A Happy Halloween!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Sadness Is . . .
. . . finding the Blu-Ray boxed set of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films in your mailbox at work and knowing that you can't go home to watch them for another eight hours.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Happiness Is . . .
. . . and finding the UK edition of Joe Abercrombie's Western-cum-fantasy Red Country sitting in your mailbox at work.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Fantasy Reading List for My Summer 2013 "Intro to Fiction" Course
Every so often on this blog I mention or allude to the fact that I teach in the English Department at a flagship state university. My primary research and teaching area is medieval literature (with a specialty in early English drama). But I also routinely teach fantasy fiction. In Summer 2013, I'm going to be teaching a fantasy-focused section of our "Intro to Fiction" course. Syllabi for this course usually rely on a published fiction anthology filled with mainstream "literary" narratives. When genre writers do appear, it's inevitably their least genre-marked material that shows up: the primary example here is the ubiquitous selection of Ursula Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" instead of any of her equally excellent fantasy or SF stories. I've decided to buck this trend and will be teaching a syllabus entirely devoted to genre fiction. For the sake of coherence, I'm limiting myself to story and novel-length fantasy narratives. Here's the most recent draft of the course reading list:
Lord Dunsany, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
I had a number of Dunsany collections to choose from, but settled on this one from Dover. It's relatively inexpensive, and it contains many of my favorite Dunsany tales: "The Sword of Welleran," "The Fall of Babbulkind," "The Kith of the Elf-Folk," and "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth."
Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian
Again, lots of choices here for editions. I settled on this movie tie-in volume partially because it's cheap but primarily because the table of contents allows me to hit all of my favorite Conan stories in a way that the otherwise wonderful Del Rey collections do not: "Tower of the Elephant," "Queen of the Black Coast," and "Rogues in the House" sit alongside "People of the Black Circle" and "Red Nails." Since Del Rey publishes this text as well, it's quite possible that the texts are identical to those in the REH Library series.
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Considerations of time were the primary factor in my decision to let The Hobbit stand in for Tolkien's work: there's just no way to teach The Lord of the Rings on the summer teaching schedule without basically abandoning the pretense of reading other authors. That said, The Hobbit is the book that turned me on to fantasy, and Peter Jackson's movie will have students primed to read the novel.
Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
I needed a novel from the 1970s to fill in the large gap between Howard and Tolkien's 1930s texts and the books I was going to be choosing from the 2000s. McKillip is one of my favorite writers, and this 1974 novel is one of her best.
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Carter's 1979 collection of stories was the other book I picked to cover the 1970s. I selected it in large part because I've never read Carter's work, and this course seemed like a good opportunity to do so.
China Miéville, The Scar
My favorite New Weird novel: it's a big fat middle finger aimed at quest fantasy, and yet I love it just the same. If only this new UK paperback cover design was the American design as well! Sigh.
Ursula K. Le Guin, Voices
Le Guin was definitely going to be on the syllabus. I chose this book, the second in Le Guin's new Annals of the Western Shore series, because it brilliantly does everything Le Guin was trying to do with Tehanu and the second trilogy of Earthsea books but without any of the baggage that comes from revising an existing set of beloved books.
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners
Like Carter, Link is a writer I've been meaning to read for some time. This is her major collection of stories, sitting right in the midstream of the slipstream between genre and literature. It's worth noting, though, that I have an alternate in mind if it turns out I don't particularly care for Link's stories:
Karen Russell, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Russell has just exploded onto the scene recently, and whatI know of her work gives it a slightly more American feel than Link's work (i.e., Russell appears to be drawing on regional folklore as opposed to Link's more suburban and/or cosmopolitan feel). In the end, I'll go with whichever collection I like best.
So there you have the reading list. I've tried to strike a balance between American and British writers (four of each), short story collections and novels (four of each), and men and women (four of each). The books also make a decent historical survey of modern fantasy fiction: Dunsany is odd man out, sitting by himself in 1908, followed by clusters of work from the 1930s, 1970s, and 2000s. I'm looking forward to teaching the class and hope you've enjoyed this sneak preview of its contents!
Lord Dunsany, The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories
I had a number of Dunsany collections to choose from, but settled on this one from Dover. It's relatively inexpensive, and it contains many of my favorite Dunsany tales: "The Sword of Welleran," "The Fall of Babbulkind," "The Kith of the Elf-Folk," and "The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth."
