Inspiration for the Remorhaz?

So I was doing some more "PD art mining" at archive.org this week, and came across the book My own fairy book : namely certain Chronicles of Pantouflia, as notably the adventures of Prigio, prince of that country, and of his son Ricardo, with an excerpt from the Annals of Scotland, as touching Ker of Fairnilee, his sojourn with the Queen of Faery by Andrew Lang (1903). Lang is the guy that penned the "Coloured" Fairy Books published between 1889 and 1910, most of which were illustrated by Henry Justice Ford.

Lang's My Own Fairy Book... consists of three "books" within the book (each with its own sub-chapters) — Prince Prigio, Prince Ricardo, and The Gold of Fairnilee.

In Prigio's story, Prigio needs to eliminate the threat of the Firedrake. One night, while reading a book in the library, Prigio finds a reference to "a very rare beast called a Remora, which is at least as cold as the Firedrake is hot." Prigio figures if he can make the two fight, the Remora might kill the Firedrake.

The Remora in Lang's story resembles the mythical remora of medieval bestiaries, also known as the echeneis. "It was as flat as the head of a skate-fish, it was deathly pale, and two chill-blue eyes, dead-coloured like stones, looked out of it." From Gordon Browne's illustration in Lang's book (above left), its apparent the creature is massive compared to the medieval echeneis/remora (described as being approximately 6" in length).

So is this the inspiration for D&D's remorhaz introduced in Dragon Magazine #2? Not likely... though Rob Kuntz doesn't give too much insight on this 2009 post at his Lord of the Green Dragons blog, he does tell us Erol Otus did the drawing first, and EGG asked Kuntz to name it and stat it. It's pretty obvious from the original drawing (from Dragon #2; pictured at Kuntz's post) that there was no intention for the creature's habitat to be a cold one — you'd think EO would give the fighter with the halberd a bit more clothing if it were.

So is Lang's remora the inspiration for Kuntz's name/description/climate for the remorhaz? Or is it just a happy accident? If any of you have RK's email, or are "approved" as a "team member" to post comments to his blog, please ask him. I'd love to know.

Why I Will and Won't Be Participating inThis Year's A-to-Z Blogging Challenge

Long story short, I will be participating in this year's A-to-Z Blogging Challenge, just not officially. I do enjoy the challenge the event presents to my creativity and speed. However, the "visiting every blog on the A-to-Z list and joining many of them because I want them to join my blog regardless of what they or I write about" crowd is akin to spam in my book, and I'm just as happy to share my lettered posts with those of you who already follow this blog.

BTW, I've already got my idea, and will announce it in March as the Challenge looms.

New Monster Index: Oe/1e/BX Stats for 40+ SnakesFree PDF Download - Monster Index: Snakes

I know I'm a little late to the Year of the Snake party, seeing as it began this past Sunday, but I had originally intended for today's post to be ready this past Monday morning. Unfortunately, it took a little longer to dig into the content than I thought it would.

Like the Monster Indexes that have come before this one (including the Lycanthrope Index, Giant Index, and Spider Index), today's PDF (Monster Index: Snakes) gives you OSR stats and information for 40+ snakes, including notes on their poisons, special attacks, etc.

From adder to viper, constrictors and poisonous snakes alike, this PDF has your snakes need covered, from tongue to tail. It includes not only the stock of serpents common to the various early editions, but stats out some that were left incomplete, and adds some completely new ones to the list (like the giant two-headed snake).

Click here for the free MediaFire download of the PDF
Old-school Adventures™ Accessory MX2, Monster Index: Snakes.

Congratulations to the Victors in William Dowie's Roman-themed Adventure Contest!

The grand prize went to Ned Leffingwell for “Mayhem at the Manor." He'll be receiving a print copy of my Foundations of Modern Fantasy edition of William Morris's The House of the Wolfings and the bloodbath "railroad in three acts" that is Old School Adventures™ Module LC1 Assault Against the Menace on the Mountain.

Second place went to David Jaske for “Road to Antioch,” and third place went to Ian MacDougal for “The Crooked Baths.” David, Ian, and Ned all receive PDF copies of the Old School Adventures™ Module LC1 Assault Against the Menace on the Mountain.

They've all won some other cool prizes courtesy of Zoser Games, William's wife Mona, and William himself. Get the complete details on William's blog.

Kicking It Up A Notch: Illustration Re-ink

I originally talked about this illustration (at bottom, below) back at the end of January, but felt like the open gray areas were just a little "flat." Much happier with the new version (at top, below).

Really Old Old-School Artist Week Day 5:Arthur Rackham

And so we come to the conclusion of my week of "Really Old Old-School Artists." Today's artist is Arthur Rackham, and it may be a long time coming from me to old Arthur. I've never really felt the need to feature Rackham in one of these posts because his work is really all over the internet, and has already made its way (along with the likes of John D. Batten) into many an OSR product relying on public domain artwork (e.g., John Stater's Blood & Treasure). The reason I'm delving into such familiar old-old-school artist territory is because most of the Rackham illustrations I'm featuring today have yet to reach the point of oversaturation among us OSR types. The particularly gruesome image below (the first image with the chopped off heads, e.g.) comes from the 1907 edition of The Ingoldsby Legends, a book based on the 19th Century collection of myths, legends, ghost stories and poetry prepared by Richard H. Barham (under the pseudonym of Thomas Ingoldsby of Tappington Manor).

Really Old Old-School Artist Week Day 4:Edmund Dulac

And so continues my week of "Really Old Old-School Artists." Today's artist is Edmund Dulac. Though Dulac is best known for his color work, I'm showcasing some of his rarer B&W work. The first seven images are from an edition of Poe's poetical works, and you can see the painter in Dulac coming through in his line work. The final two are bookplate images—the first from a version of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the second from a 1907 edition of Stories from The Arabian Nights . I'm particularly fond of the final image and wish I could find more of his work like it, but that kind of work was such a rarity for him, I doubt I will.