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Fantasy Genre Conventions for Interactive Fiction

Craft guidance for writing fantasy—subgenres, magic systems, worldbuilding tropes, character archetypes, and quest structures.

Fantasy Subgenres

High Fantasy (Epic Fantasy)

Core Conventions:

  • Secondary worlds with their own physical laws
  • Grand scale plots with world-threatening conflicts
  • Clear moral cosmology (good vs evil, order vs chaos)
  • Extensive worldbuilding with histories, cultures, languages
  • Long-form storytelling (trilogy or series format)

Reader Expectations:

  • Complex magic systems integrated into society
  • Political intrigue at kingdom or world level
  • Multiple POV characters across the conflict
  • High stakes affecting entire civilizations

Interactive Fiction Implications:

  • Players expect meaningful choices affecting factions
  • World state should reflect political consequences
  • Epic scope requires careful state management
  • Multiple storylines tracking different regions

Urban Fantasy

Core Conventions:

  • Contemporary real-world settings with magical elements
  • Present-day urban environments
  • Supernatural creatures hidden in mundane world
  • Borrowed noir and procedural conventions
  • Secret magical societies maintaining "the masquerade"

Key Elements:

  • Vampires, werewolves, demons, mages coexisting
  • Mystery/investigation plot structures
  • Romantic subplots frequently featured
  • First-person perspectives common

Interactive Fiction Implications:

  • Choices often involve "reveal magic or maintain cover"
  • Relationship systems with mundane and supernatural NPCs
  • Investigation mechanics requiring clue gathering
  • Moral choices about using power in modern contexts

Dark Fantasy

Core Conventions:

  • Blends fantasy with horror elements
  • Supernatural rooted in terror and evil
  • Morally gray or dark protagonists
  • Gothic or Victorian aesthetics
  • Grim, nihilistic worldviews

Tone Requirements:

  • Aims to unnerve and frighten
  • Consequences severe and often permanent
  • No guaranteed happy endings
  • Psychological horror elements

Interactive Fiction Implications:

  • Choices should have genuinely disturbing consequences
  • Sanity/corruption mechanics fit well
  • Death and failure states feel meaningful
  • Subvert darkness by offering genuine hope

Sword and Sorcery

Core Conventions:

  • Action-oriented personal battles
  • Protagonists are outsiders, mercenaries, drifters
  • Self-interested heroes motivated by survival or profit
  • Immediate, visceral prose style
  • Pulp magazine roots (fast-paced, less contemplative)

Protagonist Types:

  • Larger-than-life action heroes
  • Motivated by money, survival, revenge
  • Skilled warriors or rogues
  • No grand destiny—just survival

Interactive Fiction Implications:

  • Combat should feel consequential and dangerous
  • Reward player cleverness and pragmatism
  • Moral choices without clear "good" options
  • Short-term goals rather than world-saving quests

Fairy Tale Fantasy

Core Conventions:

  • Familiar story structures (transformation, curses, true love)
  • Clear moral lessons or transformations
  • Magical thinking and symbolic logic
  • "Rule of three" patterns
  • Talking animals, enchanted objects, wishes
  • Bargains, tests, and trials

Interactive Fiction Implications:

  • Player choices should feel like "tests of character"
  • Consequences can be symbolic or literal
  • Bargain mechanics (be careful what you wish for)
  • Repetition with variation (three chances, three trials)

Magic System Design

Sanderson's Laws

First Law: Solve Problems Proportionally

"An author's ability to solve conflict with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic."

Application:

  • If magic will solve problems, explain it first
  • Soft magic creates wonder but can't resolve conflicts
  • Hard magic enables problem-solving and prediction
  • Avoid deus ex machina by establishing rules early

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Players need to understand magic to make informed choices
  • Magic choices should feel like skill, not guesswork
  • Establish limits before presenting magic-based puzzles

Second Law: Limitations Over Powers

"It's more interesting to know what powers CAN'T do than what they CAN do."

