Dwarves

Folklore, Fantasy & Fiction: Dwarfs

The party had been underground for several days now; they had come across the gates to one of the ancient dwarven tunnels just as their guide had said they would. It had been over grown with vines and mountain bushes. If the party had not been looking for the gate they would have missed it, so well had it been made? Eventually the adventurers had come to the staircase their benefactor had told them about. This was the true beginning of the party’s descent into the mountain, They had thought it would get colder the further they went down, they had thought it would get darker the further they went down and they thought it would grow quitter the further they went down only to discover that it was getting hotter and brighter and the noise of metal on metal was growing louder and louder. As the party turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs they saw the source of the light and noise. A group of six, short, hunched humanoids faces like old men, beards long and platted worked metal on a variety of anvils with hammer and tongs. None looked up as they continued to chant and beat a rhythm with their tools. The parties scout turned to his companions and said with a slight smile upon his face "these I believe are the dwarves you are looking for!"

In this post on my blog will be looking at Dwarfs and how they vary according to folklore, fantasy role-playing and fiction. As you will see although something does remain the same other aspects of these long time staple of the story teller have been altered to make them fit our more modern uses of them.

In Folklore

Dwarfs in Folklore are often depicted as old and ugly men with long beards and sometimes bent back. They vary in size sometimes been as short at 18 inches or 45 cm, other times been as tall as 4 foot or 120 cm. This change in height may well be due to their ability in Germanic legends to shape shift. Like so many other fairy folk it was said that Dwarfs could also turn invisible and many had the gift to divine and see the future. Almost all legends agree that the Dwarven people are skilled at mining, craftsmanship and forging magical weapons and items. Especially in Scandinavian myths they would make magical items worthy for the gods themselves such as Thors Hammer Mjollnir and Odins magical ring Draupnir.

In England the most famous group of Dwarves where called the The Simonside Dwarfs also known as Duergar from the Simonside Hills in Englands Northumbria. These creatures where both ugly and evil and meant mortal kind nothing but malice which they extended towards the livestock and pets of man as well. You will notice that the word Duergar was used by D&D to denote their evil grey dwarves.

In Fantasy

The dwarves of the Warhammer world have been made famous by Games Workshop both through Warhammer Fantasy battle and Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. In the first editions of these games dwarves whereas before mountain dwellers who preferred to live in the tunnels of the Old World and who made excellent smiths, miners and stone workers. They could create magical items and weapons by use of runes and although you had dwarf wizards they had fewer spell points than other races. In latter editions less and less empathise was placed on dwarves and traditional magic instead the system moved dwarves onto rune magic and began to ignore previous references to dwarven wizards and even clerics. Again dwarfs lived longer than humans, where tougher and stronger and could see in the dark but to continue a theme of many version of dwarfs they were a dying breed.

In early editions of Dungeons and Dragons Dwarfs where portrayed as very similar to Tolkien Dwarves, they were excellent miners and metal smiths, see in the dark and able to make great and powerful magical items however the only magic they could wield came from the gods and no Dwarven Wizards or even rune smiths existed. They received excellent bonuses to saves against magic and some magic items could even switch of if a dwarf touched it. As one edition bled into another and Dungeons and Dragons started to allow greater individualism when creating characters it became possible for Dwarves to have Wizards and Sorcerers. Some settings also provided us with a greater number of Dwarven Sub breads such as Mountain Dwarves, Hill Dwarves, Duergar (Grey Dwarves who could turn into giants and become invisible), Derro (Latter to also be identified with Gnomes), Jungle Dwarfs of Chult in Forgotten Realms and the Dwarfs of the great Glassier. On Kyrnn we got to meet still other kinds of  Dwarf such a s Gully Dwarves, Sundered Dwarfs who no longer had a dwarven hold to call home and of course the evil and sinister Theiwar. Each of these types of dwarf challenged the sterotypes of previous types of dwarf however all still retained a lack of arcane ability, which considering the mystical nature of the Dwarves of folklore is quite odd.

