Elves, What are They?

Note: This post is inspired by a Jeffro Johnson G+ posting which is a link to another blog about the least interesting of elves, the drow. 

The Longaevi of the Middle Ages were what we call elves, sprites, fairies. Creatures that were not of this world yet not of the heavens. Some regarded the elves as the third of the Angels that did not rebel but did not side with God and thus were thrust from Heaven. They would not go to hell but would face Judgement Day.

Others that they were something higher than man but less than God or even a separate creation all together. Children of Lilith or the dirty children of Eve that she hid from God when he came to inspect them.

Whatever they were they were much more feared part of life in earlier times. Beowulf speaks of Elves and Giants and Orcneas (orcs). While elves, and giants are pretty standard in the way that we think of them the orcs were a different critter altogether. They were more like undead vampires living in the corpses of drowned men.

The Norse spread their ideas of the elves throughout wherever they settled or raided and those ideas mixed with indigenous ideas and concepts of the fairy realm. These longaevi or 'long lived' have a corollary in every in every culture I know of. Every culture I am aware of or studied has their own equivalent of elves, giants, fae, etc.

What should they be in roleplaying games?

First, I don't think that unless you are playing a Tolkien inspired game your elves should be Tolkien's elves. Not that I do not love Tolkien's elves. They are the finest in all literature but they are not elves. Not elves in the sense of Ljósálfar or Dökkálfar or the nisse of the Norse. Tolkien's elves are prelapsarian man before the fall of Adam. They are so not elves that 'high men' are often mistaken for elves. Elves aren't recognized by their donkey ears but by the light in their eyes and the ring in their voices. They are so shining with the Holy Spirit that the most powerful can drive away the Nazgul by their mere presence or face Balrogs of Morgoth down in battle.

Tolkien elves, cool as heck, something to look up to, powerful and strong physically, mentally and spiritually but not fairy. Not elves as we mean in D&D or any other OSR. Tolkien games excepted.

Next in literature we come to the quintessential D&D elf. Poul Anderson's elves from 'The Broken Sword'. These are soulless creatures that other than stature look exactly like the elves in D&D. Pointy donkey ears, strange eyes, long lived but amoral interested in magic and power rather than living a life in tune with God's plan. Imric the Elfking from The Broken Sword is what a player character elf could wind up like if he lived long enough and adventured hard enough.

Cooler than that is Anderson's take on mythology. And boy did he know his mythology. He accepted everything and the kitchen sink as 'real'. Not only are the Elves of England and the Alfar of Norse real but the Elves of France, the Tuatha Dé Danann of Ireland etc. The plot is rich and powerful and the elves are different, unique, utterly divorced from human thought but still deeply desiring human children. The magics they work are foul, and beautiful and amazing and they are as 'cruel as cats' but still powerfully interesting protagonists.

I had a long conversation about this book with him thirty some years ago mostly because I am really as big as my namesake and I looked like a viking biker. Nobody was moving me from the line until I was done talking.

There was some other guy there, S.M. Stirling or something like that. I think he wrote a couple books after that. I spent a long time talking to him as well and it was worth it. He knew what I would like just by talking to me about what I liked with Anderson's work.

Anyway my take away on Anderson's work is that for any dungeon master you can find a type or types of elves that fit with your game system. If you want elves that are not just pointy eared hippies, you need some meat and bones behind them. You need to build the folklore and myth into something that is different and spooky.

One of the things that D&D did was remove one of the more common skin colors for critters for fae, green. Green used to be a fairly common skin color in folk lore.

Elves are a part of human history for as long as we can remember. We have several ideas about them and several different takes on them some games embrace that. When I play Dungeon World I encourage my 'elf' players to tell me what makes them 'elves'. In my games every kind of elf is possible from the pointy eared Imric the Elfking types to the human looking Tuatha Dé Danann. Mechanics might be the same for the game (or might not) but I want to know what their vision of what an elf is.

If they say, "D&D elf" great. It is a standard trope with a long history that everyone knows what they mean. If they tell me they want to play something like a Icelandic elf or a Ljósálfar or Dökkálfar, fantastic. There is something new to explore. If they say they have pointy ears, cool, round ears, cool, green hair, skin, etc all cool. No matter what they want to play or how they want to play it. It's all good.

