04-13-2021, 08:34 PM | #11 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Salem Oregon
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
My friends and I were Moorcock completionists back in the day! We were obsessed with him. I would love to hear what your friends think if they read it.
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04-13-2021, 09:01 PM | #12 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
When my son was in high school a few years ago, he tried a little Moorcock. He couldn't get through it. Couldn't stand the writing style.
I never read Moorcock, but my brother was a fan. I respect my son's opinion about books (and little else) so I wonder if it's a style that just aged poorly. (He reads Lovecraft, so he's not averse to older writing generally speaking.) Whatever, Veteran of the Psychic Wars is solid. (In defense of the boy's taste, he's a big BOC fan and saw them a couple of years ago, alas, playing at a county fair.) |
04-13-2021, 11:04 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Cidri (exact location withheld)
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
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04-14-2021, 01:54 AM | #14 |
Join Date: Jun 2019
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
I was going to say wait, I've read Moorcock's Prince Corum series three times, decades apart, and I didn't notice the prose aging. But then I realized, that third reading had to be in the mid-90's, so I best shut up. Pulled one off the shelf just now and it's practically crumbling in my hands. Now I feel old.
But wouldn't the Hand of Kwll and the Eye of Rhynn make the dandiest of magical items? Yeah, there might be some game balance issues :)
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"I'm not arguing. I'm just explaining why I'm right." |
04-14-2021, 07:40 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Salem Oregon
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
I agree about Elric not aging as well. I tried to reread it a few years ago and it had lost the impact it had back in '70s. Elric was my favorite back then - much better than Conan or ERB to me. Corum and the Dancers at the End of Time still seem fresh though. That acid-tinged prose was definitely on my mind when I re-wrote this thing.
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04-14-2021, 02:09 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: May 2018
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
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The multiverse aspect of the many, many Eternal Champions books is well worth reading the books for, even if you have to hold your nose sometimes... |
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04-14-2021, 02:14 PM | #17 |
Join Date: May 2018
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
Another level of the Elric books that may not be obvious to a lot of people (or maybe it is?) is that Stormbringer is a metaphor for a nasty drug addiction, like heroine or meth. It literally enables Elric to get out of bed in the morning but it also makes him ruin the lives of his friends and loved ones (and sometimes kill them).
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04-15-2021, 05:45 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Salem Oregon
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
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However, back to Sword and Planet: Moorcock actually wrote The City of the Beast and a sequel I cannot remember. It was a homage to Burroughs. And better than Moorcock was Leigh Brackett; her Ginger Star series was a direct inspiration for my piece (and a reminder to new thread members it is here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/aa4bizlc0i...Draft.pdf?dl=0). In a way, Cidri seemed like a Dyson Sphere, or MB a Dyson Swarm. Which is a little Sword and Planet... |
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04-18-2021, 06:24 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
I’ve reread the Corum stories recently and they still work fine for me. They were a big influence on my RPGs.
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04-19-2021, 01:26 PM | #20 | ||
Join Date: May 2018
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Re: Sword and Planet Sandbox Setting
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I've reread many Moorcock books since that time but didn't actually make the connection until 5-10 years after meeting said people. Apparently addiction figures into a lot of Stephen King's stories. The "superfan" in Misery is apparently a metaphor for cocaine -- makes you feel really good about yourself for a short while but after that... Also, there's an indie RPG called Annalise that's about the people affected by a vampire and in the back it has ways you can reskin the game. Mad scientist, werewolf, etc. One of them reskins the vampire as an alcoholic parent. Reskinning vampires as alcoholic parents got me wondering how many old monster stories are metaphorical like that... Quote:
FYI: Kane of Old Mars Last edited by zot; 04-19-2021 at 01:29 PM. |
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