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Friday 29 May 2020

Sayings of the High One



Grim Jim Desborough gave Dragon Warriors a nice video review the other week. I'm not sharing it here out of immodesty (of course not) but because Jim accepted the geas of wearing the eyepatch of Bolverk Bor's-son, who is one of his household gods. (Mine too, actually, and that sort of thing is rare among atheist lefties like us.)

I've been finding Jim's YouTube games pretty useful while writing Jewelspider, as they're reminding me of staples of DW gaming that don't feature in our games much (the mystics' sense of premonition, for example - or indeed mystics themselves) but that the new rules should at least include nods to.

While we're talking of Legend, I should mention that there are two very tasty DW books available free on DriveThruRPG: Cadaver Draconis, which collects material that the Players Guide unfortunately didn't have room for, and The Nomad Khanates, a sourcebook for the Great Steppes. These are good hefty books written by DW authorities like Shaun Hately, Damian May, Wayne Imlach -- well, I won't list everyone here, they're on the credits page, but suffice to say you're all appreciated by me and Oliver. For anyone unfamiliar with the Khanates:
An expanse of temperate grasslands and scrub lies to the east of the New Selentine Empire. It has never been explored or mapped; its exact limits are unknown. Somewhere further east and south are the strange, tradition-steeped lands of Khitai and Yamato. More southerly are the rich countries of Zinj and Batubatan, and the Palace Under Heaven where the Emperor of the Nine Mountains holds court. In the south-west, the grasslands must abut the far fringes of Opalar. But a traveller wishing to visit any of these exotic places would take the seaward passage along the Gulf of Marazid, not travel across the grasslands. These wild plains are the home of nomad peoples as fierce and untamed as the landscape they inhabit.  
The nomads are horse and oxen herders who move continually as the seasons and the abundance of grass for the herd dictate. They obtain everything from their herd - the horses are steeds for war or hunting, cattle draw the tribe’s wagons. Both are a source of meat and clothing and bone utensils. Horn and sinew are used in the construction of the nomads’ composite bows, which in the hands of a skilled archer can rain arrows on their enemies at a range of over two hundred yards. 
The social organization of these people consists of extended tribe-alliances whose ruler is called a Khan. The balance of power shifts as tribes change allegiance and as incautious Khans are assassinated. At the time of writing, the principal power resides in Sitai Khan of the Oshkosa. Other khanates are the Katagai, the Gunguska, the Khanate of the Sweeping Vast, the Khanate of the Black Pavilion, and the Hunkunkai. 
One westerner is famous for his travels among these wild people. Niccolo of Wissenstein was sent in a party of explorers from the court of King Vorlest of Kurland, who charged them with discovering a safe land-route to Khitai. Niccolo quickly learned the nomads’ tongue and set about his task; trying to establish contact with the Khans and make a deal with them guaranteeing ‘safe conduct’ for Kurlish caravanserai. In this he was not successful, but he did produce a record of nomadic life which is quite unique. His visit to a nomad’s home occurs early in the account of his travels: 
"The clan are continually on the move, and for this purpose carry their homes with them. When the time comes to make camp, a family can set up one of these homes in under an hour. First a prepared lattice of willow hoops is raised, this being secured in the ground with heavy pegs. Large bolts of felt are wrapped onto this framework to form the walls of the home. The felt and the ropes used to lash the structure together are made from horsehair, and the clan’s herd animals provide oils to make the home proof against cold and rain. The finished home is a roughly circular tent which the steppe people call a gyur. ‘Invited into one such tent, I found the ulterior decorated with rugs and trinkets. The central part of the roof, above the fire, is left open as one also finds in the mead-halls of Mercania and Thuland. Despite this, I can attest that the home remains warm and comfortable even when the bitterest steppe wind is blowing outside. My own host, whose name was Shweymar, invited me to sit beside him on the brown rug occupying the northernmost third of the floor, opposite the entrance. This was a great honour, as the steppe people keep this area for the head of the household, his elders and guests of high status. Behind us were several idols depicting Shweymar’s household deities. In front of this area of high status, the floor is divided into two other sections. To the left of the doorway sit the women and children. The host’s sons and younger male guests sit on the right. Utensils for cooking and other household purposes are kept in the left-hand area while weapons are placed in a rack between the right-hand area and the host’s rug. I was to discover that this tradition of signifying status extends throughout the steppes, even to the homesteads of the citadels.Whether this is happenstance or real evidence that the tribes once belonged to a single unrecorded civilization – this question can never be answered."
Got any fond memories of Dragon Warriors games past or present? Share them in the comments. If we get a dozen, I'll chip in with one of my own from our DW playtesting days.