Often in role-play games it is the evil dwarves who have more special powers and seem to better reflect the fairy dwarves of folklore.

In Fiction

In fiction writing most authors fall into two camps those who try and portray dwarves as they are portrayed in folklore and those who stick to the image given to dwarves by J. R. R. Tolkien. In both the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings dwarves (Tolkien used the term Dwarves rather than Dwarfs throughout his writing) are more than able to walk in day light however they lack any kind of magical power save that they can craft magical items. They are still great smiths and minors and motivated by greed. They are on average not much smaller than men but much broader and live longer some 250 years on average but are not immortal. Little is mention of Dwarf Women.

In Terry Prachetts Discworld novels Dwarfs are also minors interested in gold and iron. They are not very religious but do have gods just in case. Up until recently Dwarfs on Discworld have not really bothered much about gender and both male and female dwarfs have beards. This may change now several female dwarfs have got involved in feminism. In Discworld dwarves live until about 300 fight with Axes and wear chainmail as a matter of course. They have a very literal understanding of the world and to many dwarfs it is more important that a dwarf acts like a dwarf than actually biologically been a dwarf. Unlike in other worlds where dwarfs suffer a strong dislike of Elves and Goblins on Discworld it is the Trolls they dislike the most.

The dwarves in the Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black are far more in keeping with the dwarfs of folklore. Again short and bearded these dwarves work with iron and stone and make excellent blacksmiths, minors and weapon smiths. Young dwarfs have skin the texture of stone which as they age takes on a more polished almost marble like appearance. It is also made clear that dwarfs are a type of Fairey and whilst the elves are part of the nobility the dwarves are true workers. They live under ground, only come out at night as the sun harms their eyes and are able to turn into rocks or tree stumps albeit with a distinctly dwarf look about them. It is also true of Spiderwick Dwarfs that they are supernaturally strong. Again they do appear to be greedy and ruled by a certain desire for wealth and a fascination with machinery.

Tips for making Dwarves fun

Why not take a leaf out of the folklore and make dwarves turn to stone in day light this does restrict their use in campaigns where dwarves are player character races however it does give them limitations to offset the fact that most dwarves are able to craft magical items, are extremely long lived and all-round tougher than most humans. Also do not be afraid to allow them to have rune smiths, alchemists, enchanters and other kinds of wizards. In legends Dwarf Magic is supposed to be very powerful, dwarves make magical items for gods after all. Combine this with the ability to see into the future, shape change and become invisible and you have a formidable hero or villain. In my own story telling I use Dobbin a Dwarven Wizard,  he has skills as an alchemist and as a rune master as well. He has overcome his weakness to the sun through use of a magical ring he forged. He is able to shape change and uses his powers of divination to guide my players in their adventures. He is knowledgeable about enchantments and enchanted items, creatures and lands. A skilled smith when younger he now devotes himself to the arcane arts. He has knowledge of runes but is no rune smith. Although greedy his greed has altered from a desire to be rich and have gold to acquiring magical lore.

 

Goblins

This Blog is based on an article I wrote for Seaxe Magazine in 2013

Folklore, Fantasy & Fiction: Goblins

The adventurers creep steadily along the dark, dank corridor of the dark wizard’s castle, as they approach a large wooden door they call their thief forward to check the door for traps and to see if he can hear anything on the other side.  The door is old and the lock in poor condition it appears to the experienced dungeoneer that the lock has not been used in a very long time and that the door as a whole is free from traps. Content that the door itself offers him no harm the veteran rogue places his ear against the wood of the door and listens. Something lurks beyond, perhaps it is one of the necromancer’s apprentices, maybe some of his undead minions or maybe some terrifying beast summoned from beyond the void. The burglar steps back and quietly informs his adventuring companions of what he heard. Stepping aside he allows the parties warrior and cleric to come to the front taking a hold of the door’s pull ring the thief pulled the doors open allowing his companions to rush in only to face…

Goblins are often the stock minions of many dark wizards, evil warlords and frightful demons, not to mention Dungeon Masters and authors. In LARP, table top role-playing and even war gaming they are used time and time again to ware down players ready for their master or even bigger creatures to give the heroes a real challenge. This article is the first of a series which will look at a different creature from folklore, fantasy and fiction and examine how it can be used to much greater effect in our games and storytelling.

