-OR- PORCS NOT WORCS! Orcs are one of those ubiquitous D&D monsters that have been picked up and transformed. At some point, Warhammer (and later WarCraft)'s view of orcs came to dominate D&D and Pathfinder. This great green brute is not my preference for orcs. (Or, for a time in the 3.x age, hairy fierce…Read more My Thing About Orcs
World-Building
By the Frosty Rings of Saturn!
The final installment in the series of posts correlating the seven planetary deities with the seven classes of B/X D&D focuses on the god Saturnus.
Again, by Jove! Or the Bifrost Bridge
I later thought of another association of Thor's that strengthens the view that he is the cleric among the gods, and a clarification of a point raised last time only briefly.Jove and Thor are both gods of the storm, and rain cases rainbows. The Bifröst bridge is famously identified with the rainbow as the bridge…Read more Again, by Jove! Or the Bifrost Bridge
By Jove! or Thor’s Clerics
Photo by Yintan and used under a CCA 4.0 license. That unintended hiatus lasted a lot longer than intended. I can only plead the craziness that is Covidtide together with the lovely fact that I have actually been running a weekly (and sometimes more than weekly!) B/X-OSE game on Roll20 that uses what I've posted…Read more By Jove! or Thor’s Clerics
Fighting-Men of Mars!
The association of Mars and fighters needs no introduction for anyone with basic mythological literacy, and has perdured even in contemporary popular culture -- an example from the early 20th century that many of you will appreciate is above.At this point, we have passed the half-way point of the Sunne, and we now move on…Read more Fighting-Men of Mars!
Elves of the Sunne
We have reached our fourth planetary star of the geocentric model, the sun, and the fourth B/X class, the elf. This was another no-brainer correlation for me. All the Apollonian characteristics, harmonious, measured, orderly and balanced I relate to the high conception of elves in fantasy. They are beings of rationality, music, and light. Indeed,…Read more Elves of the Sunne
Dwarves of Venus
The surprising, yet fitting, casting of dwarves as the venereal caste. Volcanic!
Thieves of Mercury
Thieves as members of the mercurial caste in a world-building exericse that connects the class mechanics of B/X Dungeons & Dragons with the seven planetary divinities of the geocentric model.
Halflings of the Moon
I agonized a bit here: I went back and forth on positioning the bottom two classes. Should thieves or halflings go to the bottom of the social pyramid? Shouldn't the lowest caste also be the most numerous? Frankly, I felt icky putting the little people on the bottom, in spite of the fact that the…Read more Halflings of the Moon
B/X Classes and the Geocentric Universe
To get into running a game, I need to be able to start connecting the mechanical elements of the game with mythic material. Looking over the 1981 D&D rules as they are currently published in Old School Essentials, it suddenly struck me that there are seven classes, just like the seven planetary stars of the…Read more B/X Classes and the Geocentric Universe
Mythopoeic Rambling