Sword & Sorcery Gaming Meets Cthulhiana and Yog-Sothothery
Weird fiction is a genre that emerged from the turn of the century pulp magazines, often combining elements of outré horror, heroic fantasy, tales of the fantastique and science fiction. These publications featured stories by many gifted writers, but it was H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard whose efforts are widely seen as the seminal works that popularized this niche genre of literature, and propelled it beyond the twentieth century. Two unique subgenres of Weird fiction quickly emerged; the so-called "Cthulhu Mythos" (or as Lovecraft himself referred to as "Yog-Sothothery"), as well as Sword & Sorcery literature, further defined the unique vision of these Weird luminaries.
The influence of these subgenres has been vast and far-reaching, spreading beyond the pages of the pulps and onto the game tables of roleplaying hobbyist around the world. Since the earliest days of the hobby, both game designers and players alike have drawn great inspiration from Weird fiction, and in many ways used it as a blueprint for their own imaginative works, published under the guises of game manuals, roleplaying adventure settings and modules. Roleplaying has allowed several generations of would be tale-smiths the opportunity to imagine their way into their own personal tales of the Weird, and in doing so has helped keep the roots of the genre alive and kicking. Swords Against the Outer Dark is dedicated to the fusion of Yog-Sothothery and Sword & Sorcery gaming to form a genre I have dubbed
Sword & Sanity.
Shane Mangus took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 100%!
2 comments:
BTW, I got lucky as hell with this score. I guess on several of these, and pulled the bonus question totally out of my ass! :-P
Which is the damn way you are SUPPOSED to do it! :)
Congrats!
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