V9: Theme and Setting

This page is part of the Official Amtgard V9 Alpha-Playtest Rulebook.

• The Amtwiki is the official home and primary source for Amtgard V9 Rules as of February 25, 2023.
• These rules are currently in Open Alpha Playtest. See the Playtest Disclaimer for more details.
• To learn more about Amtgard V9 Development, please visit Amtgard.com.
• To view the current Amtgard V8 ruleset, please see the Amtgard V8 Rulebook.

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Theme and Setting

Theme

A Quest Begins...

The core theme of Amtgard is Heroic Fantasy.

"Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre theme.

Heroic fantasy is the name given to a subgenre of fantasy, otherwise called the "sword-and-sorcery" story. It is a story of action and adventure laid in a more or less imaginary world, where magic works and where modern science and technology have not yet been discovered. Such a story combines the color and dash of historical costume romance with the atavistic supernatural thrills of the weird, occult, or ghost story.

When well done, it provides the purest fun of fiction of any kind. It is escape fiction wherein one escapes clear out of the real world into one where all men are strong, all women beautiful, all life adventurous, and all problems simple. Adventures based in heroic fantasy are unlikely to mention any wider problems that cannot be fixed by a good quest."

- Excerpts from Fantasy and Heroic Fantasy on Wikipedia

Setting

The Phoenix is a symbol of Amtgard both in and out of character.

The shared setting of Amtgard is limited to just a few details, the rest of which are left up to local communities and roleplay organizers.

• All communities generally exist in the same world, called "Amtgard" or "Amtgardia" depending on who you ask.
• The Kingdoms and Parks are arranged in this world similarly to how their real-life locations are arranged on planet Earth.
• Time and space is variable (to account for real-life scheduling and travel times)

"Time and space itself seems subject to the elastic nature of reality. While all inhabitants (and indeed, even visitors if my own experience is typical!) can recite the same date without thinking, the actual flow of time itself seems inconstant. At some points many days can seem crammed into a single date, while in the next kingdom time flows with what I perceive as ‘normal’. Everything from monarch’s reigns to massive wars can be condensed here, with only a few years separating the present from ‘Ancient History.’"

• Phoenixes are sacred creatures.
• There are 12 constellations that can be seen in the night sky no matter where you are.