Inspiration for The Hobbit Inspired Campaign II: The Man Himself

Art created by J.R.R. Tolkien about The Hobbit:

Smaug and Bilbo.  One of my personal favorites.

Inspiration for The Hobbit Inspired Campaign

Art from the Swedish and Russian versions of The Hobbit.

Tove Jansson

Mikhail Belomlinsky

Rome, Mycenae and Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy Settings

When people talk about fallen civilizations it is often Rome that is discussed and in a way it is only natural since it led to the Middle Ages which many games are loosely set in.  However, even with the collapse of the Roman Empire, many of its institutions, much of its culture and echoes of its language survived.  Heck, its actual language did survive amongst the educated and in the Church.  It was also remembered and held up as an example to emulate.  So much so that over 300 years after the western portion of the Empire fell, a Frankish king was declared the Roman emperor by the Pope.  To top it off the eastern portion of the empire survived for another 1000 years.

I ran across a several articles lately about the D&D and other fantasy RPGs being set in a post-apocalyptic world.  Here are two of them:   "The Implied Apocalypse of Dungeons and Dragons"  and "The World Ended, and Then We Got on With Our Lives."

This idea intrigues me and makes a lot of sense.  After all, why are there a bunch of ruins and relics laying around?  More powerful precursors whose scraps the present people are scavenging and whose memory they are trying to live up to.  It is great fun to play in a setting like this.


When I think about fallen civilizations and what came after I like to think of the Mycenaeans.  Their civilization collapsed and disappeared in a relatively short period of time.  The monarchies and their system of government were destroyed, in fact even the word for king changed.  Major population centers were abandoned and even many villages were depopulated.  Large populations emigrated overseas and population as a whole dropped. The way of life changed.  Wealth disappeared.  The dialect changed in many areas. Much of the past was forgotten.  The ruins left behind were mysterious and many myths were attached to them

This is a world ripe for adventuring.

Single Picture Inspiration

There is a discussion titled, "What makes Sword & Sorcery for you?" in the forums at RPG.net right now.  Someone stated that Big Ass Snakes are a part of the genre, which I agree with.  Then someone else posted this picture.  In a way this picture sums up what I think of as S&S in a single image.

A Little Seax-y Inspiration

I like knives and I particularly like the look of the Seax.

Sword & Sorcery Inspiration

Some images from around the web to get the creative juices flowing:

The Villain

Another Villain

Oops.  I hate when that happens!

This is just cool!

A Hero

Another Hero

My Hero!

White Star Settings

White Star has been pretty well supported in the setting department.  The main rule book supports a quasi-Star Wars setting from the get-go.  There is Five Year Mission and the Space Cede adventure covering Star Trek.  Stark Space has dystopian/cyber-punk SF covered.  Galaxy War 1939 and Have Death Ray, Will Travel addresses the pulp/Flash Gordan needs.  These items scratch many of my science fiction itches.

It turns out Star Wars is the type of setting my son would like to play in.  When we were discussing options he said that he wanted to play a bounty hunter and capture "rebel scum".  Cool.  Got that covered.  I'm working on my own Star Wars rip-off homage that is set in the fallen Commonwealth of Worlds.  (People don't understand why Terrans laugh when others refer to it as CoW.  Although I haven't quite decided whether Terrans will be part of the mix or not.)  It is now ruled by the High Archon and is called the Archonate.  I'm working up a timeline for the setting which I will present in another post.  Suffice it to say that it will contain all of the Star Wars cliches.

As much as I like Star Wars and the default assumptions behind White Star, my mind immediately jumped to two literary settings upon my first read through of the rules (and more recently a third and then a fourth.).  The first was Battlestar Galactica.  More the new series than the old.  I didn't know it until a while later but BG has gotten a little love, too.  There is a little adventure called Colonial Civil War that is similar to BG.  It's not exactly the same and it is a single adventure but it is there for those who want to dip their toes in.  I would like to see a full blown treatment of BG though.  It would be really fun to be part of a "ragtag fleet" of humans trying to survive a robot onslaught and have tailored rules to do so.  The players could encounter the planet of the week or explore a single planet with an eye towards colonization.  Also, following the second series, the player may need deal with android infiltrators that are indistinguishable from humans.  However, those loving their star knights would have to look elsewhere to get their fix.  I haven't watched the entirety of the new series so I don't know if they slipped any psionic elements into it.

