Theremin Thursdays - Real Elves, Real Elf Music

Elves in movies and popular culture are a mixed bag.  Likewise elves in gaming.  A recent animated movie opened my eyes to this, although it has been an urge of mine for decades to really explore elves and elfin culture (whatever that may be) in gaming...

An interesting article on this same topic, that also brings up a modern urban fantasy novel series (by Anthea Sharp) that has a computer gaming world that is elf land, can be found at Wattpad.  The article is called Fantasy, Faeries . . . and Gaming?

What I have here in this article are three parts.  The first provides a categorization for different types of elves in pop culture.  It isn't perfect, but it works for me (and for this article).  Second, I have a review of SOME of the examples of elves and elf music in pop culture - ending with a recommendation for two recent movies on Elves that are both FANTASTIC.  Third, I review the history of Elves in gaming.

So, I'll start by establishing up front that it seems to me (a non expert, but a strong amateur, on the subject) that Elves (in both popular culture, as well as gaming) appear in three major supertypes each of which is related to one or more of the others.  (Throughout I will use the word "Elves" for the plural of Elf, rather than Elfs.  Elves just feels better. Similarly I would use Dwarves rather than Dwarfs.)

The first supertype is that of the (what I call) Elves as Little Person.  This view is popular in a lot of fairy tales outside of Scandinavia.  This is the basis for the idea of cobbler elves - little people that come and help a Shoemaker - or the Keebler Elves (little people who live in trees and make cookies), and also of Santa's Elves. A modern analogy might be the Borrowers (a children's fantasy novel by Mary Norton from 1952).  Fairy Tales and Mythology, of course, does not have as its main goal a hard and well defined taxonomy of mythical beings, but is rather concerned with telling a good story.  So, using it as definitive source material is great, but hardly specific.  Often these type of elves will have wings.  I would consider them (as a distinction) fairies.

The second supertype is that of the more human sized (perhaps slightly larger, perhaps slightly smaller) Elf, but also from fairy tales and mythology.  This type is very strongly represented in the Scandinavian tradition, where they are known as the Alfar, which is the name I'll use for them.  Here are found good elves and bad elves, which are sometimes call Light Elves, or Ljósálfar, and Dark Elves, or Dökkálfar.  A good source for these, comes from none other than that late medieval luminary, Snorri Sturluson, in his Prose Edda (an online English translation is here).  At the same time, there was another term, the Black Elves, or Svartálfar.  These last seem to really be a different sort of people, more like evil Dwarves than anything else.  There seems to be some comparison with the inhabitants of the "other world" in Celtic (and other) mythology and the Alfar.  If this is true, then in the expanded view of mythological traditions in the British Islands you have not only Little People elves, but also otherworldly Alfar elves, in the Welsh idea of the other world (Annwn), as well as the Irish idea of Tyr Na Nog.  Also, in Shakespeare, you have in Midsummer Night's Dream, the examples of Oberon and Titania.  The Elves Spenser's Faerie Queene seem to fit comfortably in this mold, as well.  One of the chief characteristics of this type of elf is that it dwells in "another place" other than the world of Humans.  That other place (whether it is Alfheim, or Queen Titania's Realm, or Annwn) is accessible by and visited by normal humans, especially Heroes, but it has rules that differ from ours.  Typically those rules are perceived of by human beings as Magic.  Good examples come from the Ford illustrations in the multiple volumes of Andrew Lang, as well as some of Arthur Rackham's illustrations (although Rackham also specializes in the Little Person type of elf as well. Other artists working in Elves and Fairies from the late 19th century include Dulac, Maybeck, Hughes, Doyle, Naiash, Fitzgerald, Simmons.

The third supertype is that of the modern fantasy literature version of elves, which seem to be strongly based on Tolkien, and his reinterpretation of the Alfar type elves.  Predictably, I will refer to these as Tolkien elves.  There are as many different tales of how the elves are different from humans, as there are fantasy worlds (both novels and gaming), however many seem to suggest that while the elves may have come from a magical place or other world, they are currently in the same world as the humans.  They may be eventually going back to that other world, but during the narrative of the story they are in the main world that humans occupy.  Also, while these sorts of Elves might be magic themselves in and of their origin, they seem to be limited to invoking and performing magic (much as a human who does magic - whether a wizard or a conjurer) while in the main "human" world.  As a nod to their magical origin, it is often agreed that they may be better at this than humans.

Galadriel by Angus McBride

To see an excellent example of what the Victorians thought about elves, and faerie land in general, much worse sources exist than The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Keightley (1860).   Here it is for review.  If you like reading mythology, or seeing what the Victorians thought about elves, you could easily spend a few hours on this without batting an eyelash...

The Fairy Wood - by Henry Maynell Rheam

Some thoughts about elven music.  There isn't a lot of real mainstream pop music about elves.  However, if we lift back the cover on the music scene a little bit, dig a little deeper, open up our definition a little wider - and there is a lot of music about elves.

Getting the big names out of the way first, in classic Rock and Roll, we have a couple of songs that are candidates.  The first is "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin.  This song borrows imagery and narrative elements from both The Faerie Queene (Spenser) and also The Lord of the Rings (Tolkien).  Here are the lyrics.

The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone

Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The Dark Lord rides in force tonight, and time will tell us all
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, race now to my bow

Side by side we wait the might, of the darkest of them all

I hear the horses thunder down in the valley below
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow

The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness
The ground is rich from tender care, which they do not forget, no, no
Dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light

The apples turn to brown and black, the tyrant's face is red

Oh, war is the common cry, pick up your swords and fly
The sky is filled with good and bad, mortals never know

Oh well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow

The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath
The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black (ride on)

Sing as you raise your bow, (ride on) shoot straighter than before
No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold

Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back, bring it back

At last the sun is shining, the clouds of blue roll by
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes

Oh, bring it back, bring it back...

