Tenkar's Tavern: Inspirational Reading for My Upcoming Crypts & Things Campaign

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Inspirational Reading for My Upcoming Crypts & Things Campaign - Sword of Sorcery Issue #1

Once I committed to running Crypts & Things for my lapsed gamers group, I decided I needed some inspirational reading.

Lo and behold I found the 1973 comic book series Sword of Sorcery, starring Fritz Lieber's very own Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser on eBay. The series only lasted 5 issues, and I grabbed issues 1 thru 3 (and 4 was thrown in as a bonus, so just one more to grab).

Denny O'Neil wrote the adaptation and Howard Chaykin did the pencils.

Not bad at all. I vaguely remember reading the original it was based on, but it's been at least 20 years. Yeah, I guess I need to reread the originals at some point.

4 comments:

Josh BurnettMarch 20, 2013 at 9:20 PM
You really should go and find the trade paperback collection of the Howard Chaykin/Mike Mignola adaptations, too!
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JDJarvisMarch 21, 2013 at 7:26 AM
My father had this comic in his stack of comics when I was a boy along with some Tarzan, Conan, Swamp Thing,and Jonah Hex (along with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Zap) . I scraped up most of the DC comics 70's sword and sorcery/sci-fi series years later. The art and the stories undoubtedly had influence on my D&D play.
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Inspirational Reading for My Upcoming Crypts & Things Campaign - Sword of Sorcery Issue #1

4 comments:

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