Nehwon Mythos
Nehwon Mythos
The world of Nehwon is the creation of
the famous fantasy author, Fritz Leiber.
In it are a vast variety of gods, goddesses,
and heroes of the best && worst sort.
It is a world where magic is mixed with
adventure to form a land that is very enjoyable to read about.
-
Striding through the pages of Leiber's
books are two xtraordinary characters:
Fafhrd and the
Gray
Mouser.
The first is a huge barbarian
from the
cold north,
and the second is a swarthy man from the
decadent depths of the city.
These two combine to create a set of stories
that delight and thrill all those who read them.
These characters live and play in the city
of Lankhmar,
the oldest center of civilization on the
planet.
Within the walls of the city lie everything
an AD&D player could ask for.
This material <> includes the concept
of Godsland.
This is an AREA on the astral
plane where most of the gods reside (irrespective of their alignment).
<>
From this AREA <> they keep an eye
on,
and are often called to help,
the respective cults.
NOTE: Before developing the creatures
and deities of this series,
some attention should be given to a few
of the organizations of the world of Nehwon.
| Thieves Guild of Lankhmar | Slayers' Brotherhood | Snow Witches | Fire Sorcerers of the East | Gems |
| - | - | Cults of the Beast | - | - |
| All alignments | Death |
| Fighters | Kos |
| Eastern Warriors | Red God |
| LG | Issek of the Jug, Votishal |
| NG | - |
| CG | - |
| LN | Aarth |
| N | Kos, Red God |
| CN | - |
| LE | - |
| NE | Gods of Lankhmar |
| CE | Gods of Trouble, Hate, Nehwon Earth God, Rat God, Spider God, Tyaa |
| Citizens of Lankhmar | Gods of Lankhmar |
| Wererats | Rat God |
Though the works of the esteemed author
Fritz Leiber are numerous, only
those referring to the gods, creatures,
and heroes (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, in particular)
of Nehwon were used in compiling this
section.
These are available in paperback editions
from Ace books (New York),
and include the following titles:
Swords Against Deviltry
Swords Against Death
Swords in the Mist
Swords Against Wizardry
The Swords of Lankhmar
Swords and Ice Magic
<
The tales of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
are chronicled by Fritz Leiber in six books, each of which has the word
"Swords" in its name.
The books, and the stories therein, follow
the career of these two
swordsmen-heroes in
chronological order, although short stories found in other collections
may fit anywhere in the history.
Swords and Deviltry
"The
Snow Women"
"The Unholy Grail"
"Ill Met in Lankhmar"
Swords Against Death
"The Circle Curse"
"The Jewels in the
Forest"
"Thieves' House"
"The Bleak Shore"
They Don't Exist?
To The Editor:
After reading Bert Calfee’s letter in TD #32,
I
decided to throw in my two cents’ worth concerning
Fafhrd and the Gray
Mouser in your “Giants in
the Earth” column (TD #27). You report
Graywand
as a +2 sword, and Scalpel and Cat’s Claw
as +1 weapons. Actually, there is no Graywand,
Scalpel, or Cat’s Claw. I refer to the quote in “The
Prince of Pain-Ease” (Swords Against Death):
“. . . they habitually stole their possessions, even
their swords and daggers, which they always
named Graywand and Heartseeker and Scalpel
and Cat’s Claw, no matter how often they lost them
and pilfered replacements. . .”
I do not mean to be picky or snobbish, but I am
certain that most DM’s would like to be accurate if
they use these two characters.
By the way, why wasn’t “Giants in the Earth”
in TD #32? It is my favorite column
in your excellent
magazine.
Matt Lussenhop
—Minneapolis, MN
(The Dragon #36)
Mr. Lussenhop has a good point, but receives
an answer similar to Mr. Calfee’s. I called one of the
authors of Giants in the Earth,
Lawrence Schick, <link>
for an opinion, and he explained that the plusses
were given to the weapons to represent their effectiveness
as they are used in the world of Nehwon.
Rationale? Fafhrd and the
Gray Mouser could steal
magical weapons, couldn’t they? The point is, the
plusses were necessary to have Fafhrd and the
Mouser exhibit their superiority over “normal”
D&D and AD&D
characters. The same effect could
have been obtained by giving the pair plusses to hit
with their normal weapons. But it is easier to rationalize
a benefit due to magic than an arbitrary “plus
to hit” given to one character and not to another of
the same level.
Mr. Schick also reminded me that Giants in the
Earth is subject to interpretation, just as are all the
variants/NPC’s for D&D and AD&D. That doesn’t
mean characteristics can be changed indiscriminately
without affecting play balance, but it does
mean if you don’t like one rationalization for a
given effect, you may interpret things differently, so
long as the effect is constant.
—Jake
(The Dragon #36)
"The Howling Tower"
"The Sunken Land"
"The
Seven Black Priests"
"Claws from the Night"
"The Price of Pain-Ease"
"Bazaar of the Bizarre"
Swords in the Mist
"The Clouds of Hate"
"Lean Times in Lankhmar"
"Their Mistress, the
Sea"
"When the Sea-King's
Away"
"The Wrong Branch"
"Adept's Gambit"
Swords Against Wizardry
"In the Witch's Tent"
"Stardock"
"The Two Best Thieves
in Lankhmar"
"The Lords of Quarmall"
Swords of Lankhmar
A novel in seventeen
chapters.
