Out From Under The Thumb Of The Dungeon Master - More OSR Thoughts On 'The Realm' of The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon

 

The older I'm getting the more I'm  beginning to understand the common sense that Eric The Cavalier in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon had. Understand I'm not taking apart Gary Gygax or Ernie Gygax's legacy with the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.No I'm talking about the fact that there's a ton of skeletons hiding in Dungeon Master's little lawful good closet.



Run Eric, Run as fast as you can but you can't escape 'The Realm'

 Within 'the realm' the Dungeon Master is the smallest god on the block but he's also the caretaker of the setting of 'the realm'. He isn't all powerful but rather his hands are tied if something happens within the bounds of nature. This means that he needs to act through agents or pupils, & there have been lots of em over the centuries. All of this thought experiment kicked off with me stumbling across this set of mini's from Antediluvian miniatures called the dungeon explorers. A set of adult miniature homages to the dungeon master's 'young pupils' from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. But what's the dungeon master's end game or agenda? That's simple its the protection of the realm & there's a reason why he's using kids.

The kids have decades to help the little maniac protect 'the realm' from all kinds of threats from Tiamat to the crimson stained hands of Venger himself. But the little mad man is bound by rules & rules that can not be broken. So the dungeon master subverts the rules  in a rather clever fashion. He uses agents he trains as his pupils & he's done this many,many, times.

Our familiar six kids who took that faithful ride on the amusment park are only the latest in a long line of suck erm 'pupils' who took the dungeon master's ride. This has been happening for centuries upon centuries throughout Earth's history.



Do I have evidence of this? Sure just take a look at Strongheart the Good Cleric & the fact that during the D&D cartoon 'Servant of Evil' we're introduced to Strongheart The Paladin. He states that he once had a magic hammer similiar to the kids magic weapons.



There's a reason for this & that's because the all of the magic items come from the Dragon's Graveyard the ancestral lair of Tiamat. She's not just hanging out on the first plane of Hell in her lair & seeding the planes with her spawn but Tiamat is a godess. She's the key goddess  too the creation of 'the realms' at least one of them. She guards the 'magic weapons' for the next group of adventurers who come into 'the realms'. Originally I think she might have been worshipped by the dragons of the realm & later on the lizardmen who were some of the original inhabitants of the mini plane.



 But what of all of the other heroes & adventurers who have come to 'the realm'? Did they vanish or die at the hands of Venger? Some might have but mostly they were buried in the 'Hall of Bones' where their spirits awaited the call by 'Dungeon Master' to defend 'the realm'.
The hall is later destroyed as the spirits attack Venger but my guess is that there are many such halls scattered throughtout 'the realm'.


But 'the realm' shares many characteristics of  Peter Pan's Neverland, no not the Disney spoon fed version but;"the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them." 'The realms' share many characteristics of Neverland & are in fact a fairyland; "Barrie explains that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children, and that although each is "always more or less an island", and they have a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it", while his little brother Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it". The novel says the Neverlands are compact enough that adventures are never far between. It says that a map of a child's mind would resemble a map of Neverland, with no boundaries at all.^[1]

The exact situation of Neverland is ambiguous and vague. In Barrie's original tale, the name for the real world is the Mainland, which suggests Neverland is a small island, reached by flight. Peter tells Wendy the way to Neverland is "second to the right, and straight on till morning", but he is described as saying "anything that came into his head". In the novel, the children are said to have found the island only because it was "out looking for them". Barrie also writes that Neverland is near the "stars of the milky way" and it is reached "always at the time of sunrise"." 


Illustration of Peter Pan playing the pipes, with Neverland in the background, by F. D. Bedford, from the novel Peter and Wendy published in 1911.

Not unlike Neverland murder,bloodshed, & evil are all too real. Not only are the threats to 'the realm' real but so is the murder & its evil has a name. 'The Nameless One' is the corruption of the evil & chaos that flows just outside the plane. From time to time its essence flows into 'the realm' & orcs, trolls, & other monsterous humanoids prosper. Venger was corrupted by this force & served it for ages but his original purpose of 'testing the pupils' was never forgotten. Even though Venger served 'The nameless one' his true purpose of testing the pupils turned to destorying them ( he never did) & coveting the rulership of 'the realm'. This conquest almost happened but Venger had a warped sense of honor & even some goodness. But 'the nameless one' warped him into insanity & with a heightened sense of paranoia that fueled his martial conquest of  most of 'the realm'. 



Jeff Easily & Tim Truman illustrations from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon line.

Out From Under The Thumb Of The Dungeon Master - More OSR Thoughts On 'The Realm' of The Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon

The older I'm getting the more I'm  beginning to understand the common sense that Eric The Caliver in the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon had. Understand I'm not taking apart Gary Gygax or Ernie Gygax's legacy with the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.No I'm talking about the fact that there's a ton of skeletons hiding in Dungeon Master's little lawful good closet.



