this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2025
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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago (7 children)

"There are no 'rules' for fantasy"

Wrong. To write good Fantasy (of SciFi), you have to go through a process called "World Building" where you lay down the rules of your world. Properly done, the amount of World Building exceeds the actual works by far. It is absolutely necessary to create a core of inner logic to the story. You are not bound by the rules of our world, yes, but you are bound by the rule of consistency. If you violate those, you automatically write crap Fantasy (or SciFi).

Funny, though, that e.g. many literature teachers / professors don't even know about the idea of World Building.

[–] Akrenion@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Crap fantasy is still fantasy. Had a great time coming up with bad fantasy stories in my childhood when I knew nothing about good writing. Art is what you make it.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Life is too short to read crappy books. Like those we had to endure in school.

[–] Derpykat5@ttrpg.network 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

A clearer way to phrase it might be "there are no rules for the genre of fantasy". An individual world needs self-contained rules, yes, but just because Tolkien's Dwarves have beards regardless of gender doesn't mean that your Dwarves need to be the same.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Exactly. You demonstrate to me that a goblin is a house sized red avian, I won't love that thats the word you used unless you give me a reason, but once thats done you better not use that word to describe a little green hominid.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

To write good Fantasy (of SciFi), you have to go through a process called “World Building”

I think this is more implying that you don't have to work from the same framework for every fantasy world. Not everything has to be set in Arthurian Medieval Times with Crusader-Era social sensibilities. The menagerie of mythical creatures isn't a prerequisite or delimiter (dragons / unicorns / etc are not a requirement nor are robots / cthulhoid horrors / woolly mammoths disallowed). You need internal consistency (to a degree) but you aren't forced to adhere / omit any genre trope.

I would say, at an absolute bare minimum, you need some kind of fantastical or supernatural element to make it "Fantasy" as opposed to "Historical Fiction" or "Science Fiction" or some other category of fictional prose. Although, the genre of "Magical Realism" does make even that distinction a bit fuzzy.

many literature teachers / professors don’t even know about the idea of World Building

You don't necessary need to go through the whole work of World Building if you're just banging out a short story or novella. Even serial writers don't necessarily bother going deep on the background material until they feel the need to expand the scope of the setting. I mean, look at the Star Wars setting. George Lucas didn't have Jabba the Hutt defined as a big slug monster until the third movie. In the original film, there was a cut scene in which Han confronts Jabba, who was just a be-feathered chubby gangster.

If you're just spitballing or cranking out bits of fiction in brief, World Building can be superfluous. A story that takes place entirely in a single house over the course of a long weekend doesn't need the kind of scaffolding that a Long Walk to Mordor requires.

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[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Also the important rule here is everything not explained to be different is assumed to be the same as our understanding of the real world.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

That is part of world building, too. If your fantasy world needs more explaining than storytelling, something is seriously wrong.

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[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Bright red barrel of aircraft grade fuel.

Shoot it.

Spawns a leak.

//FPS players mind's implode//

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Toss a lighted match into the growing puddle.

Match goes out.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 11 points 2 days ago

Shoot it directly with a flamethrower.

Puddle burns slightly like a gas stove before going out again.

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 67 points 3 days ago (3 children)

See also: video game AOE FX.

Big glowy green area? Could be a healing aura, could be poison. Good luck!

[–] tiramichu@sh.itjust.works 70 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Nah this one is easy.

If it's green and sparkly, it's a good thing. If it's green and bubbly, it's a bad thing.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

Green w/ sparkly bubbles = Happy Drunk

[–] Khrux@ttrpg.network 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Purple: Magic??

Green: Life/death??

Red: Life/fire??

Blue: Magic/cold??

Honestly the only colour I don't feel uncertain about is orange, that's always bad.

Also on the topic of health potions, a great piece of advice I once heard was that if your players are in a foreign land, remove health potions. Give them health biscuits and watch them reconcile with God.

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 4 points 2 days ago

Orange is machinery/technology

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[–] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] JackFrostNCola@aussie.zone 5 points 2 days ago

I like the fallout approach

Green glow: radiation
Brown water: radiation
Bottled Water: Good!
Not really, believe it or not, radiation. (You must be thinking of purified water)

[–] MurrayL@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] SSUPII@sopuli.xyz 33 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How about Oblivion where every potion, including drugs, are red?

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] orenj@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 3 days ago (2 children)

except the ones made from potatoes and cheese, those are just soup

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you don't think soup is addicting, you haven't had soup.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's a potion that cures hunger.

[–] otter@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

Potion of Hospitality +3

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[–] papertowels@mander.xyz 27 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I color code all my info. (..) Green means go, so I know to go ahead and shut up about it. Orange, means orange you glad you didn’t bring it up. Most colors mean don’t say it.

- Michael Scott

[–] hungprocess@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 3 days ago (5 children)

Electric element. Team Yellow vs Team Blue, FIGHT!

[–] orenj@lemmy.sdf.org 17 points 3 days ago

what do you mean? electricity is purple

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 19 points 3 days ago

There is (was?) an electric power provider in Germany by the name of Yellow. Their whole marketing was "electricity is yellow!"

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Nethack (and derivatives) is pretty much the only game I know of where the health potions may or may not be red.

And I guess Dark Souls... It's more of an orange than a red. But maybe that's just the color of the flask. Idk what the substance inside looks like. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[–] skye@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the flask is green! i would know since i emptied it one too many times snd the texture is dark green

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 2 days ago

Then the insides have to be red for it to appear orange through green glass. The health potion is red!

[–] joyjoy@lemmy.zip 8 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Why should your fantasy game be limited by something like "health". Whether you die should be based on vibes.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 13 points 2 days ago

DM: Roll a Vibe Check

Player: I rolled Dark Green

DM: Ooohhh...

[–] Honytawk@feddit.nl 5 points 2 days ago

My vibe is slightly hurt with a hint of mental damage

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[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The old TSR/SSI game Unlimited Adventures had randomized potion colors. It's also how I learned that khaki is not pronounced 'kahiki' when trying to explain what was going on to someone (I knew khakis as a type of trouser not a color).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forgotten_Realms%3A_Unlimited_Adventures

Edit: or maybe I'm thinking of another gold-box game if that one didn't have some random generation. Hrm.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

That's a roguelike convention. Potion colors are randomized. Runes/scrolls usually arent.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 9 points 2 days ago

Pixel dungeon does the same thing, you don't know when you start a run what any color potion does. So they're randomized.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

If they don't taste like peppermint, I'm sending them back.

[–] Rednax@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Similarly to how paprika chips come in blue bags and salted chips come in red bags. Anything else is heresy. Unless you live right across the border, where it's exactly the opposite.

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Overlord the anime has a whole arc about the protagonist using his immense power and influence to have people start research on how to turn blue potions red.

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