Swords and Ice
Magic
"The Sadness of the
Executioner"
"Beauty and the Beasts"
"Trapped in the Shadowland"
"The Bait"
"Under the Thumbs of
the Gods"
"The
Frost Monstreme"
"Rime Isle"
from: CA0 Lankhmar, City of Adventure
>
<if a colour map can be found, reduce
this one: include both>
<there is another placement in the magic
items section of Dragon>
-
<CA0>
<rename image file to nehwon.grid>
LNA1 Thieves of Lankhmar (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
"Thieves of Lankhmar is the companion
volume to the AD&D game accessory,
Lankhmar, City of Adventure and further
enhances the exciting,
dark, and dangerous setting of that
Nehwonian city."
An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure/sourcebook.
LNA1 details the Thieves' Guild of the
City of Lankhmar, most powerful of the many guilds of the city.
An essential reference if your campaign
involves a thief from the Guild of Lankhmar.
Lankhmar, City of Adventure is required to fully understand/play LNA1.
* 96 pages
LNA2 Nehwon (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
"It is the year of the Zodac-no-Kara, the year of the wizard's champions."
An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure, for character levels 7-12.
LNA2 is a quest from the god Aarth, himself!
Lankhmar, City of Adventure is required to fully understand/play LNA2.
* 96 pages + full color fold-out map
LNA3 Prince of Lankhmar (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons)
"Your party is sent on a relatively
easy mission:
Escort the Prince of Lankhmar home
from his school in Ilthmar."
An Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure, for character levels 10-14.
Lankhmar, City of Adventure is required to fully understand/play LNA3.
* 96 pages + full color fold-out map
GenCon X at the Playboy
Club was a blast.
About 1,700 persons attended,
filling the place to capacity.
The young gamers loved it
as there was a balcony where they could look down on passing Bunnies with
their "boobs on the half shell" costumes.
Lighting was not good, and many groups played in the hotel halls using candles for additional light.
Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd)
and his mate Harry Fisher (Gray Mouser) were
the GoHs.
Fritz was most interesting
to talk to,
and Harry was a wild man
despite beinbg around age 70 (which I will hit next year).
The night room parties were
in Harry's quarters...
with much revelry,
quaffing,
and party favors supplied
by him.
Cheers,
Gary
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 :\
...
“Swords of Eternity” (Fantasy
short story based on Fritz Leiber’s “Lankhmar” universe, featuring Sheelba,
Ningauble, Fafhrd, and the Gray Mouser—a tribute to Frits that is still
unpublished.)
...
Cheerio,
Gary
I am hopeful that the ms.
for the yarn will turn up on an old Mac+ disk that is misplaced somewhere
in the incredible clutter of the basement here. If not, Ed Kramer might
eventually be able to dig it up...if he is ever back in the antholigy business.
Ed was the one that put me onto the then-planned antholigy in tribute to
Fritz. I went with Sheelba and Ningauble as the main characters in deference
to Fritz of course, as he was a friend.
Cheerio,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gentlegamer
I think that in many ways,
the sci-fi/fantasy dichotomy is a false one. Many of the most influential
stories in the "fantasy" genre have a healthy dose of "sci-fi" in them
as well. In fact, it is this quality that serves as the primary difference
between that genre that began in the 20th century that separated it from
the "fairy tales" that preceded it.
I think Gary's preference,
like mine, isn't necessarily for "sword and sorcery" but for "pulp adventure"
and the "well wrought tale" genre. This view is comfortable with running
a pseudo-medieval campaign setting that has crashed space ships, side treks
to Barsoom, guargantuan carnivorous apes, and cowboys. 
Actually, REH's and Leiber's
tales are amongst my very favorites, and they are pure pure S&S. OTOH,
I enjoy fairy tales and fantasy yarns with some technology/scoience fantasy
included, as noted above.
So yes, my taste in fantasy
is surely eclecticm and includes MArgater St. Claire's The Secret People
Cheerio,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by grodog
I've run into similar issues
with many of my old campaign articles: they're all on 5.25" floppies formatted
to a Commodore 128 word processing program that I forget the name of. In
my case, I have printouts of most of the content, probably, so I'm a bit
less concerned, but I would still like to inventory and transfer the floppies
sometime....
I'm glad to hear that Gary's found this ms., and hope you'll find other lost goodies as well. Is there a chance that there's anything interesting from NIPI on those CDs?
Nothing from New Infinities.
All of the files are post that time IIRR. What I am anxious about is a
complete Setne Inhetep novel that was the first of a new action-adventure
trilogy I planned and the long short story JTR mentioned featuring Ning'
and Sheelba I wrote for a Fritz Leiber-tribute anthology that Ed Kramer
was overseeing and editing.
Cheers,
Gary
I surely liked Fritz very
much, loved his writing, and the lost long short story I have not yet recovered
us very much a tribute to Mr. Leiber. That is why I focused on thetwo wizards
as the central figures in the tale.
Cheers,
Gary
Quote:
Originally Posted by grodog
Sounds great, Gary: hopefully
you'll rediscover the story, and it'll see print. If you're interested,
I'll keep you in the loop on my discussions with Justin re: a new edition
of his father's books.
I have met Justin and spolen
and written to him a few times in the past. I would very much like to be
kept informed about any arrangements for reprinting Fritz's stories.
Cheers,
Gary
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" Series; et al.
is that the frost snake?
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j8/darkmattr/swords.jpg
White Wolf