2019-03-18

More from Three Hearts and Three Lions

I recently re-read Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions. This is, of course, a critical piece of literature for D&D scholars (and other Appendix-N readers), granted how many ideas that were baked into the DNA of D&D originated here. Most of us are aware of the big-ticket items: Alignment (the cosmic system of Law-vs-Chaos; prior looks one, two), the paladin with a holy sword, a Scottish-speaking dwarf, and the swanmay (see also: mythological swan maidens).

However, with this read-through I was paying more attention to lesser-known, possibly overlooked tidbits, that either are or could be used as core parts of our game. My notes follow (page numbers from 1993 Baen printing):
  • General emphasis on smells in sense-descriptions.
  • Ch. 5, p. 46: Land permanently in twilight for Chaos types (e.g., goblins).
  • Ch. 6-9: Lots of interesting faerie magic, customs here.
  • Ch. 7, p. 55: "All of them [elves] seemed to be warriors and sorcerers"; menial work done by goblin/kobold slaves. (Meanwhile, elves cannot bear the presence of a cross or hearing holy words; see Ch. 3, p. 33; and Ch. 9. p. 76.)
  • Ch. 7: p. 57: Castle with magical moat, always circulating. Lord’s host sallies forth from castle (compare to Vol-3 castle behavior?). 
  • Ch. 8, p. 70: Doorknob turns to speaking mouth (magic mouth?) in castle of Faerie Duke, among many other enchantments.
  • Ch. 10, p. 85: Supernatural enemies harmed by ultraviolet light. 
  • Ch. 12, p. 102: Law/chaos used interchangeably with good/evil (last line of big paragraph). 
  • Ch. 12, p. 107: Giants always carrying gold (and p. 113). Giants (“Great Folk”) sit in wintry halls for centuries practicing contests of skill, especially riddles. 
  • Ch. 12, p. 114: Giant (et. al.) turned to radioactive stone by sunlight.
  • Ch. 13, p. 118: Iron passes through werewolf’s body without doing harm. 
  • Ch. 13, p. 119: Lycanthropy is generally inherited. May be bear, boar, wolf, “or whate’er the animal may be for the person”. Lycanthrope “Wounds knit upon instant” (from non-silver). Possible recessive-trait werewolf who turns only when chaos magic ebbs over the land.
  • Ch. 14, p. 132: Iron hurts lycanthrope in human form.
  • Ch. 15, p. 142: Description of enchanted Avalon, magical island drifting over sea.
  • Ch. 15: p. 144: “Ever-filled purse” advertised on magician’s sign (as Bucknard’s everfull purse). See also Ch. 17, p. 162. 
  • Ch. 15, p. 145: Magician with diploma from magic university.
  • Ch. 15, p. 146: Invisible (unseen) servant.
  • Ch. 17, p. 160: Geas prevents spirits from assisting with divination.
  • Ch. 19, p. 176: Nixie who tries to capture the protagonist. 
  • Ch. 19, p. 180: Undersea weed-house.
  • Ch. 22, p. 217: Troll fights with dismembered hand, leg, jaw, ropy guts (!).
  • Ch. 24, p. 230: Presence of Hell Horse (note 1941-1944 art journal in occupied Denmark called The Hell-Horse [Helhesten]; "hell horse" is a synonym for the nightmare as per MM p. 74). 

Edit: Mike Mornard helpfully confirmed on the OD&D Discussion board that the Vol-3 castle behaviors, as established by Gygax, were in fact inspired by the action in Three Hearts and Three Lions (as well as various Arthurian tales). See here.


9 comments:

  1. I've always wanted to play with the notion that "Lycan"-thropy is one singular curse, and the animal form is different based on the infected; as opposed to a multitude of strains.
    Also, a regenerating toll finger sneaked into the home is my favorite assassination trick.

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  2. Law and chaos interchangeable with good and evil... is that how they played it?

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    1. Yep. In one of the SR issues Gary even says that was his thinking at first.

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    2. This is a score to the Holmesian 5 alignment system.

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  3. Amazing stuff. Being a literary studies scholar, this gave me ideas! And even more ideas as GM.

    *rubs hands together in clearly evil gesture*

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  4. "wounds knit upon an instant", I'm thinking that the hat is a better way to play weapon immunities: they seem to harm the monster but it regenerates all of the hit points damaged by these weapons.

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    1. I like it too... for some kinds of monsters like lycanthropes, incorporeal types, etc. There are a few "hard" types like an earth elemental, stone/iron golem, etc. where I think it's more interesting to have the weapon bounce off without effect.

      The other thing that's nifty is I like the fact that normal steel affects lycanthropes in human form, so (1) you can't use that as test when they're in disguise, and (2) my players have been horrified a few times now when driven to attack someone they think is a human-form lycanthrope, and there's a question on whether they're making a terrible mistake.

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