Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophers: Part V

"The Battle of Five Philosophers."

(Another one from Existential Comics.)

Class Struggle in Westeros

“Wildlings of the north unite!  You have nothing to lose but your cumbersome furs!”

Okay, here is another short post with a slight political philosophy flavour.  Fans of the Game of Thrones television series (and/or novels) may enjoy reading: “Can Marxist Theory Predict the End of Game of Thrones?”  (Don’t worry, gentle readers, you don’t need to be a Marxist [I’m not] to enjoy it.)

This part struck me as especially quote-worthy: 

Westeros needs capitalists – such as those who frown puritanically at us from Dutch portraits in the 17th century. And they should, as in the Dutch Republic and the English civil war, launch a revolution.
But that can’t happen in the secondary world of fantasy fiction…
There is a reason so much fantasy fiction adopts the conceit of a feudalism that is always in crisis but never overthrown. It forms the ideal landscape in which to dramatise the secret desires of people who live under modern capitalism.

‘Secret desires’ indeed!  (Am I wrong for wishing that I could be Jaqen H'ghar more than any other character in the series?  Ah well, "valar morghulis"…)

John Rawls the Orc?!?

A somewhat surprising look for the author of the 20th century's most important work in political philosophy, A Theory of Justice.  I guess that behind the 'veil of ignorance' one simply does not know whether one is an orc, troll, elf, dwarf, hobbit, or human...

(Okay, okay, so this guy is not the same person as this guy...)

Crypts and Things: Remastered and Kickstarted

Kudos to Newt Newport on his ridiculously successful Kickstarter campaign for the re-mastered version of Crypts and Things!

I’m proud to have contributed to the original version of C&T, albeit only modestly, and look forward to testing out the new and improved version in the near future.

More information on C&T:R here.

New Stonehenge theory

There is a new theory concerning the function of stonehenge:

The megaliths would not have been used for ceremonies at ground level, but would instead have supported a circular wooden platform on which ceremonies were performed to the rotating heavens, the theory suggests.

Sounds interesting and not entirely implausible (at least to a non-archaeologist like myself).  (Full article here.)

After all these years, I still find thinking about stonehenge strangely magical...

A Blade Runner Sequel? Bad Idea!

So apparently there is going to be a sequel to the 1982 classic science fiction film Blade Runner.

This is a bad idea.

The Director’s Cut version of Blade Runner (the version without the horrible voiceover, without the tacked-on happy ending, and with the scene of the unicorn dream) is pretty much the perfect science fiction film.  It is self-contained, with no loose-endings.  It is visually and aurally stunning.  It is an immersive experience that asks deep questions. (‘What is it to be human?’ ‘What is it to be a slave?’)  And its ending is wonderfully ambiguous – is Deckard a replicant or not?  No answer to this question is given, and the film is open to either interpretation. 

Blade Runner should not be messed with at this point.  As Rob Bricken correctly notes at io9, “Blade Runner 2 Is The Least Necessary Sequel Of All Time.” 

Just. Leave. It. Be.

But no.  Hollywood is so bereft of new ideas, and so eager for easy money, that a sequel is in the works.  And Harrison Ford will be returning.  (Well, I guess that since Deckard lives for another 30+ years after the events depicted within the original film, it’s pretty clear that he is not a replicant after all… *sigh*)

Crypts and Things Kickstarter Now Live

The Kickstarter for the 'remastered' edition of Crypts & Things is now live!

Newt Newport has been posting about C&T quite a bit of late over at his fine blog, Sorcerer Under Mountain.  If you are at all curious about the game -- and you should be! -- I recommend that you check out Newt's blog.

There are some other posts on C&T over at the blogs They Might Be Gazebos!, Tenkar's Tavern, and Swords & Stitchery.

By Crom, I am looking forward to the mighty-thewed remastered edition of Crypts & Things!

Shall we try to avoid an Outside Context Problem?

In today's National Post there is a 'full comment' entitled, "Lie Low, Planet Earth."

