tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74878713390006662162024-03-19T03:02:39.179-04:00GROGNARDIAMusings and Memories from a Lifetime of RoleplayingJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger4179125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87678203052432782172024-03-19T00:00:00.097-04:002024-03-19T00:00:00.134-04:00Polyhedron: Issue #18<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnU9nLtSx0VqO3Ozn1hI4YT7SXm2Ws6JHE7jNWUYnT3A_FPtg5ezWgGsmxvIuh7zMlyr1kqnhk80aW3mz4tfxUXGrFoUXvrVh_BvdP9wcIHdjMM_4LOeIgxBUd8tk9GITP9rKIlhxKild8ddv2u9eBP8-eVpHrGBZuMqRmoQZiTLCrkrZSWzhzUIfkMOv/s854/polyhedron18.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="854" data-original-width="646" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjnU9nLtSx0VqO3Ozn1hI4YT7SXm2Ws6JHE7jNWUYnT3A_FPtg5ezWgGsmxvIuh7zMlyr1kqnhk80aW3mz4tfxUXGrFoUXvrVh_BvdP9wcIHdjMM_4LOeIgxBUd8tk9GITP9rKIlhxKild8ddv2u9eBP8-eVpHrGBZuMqRmoQZiTLCrkrZSWzhzUIfkMOv/w303-h400/polyhedron18.jpg" width="303" /></a>Serendipity is a funny thing. No sooner did I mention <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/conan-and-cup-of-destiny.html">my childhood affection for Spider-Man</a> than I find that issue #18 of <i>Polyhedron </i>(July 1984) features everyone's favorite web-slinger facing off against the Scorpion on its cover. This only makes sense, of course, since TSR's <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/02/retrospective-marvel-super-heroes.html">Marvel Super Heroes</a> </i>debuted around this time and was a big hit for the company. In fairly short order, it seemed as if there were nearly as many adventures being released for <i>MSH </i>as there were for <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, though my memory might well be faulty.</p><p>Spidey and the Scorpion form the basis for this issue's "Encounters" article, written by none other than <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/08/interview-jeff-grubb-part-i.html">Jeff</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/08/interview-jeff-grubb-part-ii.html">Grubb</a>, the designer of <i>Marvel Super Heroes. </i>Like all previous "Encounters" articles, this one is brief, but Grubb nevertheless makes the most of the limited space, presenting a scenario in which Spider-Man must rescue J. Jonah Jameson from a subway car that's been commandeered by Scorpion. It's straightforward and simple but does a good job, I think, of presenting the kind of situation in which the Web-head often found himself.</p><p>James M. Ward's "Cryptic Alliance of the Bi-Month" focuses on the mutant mirror image of <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/polyhedron-issue-17.html">the Knights of Genetic Purity</a>, the Iron Society. Also known as the Mutationists, the Iron Society seeks to rid the post-apocalyptic Earth of all non-mutated life, with pure strain humans being the primary target of their ire. Needless to say, this makes the Society an object of fear in <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/retrospective-gamma-world.html">Gamma</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/04/retrospective-gamma-world-second-edition.html">World</a> </i>and I always felt that they'd be used primarily as antagonists in most campaigns. Compared to the Knights, who might excellent villains in my opinion, the Iron Society somehow feels a bit more one-note and the article does little to change my mind on this, alas.</p><p>"Remarkable, Incredible, Amazing" by <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/08/interview-steve-winter.html">Steve Winter</a>. As you might guess from its title, it's an overview of the then-newly released <i>Marvel Super Heroes </i>RPG. It's basically an advertisement intended to entice gamers into buying TSR's latest product and, in that respect, it does a fair job. Much more interesting is Roger E. Moore's "Kobolds and Robots and Mutants with Wings." Over the course of three pages. Moore talks first about the joys of "hybrid" games that mix and match rules and setting elements, something that even the <i>AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide </i>discusses briefly. He then moves on to talk about various hybrid games he's run, such as when <i>AD&D </i>adventurers made use of a <i>well of many worlds </i>to travel to the universe of <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/02/retrospective-bunnies-burrows.html">Bunnies & Burrows</a> </i>to fight rats in thrall with agents of the Cthulhu Mythos. Finally, he presents a lengthy discussion of <i>kobalts</i> – kobolds who traveled to <i>Gamma World</i>'s setting, were mutated by radiation, and then bred true as a distinct species. Moore stats them up for both <i>GW </i>and <i>AD&D</i> and presents lots of information on how they could be used in both games. As I said, it's a very interesting article and a reminder of just how imaginative a writer Moore was.</p><p>"The Magic-User" by James M. Ward presents yet another "archetypical" <i>[sic] </i>example of a <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>class, including her personality, skills, possessions, and holdings. In this case, that's Delsenora, an older woman who uses <i>potions of longevity </i>to retain her youth, who has a particular hatred for powerful undead, like vampires and liches. She also has a passion for flying through the use of magic. Consequently, she's built her castle high in the mountains, in a place otherwise inaccessible to those without flight. Appended to the end of Delsenora's description are two more magic-users, one by Ward (named Lidabmob – Bombadil spelled backwards) and another by Susan Lawson, presumably a RPGA member.</p><p>"Two Cents" by Joseph Wichman is a rambling opinion piece in which the author, another RPGA member, covers a number of vaguely related topics under the header of "roleplaying." He begins by arguing, <i>contra </i>the "Two Cents" column in <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/polyhedron-issue-14.html">issue #14</a>, that roleplaying is <i>not </i>the same as acting and that any referee who expects his players to immerse themselves deeply in their roles is being unreasonable. He also touches on "troublesome" players, <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/11/in-defense-of-evil-characters.html">evil characters</a>, and player vs character knowledge – all perennial topics in the gaming magazines of my youth. While I don't disagree with anything the author writes here, the article is somewhat frustrating to read, since it bounces around from one subject to the next.<br /></p><p>"Layover at Lossend" by Russ Horn, yet another RPGA member, is a short <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/12/retrospective-star-frontiers.html">Star Frontiers</a></i> scenario set on the titular planet of Lossend. The format of the single-page scenario reminds me a bit of the "Encounters" feature, in that it includes of player characters to be used in conjunction with it. The adventure itself isn't particularly worthy of comment, since it's very short and sketchy, leaving most details to the referee to work out. What <i>is </i>interesting is that Horn refers to the referee – the official term for the Game Master in the game – as "the DM." This is obviously just a small slip-up, both on the part of the writer and the <i>Polyhedron </i>editorial staff. However, I think points to the extent to which the terminology of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>had become the defaults in RPG discussions, even discussions about other games.</p><p>"Money Makes the World Go Round" by Art Dutra – again, an RPGA member – is a thoughtful little piece about the role of money and treasure in an ongoing <i>D&D </i>campaign. Dutra's focus is primarily from the side of the referee, highlighting the ways that money can be used to both motivate and impede player characters. He points out all the costs that PCs can incur during a campaign, especially those that are overlooked, like training and converting gems into coins, among many others. Dutra is absolutely correct, in my opinion, that referees often fail to take into account the, if you'll forgive the pun, value of money as a driver of a campaign. My only criticism is that focusing on taxes, exchanges rates, hidden costs, and other expenses can very quickly become <i>tedious</i>, or at least that's been my experience. Finding a way to keep money in mind without degenerating into an exercise in bookkeeping would be truly worthwhile topic for an article or essay.</p><p>Speaking of tedious, this issue's "Dispel Confusion" is largely filled with very persnickety rules questions of the sort that bore to tears. Whether because of laziness or a lack of intelligence, I've always been much more of a <i>rulings </i>guy rather than a <i>rules</i> guy, so this stuff frequently baffles me. I'm especially baffled by questions that begin "Can I ...?" as if the sender felt he needed TSR's permission to introduce something into his own campaign. I suppose these are the inevitable fruits of the company's attempts to maintain tight control over all of its games and to discourage its customers from buying or making use of "inferior" supplementary materials.</p><p>Issue #18 of <i>Polyhedron </i>shows the continued evolution of the 'zine. Perhaps the biggest change is the inclusion of many more articles submitted by RPGA members. That's a welcome change, though the quality of those submissions seems to vary quite a bit. Over time, I suspect that, too, will change, but, for the moment, it gives the issue a much more uneven feel than some of its immediate predecessors. Nevertheless, I look forward to seeing what future issues have in store. </p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-43641315130926021682024-03-18T12:00:00.045-04:002024-03-18T12:00:00.124-04:00The Waydreland Mermaid<p>One of the things about this blog that continues to give me joy are the people I meet through it. Recently, I was contacted by artist Alan Howcroft as a result of my blog post about <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/03/white-dwarf-issue-31.html">issue #31 of </a><i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/03/white-dwarf-issue-31.html">White Dwarf</a>. </i>Alan provided the issue with its evocative cover painting. Forty years after the cover first appeared, he put together an animated sequence featuring it, which you can see below.</p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uf-klCuILUQ?si=Xqv25n1dzckuOOmB" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: left;">Alan also told me that the animation shows more of the painting than was possible on the original <i>White Dwarf </i>cover. In addition, the animation corrects some color inaccuracies found in the print version, so, if you watch the video above, you're seeing the painting in its entirety, just as the artist intended it. </div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14328973192534272892024-03-18T00:00:00.363-04:002024-03-18T00:00:00.132-04:00The Problem with Appendix N<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ndgSW88flfc6Gczl2mai6r0hMFB1JmRPVITgmSYcQybGH-AEran1NPCCCRoe6JsKfI-TQus_Dqow0F6gY4hgDqN67nc79SifmTA3gx54qOSvF_Gu4fpiDVXfbtxokgSaSGYA0CgheKi5JLPm_RblI_meq2fVDGNbPYaXIU51Zti-j87amYDBwShstj6W/s335/Imaginary_Worlds.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="335" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ndgSW88flfc6Gczl2mai6r0hMFB1JmRPVITgmSYcQybGH-AEran1NPCCCRoe6JsKfI-TQus_Dqow0F6gY4hgDqN67nc79SifmTA3gx54qOSvF_Gu4fpiDVXfbtxokgSaSGYA0CgheKi5JLPm_RblI_meq2fVDGNbPYaXIU51Zti-j87amYDBwShstj6W/s320/Imaginary_Worlds.jpg" width="191" /></a></div>Since <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/03/whats-grognard.html">its start</a> sixteen(!) years ago this month, an overriding concern of this blog has been the <i>literary inspirations </i>of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, particularly those stories and books belonging to what I call <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-is-pulp-fantasy.html">"pulp fantasy."</a> Though there are several reasons why this topic has been of such interest to me, the primary one remains my sense that, in the decades since its initial publication in 1974, <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>has moved conceptually ever farther away from its origins in the minds of Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax – and the works that inspired them.<p></p><p>The argument can be made, of course, that this movement was, in fact, a <i>good thing</i>, as it broadened the appeal of both <i>D&D </i>and, by extension, roleplaying games as a hobby, thereby leading to their continued success half a century later. I have no interest in disputing this point of view at the present time, not least of all because it contains quite a bit of truth. My concern has rarely been about the <i>merits </i>of the shift, but rather about <i>establishing that it occurred. </i>To do that, one needs to recognize and understand the authors and books that inspired the game in the first place.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31sQHg0e2iH4PwWKx6O-GI0UNq-u-jLHJpxdjRAI_JbvTs5WO961wrh5g-7wKI_2721QTjjSHNONTbaAnsjN2C7JIHoDFWz5oN7azL3oqwi6ISpSQGq6KXxwoO3WRmAPj-T3Cu6ASQEhwCTPyLc_cQDA3Zy4WFNMNfZ721v6mHonUwHTTDNpYD-NHmB_O/s800/kadath.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="483" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh31sQHg0e2iH4PwWKx6O-GI0UNq-u-jLHJpxdjRAI_JbvTs5WO961wrh5g-7wKI_2721QTjjSHNONTbaAnsjN2C7JIHoDFWz5oN7azL3oqwi6ISpSQGq6KXxwoO3WRmAPj-T3Cu6ASQEhwCTPyLc_cQDA3Zy4WFNMNfZ721v6mHonUwHTTDNpYD-NHmB_O/s320/kadath.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>It's fortunate, then, that Gary Gygax was quite forthcoming about his literary inspirations, providing us with several different lists of the writers and literature that he considered to have been the most immediate influences upon him in his creation of the game. The most well-known of these lists is Appendix N of the <i>AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide</i>. While I was not the first person to draw attention to the importance of Appendix N – Erik Mona, publisher of Paizo, springs immediately to mind as a noteworthy early advocate – it's no mere boast to suggest that Grognardia played a huge role in promoting Appendix N and its contents during the early days of the Old School Renaissance.<div><br /></div><div>So successful was that promotion that discussions of Appendix N proliferated well beyond this blog, to the point where, a decade and a half later, "Appendix N fantasy" has become almost a brand unto itself. One need only look at the <i><a href="https://goodman-games.com/dungeon-crawl-classics-rpg/">Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG</a> </i>from Goodman Games to see a high-profile example of what I mean, though I could cite many others. If nothing else, it's a testament to just how <i>inspiring </i>others found the authors and books that had earlier inspired Gygax<i>. </i>There was clearly a hunger for a <i>different kind of fantasy </i>beyond the endless parade of Tolkien knock-offs <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/07/pulp-fantasy-library-sword-of-shannara.html">Terry Brooks</a> inaugurated (and that <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-dragonlance-ruined-everything.html">Dragonlance</a> </i>formally introduced into <i>D&D</i>).</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUtW0CrotEaamI2ETrh73zond2JouXbh66WMckV1ClSOMBKjtb8V4jroDZWnFFn_0cTRiO78KZ3mDdlOflCWmqTUgWqqT9eZqWhBekj8ixyY0KenU3ZPNKJ4jJATOAFUMpuDzB-p8kt5GN0EzBCqZn2seoUbw9f-47bcCWgToQHeEnneDLnPVC1EAIJ2iQ/s416/Swords_and_Deviltry.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUtW0CrotEaamI2ETrh73zond2JouXbh66WMckV1ClSOMBKjtb8V4jroDZWnFFn_0cTRiO78KZ3mDdlOflCWmqTUgWqqT9eZqWhBekj8ixyY0KenU3ZPNKJ4jJATOAFUMpuDzB-p8kt5GN0EzBCqZn2seoUbw9f-47bcCWgToQHeEnneDLnPVC1EAIJ2iQ/s320/Swords_and_Deviltry.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>Yet, for all that, Appendix N suffers from a very clear problem, one that has limited its utility as a guide for understanding <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>as Gary Gygax understood it: <i>it's just a list. </i>Gygax, unfortunately, provides no commentary on any of the authors or works included in the list, stating only that those he included "were of particular inspiration" He later emphasizes that certain authors, like Fritz Leiber, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft, among others, played a stronger role in "help[ing] to shape the form of the game." Beyond these brief remarks, Gygax says nothing else about <i>what </i>he found inspirational in these books and authors or <i>why </i>he selected them over others he chose not to include.