Sword and sorcery

Sword and sorcery is a fantasy subgenre centered on individual heroes, perilous adventures, magic, and martial conflict, often in worlds of ancient or decaying civilizations.

Low fantasy: Fantasy in which supernatural elements intrude upon an otherwise recognizable or grounded world. Its restrained or dangerous magic contrasts with worlds built around abundant enchantment.
Robert E. Howard: An American writer whose pulp stories created Conan the Cimmerian and strongly shaped sword and sorcery. His Conan stories became the subgenre’s defining early model.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: Two thieves and adventurers in Fritz Leiber’s fantasy stories, set largely in the city of Lankhmar. Their partnership brings urban wit and companionship to the genre’s perilous adventures.
High fantasy: Fantasy set in an invented world, often involving large-scale conflicts and threats to entire societies. Its sweeping political or world-saving stakes differ from the genre’s focus on individual fortunes.
Conan the Barbarian (comics): Comic-book adaptations of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories, notably Marvel’s long-running series beginning in 1970. Their success brought the genre’s pulp hero to a wider comics audience.
Sword and planet: A pulp adventure genre combining swordplay and romance with journeys across alien planets. It shares the subgenre’s adventure structure but shifts the setting from fantasy worlds to other planets.
Weird Tales: An American pulp magazine launched in 1923 that published fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction. It published key early works by Howard and other writers associated with the genre.
The Broken Sword: Poul Anderson’s 1954 fantasy novel about a changeling caught in conflict between humans and elves. Its fatalistic violence and mythic setting exemplify a darker strand of sword and sorcery.
Epic fantasy: Fantasy built around expansive narratives, large casts, and conflicts affecting nations or worlds. Sword-and-sorcery plots usually keep their conflicts local and their protagonists independent.
Dungeons & Dragons: A fantasy tabletop role-playing game first published in 1974 by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Its adventures draw on the genre’s treasure-seeking heroes, monsters, and perilous dungeons.

Linked from 9 pages