The Death of High Fantasy?

Hi folks,

Is high fantasy dying a slow death? I have noticed a growing body of discussion that would suggest role-playing groups are turning away from classical fantasy tropes, in favour of more eclectic and subversive themes. One explanation for this has been the shift in young adult literature. 

The type of books I used to read when I was a kid were very much of the high fantasy genre. Epics such as The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, The Shannara Chronicles, The Rose of the Prophet, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and The Riftwar Saga all had a certain quality to them that I find lacking in modern fantasy literature (with some spectacular exceptions). They were not easily accessible; you had to work hard to read them, particularly at an early age. The themes in them ran deep and were far reaching, taking a long time to unravel. The worlds that they presented were vibrant, perilous and often mind-bending in their complexity. When we played a fantasy RPG or other tabletop game, we tried to incorporate this as much as we could. 

Increasingly, people are looking upon further additions to this genre with disdain. I searched through some discussion forums on the topic, in which high fantasy is described as being “trite, hackneyed and overdone.” That authors “fall to the traps of Medieval world-building. Leaning heavily to the familiar Medieval/DnD tropes and setting so they don't have to do the heavy lifting of world-building”. That “High Fantasy seems to be teetering on the brink. I can't remember the last time magic was just about just dudes throwing fireballs instead of being based on some convoluted system. One cannot even fathom seeing a knight rescuing a princess.” The genre I grew up loving seems to have shot itself in the foot, becoming a parody of itself. I find it hard these days to buy a fantasy book with classic themes, because reading the description of the back reveals the same old story almost every time. It’s embarrassing. It is hard to stop this sentiment from bleeding into gaming.

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn have a convoluted system of magic, as does the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss.

Modern literature is very different to what I grew up with, subverting the well established art of world building to allow more familiar themes to spice things up (what we would usually call “low fantasy”), or turning people’s expectations of fantasy on its head. The likes of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson fit squarely, and quite popularly, in this category. Modern gaming, film and television have also unleashed a new brand of fantasy upon us. This shift has been reflected in the depiction of fantasy themes on the table top; for many people, stumbling upon a goblin camp with your dwarf warrior isn’t quite cutting it anymore.
 

This has made me look at my own experiences in gaming to see if I was part of this trend. My earliest experiences of roleplaying were in a high fantasy setting, reflecting the stories we were all enjoying at the time. As time has progressed, however, I can see that the underlying nature of our campaigns have changed. Sure enough, we too have injected all kinds of guff into it to try and break the mould. It was enjoyable, scratching some kind of itch that we had, but I can’t help but feel that we have neglected something that deserved to be treated better.

For the past couple of months I have been playing in a campaign run by our long suffering DM of 25 years, Arny. It is a stock campaign called Storm King’s Thunder, which we are playing online using the Fantasy Grounds online platform and Discord for verbal communication. Let’s just say getting everyone around a table in the library at lunch isn’t an option anymore.

Preparing for the campaign, knowing that it was going to be more of a classical setting, I felt the sacrilegious urge to do something a little different. I have a long history of choosing what you would call a classic character to roleplay; it feels old school and I pride myself on that! This time, I thought, “stuff it!”, I’m taking something completely different. I rolled up a Dragonborn Warlock with a whole heap of conflicting motivations, feeling decidedly rebellious about the whole process. I was proverbially tossing the classical fantasy tropes out the window.

Mercy, my Dragonborn Warlock, based on an artwork I found on Pinterest.

Dropping into the first session I was gobsmacked to find that many of the other players (love you folks!) had outdone me. After several sessions, I still don’t have a clear understanding of many of the races/themes represented in our party. What they are not, is the kind of characters I celebrated in my youth. I’m loving the campaign, but very much feeling like the pendulum has swung a long way from the days of Solamnic Knights and Kenders.

I don’t think high fantasy, and all of the trappings that come with it, will truly die out. There is still a lot to enjoy in the meandering grandeur of Lord of the Rings. It is also very rewarding, I feel, to play a classic fantasy character or army and relive the glory days. It may take a bit more work, but there is a legacy you can tap into that adds so much to the gaming experience. The trick is to encourage our young ones to read the old stories and help them to discover the rich legacy within. Hell, we need to keep it fresh in our own minds, and one of the easiest ways is to do that is to share it with someone else. As folks who understand, we have an obligation to keep high fantasy alive, because we know the world will be a less fantastic place without it.

See you across the table,

Marc