Three Constraint Types:

  • Limitations: What magic cannot accomplish
  • Weaknesses: What enemies can exploit
  • Costs: What you sacrifice for power

Benefits:

  • Creates tension and drama
  • Forces creative problem-solving
  • Prevents power escalation problems

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Resource management (mana, stamina, sanity)
  • Meaningful tradeoffs in magical choices
  • Weaknesses players must work around

Third Law: Expand Before Adding

"Expand what you already have before adding something new."

Principle:

  • Deep, interconnected systems beat wide, shallow ones
  • Each magic type affects the entire world
  • Consider societal implications of magical capabilities

Questions to Ask:

  • If magic creates food, why do people farm?
  • If magic heals, how do plagues affect society?
  • If magic kills easily, why use conventional weapons?

Hard vs Soft Magic

Soft Magic:

  • Rules deliberately obscure
  • Creates sense of wonder and mystery
  • Best for atmosphere and spectacle
  • Should NOT solve plot problems

Hard Magic:

  • Rules clearly explained and consistent
  • Readers can predict outcomes
  • Enables puzzle-solving and strategy
  • Magic becomes a tool to master

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Hard magic works better for puzzle/strategy choices
  • Soft magic works better for atmospheric exploration
  • Mix both: player powers hard, mysterious forces soft

Worldbuilding Tropes

Using Tropes Effectively

Tropes aren't enemies—they exist because they resonate emotionally. The challenge is using them thoughtfully.

Why Tropes Work:

  • Readers enjoy predictability and comfort
  • Familiar patterns create narrative shorthand
  • Expectations enable meaningful subversion

Common Fantasy Tropes

The Medieval European Default:

  • Pseudo-medieval technology
  • Feudal political structures
  • Castles, knights, peasants

When to use: Readers understand the social dynamics. When to subvert: Explore non-European cultures, different tech levels.

Ancient Lost Civilization:

  • Ruins holding advanced magic/technology
  • Forgotten knowledge to rediscover
  • Warnings from the past ignored

The Dark Forest:

  • Dangerous wilderness between civilizations
  • Monsters make travel perilous
  • Justifies isolated communities

Homogeneous Cultures:

  • All elves live in forests
  • All dwarves mine mountains

Problem: Reduces cultures to stereotypes. Fix: Show diversity within cultures, mixed communities.

Strategies for Trope Use

Establish Then Subvert:

Introduce familiar elements so readers form expectations, then introduce twists.

Character-Driven Subversion:

Let character flaws, fears, or growth drive unexpected outcomes.

Honor Emotional Truth:

Understand WHY the trope resonates, then fulfill that emotional contract in fresh ways.

Methods of Subversion:

  • Inversion (flip roles)
  • Deconstruction (examine consequences)
  • Genre hybridization
  • Context shifting

Character Archetypes

The Chosen One

Traditional Pattern:

  • Destined to complete important task
  • Identified through prophecy or lineage
  • Often unaware of abilities initially
  • Reluctant hero accepting destiny

Variations and Subversions:

  • The Manufactured Chosen One — the prophecy was fabricated by a faction seeking a controllable figurehead. The "destiny" is political manipulation
  • The Wrong One — chosen by mistake or misidentification; must succeed despite lacking the expected gifts
  • The Reluctant Refuser — actively rejects destiny, forcing the world to find alternatives or collapse. The story explores what happens when the hero says no
  • The Plural Chosen — multiple candidates compete or cooperate, each with partial claim. Prophecy was ambiguous
  • The Traumatized Chosen — accepts the role but the burden causes psychological damage. Explores the cost of being "special" since childhood
  • The Chosen Villain — destined to destroy, not save. The arc becomes: can fate be defied from the inside?
  • The Post-Chosen — the prophecy was already fulfilled by someone else, long ago. The current protagonist inherits the aftermath

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Player agency conflicts with predetermined destiny — let players negotiate with fate rather than follow or reject it entirely
  • Track how the player interprets prophecy: literal, metaphorical, or irrelevant
  • Allow "what if the chosen one failed?" as a legitimate path with its own narrative weight

The Mentor

Traditional Pattern:

