Hiero's Journey (Sterling E. Lanier) - Appendix N and Beyond!

Title: Hiero's Journey
Author: Sterling E. Lanier
Appendix N Status: Part of the original Appenix N list by Gary Gygax

     One of the books that was part of Gary Gygax's (in)famous "Apppendix N" in the original Dungeon Master's Guide, this book is not so much fantasy as sci-fi, or as the book itself proclaims, "A Romance of the Future." The story is set about 5000 years after a nuclear holocaust (which was probably supposed to have taken place in the late 20th century), in the northern parts of central and eastern North America that were once Canada (now "Kanda") and the United States. The protagonist (dare I say "hero?") of the tale is Hiero, a priest of the "Universal Church" (based on a survival of the Catholic Church, but having jettisoned celibacy) and a sort of ranger. Hiero is sent on a mission into the unknown wilderness on a mission for his church, accompanied by a sort of moose-horse mount called a morse (named "Klootz"). It may sound silly, but it is not.

     There are lots of great fantasy elements here that clearly informed early D&D - the hero, his mission into the wilds, exploration of dangerous wilderness and "dungeons" (ruins from before the nuclear holocaust known as "the Death"), dangerous monsters (mostly mutations spawned by radiation, including some sentient species), and so forth. Other particularly D&D type elements include:

* Psionics - not referred to as "psionics," but that is clearly what these mental disciplines are. And many of the descriptions of psionic combat sound like they informed D&D psionics.
* "Points of Light" - an old D&D element revived as a major theme in 4th edition D&D, the idea of civilization being rare, that civilized settlements are "points of light" in a vast wilderness of darkness.
* Ancient Wonders - one of the great themes of D&D is the exploration of "dungeons" and other ruins in search of ancient wonders and treasures, which necessitates an older time of civilization and glory that left behind such wonders. The post-apocalypse setting of this book provides a built-in justification for ancient wonders, of technology rather than magic.

      There are also some lesser possible influences, like the sentient psionic fungus realm of "the House," which reminded me strongly of some fungal menaces in D&D and of the demonic Zuggtmoy in the Temple of Elemental Evil.

     Overall, I found Hiero's Journey exceptionally readable and surprisingly enjoyable, and recommend it to all gamers, Old School or not, seeking inspiration in Appendix N. Enjoy!

The White Rose (Book 3 of the Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook) - Appendix N and Beyond

Title: The White Rose
Author: Glen Cook
Appendix N Status: Should have been . . .

     The third book of the Chronicles of the Black Company as narrated by the Annalist known as Croaker. This one ups the weird factor, perfect Appendix N stuff (if published a bit too late), set in a desert known as the Plain of Fear inhabited by strange sentient species, such as talking stone menhirs, flying whales and manta rays, walking trees, and more. The Black Company is hiding out on the plain, which centers on an ancient tree they call Father Tree, using the White Rose's power to nullify magic to stay hidden from the Lady and the Taken. Meanwhile, we also get the story of how that Lady was awakened from her ancient slumber, and how the ancient evil known as the Dominator was stirring, and so much more . . .

     I can't recommend the series enough for those who enjoy the kind of stories found in Appendix N. The Black Company books were published too late to make Gygax's original list, but the inspirational stuff found in these books is truly extraordinary.

 

Shadows Linger (Book 2 of The Black Company by Glen Cook) - Appendix N and Beyond

Title: Shadows Linger
Author: Glen Cook
Appendix N Status: Should have been . . .

     The second chronicle of the Black Company continues the story told by the Annalist known as Croaker, but also tells the story of a growing evil in the northern city of Juniper. Once again, though the Chronicles of the Black Company were published too late to be in the original Appendix N, I feel that they would have been worthy. There are some truly wonderful and creepy fantasy elements here, like a seed that grows into a black castle, a black castle that seems to grow by feeding on corpses, and when it gets big enough, it is going to form a gateway to unleash an ancient evil . . . great stuff for a fantasy RPG campaign!

Nuptials and Saturnalia

Well, as predicted, I was not able to post anything for the remainder of Saturnalia. But I did celebrate my nuptials on the 21st (the Winter Solstice), and I am now a very happily married man! Io Saturnalia! O Hymen o Hymenaee!

IO SATURNALIA! (Day 4)

IO SATURNALIA!

I write this on the 4th day of Saturnalia . . . I shall not write anything on the 5th day because my WEDDING will be on that day! Yay!

