Here's the opening paragraph to introduction of the user manual from 1979's Temple of Apshai. This section was reprinted verbatim in the manual to The Temple of Apshai Trilogy six years later.
Did you grow up in the company of the Brothers Grimm, Snow White, The Red Fairy Book, The Flash Gordon serials, The Three Musketeers, the knights of the Round Table, or any of the three versions of The Thief of Baghdad? Have you read The Lord of the Rings, The Worm Ouroboros, The Incomplete Enchanter, or Conan the Conqueror? Have you ever wished you could cross swords – just for fun – with Cyrano or D'Artagnan, or stand by their sides in the chill light of dawn, awaiting the arrival of the Cardinal's Guard? Ever wondered how you'd have done against the Gorgon, the Hydra, the bane of Heorot Hall, or the bull that walks like a man? Would you have sailed with Sinbad or Captain Blood, sought passage on the ship of Ishtar, or drunk of the Well at World's End? Did Aphrodite make Paris an offer you couldn't refuse? Would you seek a red-hued maiden beneath the hurtling moons of Barsoom, or walk the glory road with "Dr. Balsamo," knowing it might be a one-way street?
Written by Jon Freeman, co-designer of the game, this paragraph is filled with literary references that it could almost be taken as the Appendix N of Temple of Apshai. I say "almost," because the paragraph is not meant to describe the specific influences upon the game itself so much as to describe the kinds of stories, books, and characters that might serve as introductions both to fantasy as a genre and to fantasy roleplaying. In that respect, it's less useful in understanding Temple of Apshai than it is in understanding what, in 1979, might have been considered the "must reads" of fantasy – and the kinds of literature that had served as the seed beds of roleplaying.
I got almost all of the references, but "Dr Balsamo"?
ReplyDeleteIt's a reference to Heinlein's 1963 novel Glory Road.
DeleteAh. I read [i]The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Future History, & Time For the Stars[/i], but not Glory Road.
ReplyDeleteWhat, no Starship Troopers? That's the usual one for gamers IME. Remarkable how many people misremember it as being full of combat despite that. It really isn't, not by military scifi subgenre standards.
DeleteRed Planet, Star Beast, Tunnel in the Sky, Citizen of the Galaxy, but never actually ny of the others. And I remember Starship Troopers so poorly I wonder if finished it. It's impressive that Heinlein has written so much that you can read half dozen of his books and not overlap with another half dozen books loved by others.
DeleteNope, never read Starship Troopers. I saw the movie, but I doubt that it followed the book very well.
ReplyDeleteIt didn't. The Verhoeven film (which I like very much) was a satire of the book, militarism and propaganda.
ReplyDeleteWould you like to know more?
https://collider.com/starship-troopers-review-satire-at-its-best/
I would like to know more.
Delete;)
How do you satirize a book you haven't read? The movie isn't a satire. It's just lazy.
DeleteIt's more a satire of contemporary society, of course, as most science fiction is. Verhoeven was making a point, in the wake of Desert Storm, about Western society, and our own descent into jingoism and militarism. This is why the movie references not just the Nazis, but American wartime propaganda films. His story is meant to be cautionary about how the Allies came to fall into some of the same pitfalls as the Axis. He wasn't really satirizing the book. More using its broad outlines to make different points.
Delete"the bane of Heorot Hall" is a brilliant way to evoke the subject, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI had to look up the Well at World's End. I thought I knew the reference but I did not, and I'm glad because now I have another book to read.
you did notice that Jon F ran off with his wife and Paul Reiche III to form their game company? RPG industry founders
ReplyDeleteVery much so. They're all very important people to the histories of several hobbies.
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