Mystara, Yourstara, OD&D

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the original Fantasy Roleplaying Game, is in the midst of releasing material for its 4th Edition (4E). You might have seen the books for it in various bookstores, with hardcovers and colorful artwork. And with $30+ pricetags per book.

I haven't played, or even really read much of 4E. I do know it is getting very mixed reviews online from gamers who have used it. Many people my age (I'll be 39 this year) are starting to have kids old enough to play D&D with, and they are daunted by the idea of spending $100 on new rule books, and then having to learn hundreds of pages of rules. They just want some quick, relatively cheaper fun.

For this reason, many old timers ("grognards" is the polite term) are rediscovering Original D&D (OD&D) and Classic D&D. OD&D is the game as it was first released in 1974, and in five supplemental booklets in the two years that followed. Classic D&D is the revision of OD&D into Holmes-edited Basic Set, the Moldvay-edited Basic Set (followed by the Cook/Marsh Expert Set), and the Mentzer-edited Basic Set (followed by 4 expansion sets also edited by Mentzer). Most of these products are available cheaply as legal pdf downloads from sites such as Paizo.com and can also be had in hardcopy format from auction sites such as ebay (where prices vary greatly depending on the condition and scarcity of a particular product). What these versions have in common is a much smaller body of rules, and the implicit acknowlegdement that those rules are merely guidelines, with the players free to adapt their own "house rules" as they see fit.

A related popular choice, both as a used book and as a download, is the Rules Cyclopedia (RC). It was an edited compendium of the rules Mentzer presented in his Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master D&D Sets, with a hint of his final Immortal Set. This gives a very playable and comprehensive game within the bounds of one book, and in the back, it has a chapter on what had evolved into the default campaign setting for the D&D, the world of Mystara.

Mystara began years earlier as a small sample campaign area presented in the Cook/Marsh version of the Expert Set. David Cook and Tom Moldvay mixed together a variety of cultures in a relatively small area, and gave just a few paragraphs of description to give players a head start in customizing the area portrayed. Frank Mentzer then expanded that world a bit, and it was further expanded through the course of several adventure modules.

Finally, Bruce Heard oversaw the release of a line of "Gazetteers" that examined in detail each of the lands of the "small area" mentioned above. A backstory was created, which explained how this situation, of unrelated cultures being shoehorned in next each other, came about. The Gazetteers were full of the trade and diplomacy of the lands they covered, and this encouraged the players to spend years of game time in visiting new lands and exploring the wilderness in between. This was a much more cerebral way of playing than the usual "hack and slash" mode of dungeon crawling, and these Gazetteers have since been hailed as some of the best gaming materials ever made.

Most of the Gazetteers are now available as pdfs. Also available in that format is the inside of Mystara. Following pulp fiction tradition, the Hollow World Setting explains in detail the various cultures found within the planet. These are mostly unknown to surface dwellers, and add yet more areas for players to explore and find adventure. An additional boxed set, still not legally available as a pdf, concerned a "war of the gods" on Mystara. This Wrath of the Immortals set had rules for playing immortal characters, somewhat revised from Mentzer's Immortal Set, and a massive, world-shaking campaign, which changed the map of Mystara by its conclusion. An on-going storyline of the war's aftermath was covered in a series of supplements (most available as pdfs), but eventually, Mystara was discontinued as an active D&D "world."

When Wizards of the Coast became the owners of D&D around the year 1999, they announced that fans were now free to publish not-for-profit online Mystara material however they saw fit. A site for Mystara fans was already running at pandius.com, and it 2009 it remains the center of an active fan community. Between the published materials and fan additions, one can lose themselves for countless hours in Mystara, either by reading the descriptions of the lands simply for fun, or by actively gaming through them.

I've never played D&D in the lands of Mystara, I've only dreamed my way through them via the many available materials. However, I do hope at some point to Dungeon Master some players in that world, using a version of Classic D&D modified by my own house rules. All of the online resources give me a sense of relief and pleasure in knowing i'm not alone in my interest. Happy reading and gaming to all Mystara explorers!

The Return of the Black Company

The first six of Glen Cook's Black Company novels are available in two omnibus editions, released in November of 2007 and June of 2008. Three of the remaining four books are out of print, and command exorbitant prices from online auctions and sellers. Water Sleeps is the exception, it is still in print for the moment, but I doubt Tor is printing any more copies anytime soon.

