The Evil Sorcerer

Thousands of years before the dawn of civilisation, evil magicians fought for supremacy... and Ko-Tep was the most aggressive. 

Ko-Tep: "The world was mine this morning, the battle was won. All that stands im my way is Razman." 

Razman: "OOOH Ko-Tep! you have defeated my hosts. But in order to win this world, you must defeat my magic, or your own demons will destroy you!". 

And so begins the climatic magical dual of Ko-Tep and Razman....

Ko-Tep and his Demon Army

Ko-Teps Demonic Evil Humanoids

Behold! Ko-Teps demon army, a wretched band of scum and villains. A spike-helmed hobgoblin, a Nazgûl re-imagined by Jack Kirby from the neck up,  an armoured vampire Bugbear, a lesser-spotted cycloptic orc, a Barbed Devil (more on him in a moment) a Chaos Broo and some odd fellow in latex fetish gear.  A line-up of strange humanoids that could have been generated by an Encounter Table  out of back of Gary Gygax 1977 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual.

The Hosts of Razman

Opposing Ko-Teps demonic hordes stands the Hosts of Razman who display a little more orderliness, with their Centurian / Cuirassier / Firefighter helmets, heater shields and pole arms. Not a million miles away from the Legion of Sérqu from Armies of Tekumel (1978) and I wouldn't be surprised if Razman turned up in any 70s TSR product. We don't see much of these armoured warriors, but the prospect of arraying Razman and Koteps armies against each other across a tabletop is an awesome prospect for fantasy wargaming.

But hold on a second, what is this thing we're talking about Zhu? Obviously some kind of cartoon. Thundarr the Barbarian, or the Herculoids? Maybe Space Ghost or Space Sentinels?

No, dear reader, it is Spider-Man.

Spider-Man 1967 Title Card.

Spider-Man?

Hi Spidey! Don't count the legs.

Yes. Your Friendly-Neighbourhood Spider-Man.

The original Spider-Man cartoon was  first broadcast between 1967 and 1970. The first series, produced by Grantray-Lawrence Animation, consisted of reasonably lightweight advetnures of Spider-Man battling his well recognised comic book foes, Scorpion, Green Goblin, Sandman, Mysterio, Rhino, whilst eye-rolling at desk-thumping, cigar chomping newspaper boss J Jonah Jameson and flirting with Betty Brant.

With Series 2 production was moved to Krantz Films, and it gets off to a solid start with the Spider-Man origin story in Episode 21 - the first time in the animations run that the story is told and the series settles into a comfortable mirror of the 1960s comic book, teen romance, looking after Aunt May, battling villains, struggling with studies - all pretty much what one would expect. But then it all starts to unravel, and go a bit... weird. Strange otherworldy Swords & Sorcery motifs and freaky psychedelic vibes unexpectedly emerge as the spiders web spins off into unfamiliar territory.

Whilst there are both earlier examples fantasy-genre themes and later near-legendary trips into psychedelic weirdness in Spider-Man, it's Episode 29: The Evil Sorcerer  that stands out as the most clearly Swords & Sorcery influenced episode, in which Peter Parker learns of the prehistoric battle for supremacy between the evil wizards Ko-Tep and Razman.

So we return to our story a thousand years or so after Ko-Teps defeat by the spells of Razman, he is accidentally reanimated from his petrified state to harass museum-going hipsters and beatniks in swinging sixties Manhattan and summons, once again, his mighty fire-breathing Barbed Devil minion to do his evil bidding. It's not long before Ko-teps evil plans are stopped by Peter Parkers arachnoid alter-ego, but not before he ruins the troubled teenagers date with archeology student and early Mary-Jane Watson look-a-like competition entry, Susan.

Barbed Devil  | Spider-Man Episode 29: The Evil Sorcerer

Trampier | Barbed Devil | AD&D Monster Manual

The similarities between the demon from Spider-Man and Trampier's Barbed Devil are clear, the cone-head, horns protruding from the middle of the forehead, elongated ears, and although not shown in the screen-cap above, a long tail. Tusks, which are viewable in the group shot, but not in the solo one, are entirely optional. While we're talking about Trampier and Spider-Man, in Episode 30: Vine, we see our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man doing his Mad Caeru impression...