<div><br /></div><div>In addition, Appendix N is <i>long</i>, consisting of nearly thirty different authors and many more books. Drawing any firm conclusions about what Gygax saw in these works is not always easy, something that, in my opinion, might have been easier had the list been shorter and more focused. That's not to say it's <i>impossible</i> to get some sense of what Gygax liked and disliked in fantasy and how they impacted his vision for <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, but it's certainly <i>harder </i>than it needs to be. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUp1Cc_qXe-jWb-cUVtHM5TyTd2fZdoAlWHb1om_0vJ0Z7DZcUlRkVF1z5qqP0mnOcCB4dWQ-LD24xlOrY7jIZhp55IP10iDwlhJiTETwqL0NZrKS43U8-tgJABC3JFHWYdwJQfnNRBVESdUwD0F5IAEQdaCkc1gkdDWZjw2W95dmRMcqjkPFOodfYk4M/s640/MLO2247.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="383" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgUp1Cc_qXe-jWb-cUVtHM5TyTd2fZdoAlWHb1om_0vJ0Z7DZcUlRkVF1z5qqP0mnOcCB4dWQ-LD24xlOrY7jIZhp55IP10iDwlhJiTETwqL0NZrKS43U8-tgJABC3JFHWYdwJQfnNRBVESdUwD0F5IAEQdaCkc1gkdDWZjw2W95dmRMcqjkPFOodfYk4M/s320/MLO2247.jpg" width="192" /></a></div>Compare Gygax's Appendix N to the <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-first-appendix-n.html">one found in <i>RuneQuest</i></a>. The list is about half as long (if you exclude other RPGs cited) and every entry is annotated, albeit briefly. Reading the <i>RQ </i>version of Appendix N, one has a very strong sense of not only <i>why </i>the authors found a book inspirational, but <i>what </i>each book inspired in them (and, thus, in <i>RuneQuest</i>). As much as I love Gygax's selection of authors and works, I can't help but think that selection would have proven <i>more useful</i> if he'd taken the time to elaborate, if only a little, on what he liked about its entries.</div><div><br /></div><div>I found myself thinking about this recently, because I've been pondering the possibility of including an analog to Appendix N in <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-vaults-of-sha-arthan.html">Secrets of sha-Arthan</a></i>. Since the game has a somewhat exotic setting that deviates from the standards of <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/10/in-praise-of-vanilla.html">vanilla fantasy</a>, I feel it might be helpful to point to pre-existing works of fantasy and science fiction (not to mention other roleplayng games) that inspired me as I developed the setting. That's why, if I do include a list of inspirations, it'll likely be both fairly short and annotated – closer to <i>RuneQuest</i>'s Appendix N than to Gygax's.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzsEv3Z5VSRC5aw1Cz6NJlAeaEokxjVQNIaBdiMROIF0yWt5rwvlDl4iGmYuADWoHlpuss_PDr9DOSd0fzJGFSR4UIP4yDowbO8iw_sy-bMUHj09YBE5GmAON9bWCKj0_yo4LZ0zl0a3xauy2zDfGwcX4cf59rVr5PKGpxPdW3fStHFIMYtyjC7P75oYt/s475/1026508.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimzsEv3Z5VSRC5aw1Cz6NJlAeaEokxjVQNIaBdiMROIF0yWt5rwvlDl4iGmYuADWoHlpuss_PDr9DOSd0fzJGFSR4UIP4yDowbO8iw_sy-bMUHj09YBE5GmAON9bWCKj0_yo4LZ0zl0a3xauy2zDfGwcX4cf59rVr5PKGpxPdW3fStHFIMYtyjC7P75oYt/s320/1026508.jpg" width="188" /></a></div>None of this should be taken as a repudiation of Appendix N or the works included in it as vital to understanding <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>and Gary Gygax's initial vision for it. I still think there is insight to be gleaned by reading and re-reading the works of pulp fantasy included in the appendix and will continue to recommend them to anyone who asks for recommendations of fantasy worthy of their time. Nor should any of the foregoing discourage anyone from taking the time to read Howard or Leiber or Lovecraft, as doing so is time well spent and more than sufficient reward in its own right. However, with some time and perspective, I recognize that Appendix N has certain shortcomings that can make it less than adequate as a guide to "what Dungeons & Dragons is about."James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53825062684621539252024-01-26T00:00:00.115-05:002024-01-26T00:00:00.252-05:00Fifty Years Ago Today<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4nLxf6KpPLrEcvshVFunXsCe5z3AXmdyTUB9Q8jUcsd3B76vMLTWXt8pQtAA2oDjESQsa1IH2xqx85q3skENV5n34wYRkiUzb8TiBL7g8Lf0HTWDrZubjRvD6ma5IZphOuhdT_36mLr4_RhcosZZR9Cc-ac4BL1iLxGh6tUwb1m2eri6_LKdrN9E7S0B/s630/odd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="630" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH4nLxf6KpPLrEcvshVFunXsCe5z3AXmdyTUB9Q8jUcsd3B76vMLTWXt8pQtAA2oDjESQsa1IH2xqx85q3skENV5n34wYRkiUzb8TiBL7g8Lf0HTWDrZubjRvD6ma5IZphOuhdT_36mLr4_RhcosZZR9Cc-ac4BL1iLxGh6tUwb1m2eri6_LKdrN9E7S0B/w400-h305/odd.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm very interested in the history of <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>, but I'm not a historian – especially when compared to someone like Jon Peterson. Consequently, if Jon opines that <a href="https://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2013/12/when-dungeons-dragons-turns-40.html">January 26, 1974 is the day on which <i>D&D </i>was released</a> – and, therefore, the game's birthday – I'm inclined to trust his judgment. So, happy birthday <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i>! For the last half-century, you've entertained untold millions of people across the globe, providing them with a delightful means to exercise their imaginations together with their friends. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>played an outsize role in popularizing fantasy literature, ideas, and themes, as well as inspiring many of its devotees to <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/11/be-creator-not-consumer.html">create their own</a>. Roleplaying, as a formal activity, owes nearly its entire existence to the phenomenal success of <i>D&D. </i>Even more remarkable is the extent to which the computer and video game industry, which is bigger and more profitable than the music and movie industries <i>combined</i>, owes a huge debt to the example set by <i>D&D. </i>If you play any game with classes or levels or experience or hit points today, that's because of <i>Dungeons & Dragons.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's slightly crazy if you think about it. Two wargamers from the American Midwest created <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-new-genre-itself.html">an entirely new type of entertainment</a>, one that, over the course of five decades, <i>changed the world forever. </i>That's no small accomplishment – and it's certainly worth celebrating. </div><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-50132978158288314282024-01-22T14:00:00.000-05:002024-01-22T14:00:00.123-05:00Conan and the Cup of Destiny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCH-2DnBMlmlgWAWZFKPKy_8eX1gp8s2a_3RCXitL4rHEWighDCEEiHkBEjc8HJ7KzG82__T5zoTavzLbtJnOZQheIlN0euEpu_Wdv_iVC7DAoHN3orfQOO1xAzwQIu4JG4XXqJI3RPW6eI8NQixYG7l2Gu4bIySPYjEgwXNNslILwrBfWmR23aOCV6bw/s1150/slurpee.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1150" data-original-width="791" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCH-2DnBMlmlgWAWZFKPKy_8eX1gp8s2a_3RCXitL4rHEWighDCEEiHkBEjc8HJ7KzG82__T5zoTavzLbtJnOZQheIlN0euEpu_Wdv_iVC7DAoHN3orfQOO1xAzwQIu4JG4XXqJI3RPW6eI8NQixYG7l2Gu4bIySPYjEgwXNNslILwrBfWmR23aOCV6bw/w275-h400/slurpee.jpg" width="275" /></a></div>In the summers of my childhood, there were few delights more refreshing than 7-Eleven's <i>Slurpee – </i>the store's carbonated frozen ice beverage. During the 1970s, when I was growing up, it was not at all uncommon for Slurpees to come in a plastic cup festooned with images of professional athletes or folkloric monsters or Wild West historical figures. In a few cases, I'd hold on to the cup, wash it out, and then re-use it. For example, I held on to a cup featuring skeletal cowboys for quite some time, simply my younger self thought <i>it looked cool.</i><div><i><br /></i></div><div>In 1977. 7-Eleven produced a series of Slurpee cups that featured Marvel Comics characters. This was apparently the <i>second </i>such series, the first having come out two years prior, but I don't recall ever seeing the original run. In '77, I wasn't much of a comics reader, but I did like Spider-Man, thanks in large part to <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-marvelous-work-of-lin-carter.html">the 1967 show</a> that I watched in reruns at an impressionable age. Consequently, I was quite keen to get a Spider-Man Slurpee cup and visited 7-Eleven multiple times during the summer in the hope of acquiring one.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite my best efforts, I was never successful in this endeavor, having to content myself instead with cups featuring characters I'd never heard of before, like Namor and Nova – and <i>Conan the Barbarian. </i>At that time – I would have been nearly eight years old – I'd never encountered the name Conan outside the middle name of the creator of Sherlock Holmes. He was completely unknown to me and I recall being very puzzled by his inclusion in a series of cups that seemed otherwise to include only illustrations of <i>superheroes</i>, such as my beloved Spider-Man. Because Conan meant nothing to me at the time, I didn't keep the cup and moved on to <i>other things</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeFbnKWMnLWGsaDz_8tx_T3CFaDIMKDmU86uCY1EiV9CrRY1xibeXZkaNxvtWhy_5QrRBb55ZeQnNMSGqD6uqkjtajxBkvOzHwojcikGKTMEPzUpqxTCapzZ2zr6Sni7WmiUle6U9FU5aAGfCjCVOWR33WxatHOsUasvRCKGDibxKYCiTLc0KmfMz6KCb/s871/heroes.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="573" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYeFbnKWMnLWGsaDz_8tx_T3CFaDIMKDmU86uCY1EiV9CrRY1xibeXZkaNxvtWhy_5QrRBb55ZeQnNMSGqD6uqkjtajxBkvOzHwojcikGKTMEPzUpqxTCapzZ2zr6Sni7WmiUle6U9FU5aAGfCjCVOWR33WxatHOsUasvRCKGDibxKYCiTLc0KmfMz6KCb/w264-h400/heroes.jpg" width="264" /></a></div>This being the summer of 1977, foremost among those other things was George Lucas's space opera, <i>Star Wars. </i>Like every other little boy (and quite a few little girls), I was <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/11/be-creator-not-consumer.html"><i>obsessed </i>with <i>Star Wars</i></a>, snatching up as many tie-in products with it as I could. Among those tie-in products was a Marvel comics series, initially written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Howard Chaykin. The series began by adapting the 1977 film over the course of six issues and then moved on to <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/08/star-wars-invades-my-dreams.html">wholly original material</a> whose <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-star-wars-comic-memories.html">quality varied</a>, but which I <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/awesome-obi-wan.html">generally liked</a> enough that I <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/quick-distraction.html">kept reading it</a> for several years, right up until the release of <i>The Empire Strikes Back </i>in 1980.</div><div><br /></div><div>Most issues included an advertisement for subscriptions to Marvel comics. Though I never subscribed to any comics – I relied on the spinner rack at the local drug store – I nevertheless would glance over these ads to see what other titles Marvel had on offer. That's where I saw <i>Conan the Barbarian </i>once again, sometimes with an image of the mighty thewed warrior himself. Who was this guy? As before, I was baffled by his presence among so many superheroes. Mind you, I was equally baffled by the presence of Howard the Duck as well, so what did I know?</div><div><br /></div><div>Some time later – I can't quite recall when but certainly before I was first introduced to <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>in late 1979 – I stumbled across the name Conan again. This time, it was at my local library, which I visited regularly. Middle River Public Library had been my gateway to so many fantasy and science fiction books and writers, forming the basis for so many of my fondest childhood memories. One day, I took notice <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/11/spinner-rack-memories.html">a spinner rack filled with white paperback books all of which bore the name <i>CONAN </i>in large, colorful letters</a>. I still had no idea who Conan was or why he seemed to keep popping up, but there was he was once more. I wasn't yet ready to answer this question, as these paperbacks seemed a bit too "adult" for my tastes, judging by their moody painted covers.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDwu7dIo5YMBLebT1byrfCoOc3G4c1jjNrhCpIansSSKYEy9L8nBFgvJnvuaIRvY6FWLW8grZP3mmM0RKZYpPXl-7WeND-JEC8Gz_8nr5wC6TkA4ydyVFE6rs1-caxuTnP7t4M9pI4_uWVsytZ3IFeZRckYB5M-O1J_BZKe2SdV_7LfeUD3Y9G5WhbgDb/s365/SavageSwordOfConan01.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="272" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuDwu7dIo5YMBLebT1byrfCoOc3G4c1jjNrhCpIansSSKYEy9L8nBFgvJnvuaIRvY6FWLW8grZP3mmM0RKZYpPXl-7WeND-JEC8Gz_8nr5wC6TkA4ydyVFE6rs1-caxuTnP7t4M9pI4_uWVsytZ3IFeZRckYB5M-O1J_BZKe2SdV_7LfeUD3Y9G5WhbgDb/w238-h320/SavageSwordOfConan01.jpg" width="238" /></a></div>My initial judgment over this Conan fellow eventually seemed confirmed when a friend of mine, on a visit to the drugstore to pick up the latest issue of <i>Star Wars</i>, pointed out that there were comic books for sale <i>behind the counter, </i>"behind the counter" being childish code, for the place where they kept <i>those magazines</i>. Sure enough, my friend was correct. I caught glimpse of a comic entitled <i>Savage Sword of Conan</i>, whose cover art reminded me quite a bit of those white paperbacks I'd seen at the library. I was now certain I'd never figure out the mystery of Conan and his connection to Marvel comics.<div><br /></div><div>That's where things stood for some time. It wasn't until sometime in 1981 or thereabouts, by which point I was an older and more worldly twelve years-old that I took up any serious interest in Conan. The <i>AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide </i>mentions the "Conan series" in Appendix N, along with its author, Robert E. Howard. Holmes also includes a mention of Howard and <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/10/tale-of-two-lists.html">Moldvay's bibliography</a> cites Howard alongside many other authors whose books I had already read and enjoyed. Furthermore, many of the older guys I knew who played <i>D&D </i>seem to <i>love </i>Howard and Conan. Maybe, I decided, it was time to finally figure out who Conan was and why he seemed to be <i>everywhere</i> I went. So, I went off to the library and grabbed one of those paperbacks off the spinner rack and checked it out. The rest, as they say, is history.</div><div><br /></div><div>I mention all of this because today is the birthday of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan and many other characters who are now among the most famous and enduring literary creations of all time. It's funny to consider that I first became acquainted with both of them thanks to comic books published more than three decades after Howard's death by a company that didn't even exist at the time of his demise. I think that's a testament to just how <i>remarkable </i>was REH's imagination that a shy, nerdy, and prudish kid growing up in suburban Baltimore would one day come to love the products of it. So many other writers, who lived longer and wrote more, have been forgotten by history, but Howard – and Conan – live on.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy birthday, Bob.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-53658915082995044662024-01-21T11:41:00.001-05:002024-01-21T11:41:58.320-05:00Thoughts on the Occasion of Merritt's Birthday<p>The fine gentlemen over at <a href="https://dmrbooks.com/">DMR Books</a> generously lent me their <a href="https://dmrbooks.com/reviews">online soapbox</a> on the occasion of Abraham Grace Merritt's 140th birthday yesterday. </p><p>You can read my thoughts on the subject <a href="https://dmrbooks.com/test-blog/2024/1/20/thoughts-on-the-occasion-of-merritts-birthday">there</a>.</p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-70864752526209500582024-01-17T13:00:00.018-05:002024-01-17T13:00:00.127-05:00Polyhedron: Issue #17<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1xnWwGoXxPMi-VBwzF-SpodJ97drhzokDoBq2NE8NNH4-qC03GeePP38A6EKOnfoRwRyIjHY3gcht6kaVg5lnrend-2htIEh3eeghfJEfMRj0OxRv8saIpX6S6aNBGQD_G0DjP49zFOV3SGzY-cASNIW1zzaLOr6px6dfHwQ5kEaZR2H8Yh2Ie85-4Yo/s853/polyhedron17.