We’re back and we’re ransacking forbidden ruins, crumbling temples, and the shelves of this abandoned video store in search of a sword and sorcery film worth watching. Our quest has has been a perilous one. So often, what appears to be a gem reveals a heart as rotten as any sorcerer’s. The 1980s were truly a dark age. Maybe we’ll have more luck with these ancient scrolls inscribed with RPGs of high adventure…

Main Topic: Sword and Sorcery in Films and Gaming

This episode is the conclusion our exploration of sword and sorcery. In our first instalment, we looked into the origins of the genre in the pulps. This time, we’re delving into films and games, seeing how they compare to their source material. While the 1980s were a boom time for sword and sorcery films, were any of them actually any good? We pick apart a few of the more notable films of the time, offering our usual range of conflicting opinions.

In the second half of the episode, we do much the same with games. There have been any number of sword and sorcery RPGs published over the past 50 years, but which ones are worth looking into? And how do different games approach the genre, focusing more on swords, sorcery, or that atmosphere of sensual dreaminess that pervades some of the stranger tales?

Links

Things we mention in this episode include:

• The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
• Ray Harryhausen
• Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
• La Belle et la Bête (1946)
• Day of the Dead (1985)
• Hawk the Slayer (1980)
• The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
• The Grognard Files podcast
• Rifftrax
• Heavy Metal (1981)
• Heavy Metal magazine
• Métal hurlant
• Den by Richard Corben
• Arzach by Moebius (inspiration for Taarna)

• Fire and Ice (1983)
• Ralph Bakshi
• The Lord of the Rings (1978)
• Fritz the Cat (1972)
• Tolkien Experience Podcast
• Frank Frazetta
• Boris Vallejo
• Roy Thomas
• Gerry Conway
• The Savage Sword of Conan
• Wizards (1977)
• Coonskin (1974)

• The Beastmaster (1982)
• Don Coscarelli
• Phantasm (1979)
• The Beast Master by Andre Norton
• Conan the Barbarian (1982)
• Pumping Iron (1977)
• The Terminator (1984)
• “The Phoenix on the Sword” by Robert E Howard
• Constantine (2005)

• Conan the Destroyer (1984)
• Conan the Barbarian (2011)
• Solomon Kane (2009)
• Deathstalker (1983)
• Sorceress (1982)
• Kull the Conqueror (1997)
• “The Hour of the Dragon” by Robert E Howard
• Red Nails animated film
• “Red Nails” by Robert E Howard

• Dungeons & Dragons
• MÖRK BORG
• The Riddle of Steel
• Dungeon Crawl Classics
• Sorcerer
• Sorcerer & Sword
• Stormbringer

• Jaws of the Six Serpents
• Conan RPG
• Barbarians of Lemuria
• The Dictionary of Mu
• S/Lay w/Me
• In a Wicked Age
• On Mighty Thews

• The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H P Lovecraft
• Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith
• Hyperborea by Clark Ashton Smith
• Kull of Atlantis
• Lord Dunsany
• The Two-Headed Serpent

News

Scott in Trebuchet Magazine

Issue 10 of Trebuchet Magazine (Materials II) includes an article from our very own Scott Dorward. It explores the sometimes uneasy relationship between canon and creative freedom in long-running genre franchises. Does this offer a framework for writers to build upon or a straightjacket that constrains them?

A Weekend With Good Friends Begins!

A Weekend With Good Friends starts on the 20th of August! While signups for scheduled games are now closed, there will be pickup games running throughout the weekend. Come and join the fun!

This is the online gaming convention organised by our wonderful listeners and hosted on our Discord Server. Full details can be found on this very website.

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