The Brimstone Sleep – revival 40 years later

 

The Brimstone Sleep – Svavelvinter in Swedish – was first published in 1987 as an adventure to the first version of Swedish table top role playing game Drakar och Demoner, aka Dragonbane. It was followed by three sequels and a booklet about Tracoria, the nation where it all takes place. These publications together are usually referred to as The Conflux Suite, and are still played. I later published a tetrology – four novels, in total 2300 pages, built on the Tracorian setting. As Free League Publishing started out, their first game was Svavelvinter, based on those novels. I also wrote the lyrics for a full album by metal band Svavelvinter, taking inspiration from the setting.

Now it's all started anew! Me, Tomas Härenstam and Svante Landgraf are currently working on republishing The Brimstone Sleep for Free League Publishing's version of Dragonbane. 
This post is a status update.

The Brimstone Sleep – Svavelvinter

I've already gone through all the texts, editing and rewriting while trying to keep the spirit of the original. For those unfamiliar with the setting, Tracoria mixes a renaissance, back stabbing setting with Mesopotamian polytheism, philosophical depth, war, horror, dark humour and a parody of our own times. The first part however takes place on the far northern island of Marjura, which the Tracorians have occupied in order to harvest precious sulphur. Svante and Tomas are now adapting the material for the Dragonbane rules and format.

The original publication contained a number of adventure sites which are all there, as well as a brand new one based on material from the novels. Since I this time know what will follow, I've made adjustments accordingly and indulged in some foreshadowing.

Concerning the maps, I've already proof-read two nice drafts of a Marjuran map by Francesca Baerald. We've also prepared material for main illustrator David Brasgalla and now look forward to seeing his first sketches. Johan Egerkrans will do the cover illustration.

 Beyond The Brimstone Sleep

 The next adventure in the conflux suite – original title The Four Eyes of the Oracle – takes the game back to Tracoria proper, where the adventurers try to rescue a number of important persons that simultaneously are hunted by the assassins of RhaboRana (which also hunts the adventurers). I already submitted suggestions on how that part might be adapted, and while nothing yet is decided, me and Free League are pretty much agreed on the structure. I will probably start editing and rewriting the material right away. In analogy with The Brimstone Sleep, I plan to add an extra adventure in the form of an extra person that needs to be saved.

We are in all probability looking at a Free League three part conflux suite, so the material of the Tracoria booklet and the original third part ”The Crystal Bull” will be worked into the remaining parts. For instance, I plan to put more focus on the island of Palamux already in this second part, where the adventurers have to cross the desert Focal Plains to reach one of the savees.

In this part, the players will be introduced to Tracoria, to The fifth conflux and the prophetic mountain of Ranz, having to interpret its prophecy Vox Ranzina.

It is likely that some of the original Tracorian material will appear in Helmgasts Dragonbane project Ereb Altor (the continent of which Tracoria originally was part and still is).  We will in that case try to sync the two project to let game masters seamlessly include those parts in Free League's conflux suite if they so wish.

Exciting times!

A Biography of sir Richard Francis Burton

 

I'm currently reading, and want to recommend the presented biography of Richard Burton. This is not the guy* who was married to Elisabeth Taylor, but the one who was a 19th century polyglott, spy, soldier, poet etc; the man who translated The Kama Sutra and Arabian Nights into English; who in disguise as a moslem dervish travelled to the holy city of Mecca; who took part in the search for the source of the Nile and a person who in many aspects was larger than life. He is also the protagonist in Philip José Farmer's SciFi epic Riverworld.

It is a fascinating read about a time and a world so different, and yet so crucial to understanding our current times. The author, Edward Rice, in addition to vividly picturing the immensely strong-willed explorer (in this aspect reminding me of Nietzsche), also makes the Middle East from almost two hundred years ago come alive in inspiring detail.

For instance, I read about the Portugese concept of Saudade, which fascinated Burton. Saudade allegedly is an untranslatable word described as feeling the "presence of absence – not merely something that isn't there, but an absence felt acutely with longing, almost as a tangible entity.

Or the Arabian concept of Kayf – a state of blissful animalistic contentment, a state of being, not doing. Picture a cat, basking in the sun. Unlike Western concepts of happiness, tied to activity or accomplishment, "kayf" is about savoring the present moment without striving for anything.

 
In my mind I'm playing around with The Drawn Lands – an upcoming desert type expansion to the Forbidden Lands TTRPG game world, and for inspiration, this book is solid gold.

