Fiction and RPG settings within various genres often share tropes… but which tropes each setting uses varies.
Fantasy settings often include aspects reminiscent of medieval Europe… but sometimes other eras or regions. A single setting can include areas with different historical or mythological influences. Some of these influences are easily identified, some are more obscure. Each of these settings can have markedly different feel, to the point they can be described as ‘other worlds’.
Science fiction, on the other hand, can be even more wildly different. Heinlein wrote, in his Future Histories, a world that was a not-unreasonable extrapolation of our world. Even when literally traveling to other planets (can you get more other-worldly than that?) they mostly stayed to something recognizable. Spider Robinson stories are mostly set in a world recognizable as our own, with a few unlikely elements. e.e. smith, in the Lensmen books, hurt my science-loving heart (“IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!”) until I learned to let it go.
Horror, be it Gothic or Mythos or other, is often set in a world that looks somewhat like ours… but is distinctly not ours in many important ways. At least, I certainly hope they aren’t like our world!
On top of these different worlds, there can be different metaphysical realms to explore, visit… or escape. Dream realms, other planes, entirely different universes with different laws… Mythos stories highlight just how small and meaningless our world is, in the grand scheme of things.
There are so many places to explore in fiction and in roleplaying games. There will be similarities, there will be differences. Some differences small, some so large as to make things seem alien.
So many worlds. Let’s share some of them. Share about your worlds.
Taking Part
Like all RPG Blog Carnivals, to take part is quite simple. Write a topical post on your blog, and add a comment below with a link to the post. At the end of the month I’ll do a round up of all the posts, getting them all together with my thoughts.
I encourage everyone to explore the links added below, and feel free to comment here. Or even better, if they spark ideas that you want to explore, follow up with more posts that link to those ones (and add those links here!)