Run Eric, Run as fast as you can but you can't escape 'The Realm'

 Within 'the realm' the Dungeon Master is the smallest god on the block but he's also the caretaker of the setting of 'the realm'. He isn't all powerful but rather his hands are tied if something happens within the bounds of nature. This means that he needs to act through agents or pupils, & there have been lots of em over the centuries. All of this thought experiment kicked off with me stumbling across this set of mini's from Antediluvian miniatures called the dungeon explorers. A set of adult miniature homages to the dungeon master's 'young pupils' from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. But what's the dungeon master's end game or agenda? That's simple its the protection of the realm & there's a reason why he's using kids.

The kids have decades to help the little maniac protect 'the realm' from all kinds of threats from Tiamat to the crimson stained hands of Venger himself. But the little mad man is bound by rules & rules that can not be broken. So the dungeon master subverts the rules  in a rather clever fashion. He uses agents he trains as his pupils & he's done this many,many, times.

Our familiar six kids who took that faithful ride on the amusment park are only the latest in a long line of suck erm 'pupils' who took the dungeon master's ride. This has been happening for centuries upon centuries throughout Earth's history.



Do I have evidence of this? Sure just take a look at Strongheart the Good Cleric & the fact that during the D&D cartoon 'Servant of Evil' we're introduced to Strongheart The Paladin. He states that he once had a magic hammer similiar to the kids magic weapons.



There's a reason for this & that's because the all of the magic items come from the Dragon's Graveyard the ancestral lair of Tiamat. She's not just hanging out on the first plane of Hell in her lair & seeding the planes with her spawn but Tiamat is a godess. She's the key goddess  too the creation of 'the realms' at least one of them. She guards the 'magic weapons' for the next group of adventurers who come into 'the realms'. Originally I think she might have been worshipped by the dragons of the realm & later on the lizardmen who were some of the original inhabitants of the mini plane.



 But what of all of the other heroes & adventurers who have come to 'the realm'? Did they vanish or die at the hands of Venger? Some might have but mostly they were buried in the 'Hall of Bones' where their spirits awaited the call by 'Dungeon Master' to defend 'the realm'.
The hall is later destroyed as the spirits attack Venger but my guess is that there are many such halls scattered throughtout 'the realm'.


But 'the realm' shares many characteristics of  Peter Pan's Neverland, no not the Disney spoon fed version but;"the works of J. M. Barrie and those based on them." 'The realms' share many characteristics of Neverland & are in fact a fairyland; "Barrie explains that the Neverlands are found in the minds of children, and that although each is "always more or less an island", and they have a family resemblance, they are not the same from one child to the next. For example, John Darling's had "a lagoon with flamingos flying over it", while his little brother Michael's had "a flamingo with lagoons flying over it". The novel says the Neverlands are compact enough that adventures are never far between. It says that a map of a child's mind would resemble a map of Neverland, with no boundaries at all.^[1]

The exact situation of Neverland is ambiguous and vague. In Barrie's original tale, the name for the real world is the Mainland, which suggests Neverland is a small island, reached by flight. Peter tells Wendy the way to Neverland is "second to the right, and straight on till morning", but he is described as saying "anything that came into his head". In the novel, the children are said to have found the island only because it was "out looking for them". Barrie also writes that Neverland is near the "stars of the milky way" and it is reached "always at the time of sunrise"." 


Illustration of Peter Pan playing the pipes, with Neverland in the background, by F. D. Bedford, from the novel Peter and Wendy published in 1911.

Not unlike Neverland murder,bloodshed, & evil are all too real. Not only are the threats to 'the realm' real but so is the murder & its evil has a name. 'The Nameless One' is the corruption of the evil & chaos that flows just outside the plane. From time to time its essence flows into 'the realm' & orcs, trolls, & other monsterous humanoids prosper. Venger was corrupted by this force & served it for ages but his original purpose of 'testing the pupils' was never forgotten. Even though Venger served 'The nameless one' his true purpose of testing the pupils turned to destorying them ( he never did) & coveting the rulership of 'the realm'. This conquest almost happened but Venger had a warped sense of honor & even some goodness. But 'the nameless one' warped him into insanity & with a heightened sense of paranoia that fueled his martial conquest of  most of 'the realm'. 



Jeff Easily & Tim Truman illustrations from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon line.

But now with the coming of the Cha'alt planar tear well Earth is serious trouble. The former kids now royals of 'the realm' might have their attention deverted. The heroes are watching a version of their former world fall to relatives of 'the nameless one' & its become too much to bear. 

We'll find out coming up as I talk about sketching out the 'dungeon explorers' in upcoming blog entries. 

Trapped Beyond The Pale - Some OSR Thoughts on The Realm of the Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon

"Shiela: We're trapped in another world.

Eric: What else is new."

Now this post started right after last night's game session when I started thinking about This set of mini's from Antediluvian miniatures called the dungeon explorers. A homage by the mini company to the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon. But its got me thinking about the 'Realms' the location setting for the cartoon. The figure set shows a grown up set of the kids now as adult adventurers. I've been thinking of using them as NPC's in my Godbound/Cha'alt game.
The Dungeon Explorers are available here

But what the Hell happened to make the kids stay in the 'Realm' of the cartoon? I think I've got some answers & it ties directly back into last night's game. I think everything about the 'Realms' ties directly back into Dungeon Master & Venger two demi god figures in the cartoon. The Dungeon Master is one of the last caretakers of a 'Fairyland' that the 'Realms' are a part of. The Elven gods originally built this universe as a sort of bolt hole off of Greyhawk but it occasionally intersects with the Forgotten Realms. I'd say its more Greyhawk though but the 'Forgotten Realms' afficinados are gonnna argue with me.

