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The Eye
2017-02-14, 07:07 PM
Is there a term for "weird" fantasy?

I really want to read more about a type of fantasy where the main characteristic is that it’s “weird” the creatures are all unique and strange, nothing taken from mythos and stuff like that.

The landscape is illogical and surreal, is there anything like that? Is this a real genre? Or there is no such thing?

Eldan
2017-02-14, 07:38 PM
I have heard Weird Fantasy as a genre, so you're already there. Though you may also want to look up the terms Weird Fiction and New Weird.

MrStabby
2017-02-14, 07:50 PM
Is there a term for "weird" fantasy?



It's called a fetish?

Kelb_Panthera
2017-02-14, 08:09 PM
Surrealist Fantasy, perhaps?

Cluedrew
2017-02-14, 09:10 PM
Besides weird and surrealist/surreal, maybe experimental fantasy?

Personally I would just use the word weird, but I did not compile whatever sources you are looking through.

A Tad Insane
2017-02-15, 01:14 AM
According to TV tropes, it's called new weird (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NewWeird)

Perch
2017-02-15, 07:40 AM
Most people use Surrealist Fantasy since "Weird fantasy" has some unintended erotic meaning.

I tried to roll an Alice in the wonderland like Surrealist Fantasy game here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?504816-Surreal-dreamland-IC) once. But it didn't work, the players considered it to be too weird or with not enough combat, a real pity.

Cyrion
2017-02-15, 04:18 PM
I don't know about a specific term, but for some specific reading that dodges established mythos you might start with some Lovecraft (you'll be stepping out of classic "fantasy" and into "horror" with this one, but it's definitely weird), Gaiman (be choosy here to fit your requirement, some of his stuff is very mythos-bound, and much of it doesn't get genuinely weird, but it might fit the bill; Smoke and Mirrors may be your best starting point), or maybe some old Zelazny like Jack of Shadows or the Chronicles of Amber.

Segev
2017-02-15, 04:53 PM
Given the description of what the OP is requesting, I strongly recommend Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings. It's the first in a series of novels, the series name being "The Stormlight Archive."

But the world is particularly alien, with even the humans having some strange characteristics (like hair that is literally a different color in each strand if they're descended from people with different hair colors).

His perhaps better-known Mistborn series is also in a fairly alien world, but the alien creatures of it are far fewer than in the Stormlight Archive.

ComaVision
2017-02-15, 05:33 PM
@Perch

That was a fun read. It's a shame it didn't go on longer.

Yora
2017-02-16, 02:42 AM
In RPG circles, Weird Fantasy seems to be a pretty well established term. It generally refers to medieval settings with Lovecraftian nightmare monsters and demonic magic. Tentacled blob demons and alien humanoids, and such stuff.

Frozen_Feet
2017-02-16, 05:36 AM
Lamentations of the Flame Princess seems to be the trend setter there. Note: when talking with Raggi about this, he admitted he was and is making horror fantasy, but thought it carried unwanted implications. Hence, we got stuck with "weird".

Doorhandle
2017-02-16, 05:44 AM
Lamentations of the Flame Princess seems to be the trend setter there. Note: when talking with Raggi about this, he admitted he was and is making horror fantasy, but thought it carried unwanted implications. Hence, we got stuck with "weird".

It is weird though, but still, rude of him to warp definitions like that. :smallbiggrin:

As a literary reference, I think the Bas-Lag cycle is a good idea: It had an article in dragon magazine at one point. Most of China Miéville's novels count as New Weird, but that's fantasy weird as opposed to "Urban Fantasy" weird. Railsea would also fit.

Frozen_Feet
2017-02-16, 07:19 AM
He didn't really warp anything. LotFP stuff is certainly weird in the common sense and plenty of it is weird exactly in the way the original poster in this thread asked for. It just happens to also be horrifying.

Yora
2017-02-16, 07:41 AM
When applied to fiction, the word weird has clearly be tied to horror at least since Lovecraft.

NorthernPhoenix
2017-02-16, 09:15 AM
When i think of "Surrealist Fantasy" i think of something like "Adventure Time"

Segev
2017-02-16, 11:41 AM
While there are cosmic implications in it, I don't think The Way of Kings qualifies as horror. But it certainly has a truly alien world. And is high fantasy, NOT sci-fi.

Perch
2017-02-16, 07:04 PM
@Perch

That was a fun read. It's a shame it didn't go on longer.

Thanks, I’m glad you liked it : )

Indeed Lamentations of the flame princess may be the best source for “weird”RPG. I think the The Monolith from beyond Space and Time may be the best and weirdest of them all, in my opinion at least.
I will never forget the looks on my players’ faces, it was priceless. It was that game that made me interest in this whole weird and surreal side of fantasy.

Martin Greywolf
2017-02-17, 09:21 AM
Funnily enough, actual mythology, not just the modernized version of it. Medieval bestiaries in particular are behind some of the strangest DnD monsters.

Amphivena: bipedal two-headed dragon, thing is, the second head is at the end of its tail. Venomous and likes to fight with itself sometimes.

Bonnacon: bull with horns that curve backwards, making impaling you impossible. To remedy this, it will spray you with its poisonous, burning poop. This one was used to create a DnD creature, IIRC, but it bears repeating this is a creature several centuries old.

Caladrius: not only can its poop cured blindness when applied to eyeballs, it can also heal scores of other things and can predict if a patient will recover or not.

Dipsa: snake that is super thirsty, so its venom actually reduces you to a dried husk, a la Horrid Wilting. Can be counteracted if enough water is poured on you.

Leocrota: Guillermo del Torro's wet dream. Half lion, half stag, it has head of a horse. Only difference being that mouth goes ear to ear and has no teeth, only a uniform, always sharp ridge. And it can mimic human speech. Because of course it can.

Muscaliet: proving that humanity had obsession with hyperactive squirrels well before Ice Age, this guy has body of a small hare, the nose of a mole, the ears of a weasel, and the tail and legs of a squirrel. It is also hot enough to kill its prey on contact and likes to zoom about in the treetops.

I could go on, but you probably get the idea by now. Real medieval and pre-medieval stories had more in common with anime than Shakespeare, really.

Perch
2017-02-17, 11:12 AM
Don't forget the goetia weird ass demons and Japonese yoakais. (They had umbrela shaped demons and ******* cyplopes WTF?)