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How much fantasy is too much fantasy?

Select your desired amount of fantasy in medieval RPGs.

  • No fantasy

    Votes: 12 11.1%
  • Low fantasy

    Votes: 33 30.6%
  • Tolkien fantasy

    Votes: 28 25.9%
  • High fantasy

    Votes: 35 32.4%

  • Total voters
    108

user

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There wouldn't be 100 fights against boring mundane trash mobs though. Does Conan spend most of his time fighting hundreds of low-level mooks? Or does he break into the tower of a high level wizard, fight with a giant venomous snake, and face the powerful enchanter himself at the end? He's doing the latter, which is exciting and why we all love reading about his adventures.

Same with Hercules, Beowulf, and any other ancient and medieval hero. Every encounter of theirs is fun and unique with some special mechanics and gameplay element, if you were to translate these stories into games.

And I'd rather feel like Hercules, Beowulf, Siegfried, Conan or Red Sonja than an errand boy who does repetitive things.

Yes, none likes doing repetitive things in general, but I think that a video game that completely avoids anything repetitive would be either very short or very expensive to create. Also in order for these encounters not to feel mundane, they should be rather rare with the rest of the content being mundane in comparison. And if the rest of the content had to be mundane in comparison to these special encounters, wouldn't it be worse if it felt mundane compared to the real world as well?

Maybe what you have in mind is a Shadow of the Colossus-style game with more lengthy memorable encounters and fewer fetch quests (to which I'd agree).
 

The Great ThunThun*

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Okay, maybe my earlier point was unclear.

High fantasy when the themes in the *storytelling* and *not* the world itself are grandiose. Great evil, end of the world, noble heroes, great sacrifice etc.

As opposed that the motives of characters in low fantasy are more mundane and territorial.
 
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Coherent ones that abide by a rational framework. High-Fantasy preferred, though it's the easiest to do poorly. Settings usually excel better when they are some form of advanced technological SciFi rather than magical setting, as creators more readily make their worlds consistent and believable through a technological lens.
 

ghostdog

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King Crispy

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I don't like the definition of "high fantasy" that op gives. Let's go through his citations step-by-step.

e.g. Skyrim, Baldo's Gate, 99% of medieval RPGs- Magic is common and can be learnt by a significant portion of the population, or by everyone!

While I will agree that that is precisely what appears to be going on in Skyrim (due to the game's nature), only the unimaginative and dense buffoon actually believes that's the case with "99% of medeival RPGs" (whatever that means). You're being willfully ignorant, or perhaps not so willfully, if you think that all the magical events and items you see in the game's world exist or are occurring simultaneously everywhere else in that world.

While Baldur's Gate might also be a bad example of that to point to, due to Forgotten Realms' own Candy Land of magic reputation, it still shouldn't apply due simply to the fact that there are still plenty of normal villagers, plenty of normal buildings, plenty of normal animals and plants and everyday happenings -- plus countless more that are not being explicitly modeled in the game.

This obviously brings up the old subject of content vs. empty space, which I won't get into here, other than to state that, in this specific example (Baldur's Gate the RPG), having too much of the latter would have defined that game as being something other than what it is, and probably to its detriment despite my stance on this subject.

Regardless of whether everyone can use it, everyone has seen magic being performed at least.

This is a more reasonable evaluation, but, unfortunately, it directly contradicts your first one which you attempted to dilute by stating the second. You don't appear to be convinced by your own notion of the 'significant portion of the population', so I dismiss both sentiments, at least coming from you.

Monsters are so common that there's probably a group of them right outside the city gates.

This really is just silly hyperbole but it's worth addressing nonetheless. Certainly due to Gamebryo's design, and probably through partial intention, a game like Skyrim can have monsters piling up right outside the city's gates. That's unfortunate, but I doubt 100% intended. However, and to borrow your own terminology, it's not true with 99% of "medieval RPGs". Random encounters have been a thing, always, and a necessary one IMO, but if you're confusing the need to artificially shorten the distances between towns, dungeons and other points of interest, along with the density of the population of monsters and other encounters with how these worlds would be represented instead in print, or even in a world where all PCs were powerful enough to handle rendering a much larger (and thus less "dense" world), then you're again being purposefully obtuse.