  • Source of knowledge, wisdom, training
  • Guides but doesn't complete journey
  • Often dies or departs before climax
  • Provides crucial tools or gifts

Variations and Subversions:

  • The Ulterior Mentor — genuinely teaches but has a hidden agenda. Their guidance steers the hero toward the mentor's goals, not the hero's
  • The Peer Mentor — learning alongside the student, only slightly ahead. Vulnerability makes them more relatable and their eventual departure more painful
  • The Wrong Mentor — confident and authoritative but fundamentally incorrect about something crucial. The hero must recognize the error and surpass the teacher
  • The Reluctant Mentor — refuses the role, forcing the hero to learn by observation and inference rather than direct instruction
  • The Adversarial Mentor — teaches through opposition and challenge. Harsh methods that work but damage the relationship
  • The Collective Mentor — no single guide but a community of partial teachers, each contributing a fragment. The hero must synthesize contradictory wisdom
  • The Fallen Mentor — once great, now broken by failure. Their knowledge is real but filtered through bitterness and defeat

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Mentor relationships should shift based on player choices — deference, challenge, or rejection each produce different dynamics
  • Multiple mentors with conflicting advice create meaningful player decisions about whose path to follow
  • The mentor's departure or death should feel earned, not scripted

The Dark Lord

Traditional Pattern:

  • Ultimate antagonist
  • Desires power, control, destruction
  • Distant threat for most of story
  • Final confrontation at climax

Variations and Subversions:

  • The Grievance Villain — a legitimate wrong drives their campaign. Their methods are monstrous but their cause has merit
  • The Utilitarian Dark Lord — genuinely believes mass suffering now prevents greater suffering later. Forces the hero to engage with the math of morality
  • The Mirror Villain — the hero's dark potential made manifest. Same origin, different choices. Their existence asks: what kept you from becoming me?
  • The Sympathetic Tyrant — once a hero themselves, corrupted by the very power they used to save the world. Tragic rather than evil
  • The Absent Villain — the Dark Lord died centuries ago but their systems, institutions, and followers perpetuate the evil. There is no one to defeat, only a structure to dismantle
  • The Reluctant Villain — trapped in the role by prophecy, curse, or circumstance. Would stop if they could. May secretly aid the hero
  • The Bureaucratic Evil — not a single dark lord but a committee, a system, an institution. Evil by procedure rather than passion

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Allow players to discover the villain's perspective through found documents, captured lieutenants, or direct confrontation
  • Meaningful moral choices: sympathy, understanding, or hardening against the villain
  • Possible redemption arcs where player actions determine whether the villain can be turned

The Rogue

Traditional Pattern:

  • Operates outside law and social norms
  • Skilled in deception, stealth, or charm
  • Morally flexible but usually good-hearted
  • Provides comic relief and pragmatic solutions

Variations:

  • The Gentleman Thief — steals from the powerful, follows a personal code. Robin Hood lineage
  • The Survivor — amoral pragmatism born from hardship. Loyalty is earned, never assumed
  • The Double Agent — serves multiple factions, loyalty genuinely uncertain. Even they may not know whose side they are truly on
  • The Reformed Criminal — trying to go straight but the old skills keep being needed. Every use is a small relapse

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Rogue characters naturally suit IF mechanics: lockpicking, social engineering, and alternate paths through obstacles
  • Track the rogue's loyalty through actions, not declarations

The Healer

Traditional Pattern:

  • Provides support and restoration
  • Morally anchored, often pacifist
  • Valued for compassion over combat

Variations:

  • The Battlefield Medic — heals because someone must, not out of idealism. Pragmatic, exhausted, haunted by triage decisions
  • The Poison Expert — understands healing because they understand harm. The line between medicine and murder is dosage
  • The Reluctant Warrior — a healer forced to fight, deeply conflicted about violence even when necessary
  • The Corrupt Healer — uses healing as leverage, withholding aid for political or personal gain

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Healers create resource-management tension: who gets healed when supplies are limited?
  • Triage decisions as moral choices

