Literary Adventures I – Turjan of Miir by Jack Vance

I've seen a few attempts at turning classic fantasy stories into D&D adventures. This won't be that, though it is a fascinating exercise – some stories really do lend themselves to conversion (and many more are ripe for idea-pillaging for your campaign). What I want to do is look at classic fantasy stories, consider their “adventure structure” (including the ways a D&D adventure would handle this), and then consider the type of influence these stories might have on both our games and the wider tradition.

Suffice to say, spoilers ahead.

The Dying Earth: Turjan of Miir by Jack Vance

The World: The setting is our Earth in the far future as our sun slowly cools and flickers to its end. Magic has an uneasy, unclear relationship with science, but functions by memorizing the specific syllables of almost-living spells, which are uneasily bound into spellbooks. There are “civilizations” left – indeed, there is even some wealth left – but those civilizations are decadent and await the end, whilst other, stranger things dwell in the world.

The Hero: Turjan is a mage of some ability, but not yet a master. He experiments with genetic engineering – seeking to grow beings in special vats – and also memorizes spells. He can, it seems, memorize four spells at a time (perhaps per day).

The Hook: Turjan wants to improve his knowledge of vat-growing intelligent beings. He remembers “the Sage” once telling him that, in a world of lost knowledge, the mysterious Pandelume knew all magical and scientific discoveries, but that Pandelume drove hard bargains for his knowledge. Turjan decides to visit Pandelume to gain knowledge of vat-breeding. [IN GAME: This is a character-driven plot hook – the player/character wishes to accomplish something, the DM gives her a way to accomplish it. It will involve a quest.]

The Adventure:

Turjan prepares four spells from his spellbook (presumably his limit), varied so as to prepare for all events: the Call to the Violent Cloud, the Excellent Prismatic Spray, Phandaal's Mantle of Stealth, and the Spell of the Slow Hour. He puts on an amulet with Lacodel's Rune on it. He uses Call to the Violent Cloud to transport him to the plane or planet Pandelume inhabits (it is not the Dying Earth). The spell then leaves his mind. [IN GAME: Player selects a utility selection of spells – the transportation spell, two tricksy spells, one combat spell. They equip a magic item with a spell-like effect. They then use one to travel to the plane they need to visit.]

In Pandelume's world, he meets a strange woman who is irrationally aggressive on the basis that all existence is evil. This woman, T'sais, wishes to kill Turjan. Turjan subdues her, and intimidates her into revealing Pandelume's location. [IN GAME: A social encounter with a weird and fascinating NPC – a cogent and attractive character who nonetheless hates the PC, for a reason that makes perfect sense to her but to no-one else. Turjan chooses a course of action to de-escalate the situation – he thinks to himself he doesn't want to kill her – and also gain necessary information.]

Turjan is called by a voice into Pandelume's dwelling, but told not to look at the great master. He asks Pandelume for aid in creating humans; Pandelume agrees, on the proviso that Turjan undertakes to get a powerful amulet for him. Turjan accedes to this. It turns out the target is Prince Kandive the Golden – a dangerous target. Pandelume then transports Turjan to the city of Ascolais, home of Prince Kandive, giving him a crystal which he must crush when he wants to return. [IN GAME: Another social encounter where each party has a motivation and they negotiate a deal.]

Turjan refreshes himself in Ascolais before heading to Kandive's tower. He casts Phandaal's Mantle of Stealth before entering, and wanders round the tower looking for Kandive. When he finds Kandive's bedchamber and the Prince there, he is somehow detected – by magic or intuition. Kandive brings out his amulet and casts a spell which makes Turjan visible again. After a brief exchange of threats, Kandive casts another spell – the Omnipotent Sphere – which offers him protection from attack. He does not know of Turjan's amulet with Lacodel's Rune on it, however, which disrupts other magic. Turjan walks through the Sphere and warns Kandive again. Kandive casts his own version of the Excellent Prismatic Spray, which is also dispelled by Lacodel's Rune. Kandive finally hands over his own magical amulet to Turjan, but then seems to have Turjan trapped – he is standing on a trapdoor, and Kandive is by the lever. Turjan briefly pretends to surrender, then advances on Kandive, and is apparently dropped into the pit – but Kandive does not find his body afterwards. [IN GAME: Combat and social interaction. Turjan uses a spell to stealth his way round the tower, there is then some magic and counter-magic, before finally Kandive is lulled into thinking he has won.]

Turjan returns to Embelyon – presumably having crushed the crystal given him by Pandelume. After utilising the stolen amulet to assist Pandelume against some unseen danger, Turjan is taught the art of Mathematics and its use in bioengineering. Eventually, he asks for help in creating a twin to T'sais, but without the flaw that makes her hate beauty. Pandelume accedes, and Turjan creates T'sain, who he educates and then promises to take back to Earth. Before they leave, though, T'sain encounters her twin T'sais, who initially threatens her. However, T'sain reasons with her about the value of beauty, and then tells T'sais she loves her. This gives unexpected pleasure to T'sais, who promises to kill no more. Turjan then arrives and prepares to kill T'sais to protect T'sain, but T'sain intervenes and speaks on her sister's behalf. The story ends with T'sais preparing to travel to Earth to discover more of beauty, and Turjan promising T'sain a horse just like that of her sister. [IN GAME: The return to Pandelume is part-skill-challenge and part-roleplaying, with a little action with the expulsion of the attacker. The scene with T'sain and T'sais can be resolved either via social interaction, as in the story, or with combat.

Reflection and Influence: This is the first Dying Earth story, and the first appearance of the magical system Gary Gygax credits with inspiring D&D's own magic system. Spells are almost-living motes of power which must be memorized, and disappear from one's mind when used. There are magic items. Turjan's motivation is essentially about the acquisition of power; he does not, however, display any particular cruelty in pursuit of it, though he does seem quite amoral. He can be touched by love, and the love of T'sain for T'sais leads to a species of salvation (figured here, movingly, as the pursuit of beauty).

The genre is, in our terms, a hybrid (hardly so to Vance) – this is a high magic world (albeit with Maths as magic, too!), but it is a sad place doomed to futility. Broadly, then, it is high fantasy, but with a distinctive, non-heroic flavour (as I've said before with D&D, setting /=/ playstyle!). The sense of pending doom has echoes in certain types of dystopic and science fiction. The uncaring world is echoed in sword & sorcery fantasy. Mages vat-breeding intelligent creatures is a little bit weird fantasy.

Aside from the vital influence of Vancean magic upon D&D, we can also see here a clear link to types of adventure module published throughout the game's history. The hero(es) wants something from a powerful mage; that mage sets a quest in lieu of payment, which includes finding a magic item. There is a side-story (with T'sais and T'sain) which, in game terms, would be emergent depending on the actions of the players. This story is almost an exact blueprint for the sort of games we often run today, and the sort of products published by TSR and the others over the years.