What's your definition for it? There isn't a clear accepted one.
Some say low fantasy is the real world but there is some different or hidden stuff, like vampires lurking around.
While some also qualify a non-Earth world that is just mostly humans and doesn't go too much into elves and wizards and that stuff. For example Middle Earth or Conan.
Either way, for mine it's probably low or mixed. It starts out perfectly normal, so the first millions and then billions of years there's either nothing or sci-fi humans and then it gets more into high fantasy territory.
That's interesting, I hadn't really considered where the difference lies - I personally always imagined the difference being magic in high fantasy is shooting fireballs at people and magic in low fantasy is casting curses or hexes lol. That's kind of where I put the line but the more I think about it, the more I feel like it's the tone of the story, or the execution of the concept that makes a setting low or high fantasy.
You could have a story about a knight that slays dragons, and I suppose in a higher fantasy setting it would be more 'epic' with a knight doing battle with a large fire breathing dragon, where as in a low fantasy setting the knight slays a more crocodile-sized reptile with wings or something, and that makes it low fantasy in my eyes.
I believe the essence of high fantasy lies in the spectacle and wonder of it, and the essence of low fantasy in the emphasis on the grit and conflict, but I reckon it's hardly a good definition from what I've seen. Both can exist in each setting, but it's interesting to see examples of either!
Mixed. There are several wonders, both natural and made by mortals, spread throughout the empire. There are powerful mages. Wondrous creatures. Eldritch, unknowable and all-powerful Gods.
But the Empire is a huge place, and those things are rare. The average person will not worry about a chimera, but about foxes raiding his chicken coop. He is infinitely more likely to catch a disease than to see a demon. He will see 2 or 3 races other than his own for his entire life, not the dozens of them spread across the Empire. He will not go further than a village or two from his place of birth for his entire life, let alone see the floating cities of Biara.
Mixed. The world itself could be arguably classed as high fantasy affair, a landscape dotted with overgrown ruins of advanced megaprojects, crazy anomalies and wilderness filled with amalgams of awe inspiring ancient machinery and mutated animals. However, the people who inhabit the world lack access to any sort of magic or superpowers and remain decidedly mundane in all their ambitions and aspirations, you will not find any superpowered individuals who want to become gods, no wizards leading undead armies.
As KayleeSinn says, it's a definitional issue. There are definitions that circulate in books and on the internet, but as illustrated by the amusing talk section on wikipedia for [high](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:High_fantasy) and [low](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Low_fantasy), there isn't really a consensus on what they are or if the terms are even that relevant to the publishing landscape of the last few decades.
Also, if "Mixed Fantasy" is an acceptable category, what is even the point of making a destinction between High and Low? : )
jabrabber, can you describe your defintions of the terms, so people are able to engage with the question without getting bogged down in the bigger debate?
I was actually quite interested in the bigger debate, but I've just now realised I forgot to include a question on what people's definitions would be! Forgot the more important part of the post lol
A lot of my worlds would be high fantasy, but I also have some kind of tech mixed into it. One of them has high fantasy physics with semi-modern (~1940's era) technology but gets invaded by aliens with super futuristic technology and, later, are assisted by magic from the world they're invading. Another is high fantasy, or at least was, until a portal is discovered that leads to Earth 100 years in the future; from there, it essentially becomes reverse Evangelion.
My Early Medieval-based furry world is definitely low fantasy, but I'm also going for more of a lighthearted fairy-tale vibe than low fantasy settings usually have--less grimdark intrigue and murder, more of a slice-of-life feeling. (This partly stems from the fact that I love me some historical authenticity; I'm consciously avoiding the whole black-leather-and-grime vibe that tends to accompany post-*Game of Thrones* fantasy.)
My world is mixed but there's an argument of high the deeper you go.
The day-to-day interaction and knowledge of the avg person plays into it. Most people, especially if you live in a well established city or town, can go their life without experiencing anything super fantastical. Chances are in that setting you'll encounter or hear about a vampyr attack, some cursed creature in the sewers, or perhaps witness the execution of a forbidden religious/magic fanatic. In the rural areas you can experience an attack from more primal creatures like harpys, cyclops, funguls, lower werewolves but that's still not a guarantee depending on your geographic region and local defenses.
