ELVES - PART 1

[this post was started a while back, hence the dated nature of items in the post]

With the recent unveiling of the trailer for The Hobbit, an article in the new Fight On! by Walt Jillson titled "Elves as Green Men" + this thread on the OD&D boards, I knew it was time to figure some elf out.

Though I've never seen the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit, I owned the 2 LP boxed set w/ booklet & enjoyed it as a young lad. I still have it & here's a picture of it:

The booklet follows along w/ the LPs & contains illustrations from the film. My first visual knowledge of elves was from this booklet: elves are grey, w/ green eyes; the more civilized elves (like Elrond), have green hair & look more human (what later in post would be regarded as "high elves"). Keep in mind, Rivendell is not located deep in a forest, but fairly close to other civilized lands (following image is from my copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit).

 Click to see Rivendell & Elrond over in the West + note Mirkwood

Elrond in Rivendell

 

"Wood elves", on the other hand, will be those elves found in Mirkwood. They have orange (or white) hair & have a more, well, Yoda-esque quality:

Jillson's article in Fight On! #13 is in regard to elves as Green Men & there is a sketch of the wood elf chieftain from Rankin/Bass (fused w/ a bit of Lord of the Flies?).

Jillson points out how the Rankin/Bass production of The Hobbit uses the "Green Man trope" for the elves of Mirkwood, whereas Tolkien himself never distinguished between elves in his books appearance-wise.

This is totally interesting.

So I decided to follow the trail of elves in D&D. 

First, I looked @ Chainmail, then Men & Magic (OD&D Book 1). There is nothing in either specific to elf "types", differences, or appearances; however, one will note that they are in the same class as Fairies.

Next I looked through Monsters & Treasure (OD&D Book 2) & came upon this:

"Elves: Elves are of two general sorts, those who make their homes in woodlands & those who seek the remote meadowlands."

After that the Greyhawk & Blackmoor supplements (OD&D Supplements I & II), respectively:

"Elves: Elves are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds, have tan to fair skin, & are also of various types (wood, high elves, meadow elves)... wood elves being the darkest."

"...akin to mermen as land elves are to men."

Next up was the AD&D Players Handbook:

"There are many sorts of elves, & descriptions of the differing types are found in AD&D, MONSTER MANUAL. Elven player characters are always considered to be high elves, the most common sort of elf."

NOTE: THE MONSTER MANUAL WAS THE FIRST AD&D BOOK TO BE PUBLISHED IN DEC 1977, HENCE THE REFERENCE ---------------- THE RANKIN/BASS HOBBIT AIRED 2 MONTHS PREV OVER NBC FOR FIRST TIME NOV 1977]

MONSTER MANUAL [it would be interesting to see what a first edition MM has for this entry, but for now, the only edition I have, 4th printing]:

"Elves are slim of build & pale complected. Their hair is dark, & their eyes are green. Their garb is typically pastel & of blue or green or violet (but often covered by a greenish gray cloak)."

The MM then gets into more detail regarding diff. types:

"Aquatic Elf... humanoid in appearance, w/ gill slits on the throat & greenish-silver skin & green or blue-green hair."

"Drow... The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright & as evil as the latter are good."

"Grey Elf (Faerie): Grey elves have either silver hair & amber eyes or pale golden hair & violet eyes. The latter sort are generally called faeries. They favor white, yellow, silver, or gold garments. Their cloaks are often deep blue or purple. They live beyond the age of 1,500 years."

"Wood Elf: Their complexions are fair, their hair is yellow to coppery red & their eyes are light brown, light green, or hazel. They wear russets, reds, brown & tans. Their cloaks are usually green or greenish brown. Wood elves have a life span of centuries."

So high elves are grey elves?

Anyway, onto BASIC:

HOLMES [originally published in 1977, I have a later printing of this as well]:

Character section: "Elves -  are five or more feet in height, slim of build, weigh about 120 pounds & have fair to tan skin." Monster section: "Elves generally are of two sorts, wood elves & high elves... They are described in the character section."

