Fantasy Heartbreaker, by Rose Bailey
Games for people who care too much
Cavaliers of Mars is about the contrast between the sadness of a dying world and the frantic vitality of its last renaissance. So there’s a sense of melancholy to it, as well as a reckless energy and a sense of laughter at the morbid and absurd. That laughter is a trait of the better sort Read More …
Flashing swords! Best friends! Building a core mechanic for a game of buddy adventurers. Read More …
Good, bad, and almost never ugly. Let’s talk about the agency and archetypes of women in early sword and sorcery. Read More …
Fritz Leiber is my very favorite author. I’ve spent much of this year researching his career; I’m hoping to take a trip to examine his papers sometime in 2011. Surprisingly, then, I don’t have an awful lot to say about his birthday. Instead, I’ll simply quote the master. “Only second-and-third rate writers consider sf, supernatural Read More …
James Maliszewksi has updated his Pulp Fantasy Library with a note on The Swords of Lankhmar. He quotes the opening scene, which is of particular interest to me, since that scene’s the single largest influence on the mechanics of To Seek Adventure, my game of buddy adventure. In 2SA, the action scenes unfold through call-and-response, which Read More …
Rose and the Doctor, Fafhrd and the Mouser, Axe Cop and Dinosaur Soldier. Breaking down two-character stories for two-player games. Read More …
The encounter with the uncanny is a core device of sword and sorcery fiction. How does it show the shared heritage of swords with horror? Read More …
Suggested reading for those new to Fritz Leiber’s most beloved heroes. Read More …
Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition: Finally, a D&D that does Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser right. Give me the jug, and I’ll give you the builds. Read More …
Sword and sorcery monsters represent an encounter with the uncanny. Conan doesn’t typically fight through hordes of monsters the way he does hordes of men, nor do Clark Ashton Smith’s various heroes. Even where Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser confront monsters with steel, they only once or twice battle them in a horde. Elric is Read More …