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="649" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1xnWwGoXxPMi-VBwzF-SpodJ97drhzokDoBq2NE8NNH4-qC03GeePP38A6EKOnfoRwRyIjHY3gcht6kaVg5lnrend-2htIEh3eeghfJEfMRj0OxRv8saIpX6S6aNBGQD_G0DjP49zFOV3SGzY-cASNIW1zzaLOr6px6dfHwQ5kEaZR2H8Yh2Ie85-4Yo/w304-h400/polyhedron17.jpg" width="304" /></a>Issue #17 of <i>Polyhedron </i>(May 1984) is immediately notable for its cover, which features an uncredited 19th century engraving rather than an illustration by one of TSR's staff artists. Nevertheless, the engraving <i>is </i>being used to illustrate one of this issue's articles, a long "Encounters" piece by Kim Eastland about which I'll speak shortly. Because of hos <i>different </i>this cover looks compared to its predecessors, it's one that I remember well, even if I didn't recall anything about the article to which it's connected.</p><p>The issue kicks off with a long letter in which a reader comments that he is "not a member of the RPGA Network in order to get a second helping of articles every month. DRAGON does a good job monthly." Instead, the reader wants to hear the opinions and ideas of RPGA members rather than "professional writers." It's a fair criticism, I think, though, <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/polyhedron-issue-16.html">as I noted last week</a>, it's not one I shared. Editor Mary Kirchoff explains that the preponderance of articles by TSR staff members is due to a lack of submissions by RPGA members. Reading this now, I must admit to some surprise at this. I would have imagined that members would have jumped at the chance of writing for <i>Polyhedron</i>, but apparently not. (Of course, given that I never submitted anything during the time I was a subscriber means that I have no room to criticize.)</p><p>Kim Eastland's "Encounters" concerns a ruined temple that the characters came across while traveling elsewhere. Outside the ruin is the servant of an adventurer whose employer left him outside while he ventured within to investigate. That was more than a day ago and the adventurer has not returned since. What then follows is a three-page description of the temple, its contents, and denizens, accompanied by illustrations that (mostly) are in the same style as the cover. Though lacking a map, the temple is quite fascinating, since it includes a number of tricks and traps within it, as well as some valuable treasure. I think it'd make an intriguing side encounter for an ongoing campaign.</p><p>The Knights of Genetic Purity are James M. Ward's "Cryptic Alliance of the Bi-Month" for use with <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/retrospective-gamma-world.html">Gamma</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/04/retrospective-gamma-world-second-edition.html">World</a>. </i>Pure strain human supremacists, the Knights fall squarely on the side of villains, at least in most of the <i>GW </i>campaigns with which I am familiar. The article thus devotes most of its two pages to details of the alliance's personnel and weaponry, so as to aid the referee in using them as adversaries. We also get a couple of legends associated with the cryptic alliance, such as "Pul Banyon," a seven foot-tall mutant slayer and a king named "Art" who was betrayed by his "human-looking mutant" wife. I remember liking this article more than is probably deserved upon re-reading it. I don't think it's <i>bad</i> so much as <i>uninspired</i>, which is a shame, because I think the Knights of Genetic Purity make great adversaries for a <i>Gamma World </i>campaign.<br /></p><p>"Variants, House Rules, and Hybrids" by Roger E. Moore, on the other hand, is a terrific article. Over the course of three pages, Moore looks at the merits and flaws of introducing variant rules into your ongoing RPG campaign, as well as presenting examples of such variants (critical hits, new classes, etc.). What's most remarkable about this piece is not Moore's advice, which is indeed good, but <i>the fact that it appears in the pages of Polyhedron at all. </i>Moore acknowledges, at the start of his article, that TSR's policy is that "it's better to game with the rules as they are," but he nevertheless feels that "everyone has different ideas on what makes a game fun." From the vantage point of 2024, this might seem non-controversial, but, at the time, <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/12/regrets-of-tsr-fanboy.html">for people like myself</a>, who hung on every word that proceeded from the mouth of Gygax, it was a Very Big Deal and I am grateful for it.</p><p>"The Fighter" by James M. Ward is the start of a new feature, intended to present an "archetypical <i>[sic]</i>" example of a <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>character class "to give a general idea of what characteristics and/or quirks a superior, balanced character in a particular character class would have." Ward presents Ian McPherson as his example of the archetypal fighter, detailing his personality, skills, equipment, and holdings. It's notable that the article is light on game mechanics, which surprised me. I would have thought we'd at least get game statistics for Ian, but we do not. Instead, the following article, "Two New NPCs," presents two brief write-ups of unique fighters, one a dwarf and one a half-orc, written by Ward and Roger E. Moore respectively. These write-ups do include stats and are thus more immediately usable.</p><p>"Disguised Weapons" by Nicholas Moschovakis presents six hidden weapons for use with <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/retrospective-top-secret.html">Top Secret</a>. </i>This is a no-nonsense "meat and potatoes" gaming article of the sort that used to fill gaming magazines at the time. Likewise, Kim Mohan's "Wishes Have Their Limits" also belongs to a hoary gaming magazine genre, namely, articles about how to constrain and otherwise rein in the power of magic wishes in <i>D&D. </i>Mohan attempts to present, over the course of three pages, a series four "laws" for adjudicating wishes. His laws are all fine, if you feel the need for such things, but, these days, I'm generally quite lenient with wishes and reality warping magics, because I see in them the opportunity to inject a little chaos into the <i>status quo</i> of a campaign. Maybe I'm weird.</p><p>"DM Talk" by Carl Smith looks at the various approaches to refereeing <i>D&D</i>, offering thoughtful insights and advice. Though obviously geared more toward novice DMs, I think he still says things of potential interest to more experienced ones. In particular, I like his division of RPG players into one of three "levels," each of growing sophistication, with Level 1 being "roll playing" and Level 3 being a high degree of immersion. He then tailors his advice for the referee based on the current level of the campaign and the needs of its players. It's not a world changing article, but it's solid and looks at the subject from a slightly different perspective, which I appreciate.</p><p>"Dispel Confusion" presents the usual assortment of questions and answers related to TSR's various RPGs. The most notable questions this time around are one concerning the fact that the monster Zargon from <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/retrospective-lost-city.html">The Lost City</a> </i>is stated to be "no god" and yet his clerics have spells. How is this possible? According to the answer, "there is in fact a greater evil force behind Zargon" and it is this mysterious being who is granting spells to his cleric. I have to admit that's quite intriguing! Another question concerns whether there are female dwarves, which the questioner apparently doubted. Obviously, the answer is in the affirmative. Did anyone seriously doubt this?</p><p>Issue #17 also includes another mini-module, "The Incants of Ishcabeble," by Bob Blake. It picks up from the mini-module included in <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/polyhedron-issue-16.html">the last issue</a> and takes the characters to the abandoned tower of the ancient wizard, Ishcabeble. I have an affection for abandoned towers of all sorts, so I'm naturally inclined to like this one, too, which features a good mix of puzzles, tricks, traps, and combat. </p><p>The transformation of <i>Polyhedron </i>continues, though, as I theorized previously, not all of its readers are entirely happy with its new direction as <i>Dragon Jr. </i>Of course, <i>Polyhedron</i> was, to my recollection, always in a state of flux, never quite knowing its niche within the larger constellation of TSR gaming periodicals. As a result, each issue was, to some degree, an experiment to determine what worked and what didn't. This one is no different in this regard and, as we shall see in weeks to come, <i>quite a lot </i>didn't work, hence the regular need to launch new columns and features that soon disappear, only to be replaced by others. </p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31531630471321868062024-01-15T00:00:00.391-05:002024-01-15T00:00:00.131-05:00Fountainhead<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kZaBz9OMUPIOTZefVq8t6E3_OQNRPybJ2rUwnQy9DXh5TYLcjwy9JlHJH0yoIAEHxESnbnCy8WTTyZDceDDLU9ZIUUKSdzzLxhCdEc-_GkS0vRQxgNUSzYrnpK3wtqsFWRBTFXPLPPwF5NJbyXV50Ye7no8eHR7BTw-CFNEXCzIuBMKNc5Ghf0_5bpiK/s720/woodgrain.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="474" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6kZaBz9OMUPIOTZefVq8t6E3_OQNRPybJ2rUwnQy9DXh5TYLcjwy9JlHJH0yoIAEHxESnbnCy8WTTyZDceDDLU9ZIUUKSdzzLxhCdEc-_GkS0vRQxgNUSzYrnpK3wtqsFWRBTFXPLPPwF5NJbyXV50Ye7no8eHR7BTw-CFNEXCzIuBMKNc5Ghf0_5bpiK/s320/woodgrain.jpg" width="211" /></a>While it's still possible to argue in good conscience about <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/04/before-osr_12.html">the precise origins or start date of the Old School Renaissance</a>, I don't think there can be any serious debate that the major intellectual impetus behind the early OSR was the <i>reexamination of original (1974) Dungeons & Dragons. </i>That's certainly how I first became aware of the growing network of forums and blogs that formed the nucleus of one the most imaginatively dynamic movements within the hobby in some time. </p><p>Of particular importance in this regard is <a href="https://odd74.proboards.com/">Finarvyn's OD&D Discussion</a> forum, better known simply as ODD74. At the suggestion of Philotomy Jurament (of <a href="https://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/grab-bag/philotomy/">"Philotomy's OD&D Musings"</a> fame), whom I met through the <a href="https://trolllord.com/">Troll Lord Games</a> forums, I registered at ODD74 in early December 2007 and began my own personal journey into reexamining OD&D.</p><p>Or perhaps I should say <i>examining </i>OD&D, because, while I had owned copies of the Little Brown Books and supplements since the mid-1980s, I'd never really read them carefully, let alone used them at the table. They were, at best, <i>historical curiosities</i> that had value as collector's items and little else. To my way of thinking at the time, OD&D had long ago been <i>superseded</i> by several later editions of the game, most notably <i>Advanced Dungeons & Dragons</i>, <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/long-shadow-of-ad.html">which I held in especially high esteem</a>. Through my interactions with the many knowledgeable and thoughtful gamers who posted at ODD74, I began to see <i>just who wrong I was </i>in thinking this way.</p><p>Among the many lessons I learned over the course of the next several months, during which I read and posted to the forum with obsessive regularity, the first was this: <i>old ≠ bad. </i>That might seem like a small thing or even an obvious thing, but, sad to say, it wasn't, at least to me. I'd fallen prey to the consumerist myth that <i>newer is better</i>, buttressed, no doubt, by the desire of RPG companies to sell me new editions of games I already owned and enjoyed. That's why I'd dutifully bought both the second edition of <i>AD&D </i>in 1989 and Third Edition (of what?) in 2000 (not to mention v.3.5 just three short years later). I wanted to stay <i>up-to-date </i>in my gaming and the only way to do that was <i>to buy more stuff.</i></p><p>OD&D, even in its purest form – the three LBBs and nothing more – is a <i>perfectly playable game. </i>Certainly, it requires a goodly amount of <i>interpretation</i> by any would-be referee, but that's not the same thing as saying, as some do, that OD&D is <i>incomplete, </i>never mind <i>unplayable. </i>It's definitely not a "modern" RPG, lacking as it does definitions, explanations, and even occasionally consistency between its various sections. Instead, it's a glorious, extravagant <i>mess, </i>a veritable <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/08/pandoras-box.html">Pandora's box</a> whose chaotic contents literally changed entertainment forever. There's an almost palpable <i>power </i>in those three slim, staple-bound booklets if you're willing to cast aside, if only briefly, the subsequent history of roleplaying. After all, <i>this is where it all began.</i></p><p>I had initially come to study OD&D because I'd become dissatisfied with the direction of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>under the stewardship of Wizards of the Coast. I was driven by the paradoxical notion that <i>the only way forward was backward</i>, which is to say, that I felt <i>D&D </i>had become so <i>changed </i>that the only way I could conceive of fixing it was to try and turn the clock back, all the way to the very beginning. Anything less than that would be a half-measure, doomed to repeat the very same mistakes that had led <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>to where it was in 2007 – overcomplicated and deracinated.</p><p>The second lesson I learned from examining OD&D was this: <i>it contains multitudes. </i>The same qualities that had led Gary Gygax famously to declare his first creation to be <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/02/gygax-on-od-and-ad.html">"a non-game"</a> – its open-endedness, flexibility, and variability – were precisely those that I now found so appealing. Indeed, I saw in them an <i>antidote </i>to my dissatisfaction with the direction of contemporary <i>D&D. </i>What's more is that, as I interacted with others on the ODD74 forums (and, in time, OSR blogs), I discovered that, <i>by design</i>, OD&D could be played in a variety of different ways. The history of the early hobby attested to this and, in fact, proved to be the fertile seedbed out of which so many later roleplaying games would flower. </p><p>I can't stress enough how <i>emancipatory </i>this was to me at the time. I'd grown up a <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/12/regrets-of-tsr-fanboy.html">TSR fanboy</a>, hanging on the Word of God that descended from the heights of Lake Geneva. This meant that I tried to the best of my ability to play <i>D&D </i>in the "official" manner whenever possible. While this took a lot of the burden of rules interpretation off my shoulders, it also probably curtailed my creativity to some degree, prodding me to play the game in a particular fashion. I have no real complaints about this – I had a lot of fun playing RPGs in my youth, as evidenced by the fact that I <i>still </i>play them in middle age – but I have no doubt that I also <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-old-school-tradition.html">closed myself off</a> to other possibilities. Coming to OD&D with an open mind helped me to understand this.</p><p>This is why I think, even half a century later, that <i>there is value in reading original Dungeons & Dragons. </i>Indeed, I think there's value in <i>playing </i>OD&D. This the game that started it all, the one that first taught the world what a fantasy roleplaying game was. Much like the details of the early history of the OSR, it's possible for men of good conscience to argue about the merits and flaws of OD&D's design, but I hope we can all recognize just how literally <i>vital </i>the three Little Brown Books are. They presented the world not merely with <i>rules</i> but with <i>a new form of entertainment</i> – one limited only by the collective imaginations of those who participate in it.</p><p>How many other books – RPG or otherwise – can honestly make that claim?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgdBd7gX_IWStOsHKTR_TbkkjjCVIQrA_QfVX60_Ho9nIzqlLDxfDuRzKD5fRgkm9HxlNmyfxk0Mx53D6fywAiW1GeC6xSFMk_QP7vw7u7J7OBW-vrw-8U5a2uVC0VNyv2n24xqHet2IRKiynVss1x-wrZGljQ4vh5CWCCt3O1ruQX5phhStm-_cYaDIX/s620/fighton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="620" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgdBd7gX_IWStOsHKTR_TbkkjjCVIQrA_QfVX60_Ho9nIzqlLDxfDuRzKD5fRgkm9HxlNmyfxk0Mx53D6fywAiW1GeC6xSFMk_QP7vw7u7J7OBW-vrw-8U5a2uVC0VNyv2n24xqHet2IRKiynVss1x-wrZGljQ4vh5CWCCt3O1ruQX5phhStm-_cYaDIX/w400-h387/fighton.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87127994092385154962024-01-13T00:00:00.014-05:002024-01-13T12:26:42.550-05:00Revenant<center><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQvUHzU_suXVW8OxX4wj-h7uHW7LrkEX1n2v48TxVUHngL2twkVYzOKXQKxVDVUjTxkl7dyna16x0VEVjfz9o8tykfm6i7dtHe0rpLLJ6X-2CcBhx3YTArW2UrSZlmxq_ZzAAEbvYz1o_T7tS4Spt39BsXPjqscRvM-rZYZ2kIu0qxdpdow1aUIr1AmaV/s463/cas.