Did you know the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King was originally supposed to happen a day earlier?
In Tolkien’s original chronology, the battle was initially set to take place on 14 March, but Tolkien realized Aragorn needed more time to reach Minas Tirith.
While working on the timeline, Tolkien considered moving the Breaking of the Fellowship earlier and giving Frodo and Sam more time on their journey, as well as allowing more time for the events leading up to the Battle of the Hornburg.
He eventually decided to shift the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to 15 March 3019, giving Aragorn the extra day he needed to arrive in time for the battle.
It’s a small change in Tolkien’s timeline, but it shows just how carefully he worked out the chronology of The Lord of the Rings.
What if Tolkien had kept the original date of 14 March? Would Aragorn have arrived in time?
A long time ago I made a Golden Axe stop motion for SEGA / Storm Collectibles / Blue Fin Distributions.
It was the closest I could get to creating something "Harryhausen Esc" with a beloved epic IP.
Good times 💥⚔️💥
For those still unaware, I am the original author of Call of Cthulhu the roleplaying game. I run my games in the 2020s, not the 1920s. Sometimes people ask me how to make games scary in the modern era. I suspect they think that cellphones and the internet, the bad guys won't have a chance.
This sees things backwards. The cultists have cell phones too. More to the point, modern technology is horrific and dehumanizing in a way not seen in the 1920s. I'm certain the King in Yellow has a TikTok feed. Our easy communication is a vulnerability - a method to more fully doom humanity.
In The Shadow From the Steeple, Robert Bloch tells us Nyarlathotep is behind the Manhattan Project. Because of course the Great Old Ones WANT us to have nukes.
In Lovecraft's tale The Dunwich Horror, Wilbur Whateley's plan to destroy the world is thwarted because he can't get his hands on a complete version of the Necronomicon. But today, the Necronomicon would be on Project Gutenberg. Every kook and psychopath on Earth would be trying out its formulae and the good guys would be completely overwhelmed.
In Scotland there are 5000 year old houses with stone furniture still inside. Older than the pyramids.
Skara Brae, 3180 BC. 8 interconnected houses, stone beds, wardrobes, hearths, water with drain. Buried by a sandstorm, perfectly preserved.
5000 years ago they had stone wardrobes. We buy Ikea that breaks after 1 year.
They lived better than many today, with stone beds and a sewer.
March 1984.
This is where Dragonlance began for the public.
Not with a novel.
With an AD&D module.
DL1 Dragons of Despair, by Tracy Hickman, introduced players to Krynn months before Dragons of Autumn Twilight reached bookstores.
Solace.
The Inn of the Last Home.
Goldmoon and Riverwind.
The Blue Crystal Staff.
Draconians.
Xak Tsaroth.
And Khisanth, Onyx, waiting in the ruins below.
The module wasn’t just another dungeon crawl, either. TSR was trying something much bigger, a continuing epic where the world moved around the characters, armies advanced, events unfolded on a timeline, and the players were stepping into an ongoing story rather than simply clearing rooms and collecting treasure.
And what a way to introduce it.
Clyde Caldwell’s cover gives you the whole promise of Dragonlance in one image… heroes, ruins, danger, and one enormous black dragon dominating the scene.
The credits are a pretty ridiculous collection of TSR talent, too! Hickman on the original concept, Jeff Easley on interiors, “Diesel” on cartography, with Harold Johnson, Douglas Niles, Carl Smith, and Michael Williams on the design staff.
Before Dragonlance became hundreds of novels, sourcebooks, adventures, games, and decades of lore…
Players first walked into Krynn carrying dice.
DL1 Dragons of Despair.
The beginning of something enormous.