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...for this to go down in history with the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.

Me neither. Its inevitable considering how internet spaceships and fantasy sword and sorcery are so alike in almost every way imaginable.

Remember, CCP Games had to change the name of the game to EvE because they were about to get sued for copyright and trademark infringement for the word-for-word similarity that Dungeons and Dragons has to EvE Online. Almost every person who has ever seen these two games side by side actually cannot tell them apart, such is the similarity in evidence here.

You should see what Phil and Kaja Folio had to say about the differences between High Tech role player, and Medieval fantasy role playing: "None."

Portal spells? Windows.
"With this rod of power I banish thee to nothing" / "Eat hot photons, alien slime".
That sort of thing.

Oh, sure, some minor differences.
"Help!" / "Sorry, we're 6 months away because of the distance of space" vs
"Help!" / "You rang?"

[ rummaging though my link collection ]
http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growfcomic.php?date=20070617

Read it. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll Kiss. ...

Ninjas are universal.
1 out of 4 still doesn't cut it, though.

I'm a militant agnostic, myself... as brilliantly explained to Buck Godot.

Seriously, the difference between Bertrand Russell's atheism ("Insufficient evidence, sir.") and militant agnosticism is the apparent willingness to have your mind changed.

Ahh, so a follower of Slag-Blah, then?

Fantasy alone carries with it assumptions based in our own history, a romanticized version of the middle ages where knights were good guys and smart people with beards could cast spells

Ugh... just ugh... let's see, I'll tweak that a bit:

Science fiction carries with it assumptions based in our own history, a romanticized version of the future where starship troopers are good guys and smart people with bald heads could build robots and death rays.

Actually, "What's New" did a good comic strip on this years ago, Differences between Medieval and Science Fiction RPGs.

Here's the truth, Fantasy is so dominated by one single author that it's easy to see how almost all commercial Fantasy follows one single vision, the vision of J. R. R. Tolkein. Fantasy series aren't based on the Middle Ages, they are based on Middle Earth.

If you'd like to see an RPG that is more based on the Middle Ages, try Ars Magica. Elves aren't tall, pointy eared, immortal people in that game, they are terrifying magical creatures.

It's not like we aren't aware of all the possibilities of Fantasy, here are some Fantasy series that have made great inroads into popular culture:

1. Conan the Barbarian: This is not set in medieval times, and there are no Elves, Orcs, or Dwarves in it.

2. The Indiana Jones Series: Well, excepting "Crystal Skull" (ugnnhh). Fantasy series set in the 1930's.

3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Ok, it's got the medieval period and the dwarves. It also has a ton of talking animals.

4. Harry Freakin' Potter: No Text

5. Anne Rices Vampire Series.... (Ok, I know, that's Horror... except it's Fantasy Horror... different than Science Fiction Horror like Alien)

That's not even taking into account Fantasy Science Fiction hybrids, like the Cthulhu Mythos, Star Wars, and Others.

I think they would less like Superman and more like Hoffmanites.

Since they are rerunning the entire series here, we'll eventually get to find out (for those who missed it the first time around)

They even provide an RSS feed.

Phil and Dixie, online at http://www.airshipentertainment.com/growf.html