[Fantasy] Standard Fantasy Setting

[Gef]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

So it's routine to see one of these 2'-tall guys carrying and using a 3'-long sword?

Routine I doubt, for the average one has too little ST for a broadsword. But it wouldn't be terribly uncommon, either, for warriors of the breed. -GEF

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

I've read exactly the same number of fantasy novels with human/dwarf hybrids as I have with human/elf hybrids (1/1), but see the latter more often in game books (0/6) and thus tend to assume they're more prolific in fiction.

Off the top of my head, I only recall two non-game fictional worlds that I've read that explicitly include human/elf hybrids. Middle-Earth (in which it happened only 3-4 times, and the offspring choose to become elves or humans), and Midkemia (in which it happened once, and then only by the intervention of powerful magic*).

* Midkemia pretty much has a standing "a wizard did it" rule (Macros the Black being the wizard). It could be suggested that the entire plot of the first several books in the series came about just because a human-elf-Valheru hybrid was going to be needed.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Langy

In any case, the OP isn't trying to create the Standard Fantasy Setting, due to his insistence on lack of divine magic and multiple gods, which are essential elements to the generic SFS,

Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon Quest 3, Dungeon Fantasy, and Discworld; I haven't seen clerics anywhere else.

Would the title "Stripped-Down Skeleton of a Fantasy Setting" be any more palatable?

Originally Posted by Langy

not to mention the whole 'must be identical to Medieval Europe, straight down to the religion and politics' idea.

Which I haven't said. You must be reading between the lines.

Undefined monotheistic religion with Catholic-looking places of worship, Catholic-looking bishops, and crosses everywhere is what I've seen in the most fantasy settings; followed by such trappings being absent and the theology of the setting referring to a singular Supreme Being; followed by the aforementioned trappings somehow being applied to polytheistic practice. The last one breaks my suspension of disbelief.

I have long wondered why, if going through so much work emulating the outward forms of Christianity, they wouldn't just make it explicitly be Christianity; I'll concede that this leap of logic probably isn't generic. That's why I'm willing to leave it vague; I wouldn't say explicit Christianity was needed unless we threw vampires into the mix.

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

So it's routine to see one of these 2'-tall guys carrying and using a 3'-long sword?

If they put 20 points into increasing ST, they can do that. Just like humans using 9' long halberds - which these guys can do with 50 points in ST. "Routine" is seeing them with 1'6" shortswords, roughly the same proportions as human warriors using bastard swords.

Originally Posted by GEF

Typo, I infer.

Yes, as a matter of fact it is. I thought I'd fixed it before posting; I'll need to double-check the copy on my computer too.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Kenneth Latrans

Dungeons & Dragons, Dragon Quest 3, Dungeon Fantasy, and Discworld; I haven't seen clerics anywhere else.

Every Fantasy CRPG I've ever played has had a more-or-less-dedicated Healer, typically called a Cleric or Priest (Final Fantasy, Shining Force, Wizardry, etc.) The same holds true for every class-based tabletop fantasy game I've seen (the ones you listed, plus Palladium and Warhammer Fantasy, among others) plus many of the "classless" games (for example, Exalted has Priest as a suggested character concept, with healing Charms to back it up.) What fantasy games have you seen that don't include a cleric/priest?

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by RyanW

Off the top of my head, I only recall two non-game fictional worlds that I've read that explicitly include human/elf hybrids. Middle-Earth (in which it happened only 3-4 times, and the offspring choose to become elves or humans), .

Note that the humans that resulted were super powered and really long lived. In short, half-elves. Other fictional works that had half-elves include Elfblood, Dresden, Merry Gentry, and of course Star Trek.

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

Every Fantasy CRPG I've ever played has had a more-or-less-dedicated Healer, typically called a Cleric or Priest (Final Fantasy, Shining Force, Wizardry, etc.)

Final Fantasy (every entry in the series I've played); White Mages, explicitly wizards who specialize in casting healing spells. Still dedicated healers, but not necessarily religious. Subject to the same countermeasures as other wizards; the same potions refill their MP and the same magic resistance blocks their offensive spells as the Black Mages.

Dragon Quest 1, the hero learned healing spells as readily as others, and no references to any religion were made. Dragon Quest 2, there were churches where you could get curses removed, but your paladin learned weaker versions of the same spells as your mage; in fact, he was only described as a paladin on his status screen in the Game Boy remake. Dragon Quest 3, the hero and the pilgrim used healing spells; pilgrims were renamed as clerics in the Game Boy remake (thus it being one of my references), but again their abilities had pretty much the exact same source of magic as wizards, just learned through a different discipline.

Dedicated healing wizards, be they priests or not, strike me as more generic than clerics do. There's a difference between dropping the divine power source from player control and dropping the role of a character who can restore hit points.

[Langy]

I can't think of a single fantasy setting that used crosses, catholic-looking churches, or bishops in it; every single one I can think of, from Xena (which was semi-historical fantasy) to every single fantasy-based RPG ever made, goes the other way entirely.

[Lamech]

Originally Posted by Langy

I can't think of a single fantasy setting that used crosses, catholic-looking churches, or bishops in it; every single one I can think of, from Xena (which was semi-historical fantasy) to every single fantasy-based RPG ever made, goes the other way entirely.

Fire Emblem is the classic example of holy people (priests/monks/whatever) who generically refer to some sort of monotheistic god for their pseudo-religion.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Lamech

Fire Emblem is the classic example of holy people (priests/monks/whatever) who generically refer to some sort of monotheistic god for their pseudo-religion.

I have absolutely no idea what 'Fire Emblem' is.

[Dammann]

Fire Emblem was a series of tactical rpg type videogames, mostly only released in Japan, which used western looking characters and background (as filtered through a Japanese cursory impression of medieval Europe).