Monday, February 7, 2022

Minarian Legends

Between issues #34 (February 1980) and #57 (January 1982) of Dragon magazine, there appeared a series of articles written by Glenn Rahman entitled "Minarian Legends." The series elaborated upon the setting of the Divine Right boardgame published by TSR, with the apparent goal that the setting – called Minaria – might be used for Dungeons & Dragons adventures and campaigns. Interestingly, these consist almost entirely background information, accompanied by wonderful artwork by Kenneth Rahman, rather than any new rules or game mechanics. In any case, the articles are truly delightful and only make me more regretful that I've never been able to locate a copy of Divine Right at anything approaching a reasonable price.

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Completely agreed on all points. I have no idea why such an apparently good game (7.1 on BoardGameGeek) with such an inflated aftermarket price stays out of print. Leaving money on the table, as they say. Though I suppose that an obscure fantasy hex-and-counter wargame couldn't possibly make money in the amounts that Hasbro would even notice, so who cares about the fans.

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  3. Oh. After looking around, I found this thread to explain why, despite my otherwise intense interest, I won't be buying the next edition unless something changes. That makes me very sad, but I can't see my way clear to helping make that person's business endeavors profitable.

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    1. Had not seen that news. Certainly will not support anything associated with Vox Day, and honestly I', questioning whether O want to support anything associated with Glenn at this point. A creator who'd willingly climb in bed with that racist scum tars himself and his work just through association.

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    2. A quick Google didn't find any news about any new Divine Right game from Vox Day. But it occurred to me, even if they did eventually publish a game, it might not have anything to do with the original DR game; a guy who takes a pseudonym that means "voice of God" might just have wanted to buy the trademark "Divine Right" for future use of his own.

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    3. No, it is licensed from the original creator and not a new game.

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    4. What’s most galling is that Rahman et al were approached by a wargame publisher of some repute, Phalanx, and Rahman instead turned to Vox Day. Credit to Rahman’s collaborators for walking away at that point.

      On a similar note, I’m still not sure what to make of Sandy Petersen’s following of Varg Vikernes on Twitter.

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    5. I have loved Sandy Petersen's work, met him back in school, and backed his kickstarters until recently. The man's old and conservative, which unfortunately in tribal America invariably means going to very bad places.

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  4. Prices have gone up significantly the last few years for some (?) reason. I picked up excellent 1st edition and 25th Anniversary edition copies about 5 years ago for much less than the current asking prices. 15 copies of various editions on Ebay currently. They are not moving -- which is unusual for this game. For certain, if they were listed at $100-150 they'd all be gone very quickly.

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  5. Minarian Legends is coming to print. Also, there is a a Divine Right Classic Collectors Edition being published. Find out more at http://divineright.games/
    Yes, the publisher has been accused of "badthink". People can judge for themselves if they want to mix games and politics. I know we never used to.

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    1. Never (that is, in the late 20th century) used to because there wasn't a mainstream ideology in your country as transparently odious as it is now.

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  6. Those articles were really good. The characters and racial histories were well written and interesting. Who can forget the lich who ruled an unopposed, the cursed immortal warrior, or the wily dwarves? This game really should be an RPG on it's own. IMHO.

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  7. I completely love DR and the Minarian setting; I purchased the first edition right when it was published in 79 (at the age of 12) and it was a huge influence on my early gaming imagination, including table top rpgs. A few years ago I wrote a fantasy heartbreaker game for the setting (though relatively good, I think). I never distributed it widely but my group played a 6 mo. campaign. This post has me contemplating dusting it off, redoing the stats and rules for TFT (as I can't think of any reason why I would play a home brew or other system instead of it), and running it in my current group.

    Re. the prospect of a new edition, I'd love to see something done that worked hard to be true to the original (which is simply fantastic, as a physical product). But I wouldn't touch the property with a ten foot pole given the far-right associations of its producer. I understand that we have always had political disagreements in our community and I have generally always ignored them, as I would in my relationships with a neighbor or shopkeeper or whatever. But we are several years in to an extremely acrimonious cultural divorce that was precipitated by one of the 'partners' firing off a very hateful message to the other side, in the form of the 2016 election. If you declare a mean spirited divorce, don't be surprised if your Ex wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire.

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