Can you have classic fantasy without designated "bad guys"?

Yes you can.

What is Sword & Sorcery, anon?

>>51609546
You mean the subgenre? I don't think I've encountered it much, I read mostly sci-fi

>>51609412
Well, it depends on your definition of bad guys.
There ought to be opposition. Monsters are almost a must, too. Unless your player characters have some sort of special position in the grand scheme of things, there will probably some factions out there that are always more or less hostile towards them.

>>51609412
when I create my settings one of the first thing I try to make clear to my players is that any senttient race is playable to them, this, I think allows you to go deeper in how thoose races function in your world an end up giving more depth, since the party could be playing as the band of marauding orcs or asshole drows...

You could just admit that the people you're killing are people, and be mostly okay with that.

>>51610066
I'm not really. Or at least, I want to have my players do some classic adventuring, but not accidentally slip into a ethical quandary if killing orcs is genocide or not.
>>51610063
That sounds smart! Giving them more options is a good idea in general and letting them explore every culture in the setting sounds like fun!

>>51609950
Mosey down to /osrg/, that's the genre OSR was made to emulate.

>>51609412
Define 'classic fantasy'. Because depending on who you ask you'll get very different answers. I mean, if you say 'classic sci-fi' you'll have people thinking you mean John Carter, other people thinking you mean Star Trek and a last group thinking you mean Star Wars.

>>51609412

Is it possible to have a classical fantasy without a designated antagonist? No.

Is it possible without a colour coded antagonist? Yes.

Altho they are likely to be of a different nation or culture. So, they will still be a different group.

>>51609412
All my games are run with gray areas in mind for governing bodies. Very rarely will a truly evil civilization rise, as every race and civilization have their own ideas of utopia and paradise and their own varying advances towards that ideal.

Wars are really common though.

>>51609412
This has nothing to do with what you were actually asking, but I thought drow were chaotic neutral/evil?

I mean all you need for "classic fantasy" is an evil antagonist, enemy mobs help but they can be anything from soulless constructs to mercenaries
Strict alignments were a thing thirty years ago, fiction kinda moved on

>>51609412
Yes, but from the perspective of the players there will always be bad guys. There's no difference between orcs actually being always chaotic evil and your player's culture thinking it's that way.

>>51613460
>Strict alignments were a thing thirty years ago, fiction kinda moved on

The most popular modern fantasy setting is basically about some frozen-ass chaotic evil guys who bring the evil zombi apocalypse because they're evil. And it's praised for being "realist" and deep.

>>51610765
Just make sure the specific group of people your fighting are total cunts, give your players a motivation to kill them other than "they're green and own loot"

>>51609412
Why do you want a "classic fantasy" if you're not using designated bad guys?

Such a dumb question.