IMC 2026: Sessions

Session 236: Fantasy Medievalism in Modern Games, II: Unreal Chronologies - Organising Time in Medievalist Roleplaying Games

Sponsor:	The Middle Ages in Modern Games
Organiser:	Robert Houghton, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester
Moderator/Chair:	Blair Apgar, Department of Art & Design, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
Paper 236-a	Between Fantasy Classicism and Fantasy Early Modernity: Periodisation in Medievalist Fantasy Games (Language: English) Robert Houghton, Centre for Medieval & Renaissance Research, University of Winchester Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 236-b	Marking the Years in Dungeons and Dragons or 'The History of the Entire Faerûn (I Guess)' (Language: English) Jakub Ivanecky, University of Glasgow Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Abstract	Time has an unstable relationship with many fantasy games. Common tropes abound around timeless and unchanging medievalist worlds, anachronistic mishmashes of events and cultures from across the period, and divergent and contradictory timelines. Certainly these tropes are common across all forms of media, but they often take a particular prominence within games. The papers in session address the use of time in several fantasy games. They take a variety of approaches around issues such as periodisation, categorisation of chronology, and reconciling conflicting chronologies.