People who read the first two collections have been chomping at the bit to get the next one, and today I noticed on Amazon that there is a listing for The Return of the Black Company, due to released on September 15, 2009. At 672 pages and $15.99, this is almost certainly the omnibus of Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness, the two books that continue the story of the Black Company after Dreams of Steel.

I freely admit that I consider Bleak Seasons the weakest of all the Black Company novels, but I still enjoyed it. Many other reviewers are not so kind. They seem to dislike Murgen, who serves as the narrator of it, and of She is the Darkness. I thought he was a great way of showing that the prior narrators were not always completely candid in telling us their story. But he does lack Croaker's very particular voice, and this upsets some readers. It will be interesting, come September, to read the reviews of those encountering these stories for the first time. And then, the wait will be on for the final omnibus, for those not lucky enough to own copies of Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, the final Black Company novels to date (though Cook is working on another one).

Thoughts of the Day: Hilbert remained as CSU Volleyball Coach, and I've lately been spending a lot of time in Mystara. More on that latter point soon!

More Glen Cook, More Dread Empire!

Over on http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ Pat has posted a new Q&A email session he had with Glen Cook. By the end, Cook reveals that he has completed and turned in the manuscript for the third Instrumentalities of the Night book (as has been reported elsewhere, though no publication date has yet been announced). At present, he has four manuscripts underway. A Garrett one is no surprise, he always has a Garrett one chugging along in the background, and this one is under contract. Next is the fourth Instrumentalities book, something he had, a few years ago, hinted might come about. He also suggested a few years ago that he had titles in mind for two more Black Company books, and one of these is in progress. Finally, he at last confirms that there indeed will be another Dread Empire novel, as he is working now on A Path to Coldness of Heart! That phrase is actually the final words to the last Dread Empire novel, An Ill Fate Marshalling, so it seems that Cook is recreating the stolen manuscript that continues the storyline of the Dread Empire sequels!

I was so happy about this last news, when I read it at work, that I actually danced in a circle clapping my hands for a minute or so! I'm glad no one was around to watch, even if the moment was caught by the security cameras in place ;-)

The dam has been broken, and hopefully more concrete news of these various projects is made available soon!

Thought of the day: The Fort Collins Coloradoan is reporting that Colorado State Volleyball Head Coach Tom Hilbert has put himself in the running for the vacant volleyball Head Coaching position at CU Boulder. Weird. I wonder if this is serious, or just a fun testing of waters?

When is a Western not a Western?

What is a "Western" novel? Definitions vary widely, yet the average person would likely tell you that they define a Western as being a story about cowboys. It could revolve around a gun fight, or a range war for herds and grazing land, and the hero would probably be looking for "justice" in way or another.

Cowboy stories have never really appealed to me. I was always more interested in the Indians, and in the frontiersmen who lived similarly to the Indians. There's actually a long tradition in English language literature of writing about Indians and frontiersmen, going back to the Leatherstocking Tales of James Fenimore Cooper. As I wrote in this space a few weeks ago, Joseph Altsheler was creating such tales a century ago, and finding an enormous audience. Later, A.B. Guthrie wrote six novels that portrayed east-central Montana from the 1820s through World War 2, with two of them, The Big Sky and Fair Land, Fair Land, dealing with mountain men and Indians (and a third, the Pulitzer Prize winning The Way West, being about one of those mountain men becoming a wagon train guide). At roughly the same time, Frederick Manfred penned his Buckskin Man series, which followed "Siouxland" (parts of Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas) from the 18th Century into the late 1800s. Even the notorious L. Ron Hubbard's first novel, Buckskin Brigades, was about the Canadian fur trade at the time of Louis & Clark's expedition.

There's other examples with which I'm less familiar. The point remains that plenty of fiction set on some American frontier has been published over the past 150+ years. This genre, often referred to as a "Western" even when it was set east of the Mississippi River, reached a new height of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. By then, it was often referred to simply as "historical fiction," which put it alongside novels about any and every epoch. These "frontier novels" were often found in bookstores mixed in with general fiction, as Bernard Cornwell and Jack Whyte's near-fantasies are today. Jameson Books published a line of Mountain Man novels, Bantam created the "Domain" sub-label, and Tor created the Forge sister-label (which handled all non-science fiction/fantasy, but focused on historical fiction). Terry C. Johnston's mountain man and Indian wars books reached best-seller status, and similar works by Earl Murray, Win(fred) Blevins, Richard S. Wheeler, Norman Zollinger, Don Coldsmith, and Jory Sherman weren't far behind.

