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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deuce Traveler" data-source="post: 6046517" data-attributes="member: 34958">Appendix N- 1. The Elric Saga, Intelligent Weapons and Chaos vs OrderWelcome to the first installment of Appendix N, where I take a look at the literature that influenced some of our favorite roleplaying games and comment upon their gaming legacy, evocativeness and utility for today’s game masters. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock is as good a place to start as any, as it is referenced as an influence by Gary Gygax and other roleplaying game creators. The character of Elric was written as an inverted Conan. Where Robert E. Howard’s famous barbarian was strong and suspicious of magic, Elric was physically weak and a renowned wizard. Where Conan trusted in his strength and instincts, Elric suffered from self-doubt and was dependent upon his cursed blade, Stormbringer. Conan has many heroic adventures which results in him eventually becoming a king. Elric starts his saga as a king, but loses his kingdom, loved ones and allies over the course of his legend. Moorcock alludes to Elric’s doomed fate from the beginning, so it is no surprise that the former king’s ending is not a happy one. However, how Elric handles his knowingly doomed journey makes the tale a good one.Elric and his intelligent blade, Stormbringer, had a strong lasting impression upon roleplaying games. Gary Gygax highlighted the Elric tales as inspirations for Dungeons and Dragons, and this becomes obvious when reviewing his rules for intelligent magical weapons. A player character may enjoy possessing an intelligent weapon, as such weapons often have special powers and knowledge. However, the weapon itself may have an agenda that causes conflict between itself and the player. An intelligent weapon can drive a campaign, first in learning about its history and powers, and then as the character and weapon resolve their conflicts. The sword from Dungeons and Dragons lore, Blackrazor, was adopted from Elric’s Stormbringer. Stormbringer was also adopted in computer roleplaying games, such as when Ultima 7 introduced the Black Sword.The conflict between chaos and order was also influenced from the Elric saga, though Dungeons and Dragons fans seemed to miss the purpose and confuse it for a subset of the Christian-based view of good versus evil. Moorcock is a British writer, and was writing on the quite British concept balancing civilization and order against individuality and anarchy. Moorcock’s contemporary, Alan Moore, handled this question in V for Vendetta through a societal conflict between anarchy and a police state. In Elric’s world, chaos and order are manifested physically by two sets of conflicting alien gods vying to control the multiverse. If either side completely won then either chaos or order would make the multiverse comfortable for their own existence, though mankind would not survive in either condition. The gods of chaos and order have little fondness for humans, helping their followers only when it benefits them. For these gods, humans are little more than tools to employ in their ever-flowing war. In early Dungeons and Dragons the forces of chaos and order were at utilized to show the team good versus team bad. Later iterations of the game handled the struggle of law versus chaos more akin to a lifestyle choice, such as the civilized life exemplified by a paladin, and the wilderness life exemplified by the barbarian. This was likely because the pantheons of Dungeons and Dragons were more based more on Greek, Roman, and Christian religions. Moorcock’s gods and the cultures they inspire are quite alien to us.For me, the Elric saga has great utility for the typical game master, but I would only pull pieces from it and not base an entire campaign in Elric’s world. Most obvious would be the use of intelligent magical items with their own agenda, creating situations where characters wouldn’t always be so ready to fire off with their strongest tools for fear of potential repercussions. And it’s not just magical items that operate in this fashion. The dragons that Elric’s kingdom depends upon are nearly invincible, but must rest for years after each use in war. Some of the potions that Elric depends upon also have their limitations. Elric can summon animals and elementals, but these are because of bonded contracts that he may use up, unable to summon such types again unless the contracts are renewed through service and good faith.As a game master, I would not run a campaign in Elric’s world and adopt the magic system, religion and backdrop whole cloth. The conflict between order and chaos is too involved, resulting in great literature, but I would be concerned about limiting character’s choices in the game. Elric and his world may be doomed, but I would not want to run a campaign where my player characters cannot prevent the same fate. Others do not share my view, however. Chaosium published an RPG called Stormbringer set in Elric’s young kingdoms, and it has been successful enough to warrant modern d20 and RuneQuest conversions. Warhammer Fantasy RPG adopts an alignment system that also incorporates law and chaos, and its fantasy lore dealing with the encroachment of chaos forces is better suited to Elric’s world than Dungeons and Dragons. In fact, I would say that Moorcock influenced Warhammer to a similar extent that Tolkien influenced Dungeons and Dragons. The more recent DCC RPG also handles the idea of alien, fickle gods that followers cannot always depend upon as an integral part of its cleric system.I strongly suggest that fantasy game masters read the Elric tales in their entirety. The tales are written well enough, though some of the imagery evoked seems that it belongs painted on metal band album covers from the 1970s or done by Bron. Metal is indeed how I would describe Elric, his evil sword, decadent elven culture and dragon armor. Some of the writing I could do without, such as in the later part of the exiled king’s career when Elric and Stormbringer take down hordes of swordsmen in a mere two pages of writing. But when it comes to the conflict between Elric and Stormbringer, there are evocative moments that embed themselves into the reader’s memory:“He drew a great, sobbing breath and, blind misgiving influencing him, threw the sword into the moon-drenched sea.Incredibly, it did not sink. It did not even float on the water. It fell point forwards into the sea and stuck there, quivering, as it were embedded in timber. It remained throbbing in the water, six inches of its blade immersed, and began to give off a weird devil scream- a howl of horrible malevolence.”As both a reader and a game master, I love this passage. Needless to say, Elric is unable to let Stormbringer go as his strength fades to that of a child without the parasitic blade. He has a choice between dying as a frail beggar in a cold alley or to continue with Stormbringer in the illogical hope that he may win the battle between the two and regain his independence. What would your players do given such a choice? What would any of us do in reality?May the Dice Be Forever in Your Favor,Deuce TravelerNext up: Vancian Magic and the Dying Earth followed by The John Grimes Series and Traveller’s Character Creation</blockquote>

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