Clark Ashton Smith, Ursula LeGuin, Gene Wolf

[Mighty Darci]

Oct 19, 2016 0:00:58 GMT -5 monk said:

I really like Clark Ashton Smith, particularly the Hyperborea and Zothique stories, as well as the Earthsea books by LeGuin. Neither made it into appendix N, but they're both in the Inspirational Source Material in Moldvay's Basic. CAS is probably why I don't have Clerics in my campaign, but do have Thieves.



Gene Wolf's New Sun books were a huge inspiration to me when I began running my megacity/megadungeon campaign. The factions and descriptions of life amongst the ruins are great.

monk, will you tell me more about these three authors and their books along with more about how they have inspired your campaign?

[Crimhthan The Great]

Mighty Darci while you are waiting for monk to login and see your question, you can check these links: Clark Ashton Smith; Ursula K. Le Guin and Gene Wolfe.

[monk]

Sorry for the slow response...brutal week at work.

For me, The Wizard of Earthsea provides a fascinating example of a pretty btb magic user. The way she describes spell books and the various power levels of spells, how magic users function in a village or society, etc. is really refreshing. I've often been tempted to modify the MU into something more like the summoners you read in Howard's stories, but LeGuin's portrait of an MU makes me love the btb version. (There's totally room for a Howardian summoner in D&D, too, btw, but it doesn't need to replace the classic MU, imo).

As for CAS, the kinds of capers that form the basis of stories like The 39 Girdles make Thieves seem like a great character class, despite all the problems with it mechanically. It fits with the idea of PCs trying to steal treasure without getting near the monster, which I dig. CAS absolutely exudes flavor, too. His description of magic users, tombs, caves, etc. are so inspirational.

I read Gene Wolfe at a time when I was really starting to embrace my weird campaign, with its ancient tech and honeycombed ruins throughout and below a huge city. I didn't know how I was going to pull off my vision in a campaign, but then saw how he introduced a reader to a very similar setting, so alien and yet familiar. His method of immersing the reader in the setting without giving you the big picture, letting the images collect in your mind and form something strange and new, is a perfect example of how to present a strange campaign world, in my opinion.

[robkuntz]

Oct 19, 2016 7:23:49 GMT -5 Mighty Darci said:

Oct 19, 2016 0:00:58 GMT -5 monk said:

I really like Clark Ashton Smith, particularly the Hyperborea and Zothique stories, as well as the Earthsea books by LeGuin. Neither made it into appendix N, but they're both in the Inspirational Source Material in Moldvay's Basic. CAS is probably why I don't have Clerics in my campaign, but do have Thieves.



Gene Wolf's New Sun books were a huge inspiration to me when I began running my megacity/megadungeon campaign. The factions and descriptions of life amongst the ruins are great.

monk , will you tell me more about these three authors and their books along with more about how they have inspired your campaign?

The best one for Smith who just happens to be my favorite fantasy author:  www.eldritchdark.com/

"Tell me many tales, O benign maleficent daemon, but tell me none that I have ever heard or have even dreamt of otherwise than obscurely or infrequently. Nay, tell me not of anything that lies within the bourne of time or the limits of space; for I am a little weary of all recorded years and chartered lands."

"Tell me many tales, but let them be of things that are past the lore of legend and of which there are no myths in our world or any world adjoining. . . .
"Tell me tales of inconceivable fear and unimaginable love, in orbs whereto our sun is a nameless star or unto which its rays have never reached."

To the Daemon, A prose Poem by Clark Ashton Smith

[robkuntz]

Another fine link/article on Smith from fiction and game perspectives: in-the-cities.com/2013/08/26/clark-ashton-smith/