Fantasy cliches are both good & bad

[Morreion]

Check for Traps: Fantasy Cliches Are Both Good and Bad (The Escapist)

Entertaining article- differentiates between mechanical cliches (wizards physically weak mentally strong) that are often necessary for gamplay, and aesthetic cliches that typically spring from historical precedent- why the heck do Dwarves have Scottish accents, anyway?

[Regolyth]

Interesting article. Although I disagree that fantasy worlds come from a post-apocalyptic setting. She mentions Dragonlance as having items from an Atlantis world that people now covet. That's not necessarily accurate. Most of those items are things blessed by gods, not left over from an advanced civilization.