Can renaissance and early modern fantasy work?

End of Times.

Let's count the fantasy cliches in Witcher:
>Multiple races, all of them following D&D stereotypes rather then pure Tolkien ones.
>Magic is everywhere and has lots of effects, but actual full-on spellcasters are fairly rare and very powerful.
>Wizards are basically scientists
>Multiple Kingdoms, multiple religions
>Monsters everywhere even though they make no ecological sense in most cases
>Old ruins from prior civilizations too
>Portals exist to other dimensions
>Wizards only ever cause MORE problems with magical experiments
>There's a literal Chosen One with a prophecy around her seemingly everyone knows.

The Witcherverse is FULL of D&D fantasy cliches and the joke is that everyone who's got any education or knowledge of their world is both aware of and regularly makes fun of it.

You realize Sapkowski basically mocks European culture and fantasy tropes. Geralt is the primary avenue, but Yennefer makes her own jokes at the expense of the tropes and cultures.

But several of the kingdoms are early Renaissance with a magical tint, and Witcher gear is generally slightly ahead of the tech curve; their armor, swords, and bombs are all Renaissance stuff.

Most of the settings that I'm aware of have guns in one form or another. Forgotten Realms, for example. They use smokepowder rather than gunpowder, but there's no mechanical difference except that smokepowder is made magically and so ceases to function in areas of anti-magic.

Early modern I might do one day.
Something set in 1580's not-western-Europe

This. Medieval is (mostly) chain, shields, and bows.
People have a really shitty understanding of weapons technology, and just assume that firearms first emerged in Napoleonic times. Same reason nobody can agree on if firearms penetrated plate armor- some of them did, some of them didn't. Some plate armor was bulletproofed to contemporary weapons at the time, it's almost like technology progressed or something. This also lead to this frankly bizaare notion that guns are always overpowered or just straight up off-theme for fantasy.

Essentially: people are fucking dumb and stuck in their ways

Absolutely not, renaissance era aesthetic could never work with fantasy, it just doesn't fit.

renaissance guns take an action to reload, so unless you want to spend a combat turn reloading you have to carry extra guns. Renaissance guns imo just aid melee fighters but aren't meant to be the main weapon

>Monsters everywhere even though they make no ecological sense in most cases
But monsters aren't everywhere, they're pretty rare which is part of the reason why witchers are generally unneeded

Because muh Tolkien.

The monsters are not natural to the Witcher world. Them along with other creatures like Vampires come from other worlds

No, it needs more space marines.

>blasting fire from Isengard

The only reason that was even a thing was because he based the whole siege of Helm's Deep on the siege of Vienna.

You know, the one where the Winged Hussars arrived.

>hobbits are first to develop gunpowder weapons because of Gandalf and his fireworks
>hobbit smithies churn out dozen of arquebusiers a day
>hobbits conquer middle earth with their fearsome new superweapon
And the meek shall inherit the earth

The hobbits only fight when the hobbits have to fight.

>hobbits
>giving a shit about anything but growing and eating large amounts of food

>hobbits realize they can grow and eat more food if they conquer new land
I'm imagining a war chariot of a fat hobbit in a wheelchair-type thing being pulled by two shire ponies

>arquebusiers
arquebuses*

They wouldn't want more if they already have more than enough. Besides, Hobbits are lazy and comfortable fucks, war would surely seem like too much hassle for them. And they get pissed as hell when Saruman takes over Shire by the end of the books and builds them a more efficient, but also more industrial windmill(or was it a sawmill? Can't remember) Can you really see them building weapon factories with attitude to industry like this?

The land to the south of them is empty for miles upon miles.
So is most of the land to the north, but that has orcs so it's best to not go there.

Wait, is southern Eriador populated? I thought there were some wilder men that lived there. Not like the forest wildmen that helped Rohan in the last book, but like the hill people who were driven from Rohan

Pretty sure Minhiriath and Enedwaith are called the empty lands were no men lie for a reason.
They had settlements but those are long deserted, at best you'll find the ruins of elf kingdoms from the second age.

all of my fantasy campaigns are either set in a late medieval era or in a renaissance-like era, i wouldn't have it any other way

Pillars of Eternity, Eberron, Golarion, 7th Sea, Warhammer Fantasy, etc.

Honestly most generic fantasy setting have human society looking more like Early Modern society than they do Medieval society.

working on a setting that is actually this atm.

the world is a series of floating islands, each island is a country, everyone gets around on air ships, about 10% of the world has gun weaponry up to bolt action rifles. the resources for guns are hard to come by so theyre kind of expensive and reserved for the elite or wealthy, everyone else still uses melee/bows crossbows etc.

lots of politics and shit, also new floating islands chaotically come into the region from time to time to introduce new elements or threats.

iirc 3i5h34 4ohqn o4 3lf3w hun53e 5h3 hillp3opl3 ro4 porit?

user I don't speak Sindarin, this is a Common Tongue board.

The wild men of Dunland lived in Dunland, which is hugging the Misty Mountains.