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The golden apple was destined ?for the
fairest,? so naturally Hera, Aphrodite, and
Athena each wanted it. They took their
dispute to the King of Gods, but Zeus
certainly did not care to infuriate two
goddesses by choosing a third. He suggested
that a mortal decide upon the fairest.
So the three goddesses appeared
before Paris, prince of Troy, and he agreed
to choose the most beautiful of them all.
Hera and Athena promised him great
victories for the apple, but Aphrodite
whispered that she could make Helen, the
most beautiful woman in the world, his
wife. Paris found that last offer irresistible
and so chose the goddess of Love. Unfortunately,
Helen already had a husband . . .
a Greek husband. When Paris carried
Helen away, he laid the groundwork for
the adventures of Aeneas, Ulysses, Achilles,
Hector, and many others.
Role-playing campaigns need some
squabble in the background to make the
PCs take up their adventures. This mechanism
must be vast enough so that even the
mightiest hero cannot upset it, and a quarrel
between gods solves this problem
perfectly, though there are many other
equally useful theme-generators. Writers
of myths and novels need to keep their
adventures flowing along just as much as
gamers do, and DMs can study the techniques
used in novels for their own gaming
purposes.
The theme of a campaign does not need
to intrude on every adventure that takes
place within it, but the theme should
always be available to start a new adventure.
The Greek heroes knew nothing
about Paris? choice among the goddesses,
but that event continued to influence all
events that followed. When Helen?s husband
nearly resolved the struggle in single
combat with Paris, Aphrodite saved her
benefactor?s life. After that, even the Trojans
conceded that Paris had lost, and both
sides agreed to a peaceful settlement. But
once again, a goddess kept the story (and
the war) from ending. Athena sent a Trojan
arrow into Greek ranks, for she
wanted to see Troy properly punished for
Paris? insult to her?and the Trojan War
came to life once more.
One famous fantasy novel that covers
great spans of time is J. R. R. Tolkien?s
Silmarillion. In it, the elf Feanor and his
sons swear an oath to recover the stolen
Silmarils, defying their laws, their kin, and
the gods themselves to pursue these gems.
Melkor, the evil spirit who took the jewels,
retires to his vast fortress in Middle-earth
and gradually expands his influence across
the world. During the millenia this story
covers, countless minor events become
great sagas: Beren falls in love with
Luthien; Turin goes to exile in Doriath;
Maeglin leaves his father. As separate as
these tales are, the Silmarils energize each
story and give it importance.
Even after the Silmarils meet their fates,
several protagonists remain to create The
Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. One can
fully enjoy these novels and know nothing
about The Silmarillion. Still, as Tolkien
devotees will attest, almost everything in
those latter books can be traced to earlier
events. Galadriel, who seems to be a tranquil
helper who offers the protagonists
refuge, had actually fled to Middle-earth
with the Silmarils and was the last rebel
elf to be forgiven. The dreadful Balrog was
only one remnant of a great host like him.
The more internal history a fantasy world
includes, the more chances it offers for
new stories to evolve. PCs might wonder
how the Balrog managed to survive in his
underground prison. More frightening to
consider is the question: What else might
have survived with him?
You do not need divine intervention to
maintain adventures for centuries of game
time. Edward Rutherfurd?s recent novel,
Sarum, follows the history of England
from the Ice Age to modern times without
losing the tale?s central coherence. Obviously,
few characters in the book last for
more than one chapter. Since there is no
single quest which spans this much time,
Mr. Rutherfurd depends on less obvious
devices to link his stories, and family dynasties
fit the bill. We see how the descendants
of pillaging raiders become cultured
nobility, the ?rightful? owners of land that
their ancestors seized. Then a warrior
loses his estate, and his heirs live in increasing
poverty as English class lines
develop, until one member of the family
becomes rich selling wool. Geographical
landmarks such as Stonehenge and the
Dover cliffs also last throughout the book.
It is easier to design a campaign around a
major quest (as in The Silmarillion) or
battle of the gods (as in the The Iliad), but
subtle backgrounds can seem much more
realistic.
Fantasy games provide special opportunities
to contrast major trends and particular
stories. The nonhuman races of a
fantasy world have varying lifespans
which give them different attitudes and
information. Tolkien used this idea frequently
in his books. For example, Elrond
Half-elven, in The Lord of the Rings, recalled
centuries of the One Ring?s past,
showing the reader how history led to the
events at hand. In role-playing games, the
DM might wish to give PCs of different
races slightly different adventure introductions
to play upon what each race
knows about the events within the game
campaign.
By emphasizing such memories, the DM
can create interesting conflicts between
PCs of different races. The concerns of a
long-lived race seem irrelevant to other
peoples, such as in The Lord of the Rings,
wherein human lords of Gondor wanted
to keep the mighty One Ring and defend
all Middle-earth with it, but elves remembered
well how the other Rings had corrupted
their previous owners. The racial
tensions shown on the Racial Preferences
Table (AD&D®
1st Edition Players Handbook,
page 18) need not be mere prejudice.
Different views of time give
characters more interesting ways in which
to argue.
A complex fictional history not only
inspires adventures but can start whole
new campaigns. If your players enjoy
using many different characters, or want
to retire their old PCs for new ones, you
can explore a fresh facet of the same
milieu: The new characters can live in
what was previously the past or future of
the current campaign. These new characters
might have completely different sympathies
from their ancestors or their
descendants. Sarum often presents both
sides of a story by presenting characters
from different factions. One chapter tells
how the Celts struggle against Rome. In
the next part of the book, readers see the
heirs and children of those Romans being
destroyed by Saxons. This sort of rolereversal
can be especially interesting if a
few long-lived characters play in both
campaigns and remember things that NPC
historians forget. Reusing campaigns not
only saves work, but it means that the
players already know the background and
geography of the game world.
Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. New York:
New American Library, 1940.
Homer. The Iliad. Translated by W. H. D.
Rouse. New York: Mentor, 1938.
Rutherfurd, Edward. Sarum. New York:
Crown Publishers, 1987.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Rook Of Lost Tales.
2 volumes. New York: Ballantine Books,
1984.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Fellowship Of The
Ring. New York: Ballantine Books, 1965.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit. New York:
Ballantine Books, 1966.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Return Of The King.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1965.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Two Towers. New
York: Ballantine Books, 1965.
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. New
York: Ballantine Books, 1977.
Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales. New
York: Ballantine Books, 1980.
SEPTEMBER 1989