Each article will take a look first at the historical and folklore aspects of a creature in this case Goblins, it will then look at how they are used in role-playing and war gamming before taking a look at how they are portrayed in fiction. Each article will include ideas of how new life can be breathed into these traditional and often stock monsters.

In Folklore

Goblins have existed in Folklore from some of the very earliest oral traditions, often considered as a weaker, evil variety of fairy creature these short beasts are considered malicious and spiteful, willing to work harm against mortals as if it was part of their very nature. Goblins in folklore vary in size, shape and general appearance, this variety does not always only come about due to a change in location even goblins inhabiting the same town or village may be described with wildly different features and abilities. This may have something to do with their name which is Latin for uncertain origin.

Goblins may well be a different set of races all linked by their evil attitude to life and all things beautiful. However for the purpose of this article we are going to assume they are all of one race and that, that race is varied in appearance and ability.

For the most part goblins in folklore are commonly described as been either as short as a fairy, maybe as small as 15 centimetres or as tall as a gnome or dwarf or approaching one and a half metres.

One thing is universally common amongst almost all goblins and that is their mean spirited natures, goblins dislike anything of beauty and in folklore where often used to scare children into behaving. Goblins will harm household pets and livestock and are usually said to be carnivores although like many fairy folk they do not always have to eat instead they simply like the taste. They love to play tricks on others especially the old and the young and are not above killing people as part of their games.

Goblins will either live in packs in grottos and underground places away from the sun which either blinds them or kills them out right depending on the legend. Some goblins usually the solitary ones will attach themselves to a household and steal trinkets and cause poltergeist like activity to occur driving any decent family away. Many goblins where thought of as been nomadic but considering their fear of sun light and need to be out of the sun during the day light this might not be true especially today as opposed to when their where vast areas of untamed wilderness in Europe.

Goblins in folklore can be quite skilled at making things however due to their lazy natures they would rather steal what others had laboured to create.

Goblins are often attributed with the powers to sourer milk, cause farm animals to go lame and turn invisible so that mortals cannot see them.

It is said by some that Goblins originated in France but spread out across Europe. In this tradition they sprung from a cave in the Pyrenees Mountains where they had dug their way up from deep within the earth. In some legends they were said to have been created by Ghob the same being who created the Gnomes but where the gnomes where benign and caring the goblins where filled with malicious hatred for all other things.

In Fantasy

In Fantasy settings goblins are often have green coloured skin and sit at the bottom of the pile when it comes to other larger types of goblin such  as Hobgoblins and Orcs. Although quick and cunning they are rarely strong or intelligent and soon come under the sway of bigger types of goblin.

In most role-play games and war games they lack any special magical abilities although some may become shaman and whilst capable of making stuff for themselves they would rather be led than lead and rather steal goods from other races than make their own.

One reason they make excellent minions is their laziness, once employed they will stick around in order to dispose of food, waste and even the enemies of their master. If intimidated regularly by their master and given the odd gift or allowed to keep some of the spoils of war they will long serve their master.

In these settings goblins tend to use short one handed weapons or short bows which they can become extremely proficient in. Because of their cunning they often make good thieves and assassins it is only their greed and lack of discipline which causes them to fail in these areas.

In fantasy settings Goblins are often said to hold gnomes and dwarves in particular hatred and compete for land and treasure. Most fantasy settings give goblins a fixed size or appearance although there may be several sub races of goblin which have slightly different appearances and abilities.

In Fiction

Goblins become even more varied when you look at them in literature. They first shot to fame in J. R. R. Tolkien’s the Hobbit. It is often this depiction of them that is used in most fantasy role-play games and war games. Again here they lack any special powers other than been able to see in the dark and been good at making and setting traps. They do of course also have the ability to speak to and befriend wargs.

