LARPers at a Crime Scene

This has to be one of the best LARP routines ever.  Classic!

Love the use of glitter!

The Swords of Lankhmar

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are aboard a grain ship bound for the port city of Kleg Nar. Currently, the Mingols have besieged the eight cities of the north who need support from Lankhmar lest the Mingols turn their attention there. A previous grain shipment vanished and, as such, the Overlord of Lankhmar employed the daring pair to make sure this shipment arrived. Soon, the pair discovered that rats had destroyed the last shipment and were set to pluck off each of the grain ships in this convoy but for the intervention of a strange German zoologist from a future earth who rode a two-headed rat-eating sea serpent. How predictable. While Fafhrd opted to remain in Kleg Nar, Mouser returned with the convoy to Lankhmar where he expected accolades. Instead, he found the primary plotters of rat attack had spun the story in their favor and now worked against Mouser. The grain convoy had been but a small part of a larger plan to usurp the Overlord and take control of Lankhmar!

Sadly, the Overlord is a dullard, a cowardly twit who is easily manipulated. After such brilliant and cunning villains seen in The Lord of Quarmall, this oafish buffoon is a real disappointment. Mouser’s infatuation with a girl who clearly has no interest in him and repeatedly plots his death is also silly. Fafhrd is sidelined for most of the novel, having to travel through a warzone on his way back to Lankhmar and only arriving at the climax of the plot. On the way, he fights a band of Mingols, falls for a woman who is invisible except for her bones, battles Ilthmart land pirates, consults with Ningauble the Wizard, rides through the sinking land, and catches a ride on Sheelba’s walking hut in the Great Salt Marsh to the gates of Lankhmar. It is all very exciting but has little to nothing to do with the main plot.

Whereas all previous adventures have been short stories, this is a novel with some well-developed support characters, a deep dive into the setting, and more detail of some of the beliefs of Nehwon. Most entertaining. Recommended.

One Hit Die - The Devouring Dungeon

Our heroes are once again questing, this time into the Devouring Dungeon in search of the Fountain of Experience.  Yes, when they find it, they will level up.  Typical player motivation.  One-eyed Cassandra (Mikaela Cochrane) the Paladin has brought a bard along to raise morale.  Torvold (Andrew David Long) finds this mostly distracting, especially since he is trying to disable a trap.  Sasha (Julie Orton) finds Cassandra to be exasperating.  Azurus (Phil Burke) needs to pee.  To make matters worse, rooms shift at regular intervals, thus changing the dungeon layout.

Though the party has been in a dungeon in a previous adventure, this one constitutes the whole of the adventure.  Each room has some sort of trap, puzzle, or monster to overcome.  Oddly, one room only has a mirror.  Odder still, their reflections are not reversed.  With a shrug, the party moves on to the next room.  Then their reflected selves emerge from the mirror!  A mirror of opposition!  Very cool and well done.  As is inevitable when there are dopplegangers of everyone, the party must split up and then reconnect with the wrong people.  Good fun.  Once again, Azurus finds himself in an animation storyline, thanks to eating mushrooms while drunk.

Sadly, it would appear that this concludes the adventures of the party.  It has been 6 years since this final adventure.  Fun while it lasted.  The whole series is recommended.  

One Hit Die - Legend of the Lich Lord

Nerrena the Necromancer (Victoria Souter) has brought the Lich Lord to this realm.  Only one thing prevents the Lich Lord from unleashing hordes of undead across the land: his orb.  He dispatches Nerrenea with his 3 Shade Knights to recover his orb from the Druids of Alden Green.  Mwhahahahahahaaa!

Meanwhile, our heroes are once again questing, but something is different.  The Chosen One - Gwen the Healer - has been replaced by Cassandra the Paladin (Mikaela Cochrane).  The party has only just conquered a dungeon and recovered an amulet of resurrection.  They have hardly left the dungeon when they encounter Willard the Druid.  He is a Sapling from Alden Green and seeks aid against a necromancer and zombies.  The party gladly kills the zombified druids, much to Willard's horror, but then must flee when Nerrena and the Shade Knights arrive.