39 comments:

  1. A dozen is a hit bar! But I’ll kick off in the hope of hearing from you Dave. Recent great memory from a game still in progress is my Thulander Barbarian striking the death blow against an evil 9th or 10th level warlock juiced up with song of battle and Frenzy and an amulet of sovereignty over violence so that he was an almost unstoppable killing machine in the village of Mimir... (GM had to make the emissary more powerful given number of PCs I think) and now the players are ever so politely bickering about who gets the amulet! :-)

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    1. They're being polite about it at least, Nigel. Nothing like the way my players bicker over spoils, then!

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    2. I suspect it’s because it’s PBeM and nobody knows each other (actually I think a couple of the players and DM may know each other IRL but mostly it’s complete strangers in their late 20s to probably mid 50s). So we’re all on our best behaviour, very polite and self-effacing whilst avariciously covering the magical goodies! I’m sure my teen self and brother and friends would have just about come to blows about it! :-) For a lark I was contemplating “writing” to you like your group many years ago wrote to Prof Barker for an “adjudication” on whom the loot should go to... how’s your Glissom medieval adjudication? My suspicion is the Prince Doron as the ranking noble should dole out the spoils to his “retainers” as he sees fit... it ain’t a democracy ;-) Although surely the warrior who dealt the death blows should get first dibs at the booty *grin*

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    3. You've reminded me that I should include a section in Jewelspider about vassalage, tribute, division of spoils, etc. The concept that everybody is somebody's man is deep in the medieval mindset, after all -- the lord gets handed the loot, as is his due, but if he isn't generous in handing some of it back then he'll soon lose his followers' loyalty.

      And the lion's share will go to those who most distinguished themselves in battle, of course. Sometimes we ask around the table who earned the most glory, though that can lead to some interesting resentments bubbling away.

      Btw my favourite story about dividing spoils (probably untrue) is Gregory of Tours story about how the first of the Long-Haired Kings dealt with the Vase of Soissons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vase_of_Soissons

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  2. Thanks for these links and this video Dave ! (though I'm very buzy in this month, I hope I'll have some time for it).
    For your fun : when I was a finalist for devising the "Dothraki" language of HBO's "Game of Thrones", one of the sample phrases I used (from the French version I own) was : "The clan are continually on the move, and for this purpose carry their homes with them."

    By the way, here is an interesting review of DW by Joseph Manola : http://udan-adan.blogspot.com/2017/09/dragon-warriors-you-can-never-go-back.html

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    1. A tricky phrase to translate, Olivier, because do the Dothraki have any word for a home you can't carry? Presumably they'd have a word for "building" but would they connect that concept with "a home"?

      Thanks for the review link. Joseph gets it.

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    2. Good point Dave ! Now looking at my old file, the phrase was that one : "The nomads are horse and oxen herders who move continually as the seasons and the abundance of grass for the herd dictate" (but from the French version, so that the wording was slightly different).
      I had no major problem of vocabulary, since I took my words from Turko-Mongol languages ("home" being "ootu").
      Anyway, the winner of the contest was David Peterson with his own very original conlang. But know that the "simon" meaning "male parent" in this official Dothraki is really from my own name !

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  3. Just to artificially inflate numbers (given we haven't seen anything like that recently), not a game but I thought I'd share a fond memory of Dragon Warriors. Circa 1986/1987 aged 11, I went to Games Workshop in Nottingham. Whilst there, I clocked the series and purchased all of them thinking they were gamebooks (in fairness, the sales assistant did try and warn me, but he was just background noise as I salivated at the prospect of more Morris/Johnson adventures). Having recently spent a small fortune (or rather trading my entire magazine collection, except Warlock), to finish my beloved Golden Dragon collection with Crypt of the Vampire (being out of stock by then), on the train home I was gutted to discover Dragon Warriors weren't gamebooks at all. Thankfully, Bloodsword wasn't too far around the corner.

