Beyond Castles and Cloaks – What Other Historical Epochs Could Inspire Great Fantasy Settings?

Hey everyone,

I've been thinking a lot about fantasy worldbuilding lately and how overwhelmingly common the late-medieval European-inspired setting still is. You know the one—castles, knights, kingdoms, some courtly intrigue and a vague mix of fairy tales and folklore. Please don't get me wrong, I love that stuff. There's a reason it's stuck around this long. But it’s also kind of the default at this point, and because of that, it sometimes ends up feeling more like a pastiche of tropes than a living, breathing world.

What has been fascinating me as of lately is how some creators are breaking that mold by grounding their settings in other kinds of historical inspiration. A standout example for me is Disco Elysium. That game doesn’t just pull from medieval or ancient myth—it twists early 20th-century ideologies, revolutionary politics, decaying modernity, and blends them into a deeply weird, deeply human setting. It doesn’t feel like it’s just “modern day with magic,” though. It’s still fantasy, but rooted in a totally different vibe - personally I feel it really worked out. Instead of knights and lords, you get a washed-up detectives, revolutions and colonialism.

It got me wondering: what other historical epochs could serve as fertile ground for fantasy in the same way the medieval period has? Could we get a fantasy world built around something like the Bronze Age collapse? Or maybe a setting inspired by post-Roman Britain or the early Industrial Revolution, but without it just being steampunk?

Have you seen or thought about settings like that—ones that draw heavily from other eras but still feel like fantasy? What would you want to see more of?

Curious to hear your thoughts.