The comment refers to Iain M. Banks's 1996 novel Excession, specifically, the idea of an "outside context problem" (OCP):

The idea of an OCP reportedly came to Mr. Banks while he played the computer game Civilization, wherein players control the evolution of a society from a single group of nomads to a global superpower.
Mr. Banks had developed a successful and prosperous medieval island society that he thought was doing quite well, until another civilization showed up off his shore with steel-hulled battleships. The arrival of the technologically advanced newcomers, he realized, posed for his simulated citizens a problem so far outside their normal context that they were effectively helpless.

Based upon the idea of an OCP, perhaps prudence recommends that we not advertise our existence to alien civilizations?

Any society capable both of detecting our presence and of crossing the vast distances of space to reach Earth would be so far beyond us technologically as to leave humanity, to say the least, at a disadvantage. The first alien starship to arrive would be, to us, very much like those strange metal battleships to reach the shores of Mr. Banks’ digital kingdom.

I'm pretty risk adverse in general, so the "lie low" strategy seems sensible.  Sure, our interstellar neighbours might be like the Vulcans (RIP Leonard Nimoy).  But they also might be like the aliens in, er, Alien and Aliens.

A Bloody Samhain!

Our indefatigable Game Master's summary of last week's Mythic Britain session, written from the perspective of the Saxon dogs:

Wotan and Thunor bless the 29 brave Saxon warriors who fell to the cowardly Parisii. Nine, captured in battle, were cruelly slaughtered by their witch who used their blood, souls and skulls to build a Ghost Fence in a pathetic attempt to protect their miserable hillfort. Thrice one thousand curses on her head! May Gullveig's Children tear her limb from limb.

Six were most foully butchered in a forest ambush as they sought to bring some lonely Celtic women and children to safety. The Parisii dogs who call themselves the Sons of Cernunnos hid like sceadunga in the shadows and would not face these loyal thanes weapon to weapon.

And fourteen fell in brave combat, although these good thanes and sons of Wotan engaged their enemy and made them bloody. The magic of the Britons was powerful; one witnessed the Screaming Warrior shrug-off spear thrusts as though clad head to toe in mail. Victory would have been theirs if the craven Britons had fought toe to toe and not broken the Saxon rank with distressed horses and more assassins who lurked in the bracken and hurled spears like pitiful womenfolk.

Lord Hengwulf and King Guercha mourn these fine warriors. Comfort is taken in knowing that their souls now feast in Valhalla and tomorrow shall battle and be victorious for all eternity!

The Parisii shall pay. Aelflas is coming, and she brings Hel in her wake like a cloak of torment.

A somewhat more objective summary:

An epic battle last night. Mass sacrifice on an almost industrial scale as Gwynneth made a Ghost Fence from Saxon prisoners. Then, rushing to protect the women and children hidden in a forest cave, the characters managed to outpace and ambush a Saxon warband, which had fortunately become splintered and disoriented in the wild woods of the Eboracum Vale. In a moment of freakish good fortune, the three characters who are the Sons of Cernnunos (Cunnen, Aild and Gawain) each rolled 05, one after the other, scoring critical successes in the ambush on the first six Saxons. This incredible feat of luck earned them a bonus Luck point and an immediate +5% increase in the Brother of Cernunnos Passion.

Later, Cunnen was impaled in the thigh by a well-aimed Saxon spear and unable to take part in the ensuing fight, but his brother in arms Aild invoked the berserker rage and hurled himself at the Saxon shield wall. The wall was broken as Gawain drove panicked horses into it and they tried to change their facing to deal with attacks from front and flank, and this allowed Aild, in another moment of blessed luck to critically avoid being tripped while his attacker fumbled his next spear thrust and impaled his colleague.

After that, the battle was over. The Saxon ranks were broken by good tactics and a huge helping of good rolls on the Parisii side, and shockingly bad ones on the Saxons.

Of course, my character, the scholarly Roman 'Lucretius', was far away from all this bloody savagery.

(Originally posted by Lawrence Whitaker here.)

Known World (Mystara) Pre-History

Apparently the classic Dungeons & Dragons "Known World" setting -- later "Mystara" -- originated as a home-brew campaign world created by Lawrence Schick and Tom Moldvay in 1974-76.  Unsurprisingly (to anyone familiar with the D&D module X2), Clark Ashton Smith was a major inspiration.

Schick has the details in this post at the Black Gate.