These authors found their audience among people who enjoyed the study of history, and who were sympathetic towards Native American causes. Some of the dwindling fanbase for traditional cowboy yarns probably also read these frontier novels, but most of the frontier novel readership were, like I was, relatively uninterested in stories of cowpokes and gunfighters. By 2000, I was overjoyed to have so many interesting options available. But then Zollinger, Johnston, and Murray passed away. I had gotten to know Terry Johnston and Earl Murray, and these friends of mine were only 54 and 52 when they died far too young, with too many stories left untold. Sherman switched to writing ranching stories, and Coldsmith's output slowed as he eased into old age.

This has left just Blevins and Wheeler to carry the torch for this sort of fiction. They continue to release new works on a regular basis, but no newer or younger writer has reached the heights of success of those no longer writing (with Mike Blakely as a possible exception). So frontier novels are in a state of decline in 2009, at least in mass market editions. I haven't looked into the University Presses, but Wheeler (a prolific blogger) has noted that various western American ones are publishing more and more frontier fiction by younger, little known writers. This seems to be the future for the genre, along with print-on-demand outfits which let authors get their works sold via Amazon and similar sites (Wheeler has been a leader in getting his out of print back catalog available again via POD).

The good news for those with an interest in reading frontier novels is that used bookstores have vast stocks of such books available. All of the authors I've mentioned, except Altsheler, should be easy to find in most used bookstores (and Altsheler can be had for free online via Project Gutenberg). Some have separate sections for "historical fiction" and "westerns" and it can be a toin coss that determines in which section a given author is placed, so it is worth looking through both, if a store is set up that way. While browsing, you are likely to find many interesting authors beyond those mentioned above, and countless hours of reading await the novice to the field. In the meantime, this piece has gone on long enough, so I'll post separately about one of my favorite series of frontier novels, one that is still successfully ongoing. Happy reading until then.

Thought of the Day: I've now finished A Fortress in Shadow, which seems a bit rushed in places, but was otherwise quite good. I'm glad Glen Cook now writes longer, more fleshed out stories in a similar fashion, such as his Instrumentalities of the Night series. I'm still hoping for news of the missing last Dread Empire manuscript being recovered or recreated for release in the Wrath of Kings omnibus!

The Strange Case of the Planet Gor

John Norman is the pen name of Psychology Professor John F. Lange. “Norman” is notorious as the author of the 27-book long Gor science fiction series (26 volumes published so far), as well as other less well known titles. His books depict situations in which strong men have adventures, while women are subservient to them, and in many cases are actual slaves. This has offended the sensibilities of some readers. Perusing comments about the Gor books in particular, on various forums, however, is to get the impression is that many people are offended by the notion of Gor, without having read any of the books.

 Norman’s career as a science fiction writer started innocently enough. In 1966 and 1967, Ballantine published Tarnsman of Gor, Outlaw of Gor, and Priest Kings of Gor. These were an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose writings were finding a new audience after being reprinted a few years earlier. In particular, the first three Gor books mirror the first three of Burroughs’ Mars books. An Earthman is transported to another planet, where he becomes a mighty warrior and wins the love of a princess. He is then cast back to Earth, and spends the second and third books trying to regain his station, confronting the rulers of the planet in the third. Norman wrote in an era of “free love” and greater tolerance for sexuality in entertainment, so he spiced up his books with slave girls and hints of dominance and submission play.

 The first Gor books were very popular, so Norman continued the series. His hero, Tarl Cabot, engaged in two further adventures, Nomads of Gor and Assassin of Gor, with a new lady by his side. The real change in the series began with Book 6, Raiders of Gor. Norman now started to give psychological issues a greater role in the stories. Cabot finally failed on one of his missions, and when captured, chose to become a slave instead of accepting an honorable execution. Until that time, he had considered himself a man of honor, but after regaining his freedom, he turned to a career as a merchant and slaver.

 Book 7, Captive of Gor, was the first to not be related by Cabot. The earlier volumes had been told by his character, in the first person. This time, a young woman kidnapped from Earth by slavers wrote her first person account of arriving on Gor, and gradually learning to accept her place as a slave girl who pleasures men. In the course of her story, she meets up with Cabot’s lost princess from the first book, and eventually comes to be owned briefly by Cabot. He instigates her writing of her experiences, and upon reading her manuscript, is motivated to go on a quest for the princess, who is being held captive in a far away wilderness.