 Spider-Man Episode 30: Vine

...stealing jewels from the eye sockets of a gargantuan tiki demon idol statue in order to use them as a weapon against giant dimension-hopping Triffids destroying New York City. I kid you not, that is the actual plot. One can only speculate regarding the relationship this scene has with Trampiers cover to the iconic AD&D Players Handbook (1978) which features the theft of jewels a left eye from the eye sockets of a gargantuan demon idol statue. There are burning braziers either side of the idol in the cartoon as well. It's always the left eye that gets stolen first isn't it?

Trampiers Players Handbook 1978

So how did we get here? How did our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man go from the troubled teen costumed crime-fighter with super-science spider-powers to gonzo science-fantasy dimension hopping adventurer?

The first thing any animation fan will tell you is that Spider-Man Series 2 was overseen by Ralph Bakshi, and much of the strangeness is attributed to his influence and Bakshi's love of the fantasy genre is evidenced throughout his career. There is the whole war-of-the-wizards plot in The Evil Sorcerer that characterises both Wizards (1977) and Bakshis adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (1978).  Then there are specific design elements, like the angry green barbarian hobbit goblins that Spider-man calls "Elves" in Episode 27 Spider-Man vs. the Molemen who appear to be direct predecessors of Weehawk and the other denizens of the land of Montagar in Wizards.

Spiderman vs the Moleman "Elves"

Armies of Montagar | Bakshi's Wizards

Then there are also thematic uses of cyclopean architecture, and the sketchy watercolour psychedelic black, cyan and magenta background  colours of Spider-Man that reappear in Wizards and the more adventurous impressionistic scenes in Bakshi's adaptation of Lord of the Rings both by John Vita, I think.

Ian Miller | Scortch | Baskhi Wizards (1977)

Along with the unmistakable influence of Ralph Bakshi, writing credits on Series 2 & 3 of Spider-Man also go to Lin Carter whose Worlds End series is listed by Gary Gygax as recommended reading in Appendix N of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (1979). Whilst the Worlds End series is later than Carters contributions to Spider-Man, The Warrior of World's End (1974) bears some strong parallels...

Warrior of World's End via

The Warrior of World's End has no discernable plot and instead throws its protagonists into a sequence of increasingly bizarre unplanned events and accidents. The book displays no pretence of character development arcs or other paint-by-numbers literary formula. The muscle-bound dolt of a genetically engineered Hero remains such from beginning to end. The world-building makes no sense whatsoever, there are Tiger-men, Death Dwarves (a kind of poison-eating Niblog), powerful magic using evil queens who are set up as antagonists and then completely abandoned.

Map of Gondwane via

The other characters are a menagerie of Gamma World (1978) random generation proportions - there's a teleporting psychic ghost lobster, a sentient giant golden eagle robot airplane, an illusionist who masks himself constantly in purple vapours, a buxom teenage female warrior knight clone of Red Sonja. Each page reveals some new invention or novel weirdness, yet never seems to form a coherent whole. It's brilliant, wacky fun and maybe where Carter really shines, in the gonzo-funhouse literary equivalent of a saturday morning cartoon.

Carter has more tangible connections into the gaming world as well. Being the co-author of two fantasy games published by FGU - Flash Gordon and the Warriors of Mongo (1977) an RPG sourcebook for the Flash Gordon comics by all accounts,  and the miniatures wargame  Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age (1975) with Carter doing the background and force composition and FGU founder Scott Bizar doing the rules. Carter also corresponded with MAR Barker on Barkers Tékumel prior to the publication of The Empire of the Petal Throne (1975)  - and for the petalheads out there, Carter briefly borrows the name "Yán Kor" - an Empire to the north of the lands of the Petal Throne for the name of an immense desert in Warrior of Worlds End . This is amusing not least because  Barker and Carters world-building strategies seem so at odds, Barker containing much that is strange and unusual brings his vision into a coherent and richly detailed whole, whereas Carter seems more enamoured with the joys of invention and poaching from pop-culture for its own sake. In this way both Spider-Man and World's End are very much like Gary Gygaxs default setting in AD&D, where quasi-folkloric and fairy-tale figures rub shoulders with dinosaurs and creatures cribbed from a myriad sci-fi novels, comic books a no-holds barred, anything goes attitude.

