Alternate History is common, incorporating Fantasy elements into real historical events, with humans living alongside magic, though if this isn't done there is usually a Masquerade, implying that witches, elves and fairies live alongside us, just in hiding and probably forming a complete Wainscot Society. Urban Fantasies almost always take place on Earth, rather than a Constructed World, or if not on Earth then in a place so close as to make little difference. Works taking place more than ten to twenty years in the future however, are not.

The exact cut off date for what falls under Urban Fantasy is fuzzy, as the works which most commonly get this label applied to them feature settings in the present day, but works taking place as far back as the Victorian Era are generally included. Still, it's very common for Urban Fantasy stories to take place in a large, well-known city, all the easier for their fantasy elements to hide themselves in.ДЄs a genre, Urban Fantasy is sometimes seen as more accessible to the average reader than the Medieval European Fantasy due to the Like Reality, Unless Noted nature of it, and the fact that modern settings are familiar to readers whereas the medieval era is something that modern readers may have trouble relating to. Rather, the name implies throwing fantasy elements into more modern, urban societies (hence its secondary name). The name 'Urban Fantasy' is sometimes taken to imply that all works in the genre must take place in a large city, but this is not the case. Urban Fantasy, also sometimes called 'Modern Fantasy', is a genre that combines common fantasy conventions with a modern setting.

Voltron defender of the universe 1984