Elf Rationalization

The Bipolar Elf
In the Original Rules as written :

Elves can begin as either Fighting-Men or Magic-Users and freely switch

class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure, but not during the

course of a single game.

This line of text from Vol. 1: Men & Magic of the LBBs says a lot to me about the nature of elves in the game and when it is adhered to, makes White Box a very unique fantasy roleplaying system. White Box assumes a human-centered milieu, one where most player characters and NPCs will be human. Elves exist, as do the other "good" races of dwarves and hobbits as possible player character choices, but each of these is limited in class choice and level of experience which can be attained, perhaps making them less appealing to play than humans. Dwarves and hobbits are limited to Fighting Men. Humans can be Magic Users, Fighting Men or Clerics and can advance to any level allowed in the campaign. Elves are limited in level, but have the unique quality of switching from Fighting Man to Magic User and back.
In the implied milieu of the White Box as written, humans devote themselves to the study and mastery of either fighting or using magic. Fighting is about Strength and magic uses Intelligence, hence the Prime Requisite Abilities and experience bonus and penalty associated with high and low scores in each. Body verses mind. A dichotomy, if you will, one that places development of body in opposition to development of mind. Fighting Men learn no magic, unless they change class which requires a high score in the Prime Requisite ability of the caster class and they presumably progress no further in the old class. In effect abandoning all efforts at improving along the lines of the old way.
The Cleric, who uses Wisdom as their Prime Requisite, seems in some ways to be a combination class in that they are reasonably good at combat and have some spell casting ability once past 1st level. Only a human player character can choose to be a Cleric. If non-human clerics exist, they are not adventuring types. The Cleric class says a lot about the implied milieu of White Box and deserves its own discussion.
Elves begin play as either a Magic User or a Fighting Man - casting one 1st level spell per day and limited to a dagger and no armor in combat as a magic user, or as a fighting man they may make use of any available weapons and armor they can afford. To hit rolls are the same using the alternative system for combat, but their fighting capability using the Man-to-Man system in Chainmail differs with the Fighting Men gaining a +1 advantage. All weapons do 1d6 damage in White Box and there is no bonus for high Strength scores. Saving throws follow the most advantageous.
So what does this say about elves as a unique race of beings. (Assuming this isn't just a rules convention and nothing else.) All elves presumably act this way - at least the ones found adventuring. Elves are trained in fighting skills and have magical ability, either innate or acquired through training. The fact that the elven character must choose to act as either a Fighting Man or a Magic User for the duration of a single adventure implies there is some preparation and/or mental attitude necessary that precludes acting as both classes simultaneously. Wearing non-magical armor inhibits casting magic spells while acting as a Magic User. Borrowing from later editions, we might say spell casting requires a freedom of movement not easily done while wearing armor, or that armor, especially that of (non-magical) metal, inhibits the casting of Magic User spells. I imagine the elf preparing for a day of adventuring by either studying the spell book and memorizing a number of spells, or donning armor and strapping on weapons...not both, for the elf will act as either a magic user or a fighting man during this adventure, not both.
This "bipolar" nature (magic user - fighter) and the illustration of a bearded fellow wearing an outfit and long cap similar to a "Santa elf" casts the White Box elf character in a very different light than we see in later editions of the game. In some ways the White Box elf seems more consistent with the separation of magic use and arms and armor. If they are mutually exclusive for humans, why do elves get a "pass" in some later editions and get to both wear armor, and cast magic spells? That almost seems more inconsistent internally with a rational understanding of how magic works.
Elves are perhaps the most diverse demi-humans in terms of interpretation across editions and settings. Ear length, absence of facial hair, average height and build, even available character class all seem to vary among elves from one setting to another helping to make each milieu unique. The classic White Box elf, who can alternate between a Magic User or a Fighting Man, seems the most unique of all.

