Fantasy Games: Dungeons and Dragons
January 20th 2009 14:08
Although it started as a table-top, pen-and-paper fantasy role-playing game, Dungeons and Dragons has grown and spawned a million media spin-offs ranging from novels to movies. Admittedly, these extra-literary products have mostly been flops with the public at large, DnD built a massive following of fantasy enthusiasts and gamers which consistently ate up any titles of any kind that came out in the name of Dungeons and Dragons.
I myself have played the game--2nd edition to be exact--and I really enjoyed it. If I had more time and resources, I would probably still be playing it. Even though it's set in a prefabricated world (or worlds, depending on what 'campaign setting' you're using), it's a fantasy lover's dream come true: you can basically live a second life as an important person in a fantastic setting. Albeit the advent of computer/video role-playing games has caused the pen-and-paper crowd to dwindle, I will always rate table-top RPGs higher than digitized ones, because in the original incarnations you had to use your imaginitive powers and you were in complete control; you could do anything you wanted to.
While the preexistence of worlds limits the creative factor, those premade worlds--especially Faerun, the setting of the most popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting--are all very well thought out, extremely complex, and intricately designed. You'll be hard pressed to find any fantasy writer's world that is as fully defined and realized as Faerun. However, the people at DnD had an advantage over the individual writer: they had whole teams of creative thinkers. Some people designed the magic; others designed the cultures and races; others designed the landscape; etc. Also, it took a long time for Faerun to become fully realized.
Fantasy writers working off of Faerun and Forgotten Realms have helped in the process of concretization. R.A. Salvatore, with his popular books about the Drow elf Drizzt and his adventures, helped boost Forgotten Realms' status and definition tremendously. I generally tend to stay away from :fan fiction," but his books are actually very well-written, with interesting characters and exciting plot lines. The fact that the world in which he wrote was already crafted was only helpful to him.
Having an already existing fantasy world for writers to work with has its drawbacks, though. For one, those authors are usually taken less serously, both because of the preponderance of fan-fic writers--writers who aren't very good, but who still write about the fantasy world because they can--and the fact that they're working with someone else's world. The whole dimension of world-building in fantasy is one of the most popular and important aspects of the genre; if an author can create his or her own unique fantasy world and leave his or her idiosyncratic seal on it, then they've accomplished something great and have a good backboard for multiple stories. Creating an entire world from the ground up, and doing it alone (or with the help of a couple good friends), is really difficult; even if its creator doesn't actually write any novels about the world, it would still be a good achievement.
Dungeons and Dragons, in my opinion, paved the way for modern fantasy writers/creators to be successful. Yes, Tolkien and his books really opened the door for fantasy to be taken seriously as a genre; but it was DnD that made fantasy known and popular with the public, with ordinary people; and without them--the audience--fantasy writers would have no reason to write. Or, at least, they would never be able to eat.
Next Tuesday I'll talk more in-depth about fantasy video games along with their advantages and drawbacks. Tomorrow I'll look at the history of two words that deal closely with fantasy: wizard and sorcery. Have a good day everyone!
I myself have played the game--2nd edition to be exact--and I really enjoyed it. If I had more time and resources, I would probably still be playing it. Even though it's set in a prefabricated world (or worlds, depending on what 'campaign setting' you're using), it's a fantasy lover's dream come true: you can basically live a second life as an important person in a fantastic setting. Albeit the advent of computer/video role-playing games has caused the pen-and-paper crowd to dwindle, I will always rate table-top RPGs higher than digitized ones, because in the original incarnations you had to use your imaginitive powers and you were in complete control; you could do anything you wanted to.
While the preexistence of worlds limits the creative factor, those premade worlds--especially Faerun, the setting of the most popular Forgotten Realms campaign setting--are all very well thought out, extremely complex, and intricately designed. You'll be hard pressed to find any fantasy writer's world that is as fully defined and realized as Faerun. However, the people at DnD had an advantage over the individual writer: they had whole teams of creative thinkers. Some people designed the magic; others designed the cultures and races; others designed the landscape; etc. Also, it took a long time for Faerun to become fully realized.
Fantasy writers working off of Faerun and Forgotten Realms have helped in the process of concretization. R.A. Salvatore, with his popular books about the Drow elf Drizzt and his adventures, helped boost Forgotten Realms' status and definition tremendously. I generally tend to stay away from :fan fiction," but his books are actually very well-written, with interesting characters and exciting plot lines. The fact that the world in which he wrote was already crafted was only helpful to him.
Having an already existing fantasy world for writers to work with has its drawbacks, though. For one, those authors are usually taken less serously, both because of the preponderance of fan-fic writers--writers who aren't very good, but who still write about the fantasy world because they can--and the fact that they're working with someone else's world. The whole dimension of world-building in fantasy is one of the most popular and important aspects of the genre; if an author can create his or her own unique fantasy world and leave his or her idiosyncratic seal on it, then they've accomplished something great and have a good backboard for multiple stories. Creating an entire world from the ground up, and doing it alone (or with the help of a couple good friends), is really difficult; even if its creator doesn't actually write any novels about the world, it would still be a good achievement.
Dungeons and Dragons, in my opinion, paved the way for modern fantasy writers/creators to be successful. Yes, Tolkien and his books really opened the door for fantasy to be taken seriously as a genre; but it was DnD that made fantasy known and popular with the public, with ordinary people; and without them--the audience--fantasy writers would have no reason to write. Or, at least, they would never be able to eat.
Next Tuesday I'll talk more in-depth about fantasy video games along with their advantages and drawbacks. Tomorrow I'll look at the history of two words that deal closely with fantasy: wizard and sorcery. Have a good day everyone!
| 18 |
| Vote |
Subscribe to this blog