 Ballantine had had enough by this point. They wanted adventure stories, even ones with a little spice, but not accounts supposedly written by enchained women who learned to enjoy their lot in life. Book 8, Hunters of Gor, related Cabot’s journey to the Northern Forest, his enslavement of his former partner from Books 4 and 5 along the way, and his ultimate failure to regain his princess. She is herself enslaved, and by a cruel twist of fate, becomes the property of Cabot’s best friend, after one of his ships happened to purchase her at a trading location. Cabot is left half paralyzed, after a sword fight, in which he feels he “recollected” his honor for a moment, but was cut by a poisoned blade.

 Ballantine rejected the manuscript for 1974’s Hunters of Gor, and Donald Wollheim’s new DAW Books science fiction house became Norman’s publisher. Ballantine kept the first seven books in print into the 1980s, and sold millions of copies. DAW had similar success, publishing the series through 1988’s Magicians of Gor (Book 25). A 1986 DAW catalog states that through 1985 the company had sold over 5 million of Norman’s books, which included two non-Gor titles. Along the way, three more Gor novels had been told by Earth women turned Gorean slaves, and three others were told by Jason Marshall, an Earth man who was brought to Gor while trying to rescue his girlfriend from Gorean slavers. Along the way, Cabot had adventured among cultures transplanted from Earth, including Vikings, Arabs, Inuit, Black Africans, and Native Americans. Five of the last six books had seen him caught up in a version of the Second Punic War, and the storyline wasn’t finished with Magicians of Gor.

 Donald Wollheim was an old man by 1988, and his daughter Elizabeth took over running DAW Books. She had already considered the Gor series offensive some years earlier, as artist Ken Kelly relates in his book Escape. He discusses the issue briefly while giving some background to his cover painting for 1981’s Guardsman of Gor. The series was very popular, but DAW now refused to publish any more Gor novels, and it took another 15 years before Book 26, Witness of Gor, was finally released. Norman had to essentially start his own publishing house to do this, and at this writing, Book 27, Prize of Gor, has yet to come out, despite the manuscript existing for many years.

 As I stated, the series was popular, selling millions of copies. The perception was, and still is, that the books were read by horny adolescent males, who found the slave girls titillating. I was one of those adolescent males myself, back in the day, but most such readers were lost along the way, as the amount of action and adventure decreased, and the discussion of the merits of female slavery became more and more prevalent. I know from my point of view at the time, that reading a book narrated by a slave girl didn’t interest me.

 The open secret was that reading about slave girls, especially from their own point of view, held great appeal to many women! Norman came to accept that, as the series wore on, he was writing a version of Romance novels. These were stories in which a strong, roguish man makes a frigid woman finally feel some sexual heat. There was such a market for this action-oriented science fiction version of the Romance novel that Sharon Green has made a successful career out of writing very similar books with an obvious Norman influence (and also published by DAW, until they dropped her too). It amuses me to think that Elizabeth Wollheim thought she was ridding the world of books that offended women, when she actually was depriving many of her fellow women of what they wanted to read!

 I’m also amused by the politically correct comments made mainly by men on various blogs and sci-fi review sites. They assert that they have no interest in these “macho-BS fantasies,” without having a clue that men were and are a minority among Norman’s readers (and even more so among Green’s). If you doubt me about Norman’s audience, do a quick websearch for the sites of where people role-play being Goreans. Look up some reviews on Amazon. Modern print on demand and ebook publishing have finally, in the past two years, made it cost-effective for the first 26 Gor books to be easily available, without a publishing company having to worry about getting politically correct hate mail or calls for boycotts (Green, meanwhile, sells her books mostly in electronic format, via her own website). Norman is still alive, and in his late 70s is having the last laugh! 

I'm editing this to note that I'm pleased to discover a mistake in my post! Prize of Gor was in fact released in late November of 2008, so not quite two months ago! You can read about it on the publisher's website, from which I've linked this particular post by the company's Editor: http://www.ereads.com/2007/10/are-john-normans-gors-boy-books.html

Stop the world, I want to get off?

