Over the weekend, while Peggy did her shift at the animal hospital, I listened to Bob Dylan's "Whitmark Demos." These were songs he recorded just to get the copyright down – or so that his agent could sell them to other performers. There are some wonderful renditions on these acetates, even though some have complained that they were done rather mechanically. His version of "I'll Keep It With Mine" – which appears on the end of the second CD in the set – is one of my personal favorites. I suppose it's one of my favorite songs. I like all the Bob versions and I like the Nico version. I will, as it happens, listen to anyone cover that particular song.
Are female magic users witches? I always saw witches, in a classic fantasy setting, as being too attached to one particular geographical area to do much "adventuring." Instead, I saw them as solitary, perhaps predatory, single women rooted in isolated, rural areas. Why would they leave their spot? Even if forced out, they would want to immediately settle in a similar place.
Not to be confused with this text, which is certainly well worth reading, Underwood's opus (reprinted last year), is a classic late '70s, early '80s amateur take on D&D. Written and published when Underwood was in college, this book has developed a "cult following" over the years and it makes for a quite entertaining and informative read on many different levels.
I finally got a copy of the new OSR "domain game" Adventurer Conqueror King (ACK). It seeks to address and allow for what has been called the fabled "End Game" of OD&D. After the players have amassed enough wealth and experience – then what? They were expected to spend their wealth to construct castles and citadels, tax their peasants, and the game dynamics would move towards diplomacy, intrigue, and the kind of big, long-term projects and concerns that only wealthy and established players could indulge in. This kind of play was more than implied in the OD&D rules – as they included the costs for castle and tower construction – but few ever made it that far. Moreover, support for this sort of game, and the transitions it had to have, never really appeared. ACK seeks to address this by providing rules that will take any character from the most humble of origins and give them an opportunity to administer entire kingdoms.
Deciding to be a GM, and to take on the tasks of running a campaign, can result in a lot of work. Fortunately, once you get invested in it, ideas can come from many unlikely sources. I found two comic books on the racks last week – both bursting with great D&D ideas.
In December, due to a work-related issue, I found myself at a local game store – loading boxes of games into a van with an employee.
One of my main inspirations for D&D are old issues of Heavy Metal magazine. These, mostly, European comics from the late '70s and early '80s often had "sword and sorcery" themes, and could be counted upon to feature decent-to-quite-amazing visual art.