The song had vocals supported by the English folk singer, Sandy Denny.

Speaking of English Folk songs, there is the song 700 Elves by the English folk/rock band from the 70s, Steeleye Span.  Here are the English lyrics of the song as performed by Steeleye Span, which is based originally on a Danish song...

Chorus

Seven hundred elves from out the wood
Foul and grim they were
Down to the farmer's house they went
His meat and drink to share

There was a farmer in the west and there he chose his ground
He thought to spend the winter there and brought his hawk and hound
He brought with him both hound and cock alone he begged to stay
And all the deer that roamed the wood had cause to rue the day

He felled the oak, he felled the birch, the beech nor poplar spared
And much was grieved the sullen elves at what the stranger dared
He hewed him baulks and he hewed him beams with eager toil and haste
Then up and spake the woodland elves: “Who's come our wood to waste?”
 Chorus

Up and spake the biggest elf and grimly rolled his eyes:
“We'll march upon the farmer's house and hold on him assize
He's knocking down both wood and bower, he shows us great disdain
We'll make him rue the day he was born and taste of shame and pain.”

Chorus
All the elves from out the wood began to dance and spring
And marched towards the farmer's house their lengthy tails to swing
The farmer from his window looked and quickly crossed his breast
“Oh woe is me,” the farmer cried, “The elves will be my guests.”

In every nook he made a cross and all about the room
And off flew many a frightened elf back to his forest gloom
Some flew to the east, some flew to the west, some flew to the north away
And some flew down the deep ravine and there forever stay
Chorus

A video showing a performance of 700 Elves is on Youtube.

Another rock and roll that is concerned with elves is the song Rivendell by Rush.  This is a very interesting song, and has some great lyrics.  Here are the lyrics, followed by a youtube video that uses imagery from the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies.




Here are the lyrics for Rivendell by Rush...

Sunlight dances through the leaves
Soft winds stir the signing trees
Lying in the warm grass
Feel the sun upon your face
Elfin songs and endless nights
Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights
Time will never touch you
Here in this enchanted place

You feel there's something calling you
You're wanting to return
To where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn
A place you can escape the world
Where the dark lord cannot go
Peace of mind and sanctuary by loud water's flow

I've traveled now for many miles
It feels so good to see the smiles of
Friends who never left your mind
When you were far away
From the golden light of coming dawn
Till the twilight where the sun is gone
We treasure ev'ry season
And ev'ry passing day

We feel the coming of a new day
Darkness gives way to light a new way
Stop here for a while until the world,
The world calls you away
Yet you know I've had the feeling
Standing with my senses reeling
This is the place to grow old till
I reach my final day.

Al Stewart recorded a song in 1966 called The Elf, and it has some pretty good lyrics and also a good sound.  I have read that Jimmy Page played on that track, but I can't confirm.  The lyrics are very good, and certainly in the Annwn tradition of an Elf from another place, with magical abilities while in this world.

Here are the lyrics to Al Stewart's song (he of "Year of the Cat" fame) -

I sat upon the evening hill
The shadows set, the night grew still
And as I sat, guitar on knee
A voice of flowers called to me

Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone

I turned with eyes that strained for sight
And there amid the failing light
Dimly saw a figure small
Heard a voice of magic call

Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone

My fumbling fingers found the chords
My trembling lips fought for the words
I stopped to ask the stranger how
He softly said, "No questions now"

Sing, sing to me your song
Sing, for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone

Then with the magic of the elves
My fingers danced among themselves
A heart with lightness thus endowed
Formed melodies I know not how

Song played the whole night long
Thus he danced and laughed through the night
And with gray morning light, he was gone

Now, the whispering wind plays over the hill
And the evening sounds again grow still
A year or more has passed since then
Oh, he will not pass my way again

So, I sing, sing to you my song
Sing for I belong to the night
In the gray morning light, I'll be gone

There is a recording of The Elf on Youtube.

Ronnie James Dio recorded a song called The Elves when he was in the band Amber Velvet.  He went on to be in a band called Elf.

Finally, there are a number of modern bands that are doing fantasy themed music that is certainly quite "elven" in feel, and sometimes even in title and lyric.  Check out Narsilion for an example.  A lot of people think that Elegia by Adiemus sounds quite elven, as well.

But... but... the thing that got me super inspired on this topic - and I know we are already about a country mile down into the posting before I get to this - the recent movie Epic.  It really does a great job of portraying elves.  It takes category one elves (little people), mixes in some of the mythical elements of category two elves (alfar), and finally treats them seriously as category three elves (Tolkien).  The movie is great - everything that a good fantasy movie should be.  The animation is good.  The soundtrack is fantastic (great Danny Elfman stuff).  If you haven't seen it - go see it.  If you can't - buy it, rent it, stream it - it is a good flick!!


The first track on the soundtrack is short, but really captures the classic Heroic feel of the tracks.

I have two pet peeves about the movie.  First - no need for the slugs.  This is an unabashed epic hero adventure - both for the young Leafman (Elf soldier) and also for the young lady (daughter of a scientist who thinks he has seen the elves).  The slugs are bantha poodoo.  Second - 3D.  I still hate it.

Okay, I couldn't end this without a nod to another recent Elf movie, although it might not be so obvious as Epic.  That movie is Arrietty from Studio Ghibli.

This is based on The Borrowers (which are classic examples of Category One elves - the Little People), but it has that wonderful Hayao Miyazaki twist on it.  Very, very well done.  Great soundtrack, good animation, lots of good adventure, and the best thing - this treats the effects of being really, really small seriously, and things like air currents and house infrastructure and sound are all treated very well, and believable (if you can believe 3" tall people).  Great stuff.  Here is a music track from the movie - very nicely done. This is Arrietty's Song, sung by Cecile Corbel, in Japanese.


