BroXT Jan 9: The Champ Throws Down the Gauntlet

 

It wouldn't be a trial by fire without someone throwing on some gas.

The current BroXT champ, Crom, was unhappy with the narrow offerings being put forth for the Appendix N King of the Ring challenge! "Why is everything Conan?" As such, he gave us a proper lashing and demanded we do better! So much so that he began handing out assignments. I've said it before, but this man deserves his belt; he believes in us and demands nothing less. Can we believe in the him that believes in us?

My assignment was Leigh Brackett's Vanishing Venusians. I had purchased and read the Illustrated Stark last year and loved Brackett's writing; especially her take on Venus (Enchantress of Venus). Her writing is evocative, even to someone as illiterate as myself, and full of pieces you can steal for adventure sites and dungeons. Vanishing Venusians was no different.

The story introduces us to a veritable ark of humans looking for a promised land. They roll through the deep underseas of rot and mist that make up this version of Venus in the hopes of seeing the sun again. The grim present is often contrasted with the beautiful, heavenly past of the elder and experienced "adventurer" Harker. He's lost nearly all hope, but sometimes dreams of what was. Poor guy.

When the ark comes across a new swampland with high, dangerous cliffs, Harker breaks from the stagnation and offers to hunt down the plateau. A pair of men join him in his endeavour; a strongman fighter and a younger man at the edge of hope. This latter man has an incoming child and a strong personal drive to find a better life for him.

All this is a simple setup for the real meat of the story which takes the trio through the dense and horrible upper clouds of Venus into "another world." They wander dark caves, relying on simple weaponry and tenacity to push through a horde of plant-fish men just to find a beautiful paradise with a dark secret. Brackett makes ample use of contrast to manage tension while offering small clues and insights into just how alien and dangerous even the seeming brighter areas of Venus can be. Crom gave a solid recommendation here.

To be honest, I feel I've missed the mark and had too narrow a view on the Challenge. I'm not really the one to come to for elevated thoughts or deep conversation. What I can say is that I've done more reading the last year or so than I have the last decade, and the antecedents that inspired D&D have so much on offer that don't rely on waiting 100 years for Book 2. I have to wonder, did Gygax and the Old Guard feel the same excitement when they read about these strange worlds? How did they feel when Rodriguez nearly lost his life in the tower of a Wizard?