Fairyland may be referred to simply as "Fairy" or "Faerie," though that usage is an archaism. It is often the land ruled by the "Queen of Fairy," and thus anything from fairyland is also sometimes described as being from the "Court of the Queen of Elfame" or from Seelie court in Scottish folklore. The Scots word elfame or elphyne "fairyland"^[3] has other variant forms, attested in Scottish witch trials, but Elf-hame or Elphame with the -hame stem (meaning "home" in Scots) were conjectural readings by Pitcairn."  But there's a lot more here to it then simply just this in the same entry we get;"Records of the Scottish witch trials reveal that many initiates claimed to have had congress with the "Queen of Elfame" and her retinue. On 8 November 1576 midwife Bessie Dunlop, a resident of Dalry, Scotland, was accused of sorcery and witchcraft. She answered her accusers that she had received tuition from Thomas Reid, a former barony officer who had died at the Battle of Pinkie 30 years earlier, and from the Queen of "Court of Elfame" that lay nearby.^[4] It resulted in a conviction and she was burned at the stake^[5] in 1576.

None the less this is complete generic D&D setting built to the specifications of a madman several life times ago. But my thoughts are that there's a lot more to the 'Realms' than it seems. The wiki entry on Fairylands reveals some interesting details;"

Allison Peirson was burned as a witch in 1588 for conversing with the Queen of Elfame, and for prescribing magic charms and potions (Byre Hills, Fife, Scotland).^[6] This same woman (styled "Alison Pearson") is also featured in Robert Sempill's ballad (1583) where she is said to have been in a fairy-ride.^[7][8][9] Sempill's piece mentions "Elphyne" glossed as "Elfland"^[10] or "Fairyland".^[3]

In the medieval verse romance and the Scottish ballad of Thomas the Rhymer the title character is spirited away by a female supernatural being. Although identified by commentators as the Queen of Fairies, the texts refrain from specifically naming her or her domain except in ballad version A, in which she is referred to as the Queen of Elfland. Poet and novelist Robert Graves published his own alteration of the ballad, replacing her name with "Queen of Elphame":

I'm not the Queen of Heaven, Thomas,
That name does not belong to me;
I am but the Queen of fair Elphame
Come out to hunt in my follie.

Elfhame or Elfland, is portrayed in a variety of ways in these ballads and stories, most commonly as mystical and benevolent, but also at times as sinister and wicked. The mysteriousness of the land, and its otherworldly powers are a source of scepticism and distrust in many tales. Additional journeys to the realm include the fairy tale "Childe Rowland", which presents a particularly negative view of the land."

We know that there's far more going on below the surface of the 'Realms' then meets the eye. The 'Realms' have lots of time lost visitors from Earth, Venger often snatches anyone who catches his fancy, & there's dozens of alien species in the 'Realms' from across the planes & the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition  Monster Manual I & II.




So the kids have been trapped there since the Eighties & have been battling various menaces to the 'Realms'. Or have they? I think that more likely they've stayed because of some menace to the 'Realms' compelled them too. Tiamat comes to mind. She's always been far more involved then it seems in the cartoon. Because of the Hellish ties of the 'Realms' it seems this private cosmos might have her intimately tied in this mini plane's creation & background.
As for the kids?
 They've settled down, had families,sired princes & princesses  & found kingdoms for themselves. They still maintain close ties with each other. Venger is no longer the threat he was but he's still causing trouble but there may be other demonic wizards causing issues. But what does any of this have to do with Godbound?! Well if there were never any Elves we'd create them? And in Ancalia: The Broken Towers this is exactly what happens. We eventually took the power of the gods & created ourselves in the image of Fairies. Things did not go well. 

These fairy courts began to use the powers of the gods to create their own private cosmos to play with & that's how 'The Realms' came about. Time is a funny thing & when one starts looking at it in Quantum Physics one can't time travel but we can possibly create alternative Earths & worlds theoretically.
The poor bastard they left behind to take care of the whole mess is this guy. The last of em. 


The kids & those who find themselves in the 'Realm' are the maintence crew who take care of the 'ride' & the threats to the setting.  This isn't the first time that we've seen kids being used this way. Take a look sometime at Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie's creation Peter Pan. There's some strange parrells between the original Peter Pan & 'Neverland' & the 'Realm'. 




1907 illustration of Peter Pan by Oliver Herford


With the coming of the Cha'alt dimensional tear the Realm may have bled into certain areas of California grabbing the attention of the Dungeon Master & the not so young adventurers. Venger's got quite a bit to say about running such things in his new free PDF 'Old School Renessiance Like Fucking Boss' title. Some common sense guidelines for dealing with adventures & campaigns.