The image is from: http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/sat_cards.html

IO SATURNALIA! (Day 3)

IO SATURNALIA!

Today is the third day of Saturnalia! I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday!

Image from: http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/sat_cards.html

IO SATURNALIA! (Day 2)

IO SATURNALIA!

The second day of Saturnalia is here! I believe tonight we are having a feast . . .

Image taken from: http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/sat_cards.html

IO SATURNALIA!

IO SATURNALIA! Saturnalia begins today!
Image from: http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/sat_cards.html

Quote from "Shadows Linger" (2nd book of "The Chronicles of the Black Company" by Glen Cook)

"All men are born condemned, so the wise say. All suckle the breast of Death.

All bow before that Silent Monarch. That Lord in Shadow lifts a finger. A feather flutters to the earth. There is no reason in His song. The good go young. The wicked prosper. He is king of the Chaos Lords. His breath stills all souls.

We found a city dedicated to His worship, long ago, but so old now it has lost that dedication. The dark majesty of his godhead has frayed, been forgotten by all but those who stand in his shadow. But Juniper faced a more immediate fear, a specter from yesteryear leaking into the present upon a height overlooking the city. And because of that the Black Company went there, to that strange city far beyond the bounds of the Lady’s empire.… But this is not the beginning. In the beginning we were far away. Only two old friends and a handful of men we would meet later stood nose-to-nose with the shadow."

Cook, Glen (2007-11-13). Chronicles of the Black Company (p. 223). Tom Doherty Associates. Kindle Edition.

Practice (from "Turning Pro")

     In Steven Pressfield's Turning Pro, he discusses what it means to "turn pro" and have "the professional mindset as a practice." This is the core of what he means by "turning pro." Here are some relevant excerpts:

"What is a practice anyway?

To "have a practice" in yoga, say, or tai chi, or calligraphy, is to follow a rigorous, prescribed regimen with the intention of elevating the mind and the spirit to a higher level.

A practice implies engagement in a ritual. A practice may be defined as the dedicated , daily exercise of commitment, will, and focused intention aimed, on one level, at the achievement of mastery in a field but, on a loftier level, intended to produce a communion with a power greater than ourselves — call it whatever you like: God, mind, soul, Self, the Muse, the superconscious.

The following are aspects of any practice:"
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 108). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


A Practice Has A Space

"A practice has a space, and that space is sacred"


A Practice Has A Time

"The monks in their saffron robes mount the steps to the zendo at the same hour each morning. When the abbot strikes the chime, the monks place their palms together and sit.

You and I may have to operate in a more chaotic universe. But the object remains the same: to approach the mystery via order, commitment and passionate intention.

When we convene day upon day in the same space at the same time, a powerful energy builds up around us. This is the energy of our intention, of our dedication, of our commitment.

The goddess sees this energy and she rewards it."
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 110). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


A Practice Has An Intention

"When Stevie Wonder sits down in his studio at the piano, he's not there to mess around.

Stevie has come to work.
. . .
"Our intention as artists is to get better, to go deeper, to work closer and closer to the bone."
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 111). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


We Come To A Practice As Warriors

"The sword master stepping onto the fighting floor knows he will be facing powerful opponents. Not the physical adversaries whom he will fight ( though those indeed serve as stand-ins for the enemy). The real enemy is inside himself.

The monk in meditation knows this. So does the yogi. So do the film editor and the video-game creator and the software writer.

Each day we, as professionals, face the same monsters and chimeras as did Perseus or Bellerophon or St. George.

The sword master advancing into ritual combat has inwardly made peace with his own extinction. He is prepared to leave everything, including his life, there on the fighting floor."
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 112). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


We Come To A Practice In Humility

"We may bring intention and intensity to our practice (in fact we must), but not ego. Dedication, even ferocity, yes. But never arrogance.

The space of the practice is sacred. It belongs to the goddess. We take our shoes off before we enter. We press our palms together and we bow.

Do you understand how the mystery can be approached via order?"
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 113). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


We Come To  A Practice As Students

"Even the peerless sword master Miyamoto Musashi entered the fighting square to learn as much as to teach."
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 114). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]


A Practice Is Lifelong

"The Spartan king Agesilaus was still fighting in armor when he was eighty-two. Picasso was painting past ninety, and Henry Miller was chasing women (I'm sure Picasso was too) at eighty-nine.

