Way back in April, I started reading Lord Dunsany’s The King of Elfland’s Daughter, due to its reputation as a fantasy classic before there were fantasy classics. (The Hobbit wasn’t published until 13 years later; Lord of the Rings fully 30 years later.) Having read less than half of it, I was already in love and knew I’d want to role-play in this world myself.
As a backer of Peter Rudin-Burgess’ Patreon, I asked if he’d do a Cut Up Solo treatment, and he asked if I’d publish it. The novel isn’t yet public domain in the UK and EU, and he’s a Brit, so he couldn’t publish it himself under his Parts Per Million imprint.
So since April, I’ve working toward publishing that with a treatment in three of my four RPGs (the other, D13 RPG, is horror), intent upon releasing all 4 The King of Elfland’s Daughter products at once. What with me being a one-man band (other than for my old friend and Dragon® Magazine editor Dale Donovan‘s editing), my meticulosity, and time spent play-testing each, it has taken awhile.
But last night they all went live on DriveThruRPG (available separately or bundled):
- BNHP: The King of Elfland’s Daughter Sourcebookmark (plus the core rulebookmark);
- d4ce: The King of Elfland’s Daughter rpg (a standalone role-playing game);
- D6xD6 RPG: “The King of Elfland’s Daughter” setting (compatible with d6xd6.com, in case you don’t own the D6xD6 RPG or D6xD6 Dungeons zine edition); and
- Cut Up Solo: The King of Elfland’s Daughter oracle.
Bundle link here, or click the image to the left.
Part of what has made this such an effort is that there’s almost no combat in the novel. Fantasy role-playing habitually depends upon a climactic battle scene. Heck, the “role-play” classification in computer games is pretty much straight-up “murder hobo” adventure. But if players were to come to The King of Elfland’s Daughter with that approach, they’d be sorely disappointed. The Cut Up Solo oracle, in particular, drawing “snippets” directly from the novel, couldn’t provide much in the way of armed conflict.
Happily, in the Tuesday and Thursday night group’s I game with, play-testing these various rules sets GM-less with the Cut Up Solo oracle has been magical!
The novel itself is free on gutenberg.org (click the link or image at the start of this post). Definitely worth reading.