Conan or Elric?

[Nightfall]

I like Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, along with Druss and my own name sake Nightfall better than these two. Though Elric has some character.

 

[francisca]

Just one hand among many who has made D&D what it is today.

Right. And the Wright brothers were just some guys playing with flight. And Henry Ford was just another automobile manufacturer. And Einstein was just another physicist.

Uh-huh.

 

[Nightfall]

Right. And the Wright brothers were just some guys playing with flight. And Henry Ford was just another automobile manufacturer. And Einstein was just another physicist.

Uh-huh.

Come on. There are MANY other characters in historical/classical literature that were contributors to Sword and Sorcery. Beowulf. Sigurd. Druss. Okay the last one isn't modern but still!

 

[Wraith Form]

I didn't vote. It's too tough.

From a character perspective, Elric is just plain cool. He was a new breed of non-hero, the jerk you loved to root for.

But from a literary perspective, R E Howard just wrote beautiful poetic sweeping tales (bloody, yes, but insanely well-written). You think he's a crap writer? That's your opinion; mine is that Howard was incredible.

I can't betry my love of Conan (and specifically Howard) by voting against him, but Elric--? Oh, that sword....those drugs...that anti-hero '70's androgyny.... (swoon)

So I choose neither. It's "unfair".

 

[Nightfall]

So I choose neither. It's "unfair".

Well that's a valid choice. Not sure it's a great one but valid.

 

[Mog Elffoe]

Ah, my mistake. Still, according to that definition, there are few (if any) non-hack authors who have been published. Shakespeare is a mere hack. Not only that, the connotations involved with the word imply that Howard did nothing original or had no skill, both of which are untrue.

REH was paid by the word back in those pulp days and had no problem recycling some stories by simply changing names and places and then selling them again. That sounds like a 'hack' to me.

I don't mind that though. He's one of my all-time favorites and I wish he'd stuck around a lot longer to write some more for us.

I vote Conan.

 

[Henry]

In truth, I do like Fafhrd and the Mouser better than Conan - but as Gary has said, Howard , Leiber and Vance were the three main inspirations for D&D's early "style," and that's why they plink my heart-strings like they do.


I never heard of that Conan #14 comic! I never followed the series until it was in the #50's or so. Anyone know what happened?

 

[Aaron L]

So, who won in the Marvel comic version? I gotta find that somewhere.

 

[buzzard]

I personally voted for Conan myself, but when it comes to Moorcock heroes, I prefer Corum anyway. Now there's a hero who constantly gets kicked in the teeth, but comes back for more. He doesn't even want to be a hero.

buzzard

 

[Soul]

Right. And the Wright brothers were just some guys playing with flight. And Henry Ford was just another automobile manufacturer. And Einstein was just another physicist.

Uh-huh.

Ok... I really don't want to derail this thread. So I ask for apologies in advance, and will say I'll let this topic die here. I was originaly going to write a lengthly post.. but its not really worth it. I will say you are woefully underestimating Dave Arneson's role, which it would seem most people do. Maybe I'm wrong in this, but I'll never understand why he is oft glossed over. I'll also point out that Forgotten Realms has really gone a long way to keep up the staying power of D&D, I think Ed deserves some credit for this too. Certaintly a lot is owed to Gary, without question. I was never debating his statement, only trying to say that sinces the first inspiration of D&D to its present state there have been so many people involved to make it what it is. Even original D&D doesn't resemble Conan's world much, even if that was the first inspiration. Some might say Star Trek had as much to do with it as Conan, but I wouldn't know. I wasn't there.