Quest Structures

The Hero's Journey

Three-Act Pattern:

Act 1: Departure

  1. Ordinary World
  2. Call to Adventure
  3. Refusal of the Call
  4. Meeting the Mentor
  5. Crossing the Threshold

Act 2: Initiation

  1. Tests, Allies, Enemies
  2. Approach to Innermost Cave
  3. Ordeal
  4. Reward

Act 3: Return

  1. The Road Back
  2. Resurrection
  3. Return with Elixir

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Structure accommodates branching
  • Player choices determine which tests, allies
  • Multiple possible ordeals based on build
  • "Return with Elixir" varies by playthrough

Prophecy in Fantasy

Types:

  • Self-fulfilling (becomes true because believed)
  • Conditional (will happen unless/if X)
  • Inevitable (no way to prevent)
  • Vague (multiple interpretations)
  • False (manipulation or misunderstanding)

Subversions:

  • Prophecy was metaphorical
  • Applies to unexpected person
  • Prophecy is propaganda
  • Comes true unexpectedly
  • Rejecting destiny has consequences

For Interactive Fiction:

  • Prophecy as constraint vs player agency
  • Let players interpret differently
  • Accuracy based on player choices
  • False prophecies as misdirection

Common Pitfalls

Info Dumps

The Problem: Stopping story to explain world.

Solutions:

  • Iceberg Method: Show 10%, imply 90%
  • Character Integration: Filter through perspective
  • Delayed Revelation: Slice lore across scenes
  • Show Through Consequence: Don't explain—show results

Good Example:

The ancient crown bore notches from seven blades—one for each tribe that had knelt.

Bad Example:

"The Kingdom of Valdris was founded in the Third Age by King Aldric the Conqueror, who united the seven warring tribes..."

Made-Up Words Overload

Problems:

  • Unpronounceable consonant clusters
  • Apostrophe abuse
  • Inconsistent naming conventions
  • Similar-sounding names

Best Practices:

  • Create consistent sound patterns per culture
  • Say names aloud—if you stumble, readers will too
  • Keep frequently used names short
  • Don't rename everything—"horse" doesn't need new name

Inconsistent Power Levels

Common Errors:

  • Magic fails conveniently for plot
  • Characters forget demonstrated abilities
  • Power scales shift between scenes
  • Rules apply differently to heroes vs villains

Solutions:

  • List all character abilities explicitly
  • Define costs, limitations, failure conditions
  • Track energy expenditure across scenes
  • Verify magical rules apply universally

The Idiot Ball

The Problem: Smart characters act stupidly for plot convenience.

Fix: Give actual reasons characters can't take obvious action:

  • Time pressure
  • Missing information
  • Character flaw
  • External constraint
  • Reasonable miscalculation

Interactive Fiction Considerations

Delayed Branching

Early choices don't branch immediately but affect later scenes.

Example:

  • Chapter 1: Choose "Brutality" or "Finesse"
  • Chapter 5: Face heroes in combat
  • Brutality path: win fair duel
  • Finesse path: lose duel but can set trap

Benefits:

  • Stories can be longer
  • Choices feel meaningful
  • Content requirements manageable

Player Agency vs Narrative

Solutions:

  • Destiny through interpretation (prophecy says what, player chooses how)
  • Constrained choice (fixed plot points, varied approach)
  • Consequence variation (same events, different meanings)
  • Multiple valid endings
  • Failure states with continuation

Diegetic Choice Presentation

Bad (game-speak):

[ATTACK] [DEFEND] [USE MAGIC]

Good (world-grounded):

Draw your sword and charge Raise your shield and wait Speak the fire-words

Quick Reference

Element Guideline
Magic systems Establish rules before using to solve problems
Limitations More interesting than powers
Tropes Use for shorthand, subvert for freshness
Chosen one Player agency should feel meaningful
Villains Need understandable motivations
Exposition Integrate through action, not dumps
Naming Consistent patterns, pronounceable
Power levels Track and maintain consistency
Prophecy Tool for tension, not railroad

See Also