Questionably Good.

I have had a very hectic week, but that does not mean I don't have something for you.

The Youtube channel Dungeon Soup makes bizarre animations centered on fantasy with a D&D-ish slant.

Recently their series, Chaotic Good Barbarian has taken the Youtube sphere by storm, and I thought I'd share it with you guys today.

Be aware that both the style and humor is pretty out there, and I don't think its for everyone, but I have enjoyed it a lot. Behind the oddball antics is some pretty smart writing, and if you pay close attention to episode 2, you are going to get some neat inside information.

I'm going to let the series speak for itself, overselling something is annoying at the best of times. I'll embed the first video and link the playlist below.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week!   

 

Full Playlist

Are you Pulling my leg?

 

Hello and welcome to the first Eccentric Sphere of 2021!

I was thinking about what to talk about today and finally came to the conclusion that the best way to go forward is to take a peak backwards. At least this sounds like a plausible excuse, right?

I was over on TV Tropes when I ran across an entry that lead me to the Pulling Report, which is sort of the topic for today.

Backstory: back in the 1980's different groups from fundamentalists to law enforcement to conservative politicians enjoyed whipping each other into a frenzy over Satanic Ritual Abuse. Multiple investigations were launched which found no evidence whatsoever that there were any Satanic groups operating anywhere in the U.S. or that there was any such abuse going on. This lack of evidence didn't bother the above mentioned groups in the slightest, and they wasted no time trying to get rid of things they thought were unpleasant and morally wrong. Things like metal music, horror movies and Dungeons & Dragons.

Eventually this panic died down, although it rears it's head every now and then. Back when Harry Potter was the hottest IP, lots of conservatives and fundamentalists refused to let their children read it from fear that they would learn witchcraft and become tools of Satan...

So onto Pat Pulling. Back in 1982, her son Irving suddenly committed suicide. He had previously been playing D&D at school and searching for some kind of explanation for the tragedy, Mrs. Pulling blamed D&D.

Now, it is worth pointing out that in an early interview, Pat Pulling expressed sadness that she hadn't seen the signs coming and that she had been unable to help her son. No joke, I absolutely respect that.

Then, for some reason she turned around and sued the principal of Irving's school for failing to stop the suicide and allowing D&D to be played at school. The suit was tossed out of court for obvious reasons. Now my sympathy for Mrs. Pulling is starting to wobble.

Later on, when she and her organization Bothered About D&D (B.A.D.D.) got famous and she started getting paid, she appeared on the talk show Geraldo where she claimed that her dead son used to behave like a lycanthrope and that he killed lots of small animals. Now I have no choice but to put her in the loony bin. All sympathy is gone.

Despite this, she became one of the top Cult Crime Investigators in the U.S. and traveled the nation giving talks and distributing guidebooks to law enforcement on how to recognize, interrogate and catch satanists, a.k.a. D&D players. This included instructions to ask if the suspect had played D&D, what level he was and so on. She also claimed that all satanists lie to cover up their crimes and to protect their coven members, so if the suspects claims not to be satanists or D&D players, they are lying. In other words, lack of evidence is evidence.

In 1990, author and game designer Michael A. Stackpole published The Pulling Report in which he completely tore apart Pulling and her cronies in a methodical and systematic way. It is an amazing read and I truly recommend you read it, despite its length. If you are interested in gaming or indeed just a look at how people like Mrs. Pulling operate, this report shines a bright spotlight straight at it. Shortly after the Pulling Report was distributed, most of the Satanic Panic died down. I'm certain that Mr. Stackpole's excellent report played a large part of it, but also that times had changed.

The Pulling Report: http://www.rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html

That is that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, stay safe and have an excellent week!

Dragonlance Chronicles

 

A couple of days ago, I finished the original Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy, and I figured I'd talk about it. This wasn't the first time I read the trilogy, but the first and only time I did, was about twenty years ago, so it was time.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night and Dragons of Spring Dawning are by now iconic fantasy novels. Published in 1984-1985, they began as adventure modules for the new Dragonlance setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The modules were written by Tracy Hickman, and he wanted to expand on the game he was running in these modules by turning the game sessions into a series of novels, which TSR (the then publisher of D&D) reluctantly agreed to. Another writer was slated to write the novels but he fell through so Hickman and his assigned editor Margaret Weis decided to write the trilogy on their own.

Enough back story, let's crack on. Mild spoilers ahead.

The story follows a band of heroes which includes Tanis Half-Elven, Flint Fireforge, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, the brothers Raistlin and Caramon Majere and Sturm Brightblade as they return home after a long five years apart. But times have changed and evil now stalks the land as the minions of the cruel Dragon Highlords cause trouble for everyone. The meet, rescue and team up with two plains barbarians Goldmoon and Riverwind and set off on adventure. Later on, they are joined by Tika Waylan, Laurana and Gilthanas Kanan (brother and sister) and a couple of others. Together they seek to stop the Dragon Highlords from conquering the world for the evil Goddess Takhisis.

The cast is pretty big but it isn't that hard to follow. The names aren't that similar and since the entire group is rarely in one place at the same time, there is little risk of getting them mixed up.

The story is solid if not groundbreaking. The Chronicles follow an old arc also used in the original Star Wars trilogy, with the threatening setup followed by a dark middle and ultimately a costly but happy ending. Simple and functional.

The writing is clean and easy to digest, but it is in the world and the locations that the Chronicles really shine in my opinion. The world of Krynn is presented in a believable way and feels both natural and functional which contrasts nicely with the more outlandish places that the heroes visit. Making everything incredibly fantastic is an easy trap for fantasy designers fall into, and Hickman and Weis elegantly sidesteps this, making the world feel alive and if not real then at least believable.

There are a couple of nitpicks though. A description of the elven homelands explains that it took the elves several hundreds of years to sculpt but “what is that to people who measure their lives in centuries”... I'd say that is quite a thing then.

The second book starts with a brief recap of an entire adventure that took place between the books. This felt very odd as not only did it sound like a very cool adventure, but why structure your story in such a way? Why not include it? If it would have made the Chronicles too long, then change the story. Imagine if the Lord of the Rings had started as it does, but then had jumped to Rivendell and merely mentioned that the journey had been perilous and that the encounters with the Ringwraiths were scary and so on. It jarred me quite badly, but it is what it is.

The Dragonlance Chronicles is not great literature, and that is in many ways its strength. It's a simple and clean fantasy adventure story. One might call it naive, and maybe it is, at least compared to the above mentioned Lord of the Rings, but it is also easier to read and nowhere near as cumbersome. It knows what it is and it doesn't try to be anything beyond that, which I respect. In the world of role-playing game novels, it is a venerable old war horse and if that is your thing, you do yourself a disservice by not reading it. If you come looking for high art you are in the wrong place.

I liked it and I recommend it.

That will do for this time. Join me again next time and until then, have a great week and stay safe.