Role-Playing the William Blake Way

William Blake          Jerusalem, Plate 25 (detail)          1804-20

Part 8 of Lords of Creation features the Lands of Wonder – “six unusual settings where adventures may take place.”  One of these settings, The Land of Ulro, “is a science fantasy world inspired by the mystical poetry of William Blake...”  This is an interesting choice, but not inexplicable given that Philip José Farmer's “World of Tiers” series was specifically cited by Moldvay as an inspiration for Lords of Creation and Blake was an inspiration for Farmer's series.

“Science fantasy” is one of the seven setting types Moldvay describes in Part 7 of the Rule Book.  “Anything and everything goes in a science fantasy setting,” Moldvay informs us.  Additionally, “science fantasy settings are the easiest to work with since anything mentioned in the rules can be used.”  Science fantasy foes include (but are not limited to):  GIANT ANIMALS, Le Comte de Saint-Germain, Kuan Yin, FELINES, SILKIES, and Väinämöinen.

The physical form of Ulro is that of a huge hollow sphere.  The inhabited area of Ulro is on the inside shell of the sphere.  The sphere is filled with Udan Adan, that is, with outer space complete with stars and a sun which makes a daily journey through Udan Adan.  Paradoxically, Udan Adan really is outer space.  By travelling into it one can travel to the outside of the sphere into normal space.  Similarly, one can be travelling in normal space and find oneself in Udan Adan in Ulro without even noticing the transition.

Among the points of interest in Ulro:
Tree of Mystery – “A huge tree that bears every known fruit in addition to some strange, unknown fruits that appear nowhere else.”
Drantham Road – “A road made of silver that runs from the Tree of Mystery to Golgonooza...”
Stone of Night – “A giant black, square stone which weeps tears of blood when major battles are in progress anywhere on Ulro.”
City States of Enitharmon – “Seven cities located in the middle of fertile cropland.  The cities are all ruled by matriarchies.”

Golgonooza is a city of superscience and supermagic.

Moldvay tells us that “Golgonooza exists in four dimensions instead of three” and that “One implication [of this] is that the city travels in time.”  Also, “the city exists simultaneously in four spots at the same time.”

With regard to the Lands of Wonder settings, Moldvay states, “There is no reason why the GM cannot exercise imagination to fill in the details...”  One could argue that such an exercise is not optional.  This is especially true of Ulro, since we are not aware of what sort of adventures Moldvay intended for this setting.  “Though sometimes difficult reading,” he explains, “for inspiration the GM may want to study the poetry of William Blake...”  Absent this study, “anything can happen.”

There are many individuals mentioned in the mystical poetry of William Blake.  For reasons of limited space, only six were described in THE BOOK OF FOES under THE FAMILY OF LOS (Los, Enitharmon, Orc, Rintrah, Palamabron, and Vala).  Other sons of Los and Enitharmon include:  Theotormon, Bromion, Antamon, Sotha, Manathra-Vorcyon, Ozoth, Ohana, Har, Gon, Mydon, Ellayol, Ochim, Natho, and Harhath.  The daughters of Los and Enitharmon include:  Ocalythron, Elynittria, Oothon, Leutha, Elythiria, Enanto, Hevah, Thiralatha, and Ethinthus.

According to the description of the Family of Los in The Book of Foes, they “do not call themselves 'gods and goddesses'...Their power has passed beyond such pettiness.”  Each member of the Family of Los has every power of each class.  (This necessarily includes 'cyborg'.)  The least powerful member of the family detailed in The Book of Foes, Palamabron, “is the founder of abstract law and often appears in priestly robes, wearing a horned head piece.”  Compared to Palamabron, Zeus and Odin are a couple of lightweights.  Granted, Zeus and Odin both have every power class (including 'cyborg'), but Zeus is only worth 6,600 experience points and Odin, 4,350.  Palamabron is worth a hefty 8,500 experience points.

Magic in DragonRaid

As mentioned previously, DragonRaid did not find much favor in the Christian community, despite the fact that game's primary intent is to promote Christian growth.  Opposition to the game was seemingly due to the inclusion of “magic.”  The sentiments of anti-D&D spokesperson Sharon Sipos were presented in a 1986 newspaper article:

Sharon Sipos, a Chesterfield County housewife and mother of two who has spoken out against the game on about 30 radio and television programs throughout the nation, believes D&D is not merely a game, but an "alternate lifestyle." Mrs. Sipos said she is engaged in "a spiritual battle," led by the Lord.

She is opposed not only to Dungeons & Dragons, but to all fantasy role-playing games, including a "Christian" version of D&D called Dragon Raid. She said Scripture is used as magic in that game, which she believes is associated with the occult.

Unfortunately, since we don't have exact quotes from Mrs. Sipos; we must assume that the article's author accurately conveyed Sipos' meaning.  Alas, the “spiritual battle” faltered as D&D encroached upon popular culture during the past three decades.  Role-playing games are no more of an “alternate lifestyle” than golf and Christianity is not incompatible with D&D.  I noticed that the Christian Gamer's Guild had a booth at Gen Con this year.  (Maybe it's a regular thing, but this is the first year I noticed it.)

