Fantasy Females

I just started re-reading Jennifer Roberson’s Cheysuli books, a series I started years ago but stopped collecting due to a lack of funds (a frequent occurrence in my high school and college years). They’re pretty darn good…I had originally thought they’d make a decent B/X campaign setting (and still think that), but now I’m enjoying them just for themselves. Back in high school (my non-D&D years) I attempted to emulate the setting with SSI’s DragonQuest RPG (DQ has a lot of “ups” on D&D for a Cheysuli setting, including shapechanger characters, more accessible magic-use, and knife wielders that don’t totally suck), but in the end no one really wanted to play DQ, not even me.

[side note: If anyone would like to see the equivalent of a literary justification of “all weapons do D6 damage,” check out the Cheysuli books…these guys are like Apache knife-fighters extraordinaire!]

Anyhoo, I was thinking to myself this morning: what the hell is it with all the chick fantasy authors?

That is to say: why do I seem to be drawn to the fantasy writings of women authors? And how has that colored my ideas of fantasy and story and the application of both to my gaming?

Because (after all), the baseline foundation of the DM craft is emulating the stuff that you enjoy or read or watch in the various media available to us: books, comics, film, TV. You can say “well, I base MY D&D campaign on actual history” but I would say you are STILL getting that version of “history” from something: books, comics, film, TV (or possibly university lecture hall).

I think it’s nigh impossible to create something out of a vacuum…and SINCE I’m drawing on my own “memory banks” of fantasy to run my campaigns, and SINCE I’m reading so much fantasy written by female authors, HOW is that influencing me?

Because I do think there are differences in story-telling technique and priorities between genders. That may just be me (I was never an English major, as you may be able to tell from my blog-writing style, so I don’t know if there’s any study/analysis of this kind of thing)…but I certainly tend to gravitate to the woman story authors. Allow me to list some of my authorial inspirations (in no particular order):

Jennifer Roberson (despite only having read 2-3 of her books, she turned me into a knife fan many years ago…also prefer her version of “high fantasy” to others).

Elizabeth Boyer (duh…Vikings. I’ve blogged about this many times; she had major influences on the B/X Companion).

Marion Zimmer Bradley (the Big MZB…one of the All Time Greats. Her books are wonderful and pretty much un-translatable to a visual medium making them real “book books”).

Margaret Weiss (I know she only co-authored Dragon Lance, but her name does get first billing, and not out of alphabetical order…the DL books renewed D&D for me in middle school).

Wendy Pini (artist and writer of ElfQuest comics…probably the most engaging and gripping fantasy graphics of all time).

[Colleen Doran, artist and author of the weird sci-fi comic A Distant Soil has also had some small, if strong influence]

Anne McCaffery (mixing SciFi and fantasy is a good thing!).

J.K. Rowling (not an influence in my formative years, and certainly fairly cheesy compared to my usual literary fare, but I admit I have read all seven Hairy Bottom novels…probably the most books I’ve read from a single author in the last ten years).

[regarding my formative years, I will say that before I started reading fantasy, I read quite a few (10 or more) of the old Nancy Drew books at my school library. Although “Carolyn Keene” is a pseudonym, the authors of most of these books were women, with Mildred Benson and her daughter Harriet Adams being the ones primarily credited]

Susan Cooper (this one WAS during my formative years…read the entire Dark is Rising series. Wouldn’t mind revisiting that one, one of these days).

Robin McKinley (another one from my youth; author of The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. The plots of these books impacted much of my early D&D gaming).


Now this isn’t to say that I haven’t read and enjoyed the works and writings of male authors over the years…however, most of these guys (like woman author Anne Rice) are folks that I’ve read once and not returned to…or authors I’ve grown beyond. For example, I read quite a bit of Piers Anthony back in my youth, but I can’t stand his stuff anymore, and none of it has impacted my gaming (I don’t do puns of the Xanth variety, and his Apprentice Adept series is the kind of simplistic fantasy/scifi that makes me wretch)…despite the sex and violence of his books, they seem squarely aimed at the age 12-15 demographic.

Sometimes, it seems like male fantasy authors only fall into two camps: the humorous/whimsical and the ugly. Humorous/whimsical would include Robert Aspirin’s books (which, like Anthony, can get tired after awhile), while “ugly” is the term I use to describe, say, Stephen King’s Gunslinger series. The latter is a series I read compulsively/raptly as it was published, but as with all of King’s books, it doesn’t shirk from the coarse, the gross, the gritty side of life, instead delighting in showing off just how bad things can be. Reading his books isn’t always “fun.”

