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Reassesing Robert E Howards influence on D&D +
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<blockquote data-quote="Willie the Duck" data-source="post: 9244758" data-attributes="member: 6799660"><p><em><span style="font-size: 10px">Note: I last studied anthropology ~20 years ago, with most more recent knowledge gained by reading Anthro magazines/watching YouTube and then looking up their sources using Google Scholar.</span></em></p><p>The peace and love part seems definitely to be a modern (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism" target="_blank">Romanticism</a> era, if not hippy/tree-hugger) interpretation. From what I know, the archeological record seems to still be at least slightly ambiguous as to the human sacrifice bit, but would hardly be surprising given the finds*. To the overall accuracy, one thing I think Wikipedia posts well is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#Greek_and_Roman_records" target="_blank">over- and under-</a> estimation of the Celts/Druids by the Greeks and Romans, both romanticizing them as more exotic than they likely were and repudiating them as more barbaric than they likely were. </p><p><em><span style="color: rgb(124, 112, 107)">*and cultures before and after, it's not like the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, later the Vikings, and even Greeks and Romans didn't have human sacrifice</span></em></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think D&D also didn't do a great job of making the things faeries did seem fearsome. Even though the game didn't do horror all that well, undead and demons were still scary because they did some fearful effects like drain levels, kill instantly, age your hair white, turn you into one of them, or summon more of their kind/drag you to hell. Faeries more often had abilities like inducing Madness, Confusion, Mind-control, and Illusions, and those are things D&D often has had trouble with. <em>Charm Person</em> being a 1st level spell usable by even non-specialists magic users that replicates a lot of abilities being part of the problem. Different ideas of what you can do with illusions (either too limited or too all-encompassing) as well. Probably also a sense that you can only have the dryad lure your characters away for 4 years/forever* so often (despite being killed by orcs or even drained by wights every new campaign not being unheard of). Obviously Goblins, Ogres and Banshees tended to do some stuff D&D was good at conveying, but those were conspicuously made not-faerie in the original lineup.</p><p><em><span style="color: rgb(124, 112, 107)">*with this specific example, did you take that seriously (maybe starting gaming as a male approaching puberty colors my perception here)? Sirens luring you to drown maybe, but 'death' by dryad/nymph/etc. quickly became part of the hur-hur part of gaming. </span></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Willie the Duck, post: 9244758, member: 6799660"] [I][SIZE=2]Note: I last studied anthropology ~20 years ago, with most more recent knowledge gained by reading Anthro magazines/watching YouTube and then looking up their sources using Google Scholar.[/SIZE][/I] The peace and love part seems definitely to be a modern ([URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism']Romanticism[/URL] era, if not hippy/tree-hugger) interpretation. From what I know, the archeological record seems to still be at least slightly ambiguous as to the human sacrifice bit, but would hardly be surprising given the finds*. To the overall accuracy, one thing I think Wikipedia posts well is the [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druid#Greek_and_Roman_records']over- and under-[/URL] estimation of the Celts/Druids by the Greeks and Romans, both romanticizing them as more exotic than they likely were and repudiating them as more barbaric than they likely were. [I][COLOR=rgb(124, 112, 107)]*and cultures before and after, it's not like the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, later the Vikings, and even Greeks and Romans didn't have human sacrifice[/COLOR][/I] I think D&D also didn't do a great job of making the things faeries did seem fearsome. Even though the game didn't do horror all that well, undead and demons were still scary because they did some fearful effects like drain levels, kill instantly, age your hair white, turn you into one of them, or summon more of their kind/drag you to hell. Faeries more often had abilities like inducing Madness, Confusion, Mind-control, and Illusions, and those are things D&D often has had trouble with. [I]Charm Person[/I] being a 1st level spell usable by even non-specialists magic users that replicates a lot of abilities being part of the problem. Different ideas of what you can do with illusions (either too limited or too all-encompassing) as well. Probably also a sense that you can only have the dryad lure your characters away for 4 years/forever* so often (despite being killed by orcs or even drained by wights every new campaign not being unheard of). Obviously Goblins, Ogres and Banshees tended to do some stuff D&D was good at conveying, but those were conspicuously made not-faerie in the original lineup. [I][COLOR=rgb(124, 112, 107)]*with this specific example, did you take that seriously (maybe starting gaming as a male approaching puberty colors my perception here)? Sirens luring you to drown maybe, but 'death' by dryad/nymph/etc. quickly became part of the hur-hur part of gaming. [/COLOR][/I] [/QUOTE]
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