"Rex Populi Lux Animusque"

     My reading from Brevissima today is #94, to which has been appended the title, "Rex Populi Lux Animusque," from Adagiorum Maxime Vulgarium Thesaurus (1730). The theme is the glorification of the monarch, a theme distasteful to me (to say the very least); indeed, it is hard to imagine a more un-Roman or un-American theme for a poem. The Latin text is as follows:

Quod sol in mundo, cor quodque in corpore, rex est

In regno, populi lux animusque sui.

Which I render in English:

What the sun is in the world, and what the heart is in the body, the king is

In his kingdom, the light and soul of his people. 

What a sentiment to find in the tongue that gave the world the word "republic!" 

"Parum Habere Cum Honore"

Today's reading from Brevissima was #90, to which the editor has appended the title "Parum Habere Cum Honore" - I like this one! It rather reflects my own philosophy, I think. It is an elegiac couplet from Anton Moker's (1540-1605) Decalogus Metricus:

Praestat habere parum, vero nec honore carere,

Quam sine honore bono multa tenere bona.

Roughly translated into English:

It is preferable to have little, and to not be lacking in true honor,

Than to have many goods without good honor.

     It is extremely difficult to do this one justice - my rough translation makes it sound horribly awkward, and the original Latin is not nearly so awkward, really. But though words are used in different senses, and might better be translated with different words, I wanted to make clear the repetition of the same vocabulary in the Latin in different senses (like moral "good" compared to possessions - "goods"). 

Waiting for the Barbarians

Well, another presidential election come and gone, and the United States of America has a new President-Elect . . . Donald Trump. And the Republican party retained control of the Senate and House of Representatives. And this gives them the Supreme Court. The Republican Party was just handed all the keys to the kingdom, and will be given free reign to implement all the ideas that they've been saying will make America great again, make it the best country on Earth, make it Paradise. And I wish them well, in a sense - it would be great if they actually did make things better, harming no one in the process. Not bloody likely, but it would be great. They're out of excuses, though. No one left to blame. They hold all the cards - can't claim they didn't succeed because the Democrats stopped them. We better have the Utopia they promised, because there are no longer any excuses to hide behind. Unless, of course, they start to scapegoat those "undesirables" that Trump targeted in his campaign. Ask Germany, they saw that happen once, in the 1930s . . . the list of "undesirables" is almost identical, too . . .

Anyway, having no one left to blame if the Republican party is not 100% successful reminds me of a poem by Constantine Cavafy called "Waiting for the Barbarians". On several levels. After all, from now until Inauguration Day in January, Obama, arguably one of the most civilized presidents in recent history, will be waiting to hand over power to the barbarians (Trump and his cronies). On another level, the Republicans are left in the position of the Romans (never so named - Romaioi rather than Romani, anyway) in the poem. What will they do without the barbarian Democrats? Those people were some kind of solution . . . Anyway. You don't need to read Modern Greek, I'll post a translation (not mine):

What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum?             The barbarians are due here today. Why isn’t anything happening in the senate? Why do the senators sit there without legislating?             Because the barbarians are coming today.             What laws can the senators make now?             Once the barbarians are here, they’ll do the legislating. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting at the city’s main gate on his throne, in state, wearing the crown?             Because the barbarians are coming today             and the emperor is waiting to receive their leader.             He has even prepared a scroll to give him,             replete with titles, with imposing names. Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold?             Because the barbarians are coming today             and things like that dazzle the barbarians. Why don’t our distinguished orators come forward as usual to make their speeches, say what they have to say?             Because the barbarians are coming today             and they’re bored by rhetoric and public speaking. Why this sudden restlessness, this confusion? (How serious people’s faces have become.) Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly, everyone going home so lost in thought?             Because night has fallen and the barbarians have not come.             And some who have just returned from the border say             there are no barbarians any longer. And now, what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? They were, those people, a kind of solution.

