2013 A-to-Z Blogging Challenge: After Action Report

 

Well, here we are at the end. We made it. Life intervened a couple of times and I had a short post or two because of it (20 April, I'm looking at you!), and I accidentally posted today's post yesterday. However, all-in-all, it was a success.

 

This year, I dedicated the challenge to AD&D, first edition--no 2E, no 3.0/3.5, no Next, no bloody 4th. Some of my posts did wander into more generic roleplaying territory, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. My "E is for Editions" post showed what came before and after AD&D in an attempt to show where D&D  came from and to whence it is has gone. Because of a post-start event coming up, "O is for Oriental Adventures" became a review of "Ruins and Ronin" in support of Swords and Wizardry Appreciation Day.

 

Did I learn anything? Probably not. I vaguely structured my posts as I went along and some I had no idea what I was going to say until I started typing the title. Until yesterday's fiasco, I did not write ahead of time, either. So, if I did learn something, it is to possibly plan my writing in a more structured manner and write some ahead of time.

 

One change to come from this idea is that I will now ave theme days to post at least once a week. I have changed up the order from an earlier post. First up, I'll have Sci-Fi Monday, a hodge podge of reviews, thoughts about RPGs or MMOs, whatever catches my fancy or attention. Expect to see Mutants and Masterminds, Villains and Vigilantes, Battletech, Stars Without Number, Traveller, SWTOR, and various other topics on this day. Midweek will be Warhammer Wednesdays--not the bloody miniatures game that changes rules every two years, but the original, first edition RPG. This is a game that I have not run or played in years, but it is still a game that I hold close to my heart. Expect the occasional post about my DIY WH40K Marine Chapter, the Blood Cross. Finally, I'll close up the week with Fantasy Friday, anything from book or movie reviews or ruminations on whatever fantasy RPGs are catching my fancy at the time. This is could be AD&D, B/X D&D, DragonQuest, Hackmaster, whatever. It might even include urban fantasy such as the works of Charles de Lint or Kim Harrison or "modern" games like Vampire: The Masquerade. And the first Warhammer Wednesday is tomorrow! Woot! No rest for the wicked.

 

Finally, after yesterday's post, "Z is for Zagyg," I am dedicating this Challenge ex post facto to the memory of E. Gary Gygax, the man whose words sparked the creation of hundreds, if not thousands, of worlds.

 

Gary Gygax, 27 July 1938-04 March 2008

 

Z is for Zagyg

Zagyg the Mad Archmage, Demigod of Humor, Magic, Eccentricity, and Unpredictability

Has it really been FIVE years already? Gary has been gone so long it seems. When he passed, I wrote the next morning on Dragonsfoot, "A tremor is felt as Zaygy ascends to the higher planes once more. RIP, Gary. We'll miss you for now and meet you at the Inn later." Hard to believe that I'm tearing up again thinking about it.

 

I never met Gary in life. We corresponded by email, oh, probably since 1996 or so until his death, and I sent the occasional birthday or Christmas card to his home. He always mentioned them in his emails and he always gave me the salutation of "Howdy!" I never knew if that was a standard greeting for him or he just used it because I'm a Texan or because my first emails to him were asking about Boot Hill. It's something I would have asked him had we ever met. And I did have the opportunity. There were several conventions I could have attended where I could have met him, but I always put it off with the thought, "There's always next year." And then, there were no more tomorrows for Gary. I missed the chance to meet a friend.

I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been;

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.

I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.

For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.

I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.

But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.

--J.R.R. Tolkien

 

The good Professor's poem sums up my maudlin and sentimental feelings as I write this post. Incidentally, I want this poem to be read before my rosary when I pass on some day; it is bittersweet and captures the feeling of life and death superbly.

