Sword and Sorcery Quotes III

"...(T)he judge squalled that I had shown contempt for the court, and that I should be hurled into a dungeon to rot until I betrayed my friend. So then, seeing they were all mad, I drew my sword and cleft the judge's skull; then I cut my way out of the court...."

Conan, "Queen of the Black Coast" by Robert E. Howard

Blades & Black Magic Part Deux

Also NOT the real cover.  But also cool looking.

I have been following Mr. Brandon's further posts and comments on the subject of Blades & Black Magic, his new iteration of Heroes & Other Worlds and very much like what he has in mind for the magic system.  He seems to think along very similar lines to me.  Read about it here.

Blades & Black Magic

NOT the Real Cover.  Just Cool Looking.

I'm so excited.  Mr. Brandon of Heroes and Other Worlds is again working on Blades & Black Magic, a sword & sorcery rendition of Heroes and Other Worlds.  Details here.

Hereticwerks

I don't think I mentioned Hereticwerks before.  Hereticwerks is an RPG blog chock full of materials for your gaming purposes.  OSR, Heroes and Other Worlds and more.  Have a look.

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.

Savage Worlds - Lankhmar: City of Thieves

I am rather excited about this.  My son recently read a bunch of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser and so he's interested in it too.  Maybe a game will actually hit our table!