Please do not confuse your own preference of the size of the game world and its monster population density with the way that these 99% of medieval RPGs that op is referring to would actually be if their designers were going for more "realism". As has already been pondered earlier ITT, not all fantasy works have monsters at every step. I'd say, in print, none do. But with RPGs in particular, unfortunately, there are far too many technical limitations and typically far too small of budgets to allow otherwise.

Various fantasy races that are usually interacting with each other all the time. There are probably multi-racial cities where humans, dwarfs and elves live alongside each other.

This seems the fairest assessment of them all, but only on its surface. Again, I would argue, that if the typical RPG that you're attempting to categorize here were converted into a fantasy novel, there would be far less of this kind of interaction had the reader the ability to step back and observe what's going on all over the "land", right then and there. Clearly, these things such as fantasy race demographics are up to the creator, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to ask the typical Codexer whether or not elves and dwarves, universally, are represented as minorities, and have them agree that they are, unless in very specific circumstances.

High fantasy does not refer to density of magic. It refers to the extent to which that magic can reach. It refers to its subtlety, or, more specifically, to its lack thereof.
 

bylam

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There wouldn't be 100 fights against boring mundane trash mobs though. Does Conan spend most of his time fighting hundreds of low-level mooks? Or does he break into the tower of a high level wizard, fight with a giant venomous snake, and face the powerful enchanter himself at the end? He's doing the latter, which is exciting and why we all love reading about his adventures.

Same with Hercules, Beowulf, and any other ancient and medieval hero. Every encounter of theirs is fun and unique with some special mechanics and gameplay element, if you were to translate these stories into games.

And I'd rather feel like Hercules, Beowulf, Siegfried, Conan or Red Sonja than an errand boy who does repetitive things.

It's fucking expensive though - take it from the poor bastard trying to make a game with Conan as the main character.
 
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Please do not confuse your own preference of the size of the game world and its monster population density with the way that these 99% of medieval RPGs that op is referring to would actually be if their designers were going for more "realism". As has already been pondered earlier ITT, not all fantasy works have monsters at every step. I'd say, in print, none do. But with RPGs in particular, unfortunately, there are far too many technical limitations and typically far too small of budgets to allow otherwise.

more of a question of design.

You have e.g. Ultima's approach where monsters are largely confined to a few huge dungeons.
 
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Make the magical cool and mysterious

Lord Dunsany said:
IDLE DAYS ON THE YANN


So I came down through the wood to the bank of Yann and found, as had been prophesied, the ship Bird of the River about to loose her cable.

The captain sate cross-legged upon the white deck with his scimitar lying beside him in its jewelled scabbard, and the sailors toiled to spread the nimble sails to bring the ship into the central stream of Yann, and all the while sang ancient soothing songs. And the wind of the evening descending cool from the snowfields of some mountainous abode of distant gods came suddenly, like glad tidings to an anxious city, into the wing-like sails.

And so we came into the central stream, whereat the sailors lowered the greater sails. But I had gone to bow before the captain, and to inquire concerning the miracles, and appearances among men, of the most holy gods of whatever land he had come from. And the captain answered that he came from fair Belzoond, and worshipped gods that were the least and humblest, who seldom sent the famine or the thunder, and were easily appeased with little battles. And I told how I came from Ireland, which is of Europe, whereat the captain and all the sailors laughed, for they said, 'There are no such places in all the land of dreams.' When they had ceased to mock me, I explained that my fancy mostly dwelt in the desert of Cuppar-Nombo, about a beautiful blue city called Golthoth the Damned, which was sentinelled all round by wolves and their shadows, and had been utterly desolate for years and years because of a curse which the gods once spoke in anger and could never since recall. And sometimes my dreams took me as far as Pungar Vees, the red-walled city where the fountains are, which trades with the Isles and Thul. When I said this they complimented me upon the abode of my fancy, saying that, though they had never seen these cities, such places might well be imagined. For the rest of that evening I bargained with the captain over the sum that I should pay him for my fare if God and the tide of Yann should bring us safely as far as the cliffs by the sea, which are named Bar-Wul-Yann, the Gate of Yann.