Translated by Edmund Keeley/Philip Sherrard

— Τι περιμένουμε στην αγορά συναθροισμένοι;         Είναι οι βάρβαροι να φθάσουν σήμερα. — Γιατί μέσα στην Σύγκλητο μια τέτοια απραξία;   Τι κάθοντ’ οι Συγκλητικοί και δεν νομοθετούνε;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.         Τι νόμους πια θα κάμουν οι Συγκλητικοί;         Οι βάρβαροι σαν έλθουν θα νομοθετήσουν. —Γιατί ο αυτοκράτωρ μας τόσο πρωί σηκώθη,  και κάθεται στης πόλεως την πιο μεγάλη πύλη  στον θρόνο επάνω, επίσημος, φορώντας την κορώνα;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα.         Κι ο αυτοκράτωρ περιμένει να δεχθεί         τον αρχηγό τους. Μάλιστα ετοίμασε         για να τον δώσει μια περγαμηνή. Εκεί         τον έγραψε τίτλους πολλούς κι ονόματα. — Γιατί οι δυο μας ύπατοι κ’ οι πραίτορες εβγήκαν  σήμερα με τες κόκκινες, τες κεντημένες τόγες·  γιατί βραχιόλια φόρεσαν με τόσους αμεθύστους,  και δαχτυλίδια με λαμπρά, γυαλιστερά σμαράγδια·  γιατί να πιάσουν σήμερα πολύτιμα μπαστούνια  μ’ ασήμια και μαλάματα έκτακτα σκαλιγμένα;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·         και τέτοια πράγματα θαμπώνουν τους βαρβάρους. —Γιατί κ’ οι άξιοι ρήτορες δεν έρχονται σαν πάντα  να βγάλουνε τους λόγους τους, να πούνε τα δικά τους;         Γιατί οι βάρβαροι θα φθάσουν σήμερα·         κι αυτοί βαρυούντ’ ευφράδειες και δημηγορίες. — Γιατί ν’ αρχίσει μονομιάς αυτή η ανησυχία  κ’ η σύγχυσις. (Τα πρόσωπα τι σοβαρά που εγίναν).  Γιατί αδειάζουν γρήγορα οι δρόμοι κ’ η πλατέες,  κι όλοι γυρνούν στα σπίτια τους πολύ συλλογισμένοι;         Γιατί ενύχτωσε κ’ οι βάρβαροι δεν ήλθαν.         Και μερικοί έφθασαν απ’ τα σύνορα,         και είπανε πως βάρβαροι πια δεν υπάρχουν.                                __  Και τώρα τι θα γένουμε χωρίς βαρβάρους.  Οι άνθρωποι αυτοί ήσαν μια κάποια λύσις.

(Από τα Ποιήματα 1897-1933, Ίκαρος 1984)

Sunday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

"I travel along nature’s way until I fall down and take my rest, breathing out my last into
the air, from which I draw my daily breath, and falling down to that earth from which
my father drew his seed, my mother her blood and my nurse her milk, and from which
for so many years I have taken my daily food and drink, the earth which carries my
footsteps and which I have used to the full in so many ways."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.4

Sunday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

"The works of the gods are full of providence, and the works of fortune are not
separate from nature or the interweaving and intertwining of the things governed by
providence. Everything flows from there. Further factors are necessity and the benefit
of the whole universe, of which you are a part. What is brought by the nature of the
whole and what maintains that nature is good for each part of nature. Just as the
changes in the elements maintain the universe so too do the changes in the
compounds."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.3

Saturday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

"At every hour give your full concentration, as a Roman and a man, to carrying out the
task in hand with a scrupulous and unaffected dignity and affectionate concern for
others and freedom and justice, and give yourself space from other concerns. You will
give yourself this if you carry out each act as if it were the last of your life, freed from
all randomness and passionate deviation from the rule of reason and from pretense
and self-love and dissatisfaction with what has been allotted to you. You see how few
things you need to master to be able to live a smoothly flowing life: the gods will ask
no more from someone who maintains these principles."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.5

Saturday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

"Be like the headland on which the waves break constantly, which still stands firm
while the foaming waters are put to rest around it. ‘It is my bad luck that this has
happened to me!’ On the contrary, say, ‘It is my good luck that, although this has
happened to me, I can bear it without getting upset, neither crushed by the present
nor afraid of the future'."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.49

Friday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

I didn't get to post this last night because I was in the hospital (AGAIN!). Talk about a test of Stoic resilience! Anyway, here was last night's text for reflection:

"One type of person, whenever he does someone else a good turn, is quick in
calculating the favor done to him. Another is not so quick to do this; but in himself he
thinks about the other person as owing him something and is conscious of what he
has done. A third is in a sense not even conscious of what he has done, but is like a
vine which has produced grapes and looks for nothing more once it has produced its
own fruit, like a horse which has run a race, a dog which has followed the scent, or a
bee which has made its honey. A person who has done something good does not
make a big fuss about it, but goes on to the next action, as a vine goes on to produce
grapes again in season. So you should be one of those who do this without in a sense
being aware of doing so."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.6

Friday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

This one is actually part of my morning meditation every single day, so it was nice to see it show up in the Stoic Week 2016 Handbook!

