How do you see the TONE of Age of Sigmar?

[LotusWarrior]

There is art, minis, lore, whatnots... But how do YOU see the universe?

For me I see the AOS multiverse as a good mix of the Heavy Metal 1981 movie (especially Den and Taarna scenes), The Wizards (1977) film, and a good hit of 70's metal music and themes (metal music and Heavy Metal Mags)

So ya, a fair bit cartoonist and fantastical, but with a good level of metal and brutality.

What say you?

[blackcherry]

It's definitely high fantasy for me, but with the violence of the Warhammer World, if not as immediately as grim in tone. I wouldn't quite call it Heavy Metal, because they have never been afraid of using adult themes or nudity, which AoS is very much not engaging in.

I guess AoS doesn't really have a set identity yet. More borrowed archetypes that, unlike the WFB world, haven't had time to coalesce into their own distinctive thing. Still, I like the game, so fingers crossed it morphs over time.

[Bun Bun]

It is starting to get an identity but that identity is nescent at yet. But as it stands there has not been enough fluff yet for it to firmly establish itself as its own thing as we have only just finished the Realmgate Wars story arc. Now that the Forces of Order have gained a foothold this is where things will start to actually get interesting story wise.

In a way you can compare Age of Sigmar to the original Star Wars trilogy with Realmgate Wars arc as being akin to the New Hope in Star Wars, there was once a time of peace (The Republic/Age of Myth) but then there was upheaval (The Clone Wars/The Nexus Wars) and a time of darkness (Galactic Empire/Time of Chaos). There is then a resistance (The Rebel Alliance/The return of Sigmar) and after lot of struggle the good guys deliver a telling blow (Destroying the Death Star/Sealing the Genesis and Brimfire gates) that emboldens them.

If this pattern holds true then the forces of Chaos will likely get a measure of revenge probably due to Nagash pulling the rug from underneath the forces of order by betraying them at a critical juncture. The Forces of Order will then attempt to get and win a solid but hellishly hard fought victory which will put them on an even footing with the forces of Chaos establishing a status quo that GW can maintain for as long as they see fit.

[Denny]

It certainly seems like High Fantasy; epic magical lands filled with all kinds of crazy and wondrous stuff.

In terms of tone . . . It seems less Grimdark frankly, which is odd when Chaos has 'won'. Then again this is the early stages of what is (hopefully) a well planned narrative, where the forces of light have started to reclaim everything. The Chaos pushback has only just started. Maybe things will darken up once the Gods go on the offensive.

[Xisor]

Josh & Guy were discussing this at BL last year. If memory serves, they were very keen to emphasise it's not *high* fantasy. It's got a lot of the trappings, but many of the significant pieces are entirely missing. Taking a quick glance at Wikipedia, sword & sorcery seems the most easily applicable: "Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters."

And that's the rub. The Old World in the Empire was very low fantasy in tone, but in practice that was a choice of focus and theme rather than in technical details. Rarely was the entire Warhammer World at stake in a single story, or a single battle. The metaplot of the setting, the story of the world's history was *very* high fantasy, of course. And plenty of the inhuman realms were suitably fantastic.

In Age of Sigmar, you've gone far beyond the fate of the world - so much so that it's bloody annoying trying to concieve of what's actually going on at all, beyond the mere Sword & Sorcery scope of the individual battles and the story threads. There's also a plotline to it that's much *bigger* than traditional high fantasy too.

To that end, what Josh & Guy were describing is quite plain in my mind now.

Weird Fantasy

I can't remember which of them said it, Guy I think, but his mantra for writing AoS stories was: "if it could be set in the Old World, it's not big enough; it's not Age of Sigmar." Or something like that.

If it's not colossal in scope or mind-bending or preposterous or sheer Metal (as in \m/, or however you do the metal horns in text), then why bother writing it for Age of Sigmar? Now, obviously he's not the only writer, nor does he necessarily apply the rule continuously or consistently, but it's an insight into what distinguishes the setting.

(Of course, as a grumbaki who thought WHF was sufficiently distinguished, that leaves me still at odds with things. Nevertheless.)

Tonally, I think, that's the point - it's weird fantasy. And it certainly is weird!

[Razios]

I agree with Xior and I think the term he want to use is COSMIC fantasy, a term I made up for this

You see, for me age of sigmar is following the route of Spelljammer or planescape of ramming the fantasy out of 11, unlike low or high fantasy were evertyhing is in a sort of "earth" place cosmic fantasy deal with enterely fantastic and damn weird places it and dosent pretend is any sort of realistic by canned the earth-like setting in the first place

that is why for me age of sigmar have to go higher, they are not a regular setting and cannot pretend they are, is not "this is just a typical village in a realm of metal" made them feel they BELONG to that, otherwise is a wasted of time.