And now the sun had set, and all the colours of the world and heaven had held a festival with him, and slipped one by one away before the imminent approach of night. The parrots had all flown home to the jungle on either bank, the monkeys in rows in safety on high branches of the trees were silent and asleep, the fireflies in the deeps of the forest were going up and down, and the great stars came gleaming out to look on the face of Yann. Then the sailors lighted lanterns and hung them round the ship, and the light flashed out on a sudden and dazzled Yann, and the ducks that fed along his marshy banks all suddenly arose, and made wide circles in the upper air, and saw the distant reaches of the Yann and the white mist that softly cloaked the jungle, before they returned again into their marshes.

And then the sailors knelt on the decks and prayed, not all together, but five or six at a time. Side by side there kneeled down together five or six, for there only prayed at the same time men of different faiths, so that no god should hear two men praying to him at once. As soon as any one had finished his prayer, another of the same faith took his place. Thus knelt the row of five or six with bended heads under the fluttering sail, while the central stream of the River Yann took them on towards the sea, and their prayers rose up from among the lanterns and went towards the stars. And behind them in the after end of the ship the helmsman prayed aloud the helmsman's prayer, which is prayed by all who follow his trade upon the River Yann, of whatever faith they be. And the captain prayed to his little lesser gods, to the gods that bless Belzoond.

And I too felt that I would pray. Yet I liked not to pray to a jealous God there where the frail affectionate gods whom the heathen love were being humbly invoked; so I bethought me, instead, of Sheol Nugganoth, whom the men of the jungle have long since deserted, who is now unworshipped and alone; and to him I prayed.

And upon us praying the night came suddenly down, as it comes upon all men who pray at evening and upon all men who do not; yet our prayers comforted our own souls when we thought of the Great Night to come.

And so Yann bore us magnificently onwards, for he was elate with molten snow that the Poltiades had brought him from the Hills of Hap, and the Marn and Migris were swollen full with floods; and he bore us in his might past Kyph and Pir, and we saw the lights of Goolunza.

Soon we all slept except the helmsman, who kept the ship in the mid-stream of Yann.

When the sun rose the helmsman ceased to sing, for by song he cheered himself in the lonely night. When the song ceased we suddenly all awoke, and another took the helm, and the helmsman slept.

We knew that soon we should come to Mandaroon. We made a meal, and Mandaroon appeared. Then the captain commanded, and the sailors loosed again the greater sails, and the ship turned and left the stream of Yann and came into a harbour beneath the ruddy walls of Mandaroon. Then while the sailors went and gathered fruits I came alone to the gate of Mandaroon. A few huts were outside it, in which lived the guard. A sentinel with a long white beard was standing in the gate, armed with a rusty pike. He wore large spectacles, which were covered with dust. Through the gate I saw the city. A deathly stillness was over all of it. The ways seemed untrodden, and moss was thick on doorsteps; in the market-place huddled figures lay asleep. A scent of incense came wafted through the gateway, of incense and burned poppies, and there was a hum of the echoes of distant bells. I said to the sentinel in the tongue of the region of Yann, 'Why are they all asleep in this still city?'

He answered: 'None may ask questions in this gate for fear they wake the people of the city. For when the people of this city wake the gods will die. And when the gods die men may dream no more.' And I began to ask him what gods that city worshipped, but he lifted his pike because none might ask questions there. So I left him and went back to the Bird of the River.

