3d6
Level 3 Conjurer
Posts: 62
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Post by 3d6 on Feb 8, 2012 16:13:30 GMT -6
blogofholding.com/?series=mornard(Series of blog posts on gaming with Mr. Mornard). Probably you already know about this, and possibly it has even been "advertised" on these boards already. If so, I missed it, and great apologies. In case you missed it, though, well worth checking out Gronan's Tales from "the days of yore." My fav: "Mike showed off some of his autographed books: his 1e Player's Handbook was signed to "Lessnard the Wizard", one of Mike's characters. Apparently, when he was level 1, Lessnard had the distinction of surviving a solo trip to level 3 of the Greyhawk dungeon. Lessnard was alone because he couldn't convince any hirelings to join him - he had lost too many hirelings in the dungeon already. Mike produced that story to demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, a lowly level 1 wizard had plenty of survivability!"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2012 21:04:09 GMT -6
Yep. 3 HP, a dagger, a lantern, and a Charm Person spell.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2012 21:13:01 GMT -6
Mornard - Lessnard (chuckle)
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Post by scalydemon on Feb 8, 2012 21:17:08 GMT -6
Mornard - Lessnard (chuckle)  |
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Post by aldarron on Feb 8, 2012 21:46:34 GMT -6
Wow that's a great read.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2012 22:01:35 GMT -6
Most names back then were far from serious.
Partly, this is due to the fantasy available. Other than Tolkien and The Worm Oruborous, there weren't very many novels; most fantasy was short stories. Of those short stories, several series... Fafhrd and the Mouser, the Incomplete Enchanter, Poul Anderson's "Operation Chaos" stories, and more, were all tongue in cheek. It showed up in the games.
Also, coming from the wargame aspect, the tactical and strategic situations were taken very seriously but little else was. If you get Don Featherstone's "How to Run a Wargame Campaign" you will see that the tongue in cheek element was present in wargaming for a long time as well. Col. Hugh Jarce, anyone?
For that matter, "The Seven Geases" isn't the only story where the protagonist dies. Read the original "Dying Earth" collection of short stories; it happens several times.
In fact, Dying Earth is probably a stronger influence on D&D then Tolkien. Dying Earth is full of cursed magic, ancient horrors, and a world that is, in short, totally full of things that will SERIOUSLY F*CK YOUR SH*T UP!
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Post by geoffrey on Feb 9, 2012 0:20:17 GMT -6
From part 3: "One of the effects of variable weapon damage, he said, was to make weapon choice more plausible and meaningful. Before variable weapon damage, everyone was using the cheapest weapon possible - iron spikes! After variable weapon damage, fighters started using swords, which did 1d8 damage, or 1d12 against large monsters. Fighters with swords was a better mirror of history and heroic fantasy than fighters with daggers or iron spikes."
Part of me likes the image of thuggish fighters using iron spikes to slay things! ;D
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Post by tavis on Feb 9, 2012 8:10:31 GMT -6
Part of me likes the image of thuggish fighters using iron spikes to slay things! ;D My fighting-man Boboric, who will be seeking to hire a slew of henchmen to venture into Lord Gronan's throne-room dungeon tonight, considers the corpses of the dead an important part of his equipment list; among other things, dropping them may deter pursuit by carnivores. If these corpses were studded with the iron spikes we'd driven into their skulls to kill them with, they'd deter pursuit by rust monsters too! EDIT: my stories about Boboric and one of the sessions Paul is also blogging about are here, after the Doc Savage stuff. |
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