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="463" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQvUHzU_suXVW8OxX4wj-h7uHW7LrkEX1n2v48TxVUHngL2twkVYzOKXQKxVDVUjTxkl7dyna16x0VEVjfz9o8tykfm6i7dtHe0rpLLJ6X-2CcBhx3YTArW2UrSZlmxq_ZzAAEbvYz1o_T7tS4Spt39BsXPjqscRvM-rZYZ2kIu0qxdpdow1aUIr1AmaV/s320/cas.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Born this day in 1893</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>I am the spectre who returns</div><div>Unto some desolate world in ruin borne afar</div><div>On the black flowing of Lethean skies:</div><div>Ever I search, in cryptic galleries,</div><div>The void sarcophagi, the broken urns</div><div>Of many a vanished avatar;</div><div>Or haunt the gloom of crumbling pylons vast</div><div>In temples that enshrine the shadowy past.</div><div>Viewless, impalpable, and fleet,</div><div>I roam stupendous avenues, and greet</div><div>Familiar sphinxes carved from everlasting stone,</div><div>Or the fair, brittle gods of long ago,</div><div>Decayed and fallen low.</div><div>And there I mark the tail clepsammiae</div><div>That time has overthrown,</div><div>And empty clepsydrae,</div><div>And dials drowned in umbrage never-lifting;</div><div>And there, on rusty parapegms,</div><div>I read the ephemerides</div><div>Of antique stars and eider planets drifting</div><div>Oblivionward in night;</div><div>And there, with purples of the tomb bedlight</div><div>And crowned with funereal gems,</div><div>I bold awhile the throne</div><div>Whereon mine immemorial selves have sate,</div><div>Canopied by the triple-tinted glory</div><div>Of the three suns forever paled and flown.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am the spectre who returns</div><div>And dwells content with his forlorn estate</div><div>In mansions lost and hoary</div><div>Where no lamp burns;</div><div>Who trysts within the sepulchre,</div><div>And finds the ancient shadows lovelier</div><div>Than gardens all emblazed with sevenfold noon,</div><div>Or topaz-builded towers</div><div>That throng below some iris-pouring moon.</div><div>Exiled and homeless in the younger stars,</div><div>Henceforth I shah inhabit that grey clime</div><div>Whose days belong to primal calendars;</div><div>Nor would I come again</div><div>Back to the garish terrene hours:</div><div>For I am free of vaults unfathomable</div><div>And treasures lost from time:</div><div>With bat and vampire there</div><div>I fit through sombre skies immeasurable</div><div>Or fly adown the unending subterranes;</div><div>Mummied and ceremented,</div><div>I sit in councils of the kingly dead,</div><div>And oftentimes for vestiture I wear</div><div>The granite of great idols looming darkly</div><div>In atlantean fanes;</div><div>Or closely now and starkly</div><div>I ding as dings the attenuating air</div><div>About the ruins bare.</div></center>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-13776286721141022522024-01-12T13:36:00.002-05:002024-01-12T13:36:41.400-05:00Nothing New Under the Sun <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0w6NIzmkD-7rlq1oH6tRk5ObNRcc4r2NS7Es_OP6OJE7f9p9SEdtekKt2zUF7Q_6LM0MNo0mmUoxdq4XEs5TwZxnid83Il3SaSq_FeKCBmOlUarbvYfTVA2VEyo2TTYyIX1mJfgbGFpvqf2ayb-GdK1KmhjYaxKPWTlxCM11KdgRs7zlch7dZ0as-Be9/s825/sos.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="301" data-original-width="825" height="146" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS0w6NIzmkD-7rlq1oH6tRk5ObNRcc4r2NS7Es_OP6OJE7f9p9SEdtekKt2zUF7Q_6LM0MNo0mmUoxdq4XEs5TwZxnid83Il3SaSq_FeKCBmOlUarbvYfTVA2VEyo2TTYyIX1mJfgbGFpvqf2ayb-GdK1KmhjYaxKPWTlxCM11KdgRs7zlch7dZ0as-Be9/w400-h146/sos.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The English mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead once famously remarked that the history of European philosophy consisted of a series of footnotes to Plato. By this, Whitehead did not mean that Plato had said everything that could ever be said about philosophy. Rather, he meant that Plato had set the terms<i> </i>for all subsequent discussions of European philosophy to such a degree that <i>even those who disagreed with his conclusions were nonetheless thinking within a framework that he had created. </i>I think something similar could be said of RPGs – to wit: the history of roleplaying games consists of a series of house rules to OD&D. <div><br /></div><div>We can debate the broader merits of this point of view another time. For the moment, my very specific point concerns the extent to which <i>there's any point in creating "new" rules for a roleplaying game. </i>At this point in history, a half-century after Arneson and Gygax forever changed the world, I feel very safe in saying that it's exceedingly unlikely that any game designer, no matter how clever, will come up with a rule/mechanic that hasn't already been conceived by many other designers before him. I'll go even further and state that it's exceedingly unlikely that any game designer, no matter how clever, will come up with a rule/mechanic that hadn't already been conceived <i>within the first decade of the hobby.</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>Given that, is there really any point, other than vanity, for a game designer to try and "innovate?" Hasn't nearly every possible configuration of rules been tried before? More to the point, haven't <i>some </i>configurations been found to be easier to learn and employ and thus more widely understood and accepted? Further, hasn't the configuration first introduced by <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>fifty years ago – class + abstract experience-based advancement – been shown to be, <i>by far</i>, the clear winner in terms of widespread acceptance among players? One needs only to look at how commonplace <i>D&D</i>-derived systems are in computer and video games to see the truth of this.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings me to <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-vaults-of-sha-arthan.html">Secrets of sha-Arthan</a>, </i>the exotic science fantasy roleplaying game I've been working on for the last two and a half years. While I've made a great deal of progress in developing <i>its setting</i>, its rules remain a moving target. Initially, I intended them to be a slight modification of those of <i><a href="https://necroticgnome.com/pages/about-old-school-essentials">Old School Essentials</a>, </i>which is itself simply a restatement of the 1981 <i>Basic </i>and <i>Expert </i>rules of <i>Dungeons & Dragons. </i>However, as I continued to tinker with it, I began to think, as no doubt many game designers before have, that I could reinvent the wheel. Slowly, my small changes to <i>OSE </i>started to become bigger and, with each change, the rules started to become more complicated and farther from the simplicity that has always attracted me to <i>D&D</i> and its descendants and clones.</div><div><br /></div><div>Now I find myself wondering: should I just return to something closer to <i>Old School Essentials</i>? Certainly there will need to be <i>some </i>changes to accommodate the unique elements of the setting, but, by and large, <i>Secrets of sha-Arthan </i>is a game very much in the mold of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>and <i>Empire of the Petal Throne </i>(whose rules are themselves obviously derived from OD&D). Is there, aside from my own vanity, any <i>need </i>for the game's rules to deviate very much from the well-established template of <i>D&D</i>? Over the decades, I've played plenty of RPGs whose rules differed from those of <i>D&D</i> in ways both large and small, but how many of them, <i>really</i>, needed to differ so much?</div><div><br /></div><div>I should add, by the way, that this critique applies even to many later iterations of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>itself, some of which make changes to the structure of OD&D that, to my mind, are unnecessary and even detrimental to play (I'm looking at you <i>AD&D </i>and your initiative system – among other things) but were likely introduced because someone believed he had a "great idea" to "improve" the rules. Yet, at least if my own experience is any guide, very few people ever used the <i>AD&D </i>initiative system as written, including Gary Gygax, preferring instead for the simpler roll-1d6-higher-goes-first of B/X. I don't think such people did so because they were stupid; rather, they did so, because they recognized that speed and intelligibility were more important than some abstract notion of a "better" rule. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, the urge to <i>tinker</i>, to try and <i>improve </i>on a rules template that has stood the test of time is strong. It's a very difficult urge to resist, yet I am coming close to the perhaps inevitable conclusion that, aside from a few setting-specific tweaks, there's really <i>no point </i>in trying to one up <i>D&D</i>, because I will not be able to do so. Wouldn't my time be better spent in developing <i>the setting </i>and making it as compelling and accessible as possible? </div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28316670337853474772024-01-11T12:00:00.001-05:002024-01-11T12:00:00.126-05:00Polyhedron: Issue #16<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ighjO8CrH-z-cL4M-0k9eR_2yz4KS4xORKr1NZaCBp0o_xZzZVjM4uK6u9jY_n2nKw-bMBg_VbmhskEO9gpscUeTKsxQRDkWsWMvXftTosZhLp_R84LzDDaMijgj2tLMLrgwWrAgF8Ys8k63Wu2UbFdtVx1j94IomkDDJYgL_tjpHA9IwcAm3Ksl0KFS/s852/polyhedron16.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="647" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ighjO8CrH-z-cL4M-0k9eR_2yz4KS4xORKr1NZaCBp0o_xZzZVjM4uK6u9jY_n2nKw-bMBg_VbmhskEO9gpscUeTKsxQRDkWsWMvXftTosZhLp_R84LzDDaMijgj2tLMLrgwWrAgF8Ys8k63Wu2UbFdtVx1j94IomkDDJYgL_tjpHA9IwcAm3Ksl0KFS/w304-h400/polyhedron16.jpg" width="304" /></a></div>Issue #16 of <i>Polyhedron </i>(February 1984) is the beginning of a couple of new features for the RPGA newszine. First and most notably, the issue includes an 8-page removable "mini-module" in its center. I'll have more to say about this shortly, because it was a fairly big deal at the time. Secondly, this issue marks the start of James M. Ward's "<a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-setting-of-gamma-world-part-v.html">Cryptic Alliance</a> of the Bi-Month" series for use with <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/retrospective-gamma-world.html">Gamma</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/04/retrospective-gamma-world-second-edition.html">World</a>. </i>I was (and remain) very fond of this series, so I'll likewise have more to say about it later in this post.<p></p><p>In her "... from the editor" column, Mary Kirchoff explains that the RPGA has decided to stop producing <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/09/rpga-gift-catalog-1982.html">exclusive merchandise</a>, including <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/05/retrospective-to-aid-of-falx.html">exclusive <i>AD&D </i>adventure modules</a>. Consequently, each issue will no longer include a catalog, freeing up about ten pages for additional gaming material. This month, that means the aforementioned mini-module. Kirchoff also mentions that, with the increase in space available for game material, she's looking for more submissions from readers. This call will bear some interesting fruit in future issues.</p><p>The issue proper begins with "Encounters" by Doug Behringer. This <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/retrospective-top-secret.html">Top Secret</a> </i>scenario pits "NATO agent" – whatever that means – Dean Wiles versus two GRU operatives (Mike Duplie and Gregor Campleliski – I guess these are supposed to be Russian ...) as he attempts to help an East German laser scientist defect to the West. Other than the cool illustration by Roger Raupp depicting Wiles flying a gyrocopter, there's not much to recommend this article. I wish it were otherwise, as <i>Top Secret </i>was a game I greatly enjoyed in my youth.</p><p>Much better is "The Followers of the Voice" by James M. Ward, which details the titular cryptic alliance for <i>Gamma World. </i>Ward begins the article by explaining that "90% of all the adventure that goes on in the GAMMA WORLD game" is instigated by cryptic alliances, which gives some insight into how Ward views the play of the game. For that reason, each installment of the series will provide information about history, leadership, goals, geographic locations, and legends associated with each alliance. It's a solid format and one that I appreciated back in the day. The Followers of the Voice, who worship computers, were never my favorite alliance, however, and reading this article did little to change that. Even so, there's something amusingly quaint about seeing the alliance's symbol from the vantage point of 2024:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfxmWoSBwvdbvCM9Y8NhgUD5TP5gwZN_L_WNYCxpXuoe677m5jd_MFIvIVWLNiwYzEzTLc9u8ANu8-EQQ5pRUcNgvuBx6fnW5MnWFNAH6oaohhvLhJ69eN0RK7_7O_FHYpxkcpKco3_20yYDmeRVN_cx2EJJqrHpDCfvX6BWMqyhmVRkLM9vL1Ob7VvSY/s288/voice.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="132" data-original-width="288" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfxmWoSBwvdbvCM9Y8NhgUD5TP5gwZN_L_WNYCxpXuoe677m5jd_MFIvIVWLNiwYzEzTLc9u8ANu8-EQQ5pRUcNgvuBx6fnW5MnWFNAH6oaohhvLhJ69eN0RK7_7O_FHYpxkcpKco3_20yYDmeRVN_cx2EJJqrHpDCfvX6BWMqyhmVRkLM9vL1Ob7VvSY/w400-h183/voice.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There's also a legend about a Follower named Jony who scatters seeds that grow into trees whose fruits are computer programs. As I said, it's all very quaint.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"The Shady Dragon Inn" by Carl Smith is an expansion of the <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/05/retrospective-shady-dragon-inn.html">product of the same name</a>, providing additional details about the eponymous inn. "Hot Shots and Cold Water" by Roger E. Moore offers advice on handling "hot shot" players and their over-powered characters. This is precisely the sort of question that led Gary Gygax to create <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/09/retrospective-tomb-of-horrors.html">The Tomb of Horrors</a></i>. For his part, Moore counsels not simply trying to <i>humble </i>boastful players by <i>killing </i>their characters but rather trying to find new and interesting ways to <i>challenge </i>them that don't involve combat or even game mechanics – social maneuvering, politics, religious strife, etc. He also suggests that referees consider the role their own practices may have played in creating hotshots with high-level PCs and course correcting so as to avoid the problem in the future. Like most Moore efforts, it's a good piece, filled with solid advice clearly born of years of experience.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Kim Eastland pens a pair of articles this issue. The first, "Boredom," focuses on those aspects of play that can lead to yawning during a session and how best to deal with them. He briefly covers eight sources of boredom: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Impossible odds</li><li>Mont Haul worlds</li><li>Long-winded GMs</li><li>Unprepared GMs</li><li>Random encounters GMs</li><li>Map-crazed GMs or players</li><li>Overly creative GMs</li><li>The "stuck-in-a-rut" campaign</li></ol><div>Some of these problems are fairly obvious, while others are less so. For example, by "overly creative," Eastland means simply a GM who is constantly inventing new and unusual game elements that make it impossible for players to properly judge how to approach them, leading to a "why bother trying?" attitude that kills enthusiasm. </div><div><br /></div><div>Eastland's other article, "Research is Not a Dirty Word," is a kind of alternate Appendix N, focusing primarily on <i>non-fiction </i>books that Eastland feels offer inspiration to harried referees. For example, the Osprey "Man-at-Arms" series is given an endorsement, as is <i>The Dictionary of Imaginary Places</i>. As you might expect, it's a very idiosyncratic list and regrettably short, but it's probably useful, especially to younger referees who haven't read as widely as have us oldtimers. "Photo Session," on the other hand, is just a filler article consisting of public domain NASA concept art of space platforms and lunar rovers. The accompanying text (with no listed author) attempts to connect the illustrations to <i>Star Frontiers</i> by offering cursory ideas of how to use them as inspiration. </div><div><br /></div><div>"Monty Haul and the German High Command" by James M. Ward is another reprint from <i>Dragon. </i>It is, however, a very fun article, recounting a game of the World War II miniatures game to which fantasy elements, such as magic. Though mostly played for laughs, I found the article fascinating in the way it casually depicts the introduction of ahistorical and indeed <i>fantastical </i>things into a WWII game. I remember reading about many such incidents in the early years of the hobby. I'm not sure it was ever a <i>commonplace </i>practice, but the fact that it happened at all intrigued me, particularly given my own <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/11/retrospective-expedition-to-barrier.html">hidebound prejudices at the time</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Dispel Confusion" continues to grow in size, taking up three pages in this issue. As is often the case, the questions often seem to arise out of a failure at reading comprehension. I suppose one could be more charitable and suggest that the real problem is that many rules were poorly or unclearly phrased and that's fair. RPG rulebooks have never been paragons of clarity. Still, reading these now, I find myself shaking my head at the things players actually bothered to ask TSR for "official" clarification. But that's the kind of mindset the company encoureaged and one to which <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/12/regrets-of-tsr-fanboy.html">I was myself sometimes prone</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Finally, there's "The Riddle of Dolmen Moor" by Bob Blake. It's an <i>AD&D</i> scenario that was apparently first used as part of a series of connected scenarios for use in RPGA tournaments. As a stand-alone adventure, it doesn't offer much other than fighting undead among some barrow mounds on the titular Dolmen Moor. However, it's got an interesting pseudo-Celtic flavor to it that I found intriguing at the time. It's being part of a larger narrative about the prophesied return of an ancient king was similarly novel. Consequently, I have a strange fondness for this "mini-module" and its sequels. They'd eventually all be collected into two <i>AD&D </i>modules that were published in 1985.