    So not once having participated in RPGs, Dave may disallow my post. Though in its defence, I still read the books.

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    1. As long as you bought 'em and read 'em, Andy, it counts.

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    2. I picked up the books in my local library, thinking they were gamebooks. And I was instantly hooked - I'd never come across the idea of a tabletop Roleplaying Game before. Indeed, Dragon Warriors was my introduction to the world of Roleplaying games. I never managed to interest that many people in playing (Warhammer and D&D had much more brand recognition), but I got a couple of playthroughs of the King Under the Forest and Gallows Wood with friends. My main recollection is just how deadly the Elven Crystals were.

      I never did find Book 5, though - I got all the others, but The Power of Darkness remained elusive. I was glad to be able to finally get hold of the Glissom setting with the new Prince of Darkness print from Mongoose/Serpent King games...

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    3. Better late than never, Ray!

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    4. Just as a fantastical epilogue to my Dragon Warriors adventure, Ray's comment prompted a further memory. I didn't buy the whole series from Games Workshop, book five was sold out there also. My epic quest therefore finished the week following at the W H Smiths book ordering counter.

      THE END

      If that ending doesn't score a point, Dave, I don't know what will.

      Beat that, Nigel!

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    5. Not sure if the “Gone fishin” saga beats that but it was genuinely hard to acquire the DW books and indeed a lot of RPG in the mid to late 80s and 90s here in Australia. From memory my brother bought the first 3 DW books from a local newsagent. One of our huge childhood disagreements was around who owned book 4. To be fair to Jezza with hindsight I’m sure it was his. Book 5 was definitely mine but that ridiculous schism even led to us owning 2 copies of book 6! (You can thank me for the royalties later Dave ;-) ).

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    6. I'm expecting a major American TV Network to contact Dave any time now to try and option it with a view to full syndication, Nigel. And it's unrequested and unwarranted prequel, where I search for Crypt of the Vampire across most books shops in the Midlands, after even W H Smiths book ordering counter couldn't help me. Only to move up to senior school a few years later to find out a new friend had it, who was willing to trade, but at a significant price (my Zzap 64 magazine collection and Ninja citadel minatures). A moralistic tale with an upbeat, if bittersweet, ending.

      I had a similar fall out with my older brother over his record collection. I paid to buy it off him with my paper round money, for him years later try and take them with him when he left home. I'm pleased to say Sgt Rock, Young Parisians and Walking On The Moon are still nestling happily in my vinyl box (although I probably haven't played them since).

      As for your own epic tale, if they ever decide to reboot Howard's Conan, that would make a magnificent sequence (I'd have it at the start). Certainly an improvement on the last one. I'll happily trade shares with you a la Lucas/Spielberg Star Wars/Close Encounters. Although Dave probably now owns the copyright to both.

      Has there ever actually been a decent Swords & Sorcery film? Sorry, Dave. I've gone off topic again!

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    7. Oh, now that's a good one, Andy. There was a Russian fantasy movie that I saw a few years back -- can't remember the name, but it wasn't dreadful. Jamie will know; he recommended it. We went to see the last Conan movie because we had to, didn't we -- though we knew it'd be crap. But hang on sec, can I have Jason & the Argonauts? The Thief of Bagdad (1940)? It's a stretch to include them in S&S, maybe, but where else do they fit?

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    8. Yes to Jason & the Argonauts, Dave. I've had to look up The Thief of Bagdad which I don't think I've seen, but you've stirred up memories of a few Sinbad films (the one with the Cyclops and the Dragon).

      I'll always associate S&S (that sounds suspicious) with Conan The Barbarian, Conan The Destroyer, The Beastmaster and Hawk The Slayer. We won't mention Red Sonja. Or will we. Also wasn't there actually a film called Swords & Sorcery? I remember staying up late to watch it, the trailer looked brilliant (and I think it had an 18 rating!), but it was rubbish. It's the first thing I can't find on the internet in a while...

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    9. The Sword & The Sorcerer. That was going to bug me all day if I hadn't found it.

      I know you're not a Rings fan, Dave, but am I allowed Bakshi's effort? The most criminally underrated film of all time in my opinion. More atmospheric than Jackson's trilogy I thought, with some brilliant voice performances (notably Peter Woodthorpe as Gollum).