For dungeon masters in other systems what does this mean? Well if your game is not flexible, not much. You get a little of the background of some of your fantasy races but you could get as much reading C.S. Lewis or even the wikipedia. For DMs with more flexible systems or who want to make their own PC or NPC races. You should have a better idea of the variety of elves, fae, fee, alfar etc out there. With a little retooling many creatures like huldra folk can make interesting elves even dark elves.

Norse separate elves into light and dark. Do they have pointy ears? That's up to the DM. Norse light elves live in a realm not far from the gods and are 'as fair as the sun' to look upon. Dark elves live deep underground and are as 'black as pitch'. How you fit your elves into your games is up to you and your player. Just be aware that the original elves were dangerous, magical, different, and inhuman, just the way a player character or non-player character race ought to be.

If you like what you read let me know in the comments.
The pictures and images are the sole property of whomever owns them I make no claim on the images nor intend any infringement of copyright. 

Dinner and a Movie

It's not quite as hot this week as it was last week so I think we're going with marinated pork chops. Contrary to rumor we Giants have always eaten meat. Pork wasn't always on the menu. More often we had the other, other white meat but most people have forgotten those stories.
This week we are looking at a story about a unique woman, who has something powerful to give and she happens to be soaking wet. 


Of course, I mean the fantasy classic, Flash Dance.  
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11015841

No, just kidding nobody is that cruel.
No, we are talking about Excalibur.
This movie was directed and produced by John Boorman. This movie was almost The Lord of The Rings. Kind of.

You see Boorman loved the books and wanted badly to make a movie of the books but he just couldn't make the funding work. He corresponded for a while with J.R.R. Tolkien but just could not get the stars to align. If history had been just a little different Jackson could have been working on a true remake. For certain we would never have seen the awful Hobbit movies. Just awful.

Anyway back to the movie at hand, Excalibur. The movie was released in 1981 and starred some great actors and actresses. Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren played Merlin and Morgana the true rivals in this movie. Nigel Terry played King Arthur, Cheri Lunghi as Guinevere, and Nicholas Clay as Lancelot.

All of the actors did a great job with their roles and the movie was filmed in lush locations in Ireland. The movie was a hit with audiences but critics were mixed about it. Since seeing King Arthur and the knights kick ass with a whacking big swords in shining armor is cool I know the critics are just full of it.

Boorman's vision for the movie was clearly deeper than just a surface sword and sorcery movie and it was just as powerful in its musical score as it was in the visuals. The action was gritty and bloody and great fun to watch. Watching Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and company all on the screen at the same time was fantastic. You can see the kind of Lord of the Rings movie Boorman might have cast.

For you roleplayers out there if you don't get the plots within plots, intrigue in the court, wizards, sorceresses, knights, castles, the Holy Grail, and the king as the land I'm not sure how to help you. A remedial session of Pendragon would be in order. The new Dark Albion might be in the mix too as I think that the stories we tell about Arthur were certainly influenced by those times.

Dinner well not as good as the other, other white meat but still tasty. The movie? The Giant gives this one two happy thumbs up.

As always all pictures are owned by their owners and I make no claims upon them for any reason at all.

New Races Inspired by American Folklore

When I say 'America' I mean all of America from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle. These are non-player character or player character depending on your take on the legend and creature involved. Remember this is a player character interpretation. They may also appear later as a monster. We'll focus on one per posting.
 
By Patterson-Gimlin film, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=434396

The first is my own namesake the mighty Rainforest Giant or Sasquatch. Sasquatch while being mostly a large animal-type critter for modern folks. For Native Americans and a few Europeans Sasquatch is more of a 'person' in folklore.

We'll just keep with Sasquatch as his racial name, bigfoot is too cartoony and Big Figure is a specific tribal tradition.


Sasquatch
They are seven or eight foot tall hairy humanoids with long arms and legs and both sexes have a peaked head due to the jaw muscles in adulthood. Their feet are incredibly tough with thick leathery soles they can go anywhere a shod person can go.

They are immune to the extremes of weather found from the high basin desert to the coastal rainforest and north into the arctic the Sasquatch needs no clothing. Although in some areas they wear a loincloth of some kind they are particularly adept at weaving, especially plant matter. 

Despite their size they are incredibly good at stealth based skills. Sasquatch suffer no penalties for moving in rough terrain and can do so silently.

