Fantasy Genres

[Baptor]

Hey playground!

I am running 5e D&D as a DM atm and we are still working out how our setting will work. 5e seems to be a great edition that can be modified to fit any genre, so I am wondering...What genre of fantasy is your favorite?

Everyone defines it differently so let me make some categories:

1.
- Magic is rare, at least to normal people.
- Magic is far too unstable to be used as technology. There are no flying ships, very few portals, etc.
- The world follows normal rules. No floating islands, physics are reliable.

2.
- Magic isn't commonplace, but normal people know it exists and that it is all around them.
- Magic is difficult and expensive to turn into technology, but not impossible. The setting might allow for a rare flying ship, and there might be the occasional portal for quick travel.
- The world usually follows normal rules and physics, but magic can create the rare wonder.

3.
- Magic is commonplace, people everywhere are aware of magic and know at least one person who can reliably use it.
- Magic is often turned into technology. Flying ships roam the skies and portals are like Star Trek transporters.
- The world follows its own rules, flying islands litter the sky, there are lakes made of healing water, etc.

[Ralanr]

Number 3 is basically dungeon punk, which is a concept I enjoy. But I also enjoy the other two forms, with 2 being my least favorite.

With 1, the power of magic is often overcome by tactics, will power, and sheer force of might. I like this because magic tends to be shown as all powerful and it reminds us that cooperation can overcome anything.

2 has magic being equal to nukes in terms of power relevance. As such magic users are either put into an upper class that controls everything, or a lower caste and forced to serve others. The answer to magic is more magic and it tends to be uncreative in use. I'd argue dragon age is in this category because of the sheer number of mages in that setting.

3 since it's commonplace, magic isn't as valued. Sure we use it to one up an enemy (like how modern day technology works) but it's no longer something that people must actively hunt down and control. Want a magic sword? They got em at best buy.

These aren't fantasy genres though. These are just how magic is relevant in fantasy. You can have fantasy without magic, I don't think the term "magic" came up in American Gods.

I love urban fantasy bytheway.

Edit: this seems like a general thread instead of a 5e thread.

[Baptor]

Number 3 is basically dungeon punk, which is a concept I enjoy. But I also enjoy the other two forms, with 2 being my least favorite.

With 1, the power of magic is often overcome by tactics, will power, and sheer force of might. I like this because magic tends to be shown as all powerful and it reminds us that cooperation can overcome anything.

2 has magic being equal to nukes in terms of power relevance. As such magic users are either put into an upper class that controls everything, or a lower caste and forced to serve others. The answer to magic is more magic and it tends to be uncreative in use. I'd argue dragon age is in this category because of the sheer number of mages in that setting.

3 since it's commonplace, magic isn't as valued. Sure we use it to one up an enemy (like how modern day technology works) but it's no longer something that people must actively hunt down and control. Want a magic sword? They got em at best buy.

These aren't fantasy genres though. These are just how magic is relevant in fantasy. You can have fantasy without magic, I don't think the term "magic" came up in American Gods.

I love urban fantasy bytheway.

Edit: this seems like a general thread instead of a 5e thread.

Well, I am running a 5e game and I am asking pertinent to that edition of D&D. I will edit my original post to reflect that.

Everyone has different ways of defining fantasy and how magic works, so yeah I guess this is really more about magic.

Thanks for the feedback! I agree with you. I think it should be 1 or 3. The vagueness of 2 infuriates me as a DM. How rare is rare?

[pwykersotz]

I have a mix'n'match world.

Basically, the war between Law and Chaos is forever ongoing and constantly shifting the balance of power in the universe. When Law is winning, magic decreases and higher technology becomes possible. When Chaos is winning, magic becomes more prevalent and technology fades because the interactions that it relies on become undependable.

The shifts can happen as rapidly as a few hundred years and can take as long as 10,000 years. Basically this allows an easy explanation for why no ultimate magic or ultimate tech has been developed, despite the denizens of the world having had far longer than we have in real life of civilization. I don't like the style of having the gods limit things to the permanently medieval or other such solutions.

It also means that magic and technology don't mix easily. I use the tech levels from one of the d20 Future books (don't remember which one anymore) and say that magic of a certain potency knocks down the tech level of a device. If the device can't function at that tech level, it gets broken or destroyed.

There's a LOT more to it, but that's the overview.

So to answer your question, number 2 fits the closest for my current campaign world.

[Ralanr]

How rare is rare? In terms of a story it's never rare enough.

Like how a 1 in a million chance is a sure thing.