      On theme, I saw Bakshi's Fire and Ice not that along ago, which was disappointing. Also (side tracking a bit) Wizards (which I remember watching after LOTR way back). Dated, but some interesting concepts.

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    10. I can certainly respect Bakshi, Andy, and the Peter Jackson movies too. Tolkien never clicked with me, but I don't disparage his contribution to the fantasy adventure genre.

      Mind you, I wouldn't really include LotR as S&S. Technically I know it is, but it's so much its own thing that I didn't include it when making my movie list. Excalibur and The Black Death likewise.

      And what about Beowulf? (The Gaiman/Zemeckis one, that is.) I liked it, but I'm not sure if a Dark Ages classic counts as S&S. (Gotta be careful to hit the right key when typing that!)

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    11. Excalibur popped up when I was looking at TSATS this morning, Dave. I can't remember seeing it, so I'll pop that in the basket. Now you've mentioned JATA, that may have to go in. I can't remember liking or disliking Beowulf in truth. Probably one I'll keep an eye out for on the box. If Jamie happens to remember that Russian one, let me know.

      There really does appear to be a paucity of good S&S. Put that into the internet and the only films that come up are the ones we've collectively mentioned.

      Only other very random one I would throw in, ten years ago I watched the Dungeons & Dragons kids TV series from the 80s having enjoyed it as a kid. It was pretty good!

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  4. Hmmm, tangentially DW-related, but I used the WD scenario "A Box of Old Bones" (and the area map) as the basis for a 2nd Edition campaign, starting the players off mid-map with an "Ogre Hunt", before sending them on a pilgrimage to the abbey. Much fun was had by all, although one player accidentally died en route and had to retrieved from Limbo, in exchange for the players retrieving the Rock of Aegis for the demon Kuoni. Probably not as grim and gritty as the setting is usually used as, but my players did learn that black unicorns are definitely Unseelie...

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    1. That counts. OK, we have three DW stories so far...

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  5. We had one adventure when the gods were decidedly displeased with our party of three. In our first encounter with a single skeleton, we all died. A lot of dice were sent to hell for their crimes that day.

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    1. We had one of those sessions. The players now say "this is turning into the Krarth winter palace" meaning that every other roll is a fumble.

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  6. Not sure if multiple entries to boost reply count are allowed but here’s another one. When I was about 14 or 15 I ran an adventure for some school friends, most of whom hadn’t played before. It was the 80s so we were all obsessed with Ninjas (blame TV shows and for me at least Way of the Tiger books and computer game). But my friend Daniel was next level obsessed with the way of the shadow warrior... so of course Danbo had to play an assassin. Imaginatively called “Cassin the assassin” (yes I know...). Danbo was normally a quiet and reserved little guy with strict Italian parents. But once he got some cordial into him he would, quite literally go mental. It was a home brew one shot adventure to go and capture or kill a giant eel that had been killing fishermen up river with a few encounters along the way. As the afternoon wore on Danbo and thus Cassin became ever more hyped up and erratic, creeping off and trying to shock attack everything the party encountered. It culminated in Cassin attempting to leap onto the eel’s head and try to blind it with flash pellets. If someone else posts (or cares) I’ll reveal the dramatic conclusion to this “gripping” tale *ironic grin*

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    1. Come on, Nigel, you can't leave it there!

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    2. Aw shucks...we’ll only cause you asked. Being a liberal GM and enjoying the theatre of it I allowed the flash pelleting to blind the eel. From memory I added in a HP or two of burns to Cassin’s hands. The downside of course was that it drove the giant beast mad and it thrashed and squirmed and rolled and snapped wildly as only a pissed off 30 foot long eel can and this not only caused great carnage crushing and smashing and dunking the PCs but also led to a bunch of submerged skeleton goblins (they’d strayed into an ancient marsh goblin burial site after being dragged along whilst trying to harpoon the beast) to be stirred up and start squelching out of the mud to pull them down to drown in the bog... TO BE CONTINUED IF THERE’S INTEREST AND IT BOOSTS POST COUNT ;-)

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    3. I'll have no fingernails left at this rate :-)