"Say to yourself first thing in the morning: I shall meet with people who are meddling,
ungrateful, violent, treacherous, envious, and unsociable. They are subject to these
faults because of their ignorance of what is good and bad. But I have recognized the
nature of the good and seen that it is the right, and the nature of the bad and seen
that it is the wrong, and the nature of the wrongdoer himself, and seen that he is
related to me, not because he has the same blood or seed, but because he shares in
the same mind and portion of divinity. So I cannot be harmed by any of them, as no
one will involve me in what is wrong. Nor can I be angry with my relative or hate him.
We were born for cooperation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of upper
and lower teeth. So to work against each other is contrary to nature; and resentment
and rejection count as working against someone."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 2.1

Thursday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

"Every habit and faculty is formed or strengthened by the corresponding act – walking
makes you walk better, running makes you a better runner. If you want to be literate,
read, if you want to be a painter, paint. Go a month without reading, occupied with
something else, and you’ll see what the result is. And if you’re laid up a mere ten
days, when you get up and try to talk any distance, you’ll find your legs barely able to
support you. So if you like doing something, do it regularly; if you don’t like doing
something, make a habit of doing something different. The same goes for the affairs
of the mind… So if you don’t want to be hot-tempered, don’t feed your temper, or
multiply incidents of anger. Suppress the first impulse to be angry, then begin to count
the days on which you don’t get angry. ‘I used to be angry every day, then only every
other day, then every third…’ If you resist it a whole month, offer God a sacrifice,
because the vice begins to weaken from day one, until it is wiped out altogether. ‘I
didn’t lose my temper this day, or the next, and not for two, then three months in
succession.’ If you can say that, you are now in excellent health, believe me."

 – Epictetus, Discourses, 2.18

Thursday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

"If you find anything in human life better than justice, truthfulness, self-control,
courage… turn to it with all your heart and enjoy the supreme good that you have
found… but if you find all other things to be trivial and valueless in comparison with
virtue give no room to anything else, since once you turn towards that and divert from
your proper path, you will no longer be able without inner conflict to give the highest
honor to that which is properly good. It is not right to set up as a rival to the rational
and social good [virtue] anything alien its nature, such as the praise of the many or
positions of power, wealth or enjoyment of pleasures."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 3.6

Wednesday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

"Get rid of the judgement and you have got rid of the idea. ‘I have been harmed’; get
rid of the idea, ‘I have been harmed’, and you have got rid of the harm itself."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.7

Wednesday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

"People look for retreats for themselves, in the country, by the coast, or in the hills; and
you too are especially inclined to feel this desire. But this is altogether unphilosophical,
when it is possible for you to retreat into yourself at any time you want.
There is nowhere that a person can find a more peaceful and trouble-free retreat than
in his own mind, especially if he has within himself the kind of thoughts that let him dip
into them and so at once gain complete ease of mind; and by ease of mind, I mean
nothing but having one’s own mind in good order. So constantly give yourself this
retreat and renew yourself. You should have to hand concise and fundamental
principles, which will be enough, as soon as you encounter them, to cleanse you from
all distress and send you back without resentment at the activities to which you return."

– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.3.1-3

Tuesday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

"Try to persuade them; and act even against their will, whenever the principle of justice
leads you to do so. But if someone uses force to resist you, change your approach to
accepting it and not being hurt, and use the setback to express another virtue.
Remember too that your motive was formed with reservation and that you were not
aiming at the impossible. At what then? A motive formed with reservation. But you
have achieved this; what we proposed to ourselves is actually happening."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.50

"De Munere"

     My reading from Brevissima today was the rather cynical couplet titled "De Munere" by the editor (#84), from Michaelis Verinus (c. 1469-c.1487), Disticha:

Quid non argento, quid non corrumpitur auro?

Qui maiora dabit munera, victor erit.

Roughly, in English:

What is not corrupted by silver, by gold?

He who gives the greater gifts, he will be the winner. 

Like I said, rather cynical!

Tuesday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

"Early in the morning, when you are finding it hard to wake up, hold this thought in your
mind: ‘I am getting up to do the work of a human being. Do I still resent it, if I am
going out to do what I was born for and for which I was brought into the world? Or
was I framed for this, to lie under the bedclothes and keep myself warm?’ ‘But this is
more pleasant’. So were you born for pleasure: in general were you born for feeling or
for affection? Don’t you see the plants, the little sparrows, the ants, the spiders, the
bees doing their own work, and playing their part in making up an ordered world. And
then are you unwilling to do the work of a human being? Won’t you run to do what is
in line with your nature?"

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 5.1

Monday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016

Monday Evening Text for Reflection for Stoic Week 2016:

"Let us go to our sleep with joy and gladness; let us say ‘I have lived; the course which Fortune set for me is finished.’ And if God is pleased to add another day, we should welcome it with glad hearts. That man is happiest, and is secure in his own possession of himself, who can await the morrow without apprehension. When a man has said: ‘I have lived!’, every morning he arises he receives a bonus."

