Strange Relations

This week, it was reported that a team working on Neanderthal genome sequencing efforts found that all modern human populations, outside of Sub-Saharan Africans, share some Neanderthal genetic material--perhaps 1 to 4 percent of their total genome. This suggests some interbreeding went on sometime before 45,000 years ago--after the first human exodus from Africa, but before the split that led to groups spreading out over Eurasia.

Maybe its just me, but I think this has some gaming applications. I've already suggested that dwarves are Neanderthals uplifted by an alien intelligence--at least in my campaign setting. Let's add to this idea the background of Ska from Jack Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy--who hold themselves to be the only pure humans because they believe all other populations to be interbred with Neanderthals--and apply the resultant mixture to the standard D&D implied setting, and see what we get...

Maybe elves represent "pure" humanity undiluted by interbreeding with other hominids? They never left the ancestral homeland, whether in some Uttermost West, or elsewhere. Why not the South where the ancestral population might be darker-skinned (and perhaps call themselves "the First Born" for a nice Burroughs Easter egg)? Then, "humans" could be a more mixed bunch, descendants of folk who left the ancestral homeland and encountered other groups. Dwarves would still be "purer" Neanderthal descendants. This would nicely set elves and dwarves up as disparate groups, but humans would share a bit of both.

We don't have to stop there. Orcs could be descendants of another hominid species entirely, as might halflings--or maybe halflings are just an interesting human sub-population, whichever. The point is, all humanoids and demi-humans could be woven into a riotous fantasy hominid family tree.

Kill the Gods and Take Their Stuff

In comic book parlance, I presented the "Modern Age" version of four deities yesterday--though of course, they've been subsumed under the two primary faiths. Today, I'm going to provide AD&D Deities & Demigods stats for the original (the "Golden Age", if you will) versions of a couple of them as created by my cousin, Tim (my first DM) back in eighties.

 I toyed with the idea of scanning these pages, but they weren't really legible that way, so transcription had to be the way. Unfortunate, that--because you guys miss out on my cousin's "outsider art" illustrations that accompanied the stats.

So, here's more "setting archeology."  The stats are presented unchanged from the twenty plus year-old documents, so I'm afraid I can't explain the rationale for some of them...

ETERNUS (Æternus)
greater god
AC: -12
Move: Infinite
HP: 400
#Atk.: 2
Dmg/Atk: 6-60, or by weapon type
Spec. Atk: see below
Spec. Def.: see below
Size: L (9')
Magic Resistance: 90%
Alignment: Lawful neutral
Worshippers' Align.:Neutral or good
Symbol: golden helmet
Plane: Twin Paradises
Cleric/Druid: 20th lvl. cleric
Fighter: 20th lvl. ranger
MU/Illusionist: 20th lvl. MU
Thief/Assassin: nil
Monk/Bard: nil
Psionic Ability: I
S: 25 (+7,+14) I:25 W:25 D:20 C:20 Ch:25

Eternus can not be harmed by any form of attack using physical means, except barehanded. Eternus can shape-change at will. He can shoot rays of blue light from each hand that can polymorph other, condemn forever to the astral plane, cause 5-100 damage, or completely heal all wounds, at his choice.

CAIRN (Kaarn)
greater god
AC: -6
Move: 15"
HP: 375
#Atk.: 3
Dmg/Atk: 6-60, or by weapon type
Spec. Atk: see below
Spec. Def.: see below
Size: L (15')
Magic Resistance: 70%
Alignment: Neutral evil (chaotic)
Worshippers' Align.: all evil and murderers
Symbol: black battle axe and sickle
Plane: Pandemonium
Cleric/Druid: 15th lvl. in each
Fighter: 25th lvl. ranger
MU/Illusionist: 10th lvl. in each
Thief/Assassin: nil
Monk/Bard: 15th lvl. bard
Psionic Ability: I
S: 25 (+7,+14) I:25 W:20 D:25 C:25 Ch:25

The mere sight of this god (at Cairn's wish) can cause immediate and irrevocable death (no saving throw) to any non-divine being. He can cause plagues, drought, or floods at a whim. He can shoot from his palm a ray of disintegration as a 30th level magic-user. Moreover, any steel weapon striking the god does double damage to its wielder.