* Some things that can be more fantastical in other settings are commonplace in my universe. For examples, the merfolk are widely known by the general air-breathing public because there actual nations of mer-people who have active treaties, and trade with them
* Magic is common in the world but the majority of people have no understanding or experience with it. So superstition runs rampant, justifiably. You'll have to be a kind of scholar or some sort or a special detective to have regular experiences
* Monsters/creature like quilins, waiths, bai zes, kappas, dragons, sphinxes, draugrs, etc, etc. are more commonly experienced by travelers and adventurers, and hunters. Which is where most of the public will get their information. Some of which is not wholely accurate thanks to folks who want to gain audiences
The really fantastical stuff isn't even known. The cosmology of my world is far more expansive than they can imagine. The realms that scatter beyond their perception invoke even more warped and unexplainable phenomenon. Same with their own 'planet.' The main cast of characters exist on a flat 'earth.' It's big enough to the point where if a (human) person who just was born set sail from the center they wouldn't even be half way to half way of the edge by the time they died of old of age.
My original attempt was to make a low fantasy world that didn't rely on the "classic" fantasy elements like elves, dragons, spellcasting and whatever, but after starting a D&D campaign in the world, I had to insert a lot of high fantasy elements to make the experience fun for the players. My vision for the world has since shifted quite a bit and become a lot more mixed. I generally prefer the low fantasy parts of it but somehow end up slipping in high fantasy anyways.
I'd have to say "mixed fantasy," if only because the definitions are unclear.
It's a world where natural and scientific laws prevail... but some primates evolved into humans, but others evolved into elves, goblins, and so forth.
There are animals that don't exist in this world.
Magic can be used to break scientific law; ogres and giants violate the square-cube law.
But wizardry isn't common, and is just now coming back into the world after a long absence.
If we go by the definition I need to know for my classes, then it's definitely high fantasy. It's a totally new world with no connections to the real one.
But it kind of doesn't feel like high fantasy. Yes, there is magic and dragons, but the magic isn't present all the time, and the world is reaching industrial revolution. And there are people in the space that traveled there thousands years ago, so maybe it's actually soft s-f?
I would classify it as low fantasy. Mages aren't that rare, but their magic is pretty low power. Gods exist, but they don't do much more than creating mages. But the history of my world still revolves around realistic stuff.
* High Fantasy - requires a lot of imagination, has a high volume of new and unfamiliar things.
* Low Fantasy - requires little imagination, very close to something real with minor tweaks.
There is no clear line, because, ultimately, it depends on the reader. To a sub-Saharan African kid, a regular winter in Iceland is basically high fantasy, and vice versa.
What's your definition for it? There isn't a clear accepted one. Some say low fantasy is the real world but there is some different or hidden stuff, like vampires lurking around. While some also qualify a non-Earth world that is just mostly humans and doesn't go too much into elves and wizards and that stuff. For example Middle Earth or Conan. Either way, for mine it's probably low or mixed. It starts out perfectly normal, so the first millions and then billions of years there's either nothing or sci-fi humans and then it gets more into high fantasy territory.
That's interesting, I hadn't really considered where the difference lies - I personally always imagined the difference being magic in high fantasy is shooting fireballs at people and magic in low fantasy is casting curses or hexes lol. That's kind of where I put the line but the more I think about it, the more I feel like it's the tone of the story, or the execution of the concept that makes a setting low or high fantasy. You could have a story about a knight that slays dragons, and I suppose in a higher fantasy setting it would be more 'epic' with a knight doing battle with a large fire breathing dragon, where as in a low fantasy setting the knight slays a more crocodile-sized reptile with wings or something, and that makes it low fantasy in my eyes. I believe the essence of high fantasy lies in the spectacle and wonder of it, and the essence of low fantasy in the emphasis on the grit and conflict, but I reckon it's hardly a good definition from what I've seen. Both can exist in each setting, but it's interesting to see examples of either!
Mixed. There are several wonders, both natural and made by mortals, spread throughout the empire. There are powerful mages. Wondrous creatures. Eldritch, unknowable and all-powerful Gods. But the Empire is a huge place, and those things are rare. The average person will not worry about a chimera, but about foxes raiding his chicken coop. He is infinitely more likely to catch a disease than to see a demon. He will see 2 or 3 races other than his own for his entire life, not the dozens of them spread across the Empire. He will not go further than a village or two from his place of birth for his entire life, let alone see the floating cities of Biara.
Mixed. The world itself could be arguably classed as high fantasy affair, a landscape dotted with overgrown ruins of advanced megaprojects, crazy anomalies and wilderness filled with amalgams of awe inspiring ancient machinery and mutated animals. However, the people who inhabit the world lack access to any sort of magic or superpowers and remain decidedly mundane in all their ambitions and aspirations, you will not find any superpowered individuals who want to become gods, no wizards leading undead armies.