Though the plot is fairly straight forward, there are twists and turns to provide entertainment.  This was probably the first time I had seen the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity portrayed.  Despite a warning, Torvald (Andrew David Long) tried it on and became a female version of himself (Joanna Gaskell).  That was funny enough, but it got even funnier when Azarus (Phil Burke) started hitting on female Torvald.  And it gets crazier from there.  Nicely done.  Other gags weren't quite as good.  The hat of invisibility was taken almost directly from Erik the Viking (1989).  Sasha (Julie Orton) acquires a magic weapon for use against the undead: a shovel.  Huh, that's really kind of appropriate.  The fancy runes sold it.

The production values are surprisingly good.  The special effects may not be top notch but still pretty good.  The use of animation while Azurus was under the effects of a hallucination potion was inspired.  I'm sure that saved a lot on special effects and worked just as well for the task at hand.

All in all, the Legend of the Lich Lord is great popcorn fun.  Highly recommended for gamers.

One Hit Die - Crushmas

Torvold (Andrew David Long) is haunted by a goblin he killed, just as Morley haunted Scrooge.  Before the goblin ghost can detail the 3 visitations that will purge the greed from Torvold, Gwen (Larissa Thompson) arrives.  The healer's presence destroys the ghost and the peril was no more.  Gwen offers Torvold a Christmas present: a face carved in wood.  He is indifferent.  Sasha (Julie Orton) arrives and tells how she used her carved face for kindling.  Neither Sasha nor Torvold got anything for Gwen.  It is then that Sasha describes the holiday of her people: Crushmas.  The goal is to travel into the woods and slay the white spirit of the forest and loot it.  Sasha, Torvold, and a reluctant Gwen trek into the snowy woods to find the spirit and kill it.  Azarus (Phil Burke) does not accompany them as he is combatting a gelatinous boob.  Through happenstance, the party encounters a snow troll, which Sasha gladly accepts as the spirit of the forest to be slain.  Comedy follows as the troll heals faster than they can injure it.

A 2-episode Christmas special, it is brief yet entertaining.  Recommended.

One Hit Die - Prologue

Gwen (Larissa Thompson) is a healer who is leading a party to recover the Orb of Maldova, an artifact that will allow them to defeat the Obsidian Sorcerer.  Her party consists of Sasha the Fighter (Julie Orton), Torvold the Rogue (Andrew David Long), and Azurus the Wizard (Phil Burke).  While trekking toward the Goblin Mines, Sasha slays something that looked evil.  That started an argument.  Torvold is angry that, yet again, Sasha has proven to be an experience hog.  Gwen is upset that she didn't get to talk to the creature; maybe it knew something about the Orb of Maldova.  Azurus is annoyed because he is suffering from a hangover.  No sooner have they resumed their trek than a goblin appears.

"Hello," the goblin says.

Sasha hacks the goblin, who does not die.  Torvold finishes it off with a stone from his sling.  "We share experience for that one!" he declares triumphantly.  Gwen is again upset that they didn't talk to the goblin.  Azurus is again annoyed when Torvold wants him to use magic to identify a clearly worthless dagger.

Titled Prologue, this 4-episode adventure introduces a mostly incompetent set of heroes on a failed mission.  They are not yet high enough level to tackle the quest and must return to the Rat Forest to slay rats and gain experience before they again venture back toward the Goblin Mines.  There were several times where the series clearly identified itself as a gaming session.  When Torvold ran the numbers on four standard goblins vs. his party and decided it would take the goblins 28 attacks to finish them while it would take 35 to take out the goblins.  Yes!  The complaints about experience point hogs and the constant reference to leveling up.  Good gamer fun.

Will the party return for further adventures or was this a pilot that didn't spawn a series?

Swords against Wizardry

This 4th book in the series sees the duo back in Nehwon and up to their old antics.  The first and third story are written mainly to link the other tales, but still prove entertaining.

In the Witch’s Tent (1968)

Having returned to Nehwon, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser consult a witch to divine the fate of their expedition.  While they await a result, a spear stabs through the tent.  They have been ambushed by a rival group who plan to go on the same expedition and want to eliminate the competition!  They are vastly outnumbered and all looks hopeless.  Fafhrd grabs the center post of the tent and yanks it from the ground.  The tent is built like an umbrella, the outerwalls being little more than drapes.  The tent is now in motion and Mouser deals with any threat that slips into the tent while Fafhrd flees through the dark streets of the town.  The pair miraculously escape, killing some of their foes in the process.