I won't mention Princess Mononoke (looking up the movie and music from it are left as an exercise for the reader) :-)

Okay - so plenty about Elves and Music. Now about Elves and Gaming.  Lots of possible starting points, but I think one could be forgiven for beginning with the Fantasy Supplement to Chainmail. There, Elves are treated as Heavy Infantry.  This plays into a zeitgeist image that lots of people seem to recall from some Victorian art of Elves in a sort of super-magical chainmail that is quite elegant and form fitting.  Much more lovely, and more useful, than the real thing.

This same imagery was the inspiration for the wonderful Elven miniatures that were sculpted by Tom Meier for Ral Partha in the 70s, and beyond, leading to his own company of Thunderbolt Mountain. Tom also did a series of his elves for Citadel at one point.  There is a Flickr page with images of many of his Ral Partha elves here.

Once the (now) popular Warhammer rules for miniatures games came out (in the 1983 for the original edition) one of the mainstays of the game's many popular army themes was Elves.  They quickly (by the introduction of the first Forces of Fantasy supplement for the first game) bifurcated into Wood Elves and High Elves.  This seemed to mimic the thinking of the time from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, which following it's predecessors (first Dungeons and Dragons, and before that, the Fantasy Supplement of Chainmail) had elves as one of the main races that the players could have their character represent.

At this point it should be pointed out that all of these examples of elves are very typically Category Three type elves - Tolkien type Elves.  These are the sort made popular in the novels of JRR Tolkien, and also in the rise of popular Fantasy novels in the 1970s (and somewhat before) in stuff like the Terry Brooks Shannara novels.

AD&D had elves split into different subraces (cultures) such as High Elves, Grey Elves and so forth.  This was a mimicry of the different sorts of elves that exist in Tolkien's Middle Earth setting.  The two distinct versions in the Warhammer setting are the Wood Elves (which have a distinctly Barbaric, woodland dwelling Celtic feel to them), and the High Elves (which have a feel very similar to the imagery portrayed by Tom Meier's Deep Elves - the extremely elaborate workmanship on armor and weapons, extremely decorative, but quite deadly.  Given over to deep, centuries long study of music, magic, philosophy and other heavier thoughts, High Elves are also quite formidable when it comes to making war.

There is a bit of a feel of the Warhammer High Elves that is borrowed from the Melbinoean race of the Elric novels by Michael Moorcock.  But that race from fiction would go on to inspire, in gaming, in many different ways, a lot of the different versions of Dark Elves.  In the AD&D setting, going back to the classic Giants adventures penned by Gary Gygax, the Dark Elves were a sort of mix between Alfar and Svartalfar - they lived underground, were distinctly evil, but had many of the traits of elves - understanding of magic and a manufacturing of fantastic artifacts.

If one considers all the many treatments of elves that take place in Fantasy Role Playing games, or even Fantasy Miniatures Games, then this would be an extremely long article. Instead, I want to offer up three different examples from board gaming, and then call it quits.

The first is the old Chaosium game not that old, as these things are counted, it is from 1978) called "Stomp!".

Stomp! is a fun microgame, that pits a giant vs. a pack of elves who have wandered into the Giant's garden.  The elves are individually modeled as counters, armed with a variety of (hopeless) anti-Giant weapons.  The giant himself (or herself?) is modeled as two counters representing the giant's feet.  The giant (as the name suggests) is determined to squash the elves.  Great fun for the giant...

Sidebar: The action in Stomp! takes place in a giant's garden.  Just like the wonderful Oscar Wilde story, "The Selfish Giant".  Given Mr. Wilde's notorious reputation as an anti-religious free thinker, I have always loved The Selfish Giant, but marveled at the Christian tones of the story.  It is wonderful, and in the early 70s there was an animated movie (originally a 10 minute short, turned into a 30 minute TV special, which I must have watched as a kid about a zillion times).  Here is a version from youtube.  Definitely worth the 30 minutes of your time, but there is little to wargame here, and even less to do with elves.


For those who are interested in such things, there is a nice musical version (with some really nice fantasy illustrations accompanying it) that has been composed by Dan Goeller, information is available at http://www.selfishgiantmusic.com/.  Okay, back to elves, and Stomp!

Stomp! was done by Chaosium in the 1970s.  That was their hayday of involvement in Runequest (second edition is still one of the best that was ever done, or so the opinion of Gaming with Chuck staff will attest).  In Runequest, at least in classic Runequest (as it SHOULD be played), the action takes place in the fantasy world of Glorantha.  The elves of that world are called the Aldryami, and are actually sort of vegetable people.  Don't push this too far - they don't have leaves (I don't think - I've never seen one without reasonable clothing on).  But they are extremely closely related to trees, the different subspecies being related to different types of trees.  It is rumored that certain tribes of Glorantha trolls will eat Elves, and still consider themselves to be vegetarian.

Runequest Elf

Stomp! as a game, featured one large and powerful unit (the Giant) vs. a number of smaller annoying but easily dispatched units (the Elves).  This was done in a number of other games, most notably OGRE - a favorite here at Gaming with Chuck.  Similar games where the large indestructible unit was not IN the game, but was rather the setting OF the game included the space games Annihilator and Berserker!

The first of these two, Annihilator, was about a giant robotic starship that was bent on destruction.  The interior of the ship was protected by security systems and robots and so forth, and the invading player had to deal with those in order to deactivate the Annihilator and win the game.  It was a Metagaming Microgame (as was OGRE), but this time it was part of a two pack, along with a game about religous war called One World. Fun game, but no elves.

