#Little Soldiers

[vintagerpg]

Some oldie old school stuff this week. First up, The Book of Monsters (1976), from Little Soldier Games.

A little bit about Little Soldier Games first. It was a publishing imprint that spun out of a Maryland game shop called The Little Soldier. They produced four or five volumes of the digest-sized “Book of” series before the founding of Phoenix Games (which would put out the original editions of Bushido, Aftermath and some neat generic science fiction supplements in its brief lifespan). After that point, Little Soldier Games continued as an imprint of Phoenix, producing one or two more “Book ofs” before the whole venture folded.

So, The Book of Monsters is the first book published by Little Soldier. It also looks like it might be the first RPG supplement entirely dedicated to monsters, beating out 1977’s All the Worlds’ Monsters from Chaosium (which already beat out the D&D Monster Manual). That right there is pretty neat. The descriptions consist of brief, system agnostic paragraphs for each of the 124 beasties, drawn from folklore. Their manticore, I am pleased to note, does not have wings. There is a three page table that delineates the monsters’ attributes in a way the book claims is easy to adapt to you game of choice, but I can’t really make sense of the notes, I think because I already have too many D&D monsters blocks rattling around my head.

Interior art is all historical, which is fine. Nice cover by Bob Charrette.

[your-fave-is-a-crane-wives-song]

Bigbst4tz2 & Pearlescentmoon are Little Soldiers by The Crane Wives!

requested by anon!

[itsnotjustgibberish]

A hand over your chest; a hand behind your back, fingers uncrossed. A bouquet of purple hyacinths and white tulips refuse to rot.

I’ve been working on this on and off for about two months and finally finished it yippee! My beloveds

[annahanover]

sorry

[doraemonfanclub]

Doraemon with a sword, and his mini Doraemons troop.

[missholloween]

Rip Owen Carvour, you would've loved Coyote Stories by The Crane Wives.

[ifwebefriends]

Me when I think of another situation with my blorbos that pairs really well with a Crane Wives song:

[crane-wives-song-bracket]

POLL 9 ROUND 2

[huskynotwolf]

Little Soldiers

-song by the Crane Wives

-fanfic by The Crazy Husky

No. 6

(Drums: Impulse)

Apparently, Joel had caught Ren and Martyn lip-locking.

Impulse seemed to be upset that not only Tango and Etho did not acknowledge him, Skizz stayed away from him most of the time. Pearl had also managed to get an actual wolf as a pet (named Tilly) and keeps it in her room. Jimmy (with the broken leg) was finally out of the infirmary and had crutches.

Pearl later broke his arm.

Scott was wandering around the base when he saw BigB and Pearl playing with a frog. They were squealing about how funny and cute it looks, then they began discussing how to breed them to scare Tango. Scott had no idea what they meant until Pearl stabbed one of the baby frogs with a blunt tooth right in front of Tango, and he kept his distance from the two for the rest of the day as they went around scaring people. It wasn’t long before BigB actually murdered the frog in front of Grian and Martyn and scared them really badly. They later revealed it was a toy and the real frog was in an enclosure.

Impulse then had the idea of singing Little Soldiers for the Treebark Duo, as it was Ren’s birthday coming up. Pearl did agree (in the terms of Impulse making another frog dummy for the pair to murder) and had practised the lyrics. Scott sat this one out so the latter only included Pearl, Gem and Impulse.

Scott sat in the audience as Ren and Martyn was pushed on the floor (Ren sat on his cape bedsheet) then watched. This time, everyone gathered to listen. Scott had also hidden all the birthday supplies and was waiting patiently for them to finish then ambush Ren. He’d told almost everyone (with the exception of Martyn) so they all knew what was coming up.

“~~~” She began playing with Impulse on the drums. “On the broken backs of all the words we spared, like little soldiers in the trenches.” Gem started, taking in the fun of music. “It was a march we made towards ruin and despair but we held hands all the while.”

“I swear that I loved you, I swear that I loved you.” Pearl sung. Gem joined in and vocalised, “I swear that I loved you. I swear, I swear~” Scott especially enjoyed it when they play together. With Pearl not constantly trying to kill anyone, and Gem not chasing random people around and trying to break their legs, but then he felt guilt swelling in his belly.

“Beneath the table you would offer up my bones, and all the dogs would lick your fingers.” He thought about Impulse. It wasn’t earlier that Etho had told Scott that he thinks Impulse had left TIES to join them, but Scott replied with he’s just trying to meet more friends. Since then, Impulse and TIES had been in a lot more arguments that usual. “And I dragged you through every room inside our home, but you still held me at night.” Speaking of unwavering loyalty…

“I swear that you loved me, I swear that you loved me,” the song reminded him of back when he was still in the Flower Husbands group with Jimmy, when Martyn and Ren would run around and act like drama queens. Then there would be Scar and Grian, who is definitely worth mentioning. Those two are basically soulmates in every way shape or form. “I swear that you loved me. I swear, I swear,” Gen was going at it at full, with Impulse enjoying his time with the girls. Lizzie and Etho sat together by the back, apparently muttering about Joel or something, because her husband whipped around and dove at her, causing her to yelp.

