#Forgotten fantasy

[70sscifiart]

Tim Kirk's cover art for Forgotten Fantasy, April 1971

[j05u-3]

[descendinight]

幽灵 quick study｛｛reminder comms are open xo

[prokopetz]

What do you mean that Forgotten Realms is a romantic fantasy setting masquerading as high fantasy?

(With reference to this post there.)

Exactly what it says on the tin – the Forgotten Realms is clearly principally inspired by romantic fantasy, not high fantasy.

In this context, when I say "romantic fantasy", I'm referring to a specific, relatively short-lived genre of fantasy literature that was wildly popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but abruptly fell almost entirely off the map after about 1998, due to a variety of economic and cultural factors which are way too complicated to go into in a Tumblr post. This is distinct from the more contemporary usage of "romance novels with fantasy settings", though there's definitely a lot of overlap.

If you're looking for a romantic fantasy reading list, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series – especially the early stuff – is probably the easiest to get your hands on these days; it's practically the only example that still has any real name recognition in 2025, for all that Lackey was a latecomer to the genre. Other names worth checking out include Margaret Ball, Carole Nelson Douglas, Tanya Huff, Holly Lisle, Jennifer Roberson, and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, off the top of my head, though not all of them worked exclusively within the genre.

(Elizabeth Moon is an interesting edge case, in that her stuff is principally military science fiction, but very much adheres to the forms of romantic fantasy. Her Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy, one of her few pure fantasy works, is a fun snapshot of an era because it was written explicitly in response to what Moon perceived as the shortcomings of the fantasy worldbuilding on display in then-contemporary Dungeons & Dragons settings, and hit the shelves at just about exactly the same time as the earliest Forgotten Realms material.)

[feyspeaker]

eternity

prints | high res on patreon

[murchellie]

Soft Vampire Wyll 🩸​🤍

Wyll nation please accept this pretty Vamp AU concept I made 🤲​ I promised Vampire Wyll for Halloween but I'm a loser and found time and inspiration only now D:

[ladysiryna]

The Nightsong is no more.

[jessubear]

Every great once and awhile I figured that I would share a selection from my bookshelf along with my film collection. Call it ‘armchair grindhouse’? Let’s go.

Forgotten Fantasy, vol. 1, no. 3, 1971

Rarely do I have a chance to come upon well kept pulps from the mid century, I was lucky to find this copy in like-new condition. The works collected here are all much older than the edition itself, the theme being overlooked or ‘forgotten’ short fiction from the late 1800s and beyond. Every story was engaging, I wish that I were able to track down actual hardback copies of the longer novels serialized here. I love the artwork that accompanied the stories as well, great stuff.

[baldursgateconceptart]

Gale

Vinyl Cover Art Details

Art by Magdalena Katańska

[depthofnowhere]

Rotten

[thenatezone]

Obviously there's a ton of context Sklonda is missing but I love her for being more worried about her son's friends taking advantage of his work ethic than a demonic summoning. Because she knows he can handle a big magical threat, but saying no to friends at that age is way harder.

[mythalism]

call me crazy but there is a difference between treating your adult players like they are new to the world and treating your adult players like they have the memory of a goldfish and the vocabulary of a 9 year old

[descendinight]

🪞from Forgotten Tales of Lūthelinn

🏹 sketchbook（（我病了所以我没有花太多时间在它上面

[leidensygdom]

Here's a Jarlaxle, for @estellisa ! It's my first time drawing him, and it was really fun to figure out an outfit- I tried to find few ways to reference Viridiana, Estella's character, so they can match and slay together~

[feyspeaker]

before the fall little headcanon that Astarion is a Sun Elf and his parents have a portrait of him framed but closeted away so they don't weep when they see it. big golden boy energy.

patreon | prints

[novarex]

Menzoberranzan by Sean Vo