Cyclopean Underworld Architecture

Both Carter and Bakshi come into a fair amount of negative criticism, some of it quite undeserved. Bakshi's heavy reliance on both rotoscoping (tracing drawings from film), most notable in Fire and Ice (1983) co-produced with fantasy art demi-god Frank Frazetta, and his heavily stylised cartooning which conservative fantasy fans tend to dislike, draw a lot of flack. Then there are persistant accusations of plagiarism, especially regards Vaughn Bodés character Cobalt 60 and Peace / Necron 99 in Wizards, for which I'm inclined to believe Bakshi's intention to pay tribute. Many Tolkien fans despair at his Lord of the Rings (1977) adaptation for it's style, forays into expressionist psychedelia, editing and lack of an ending. Even Spider-man despite it's occasionally glorious delving into Swords & Sorcery and the bizarre, due to pressing budget, recycles animation sequences, plots, and on more than one occasion is just plain shonky.

Carter is probably best known for his pastches of Howard, Lovecraft and Burroughs and alongside his role in the de Sprage / Conan controversy, these have somewhat coloured his reputation.   Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria (1965)  and the sequels which Carter was working on during his Spider-Man period, itself adapted by Marvel Comics in the 1970s, is more coherent than either Spider-Man or Warrior of World's End, but is ultimately pretty dull barbarian fantasy fare, although it does have more air-cars and fantastical creatures than the average Conan story. Nontheless, in my potted and unthorough research on Carter, his genre contributions to Spider-Man seems to be almost totally overlooked in fannish retrospectives and biographies. I can't help think without that missing strand of 1960s New York saturday-morning cartoon surf-jazz, it may be too easy to miss the gonzo, madcap genius that lurks within Carters body of work and the strangely potent web of influence it has on the wider genre.

An Oldhammer Reader: The History of the Runestaff

The History of the Runestaff by Micheal Moorcock contains four novels  The Jewel In The Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword Of The Dawn, and The Runestaff.

I found reading though the books a bit of a slog, not that Moorcocks writing is challenging or the ideas were particularly less interesting than his other works, but the protagonist Dorian Hawkmoon of Koln is somewhat dull. Unlike the tortured, disfigured and somewhat reluctant incarnations of the Eternal Champion - Elric of Melniboné and Corum Jhaelen Irse, Hawkmoon is hero cast in the more traditional mould of Swords & Sorcery hero - a natural leader, a military man, determined, proud and valiant. While he is as much a pawn of higher powers beyond his comprehension as the others, he takes his fate with aplomb - he's also more human, rather than the elvish Vadhagh or Melnibonéan.

Jim Cawthorn : Map of the Dark Empire

Then there's Hawkmoons world, which for all intents and puropses is a post-post-apocalyptic Earth, with clear references to real world place names, and people - notably figures from the pre-catastrophy 1960s such as The Beatles and Harold Wilson. These references are just an incidental gloss rather than being used for amusing the or satirical effect. I found it slightly grating and lacking the spark of sardonic wit and psychedelic verve that accompanies Moorcocks other stories, but then I've never liked The Beatles. Maybe living in a post-truth, post-brexit, economically and culturally insecure Britain of the 21st century, the idea of the island of Granbretan (Great Britain) invading and unifying mainland Europe by force with legions of animal masked warriors fails to resonate all that much. Yet.

Jim Cawthorn : The Emperor

Moorcocks reflects on the writing of Hawkmoon in an article at tor.com - British nationalism and anti-German sentiment of the Britain in the 1960s (especially from the editors of pulp fiction and war comics he was writing for) and Hawkmoon as a construction of a German saving a small French dominion (and then subsequently the entire world) from an evil British Empire, being a direct overturning of the conservative values and an intentionally countercultural move. Some attitudes may have changed since then, but it doesn't feel revolutionary, small minded nationalism is still the province of the hysterical far-right rather than an ingrained status-quo.

