An obligatory (?) 'Why no Narnia RPG?" thread

[el-remmen]

While not Narnia, I have a part of Aquerra that was loosely based on it (in the distant east) with talking animals, a human princess and militaristic hobgoblins taking the part of the Telmarines.

I placed the old module Palace of the Silver Princess there. .

 

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

I'd definately buy this if it ever came out. To this day I always squeeze a ship named "Dawn Treader" in most every campaign.

 

[Odhanan]

Good answers on the (wrong) ideological stuff behind the problem. There is another reason, and it stems from the works of CS Lewis' good pal, J.R.R. Tolkien. LOTR has had *so much* influence on RPGs that Narnia remained second class, in its shadow all this time. Add to this a more literary reason, from the fact the Chronicles of Narnia are often regarded as children books, "too nice" for RPGs, and I think we've got most of the reasons for a lack of Narnia RPG or setting.

 

[jdrakeh]

Heh. I wonder what they would feel about the fact that the Narnia books I'd read in the school library were the reason I originally bought the Basic rules from a classmate back in 4th grade.

I'll be frank - I'm not always comfortable mentioning my involvement in the hobby here to somebody until I've known them for a while. Shortly after I moved here and mentioned to a few new acquaintances that I was 'into RPGs' I started getting Chick tracts (yes, they're alive and well) stuck in my door jamb once or twice a month.

To address Narnia specifically as an introduction to adventure gaming (i.e., FOUL OCCULT EVIL ), it was, in point of fact, one of my introductions to early CRPGs (which eventually lead to AD&D) such as Moraff's Dungeons of the Unforgiven, Gateway to Apshai, Ultima, etc. So, yeah, that irony isn't lost on me

 

[smootrk]

I loved Narnia as a child, and I too was introduced to Fantasy by those books. Although the setting might work for D&D, I personally think it is a bit to cuddly & fluffy for my tastes. However, it would be a great D&D Junior, introductory setting. Something that a gamer parent might introduce his/her children to, rather than setting them loose on killing goblins & orcs.

 

[ssampier]

These two cannot be combined.

RPGs are known to be the work of Satan, while Narnia is God's holy word.

-- N

Everything is the devil to you, Mama! Well, I like books and I like roleplaying games! And I'm gonna keep doin' them both because they make me feel good!

And I like my roleplaying group and they like me back! And the group showed me their dice and I liked them too!

 

[DM_Matt]

Of course as we all know, Aslan is really a Mithraic figure. So Narnia's more of a Zoroastrian allegory.

Cheers,
Cam

Well, Lewis pretty openly stated that his intention was to produce a Christian allagory.

However, there are skeptics, such as these amusing folks and their site "Into the Depths of Satan in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia" who are trying to win the holier-than-thou battle against some pretty darn holy people, thus sending them off into looney-land. (Hat Tip: Cathy's World)

 

[Stone Dog]

Oh my. Those people even harp on Lewis for capitalizing the word East.

 

[Imperialus]

that's a riot. If you go to the base site... he's a piano tuner.
http://www.balaams-ass.com/
I also think it's funny that they give Lewis a hard time for saying Ass when their own site name has it in it... And yes according to their front page they are refering to a donkey too. It's funny when you can't even get past a website URL without running into hypocracy.

 

[Umbran]

Of course as we all know, Aslan is really a Mithraic figure. So Narnia's more of a Zoroastrian allegory.

As we all know, one can read nigh whatever one wants into a text, so it's more an allegory of whatever you want.

I've a friend who got his doctorate with a thesis on the representations of a multitude of other religions to be found in the Narnia books - Judaism, Muslim, even Bhuddist faiths. It's all there if you read it properly.

I'm waiting for someone to take the Tom Lehrer approach, and to write an analysis of Narnia as a modern Romance novel ("When correctly viewed, everything it lewd!").