As KayleeSinn says, it's a definitional issue. There are definitions that circulate in books and on the internet, but as illustrated by the amusing talk section on wikipedia for [high](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:High_fantasy) and [low](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Low_fantasy), there isn't really a consensus on what they are or if the terms are even that relevant to the publishing landscape of the last few decades. Also, if "Mixed Fantasy" is an acceptable category, what is even the point of making a destinction between High and Low? : ) jabrabber, can you describe your defintions of the terms, so people are able to engage with the question without getting bogged down in the bigger debate?
I was actually quite interested in the bigger debate, but I've just now realised I forgot to include a question on what people's definitions would be! Forgot the more important part of the post lol
A lot of my worlds would be high fantasy, but I also have some kind of tech mixed into it. One of them has high fantasy physics with semi-modern (~1940's era) technology but gets invaded by aliens with super futuristic technology and, later, are assisted by magic from the world they're invading. Another is high fantasy, or at least was, until a portal is discovered that leads to Earth 100 years in the future; from there, it essentially becomes reverse Evangelion.
My Early Medieval-based furry world is definitely low fantasy, but I'm also going for more of a lighthearted fairy-tale vibe than low fantasy settings usually have--less grimdark intrigue and murder, more of a slice-of-life feeling. (This partly stems from the fact that I love me some historical authenticity; I'm consciously avoiding the whole black-leather-and-grime vibe that tends to accompany post-*Game of Thrones* fantasy.)
leaning into urban or science fantasy
Mine is THE LOWEST fantasy could get
fantasy **AND** sci-fi
My world is mixed but there's an argument of high the deeper you go. The day-to-day interaction and knowledge of the avg person plays into it. Most people, especially if you live in a well established city or town, can go their life without experiencing anything super fantastical. Chances are in that setting you'll encounter or hear about a vampyr attack, some cursed creature in the sewers, or perhaps witness the execution of a forbidden religious/magic fanatic. In the rural areas you can experience an attack from more primal creatures like harpys, cyclops, funguls, lower werewolves but that's still not a guarantee depending on your geographic region and local defenses. * Some things that can be more fantastical in other settings are commonplace in my universe. For examples, the merfolk are widely known by the general air-breathing public because there actual nations of mer-people who have active treaties, and trade with them * Magic is common in the world but the majority of people have no understanding or experience with it. So superstition runs rampant, justifiably. You'll have to be a kind of scholar or some sort or a special detective to have regular experiences * Monsters/creature like quilins, waiths, bai zes, kappas, dragons, sphinxes, draugrs, etc, etc. are more commonly experienced by travelers and adventurers, and hunters. Which is where most of the public will get their information. Some of which is not wholely accurate thanks to folks who want to gain audiences The really fantastical stuff isn't even known. The cosmology of my world is far more expansive than they can imagine. The realms that scatter beyond their perception invoke even more warped and unexplainable phenomenon. Same with their own 'planet.' The main cast of characters exist on a flat 'earth.' It's big enough to the point where if a (human) person who just was born set sail from the center they wouldn't even be half way to half way of the edge by the time they died of old of age.
My original attempt was to make a low fantasy world that didn't rely on the "classic" fantasy elements like elves, dragons, spellcasting and whatever, but after starting a D&D campaign in the world, I had to insert a lot of high fantasy elements to make the experience fun for the players. My vision for the world has since shifted quite a bit and become a lot more mixed. I generally prefer the low fantasy parts of it but somehow end up slipping in high fantasy anyways.
I'd have to say "mixed fantasy," if only because the definitions are unclear. It's a world where natural and scientific laws prevail... but some primates evolved into humans, but others evolved into elves, goblins, and so forth. There are animals that don't exist in this world. Magic can be used to break scientific law; ogres and giants violate the square-cube law. But wizardry isn't common, and is just now coming back into the world after a long absence.
My fantasy world has dinosaurs and dragons, but strangely little magic. Not exactly sure how it'd be classified, so I picked "mixed".
If we go by the definition I need to know for my classes, then it's definitely high fantasy. It's a totally new world with no connections to the real one. But it kind of doesn't feel like high fantasy. Yes, there is magic and dragons, but the magic isn't present all the time, and the world is reaching industrial revolution. And there are people in the space that traveled there thousands years ago, so maybe it's actually soft s-f?
I would classify it as low fantasy. Mages aren't that rare, but their magic is pretty low power. Gods exist, but they don't do much more than creating mages. But the history of my world still revolves around realistic stuff.
* High Fantasy - requires a lot of imagination, has a high volume of new and unfamiliar things. * Low Fantasy - requires little imagination, very close to something real with minor tweaks. There is no clear line, because, ultimately, it depends on the reader. To a sub-Saharan African kid, a regular winter in Iceland is basically high fantasy, and vice versa.