Certainly Mandaroon was beautiful with her white pinnacles peering over her ruddy walls and the green of her copper roofs.

When I came back again to the Bird of the River, I found the sailors were returned to the ship. Soon we weighed anchor, and sailed out again, and so came once more to the middle of the river. And now the sun was moving towards his heights, and there had reached us on the River Yann the song of those countless myriads of choirs that attend him in his progress round the world. For the little creatures that have many legs had spread their gauze wings easily on the air, as a man rests his elbows on a balcony, and gave jubilant, ceremonial praises to the sun, or else they moved together on the air in wavering dances intricate and swift, or turned aside to avoid the onrush of some drop of water that a breeze had shaken from a jungle orchid, chilling the air and driving it before it, as it fell whirring in its rush to the earth; but all the while they sang triumphantly. 'For the day is for us,' they said, 'whether our great and sacred father the Sun shall bring up more life like us from the marshes, or whether all the world shall end to-night.' And there sang all those whose notes are known to human ears, as well as those whose far more numerous notes have been never heard by man.

To these a rainy day had been as an era of war that should desolate continents during all the lifetime of a man.

And there came out also from the dark and steaming jungle to behold and rejoice in the Sun the huge and lazy butterflies. And they danced, but danced idly, on the ways of the air, as some haughty queen of distant conquered lands might in her poverty and exile dance, in some encampment of the gipsies, for the mere bread to live by, but beyond that would never abate her pride to dance for a fragment more.

And the butterflies sung of strange and painted things, of purple orchids and of lost pink cities and the monstrous colours of the jungle's decay. And they, too, were among those whose voices are not discernible by human ears. And as they floated above the river, going from forest to forest, their splendour was matched by the inimical beauty of the birds who darted out to pursue them. Or sometimes they settled on the white and wax-like blooms of the plant that creeps and clambers about the trees of the forest; and their purple wings flashed out on the great blossoms as, when the caravans go from Nurl to Thace, the gleaming silks flash out upon the snow, where the crafty merchants spread them one by one to astonish the mountaineers of the Hills of Noor.

But upon men and beasts the sun sent a drowsiness. The river monsters along the river's marge lay dormant in the slime. The sailors pitched a pavilion, with golden tassels, for the captain upon the deck, and then went, all but the helmsman, under a sail that they had hung as an awning between two masts. Then they told tales to one another, each of his own city or of the miracles of his god, until all were fallen asleep. The captain offered me the shade of his pavilion with the gold tassels, and there we talked for awhile, he telling me that he was taking merchandise to Perdóndaris, and that he would take back to fair Belzoond things appertaining to the affairs of the sea. Then, as I watched through the pavilion's opening the brilliant birds and butterflies that crossed and recrossed over the river, I fell asleep, and dreamed that I was a monarch entering his capital underneath arches of flags, and all the musicians of the world were there, playing melodiously their instruments; but no one cheered.

In the afternoon, as the day grew cooler again, I awoke and found the captain buckling on his scimitar, which he had taken off him while he rested...
 

Stormcrowfleet

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I like Tolkien level. And for me Conan and such is the same level.

That being said, I disagree that GoT is "low fantasy". You have spirits, resurrections, shapeshifter, magical sword, dragons, undead, etc. what more do you want ? It's literally more "fantasy" than Tolkien IMO.
 

King Crispy

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Even Hyborea is much more high fantasy than Middle-Earth is. Conan's faced plenty of sorcerers whose spells manifest in ways Tolkein would never dream of depicting.

Heh, dePICTing. No pun intended.
 

JarlFrank

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Same with Hercules, Beowulf, and any other ancient and medieval hero. Every encounter of theirs is fun and unique with some special mechanics and gameplay element, if you were to translate these stories into games.
And I'd rather feel like Hercules, Beowulf, Siegfried, Conan or Red Sonja than an errand boy who does repetitive things.
And we get game where all abilities opened from start, all stats maxed out. It's like starting game with character of maximum level. In fact many RPGs systems is about guiding player's character from 0 to Hero and heroes that you described is imagery of high level character, not first level.
Unique encounters is cool and all, but what the point in them if you already overpowered and can just rush through them and defeat final boss in 30 min?

