Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying the best part of a life is one's friends and I consider Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser the best of fictional friends. Lankhmar is the fictional city and country or city state in which the sword wielding duo meet and have many of their adventures. Mr. Leiber may have coined the term Sword & Sorcery, although he wasn't the first to write such fantastic fiction. His "Swords" stories are among the best, combining light-hearted humor and some of the best prose to be found in any genre, Mr. Leiber continues to inspire me 35-plus years after I first read the Lankhmar "Swords" books.
Having spent last week with two friends I met through gaming some 45 years ago, friendship is foremost on my mind. Although we are separated geographically by several intervening states and have been for some years, we manage to get together a couple times a year for extended visits and lots of gaming. Guys that I originally struggled alongside to learn the secrets of White Box and other games, we now play mostly boardgames, ones with a strong role-playing feel. I am impressed with how the concepts of character development and party adventuring have been ported over to boardgames focused on characters who go off adventuring in a fantastic milieu. Some like Runebound are competitive, while others like Mistfall are cooperative. All owe their existence to White Box.
I generally prefer face-to-face gaming and therefore spend little time these days gaming on the computer. The PC, and later game consuls, have introduced role-playing to many and provided tabletop gamers already familiar with the RPG concept an opportunity to play solo or now online with others from around the world. Early games such as Wizardry and Ultima with limited graphics have been replaced by visual extravaganzas such as Skyrim and Diablo, but they remain role-playing in a fantastic world of make-believe.
Mr. Leiber's Lankhmar, city of ten thousand smokes, is the model city for games like White Box and has been an inspiration for fantasy game cities since City State of the Invincible Overlord was published by Judges Guild (including a couple direct references such as Cheap Street and The Silver Eel). The roguish Gray Mouser is most certainly an inspiration for the Thief class in Greyhawk and is directly listed as an inspiration for the Rogue class in deluxe Tunnels & Trolls.
In the "Swords" (titled "Swords Against Death", "Swords and Deviltry", etc.) books, heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser adventure across a world of make-believe, outwitting wizards and thieves (sometimes), encounter aliens and ancient mysteries, cross seas, descending to the bottom for one adventure, climb mountains, dabble in religion, magic and romance, all while enjoying a familiar rivalry that seems to bring out the best in both. Artfully written by an author steeped in theater, the tales excite and entertain while prompting in the reader a desire to "play the part". Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser remain very human, with emotions and petty desires with which we can easily identify. They often defeat their foes with a combination of skill, wit and luck...usually the latter. Through thick and thin, the duo remain fast friends in a way that celebrates friendship and reminds the reader what a wonderful thing good friendship is.
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