 – Seneca, Letters, 12.9

Monday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016

Monday Morning Meditation for Stoic Week 2016:

"From Maximus [I have learnt the importance of these things]: to be master of oneself and not carried this way and that; to be cheerful under all circumstances, including illness; a character with a harmonious blend of gentleness and dignity; readiness to tackle the task in hand without complaint; the confidence everyone had that whatever he said he meant and whatever he did was not done with bad intent; never to be astonished or panic-stricken, and never to be hurried or to hang back or be at a loss or downcast or cringing or on the other hand angry or suspicious; to be ready to help or forgive, and to be truthful; to give the impression of someone whose character is naturally upright rather than having undergone correction; the fact that no-one could have thought that Maximus looked down on him, or could have presumed to suppose that he was better than Maximus; and to have great personal charm."

 – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 1.14

"Quae Scis, Non Dicas"

     I try to read a little Latin every day. I try to include a little prose and a little poetry. At the moment, my prose comes from Quintilian, while my Latin consists of couplets from the collection Brevissima collected and edited by Laura Gibbs. Today's Latin couplet is a piece from Anton Moker's (1540-1605) Decalogus Metricus to which Laura Gibbs attached the title "Quae Scis, Non Dicas" -

Quae scis, non semper dicas; dixisse nocebit:

Scire licet, sed non dicere scita licet.

Roughly:

You should not always say what you know; it will harm you to have spoken:

It is permitted to know some things, but it is not permitted to say what you know. 

I really liked this one. The scansion is simple, the Latin is very clear and direct, and it is the type of gnomic wisdom that sounds good both in Latin and in translation. 

Today's Latin Reading From Quintilian, "Institutio Oratoria" 1.1

     I have begin reading Marcus Fabius Quintilianus' ("Quintilian's," in the more familiar English form) Institutio Oratoria, "The Orator's Education," as an especially relevant author and work as I am, at the moment, engaged in raising a two-year-old and a newborn, in addition to my two teenage stepsons (and I have been an educator for about 18 years now). Quintilian's work is especially interesting because although it is meant to be a guide to raising and teaching an "orator," the hidden assumption is that all citizens of a certain class are to be "orators," that it is simply the education that all well-educated citizens have, rather than a certain subset or profession. Many of the remarks are therefore general remarks on raising children. 

     I reproduce the first paragraph of the first chapter here in its entirety:

     Igitur nato filio pater spem de illo primum quam optimam capiat: ita diligentior a principiis fiet. Falsa enim est querela, paucissimis hominibus vim percipiendi quae tradantur esse concessam, plerosque vero laborem ac tempora tarditate ingenii perdere. Nam contra plures reperias et faciles in excogitando et ad discendum promptos. Quippe id est homini naturale, ac sicut aves ad volatum, equi ad cursum, ad saevitiam ferae gignuntur, ita nobis propria est mentis agitando atque sollertia: unde origo animi caelestis creditur. Hebetes vero et indociles non magis secundum naturam hominis eduntur quam prodigiosa corpora et monstris insignia (sed hi pauci admodum fuerunt). Argumentum, quod in pueris elucet spes plurimorum: quae cum emorietur aetate, manifestum est non naturam defescisse sed curam. 'Praestat tamen ingenio alius alium.' Concedo; sed plus efficiet aut minus: nemo reperitur qui sit studio nihil consecutus Hoc qui perviderit, protinus ut erit parens factus, acrem quam maxime datur curam spei futuri oratoris inpendat. 

Roughly in English:

     "As soon as his son is born, then, a father should take up the highest possible expectation concerning him: thus the father will be more diligent about his son from the beginning. For it is a false complaint that the power of understanding all that is taught to them is granted to only the smallest number of human beings, and that most by their slowness of wit truly waste the time and trouble spent teaching them. For on the contrary, you would find many more are easy in their reasoning and prompt in their learning. Indeed, this is natural to a human being, just as birds are to flying, horses to running, and wild beasts to ferocity, so for us the exercise of the mind and resourcefulness: thus the origin of the human soul is believed to be divine. Truly, the dull and unteachable are no more natural products of human nature than are prodigious bodies and those marked as monsters (but these have always been few). The proof, that the hope of many achievements shines forth in children: and when it dies away with age, this is manifestly the failure not of nature but of care. 'But one displays more inborn talent than another!" I concede this; but while one will achieve more or less, no one is found who achieves nothing by their efforts. The parent who entirely understands this, then, must give the matter the keenest possible attention as soon as they become a parent, that they foster the promise of the future orator [and as I remarked above, for "orator" I feel one can simply read "informed and active citizen" for purposes of our common understanding]."

