Fantasy world

A fantasy world is an imaginary place where magic or other similar powers work. The world may be a parallel realm or dimension tenuously connected to our world via mystic gates (like Narnia[?] and Dreamlands[?]); somewhere in our mythical past (like Middle-earth and Hyborian Age[?]) or future (Earthdawn, Dying Earth); or the story may make no reference to our reality at all.

J. R. R. Tolkien created Middle-earth, one of the better known fantasy worlds, and he wrote at some length about the process of creating them, which he called "subcreation". Most of the commercial fantasy writers like David Eddings and Robert Jordan write close copies of his tale.

Dungeons & Dragons, the first role-playing game has created several detailed and commercially successful fantasy worlds, with established and recognizable characters, locations, histories, and sociologies. The Forgotten Realms is perhaps the most extensively developed of these worlds. These elements of detail can be a large part of what attracts people to RPGs.

Many established fantasy writers have also derided Dungeons and Dragons because new writers tend to read the D&D Monster Manual instead of studying original mythologies from which the fantasy literature has sprung.

Table of contents 1 Pseudo-medieval fantasy worlds 2 Planetary Romance 3 Multidimensional fantasy worlds 4 Sword and Sorcery[?] and heroic fantasy[?] worlds 5 Books

Pseudo-medieval fantasy worlds This is the most common type. Social conditions are modeled on medieval Europe (aside from possible polytheism) and, in general, they are variants in plot and setting of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. They include Forgotten Realms and most other fantasy worlds connected to Dungeons and Dragons RPG. See also High fantasy.

• Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Forgotten Realms – Dungeons & Dragons' default setting
• Harn[?] - RPG world
• Middle-earth - J. R. R. Tolkien (PM)
• Midkemia[?] - Raymond E. Feist[?]
• Mystara - Dungeons & Dragons
• Narnia[?] - C. S. Lewis
• Prydain[?] - Lloyd Alexander
• Yrth[?] - GURPS Fantasy

Planetary Romance Planets with fantasy trappings and usually magic and/or a pretext why swords and other melee weapons are necessary. Barsoom tales are close runner.

• Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
• Darkover - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Multidimensional fantasy worlds Some stories take place in a series of connected universes (see: multiverse). Noted for this include:

• Roger Zelazny, see Amber (fictional universe)
• Guy Gavriel Kay, see Fionavar[?]
• Everway of the roleplaying game of the same name
• Michael Moorcock, see Eternal Champion

Sword and Sorcery[?] and heroic fantasy[?] worlds

• Earthdawn - FASA roleplaying game
• Glorantha, world of RuneQuest, Hero Wars and HeroQuest[?] roleplaying games
• Hyborian Age[?] - Conan the Barbarian stories
• Jaconia[?] - Petri Hiltunen[?]
• Talislanta[?] of the roleplaying game of the same name
• Tekumel of Empire of the Petal Throne[?]

Other fantasy worlds include:

• Athas[?] of Dungeons & Dragons's Dark Sun[?] background
• Beklan Empire[?] - Richard Adams's Shardik[?] and its sequels
• Discworld of Terry Pratchett, parodies fantasy cliches
• Dreamlands[?] of H. P. Lovecraft
• Fantastica[?] - Michael Ende's The Neverending Story[?]
• Flatland - Edwin Abbott[?]'s Flatland (a two-dimensional world inhabited by geometrical figures)
• Hybernia[?]
• Kingdoms of Elfin[?] - Sylvia Townsend Warner[?]
• Lyonesse - Jack Vance
• Neverland - J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan
• Oz - L. Frank Baum
• Taemoe
• Viriconium[?] - M. John Harrison
• Witch World[?] - Andre Norton[?]
• The World of Two Moons/Abode - Elfquest

See also contemporary fantasy, juvenile fantasy, and urban fantasy[?]

Books

• Diana Wynne Jones: The Tough Guide to Fantasyland explains and parodies the common features of a standard fantasy world