However, there ARE male authors that fall into the “inspiring, impactful fantasy” category for me: Howard, Moorcock, Lovecraft, Tolkien, George Lucas, Lloyd Alexander, and C.S. Lewis (especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which I have read half a dozen times at least). Interesting that of these authors, Howard, Lovecraft, and Tolkien had very strong female influences on them from a young age (Tolkien’s father died when he was 3 years old and he was raised by his mother)…but then, who’s to say that the female authors I cited didn’t have strong masculine influences?

The point is: it is the female fantasy authors that have had the larger impact on my concepts of fantasy (and directly translated to my fantasy gaming). ESPECIALLY with regard to gaming, only the Big 3 (Howard, Moorcock, and Tolkien) have had as much impact; the first two with regard to tone, the third with regard to mythology (and I would cite the Silmarillion and Children of Hurin as the main influence, not LotR). “Character,” “setting,” and “plot” (for what that last is worth; call it “scenario”), as well as “theme” (if any) comes from my female authors with the occasional random dude (Beagle’s Last Unicorn, Ellison’s Run for the Stars, Steakley’s Armor, and Boyett’s Ariel) sometimes throwing up an especially noteworthy piece of fiction.

[this, of course, is only in reference to my fantasy fiction influences; history and folklore also has a major impact/influence on my gaming and “fantasy life”]

Well, anyway, I thought it was interesting. I'll think about the subject a bit more and see if there are specific things about woman-penned fantasy that I really admire or if the whole discussion is ridiculous...more (hopefully) later...

: )

Maybe This IS a "Kid's Game"

O what sacrilege I may be speaking to even consider the idea that Dungeons and Dragons is NOT a game for the mature, thoughtful adult.

Well certainly there are plenty of "games" these days that are not intended for children beneath a certain age; we know them by their big "rated M for Mature" sticker attached to them. However, with that big leg up RPGs have on video games (i.e. the use of imagination to take the game outside the "normal parameters"), table-top games can be as childish or mature as one wants.

"Limited only by one's imagination" is a powerful phrase. Most of us folks living in developed countries have seen enough craziness on television or in movie theaters or read about it in books and news stories (if not the internet) that our memories are rampant with the most gruesome, grisly, and graphic images and ideas available to 21st century humans...even if they are not things we have actually experienced. Sure, I doubt few of us have ever been stalked by a Deep One or a troll, but we've had instances of terror (or at least "fright") in our lives...as well as disgust, nausea, anger, lust, greed...all things that can be superimposed over imaginary images conjured by the words of players kabitzing around a table to create powerful feelings in play, hopefully for everyone's mutual enjoyment.

But while RPGs can be used to explore mature themes (and just because a game involves excessive bloodletting doesn't make it "mature"), maybe we ARE just fooling ourselves. Maybe adults have better things to do with our imaginations than share an imaginary space occupied by constructs of our own mind. OR perhaps these RPGs (or many of them anyway) work BETTER with the elasticity of youth than with our own staid, geezer psyches.

Certainly I didn't have any qualms as a kid about Rifts or Palladium. Nor did I consider Gamma World to be "cheesy" or "over the top;" heck, fish that turn people to stone? Why not?

: )

I don't know. However, I was reading yet another pair of new modules picked up Friday, and it got me thinking about my childhood and gaming origins...yeah, more than usual.

The modules are UK2: The Sentinel and UK3: The Gauntlet...a pair of 1st edition AD&D modules published in 1983 and '84 respectively. Actually Part 1 and Part 2 of a two part series, I forgot they existed.

Actually, if you'd asked me a week ago, I would not have even realized they DID exist. I've owned UK1 for many years and thought it was a one-time, "out-of-England" deal. As I said earlier, my knowledge of the UK wing of TSR has only been learned very recently. Hell, I never realized the Fiend Folio was out of the UK...I just thought it was a compilation of a bunch of freelancer's monsters (as well as some of Gygax's own "special brew").

BUT even though I didn't know the names or origins of these modules I distinctly remembered them by their cover art as soon as I saw them.

When I was a kid (and I mean a KID...like pre-teen) I remember seeing these covers many times at my then-local-game-shop. In this case, I refer to the Fred Meyer by my house (and occasionally the Pay-N-Save as well). The cover art, by a Mr. Pete Young, is just so distinct...I don't know what it is about it. The colors and subject matter...hell, the EYES of the characters...are all so vivid and disturbing even while they use a limited color palette. Man, those muted tones...they're reminiscent of a Rankin/Bass film (The Hobbit or The Last Unicorn, perhaps).

