Maximalist high fantasy, even, like a wizard painting on the side of a van with prog-rock blasting from inside.
The very first game was about interdimensional orcs enslaved by demons crashing through a portal and killing everything. By the time the third game came around, we were practically 3.5 Faerun.
Yet I see so many RPers on WRA determined to turn this into low fantasy. Why?
Are you guys allergic to awesome?
The only high fantasy I have is when my blood elf smokes that thistle.
Lol thatâs a mood, blaze it in that salon, get it gurl
In a way, I understand the sentiment of wanting something grounded in reality to be able to identify somewhat with something so at times absurd. At least when it stays that way and doesnât fall down the rabbit hole of elitism. If you like playing a little fish in a big world, power to you. As for me, youâll be prying my ghost rp from my cold dead hands. âŚWait. Wait let me REWORD THA-
Iâm pretty sure I was discussing this topic once with Lianshi and we coined some term similar to Hair Metal Fantasy or something like that
Anyway, low fantasy tends to be better for storytelling, and ultimately thatâs what weâre all here doing.
I treat this game like one big dumb silly cartoon because it went off the rails awhile ago and itâs more fun to go along with this crazy ride.
WoW is kinda weird because you get the high production CGI cinematics that presents the game in a much more serious light. Then you have the ingame representation with light hearted jokes and over the top characters and situations that are quickly resolved and forgotten like a monster a week kids show.
So I can see why thereâs different views on what people expect and want out of RP. People want to RP the serious setting we see presented in the cinematics and then people want to RP just the silly nonsense or they really like Naruto and want to be Naruto in World of Warcraft or just binged Game of Thrones and want to do House RP with drama.
Iâm not really bothered by people wanting one thing over another, I think itâs when it starts getting into my RP is the correct RP and youâre RP is wrong is when it starts to be a problem
Elite Tauren Chieftans would like to know your location
I prefer my RP more down to earth and palatable to the average character. I donât play a lot of like, fantastical characters and choose to engage in more slice-of-life, realistic for the average Warcraft NPC. Like dragons and orcs and space portals are cool, but I just like the other stuff a bit more. Itâs easier to RP, more relatable to me and gives me a chance to actually develop characters and stories without giving too much cheese or having to jump through hoops.
I donât think anyone is trying to make it low fantasy- itâs definitely not. Theyâre just choosing to partake in the less high fantasy settings the world gives. Itâs okay if you would rather RP something different than others. Iâm sure there are plenty of folks who would gladly RP whatever high fantasy space time travel orc smash dragon slaying story youâre more into.
I agree with you. At the end of the day, I actually like all of those things you listed⌠I donât see them as opposed. A character can be complex and involved in many different things, I donât believe âepicâ needs to be boring.
Thereâs still a person with neuroses and issues under all that gear. Itâs when people donât know how to write compelling vulnerability that they run into problems, IMO, and that goes for whatever youâre trying to do
Collaborative storytelling with randoms is easier to do when there is some groundedness. Iâm not saying that characters canât be special or powerful, because obviously thatâs part of the setting, but I think people in general just vibe better with the lower fantasy baseline because itâs easier to make a grounded character that way.
Of course, collaborative storytelling with people you actually know is a whole different beast.
How are you defining âlow fantasy?â I think how people would answer this depends a lot on what that phrase means in this context.
I do not mind zombie apocalypses, demon invasions, or Old God infiltrations being involved in my RP. But I only give a crap about those conflicts if Iâm experiencing them through the lens of a character who has relatable loves and fears that are impacted by said conflicts in a direct and major way.
In order for those loves and fears to feel real to me â and also because exploring character flaws/obstacles and interpersonal dynamics is enjoyable to me in and of itself â much of my RP focuses on more day-to-day problems and interactions, or on conflicts that focus on the ways in which people need to grow or change as individuals. Then, when all of that makes a given expansion plot matter personally to my character, it can be engaging to me.