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  7. Well we can’t leave you with bleeding digits, makes a mess of the keyboard... My friend Paul was playing a Mystic whose name I forget (I think because he was familiar with clerics from D&D) cursed when he found out that there was no turning of undead... Angelo was playing a sorcerer and had been hoarding his MPs along the trip stubbornly insisting that he’s only use his dragonsbreath spell in an emergency. With Cassin having stabbed his throwing spikes into the eel to hold on during its flailing (I think very high REF and friendly dice gods kept him in the saddle). Whilst the poor Knight (played by Donald) and my brother’s Barbarian kept getting flattened into the mud over and over and then held in place by grasping goblin skeleton hands the dragons breath hit home for maximum damage right into the giant eel’s gaping maw. This was by that stage more than enough to kill the giant creature. However that wasn’t enough for me as GM. Physics and biology be damned I’d told the players that (normal sized) eel was a staple food in these parts (hence all the missing eel fishermen) and that the slimy oily creatures also rendered lamp oil for trade. Of course that all meant the eel caught fire and then like that Monty Python sketch the giant eel exploded with great chunks of eel meat and black smelly oily blood fountaining everywhere. Cassin was burned and thrown clear into the mud and waiting digits of the swamp skeletons and dragged into the bog unconscious. Finally the Knight and Barbarian came into their own and disposed of the goblin skeletons. I think I kind of fudged (or perhaps misunderstood at the time) the premonition and ESP powers of the mystic and let Paul’s character find Cassin’s limp body in the mud and after much coaxing including threats of being haunted by Cassin’s ghost Angelo’s sorcerer healed the assassin and he regained consciousness. The aftermath of this epic fishing trip involved the characters loading as much eel meat as they could manage into their battered rowboat and selling it for a tidy profit of florins at the Market but they were shunned by the townsfolk for a week and subjected to constant baths to try to rid themselves of the overpowering eel smell. Rumour has it that the giant eel was an escaped experiment from the Tower of the wizard Palmyre Firehand but that was (and sadly still remains) a tale for another day... :-)

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    1. Awesome! I hope your players appreciate how lucky they were having you as GM -- although if they're anything like mine they probably just grumbled.

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  8. Exactly. Ungrateful buggers! Paul continued to play D&D and then became obsessed with the Bard’s Tale computer game but nobody else played RPGs again as far as I know...

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    1. You had me at Giant Killer Eel. That sounds like an awesome basis for a combat encoutner. Especially when it turned out to be explosive!

      *makes notes*

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  9. I will add the tale of Sir Freiwich, from my current campaign. He is presently wandering the Holy Land blind, having broken the seal on a scroll meant for another and had his eyes burned black by blasphemous, diabolical script. This happened at the climax of a session. To everyone’s surprise and amusement his player, Paul, logged into the hangout a week later with his eyes bound in a makeshift blindfold. I can only appreciate such commitment from the players, even if it made rolling the dice a bit tricky.

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    1. Better to do that online than when the table is stacked with bottles! I'm in awe of the imagination and commitment on display in all of these game anecdotes. They're a match for any novel or movie.

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  10. I know we haven’t reached a dozen yet but the post count is pretty high. How about sharing a snippet or two? Krarthian Winter Palace debacle sounds interesting...

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    1. It was supposed to be so simple. The Regent of Gog (in Krarth) instructed the leader of the player-characters: "Count Fane, as guardian of the prince, I suggest that it would be appropriate for you to gather together a small body of men and journey ahead to the winter palace to prepare it for his arrival."

      Naturally there was an attempt by a rival Magus to abduct the prince. We played it all out on a hex grid in the still-frostbitten gardens of the palace. The PCs were outnumbered, but their adversaries were mostly ordinary men-at-arms while the PCs were paladins of the court of Gog. But every other roll was an abysmal failure or an outright fumble. Swords were dropped or lost in the bushes. Armour straps broke. Seasoned warriors tripped and fell into the pond. One mighty blow went so far off-target that it hit one of the character's own comrades.

      So now when the rolls start to go bad we say, "It's a winter palace." (Last night's game was very nearly one, as a matter of fact, except that our opponents were so ineffective that the failed rolls didn't matter.)

