Elemental Deities:	Grome	Kakatal	Misha	Straasha
Deities:	Arioch	Donblas	Pyaray	Xiombarg
-	Darnizhaan	-	-	-
Master Types:	Fileet	Haaashastaak	Meerclar	Nnuuurrrr'c'c'
-	Nuru-ah	Roofdrak	-	-
Heroes:	Elric (Stormbringer, Ring of Kings)	Moonglum	Theleb K'aarna	Yyrkoon
Monsters:	Assassinator of the Gods	Clakar	-	Dharzi Hunting Dog
-	Dragons of Melniboné	Elenoin	Grahluk	Kelmain
-	Mist Giant	Mordagz	Myyrrhn	Nihrain Horse
-	Oonai	Quaolnargn	Vampire Trees	Vulture Lion
Magic Items:	Arrows of Law	Black Crystal Door	Nanorion Stones	-
Bibliography	-	-	-	DDG

British author Michael Moorcock created a race of magicians on the isle of Melniboné who grew strong and then waned weak with the passing of eons.
The stories revolve around the last king of the isle, Elric, an albino.
This being is forced to leave his home and his adventures present the reader with an amazing number of deities, monsters, and heroic beings of many different planes.
The gods of this mythos are different from others in that they occupy many planes of existence at the same time in thousands of different bodies (thus their plane is listed as special).
Every avatar is connected in some way and the deities are aware of all of them simultaneously. The deities are constantly trying to gain control of one plane or another for the forces of Law or Chaos. When a god takes physical form in a specific plane, it may take only one of its character class attributes into that plane to work with. In other words, if a god has 20th level abilities in magic use, clerical, and fighting abilities, that god can take only one class of abilities when materializing on a particular plane. In their plane of origin, these gods possess their full powers and are able to use them to control a large part of that plane of existence.

Aside from Arioch, there are other gods of Chaos mentioned, but these are not dealt with in detail in the stories.
Those wishing to have those gods in their game must specify their powers.
Among those mentioned are:
Haborym, Balan, Maluk, Stortor the Old, Baloan, Marthim, Aesma, Alastor, Soebas, Verdelet, Mizilfkm, Balo the Jester, and Checkalakh of the Flame Body.

The gods of chaos use a symbol of eight red arrows radiating from a small circle.
The law faction uses a single amber-colored arrow pointing upward.

The lawful gods are described even less than the chaotic ones, with Donblas the Justice Maker the only one mentioned.
They all appear (on the Prime Material Plane) as slim, perfectly formed humans dressed in beautiful silks and wearing feather-like armor,
using slender weapons of incredible power in battle.
 

LG	Donblas the Justice Maker
NG	-
CG	-
LN	-
N	-
CN	-
LE	-
NE	-
CE	Arioch, Pyaray, Xiombarg

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Michael Moorcock's Elric series consists of the following volumes, all published by DAW Books (New York) in paperback:
    * Elric of Melnibone,
    * The Bane of the Black Sword,
    * The Sailor on the Seas of Fate,
    * The Vanishing Tower,
    * The Weird of the White Wolf,
    * and Stormbringer.
This popular series is highly recommended for all AD&D players.

BIBLIOGRAPHY \ COMICS
Walt Simonson
P. Craig Russell

BIBLIOGRAPHY \ GAMES (reference)
2001
Dragon Lords of Melnibone (d20)
Slaves of Fate (d20)
Stormbringer, 5th Ed.
1993
Elric: Role-playing the Young Kingdoms
Melnibone: Dragon Isle and the Dreaming City
Elric! Gamemaster Screen
Fate of Fools: Two tests of wits and wiles in the Young Kingdoms
The Bronze Grimoire: Magic and the supernatural
Atlas of the Young Kingdoms, Vol I: The Northern Continent
Sailing on the Seas of Fate: Ships of the Young Kingdoms
The Unknown East: Heart of an ancient empire
1990
Stormbringer: Fantasy role-playing in the world of Elric (4th ed.)
Rogue Mistress: Adventures through the multiverse
Sorcerers of Pan Tang
Perils of the Young Kingdoms
Sea Kings of the Purple Towns
Prior
Stormbringer: Fantasy role-playing in the world of Elric
Stormbringer: Fantasy role-playing in the world of Elric (1st ed.) (Box set)
Stormbringer Companion
Demon Magic: The second Stormbringer companion
Stealer of Souls: A quest for vengeance in Ilmiora
Black Sword: Pursuit of the White Wolf
White Wolf: Temples, Demons, and Ships of War
The Octagon of Chaos
Boardgames
Elric boardgame (1st ed.)
Elric: Battle at the end of time (Box set)
Elric: Young Kingdoms adventure game (Box set)

BIBLIOGRAPHY \ MINIS
Elric miniatures (Minifigs) +
Eternal Champion (Citadel Miniatures (WD92.10)

Two of my favorite authors, Vance and Moorcock 

You have named my favorite moorcock books, Elric and Dorian Hawkmoon.

Cheers,
Gary

Yorlum wrote:
Gary,

How would you describe your early relationships with other RPG companies?
I've heard you had gentlemans' agreements with The Chaosium, and Marc Miller credited you with inspiring elements of Traveler.

It seems to me that, in the early going, at least, you all got along as an extended family who were putting out similar products, not cutthroats trying to one-up each other. Is that wishful thinking?

We've heard a lot about the TSR people, good and bad. Can you share any insights as to these other fellows in the industry?
 

As a matter of fact relations with other RPG publishers were generally good, save for where Brian Blume was concerned, or when dealing with knock-off artists.

All of of us at TSR goit along well with the GDW bunch, and for a time there was an En Garde campaign running at our office.