Stardock (1965)

In search of a fabled treasure in the Cold Wastes of the far north, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser arrive in the shadow of a tremendous range of mountains.  Towering above them all is Stardock, a titan among the mountains and rumored to be the path the gods took to the heavens, thus its name.  On this particular adventure, they are joined by a large cat named Hrissa.  The pair commence their climb of the mountain along the tougher of the known routes.  All along the way, they are troubled by dreams of a woman watching them and a flying beast that is like a giant bat.  When they reach the top, they find that the mountain is inhabited by an invisible race who are hostile to visitors.  In fact, the competing team that climbed the mountain is slaughtered by the invisible mountain residents.  Fafhrd and Mouser are whisked away by a pair of invisible princesses who make love to them to add fresh blood to the race of invisible folk.  Most of the story involves climbing the mountain and the various difficult legs of the ascent.  Though that sounds like it would be dreary, it was quite well written and exciting.  That was certainly the best part.  The invisible race felt hokey and proved to be a let down after such an epic telling of the climb.

The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar (1968)

Having returned to Lankhmar, Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are loitering near the fencing district and note the various hoods and criminals in the area.  Each commends the other as being a particularly talented thief, and they agree that they are the 2 best in the city.  As it happens, each is in the district to sell the invisible gems that they were given by the invisible princesses of Stardock.  Each has secured his share in an ingenious way to avoid them being stolen and each has selected a different person to buy them.  The two part company.  Mouser meets with Ogo the Blind, a fence who only operates in the dark and uses his fingers to inspect jewels.  In this meeting, a lithe young woman serves as the Eye of Ogo and inspects the invisible gems in a gloomy room.  A brief sound makes Mouser look over his shoulder to see the vague outline of a hulking figure, presumably Ogo.  The Eye says to come back tomorrow for payment.  He departs with his gems.  Meanwhile, Fafhrd meets with Nemia of the Dusk, an older though still attractive woman.  The two lay arm in arm after making love and Nemia agrees to Fafhrd’s price for his gems.  Then there is a hiss!  Fafhrd turns to see a cat at the head of the bed.  He then hears a click!  Turning back to Nemia, he sees that she has placed a bracelet on his wrist, beside his ingenious container for his gems.  “A sign of my affection,” she tells him.  On the morrow, she will pay him for his gems.  Fafhrd and Mouser meet at the Silver Eel to celebrate their coming wealth.  However, each discovers that their gems are gone, having been stolen!  Enjoying one another’s company, Nemia and the Eye of Ogo chuckle at how they have stolen the invisible gems from Fafhrd and Mouser.  Each commends the other on their skills and declare themselves to be the two best thieves in Lankhmar.

The Lords of Quarmall (1964)

Quarmall is an ancient realm that is ruled by powerful sorcerers.  At the moment, the ruler is Quarmall.  He has two sons – Hasjarl and Gwaay – who hope to succeed him.  Each son has soldiers and sorcerers but each opted to hire a champion.  As chance (?) would have it, Hasjarl hired Fafhrd and Gwaay hired Gray Mouser.  Neither is aware that the other is in Quarmall.  Not only are the sons plotting how to do away with one another, but also ridding themselves of their father to provide a vacant throne.  Obviously, neither Fafhrd nor Gray Mouser are particularly loyal to the brothers, always keeping an eye out for quick profit.  When Quarmall's death is announced, the clashes come.  There is a hilarious bit where Mouser tries a powerful spell that will disintegrate any sorcerer below the first rank who is within range; all of Gwaay's sorcerers assure him that they are 1st rank.  That proves not to be true.  While Mouser accidentally topples Gwaay's magical defenses, Fafhrd finds himself on the run from Hasjarl in order to save a lovely servant from torture.  The story is full of twists and turns, betrayals and surprises.  Can Fafhrd and Mouser escape the underground mazes of Quarmall; none have escaped before!

Most entertaining and highly recommended.