[Belac93]

My favorite personally is a hybrid of 2 and 3. But I also just like flying islands.

[Ralanr]

My favorite personally is a hybrid of 2 and 3. But I also just like flying islands.

Airships FTW!!!

[Baptor]

Airships FTW!!!

Yeah, I hear you both. One of my biggest struggles is that I like the simplicity of 1, but I also really like airships and sky islands.

[Ralanr]

Yeah, I hear you both. One of my biggest struggles is that I like the simplicity of 1, but I also really like airships and sky islands.

Technically you could have airships with 1. As long as it's not considered magic in story.

That's kinda how science fiction works now that I think about it.

[Knaight]

My favorite fantasy genre is space opera, but there's absolutely no way I'd try to use 5e for that. Of your categories I tend to favor option 1, though the next campaign I'm planning on GMing is actually option 3.

[tieren]

I like regional differences.

I see this coming into D&D by mechanisms like ley lines, in some geographic areas magic is powerful and abundant, and in others it is rare or impossible.

You can have floating islands that follow the ley lines and have whole countries that have never and will never see one.

You could have a magical city at an intersection of ley lines that could be easily defended by a handful of wizards. But those same wizards wouldn't be able to lead an expedition over the mountains to stop the orcs that keep raiding.

You could have casters that get buffs near the lines and debuffs away, you could have wild magic surges at the intersections. You could teleport easily among the magical major cities and still have to hire a wagon to take you into the far wilderness (that might even be why it is still wilderness) and who knows what you'll find where many sages never travel...

[JoeJ]

I like 1 and 3.

No. 1 is great for a Charlemagne or King Arthur inspired game, where spellcasters are rare and usually enemies. In fact, in that kind of a campaign, I would probably strongly limit the PCs ability to use magic at all.

On the other end, if I'm going to use no. 3, I like to go all out and do something like spelljammer. I see your flying ships, and raise you elven and orcish fleets going to war in space, and a beholder tending bar in a tavern in an asteroid city.

[UXLZ]

I prefer a mix... Of all of them, really. I like PC-race controlled mundane magic to exist but be fairly uncommon, yet still have the odd wonders like floating islands or crystal caverns. I'm a big fan of contrast, if everything is all-magic-all-the-time then the truly amazing things lose some of their grandeur.

[Milo v3]

Probably 5. Based on me putting magic Everywhere and giving it to Everyone.

[Vogonjeltz]

Hey playground!

I am running 5e D&D as a DM atm and we are still working out how our setting will work. 5e seems to be a great edition that can be modified to fit any genre, so I am wondering...What genre of fantasy is your favorite?

Everyone defines it differently so let me make some categories:

1.
- Magic is rare, at least to normal people.
- Magic is far too unstable to be used as technology. There are no flying ships, very few portals, etc.
- The world follows normal rules. No floating islands, physics are reliable.

2.
- Magic isn't commonplace, but normal people know it exists and that it is all around them.
- Magic is difficult and expensive to turn into technology, but not impossible. The setting might allow for a rare flying ship, and there might be the occasional portal for quick travel.
- The world usually follows normal rules and physics, but magic can create the rare wonder.

3.
- Magic is commonplace, people everywhere are aware of magic and know at least one person who can reliably use it.
- Magic is often turned into technology. Flying ships roam the skies and portals are like Star Trek transporters.
- The world follows its own rules, flying islands litter the sky, there are lakes made of healing water, etc.

Hmm, I think the categorization is wrong. I'd say I like 1, but I don't see any tension between physics being reliable and the existence of magic. Magic is simply a system that functions within the confines of physics either through temporary manipulation there-in, or a distortion, to achieve a different outcome than is baseline. i.e. Fire extemporaneous of a pre-existing physical fuel source and otherwise appropriate conditions.

That nitpick aside, regardless of the prevalence of magic within any given universe (even a very very low magic universe), I would expect the protagonists (the players) to encounter magic routinely. Why? Because they're the protagonists and the needs of the story dictate that they encounter things that are utterly improbable for plot convenience sake.

So...to resummarize, I like the default D&D universe.


How rare is rare? In terms of a story it's never rare enough.

Like how a 1 in a million chance is a sure thing.

Pretty much. If there's only one of a thing in existence within the game universe that our DM has created, there is a 100% chance the characters will encounter it. And the reason for this is Chekov's gun. The author (DM) only places things within a story insofar as they are relevant to that story, and won't waste their time or energy creating things they do not intend to use.