Notice that up to this point there has been nothing about pointy ears. In D&D, we dont see that description drop until MOLDVAY:

"Elves are slender, graceful demi-humans w/ delicate features & slightly pointed ears. They are 5 to 5 1/2 feet tall & weigh about 120 pounds... prefer to spend their time feasting & frolicking in wooded glades. They rarely visit the cities of men."

Something to note about Moldvay as well is that this is the first rulebook to have the elf be a class in itself: one experience path, abilities of both a fighter & magic-user entwined.

One can assume that Moldvay's elves are high elves, much like it's stated in the AD&D Player's Handbook how all player character elves are high elves.

But why cant players be wood elves? And if they were, what exactly would be different about them?

[more to come]

DJAREL'S JOURNAL + LEIF'S DRAWING RE: SESSION 13

Djarel's Journal - 17th of the Hummingbird

I don't remember much of my time spent in Avalon. Amadi tells me that I drank some green beer and fell asleep... Before I passed out,  I vaguely remember the smokey elf insulting an mustachioed woman. The offer of the cosmetics book yielded no useful information about the town. Amadi than spoke with the old tavern keep who spoke of the haunted house in Avalon. The old man said that he had heard noises coming from the haunted place and had seen people come and go from there only on seldom occasion. Of those who visited the old house fewer still emerged but of those who did seemed to be burdened with heavy coin-purses which was a boon for the Smoking Leprechaun.

I woke up around 11 AM between the shoulders of the Wild Wizard and the Smokey Elf. They let me know that Avalon does not have a blacksmith and gave me the details of the Haunted House as I have described above. After a short while I regained my footing and I was happy to know that we where heading back towards Crackenmore after we regrouped at the Hollow Tree. Just before arriving at our new refuge the Telal and the Smokey Elf noticed some bodies on the ground up ahead. Upon closer inspection they appeared to be the groundhog men that we had read about in Talbot's journal. Telal helped himself to a small coin purse and a hempen necklace adorned with little sharp teeth. With nothing left to do for the groundhogmen and not wanting to wait for there companions to find us near their bodies we made haste for the Hollow Tree.

Amadi and the Smoking Elf had time to interpret the words which came from the dying eight eye and lead us to the statue chamber with a purpose. Leif wrapped the small statue on ground and then we stood in silence for a moment. Shortly after the Wild wizard Amadi rapped his staff hard upon one of the statues and suddenly an owl spirit appeared in a small alcove near by. After shouting at the owl Leif was eventually able to get it to speak. The spirit knew of Eric Talbot as it had been watching this portion of Hollow Tree since its beginning. Talbot resided here with five companions, and from here they waged their war as crayfishmen against the groundhogmen until one day they all did not return, and curiously enough Talbot himself left without his armor. Soon the spirit became weary and was unable to provide useful answers to our inquires.

 "I am not a teacher. I am a teller," said the owl.

After ending our conversation with the owl spirit, we took on the mindset of turning Hollow Tree into a home and set to work putting the interior in order. I headed to the 8 eye lair and began preparing a holy place for the Dawnbringer while the Smoking Elf repaired the stairway and Telal reset the wrecking ball trap as well as the statue room trap. The altar was made from three large stones that I found within the Hollow tree to form a sort of small bench where upon I burned the body of the 8 eye and the winged needles and Dawnbringer was pleased and blessed my faith with magical knowledge. When there is time I shall add wildflowers, tulips, and skulls to the altar. Later on in the evening, the Wild wizard called us around the fire and there he shared with us a wonderful tome which made us all feel much wiser and now we sit in wonderment and are sharing some of his smoke.

Praise be to the Dawnbringer for this blessed day.

HEALERS

I've been going through a number of early issues of The Dragon and in #3 came upon this new class by C. Hettlestad. I am not certain I wanna keep this as an ongoing class possibility, & honestly, I havent even read through it totally as to the spells etc., but for now, it'd be cool to see one enter the fray. So here it is. Instantly made me think of the following image (would rather have the class be "Doctor" but that happens when you level up).