Secondly, the sheer level of power that the game world hands to us tends to make conflicts kind of boring to me, because I start being unable to feel the stakes in them. If my character can be chewed up by a dog made of lava, then get Lay on Handsâd and be fine, then jumping into a hell portal to save someone doesnât feel very heroic. It feels like part of a day job that kind of pays okay.
This is why I tend to play my charactersâ abilities, especially healing magic, as being pretty underpowered compared to how theyâre represented in game. But I am still playing elves and nobles and vampires, so again, I donât know if this is what you mean by âlow fantasyâ.
That RP has a time and place, sure, I mean I wouldnât hang out with you guys if I didnât feel like I needed it sometimes!
Iâm here for the prog rock specifically.
I want a big neon sign to point to these two words when anyone starts to create a new character. If you want a character people will remember for years to come, give them a compelling flaw. You can make them high or low fantasy as much as you want as long as youâve got that in the bag.
By low fantasy I mean âmagic is rare and precious, magical gear even moresoâ and good examples of it include Tolkien and its derivatives. Tends to be more subtle. I love it, for the record. But I also love high fantasy.
High fantasy does indeed turn what should be wondrous into a Tuesday, and I think making that interesting presents a unique and delicious writing challenge. In my opinion, exploring the mental health side effects of limitless power and constant exposure to weird magic and elements is the path forward in that regard.
In high fantasy settings, epic characters need to be extreme, depraved, and borderline psychotic with their thinking, because theyâve become so far removed from the mundane experience. They would likely be seen as monstrous by most people, and I find this fascinating and fun to explore, because I apparently have a personality disorder or something.
Also, this, and to expand on it a little - it can be fun to sort of fill in the gaps, so to speak, of the story weâre presented. WoW focuses primarily on the hugely high fantasy aspects and a small set of extraordinarily powerful characters who, even in a world where the average mage can incinerate someone with a fireball, are considered absurdly strong. So it can be fulfilling to focus on the smaller problems and such even from a meta perspective (a soldier complaining about going to war once a year, a mage who does street performance), though I suppose by the nature of WoWâs setting even most of the small people experience high fantasy to a pretty significant extent.
Thatâs an issue I sometimes run into if I write a character who is very close to me in personality. I donât know if their flaws are compelling because theyâre about the same as my own! 
For example, Zaâtiya here can be described as:
And then I see very well-written characters who are consumed by hatred, or arrogantly prideful, or unfaithful and disloyal, etc. and I feel that the flaws Iâve assigned to my character seem too mild in comparison?
I tend to think most any flaw can be compelling so long as it affects the story in an interesting way. Even if youâre working with something banal, it makes for relatable situations.
Meanwhile I love playing cowards, but they only really work in stories or situations with a ton of risk. Shaggy and Scooby arenât as funny without monsters to scare them.
Ah, I see what you mean. I also like that sort of setting a lot, but itâs not exactly what Iâm looking for in WoW.
I donât need or want magic or magical items to be rare in my WoW RP, but I do need them not to be both very powerful and easily accessed. Powerful magic is great for epic moments, and easy magic adds fantasy flavor, but easy powerful magic is where I run into the âbut then how do danger or heroism mean anything?â problem, among others.
I am interested in exploring problems related to powerful magic thatâs not easy â say, for instance, a mage character whose magical overexertion in the face of an overwhelming threat to their community is taxing their body to the point of near-shutdown, or a warlock who studies Fel to keep it from hurting others, and is struggling to maintain their ethics and personal connections while having their self-control worn down by the power of pure chaos.
But I guess the extremity of motive and personality canât go too far, for me. Things can be a fairly extreme and concentrated in fiction, thatâs kind of how stories work, but if itâs so out there that everyone is depraved at all times then I stop being able to relate, or to inhabit those peopleâs mental spaces. I need some common ground somewhere.
These people struggle with realism and immersion in ultra high fantasy settings. They want to apply real world logic to why a gnome can flatten a Tauren and get frustrated when it doesnât work.