On Fatherhood, from Terence's "The Brothers"

     Yesterday, I was late in doing my daily Latin reading, so I picked up my Loeb Classical Library Reader at the end of the day and flipped it open past the Greek selections to the first Latin selection, a bit from "The Brothers" by Publius Terentius Afer (better known in English as "Terence"). The selection includes the following in a speech from the character Micio:

hoc patriumst, potius consuefacere filium

sua sponte recte facere quam alieno metu:

hoc pater et dominus interest. hoc qui nequit,

fateatur necire imperare liberis.

Roughly in English, this is :

"It is the task of fathers to make a son accustomed

to act rightly of his own accord, rather than by external fear:

That is the difference between a father and a master. He who denies this

Should admit that he does not know how to manage children."

     As I am both a stepfather and a foster father, and at the moment I am father to no less than four boys, this struck me as quite relevant, and a nice passage to find through random happenstance. 

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D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 30 (a day late and a gold piece short, as usual!)

Day 30 - Best DM You've Had

     Usually in my groups I am the DM; it is rare that I have had the chance to play. And I'm OK with that; I much prefer running the games to playing them, on the whole. I think the best DM I ever played with was Bob Bitgood. The man was a hard-ass; he used to say, "If you guys played with me, all your characters would die!" and we laughed it off, saying, "Yeah, that sounds like fun!" and "Great incentive!", or "Walk into the dungeon and the roof collapses, all die!" Yeah. Then we played. He ran us through Tomb of Horrors with an "all-star" team of our best AD&D 2nd Edition Characters. It was a blast; only a handful of characters made it out alive. In fact, the first dungeon we entered did collapse and nearly kill everyone - WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!?!? We were. We could not stop laughing. It was an awesome time. I don't talk to Bob much anymore, but wherever you are sir, I salute you!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 29

Day 29: What number you always seem to roll on d20?

Natural one. Seriously. I have a lack for rolling ones.

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Days 23-28

     So, my computer was broken for almost a week (and there's not much hope it'll keep working for long), but I wanted to catch up on this:

Day 23: Least Favorite Monster Overall

In earlier editions, this would have been easy. Once upon a time I would have said "vampire" . . . in 1st edition, if it even hit you, it drained 2 levels. You would go into an encounter at a high enough level to defeat the vampire, theoretically, and after a couple of rounds, you would be a low enough level and know you were doomed. Nowadays, I don't have a least favorite.


Day 24: Favorite Energy Type

Kill it with fire!


Day 25: Favorite Magic Item

I used to really love some of the staves - like the Staff of the Magi or Staff of Power. Those were cool!


Day 26: Favorite Nonmagic Item

Ummmm . . . rope?


Day 27: A Character You Want To Play In The Future

A specific character or a type? Hmm. I wanna play a warlock! Warlocks seem cool!


Day 28: A Character You Will Never Play Again

A specific character or a type? Hmm. I never say never.

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 22

Day 22: Favorite Monster Overall

It probably doesn't show in my current campaigns, but the Lich is probably my favorite monster overall. Extremely powerful, great "master villains" who can send minions after the PCs, difficult to kill (you can destroy them, but unless you get the phylactery, they'll be back!), extremely customizable (as collectors of magic items and spells, Liches could reasonably have any powers the DM wants, whether from items or spells) . . . I haven't had a party directly encounter a Lich in years, but there are some lurking in the background of current campaigns . . .

Not at all the intent of the question, but the most common "monster" in my campaigns are humans and demihumans! Human beings are their own worst enemies, much of the time! And when the villain is a powerful and high-ranking member of the same society as the PCs, they can't simply rush in with swords swinging and spells blazing like they can with a dragon or lich or what have you. They need to win social victories!

Countdown Reminder! 

My novel, The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper, is still on Kindle Countdown Sale until Sunday! Right now it is just $1.99! Get it now, before the sale ends!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 21

Day 21: Favorite Dragon Color/Type

Call me a traditionalist, but I still love the classic red fire-breathing dragon!

Kindle Countdown Update!

     My novel The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper is still on Kindle Countdown Sale until Sunday! Right now you can get it for just $1.99!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 20

Day 20: Favorite Monster (Humanoid/Natural/Fey)

That's a pretty big category! Probably Dryads. I don't know why. Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by the idea of tree-spirits, the animistic notion that everything that exists has its own minor god or spirit, including trees. And I grew up in forests. So . . . yeah. Dryads have always been a favorite.

Kindle Countdown Continues!