* Incidently, I based Gottard of Melse, the bailiff of Marjura in ”The Brimstone Sleep” adventure which I'm currently reediting for the Dragonbane TTRPG, on the actor Richard Burton, so I like him too :-)

(RPG = tabletop role-playing game, if you didn't know)

The book was published by Charles Scribner's sons in 1990 

Descendants of a Mad King

 

While doing research for a novel project, I checked up on my lineage to Swedish king Gustav Vasa. Gustav's son Erik, who is also my ancestor, became king after his father as Erik XIV, but it didn't end well for him. Since I'm also Erik XIV, being the fourteenth generation from Gustav Vasa, I try to restore my distant relative by picturing him in the novel. Alas, I have a feeling it won't end well this time either…

Here's my complete heritage line
(researched by my father Birger)

Gustav Vasa, f 1496
Erik XIV, f 1533
Virginia Eriksdotter, f 1559
Elisabet Hand, f ?
Johan Gyllensvärd, f 1617
Gustaf Adolf Gyllensvärd, f 1652
Märta Eleonora Gyllensvärd, f 1701
Carl Magnus Krusell dy, f 1730
Carl Johan Krusell, f 1758
Carolina Charlotta Krusell, f 1802
Joseph Napoleon Lindhé, f 1827
Sven Lindhé, f 1865
Karin Nordström, f 1899 (my grandmother)
Barbro Granström, f 1926 (my mother)
Erik Granström, f 1956

Gustaf Fröding wrote some poems where king Erik XIV laments his fate. These poems were set to music by Ture Rangström, and I especially play this one as inspiration. In it, the king, somewhat desperately, celebrates the capture of members of the Sture family with his prison master and hangman Welam Welamsson. Soon king Erik will have the Sture nobles killed, loosing his mind and running off into the woods in the process.

 

Illustration by Daniel Falck, picturing the legate Ludenbrand for the game Svavelvinter by Free League Publishing. Erik XIV was a model for the Ludenbrand illustration along with Steve Jobs and a friend of mine.

On the Working of Clocks

 

This is a model of a simple, mechanical pendulum clock.

1. The escapement wheel (yellow) strives to rotate clockwise (duh) drawn either by a spring or a weight hanging from a string wrapped around its axis.

2. The anchor (grey) allows the wheel to only rotate incrementally, one cog at the time, as directed by the swinging pendulum connected to the anchor. The force of the escapement wheel at the same time gives a little push to the anchor to keep the pendulum swinging. The clicking sound of a pendulum clock is due to the light tapping of the anchor arms on the escapement wheel.

3. The rest is a question of casing, gears and hands, translating the mechanism's movement to our definition of seconds, minutes and hours.

The very basis of clocks or indeed any time measurement device, is something observable that changes at a steady pace. This goes for the day to night shifting of our revolving earth, the flowing of sand in an hourglass, the behaviour of atoms in an atom watch or any other time measurement device. In a pendulum clock, the steady pace is set by the swinging of the pendulum, which is basically constant under given circumstances.

On the passage of time in Forbidden Lands

My reason for considering the mechanisms of clocks, is the following thought concerning the passage of time in the game Forbidden Lands:  

What if clocks exist that don't measure time,
but instead direct aging and passing of time?

 I haven't fully decided where to go with this, but I will know when the upcoming Alderland expansion is published. These are some of the question I'm pondering:

* What if the drive to age – the striving of the clock's escapement wheel to turn – is applied by intelligent beings, death gods or their minions constantly pulling at the feet of the living?

* What if the rate of aging – the swinging of the pendulum – is set by biological oscillation? We have several examples of molecules in our bodies that swing between two different states depending on circumstances, the taut / relaxed form of hemoglobin for instance. What if such a biochemical switch is purely cronological?

* What if the clocks of aging have actively been set by some intelligent being?

* If so, then why don't elves age?

* What if you came to a valley in Alderland where flowers periodically shifted from violet of orange due to the biological pendulum?

* What if some smart dwelvers have studied the biological pendulums? What if they found out how the mechanisms of aging could me manipulated, either by removing the driving force OR by jamming the biological pendulum.

* What if they already experimented with this several hundred of years ago, as they forged Horn's Astra and built the Metrochrone of The Sisters' watch in Aslene?

* What if the leading mind behind the current dwelver research has lost it and now appears in markets as a fool named The Pagnillo?

* What if the adventurers' task would be to find The Pagnillo to either kill it as a threat to world order OR to get it back on its research track?

Sculptress: Margareta Persson

Me and our Community

 

In this triptych you see three versions of the map of Ravenland, which is the initial gaming area of the role playing game Forbidden Lands from Free League Publishing.

* To the left is my very first draft of the map, made with pencils on paper.
* In the middle you see the finalized black and white version that you'll find on the inside covers of the gaming books (there is also a separate, coloured version in poster format)
* To the right and below is a brand new wooden version made jointly by Samuel Nedergård Bergsten and Ronja Eriksson as a gift for a gaming friend. They have divided the map in three layers (mountains and forest, plains, water). These layers were then laser cut, engraved and lastly glued together yielding this piece of art.

Seeing their work really warmed my heart. It also gave me an opportunity to thank all fellow enthusiasts – gamers and creators alike – for all the collaboration and obscure discussions and projects we've had the pleasure of sharing during the years. Considering all the hate and lies and manipulation that goes on in the world today, I find that me and our community in some respect share what is actually the best features of humankind: passion, project cooperation, creativity, unselfish helpfulness and love! Some may call rpg gaming simply entertainment and escapism, and for sure there's room for that as well, but what counts for me is the practice of humanity and the warmth I encounter in doing so. I'm convinced that this type of shared enthusiasm makes the real world better. Thanks, my friends – let's keep doing this!

