Nellisir
Hero
I read The Day of Atonement, by David Liss (part of his Benjamin Weaver series, though not featuring Benjamin Weaver as the protagonist). Good book.
And I read The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson.
I feel like Poul Anderson might not get enough credit for his influence on D&D. He's certainly cited, particularly for Three Hearts and Three Lions, but reading this book was about as close as reading a direct transcription of a D&D setting into a novel as I've ever seen. It's often hard to point exact fingers, of course, and particularly in cases where one author (Anderson) might filter or refract a concept from another author (Tolkien), and Gygax read both, but....
The Broken Sword, btw, was first published in 1954, and republished in 1971 with some revisions by Anderson.
Here are a few of the things I noticed.
- Gnomes. I feel like I read a few blog posts recently talking about gnomes and D&D and laying them out as half-dwarves, or variant dwarves, and how they didn't have a good precedent in fiction. So here's Anderson on gnomes in The Broken Sword: "Often he would be out in the forest to speak with the little folk who lived in it, humble gnomes with gray and brown clothes and long stocking caps and the men's beards hanging to their waists. They dwelt in gnarly comfort beneath the largest trees, and were glad to see the elf children." That's pretty much D&D gnomes right there. And they're very distinct from dwarves.
-Elves. Of human height and mostly human habit. A variety of elves. The ocean-going northern elves; the Pictish wild elves, who are shorter, stronger, and darker than other elves; the noble southern elves with their forgotten glories; green haired, white skinned sea elves; elves with dwarf blood (master smiths of the elves); and the high elves of Elfheugh.
- Other races. There are other races of fey from around the world mentioned that I'm not going to list. Trolls are not D&D trolls, but squatter, shorter, and green skinned. Goblins are midway between trolls and elves, being small and green, but not wholly unattractive. Leprechauns, sprites, fauns. The Sidhe of Ireland are similar to, but distinct from, the elves, being half-gods. Skafloc, who is stolen by the elves and raised by them, is easily half-elven. Valgard, who was the changeling left for Skafloc and the offspring of an elf and troll, could be a half-orc.
- Elves live longer than humans, but humans learn faster because of it.
- Dwarves are dwarves.
And I read The Broken Sword, by Poul Anderson.
I feel like Poul Anderson might not get enough credit for his influence on D&D. He's certainly cited, particularly for Three Hearts and Three Lions, but reading this book was about as close as reading a direct transcription of a D&D setting into a novel as I've ever seen. It's often hard to point exact fingers, of course, and particularly in cases where one author (Anderson) might filter or refract a concept from another author (Tolkien), and Gygax read both, but....
The Broken Sword, btw, was first published in 1954, and republished in 1971 with some revisions by Anderson.
Here are a few of the things I noticed.
- Gnomes. I feel like I read a few blog posts recently talking about gnomes and D&D and laying them out as half-dwarves, or variant dwarves, and how they didn't have a good precedent in fiction. So here's Anderson on gnomes in The Broken Sword: "Often he would be out in the forest to speak with the little folk who lived in it, humble gnomes with gray and brown clothes and long stocking caps and the men's beards hanging to their waists. They dwelt in gnarly comfort beneath the largest trees, and were glad to see the elf children." That's pretty much D&D gnomes right there. And they're very distinct from dwarves.
-Elves. Of human height and mostly human habit. A variety of elves. The ocean-going northern elves; the Pictish wild elves, who are shorter, stronger, and darker than other elves; the noble southern elves with their forgotten glories; green haired, white skinned sea elves; elves with dwarf blood (master smiths of the elves); and the high elves of Elfheugh.
- Other races. There are other races of fey from around the world mentioned that I'm not going to list. Trolls are not D&D trolls, but squatter, shorter, and green skinned. Goblins are midway between trolls and elves, being small and green, but not wholly unattractive. Leprechauns, sprites, fauns. The Sidhe of Ireland are similar to, but distinct from, the elves, being half-gods. Skafloc, who is stolen by the elves and raised by them, is easily half-elven. Valgard, who was the changeling left for Skafloc and the offspring of an elf and troll, could be a half-orc.
- Elves live longer than humans, but humans learn faster because of it.
- Dwarves are dwarves.