The second of the two mentioned, Berserker, was about giant robot death machines left over from an ancient galactic struggle, and they are attempting to destroy planets and life.  Based on the FANTASTIC stories by Fred Saberhagen.  The game was from Mayfair (long before they heard of the little words "Settlers of Catan"), and it was a lot of fun.  Not a great game (kind of a dog), but fun to fool around with, especially if you like the stories.  Still, no elves, but the Berserker fulfills the role of Giant nicely.

One more title that should be mentioned where the players on one side are attacking a large, tough to beat foe on the other side, is Snit's Revenge!  Nothing at all about Elves here, but it is about a band of small, easily defeated critters (the Snits) who decide that they have had enough of being smashed by the Bolotumus - actually there are several Bolotomi, lurking about on the beach, and when the Snits get the URGE!!! to run up on the beach, and stick their snotch in a snandergrab, in order to breed - the Bolotomi think it is great fun to smash them - the original game, published in Dragon Magazine was about that part of this bizarre ecology, and was titled (appropriately) Snit Smashing!  In the follow on, the Snits have had enough, and they decide to invade the body of one of the Bolotomi - running into various orafices on the Bolotomus body, and then proceeding to try and kick the life out of the Bolotomus by destroying his internal organs and the thingies (technical term from the game) that swim around and make them work.  Wonderful, fantastic game.  Best wargame ever (probably not). But it is about a lot of small units (the Snits) taking on a large and unstoppable foe (the Bolotomus) - but still, no elves.

The board of the 1978 version of Snit's Revenge, showing the inside of a Bolotomus. No elves.

Some images from the Snit's Revenge rulebook are worth sharing here - the comic back story by the wonderful genius mind of Tom Wham (who illustrated and wrote the game - and a bunch of other wonderful games, for TSR, notably Dragon Magazine).

The predecessor - Snit Smashing - was originally published in Dragon Magazine, vol 2 number 4 (1977).  It was followed in the next issue by Snit's Revenge (vol 2 number 5), which then got a board game treatment a year later (1978) - which is the edition I bought (featuring a slip cover, that velcroed together, pictured above - and nice glossy cardboard snits, runengettims, makums, snorgs and all the usual stuff from a wargame), and still own.  There were two other editions - a large Monopoly sized boxed set in 1980 (bleah) and then a Steve Jackson Games reprint in 2004, that included both titles and some more.  No elves in any edition, however.

War of the Ring from SPI.  Finally a game with Real Elves?

Speaking of that era in gaming, a title that did feature Elves was the SPI wargame, the War of the Ring, published in 1977.  This was a great game (a GREAT game) that featured two levels of play.  Both took place on the iconic map of Middle Earth that corresponds to the one by Professor Tolkien in his fantastic trilogy, The Lord of the Rings.  The first version of the game, was a bunch of characters on both sides - the 9 members of the fellowship on the good side, and the 9 nazgul on the bad side.  The Fellowship characters were trying to get the ring to Mount Doom for destruction, and the nazgul were trying to capture it to deliver it to old Sauron.  The second version of the game included all of that, but also going on on the same map was the massive war of the ring -with the armies of orcs, half orcs, snaga orcs, trolls, uruk hai orcs, olog hai trolls, monsters, and other fun stuff on the side of Sauron (I still remember the MASSIVE combat factors of the Olog Hai trolls and the Uruk Hai orcs).  On the good side, there are the characters already mentioned, and a bunch of other characters (Eowyn, Treebeard, etc), as well as armies of Men, Elves, Dwarves and if I recall, even a Shire military unit (the shire moot - the sheriff and a bunch of armed hooligan hobbits, on fat ponies and looking for trouble).  The game was wonderful.  I have no idea if the Fantasy Flight modern version (a different game, but the same massive scope and excellent production quality) is as good, it is on my wargaming bucket list.

The elves are Green, as they should be.

The original version of the SPI title came out as a typical SPI flat pack, which you could buy alone, or with two other titles (Gondor and Sauron - in the "Games of Middle Earth" set, it should have been a quad, but that would require a fourth title).  Then a bit later, as SPI was pushing into traditional retail outlets like book stores and toy stores, they cut a deal with Ralph Bakshi (responsible for the Lord of the Rings animated movie) to use some of his art to market a boxed bookshelf version of just the main game.  This version came with a mounted color board, and was the version I owned and played lovingly many times.

Finally, a game with Elves in it.

Each of the characters had a card that detailed their abilities and combat (and magic) statistics.  Here is Legolas (an actual elf).

Legolas Greenleaf

Notice, this is an actual elf.  From a game.  The point of the article, after all.  Now, to turn to a modern rendition of the Tolkien saga, we compare this 1970s version from the wonderfully talented gaming artist, Tim Kirk, to the version portrayed in the Peter Jackson films.

Legolas Greenleaf

Put the hood up on that homey, and by jove - he looks the same!  Finally, an actual elf. And here is some actual elf music, featuring none other than the legendary Legolas Greenleaf singing. Real Elf Singing.


As mentioned, there were other titles in the Games of Middle Earth series, notably Gondor (about the Battle of the Pelennor Fields - few elves participating, so we will ignore this important battle for now), and Sauron.  This second one, Sauron, is about the battle in front of the Gates of Mordor, on the battle plain of Dagorlad. This was the Battle of the Dagorlad Plains which would precede the 7 year Siege of Barad Dur (the fortress protecting the entrance to Mordor).  It featured an army of Men (including Isildur) and Elves (Elrond, er, Agent Smith, was supposedly there, but it doesn't list it on the stats of his Topps baseball card - you'd think that a big event like the Siege of Barad Dur would be listed on the guys baseball card) commanded by Gil Galad and Elendil - both killed. Their place was taken by Cirdan, Elrond, . The battle plain would later become a marsh (the haunted marshes where Gollum and Frodo have so much fun together during the Trilogy).  The gaming treatment of the battle by SPI featured a number of counters for different units, here is a picture of the action.  Notice the number of Real Elves pictured here, as well as Isildur, riding up the road to the gates, to chop off someone's finger.

