T w e n t y S i d e d
Oh look. Another secluded place of secret enchantment and arcane mystery.
– Shamus, Friday Nov 10, 2006
Our party once found a cave full of self-discovery, on a cursed mountain, which we arrived at by going into an enchanted forest and getting god-damned isekai-d by the fey.
Final Fantasy X
A game about the ghost of an underwater football player who travels through time to save the world from a tick that controls kaiju satan. Really.
The Biggest Game Ever
Just how big IS No Man's Sky? What if you made a map of all of its landmass? How big would it be?
The Dumbest Cutscene
This is it. This is the dumbest cutscene ever created for a AAA game. It's so bad it's simultaneously hilarious and painful. This is "The Room" of video game cutscenes.
Game at the Bottom
Why spend millions on visuals that are just a distraction from the REAL game of hotbar-watching?
Civilization VI
I'm a very casual fan of the series, but I gave Civilization VI a look to see what was up with this nuclear war simulator.
Fey are a far better excuse for being isekai’d than most- beats the hell out of the “reincarnated” trend we’ve been stuck on for years. Heck, it’s an asshole “mischevious” so-called “prank” they can pull that actually has some plausable deniability towards harm. In theory you’re only waylaid for a time until you find your way back. Unlike most “pranks” which seem to involve outright theft, bullying, harm, mortal danger, etc (from supposedly “neutral” creatures -can you tell I have a beef?).
The problem is that what’s wondrous is relative to the background level of general expectations. A group of experienced fantasy gamers already has a pretty high level of expectation, so breaking through the shell of ‘meh’ becomes increasingly difficult, the merely magical becomes mundane, and visceral engagement becomes more difficult. Some GM’s resort to Monty-Hauling, power-tripping or other shock tactics. Others try evocative descriptions, mood lighting (in a physical room), ambient music or sound effects, which require that bit more effort, hence the rise of the paid GM, who can be expected to have a well-practiced toolkit of such things. Some games and tables developed down a storytelling route, emphasising character development over character advancement.
Is there a case that original creativity is the real treasure in all this?
“The problem is that what’s wondrous is relative to the background level of general expectations.”
Which is why you drown the PCs in mundanity between moments of wonder. Ever fight doesn’t have to “world ending” and shouldn’t. Every encounter needn’t be with some important individual. Etc. Rinse and repeat, give the group plenty of regular old joes, regular taverns, regular roads, regular forests, and they were “ooooh” and “ahhh” when you gobsmack them something magical.
This is actually why I prefer running adventures in low magic settings. :) Magic and magic-users exist (as well as other stuff like psionics and gods and monsters), but they are rare enough that a peasant living in a peaceful part of the country might very well go their entire life without ever seeing a spell being cast. They’ll have heard of the King’s court wizard, but never seen them in person, have heard tales of dragons, but they’re infrequent enough that some dismiss them as a myth etc. Magic ITEMS outside of simple stuff like potions and scrolls are similarly (or even more) rare, so finding one is usually a cause for much joy and celebration among my players. The gods exist and answer the prayers of their faithful (clerics and such, laypersons have to rely on the clerics for interdictions), but they are otherwise distant and generally unconcerned with the mortal realm. (In fact, a big twist for my campaign once my players got high enough level to travel to the Outer Planes was visiting the realm of the Highfather, the big LG deity of my setting, and learning from his angels that they TOO have not seen the Highfather in a long, long time. They remain and carry out his edicts and commandments, protecting the souls of his faithful that arrive and guarding his realm, but they also do not know where the gods have gone or if they’re ever coming back.)
*squints*
Wait, this sounds like the one thing in FFXII…
Maybe that’s because I only know the plot from The Rocketeer’s series, but still.
But how about all the plains/prairies/steppes/veld/etc. between those other locations? What about deserts, or tundra? Are tropical rainforests different from temperate forests? Inquiring minds want to know about every category in the Köppen climate classification! :)
In fairness, if these locations aren’t enchanted or haunted or whatever why do the adventurers need to go there?
“Welcome to the non-enchanted forest. It has woodcutters. And squirrels. The most dangerous thing here is a starving wolf that peasants drive off by throwing stones at it.”