A Viking and an American
Indian walk into the Alaskan wilderness. If that sounds like a joke, you
haven’t read Dwellers in the Mirage, the thrilling sci-fi adventure story by A.
Merrit. Listen to my guests and I talk about this story that features a Cthulhu-esque
deity, a Conan-esque warrior king, and half-naked warrior women in a hidden
mountain valley.
Merrit, A.: CREEP,
SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al
“The most immediate
influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, R. E. Howard, Fritz
Leiber, Jack Vance, H. P. Lovecraft, and A. Merrit” — Gary Gygax
Abraham Merrit
born 1884, died 1943
Wikipedia names H. Rider
Haggard, Robert W. Chambers, Helena Blavatsky and Gertrude Barrows Bennett
(writing as Francis Stevens) as “heavy influences.”
He was a major influence
on Appendix N authors H. P. Lovecraft and Michael Moorcock. He was referenced
in the Lensman series by E. E. Smith.
Born in Beverly, New
Jersey. Primarily a journalist. Assistant editor of The American Weekly from
1912 to 1937 and then editor until his death in 1943.
Merrit’s first fantasy
story was “Through the Dragon Glass” (1917)
Dwellers in the Mirage was originally serialized in six parts in
the magazine Argosy beginning on January 23, 1932.
For the article
references in this show: http://skullsinthestars.com/2009/02/22/a-merritts-dwellers-in-the-mirage/
Co-host:
Jeffrey Wikstrom
website - jeffwik.com
email - jeffwik@gmail.com
My guest:
Jeremiah McCoy
website - https://thebasicsofthegame.wordpress.com
tumblr - http://thebasicsofthegame.tumblr.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/brothersaul
In this episode James and Sam discuss the Healing and Hit Dice
mechanics in D&D. You can find an explanation of these rules in the Player's
Basic D&D PDF on pages 74 and 75 or in the Player’s Handbook on pages
196 and 197 (in the combat chapter).
Links:
D&D 5e Basic PDF: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules
James’ blog: http://www.worldbuilderblog.me
Sam’s blog: http://www.rpgmusings.com
Eric Michaels Music: http://www.theericmichaels.com/
Third part of a three-part series. My guests and I discuss The
Call of Cthulhu, the most famous story by H. P. Lovecraft featuring his
iconic creation, and we also talk about the roleplaying game of the same name.
Lovecraft, H. P. The Complete Works.
H. P. Lovecraft
born 1890, died 1937
Born in Providence, RI, son of a traveling salesman and a woman who could trace her ancestry back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Lovecraft was only 3 years old, his father was placed in a psychiatric institution and died 5 years later, as Lovecraft himself claimed, of paralysis brought on by “nervous exhaustion.” Lovecraft’s mother suffered from hysteria and depression and died at the same hospital about 23 years later.
Lovecraft was raised by his mother and his mother’s family, including his grandfather who was a businessman. It was this grandfather who encouraged him to read and interested him in tales of Gothic horror.
Lovecraft was an intelligent but sickly child who grew into a gaunt, pale adult. He suffered a nervous breakdown prior to his high school graduation and never received his diploma. Although today he is regarded by fans as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the 20th century, he was never financially successful in his own time, partly due to his own unwillingness. He was friends with many other writers of his day, including most famously Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian.
He was briefly married to a woman named Sonia Greene and lived with her in New York City, where he was famously miserable.
Lovecraft returned to Providence in 1926 and lived there until his death in 1937. He was diagnosed with cancer of the small intestine and died in poverty.
Today the images of H. P. Lovecraft and his most famous creation, the monster Cthulhu, are well known to gamers. Cthulhu appears on t-shirts, in board games, card games, roleplaying games, and video games. He is credited as an inspiration by many, many horror and fantasy writers, and filmmakers who came after him. And yet his name is relatively unknown outside of geek and gamer culture, probably less recognizable to the general public than Edgar Allen Poe and Steven King.
My guests:
Dan Cmil
Eric Paquette
Jeffrey Wikstrom - The Lurking Fear
website - jeffwik.com
email - jeffwik@gmail.com
Email us to find out how you can get involved!
Geoffrey Winn
Jeff and Tracy sit down with guests Susan J. Morris, Erin M. Evans, and Tom Lommel to discuss their year in RPGs. They discuss their big RPG moments of 2014, including the best RPG products of the year, the things they remember the most, memorable campaign endings, and what made their gaming great this year.