There certainly are high-points of effective prose - pirate cultists carrying out a grisley ritual, and Hawkmoons summoning a legion of undead legion of southern barbarians using his Sword of the Dawn is evoked with a deftness and weirdness that is striking. Other encounters with the weird, such as the ghostly elfin inhabitants of ancient cities aren't quite as successful, and seem a little out of place in an otherwise earth-bound fantasy sequence. The walls of the multiverse grow thin and stranger things step across the dimensions.

Jim Cawthorn : The Palace of Taragon

The characters are very sketchily outlined, and although we see Dorian fall in love and embark upon an epic quest we don't really know much of Hawkmoons internal life. The question of Hawkmoons falling in love with the daughter of the ruler of Karmag, and his pledging allegiance to the nation feels very much in the vein of a fairytale allegory of political allegiances.  The Nation as female - we can think of Marianne of the French Republic, Britannia of Great Britain, Helvetia of Switzerland or countless other examples. The female relegated to a position of passivity, a prize to be fought over and won, a symbol equated with nation-state, rather than as a self-motivated individual, almost Arthurian in its romantic conservatism, the characters become near-allegorical symbols with very little internal motivation.

The big-bad-end-guy is the immortal King-Emperor Huon, an immortal being, entrapped in his Globe Throne,  served by bickering political factions. Huon is eventually usurped by his second in command, a revolution that Hawkmoon uses to finally defeat his enemy despite serious losses of friends.

Jim Cawothorn : Jewel in the Skull

The edition I have contains some  panels from the collaboration / adaptation with Jim Cawthorn on the Hawkmoon books. Jims work is stunning. I'm sure that if Cawthorn had led my introduction to Hawkmoon through the comics first, I'd feel much more positively about it. Also the physical format of the collected book. The combined volume feels like one of those door-stop blocks of fantasy epic, and it doesn't really do Hawkmoons lightweight characterisation and gung-ho satire world justice. With the original four slim paperbacks, the episodic and pulpy nature somewhat spelled out by the material presence of the book. I might slice up my Elric of Melinboné before embarking upon re-reading it to see if there is any merit in this consideration.

Under the Nefarious Influence of the Dark Empire

The second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battle was dedicated to Moorcock, Tolkien and Phil Barker. The influence of Moorcock in early Warhammer is everywhere, from incidental art clearly depicting Elric to the eternal struggle of Chaos and Law and back again.

There are specific motifs that stem from the Hawkmoonian milleu - the use of real-world geographical cues being a fundamental one, as are the punning references to contemporary pop-culture and political figures, which abound in early Warhammer.  The entire 'expected to be good guys are actually bad guys' trope of the Empire in 40k reflected in Gran Bretan except Moorcock has the decency to have actual good guys who fight oppression, so the whole universe doesn't descend into the hate-thy-neighbour fascist philosophy like 40k does.

The story of the King-Emperor being usurped by his most powerful and at one point trusted warlord is one that resonates down to ancient times, but it's also clear precursor of The Horus Heresy. The thematic legions such as Meliadus' Order of the Wolf are echoed in the Space Wolf Chapter of the Space Marines. The insane gothic splendour of Londra reflected in a billion Imperial buildings.

Jim Cawthorn : The Bridges of Londra

The battle as depicted in The Runestaff feels very wargamey, the narrator often taking a high vantage point as the battle spills out across the docks of Londra and to the Palace of Huon, and even talks about weapons having minimum ranges, very gamey. The climactic fight through the streets is quite tense. The Siege of Kamarg (in Jewel in the Skull IIRC) also features ornithopters (which appear in 40K:RT) which fly over great energy heavy-weapons mounted on castle towers that burn great swathes through massed troops. This mixture of medieval fantasy and lost high technologies permeates throughout.

The Lost Chronicles of Mournblade

At one point GW speculated on developing a Warhammer supplement based on the Elric Saga, so why not other incarnations of the Eternal Champion? Most of the characters and troops would be standard human / hero / major hero profiles, with only their arms, armour and techno-sorcerous equipment to really differentiate them. So here follows some musing and rules on the weaponry in Hawkmoons world at the time of the Dark Empire:

The Flame Lance

The First Citadel Compendium (1983) gives stats for The Flame Lance - an energy weapon that appears in History of the Runestaff, wielded by the goodly legions of Kamarg under the command of the mighty Count Brass.