</div><div><br /></div><div>Issue #16 of <i>Polyhedron </i>marks, as I wrote earlier, yet another step along the road toward the transformation of the newszine into something more akin to "<i>Dragon </i>Jr.," albeit with its own unique flavor. I welcomed this when I was a subscriber, precisely because I was never an active member of the RPGA and cared little for keeping up with the latest news and views about conventions. I rather suspect that TSR came to understand that many of their subscribers were like me and so began to tailor <i>Polyhedron</i>'s content accordingly. I wonder how this might have been seen by RPGA members who actually <i>did </i>care about cons and tournaments.</div></div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-60567694561673909462024-01-08T13:00:00.001-05:002024-01-08T13:00:00.235-05:00More on Mimics<p>In response to <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/mimic-mysteries.html">my post last week</a>, several readers suggested that the now-commonplace image of a mimic as a <i>chest with teeth </i>might have its origins outside of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>itself. According to this theory, it was the artwork of Akira Toriyama – best known in the West for his manga, <i>Dragon Ball –</i> for the Japanese video game, <i>Dragon Quest III </i>(1988), that first popularized this image.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMt-jWKMlWaS7CbrNRXrvo40YMD6bXnsY1HasUTUgd2VQorfRYXCmA6PghITzZdM-DFTDFSCL2C8vOropLhbJTgrNPcX4QG3KIO6L7kb9IfaEDseZ6v8iIqgd2ES8GXlLGVtwG_3XtDDIC9uRmBLuL6lYZQOGwRyJRCle3gGChvEV_XMykBMOrys4Kl6I/s481/mimic1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="425" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMt-jWKMlWaS7CbrNRXrvo40YMD6bXnsY1HasUTUgd2VQorfRYXCmA6PghITzZdM-DFTDFSCL2C8vOropLhbJTgrNPcX4QG3KIO6L7kb9IfaEDseZ6v8iIqgd2ES8GXlLGVtwG_3XtDDIC9uRmBLuL6lYZQOGwRyJRCle3gGChvEV_XMykBMOrys4Kl6I/w354-h400/mimic1.jpg" width="354" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Dragon Quest </i>is an immensely successful and influential series of video games in Japan. Its gameplay is heavily inspired by earlier Western computer RPGs, such as <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/07/retrospective-wizardry.html">Wizardry</a> </i>and <i>Ultima</i>, which were themselves heavily inspired by <i>D&D. </i>Given how many <i>D&D </i>players in the '70s and '80s were also into the growing world of video and computer games, it's not a stretch to suggest that <i>Dragon Quest </i>might well have some effect on their conception of the mimic. The only snag is <i>timing: Dragon Quest III </i>wasn't localized in North America until 1991 (under the title <i>Dragon Warrior III</i>, to avoid confusion with <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/07/retrospective-dragonquest.html">the other <i>DragonQuest</i></a>).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While we're on the subject of Japanese portrayals of the mimic, I thought it might be worth mentioning the unique version found in Ryoko Kui's manga, <i>Delicious in Dungeon</i>. At its heart a <i>cooking manga</i> – yes, that's a thing – <i>Delicious in Dungeon </i>chronicles an adventuring party as they not only explore a subterranean labyrinth filled with monsters and treasure, but also the <i>meals </i>they can make of monster carcasses. In the manga, a mimic is a kind of crustacean akin to a giant hermit crab:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqTN9tjfGQmgnR2jOgg_t6BRuEgqbwTX7imlygurL6Ri1PNTpXkdQ5BqnLVFIY0oOH_etfywInurbxg0edpIUoEpssgXHoj-Uia6oCbnmwmD9QE018u1ZM8DugDxp2kjZDxq_WL0anrMM0KQZMPGmUzi-KIvTQhx1Jic4Zelz64M_you5vhUhfLVrb3Gv/s374/mimic2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="334" data-original-width="374" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzqTN9tjfGQmgnR2jOgg_t6BRuEgqbwTX7imlygurL6Ri1PNTpXkdQ5BqnLVFIY0oOH_etfywInurbxg0edpIUoEpssgXHoj-Uia6oCbnmwmD9QE018u1ZM8DugDxp2kjZDxq_WL0anrMM0KQZMPGmUzi-KIvTQhx1Jic4Zelz64M_you5vhUhfLVrb3Gv/w400-h358/mimic2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This take on the mimic isn't a shapeshifter at all, Instead, it uses real chests (and other items) as a hermit crab might use its shell. However, unlike the hermit crab, the mimic's "shell" is intended not as protection but as a <i>lure </i>to entice adventurers to get within range of its large pincers. In my opinion, it's a very clever spin on the iconic monster, one of several to be found in the manga's pages. If you're interested in an imaginative conception of a plausible dungeon ecology, you might consider checking it out.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-50583288054188655872024-01-08T00:00:00.326-05:002024-01-08T20:05:10.107-05:00Growing Pains<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGdvSFNYmi-h6PQmYukbnqAXrqq7LsfIyaUwBxiiVDty9y5BZBxX2_7V1SDzP5CxfOJ6fG6KFb66dq9XYzKzU0LvSivS8A8ThFgk6pKyckQliSx9ABHnMVY6T4OE7x1XXjgcxbTqdgwxgdTTWddFuKmknCI34b_zjhMuHHGGX651uu33NKs1CzOTh99kH/s922/chaos.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="922" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGdvSFNYmi-h6PQmYukbnqAXrqq7LsfIyaUwBxiiVDty9y5BZBxX2_7V1SDzP5CxfOJ6fG6KFb66dq9XYzKzU0LvSivS8A8ThFgk6pKyckQliSx9ABHnMVY6T4OE7x1XXjgcxbTqdgwxgdTTWddFuKmknCI34b_zjhMuHHGGX651uu33NKs1CzOTh99kH/w400-h256/chaos.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/search/label/house%20of%20worms">House of Worms</a> <i>Empire of the Petal Throne </i>campaign will celebrate its ninth anniversary in a couple of months. Interestingly, we just added a new player into the mix recently, bringing the total of active players up to <i>eight. </i>The campaign began with six players when we first met on March 5, 2015 and, while those numbers have briefly fluctuated downward, the general trajectory since the start of the campaign has been <i>upward. </i>I can't say whether that's unusual or not, but it's certainly welcome. The fact that this campaign, set in a weird, little known fantasy world, continues to attract – and retain – players pleases me greatly. If nothing else, it suggests I must be <i>doing something right</i>, which I imagine is something of which every referee wants to be assured.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/search/label/barrett%27s%20raiders">Barrett's Raiders</a> <i>Twilight: 2000 </i>campaign is not nearly as long-running as House of Worms. Early December of the past year marked only its two-year anniversary. However, the campaign is still going strong, boasting seven regular players (down slightly from the eight with which it began in 2021). On the other hand, the <i>Traveller </i>campaign in which I am a player, started with five players in September 2022 and has since grown to six players. Again, not quite as packed with players as House of Worms, but still a decently large number of players who get together every weekend to roleplay together – especially by the standards of today, when smaller groups seem much more common.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/11/we-need-large-groups.html">As I have noted before</a>, there are many distinct advantages to playing RPGs in large groups. I thought about this recently, as I contemplated adding another player to the House of Worms campaign. Initially, I must admit that I had some mild apprehension – not because I thought the potential eighth player would be deliberately disruptive, but because, after so many years of having a stable group of seven players, we were all in a nice groove. We'd spent so many hours together over the years that we all knew one another quite well, including our likes, dislikes, quirks, and foibles. By introducing a new player (and character) into the campaign, might this not upset our <i>modus operandi</i>?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yes, it might, I concluded – <i>but might that not be a good thing? </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The House of Worms players work very well together. Their characters have all found their niches within the party and they even have well-established "routines" when dealing with certain types of problems. Furthermore, each character has similar well-established interests and goals, many of which can be counted on to help direct the course of play during our sessions. This makes things easier for me as the referee, since I have some idea what to expect. Consequently, the House of Worms campaign practically runs itself at this point.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Introducing a new player into the campaign almost certainly <i>will </i>disrupt many aspects of the campaign. I can say this for certain, because <i>that's what happened the last time I added a player into the campaign. </i>Every time a new player has joined the campaign – or indeed <i>any </i>campaign – a certain degree of chaos follows in his wake. Everyone needs time to find a new equilibrium and, until that happens, old patterns are upended, including mine as the referee. Exactly how things will shake out is unpredictable, but I can be sure of one thing: the new <i>status quo</i> will be every bit as fun as the old one, perhaps even more so. As I said, I've seen this before.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A little shakeup from time to time can be good, especially in a long-running roleplaying game campaign. Introducing a new player can help clear out the cobwebs of one's imagination, as referee and established players alike have to contend with a newcomer who knows little or nothing of the previously established order. He'll bring with him his own ideas, interests, and goals, some of which may comport with them and some of which may clash. <i>This is good. </i>It's an opportunity to reinvigorate a campaign, to inject it with outside energy. No campaign, not even the House of Worms, is a perpetual motion machine. Without periodic infusion of outside energy, <i>a campaign will die. </i>I'm having too much with this campaign to let that happen.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Furthermore, <i>a new player is a new friend. </i>While I've "known" the new player online for a long time, I've never played an RPG with him, let alone done so week after week for an extended period. Over the years, I've made so many great friends through roleplaying, people without whom my life would be much less rich. For me, that's very much at the core of what makes this hobby is so wonderful. How often does one get the chance to make a new friend? When the opportunity arises, seize it.</div><p></p><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-24655636413398917522024-01-05T13:00:00.001-05:002024-01-05T13:00:00.138-05:00Rakshasa Riddles<p>In response to my post earlier today about <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2024/01/mimic-mysteries.html">the appearance of mimics</a>, a reader correctly commented that the rakshasa faces a similar problem. Though originally introduced in <i>The Strategic Review </i>(and then appearing in <i>Gods, Demigods & Heroes</i>),<i> </i>the first time we see an illustration of the monster, it's in the <i>AD&D Monster Manual </i>(1977) by Dave Trampier:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8l-MPsHiT8EjK1cLpcgPU_4Rwr8B3rs2fCQowiTWFQ5_Xz-i53EVMk2yo85VzsTh0_6sy0KYDZ_kgXECOs3NrjWNPz4u8HyI9iP8BABmqvlLy3ERoYdAYpVhoYuKBmW93k0XuTlCw-2ZRJ7HLtcEEWE-qNNFZWY_ANJO7dzTXhr63hfcsEjdjhNKFkGT_/s594/rak1e.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8l-MPsHiT8EjK1cLpcgPU_4Rwr8B3rs2fCQowiTWFQ5_Xz-i53EVMk2yo85VzsTh0_6sy0KYDZ_kgXECOs3NrjWNPz4u8HyI9iP8BABmqvlLy3ERoYdAYpVhoYuKBmW93k0XuTlCw-2ZRJ7HLtcEEWE-qNNFZWY_ANJO7dzTXhr63hfcsEjdjhNKFkGT_/s16000/rak1e.jpg" /></a></div><p>This is a great illustration, one of my favorites in the <i>MM. </i>I also like the inclusion of a <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/03/retrospective-snits-revenge.html">bolotomus</a> in the bottom righthand corner of the piece – a great example of the kind of <i>whimsy</i> that categorized a lot of old school fantasy. But how accurately does it depict what Gary Gygax describes in the text? The <i>Monster Manual </i>states, "Known first in India, these evil spirits encased in flesh are spreading." The text also notes that they are "masters of illusion" who use their powers of <i>ESP </i>to "create the illusion of what those who have encountered them deem most friendly." This last detail seems to me to be confirmation of the monster's having been inspired by the <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2022/07/pulp-fantasy-library-kolchak-night.html">Kolchak: The Night Stalker</a> </i>episode, "Horror in the Heights," a fact Gygax himself <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/q-a-with-gary-gygax.22566/page-400#post-2395030">readily admitted</a>.</p><p>Of course, the question immediately arises: why, then, did Tramp choose to illustrate the rakshasa in this way? The <i>Monster Manual </i>says nothing about the native appearance of the creature, so why is it depicted as a tiger-headed humanoid in a smoking jacket and ascot? Is it because Gygax noted that rakshasas were "known first in India" and there's a strong pop cultural connection between India and tigers in the English-speaking world? On the other hand, the native form of <i>Kolchak</i>'s rakshasa was a big furry thing reminiscent of Bigfoot, so what gives?</p><p>To confuse the question further, consider these miniature figures, released by Grenadier in 1980, that supposedly feature <i>two </i>rakshasas:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzROX4fNahBB_Z-e3VILBGIWMyNElYnmJHLN6quv8Z0vKnA3qqGcRJEThgFswve9wwP_d2zo6Fn4HJtHaOLcejTZt8iNqPNMV4cWYTkIuOGdJ_ZMjcCWAaPtVg4DvEFFMSiDH7B74AmNYd4LHQAI1GN0nspXpjQv7YZiSu8huKHvBAUlPmDd5W2o1m-M_/s561/rakshasas.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="561" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzROX4fNahBB_Z-e3VILBGIWMyNElYnmJHLN6quv8Z0vKnA3qqGcRJEThgFswve9wwP_d2zo6Fn4HJtHaOLcejTZt8iNqPNMV4cWYTkIuOGdJ_ZMjcCWAaPtVg4DvEFFMSiDH7B74AmNYd4LHQAI1GN0nspXpjQv7YZiSu8huKHvBAUlPmDd5W2o1m-M_/w400-h243/rakshasas.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I used to own these miniatures and I remember being quite perplexed by their appearance, since one looks like a lizard man and the other an elephant man. After some thinking about the matter, my youthful self used these minis as license to stat up several different <i>types </i>of rakshasas, on the model of the various types of demons and devils. I wish I still had those stats, because I imagine they'd make for fun reading today.