“We didn't give up, we wouldn't dare surrender. It was an honest loss,” Scott heard Impulse’s voice for the first time. The girls seemed to know like they rehearsed it. “Now the aftermath will ring with songs you've sung, all of our words sent home in boxes.” Grian eyed Martyn as he gripped Ren’s hand tight. “I fought with tooth and nail before the flag had flown, but you were already gone.” Ren cringed at that verse but said nothing.

“I'll swear that I loved you, I'll swear that I loved you, I'll swear that I loved you. I swear, I swear.” Gem sounded like she really and finally enjoyed something for real. Scott’s fingers drifted over to a button hidden from sight. Tango and Mumbo gave him a thumbs up. “I'll swear that I loved you, I'll swear that I loved you. I'll swear that I loved you, I swear, I swear~”

As they came to a close, Mumbo nodded and Scott pressed the button. Immediately birthday decorations popped up from the ceiling and Tango showered Ren with confetti. “Happy Birthday Ren!” Everyone yelled. Impulse, Gem and Pearl abandoned their instruments and went over to congratulate.

Ren seemed shocked. He felt so surprised he fell over on his back. Martyn giggled and stepped back. “Best party ever,” Ren breathed, and Grian giggled. Tango and Mumbo did a victory dance for successfully setting up the deco.

“Dogwarts!” Pearl laughed and waved the red and white flag. Martyn, who seemed confused and shocked at the same time, staggered towards the wall and stayed there, breathing heavily. “Yo what,” he gasped. “You gave me a heart attack.” Scott laughed, patted his back and smiled. “I understand.”

Suddenly Martyn’s whole body jerked and he collapsed on the floor. Scott tried to help him up, but he wouldn’t budge and instead muttered, ”Summer falls, destruction calls. The sun’s gaze, the moon’s raze, star of forgiveness, running sands of vengeance, the Earth and its loneliness. Come together in a single piece, or shatter forever without peace. The eyes watch, may not interfere. Crimes among the stars, the outcast among others. Paid by the unforgiving sea, bought back by the singing moon, or the hourglass continues falling.” Then he fainted.

Scott knew it. The Watchers are actually intervening. And he knew exactly what will happen.

Next

Previous

[watcherglowcloud]

i looked through an old playlist a former friend i fell out with made for me and actually processed for the first time that ‘little soldiers’ was in there

[vintagerpg]

The Book of Demons (1977) was Little Soldier’s second publication. I find it interesting that demons loomed so large and so early in so many D&D and D&D-adjacent products. Maybe the panic people were onto something…psych. No, it makes total sense. Demons and devils are cool. Of course this was the second Little Soldier book.

As with Book of Monsters, primarily a generic supplement that pulls from folklore. The first section is a pretty astute summary of magical theory and practice in regards to calling up outside intelligences. In the center of the book is some very light mechanical framework for experience and the sourcing of necessary materials and how they might provide bonuses and penalties for magical operations. The final section is the infernal hierarchy, which gives the name, rank and domains of influence for 85 demons. That’s a bit more than the Pseudomonarchia Demonium (which has a nice 69 demons) and the Goetia (which has 72). Numero Uno is Lucifuge Rofocale, who to my understanding only appears in Le Dragon Rouge, so I think it is safe to say that Edgren compiled his list from multiple sources. The more demons the merrier, honestly.

Suitably spooky cover by Bob Charrette. The interior art is all drawn from historical sources. A pretty nice example of this sort of book, all in all!

[fodlanisms]

hi sorry for not posting

The historical fodlan brain came and went, and now it has returned with a vengeance. So without adieu, may i introduce:

”LITTLE SOLDIERS” a Battle of Eagle and Lion multichapter fic that i am slowly working on! It is mostly canonically accurate except for when i forget a date or two, and it is planned to be the heart-wrenching tale of Loog and Kyphon (and later Pan). It’s currently in the childhood arc and the google doc is up to like, chapter four now?? Yeah. Its been like three days of working on this fic. I feel somewhat confident in releasing it to y’all now.

[itsnotjustgibberish]

The Crane Wives concert today :D

[dearqueerheart]

this tumblr user gets a little too emotional when they sing little soldiers by the crane wives

[nyxtalksmusic]

It was a march we made towards ruin and despair But we held hands all the while

[timeturner-jay]

Not to be so normal on main, but this song is such a tragically perfect fit for the brotherhood. :')

Sun Wukong, Azure Lion, Demon Bull King, Six-Eared Macaque, Golden-Winged Peng, and Yellowtusk the Wise... This song hits so different when I listen to it with them in mind.

(Don't mind me, I'm just so sad about them all the time and these lyrics ruin me)