In more modern fiction J K Roweling portrays them as bank managers and treasure hoarders. They are also skilled silver smiths and much more intelligent than in other books. They appear to be able to hold their own against wizards and are able to construct elaborate traps and magical items.

Recently Goblins have been given a new lease of life in the books of David Melling and Philip Reeves. Melling introduces us to a different type of goblin in each of his books starting with Stone Goblins, whilst Reeves introduces us to a Goblin Hero and the goblin settlement of Clovenstone, in his books goblins come off as been likeable and even goes as far as making dwarves the villain of his second book.

Tips for making Goblins fun

With regards goblins it is far too easy to make them into disposable monsters who the players kill in their thousands. If goblins where not capable of looking after themselves with all the creatures which prey on them then they would have died out ages ago. If you want to make them more of a challenge for players borrow some ideas from folklore and give them the powers of invisibility just like Tony Diterlizzi and Holly Black did in the Spiderwick Chronicles. This one power will easily make the creature more dangerous and fun to use as will allowing them to dispense minor curses or jinx their opponents once or twice per day. Add to them the ability to set and use traps makes them a lot more formidable and interesting to use.

I did this with an npc goblin in one of my games that goes by the name of Snitch who uses skills as a 5^th level thief and has the innate abilities mentioned above: Invisibility three times per day and jinx once per day. He is also a skilled trap builder. He has become a henchman to the parties Fighter who intends to make him his squire and the two have become quite a duo. He is played as a grovelling and snivelling character who is keen to live and not put himself in to much danger. When people are not looking aspects of his evil alignment come out such a skilling subdued prisoners and steeling anything the party has not claimed. He is also sarcastic to players who annoy him and offers to kill them for his new lord and master who always replies with NO SNITCH!

Another goblin I had fun with was Nesk who was a throw away encounter on level one of under mountain. In my Forgotten realms campaign he became a Humanoid Bard from the Humanoids hand book. After he was captured rather than killed by the party. He started to watch the parties bard and rogue and soon started to progress in this area becoming one of the PC's henchman. His knowledge of his own people became very useful to the party and he earned more and more respect in the group even been given equal shares of any treasure they acquired. He finished the game as a 6th Level Humanoid Bard and has since been used as a npc and mentor for other groups and players in a whole range of systems. Next was played as a pretty intelligent goblin from the start and more than meets the eye sort of character this was evident in the way he used a npc Hobgoblin as his body guard.

Goblins really do not need to be throw away characters and can run a whole spectrum of personalities. Even as villains and as random encounters they can be fun and challenging. What's important is that you never let them get to stale or to predicatble.

 

The British Experimental Rocket Group Campaign

On Monday 12th of May 2014 at 8pm (ish) my new British Experimental Rocket Group campaign using the Dagger RPG system by Brave Halfling Publishing Started.


My group made up of members of my LARP and RPG group Seaxe & Sorcery consisted of four players, each playing a member of a BERG Investigation team. The team was as follows:


Rob -  Dr Tobias Cubic - Engineer (Team Leader)
Paul - Dr James Rock - Behavioural Psychologist
Dave - DI Gareth Turner
Ryan - Professor Felix Junior




The Party where given the following brief:




Brief:

On Friday 25^th of March John Childes a builder and owner of Childes Engineering was coming to the end of a project to re-enforce the roof of Spellbrook Church is Essex. As they moved into the North east corner of the church the scaffolding gave as the floor beneath it fell through. No one was hurt and soon the debris was cleared away to reveal a small but deep hole. It was soon revealed by the builders and the local fire brigade that there was an unknown basement to the church. Even odder in that basement was a set of stairs which led up to a doorway which let to nowhere.

Since then the local council and county council have had engineers inspect the area as well as archaeological experts. It has been revealed that the cave, stairs and door way where built using a classical style however the stone was 2000 years older than the original church which had been built on this site. Even stranger the stone gave of a low level of radiation and a small electrical charge not enough to cause harm but enough for equipment to show that the background count was less than that given off by the arch.