They are rare nearly everywhere live entirely solitary lives from other Sasquatch except for mating and mothers with their children. They normally avoid cities and prefer the wilderness or small communities. They avoid using metal tools and weapons and prefer wood, leather, bone, and other organic matter for weapons and tools.

Sasquatch receive a bonus in strength and constitution. They suffer a penalty to intelligence and charisma. A bonus to lifting strength, carrying capacity, or encumbrance is also appropriate. They receive a bonus to whatever stealth is used in your system. They can hide perfectly once per day or walk without leaving a trace once per day. Otherwise their rather distinctive footprints are easier for any tracking class to follow. Classes appropriate to the Sasquatch include thief, assassin, and fighter. Also cleric and druid should be considered due to their association with magic.

Their own language cannot be spoken by outsiders but wilderness types, Rangers, Druids, Shadow Wardens, etc can select the Sasquatch language for understanding but not speaking. They may also find using non-giant sized tools, armor and weapons difficult or impossible. They can understand most human languages however can only speak them in a rudimentary manner.

Socially they should be considered outcasts nearly everywhere. Alignment is any non-lawful. Now to a rather delicate subject. According to some Native American traditions and folklore they can and do sometimes have children with humans.

Half-Sasquatch look more like their human parents. With only their burly build and perhaps height showing signs of their Sasquatch heritage.

Bonuses include greater strength and constitution perhaps half of the Sasquatch, lower intelligence and charisma (perhaps either a cap on the stat or a half of the Sasquatch penalty). They should receive a bonus on stealth but not the perfect stealth or unseen passage ability. Half-Sasquatch can speak the Sasquatch language without penalty.

Classes appropriate for Half Sasquatch are Barbarian, Fighter, Thief, Ranger, Cleric, and Druid. Alignments can be any.

If you like this let me know. I left the mechanics open ended so that they can be adjusted for your game and setting. Please leave me a comment, I want to know what you think of my might people.

Note: The pictures are not my own and I make no claim upon them in anyway whatsoever. 

Romance and D&D

Since everybody and his sister read my post on Sex and D&D and I promised a post on Romance and D&D I figure I owe it to both my readers, I mean my veritable horde of readers.

As in my post on Sex and D&D I will get straight to the matter that all players (and readers) are eagerly awaiting, romance. Romance has been one of the driving forces behind the hobby since the beginning.

Why do people play their paladins like Lancelot or Galahad or Holger? Why do their dwarves seek deep treasures and their elves use bows (other than the mechanical benefits of course)? It's romance.

Players and Dungeon Masters have had a romantic relationship with the game since the beginning. Until I got dumped by my first girlfriend (yes even the handsome Giant has suffered rejection) I have never felt the same sense of frustrating loss as when I lost my first character. Other hobbies have their passionate players and advocates. I've sweated hours every day to perfect a technique or worked the heavy bag until my hands ached many times but I never felt the same unbridled hope and joy with a hobby as I did when I worked on a new module.

When I was working on non-player characters, designing an organic dungeon that fit in its setting, or fiddling on the details of an area's culture or ecology it was a labor of love of romance. When I was making a character sometimes his history, skills, and desires came to me in a flash of inspiration. At other times my character took days or hours of thought. I wanted everything to be just right.

I knew other players and dungeon masters who put the same love and care into their games and players. People would draw their players or the group, some kept a play diary, others drew maps of their adventures or wrote stories based on the characters. We negotiated our dialogue with our game masters with the same intensity we gave to talking to our girlfriends or boyfriends. Maybe more intensity as you could kind of coast talking to a member of either sex about their day but miss one clue of your dungeon master's description and everyone was looking up from the bottom of a ten foot deep spiked pit.

The hobby is romantic of course in a more important way. In the beginning while there were evil characters or chaotic if you go back far enough most were good or neutral. Usually we were on impossible quests that would have had Don Quixote mounting his charger and galloping to the rescue. 

If you weren't playing a character or game inspired by romance and action you were often playing one that was an explicit rejection of romantic themes and characters. Elric and Stormbringer are a rejection of romance. By the late seventies and early eighties we were seeing whole parties of evil characters while not unheard of before it became a big enough part of the hobby that whole campaigns were looking at it form the Necromancer's point of view.