The Mundane Milieu

Or An Oddity Too Much
I have read that C.S. Lewis (Narnia) had a dictum that to write about how odd things affected odd people was an oddity too much. Perhaps the same can be said for our gaming milieu. I have noticed a trend, starting with the WotC era, of player characters becoming more specialized, more unique, more customized and perhaps more odd. When played in a relatively mundane setting, the oddity factor centers on the PC. However, if such PCs are played in a truly "gonzo" setting where surprises are happening every encounter and nothing seems predictable do we have "an oddity too much"?
A mundane milieu can be useful when establishing a baseline for horror or to focus attention on the singularly unusual feature in a setting. The surprise factor in horror is a big part of making the bad stuff "horrible". Once the monster is revealed in detail, much of the suspense is gone whether we are talking film, literature or game. A mundane setting and mundane characters make the monster stand out and any supernatural powers it possesses that much more unusual and difficult to deal with. The mundane setting may offer few powerful resources for dealing with such "horrible creatures" and therefore require creative, out-of-the-box thinking on the part of the players. 
Mundane characters are ones that fit nicely into the milieu. They are characters much like people in our own world, except fictional. They have skills that may be above average, well above average in some cases, or even abilities that seem supernatural such as the ability to cast a magic spell or two. The more one plays the game, however, the less "magical" those spells become if over-used. At low levels even Magic Users and Clerics seem more mundane than many of the monsters they encounter. Once players become familiar with the tropes of the game, it is only at higher levels that casters appear truly "odd" in the power of their abilities. 
Balancing the game is an art, as is achieving a desired feeling or atmosphere in a game session. Sometimes overwhelming player senses with a barrage of the weird and unexpected, so as to achieve disorientation or wonder, is exactly what is desired. More often the referee will attempt to present a believable, predictable world where things mostly work as they do in real life, so that players can use their general knowledge to assist them in thinking of creative ways to deal with various in-game problems as presented by the referee. Then, when something odd happens in-game, it stands out and creates a sense of wonder and surprise, if not out-right shock! 
Odd player characters often end up shaping the in-game action into an exercise in watching their oddness unfold...in other words, it becomes all about their own oddities. One odd PC assumes center stage while the other players watch and two odd PCs both "acting out" frequently battle for the spotlight. A group of odd PCs and their players may alternate turns show-casing their PC's oddities, and that then becomes the story collectively created at the game table. 
Mundane characters allow the odd nature of something they encounter to become the center of the story. How the PCs deal with this unusual "thing" becomes the central event as remembered and retold over and over. Those are the stories that C.S. Lewis and other authors describe in their writing and they may be the stories you want to pursue in your gaming. 

Dave Hargrave's Multiverse

Doorway to the Fantastic
I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon Mr. Hargrave's Arduin books fairly early in my fantasy adventure gaming career. His Arduin Grimoire volumes physically somewhat resembled my beloved Little Brown Books, except with better art, and I was instantly drawn to them the moment I saw them in (I believe) a small game store near the Ball State University campus. I don't recall how many volumes I purchased that day, but probably one each of those the shop owner had in stock. I do recall reading through the volumes with a sense of wonder as I stretched my mind to try and fit it around all the varied content contained in each volume. The free-wheeling creativity of Mr. Hargrave inspired me to fall in love with the hobby all over again. I guess he showed me how much more there could be to the game than I had dreamed up to that point.
Dave Hargrave seemed to draw ideas from everywhere and find ways to make them seem a natural fit for his game milieu, which was definitely "inclusive" to borrow a modern term. He gathered original ideas, some perhaps suggested or inspired, others which are so original they must have sprang full grown like Athena from his own Zeus-like brow. (Goblins riding flying sharks blimps filled with hydrogen gas which explode when touched by fire.) He also borrowed things he liked from anywhere and everywhere and included it in his ever expanding milieu he termed Arduin. (T.I.E. fighters straight out of Star Wars.) Whether his idea for a multiverse (multiple inhabited planes or dimensions that exist in and out of time sequence all connected in a way that supports travel between them) was totally original, inspired or borrowed and incorporated hardly matters. It greatly expanded what was and is possible in a fictional setting filled with the fantastic.
Author Michael Moorcock uses a version of the multiverse idea in several of his heroic fantasy novels including the excellent and popular Elric of Melnibone stories. Mr. Hargrave was almost certainly aware of Moorcock's writing and multiverse concept as evidenced by referring to himself as A.K.A. Elric, Baron and Lord of the House of the Dragon Tower and by mention of a character (maybe the same) named Elric, the Hell-Lost in his Arduin game. A similar multiverse idea appears in the Lankhmar stories by Fritz Leiber, one of which, titled Bazaar of the Bizarre, where-in the adventurous duo, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, encounter all manner of strange, unearthly, forbidden and fantastic items for sale and which may have served as inspiration for Mr. Hargrave's Multiversal Trading Company.
Regardless of the origin of the idea, having connections to other fictional universes, dimensions and timelines can open the referee's realm of possibilities to include anything and everything imaginable...or not. Including a wide variety of everything can lead to a style of gaming sometimes referred to as "gonzo" because it seems crazy and unpredictable.  I suppose the opposite extreme might be referred to as a "mundane" setting where predictable, stable and few surprises can be expected.
The multiverse as described in Arduin material may be one of the first uses of the concept in a game setting, but today there are several games that include something similar. Kevin Siembieda uses a multiverse idea for the setting of his Rifts multi-genre role-playing game. Rifts starts with Earth as a setting then adds to it fictional dimensional and time "rifts" as a result of some future atomic war and these rifts then make two-way connections to virtually anything/anywhere that can be imagined. The many Rifts supplements and setting books speak to a small sample of what is ultimately possible in Mr. Siembieda's multiverse.
Over the years I have made it a habit to acquire any and all of the fantastic Arduin items I can. Mr. Hargrave's popularity and following have resulted in much of his work remaining in print despite his passing in 1988. The above pictured compilation of the Arduin Trilogy material is from Emperor's Choice. The Big Red Book version of Arduin collects all the original grimoire material and organizes it by topic making it both easier to read and to use at the table. Mr. Hargrave's energy, enthusiasm and creativity comes through for me every time I read his Arduin and functions a bit like opening a door to the multiverse where anything is possible and everything exists even before it is thought of.

