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Dragonstar (role-playing Game)
Dragonstar is a science fantasy game created by Fantasy Flight Games for Wizards of the Coast's D20 role-playing game system. Setting The game's setting is a galaxy under the dominion of the ''Dragon Empire''. The ''Dragon Empire'' is an empire ruled by the ten houses of dragons. Of these houses, five are chromatic and five are metallic. The Empire is led by ''Mezzenbone'', an evil red dragon. Across the galaxy, fantasy races inhabit countless worlds. Scientists and archmages in the game try to come up with a logical explanation as to why the races had similar linguistic traits. Eventually, a prominent religious leader proposed a theory: all the gods of every religion were the same, just different aspects of the twelve "True Gods". These aspects were the 12 "Deitypes," short for Deity Archetypes. Deitypes are basic, primordial, archetypal icons such as The Father, The Mother, The Magus, The Smith, The Destroyer and The Trickster. Some deities have elements of two or more D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the '' Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, dragons are an iconic type of monstrous creature. As a group, ''D&D'' dragons are loosely based upon dragons from a wide range of fictional and mythological sources. Dungeons & Dragons allows players to fight its fictional dragons ( Tiamat being one of the most notable) and "slay their psychic dragons" as well. These dragons, specifically their "dungeon ecology", have implications for the literary theory of fantasy writing. ''D&D'' dragons also featured as targets of the moral panic surrounding the game. In ''D&D'', dragons are depicted as any of various species of large, intelligent, magical, reptilian beasts, each typically defined by a combination of their demeanor and either the color of their scales or their elemental affinity. For example, a commonly presented species of dragon is the red dragon, which is named for its red scales, and known for its evil and greedy nature, as well as its ability to brea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Gate (magazine)
''Black Gate'' is a fantasy magazine published by New Epoch Press. It was published in glossy print until 2011, after which it shifted online. History First launched in October 2000 using the slogan "Adventures in Fantasy Literature," ''Black Gate'' primarily features original short fiction up to novella length. It also features reviews of fantasy novels, graphic novels, and role playing game products. This is supplemented by columns and articles reflecting on fantasy literature's past as well as the occasional interview. Every print issue contained the comic ''Knights of the Dinner Table: Java Joint'' by Kenzer & Company of Knights of the Dinner Table fame. Much of the fiction is by lesser known or new authors, but noted contributors have included Michael Moorcock, Mike Resnick, Charles de Lint and Cory Doctorow. As a semi-regular feature, ''Black Gate'' reprinted rare adventure stories from earlier decades or work from more recent years that the editors feel has been neglecte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space Opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and social advancements (or lack thereof) in faster-than-light travel, futuristic weapons, and sophisticated technology, on a backdrop of galactic empires and interstellar wars with fictional aliens, often in fictional galaxies. The term has no relation to opera music, but is instead a play on the terms "soap opera", a melodramatic television series, and "horse opera", which was coined during the 1930s to indicate a clichéd and formulaic Western film. Space operas emerged in the 1930s and continue to be produced in literature, film, comics, television, video games and board games. An early film which was based on space-opera comic strips was ''Flash Gordon'' (1936), created by Alex Raymond. ''Perry Rhodan'' (1961–) is the most successful spa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
TSR, Inc
TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had been unable to find a publisher for ''D&D'', a new type of game he and Dave Arneson were co-developing, so founded the new company with Kaye to self-publish their products. Needing financing to bring their new game to market, Gygax and Kaye brought in Brian Blume in December as an equal partner. ''Dungeons & Dragons'' is generally considered the first tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG), and established the genre. When Kaye died suddenly in 1975, the Tactical Studies Rules partnership restructured into TSR Hobbies, Inc. and accepted investment from Blume's father Melvin. With the popular ''D&D'' as its main product, TSR Hobbies became a major force in the games industry by the late 1970s. Melvin Blume eventually transferred his shares to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spelljammer