Once the room was cleaned up it also seemed that once a disk about 2 metres wide once sat upon the wall at the bottom of the stairs. The disk whatever it was is now missing. Further examination of the area showed that there were no other subterranean buildings present. What was odd was that a quill from the 18^th Century had been dropped in this very room there was also a hooded lantern with a burnt out oil jar in it. Both items had showed little sign of decomposition which indicated the chamber had been fairly dry and air tight. How they came to be in the chamber was unknown.

The floor was pieced together by local forensic lab funded by the churches insurance company only to reveal that the floor had not had any secret doors or trap doors built in it and also that there was no reason for the floor to so weak. It has been proved that the stone however is younger than the rest of the church floor been made of stone brought in from Cornwall in about 1782-3 whereas the rest of the floor was put in in 1666 and came from wales? Since the discovery mobile phone calls and wireless communications which had never been reliable in the area have been almost impossible.

You have now been called in by your boss and told that you have been hired by the government to investigate matters further one of the old primary school halls (a new school was built two years ago) and the old heads office and staffroom has been given over to the BERG for the duration of the investigation. Your job is to find out as much as possible about this cave/ cellar and the doorway. The Village Council is not keen on you been there however the county council and Essex Police and Fire Brigade are and you can call on their limited resources for help if necessary. For the most part your bosses would prefer you to keep this as in house as possible.

 
They where given the following set of hand outs, of the old village school that they where going to be using as a forward HQ, the Church and the room which was revealed below the church in the accident.


A list of support personnel was given to them and a list of relevant NPC's. The investigation was about to begin.


Spellbrook is a real village in England, however to fit into my campaign I moved it to Essex near the villages of Riddlers Hamlet and Hobbes Cross. I also introduced a slightly more sinister and competent "Vicar of Dibly" Style council which runs the three villages.


It is my intention to write up each game session and share with people how this adventure went. As I go I hope to improve my Blog and learn how to up load pictures and the hand-outs from the adventure.

 

A past adventure in a park not to far away from my home

After a rather pleasant afternoon and early evening with family celebrating my nieces birthday (by the way uncle bob is a descendent of one of Kali's avatar). I was walking home with my son and daughter both of whom operate on several planes of reality at once we noticed  a man standing by the lamp in the park by my house. He was leaning, his back against the wall of a house one leg straight the other bent against the wall for support. 

He turned and watched us approach as we got closer I spoke "And who sir might you be good sir?" To which he lent of off the wall and standing their a little over 5 foot, 10 inches, dressed in a grey three piece suit, smart black shoes (leather of course and hand made by a skilled cobbler goblin from the Black Forest in Germany). 

He was also sporting a pair of silver rounded spectacles, which seemed to suit his short cut blond hair and rounded face. "I am Christopher Cross, my good fellow and I am here to help you get to where you are going, all be it via a slight deviation". 

Well I thought to my self I had opened gates to the happy hunting grounds in this park, fought snake men, ghouls and zombies, I had spoken to gnome sages and entered the realm under the mounds so why not meet a person who was going to take me on a detour. 

"Well" I responded "may I ask where we will be going". He smiled and made a long sweeping gesture with his left arm and uttered mystic words "~*<!>.^#}{+':-" (obviously to use real magic words here would be a recipe for disaster as you all went out made sweeping gestures with your left arms and travelled to other realms). 

As he finished a bright blue light flared up and a hole in time, space and reality was created. He gestured me to step through. Of course my children wanted to come with me but they where needed at home. So of they went as I entered the portal ready to visit another realm. 

The realm before me was one of empty blue skies, ruined buildings and roads fallen into disrepair. 

Unlike most ruined realms the plants and animals had not moved in to replace the creatures whose city now lay empty before me. The world was silent except for the wind and the foot falls of Mr. Cross behind me. "So where are we Mr. Cross, what nightmare realm is this."   

"No nightmare realm we will visit one of those latter, no this is a realm visited by the Core Lords, known simply to most as the Core."