Once we turn pro, we're like sharks who have tasted blood, or renunciants who have glimpsed the face of God. For us, there is no finish line. No bell ends the bout. Life is the pursuit. Life is the hunt. When our hearts burst... then we'll go out, and no sooner."
[Pressfield, Steven (2012-05-30). Turning Pro (p. 115). Black Irish Books. Kindle Edition.]

Tomorrow begins the Saturnalia!

Tomorrow begins SATURNALIA! This image comes from http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/Sat_cal12.html

The Black Company (Glen Cook) - Appendix N and Beyond

Title: The Black Company
Author: Glen Cook
Appendix N Status: Should have been . . .

     The second installment in my series of blog posts for "Appendix N and Beyond," my take on Appendix N books that were part of shaping D&D and the RPG hobby generally . . . or those that should have been. This is one of the "should have beens" . . . a book that was not an influence on Gygax nor listen in his Appendix N, but ought to have been (hence the " . . . and Beyond"). The only reason this book was not on the list, I am convinced, is because it was published too late . . . first published in 1984.

     The Black Company is a mercenary company, "last of the free companies of Khatovar" (though we are not told, initially, what exactly the significance of this phrase is), finding service where it can. The narrator of this first book is nicknamed "Croaker," the annalist of the Black Company as well as a medic (hence the name - most of the company members use some kind of nickname or code-name). The overall plot is about how the Black Company came into the service of an ancient power called The Lady, and her servants/allies called the Taken.

     Most of the story is very gritty, low fantasy, sword-and-sorcery-style fiction. There certainly is some high magic and high fantasy elements (The Lady, the Taken, and the ancient evil known only as the Dominator surely qualify as powerful magical elements), but the perspective is that of Croaker and the other common mercenary soldiers.

      Many of the aspects of the story seem similar to D&D and other fantasy RPGs - a world with swords and sorcery, a world in which warriors join a mercenary company to win gold and glory in service to great powers and patrons. These ideas would be right at home in the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG - regular folk leaving their ordinary lives behind to join a company (like an adventuring party), seeking gold and glory, and even the patrons (the Lady and the Taken would make excellent DCC RPG patrons) fit perfectly. There are even monsters, of a sort, though most of the adversaries seem human.

     I highly recommend The Black Company for those seeking gritty military sword-and-sorcery fantasy. The first several books, including The Black Company, are contained in a collection, The Chronicles of the Black Company. 

It's beginning to look a lot like Saturnalia (part 2)

From http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/sat_cards.html

The Shadow People (Margaret St.Clair) - Appendix N and Beyond

     In Gary Gygax's The Dungeon Master's Guide, one of the core rule books of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game (now generally referred to as 1st edition D&D), there was an appendix, Appendix N to be precise, which listed inspirational authors and books - that is, authors and books that were cited as direct inspirations to the Dungeons and Dragons game.

     Appendix N was a fascinating list, in many ways. It was reflective of the zeigeist of the 1970s and was far more reflective of so-called "weird fiction" than pure fantasy. I mean, yes, Tolkien is on the list, but so was H.P. Lovecraft. When people think of D&D today, they think, "Oh, like that Tolkien stuff!" They do not necessarily think of Lovecraft. Or Margaret St.Clair. For that reason (among many others), a lot of "old school" players of D&D (and related games) feel that the game has lost its way.

     Another interesting phenomenon is what is being called the "Old School Renaissance" - a rebirth of interest in the origins of the hobby. A lot of people are going "back to basics," and in many cases, that means an exploration of the Appendix N materials. Probably the single best outgrowth of this movement, in my view, is the Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game (DCC RPG). The creators of the DCC RPG really do have the sensibilities of the Appendix N literature deeply ingrained in them, and let those sensibilities drip from every page of their materials. It is good stuff, entertaining stuff, weird stuff . . . and I highly recommend it!

     I have been trying to get back to reading the Appendix N texts (and other texts with the same kind of flavor or resonance). This is not an easy hobby to undertake; many of the materials are now out of print or difficult to find. But I want to explore these kinds of books and write a bit about them in a project I am calling "Appendix N and Beyond" (because although my goal was inspired by Appendix N, I intend to go beyond the original list to look at books that did not exist at the time, but that I believe would be on the list if it were made today - like the "Black Company" books by Glen Cook).