Chivalric romance and planetary romance of the kind of Roland and John Carter were losing out to Drow Assassin Ninja's and Half Orc Clerics. You can play a game either way but one embraces and the other rejects the romance.

That's not to say that the romance, high ideals, impossible goals, tragic and doomed heroes, and unbearable loss was always adopted by all players. Some played it like a battle simulator or fancy chess moving their miniatures strategically from square to square or hex to hex with all the emotions of a war gamer. And just as much attention to their character's life story or desires.

At least half the first level characters I saw never had a name until a game master said, "Dave, what's your fighting man's name?" "Uh, Crom." or Barzak or Karne, were usually the answer. Something vaguely conanesque or fantasy sounding.

How ever you played the game and whether or not you read any of the appendix n that inspired much of the atmosphere you cared about your hobby. Most of the kids who played cared and cared deeply about their characters. I've seen adults get teary eyed when they had to hand over their character when they were killed by a vampire or otherwise became a 'GM' character or the character died.

It was never as bad as 'Dark Dungeons' made it look but it could get emotional. So the Romance and D&D was real and will stay real as long as one player cares about his character and one game master works hours to make just the right dungeon crawl.

Keep romance alive play fantasy role playing games.

If you thought this was a trashy sordid tale leave me a comment. If you thought this was a shining example of worthy of the Matter of France leave me a comment and if you disagreed with everything drop me a comment.

UPDATE: I've had a reader leave a comment on G+ saying he felt like this had been a bait and switch. I am not one to argue with my audience so for his benefit I will address the subject of relationships between characters at a later date.

Some Links Around the Web

This will become another regular feature. If you have an interest in me linking to your stuff drop me a line! Here's what I've been looking at.

This is a fun look at some actual roleplaying warts and all. It has some different mechanics and people had fun give it a look.
Dems barbarians in those hills! Old School Session 4

This has a great illustration and some very interesting and fun gun mechanics. Even if you aren't a 'Black Hack' Guy this has something you'll like.
The Black Hack: Guns and Ammo

This is some real history that shaped a chunk of South America. It was a terrible war that hardly anybody outside the region has even heard of. And like many of today's wars was over oil.
The Chaco War

Here's some love for those spell casters in your party. It's chock full of rather unique items.
1d20 Random Bookmark Guide Encounter Table & Call Bookmark Guide Spirits Spell For Your Old School Campaign

Hope you like 'em. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Mythology Folkore and Characters from America

I've learned over the years that not all characters and monsters from folklore and myth are created equal. Darn few aren't suitable for some kind of roleplaying game treatment.

Any game could use the little Cotswold Fairies, the Loch Ness Monster, Nisse, Trolls, Huldra folk, the Beast of Bray road or the 'Look Behind' are all good grist for our mill. So lets take a look at a few and how they fit into a roleplaying game campaign.

Note, I am ruthlessly ignoring any published 'facts' known about any of these critters, just the folklore and how they fit in the games.

The Jersey Devil
This first guy  is a personal favorite. The Jersey Devil is all American Folklore. You just don't get any more authentic scarey goodness. Allegedly the thirteenth offspring of the 'Witch' Leeds and Satan as a father the little tyke was born sometime around 1735.  After his blessed arrival he immediately turned into the "Jersey Devil". The Jersey Devil apparently sprang into being full sized with a goat head, bat wings, horse's hooves, and a bifurcated tail.

The Jersey Devil took one look at the inside of his mother's crowded, filthy, cabin in the woods and his twelve siblings and with a growl and a shriek killed the midwife flying out the chimney and heading for the Barrens.

In gaming terms he's a pretty versatile monster. He could be a seriously grim portent in Dungeon World. Deal with him (usually through some kind of exorcism ritual) or be ready for some serious cursing. He could be any other monster although with his unique heritage you should thinking of something bigger. He flies, kills his own midwife and makes a terrible shriek. What's not to like.

Sticking with the American theme we're going to look at something near and dear to my heart, Daskiya Woman (pronounced Dusk-ee-yah Woman). I don't have a good picture handy but this one will freeze your bones.