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Issue #84 of <i>Dragon </i>(April 1984) features an article by Scott Bennie entitled "Never the Same Thing Twice," which takes a similar tack, introducing several different kinds of rakshasas. According to Bennie, "rakshasas have no uniform physical appearance," stating only that "legend usually describes them as deformed and monstrous-looking." The types of rakshasa he introduces differ only in power, not in appearance. Nevertheless, the article is accompanied by the following illustration by Jim Holloway:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMQvn-BaP6CZ6P4Tq0v_7SFwGkyELttWLiH4IMCosDM50FJVX5YpOQ5J6PllME_J1Dg2tvmLqtQ8k0-_94xF8EYzeBTOPjnORdrodNQqocvOLp9JH-Z3ZRhuiC-7aml8qXWqWwl1xyES5_U2Joa_kXKl6JQbdRsnXCXhVb5uMOWQklyHHL2DUGiiKrIuZ/s700/rakdragon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="700" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMQvn-BaP6CZ6P4Tq0v_7SFwGkyELttWLiH4IMCosDM50FJVX5YpOQ5J6PllME_J1Dg2tvmLqtQ8k0-_94xF8EYzeBTOPjnORdrodNQqocvOLp9JH-Z3ZRhuiC-7aml8qXWqWwl1xyES5_U2Joa_kXKl6JQbdRsnXCXhVb5uMOWQklyHHL2DUGiiKrIuZ/w400-h336/rakdragon.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Beneath the illustration, there's some explanatory text that says it's based on a description from the <i>Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology, and Legend. </i>The dictionary in question describes the rakshasa as having "a big belly, fingers that curve away from the palms of its hands, and claws that are said to be poisonous." The text further states that the rakshasa is not using its illusion powers, "preferring to let the poor victim see what he's really up against," which suggests this is the monster's <i>true form. </i>To me, he looks <i>a little bit </i>like the <i>Kolchak </i>version, in that it's big, furry, and apelike, but ir's otherwise unique in the history of depicting the rakshasa.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The volume 1 of the 2e <i>AD&D Monstrous Compendium </i>describes rakshasas as having "no uniform appearance but appear as humanoid creatures with the bodily features of various beasts (most commonly tigers and apes)." It also notes that "hands whose palms curve backward, away from the body, seem to be common" and that "rakshasas of the highest standing sometimes have several heads." However, the accompanying illustration (by Jim Holloway), looks like this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_TdU0f8o48JP6U21NnkKeJwJ07yywV3vBwpWvmGcdyO86jjFOM2kfrSB9gQB723gpfX0e4oqsBBFD0KSV5ufIFz_RLaB5rXL5mnik_Ci4C_ifwfxio27MY604JjNlaLlLrM8Wl0F7GoDIW9humLtFsuD156riYzZbztJRDjWc9OHb9qX0x1O9AwB7qe-/s350/rak2e.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="325" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_TdU0f8o48JP6U21NnkKeJwJ07yywV3vBwpWvmGcdyO86jjFOM2kfrSB9gQB723gpfX0e4oqsBBFD0KSV5ufIFz_RLaB5rXL5mnik_Ci4C_ifwfxio27MY604JjNlaLlLrM8Wl0F7GoDIW9humLtFsuD156riYzZbztJRDjWc9OHb9qX0x1O9AwB7qe-/w371-h400/rak2e.jpg" width="371" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's a rather laughably generic tiger-man in "Indian" clothing. I presume it takes its inspiration from the Trampier original, but it lacks all the style. More significantly, the Holloway rakshasa is a <i>humanoid tiger</i>, while Tramp's is (seemingly) a <i>man with a tiger's head </i>– look at his hands, for example.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The 1993 <i>Monstrous Compendium </i>includes a new rakshasa illustration, this time by Tony DiTerlizzi.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQ_1pGgD4lf9WIQGg0TQTbxT-xKStpjmW1CzIOGIdQX7GZOVABJ77-b9DhEZFuCkXxFhOXON2f7I-ZxfQ3gY3G3w3MQSJjx27dUjtcfCJOE2W71BCwhScCmnM4nuwQT4Z5btpqsUrwuDodm7UiKYkDdxI7_hXmPmXGl-kaZzJIgqi_yPJh_kRe1yJi6He/s1179/rak2emc.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1179" data-original-width="925" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQ_1pGgD4lf9WIQGg0TQTbxT-xKStpjmW1CzIOGIdQX7GZOVABJ77-b9DhEZFuCkXxFhOXON2f7I-ZxfQ3gY3G3w3MQSJjx27dUjtcfCJOE2W71BCwhScCmnM4nuwQT4Z5btpqsUrwuDodm7UiKYkDdxI7_hXmPmXGl-kaZzJIgqi_yPJh_kRe1yJi6He/w314-h400/rak2emc.png" width="314" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This one seems to occupy a mid-point between Trampier and Holloway, in that it's <i>not quite </i>a humanoid tiger (though it does have a tail), but it's also not simply a man with a tiger's head. Notice the backward hand, holding its skull-topped walking stick. DiTerlizzi's rakshasa undoubtedly has style, but the question remains: <i>why is he depicted as a tiger? </i>Is it simply, as my reader suggests, that the earliest art showing a rakshasa portrayed him in this way and all subsequent artists have been following Tramp's lead? If so, it's very disappointing, especially when dealing with a monster whose primary power is <i>the ability to shapechange.</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Illustrations, especially of fantastical things, can be very useful aids to one's imagination. However, they can also inadvertently <i>limit </i>one's imagination. The more I look at the history of <i>D&D</i>'s artwork, the more evidence I see of the latter.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20971872978066767172024-01-05T08:44:00.004-05:002024-01-05T08:44:40.284-05:00Mimic Mysteries<p> Among the many monsters whose origins can definitively be linked to <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> is the shapeshifting <i>mimic</i>, which first appeared in the <i>AD&D Monster Manual </i>(1977). Here's Dave Sutherland's illustration of the creature:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjforJ-VbnNRr2u9RxteYHPOi6NU3jNyQIPOptq-5j6xc5cPQH4Tx0gUVOYOVgN9m49-EF9mKSSNYXX_90dQIiTwL9QEdKrlbjuzsCxJu7ccHryj8_gKzWsuJw8gOROR1tHGvyt8-Q4HezjTF02SKaW8zAznpRK4J5eZg0D6Zmg7HkzV-9bdCrJq8ncbpQP/s742/1e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="742" data-original-width="601" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjforJ-VbnNRr2u9RxteYHPOi6NU3jNyQIPOptq-5j6xc5cPQH4Tx0gUVOYOVgN9m49-EF9mKSSNYXX_90dQIiTwL9QEdKrlbjuzsCxJu7ccHryj8_gKzWsuJw8gOROR1tHGvyt8-Q4HezjTF02SKaW8zAznpRK4J5eZg0D6Zmg7HkzV-9bdCrJq8ncbpQP/w324-h400/1e.jpg" width="324" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm both <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/05/my-top-10-favorite-d-monsters-part-i.html">a fan of mimics</a> in general and of this illustration in particular, because it accurately depicts the mimic <i>punching </i>the nearby adventure. The text of the <i>Monster Manual </i>states plainly that the mimic "lashes out with a pseudopod, delivering 3–12 points of damage per hit." There's no mention, let alone implication, that the mimic can <i>bite </i>its prey. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The illustration accompanying Ed Greenwood's "The Ecology of the Mimic" in issue #75 of <i>Dragon </i>(July 1983) is similarly accurate to the <i>MM </i>description. Indeed, it also includes another detail from the <i>Monster Manual </i>description that is often forgotten: the <i>glue </i>a mimic's skin secretes and that holds its victim fast, thereby making them an easier target to pummel with its pseudopod.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kCSCbsDcuc2xQXQU18gPBmNhN_w-szNcoNZOjDGz4QZ11CQqQiUy5_JbpFJ5q-EIYnN_31JOn4Uvx6VT75OEiez8iOLdxAzZwJmokv1aSgfocbH2Xpla1mfUZJUEdlsA8OI4QngzmowZma-nlbgGNfkiALwCxX8_84VHdFQqPTSeJhNOQLNTV98fbtU1/s488/ecology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="488" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8kCSCbsDcuc2xQXQU18gPBmNhN_w-szNcoNZOjDGz4QZ11CQqQiUy5_JbpFJ5q-EIYnN_31JOn4Uvx6VT75OEiez8iOLdxAzZwJmokv1aSgfocbH2Xpla1mfUZJUEdlsA8OI4QngzmowZma-nlbgGNfkiALwCxX8_84VHdFQqPTSeJhNOQLNTV98fbtU1/w400-h340/ecology.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Unless I have missed another example – and please tell me in the comments if I have – the above illustration (by Roger Raupp) is only the <i>second </i>time this iconic <i>D&D </i>monster had been portrayed in artwork. What strikes me about Raupp's illustration (no pun intended) is that it's completely in keeping with the text of the <i>Monster Manual.</i> If anything, it's even <i>truer</i> to the text than Sutherland's original, since it also highlights the creature's sticky qualities.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The next time we get a mimic illustration – again, unless I am mistaken – is volume 2 of the <i>AD&D </i>Second Edition <i>Monstrous Compendium </i>(1989).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAox0ovaBwT6YyK-yVy8ISw9N45d28Pvm9woBzHBFkw8xXI2AGqOJpwGFkNIybH1BOkOArG7TtbHd1fUDrsItiCOpYdTkkMtPKyVQMzd0QEZRM54VZjKOCiNiAJJgcFz_lv1LVY3Ht-wLfzBXtSlvqWWtfU2L4Y7Yp-RDgcXQhwTwxEt4zP2zSpqFZ4N-r/s398/2e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="397" data-original-width="398" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAox0ovaBwT6YyK-yVy8ISw9N45d28Pvm9woBzHBFkw8xXI2AGqOJpwGFkNIybH1BOkOArG7TtbHd1fUDrsItiCOpYdTkkMtPKyVQMzd0QEZRM54VZjKOCiNiAJJgcFz_lv1LVY3Ht-wLfzBXtSlvqWWtfU2L4Y7Yp-RDgcXQhwTwxEt4zP2zSpqFZ4N-r/w400-h399/2e.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This illustration, by Daniel Horne, interests me for a couple of reasons. Most obviously, this is the first time – if I'm mistaken, you know the drill – a mimic is depicted as having a <i>tooth-filled mouth</i>, though it's notable that the mouth here is not associated with the hinged top of the chest it's mimicking, as is commonplace nowadays. Equally notable are the secondary mouth and clawed finger and foot that also extrude from the monster's body, though I'm not certain what purpose they serve. The 2e written description of the mimic makes no mention of its ability to <i>bite </i>an opponent. Instead, there's still a reference to "lash[ing] out with a pseudopod."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">For the sake of completeness, here's the illustration of the mimic found in 1993's <i>Monstrous Manual</i> (by an unknown artist, or at least one I cannot identify easily):</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifs5kKbXWGgaNnhJaz6K6NjwgKXXlciyxrhO9x8GXpS57JsQ_VuAdBEV3EJiQl0ShtGyYtX_hez6QfTxoCEycjHEOzc8-J_2NIVydMAoR2eZbd7oIYfb2wkXO_4vHK12BbQpQHR2pMke2KSQWfJFK_tBSF-Fnkq7Tjc0ElqITwSnX1xfDoJMZqKMadaJgV/s1083/mm2e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1083" data-original-width="1078" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifs5kKbXWGgaNnhJaz6K6NjwgKXXlciyxrhO9x8GXpS57JsQ_VuAdBEV3EJiQl0ShtGyYtX_hez6QfTxoCEycjHEOzc8-J_2NIVydMAoR2eZbd7oIYfb2wkXO_4vHK12BbQpQHR2pMke2KSQWfJFK_tBSF-Fnkq7Tjc0ElqITwSnX1xfDoJMZqKMadaJgV/w399-h400/mm2e.jpg" width="399" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This one looks very similar to and possibly inspired by the one in the 1989 <i>Monstrous Compendium</i>, although it possesses only a single extrusion beyond the tooth-filled mouth. The accompanying text is, so far as I can tell, identical to that of the <i>Monstrous Compendium </i>of a few years previous, right down to its attacking with a pseudopod. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">What fascinates me is how <i>limited </i>our collective imagination of mimics has become over the years. Gary Gygax's original description of them in 1977 notes that "they are able to perfectly mimic stone or wood" and "pose as stonework, door, chests, or any other substance or item they can imitate." Greenwood's ecology article picks up on this, offering an example of a mimic that had assumed the form of a statue in a market square and then preyed on unsuspecting derelicts on dark nights. By contrast, the <i>Monstrous Compendium </i>description, while retaining the original's ability to mimic stone or wood, states only that "they usually appear in the form of treasure chests."</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I won't go so far as to lay the blame for the popular conception of mimics as <i>monstrous chests with big teeth </i>solely on the <i>Monstrous Compendium</i>, though I'm sure it played a role. Rather, I think the fault lies with the simple fact every illustration of the monster from the TSR era of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>depicts it as a chest and that's proved a difficult image to shake – so difficult that that's what mimics <i>are </i>for most players of the game. They simply cannot imagine them any other way. Needless to say, I think that's a shame, but what can you do?</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-49286206831708341742024-01-03T12:00:00.001-05:002024-01-03T12:00:00.128-05:00132<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi109FJkS6r0z-JSM3Boqx7DkZncaXKZobQEzPWBmmhtm4HRxbcG_bMGvPNOSRSKFJkZuTYkwHZoL0q3X3MqdJ-FrZgCU2uMctPLbJn_Y2H-7Q_PqjSLnvzlY-FzjfT5K1pxiCk3KFN3FWRQUjpA18o6UxndQCVhesz26SV7fM3lyeC0kejZwE9re1vW-fC/s400/jrr.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi109FJkS6r0z-JSM3Boqx7DkZncaXKZobQEzPWBmmhtm4HRxbcG_bMGvPNOSRSKFJkZuTYkwHZoL0q3X3MqdJ-FrZgCU2uMctPLbJn_Y2H-7Q_PqjSLnvzlY-FzjfT5K1pxiCk3KFN3FWRQUjpA18o6UxndQCVhesz26SV7fM3lyeC0kejZwE9re1vW-fC/s16000/jrr.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today marks the 132nd anniversary of the birth of J.R.R. Tolkien. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Tolkien is almost certainly the single most important creator for the subsequent development of the fantasy genre as it has come to be widely understood – no small feat for an Oxford don specializing in Anglo-Saxon language and literature! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Usually, on these occasions, I try to find some novel way to celebrate the occasion, but, after so many years of doing so, I must admit that it's become harder and harder to write something that has not already been written dozens of times beforehand and often more eloquently. That's why, this year, I will simply state that my own life has been inestimably enriched since I first read <i>The Lord of the Rings </i>in 1980. For that reason, I am forever grateful to Professor Tolkien, as, I suspect, are the countless others who have enjoyed his tales of Middle-earth over the decades.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/01/aur-onnad-meren.html">Aur Onnad Meren!</a></i></div><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26212662382416265792024-01-02T13:00:00.000-05:002024-01-02T13:00:03.718-05:00The Big Heist<p>I wrote a post at the beginning of last month in which I mused about <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-limited-pop-cultural-footprint-of-d.html">the limited pop cultural footprint of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>as a game</a> during the heyday of its original faddishness. My point was not that pop culture during the late '70s through the mid-1980s was <i>entirely devoid </i>of nods to the <i>existence of D&D </i>(or roleplaying games more generally), but rather that exceedingly few of those nods <i>showed how D&D was actually played</i> – or indeed made even a weak attempt to show it <i>as a game at all. </i>After the appearance of that post and <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/hidden-details.html">the one on <i>Labyrinth</i></a>, I received quite a few emails from readers who directed me toward other movies or TV shows in which <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>– or <i>D&D </i>products<i> – </i>appeared. I'm grateful for those pointers, since there are undoubtedly many examples of this phenomenon of which I was unaware.</p><p>A good case in point is the fifth episode of the fourth season of <i>Diff'rent Strokes</i>, which aired on November 26, 1981. The episode, entitled "The Big Heist," doesn't really involve <i>D&D </i>in any way, but it does feature a number of <i>D&D </i>and <i>AD&D </i>products in plain sight.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNKu6P8FNNVFD-QRiARvVuktiSWgdZp_Q3k32Oihc2GB6bDkS_0oD5_T1ZivuxL9iRRHrVaEDyZOcBdoHThI4ru1WEXieoopdSurGP0leOQE5XYpMhNUwETYLrrCb-84Gi2_odFyS7mYjdtKdWwbB4VXNcnfBxJJWjEcMbfuuTUn3Im7Gkp2utdQA0Vykj/s1530/diffrent1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1155" data-original-width="1530" height="303" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNKu6P8FNNVFD-QRiARvVuktiSWgdZp_Q3k32Oihc2GB6bDkS_0oD5_T1ZivuxL9iRRHrVaEDyZOcBdoHThI4ru1WEXieoopdSurGP0leOQE5XYpMhNUwETYLrrCb-84Gi2_odFyS7mYjdtKdWwbB4VXNcnfBxJJWjEcMbfuuTUn3Im7Gkp2utdQA0Vykj/w400-h303/diffrent1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the display rack to the right, you can clearly see the covers of the three <i>AD&D </i>ruleboks, the <i>Players Handbook, </i>the <i>Dungeon Masters Guide, </i>and the <i>Monster Manual. </i>Located between the <i>PHB </i>and the <i>DMG </i>is what appears to be a <i>D&D Expert Set</i>. What's on the bottom shelf is unclear, at least to my aged eyes. Here's another still that much more clearly shows the middle shelves of the rack.