 Larry.
>>44340101
>hurr if you disagree with me you are an 'anti-hipster'
How about you stop trolling and there might be something to discuss.
>>44339799
Star Wars, Warhammer 40k, any urban fantasy ever...
>>44339799
So we mess it up with our dragon-powered mechas, our mecha-powered dragons, have it invaded by cavemen which revive into a stronger version like Apocalypse, and so on.
Not to mention the things that /tg labels "magical realm", even despite not being made to excite anyone, like demons reproducing through forceful womb harvesting and making a ragout carpet of the rest.
And what's this? There's a full fascist steampunk not!nazi nation on the other continent? Oh GM, you!
The Homebrew Train only stops when it hits a cow, raw meat you know.
>>44340468
>>44339799
>>44339924
>>44340101
I've read this on the internet once, and I think it's pretty right: "Originality is simply putting old things in a new way"
Many people like medieval fantasy, so they're going to go with works that catter to their tastes. But Space Fantasy and Modern Fantasy are also pretty popular, and Gaslamp Fantasy and Sword & Sandals also have their fans.
>>44340551
Thank you! It is the nicest thing someone said to me this week.
In other words, a 20 year old homebrew setting really piles up a lot of stuff.
But not all of it was true. There are no mecha-powered dragons, and the dragons power lower orbit blimps.
>>44339799
My setting is sort of vaguely Late Antiquity/Early Medieval (like, thin roughly 200-600 AD or so), which I guess overlaps with the Middle Ages but not the High/Late Middle Ages which most Fantasy emulates.
I say vaguely though because I try to avoid direct, explicit analogues for historical cultures.
>>44339799
Because Dungeons and Dragons became the norm.
>>44339799
My fav not-Medieval Fantasy things are Star Wars, Monster Hunter and various Final Fantasies. They definitely got that fantasy didn't just mean medieval Europe and King Arthur..
>>44340468
Warmahordes?
>>44340748
Dungeons and Dragons isn't even that: there have been rules for firearms since AD&D 2nd Edition, and most of the ship classes found are strictly 16th century and later.
>>44339799
shadowrun
Also, I hope you aren't implying that iron age and medieval are the same thing
>>44340395
>Star Wars, Warhammer 40k
Are science fiction.
>>44342242
No, we play that on D&D.
>In fact, there are no mecha-powered dragons
>the dragons power lower orbit blimps
>cavemen revive into a stronger version like Apocalypse
>demons reproducing through forceful womb harvesting and making a ragout carpet of the rest.
>full fascist steampunk not!nazi nation on the other continent
