The great gamemasters are well-versed in fantasy fiction. A gamemaster can run games without reading but those who do bring a richness to their games that savvy players appreciate. Gary Gygax made it clear in the now famous Appendix N of the Dungeon Masters Guide of the Dungeons & Dragons’ first edition that there was a connection between fantasy roleplaying and fantasy fiction. Although more of a science-fiction fan for years I’m coming back to the genre that breathes life into so many games.
An admirer of fairy tales, George MacDonald wrote his own between 1864 and 1879. These are available from Penguin Classic as George MacDonald: The Complete Fairy Tales. I finished the book this week and enjoyed it. There are eleven stories (although two are dream sequences lifted out of one of his novels). The only poor offering was The Wise Woman, or the Lost Princess. The Light Princess and The Golden Key are the best known and shouldn’t be missed.
MacDonald had an affinity for nature that shows well in the tales. His descriptions of moonlit nights and noisy brooks cast a spell on the reader and would give most anyone ideas for interesting scenes to describe to players at the game table. 19th century writers spent more time outside and readers today can get lost in the rich scenery they paint in their stories.
Being British (he spent much time in both Scotland and England) he had a great tradition of legends of the fey to draw upon. Most of his short stories involve journeys into the fey lands or dealing with what wanders out of them. MacDonald had a talent for not only imagining the residents of Fairyland but also what an environment would be like if fairy enchantment was worked all through it. Sometimes frightening, sometimes charming and always strange, his depictions of Fairyland will be showing up in more than one of my games in the future. It’s no wonder both JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis admired his work.
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