Quote Originally Posted by PhoenixPhyre View Post
And the "genre" of fantasy (writ large) is utterly irrelevant. D&D is not trying to emulate the entirety of fantasy. Or even any of it. D&D emulates D&D. That's all. You cannot, in fairness, assume that any fantasy individual is appropriate for D&D. Only D&D defines what's acceptable and appropriate. And there's lots of things that fall outside of that. Including (at the weak end), most of Malazan. As well as most superheroes. And "regular joe, the baker".
And D&D can define that however it wants. Notably, Malazan was the author's D&D campaign before it was a series of books, so the notion that what's going on there is inappropriate for the game is just historically ignorant. D&D has always been influenced by the rest of the fantasy genre. It picks and chooses what things influence it, and how those influences are expressed, but the idea that D&D stands alone has never been accurate (nor should it be).