''Spelljammer'' is a campaign setting originally published for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' (2nd edition) role-playing game, which features a fantastic (as opposed to scientific) outer space environment. Subsequent editions have included ''Spelljammer'' content; a ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 5th edition setting update released on August 16, 2022. ''Spelljammer'' introduced into the ''AD&D'' universe a comprehensive system of fantasy astrophysics, including the Ptolemaic concept of crystal spheres. Crystal spheres may contain multiple worlds and are navigable using ships equipped with "spelljamming helms". Ships powered by spelljamming helms are capable of flying into not only the sky but into space. With their own fields of gravity and atmosphere, the ships have open decks and tend not to resemble the spaceships of science fiction, but instead look more like galleons, animals, birds, fish or even more wildly fantastic shapes. The ''Spelljammer'' setting is designed to allow t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules, Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). It has been published by Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) since 1997. The game was derived from miniature wargaming, miniature wargames, with a variation of the 1971 game Chainmail (game), ''Chainmail'' serving as the initial rule system. ''D&D'' publication is commonly recognized as the beginning of modern role-playing games and the role-playing game industry, and also deeply influenced video games, especially the role-playing video game genre. ''D&D'' departs from traditional wargame, wargaming by allowing each player to create their own Player character, character to play instead of a military formation. These characters embark upon adventures within a fantasy setting. A Dungeon Mas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Race (fantasy)
Fantasy tropes are a specific type of literary tropes (recurring themes) that occur in fantasy fiction. Worldbuilding, plot, and characterization have many common conventions, many of them having ultimately originated in myth and folklore. J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium (and in particular, ''The Lord of the Rings'') for example, was inspired from a variety of different sources including Germanic, Finnish, Greek, Celtic and Slavic myths. Literary fantasy works operate using these tropes, while others use them in a revisionist manner, making the tropes over for various reasons such as for comic effect, and to create something fresh (a method that often generates new clichés). Good vs. evil The conflict of good against evil is a theme in the many popular forms of fantasy; normally, evil characters invade and disrupt the good characters' lands. J. R. R. Tolkien delved into the nature of good and evil in ''The Lord of the Rings'', but many of those who followed him use the co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game, dragons are an iconic type of monstrous creature. As a group, ''D&D'' dragons are loosely based upon dragons from a wide range of fictional and mythological sources. Dungeons & Dragons allows players to fight its fictional dragons (Tiamat being one of the most notable) and "slay their psychic dragons" as well. These dragons, specifically their "dungeon ecology", have implications for the literary theory of fantasy writing. ''D&D'' dragons also featured as targets of the moral panic surrounding the game. In ''D&D'', dragons are depicted as any of various species of large, intelligent, magical, reptilian beasts, each typically defined by a combination of their demeanor and either the color of their scales or their elemental affinity. For example, a commonly presented species of dragon is the red dragon, which is named for its red scales, and known for its evil and greedy nature, as well as its ability to breath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fantasy
Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction that simultaneously draws upon or combines tropes and elements from both science fiction and fantasy. In a conventional science fiction story, the world is presented as being scientifically logical; while a conventional fantasy story contains mostly supernatural and artistic elements that disregard the scientific laws of the real world. The world of science fantasy, however, is laid out to be scientifically logical and often supplied with hard science–like explanations of any supernatural elements.Eric R. Williams, ''The Screenwriters Taxonomy: A Collaborative Approach to Creative Storytelling''p. 121/ref> During the Golden Age of Science Fiction, the fanciful science fantasy stories were seen in sharp contrast to the terse, scientifically plausible material that came to dominate mainstream science fiction typified by the magazine ''Astounding Science Fiction''. Although at this time, science fantasy stories were oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaxy
A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. Galaxies, averaging an estimated 100 million stars, range in size from dwarfs with less than a hundred million stars, to the largest galaxies known – supergiants with one hundred trillion stars, each orbiting its galaxy's center of mass. Most of the mass in a typical galaxy is in the form of dark matter, with only a few percent of that mass visible in the form of stars and nebulae. Supermassive black holes are a common feature at the centres of galaxies. Galaxies are categorized according to their visual morphology as elliptical, spiral, or irregular. Many are thought to have supermassive black holes at their centers. The Milky Way's central black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, has a mass four million times greater than the Sun. As o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