TOWN DESIGN: PART 2 - PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY

The village of Hommlet is home to the following occupations: eight farms (one mainly a dairy & one w/ a manor), two herdsman, a woodcutter, leather worker, smithy, weaver, tailor, trader, carter, moneychanger, cabinet maker, potter, brewmaster, miller, wheel & wainwright, carpenter, stone mason, innkeeper, druid & church leaders.

While one can simply use the above info & duplicate this spread while designing their own town building-by-building, here's a Hommlet-esque 3d10 table that will randomly decide what an NPC's occupation is (if your result is a building reroll), or what kind of building/who lives there (unless farmer or herdsman, if you roll a duplicate, reroll (that is, if you dont favor the duplication)):

1. Castle/Keep
2. Ruins
3. Guard Tower
4. Camp of workers
5. Construction site
6. Potter
7. Church
8. Dairy/farmer
9. Miller
10. Wheel & wainwright
11. Carpenter
12. Stone Mason
13. Tailor
14. Farmer
15. Farmer
16. Farm w/ manor
17. Herdsman
18. Druidic site
19.  Brewmaster
20. Cabinet maker
21. Trader
22. Carter
23. Moneychanger
24. Weaver
25. Smith
26. Innkeeper/Inn
27. Village Hall
28. Leather worker
29. Woodcutter
30. Herdsman

Interestingly, the key in T1 that mentions "pillars of the community" is in regard to a family that doesnt seem special in any other way. They tend to be cool toward strangers - suspicious with good cause.

As for the village militia (Hommlet Company), there are approx. 57 of 76 males (75%) in Hommlet that will call-to-arms. Also, it is worth noting that of these 57, 2% are secret spies of the Temple of Elemental Evil. Generally, the 19 that are not part of the militia are either selfish adventuring types, outcasts, religious folk, or just too old. Of one family it is written, These people do not follow any religious persuasion, so they are excluded from most village functions; however, interestingly, the male head of household is a member of the militia. Despite this man's will to fight for the community, this quote displays how religion in Hommlet affects the community at large.

The basic hierarchy of Hommlet goes something like this:

VISCOUNT OF VERBOBONC (nearby noble Lord to the NW) stations BURNE the Magic-user & RUFUS the Fighter in Hommlet to oversee the building of the Castle/Keep there. Burne establishes himself in the community, while Rufus is COMMANDER OF THE VILLAGE TROOPS.

However, as for the true community inner-workings, look to the council of the VILLAGE ELDER. He brings everyone together: DRUID OF THE GROVE, CHIEF CLERIC OF THE CHURCH, CAPTAIN OF THE MILITIA, SERGEANT OF THE MILITIA, BURNE & RUFUS & the "PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITY".

Note: In these posts I am not factoring in the Mercenary camp, or the guards @ the tower. I am concerned w/ those that live in Hommlet b/c it is their home, not b/c they were sent there on a specific mission (that is, except for Burne & Rufus & those that may appear to be part of the community, but have ulterior motives).

So here's an approximation of Hommlet townsfolk per sex:

 Per age group:

Together:

The history of Hommlet is reflected in the make-up of the community. The lack of elders could be due to the hard times surrounding the battle w/ the Temple of Elemental Evil, whereas the abundance of children shows a bit of a baby boom as peace returned to the land.

Trying to reflect history in the community of your own town may seem like way too much work when prepping a town for play, esp. if you're one that finds half-the-fun is letting the game world build itself during play; but with either approach, whether youve yet to run a session in your town, or have run twenty, looking @ the community this way will help the town come to life. It will add instant depth & should serve well as a catalyst in regard to ideas surrounding town adventures.