She is a figure in the Quileute culture on the coast of Washington. According to local folklore she lives down Thunder Road (a now gated road that leads into the Olympic National Park). Daskiya Woman is a nasty cannibal who prefers children. She carries a woven basket on her back and has long tangled gray hair (I have been accused of having hair like Daskiya Woman on occasion however, Mrs Giant assures me it is more 'Krusty the Klown'). She will snatch bad children that stay out after dark put pitch in their eyes to blind them and cook and eat them. She is strong, silent, and never seen unless you're on the menu.

Even twenty years ago you'd see kids come inside when mom called that 'Daskiya Woman will get you!', I am not sure if that is still the case. So while she's folklore she's still very much alive in belief. In game terms well she can fit nearly any ogreish child snatching type. She comes out at night is big strong and scary. Her basket will hold a child (or two) and muffle their cries for help. The only way to get the pitch out of your eyes is to heat up your hands by a fire. Since most games are not set in La Push, a GM should have a suitable place where she is said to live. You probably can't beat a real place under dark evergreens called Thunder Road.

Since I love the Quileutes and many have shared their stories I'll give you one more from the real Quileute Nation. This is a smaller creature than the Daskiya Woman. This is the Stick Indian. I do not know the native name for them (there are many) as the Native Americans do not like to attract their attention. Stick Indians (according to the Quileutes) are small unobtrusive people that cannot speak a real language but communicate in whistles and such. They claim food between the tide line and the end of the driftwood that fronts the beach and if you whistle you will attract their attention. If you whistle with food they will assume it is for them.

They defend themselves with thrown stones and have been known to try to lure children into the woods while berry picking. In game terms they are small fae like people, difficult or impossible to spot unless they want you to see them. One person described them as having yellow skin and black hair but that was the only physical description I heard of them except for their short stature. They can throw stones and whistle to lure people into the woods. So they could be wandering monsters in a forest or beach type environment.

Now we return to more frightening creatures or creature the Beast of Bray Road.
This is the Beast of Bray Road. It is a recent cryptid first mentioned in the 1930's. This guy is like a transformed werewolf or werebear that is three or four feet tall on all fours but can be bipedal and stands over seven feet tall. This creature attacks vehicles and is spotted eating roadkill in Wisconsin. Since the name Bray Road just sounds spooky go ahead and keep it for your 'Beast'. Game wise I shouldn't have to hold your hand with a big werewolf looking critter. Since it appeared in the thirties I am going with a government breeding experiment gone wrong. Fantasy games would be an alchemists or necromancer's experiment. Anyway it haunts the roads because it cannot hunt well and it is used to being fed by humans. If you toss food from the wagon/cart it will stop to eat it. It only becomes really dangerous if you try to take it's prey from it.

The Mothman

The Mothman is more complex. He was first spotted in Point Pleasant West Virginia. Point Pleasant is the kind of name that can translate into nearly any setting. Now to our critter. The Mothman is said to be large as a man with white wings and brilliant red eyes. Some describe it as owl-like others well as moth-like hence the name.

This is a creature that is spotted before a disaster occurs. It also is associated with the men in black phenomenon. That could work in a fantasy campaign as agents of a dark necromancer, the operatives of the Emperor, or even men from another dimension who record the terrible events that the Mothman heralds. It could be a cause of the terrible events or a warning. It is also known to occasionally attack kids in their cars this could translate to attacking any travelers after dark. The Mothman itself? A minor demon, a portent of worse things to come? Some kind of psychic vampire that feeds off the negative energy and fear.

I was deliberately vague about the mechanical effects for most of these critters so that GMs could fit them into their own worlds. If you enjoyed the article or hated it let me know. There's lots of more American creatures, people, and monsters to cover that fit into fantasy campaigns. I forgot to add this will be a regular feature until I run out of critters from the Americas and will then move on to creatures from anywhere that takes my fancy.

Which Setting Would Like to Play In?

Okay, I have a couple of questions for all you readers. Which kind of setting for a pencil and paper fantasy game would you rather play in and GM?

Setting one an Arthurian era setting before the sinking of Lyonesse and Hybrasil. Something like the Lyonesse stories and Arthurian legends.

Setting two a fantasy setting in an altered North America set after a couple of thousands of years of migration from Europe and North Africa.

Both have fantasy, swords and sorcery and derring-do.

Question Two would you rather play a fantasy skill based game, class based game with levels, or a combination of the two.

Please leave answers in the comments. If you think of some options I've missed for game type go ahead and make recommendations.