Robert E. Howard, Conan the Barbarian
Again, lots of choices here for editions. I settled on this movie tie-in volume partially because it's cheap but primarily because the table of contents allows me to hit all of my favorite Conan stories in a way that the otherwise wonderful Del Rey collections do not: "Tower of the Elephant," "Queen of the Black Coast," and "Rogues in the House" sit alongside "People of the Black Circle" and "Red Nails." Since Del Rey publishes this text as well, it's quite possible that the texts are identical to those in the REH Library series.
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit
Considerations of time were the primary factor in my decision to let The Hobbit stand in for Tolkien's work: there's just no way to teach The Lord of the Rings on the summer teaching schedule without basically abandoning the pretense of reading other authors. That said, The Hobbit is the book that turned me on to fantasy, and Peter Jackson's movie will have students primed to read the novel.
Patricia A. McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
I needed a novel from the 1970s to fill in the large gap between Howard and Tolkien's 1930s texts and the books I was going to be choosing from the 2000s. McKillip is one of my favorite writers, and this 1974 novel is one of her best.
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Carter's 1979 collection of stories was the other book I picked to cover the 1970s. I selected it in large part because I've never read Carter's work, and this course seemed like a good opportunity to do so.
China Miéville, The Scar
My favorite New Weird novel: it's a big fat middle finger aimed at quest fantasy, and yet I love it just the same. If only this new UK paperback cover design was the American design as well! Sigh.
Ursula K. Le Guin, Voices
Le Guin was definitely going to be on the syllabus. I chose this book, the second in Le Guin's new Annals of the Western Shore series, because it brilliantly does everything Le Guin was trying to do with Tehanu and the second trilogy of Earthsea books but without any of the baggage that comes from revising an existing set of beloved books.
Kelly Link, Magic for Beginners
Like Carter, Link is a writer I've been meaning to read for some time. This is her major collection of stories, sitting right in the midstream of the slipstream between genre and literature. It's worth noting, though, that I have an alternate in mind if it turns out I don't particularly care for Link's stories:
Karen Russell, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves
Russell has just exploded onto the scene recently, and whatI know of her work gives it a slightly more American feel than Link's work (i.e., Russell appears to be drawing on regional folklore as opposed to Link's more suburban and/or cosmopolitan feel). In the end, I'll go with whichever collection I like best.
So there you have the reading list. I've tried to strike a balance between American and British writers (four of each), short story collections and novels (four of each), and men and women (four of each). The books also make a decent historical survey of modern fantasy fiction: Dunsany is odd man out, sitting by himself in 1908, followed by clusters of work from the 1930s, 1970s, and 2000s. I'm looking forward to teaching the class and hope you've enjoyed this sneak preview of its contents!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Blood & Treasure Has Arrived . . .
. . . and it is one big book. Seriously, this thing would wear "husky" jeans if it was a human! I've gotten so use to the smaller format used by games like Savage Worlds or Wordplay that it's shocking to see a full-sized rulebook again. That said, I am very excited to have a hardcopy to hand.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Blood & Treasure: Test-Driving Character Creation
I recently discovered John Matthew Stater's wonderful Blood & Treasure roleplaying game and have been enjoying its skillful blend of the Third Edition SRD and AD&D. Here's a test character that exemplifies much of what I love about B&T:
JORY WALKER
LEVEL 1 HALF-ELF SCOUT
STR 11 (+0) DEX 16 (+2) CON 12 (+0) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+1) CHA 12 (+0)
HP 6 AC 15 ATK +0 FORT 15 REF 11 WILL 14
Languages: Common, Elven, Goblin
Skills: Climb 11, find traps 15, hide 11, listen at doors 14, move silently 11, remove traps 11, riding 11, survival 14, trickery 15
Abilities: Darkvision 30 ft., 30% magic resistance to sleep and enchantment spells, knack for trickery, backstab (x2 damage)
Feats: Magical aptitude (daze 1/day)
Armor: Studded leather (+3 AC)
Weapons: Short sword (1d6 damage), dagger (1d4 damage, range 20/40), short bow (1d6 damage, range 90/200)
Gear: Quiver with 20 arrows
Treasure: 68 gp
First of all, Jory's class demonstrates the flexibility of B&T's approach to classes: "Scout" is a wilderness variant of "Thief" that swaps out the skills "decipher codes" and "pick pockets" in exchange for "riding" and "survival." Each class in B&T has a variant in the core rulebook (e.g., you can be an "Aristocrat" instead of a "Bard" or a "Beastmaster" instead of a "Druid"), and Tanner Yea of Pulpwood has put together Heroes of Lore, a free supplement containing dozens more. These variants open up the class structure of the game without losing too much focus (or necessitating the creation of entirely new classes to handle minor variations in archetype). B&T also opts for the three saves of 3E, one of my favorite features in Wizards of the Coast era D&D. Skills are based on the save system: each skill uses a class save as its base and then modifies it in accordance with a relevant attribute—another instance of streamlining. Finally, B&T includes a short list of (entirely optional) feats; these are nice additions to characters, providing for some additional customization without encouraging the optimization culture of the post-2000 game. Characters only get a single feat every four levels (with humans picking up an additional feat at level 1), so even the most powerful of characters (a 20th level PC) will have no more than five feats in total. I'm looking forward to creating more B&T characters and seeing what John Stater comes up with next for the game.