Playin' a Rude-n-Ugly Manchild

Crappy Stat Characters Can Be Fun!
Rolling three d6 in order can produce some very low/pathetic ability scores. In White Box this is less of a problem than in any of the later editions of the game, but it can still result in low hit points or a slower rate of advancement. Minus 10% earned experience for a score of 7-8 in one's Prime Requisite Ability is a hindrance not to be taken lightly. Minus 20% for an Ability score of 6 or less in one's Prime Requisite is almost crippling. The character may still advance, but it will seem to be a very slow pace compared to other characters (many of whom will have a bonus of +10%). Fortunately there are three character classes to choose from, each with a unique Prime Requisite Ability, so avoiding that score of 6 or less is often an option.
It's "old school" so of course the referee may discard any set of scores that is deemed unsuitable as a character. This is easily done if playing strictly by the book (but who does that in old school?) because according to the rules as written, the referee rolls the dice for the character attribute scores in White Box. The player perhaps rolls for starting gold (3d6 x 10 gp) and a d6 for hit points (plus or minus adjustment for high or low Constitution score). Otherwise the player's job in chargen is to choose class and give the paper hero a name. (Alignment may be a choice depending on campaign guidelines.)
So the referee hands you a sheet of paper with a set of Ability scores and says, "Here's your character." What are you, the player, to make of this? Well, choosing a class that won't saddle your character with an experience penalty would be good for starters, but sometimes you just want to play a specific class character. So maybe you go for the Fighting Man with a Strength score of 8 and therefore minus 10% experience. He can progress as a Fighting Man, but it will be slow going.
That slow progression can be the start of his "personality". He doesn't catch-on real quickly. The school of hard knocks will take its toll on him. Glancing through the rest of the Ability scores you notice a low Charisma score of 6. That means he is limited to a maximum of two hirelings and they will have a minus 1 to their loyalty base. Thinking that through, you decide the scores mean your Fighting Man is a bit immature acting and maybe unattractive to boot. He doesn't make a good first impression and getting to know him usually doesn't improve things. You note his Constitution score is average at 9, so he is healthy enough - glancing at the book you see a 9 gives no Hit Point adjustment and a 60-90% chance of survival, whatever that means?
With average scores in Intelligence and Dexterity, and a low Wisdom score you figure you can describe your character as average in most ways, but a bit naive...maybe young and unfamiliar with the ways of the world. After all, he is just starting out as a first level Fighting Man. His appearance is bad and his social behavior is often worse, so he may be fun to role-play. He is a slow learner and not all that well adapted to his chosen "profession" as a man-of-arms. Maybe he is undersized for a Fighting Man, hence the low Strength. Maybe he is lazy and doesn't exercise as much as his peers? That could explain his unpopularity and relative lack of strength and all this could be a fun challenge to roleplay.
The point is that how much fun we can have playing a relatively crappy character is determined by our willingness and attitude regarding the challenge of roleplaying such a character. Letting the scores guide our creativity, we can describe how we think our character became the way he/she is; what uniquely sets this character apart as an individual and ultimately helps us develop a few ideas for how we might role-play the character. Trying to discover who the new character may be is just a different attitude toward character generation than designing the character from scratch. In my experience it is usually more fun.
So the next time we sit down to play a tabletop RPG with friends rather than making a character with a pre-determined concept of who you want them to be, how about trying to let the character tell you who they are. Be open to interpreting the dice and incorporating suggestions from other players. Not every PC has to be a superhero the moment they are created.

