Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser!
John Carter, Warlord of Mars!
Durathror!
Welcome to our continued exploration of The Dragon magazine series, Giants in the Earth. The second installment in this series was presented in The Dragon Issue 27 published in July of 1979. The artist for the delightful cover was Thomas Canty who went on to do the covers for a few more dragon magazines and many, many fantasy novels.
This article had three entries that will be familiar to almost anyone with even a passing interest in Swords and Sorcery fiction and a fourth that I myself had never heard of.
Part 1 of the Giant in the Earth series is located here.
The first entry is for two rogues that will be forever linked together. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were created by Fritz Leiber and first appeared in print in 1939 in the story "Two Sought Adventure". They would appear in many more stories for the pulp magazine before they were collected into novels in the 1960s. These two characters epitomize early Dungeons and Dragons for me. They explored the fascinating world of Newhon, using their wits and sharp blades to stay a step ahead of gruesome death, often at the urgings of their sorcerous patrons, Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face.
I've also included their stats from a great Advanced Dungeons and Dragons accessory, "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" released by TSR. This accessory details the two rogues "stomping grounds". It's also a great setting and city. I actually use it for my Greyhawk City in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. In my opinion it captures the pulp feel of the city better than the official TSR boxed set. Of course, I did cram much of the boxed set into Lankhmar as well. Can never have enough stuff in a city the size of Greyhawk.
The next entry is John Carter, Warlord of Mars. John Carter was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs way back in 1911. "A Princess of Mars", the first tale of Barsoom (Fantasy Mars) was published in 1912. The series eventually consisted of 11 entries. Shortly after the end of the Civil War, John Carter is transported from Earth to Barsoom (Fantasy Mars) and has many fantastic adventures.
I love the whole genre of characters falling asleep and being transported to another world. John Carter is one of the earliest versions of this in Western literature.
The last Giant in issue 27 is Durathror, a hero I am not familiar with. Authored by Alan Garner, the first book of Durathror's trilogy was published in 1960. The sequel, "The Moon of Gomrath" was published in 1963 and the final part was published in 2012! Wow. Is that a record for longest time in between novels in a series? I understand Mr. Garner was inspired by the folklore of his native county of Cheshire in North West England. I will have to check out these works one of these days.
In keeping with the tradition of Giants in the Earth, the authors broke many of the AD&D core rules. All the characters are multiclassed (despite most being being human) and Durathror is a Dwarven Paladin.
![The purpose of this article is to add an element of novelty and unknown danger to the DM’s high-level encounter table, and to give players a chance to actually meet up with heroes from their favorite fantasy books. The referee is advised to use these characters with discretion. They are a lot of fun to run, and the players should have an interesting time dealing with them. These heroes are all in some fashion exceptional, and thus they deviate a bit in their qualities and capabilities from standard D & D. Also, most originated in other universes or worlds, and so were not bound by the same set of restrictions that apply to the average D & D character. Some are multi-classed, for example. This system has been used to describe the skills and abilities of the characters as they appear in the literature, even though some of these combinations and conditions are not normally possible. In addition, some minor changes have been made in order to bring them in line with the game and to enhance playability. Note: For the game purposes of these heroes: Dexterity 18 (00) gives +4 on Reaction/Attacking, –5 Defensive adjustment and three attacks per round for high level fighters. Constitution 18 (00) gives fighters +4.5 per hit die bonus. Alan Garner’s DURATHROR 13th level fighter/Dwarvish paladin ARMOR CLASS: 0 MOVE: 6” HIT POINTS: 112 NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-10 (+4) SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below MAGIC RESISTANCE: See below ALIGNMENT: Lawful-good STRENGTH: 18 (86%) INTELLIGENCE: 9 WISDOM: 13 DEXTERITY: 15 CONSTITUTION: 18 (49%) CHARISMA: 17 HIT BONUS: +4 PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil Durathror, son of Gondemar, is a prince of the huldrafolk (mountain dwarves). He looks like a viking in miniature with flowing yellow hair and a forked beard hanging to his waist. He wears a winged helmet, a shirt of +2 plated mail (treat as banded mail), and a cloak of white eagle feathers. Durathror is a close friend to the Lios-alfar (lawful-good elves). When the elf-king Atlendor took his people to the high hills to avoid death from the spreading pollution of the industrial revolution, Durathror exchanged gifts with Atlendor as a token of friendship. He traded Tarnhelm, a cloak of invisibility, for Valham, a cloak of flying. Gondemar was appalled that his son would trade away the greatest treasure of the clan and he expelled Durathror from his people. Durathror sought to go with the fair elves but Atlendor 28 foresaw the future and told Durathror that he would be needed in the lowlands to discharges a duty of great weight. Durathror chose the path of duty and was thus exiled from both dwarves and elves. Durathror spent much of his exile in Fundindelve, a magical cavern where 140 knights dressed in silver armor lay in enchanted sleep with a milk-white steed sleeping at each one’s side. The knights await the day when they must wake and ride forth to battle Nastrond, the Great Spirit of Darkness. They are watched over by Durathror’s friend, the wizard Cadellin Silverbrow. The heart of the enchantment was sealed with Firefrost, the weirdstone of Brisingamen. If the weirdstone were destroyed, the knights would wake before their time and would be long dead when Nastrond chose to attack. Darkness would rule the world. Durathror’s duty came when the weirdstone was stolen. He helped recover it. The party returning the weirdstone to Fundindelve was attacked by the armies of the morthbrood, a league of evil wizards. In a great battle at Clulow Cross, Durathror fought alone and died. His sacrifice gave Cadellin the time he needed and the weirdstone was saved. As a reward for his valor and his patience throughout the long years of exile, Durathror was resurrected by the forces of Lawful-good. He was awarded the honor of becoming one of the few paladins who are dwarves. Durathror now fights the forces of chaos and evil wherever they may be found. If encountered he is probably (80%) on a mission for the gods. He is not adverse to delaying the mission to wipe out local chaotic or evil forces if it will not take too long. Such forces may, of course, be party members. If he is not on a mission, Durathror may decide to fight the party, join it for the remainder of the adventure, or simply ignore it depending on his reaction. Roll two 6-sided dice and make the proper adjustments. Durathror will join the party on an 11 or 12, fight the party on a 2 or 3, and ignore the party on all other rolls. Adjustments are as follows: +1 if the party contains a lawfulgood dwarf, +2 if the party contains a lawful-good elf, +1 if the party is more than 50% lawful or good, +2 if the party is entirely lawful-good, –1 if the party contains no lawful-good dwarves or elves, –1 if the party is less than 50% lawful or good, –2 if no one in the party is lawful-good. Pluses and minuses are cumulative. Durathror will attack svart-alfar (drows), goblins, hobgoblins, or orcs on sight. His magical sword, Dyrnwyn (a twohanded sword), is +2 to hit and has the power to disintegrate drows, goblins, hobgoblins, and orcs on any roll of 15 or above. Durathror is +2 on all saves except poison and spells against which he is +7. He has all the normal paladin’s powers, including the following spells: bless, command, remove fear, detect charm, speak with animals, spiritual hammer, and remove curse.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0601/2098/9850/files/DM27GII1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1657650937)
https://deigames.com/collections/magazines
Here are the statistics for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser from the
accessory "Lankhmar: City of Adventure" by TSR. Illustrations by the
amazing Jeff Easley.
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