The interior art, all black-n-white of course, loses something without the color, simply becoming kind of gross sketches (my wife, catching an interior illustration of an ogrillion while I was reading exclaimed "what the hell is THAT?"). But the covers are something else...I just keep finding myself enchanted by them, like a quality (scary) children's fairy tale.

I can't say for sure why I never purchased these as a kid, though I'd hazard two guesses: lack of ready coin as a youngster and the relatively low level of the modules (2-5 and 3-6) which would have been a lot lower than my regular players' characters by the time I was 11 or 12.

Too bad, 'cause the subject matter is pretty cool.

The Sentinel and the Gauntlet...two very distinct magic items around which whole adventure tales were wrought. Heck, like calling White Plume Mountain "Blackrazor" instead. In this instance, each item is a glove, both created for the opposite purpose and thus purposed with destroying each other.

I love this kind of thing...and I love magic gloves in general. Probably the reason I'm such a fan of Elizabeth Boyer's novel The Wizard and the Warlord. Besides vikings, a magic gauntlet features rather prominently. And while I can recall certain magic gloves from fairy tales of my childhood, I can say that one of the my most intriguing and earliest gaming memories is of a particular glove that didn't even belong in a D&D game.

When I was a kid, my aunt (a very attractive woman) was dating a handsome young guy, whose name escapes me. He was tall, witty (he always made us laugh), knowledgeable (he and my aunt were very involved with my parents in politics) and quite social. He had dark hair and (if I remember correctly) a beard. He was also a gamer...the first adult gamer I ever met.

He did not play D&D (which I was already playing at the time) but rather Dragon Quest. He showed DQ to me and my brother and told me a couple anecdotes from adventures he had played. One story concerned a magic gauntlet his character, a fire mage, had created...capable of blasting people with fire balls.

To me, this was the coolest thing ever...and I was quite disappointed when he told me his character had sold the item for a pile of silver pennies. What?! If you could enchant magic items, why not keep them and use them? He explained that it was more lucrative to sell enchanted items than it was practical to retain them.

I didn't get it then, and honestly I don't really grok it now. Isn't the point of the game to play? If I wanted to worry about dollars and cents and being a mechant, I'd be playing Puerto Rico or something.

Is that childish of me? Should I be more mature, more adult with my gaming? Maybe D&D isn't supposed to be so whimsical and should be taken more seriously...less magic gloves and more attention paid to the minute workings of a semi-medieval economy.

I don't know. I mean, I know what I like. And a lot of what I like are the parts that recreate in me the same feelings and emotions I felt as a child. Long, long after that guy and my aunt broke-up (I don't think they dated more than a year) I still have the Dungeon Masters Guide he gifted me with (since he knew I played D&D I suppose). Pulling out that particular copy (my working copy for many years) always makes me feel like a kid again. Maybe THAT's what it's all about.

Or maybe I'm just rambling...it's been a long weekend, and I need to get to work. I'll finish my musing (maybe) later.

Viking Commandos

From Elizabeth Boyer's The Sword and the Satchel:

"How many fighters can we count on?"

"Twenty longbows, thirty spears and lances, eighteen broadswords and axes, fifty with slings and stones, and perhaps a hundred with clubs, knives, flails, hooks -- whatever they can lay their hands on."

"No horsemen?" Asny asked.

"Horses are rare nowadays. All instruments of war were confiscated, and that included horses," Njal said.  "We thought we could do as well or better without them. Our warriors are trained to walk through the woods without a rustle or snapped twig. They can hide like the wild beasts themselves in places where there is no cover. You could walk through fifty of them and not realize it until the single fatal arrow is flown." Njal spoke proudly of his men...

Do these guys sound like thieves to you? They ain't. And when one buries an axe in your skull, it will be even more obvious. All hail the viking commando!

Suck It 4E

From Elizabeth Boyer's The Sword and the Satchel:

"Everybody can't be a hero, you know. Most people think it's too much work...the trouble with you, is that you don't have anything you would die for. That's what puts grit in your gullet, not the memory of an easy life."

