Epées & Sorcellerie

The first French edition of Dungeons & Dragons was a translation of the Moldvay rules, which I own, having acquired it when I began studying the language in 1983. I had mentioned to my father that there was a French translation available and wished I could find a copy. So, being the practical kind of guy he is, he just called directory assistance for Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and was connected to TSR's offices to ask about it. In fairly short order, he then handed me the telephone and I was talking to Francois Marcela-Froideval, who worked as one of Gary Gygax's assistants, and was instrumental in promoting roleplaying games in France during the early 80s. I chatted with M. Froideval for a short time, quite awed to have spoken with someone who worked at TSR.

Before he'd handed me the phone, my father had already placed an order for a copy of the French boxed set from the Dungeon Hobby Shop, which arrived a few days later. I absolutely loved it, both because of how it helped my French reading comprehension, but also because it had art I'd never seen before, illustrated by the usual TSR artists. I remember being particularly impressed by the look of module B1, Le Château Fort aux Confins du Pays, which sported a bright blue cover. A couple of days later, a second package from the Dungeon Hobby Shop arrived, contaning another copy of the Donjons & Dragons boxed set. I was puzzled, since my father only ordered a single copy. I noticed that, unlike the other box, this second one wasn't shrink-wrapped. I opened it up, found a note from M. Froideval about enjoying our conversation and discovered that the rulebook and module had both been autographed by Gary Gygax. Needless to say, I nearly swooned and that second boxed set remains one of my most prized gaming possessions.

This ancedote is a prelude to mentioning that Epées & Sorcellerie, a French language retro-clone of OD&D by Nicolas "Snorri" Dessaux, has just been released by Brave Halfling Publishing. This is quite a remarkable thing, since OD&D was never released in French. I've already downloaded a copy of the free PDF, which is available here, but I intend to acquire the print edition shortly. I will certainly be writing a review of it sometime soon as well -- my first non-English product! Based on what I have read so far, I am very impressed. Epées & Sorcellerie is very clearly written and organized, as well as nicely laid out. I particularly like the use of 16th century woodcuts to illustrate the book. Of course, I expected nothing less than such brilliance from Nicolas Dessaux, who is very active on the Original D&D Discussion boards and is brimming with good ideas.

If you love old school games and can read French, go and grab yourself a copy now. If you don't know French, maybe now is the time to learn.