My fantasy novel, The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper, is on Kindle Countdown Sale. As I write this, it is still just $0.99, but in a few hours it goes up to $1.99! Get it while it's cheap! Epic Norse swords-and-sorcery fantasy with vikings, shieldmaidens, runecasters, and dragons! Happy Reading! Skál!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 19

Day 19: Favorite Monster (Elemental/Plant)

I can't have a favorite elemental, unless it is a category thereof - the Princes of Elemental Evil! First introduced in the original Fiend Folio, I loved that there were these bizarre evil elemental rulers, all of whom had strange names and appeared to have backstories about which the authors were only revealing the slightest hints  . . . I was a little bemused and oddly pleased that one of the first adventures for 5th edition D&D was Princes of the Apocalypse, which focused on these largely-forgotten favorites of mine. Heh. I'm a D&D hipster, now - I liked the Princes of Elemental Evil before it was cool!

But I don't know if you can count a category, and I don't have a favorite elemental monster otherwise. OK, then, plants? I guess the treant. Because ents, that's why!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 18

Day 18: Favorite Monster (Immortal/Outsider)

How to pick just one? I love Outsiders! Favorite? Maybe . . . maybe the Pit Fiends . . . Incredibly powerful, destructive, dangerous . . . and given that they are Lawful Evil, more capable of planning than their Chaotic Evil counterparts, the Balors . . . Pit Fiends are great Outsider master villains!

Kindle Countdown Sale

While I'm posting this, let me also mention that my Norse fantasy novel, The Saga of Asa Oathkeeper: A Midhgardhur Fantasy, is on Kindle Countdown Sale! Until Wednesday you can get it for just $0.99!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 17

Day 17: Favorite Monster (Animal/Vermin)

Dire wolves, man!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 16

Day 16: Favorite Monster (Aberration) 

This one is a toss-up between two favorites (both of which remain intellectual property of D&D and do not legally appear in any variants or retroclones) - the Beholder and the Mind Flayer!

      Here is the art from the AD&D (1st edition) Monster Manual for the Beholder. Awesome, right? And every one of those eyes has a different magical power! They kick ass!

     This is a depiction of a mind flayer at work devouring brains from the back cover of the classic AD&D (1st edition) module, Descent Into The Depths of the Earth. Mind Flayers are psionic (psychic) and they bore into your skull and eat your brains. How cool is that?

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 15

Day 15: Favorite Monster (Undead)

OK, sorry I'm a day late with this, but I spent the day sick in bed yesterday and didn't even get up to post online. Anyway, this one is easy! My favorite undead is the Lich! Ever since I first read about them (in the Mentzer Black Box D&D "Master" set!), I've thought the Lich is the best undead monster ever! I over-used them a lot in my early days of running D&D because I loved the idea of them so much, but now they tend to be master villains for campaign climaxes - trying to give them the respect they deserve!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 14

Day 14: Favorite NPC

So many over the last 31 years, how am I supposed to choose just one? But currently? Hakon Finehair the Skald!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 13

Day 13: Favorite Trap/Puzzle

     I've never been a big fan of puzzles in D&D. They just don't seem fair. Whether or not the PCs progress can depend upon whether or not they solve some silly riddle or puzzle, which really depends on whether or not the players can solves riddles and puzzles - the character may have an Intelligence of 18 with the Nonweapon Proficiency/Proficiency/Skill/whatever of "Puzzles and Riddles", yet they won't get there unless the player does. Which they may or may not. It sucks. Simple problem-solving is fine; for some people, that  may be the appeal of an RPG. But riddles and such? Nope! They can be fine as plot devices, I guess, as long as a character solving it all isn't the sole key to all progress.

     That having been said, who doesn't love traps? The difference? Well, those depend on the player to remember to look for them (that's just part of the game!), but whether or not they are found and/or deactivated depends on the in-game skills of the character. Much the same as whether the fighter hits, the cleric turns the unholy, or the wizard's spell penetrates the resistance of the enemy. That's how the game works!

     So what's my favorite trap? I don't know that I have one. I'm a fan of the classics - pit traps, spiked pit traps, arrow traps, poisoned arrow traps, scything blades, etc. Biologically augmented traps are cool, too - the pit trap that dumps you in slime or a gelatinous cube, the mimic, and so forth. But I would be hard-pressed to name a favorite!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 12

Day 12: Favorite Dungeon Type/Location
   
     I've never been a fan of "gonzo" dungeon locations for their own sake (on a spaceship! inside a monster's belly! on a city in the clouds! on the back of a giant turtle swimming in the ocean! on a series of giant spider webs! etc.). Nope. I favor traditional ruins/underground dungeons, including so-called megadungeons (like many Gamers, I had early experiences linked to Castle Blackmoor and Greyhawk, and then there was Undermountain in two boxed sets . . .). Descent into the  Depths of the Earth (with the Shrine of the Kuo-Toa) was a classic!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 11

Day 11: Favorite Adventure You Have Run

     Well, this is tough. Pure D&D? Modules or just in general?
     Assuming D&D modules are meant: probably the classic I6 Ravenloft. They don't get much better written than that!

