tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post392512443078517903..comments2024-03-28T06:20:47.668-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Pulp Fantasy Library: Straggler from AtlantisJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42491336123299357222021-03-31T18:56:14.096-04:002021-03-31T18:56:14.096-04:00I'd like to second Unknown's and Dick McGe...I'd like to second Unknown's and Dick McGee's recommendations regarding Manly Wade Wellman's fiction. The anthology that contains those Kardios stories is just one of the nifty books you can find at DMRbooks.com and you can find most of the John Thunestone tales (horror/occult mystery) in the book Lonely Vigils (Shadowridge Press) at Amazon.com. I came late to my appreciation of M. Wade Wellman, but he's really quite good. John E. Boylehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02424841103552780730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-78710377832032913492021-03-31T10:36:14.785-04:002021-03-31T10:36:14.785-04:00Ah well. If you get the itch to explore any of th...Ah well. If you get the itch to explore any of them, King of Dungeons is much more succinct than either of the other two while adding some neat touches of its own - notably the idea of a professional adventurers' guild that your PCs' party will be navigating during play, building a rep and facing rivalries and politicking. Worth a look, especially at the low $10 price for the pdf on DTRPG (you can also get as POD for $20-30 if you prefer).Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-18219403445544255902021-03-30T19:02:08.392-04:002021-03-30T19:02:08.392-04:00I first encountered this story in Appendix N (as a...I first encountered this story in Appendix N (as alluded to above), and I quite liked it. My impression of it was that it read like an odd fusion of folklore Americana and Spelljammer, Kardios coming off almost a Tom Sawyer-ish sort, and with a bit of the Silmarillion sprinkled in for flavour (Kardios dancing about and stabbing at Fith reminded me of nothing so much as Fingolfin dueling Morgoth). It was the first I've actually read of Wellman, and certainly inclined me to go hunting for more. Darien Sumnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08586351803319498406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-49569489233116167332021-03-30T15:21:04.676-04:002021-03-30T15:21:04.676-04:00My knowledge of either 4e or 13th Age is minimal, ...My knowledge of either 4e or 13th Age is minimal, I'm afraid. James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-69076369560434754772021-03-30T15:01:52.900-04:002021-03-30T15:01:52.900-04:00Thinking further about your dislike of bards as a ...Thinking further about your dislike of bards as a class, have you looked at either D&D 4E's Warlord class, or the very similar Commander from 13th Age and its spinoff hack King of Dungeons? They all fill kind of the same role that I think bards do by inspiring other party members to greater feats. They do it through orders and clever tactical ploys (at least by flavor) rather than songs and actual magic, and don't have the historical baggage the word "bard" does. Really like the class in its various incarnations, far more than I've ever liked bards.<br /><br />King of Dungeons drops bards as a class, but they add the scholar class that's effectively a bard with its 13th Age mechanics reflavored so that rather than (say) singing you're giving impropmptu speeches, lectures or diatribes to buff your allies and debuff enemies. It's somewhat of an odd take, but I found it worked for me to such a degree that I reversed the hack and played a "scholar" (in name) in 13th Age last time I got to actually play (so, 2019 - sigh).<br /><br />I'm not sure any game really needs both a commander and a bard equivalent at once, though. Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-76107520727374698722021-03-29T20:25:46.611-04:002021-03-29T20:25:46.611-04:00Wellman's collection WORSE THINGS WAITING, ori...Wellman's collection WORSE THINGS WAITING, originally published by Carcosa, is available in trade paperback. Adventuresfantastichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16907562789681407416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45536766465614922202021-03-29T15:02:26.687-04:002021-03-29T15:02:26.687-04:00I assure you you're not the only person who we...I assure you you're not the only person who went through a stretch of "any Conan must be good Conan" reading. I think it took me till Robert Jordan started writing them to finally start being selective about things. :)Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-56512255412244677092021-03-29T14:30:32.674-04:002021-03-29T14:30:32.674-04:00I really enjoyed Andrew J. Offutt's Cormac Mac...I really enjoyed Andrew J. Offutt's Cormac Mac Art books as a kid. Then again I ate up the Sprague De Camp Conan books at the time so I wasn't all that