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJPXYi47f6k6ebltGuc9d7SMSg2rwjLr-NoSR5uBfKWpWr0E3VVRjKtCc3rR_pSlumjoL_wsmmEOlRyJo2dSoty7CXmeves8ywVMgcvicDfEhToaRjEtOjxw2356RHfeqd0hoCp2tbCNUB5iOk9F43ymEWbo5WbZeCR9dIB_LOUHwYHyCR60IoQLMrI7b/s829/diffrent2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="583" data-original-width="829" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPJPXYi47f6k6ebltGuc9d7SMSg2rwjLr-NoSR5uBfKWpWr0E3VVRjKtCc3rR_pSlumjoL_wsmmEOlRyJo2dSoty7CXmeves8ywVMgcvicDfEhToaRjEtOjxw2356RHfeqd0hoCp2tbCNUB5iOk9F43ymEWbo5WbZeCR9dIB_LOUHwYHyCR60IoQLMrI7b/w400-h281/diffrent2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I doubt I ever saw this episode when it was aired. If I did, I certainly had forgotten about it until readers alerted me to its existence. Looking at it now, I find it striking just how clearly these products are all displayed. Of course, I can't help but wonder how <i>identifiable </i>they'd have been to anyone who was casually watching the show. Perhaps some children might have recognized them, but would <i>anyone else</i> have known what they are? I'm skeptical.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's a very strange thing. TSR was doing terrific sales on <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> throughout this period. The game was a huge fad – and yet it had only the tiniest toehold in the wider popular culture. I've theorized that this is due to the fact that pop culture is generally made not by people close to the age of those who consume its products but by people a generation or more older than them. That's why, for example, the Marvel comics of the 1960s, while ostensibly written for the children and teenagers of that time, were in fact much more reflective of the world in which its creators grew up, which is to say, the 1930s and '40s. Consequently, it would take until the '90s at the earliest before the people who <i>actually played RPGs </i>during their heyday would become pop cultural tastemakers, which is precisely when we start to see more examples of roleplaying games in movies and TV shows.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">At least, that's my theory. Perhaps you have alternative explanations.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-1306799534672080822024-01-01T14:00:00.000-05:002024-01-01T14:00:02.686-05:00Happy New Year<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfZlN55Ld-2fsoxdVYUwv1YW5qS4G7ip_gxe-CySEa6_E7W0oGAXZyXb5-MrKOH9RhpcY0zwXgcrdJiRC4AGjhpilPp5OEx_03Ew2B8YZpwDDEWpig4-DAefkC3qNm3ugzB3qWQcNiHT2dopJ-4e98naLXJlIgHP_3-3LiTVdoVMxozJwBdJyzxuhyfSe/s585/woodgrain.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="585" data-original-width="390" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJfZlN55Ld-2fsoxdVYUwv1YW5qS4G7ip_gxe-CySEa6_E7W0oGAXZyXb5-MrKOH9RhpcY0zwXgcrdJiRC4AGjhpilPp5OEx_03Ew2B8YZpwDDEWpig4-DAefkC3qNm3ugzB3qWQcNiHT2dopJ-4e98naLXJlIgHP_3-3LiTVdoVMxozJwBdJyzxuhyfSe/w266-h400/woodgrain.jpg" width="266" /></a></div>Somehow, another year has come and gone and, while I wouldn't go so far as to say 2023 was a <i>bad </i>year for me, it certainly was a <i>frustrating </i>one, filled with numerous unwelcome distractions that prevented my completing almost any of the projects I hoped I might. Rather than dwell on that, I plan instead to look upon 2024 as filled with possibility, including the possibility that I'll do this year what I was unable to do last year. <p></p><p>To that end, you'll probably be seeing an increase in posts about the development of <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-vaults-of-sha-arthan.html">Secrets of sha-Arthan</a></i>. I've been working on it on and off for the last two and a half years. Lots of progress has been made, but there's still a lot more to do. Because this is a passion project without any specific end goal, there's been no real incentive to finish it according to a schedule. Though that's still largely true, I very much do want to see it finished, at least in draft form, before the conclusion of this year (preferably sooner). Posting about it publicly might help me to do that, so I beg your continued indulgence as I do so.</p><p>2024 is also the half-century anniversary of the release of original <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>and I plan to devote quite a bit of commentary to the game that started it all throughout the year. Though I am not presently playing OD&D, I have a particular affection for this edition of <i>D&D</i>, because it's the one that served as my gateway to what would eventually come to be known as the Old School Renaissance, which would, in turn, serve as the impetus to start this blog. Consequently, it's only right that OD&D should once again take center stage here at Grognardia, as I hope it will in the wider world of roleplaying.</p><p>Until then, I'd like to wish everyone a happy and fun 2024. Fight on!</p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-64503098891327041392023-12-25T00:00:00.011-05:002023-12-25T00:00:00.131-05:00Merry Christmas!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIEfChnH2SIjlZRPp0eUGKvQDRumdekd0v9RvT0FbmNu3AERg9eItTAfiCTp7_p74RcLJv3zw4VI3nD3eEDYEUe3H-A6LE2F_um5cqVZbe8Mpzj4HEEkpaz_vvA13uO1HsPuJo4rAbbcfkM8tqqpD78yx-zk5NLhgMGBqBbNZ4jG0fDdmlB3Q-b5JRFeC8/s581/fatherchristmas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="581" data-original-width="492" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIEfChnH2SIjlZRPp0eUGKvQDRumdekd0v9RvT0FbmNu3AERg9eItTAfiCTp7_p74RcLJv3zw4VI3nD3eEDYEUe3H-A6LE2F_um5cqVZbe8Mpzj4HEEkpaz_vvA13uO1HsPuJo4rAbbcfkM8tqqpD78yx-zk5NLhgMGBqBbNZ4jG0fDdmlB3Q-b5JRFeC8/s16000/fatherchristmas.jpg" /></a></div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-42278225086499487982023-12-20T00:00:00.077-05:002023-12-20T00:00:00.135-05:00Hidden Details<p>Because of my post about <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-limited-pop-cultural-footprint-of-d.html">the limited pop cultural footprint of <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>as a game</a>, several readers pointed me toward the image below, which I've enlarged as much as I could. It's a still from the 1986 Jim Henson-directed, George Lucas-produced, and Terry Jones-penned fantasy movie, <i>Labyrinth. </i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4oUD-QiQicKpwCIylPsbfny9Sj0B1irre7uyRRE9BKHWGwZOIQ1N247klutedHUTYmcoeXtHpwRvbRuTyN-K1j8ESwUtyxkb-qa3qdKWte3TdTRd_4FQhQuodUKaNZt-AqoC4Pd9nVkfW673FkYNcoh9uKdiouOhX0cZ8le6nlQbMbm-PT1-kQQAchE8/s651/Expert%20Set.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="525" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic4oUD-QiQicKpwCIylPsbfny9Sj0B1irre7uyRRE9BKHWGwZOIQ1N247klutedHUTYmcoeXtHpwRvbRuTyN-K1j8ESwUtyxkb-qa3qdKWte3TdTRd_4FQhQuodUKaNZt-AqoC4Pd9nVkfW673FkYNcoh9uKdiouOhX0cZ8le6nlQbMbm-PT1-kQQAchE8/w516-h640/Expert%20Set.jpg" width="516" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In case it's not clear from the image above, there's a copy – seemingly still in shrinkwrap – of the 1981 David Cook/Steve Marsh <i>Expert Set </i>on a bookshelf in the film. I've admittedly not seen the movie recently, but I suspect this is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment rather than something that's given any prominence. Certainly, no one in the movie <i>plays D&D</i> or even references it in any way, so I'm not at all convinced that it's particularly relevant to the point of my earlier post. I imagine it's more likely a case that someone on <i>Labyrinth</i>'s production team thought the box "looked cool" and then placed it on the set. I doubt anyone before the advent of high-resolution home video even noticed it; I certainly didn't.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I wouldn't be surprised to discover that there are other movies and TV shows from the 1980s that feature, as background details, <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>and RPG-related paraphernalia. However, I don't believe their number would be very large, or else they'd be better known. I know that, when I was a kid, I made a big deal out of even the flimsiest connections to my beloved hobby. If there are more instances like this out there, they must be very well hidden indeed.</div><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-64858706835382212072023-12-19T15:00:00.077-05:002023-12-19T15:00:00.123-05:00Gygax on a D&D Movie<p>In <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/polyhedron-issue-13.html">issue #13 of </a><i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/polyhedron-issue-13.html">Polyhedron</a> </i>talks briefly about the status of a supposed <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>movie. Three years earlier, the topic comes up in an interview with Gary Gygax in the September 1980 issue of <i>Fantastic Films. </i>What he has to say is actually quite interesting, especially in light of my own <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/02/pointlessness-of-d-movie.html">feelings about a <i>D&D </i>movie</a>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvWD7xZl8jUC0Yr14LxXYDQR-iB8ea7yIJN6jU6VUPlh9s43xSY7OX6sHhu3NiBES-kNYcPZLbFwTE7CNdXPcizWs16XJMMj9EMe1T2d7VL64L_8WfT9NpE6QjP9MTmt2Z7Sn_TTzoSxSf9-7_zePsaIuQvT5913HAC-b2Oy61iCnnWJEzgR9whlS4vpU/s799/movie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="799" data-original-width="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtvWD7xZl8jUC0Yr14LxXYDQR-iB8ea7yIJN6jU6VUPlh9s43xSY7OX6sHhu3NiBES-kNYcPZLbFwTE7CNdXPcizWs16XJMMj9EMe1T2d7VL64L_8WfT9NpE6QjP9MTmt2Z7Sn_TTzoSxSf9-7_zePsaIuQvT5913HAC-b2Oy61iCnnWJEzgR9whlS4vpU/s16000/movie.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Reading this, two things stand out to me. First is Gygax's reference to <i>The Hobbit </i>as a good template for "a fantasy quest." That's no surprise really, since Gygax was quite open about his enjoyment of <i>The Hobbit </i>(in contrast to <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, which he found dull). Still, it's additional fodder for the never-ending discussion <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/01/gygax-on-tolkien-again.html">the extent of Tolkien's influence over </a><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/01/gygax-on-tolkien-again.html" style="font-style: italic;">D&D</a>, if that's something you enjoy. Second is Gygax's <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/03/pulp-fantasy-library-saga-of-old-city.html">accurate assessment</a> of his ability to write dialog, which suggests a level of self-awareness lacking in many creators – not that it stopped him from trying his hand at fiction writing anyway.</div><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-5637456124086583752023-12-19T12:00:00.001-05:002023-12-19T12:00:00.128-05:00Khlûl'-hloo<p></p><blockquote> ... the word is supposed to represent a fumbling human attempt to catch the phonetics of an <i>absolutely non-human </i>word. The name of the hellish entity was invented by beings whose vocal organs were not like man's, hence it has no relation to the human speech equipment. The syllables were determined by a physiological equipment wholly unlike ours, <i>hence could never be uttered perfectly by human throats ... </i>The actual sound – as near as human organs could imitate it or human letters record it – may be taken as something like <i>Khlûl'-hloo</i>, with the first syllable pronounced gutturally and very thickly. The <i>u </i>is about like that in <i>full</i>; and the first syllable is not unlike <i>klul </i>in sound, hence the <i>h </i>represents the guttural thickness. </blockquote><p>Thus spake H.P. Lovecraft in his letter to Duane W. Rimel (July 23, 1934), regarding the proper pronunciation of the Great Old One, Cthulhu. </p><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-44622600854348563402023-12-19T08:04:00.001-05:002023-12-19T08:04:21.113-05:00Polyhedron: Issue #15<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1h5AqvRjgzswgDKGbBvzurisfWE_Ey4LKSzjauWz_35M6hPI8sB9UCarLz3pDHa9Ml3G7mo5l8F_a6gfvp2HyN6XU31GoeroK4S2vMzLewEABTodU9tQpCpiwtFnRfS6U2SNphMcT-ttmLvhnyBGX4SMUswk4PadTS8lz1hXsknTk_di3MSgHbgKdtvLY/s953/polyhedron15.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="718" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1h5AqvRjgzswgDKGbBvzurisfWE_Ey4LKSzjauWz_35M6hPI8sB9UCarLz3pDHa9Ml3G7mo5l8F_a6gfvp2HyN6XU31GoeroK4S2vMzLewEABTodU9tQpCpiwtFnRfS6U2SNphMcT-ttmLvhnyBGX4SMUswk4PadTS8lz1hXsknTk_di3MSgHbgKdtvLY/w301-h400/polyhedron15.jpg" width="301" /></a>Could the cover of issue #15 of <i>Polyhedron </i>(December 1983) by Keith Parkinson be any more 1980s if it tried? Like most recent issues, the illustration depicts a character from the "Encounters" feature, in this case an 8th-level <i>Dungeons & Dragons </i>fighter named Edrie Solo. Edrie is the player character of Randy Solo (no relation), who was the second-place winner of the RPGA membership drive announced all the way back in <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/08/polyhedron-issue-3.html">issue #3</a>. His prize included an illustration of his character by his favorite artist (Parkinson), as well as a brief scenario involving her, written by James M. Ward. My teenage self thought that was a pretty cool prize – and <i>it is.</i></p><p>The issue marks the department of Kim Eastland as publisher of <i>Polyhedron, </i>a role he took over from Frank Mentzer about a year and a half prior. Eastland is, for me anyway, one of the more mysterious members of TSR's staff. I <i>remember his name</i>, but, until I started re-reading <i>Polyhedron</i>, I don't think I could have told you what <i>he did</i> at the company. Looking back over his credits, he wrote or contributed to a number of modules for TSR RPGs throughout the '80s, though, as I said, until I made the effort, I don't think I could have recalled any of them. That probably says more about my aging memory than it does about him.</p><p>Issue #15 also marks the end of the RPGA catalog as part of <i>Polyhedron. </i>Apparently, like me, many readers felt that it took up too many pages that could have been more profitably used for <i>gaming content. </i>From this point on, all RPGA merchandise was sold exclusively through the <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/dungeon-hobby-shop-art.html">Dungeon</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-dungeon-hobby-shop-art.html">Hobby</a> <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/yet-more-dhs-art.html">Shop</a> in Wisconsin. I remember this shift, because I suddenly started receiving a copy of the DHS catalog in the mail a couple of times a year. I <i>adored </i>the catalog, because it included both gaming products I'd never heard of before and those I of which I had heard but never seen in the wild. I wish I still had my copies, because I suspect they'd be a treasure trove of information and nostalgia.</p><p>The letters page is mostly ephemera, but one letter and its response stood out:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFN-ULGm6hn-03VETpy4IC0AP6Gc34A9KwEkOHv_-KC8-ITAQIYAm9SmF9GiVc0IPypQEIFxiYj9bPaT_fBU_HKl86gPQhaIeTosEPAUzYkCh7SN2KEqOuaF6afpRhy2yFzxomdfPrgiOWGCiZ8aZgpaTtLd126lwXlfR144pObZRpQXBcrDKf-_E9YbW/s632/copyright.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="334" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqFN-ULGm6hn-03VETpy4IC0AP6Gc34A9KwEkOHv_-KC8-ITAQIYAm9SmF9GiVc0IPypQEIFxiYj9bPaT_fBU_HKl86gPQhaIeTosEPAUzYkCh7SN2KEqOuaF6afpRhy2yFzxomdfPrgiOWGCiZ8aZgpaTtLd126lwXlfR144pObZRpQXBcrDKf-_E9YbW/w338-h640/copyright.jpg" width="338" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">While I don't doubt the sincerity of the response, I nevertheless find it odd, because, so far as I can recall, <i>no other periodical</i>, then or now, includes copyright or trademark symbols when printing the name of a product that's under legal copyright. As a practice, it's something I only ever recall seeing in TSR's '80s-era magazines and publications. I really can't fathom who advised TSR to undertake this approach, because it's absolutely obnoxious.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Dispel Confusion," as always includes a wide variety of questions about all of TSR's roleplaying games. The only one that really caught my attention was the following, since it pertained to <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/10/retrospective-murder-in-harmony.html">a favorite adventure of mine</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaznlbpKhbljdp2EaKpRS_h3Yy2ojUXOaKjeOrEZT25JRWOqiZa-539d3Sk3Q_t0id6L05w_21jNwg8oYiijGSjVdNkr0kaUiahI11AfbmldboD11ZrmeWWTw6ZmJPtxR-IKEgFSUOGWe1U6Deyw_WbUJFCCjJh1oqNJRmWV3eXdace07TEGqi69XQ7_XN/s324/harmony.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="324" height="373" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaznlbpKhbljdp2EaKpRS_h3Yy2ojUXOaKjeOrEZT25JRWOqiZa-539d3Sk3Q_t0id6L05w_21jNwg8oYiijGSjVdNkr0kaUiahI11AfbmldboD11ZrmeWWTw6ZmJPtxR-IKEgFSUOGWe1U6Deyw_WbUJFCCjJh1oqNJRmWV3eXdace07TEGqi69XQ7_XN/w400-h373/harmony.