D&D General Official Elric of Melniboné TTRPG coming from Goodman Games

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné is getting an official tabletop roleplaying game courtesy of Goodman Games. The game will be powered both by the D&D 5E game engine, as well as Goodman's in-house Dungeon Crawl Classics.

A whole line of products is planned, under the banner The Classic Era of Elric, and will be crowdfunded in 2027.

Elric of Melniboné is a classic sword and sorcery character dating back to the 1960s, featuring in a series of stories by Michael Moorcock. The titular character, a summoner, is physically weak and maintains his health using special herbs until he acquires Stormbringer, a magical sword which grnats him physical prowess, but which must feed on the souls of living beings.

 

[Imaro]

The pilot has a lot of pretty cringeworthy dialogue in this regard. Like @Staffan says, there's no evidence that the Independents/Browncoats were otherwise Confederacy analogues, but there's a lot of "yikes" dialogue.

Yeah I still think that's a far cry from painting the actual Confederacy as the heroes of your game.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I never associated the Independents with southern confederates though
...Im trying to understand what makes people draw that particular association.

The explicit "lost cause" discussions in the pilot episode mirror almost word for word a lot of the 20th century rhetoric about the Confederacy.

 

[Imaro]

The explicit "lost cause" discussions in the pilot episode mirror almost word for word a lot of the 20th century rhetoric about the Confederacy.

Well seeing as its Joss Whedon... color me not surprised.

 

[Gradine]

Whedon has explicitly said his inspiration was The Killer Angels which is a historical novel about the Civil War. The Independents and especially Mal make frequent references to The Lost Cause mythology, and that's when he's not just straight quoting their catch phrases ("I think we'll rise again!")

Again, I don't think that makes Firefly bad or the Confederation-apologia of the Broncosaurus Rex good necessarily, just that we were in a really weird place around about the Confederacy in the early 00's.

 

[Count_Zero]

Whedon has explicitly said his inspiration was The Killer Angels which is a historical novel about the Civil War. The Independents and especially Mal make frequent references to The Lost Cause mythology, and that's when he's not just straight quoting their catch phrases ("I think we'll rise again!")

Again, I don't think that makes Firefly bad or the Confederation-apologia of the Broncosaurus Rex good necessarily, just that we were in a really weird place around about the Confederacy in the early 00's.

Which is weird, because Michael Shaara (not his brother Jeff, who wrote the sequels), was not a fan of the Lost Cause, and wrote the book to crack some of the myths perpetuated by Lost Cause advocates, including Jubal Early (for example, the book lays the blame for Pickett's Charge firmly at the feet of Lee and states that it was avoidable; Longstreet is shown both as the voice of strategic wisdom and also as being anti-slavery, which ties in with him being a supporter of Reconstruction after the war; the other major perspective character is Col. Chamberlain, who was an abolitionist; etc.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Which is weird, because Michael Shaara (not his brother Jeff, who wrote the sequels), was not a fan of the Lost Cause, and wrote the book to crack some of the myths perpetuated by Lost Cause advocates, including Jubal Early (for example, the book lays the blame for Pickett's Charge firmly at the feet of Lee and states that it was avoidable; Longstreet is shown both as the voice of strategic wisdom and also as being anti-slavery, which ties in with him being a supporter of Reconstruction after the war; the other major perspective character is Col. Chamberlain, who was an abolitionist; etc.

Leaving aside his other issues, I think it's probably fair to say Whedon is kind of glib and surface-level in a lot of his works. (Dollhouse screams that no one actually thought about its central premise for 30 seconds before committing to the first season.) It's entirely possible he skimmed Killer Angels.

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

It is common for authors to take bits and pieces of things they've read and use it to make something new.
That's what lead to D&D.

Firefly was a fun show. When it comes to Joss Whedon, controversy is usually more about him being a 5-star A-hole to actresses behind the scenes than what he puts on screen.

 

[Imaro]

It is common for authors to take bits and pieces of things they've read and use it to make something new.
That's what lead to D&D.

Firefly was a fun show. When it comes to Joss Whedon, controversy is usually more about him being a 5-star A-hole to actresses behind the scenes than what he puts on screen.

Disagree.... just as an example... there are a whole contingent of Buffy/Angel fans that hated the weird storyline he wrote for Cordelia Chase... left a ton of fans with a bad taste in their mouths.

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

Disagree.... just as an example... there are a whole contingent of Buffy/Angel fans that hated the weird storyline he wrote for Cordelia Chase... left a ton of fans with a bad taste in their mouths.

I don't remember much of the Buffy stuff.

I mainly remember that he bullied Charisma Carpenter for being "fat." I can't remember if it was her or a different actress who said that he tried to pressure her into getting an abortion so she would stay thinner for a show. Gal Gadot also openly expressed not wanting to work with him. It was a reoccurring thing that actresses had issues with him. I don't think it was ever an Weinstein situation, but Whedon's behavior was bad enough that a lot of female stars expressed not wanting to work with him again.

 

[Imaro]

I don't remember much of the Buffy stuff.

I mainly remember that he bullied Charisma Carpenter for being "fat." I can't remember if it was her or a different actress who said that he tried to pressure her into getting an abortion so she would stay thinner for a show. Gal Gadot also openly expressed not wanting to work with him. It was a reoccurring thing that actresses had issues with him. I don't think it was ever an Weinstein situation, but Whedon's behavior was bad enough that a lot of female stars expressed not wanting to work with him again.

I'm saying fans have issues with both...