Old Gods Not Gone

I've written before about the two major religions of the continents of Arn and Western Erida in my current campaign world. Both are built on the bones of older religions--most centrally the polytheistic faith of Old Thystara. The "Old Gods" of Thystara were held to be primal beings, older than the universe--not mere Ascended  from a known point in history. The oldest of these Old Gods still worshipped will concern us today.

Here they are, as they're known on the continent of Arn:

Æternus
"The Overlord"; Supreme Ruler of the Gods, God of Just Rulership, Law and an Ordered Cosmos; Shield Against Chaos
Æternus is seen as sanctifying appropriate authority. When even God-King Ahzuran took his thrown, he bowed to the sun symbol of the Overlord atop the staff of the primate of the Æternian church. He's often invoked in the preamble to any solemn oath.
Depiction: A tall, regal man clad in a golden helm and blue armor, with a sun symbol on his chest.
Symbol: A ten-pointed sun emblem on a blue field, or a golden helm.
Clerical Strictures: Clerics in the Overlord's service may wear any kind of armor, but prefer the mace as a weapon. Most go into battle wearing great helms in homage to their deity.

Kaarn
"The Horned One"; The Black Rider, God of Death, War, and Plagues
Kaarn is fundamentally the lord of things that bring death. His bannermen are Terror, Hurt, Dread, and Woe. The call of his hounds is said to cause a wasting disease in those who hear it. He is held to be shunned by the other gods, but is worshipped by humans to appease his godly wrath.
Depiction: A gaunt giant clothed in black. His head is a human skull with blood red stag antlers. Less commonly, he appears as a muscular man in black armor, his face hidden inside a horned helm.
Symbol: An antlered skull, a red right hand, a black battle axe (in his aspect as war god); a black sickle (as lord of death).
Clerical Strictures: Clerics of the Horned One seek to slay foes in battle, and in doing so appease Kaarn and delay the annihilation of humanity. They wear black robes and/or black armor, sometimes with golden, death's head masks.

Illumé
God of Light, Communication, and Inspiration
Illumé is a Promethean figure, symbolizing the bringing of light into the world--both in the literal and figurative senses of illumination. He represents sudden, mystical insight in contrast to Seiptis's hard-won erudition. His flaming sword, Adjaskar, cleaves through lies and veils of misunderstanding.  He is invoked at the beginning of negotiations and at the signing of treaties.
Depiction: A lean, human male with a crown of flames, bearing a flaming sword. It is held to be he who first greeted Ahzuran into the ranks of the gods after his Ascension.
Symbol: a flaming sword, or a flaming crown.
Clerical Strictures: Illumé's clerics see violence as secondary to parley, though they are not pacifists by any means.  They are charged to act as mediators and end conflicts both great and small whereever they can.  Certain monastic orders of his priesthood are also purveyors of psychedelic fungi.

Seiptis
"The Wise"; God of Knowledge and Truth, The Divine Archivist 
Seiptis is a seeker after, and preserver of, knowledge. He also tests the knowledge of others--folklore has it, he forced Ahzuran to submit to a rigorous examination on the fundamental rules of the universe after his Ascension.
Depiction: Seiptis is depicted as a muscular man in a loincloth (like an ancient slave-scribe), with a owl's head, and glowing pupil-less eyes.
Symbol: An owl's head on a white field, or a statuette of an owl in precious metals.
Clerical Strictures: All priests of Seiptis must have some area of scholarly pursuit so that they may serve their god by increasing the knowledge of mankind.

Warlord Wednesday: Trilogy

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Trilogy"

Warlord (vol. 1) #12 (April-May 1978)

Written and Illustrated by Mike Grell

Synopsis: Mariah is journaling in the port city of Bakwele when Machiste finds her. The two go in search of Morgan (who said he was going to "scare up a martini"). They find him in the middle of a barroom brawl.

