Part 98 of 200 in historically interesting things to inspire your ttrpg

17 brass and copper heads and the upper half of a brass figure made in 13th century Nigeria

63 of 200

Silver headdress decorated with two dragons and a flaming jewel. China, Liao dynasty, 10th-11th century

Part 56 of 200 in historically interesting things to inspire your ttrpg

A pair of gold earrings from the Akhalgori hoard. 5th century BC

Part 49 of 200 in historically interesting things to inspire your ttrpg

Elephant armour from 17th century India. It’s made up of 5,840 plates

35) Jessica Amanda Salmonson deserves more kudos.

As a writer, Salmonson's work is definitely a continuation of the WEIRD TALES tradition, including historical adventure fiction, S&S, horror, weird fiction, & poetry. Sadly, her peak of influence has passed, & not enough people read her now.

27) Sword & Sorcery can be punk.

Not necessarily in the "let's add -punk to a word and call it a new genre" sense, but in the "let's take the attitude of critically reassessing this old thing and finding new uses that fit the needs of contemporary audiences" sense. See also: CONANN.

21) Find what you love and apply it to your Sword & Sorcery.

You do not need a doctorate in Welsh history to write S&S set in Wales or inspired by Wales. But the knowledge of history can inform your fiction, and nobody can say that Katherine Kurtz' Deryni saga was less effective for her research.

9) Good sword & sorcery does not confine itself to limitations of genre.

Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, & Fritz Leiber borrowed left- and right-handedly from both fantasy and science-fiction. Conan explored cities lit with radium-gems; Jirel of Joiry encounters aliens; Fahfrd went to Spacedock.

7) Michael Moorcock deserves a statue.

Dude is still alive and writing. Whichever town he's adopted should build a black sword about thirty feet high engraved with runes that casts a shadow like an enormous sundial counting down to the end of days.

1) More women should write sword & sorcery.

Please, for the love of Crom, save us from the men's rights douchebros that try to turn hardboiled fantasy into some testosterone-driven epic of macho bullshit.

'Daughter of the writer who signed herself Madame Mathilde de Saint-Vidal (1849-1911), Blanc was said to have born a striking resemblance to a portrait of Lord Wharton by Van Dyck.'

{wriggles eyebrows} This one?

Reminder:

Please submit recommendations by Nov. 14th for the Otherwise Award jury to consider! Nominate works of speculative fiction - #sciencefiction, #fantasy, and more - that expand or explore our notions of gender:

otherwiseaward.org/award/2025-o...

Happy birthday Nathan, have a tremendous day

Queer characters are still commonly written to have tragic love stories. They’re isolated from queer community. Their relationships are framed through a heteronormative lens—monogamous, suburban, domestic assimilation. It reinforces a narrow emotional vocabulary for queer life.