rebelliousspec

[rebelliousspec]

I apologise if you've already answered this, but I tried searching your blog and I'm unsure if you haven't or if it's another example of Tumblr's amazing search system.

I was talking with a friend recently about how much of a culture clash the Monk Class is compared to the rest of Dungeons & Dragons and was wondering if there is a coherent reason for their original inclusion. I'm aware that they're largely influenced by Shaolin monks as depicted in Hong Kong cinema in the 70's/80's as compared to the Sword and Sorcery stuff most of the rest of D&D takes influence from.

Basically, my question ultimately boils down to, "Is the Monk Class there purely because of an original player wanting to rule of cool their way into playing something wildly out of genre, or is there a stronger link between Sword and Sorcery and Hong Kong cinema that could have organically resulted in the Monk Class joining the rest of the classes?"

A lot of the link between the two was simply a matter of time and place. The kung fu craze hit North America at just about exactly the same time as the sword and sorcery revival that gave us films like Clash of the Titans and Beastmaster and The Sword and the Sorcerer and Dragonslayer and Krull – not to mention the Arnold Schwarzenegger Conan adaptation, which revived popular interest in first-wave sword and sorcery literature – so there was a lot of it going around. Analysis of early Dungeons & Dragons as a product of its media influences often overlooks that it was largely drawing on what was trendy in American popular media in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Even the tonally incongruous Lord of the Rings references weren't a deep cut; while the books were originally published in the 1950s, they'd experienced a strong resurgence in the 1970s, putting them firmly in the popular consciousness at the time that D&D was being developed. All this being the case, it's not surprising that early D&D was also substantially influenced by Hong Kong action cinema.

That said, the reason the monk character class in particular (i.e., as opposed to kung fu media influences more generally) is there is allegedly because one specific guy in one of the game's early playtest groups really, really wanted to play as Remo Williams from Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir's The Destroyer; several of the class's signature abilities are direct references to powers Williams exhibits in the course of the novels. Remarks from folks who worked at TSR at the time have pointed the finger at Brian Blume as the Remo Williams fan in question, though accounts are conflicted whether Blume was actually an uncredited contributor to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor (1975), in which the class makes its first proper appearance, or whether Blume's interest merely prompted its inclusion.

This is the case for the character archetypes in a lot tabletop RPGs of that era; instead of trying to work out what classes "ought" be be present, authors would simply start with the types of characters their playtesters actually wanted to play, often based on specific popular media characters, then work backwards to derive an IC rationale for why those were the setting's standard adventuring professions. Other examples from D&D in particular most obviously include the Ranger (based on Tolkien's Aragon, naturally), but also the Paladin (principally inspired by Holger Carlsen from Poul Anderson's 1961 isekai novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, also the source of D&D's goofy regenerating trolls), the Assassin, back when it was still a separate character class (probably mainly based on the Assassin Caste from John Norman's Gor), and even the Wizard to a large extent (less Gandalf than you'd think: a large portion of D&D's iconic wizard spell list is lifted directly from the 1963 Vincent Price film The Raven).

(I often think that modern indie RPGs could benefit from reviving this approach. Like, fuck textual consistency – just pick half a dozen of your favourite popular media characters without regard for the compatibility of the source material and work backwards to explain why these six random assholes are your game's playable archetypes!)

[rebelliousspec]

Oh I’m so sleepy… won’t you use !tuck to tuck me into bed?

[rebelliousspec]

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[rebelliousspec]

people pleasers at 25:00

[rebelliousspec]

Ugh how the fuck do you make friends

[rebelliousspec]

like what’s up manger

[Image description: Art depicting the birth of Jesus with the Spiderverse version of Miles Morales edited into the picture. End ID]

[rebelliousspec]

I really love those headcanons of "Elden Ring and Soulsborne characters react to you coming out" babe they wouldn't give a fuck they give a lil monologue or grunt before rocking your shit until you dissolve into the air

[rebelliousspec]

I can't find my old post about animals that look like muppets, but behold the first new addition that meets my rigorously high standards in several years

[rebelliousspec]

reblog for something t4t to happen to you this summer.

[rebelliousspec]

Blessed by Fair Winds✨

[rebelliousspec]

*gives you so much space we accidentally never speak again*

[rebelliousspec]

procedures

[ID: Three panel comic with crudely drawn stick people.

Panel 1: A grayscale stick person wearing an oversized t-shirt featuring a flag with red, green, blue and black stripes is looking down and talking.

Pseudoally: "I want you all to know that you are still valid in the confinement pit. You have my support. I will write strongly worded letters about the need for air conditioning in the pit."

From the pit: "There's a ladder right next to you!"

Panel 2: The view switches to showing the pit from above, ladder and all. The pit contains a variety of chromatic people, including a small one with a mint green propeller hat and one with animal ears.

Pseudoally: "Look, I know it looks simple for me to just take this ladder and pass it down into the pit. But there are procedures here."

An orange square-headed person: "It is simple!"

Pseudoally: "No because you see, ladder allocation has to be done through the system. Properly."

A dark blue person with lime green legs: "They dug the pit without even caring about the system!"

Panel 3: The pseudoally pontificates from on high while the orange person watches in the foreground. A moss green person wearing a bandana and a pink person with a light blue jacket and bright orange, triangular anime glasses are passing a ladder down into the pit.

Pseudoally: "Look, I really wish there was something I could do but- hey what are you doing?"

Moss Green: "Helping."

Pseudoally: "I don't think extreme methods like this are good for the movement!"

Anime Glasses: "We don't give a shit. Step aside."

End ID.]

Start - Previous - Next

[rebelliousspec]

Long after Cat's plan went off the rails, here we are

So let's see what her "no longer pet sorcerer" gets up to.

Not just unprompted and voluntary, but insistent. We need to free them. It's not even the first time she's made a decision like this, the first would be when she stopped Cat from killing a guard in Wolof because their cover had already been blown. And that was with Praesi, the rest of Calernia still hasn't exactly caught on to drow being people yet.

We are way off the intended path now, but Catherine has been putting trust in dangerous people for a long time, and there isn't many she knows as a well as Akua Sahelian at this point.

Akua's not the only one she needs to put faith in.

The first drow ever sworn into Cat's service, and it proves its loyalty and faith in its goddesses :)

I'm gonna be honest, Cat has literally fucked Indrani dozens of times, and this is by far the most intimate she's been with anyone.

This whole chapter was absolutely amazing, I left out so much cause I try to keep these Akua posts focused but yeah, best chapter so far

There's a word this setting uses for those who find their sails full in these moments, when providence conspires to turn coincidence into certainty, and the only question is "why not."

I don't know if it applies yet. But, I think I know what the Black Swan Event will be. The signs have been there for some time, this confirmed it for me.

Until next time.

[rebelliousspec]

Sovereign of moonless nights

[rebelliousspec]

whoa whoa what the fuck dude is this sativa? dude i fuckin told u i can only do indica dude, sativa makes me wanna be a girl i can't smoke that shit dude

[rebelliousspec]

White Woman Normals Wednesday