OSR, Conan, Shaky Cat, and Cadfael

Maybe, like Stevenson, you're 'known and pointed out for the pattern of an idler.' You'll turn to comics, a solo adventure, and the imagined cool of a 12th Century abbey. You'll already know the flittings that follow!

***

A Conan the Barbarian comic

 [from a drawing by Richard Pace in The Savage Sword of Conan, Vol. 2]

All's not well with Conan's world in Zub and Pace's comic, Leaving the Garden. He's been buried alive. And in frame on frame of slashing, black & white drawings, Conan is 'leaving the garden' - he's digging out from the grave. In the world above, only Conan could survive.

Leaving the Garden almost rips its pages. Demon-infestations. Innocence ruined. Conan's grief, and his slaughtering axe. But it's still a comic, still beautiful, and brimming with brutal hack 'n slash action.

*** 

A solo DnD Adventure

 [from the cover illustration by Carlos Castilho in The Meadery Mishap]

In my solo game, I've played a magic user, Shaky Cat, most recently in Sebastian Grabne's adventure, The Meadery Mishap. 

There was a mishap. Shaky and cleric Oderic and fighter Frembas traveled to eat oysters in Brinewell, where the price of mead was up because something was disturbing the bees. It turned-out these were not usual bees.

In Castilho's drawing, you likely see a magic user, but you might not have seen the head of a giant bee (lower left). Shaky saw him, only too late, and it stung him for four points of damage. I should've known, getting too attached to a low level magic user. Shaky didn't save for poison!

The Meadery Mishap's a fun adventure - maybe not very low level. Before setting out for reinforcements, Oderic and Frembas buried Shaky on a hill beside the sea.

*** 

Three Cadfael stories

[From the cover illustration by Anne Bascove in A Rare Benedictine]

Three wonderful short stories will be found in Ellis Peters' A Rare Benedictine. Set in the 12th Century Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul - there's mystery, never murder, but always Cadfael. 

Moldvay says, 'When a party descends into a dungeon...they must be ready to deal with strange creatures...some foul, some fair, some intelligent, some not...' Thus it is with Cadfael, a Benedictine monk amid knots of faith and frailty. 

In one story, The Price of Light, Cadfael considers an arriving knight. 

Brother Cadfael, who knew only the public reputation of the donor, and was skeptical enough to suspend judgement until he encountered the source, said nothing, and waited to observe and decide for himself. Not that he expected much...

In The Prince of Light, you'll find villainy, true-love wronged, and Ellis' quiet rendering of Cadfael's correcting subterfuge. For little, you can find the Mysterious Press Edition, with Anne Bascove's illustrations!

***

Thanks for reading.


 




Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 9, 2024 at 6:59 PM

    I can’t believe Shaky Cat died! A mishap indeed!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 10, 2024 at 5:51 PM

    Still getting over it! I think Frembas picked up his silver knife. Thx for writing!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OSR, a solo game, and Al Shief's adventure

Image
  Sometimes a solo game is a wonderful way to explore my campaign world and to meet new characters. Tonight I'll share a game, and maybe start a story. So, meet Al Shief, a thief out near TenKeep. *** After some rough fighting near Silo Verde, the footpad Al Shief felt an emptiness in his stomach before the throbbing from an oozy place on his head. As night fell, he rose with the moon and marched several miles east, to the high dessert town "La Gama." Hunger driven, Al spied open windows in sleepy adobe house. Seemed like an easy take for something to eat. He moved into shadows to an open window.      [Al's moved silently, 25%, but he rolled a 27]. Somebody's dog came-out jawing.       [Dog's reaction roll, 2d6, rolls a 5, "unfriendly, may attack"].       [Initiative, the dog gets the jump.] Barking for everyone to hear, the damn dog lunges.     [Attack roll d20, rolled an 18, hits, damage, d3, rolled a 6].  Al tore away and ran to a hollow. Fido tur
Read more

OSR and Fritz Leiber's "Lean Times in Lankhmar"

Image
There's something about the sincerity of Fritz Leiber. In 1979 I read his name in my Dungeon Master's Guide . It took me 44 years to read him - Leiber's an early dungeon master . This week I read Lean Times in Lankhmar , a short story set in the "City of Thieves" and featuring the heroic duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, who've parted ways.  "Exactly what caused the tall brawling barbarian and the slim elusive Prince of Thieves to fall out, and the mighty adventuring partnership to be broken, is uncertainly known..." What's sure is they come-back together. Separated in Lankhmar, the Gray Mouser had gotten fat, drinking hard and enforcing a racketeer's exploits among priests. Fafhrd had gone completely inward, sleeping on cobblestones and inspiring the faith of an Issek priest and his followers.  The story's greatness is in the way Leiber's plot rejoins Fafhrd and the Mouser -  1950's pulp-adventure filled with wine, brute force, ba
Read more

OSR and minis

Image
  Today is just a short one. Minis have always been a fun part of Old School Games – great for figuring out an encounter, great for getting to know a character, and sometimes just a fun thing to paint. I remember a dwarf I painted in 1979, he is long lost now, but I remember. Sometime back, I painted three hobbit bounders. Out there, now, somewhere near TenKeep, they're on patrol, and not sure what’s out there.  Let me know if you have any you'd like to post.
Read more