 

 

Sex in The Bloodmarch

SPOILER WARNING – for The Bloodmarch, a Forbidden Lands RPG expansion below. Also be warned of SEXUAL CONTENT (though not explicit really).

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My original text to The Bloodmarch had some sexual content in it, most of which was edited out by Free League. They explained that they have to be careful due to various international laws and standards and also due to some recent RPG-related scandals that you might have heard about. I can understand and accept that. Still, I'd like to share some hints on what was there in the first draft, not only because I like raunchy details (which I do), but also because some of it has connections to the plot that you might want to explore. GMs can include these sexual elements or leave them out according to group preferences.

Disclaimer: Free League Publishing is not responsible for what I'm writing in this blog post (or any other). These are my personal musings.

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Sex at Ashenstead
1. In the adventure site Ashenstead there's an upcoming wedding between the son and daughter of two Aslene clan leaders. One event had Merdekai, the father of the bridegroom, claiming ius primae noctis according to ancient customs – that is the right to sleep with the bride on her wedding night. The bride and her father were naturally outraged. It is uncertain whether Merdekai meant what he's saying OR whether it was a test of his counterparts / his son's balls OR a way to start a civil war (which Grudenstaal doesn't want if he's there). In any case, the adventurers are asked to solve the situation diplomatically. One solution is to access the temple's library and verify that the custom of ius prima noctis is stated only in some apocryphal texts that may be refuted.

2. The high priests Liklaudos and Melgir are to have public, ritual sex on the temple roof as part of the wedding ritual, which makes Melgir's husband Tordenost madly jealous. Murders take place, the tower Kardena's watch is made to fall into the abyss with the lovers in it, and the adventurers have to investigate whodunnit. An alternative perpetrator is the penitent dwarf in the temple hall that knows magma song.

Sex at The Watch of the Sisters
The mad composer Cavaldo is based on the actual, historical 16th century composer and prince Carlo gesualdo. In historic reality as well as in the first draft of the adventure, Cavaldo caught his wife and her lover making out in flagranti and brutally killed them, a deed that distressed him for the rest of his life and affected his work. In the game, the forest spirit Margarita fuelled his wrath towards the lovers in order to increase his musical passion.

Sex at Oxengelder
The garden of Novices in the original text was kind of a hippie park with free sex, dream and drug experimentation aiming to free your body and mind for true oneiromancy. Two charismatic young dreamers were leading these orgies, that in one event got out of hand, tranforming the participants to agressive beasts. There was also an aphrodisiac called Libertine involved, that could lead to interesting complications. The male leader of this crowd called himself ”Olof Skötkonung”, which I though was somewhat funny (actual name of historical, Swedish king, but untranslatable joke I'm afraid ;-) ). The female leader was namned Vilega Starsight as a homage to the raunchy online comic ”The Cummoner”. The elders of Oxengelder frowned upon these practices, but couldn't do much since the Dreamstress herself didn't seem to care.

Fiena Fromelei having sex
In the original text the escort goblin Crudehack, protected Fiena Fromelei so closely that he made her pregnant without she neither understanding what was going on or that she is carrying a child. Fiena's daughter could become a moonelf after birth as an alternative to herself.

Some additional sexual couples in the original text
Kurmena and Eisendor in Taregyll
Vaerfor van Reiben and the Dreamstress
Draug of the White and Mildella (reluctantly from the latter, as part of her debt)
Poansa and Grudenstaal if they join forces

En målning byter ägare

 

En av mina vänner, den spännande konstnären Mark Frygell, har köpt Steven Stahlbergs (tidigare Steven Hägg) originalmålning till det ursprungliga äventyret Svavelvinter från Fredrik Malmberg. Mark bytte den mot en av sina egna målningar och båda verkar lika nöjda över transaktionen.

Mark och jag har ofta intressanta och öppna diskussioner om rollspel, konsten, livet och kreativiteten. Han är helt rätt person att förvalta målningen, eftersom han som gammal rollspelare vet hur viktig den har varit för många genom åren, och dessutom kan visa den där den bör visas i konstkretsar. Fredrik uttryckte för sin del önskemål om att målningen ska tillgängliggöras för de intresserade och inte bara hängas undan privat, vilket jag vet inte heller är Marks avsikt.

När jag pratade med Mark vid midnatt igår så hade jag ändå blandade känslor eftersom jag själv hyst funderingar över att försöka köpa målningen. Treåringen i mig ligger fortfarande och surar på golvet, men samtidigt är jag övertygad om att detta var det rätta och att verket hamnat i bästa händer! Världen blev rentav lite mer spännande.

Kanske får jag till och med snart se tavlan i verkligheten såhär trettiosju år senare ;-).