     I started with Margaret St.Clair's 1969 novel The Shadow People. It is an odd work of weird fiction - part science fiction, part fantasy, an odd blend of ideas. It seems to be out of print, but I was able to find an old used copy that was in decent shape on Amazon. The Shadow People features a world not so different from the world in which it was written (the United States of America of 1969), though a bit darker and dystopian, and features extensive adventures in a secret underground world (referred to by the term "Underearth"), apparently a forerunner of the concept of the "Underdark" in Dungeons and Dragons lore.

     At this point I should mention that I have already found my project causes a bit of mental recursion. I am reading the books that inspired the oldest iterations of the game, and see the ideas reflected in the game concepts they inspired, which therefore become the ideas that most attract my notice, which causes me to focus on the game concepts they inspired, and so on . . .

So here are some of the ideas I find in The Shadow People that I find relevant to the RPG hobby:
* The Underdark (the "Underearth" in the novel)
* The Dark Elves (Drow) - there are people living in the "Underearth" - they are referred to as "elves," and behave much like drow in some respects. They once interbred with humans, and raid the surface for humans to consume as food (much like D&D drow raid for slaves). They have creatures referred to as 'orcs" and "ettins," though these are not directly seen in the novel
* An underground race of people living a life of constant hallucination (at least in part from consuming corn meal tainted with hallucinogenic fungus, called "atter-corn" in the novel) - this is essentially the plot of the module B4 - The Lost City, with its population of Cynideceans living underground in a constant dreamlike state of hallucinations.

* A long journey into the Underdark/"Underearth" which seems like it must have at least partially inspired modules D1-2 - Descent into the Depths of the Earth

* There is the idea of other planes of existence - called the "Macrocosmos" or "Overworld" in the novel - that seems to prefigure certain concepts of the planes in D&D
* There is an intelligent sword - referred to as the "Sword of Merlin" in the book - that seems to prefigure some of the rules for intelligent weapons in D&D

     There was probably more that I am not remembering or considering right now, but to me those were the salient influences. Anyway, if you're a fan of old-school D&D, and are looking for some enjoyable Appendix N reading, I definitely recommend it, especially if you don't insist on pure medieval fantasy. It has a very readable (and, I think, enjoyable) prose style, and is both a quick and easy read . . . if you can find it. Why is this no longer in print? Anyway, good luck, and happy gaming!

It's beginning to look a lot like Saturnalia . . .

The image and poem were taken from the "Saturnalia Advent Calendar" at http://lonestar.texas.net/~robison/Sat_cal12.html

Confusing Pain and Evil (Stoicism and Emotion)

On the matter of confusing pain with evil (from Margaret R. Graver's Stoicism and Emotion):

This alternative (and philosophically preferable) explanation is expressed in the passage just quoted, in connection with the confusion between pain and the destruction of our nature. Pain, says Cicero, is thought to be an evil both because of its sharpness and because it is seen to accompany (videtur sequi) destructions of our nature; i.e., instances of harm to our natural constitution." Being injured is not at all the same thing as being in pain, yet because pain does regularly accompany injury, it is easy for the undeveloped mind to assume that it is the pain itself that is to be avoided. Hence the difficulty of persuading a child to accept some necessary but painful medical treatment. With greater experience of the world, the child may come to realize that there are two object types to be kept straight, those which cause pain and those which harm the body, and to regard these things in different ways. Until then, the frequency with which these co-occur will be misleading. Likewise pleasure comes to be understood as a distinct object type from that which promotes health, and good or bad reputation as distinct from reputable or disreputable conduct. Even life itself-that is, the mere continuance of one's existence as an animate organism-is to be distinguished from a proper object, the preservation of one's natural state or (as we might say it) of one's wholeness as a person. A mature person does not necessarily believe that death is to be avoided at all costs.

Margaret R. Graver. Stoicism and Emotion (pp. 160-161). Kindle Edition.

Today's Stoic reading - Reflections of Stoic Ethics at Work

     My Stoic reading for today was an article in "The Stoic Philosopher: A Quarterly EJournal Published by the Marcus Aurelius School of the College of Stoic Philosophers." The article was entitled "Some Reflections about Stoic Ethics at Work." The title could potentially be misleading, by "at work," the author did not mean "in practice" (since every Stoic should be a practical rather than merely theoretical philosopher), but rather "in the workplace." Here is the link to the article by Manolo Trueba:

http://stoicscollege.com/PDF/eJournal07.pdf

     I found the article very interesting, especially in its emphasis on the Stoic as a part of multiple communities, including a work community. I tend to find that modern Stoics spend much more time thinking about themselves, their own emotional states, their own practice, and so forth, and not as much time thinking about this communal aspect of philosophical living. I think it's definitely worth thinking about!

