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This bonus episode, requested by Patreon backer Brian, explores the question of whether the Fiend Folio has an important connection to the development of British gaming landmark Warhammer. My answer: kind of!


In the podcast, I reference a few blogs and sites you can check out. 

For critical analysis of early Warhammer and lots of other stuff, check out the Realm of Zhu! Or just read Zhu's article at We Are the Mutants. There's a treasure trove of interviews with old GW and Citadel hands at Realm of Chaos 80s, although the blog updates infrequently these days. Just look for the interviews sidebar on the left-hand side. Plus, if you look at the video that's currently on the front page, you can see me standing at the Helsreach table at around 50 seconds in.


Thanks to Ray Otus for our thumbnail image. The intro music is a clip from "Solve the Damn Mystery" by Jesse Spillane, used under a Creative Commons Attribution License.         

Comments

Steve

It seems to me that Warhammer probably has more in common with 2000AD and a bit of the late 70s punk ethic as well as British humour. These are also found in the Fiend Folio but it's more common ancestors, I submit, than one influencing the other.

monsterman

Mostly, I agree. I do think that there are some loose ties -- like the Fiend Factory minis line as an early experiment at an integrated game/model project -- but I think it is definitely the case that they're both products of the same milieu and the same relationship with "mainstream" fantasy gaming. I do think, and I should have said this in the episode, that the Fiend Folio was probably a powerful symbol of the accessibility of the game in those days. Many of its authors were still at school or university -- you send off a monster from your game to Don Turnbull, and hey presto (well, OK, four years later) it's in a hardbook book from TSR with a picture and everything. That is actually one of the things that really influenced my life in high school, although substitute John Tynes for Don Turnbull, something no one else has ever said.

Anonymous

Hey James, any chance that talk you mention on Medievalism in Fantasy Role-Playing Games is going to be recorded?

monsterman

Maaaaaaybe! I mean, I have a lav mic and a phone, so if all else fails I can do it myself.