Flame Lance - Citadel Compendium

The firing, discharge and re-energising cycle is pretty spot on for the Flame Lance of Hawkmoon. It isn't quite a laser weapon - having features of both laser and fire weapon, but it's a reasonable write up that hews closely to the text. People often talk about Moorcocks influence on Warhammer in a vague or loose sense -chaos, critical self-awareness of genre - but this is a straight-forward adaptation, showing I think the impact and importance of Moorcocks works and Warhammer being specifically designed to translate those stories into games.

Eternal Champion: Citadel Journal (1986) Hawkmoon Bottom Right
Designed by Jes Goodwin, painted by John Blanche

Jes even included what looks like a Flamelance on his figure of Hawkmoon for Citadels BC5 Eternal Champion Boxed Set (photo, bottom right). Hawkmoon doesn't wield one in The History of the Runestaff series, does in the contnuation Count Brass. Either way it's an iconic weapon from the stories that certainly deserves representation. The Citadel Journal article gives the flamelance the following stats:

Flamelance: SR: 12" LR: 30" 1D6 S6 hits. 3 turns to reload.

The elongated flame weapon concept would continue into 40ks Eldar energy weapon / polearm hybrid weapons - notably the Fire Pike of the Fire Dragon Exarch, Flame-Lance, Fire-Pike.

Eldar Fire Dragon Exarch with FirePike | via

It's not too difficult to re-imagine Jes Goodwins Eldar design as a organic-armoured Karmagian soldier in the style of Rodney Matthews. The Rogue Trader version of the Firepike / Flame Lance is described as the Ancient Eldar weapon in the Eldar supplement of White Dwarf #127 (reprinted in the Rogue Trader Compilation):

It's slightly more powerful than both the 1st Edition Warhammer and 2nd Edition versions above, and if the 3 shots a day limit were re-instated, this would make a good statline for the Flame Lance.

So what of the other artefacts from Hawkmoons plane of the multiverse?

The Runestaff
A multidimensional artefact of immense power, the Runestaff appears as an ornate wooden pole, some 6ft tall, encrusted with shifting and ancient runes. Weird lights and patterns project out from the staff, making a dazzling psychedelic display in the air around the user. The Runestaff is a Battle Standard which weaves the strands of fate around its wielder, allowing the unit that carries it to re-roll any dice in combat, and cause Fear in chaotic units within 12" . 150PV

The Sword of the Dawn
For a skirmish-level and low points value games The Sword of the Dawn summons 1d6 Warriors of the Dawn. For a full-scale wargame, the forces summoned by the Sword should really be calculated in at the outset, but placed on the tabletop within 24" of the wielder. 200PV

Warriors of the Dawn
The warriors summoned by the Sword of the Dawn carry Spears and Shields, and have a standard human profile. However, when defeated in combat, a new Warrior of the Dawn appears next turn, within 12" of the bearer of the Sword of the Dawn, to a maximum of 3 regenerations.

The Amulet of the Gods
Lends strength and wellbeing to its wearer. +1 Strength +1 Toughness. 50PV

The Jewel in the Skull
The Jewel in the Skull is a piece of arcane technology developed by the Dark Empire of Granbretan to control Hawkmoon. Each turn, an opposing player may attempt to activate the Jewel. Roll 1d6
1-2. The jewel remains inactive. No effect.
3. The victim is wracked with pain. Lose 1 W
4. Black-out. The victim may do nothing for 1d6 turns.
5. Complete mind control. The opposing player may decide actions of the character.
6. Full activation. The victim is dead.

Possession of the Runestaff will nullify the effects of the Jewel in the Skull.