-Ansy to Kilgore

Light Summer Reading

Just finished my Boyer book at lunch, and decided to pick up a few more "soft" novels for break time reading (I've been trying to take the bus more to cram more reading time, but lately I've been having to carpool (and drive) leaving me little time for heavy texts). I saw these in the picture window of Eliott Bay Books, and picked 'em up for about $2.95 apiece:

• The Last Unicorn (Peter S. Beagle)...it's been a long while since I've read this one, but it's a classic fantasy tale, and quite depressing (as was the film). Great reading for summers in Montana on Flathead Lake, where my wife and I will be going in late August.
• The Elves and the Otterskin (Elizabeth Boyer)...what a find! More tales of the Alfar, and this is one I haven't read. I hope it's as good as The Wizard and the Warlord.
• The Time of the Dark (Barbara Hambly)...I have no idea what this one is about, but it shares the same cover art as the old Role Aids AD&D Module Fez III: Angry Wizard. I wonder if they're related? I always did like that illustration....
• The Sword and the Sorcerer (Norman Winski)..."now a major motion picture!" Yes, THAT Sword & Sorcerer. I don't know if the book came first or if it's an adaptation of the film, but I felt it was my duty to find out, seeing as how I've watched the movie at least a dozen times. Now that I have the book, I'll never need to watch it again!

Ha! Wait till I do the B/X version of Talon's triple-bladed monstrosity. I actually already had plans for that post (Magic Swords I Have Known #10), but as my original timeline of posts have already been de-railed, I may need to move it up in the order.

: )

B/X Norse

While I may not have got much blogging done over the weekend, I was able to get a fair bit of reading done…so much so that I’m nearly done with The Wizard and the Warlord; I’m either on the last or the second to last chapter. Which means I’ll be able to get back to Asimov’s Foundation series soon (which I am reading for the FIRST time). Loads o inspiration there for a Traveler campaign.

Anyway, reading the tales of the Alfar with an eye to incorporating the setting into B/X has been mui useful. Here’s the Norse treatment of magic and elves (Alfar) according to Boyer (a scholar of Scandinavian folklore):

• Alfar (elves) exist in a faerie realm parallel to the mundane.
• Elves are inherently magical (can do cantrip-type magic), but need training to pull off spectacular effects.
• Wizards are simply well trained in the use of magic, though magical training does not preclude them from fighting with arms and armor.
• Aside from their inherent magical nature, elves have the same foibles and weaknesses of human folk.
• Elves have neither “infravision” nor particularly keen senses, and they don’t speak a plethora of languages (presumably they speak Old Germanic).
  

The alfar are divided into two types: the ljosalfar (light elves) and the dokkalfar (dark elves). The dokkalfar cannot stand the light of day, although dokkalfar still require torches and fire for light and warmth, and there are dokkalfar farmers who (presumably) must toil a bit in daylight to grow crops(?). This latter may simply be an inconsistency in the author's writing, as elsewhere the dokkalfar are depicted as living in underground caves/ruins/forts. In at least one section, it states the dokkalfar are slain instantly by sunlight, being turned to stone as with trolls, though this never occurs in the book and may simply be a rumor.

The ljosalfar have no such weakness to darkness, they simply prefer the sun. Because of their war with the dark elves, they often patrol at night hunting trolls and dokkalfar.

Anyway, one thing that this book has gotten me thinking about, even more than “another way to perceive elves,” is the Magic-User class in general. Wizards in Boyer's book are one of three types:

- The young apprentice learning the trade.
- The mature wizard, powerful and arrogant.
- The wizened old man, knowledgeable but weakened with age.

These first two are portrayed as hale and hearty individuals…often relying on spells, but certainly capable of wielding swords in their defense (and presumably able to wear armor…little description of armor other than an occasional helm is ever given in the book anyway). To me, these “hale and hearty” wizards are much more like the Elf class of B/X D&D. It takes them longer to train in combat than a fighting man (because of their studies) but they are perfectly capable of learning spells like a magic-user AND fighting like a fighter.

The Magic-User class on the other hand represents the wizened old wizard or witch…the reason he can’t use armor or weapons has nothing to do with his class and everything to do with his AGE. His staff he leans on for support, his dagger is for cutting his meat or occasionally of use in ritual magic. He is too old to march long distances wearing armor…or even carrying a heavy backpack! And yet the aged wizard often has more magical might due to his time spent studying and poring over old tomes and scrolls.

There was a line in one of Robert Aspirin’s early Myth books that I always found noteworthy…Aahz is telling Skeeve (his apprentice) that the reason humans don’t study both magic AND fighting is that their life spans are so short, they rarely have time to master one, let alone both.