Machiste heartily approves, while Mariah (predictably) does not. She wonders aloud why she followed Morgan to Skartaris, but doesn't like it when Machiste intimates that it might be because he's a man--and she's a woman.

Mariah (changing the subject) asks why Machiste, a king, leaves his kingdom and follows Morgan. Machiste says his people are capable of ruling themselves, but tells a story to explain why Morgan commands his loyalty. After they escaped the gladiatorial school, Morgan united the undisciplined group into an army, forging them together with talk of liberty. On the day before a raid, a young boy, Aton, approached Morgan and asked to join the cause of freedom. Morgan is surprised to learn that the fame of his group and his message has spread. Morgan gently tells the boy that he's too young--there's time later to choose the bloody life of a warrior.

Aton hasn't gone far when he's attacked by a purple carnosaur. Morgan rushes to help, opening fire with his pistol. Enraged, the beast turns on him. Aton cuts its Achilles tendon, giving Machiste and Morgan time to kill it. Morgan, impressed, makes Aton his herald, outfitting him with a helmet, a banner, and a fine steed. He tells him to go out and proclaim the cause of liberty. Machiste arrives at the point of his story: Morgan is a dreamer.

Mariah wonders if she has misjudged Morgan because of their political differences. She relates her own story. Shortly after their arrival in Skartaris, she and Morgan happened upon a beautiful unicorn. Morgan tells her that the unicorn shows that Skartaris is a place where "all of men's dreams can come true." No sooner has he spoke, than primitives attack with arrows, and slay the unicorn to win the sacred power of its horn. Morgan is seized by rage. He attacks the hunting party, and kills them quickly. Then, Mariah watches as he kneels down beside the fallen unicorn and weeps.

Mariah suggests that he's a man of contrasts, beyond understanding. Machiste is about to reply, when they have to move to avoid a tavern brawler tossed in their direction. The fight finished, Morgan walks over to them. Mariah explains that they've been trying to figure him out.

Morgan, smiling, says they might as well stop trying. What makes a man give up his home and security for the life of a warrior and wanderer? Perhaps it's the thrill, he muses. He admits the life he's chosen is likely to be a short one, but it won't be dull.

Things to Notice:

• The scene depicted on the cover don't occur in the issue.
• The "Skartarian hieroglyphs" on the tavern's sign say "Crazy Earl's" in English.
• This is the first appearance of Aton, who later becomes a semi-regular. His next appearance is in issue #38.
• Is that Barney (or a close relative) that menaces Aton?

Where It Comes From:
The title "trilogy" refers to the three stories--and three insights into the man, Travis Morgan. Exploration of just who Travis Morgan is, particularly from the viewpoint of those around him, becomes one of Grell's primary concerns in the saga.  This is particularly apparent as he revisits the character and world the 1992 limited series, and in the new series, currently on-going.
Unicorns also make a several appearances in Grell-penned issues. They seem to represent the primeval beauty of Skartaris, and are often used,whether explicitly or implicitly, to contrast this aspect of Skartaris with its savagery--like in this issue.

100 from the Sorcerer's Skull

This is my 100th post--somewhat artificially because I didn't want it to fall on the sarcosanct Warlord Wednesday.

It's been an interesting 127 days, particularly the past few that have seen a crude dungeon map drawn by my cousin twenty plus years ago bring in about 5200 viewers--which is around 100 times as many as I get on a usual day.

I'd like to thank my friend Jim who pestered me until I did this (so he could stop having to read my essay-like emails on gaming topics, probably), put together the banner to my specifications, and became my first follower.

Then there's the Old School Rant (now Jump) that found my "Saturday Morning Sorcery" post worth passing on, and James of the Underdark Gazette, whose generous review brought a lot of folks by.

And  of course, I'd like to thank the 41 (as of this writing) followers I've got, and the RSS feed-readers--from the ones who've been around for months, to the one's who've just arrived.  It's nice to know my ramblings have an audience.

Eberron and Clashing Inspirations

My friend Chris (of Chris's Invincible Super-Blog fame) invited me to play in the new game he's starting up--a Pathfinder campaign in the Eberron setting.