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As I stated in my original retrospective post about <i>Murder in Harmony</i>, its central mystery <i>is </i>difficult to unravel, but it's far from impossible. I find it amusing that someone actually bothered to write into <i>Polyhedron</i>, hoping that author Mark Acres would confirm the identity of the murderer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"The <i>AD&D </i>Game Exam" by Philip Meyers is a reprint of an article that originally appeared in issue #47 of <i>Dragon. Polyhedron </i>editor Mary Kirchoff mentioned earlier in this issue that she'd be reprinting articles from <i>Dragon </i>that would otherwise never seen reprinting in, say, <i>The Best of Dragon </i>anthologies, no doubt in order to find more material to fill the 'zine's pages now that the RPGA catalog had been removed. The exam presented in the article is pretty tough, bordering on the obsessive in my opinion. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about <i>AD&D</i>, but many of the questions asked here are beyond my feeble intellect. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Do It Yourself" by Roger E. Moore tackles solo adventuring in <i>AD&D. </i>Like all of Moore's articles, this one is pretty good, touching on a lot of matters that are of relevance to its subject. Moore spends time discussing arena combat, dungeon delving, and wilderness adventures as options. In each case, he provides not only ideas for how to proceed but points the reader toward existing tools, like the random tables in the <i>Dungeon Masters Guide</i>, that would be of assistance. He also, wisely, I think, suggests that characters used in a solo campaign should not be integrated into a "regular" campaign, because of the differences in style and outcome. I suspect many solo characters acquired a much more impressive array of magic items, for example, than would be typical in a well-refereed multi-player campaign.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Moore returns with an installment of "Notes for the Dungeon Master" aimed at high-level adventures. Again, lots of solid and useful advice here. Though I rarely had the opportunity to make use of any of his suggestions, I nevertheless recall <i>wishing </i>I could have, because he made high-level adventures sound like fun. I also recall the article for its delightful accompanying illustration by Larry Elmore:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnD7qxExMMCw9LjyCgfdLXeB3EeqaA2hbKsyXCOCWOGXQKIAM1suEql4KKSqY-Up-FTFAdlQxCRLu7EagS_gVt32zG5VTV3TTtNp-HE4pqyZ9KLSD2nQF64lb5L_VcgLyUM8-Irpe7_wH0bHhSS3fw2vn0XgXr4EJ9SZlPP13bCWAPzXyXiQnVU-qLBNG/s611/mardt.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="490" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWnD7qxExMMCw9LjyCgfdLXeB3EeqaA2hbKsyXCOCWOGXQKIAM1suEql4KKSqY-Up-FTFAdlQxCRLu7EagS_gVt32zG5VTV3TTtNp-HE4pqyZ9KLSD2nQF64lb5L_VcgLyUM8-Irpe7_wH0bHhSS3fw2vn0XgXr4EJ9SZlPP13bCWAPzXyXiQnVU-qLBNG/w514-h640/mardt.jpg" width="514" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To this day, I make references to Sir Kay Mardt from time to time. No one else seems to know what I'm talking about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Mas Day in New Hope" is a bit of Christmas-themed nonsense for <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/retrospective-gamma-world.html">Gamma World</a> </i>by James M. Ward. The scenario involves an "X.M.A.S. Unit" – a robotic Santa Claus with a grav sled pulled by similarly robotic reindeer – that's been modified to act as a weapon of mass destruction attacking a peaceful village. As I said, it's nonsense but amusing enough, if you're in the right frame of mind. "House Rules In" by Mike Carr looks briefly at some <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/retrospective-dawn-patrol.html">Dawn Patrol</a> </i>rules variants that players might find useful. Carr notes that house rules are often the test bed for eventual rules changes, so there's nothing inherently wrong with them, so long as all the players are on board with them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are <i>two <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/05/retrospective-gangbusters.html">Gangbusters</a> </i>articles in this issue, starting with "The Vesper Investigation" by Antonio O'Malley. This is a short, two-page scenario intended for one to three private investigator characters. Ostensibly an investigation into the disappearance of a young woman's uncle, the adventure turns into more than that – including, possibly, a <i>ghost story. </i>David Cook's "Casin' the Joint" looks at sources of literary inspiration for <i>Gangbusters</i> games, particularly pulp novels. Among those he suggests are the stories of Doc Savage and other globetrotting heroes, like the Shadow and the Spider. Taken together, the two articles point toward an alternate future where <i>Gangbusters </i>broadened its subject matter to include a wider range of interwar subject matter, not just cops and robbers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">"Cash & Carry for Cowboys" by Glenn Rahman is another reprint from <i>Dragon</i>, in this case issue #54. The article is a listing of historical prices for various items not listed in the equipment list for <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/07/retrospective-boot-hill.html">Boot Hill</a>. </i>I love articles of this sort, especially so back before the Internet made it possible to find this sort of information with relative ease. Finally, there's Merle Rasmussen's "College Courses and Vital Statistics," which presents a series of courses <i><a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/retrospective-top-secret.html">Top Secret</a> </i>agents can attend – and their costs and the time required to do so. These courses increase an agent's skills and abilities once completed. I've always liked the idea of characters undertaking training in-game to improve themselves, so this article had defnite appeal for me. I wish I'd had the chance to use it when I last played the game.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>Polyhedron </i>continues to transition into <i>something</i>. Based on various comments in this issue, it's clear that, like me, a lot of its readership wanted to see more gaming material in its pages rather than updates about conventions and other RPGA activities. At the same time, it's also clear that the 'zine's staff was not prepared for this shift in focus, hence the reprinting of <i>Dragon </i>articles to pad out its page count. As I recall, the staff eventually gets the balance right and <i>Polyhedron </i>became something quite good and distinctive. How long that process takes is something I'm keen to see, as I continue to re-read these issues from my youth.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75245176534711485822023-12-18T14:00:00.039-05:002023-12-18T14:00:00.345-05:00The Streets of da-Imer<p>Last week, I shared part of a larger illustration depicting <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-armies-of-king-emperor.html">the Armies of the King-Emperor</a> of da-Imer, as drawn by <a href="https://realmofzhu.blogspot.com/">Zhu Bajiee</a>. I thought I'd follow it up today with part of a tableau depicting some "ordinary" people one might encounter in the streets of the First City.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltR2qmUr1GNUz6mjwTnlv34qfqWivuSfwDSPSxFQ5gzJ69D9U7NEzhiThvfZv1F50Cul5fgKC44N6uXTjcl09HqGfbgCmJyq4oaSBXNtCjnBXRuws2tsNXrkft01VkbS1slsC-YbXSjrZVVeWJiSmSTvthxMnPi4mMZiYczzXgE5yV71rrJ-IVgRObXSE/s943/Inba%20Iro%20Citizens1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="768" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltR2qmUr1GNUz6mjwTnlv34qfqWivuSfwDSPSxFQ5gzJ69D9U7NEzhiThvfZv1F50Cul5fgKC44N6uXTjcl09HqGfbgCmJyq4oaSBXNtCjnBXRuws2tsNXrkft01VkbS1slsC-YbXSjrZVVeWJiSmSTvthxMnPi4mMZiYczzXgE5yV71rrJ-IVgRObXSE/w522-h640/Inba%20Iro%20Citizens1.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On the lefthand edge, there's a spice merchant, her head bowed in deference to the noble lady sampling her wares. The lady belongs to the Arta Char dynasty, an ancient lineage that, unlike many others, welcomed Magdor's accession to the Solar Throne and were rewarded for their support. Next, there's a senior priest of <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-eternal-gods-of-inba-iro.html">Vulas, goddess of commerce and wealth</a>, offering alms to one of da-Imer's many impoverished youths. Vulas is an imported Chomachto deity whose priests have attempted to curry favor with the Ironian population through ostentatious acts of charity (to limited success). The priest depicted here wears a prayer plaque and carries an unlit candle-staff as badges of his office.</div><p></p>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-50171110923393661922023-12-18T00:00:00.210-05:002023-12-18T14:27:30.582-05:00Nativity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAI4VbIPQ147YDRGzdizLgtARwTyJ5fe7h5FHOzlpW7Z1OePUgj8lVmV_AQdbkJHRINgkGqKNwI87Rz2Pt7FQ88huRh28KnQqetLnX2xwCcESj_g0UJrpRSjk4O0x6oGEOT0kHDfCLFcF3NUE3czQRmvHboIxwP9UX2KQkIocXHqwaqFWXTVgJ5UiV87W/s2010/tree.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2010" data-original-width="1583" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidAI4VbIPQ147YDRGzdizLgtARwTyJ5fe7h5FHOzlpW7Z1OePUgj8lVmV_AQdbkJHRINgkGqKNwI87Rz2Pt7FQ88huRh28KnQqetLnX2xwCcESj_g0UJrpRSjk4O0x6oGEOT0kHDfCLFcF3NUE3czQRmvHboIxwP9UX2KQkIocXHqwaqFWXTVgJ5UiV87W/w252-h320/tree.jpg" width="252" /></a></div><div>The funny thing about my involvement with <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> is that it was actually mother who first brought a copy of the game – the Holmes <i>Basic Set –</i> into our house. She bought it for my father sometime in August or September 1979, because he'd been talking about <i>D&D</i> a lot. Dad had always been an avid reader and he'd been reading stories about the game in newspapers and magazines. Though I didn't know it at the time, his interest in the game had been sparked by the disappearance of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_tunnel_incident">James Dallas Egbert III</a> in August of that year. As my mother explained it to me, she had bought a copy of the boxed set, thinking that Dad would find it interesting. She was mistaken in this, because my father never even opened it. The set, still in its shrink wrap, was then placed in the upstairs linen closet, because that's where lots of items that had no obvious place to put them in our house were frequently stored.</div><div><br /></div><div>And that's where it remained until the Christmas holidays, when my friend Mike received a copy of a boardgame called <i>Dungeon!</i> Back in those days, it was tradition among my friends to spend our Christmas vacation making the rounds at each other's houses, showing off the presents we'd received and pronouncing judgment over which of all the gifts we deemed the best. That year, without question, the winner was <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YWbW6GprT5Vt0gM4peDwJcR6I0sR9HXjiiu3GoEzFWs5r0vcyz_yyX-gqdGEVHL-8KKzFaOdTaf6tLkmdrigpqpvTphULcoUzNFkxOutAr9ANx3DFobpJEanho9qeqIUk3p9vB3cvPaQW6mmQeFo9_Y7B00PAjrxF1u9fSiG09ALd60MR8vxMOnpnibd/s320/dungeon.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YWbW6GprT5Vt0gM4peDwJcR6I0sR9HXjiiu3GoEzFWs5r0vcyz_yyX-gqdGEVHL-8KKzFaOdTaf6tLkmdrigpqpvTphULcoUzNFkxOutAr9ANx3DFobpJEanho9qeqIUk3p9vB3cvPaQW6mmQeFo9_Y7B00PAjrxF1u9fSiG09ALd60MR8vxMOnpnibd/s1600/dungeon.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><i>Dungeon!</i> We played it many, many times and we all agreed that Mike was the victor in that year's "competition." What clinched it for us were <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2012/07/dungeon-memories.html">the monster cards</a>, which included all sorts of bizarre creatures we'd never heard of before, such as a "black pudding." We found the whole thing faintly ridiculous, honestly, but that very ridiculousness also kept us playing and, like some kind of narcotic, <i>we wanted more</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>That's when I remembered the <i>D&D Basic Set</i> in the linen closet, which I then took out and unwrapped. I gleefully took the rulebook over to Mike's house to show it off and we then attempted to figure out how to play the damned thing. I'm not ashamed to say that we <i>failed utterly</i> in our attempts – not that that stopped us from "playing" <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> anyway. Our early "adventures" were weird things. We used <i>Dungeon!</i> to "clarify" details we didn't understand in the rulebook and, because my boxed set was one of those that didn't include polyhedral dice, we played using only six-sided dice. I even have a dim recollection of using the board game's playing surface – it wasn't really a board – to run an adventure or two.</div><div><br /></div><div>Eventually, <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/05/gaming-mentors.html">Mike's older brother</a>, who was a surly teen metal head saw us with the Holmes rule book and listened to our feeble attempts to play the game. He'd never taken much interest in us before, except perhaps to terrorize us with his loud music or to punch Mike when he "got out of line." When he saw us with the <i>D&D</i> book, though, he took some measure of pity on us and tried to help us, in his own<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPkXce3QHhfPjcoUEyiskMDtehLPzdUP8qOkp-jjXBAGQ-f0CMLBbLXSFIoe1HiRl7TjokryIOMYi_blbwFzItiol89gPPnmXl7XOkrHQAoeB4t9kkVmEmxd2gVLpyCsRChIB-M6hcUsdbViJfei5kWXvth91QjoJPxcZccH5tCIZvVA5OV5fMVGKzIK3/s500/holmes.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="404" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMPkXce3QHhfPjcoUEyiskMDtehLPzdUP8qOkp-jjXBAGQ-f0CMLBbLXSFIoe1HiRl7TjokryIOMYi_blbwFzItiol89gPPnmXl7XOkrHQAoeB4t9kkVmEmxd2gVLpyCsRChIB-M6hcUsdbViJfei5kWXvth91QjoJPxcZccH5tCIZvVA5OV5fMVGKzIK3/s320/holmes.jpg" width="259" /></a></div>condescending way, to play the game "properly." Of course, Mike's brother didn't play <i>D&D</i> by the book himself; he used lots of house rules and variants and so we adopted them as Gospel truths until we knew better. It was nevertheless a strange turning point for us, because never before had Mike's brother ever treated us so nicely. He still beat up Mike, of course, but a bond, however tenuous, was forged through our mutual love of <i>D&D</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I bought the <i>Monster Manual</i> sometime in early 1980, using money I'd received from my grandmother at Christmas. I ordered the book through the Sears catalog and was absolutely captivated – and occasionally frightened – by its contents. I vividly recall the illustration of the Night Hag being <a href="https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/03/fantasy-is-frightening.html">particularly unnerving</a> to me. Over the next six months, my friends and I acquired other <i>AD&D</i> books and modules, which we used in conjunction with Holmes – and then Moldvay when it came out the following year – so we probably never played a "pure" version of the game, not that anyone cared. We were having the times of our young lives, creating characters with abandon and inflicting all sorts of monstrous tricks and traps on one another. By popular acclaim, I quickly became<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFevU707Qw5VGp-yqm-E_nBYo1MgV8OD0iBo3DILKpuLBG94ykedFTFf47TtDYdrqPVxwUEmQ1n5vyHYFLUbwqtoHB49VaZ_1Z_2XHXSp6gJQQ3-y8EB8XEfki_he02Y2ZV3ZKlmtmI3FuwFm_sOxjABJuAUKfSnNLJHa2JxHbQslQfFnshBcKL5HJ7wIK/s479/mm.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFevU707Qw5VGp-yqm-E_nBYo1MgV8OD0iBo3DILKpuLBG94ykedFTFf47TtDYdrqPVxwUEmQ1n5vyHYFLUbwqtoHB49VaZ_1Z_2XHXSp6gJQQ3-y8EB8XEfki_he02Y2ZV3ZKlmtmI3FuwFm_sOxjABJuAUKfSnNLJHa2JxHbQslQfFnshBcKL5HJ7wIK/s320/mm.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>the Dungeon Master. With the rare exceptions of when Mike's brother or father would run us through a dungeon, no one else really took to the role as I did and it's a role I've pretty much had most of my gaming career. I'm not a terrible player, mind you, but my gifts, such as they are, naturally incline me toward refereeing and so it has remained for the better part of the last four decades or so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Every year, as Christmas rolls around once again, I find myself recalling these events from my childhood. Even today, they're among my fondest memories, because they, quite literally, <i>changed my life forever</i>. There is no way I could have known, in December 1979, that the "weird new game" that my friends and I discovered almost by accident would become the foundation on which I'd build not just a lifelong hobby but also many more friendships. To this day, some of my oldest and dearest friends are those whom I know only because we share a love of roleplaying games. That's why, even though I didn't, strictly speaking, get the <i>D&D Basic Set </i>for Christmas that year, I nevertheless consider it among the best gifts I've ever received.</div>James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.com7