Disruption markers based on big magic from Sauron.  Not enough for the big guy, Isildur is coming.

Now compare that to the version from the Peter Jackson movies...

Elves on the left (blue counters in the SPI game, alongside dwarves and men), and orcs on the right (red counters in the SPI game).  A good match.  Once again, Real Elves.

Notice that all of these SPI titles were preceded by a Magazine game, on the Siege of Barad Dur - in Jagdpanther Magazine, back in 1975.  Here is an image of the original components -

Note: Not real elves.


That wraps up this edition of Theremin Thursdays.  This was a fun topic, and one that could go on forever and ever.  The one area I wanted to touch on, but did not, were the great Elf games (Elfenland, Elfenroads) by Alan Moon.  I particularly like King of the Elves - a travel game, much like his Ticket to Ride, but played differently and not with trains, and not with set collection, and with elves and with troll porters and interesting stuff like the wind powered Elf cycle.

On second thought, it is nothing like Ticket to Ride, but I like both, and King of the Elves has real elves in it.  Ticket to Ride - not so much.  Except maybe on the cover art of Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries. For a Ticket to Ride elf, see here:

One last time - A real elf.

Finally, to end this, I will offer up one last piece of Elf music - from an independent fellow named Hermey.

And remember, that is Real Elf Music too.  And as much as you might not like the idea of Hermey being an elf (also recall he is a Dentist), I will present that it is much more real than this (see below) ever should have been.  Sorry, Wendy and Richard - I loved the stories, but I never thought they were elves.

Old School game set in Greyhawk

So, I have been DMing a Labyrinth Lord (Advanced) game for a number of weeks now (about two months), every Wednesday when we can all get together (the game is online, using google hangouts).  It has been a great game so far, set in the World of Greyhawk.  It has generated enough demand for online document reference (maps, info, character sheets, etc) that I am going to start another blog dedicated to that game, called Sword & Potion.

It has really brought back to me how much a simple dungeon crawl game can really satisfy.

Reaper Bones Kickstarter - Shipping soon!!

So - Last year, I decided to back the Reaper Miniatures "Bones" Kickstarter.  And I am glad I did.  I went in for the $100 level (called the "Vampire" package).  And for that I get a metric ton of miniatures, in the new resin material that they are casting in.

Here is an awesome website detailing the over 200 figures that are in the Vampire package (currently, they would be valued at  $1153.52, and that doesn't include 24 new miniatures that don't have a current price).  Hover over the figures in the image on that page, to see a detailed shot of each miniature, and it's current cost to purchase (outside the kickstarter).

This is a win for the fans (like me) who get a ton of gorgeous miniatures for cheap, and also for Reaper, because it allows them to MASSIVELY expand this line of new material based miniatures.  Previously their Bones line was 22 figures.  The Kickstarter money gave them the capital to begin really expanding that line.  Basically, once setup fees and mold design, etc, are done - making resin figures costs less than nothing per piece.  Handling, packaging, shipping, advertising - those are the costs once setup is done.  But unlike metal molds, I understand that plastics and resins have VERY expensive processes involved.  So - the Kickstarter.

Anyway, here is a video of the unboxing - what is in the set (in a big-picture sense) -


For a better look at the actual miniatures included - check this out -


And here is a static image of what was included in the Vampire package.  Basically, as the Kickstarter campaign progressed, more and more got added to the basic package.  Until *Voila* Loads of cool miniatures, for $100.

They are (I understand) on time to ship in March.  I expect my nifty box of goodies to come very soon now. (I upgraded my order by adding in some paint sets, and some Cthulhu Mythos miniatures - it makes me all gooey just thinking about it).

Theremin Thursdays - music of The Hobbit, but not yet

Okay fans, so this week as a special request to my daughter, I agreed to think about the music from The Hobbit (different versions) as the theme for considering the relationship between music and gaming.

That is pretty broad territory, as The Hobbit has been done as an animated movie, has some great songs in the book, had some songs set to music by Professor Tolkien, and even in some of the various radio and audio versions has had some music appear.  Plus there are songs ABOUT The Hobbit that are not FROM The Hobbit.  And, looming over the shoulder of this conversation is the release of the first installment of the new Peter Jackson trilogy relating the book to the modern cinema.

We have a family outing planned to see the movie this weekend, so before I write the full, definitive Gaming with Chuck article on the relationship between The Hobbit, music, and gaming - I will wait until after the movie.

In the meantime, as a sort of teaser, here are some music clips....


A great song/ballad by Glenn Yarbrough for the Rankin Bass animated film.

Another song, also from the RB movie, is this one - sung by Wood Elves after the demise of Smaug...


As my one tip of the hat to the new movie, before I see it, I will post a single video that is based on the movie.  By now, even if you haven't seen the flick, you must have seen or heard the incredible trailer that features the scene at that famous party at Bag End, where the Dwarves (deep in their cups) begin getting moody and steamy-eyed and start singing of their long lost heritage and treasures that were lost to the dragon smaug.  The singing from the movie looks and sounds great in that trailer.  There is a vocal group called Str8Voices that does a cover (yes, already) of that song.  It is incredible, except for one thing.  The song really doesn't call for female voices.  See what you think -

Amazing enough, there are already some other, even more divergent, versions of this song available.  Like this one (a talented singer, Karliene, but not a Dwarf), and this one (cute, but still not a Dwarf), and this one (that last one is two twins playing electric harps - which they also do on songs from Skyrim, the Legend of Zelda, Blue Oyster Cult, and a cover of an AC/DC song - where will it all end?).  Sheesh.   All good, but not Dwarves.  I like Dwarves. 

