How do you like your fantasy?

[Buddha]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Terry Pratchett and his Discworld yet. I'm not a gamer but I would love to see some of his characters as miniatures. The books are funny and clever.

[Howard Whitehouse]

As a gamer, I prefer to treat the different sub-genres of fantasy according to their own specific forms. I don't like to see the mix of Tolkienesque elves and dwarves with Pulpy barbarians and bikini'd vixens with Vikings with samurai. That was one of the things I disliked about D&D when it came out - it was such a mish-mash of unrelated stuff!

I wargame several distinct styles of fantasy, with occasional overlaps:

Norse Myth, with dwarves, giants and trolls, and a grim, fatalistic background based on the sagas.

Celtic Myth, which is far more extravagant in its magic and in the amazing powers of heroes.

'Chainmail Bikini', my take on cheesy Pulp barbarian fantasy, played for laughs as well as thrills. I plan on developing this into a full fledged game - it's basically Astounding tales sword and sorcery.

A children's fantasy game I call 'Fee Fi Fo Fum', which is pretty light and simple, with a lot of making things up as we go.

Some LOTR based stuff.

Hordes of the Things, using fairly standard Elves, Dwarves etc.

[Westfalia Chris]

Being the S&F nutter I am, most fantasy has a hard time with me. There are some themes and topics, however, which I actually like.

1. Tolkien, of course - I even read the Silmarillion THRICE, and enjoyed it everytime. However, I can´t stand "The Hobbit".

2. Fantasy Parodies, like "Korgoth of Barbaria".

3. The first Conan movie, while incredibly stupid, I can actually watch. Once in a decade or so. Never read any of the "books", though.

4. All Sindbad stuff EXCEPT for that awful TV series from the late 90s (IIRC). I just love those Sindbad films from the 50s to 70s, when Harryhausen and his ilk did the monsters.

Most other fantasy, especially the american "chick-in-chainmail/D&D"-variant, just makes we want to hurl, and even if it´s only due to the total stupidity of their monetary systems (can´t believe what they think the value of a gold piece should be!).

[Klatu Verata Nicto]

I find myself rereading Tolkien more often than Howard from whom i´ve only read Conans novels.

I´ll like to have a look on REH "Valley of the White Worm" as Corben´s comic adaptation "Bloodstar" is so cool.

The first Conan movie, while incredibly stupid, I can actually watch. Once in a decade or so. Never read any of the "books", though.

Hey! i love that film! never get tired of watching it and i have a laugh every time my uncle pops up in scene wearing a fur diaper (he was one of the extras in the "village attack scene").

Also nobody mentioned Poul Anderson novels i really like his saga-like "Hrolf Kraki" and "The broken sword"

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

I used to read a lot of fantasy, but most of the recent stuff is really rather poor - the names are not all that original, there is too much time-travel garbage and that sort of thing. I always look for a map and if the names are not that interesting or original I don't bother with the book.

My favourite fantasy authors are Moorcock, Tolkien, Burroughs, Carter, Vance and Howard - and probably a few others whose names ellude me at the moment.

For fantasy settings, I find Middle Earth a little bland. I love Glorantha (ie. the RuneQuest/HeroQuest setting) and Tekumel (aka The Empire of the Petal Throne). The latter has a very rich background that doesn't get the attention it deserves - IMHO.

Howard

[WitchfinderGeneral]

(can´t believe what they think the value of a gold piece should be!).

well, it has the size of a fünfmarkstück (5 Deutschmark coin), so ...  ::

[Fortescue-Smythe]

What everyone else said (except for the people who don't like Tolkien :wink: ).
The one thing I'd like to add is the stuff that got me into the whole swords'n sorcery thing: the Arthurian legend cycle. My first exposure to it were my dad's Prince Valiant comics way back when, my favourites in that field would be Steinbeck and, of course, T.H. White.
Not strictly fantasy in the D&D or Tolkien vein, but something that keeps screaming "Translate me to the table top!" at me. I still don't know how to appropriately model all the chivalrous, romantic etc. motivations without writing something akin to Chaosium's 'Pendragon' game, though.

[Westfalia Chris]

(can´t believe what they think the value of a gold piece should be!).

well, it has the size of a fünfmarkstück (5 Deutschmark coin), so ...  ::

*grins* To quote John Maddox Roberts (from memory, so the details may be off):

"There was a sign affixed to the wall, that gave the name of the concubine and beneath: Gallic: 2 assi, Greek: 4 assi, Phoenician: 2 sestertii. I don´t know what "Phoenician" was, but it must involve quite some acrobatics, because two sestertii are quite a lot of money to pay for a girl from this part of town."

[Howard Whitehouse]

I've been reading a fair bit of 'classic era' sword and sorcery lately; mighty thew'd barbarians and snotty princesses with their evil guardians. No elves, no dwarves, certainly no orcs. A lot of degenerate races - apparently we all run the risk of going from steely-eyed to decadent to ape-like in about a month if we aren't careful.

It's cheesy as all hell, and I love it!

[Operator5]

... - apparently we all run the risk of going from steely-eyed to decadent to ape-like in about a month if we aren't careful.

It's cheesy as all hell, and I love it!

Some of us are already there.  ::

And I've been reading a bit of that too lately.

[Howard Whitehouse]

Yeah, first of all you conquer an empire by your own mighty deeds. Then you are lying on a divan with slave girls feeding you grapes. Shortly after that, you are trying to figure out how to make a wheel and avoid the sabre-toothed cats eating you.

It's a tough world out there.

[LeadAsbestos]

The nubile, willful yet willing young Queen is feeding you grapes. The nekkid slave girls are peeling said grapes...

Sounds okay to me.

[Howard Whitehouse]

Oh, it sounds fine, but just you wait.

Howard (REH, not myself) is pretty clear that the evolution and devolution of societies is a roller-coaster ride. It may be that you will find yourself having a long and fruitful life among the plumped-up pillows and peeled grapes. You could beget dozens of children on your harem, and even have some of them appear fully human. But, maybe not.

Let me know how it goes for you. If we don't hear, I'll assume you no longer remember how to type. H

[knoxville]

The nubile, willful yet willing young Queen is feeding you grapes. The nekkid slave girls are peeling said grapes...

Sounds okay to me.