Are the Nazgûl the Ultimate Fantasy Antagonists?

I’m inclined to think so. I have a hard time imagining a more dramatic or thrilling kind of foe. The Ring-wraiths are intelligent, relentless, and terrifying.

I still vividly recall watching the animated Lord of the Rings film as a wee lad. The scenes with the Nazgûl were amazing … and very frightening. In particular, the scene in which Frodo and Sam are hiding from one shortly after leaving the Shire, and the Ring-wraith starts ‘sniffing’ for the one ring, especially struck me. Bakshi’s film (although I realize now that it is deeply flawed) ignited my lifetime love of fantasy, and the portrayal of the Úlairi played a huge role in that.

The Ring-wraiths also have a tragic element. Once they were men, powerful sorcerers, kings, and princes. But their desire for power and immortality led to their entrapment. One can understand the temptation. Humanity’s fear of death – and the tragic things that it will do to avoid that fate – is a common theme in Tolkien’s Middle-earth (the fall of Númenor being the most vivid example). Consequently, I feel as much pity as I do fear for the Nine.

Above are three pictures portraying the Nazgûl by one of my favourite fantasy artists, Angus McBride.

(Oh yeah, Happy Canada Day! I’ll be back in the Great White North tomorrow.)

Fight On! #9 available

Just in time for summer:

Here is ye olde sales blurb:

When you're down to your last hit point, your last spell, the last charge on your laser pistol - what now? Fight On! Issue #9 is here, stampeding out of the gate with adventures big and small, a city-state, races, classes, monsters, spells, tricks, traps, tables, rules options, random encounters, NPCs, and a motherlode of mighty miscellaneous mysteries to give your game a boost! Dedicated to Paul Jaquays, this issue features contributions from Jeff Rients, Sang Lee, Tavis Allison, Kelvin Green, Geoffrey McKinney, Patrick Farley, Zak S., Erik Battle, James Quigley, Mark Allen, Jennifer Weigel, Gabor Lux, Peter Schmidt Jensen, Ed Heil, Paul Fini, Raven Daegmorgan, Eric Minton, Allen Varney, Baz Blatt, Geoffrey O. Dale, Jerry Stratton, Chris Robert, Calithena, Jeff Talanian, and many, many more! Don't get caught without the old school's newest resources - order your copy today!

Available for sale via teh intraweb here.

Someday I will contribute to Fight On! again. Oh yes, someday...

Also in news: 'Old Guy' ChicagoWiz is blogging again.

And now, a completely tangential musing: I've just finished watching the second episode of 'The Tudors'. My suspicion is that this series will turn out to be only about half as good (if that) as 'Rome'...

Two Cthulhu-themed 'Jack Chick' Tracts

In my last blog post I mentioned Jack Chick's amusing and absurd cautionary tale concerning the devilish dangers of 'Dungeons and Dragons' entitled 'Dark Dungeons' (now the title of a retro-clone of the D&D Rules Cyclopedia).

That post reminded me of two hilarious parodies of Jack Chick's tracts, both of which replace (Chick's extreme fundamentalist version of) Christianity with H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.

The first faux Chick tract is called 'Why We're Here'. The second one is entitled 'Who Will Be Eaten First?'.

Enjoy!

Dark Dungeons!

Another Dungeons & Dragons ‘retro-clone’ has joined the rolls of the Old School Renaissance. This one is called ‘Dark Dungeons’ and it ‘clones’ the D&D Rules Cylcopedia, the amazing one-volume compilation of the rules from the D&D Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master Sets from the 1980s (the Rules Cyclopedia itself was published in 1991).

A free PDF of Dark Dungeons can be found here (along with links to Lulu to purchase the print versions). The Dark Dungeons blog is here.

Like all of the retro-clones, the rules found within Dark Dungeons deviate slightly from the original for the sake of legality. One difference between DD and the RC that especially struck me, based on a very quick look over, is the fact that the non-human classes (Dwarfs, Elfs, and Halflings) have a 36-level progression, just like the standard human classes. In addition, the skill list has been trimmed in order to avoid overlap with the special abilities of the character classes (unlike the list in the original RC). Also, the ‘planar cosmology’ is quite different from the one presented in the RC. (People familiar with TSR’s old ‘Spelljammer’ campaign setting report some resemblance to it.) Finally, the rules concerning becoming an Immortal seem to be fleshed out more than they were in the RC, and allegedly are based on the ‘Wrath of the Immortals’ D&D box set. (Yes, like the RC, becoming an Immortal is the ‘endgame’ of Dark Dungeons!)

Overall, it looks like the author, ‘Blacky the Blackball’, did an excellent job with this book. At 345 pages, it is a major accomplishment, and breaths life into a version of D&D tragically abandoned by the company that owns the trademark. The editing, writing, and layout are very good – indeed, superior to that found in the books of many ‘professional’ gaming companies.

Those of you familiar with the history of Dungeons and Dragons likely recognize the title ‘Dark Dungeons’ from the comic tract written by the Christian fundamentalist cartoonist Jack Chick (which can be read here). Chick’s absurd ‘Dark Dungeons’ cautionary tale has amused gamers for decades now, and naming a retro-clone after it seems strangely appropriate. Readers familiar with the original comic will, no doubt, be delighted to learn that the character ‘Black Leaf’ (a thief) is mentioned in the book – indeed, instead of dying pathetically from a poison needle trap, as she does in Chick’s comic, in the ‘Dark Dungeons’ preamble she goes on to become an Immortal! I doubt that Chick would approve of such an act of apotheosis…

Savage Swords of Athanor!