Now Rob Inglis is a Dwarf.  And a Hobbit.  And an Elf.  And one of the Númenóreans.  He is the Most Excellent reader/performer of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings as recorded books - and he is a complete one man show.  Here he sings "The Song of the Lonely Mountain" from the book, which is what all this fuss is over anyway.


Okay, that is enough for now.  But... before departing, I do have to offer up One gaming link.  As I have brought up the Dwarves singing about the desolation that Smaug had wrought on their home in the Lonely Mountain, I should cover a game that deals with that topic.  [Yes, there was a great title from Iron Crown Enterprises on this very theme, but I will get to that in the later Hobbit article.]

For this installment, I am recalling a game, in a series of boxed micro games from Heritage (great manufacturer of miniatures, a long long time ago - who actually did, for the age, a pretty good line of Lord of the Rings miniatures and rules), called Dragon Rage by the talented Lewis Pulsipher.  The list of games was called Dwarfstar games (currently made available on the website from Brainiac), and included some good titles.

Curiously this is the second micro game to appear in a Gaming with Chuck article this week, the earlier one being the excellent Metagaming title, Chitin:I.

I think that it could be very easily argued that the basic idea of Dragon Rage owes at least a little to the idea of Smaug's raid on Lake Town.  Here is a link to the game (which has been released by the original copyright holders in a free Print and Play form).

 The game has recently been re-produced and made available commercially (for those who don't want to print and assemble) by Flatline Games.  It looks really, really good.

More on the Hobbit, and gaming, in a few days, after I get a chance to view the Peter Jackson offering.

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Addendum:  A few weeks ago, in the original Theremin Thursdays article, I had a link to the Peter Hollens and  Lindsey Stirling video featuring Peter's vocals and Lindsey's violin playing in honor of Skyrim.  Well, I just recently came across another fantastic video, featuring some interesting video of everyone's favorite dragonborn hero, but this time with music from the incredibly talented Malukah (see her playlist on youtube, here).  The Guild Wars song that she collaborates on has her doing some really nice vocal work.

Theremin Thursdays - Conan, Basil, and Gaming

One of the best soundtracks from a fantasy movie, in the opinion of GwC HQ staff, is the soundtrack for the original 1982 Conan the Barbarian Movie.  The soundtrack is by Basil Poledouris.

 "Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the rise of the Sons of Aryas, there was an Age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars - Nemedia, Ophir, Brythunia, Hyperborea, Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery, Zingara with its chivalry, Koth that bordered the pastoral lands of Shem, Stygia with its shadow-guarded tombs, Hyrkania whose riders wore steel and silk and gold.  But the proudest kingdom of the world was Aquilonia, reigning supreme in the dreaming west.
Hither came Conan the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandled feet." - The Nemedian Chronicles

The movie was an effort to capture the feel of the fantastic Robert E. Howard stories (and the many writers who have contributed to the ongoing Hyborian Age stories, some good some bad).  It is not based on any one particular Howard story, but it does try to capture the feel and look of the setting for the stories, and there are some parts of it that are very true to the character of Conan, and some parts not so much...  But in this article we are concerned with the music from the movie, and the presence of Conan (and his world) in gaming.


The soundtrack was written by Basil Poledouris.  And it is great.  It was listed by AFI as one of the top 250 soundtracks of all time (I don't know what number it is).  The music has a sort of archaic feel to it, with a sort of alien-ness, or foriegn-ness.  Almost a pseudo-eastern influence.  And it is wonderful -stirring stuff, and perfect for an adventure film.  The Hyborian Age world is supposed to be our world, only ages before any history that we have recorded to us.  As such, the main lands feature a sort of Africa/Europe/Asia super continent, sort of a midpoint between Pangea and today's continental shapes.

For gaming, this is great because it retains some sense of familiarity, but is different enough so that many different narratives can take place within the setting, without it starting to feel "wrong".

Howard, in his stories, and in his fantastic essay (which lays out the history of the world) called "They Hyborian Age" gave a lot of details about the countries, cultures and peoples.  And many of them have historical approximations in our own real world history - again, this is very useful for gaming.  It makes finding similarities easy - to get a grip on equipment, military capability, finding miniatures for different countries, and so on.

Before going on with the Gaming, here is one more music clip.  This is Basil Poledouris, in 2006 (only a few months before he passed away) conducting the Andalucian Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus.  There are two pieces of music here - the Anvil of Crom (wow - grab a broadsword and join the fray!), and then the Riddle of Steel leading into the Riders of Doom (that second piece will certainly evoke images of "Zamora with its dark-haired women and towers of spider-haunted mystery" if you allow it to).  Evidently, this is the only time that Boledouris performed a live concert of the soundtrack pieces.


That was part one of the symphony production, there is also Part 2 (Gift of Fury, the Atlantean Sword, and the Love Theme), Part 3 (Funeral Pyre and the Battle at the Mounds) and Part 4 (The Orphans of Doom, and The Awakening).  This was then followed up by an encore presentation of the Anvil of Crom (again - but really, who can get enough?), Part 5.

There is no shortage of information available online about Conan and his world.  For starters, once could do worse than consulting the Conan Wiki.  It has information about the many stories and novels (by Howard, and others); the tons of fantastic Conan comics that were done, both by Marvel and the more recent masterpieces by Dark Horse, and others.  It even has a (incomplete) listing of some games - both tabletop RPG and also Computer - that feature Conan.