Observation Post

On the Horizon
As I anxiously await the summer (convention schedule) releases, I thought I would make mention of what I am most looking forward to among this year's RPG releases.
Chaosium has promised us a new RuneQuest Glorantha this year. First exposure to the new RuneQuest from Chaosium came in the form of the RPG Day RuneQuest booklet (released over Origins weekend) which had what I would expect in such a product - brief rules, an adventure and a few pre-made characters so a play group could set down at the table and run a game together. At Gencon last year Chaosium sold a pre-publication sneak preview of RuneQuest Glorantha at their booth. It is text only, but contains some good new material, most I expect will be in the final release along with a lot of cool new illustrations. Chaosium's RuneQuest Glorantha re-unites the Glorantha setting with a new version of RuneQuest that is more compatible with classic 2nd edition than editions 3-6 were. Chaosium's stated idea is to keep the new RuneQuest Glorantha and all the recently reprinted RuneQuest 2nd Edition materiel compatible.
A related product also from Chaosium is 13th Age Glorantha which has just been released this week in digital form along with The Glorantha Sourcebook, a detailed description of the Glorantha setting for use with 13th Age Glorantha, RuneQuest Glorantha or HeroQuest (or any other system). I expect hardcover book versions to be available at least in print-on-demand format soon (and will probably wait until I can bundle the two). I expect physical copies of both volumes to be for sale at Origins and Gencon this year.
Adventures in Middle Earth seems to be taking off with a number of new titles expected this year from Cubicle 7. I anticipate the new books geared for 5e will be drawing heavily from Cubicle 7's existing material for The One Ring and which will cover the same areas for the 5e system. I have the first three Adventures in Middle Earth tomes and very much approve of the conversion of certain Middle Earth flavored concepts taken from TOR and added to 5e for M.E. play such as the rules for Travelling, Shadow and The Fellowship Phase. Adventures in Middle Earth demonstrates how far afield the 5e system can go when being modified to fit a specific setting quite different from The Realms.
Frog God Games has a Kickstarter for their new 5e Rappan Athuk conversion. In addition to 5e monster stats, the new version of the Dungeon of Graves will have full color maps, new levels/areas, and new artwork commissioned just for the 5e version and funded by backers. In addition, Frog God Games is offering a deluxe wall size tapestry map, how cool! Frog God Games has been around a while and Rappan Athuk exists tailored for other related game systems, so there is little doubt in my mind that this Kickstarter will deliver and on time this year and I am hoping that physical copies of a hefty 5e tome will be available soon for purchase by us non-backers.
Another setting which may be on the horizon this year for 5e is Greyhawk. The folks at Wiz-Bro have asked for signatures on a petition question regarding interest in the classic Greyhawk setting for 5e over at their website. As of today 287 signatures have appeared and the goal seems to be 1,000. No idea what form this 5e Greyhawk support might take if we do get it since they have already released several of the adventures originally located in the Greyhawk setting (including favorites such as the Temple of Elemental Evil and Tomb of Horrors) in 5e format placing them in the default Realms setting.
Goodman Games, publisher of the excellent Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG has been working on Mutant Crawl Classics and I am guessing it will be available for purchase soon.  Mutant Crawl Classics RPG is I believe based on the DCCRPG in the same way Gamma World was based on TSR's other Most Popular Fantasy RPG back in the day. Mutant Crawl Classics RPG, like Gamma World promises lots of radiated fun in a post apocalyptic world of gonzo mutants, killer machines and crazed militants seeking world domination and genetic purity. Not for the faint of heart!
I don't often get a chance to sing praises for a Warhammer product despite it being one of the best known IP names in the adventure gaming hobby, but I am looking forward to Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play 4th Edition announced for later this year from Cubicle 7.  This latest version of Warhammer FRP promises to return to the flavor of the beloved 1st and 2nd editions of the "Grim World of Perilous Adventure". How it will tie into The Old World setting or Age of Sigmar is unknown to this author.
Modiphius, publishers of the Conan and Star Trek RPGs, is working on the John Carter of Mars RPG using their versatile 2D20 system. The folks at Modiphius have successfully modified their 2D20 mechanics to give Conan and Star Trek each an individual feel appropriate to the subject material. I believe Conan feels like sword & sorcery, while Star Trek feels like the 1960's TV show. The John Carter-Mars novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs are cited as having been major influences on White Box designer E. Gary Gygax and I am looking forward to seeing what Modiphius does with the sword & planet subject.
Right around the end of 2017, Steve Jackson, designer of the MicroGames Melee and Wizard and founder of Steve Jackson Games, announced he has (re-)acquired the rights to the full line of his The Fantasy Trip products including Melee, Wizard, In The Labyrinth and all the rest of The Fantasy Trip designed by Steve Jackson and originally published by Metagaming. The Fantasy Trip (TFT) is one of my all-time favorite game systems and even with the interest  in older RPGs that we have enjoyed this past decade has remained in the shadows...at least until now. Mr. Jackson has not immediately announce his plans for the future of The Fantasy Trip, but I am hopeful that before this year is out, something new for TFT fans will be "in the works" at Steve Jackson Games.