[for other parts of series click "town design" label below]

HOODED PERISCOPE, issues 1 & 2

The first Hooded Periscope was worked up in late 2010 during my first campaign as a DM. I was running B/X & the game was being played over a private blog w/ various friends that had never played D&D. The blog was titled The Hooded Periscope, hence the name of the zine. I'd been rifling through old White Dwarf issues from a cache I'd located online while caring for a mostly sleeping newborn, so I had the time/inspiration to work #1 up. It contains some inside art that was snaked from corners of the net I have no clue where they came from in retro... for #2 - which was completed just as we were starting the current game in late 2011 - I use only public domain artwork inside, or artwork I did myself. Anyway, long spiel, short zine. Just click on the covers to download from MediaFire. Please let me know if you have any problems doing so.

One last thought: considering the time/effort it will take to work up a more intense supplement proper for my smoking goods, I am starting to think that, quite simply, HP#3 should be an expanded & more focused issue, w/ that stuff in it. More to come. Input always welcome.

JOURNAL ENTRY FROM DJAREL RE: SESSION 12

Sixteenth of the Hummingbird

The Dawnbringer looks upon me in Avalon this morning. Through the
strength of my ancestor's Hammer, Kumiss, we have laid flat a mighty
foe. I have tasted the blood of the monstrous 8 eye [there appears a
dark brownish/green stain in the journal after this sentence which one
could logically assume is spider blood]. The 8 eye leaked magic
words after its death and the smokey elf seemed to understand them.
There was great treasure in the lair of the 8 eye. More sun colored
metal than I have ever seen. The party has decided to keep the
treasure here and create a home for ourselves. If this be so then the
hollow tree will need an altar to the Dawnbringer. When I return I
will plant the tulips and flowers about the entrance and prepare the
remains of the 8 eye and the flying needles as burnt offerings to
please the Dawnbringer. It has been so long since I have prepared a
holy altar for the Dawnbringer. Tulips, skulls, and oh, how I love smell
of burning evil in the morning.

Taking control of the hollow tree was no easy task. Through the
greatness of my companions we over came many perilous encounters.
Early in the hollow tree the weight of my spirit caused me to fall
through an old set of stairs and if not for the wild wizard's quick
thinking, I would have been overwhelmed by alligators. The wild
wizard's control over the minds of alligators and dogmen has been a
great boon. Later, when I was blessed to find a fine set of plate
armor within the hollow tree, Telal the Cold spotted a trip wire
within the room before I walked into disaster.

For although I was looking forward to a great battle against the
owlbear, the wild wizard and the smokey elf were wise to steer us
towards leaving the beast as a guardian. The smokey elf has also
gained my favor. He has shown his strength by absorbing the wrecking
ball trap, both the Dawnbringer and I are pleased with the smokey elf.
It is also good that we found the armored female within the hollow
tree. She seems to get along with the group well enough. Let her
mend the wounds of our companions, so that I can spend my energy
making wounds in our enemies.

Last evening, while the wild wizard got into his books,  I showed
Telal the orcish custom of taking the poison sacs from the great 8
eyes. He slid his dagger up the hollow fangs and into the creatures head
with as much ice in his veins as any of my orcish brothers. By
wrapping the poison sacs inside the mucus filled stomach of the spider
and then in a scrap of fresh skin from the stirges the poison should
hold until he can find a proper container. Even our more powerful
enemies can be brought low by 8 eye venom. I hope Telal will be
pleased with this gift.

As we set off this morning, away from our troubles in Talbot, we came
across a horse drawn peddler who sold me some smokables that I will
gift to the Dawnbringer. The wild wizard purchased a particularly
potent form of the herb after considerable debate on the price among
the companions.

I have but one order of business in Avalon: to find an armorer to fit
the plate mail for me. Afterwards, I pray that we can get back to the
business of Crackenmore and search for more clues. I am grateful to
the Dawnbringer for our success this far, but everyday I feel my
ancestor's spirit dwindling like sand in my fist until his remains
rest inside the Barrow of the Rising Sun.

I have so many questions left unanswered... How did my grandfather, a
great cleric, become a slave in Crackenmore? Who was the man in the
red vest with the orcs in my dream?

I will dig deep this day and call upon the Dawnbringer to guide me
through the spell of Tongues.

Djarel

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