Fantasy Wargaming

 Abraham Merritt One of the foundational writers for the supernatural fiction genre, an inspiration to many of the other authors listed in the renowned DMG Appendix N. Here's my current library of books by A. Merritt: Others I still need to get include: The Moon Pool The Black Wheel Collections: Through Dragon Glass & Other Stories The Pool of the Stone God & Other Stories Not sure if I want to get his Cosmos series.  I don't know much about it. Also, I have a small chapbook called "The Challenge from Beyond" which is an interesting concept.  Different authors wrote individual chapters developing on the story written by the previous author, creating a unique tale.  Merritt wrote one of the chapters in this book along with Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, C.L. Moore and others.

 The Dark Eidolon by Clark Ashton Smith A grim tale of wickedness, revenge, and doom. Not a single decent, moral character in the entire story, everyone is evil. Strange to read a tale where no one is good and there is no side you instinctively want to succeed. What's in a name?  The word 'eidolon' is only used once in the text. Sure, it's evocative, but maybe it is pointing to a moral lesson or truth in the story.  Looking up "eidolon" in the Oxford English Dictionary, makes you think...   https:// oed.com/dictionary/eid olon_n?tab=meaning_and_use#5785452 … Most, if not all, characters in the story have some dark (evil) obsession that ultimately destroys them when manifest.  When these fatal, evil flaws are brought to the surface and exposed, they spell doom for all.  I think about how each of the characters met their ultimate doom: Namirrha - driven mindless and slashing an image of himself in the mirror until his magic sword crumbles. --> He lost h...

The Blue Star is a somewhat unique entry on Appendix N.  Not your, hack-slash of Conan or high fantsay wizardly exploits of Gandalf. Instead, this is a examination of a man and woman and their emotional struggle with each other layered on top of the political intrigue between two nations with different cultures, religious backgrounds, and governmental organizations. The main protagonist of the story, Rodvard Bergelin, is actually a scribe.  While his love interest,  Lalette Asterhax,  is a witch. Let's see how some of what we witness in this book correlates with features of the AD&D system. GG list various governmental organizations on DMG 89. The two main characters start off in a city ruled by an aristocracy where social class is determined by parentage. Rovard is a member of a secret group, seeking to overthrow this government to correct what they perceive as the inequity of the system to the poor and disadvantage...while Lalette is  Ask the story unfolds...