     If we're talking about stuff I wrote, I can't pick a favorite. I had a great story called "Mad Dreams In The Witch House" that was for AD&D 2nd edition. I loved a bunch of bounty-hunting stories I did for AD&D 2nd edition. I had a great campaign for 3rd edition/D&D 3.5 called the "Swashbucklers (Inc.) Campaign" that was incredible. I once saw a half-ogre named Everett the Downtrodden decapitate a foe . . . with a hammer. Great stuff.

     Moving beyond pure D&D to encompass Pathfinder and Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG: I write all my own stuff for Pathfinder. I'd be hard-pressed to name a favorite, but a long overland journey to Argyropolis (the equivalent of Vikings traveling from Sweden through Russia to Constantinople) was great! For DCC RPG I have so far only run modules, and I think the best so far has been DCC#81 The One Who Watches From Below!

 

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 10

Day 10: Craziest Thing That's Happened That You Saw

Sticking strictly to D&D, I think it would have to be a massive battle with the PCs leading a small army against an army of evil NPCs led by demons. One PC, named Vic, has a sword called "Demonslayer" that lived up to its name. Anyway, Vic is a high level fighter with the berserker kit (AD&D 2nd edition rules). Vic charges and makes multiple attacks on demons just as I finished setting up minis. He crits several times. he simply hands me back the minis and says, "Here, you can have these back . . ."

If you want "craziest thing that's happened" in a fantasy RPG expanding beyond D&D, you have to check out the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. It is MADE for crazy stuff. Playing a module in which the PCs must flee from a collapsing dungeon at the end, a wizard used several buffs to cast a super-maximized force manipulation spell to make a giant globular force field around the party. They ran out of the collapsing dungeon like they were in a hamster ball - the whole thing tearing apart all around them, but they were safe in their bubble of force. That was fun and amazing . . .

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 9

Day 9: Favorite Character Tiy Haven't Played

      I wanted to make this badass warlock character (3.5 or 5th edition), but I've never yet had the chance . . .

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 8

Day 8: Favorite Character You Have Played

OK, well, I'm usually the GM, not a player, but I had an elf named Ethrindal whom I enjoyed playing several times.

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 7

Day 7: Favorite Edition

     So far, my favorite edition that I've played is 3.5, if we're sticking strictly to D&D. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed Basic D&D for what it was, and AD&D 1st edition. I played more AD&D 2nd edition than anything else, and have SO many happy memories of that, But D&D 3rd edition was great, and the 3.5 revision made it even better.

     I HATED 4th edition with a passion that would probably surprise you. It wasn't even D&D as I understand the term. I played it a couple of times, and gave up. Ugh. I thought it would make a better board game than RPG. Then, sure enough, I played the Castle Ravenloft board game  based on the 4th edition rules, and that was kind of fun - but that's all 4th edition was. A board game wishing it was an RPG.

     For the record, I have purchased 5th edition, but haven't tried it. It looks as good as 3.5 in its own way, though. I bet I would like it.

     Going beyond D&D to its near relatives, it is a toss-up for favorite between Pathfinder (which I like even more than 3.5) and Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (which I think newer gamers would love for its style and simplicity - it has me for those, and for its nostalgia factor as well!).

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 6

Day 6: Favorite Deity

Probably Odin. In my campaign, spelled Odhinn. I've used him in my old AD&D/AD&D 2nd ed./D&D 3rd ed./D&D 3.5 campaign, and in my Pathfinder campaign, and in my novels and stories. I get a lot of use out of him! Expanding beyond D&D though, my Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG campaign has a cleric of Bobugbubliz who is very entertaining . . .

