High Fantasy or Low Fantasy?

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AinuLainour

New member
In our game universes, there tend to be two main styles of miniatures. High Fantasy is with dragons, flashy uniforms, and immense swords. Low fantasy is more similar to LoTR, with less flashiness, a lot more grubby, it can still have fantasy elements in it, but is more like our an embellished version of humankind\'s history on earth.

The question is, which do you prefer? i.e. I paint a lot of GW, and considering most of their figures are leaning towards High Fantasy, you might think I would paint them as just that, but I prefer low fantasy. Dark colours, grimy armour, and ruined bases, and the sort.
 
K

krom1415

New member
I see what your saying AinuLainour, for me its a more realistic look, but with the freedom, unlike historical figs
:D
 
M

mud duck

New member
Really depends on the writer. Some can write high really well, not getting to carried away, where others will fall flat on their faces. Dues Ex Machina is poor way to resolve all the lose ends in a story arr David Enddings....:evil: As for Wiccan\'s fantasy, <schrug> I can take it or leave it. The whole \"His purple headed warrior stood at attention in front of her quivering mound of love pudding.\" can get a little repetitive at times :eek::rolleyes:
 
PegaZus

PegaZus

Stealth Freak
Gah. Which to chose? I really want to say that \"high fantasy\" is \"fantasy fiction\" to me, while \"low fantasy\" is more \"alternate reality fiction\".

So... I guess I\'ll vote for the high fantasy. Its more escapist and things that happen don\'t bother me as much. The low fantasy makes a better story usually, but its usually not enough a flight of fancy to me.

Besides, would really prefer to not paint ugly dragons.

EDIT: And after voting, I\'m the ONLY one to prefer high?! Yeah! I\'m different! Well, for a few minutes anyway.
 
No Such Agency

No Such Agency

New member
I like mine... STEAMY!

Steampunk-Print-C12550025.jpeg
 
G

generulpoleaxe

New member
prefer low fantasy nowadays as i spent many years painting high fantasy minis in a bright and clean style.

nowadays i give them the historical treatment. (tempted to mess around with scents at some stage to give them the smell as well [imagine yorvik viking center])
 
T

treide

New member
Low. Although, LotR does have dragons, just to quibble. In general I do prefer there to be some feasibility to the minis - I\'ve seen some helmets that would snap the wearer\'s neck \"in real life\". Gigantic swords and other weapons bug me.
 
S

StarFyre

Active member
actually

another definition (i read it at wikipedia i believe and in some literary source) was that high fantasy is like LotR and D&D. where the scope of the worlds is huge...backgrounds, histories, creatures, magic, etc.

Then, the scale of magic in the world (ie. D&D has magic that can destroy worlds, turn u into a god, etc)...


Harry Potter on the other hand is considered more Low Fantasy.

Magic isn\'t on the same level as in lotr, D&D, etc. and the world scope is smaller.

Sanjay
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
I\'ve always understood and considered that Lord of the Rings was High Fantasy purely because of the depth of the material which Tolkien developed to populate his world.
And to be honest describing it as \"grubby\" makes me surmise that you\'re considering small aspects the movies rather than the high level of description he uses for the likes of the Gondor armour in the novels.
Should you look at the works of artists like Alan Lee you\'ll see that there is such a wealth of materials he\'s had to work with, which orginiatied from the books.

I also have to agree with Sanjay, to me Low Fantasy is the likes of Harry Potter, The Dresden Files, which parrallels the \'real\' world and overlays fantastic elements on it and not a whole world definition.
 
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generulpoleaxe

New member
i have always thought high fantasy was where you have so much magic floating around (magic items and spell casters) it was silly.
to me that is D+D, warhammer etc.
low fantasy to me is tolkien, where magic is rare and feared and life seems hard (and therefore more realistic [as realistic as a frikin orc gets lol ])

harry potter to me is fairy tale stuff (sugar coated high fantasy)
 
Sand Rat

Sand Rat

New member
I\'ve always looked at it from another point of view -

High -(Fantasy,Sci Fi, Western, insert Genre here) - Teaches a Moral Lesson that one must learn, and meets most literary expectations - the flawed hero, the learning quest, the group of companinons, and so on and so forth -

Low - Pure entertainment with no socially redeeming value what so ever.

I\'ve read both - and have to admit I get more sheer enjoyment from Low Liturature than from High.
 
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