Mirrorhelm
Again, the Eldar are described with something very similar - in this case the Harlequins Rictus Mask (White Dwarf 106 / 40K Compilation). The mirrorhelms are worn in the final march against Granbretan by Hawkmoon and the other heroes. A strangely-wrought reflective helmet that replaces the attackers face with that of the victim. Causes Fear in hand-to-hand combat. 25PV

Funny, that whilst I'd consider these the weakest of Moorcocks stories I've read, the idea of gaming some of the conflicts using the characters and armaments seems really quite appealing.

• History of the Runestaff at Amazon
• Citadels Eternal Champion Miniatures Range at Stuff of Legends
• Eureka Miniatures Hawkmoon Miniatures Range at Eureka Miniatures
• Review of Chaosiums 1986 Hawkmoon RPG at Grognardia

An Oldhammer Reader: The Fabulous Riverboat

Continuing our voyage of discovery down the great river, we get to the second part of Philip José Farmers Riverworld saga - The Fabulous Riverboat (1971). I don't know about you but the title makes me think the novel is going to be a cross between It Aint Half Hot Mum, Pricilla Queen of the Desert and Love Boat, maybe a gay romance novel set in the deep south with show-tunes. It isn't much like that at all. Although there is a boat.

First Edition cover by Richard Powers

Richard Powers cover for TYSBG

I like these covers a lot, much better than the cruddy 1990s cover I own.  Powers covers hang between an early Ian Miller and Dave McKean assemblage, echoes of constructivism. Nice stuff, and a slight departure from the usual sci-fi psychedelica Powers is known for.  If I were to hunt down editions, rather than just pick them up randomly, these would be they.

What we do have is the continuation of the progress of humanity as set up in To Your Scattered Bodies Go (see here).  Having started to settle in a little, humanity starts to organise itself into geographically tied social groups, and following old habits, something like nations begin to form. In this Farmer is probably (and quite depressingly) accurate in his depiction of human nature. Even when freed from history, consequence and responsibility, people still seem to refuse rugged individualism.

This time around, Farmer rolls 1D6 times on the D100 Random Character From History Table, and writes us a novel featuring Sam Clemens (aka Mark Twain), Eric Bloodaxe, Joe Miller (an enormous caveman), King John, Cyrano de Bergerac and a nation of Black Separatists.

The racial tension theme runs quite strongly through the second half of the novel, with key characters having living through or just after the American Apartheid and segregation, and still thinking in Earth-terms about white oppression and race relations.  Sam Clemens is forced to confront his use of the word Nigger, whilst simultaneously explaining that Huckleberry Finn is pretty much anti-racist, and the book can't be read any more so can't actually matter. All good stuff.

The first half is much more about the comedy Vikings and establishing Sam as a rabid technologist who just wants to build a damn boat to get to the source of The River, but having to deal with treacherous heavies like King John to get the job done. Having influence with the Ethicals (as the entities running the Riverworld Experiment are known), an iron-bearing meteorite is brought down to help in his quest, iron being used to build the steam-ship. Indeed most of the novel is about the problems of getting the ship built, alongside developing black-powder weapons.

More thoughts on Gaming Riverworld

A hex based wargaming campaign. The technological development of the Riverboat is very much like building dev / arms race in a RTS. There's a kind of ur-Cold War, ideological driven thing waiting to be shaped. Perhaps something like Imperialism in Space meets Cosmic Encounter. Resources, exploration, empire building, diplomacy...

Never miss an opportunity to shoehorn in some great
1980's John Blanche artwork

The reincarnation effect could be a different take on multiple lives inherent in videogames.  A Riverworldian MMORPG would have interesting repercussions for guilds and the suchlike, but  perhaps more suited to Roguelike or solo dungeoncrawl / exploration game where death simply removes the players avatar to another part of the labyrinth or landscape, robbing him of all equipment, followers and henchmen, as well as confusing the players sense of place. I don't know of any game that uses a  random-character-respawn-location mechanic as a reward for character death, but perhaps there is one.

The Oldhammer Consequences

So what of the Fabulous Riverboats impact on early Warhammer?

