Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I don't think even the filmmakers intended for Conan the Barbarian to be taken 100% seriously.Xena is definitely not serious. It's the opposite serious.
I don't think even the filmmakers intended for Conan the Barbarian to be taken 100% seriously.Xena is definitely not serious. It's the opposite serious.
I will always remember Xena because when it was on one of my friends was just starting a writing degree (or whatever you call that), and we were watching it, and he's watching Xena and Gabrielle splash around in the surf laughing and he's like "Water equals sex in a lot of fiction", and I'm like "Oh my god" and I never saw the show the same way again (it improved it).
The other interesting question for me is, when was the tipping point where D&D went from being a sum of influences to having its own identity that influences other media?
The Dragonlance novels.The other interesting question for me is, when was the tipping point where D&D went from being a sum of influences to having its own identity that influences other media?
When D&D seriously attempted to combine all its influences into a narrative and simulation. When D&D got big on settings.The other interesting question for me is, when was the tipping point where D&D went from being a sum of influences to having its own identity that influences other media?
If you look at early D&D, it pastiched a great many genres, rather than being it's own genre. Keep on the Borderlands, Caves of Chaos where very Beowulf; Castle Amber, Dungeonland, Land Beyond the Magic Mirror where based on novels; Isle of Dread was based on King Kong/the pulps; Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was a sci-fi crossover, etc.Going back to the original post, I thought the really interesting point was that D&D is in a way its own genre these days. I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and It’s a hard thing to put one’s finger on what it is that makes D&D it’s own fantasy sub-genre, but the film manages to capture it.
If you look at early D&D, it pastiched a great many genres, rather than being it's own genre. Keep on the Borderlands, Caves of Chaos where very Beowulf; Castle Amber, Dungeonland, Land Beyond the Magic Mirror where based on novels; Isle of Dread was based on King Kong/the pulps; Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was a sci-fi crossover, etc.
The earliest "is it own thing" modules where probably the puzzle dungeons, such as White Plume Mountain.
I would say it was with the rise of "campaign settings", around the end of 1st edition, that D&D started to slip into a rut, or ruts - if you saw a module was for a specific setting, you would know pretty much what to expect of it. The highly experimental modules disappeared, although we did see some experimental settings like Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Planescape etc. And so "D&D style" dates from this period - the early-mid 80s.