picky.Ruprechthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00139664977453444000noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-17689587137318519162021-03-29T13:55:20.674-04:002021-03-29T13:55:20.674-04:00That article was definitely worth a read. Fascinat...That article was definitely worth a read. Fascinating!JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03263662621289630246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28533620698204780032021-03-29T13:36:21.906-04:002021-03-29T13:36:21.906-04:00Thanks for sharing this story. I like Wellman'...Thanks for sharing this story. I like Wellman's Silver John stories a lot too. A Kindle e-book form of the collection mentioned by a previous commenter is available on Amazon for only $3.99 so I went ahead and grabbed it.<br />Looking forward to them!akfu23https://www.blogger.com/profile/07850846883927606868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-64449670798888911302021-03-29T12:39:32.988-04:002021-03-29T12:39:32.988-04:00Amending my previous comment, I'll add the Joh...Amending my previous comment, I'll add the John Thunstone stories to Silver John on my list of "Wellman at his best" work. Even more maddeningly hard to find in print, but really quite striking reads.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53980961239235353612021-03-29T12:33:48.099-04:002021-03-29T12:33:48.099-04:00I would imagine it drew some notice. Andrew had s...I would imagine it drew some notice. Andrew had spent his entire life compartmentalizing his writing work for mostly different audiences, although I do wonder if the lengthy (by the standards of people who don't write ~500 books, anyway) Spaceways series (under his John Cleve pen name) didn't give the game away some. I remember reading a few of those titles (Assignment - Hellhole and Iceworld Connection) way back when and finding them off-putting but not excessively so.<br /><br />He seems to have been rather troubled, to put it mildly. Lot of unresolved guilt about some unhealthy fetishes he apparently never actually acted on, and never sought counselling for any of it. Not atypical for someone of his generation, mental health issues (particularly sex-related ones) were even more stigmatized when he was young than they are now and once you settle into sublimating things the pattern is unlikely to change later in life without outside intervention.Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-8084482332879728172021-03-29T11:04:35.002-04:002021-03-29T11:04:35.002-04:00The first five Kardios stories were collected in &...The first five Kardios stories were collected in "Heroes of Atlantis & Lemuria" along with stories by Leigh Brackett and Frederick Arnold Kummer, Jr.<br /><br />https://dmrbooks.com/heroes-of-atlantis-lemuriaD.M. Ritzlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447411955967975456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36911639447988463832021-03-29T09:48:04.997-04:002021-03-29T09:48:04.997-04:00I vaguely recall Chris Offutt's article gettin...I vaguely recall Chris Offutt's article getting some attention in pulp fantasy circles when it was released.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-54892810198071466112021-03-29T09:20:51.718-04:002021-03-29T09:20:51.718-04:00Don't think I've ever read a Wellman story...Don't think I've ever read a Wellman story I didn't enjoy, although he's arguably at his best with the Silver John stuff. Really grossly underappreciated these days, and a lot of his work is ridiculously hard to find in print at this point.<br /><br />Offutt, on the other hand, was never very memorable to me. Most folks would probably know him best for either his Thieves' World work or the Conan & Cormac mac Art pastiches he did, which is ironic. He actually produced hundreds of books over his career under various pseudonyms - the vast majority of which were erotica in a variety of styles. His smut output was really quite staggering. Despite having over 400 of the fool things published during his lifetime, there were another thirty manuscripts in queue waiting when he died. His son Chris (who's also an author, albeit on a more modest scale) did an interesting biographical article about Andrew back in 2015 entitled "My Dad, the Pornographer." Worth a read, perhaps more so than any of the senior Offutt's actual "adult" work:<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/my-dad-the-pornographer.html?_r=1Dick McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14521293874696659063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11525943808786465732021-03-29T07:38:37.773-04:002021-03-29T07:38:37.773-04:00This was included in the recently published "...This was included in the recently published "Appendix N" book by Peter Bebergal. <br /><br />I loved it; it felt fresh and classic at the same time.Yochai Galhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04226464338061503830noreply@blogger.com