The Magnificent Sven

Whilst we don't actually get to see much river-action in the Fabulous Riverboat by now I'm pretty much convinced that the motley crew of mismatched characters taken from wildly disparate fantasy cultures in Sven, is inspired by, if not straight-forwardly based on the groups of wildly disparate historical cultures in The Riverworld sequence.  It's tempting to think of Warhammers Lustria, or indeed the whole of the Known World as an example of the ideologically and racially discreet nations that some of the Riverworldians seem keen on founding. A kind of identity politics writ large.

Then there's the boat "The Not For Hire" and the boat "The Voltsvagen" - there's no need for a steam-powered paddle-boat to turn up along the rivers of Lustria, why not a simple medieval-level boat or a pre-colonial floatila? The specific appearance of an anachronistic steam paddler is far too much of a coincidence to not be a direct lift.

Punhammer shock

Meteor Technology

I'm sure there are other fictional examples of meteors landing and giving a technological boost to its finders. If it's not a well worn trope, it should be. Riverworld gets its iron, and the Warhammer World gets its Warpstone from large meteoric deposits. In fact there definitely are precursors in the magico-religious meteor in Abrahamic religions but that's a path to take another time.

Anarchonistic Technology

From the First Citadel Journal's "Warhammer and Sci-Fi", throwing guns into the Warhammer mix right there in first edition. I don't think it's really a coincidence that Riverworlds motifs of a stranded alien (who turns up on the banks of a river no less) and impact of blackpowder technologies within an otherwise 'primitive' technological framework and The Legend of Kremlo. In parallel with the Steamboat, there are also the development of small aircraft in the guise of gliders. Indeed if one thinks about it really hard, preferably while staring into the bottom of a pint of Guinness, Warhammer 40k's gothic-sci-fi is a reasonably neat depiction of the end-game of Riverworldian human cultural-technological advancement, but then I said that last time too.


Of course, our Oldhammerish voyage to the  Riverworld does not end here, but continues with The Dark Design. Which almost predictably contains a character which one review calls "a stereotype of the militant lesbian feminist of the 1970s".

Yeah... get in!

amazons: lesbian feminist separatists

An Oldhammer Reader: To Your Scattered Bodies Go

To Your Scattered Bodies Go is a  1971, Hugo Award Winning novel by science-fiction author Philip José Farmer and the inaugural  book of the Riverworld series (composed in the main from 1965 -1980. The novel was mentioned by Rick Priestly as one of the formative fantasy works that fuelled early Warhammer and was an especial favourite of co-creator Richard Halliwell. So what is it all about then?

The central premise of the novel is that every human being who ever lived suddenly wakes up one day along the banks of a huge planet-encircling river in a perfectly capable fit and able body. Everyone from primitive Neanderthals to the moderns of 1984  when the world ended. The reborn are totally bald, naked and strapped to a metal canister which they quickly learn provides food, alcohol, cigarettes and psychoactive chewing gum three times a day, every day when plugged into a giant stone mushroom. Death on Riverworld simply means being reincarnated somewhere downstream, loosing from any material or social ties that might have been made, but keeping memories intact.

From this core concept, Farmer explores various ideas about how people from different eras and cultures cope with their new form of existence. As new societies form and fall apart, the denizens of Riverworld alternately cling to and abandon the social moires, attitudes and relationships of their previous lives in the context of their new surroundings.

This is all wrapped up in an adventure story, following the exploits of Sir Richard Francis Burton, who according to Wikipedia was a British explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, and diplomat. In many ways the ideal candidate for a hero in the new world of mixed up people. It's clear Farmer is indulging his fascination for the character. We also follow the redemption of his arch enemy - Hermann Göring as he finds his way to becoming a decent human being through a self directed form of psycho-chemical and suicide-reincarnation therapy.

There is also the question of the Ethicals - the shadowy beings who caused the resurrection, what motives they might have are only guessed at, and the philosophical void of not having those great answeres questioned, despite life-after-death looms large.

Overall To Your Scattered Bodies Go  is a fast-paced enjoyable read, combined with a novel social science fiction backdrop. Yeah, worth reading.

Gaming Riverworld

Reading To Your Scattered Bodies Go constantly raises the question what if? Farmer concentrates on a few characters who he finds interesting and flings them into high adventure, in some ways it is like reading fan fiction for Sir Francis Burton.  But what of the millions of other Terrestrials awakened? What happened to the likes of Isambard Kingdom Brunel,  Emmeline Pankhurst, Pablo Picasso, Matthew Hopkins or Ada Lovelace?