"Yes I am aware of the Core" I interrupted. "They are an alliance of evil forces which seek to destroy existence one reality at a time. So called champions of entropy and the ultimate corruption of cosmic law."

It was then that I noticed my guide was a little annoyed by my interruption and so I shut up.

"Well if you are quite finished I will continue. This realm was once called Urath Prime and was a realm slightly more advanced than your home plane and where psychic power and technology where of equal standing and importance and occult science was taught openly and treated with respect."

" I might to have liked to visit it whilst it flourished" I replied almost dreamingly.

"I dare say you would and perhaps you will, or already have but are yet to realise it. In any case the Core came 100 years ago to this realm and by deception and low cunning they brought low the defences of Urath and far to easily enslaved or destroyed its people." 

He looked both angry and upset so I gave him some time before asking him to continue.

"In any case I was called to this world and asked to fetch you and so that is what I have done, now please fallow me."

We walked down empty streets, each showed signs of damage similar to battle scenes of Middle East towns I had seen on the news. Broken and burned out vehicles where everywhere as where the bones of the dead often in piles, some times only skulls remained. 

Eventually we came to a building which looked like a great library or museum or perhaps combination of the two. As we entered we passed two great statues of griffons standing tall and proud. I could feel an odd energy radiate from them.

As we entered the front foyer it looked more like a cathedral than a library. "Over here if you please." My guide gestured to a sign which I could not read but which I guessed meant reading room from the icon which accompanied it.

As we entered the room I could not help but notice the room was dominated by a desk made of crystal on which where books, scrolls and crystals of various sizes. The room was lit buy light giving globes which floated about half way up the wall and the roof was designed to amplify the light.

As I looked and wondered a form began to form by the desk, as the smoke coalesced they took the form of an elderly humanoid,a most human except he was thinner with a slightly enlarged cranium and larger than normal eyes. His nose was less pronounced than a human and his clothes looked as if they would have fit in a 1950s science fiction film.

I stood back and looked at my guide however he seemed to be expecting my guest and I dealt oddly calm rather than afraid.

"Greetings man from earth I hope your journey has not been long or difficult, I am afraid I would have brought you hear myself if it was not for the fact I am dead".

I must confess I was both a little shocked and surprised that I was talking to a dead man. In my experience the dead usually wanted to kill me.

" How may I help you it would seem you have the advantage of knowing who I am whilst I do not know who you are".

"Oh yes" he continued without breaking stride. "I am Professor Illian Zenn a scholar of Arcane Studies or rather I was before a Core assassin killed me. However I was able through mental dis appliance and a spell I was able to cast before dying to hold my soul hear on the mortal realm until I was able to finish my task."

"If you do not mind me asking what task is that has kept you here." 

He looked directly at me and for a moment his mood changed. "Stop the Core!"

"Is that why I am here?" I asked.

"To a degree you are right, you are just one way in which I can get back at the beings who brought ruin to my world. I have information you can trade with the Scorpion Sage in order to bring you closer to finding the Ancient Forest of the Elves. He can also give you details of the Council of thirteen beings that are said to lead the Core. If I give you the information will you bring me the knowledge of the dark council in return?"

I did not really have to think about it. I hated the Core and all they stood for, they annoyed me as much as the Dwellers beyond the Void and the Council of Night so my answer was an easy one.

"I will do as you ask and if I can cause harm to our mutual enemies along the way I will."

He nodded and suddenly a book, a scroll and three gems lifted from the table and moved over to me. I took hold and placed them in my dimensional pouch.

"How will I contact you if I need to."

The ghostly Professor pointed to Mr. Cross. "Christopher will work with you and he will be able to give you something called a phone number so you can contact him."

"Thank you good sir I will pass this onto the Scorpion Sage and perhaps we will both get what we want."

"I hope so" the spook sage said " however I must go now and rest I have been projecting to much recently and I am some what drained until next time may the light be with you."

That said he vanished.

"Well Mr. Cross shall we go"

"By all means Mr. Bates"

We left the library and walked back through the streets until we arrived where we had arrived. It was time to go home and make a record of my tale.