The corollary is that OD&D only really clicked for me as a referee when I understood that, yes, its roots are in wargames and therefore lean simulationist, but what it is best at simulating is pulp fantasy and sci-fi fiction, not some historic feudal society. It's the original storygame.

The Parker essay he references was one of the main inspirations for my Planet Karus campaign. The key insight for me was that you can basically read stock OD&D filtered through a MotU lens, and it mostly just works.

It’s remarkable how much play we get out of such a small package.

And now with play report: vaguecountries.nl/2025/05/12/p...

They thought to casually raid a cultist's lair and miscalculated the risk that mobs of low-level, fearless acolytes could pose. We ended the battle with both at exactly one hit point. Like I said, sooo close! But no cigar for this referee.

Leave it to the French to produce the edgiest of all the covers produced for this book. It also is the most accurate depiction of what goes on in the book, though.

Harrison takes the weirdness and melancholy of the first book and jettisons the conventional plotting and action. Makes for quite a reading experience. I would still recommend it but just don't go in expecting a heroic fantasy romp.

I finished Harrison's A Storm of Wings the other night. It's definitely not a conventional sequel to the Pastel City.

Conquest (1983) deserves special mention as genuinely imaginative and transporting despite its jankiness. More CAS than REH. Prehistoric, mythic, weird heroic fantasy shot through haze and glare. I can dig it.

Words to live by.