Maus and Lankhmar

[Havard]

*Ahem*

Compare this to the Blackmoor map of the lands surrounding Maus....

This is my main argument so far.

Anyway, my point is not really whether Lankhmar was the inspiration for Maus or not. The point is that given the similarities between the two, how can we use Lankhmar to flesh out Maus further?

-Havard

[Rafael]

*Ahem*

*snip*
This is my main argument so far.

Could be coincidental.

Also, was it really Arneson who did the first map, or was it some other person?

Anyway, my point is not really whether Lankhmar was the inspiration for Maus or not. The point is that given the similarities between the two, how can we use Lankhmar to flesh out Maus further?

Given how close D&D and Lankhmar are, that should be pretty easy. (Though I think Lankhmar is set in a more moderate climate than BM.)

As easy as to connect any other fantasy novel from that era, though, like, say, the Elric stories.

[Havard]

*Ahem*

*snip*
This is my main argument so far.

Could be coincidental.

Could be. Check for details and you will find a fairly long list of coincidences. However, I thought we had gone down this road ages ago.

Also, was it really Arneson who did the first map, or was it some other person?

Arneson did the map.

Anyway, my point is not really whether Lankhmar was the inspiration for Maus or not. The point is that given the similarities between the two, how can we use Lankhmar to flesh out Maus further?

Given how close D&D and Lankhmar are, that should be pretty easy. (Though I think Lankhmar is set in a more moderate climate than BM.)

As easy as to connect any other fantasy novel from that era, though, like, say, the Elric stories.

[/quote]

Listen, what I am trying to do here is get a way from the academic type of discussions that this forum has sometimes been criticised for. I see a long list of similarities between these two cities and the idea is to flesh out Maus further based on continuing that analogy. Whether this was Arneson's intention or not is really not that interesting at this point. The idea is rather to flesh out the city for actual play.

Show me a city from the Elric stories that is similar to a Blackmoor town and I am all for doing the same.



-Havard

[Rafael]

WAR HAVARD!

Sorry for getting on your nerves with my resistance againt Lankhmar, but I simply dislike the idea.

Gary Gygax' City of Greyhawk is said to have been mainly based on Lankhmar. Why would Arneson have to do it, too?

There's more than enough other fantasy literature that is usually disregarded.


Now, for Maus from today's player perspective, things are much simpler.

FREEPORT = Maus.

Apart from Freeport being indeed located on an island, IIRC, the description fits perfectly,
and its generic enough not to overload the DM with stuff that he has to fix.
(Lankhmar, as an RPG, being pretty overloaded with info, IRRC.)

For me personally, the adventure that spawned Rowell, and a couple of other characters of the LFC,
used the equation "Maus=Brindinford", from the WotC module "The Speaker in Dreams".

Not necessarily the best choice, but it has a nice Cthulhuesque/Coot angle, and well, it was a nice game.

My case being the the availability, or the lack thereof, of d20/4e material for Lankhmar.



As to Moorcock: Ilmiora from the Stormbringer RPG (not sure if Moorcock is the originator of that description, though.

Also, the Corum novels are about as Lankhmar as Blackmoor, with Corum, IMO being the closest to being a blueprint for "Moorcock the Slayer". Its land of Khoolocrah make for a good Blackmoor, though I think there are no maps.

Or, check The Silver Warriors - I am not sure if it translates correctly from German back into English, but there we have "Lands of Black Ice".

[Havard]

WAR HAVARD!

Sorry for getting on your nerves with my resistance againt Lankhmar, but I simply dislike the idea.

Gary Gygax' City of Greyhawk is said to have been mainly based on Lankhmar. Why would Arneson have to do it, too?

Yeah, I did notice from your argumentation that you didnt like the idea. As to the risk of it becoming too similar to Greyhawk, I think there could easily be two cities even within the same setting inspired by Lankhmar without the two becoming too similar. After all they are inspired by the novels, not identical to the novels.

There's more than enough other fantasy literature that is usually disregarded.

In general I think it is a good idea to keep an overall 70s fantasy literature atmosphere though. The chances of Gygax and Arneson's group having read much of the same literature is great, so there will be some similarities between the two settings, even though we know that there are also significant differences.

Now, for Maus from today's player perspective, things are much simpler.

FREEPORT = Maus.

Apart from Freeport being indeed located on an island, IIRC, the description fits perfectly,
and its generic enough not to overload the DM with stuff that he has to fix.
(Lankhmar, as an RPG, being pretty overloaded with info, IRRC.)

It would work, though I think Robinsport in the Duchy of Ten might be a better fit for Freeport. And what's to say Freeport doesnt draw some inspiration from Lankhmar?

Jackport or Archlis may also have similarities to Freeport. I see Archlis as more of a
"posh" place though.

For me personally, the adventure that spawned Rowell, and a couple of other characters of the LFC,
used the equation "Maus=Brindinford", from the WotC module "The Speaker in Dreams".

Not necessarily the best choice, but it has a nice Cthulhuesque/Coot angle, and well, it was a nice game.

My case being the the availability, or the lack thereof, of d20/4e material for Lankhmar.

The part I like best from this quote is "Cthulhuesque/Coot angle".

As to Moorcock: Ilmiora from the Stormbringer RPG (not sure if Moorcock is the originator of that description, though.

Also, the Corum novels are about as Lankhmar as Blackmoor, with Corum, IMO being the closest to being a blueprint for "Moorcock the Slayer". Its land of Khoolocrah make for a good Blackmoor, though I think there are no maps.

Interesting. I will have to investigate this further. The connection between Corum and Moorkock is particularly interesting. I could never really get into Moorcock's writing though. Maybe a connection to Blackmoor will help motivate me?

Or, check The Silver Warriors - I am not sure if it translates correctly from German back into English, but there we have "Lands of Black Ice".

Will check it out. Also by Moorcock?

-Havard