The second setting I flashed on doesn't contain star knights, either.  It is the Terro-Human Future History stories by H. Beam Piper.  Specifically Space Viking.  Raiding and trading and re-civilizing would be a blast.  The mercenary, pilot and aristocrat classes would all be perfect for this setting.

I think this encapsulates a Space Viking raid perfectly

However, there are few aliens to encounter in this universe, let alone be player characters.  Piper's aliens definitely take a back seat to humans.  Even Little Fuzzy was about how humans reacted to the Fuzzies and their potential sapience.  Also, there are no personal lasers or star sword type weapons either.  Combat tech is limited to 20th century type weapons.  The starships would have to be much larger, also.  The Nemesis, Lucas Trask's ship, is a globe 2000 feet in diameter.  That's big.  The largest aircraft carrier that the United States has is 1,092 feet long.  So take two aircraft carriers, stack them lengthwise and turn them into a globe and there you have it, a SV ship.  Heck, the world's largest oil tanker was only 1,500 feet long.  I can't remember if the book mentions the size of the crew complement but I imagine it is quite large so that would have to be adjusted accordingly.  Once again, a World War II battleship carried around 3,000 officers and crew.  I use a battleship as comparison because SV does not mention specifically an air or fighter wing.  Contragravity assault vehicles for the troops are mentioned but I didn't get the impression that it was along the of an air wing.  Robots were well developed and were used as servants amongst other duties.  However, I don't recall a sentient robot in any of Piper's stories let alone SV.

I think one of the advantages of this setting would be the sheer number of human inhabited worlds to explore.  Each would have a different level of technology and civilization.  One session could be occupied dealing with stone throwing primitives and the next could be spent doing desperate battle with a rival spaceship of comparable tech.  It could include exploring the ruins strewn about various planets as well as domain management if you take over a low tech world.  I would imagine that this, like other settings, would be SV with the serial numbers artfully removed.  This could lead to an infinite variety of worlds and situations.  Also, if you want to have a slightly different setup you could remove the Euro-centric nature of the Sword Worlds and substitute a Japanese, Chinese or some other model.  (I like the way it is so this wouldn't be one of my choices but, hey, it's there.)  And the political situation of the Sword Worlds could be modified to taste also.  The book does mention the first Space Viking-on-Space Viking world raid.

So, these are just some thoughts.  I would like to say I am going to create the Space Viking knockoff but I doubt that would ever happen.  Something about doing the actual works always seems to get in the way.  Sigh.  Oh, and by the way, Space Viking is available for free at Project Gutenberg.  You can download it here. 

Oh, the other two settings you ask?  Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye universe (which includes the CoDominium books and King David's Spaceship) and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga.

There's an Adventure....

There's an adventure in this somewhere...

Conan Inspiration (Non-Howard)

I haven't read Conan of the Isles in about 35 years.  And I believe I only read it the once.  Frankly, other than a very rough outline I've forgotten most of it.  Except one scene.  After abdicating the throne of Aquilonia in favor of his son Conan heads west with the goal of sailing across the ocean.  Why?  I can't really remember.  But he does.  Anyways, he's in a port city trying to raise a crew under his old nom de piracy, Amra, when a swordsman with a rapier attacks him using a fencing style.  Upon being attacked Conan whips out his broadsword and begins fencing too!  Parry and thrust with a broadsword!  The swordsman eventually begins to tire.  In desperation he draws a dagger and throws it at Conan.  Conan, without blinking an eye, catches it left handed!  Then throws it back, burying the blade in the swordsman's throat!  So badass!  This is one of those scenes that lives on in my imagination and inspires my love sword & sorcery.  

