Pulp Sword & Sorcery

[joela]

I'm trying to come up with a succinct way to describe my fantasy campaign setting, which is a low-magic desert world where the inhabitants battle the environment with psionics and divine magic.

The latest term I've come up with is "pulp sword & sorcery". But didn't S&S come out of the pulp era? And more importantly, what do those words invoke in you?

[Rezdave]

joela wrote:

I'm trying to come up with a succinct way to describe my fantasy campaign setting

Use Hollywood Speak. Think of two books or movies that both have different aspects of what your world is:

Lord of the Rings meets Lawrence of Arabia

Ali Baba meets Braveheart

Any combination that evokes a sense of the tone of your setting.

joela wrote:

But didn't S&S come out of the pulp era?

Arguably, S&S goes back further than Homeric epics, perhaps to the Tales of Gilgamesh if not further.

joela wrote:

what do those words invoke in you?

Bad writing, thin plots, poorly developed stereotypical characters. Nothing positive.

FWIW,

Rez

[Negative Thac0]

Well, I'm a fan of S&S at least. To me, the words mean high adventure, lots of action, crazy monsters and an overall good time.

Not every story needs to be deep. I love me some "song of fire & ice" and such, but sometimes I want to play in a shallower pool.

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Sword & Sorcery to me can mean Conan. He has the sword and lots of times his enemies use sorcery or magic. There have been a lot of cheesy fantasy movies that are labeled "sword & sorcery."

Heh, this is funny considering my thought on Conan. I went to look up some info about sword & sorcery and got this page: sword & sorcery.