Exploring such unwritten adventures cries out for a rules-light RPG, storytelling game, maybe in the form of a matrix game Each player simply choses a historical character, researches them, and then relates what they do and how they behave within the confines of the Riverworld, giving thought to:

• How does their material reincarnation effect their religious and philosophical views?
• How prepared are they for a primitive lifestyle?
• What motivates them once all lifes needs are provided for? 
• What does having a 'second chance' mean to them? 
• What do they seek to reclaim from their previous life?
• What social moires do they hold on to?
• How do they operate without technology, culture or society?
• What relationships, conflicts, friendships, rivalries are formed with the other characters in the group.

A kind of exercise in post-New Age Blavatskian past-life regression therapy, where players are free to personally relate to famous (or not so famous) historical figures on a personal level, without needing to carry the spiritualist baggage and mumbo jumbo. Perhaps a thought-experiment in social determinism once Maslows hierarchy of needs has been thoroughly up-ended, or a creative writing exercise in understanding that different societies produce different attitudes, plenty of meat for a story-game.

There is a Riverworld supplement for GURPS, but it appears (as it should) to go beyond the first book in the series, and I haven't read it, so I'll leave off saying anything only leaving a brief mention for completions sake.

In terms of wargaming, there are a wide number of varying humans (and one alien), but their weaponry and armour are all roughly stone or bamboo. Farmer has many tribal conflicts and slave revolts. Various coracles, rafts, canoes longboats might take a major role as the River takes a central theme.


What's all this got to do with Oldhammer?

On Riverworld people wake up bald and naked, then proceed to arm themselves with primitive, stone age weapons.

Slann Slave Warriors | Tony Ackland (? 1983?)

I don't know about you, but I've sometimes wondered why Slann human slave warriors are naked, bald and armed with primitive, stone age weapons. The pot-bellies don't come into it tho' as Farmer has everyone reincarnate at peak physical fitness, oh and the loincloths? Well halfway through To Your Scattered Bodies Go Farmer suddenly has everyone wake up with towels, from which many people make clothes. It turns out Riverworld froods really know where their towels are.

The titular hero of Kremlo the Slann from The First Citadel Compendium has shades of Farmers single alien, Monat Grrautut - a strange, unfroglike humanoid alien who was on earth at the time of humanities end (and may well have helped cause it) who provides a Mr. Spock-like distance and logical interpretation to the events.

The Legend of Kremlo the Slann
First Citadel Compendium | John Blanche (1983)

But unlike Kremlo the Slann Monat Grrautut is the last of his kind, ressurected with the Terrestrials on Riverworld, but the rest of his folk on some distant planet. It's unlikely, but not impossible that they make a return later in the series and prove to be the shadowy beings known as the Ethicals who seem to be running the show, but I don't think so.

But more than these slight concurrences, To Your Scattered Bodies Go posits a world where people from historically different cultures conflict and collaborate with each other within the same geographical area.   In Riverworld reincarnated Nazis and Roman Emperors set up slave-empires that fight against their neighbours, whilst in Warhammer Known World in it's earliest conception Renaissance Germany sits next to Late Medieval France and Migration Era Norsemen. The idea of historically based human cultural forms appearing out of context, within a technologically uniform state, albeit advanced from Riverworlds primitive one,  ressurects itself much later in the development of  Warhammer, with 40k and its North American Indian Dark Angels (re: Deathwing),  Mongolian White Scars,  Nordic Space Wolves, Roman Ultramarines, British 1800s Praetorian Guard, American 1960s Catchan Jungle Fighters, German 1940s Death Korps of Krieg etc. ad nauseum.

As mentioned To Your Scattered Bodies Go is only the first in the Riverworld sequence. The second part, The Fabulous Riverboat  features a miss-matched band of adventurers, a tribe of vikings and going upriver on a paddle steamer. Hmm, wonder where I might have heard that idea before...

The Magnificent Sven. John Blanche (1984)