Tuesday 20 May 2008

Animal Character Sheets and Wishing I Could Draw

What on earth is wrong with me? I'm much too old for this sort of thing. But I just can't get over how brilliant Tony DiTerlizzi's AD&D Mouse Thief character sheet is. My only hope now is that he follows through and makes equivalents for his Rabbit Wizard and Badger Warrior ideas, too.

I haven't read a Redwall book in, what is it, fifteen years? But there really is something to be said for that curious genre, which we might call Animal Fantasy (a genre which consists of the Redwall books, The Wind in the Willows and, er...that's it). I think a large part of the attraction for me is that I'm British, those books are British, and they hark back to a lost era of idyllic meadows on warm summer days, drinking cider while floating around the village pond on a rowing boat, the soft tap of cork on willow, Beatrix Potter, and Jennings. You should never estimate the power of nostalgia, especially nostalgia for something that you never experienced and probably never really existed, but which inhabits your national psyche like something you once collectively dreamed and can never quite forget.

It can't only be that, though; the other key to the success of Animal Fantasy is that it's undeniably Great and Awesome and Cool and Wicked. Look at this picture by Sean Rubin and tell me that it isn't. I just dare you.

8 comments:

  1. If you don't mind you animal fantasy Yank-afied and a bit more adult with a squeeze of silly, I'd suggest checking out Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series of books. They're very evocative with some neat takes on the whole animal fantasy thing.

    And don't forget Narnia though, like Spellsinger, it's not pure animal fantasy like Redwall.

    - Brian

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  2. The name Alan Dean Foster really rings a bell... I have the feeling I've read something by him, but can't remember what.

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  3. He's extremely prolific. For instance, if you've read a sci-fi or fantasy movie novelization in the past thirty or so years, he probably wrote it. Most of his stuff is sci-fi, especially his original work.

    - Brian

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  4. As a space-age corollary to the Awesomeness of Animal Fantasy, I offer Rocket Raccoon.

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  5. If you're willing to accept a broader definition of fantasy, Watership Down (and Tales From Watership Down) fits neatly into the Animal Fantasy Genre as well, particularly the parts about El-Ahrairah

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  6. Rachel: Oh yeah, Watership Down is like a more gritty version of animal fantasy, I guess. That would be a cool setting for a role playing game too, actually. I wonder if anybody's tried that.

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  7. As usual, the answer to "Has anybody done this in an RPG before?" is, of course, that there is a GURPS supplement.

    - Brian

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  8. Those GURPS writers get everywhere, don't they? Maybe the better question would be: I wonder if there's a topic which there isn't a GURPS supplement for?

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