Certainly, this would be true of anyone “working the Elf class;” a race with a long life span (say, an actual elf) could accumulate more XP over hundreds of years than the average human adventuring as an “Elf.”

In a game world that mimicked the Norse mythology of Boyer’s books, one could make the following adjustments:

• Limit classes to Cleric, Dwarf, Fighter, Thief, Wizard (Elf), Aged Wizard (Magic-User). Non-dwarves may be mundane (scipling), ljosalfar, or dokkalfar.
• No class may progress past level 14.
• Only dwarves and dokkalfar have infravision; dokkalfar are precluded from using fire/light magic and suffer -1 to all rolls when in sunlight.
• Languages are determined by Intelligence only, not race (though dwarves will always speak both Common and Dwarvish); there is no “elvish” language; reading runes is a separate language.
• Norse Trolls = Bugbears (use bugbear stats rather than troll stats) and are rather plentiful. They die in sunlight (turned to stone).
• Magic items are rare and often have "strings attached" (curses or conditions).
• Limited armor (no such thing as plate mail).
  

After going through this exercise, I actually feel less incentive to change the Elf class in normal B/X play. I still like the “heroic elf” character; something between Tolkien's vision and the Alfar for a straight D&D campaign, but the above adjustments are good for a true Northern Reaches campaign of the Norse variety. While Boyer doesn't get into religious differences, the Norse gods are definitely present (dwarves, for example, consider themselves the "chosen priests of Thor") and I feel no qualms in including clerics of Odin (Law) or Loki (Chaos) or any of the other Aesir and Vanir.

This is pretty cool, actually...perhaps I'll do a similar treatment of Tolkien for B/X.

Blood on the Snow

Started reading Elizabeth Boyer’s The Wizard and the Warlord again…haven’t it picked it up more to thumb through the last couple years, but it’s one I keep coming back to. This will be at least the third time I’ve started reading it from the beginning (with the intent to finish). I know some people (like my wife!) think I’m weird to re-read books or re-watch films, but there’s something so enjoyable about a good piece of fiction…I guess it may be the same “escapist gene” in my DNA that keeps me interested in RPGs, even as an adult.

(from an astrological point of view, it’s most likely due to Neptune being conjunct my Ascendant in the First House)

ANYWAY…

I don’t know what it is about Tales of the North, but after the sand and sandal setting, “Viking” is my second favorite flavor of fantasy. Not sure what it is exactly about the Norsemen I love…I have almost as little northlander in my blood as Mediterranean/Middle Eastern (which is to say, NONE). I guess I’m some sort of germanophile or something.

Hell, I even get choked up watching when I see the charge of the Rohirrim (basically Vikings on horses) in those Lord of the Rings films…literally, brings tears to my eyes. Of course, that’s probably as much attributable to Tolkien’s prose as to those gleaming helms and spears.

While Conan the Cimmerian is cool and all, I don’t really consider him a true Norseman, and not just because of how he is artistically depicted (though he’s a pretty swarthy-looking barbarian). Mostly because he spends more time in jungles, deserts, and arid plains then in a longship or on a snow-covered cliff. Plus he just doesn’t wear enough fur and mail. Vikings should wear furs and mail.

You know, part of it has to be the axes. I love the axe. Burton writes that the sword is the “queen of weapons,” but the axe is definitely the king in MY book (yes, both the spear and club are more phallic, but…that’s not the point!). Over the years, I’ve created many fighter-types for various RPGs, and except for a couple rapier-armed exceptions all were axe wielders…one-handed, two-handed, dual-handed, it doesn’t matter. Some of my exploits as a player are still brought up by friends, quoting me by saying “talk to the axe.”

There’s just something so…primal, maybe?...about hitting someone with a sharp, wedge, using mass and leverage to split armor, flesh, and bone. Who the hell’d want to be hit by an axe? Sure, a sword can slice you open, slash through limbs or major arteries. But an axe hit is just severe blunt force trauma behind and edge. You think the chiurgeon’s going to be able to sew that wound closed? You think someone’s going to walk away from that?

Beards are good for warriors, helms (sans horns historically), heavy cloaks, furs, and mail…these things say D&D fighting man to me. Going a-Viking with one’s buddies and coming back in a longship loaded with booty? That says “adventuring party” to me.

Plus you’re encountering fell-beasts, trolls dragons, and sea-serpents? Come on! THIS is D&D, folks!

