 Fantasy: April 09, 2014 Issue [#6251] |
  Fantasy
This week: Fantasy Games Edited by: Robert Waltz  
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Man is a gaming animal. He must always be trying to get the better in something or other.
-Charles Lamb
My mom didn't let me play video games growing up, so now I do. Gaming gives me a chance to just let go, blow somebody up and fight somebody from another dimension. It's all escapism.
-Wayne Brady
The video game market is huge, and the ability to tell stories, and tell different kinds of stories in the gaming space is quickly evolving and changing for the better.
-Jim Lee |
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Last week saw the launch of The Elder Scrolls Online , a massively multiplayer online game, so I thought I'd talk about fantasy role-playing games while taking a short break from questing across the world of Tamriel.
Most people would agree that the genre we know as Fantasy began with Tolkien. Tolkien inspired other authors, of course, but he also inspired people like Gary Gygax, who came up with the Dungeons and Dragons RPG in the 70s.
This was, of course, one of the most important innovations in gaming, ever, equivalent to Newton inventing physics. Suddenly, instead of games like Monopoly tearing apart friendships and families because of the intense competition, we have a game that's all about cooperation, imagination and problem-solving - all against a backdrop of a European fantasy setting.
D&D, like Tolkien himself, inspired others to make their own games. And when computers started to insinuate themselves into homes and schools, fantasy role-playing games came along for the ride.
Until the advent of the internet, computer gaming was mostly a solitary pursuit (which, incidentally, suited me just fine, because my D&D group was starting to annoy me). But then came multiplayer games, and suddenly, we geeks were no longer alone. Not that this is always a good thing, mind you.
But here's the important thing to know, as writers of fantasy: today's games rely heavily on story. We tend to think of video game designers as computer nerds who write and debug computer programs, and certainly those exist, but without artists and writers, among other creative types, none of the code is going to matter. The writers of a computer game, either single- or multi-player, can make or break the game. Not only do they need characters, conflict, and plot, but there needs to be branching alternatives, as with interactive stories here on Writing.Com. And a lot of these writers got their start playing tabletop role-playing games, like D&D.
The amount of work it takes is intense. Or so I'm told - I can barely write a linear novel, let alone a video game plot.
So anyway, it's back to Elder Scrolls for me. If I can't write computer games, I can at least enjoy the creativity of others. |
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Last time, in "Fantasy of Today" , I talked about modern, or urban, fantasy. I also passed along the questions posed by andrepolk: "What is it you search for in a high fantasy novel?" and "What key components do you hate in a fantasy novel, that makes you leave it on a shelf to collect dust?"
Quick-Quill  : I am SO OVER Vampires and the like!!! I want a story not just people running around killing everyone. I do love GRIMM. I think it takes the best of all the worlds and brings them to the present. I live in Portland so that's even better. Mythology, folklore and make-up-your-own-monsters are wonderful. What I like is the underlying story of the friends living in Portland that are natural enemies yet become friends. The characters develop into people you come to love. I just hope they don't do like some series and go way too far out into la-la-land. Keep your story true, this is for writing. Keeping it simple but filled with conflict, resolutions and make sure what's at stake is worth fighting for or against. Your weapons, powers or abilities should be within the perimeters of your world. I had trouble with THOR. Some of it was thrown at the viewer without setting up the world. I realize there isn't time in a movie, but some of it was too far out there. Good thing they had great heroes and villains.
While different people are going to like different things, I think your writing advice is sound.
Bob DeFrank  : Speaking only for myself here, but I hate, hate, hate, hate HATE fantasy worlds where the magic and marvels are 'out in the open where everybody can see,' because there is no way the modern world could continue. Why would magical beings living among us participate in or re-create our modern society? Things like democracy and nation-states wouldn't survive. In the few series I like that have pulled this off, the societies have slid into dystopias.
Depending on what kind of magic we're talking about, I'd love to see a fantasy story that's set in a democracy, one that's not our own.
Elfin Dragon-finally published : Ugh, vampires and werewolves. So cliché. You tell us we've got all of mythology to play with but in reality fantasy lets us play with anything. For instance, my novel's main character is an elf whose parentage is a mother who's an elf and a father whose a dragon. Which makes her a shape-shifting elf who is also far more long lived than a regular elf. Now we've got a story.
As for your question? As long as the fantasy novel is well written and has a good plot with well written and developed characters; I'm happy. I've read fantasy by authors who write for teens to adults. Each have their own unique aspects to their stories. Some have been "urban fantasy" or true "modern fantasy". And some have been "pure fantasy". And, of course, everywhere in between. I've always read the backstory before buying a book and if I thought I was going to like the book, I picked it up and I've always been right. I've never put down any fantasy book I've bought. Now Science Fiction, that's a whole other matter. 
Yeah, I lean more toward SF than fantasy, but I'm a fan of both genres.
Loreli : I appreciated your take on Fantasy work. I do tend to write more fantasy than other things...unless it's horror.
I like noth kinds. I appreciate the high fantaay where something doesn't make sense the magic-wielder can shrug and saw "magic, whatcha going to do?"
But I also write alot of vampire type urban fanstasy and I get why everyone is burned out on vampires. I've seen alot of the modern culture vampires and I am getting annoyed by the genre lol
But they aren't bad. They can be done without romance, or at leasr tolerable romance. I prefer ones that don't write a vampire love story. O prefer mine to be like Dusk till Dawn. These robbers show up to this club and there just HAPPENS to be full of vampires.
But I would to give a thank you as an editor for mentioning the genre some people wish would go away
Loreli
Oh, I've seen vampires done well in stories. It's just, y'know, give it a rest for a while, try something else, come back to it later.
Lawless - Proud Pantser  : I pretty much refuse to even put the Vampire stuff in the Fantasy genre. That's just my take on it.
Well, here at WDC, they're separate genres. Still wanting that Zombie merit badge, though...
Mitchopolis : Great newsletter. I'm glad you used American Gods as an example. It truly is a great story. As to: "When it comes to modern fantasy, though, there seems to be two basic choices when writing:" I think a third option exists. A world in which the fantastical is emerging into our world. The characters and the story relate the events where fantasy elements are suddenly appearing in the common world. This type of story would see the world changing as the story unfolds. Once again, great job and take care
That would certainly blend the two types. Another way to blend them would be a story where the magic is going away...
And that's all for me for April - see you next month! Until then,
DREAM ON!!! |
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