The Allure of Ruins

Ever wonder why so many D&D (and other fantasy adventures) are set among ruins? The abandoned tunnels beneath an old castle is such a trope that we refer to it as a "dungeon crawl". If you remember the Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth was festooned with ruins, relics of an earlier, grander, age. In my own campaigns, if I add in a lone statue as a descriptive note or put a ruined house on a ridge overlooking the valley through which the characters travel, I can almost guarantee that one of more of the players will want to go explore it. Why our fascination with ruins? This column from the BBC says ruins and lost civilizations have fascinated humans since at least the 6th Century BCE

Osprey Myths and Legends LIne

Osprey Myths and Legends should really appeal to the fantasy RPG player who looks to add more “historical” material to their game as, from the promo material, it examines well known mythological and legendary concepts and figures with the attention to detail and array of illustrations that readers expect from Osprey.  First up is Jason and the Argonauts, written by Neil Smith with illustrations by Jose Daniel Cabrera Pena, releasing next March.  Unfortunately, Greek myth while extensively taught in high school and colleges, has never occupied a huge swath of the RPG or boardgaming field.  I don’t have much hope for May’s War of Horus and Set either as  interest in Egyptian mythology, much like Greek, has always proven stronger academically than gamingwise.