Who is the flame princess?

[Tallifer]

Who is the flame princess and what is she lamenting?

I have read plenty of things about the game system, books and art, but what about the eponymous princess? And is there a story behind that exciting and evocative painting on the front cover?

 

[Mark CMG]

It's an excellent question!


(click for game info)

 

[jonesy]

Found a thread from 2005 where Jim Lot talks about it (near the end of the first page):

Is this a good or foolish idea in presenting a new game?

Edit: I thought that was his name. But it's James Raggi.

 

[Tallifer]

Found a thread from 2005 where Jim Lot talks about it (near the end of the first page):

A million thanks for that link. I copy here the relevant answers from James Raggi for the benefit of other curious minds:


Who is the Flame Princess?

Back in junior high school, I had this weird series of dreams... where the idea was that there was no such thing as imagination. Every single thing "imagined" was actually a psychic connection to another dimension. Somehow beings become aware of this connection and can use it to travel, using their imagination as a conduit. The catalyst for this was a demon that had possessed a young girl, but was looking for a way into a more powerful body. It jumped from her to "me", bad things happened to her, bad things happened in general, and voila, I'm a dimensional traveler who has discovered I'm one of the few who has no duplicate in all the multiverse... whereas anyone else, like the 'Flame Princess' as she became known because of this really really really cute redhead with waist-length hair blowing all about in this one picture I saw that kinda looked like the girl from the dream, had a duplicate self in every single dimension that existed.

It was a big mess basically combining Elric and the Green Lantern Corps (those 'individual' beings became recruited to monitor dimensional jumper), but funny enough I didn't read a single word of Moorcock for ten years after this concept was solidified. To say I was crushed to discover that many of the key points was already in print for decades was a huge understatement.

What is she Lamenting?

Her own death, over and over and over and over again. Every time I went someplace new, she was somehow in danger, and to right the wrong of my killing her in my home dimension, I'd try to save her. It was like a formula TV show. I'd solve her problem, but I'd always kill her in the process, somehow, some way.

Where is she lamenting it?

Everywhere imaginable. Wherever you go, she'd pop up. And disaster would follow. And she dies.

How does her culture lament things?

She doesn't have any set culture. She's an ancient tribeswoman in one dimension, an intergalactic empress in the next, soccer mom in the next, super hero in the next, terrorist in the next, etc etc.


It is unfortunate that he did not build a setting and world around some sort of Moorcockian multiverse and this flame-haired beauty. The actual rules seem to be just a reprint of OD&D with a few house rules. I think I would probably use Call of Cthulhu if I wanted to create the horrific and weird feel which his artwork evokes.

But it is still an interesting character/conceit.

 

[Hezrou]

A million thanks for that link. I copy here the relevant answers from James Raggi for the benefit of other curious minds:


Who is the Flame Princess?

Back in junior high school, I had this weird series of dreams... where the idea was that there was no such thing as imagination. Every single thing "imagined" was actually a psychic connection to another dimension. Somehow beings become aware of this connection and can use it to travel, using their imagination as a conduit. The catalyst for this was a demon that had possessed a young girl, but was looking for a way into a more powerful body. It jumped from her to "me", bad things happened to her, bad things happened in general, and voila, I'm a dimensional traveler who has discovered I'm one of the few who has no duplicate in all the multiverse... whereas anyone else, like the 'Flame Princess' as she became known because of this really really really cute redhead with waist-length hair blowing all about in this one picture I saw that kinda looked like the girl from the dream, had a duplicate self in every single dimension that existed.

It was a big mess basically combining Elric and the Green Lantern Corps (those 'individual' beings became recruited to monitor dimensional jumper), but funny enough I didn't read a single word of Moorcock for ten years after this concept was solidified. To say I was crushed to discover that many of the key points was already in print for decades was a huge understatement.

What is she Lamenting?

Her own death, over and over and over and over again. Every time I went someplace new, she was somehow in danger, and to right the wrong of my killing her in my home dimension, I'd try to save her. It was like a formula TV show. I'd solve her problem, but I'd always kill her in the process, somehow, some way.

Where is she lamenting it?

Everywhere imaginable. Wherever you go, she'd pop up. And disaster would follow. And she dies.

How does her culture lament things?

She doesn't have any set culture. She's an ancient tribeswoman in one dimension, an intergalactic empress in the next, soccer mom in the next, super hero in the next, terrorist in the next, etc etc.


It is unfortunate that he did not build a setting and world around some sort of Moorcockian multiverse and this flame-haired beauty. The actual rules seem to be just a reprint of OD&D with a few house rules. I think I would probably use Call of Cthulhu if I wanted to create the horrific and weird feel which his artwork evokes.

But it is still an interesting character/conceit.

Wow. That story is just pure awesome and interesting! A whole RPG system based on that is something I could get behind. Just reading those few paragraphs about it gave me chills.

 

[Tallifer]

Caveat emptor. The reviews I have read make it clear that the system is just OD&D with new art, and that their is no setting/world per se. Indeed Raggi himself says that he did not want players limited, so he did not actually incorporate his cool flame princess dream into the game other than through the title and pictures.

But you yourself could be the one to write an adventure or setting based on such.