Just because the heroes I mentioned were always epic level doesn't mean your RPG character has to be. Don't take it so literally.

Even Conan and Red Sonja had to train to become who they are in the stories and comics. How does a sword and sorcery setting with unique and rare monster encounters and rare but powerful magic automatically preclude character development?

Low fantasy doesn't make much sense in the context of an RPG. If you're a random character that starts at level 1 and has access to magic, then by definition it can't be low fantasy. Unless you're somehow "The One", but then to be coherent, none of the trash mobs should have magic, which would make the game pretty boring. There's a reason most fantasy RPGs are high fantasy, if you think about it.

You can be one of a dozen wizards in the area the game is set in. That would make you special, yes, but not "The One". And you can still encounter magical creatures, one of the other wizards who might be hostile towards you, people using artifacts that have magic properties, etc. Were Conan and Red Sonja only fighting mundane enemies in their stories? No, they weren't.

Low fantasy just means magic is something special, not something you find at every street corner. That can make it more exciting.

Somehow people here think that in low fantasy, magic is so rare it's barely found at all. But there is plenty of magical stuff even in low fantasy. It's just not as ubiquitous.
 

Beastro

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Fantasy elements are often also confused with poor world building and everything making fuck all sense, the opposite should be true, you ground the world in its own internal consistency and the fantastic (whether spells or dragons) serve to provide departures from that.

However a lack of imagination often strangles creativity for low magic worlds, class is a good example, look at all the careers, backgrounds, specialisations you could follow in the real world and build on that. Not to mention the fantastic species professions. Read WFRP career guide for instance.

That's the sad thing about Tolkien. Of all the things other creators took from his work, most ignored his creation of internal consistency and sticking to it except where things were left more open.

In both cases he worked with what he'd set up before even when he didn't have to. One can see that with his "one elf, one name" rule, which when he realized he'd violated it giving it to two individuals, he didn't simply arbitrarily change ones name, but allowed it as a chance to explore something he hadn't considered of reincarnation being in his world, and so went with that, but making it effectively the only moment of it happening. so it remained rare.

Of course that always leaves room for successors to fuck with things, and they will, which is what we've seen of that rule in Shadow of Mordor.

I like Tolkien level. And for me Conan and such is the same level.

That being said, I disagree that GoT is "low fantasy". You have spirits, resurrections, shapeshifter, magical sword, dragons, undead, etc. what more do you want ? It's literally more "fantasy" than Tolkien IMO.

"But, but, but it's dirtier and people are nastier and its more cynical and nihilistic, therefore it's more realistic!"

The only thing grounded about it is the bits of history that follow something of a subdued, historical course, but most of that is backstory.

And I'd rather feel like Hercules, Beowulf, Siegfried, Conan or Red Sonja than an errand boy who does repetitive things.

That's the nature of gameplay butting heads with the nature of story telling.

Play is a form of work (If you doubt that look at baby animals play. You'll clearly see in what they do that they're training for what they will need to rely on to survive as adults), gameplay needs an element of labour in it and enough to give the rest body.

Usually that's combat and filling it with entertaining mechanics, which is why combat is so predominant in games. Without combat you have to add something else in even if it's filler dialogue.

It's why in the Conan example you mention from the first film you only see enough of the break in to get enough of a feel of it rather than seeing the entire thing and all the mundane, silent parts of it. Imagine now trying to translate that part of the film into the level of a game and how you'd have to add filler so there'd be something for Conan and Co. to do to prevent it from being a simple interactive story with light combat elements.

That's why story will always be in conflict with gameplay in games. Too much of one is just a poor mans movie while too much of the other is just mindless busywork even if it's enjoyable busywork.
 