Brian broke the agreement I had made with Greg Stafford of Chaosium.
I had obtasined permission to use Melnebonean deities for the A/D&D game personally from Michael Moorcock.
Meantine his agent had liscensed the material to Chaosium.
To be friengly I called Greg and suggested we plug each other's game works, and he liked the idea.
Brian hated it, so ripped out the Melnebonean material from the Deities & Demigods book rather than assist another RPG company.

When TSR became the clear leader in the hobby gaming field, many of the competing publishers became far less friendly, but who wants to hear about that sort of negative stuff?!

Cheerio,
Gary

Quote:
Originally posted by derverdammte

Ah, okay. I was thinking in terms of his being champion of the balance, and at some point (so I've been told) acquiring a black sword, since those are a couple of the archetypal components of being the eternal champion.

Michael did pretty well establish the "Eternal Champion" in that model, but the concept of the magic sword predates Elric by a few centuries, eh? 

The cosmology of Oerth has nine alignments as well, not the three that Moorcock set--and more or less like that of the original D&D too...

I'm not sire that the eternal champion is actually an archetype, but it is an iinteresting concept for sure, a sort of superarchetype in the mold of the mythological demigods.

Quote:
By the way, didn't you write a Moorcock pastiche at some point? I heard about it, but I never found out where it was published or collected.
 

Yes, I wrote a tale in which Gord and Moorcock's Simon teamed up to bring disaster to some contemporary demon worshippers. It was in a paparback anthology titles THE ETERNAL CHAMPION, as I recall.
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Mouser
And who could forget the Drow? 
Who, by the way, are quite evil and malicious in my campaign, with absolutely no teenage-like angst about serving Lolth and the other demons )

Gray Mouser

Your treatment of those dark elves is absolutely the way I intended them to be.
While abberant individuals can be other than steeped in wickedness, the Drow race is EVIL, more so than the Melnibonean one of Michael Moorcock's creation <paranoid>

Cheers,
Gary
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Mouser
More evil than the Melniboneans! Yikes! Man, did a certain twin scimitar wielding Dark Elf confuse things for a lot of people. Even with Elric's angst and existential suffering you always knew the Melniboneans were a wretched lot.

Gray Mouser

Absolutely.
The drow being shunted to the underground was the last straw in their becoming truly wicked, hating all those who dwell above.
If you consider the sorts of creatures that walk the streets of Erelheicindlu, that's plain;0

Cheers,
Gary

In any event I surely do hope that my sincere regard for the writing of the Good Mr. Vance has added substantially to the audience for his books. Michael moorcock was once generous enough to credit me with doubling his readership. I am always happy to oblige in such cases!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Henry
Here's a good one, Gary: Which would be your preference, if you had to choose one or the other as a personal maxim? Moorcock's version of Law, or his Chaos? Did you have a preference for your characters?

Hi Henry,

Despite my Swiss heritage, I tend to be far too much of a free spirit and rebel to favor Law over Chaos in my gaming <paranoid>

Cheers,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gray Mouser
Don't you realize that Tolkien was your main inspiration for the whole of D&D, Gary? Why continue to bring up the thousands of other stories and hundreds of other authors you had read before making the game and admit the truth that one author, whose major work you didn't particularly care for, is really responsible for every aspect of the game?

Well...

I did enjoy The Hobbit, and I was awfully fond of the Tom Bombadil character. The rest was just too slow and dull for my taste. I somehow never could really relate to the mental agonies of a furry-footed midget and his similar companions. At least when Elric becomes deptessive there is soon some action to make the reader forget the boring passage preceeding it 
 
 

Here is the list of most of my short fiction that was published as individual storues. Sadly, I can not find the Fafhrd & Grat Mouser one that runs to about 30K words as I recall :\

...
“Evening Odds” (Fantasy short story with Gord the Rogue sharing Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champions universe) White Wolf, Inc., 1997
...

Cheerio,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by T. Foster
Michael Moorcock has climbed a bit since your list in the AD&D DMG (which included Merritt and Lovecraft but not Moorcock on the list of "most immediate influences"), and I'm also a bit surprised to see Fred Saberhagen so high on the list (above other "usual suspects" like Burroughs, Farmer, and Fox). I've read Saberhagen's "Empire of the East" series (on the basis of your recommendation in the aforementioned DMG list) but nothing else -- are there any other titles by him that you particularly recommend?

The first two Elric stories were very influential in the development of the D&D game.
Saberhagen is listed for his "Empire of the East" that I very much liked.
None other of his novels struck me in this regard.
Anyway, the series Saberhagen called to mind Stanley Weinbau''s The BLack Flame.
That is not to deny Farmer, Fox, and Burrough had considerable influence.
As I noted, another score of authors belong on the list.

Cheers,
Gary

Moorcock, Michael.
STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)
<Melibonean Mythos>
 

MOORCOCK
    OMNIBUS: Orion House Ltd. (1993),  A Millenium Book
        ("Millennium, which is an imprint of the Orion Publishing Group, a UK publisher whose other imprints include Dolphin, Orion Media, Phoenix and Victor Gollancz"¹).
    SITE: Moorcock's Miscellany (http://www.multiverse.org/)
    MOV: (hope not ... who would want to blind the eye of the soul?)
    COMIC: see P. Craig Russell
    RPG: Stormbringer, Hawkmoon

Elric's story is told in 6 books (in the same sense as Conan's story, in 12 books). That's the tree ... there are other branches that are incl., if u know what i mean ...
Where does Stealer of Souls fit in ? Stealer of Souls is the first book in the Elric saga.

Note: all of these have been translated into comic versions ...

Hawkmoon: Science & sorcery in Earth's far future (Box set)
The Shattered Isle: Rebels against the mutant master