20 October 2009

Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net

ROGUE FEED
One Man’s Primitivism
OCT 19, 2009 12:56P.M.
One of the complaints raised against the old school movement — often
good-naturedly, often not — is that its most vocal proponents revel in
“primitivism,” which is to say, a philosophy of “older is always better.”
The complaint has merit, because it’s sometimes true. I know I’ve
indulged in primitivism over the course of the more than two years I’ve
been immersing myself in the Old Ways. Contrary to legend, it was in
fact v.3.5 of D&D that led to my re-evaluation of the editions I’d played
as a kid. I felt then, as I still feel now, that the game had, both
mechanically and stylistically, strayed from the things that attracted me
to gaming in the first place and so I wanted to go “back to the source.”
Given that context, I suppose it’s inevitable that I’d dip more than my
toes into the primitivist pond.
Historically, the response to perceived decadence is often a reactionary
one, sometimes an extreme one. I think that’s part of the reason so many
of us, including guys like myself who weren’t involved in the hobby pre-
1977, turned to OD&D and embraced it as our own. Initially, there was
more than a little impishness to my casting aside all that came later. It
felt good to metaphorically kiss off the brandified, cookie cutter thing the
hobby had seemed to have become.
simultaneously confirms some of my long-held opinions about the hobby
and challenges others. It’s a messy, confusing, and often frustrating
experience but an immensely satisfying one too. It’s resulted in one of
the most intense periods of writing in my professional life, making and
meeting new friends from across the globe, and, most important of all,
some of the best gaming I’ve had in decades. All in all, a pretty good
score.
But the process is ever ongoing, like all the best things in life. I’ll keep
posting the results of that process here for as long as I have them.
Thanks to everyone who’s come along for the ride.
(This is, quite coincidentally, my 1000th post since I began writing in
March 2008. Go, me.)
ROGUE FEED
Pulp Fantasy Library: Flashing
Swords! #1
OCT 19, 2009 09:07A.M.

But then a funny thing happened: I found I really liked and preferred
OD&D for itself. This wasn’t a political statement or a publicity stunt; it
was love. Not my first love, of course. You can never go home again and,
as I’ve repeatedly stated, my first experience of D&D was with the Homes
edition, so I have no nostalgia for the LBBs. Rather, I found that reading
— and playing — OD&D elicited a feeling not unlike I felt 30 years ago
when I cracked open that box and tried to puzzle my way through its
pages with my friends.

In many cases, I’ve found that I’ve softened my initially-hard stances of

certain issues — thieves, for example. I’ve also broadened my conception
of what constitutes “D&D.” In both cases, it was because of my embrace
of primitivism that I was able to see things more clearly than I had
before. If anything, that’s been the main thrust of what I’ve been trying
to do here on this blog, however haltingly and occasionally
embarrassingly: understand D&D and the earliest games of the hobby in
the light of their history. To do that, you have to take the games as they
are — don’t assume they’re “broken” or “less evolved” or any of the
myriad other jibes made against them by gamers who’ve probably never
read them, let alone played them.
I’m doing that and it’s giving me a better perspective, one that
The pulp fantasy revival of the late 1960s and early 1970s is the
background against which our hobby arose. It’s important to remember
this for a number of reasons, chief among them being that the content
and style of those pulp fantasies were quite different than the latter-day
fantasies that followed in their wake. The historical amnesia of this fact
has, in my opinion, made it much harder for gamers not immersed in
that culture to understand the early days of the hobby and the RPGs it
produced.

1
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 20 October 2009

As a genre, pulp fantasy is distinguished from other types of fantasy by

its format as well as its content. The short story, the novelette, and the
novella are the preferred forms of pulp fantasy fiction. While there are
novels in the genre, they’re fewer in number and are often little more
than a collection of smaller works strung together by linking material,
which is why they often have picaresque qualities that set them apart
from the epics many nowadays tend to associate with fantasy. These
qualities are the ones that, in my opinion, early gamers seized upon
when crafting their own games and campaigns and it’s the rejection of
the same that led to the decline of the Old Ways.

Whatever his merits as an author in his own right, Lin Carter was one of
the most important and influential editors during the pulp fantasy
revival. He put together numerous collections of swords-and-sorcery
literature, including the Flashing Swords! series, which ran from 1973 to
1981 and ultimately encompassed five volumes. The series included
contributions from many of the prominent members of the Swordsmen
and Sorcerers’ Guild of America, a literary group dedicated to the
promotion and popularization of the S&S genre. During its existence, the
Guild presented a Gandalf Award for contributions to “heroic fantasy,”
which just goes to show that, at the time, the fine distinctions guys like
me make weren’t recognized and writers like J.R.R. Tolkien were
considered as part of “the club,” despite the clear difference in their
content and style from authors like Leiber or Vance.

Flashing Swords! #1 consists of four novelettes. The first is a story of

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser entitled “The Sadness of the Executioner.”
The story itself concerns Death, his role in Nehwon, and how
Lankhmar’s most famous pair of adventurers fit into his plans. It’s a
terrific story that, I think, nicely exemplifies the pulp fantasy ethos, on
both a personal and a “cosmic” level. “Morreion” by Jack Vance is a tale
from his “Dying Earth” series, which would later re-appear in his 1984
book, Rhialto the Marvellous. “Morreion” is particularly of interest of
fantasy gamers looking for one possible way to represent “space” travel.
Ioun Stones are also prominently on display here. Poul Anderson’s “The
Mermaid’s Children” is another installment in his fantastic medieval
quasi-series that includes books such as Three Hearts and Three Lions
and The Broken Sword. It’s just as good as its predecessors and as
suffused with sadness. Rounding out the book is Lin Carter’s own “The
Higher Heresies of Oolimar,” which is by far the weakest piece in the
whole thing. If ever there were any question that Carter had no shame,
it’s fully on display in this silly piece, which comes across as exceedingly
amateurish.

Regardless, Flashing Swords! #1 is well worth a read if you can find it.
Its four stories — yes, including Carter’s — are a very good encapsulation
of the pulp fantasy revival: three-quarters genius and one-quarter hack-
work. Come to think of it, that description might fit the old school
movement too ...