A million dollars won't buy Tolkien's house

So, the attempt to crowd-fund the purchase of Tolkien's house on Northmoor Road* has fallen through through lack of funding. Their goal was four and a half million pounds but in US money they only got one million dollars pledged out of six million dollar goal. 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/24/campaign-to-buy-jrr-tolkiens-oxford-home-fails 

They're currently going with their backup plan of establishing a Tolkien center elsewhere in Oxford which wd offer tours, tea, and talks. The first of these, an online course in writing fantasy, is scheduled for April 20th.

https://www.projectnorthmoor.org/online-fantasy-writing-course

--John R

*or to be more accurate, one of Tolkien's houses on Northmoor Road (he'd previously lived next door)

 So,  how many copies of THE LORD OF THE RINGS does one man need?

The answer: apparently, one more:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/25/jrr-tolkiens-own-illustrations-appear-in-lord-of-the-rings-for-the-first-time

--John R. 

So, I've been reading some Kipling and was reminded of W. H. Auden's belief  that history will forgive an author his or her personal failings so long as the work is good.  That seems to run counter to the current milieu. 

--JDR

 Time  . . .

Worships language and forgives

Everyone by whom it lives . . .

 

Time with this strange excuse

Pardoned Kipling and his views

And will pardon Paul Claudel

Pardons him for writing well.

            —W. H. Auden, 1939

Old TSR Boardgames (DUNGEON)

So, perhaps the most successful TSR boardgames of them all was DUNGEON, the creation of Dave Megarry,*  which went through at least six editions, the earliest as far back as 1975 (the year after D&D itself debuted) and the most recent almost forty years later in 2014. Part of its longevity was no doubt due to its conveying the feel of a dungeon crawl. This must have made DUNGEON a godsend to those who wanted to play D&D but cdn't find a DM or reliably put together enough people to form a PC party. 

Once again my cache of this particular TSR boardgame turn out to be a misc collection of incomplete copies which fortunately can be combined to make a playable game.

FIRST EDITION.  1975  

--Patch Press, Beloit  (no sku#).

Like a few of the other early bookshelf boardgames from TSR, this one has a horizontal orientation, changed to the standard vertical orientation in the next edition (cf the same shift between the 5th and 6th editions of Fight In The Sky). Most of those box bottoms are blank but this one is an exception, with a paragraph of text pumping the game.

My copy has the game board, which someone has carefully  marked up, apparently to show production what color goes with each space. Also in the box are the cards,  pawns, and dice. There's no rulebook, but there is the following intriguing note in with the other components:

Steve Winter's note to Frank Mentzer.

When I showed this to some of the TSR alumni I game with, they not only confirmed that 'Frank' wd have been Frank Mentzer, Gygax's right-hand man, but to all our surprise Steve Winter recognized the handwriting of this note to be his own. 

 SECOND EDITION.  date unknown; poss. also 1975.  (sku#1002)

This box may just be a reprint or variant of the above rather than an 'edition', but in any case combining this with the first edition fortunately enables me to fill out a complete playable set. The box lacks the board and playing pieces (pawns) but contains what seems to be a full set of cards (unpunched), the rulebook, and two copies of the double-sided 'Introductory Game' rules. This version of the rules gives the following credits:

Game Design: David R. Meggary.  [sic]  

Consultation and Game Development: E. Gary Gygax. 

Cover Artwork: Larry Kessling

Board Artwork: Keith Hill and Richard Hill

Monster and Treasure Card Artwork: Tracy Lesch

Printing: Patch Press, Inc.

NOTE: also in this box is a copy of the rules for the next (third) edition of the game. I'll defer discussion of that till I get to the next section, other than to note that these artists' names are unfamiliar to me; I suspect they were part of the Minnesota gaming contingent rather than belonging to the TSR stable. 

THIRD EDITION.   1980 or 81? (sku#1010).  ROSLOF COVER. (bottom damaged)

Here we have an almost playable game: the board (an actual board this time, replacing the earlier postermap), two copies of the rules (each including the 'Introductory Game' rules sheet), cards, two unpunched sheet of chits, pawns, dice, and a 'Gateway to Adventure' 1981 TSR catalogue.

This box looks much more like a mainstream boardgame, like Monopoly, and less like a hobby game.

The credits here are a good deal different, and more closely resemble The Usual Suspects:

Design:  David R. Megarry

Development: Gary Gygax

Revised by: Harold Johnson

Revision Assistance: Gary Gygax, Allen Hammack, Evan Robinson, Lawrence Schich

Box Cover: Jim Roslof

Gameboard Revision: Jim Roslof

Card Art: David S. LaForce, Jim Roslof

FOURTH EDITION. 'THE CLASSIC DUNGEON'.  1992 (Cover damaged). (sku#1045)

The thing that most stands out for this edition is the great Keith Parkinson's  cover. That, and the fact that my copy is water-damaged so that artwork is almost entirely obscured.** In fact my copy of the Third Edition's bottom is stuck to the top of my copy of the Fourth Edition's top. 

