WesternPaladin

In some ways I’m quite bound by the scientific worldview, to the point where I feel constrained by it (I’m an engineer). But in spite of that, I’ve always been too afraid to even try a ouija board.

Very interesting and comprehensive! Thank you.

The genres may be better defined now; I always tend to remember the blurred lines and the exceptions. For example, Conan met an alien from space in one of his early stories, “Tower of the Elephant”; and later, there was a crashed spaceship in one of the kingdoms of Mystara, from the early Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks.

Very interesting! Thank you for this.

I’ve always thought the best thing about Batman and Catwoman’s relationship was that they augment each other’s lives without defining each other’s lives. Each one can still function apart and has their own lives, but they’re even better when they come together. (Well, when the writers realize this and don’t make some kind of bizarre dysfunctional . . . thing!)

I agree with other commenters who said that the idea that heroes won’t be driven if they’re happy is ridiculous. It’s not only laziness and tropery on the part of writers, but in some cases it’s simply setting up short-term shocking moments (Guy Gardner’s girlfriend got murdered! etc).

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing.

I’ve always thought that while Tolkien provided a lot of the tropes and images used in fantasy RPGs, the gameplay owes a lot to Conan, John Carter, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouster, Tarzan, and other pulp-era heroes. Fantasy games tend to centre on a lone character or small group, who have to use their strength, wits, guile, and pluck to achieve an objective. You could even argue that the thievery and murder rampages that quite a lot of video game quests ask you to do are more like Conan’s impulsive self-interest than like Tolkien’s heroes who tend to be more conventionally morally upright.