That “magic...is associated with the occult” may not be an astounding revelation, but it exemplifies Sipos' logic.  The occult is bad and magic is associated with the occult; therefore, magic is necessarily bad.  This is akin to saying:  arson is bad and fire is associated with arson; therefore, fire is necessarily bad.  If magic in a Christian RPG is bad, then what is an appropriate level of tolerance?  Harry Potter?  Stage magicians?  Fairy tales?

Sipos was correct when she said that DragonRaid uses Scripture as magic.  Players can recite bible passages which cause effects such as  starting a fire or temporarily increasing a character's attribute.  For instance, Ecclesiastes 11:1 (i.e., “Cast your bread upon the waters...”) gives a character “enough food for one day.”  To be clear, this is not “real life” magic.  In a flyer/letter included with the boxed game, DragonRaid creator Dick Wulf wrote:

It's good to memorize Scripture.  You never know when you'll need to recall God's truth.  Though scripture always works powerfully, it does not work magically in real life.  In DragonRaid, however, Bible passages sometimes have mysterious effects in order to create a fun incentive for memorizing scripture.  This means when your character says a verse or passage from the Bible by memory, the OverLord provides help.  It is in no way meant to encourage the study or practice of magic.  Using magic in any way, for any purpose, is absolutely forbidden (see Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

(The peculiar use of bold type is just as it appears in the original.)  These 'magic' verses are called WordRunes.  They each have a difficulty level, a requisite attribute minimum, and restrictions on when they may be used.  Difficulty level based upon the number of words in the passage.  WordRunes of difficulty level one have less than twenty words; higher difficulty WordRunes have more.  Each character has a 'Sword of the Spirit' rating that indicates the highest difficulty level of WordRune that the character can utilize.  However, as the character's Sword of the Spirit rating increases, WordRunes of lower difficulty levels are no longer available.  A character “may not use a WordRune more than three levels below his Sword of the Spirit rating.”

In addition to creating a magical effect, a successful recitation of a WordRune provides the character with “maturity units,” a form of experience points.  Typically, Sword of the Spirit and the requisite attribute each get one maturity unit.  Once twenty maturity units are collected, the applicable rating or attribute increases by one step.  Maturity units can also be earned by completing adventures; however, characters can also lose maturity units by “being caught in a dark creature sin enchantment” or “by being disobedient to the OverLord.”

All DragonRaid players are expected to use WordRunes.  Of course, the main purpose of the WordRune mechanic is to help the players become better Christians by memorizing Bible verses (thereby, one supposes, understanding them and applying them to real life situations).  Yet this is a mechanic where the character benefits from the player's effort – not due to role-playing or rolling dice or even spending narration points (or whatever).  Imagine employing this mechanic as the standard means of spellcasting in some other role-playing game.  The Bible need not be used, but the text should be appropriately atmospheric.  (I would consider using the works of William Blake – spiritual without being oppressively religious.)  Any character would be capable of magic, but only if (and to the extent) the player worked to memorize and recite the material.

Happy Birthday Tom Moldvay!

According to the Social Security Death Index, Thomas Steven Moldvay was born on November 5, 1948.  Were he alive today, he would be 63; he was taken from us too soon.  Aside from being the editor for the best instance of D&D ever, he demonstrated his talents in many other game-related products.  I would be remiss if I did not include a link to his bibliography on Dragonsfoot.  He is an underappreciated genius.

Among his other accomplishments, Moldvay wrote (i.e., designed and developed) Lords of Creation, a multi-genre role-playing game.  (I can't state definitively that it was the first multi-genre RPG, but I can't think of an earlier one.)  In the main rulebook, Moldvay presented several settings he called Lands of Wonder:

• The Elder Lands -- A fantasy setting representing an aggregate of 'mythological' versions of ancient cultures (including Sumerian, Hittite, Egyptian, Greek, et al.).
• Imperial Terra -- A science fiction setting which is somewhat generic.  Still, with only a page-and-a-half of descriptive text, Moldvay included some kernels of inspiration.  It really deserved to be fleshed-out.
• The Land of Ulro -- A fascinating, if not bizarre, setting "inspired by the mystical poetry of William Blake."
• The Swashbuckling Era -- An historical setting which gets almost three pages, including a map of 17th century Paris.
• Priddo -- A parallel world setting where "[s]cience was used to explore and codify the reality behind magic.  The technology of Priddo is based on magic."
• The Elemental Planes -- a setting of 'pocket universes' representing the five 'elements' (earth, air, fire, water, and shadow).
• The Nine Worlds -- An 'alternate dimension' setting representing the cosmology of Norse mythology.

In the rulebook, the map of Priddo is difficult to read, given its size and the fact that it is depicted in black and white.  For my own edification, I created a more 'user-friendly' map.  I present here the fruit of my humble effort.  Gray areas represent unexplored regions.

In honor of Moldvay, I think today I will "pimp" my copy of Revolt On Antares.