JORY WALKER
LEVEL 1 HALF-ELF SCOUT
STR 11 (+0) DEX 16 (+2) CON 12 (+0) INT 10 (+0) WIS 14 (+1) CHA 12 (+0)
HP 6 AC 15 ATK +0 FORT 15 REF 11 WILL 14
Languages: Common, Elven, Goblin
Skills: Climb 11, find traps 15, hide 11, listen at doors 14, move silently 11, remove traps 11, riding 11, survival 14, trickery 15
Abilities: Darkvision 30 ft., 30% magic resistance to sleep and enchantment spells, knack for trickery, backstab (x2 damage)
Feats: Magical aptitude (daze 1/day)
Armor: Studded leather (+3 AC)
Weapons: Short sword (1d6 damage), dagger (1d4 damage, range 20/40), short bow (1d6 damage, range 90/200)
Gear: Quiver with 20 arrows
Treasure: 68 gp
First of all, Jory's class demonstrates the flexibility of B&T's approach to classes: "Scout" is a wilderness variant of "Thief" that swaps out the skills "decipher codes" and "pick pockets" in exchange for "riding" and "survival." Each class in B&T has a variant in the core rulebook (e.g., you can be an "Aristocrat" instead of a "Bard" or a "Beastmaster" instead of a "Druid"), and Tanner Yea of Pulpwood has put together Heroes of Lore, a free supplement containing dozens more. These variants open up the class structure of the game without losing too much focus (or necessitating the creation of entirely new classes to handle minor variations in archetype). B&T also opts for the three saves of 3E, one of my favorite features in Wizards of the Coast era D&D. Skills are based on the save system: each skill uses a class save as its base and then modifies it in accordance with a relevant attribute—another instance of streamlining. Finally, B&T includes a short list of (entirely optional) feats; these are nice additions to characters, providing for some additional customization without encouraging the optimization culture of the post-2000 game. Characters only get a single feat every four levels (with humans picking up an additional feat at level 1), so even the most powerful of characters (a 20th level PC) will have no more than five feats in total. I'm looking forward to creating more B&T characters and seeing what John Stater comes up with next for the game.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Wonderful Wizards of Nehwon
Name: Fafhrd
First Appearance: "Two Sought Adventure"
Template: Wanderer
Size: 3
Basic Skills
Athletics: 3 (feats of strength)
Awareness: 2
Brains: 2
Presence: 3
Sneaking: 1
Wits: 2
Traits: Deadly Weapon, Poet
Friends List: Grey Mouser, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes
Name: The Grey Mouser
First Appearance: "Two Sought Adventure"
Template: Wanderer
Size: 3
Basic Skills
Athletics: 3 (acrobatics)
Awareness: 2
Brains: 2
Presence: 1
Sneaking: 3
Wits: 2
Traits: Deadly Weapon, Humbug Magic
Friends List: Fafhrd, Sheelba of the Eyeless Face
Since Fafhrd and Mouser are more or less equal as combatants and adventure heroes, I gave them identical Athletics score. I was tempted to shave a point off Fafhrd's Brains to increase another score, but I decided in the end that people assume to their eventual dismay that the northerner is just another a dumb barbarian—and left his Brains at 2. The key differences between the two heroes, then, are Presence and Sneaking. Fafhrd's striking looks and height give him the edge in the former while the Mouser's slight frame and generally furtive nature argue for an increaser in the latter. Both men have the Deadly Weapon trait (which allows them to do physical damage in addition to the Wits damage that is the bread-and-butter of the AiO combat system). Fafhrd's bardic upbringing grants him the Poet trait; Mouser's mystic apprenticeship, the Humbug Magic trait. Each man appears on the other' Friends List, testifying to their status as boon companions. I've put Ningauble and Sheelba on the Friends Lists as well: Fafhrd and the Mouser can spend Oz points to get assistance from their sorcerous patrons, but of course there's always a catch.