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Honestly I can and do enjoy the whole spectrum of options you've laid out there. I can't really pick any of them as best or worst. However, I can say that I prefer as few fantasy races as possible. Their presence can be ok when there's one or two, or if they exist on the fringes of the setting, or if they are savage races that take the role of things like pygmies and Australian aborigines in real life.

What I don't like is having a ton of assorted fantasy races all living together in one setting. I find it tends to be poorly implemented and unbelievable, and leads to an absence of realistic cultural gradience, and the setting ends up feeling flat - at least in that area.

That's not to indicate a preference for low fantasy - high fantasy is great, I just prefer the sapient races to be largely humans-only.
 

V_K

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There's also the option of low fantasy where magic is relatively common but relatively weak - basically, glorified psionics. IIRC, Witch World was something like this (plus interdimensional travel). That's both give the PC the ability to play a mage, and make it easier for the setting to maintain logical consistency.
As far as non-humans go, I'd prefer to keep the monsters intact (maybe give them more of a horror vibe), but to limit the playable/sentient races to various species of human.
But then again, anything goes as long as the dungeon design is good - and if it's not, no amount of story and setting would rectify it.
 

Sabotin

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I'm never bothered by magic "ammount" itself, each setting can be good or bad. For high fantasy I'm more concerned abut the rules and consistency of magic. It really sucks when you get questions about logic popping in your head while playing and it's even worse when writers are aware and try to patch the holes as they go along, with convoluted ass-pulls or just more nonsense.
 

btbgfel

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Depends

For gameplay, "low" fantasy trends to suit action games better, severance, die by the sword etc. and "high" fantasy suits strategy games better, master of magic, heroes of mm etc.
The default d&d settings(FR/Greyhawk) fantasy works well enough for party-based rpgs happened in them.

For storytelling, story in low fantasy setting might easier to tell, then again, I'm not a writer.

Personally, bloodborne hits jackpot for me.
 

Wilian

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People here seem to be very confused regarding magic in Tolkien's setting. Sure it's not the highest of fantasies where magic is pervasive thru' lives of common people but it is in active use thorough the narrative by many of the characters and often.

Gandalf does magic all the time, some flashy, some less so. Reason why no one doubted the Ring first is because when elves were making them they made shit-ton of minor rings as training and with the casuality Gandalf treated the matter it's obvious they can be found here and there so it wasn't a matter of concern. We see elves being magical creatures of two realms, the spirit and the physical from getgo, we see them do magics on multiple occassion, Aragorn has some magical properties in him that helps him combat the fel magics of the Nazgul, Nazgul themselves are very magical with their leader more or less capable of rising any dead spirits up, speaking of which we meet them from getgo. There's sentient trees capable of magic (Old Willow) and magic is just something that you keep stumbling on. We know there are magic words and incantations that about anyone can learn. Items, objects doors and gates are infused with magics.

To equate Tolkien's setting with a low magic one is just absurd. It's a ""standard"" fare fantasy.
 

nikolokolus

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I dont have any real preference for low magic or high magic in the fantasy fiction I've read, but what I dont like is magic the way it's usually portrayed in tabletop or computer RPGs: heavily systematized, predictable, effects that feel more like quasi-medieval heavy artillery than anything I'd consider "magic."

If there was some way to make magic more trial-and-error, less predictable, or more ritualistic ("eye of newt, wing of bat," etc.) and a helluva lot more subtle, I'd play something like that.

The only thing that springs to mind that comes close, are Arkane's magic system in Arx Fatalis, or Ultima Underworld. Each were kind of satisfying for not just being "push button."
 

RatTower

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I'd want more fairy tale-like fantasy, so I'd probably go with Tolkien.
I mean it doesn't have to be King's Quest but something in that direction.

