Low fantasy
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Low fantasy is a term not devised to describe a specific subgenre but to contrast specific works with high fantasy. It has been repeatedly coined to point out contrasts, and its meaning when coined has depended on what the person wished to contrast. This, naturally, led to many meanings, none of which have dominated the others. It is an umbrella term, describing various works within different sub-genres of fantasy. It is almost always placed in an antagonistic relationship with the better-defined high fantasy genre, though as a work may contain one contrast with high fantasy and many common points; such antagonism centers on the traits the writer has decided to concentrate on.
Some of the meanings used are:
- Comic fantasy
- Fantasy literature that has a relatively low amount of magic and the supernatural.
- Fantasy with a large degree of gritty realism about dirt, disease, power, or money. George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire cycle is, by this criterion, low fantasy, though having many high fantasy traits.
- Fantasy set in the real world with fantastic elements, like magic and monsters: contemporary fantasy or historical fantasy.
- Fantasy using a non-epic worldview, as, for instance, not including an absolute evil.
- Dark fantasy.
- Fantasy where the protagonists are ordinary people, heroic only in character if at all (usually also dark fantasy).
- Fantasy concerned with everyday life, as opposed to world-shaking quests.
- Fantasy written in a plain-spoken as opposed to an elevated style. (The diminishing stylistic influence of J.R.R. Tolkien and Lord Dunsany has made this definition less useful, as high fantasy is decreasingly marked out stylistically.)
- Sword and sorcery, which can be low fantasy by several of the above definitions.
While high fantasy is more popular, 'low fantasy' exists in some role-playing games such as Hârn, Seventh Sea, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and the products of many d20 manufacturers like Skirmisher Publishing LLC [1]. It is, however, almost unheard of in computer and video games, with few exceptions, such as Darklands, Shadow Hearts, ArmageddonMUD and the yet unreleased Age of Conan.