The best part about writing up Fafhrd and the Mouser as AiO characters is that Leiber's own rules for Nehwon allow for the heroes to shift dimensions into Oz. I'm not sure if Oz would survive their sojourn there—but then again one could just as easily argue that Oz might put a premature end to the heroes' careers!
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Dungeon World Kickstarter: Small Investment, Big Rewards
The Kickstarter campaign for SageKobold's Dungeon World RPG is now in its final week, and it would be an understatement to say that SageKobold has a hit on their hands. The original fundraising goal was $4,000. That was raised in the first hour of the campaign; since then, 1,645 backers—including yours truly—have contributed an additional $53,853 dollars. Stretch goal after stretch goal has been met: the backers are currently on the verge of adding Juntu's Floating Ice Hell, an adventure by Jason Morningstar, to the pot.
I'm posting about the campaign here for two reasons:
1. I selfishly want to get as much additional Dungeon World loot as I can, and more backers means more loot.
2. You can get an insane amount of great dungeon-laden stuff for the minimal bid of $5. To wit: PDF, EPUB, and HTML versions of the Dungeon World rules; the thanks of the developers in both the printed book and PDF; a wallpaper for your computer screen; two Kickstarter Exclusive Supplements (one full of monsters and another full of advanced character classes); a PDF of Dark Heart of the Dreamer, Jonathan Walton's planar adventure; a PDF of World of Dungeons, John Harper's "1970s" version of Dungeon World; a PDF of Number Appearing, Justin Wightbred's adventure and supplement featuring monstrous player characters; a PDF of War (tentative title), SageKobold's first "event" supplement for the game; and (assuming the campaign reaches $60,000 within the next six days) a PDF of the aforementioned Juntu's Floating Ice Hell adventure. Whew! Anyone who donates $25 gets softcover print versions of the Dungeon World rules, the two Kickstarter Exclusive Supplements, and Dark Heart of the Dreamer.
If you've already contributed, thanks for helping out! If you've been thinking of trying out Dungeon World, definitely take advantage of the deal described above—it's possibly the best gaming package I've seen for $5.
I'm posting about the campaign here for two reasons:
1. I selfishly want to get as much additional Dungeon World loot as I can, and more backers means more loot.
2. You can get an insane amount of great dungeon-laden stuff for the minimal bid of $5. To wit: PDF, EPUB, and HTML versions of the Dungeon World rules; the thanks of the developers in both the printed book and PDF; a wallpaper for your computer screen; two Kickstarter Exclusive Supplements (one full of monsters and another full of advanced character classes); a PDF of Dark Heart of the Dreamer, Jonathan Walton's planar adventure; a PDF of World of Dungeons, John Harper's "1970s" version of Dungeon World; a PDF of Number Appearing, Justin Wightbred's adventure and supplement featuring monstrous player characters; a PDF of War (tentative title), SageKobold's first "event" supplement for the game; and (assuming the campaign reaches $60,000 within the next six days) a PDF of the aforementioned Juntu's Floating Ice Hell adventure. Whew! Anyone who donates $25 gets softcover print versions of the Dungeon World rules, the two Kickstarter Exclusive Supplements, and Dark Heart of the Dreamer.
If you've already contributed, thanks for helping out! If you've been thinking of trying out Dungeon World, definitely take advantage of the deal described above—it's possibly the best gaming package I've seen for $5.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Failed Saving Throw Vs. Lord of the Rings Legos
When I went to Meijer to pick up bread for my daughter's lunchbox sandwiches tonight, I made the mistake of going past the toy section. This caught my eye:
Needless to say, resistance was futile. Now I have a new tchotchke for my office at work.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Honor + Intrigue: Barbie, Daughter of D'Artagnan?!?
Stop laughing, I'm serious! In 2009, Artisan Home Entertainment released the animated adventure Barbie and the Three Musketeers on DVD. As the nerd father of a young girl, I thought the movie would be a good Trojan Horse where cultivating a taste for action-adventure and swashbucklers was concerned. The movie is better than it has any right to be—which is lucky, considering the dozens of times I've had to watch it in the last three years.
