The Personality Profile

Ability Scores in ODD
Attribute (ability) scores in White Box have very little mechanical impact on play. The impact they do have under the rules as written is just enough to give the reader a hint that there might be more to come - which there is once Supplement I: Greyhawk is released. What then is the role of the six original ability scores in the three Little Brown Books?

In my estimation, the six ability scores comprise a sort of "personality profile" or "inventory". Unlike later editions of the World's Most Popular Fantasy Role-Playing Game, what is not included in the three LBBs can be just as inspiring as what is included. The first volume, Men & Magic, gives instructions for the creation of a player character - the original six ability scores. There are three physical attributes - Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; and three mental ones - Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Scores for each are generated (by the referee!) rolling three six sided dice giving a range of 3-18 roughly following a "normal distribution" or "bell curve". 

The original edition player is presented with a set of scores and must finish creating their character by choosing a class, race (species) and alignment, rolling for hit points and giving the fictional playing piece a "name". Any other defining features such as gender, height, weight, hair and eye color, mannerisms and so on are left to player discretion. The player rolls for starting money, makes their initial equipment purchases either as part of "role-play" or simply using a list and writing down what their character has on their "person". This is a lot, and also very little to define a life, even a fictional one.

So how do we know how to "role-play our imaginary person? We can draw upon imagination or literary inspiration for cues, or we can investigate a bit using the clues we have on our meager character sheet. Part of the "old school" style of play is to "let the dice decide". Those six ability scores can tell us what strengths and weaknesses our new character has. What are their "high" ability scores and "low" scores? Are they strong, but clumsy? Intelligent and charming? Is our character nimble and quick, but suffers from a lack of health and a weak constitution? Are they perhaps quite average or maybe they are good at everything? Would be truly "gifted" lead them to be haughty and conceited? The scores can be read much like those of a personality profile and role-play can follow the dice.

Inspiring Words

 

An Early Fantasy

I recently read The House of the Wolfings by William Morris. Written and published in 1888 this is very early "fantasy" literature and arguably an inspiration for many later fantasy authors. The House of the Wolfings is a tale in the heroic tradition which itself seems inspired by the ancient Germanic sagas. The story is one of a tragic hero who is fated to die , but whose death acquires meaning through the preservation of his tribe. There are many themes borrowed from history in this tale, and although a fictional piece, it borrows heavily from history making it all the more "believable" by doing so.

The main character, Thiodolf, is a chieftain of the Germanic Goths. He is in relationship with a woodland immortal - the Wood Sun - and together they have a half-mortal child, a young woman with the powers of foresight - the Hall Sun - who is herself a heroic character who takes a leadership role in guiding the tribe through troubled times during a Roman invasion, but leadership of a less martial nature being more preserving and spiritual.

The tale is entertaining enough, but what continued to astound me are the parallels I see with another work of fantasy fiction - The Lord of the Rings. The Men of the Mark, for that is the way William Morris describes his Wolfings and their cousins among the other Germanic tribes, all live along a river called the Mirkwood. Thiodolf carries an iconic sword and at times dons a dwarf-made mail corselet that will turn aside any blade. The House of the Wolfings is written in a poetic style - including many stanzas of rhyme, which both imitates older epics such as Beowulf and reminds me of some of the stanzas in J.R.R. Tolkien's writing. I have already mentioned the heroine who reminds me of Tolkien's sword maiden of Rohan.

Inspiration for one's fantasies can be found in many (often unexpected) places. Ideas are built upon previous ideas. William Morris is an acknowledged influence on the good professor, but I am a bit surprised at how much of that luminary's work I found presaged in The House of the Wolfings.