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.