A pity, really, since here I've got the whole game: playing board, cards, dice, plastic miniatures (replacing the pawns of old), and digest-sized rulebook. Once again the credits have changed quite a bit:

Original Design: David R. Megarry

Development and Additional Design: Jeff Grubb, Steve Winter, Michael Gray, Gary Gygax

Editing and Rulebook: Scott Haring

Typesetting: Angelika Lokotz

FIFTH EDITION. 2012.  WotC.

I bought this one at the Barnes & Noble at SouthCenter on Monday April 29th 2013 --i.e., a good while after I'd left TSR/WotC/Hasbro for the last time. I played it with Steve Winter and Luis that same night. I liked it, but since it's since sat on my shelf undisturbed for eight years maybe it's time to let someone else enjoy it. Of them all this one is obviously in the best shape and includes all the components: board, rules, cards, tokens, paper stand-up figures, dice.

The credits once again reflect a generational turn-over of creative staff. 

Original Design: David R. Magarry

Development: Chris Dupuis, Jeff Grubb, Steve Winter, Michael Gray, Gary Gygax

Editing: Jennifer Clarke Wilkes

D&D R&D Senior Group Manager: Mike Mearls

--plus another two dozen or so who affected the product in some way (management, art, playtesting)

[SIXTH EDITION. 2014]

-- I don't have this edition, but I'm told it's pretty much the same as 5th edition except with different art, more cartoony in style, no doubt in hopes of attracting a younger audience.

And there it is. If I've left out any editions, let me know.

--John R.

--current reading: Ordway, Kipling (REWARDS & FAIRIES), light novel

*TSR seems to have been unsure how to spell Megarry's name. It's given as Megary on the sides of the first edition box, Meggary on the title page of the second edition rules and in this edition's credits, while the third edition title page and credits give Megarry, which seems to be the actual name.  Meggary was part of one of the two great pools of talent TSR drew on in its inception: he belonged to the Minnesota games who came to be associated with Arneson (the other being the Lake Geneva area games who came to be associated with Gygax).

**To cut a long story short: when we moved to the house in Delavan I thought the storage shed's roof didn't leak and stored a lot of games in there.  It did. 

Old TSR Boardgames

So, just one more post to complete this series about early TSR bookshelf format boardgames. 

The one I've saved for last is the most successful of the lot; David Magary's DUNGEON! (1975)

I'll try to get up this weekend. 

--John R.

--current reading: TOLKIEN'S MODERN READING by Ordway; APPENDIX N, ed. Bebergal; PUCK OF POOK'S HILL. 

--current music: old cassettes from the long ago.

I Make Coke Salad

So, a few days back Janice asked if there were any desert we hadn't had in a long time that I'd been hankering for. I suggested either oatmeal cookies or coke salad -- at which she opted out, saying that if I wanted coke salad (a dish of which she is not fond) I'd have to make it myself. 

For those of you who've never had it, coke salad is not a salad in the lettuce and dressing sense but a jello desert with fruit mixed in. And, of course, coca-cola. I suspect it's a Southern thing.

I haven't made it in a long time, partly because it's inimical to a low-carb diet. I do still have the recipe but in the fashion of old recipes it has a list of ingredients but little more. So I called up my mother, who remembered some of the details, and my sister, who remembered the most between the three of us. Janice got me the ingredients and night before last I gave it a go, and by yesterday I had coke salad.

For those of you who might want to give it a try, here's how it goes:

Dissolve two packets of Black Cherry Jello in hot water, as per directions on the box. But instead of cold water, you next add Coke. This recipe dates back before the time of 'New Coke', which might explain why it tasted off the last few times I made it, back when New Coke was a new thing. 

So we used two bottles of Mexican Coke, the kind with cane sugar rather than corn syrup.*

Then add in all the rest of the ingredients: a small can of crushed pineapple (sans juice), a cup of pecans, a jar of maraschino cherries (also sans juice). Pour into a large flat Pyrex dish. Sprinkle mini marshmellows on top. Chill overnight (or a few hours, if you're impatient). Enjoy. 

Be warned: Makes a lot. Especially if you're the only member of the household who eats it.

  --John R

*The people in my family who drank Coke (that is, everyone but me) favored the small glass bottles, so we got smaller rather than larger bottles.

Friday Midday in Cats

So, only two cats in the adoption room today, down from six this time last week.  

I knew Sonona and Panoma had found new homes, but hadn’t heard that Ruby and Timmy had been adopted as well.

That just left JILL and JACK, who enjoyed being out the whole two hours. They spent most of their time in the front room, playing games (with me, with each other, and sometimes by themselves), enjoying being petted and the occasional roll on the floor combined with a good belly rub. Each had a half-hour walk and showed themselves v. sociable, walking up to people to make themselves available for being petted.  Jack has an Opinion about dogs, which is that they’re okay so long as he doesn’t see or hear them. So I think we can add ’no dogs’ to his profile.

When I got home I gave one of our own cats a double walk so they don’t feel left out. He is after all a Purrfect Pals alumni in his own right.

Here’s a picture of Jill (or Jack).

—John R.