The Savage Swords of Athanor is another gem for the 'Swords & Wizardry' game.

This wonderful, digest-sized book includes a number of interesting house rules (including a 'background professions' system that looks remarkably similar to my own for S&W -- "great minds think alike," and all that).

It also describes the dying planet of Athanor, a place where magic co-exists with ancient technology, where dinosaurs prowl trackless deserts under a bloated red sun, and where players can take on the roles of lost 'earthmen' trying to find their way in a savage, alien world.

The cover does a brilliant job in capturing the flavour of the setting. It looks like it could be the cover of a 'science fantasy' or 'planetary romance' novel from the early 1970s.

Athanor is a wonderful mash-up of a setting. It includes mutations, weird science, clone vats, bizarre non-human races (arthropods, sentient humanoid fungoid creatures, etc.), and many other oddities. The names of the city-states of Athanor should be familiar to anyone who has read the work of R. E. Howard (although Athanor clearly is not based on any of Howard's stories).

The Savage Swords of Athanor is a fun read. Even if one had no interest in running an Athanor campaign, there are many evocative ideas to be found in this delightful little tome. Highly recommended!

Hyperborea & Fomalhaut

I'm a fan of what sometimes is called 'weird fantasy': tales of the eldritch and eerie written by folks like Lovecraft, Howard, Leiber, Vance, CAS, et al.

Perhaps you are as well?

If so, you might want to check out the adventure 'Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent'. Although designed for North Wind Adventures' game 'Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea' (which has yet to be released), it should be easy to use with any 'old school' version of A/D&D (OD&D, Basic D&D, 1e AD&D) and their respective retro-clones (S&W, LL, OSRIC), as well as 'near-clones' like C&C and BFRP.

I very much liked the earlier version of this adventure, which was published in the premier issue of Knockspell, and look forward to receiving my copy of the 'full version' in the near future. Also, I really dig the art displayed at their website.

Also in the 'weird fantasy' genre is the world of Fomalhaut. A website devoted to this wonderfully unconventional and idiosyncratic setting created by Gabor Lux (a.k.a. 'Melan') now exists .

I've been a fan of Fomalhaut ever since an overview of the setting was published in the third issue of Fight On! And my fondness for it has absolutely nothing to do with its inclusion of the following fine city:

Akrasia (pop. 1600) is otherwise, possessed of a gentle melancholy that many find charming. Its inhabitants like decorative gardens, orchards and the pleasant feeling of a gentle decline. The autumn mysteries attract a throng of pilgrims. During the festivities, youths and maidens raised for this specific purpose enter an enchanted gateway leading to a blissful land without trouble or toil, and are seen no more. The warrior sect in charge of guarding the gate are careful to warn off unlawful attempts at entry, but in spite of warnings, prowling beasts and vigilant guardsmen, there are always brave trespassers who are usually apprehended and summarily cut down before attaining their purpose.

Gabor Lux's adventures and setting material are second to none. I always enjoy reading them, even if I do have rather unnerving dreams afterwards.

Encounter ... 'Encounter'

And so, a new 'Old School D&D' fanzine, Encounter, enters the rolls of the OSR...

The Sleep of Akrasia...

... breeds 5 HD monsters ...

As some gentle readers may have noticed, I haven't had time to write any posts over the past month. Frustratingly, I likely will not have any time for blogging over the next few weeks as well. There simply are too many 'real life' issues that I have to deal with right now (mainly work-related, as term is winding up over the next few weeks and I'll have a crushing load of grading to do, but some other matters as well).

On a more positive note, it looks like I will be back in Toronto for the summer, and my old group seems eager to experience some Call of Cthulhu goodness!

Just in case you haven't heard...

The new issue of Knockspell is available...

The blurb:

Knockspell: The quarterly resource for old school gaming!

Knockspell Issue #4 contains a veritable cornucopia of gaming content for your retro-clone or out-of-print fantasy campaign! Here's a preview of the table of contents:

From Kuroth’s Quill Allan T. Grohe, Jr.

Beneath the Crossroads: an Adventure Joshua James Gervias

Artist Interview: Christopher Burdett

Megadungeon Adventuring Tactics Matt Finch

Isles on an Emerald Sea 3: An Adventure Gabor Lux

Random Tavern Generator Robert Lionheart

Artifact Type & Attributes Scot Hoover

Spell Interval System John Stater

Online Roleplaying: A Quick Overview Marcelo Frossard Paschoalin

Rats in the Walls: an Adventure by Jeffrey P. Talanian

Stealing the Histories Michael Curtis

Free-Form Rules as a Referee’s Toolbox Al Krombach

Rolling Along: Wheeled Magic Items James Bobb

Weird Weather and other Unexplanable Phenomena J Shoultis, J Larrey, J Hartleb

Review: The Dungeon Alphabet Allan T. Grohe, Jr.

Weapon Generator J.R. Cone

New Magic Items James Bobb

Knockspell #4 is now available in both print and pdf versions from Black Blade Publishing.

A New Direction for FIGHT ON!

It's about time!