Conan and his world (also the world of Red Sonja, thank you very much) have been a part of the world of gaming since the 1950s and 60s.  In Tony Bath's legendary Hyborian Campaign, the nations of the Hyborian Age were the nations that wargamers were rulers of, and they would fight out their battles using miniatures.  Tony's rules date to 1956, and they were published in a Don Featherstone book in 1962 - these rules were all for the Hyborian Campaign.  There is a nice series of articles about many aspecits of this campaign over at the Hill Cantons blog (Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4) that makes the (very good) case that although it wasn't called a "roleplaying game" that by the end of the campaign, that is very much what it became.  Or at least it became what the early days of Arneson and Gygax were running, when they morphed medieval campaign wargaming into the early states of roleplaying. I believe a strong case can be made that so many miniatures rules sets for the pre-gunpowder world treat the whole milieu (from Bronze Age chariotry up through High Chivalry of the 14th and 15th century) as one ruleset, owes to the work that Tony Bath (and later Wargames Research Group) started with his Hyborian campaign.

For original material from Tony Bath, check out Rudi Geudens' website on the subject.

In 1975, Fantasy Games Unlimited (FGU) published a set of miniatures rules for fighting out battles between the various nations of Hyboria.  It was titled "Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age", and was written by Scott Bizar (of FGU) and Lin Carter (fantasy author, and writer of some Conan stories).  It had some very nice information on the countries - military makeup, some background information, and even info on the uniforms (if any) and national battle standards.  It was (and remains) a great little miniatures game, based on FGU's Medieval miniatures rules, Broadsword (with the "Hyborean" er, Hyborian rules adding in things like Elephants and Chariots, for nations such as Vendhya and Stygia that employ such weaponry).  There were never specific miniatures for the Hyborian Age produced at the time, but there was a line of knock offs.  Minifigs produced a line of miniatures called "Swords and Sorcery".  There is a catalog listing over at The Stuff of Legends.  It was a pretty typical mid-70s fantasy line, but with a lot of soldiery based on the nations of both the Carter/Bizar book, and the Howard (and others') novels.  The names were changed to protect Minifigs, so instead of Hyrkanians, for instance, you get "Hyrkranians".  Instead of Vendhya Warriors, you get "Vandan" Warriors - "Zampora" in lieu of Zamora, etc.


Move forward to 1985, and enter a world where there are a lot of computer games being hosted on computers, where the players would mail in commands to the referee (or company), and these would be entered into a campaign management system, and the results would be produced and sent back out to the player.  There was a Conan based game at this time that was immensely popular - Hyborian War.  You would choose a Small, Medium or Large country, and then you would have to write regular orders for that country - it's developments, economic and cultural; it's military movements; and the actions of any leaders or heroes associate with it.  The computer would generate the results.  There is a website with Lots of the Hyborian War data available on it, today, and a lot of it is very interesting to a gamer (wargamer or otherwise).  Just check out the details on the kingdoms here.

In 1984, following the movie from 1982, TSR published two Conan based modules for the basic Dungeons and Dragons game.  Module CB1 was "Conan Unchained" and Module CB2 was "Conan against the Darkness".  They were pretty bad.  Nobody loved them, not even Conan fans.

There was a series of GURPS books on Conan, the first one (GURPS Conan) having an introduction written by L. Sprague DeCamp (who wrote a LOT of Conan stuff, and is either adored or despised by Howard fans, depending on whether they view him as a loving fan, or a despoiling pirate).  Their stuff consisted of a basic book on the world, and building characters, and then a handful of (well written) adventures.  Much better, IMHO, than the TSR stuff for Basic D&D.

For Roleplaying, however, by far the best and most voluminous effort has been by Mongoose Publishing, for their Conan the Roleplaying Game (both 1st and 2nd edition).  Loads of settings books (kingdoms, cultures, etc) and a lot of adventure material.  To compliment the RPG, they have also been (although this may have been halted) working on a set of Skirmish miniatures rules. Mongoose officially ended the Conan line, but many of the products are available.

In boardgaming, Conan has existed for a long time. First, during the hayday of play-by-mail Diplomacy games (60s, 70s), it seemed like there were a half dozen different Conan variants (using maps and countries, as described again in Howard's Hyborian Age).  Some of these had more or fewer special rules to give the game a more "Conan-like" feel.

More modernly, there has been a great design from Fantasy Flight games, with their 2009 game Age of Conan.  This is a really good looking (I haven't played it yet, but I plan to soon - and I will write a review for Gaming with Chuck).  It is for 2-4 players, with the players running the nations of Aquilonia, Turan, Hyperborea and Stygia.  There is a great map, and really good looking pieces.  BoardGameGeek rates it as a respectable 6.76 out of 10.

By the entry information at BGG it is a 90 minute game.  Not bad for a four person strategic wargame, even one in a fantasy world.  Here is a copy of the Overview of the game, from BGG:

In Age of Conan, you control one of the major kingdoms of the Hyborian Age – Aquilonia, Turan, Hyperborea and Stygia.
You will build up and use your armies and emissaries, you will enhance your actions with your kingdom cards, and you will try to take advantage of the adventures of Conan to increase the power and wealth of your kingdom.
The game is played over the course of three ages. At the beginning of each age, four Conan adventure cards are drawn and used to create the adventure deck. At the beginning of each adventure, players will bid to decide who will be the Conan player for that adventure; when an adventure ends, a new one is drawn and a new bid determines who will be the new Conan player.
The roll of the fate dice is used to determine the actions available to the players. The dice are rolled to form a common pool from which all players will pick their dice. Each player, in turn, will choose and use one fate die and will be able to do one of the actions allowed by that die result.
When the fate dice are all used, they are rolled again and the game continues in this way until all four adventures in the adventure deck are complete. At that point, the game will temporarily stop so that players may earn gold and take several kingdom–building actions in preparation for the next age.

In 1981, in issue number 37 of Space Gamer, Lewis Pulsipher published a set of rules, and a map, for Hyborian Risk.  A few special rules, and the map.  Interesting, I wonder if it would catch on today?

