There are a few difficult issues to resolve
when one wants to blog about Appendix N
fiction. One of the obvious problems is
deciding where to start. At first, I
considered writing about the authors and their works in the alphabetical order
used by Gary Gygax in the first
edition Dungeon Master’s Guide.
If I did that, though, I would be writing dozens of posts about the
extremely prolific Edgar Rice Burroughs,
and perhaps never get to Manly Wade
Wellman. I think that would be a
mistake.
I am kicking this off with Lavender-Green
Magic, by Andre Norton,
mainly because I just finished reading it, and because it was suggested to me
that this novel isn’t the type one would seek inspiration from for the Dungeon
Crawl Classics role-playing game.
The Story
When their father goes missing in Vietnam,
three children have to move in with their grandparents, who live in a junkyard
in Dimsdale. They discover an old
embroidered pillow that allows them to penetrate an overgrown maze, leading
them back through time to the young (good) witch, Tamar. Basically, sleeping with the pillow causes
dreams which point the way. The first
penetration of the maze occurs when the younger sister, Judy, sleeps with the
pillow.
The older sister, Holly, then jealously
cheats in order to get the next turn, and things go wrong. Going “the widdershins way” through the maze,
the children instead encounter Hagar – an evil witch, more beautiful than
Tamar, and perhaps more cunning.
Certainly more ruthless. She
snares Holly in a spell to bring out her worse emotions, and to create a tie between
the past where the witches dwell and the present where the children come from.
Research in the present reveals that
Hagar’s acts are going to result in Tamar being accused of (evil)
witchcraft. A resultant curse has stung
Dimsdale in the past, and seems ready to strike down the children’s
grandparent’s home in the near future.
The children must go again into the past to save both Tamar and their
home, facing down both Hagar’s malice and Holly’s insecurities.
In addition to the story, my copy includes
a section entitled “To Make Tamar’s Rose Beads and Other Old Delights” that gives
instructions for making rose beads, “tasties for tea”, sugared mint leaves, and
pomander balls.
Elements for Gaming
One of the other dilemmas one faces writing
about Appendix N fiction is this: Should
you talk about all the good ideas that are available to steal from make homage
to? Or should you just use them
yourself? There are several elements in Lavender-Green
Magic which are useful to the aspiring DCC judge, either to create
outright homages of, or to demonstrate game principles.
First off, Tamar and Hagar are usable
almost as they appear in the novel. Two
witches, sisters, one Lawful and one Chaotic.
They both live in the same house at the centre of a hedge maze. If you follow the right-hand path, you reach
Tamar. If you follow the widdershins
way, you reach Hagar. You can only
follow either path by sleeping on a specific pillow, and your intentions
determine which path you take.
Not only is Hagar an excellent example of
the “standard” DCC witch, but Tamar is a great example of the “good Wiccan”
type witch one also finds in several Appendix N works. In addition, either could be considered a
potential patron – it is fairly explicit that Tamar becomes Holly’s patron at
the end of the novel. Both Tamar and
Hagar clearly have their own agendas.
A cat in the novel, Tomkit, is implied to
be Tamar’s familiar, and offers some guidance to judges for using familiars or
other creatures that might be sent by a patron or other supernatural power. A creature need not be obviously supernatural
when first encountered in order to be so.
This novel makes good use of travel through
time, both in terms of its plot and the way in which the plot is
staged/conveyed. Judges interested in
using time travel effectively in their adventures can certainly get some ideas
from this novel.
Finally, the aspiring judge might gain some
ideas for encounters or setting from the section wherein the children navigate
the maze widdershins.
Conclusions
Lavender-Green Magic
is not a Sword & Sorcery yarn by any stretch of the imagination, but it
does contain many elements that are firmly usable in the DCC rpg.
I can easily imagine a 0-lvl adventure
designed to allow players to take the roles of modern-era children, which could
borrow even more heavily from this book.
Such an adventure might not be an actual “funnel” (so that you aren’t
killing the kids off), but it could be designed in two parts, so that the first
part of the story is when the characters were children, and the second part takes
place when they are adults, perhaps dealing with ramifications (good and ill)
from their childhood decisions.
That might actually make a good
module. Perhaps when I get some more
free time, I will write it!