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 5

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 5 - Favorite Set of Dice?
     This one is easy! My favorite dice sets at the moment are from Goodman Games, designed specifically for use with the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (a retroclone - of sorts - of D&D), but they would work well with D&D too! These are called Hugh's Weird Dice and Shanna's Weird Dice:

       Why do I love these dice? Aside from being aesthetically pleasing (especially Shanna's black-and-gold dice!), they have the "weird" dice needed for DCC RPG's "dice chain" mechanic, including d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, and d30. This supplements the "standard" D&D dice of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d%.
     The thing is, Gamers today consider the "standard" D&D set to be . . . well, standard. Gamers today will rarely - if ever - understand the absolute wonder and excitement of using anything other than a d6! In the 70s and 80s, when I was growing up, no one I knew had ever even seen a die that wasn't a d6. I got my D&D Basic Set (the Mentzer "Red Box") and it came with polyhedral dice! Everything in the "standard" set except the d% (to roll percentiles, you rolled the d10 twice). These polyhedral dice were funky. They were weird. Heck, D&D players even had their own lingo (that has since become Gamer "standard" - calling a four-sided die a "d4" and so forth.
     So now Dungeons & Dragons is on its 5th edition, and the standard set by D&D has prevailed - D&D still uses the polyhedral dice. But DCC RPG uses "weird dice" or "funky dice" for its "dice chain" - and it's like opening my Red Box for the first time, all over again! For someone who has been using polyhedral dice for 30 years, it takes a lot to bring back the magical feeling of wonder inspired by those weird dice that were in my Red Box! The DCC dice did!

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia A. McKillip) - Appendix N and Beyond!

Title: The Forgotten Beasts of Eld
Author: Patricia A. McKillip
Appendix N Status: Should have been on the list . . .

     A really good story told with a simple and direct style which I envy and to which I aspire. Published in 1974, this could have been on the original Appendix N, but wasn't. I'm not sure if Gygax never read it, didn't like it, or simply didn't consider it formative, but it's exactly the kind of fantasy that was so fundamental for early D&D. The main protagonist is Sybel, descended from a wizard's bloodline, who wields power over minds and wills of others through their names (similar in some ways to the "Earthsea" books of Ursula K. LeGuin). Sybel summons forgotten magical beasts and keeps them at her home on Mount Eld. She gets drawn back into the world of mundane humans because of a more mundane relations of hers.

Fantasy RPG Elements: The powers of Sybel could be those of a Conjurer, an Enchanter, a Druid, a Psionicist/Occult character, or perhaps a Pathfinder Summoner. The unique monsters - the "forgotten beasts" of the title - could all be RPG monsters, maybe unique , maybe not.

     I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes classic fantasy RPGs. Very cool stuff!

D&D 30 Day Challenge, Day 4

Day 4 - Favorite Gameworld
      Argh, I'm supposed to be able to choose just one? OK, well, when I was a kid I loved them all. Greyhawk and Blackmoor were tied to the very roots of D&D, so I loved them, and the "Known World" of Mystara in Basic D&D was tied to my initiation into the game, and expanded through Bruce Heard's "Princess Ark" stories in Dragon Magazine. Greenwood's writing made me fall in love with the Forgotten Realms. The Dragonlance fiction sucked me in, although there was something I always found a little uncomfortable about it. Ravenloft was one of my first and favorite AD&D modules, and when it became its own world, I fell in love. So many worlds . . .
     But these days, my favorite Gameworld - official published on, I mean, not one I created - is Áereth, the Gameworld created by Goodman Games for the Dungeon Crawl Classics series of modules for D&D 3rd, 3.5, and 4th edition. It combines so much of what I loved about Mystara, Greyhawk, and the Forgotten Realms. Great stuff. It's also the default setting for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, which has evolved from D&D.

D&D 30-Day Challenge, Days 1-3

I intended to start this on April 1st, and circumstances conspired to prevent it. For religious reasons, I could not begin on April 2nd (a dies ater). So here we are . . . the D&D 30 Day Challenge, days 1-3:

Day 1 - How you got started
     I don't remember exactly how I got interested. But once I did, I was hooked. I really got started with the Frank Mentzer "Red Box" Basic set, with the Larry Elmore cover. Classic:

     From there, I quickly got into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1st edition):

     This was the cover of my first DMG! Anyway, from there, I got into all kinds of RPGs. Always loved D&D, though. I was an early adopter of 2nd edition. Thought I would hate 3rd edition but loved it (and 3.5, and Pathfinder). Thought I would love 4th edition but hated it. And while I like the look of 5th edition, I have not yet tried it. The Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG has recently brought back all the mystery and wonder I felt when I first opened my Mentzer Red Box. 

Day 2 - Favorite Playable Race

     I don't really have one anymore, but I have always loved elves (I was half an elf myself, growing up, spending as much time wandering alone in the forests of New England and dreaming of immortality and magic). I've recently really begun to appreciate under-rated races like gnomes and halflings. 

Day 3 - Favorite Playable Class

     I always loved playing the magic-user, mage, wizard, whatever it was called. I like the idea of sorcerers and how they evolved from the classic wizard class. In the more recent editions, I love the idea of the warlock class, but have never played one (yet!).