I also like adventures that take place in any kind of snowy or cold environment. Again, I’m not sure why…personally I much prefer the pouring rain to the snow (I’m a born-and-raised Seattleite). Snow can be miserable stuff. But snowy adventures are great…M1: Blizzard Pass, G2: Against the Giants…heck, I even enjoyed the Mountain of Mirrors endless quest book as a kid. Cold, dark, and dangerous simply by nature of the elements. I almost purchased the D20 supplement Frostburn, but my better judgment prevailed in the end.

More on snow and Vikings later…I’m just setting groundwork, here.

From Gil-Galad to Leafy Tights

I am very enamored with the concept of the “elf lord,” these days, though I admit that I was none too keen on elves back in the hay-day of my D&D play. Very few of my fellow players ever used an elf as a regular character (well…until the UA and the Drow, but that’s another post, folks).

Although the earliest character sheet I can find (in my 3rd or 4th grade hand writing) is for a 1st level elf called Silver Fox, I and my players all developed deep aversions to elven characters based, I believe, on the following:

- Lack of power
- Lack of elvish “role-models”

The first is pretty easy to explain. Starting with B/X, the rate of advancement for an elf character is extremely slow; the elf requires (on average) twice as much XP as any other character to go up in level. Certainly elves are versatile with their weapons and wizardry, but you’re still limited to a single action per round (i.e. cast a spell or swing a sword)…if you’re half the level of your companions, then you have half the hit points, and thus half the staying power.

Furthermore, elf characters in B/X have their levels capped at 10. In AD&D there is some variation to the levels, but compared to humans with unlimited advancement, the elf is a poor choice for the long-term campaign (well, unless you want to play an elvish thief…but who wants that? See “role-models” below). It just makes gamist sense to play a human character.

Look at the World of Warcraft…the closest thing most people are playing to a “long term RPG campaign” these days. If elves could only reach levels 5/11 in fighter-magic-user, even multi-classed, how many players would be choosing elves over humans? Very, very few. It is this type of gamist sensibility that informed our early D&D campaigns.

Regarding “role-models;” well, there just weren’t that many elven heroes to model our characters after. For one thing, none of us had read Tolkien in those days (or much of it…the Two Towers is so slooooow, to a kid). The elves of Dragon Lance were fairly mundane and petty (hey, just like humans! Except with level caps, so they suck!). What else is there? Faeries and leprechauns of English folklore?

Well, now that I’m older…and a bit wiser, perhaps…my sensibilities have changed. For one thing, I’ve read more. I’ve read the entire LotR, the Silmarillion, and the Children of Hurin. I‘ve read Elizabeth Boyer’s fantastic The Wizard and the Warlord, providing great insight into the ljosalfar and dokkalfar, the Sandanavian elves Tolkien borrows for his books. I’ve read up on Norse mythology. And, of course, I’ve seen Peter Jackson’s movies…if the opening scene of armored elves battling orcs doesn’t give you a bit of respect for the elder, I don’t know what will.

I’ll admit the ability to create elven fighters in the vein of Gil-Galad or Glorfindel…or even half-elf heroes like Elrond…was one of the initially very cool things that drew me to D20 and back into D&D role-playing. However, having divorced myself from THAT game, and going back to my Old Scool roots, I find myself strangely disappointed.

I find very few illustrations of elves in my B/X rules…nothing that really jazzes me up. And BECMI is worse what with the pictures of elves in leaf-patterned jump suits. Ugh! It’s like TSR was purposefully trying to push me away from elves. Hell, look at the Gazeteers: the de Belcadiz of Glantri are the worst stereotypes of Spanish (NOT elfish) nobility, and Alfheim…well when it features obvious pastiches of Wendy Pini’s Cutter, Leetah, and Skywise I have to chuck the whole thing.

AD&D (and HackMaster) is too complex for my interests now, and OD&D is too…um…basic. What to do, what to do. It’s quite frustrating; despite my posted “variable damage” posts, I am not much for wholesale house-ruling, figuring game designers know a fair bit about their trade. And yet, I don’t want to design my own “fantasy game” that basically knocks off D&D.

There’s no plan for a follow-up “elf” post at this time. I’m open to suggestions of how to create a real “Elf Lord” in a B/X (or Labyrinth Lord) setting. Maybe cutting the XP to advance in half, forcing a choice between fighting and magic, and extending the level cap to 12 or 14?

Or I suppose I could move over to WFRP where elves kick ass over humans.