And hey, maybe someone can help me with this.  I seem to remember an illustration that shows Conan fighting with a broadsword that is so old and had been sharpened so many times that everything from the ricasso to the tip were significantly worn down.  I'm associating the illustration with this book.  Does it ring a bell?  Or is it just my faulty memory at work again.

Dragon by the Bay

So, I opened my email up yesterday and what do I see?  An advertisement from Amazon for a new story by Garnett Elliott called Dragon by the Bay.  A post Civil War historical fantasy novel set in San Francisco.

Cool!


Find it here.

#RPGaDAY2015 Day 26: Favorite Inspiration for Your Game

Day 26:  Favorite Inspiration for Your Game

Conan of Cimmeria.  The original Howard version as well as representations by later writers and artists and the comics (particularly Savage Sword of Conan).  All of the adventures and illustrations have something to steal, borrow or disguise for games.  The stories are what inform and color my view of Sword & Sorcery and feed my desire for games and gaming.


#RPGaDAY2015

 

The Eldritch Dark

Clark Ashton Smith was one of the earliest writers to produce Sword & Sorcery stories.  He set stories in the imaginative lands of Averoigne, Hyperborea, Zothique and Poseidonas.  Like many early S&S stories, his were a melange, often containing and combining Lost World, Dying World, SF, Horror and Fantasy elements.  Until comparatively recently, I didn't know much about his work and had read none of it.  It doesn't seem to be widely available in print anymore.  Fortunately, for those who are curious about his writing and for long standing fans, there is an authorized website that contains a large number of his works.  The site is The Eldritch Dark.  A list of his stories that most resemble S&S (according to the website's author) can be found here.  Click on the links and enter the realms of CAS.

Barbarian Lord

I ran across this in the library.  This graphic novel was published last year and has been around longer but I hadn't seen it before.  I really like it.  This is what I want a sword & sorcery rpg campaign to look like!  Barbarian Lord is drawn in a cartoony style black and white.  I really like this kind of illustration, probably as a result of reading too many issues of The Savage Sword of Conan as a kid (though, of course SSC was drawn more realistically).  Savage Sword had such an impact on me that whenever I envision a sword & sorcery story in my head it is in black and white.  This is the story of how farmer/poet Barbarian Lord (that's his name, apparently, not a title) had his farm stolen from him by his skull faced enemy and his many adventures on the road to getting it back.  Very grim but it doesn't take itself too seriously.  The author drew on a host of inspirations from legends and sagas to cartoons. 

If you get a chance, read Barbarian Lord.

Elak of Atlantis

Over the last several years, I have been trying to read the key works of sword and sorcery.  I was introduced to this genre as a teen through the Ace paperback version of Robert E. Howard's Conan.  I enjoyed those books immensely, both Howard's stories as well as those written by L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter, et al.  (I really like the non-Howard story "The Thing in the Crypt" for example.)  For quite a while this was the entire sword and sorcery universe for me.  I met Elric during high school but I wasn't overly impressed with the stories.  Then my interest faded for a long time as it did with roleplaying games. 

When my interest in RPGs revived about 14 years ago so did my interest in these type of stories.  (Odd how that worked out, isn't it?)  I began to reread many of the Conan stories and started seeking out other stories, also.  I read the Kull stories and moved on from there.  I've found and read at least some of C. L. Moore, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, Lin Carter, John Jakes, and even Gardner Fox.  Some were easy to find, Leiber for example and surprisingly Clark Ashton Smith.  There is a website dedicated to CAS with many, if not all, of his stories.  (It's at Eldritchdark.com.)  Other's were not so easy.  Gardner Fox published several S&S stories in early issues of Dragon Magazine.

One author I couldn't find in ebook form until recently was Henry Kuttner.  His Elak of Atlantis stories followed the Conan stories and are considered some of the founding stories in the genre.  I recently discovered that an ebook collecting all four Elak stories is available on both Amazon and B&N for a reasonable price.

Happy reading!

Egyptian Inspiration

Some random images from around the interwebs to inspire a Egyptians sword & sorcery game.

I inserted two photos that my wife took.  Can you tell which are hers?

And, finally, one of the reasons warriors fight.