 

There has long been a bit of friction between adherents of Gygax and Arneson over who is the "Father" of D&D; Bledsaw's contributions seem to be ignored in the scuffle, and there were plenty of others involved as well. But I bring up Zagyg for my final post of the 2013 A-to-Z Challenge because I focused on AD&D specifically for this run. And, say what you want about early D&D, but AD&D was Gary's. It has the indelible stamp of Zagyg himself all through. The charts, the fiddly bits, the "High Gygaxian" prose--will anyone ever forget Gary's ability to turn a memorable phrase as in "perforce, as the killing of humans and other intelligent life forms for the purpose of profit is basically held to be the antithesis of weal"--the amalgamation of disparate fantasy and mythical traditions etc. AD&D was truly his magnum opus, more so than anything that preceded it or followed it. It is Zagyg's. It is his.

 

I'm actually writing this on Monday afternoon since I have some free time. I want to proof it again (and again and again and...) so it is nigh perfect (it never is). There is little more I can say. Tonight, after my youngest daughter's softball game, I'm going to go home, fill a pipe with fine tobacco and pour myself a mug of a tasty adult beverage, probably a stout German one. Then I'll sit on my porch, watch the stars come out, and reminisce about my friend Gary and the worlds his words have inspired. And finally, I will contemplate his words, "I would like the world to remember me as the guy who really enjoyed playing games and sharing his knowledge and his fun pastimes with everybody else."

 

Good night, Gary. See you at the Inn later.

 

 

 

Y is for Yuan-Ti

"Yuan-ti Anatomy Study" by Chris Quilliams

These last few letters of our Roman alphabet are always the hardest. Therefore, I have used tenuous connections at best to discuss concepts in abstracts. So, please bear with me. :)

 

Last week, I briefly mentioned that some gamers want to exclude influences derived from Tolkien in their AD&D game. Maybe the idea is to create a more Lovecraftian or Howardian feel something that excludes orcs and the like (for that I cannot help but recommend Realms of Crawling Chaos). In my mind, that is what the Yuan-ti represent. If one peruses the monster books of AD&D, especially Fiend Folio and Monster Manual II, one will find plenty of what 3.5 calls "abominations" and "outsiders." There is plenty to use in a grittier non-Tolkien game.

 

Let's examine the Yuan-ti (MM2, p. 130). Inhabitants of tropical jungles...well that can be changed. While Lovecraft focused mostly on marine life (deep ones!), Howard's Cthulhu tales had serpent men under England and Oklahoma! They were a degenerate race from prehistorical times that hates the "monkey races" that have since dominated the surface of the planet. The weakest are the 6 HD (!) purebloods. They can pass as human 80% of the time and have some minor reptilian features such as scaly hands or forked tongues. Also, "Purebloods normally handle affairs with the outside world and may travel far and wide doing so." This brings to mind the "strange monks" (robed Draconians) in the first Dragonlance novel, Dragons of Autumn Twilight, and also the degenerate inhabitants of Innsmouth with their batrachian appearance. Sinister and mysterious, they could lure heroes to their doom as in the opening story to the first edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. The half-breeds have a single snake-like feature: a snake's head, the lower body of a snake, whatever. Here is where the horror begins. And finally, the abominations are all snake or have, at most, a single human feature. Note that the race has innate spell abilities as well.

 

A whole campaign could center around the return of the "snake-men," taking the party into the Depths of the Earth to confront the yusn-ti's bleak temples and end their horrid rites. The polymorph other ability could be used to transform victims into half-breeds or even abominations to bolster the ranks of their growing armies. A desperate fight into the dark places of the world, possibly by adapting the Vault of the Drow or a similar adventure.

 

Bullywug Warrior.

 

 

There are other creatures that are not necessarily abomination could be tweaked as such. I direct you to a April, 2011, post on the bullywug that in which I tweaked the description for a more dark feel. This can be done with several races. Take that stock horror the owl bear. Describe it's clacking beak and its fiery eyes to the players. Make them feel its hot breath and hear its shriek of rage. Another something that is not Tolkien. :)

 

 

 

In all, the ability to excise Tolkien from the game is not difficult; it merely takes a little research and some substations. Oh, and imagination, always imagination.  Until tomorrow, gentle readers, when I wrap up the 2013 A-to-Z Challenge!