I've been dreaming lately of another dimension, perhaps an alternate universe. It is less bright than this one I experience when awake. That is, is isn't so clear and sunny as the atmosphere her in Colorado. It is also less crowded and busy, with plenty of peace and calm. It's probably paradise ;-)

To get there, I find my dreaming self driving on a road up Poudre Canyon, west of Fort Collins, Colorado. Gradually, the road gets steeper, until I'm driving upside down! Fortunately, the gravity of this other dimension holds me in place until everything "drops down" around me, and I feel "upright" again. I have no idea yet how I get back, but I eventually wake up, and here I am.

All this, without any substance stronger than beer....

Thought for the day: I'm now reading and enjoying The Fire in His Hands, the first part of the A Fortress in Shadow omnibus of Glen Cook's Dread Empire series.

It's All Rush and it's ALL GOOD!

Many of my interests in the way of music and books are on new highs of popularity. Along with the writings of Robert E. Howard and Glen Cook, and the music of many Heavy Metal bands, the music of Canadian power trio Rush is finding a new audience, while maintaining its longstanding one. I've been an active fan of the band since 1989, and a casual one far longer, so this pleases me greatly. Between kids hooked on Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and folks of all ages becoming aware that many dinosaur bands still put on a far better show than most newer bands, Rush have become, dare I say it, "hip." It helps that they are still at the top of their game live, putting on great hard-rocking concerts during their 2007-2008 touring in support of the Snakes & Arrows album (with the tour captured for posterity on the Snakes & Arrows Live CD and DVD releases). I was fortunate to be able to see the band at Red Rocks on both legs of the tour.

Rush have been around since 1968, and put out their first album in 1974. That same year, soon after, Neil Peart ("peert," not "purt") joined as the new drummer, and with the second album in 1975, he took over the bulk of lyric writing. Guitarist Alex Lifeson and bassist/singer (and eventually, keyboardist too) Geddy Lee have always handled the writing of the music. The trio have tremendous chemistry, whether working together, or playing, and this has helped them endure for roughly 35 years. Snakes & Arrows was Rush's 19th studio album, and a host of live albums, DVDs, and best-of compilations are also available.

In this internet age, all of Rush's prodigious output is subject to reviews and criticisms, and I've noticed a trend over the past decade or so. Many who attempt to review the band's work only really enjoy a certain portion of it. Some like the proggy sci-fi epics of the mid-70's. For others, the polished, accessible early 80's material is the best. A few prefer the later 80's keyboard-heavy sound. Most are dismissive of the band's 90's output, though the two studio CDs released in the new millenium get a measure of respect.

I find it curious that I often read that a reviewer's prefered era of Rush music is "the real Rush." These reviewers tend to feel that the band "got away from what made them great," even as others provide similar sentiments for other eras of the band. I'm suprised by the lack of broad appreciation for Rush's music.

To me, it is very much a strength that the band has changed and evolved over the course of 35 years. We already have Motorhead to provide an example of sticking to your guns year after year. Such a lack of concern for trends and fashion is admirable, but Rush have been equally steadfast in their determination to write and play what they are feeling at a particular moment in time. They also haven't cared about being trendy, while still being aware of new influences capable of adding subtle growth and change to their sound. Once the listener gets past the notion of "this and only this is what Rush is," it becomes possible to realize that it is ALL Rush, on all 19 studio albums. Of course they have a different sense as composers at age 53 than they did at 23. The 19 albums give the opportunity to watch the band improve as songwriters and players, as they gradually come to the understanding that it wasn't necessary to show off on every song, all the time.

This change, in approach and in results, means that, for me as a listener anyway, the various albums appeal to different moods on different days. This gives the music great staying power, as I rarely tire of the band, since at least one release will likely feel appropriate on any given day. This may not be as true for those less given over to Rush geekdom, but the point remains valid that the changes in Rush's sound over the years is a strength, not a weakness. Those who are already fans of the band may have their opinion set in stone, but I hope this discussion has been useful to curious readers and casual fans. Happy listening!

Thought of the day: I finished Cruel Zinc Melodies, so I completed the entire 12 book Garrett, P.I series between mid June and late December of 2008! I'll gradually read them again the years ahead, but I have other works by Glen Cook to tackle first. I may try and make reading a bunch of Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series my pet project for 2009, but then again, something else might surprise me (as Garrett did) and seize that position. I'll find out in the days to come, Happy 2009 to all!