There are also a couple of successful Conan card games.  First, there was a Conan collectible card game from Tempo Games (2006).  But, perhaps more wide reaching, in 2011 there was a Munchkin: Conan base set released, after an individual pack that contained a few Conan themed cards for the main game.  With the Juggernaut of gaming that the Munchkin franchise has become for Steve Jackson Games, I suspect it will be the much-more-successful of the two card games listed here.

Last, the modern wargaming miniature rules from WRG, DBA (De Bellis Antiquatis) and HOTT (Hordes of the Things) have both had versions of the Hyborian World nations written up as army lists - with lists of the various troop types that would make up the armies.  Who knows, maybe one of these days Gaming with Chuck staff might actually run a Hyborian campaign, a la Tony Bath style.  Who knows?

Monstrous Mondays - Contribution to Blog List

In contributing to the great effort to collect Monsters (for Gaming) on Mondays during October, I offer up the following list (all from my Fantasy RPG blog, Valley of the Old Ones), of home-brew monsters that I cooked up during adventure writeups in my setting, devised over the past few months.

The Monstrous Mondays effort was kicked off by Tim Brannan, over at The Other Side Blog.

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Filth Prawns (lesser and greater)

• Filth Prawns
• Greater Filth Prawn

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Ecology of the Rot Troll

• Hell Broom
• Grave-Scourge
• Rot Troll

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Shadow Cultists

• The Despised
• Sword of the Shadow
• Mind of the Shadow

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Dark Elves of Werms

• Dark Elf Warrior
• Dark Elf Scout
• Dark Elf Captain 

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Assorted other Horrific Monsters

• Faceless Ones
• Bottom Dweller
• Mist Walker (Lesser)
• Air Sharks
• Shadow Creature
• Shadow Snake
• Trillmen
• Stone Spiders
• Troll Spider
• Firecat
• Airacuda
• Frost Moth
• Ice Wyrm
• Frost Rhino
• Ice Serpent
• Floating Horror

Can D&D make you a better person?

This is awesome, and really hits on something I have felt for a long time. Sure, the stereotype of gamers is weird, out of touch, strange, unwashed, kind of socially backward, etc - you get the idea. But most that I have known (most, not all) rise above that. They become quite social. After all, gaming is basically a social activity - lots of human interaction, and a self organized hierarchical structure emerges in any game, or gaming group. Of course, they still do retain their own language, culture and mannerisms - but if they can project the social skills into other arenas of life, then (as the article suggests) the fact that they are gamers gives them a leg up. Now roll some dice....

 Here is the video from the article...

Abulafia Random Generators

There is an awesome concept housed over at http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Main_Page


Imagine a wiki page that has a bunch of entries listed on it, and you click on one, and the content at that page is randomized.  Now imagine that the randomization sequence is actually designed to create content suitable for a fantasy RPG.


That is what Abulafia has created.  This includes the (very awesome) dungeon overview generator.


This works like this -
From the main page, chose "places" as your category.
Next you get a list of the different types of randomly generated "places you can find.
We can chose "Dungeon Overview"


This now gives us a random history of what and why the dungeon is (or was) all about - which could generate ideas for all sorts of cool flavor and content in the dungeon.


Here is a direct link - http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Dungeon_Overview


Activating this (just this one time) gets me the following -

The dungeon was originally a palace that is the holy land of spooky children with psionics but has been forgotten by most civilized races for eons. It was rediscovered due to the recent death of the medusa responsible for the statues from which the surrounding stone was quarried. Near the West entrance, a clay golem of unusual intelligence suspects it may contain a sussurus--one of particular interest--and so has dispatched bewitched innocents into the complex. They communicate via sign language.

Meanwhile, a group of righteous goat-headed warriors who entered through a secret door to the Northwest suspects it may contain a werewolf that they value. Their leader is said to be strangely cloned and is also a sinister pet with a dangerous pet--a son of kyuss that appears to obey his/her every whim. It roams the halls looking for sustenance but is afraid of winter. It's also far more intelligent than the typical member of its species. This group uses a species of creeping vine that records sound to spy on the other group of intruders.

(In recent weeks, the two factions have begun to skirmish in the halls.)

Unbeknownst to either side, a lamia noble --wielding powerful magic--lives deep within, inside a network of tunnels leading eventually to a pearl which it prizes beyond all things.

It has constructed traps around its lair--for example, a sturdy cage ready to close on whatever steps inside --but also two stranger traps, informed by its bizarre alien intelligence, which cause intruders to be destroyed by despair. It can avoid the traps easily because of its unique abilities.

The other factions have made about four traps each as well, but they are cruder, since they've been recently and hastily thrown together.

In addition, there are many hazards that are the legacy of the dungeon's original inhabitants. No-one has yet discovered the secret passage near the dais on the first level.

Due to the subtle influence of a morningstar (behind the scale model on level two) with a powerful curse on it, nearly all of the inhabitants have become increasingly compulsive and some have gained additional bizarre physical and mental deformities. Some have become obsessed with despair for reasons unknown.

Perhaps the most disturbing room in the dungeon is the so-called "Chamber of The Claws" which the intelligent creatures in the dungeon fear above all else. However, beyond it there is a androgynous half-orc alchemist who hails from the homeland of one of your PCs and may aid him/her, though s/he covets the PCs' (whatever they have that's unusual) and is repulsed by the sight of every piano s/he sees in the dungeon.

The dungeon's architecture resembles an overgrown prison, however every stairway in it is made of Aquamarine and Pearl.

In addition to these things, it is said by some that, hidden deep within the complex, where no mortal has been in eons is the Child of Despair and the EnigMan, returned from a centuries-long journey beyond the sky, awakening from his slumber to a world gone mad.