I don't care if it's traditional,
I won't wear it!
"I Won't Wear It" is designed for use with a frames capable
browser. If you can see this, yours isn't. Use the jumps
available at the bottom of the various pages to navigate. You
may have trouble with new browser windows opening. Sorry bout
that, but isn't it really time you got the latest Netscape
anyway?
In the early days of Dungeon's and Dragons, a very intense bunch
of role players gathered in Walker Memorial Building of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through the MIT Strategic
Games Society and an amateur role playing magazine called The Wild
Hunt, we explored the new game, found it's limits, and perhaps
stretched them a bit.
Glenn Blacow claimed to have invented role playing. He at least
invented the Twit Elf. (See illustration above.) At first the other
players thought Glenn was the twit. His tendency to want to
talk to the various elves, dwarves, dragons, orcs, damsels in
distress and other beings was slowing down the game. I mean, could
you shut up, Glenn, so we can slay these people? The object of the
game is to slay things, to gain eeps and treasure, is it not?
They found out Glenn's personality was not necessarily the
personality of his characters when he started running Jack the
Slasher. At least that was hoped... Other characters eliminated their
opponents hit points. Jack the Slasher killed. In a game where death
was blasé and meaningless, Jack shocked people.
Glenn was one of the most popular games masters. The complexity of
Edwyr and his Defender's campaigns made them much more complex and
real than novelized fictional worlds. He also contributed to the
understanding of the game. His articles in The Wild Hunt included one
of the first "four aspects of role playing" articles, which
distinguished between the action, war gaming, role playing and story
telling aspects.
But these pages remember Glenn as an artist. He always had a
pencil in hand. As one of the founding editors of The Wild Hunt, he
contributed a large number of covers. Many of these were dedicated to
poking fun at the absurdities of the game. His comment on the Bikini
of armor class five plus two, "I don't care if it's traditional, I
won't wear it!" sets the pace.
Here then are some of Glenn's better Wild Hunt Covers.
A Piece of Cake! 55
You Can't Lose! 56
Not Food! 58
Apology 59
No Way! 60
The Liddle People 62
Klutz-Factored Magic 66
Peace, Man! Good Vibes! OM! 70
Snakeyes?!? 75
The Tin Woodsman 77
Can't be Orcs! 89
The Dwarf and the Weather Mage 90
Damn Lawfuls! 95
Critical Hit 127
Fur Blanket 130
Elvus Twittieus 130 Rear
Deja Vu 135
The Game Warden 146
Humorist Gamesmaster 152
I Can't Find It! 157
Elves or Gnomes? 159
Requiescat In Pace 185
My home page...
While I have posted none of Glenn's other work, Dragon
Friend will give a feeling for the complex personalities and
politics common in his game. Also, Simming
in Styles is based on one of Glenn's perspactives, that gaming
has action, wargaming, role playing and story telling elements. While
Simming in Styles is reworked extensively to focus on the problems of
on line Trek diceless games, similar conflicts exist in off line
games as well.
Note, the HTML is very bare bones in these pages. The early Wild
Hunts were done with typewriters. Most of my own efforts were done on
Apple II family computers, starting with an Apple II+. I'm sorry, The
Wild Hunt to me will forever be a black and white magazine, with line
art. I am keeping my HTML basic to match the feel of the times...