In getting ready for the game, I've been perusing the Eberron Campaign Setting book--something I haven't really looked at since I purchased it in curiosity, because it was the winner of WOTC's setting contest. The introduction has a section on the "Tone of Eberron." I think a lot of the elements mentioned here--the emphasis on "cinematic" action, the blending of pulp and medieval fantasy conventions--go a long way to explaining what the judges at WOTC found appealing about the setting. There's also references to "a thousand shades of gray" and "dark adventure," which seem to suggest moral ambiguity and edginess--things the kids are thought to be into.

What drew my attention in particular is that Eberron's version of the old "Appendix N" are all film references, not literary ones. Nothing wrong with that, in particular. The list of inspirations for my current campaign contains a filmography. What's particular interesting is not that its a list of films, but rather that its a fairly disparate group of films.

I can put Brotherhood of the Wolf, and From Hell together. These are "cinematic" (in the since of visually dynamic) and somewhat "dark" in tone. Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Mummy certainly fit together with over-the-top action and a bit of humor. Maybe Sleepy Hollow and Brotherhood and of the Wolf bridge the cap between those two and From Hell in slightly different ways.

The ones that really have me scratching my head are Name of the Rose, Casablanca, and The Maltese Falcon. I can put Name and Maltese together, or Maltese and Casablanca, so maybe by the transitive property I can group the three, but I have a harder time putting them with most of the films above.

I'm sure I'm over-thinking this. I firmly believe that inspirations can have dissonance as well as consonance. But without any explanation, I sort of think these references were slapped together for very superficial reasons without much thought to how one might conceptualize their elements to come up with a coherent "feel" for the setting.

Luckily, I'm not the DM this time, so I don't have to put those things together, and I'm certainly won't deny that there are some cool elements to Eberron, for all that.

And in the end, its gaming--with friends.  And that ain't bad.

My First AD&D Character

The nostalgia continues.  Here's the character sheet of my very first character in any version of D&D I (1e AD&D, in this case) from almost thirty years ago:

I realize that this just slightly more age worn that say, the Dead Sea Scrolls, so I'll reiterate some of the key points.  The material document itself is a sheet of typing paper on which the layout of the official AD&D character record form has been re-created in blue ballpoint pen.  The character is Grimlin, a 13th level elven fighter whose hit points have seen a high amount of revision, but now number "1900."  I don't recall how that came to be, but I'm sure there's a story there.  Probably several.  All epic.

This character was inspired by the elven hero of one of the D&D: Endless Quest books.  He had a sword which would light up when he said "Sword of the Magus light this place!" or something similar.  He was definitely a "short" elf, not a tall Tolkiennian one.  I named him "Grimlin" because I had recently discovered the folklore creature of that name, and thought the name sounded cool--this was before the 1984 film.

Now let's take a look at the loot on the back:

I should explain that we played for sometime without a copy of the Dungeon Masters Guide.  The first one I'd ever seen was when I got it for Christmas the year I got my very own copy of the Players Handbook (the new one with the Easley cover).  I say that to illustrate that we had, therefore, never heard of a "Monty Haul campaign."  With that in mind, I'll let you review the list of magic items on your own.

Now despite the vast power of Grimlin and his companions, there was no "ascending to godhood" like I heard mentioned by other players I would meet at Boy Scout camp, or other summer programs, back in the day.  No, Grimlin and his gang were still schlepping it through dungeons--though dungeons which extended to the Outer Planes, admittedly (note that Grimlin had the Rod of Asmodeus in his possession).  Said schlepping required lackeys, and Grimlin has ten alignment-congruent henchmen--Hawk (named for the Slayer?), Taran (named for the pig-keeper?), Goan, Roland, Nordon, Pannon, Gord (before Gygax!), Nar, Jor, and Thor.

I actually have my second character, too--a bard named Robin Goodfellow--but that sheet is in worse condition than this one, and much less epic, as it comes from a less "anything goes" time in our gaming--which is to say still probably pretty damn "anything goes."

But we had a helluva lot of fun, and that's what matters.