In the film, Barbie plays Corinne, daughter of D'Artagnan (who is apparently dead). She leaves her mother and her Gascon home to head north to Paris; she plans to present Monsieur Treville with a letter with a letter from her mother encouraging Treville to make Corinne a Musketeer. Hijinks ensue as Corinne and her three serving maid friends struggle to defeat would-be usurper Philippe (played by Tim Curry) and the marshaled forces of oppressive patriarchy.
Needless to say, Corinne's Honor + Intrigue stats follow below.
Corinne, Daughter of D'Artagnan
Motivation
Ambition (to become a Musketeer like her father)
Qualities
Might 0
Daring 2
Savvy 1
Flair 1
Combat
Brawl 0
Melee 2
Ranged 0
Defense 2
Careers
Farmgirl 1
Acrobat 2
Duelist 1
Servant 0
Resources
Lifeblood 10
Fortune 4
Boons
Attractive (Bonus die in situations where looks matter—this is Barbie, after all)
Beast-Friend (Bonus die when dealing with animals; has animal companions—see below)
Born Athlete (Bonus die when performing athletic activities other than fighting)
Flaws
Country Bumpkin (Penalty die in situations where street smarts matter)
Hot-Headed (Penalty die when attempting to suppress anger)
Equipment
Epee (1d6 damage, +1 Parry)
Miette (Corinne's kitten . . . who apparently duels as well—don't ask!)
Alexander (Corinne's elderly horse, inherited from her father)
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Honor + Intrigue: Robin Hood Redux
Honor + Intrigue is now available in PDF form (with print copies to follow). After a quick read-through, I'm incredibly impressed with what Chris Rutkowski has achieved here. My favorite rule so far is the maneuver "Return Weapon": if your hero uses his minor action to return his disarmed opponent's weapon (as is so often the case in swashbuckler duels), he receives a reward of 1 Advantage over his foe as well as 1 point of Fortune.
Now that I have the rules I can update my character sheet for Errol Flynn's Robin of Locksley as follows:
Attributes
Might 0
Daring 2
Savvy 1
Flair 1
[No changes here.]
Combat
Brawl 1
Melee 1
Ranged 2
Defense 0
[No changes here.]
Careers
Noble 1
Warrior 1
Woodsman 2
Highwayman 0
[Again, no changes needed.]
Resources
Lifeblood 10
Fortune 6
Composure 3
Advancement 0
[Scores calculated now that I have the formulae for doing so.]
Equipment
Longbow (1d6+2 damage, range increments of 110')
Sparkly Lincoln green tunic and tights
Sword (1d6 damage, +1 Parry)
[The weapons listed in Honor + Intrigue are seventeenth-century weapons, so I've had to improvise here. Robin's sword in the film is closest to the game's epee, and I've therefore given his blade the epee's stats.]
Boons
Crack Shot: Longbow (Bonus die on all damage rolls w/bows, range increments increased by 10', more Fortune points required to reduce effect of Robin's successful shots)
Favored by Fortune (permanent +2 increase to Fortune)
Laugh in the Face of Danger (Bonus die to Daring rolls to resist fear/intimidation, Social Combat/Repartee rolls against Daring have a Penalty die)
[A big change here: I dropped "Knighted" since the description of the Boon describes it as more of a reward for services rendered, and Robin is a baron and knight by birth in the film. Hard choices followed, though. The other boons that were the most logical choices for Robin—Attractive, Daredevil, and Favored by Fortune—are all Beginning Boons and can only be purchased during character creation. I decided that an early Fortune boost made the most sense for Robin at this stage of his career: he's often luckier than he should be, and that gets him out of jams.
Flaws
Hot-Headed (Penalty die when trying to suppress anger; whenever anger gets Robin into trouble, he gains 1 Fortune point)
Hunted (whenever Robin faces off with the followers of Prince John, Guy of Gisborne, or the Sheriff of Nottingham, he gains 1 Fortune point)
[Another change here: "Obligation" is more of a specific debt or responsibility than a generic devotion to Saxon welfare. (Robin is also free of anti-Norman bigotry even as he opposes Norman tyranny: his battle for justice reflects a devotion to the virtue in general rather than to a specific ethnicity.) I therefore decided that Robin's in-play story begins after he escapes from Nottingham Castle and flees to Sherwood Forest; this gives him "Hunted."]
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