tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post6873315662992316730..comments2024-03-29T05:27:15.301+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: "Well," she said, "How can you be killed?"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-60662868686614623492019-07-29T19:35:58.208+08:002019-07-29T19:35:58.208+08:00The notes on my edition suggest it's an explan...The notes on my edition suggest it's an explanation for a particular geological formation. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-51022458772236601932019-07-28T23:52:19.232+08:002019-07-28T23:52:19.232+08:00I suspect that the precise method is a quirk of We...I suspect that the precise method is a quirk of Welsh culture. I mean, Roger G S' solution SHOULD work, but what we get instead is so specific it has to be a quirk of the Welsh language or something.TPmanWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08415910295872695542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-82527730068836065362019-07-28T05:20:34.581+08:002019-07-28T05:20:34.581+08:00It's a good term!It's a good term!Dennis Laffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03053699552003336733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-7081529761665662862019-07-27T23:45:16.572+08:002019-07-27T23:45:16.572+08:00I am glad Glaurungian has caught on for one person...I am glad Glaurungian has caught on for one person at least!noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-25406259039041409762019-07-27T14:14:39.772+08:002019-07-27T14:14:39.772+08:00My first 3E campaign (20 years ago? Wow!) was heav...My first 3E campaign (20 years ago? Wow!) was heavily based on the Mabinogion and Charles Squire's compilation of Irish myths. I tried to make it very weird and fever-dream-like. It was one of the most Glaurungian campaigns I ever tried to run. Dennis Laffeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03053699552003336733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-21488050340282042502019-07-27T13:19:31.408+08:002019-07-27T13:19:31.408+08:00I also have a copy, part of a thrift store haul, a...I also have a copy, part of a thrift store haul, awaiting a read...Vance Ahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03911245780875316627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-2675386743746747912019-07-27T04:37:00.022+08:002019-07-27T04:37:00.022+08:00I agree with all of that - and all the way through...I agree with all of that - and all the way through I was thinking, there is no way Jack Vance hasn't read this. Lyonesse is just too close in tone to it.<br /><br />I think what you may be remembering is the weirdest and (to me) best story in the cycle, called "How Culwch Won Olwen". I would love to read a novelised version of that one day.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-10590007103063309332019-07-27T01:08:02.798+08:002019-07-27T01:08:02.798+08:00I've been meaning to reread it for a while: th...I've been meaning to reread it for a while: this is just the prompt I need. My memories of it are a strange collage of white, red-eared hounds of the underworld, an 'order' or brotherhood who assail a castle (?), perhaps sequentially, and a sort of Arthurian cyclops. I think I originally read it after being baffled by Alan Garner's The Owl Service, to which I'd gone seeking goblins (in vain!) after The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.<br /><br />It must be one of the biggest influences on the best children's fantasy: Garner's stuff and Susan Cooper's, of course, but also Lloyd Alexander (very directly - and the cauldron-born too) and - I think - CS Lewis: the encounter with the Green Lady and the silent knight in The Silver Chair strikes me as very Mabinogion-ish.<br /><br />There's an influence on Moorcock too: those white dogs turn up in the Corum stories, though mixed in with Irish myth (via the Fomorians). And aren't Anwynn's hounds in one of the Monster Manuals (or the Fiend Folio) in some guise or other?<br /><br />The arbitrariness of the fairy encounters in Vance's Lyonesse probably owes a bit to the Mabinogion too.<br /><br />Have you ever read the very strange Fantasy Wargaming by Bruce Galloway? It's a peculiar book in that it's about RPGs but also contains a baffling, authentically medieval proto-RPG (even more baffling than the three little books of the 1974 D&D!). It would be something like Pendragon avant la lettre (if anyone had ever played it - but I don't think anyone did).<br /><br />Anyway, the author is very good on the differences in flavour between Germanic and Celtic mythology and has quite a bit to say on the Mabinogion. He identifies the Mabinogion's take(s) on Arthur as the best for gaming (against the 'historical' and chivalric versions), given the frequency of quests for magical items and excursions into the Otherworld.JChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964744140140515737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-56094310756114415822019-07-27T00:54:42.525+08:002019-07-27T00:54:42.525+08:00I'm not going to spoil it either, but yeah, th...I'm not going to spoil it either, but yeah, that's a doozy.<br />No, I didn't guess, how could you?Jeremiahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11245925772331967567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-17555319635207570872019-07-26T20:09:23.671+08:002019-07-26T20:09:23.671+08:00It gets better when a young maiden is asked to &qu...It gets better when a young maiden is asked to "step over Math's rod" (ooh, er, missus) in order to prove she is a virgin, and she does so and then immediately gives birth to a baby. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-6435258671887711612019-07-26T20:07:05.344+08:002019-07-26T20:07:05.344+08:00You are warmish but not quite.You are warmish but not quite.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-51709393622074003462019-07-26T19:36:27.906+08:002019-07-26T19:36:27.906+08:00Answer: in a doorway, riding on a pig?Answer: in a doorway, riding on a pig?Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-57140147183315029782019-07-26T19:35:54.498+08:002019-07-26T19:35:54.498+08:00Can you produce a doctor's note about that ail...Can you produce a doctor's note about that ailment, Math of Mathonwy?Roger G-Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08594440701279968693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-84016634189008380882019-07-26T19:22:07.583+08:002019-07-26T19:22:07.583+08:00Yeah, that and also silk brocolages. Yeah, that and also silk brocolages. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-56132722129399552162019-07-26T19:20:00.815+08:002019-07-26T19:20:00.815+08:00Yeah, it's a nice one, isn't it? I love ma...Yeah, it's a nice one, isn't it? I love magic items like that which have a drawback.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-87762513395049956642019-07-26T19:19:32.185+08:002019-07-26T19:19:32.185+08:00It's by Sioned Davis, I think - a fairly recen...It's by Sioned Davis, I think - a fairly recent version for Oxford University Press.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-37261556330871259092019-07-26T18:15:47.352+08:002019-07-26T18:15:47.352+08:00I read it last year and I was struck by the odd ob...I read it last year and I was struck by the odd obsession with boots and the type of leather used in their making. Here's a new character! They're wearing this sort of boot! Made of this sort of leather! Over and over. Weird.<br /><br />Aside from that, it's a great collection of tales.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-68895076910821664362019-07-26T16:07:59.084+08:002019-07-26T16:07:59.084+08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jean-François Lebretonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07310676119910035535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-56332238636875585632019-07-26T13:46:20.215+08:002019-07-26T13:46:20.215+08:00This 'stone of invisibility is an excellent ma...This 'stone of invisibility is an excellent magic item! It has perfect drawbacks, not too harsh, but you have to remember about them. You can't use one hand and you can easily loose a grip. Ifrythttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08568876894350411986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-88382821371459258952019-07-26T11:33:01.726+08:002019-07-26T11:33:01.726+08:00You've inspired me to finally take my unread c...You've inspired me to finally take my unread copy of the The Mabinogion of the shelf and give it a go. Which translation do you have?<br /><br />Also, the line about feet and laps is some excellent innuendo. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com