Relics and Rubbish

So the Giant has had some Brood related issues. All giants have them if they are married. You have one chained under a mountain, another that is encircling Midgard, another chases the sun and moon, that kind of thing.

So it got the Giant to thinking. What do I have sitting deep in my treasure horde? What weapons and treasures do I need? Lets look a few that the Giant is just waiting the right time to acquire.

Let's look at some real treasures first then some that might have been real and so on. All pictures are the property of whomever owns them and I am making no claims to ownership of any of the images.

First is the Holy Lance or the Spear of Destiny



 This is the version that is in the Hofburg palace in Vienna. Whole books have been written about this artifact. While the lance itself has been tested to about the seventh century there is a nail embedded in the lance that is consistent with first century crucifixion nails. Many legends surround this lance. It is supposedly the lance that pierced Christ's side as he hung on the cross. The dating of the lance makes that unlikely. However, there are at least three other lances out there that could be the Spear of Destiny and there is that nail. If you use any one of the versions in your RPG the owner cannot be defeated in battle while he has possession of it. A mighty artifact indeed.

The Sword Curtana.



Okay, we can be certain of two things about this sword. It is not the original sword that was carried by Tristan or Ogier the Dane. Two it is part of the Royal Regalia of the English monarchy. For some reason for the first few hundred years they used this sword they simply remade another one. Can't see the reasoning behind that but there you go.

The sword is called Curtana because a chunk of it supposedly broke off in Morholt's skull. Since this is a copy it's simply tradition to make it blunt. The sword is called the Sword of Mercy because of the blunt point. I can't imagine that getting stabbed by a broken sword would be an act of mercy as that's exactly what most convict fights come down to is broken blades and lots of blood. The Giant would actually pass on this one. Besides mercy is just not in my nature. As a GM I would grant a boon or blessing for every honorable foe that was defeated but granted mercy with this short busted sword. The next one though....

Oliphant


Now this is not the actual Oliphant used by Roland but his probably looked something like this. These horns made from elephant tusks were popular in Europe for quite a while. The Horn of Gondor was probably influenced by the original Oliphant. It is said that if you ever blow this horn it will be heard by your allies. So maybe if they are close enough you could get some serious back up. If not you can wind up like Roland or Boromir.

Now we come to an actual dragon slaying sword. Probably the last in the world.
This is the Conyers Falchion. In legend and folklore this big bad chopper shortened a dragon. The sword is at a minimum seven hundred years old. Definitely a relic and not rubbish. In game terms I shouldn't even need to cover this one. It is a dragon killing sword. It also confers legitimacy in the eyes of the Crown and Church to the individual possessing it.

The Holy Grail or the Nanteo's Cup
There's not much left of this cup. For centuries pilgrims would come from far and wide to drink from this cup and be healed. But people being greedy would take a tiny bite from the cup because, 'who would miss just a sliver'?  So now no one gets to drink from it. Way to go you sick, greedy losers. Anyway, this cup was actually stolen and recovered by the police in a neutral exchange.

The Holy Grail so how do we work that into a campaign or game? No one has ever told any stories about it or anything before so we GM's are mostly on our own. In game terms if you drink from this cup you can be healed and heal anything you are tied to like for instance your kingdom. Find yourself unworthy and it will leave you. So if your queen is sleeping around with your paladin and you've had an illegitimate son with your half sister don't plan on holding on to this one for long.

The Oriflamme or Golden Flame
This is was the royal battle standard of France and kept at the Abbey of St Denis when not being carried into battle. It was displayed when there was no quarter to be given. The bearer of the standard was granted a great honor one he was expected to die for rather than allow the standard to fall or fall into enemy hands (the Oriflamme was lost five times). It was said to be red as it had been dipped in the blood of St Denis when he was beheaded. In game terms this standard must be borne by a Lawful Good fighter paladin etc. He must be noble true and worthy, willing to die rather than disgrace his standard or his liege. The bearer of this standard grants morale, stamina, and strength bonuses for all allies on the field. Losing it doubles those bonuses as penalties. Don't drop it. It can be fitted to a spear or lance and unfurled once a day.

If you think any of these relics are interesting drop me a line in the comments. If you own any of these and want to give them to the Giant, drop me a line and if you are a GM and have used historical items in your campaigns drop me a line in the comments and tell me about it. I love war stories.