Revisiting the Lost Worlds of ERB

Since the last post over a month ago, I have been reading and re-watching stuff to inspire my “Island in the Hidden Sea of Fire” project.

The Land That Time Forgot and At The Earth’s Core

I consider “The Land That Time Forgot” and “At The Earth’s Core” by Edgar Rice Burroughs as the essential foundation for any sort of “Lost World” setting.

I think you can’t go wrong with ERB as inspirational materials for any sort of “adventure setting.”

Next time, Post #150, in which I hope to have something more substantial to say.

December 2014 Update – LOOT!

Since the last post I have not made any further progress on “Island in the Hidden Sea of Fire.”

However I did finish the “re-reading Moorcock” project as laid out. Currently reading “Elric at the End of Time” which is more of a collection of “lost tales” than part of the actual sequence.

I also have gotten quite a pile of RPG books! Pics below.

GURPS & BRP

Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, BOL & WOTRP

Stonehell & Mutant Future

I think that GURPS, BRP, and Fantastic Heroes & Witchery might be on the list of potential systems for writing up “Island in the Hidden Sea of Fire.”

Happy holidays, and hope to keep up with at least one update post a month in the coming year.

Resuming Moorcock Readings

Several months ago I set out to re-read my collection of Michael Moorcock’s “Eternal Champion” cosmology. This was one of my main influences on my conception of fantasy / D&D once I got into my later teenage years as I neared adulthood. The “multiverse” concept had a suitably almost sci-fi vibe to it, and I always did tend more towards science-fiction than fantasy. The genres had not been so cleanly split in the 1970s when these were written as they are today.

I even picked up the parts I didn’t have before. (Although the first attempt at getting a copy of “The Silver Warriors” did not survive the USPS.)

So I decided to read them in this order:

“Tales of the Eternal Champion” (Erekose / John Daker)
1) The Eternal Champion;
2) The Silver Warriors;
3) The Dragon in the Sword;

“The Swords Trilogy” (Corum part 1)
4) The Knight of the Swords;
5) The Queen of the Swords;
6) The King of the Swords;

“The Elric Saga” (Elric part 1)
7) Elric of Melnibone;
8) The Sailor on the Seas of Fate;
9) The Weird of the the White Wolf;

“The History of the Runestaff” (Hawkmoon part 1)
10) The Jewel in the Skull;
11) The Mad God’s Amulet;
12) The Sword of the Dawn;
13) The Runestaff;

(Never had these first Hawkmoon books, as it seems they were between editions for the couple of years I was collecting them in the late 1980s).

“The Chronicles of Corum” (Corum part 2)
14) The Bull and the Spear;
15) The Oak and the Ram;
16) The Sword and the Stallion;

(Here’s as far as I’ve gotten; every time I read the fate of Corum I get a bit depressed. So I took a break from Moorcock for a few months.)

“The Elric Saga” (Elric part 2)
17) The Vanishing Tower
18) The Bane of the Black Sword;
19) Stormbringer;

“The Chronicles of Castle Brass” (Hawkmoon part 2)
20) Count Brass;
21) The Champion of Garathorm;
22) The Quest for Tanelorn.

I picked up my copy of “The Vanishing Tower” a few days ago and started reading again. I’m trying not to rush, so as to hopefully pick up anything in the mood or whatever I might have missed when I was younger).

Consider it revisiting part of my own personal “Appendix N.”