Gimme some knights, witches and unicorns and all that corny shit. Everything is always so down (i should probably watch my mouth in that regard as well).
Use them sparingly and you can even make talking animals work. And then you get that nice moment of wonder and surprise that fantasy is about.
Fantasy and especially fairy tales exploit the contrast with the regular world to draw you in. Magic is a part of it, but it's gotta be something like a punchline. Bit of a reward. You can't give everybody magic.
If lots of people know magic, nobody knows anything magical. Cause then it's just another thing some guys can do, and others maybe can't. But you got that in the real world already. There ain't nothing special about that.
For example, you might look at a guy that can bench press 200 pounds and while that may be impressive - and you are probably not able to do that - it doesn't invoke the same sense of wonder, like something that seems as if it shouldn't exist.
Maybe a way to put it: Magic needs to be miraculous to be magical.
Otherwise it's just another tool.

Which can be fine I guess. After all RPGs are supposed to be fun. And magic as a tool is fun.
So in games you'll almost always end up with "High Fantasy". It just adds a lot gameplay-wise.
 
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DraQ

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There is no such thing as too much fantasy. There is such thing as too little consistency (usually accompanied by disappointingly too little actual fantasy).

Consistency is hard and, granted, keeping fantasy low helps in reusing RL as crutch (and you can still do many interesting things with that). OTOH we've already had history once, and most fantasy gleefully discards actual consistency while slavishly sticking to faux medieval trappings, same fantasy races and tropes regurgitated over and over, only succeeding at banishing any notion of originality.

Fuck those losers.
 
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My preference is for super mega ultra high fantasy where the main limit on spellcasting is that it explodes unpredictably or causes the mage to be attacked by magic-eating horrors, and where most sentient races are magically altered and monstruous, and humans are a relatively unimportant group, mostly noteworthy as slave labour performing tasks that require moderate intelligence, such as maintaining vast arcane machines beyond their understanding
 

Darkzone

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Elves- TOO MUCH
Elf- Too much
Magic- Too much.
Barbarians- Just right
Elves are overused and carry implicate things like requirement for high fantasy and magic. A man with a sword facing a one strong monster is enough to make it an adventure.

The beautiful thing about Conan's Hyboria is that the fantastic is rare, and found only in far away places or legendary individuals but due to superstition and awe it echoes throughout the setting and sets a tone of exotic mystery that enhances the fantastic nature of the fantasy. A single huge serpent plucking a negro from the deck of Belit's ship serves as a far more stark and effective threat than a thousand orcs charging. Less is more and enhances the stygian, eldritch horrors when they crawl from their nighted lairs to lay ancient claws on the young, virgin soil that has never known their tread.
You are putting it very well. If there is no threat that goes into the personal level, then there is no adventure and no heroes journey.

I want more sword & sorcery RPGs, where the magical is actually magical and not mundane. Where you explore a labyrinth and fight the minotaur, rather than a minotaur of which there are many in the game and you can meet them in standard random encounters.
I don't want to find swords +1 and +2 wielded by every bandit captain, I want to find the legendary Skullcleaver which has been enchanted by a powerful sorceress 200 years ago and which has some badass special effects rather than just a mundane +1 to hit.

Make the magical cool and mysterious and build it up to be special, then actually make it special. When there's only one medusa in the game and she has a petrification attack that you have to defend yourself against by covering your eyes with your shield, and the snakes that make up her hair can attack you with a dozen strikes each turn, and she also uses a bow with poisoned arrows, and she has a horde of venomous snakes as her trash mob allies, that is going to be a much more memorable and cool encounter than regularly having random encounters against 3 medusas against whom you can defend yourself with easily available protection from petrification scrolls.
Some of my most favorite films are due to their handling of magic or the unknown: Clash of the Titans (1981) and Excalibur (1981). Magic is there something special and atmospheric and not something mundane common. Sadly this has been lost for all times, because the modern audience is spoiled with special effects and requires for their satisfaction superheroes in universal threats, instead of a true man with the will of iron overcoming the odds.

Btw. You three. I will show you something, that a friend is making in 2 months or so.
 

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