I wonder when DF will do non-European fantasy

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Then do it in Middle-Earth, or Shannara, or Pern or a whole bunch of other constructed countries which clearly are not European because they are not anywhere.

Alright, for clarity: We're discussing Dungeon Fantasy, which isn't "set anywhere." It's set in lands where monsters are wandering, slightly-dangerous loot-piñatas, and villages exist so you can sell your loot and buy a one-size-fits-all set of plate mail (which is called plate mail, is excessively heavy, and makes Daniel Howard grate his teeth).

This thread is a discussion about the viability of strip-mining various mythologies for monsters, adventures or settings. For example, borrowing the djinn and ghula from Middle Eastern myth, or Oni and Kappa from Japanese mythology, and so on. The point is made that DF could stand to mine "European" mythology as much as "non-European" mythology, as most of the DF monsters and adventures have no real basis in mythology or real-world cultures anymore anyway. The "Barbarian" or "Knight" is non-specific, but you could make the Barbarian into a "Viking Berserker" and the Knight into a "Samurai."

Note that this would be a DF viking, which means he'd have horns on his helmet, and when he fought jotuns, they'd be video-game jotuns, whose purpose would be to provide an interesting challenge, and then burst with loot when defeated.

Nothing in this thread is a realistic exploration of any culture, any mythology, or any historical context from which they are drawn. Those are certainly cool things, but they really don't have a place in Dungeon Fantasy, broadly speaking.