Author: Ben JB (---.uchicago.edu)
Date: 07-10-2004 20:11
to RJ Grady,
First, the general praise: always enjoyed the column. (Just so you don't only get negative posts.)
Second, the specific difficulties: this column on Cross-Genre Genres left me with some questions of my own. Of course, I still enjoyed it, but...
A) Coyote-dogs: D&D, you note, is a cross-genre of various works and tropes from the fantasy genre. I guess this, to me, just straddles the line between regular-every-day use of the term "genre" and abuse of it. How can it be cross-genre if it's only within one genre? However, genre itself being a rather malleable term (used sometimes for reception or production, for effect or element of the work), as you point out, I guess there's nothing more to say.
B) Paranoia as Gumbo: I guess I might consider Paranoia a gumbo of science fiction and satire/parody -- but I might think that I'd like to say something about the science fiction and the comedy aspects -- aren't they both separately, a little coyote-dog themselves? So, naturally, "genre" being what it is, we can, in fact, cross cross-genres.
C) On the other hand, the inclusion of Torg and even the Alternate Earths setting for Gurps as Deep-Dish raises some issues: after all, isn't the thing about Torg that the settings don't mix well, that if your reality knight moves from place to place, his nifty tech or spiffy magic won't work? (Or, I could be completely wrong -- it could be that PCs were supposed to be among the few characters who could move around more freely. Can't remember too well.) Well, in that case (or in games like Dream Park, which are essentially meta-settings that allow characters to move into other settings) there's not really that much crossing of genres is there? As you pointed out, in the Nile Empire, you're Pulp, while in Nippon Tech, you're Cyber. If there's no crossing in the meta-setting, we're not really dealing with a cross-genre, nu?
yours,
Ben
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