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  11. Like many francophones, I came across Dragon Warriors almost by accident, picking up the book from the local library's collection of "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. I was intrigued by the absence of numbered paragraphed, but it had echoes of rumors I had heard of people engaging in "role-playing games".

    So I stuck with it, and was pretty much hooked by the sense of mystery, and the echoes it had of the Arthurian Legend. I spent the summer of 1990 with my cousins, playing the adventures, and then running my own. We played pretty much like 10-12 year old boys would, with lots of fighting, lots of magic, lots of treasure, lots of heroic feats. It was wonderful. So I enrolled into the role-playing club of my high school.

    What a disappointment! It was all D&D, and it was then that I discovered how DW had ruined me. I found the D&D alignment system silly, the monsters only a collection of numbers and powers, and the world in which it took place, reminiscent of North American suburbia with door-to-door mages and cookie-cutter castles. It was much too familiar to this North American. The daydreaming it fostered was one of power, rather than one of adventure.

    Fast-forward a few years. I am at Uni studying history, and my mates are studying cinema. We are discussing storytelling, and we decide to try our hand at RPG. I turn to the only system I know, because I know it can invite and sustain stories. We run adventures in it, not caring too much about rules. Still, some of the rules are clunky, and I try to venture into the anglosphere on the internet, in search of ideas.

    It is then that I stumble upon the old Tekumel website. I am fascinated by the presentation of the world. I toy with the idea of running a campaign there, look at rules systems. And then find Tirikelu. Seems weirdly familiar. I notice the author's name. Surely...?

    I never ran that Tekumel campaign. We adopted Tirikelu for our DW's campaign and have been at it ever since. It's been 20 years now. It's not set in Legend, but is thoroughly marked by the genius of Legend, a version of medieval France/Mediterranean world of believable medieval relations, recognizable tropes inspired by old myths and true history, and the appreciation that what is left unsaid is often much more powerful than what is flattened by stats.

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    1. Thank you for sharing those memories. The greatest reward a writer can hope for (well, certainly this writer) is knowing you've reached out and touched people's lives. Just as M.A.R. Barker was inspired by the likes of Jack Vance and Robert E Howard, and they in their turn by Flaubert and Byron, so the flame is handed on from Barker to me to you and beyond, igniting the imagination of successive generations. And we and our fellow roleplayers share vivid and transformative experiences because of a tradition that -- who knows -- might stretch unbroken back to myths told around a fireside thousands of years ago.

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  12. Wow! I found that DW story surprisingly moving. Maybe I should have a closer look at your Tirikelu rules... have the lying around somewhere... What would you say are the key differences/features of it as a system?

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    1. There are a few old blog posts about that very question, Nigel. As it happens we've been playing Tirikelu again recently, and so I've been thinking about how it's different from both GURPS and Powered by the Apocalypse, two other systems from recent campaigns.

      GURPS is highly simulationist. You decide exactly what you want to do and then use the rules to figure out your chance of pulling it off. At the other extreme, PbtA is all about the drama -- at least the way we played it. We had some memorable adventures, but the stories that emerged were very much from character -- secrets, lies, oaths, promises, resentments, friendships, that kind of thing.

      And that's great, but sometimes you want the story elements that emerge from physical rather than emotional reality -- a bit of Robert E Howard to balance out the Jane Austen. One of my Legend characters once killed a town guard in a backstreet scuffle. It was an accident, but for that not to be contrived we needed rules that would just throw a plot twist out of the blue. It made a big difference to Caliburn; he was never so carefree again. The system gets the credit for kicking off that character development.

      But we were talking about Tirikelu, and what I wanted to say is it's a middle ground. You get the "narrative" of a combat, which is sometimes what you want, but whereas in GURPS you always decide exactly what you're doing before rolling the dice, in Tirikelu your choice in the first place is a bit simpler: do you put everything into the attack, hold back something for defence, or stay on guard and not attack at all? Then it's up to you to interpret the dice roll and insert the colourful details of the fight. In the hands of a player like Jamie Thomson, it becomes like a fight from a Conan story, full of cut-&-thrust detail.

      I don't know if I'm describing it well. There's no substitute for trying it out. If you find Tekumel a bit daunting as a setting, start off in the Dying Earth or Lyonesse or Zothique or any good sword-&-sorcery milieu. Let me know what you think?

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