Stoic Ween Evening Text for Reflection - Day 7

Evening Text for Reflection:

'I travel along Nature's Way until the day arrives for me to fall down and take my rest, yielding my last breath to the air from which I draw daily, falling onto that earth which gave my father his seed, my mother her blood...the earth which for so many years has fed and watered me day by day; the earth which bears me as I tread it under foot and which I make use of in a thousand ways.'

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.4.

Stoic Week Lunchtime Exercises (The View From Above) - Day 7

From the Stoic Week Handbook:

Today’s Lunchtime Exercise: The View from Above

On our final day we turn to think about our place within Nature as a whole:

A fine reflection from Plato. One who would converse about human beings should look on all things earthly as though from some point far above, upon herds, armies, and agriculture, marriages and divorces, births and deaths, the clamour of law courts, deserted wastes, alien peoples of every kind, festivals, lamentations, and markets, this intermixture of everything and ordered combination of opposites.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 7.48

The ‘View from Above’ is a guided visualization that is aimed at instilling a sense of the ‘bigger picture’, and of understanding your role in wider community of humankind. You can download a recording of the View from Above from the main Stoic Week 2013 page:

http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/stoic-week-2013/

Anyone who reads the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius is bound to notice a recurring theme that involves contemplating the vastness of the universe, of space and time, the multitude of stars, and also the smallness of life on Earth when viewed from above. The French scholar Pierre Hadot called the deliberate effort to mentally visualise human affairs from high overhead “The View from Above”, and he found references to it throughout ancient literature, particularly in Stoic writings.

In a sense, these passages invite us to think like an ancient natural philosopher and simply to contemplate cosmology, the nature of the universe as a whole, in a detached manner. However, the Stoics clearly believed that doing so had profound “therapeutic” value and, as Marcus put it, can purge us of our over-attachment to trivial things by expanding our minds beyond their habitual, narrow perspective. We’re less upset about things when we literally picture them as occurring in a tiny corner of the cosmos: as a grain of sand in cosmic space, and the mere turn of a screw in terms of cosmic time. Why should we picture things in this way? First of all, for the Stoics, totality is reality. It’s a form of self-deception to ignore the wider context and it helps create the illusion that the events we face are somehow more important than they actually are. Second, the ancient Stoics sought to emulate the divine, and the View from Above happens to be the perspective of Zeus. We can even think of it as the Olympian perspective, what Zeus might have been thought to see when looking down upon human affairs from high atop Mount Olympus. If that seems too mythological, then for a more philosophical theology, the perspective of Zeus was perhaps that of omniscience, contemplating the whole of space and time in a single timeless vision. Again, the Stoics and other ancient philosophers aspired to glimpse that vision, and thereby to step into the shoes of Zeus for a moment.

This exercise appears to weave together many different threads within Stoic philosophy. That’s something that may become clearer to you if you practice it regularly. You don’t need to listen to an elaborate guided meditation, though. Just reading the passages from Marcus Aurelius may be enough to inspire you to close your eyes and contemplate things from a more “cosmological” perspective, in this way. Don’t worry if you find it tricky to literally visualise the whole of space and time – that’s normal. Just picture things that evoke the concept for you symbolically. You could draw a circle on a piece of paper, symbolising the totality of space and time, and imagine your whole life as an infinitesimally tiny dot in the middle. The Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus, who was influenced by the Stoics to some extent, describes a contemplative exercise that involves visualising the whole of space and time as if encapsulated in a glass sphere, like a kind of cosmic snowglobe. Take your time. Allow these images to interact with your wider understanding of Stoic philosophy and practices. Try to take away some piece of learning or sense of change from each meditation of this kind.

Complete the Post-Week Questionnaires

As this is the final day, it is now time to complete the online scales that you filled in before the week, using the same name (email or pseudonym) as before.  Visit the main Stoic Week 2103 page for the links:

http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/stoicismtoday/stoic-week-2013/

Stoic Week Morning Text for Reflection - Day 7

Morning Text for Reflection:

The works of the gods are full of providence. The works of Fortune are not independent of Nature or the spinning and weaving together of the threads governed by Providence. All things flow from that world: and further factors are necessity and the benefit of the whole universe, of which you are a part. Now every part of nature benefits from that which is brought by the nature of the Whole and all which preserves that nature: and the order of the universe is preserved equally by the changes in the elements and changes in their compounds.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.3