Lankhmar Magic

[slaughterj]

In the past, I've run and played in a number of campaigns set in Lankhmar (Fritz Lieber's main city in the world of Newhon adventured in by Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser), but have never been satisfied with the magic systems used, basically because they usually were just kludges from DnD, Fantasy Hero, etc. Therefore, I'm interested in getting a good list of magic that appears in the Leiber stories, whether spells, artifacts, events, items, etc., to be able to use as a basis for making a magic system for future Lankhmar-based games. If anyone has a link for such information, that'd be great, but I doubt I'll be so lucky. Therefore, if people can post up instances of magic in Newhon, including a story reference, that'd be much appreciated.

A few I've thought of (will need to go back and add story references):
The "death" magic when the Twain return to Lankhmar at the start of
one story
The "death" or "pain" black magic generated by the Gray Mouser when imprisoned early in life
The "ice" magic used to make the mountain slippery, killing Fafhrd's
father, and also used to freeze Fafhrd
The shrinking potions used by the rat lords
The undersea zombies (presumably made by magic)

[Litpho]

I've lent my copies of Leiber to a friend in England, but these came to mind:

The summoning of rats by the personal wizard of the Thieves' guild and communication with his familiar.
What may or may not have been some sort of precognition (the Mouser is too cynical sometimes :p) at the beginning of the Skydock story.
The impotence spell laid by Hisvet on the Mouser using the small silver arrow.
The geas (not strictly magic, but clearly enforced) on Frix to serve and protect Hisvet.

[Bailywolf]

Magic seems to aspect to either mesmeric/psychic style effects and summoning effects. I don't recall any blasty magic- wizards don't fry their enemies with bolts of energy or whatnot- but rather employ the services of creatures (mundane or magical) to achieve potent physical effects. More psychic style effects (mental attacks, telepathy, precognition, fortune telling, hypnotism/mind control etc) are the magician's direct route to power.

Generally, the bigger the effects, the longer they take to prepare and the more specilized tools/drugs/chemicals/rituals need to be employed.

I'd basically create a list of general mystical effects and methods, and by using more potent (but more complex) methods, more powerful effects could be invoked. A magician might use his Mesmerism ability to hold a single attacker paralized, but with enchanted mirrors and druged smoke, might freeze a whole company of enemy soldiers in their tracks.

If a sorcerer needs to fly to another place, he would conjure some kind of terrible winged monster to ride upon- or a giant eagle or something. If he needed to freeze the path of an enemy, he might conjure an elemental to do the deed.

Generally, the magic follows the classic Sword & Sorcery style, with perhaps more flash than you see in the early examples like Conan.

-B


Edit- Magic also tends to make people weird! Physical and mental mutations seem to be the norm- or perhaps the price wizards pay to get especialy good at what they do. It seems consistent though that the more magic you bind to your will, the more it will be reflected in your body and mind. The Mouser is a bare dabbler at the Dark Arts, but were he to become a master, he no dobt would show the same physical strangeness.

Wizards in the setting remind me somewhat of those in Thundarr the Barbarian...

[slaughterj]

Thanks for the replies thus far - some comments:

- The rats of doom summoning was accompanied by the entangling mist, at least when the women were slain.
- The cloud of hate summoning is an obvious one


Regarding flashiness and blasting, while a bit more flashy than Conan, I agree it tended toward summoning and control, though there was the death magic when they returned to town...

Can you give some examples of the mesmerism you mention?

[Vigorous Ape]

There was that dungeon where Mouser and Fafhrd were on opposite sides and there were wizards constantly fighting against each other.

Mouser somehow spoke a spell that killed all the wizards on one side, because they were too low level. And his lord got inflicted with about twenty horrible rotting maladies.

[Max]

The Circle Curse.

The guardian in The Jewels in the Forest.

All the manifold illusions, and the counter-measures thereof, in The Bazaar of the Bizarre. Also the animated bronze-statue in same.

Prince Gwaay's telekinetic skills in Lords of Quarmall, of which he is the unsdisputed master though not by any means the sole possessor - it's apparently common enough in his home to have a boardgame devised around it - and Mouser's wonderfully effective death-spell in that story. Also the curses and wards of the twice-twelve wizards of both the rival princes.

The alchemy-induced out-of-body exploits in The Howling Tower.

The sorcerer Hristomilo's smog-work in Ill Met in Lankhmar.

Fafhrd's perhaps questionable avatarship of Issek of the Jug in Lean Time in Lankhmar - he himself believes it, at any rate.

The spinning-top workings of the old sea-witch to command the water in When the Sea-King's Away.

[Max]

There was that dungeon where Mouser and Fafhrd were on opposite sides and there were wizards constantly fighting against each other.

Mouser somehow spoke a spell that killed all the wizards on one side, because they were too low level. And his lord got inflicted with about twenty horrible rotting maladies.
Lords of Quarmall. One of my favorite stories. :)

[Cerulean Lion]

I don't recall the name, but one story began with two wizards hired to kill Fafhrd and the Mouser, by throwing lightning bolts at them. Fafhrd and the Mouser were warned, and protected themselves by attaching wires to their sword-blades, and trailing the wires behind them, to ground themselves.

[slaughterj]

I don't recall the name, but one story began with two wizards hired to kill Fafhrd and the Mouser, by throwing lightning bolts at them. Fafhrd and the Mouser were warned, and protected themselves by attaching wires to their sword-blades, and trailing the wires behind them, to ground themselves.

Yeah, I think one had the lightning and one had some dagger thing, kinda hazy to me at the moment, but that certainly is some direct blast magic going on.

[Litpho]

I don't recall the name, but one story began with two wizards hired to kill Fafhrd and the Mouser, by throwing lightning bolts at them. Fafhrd and the Mouser were warned, and protected themselves by attaching wires to their sword-blades, and trailing the wires behind them, to ground themselves.If I recall correctly, that was the opening of Swords of Lankhmar where the heroes were whisked away by some official of Glipkerio directly after the fight. They were then asked to guard the grain fleet.

[Phantom Grunweasel]

Lords of Quarmall. One of my favorite stories. :)

Interestingly enough, the beginning of that story was written by Harry Fischer, as I recall. Leiber and Fischer came up with the idea for Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (based on themselves) together, but Fischer sadly died before he wrote anything beyond Lords' opening.

[slaughterj]

I think I'm going to pull out the D&D Lankhmar book with the story summaries to try to put some order to this, and see if people can remember any other instances...

[JQPublic]

I don't recall the name, but one story began with two wizards hired to kill Fafhrd and the Mouser, by throwing lightning bolts at them. Fafhrd and the Mouser were warned, and protected themselves by attaching wires to their sword-blades, and trailing the wires behind them, to ground themselves.

From what I remember the wires weren't used to ground themselves. Instead, the pair threw the wires at the wizards, so the lightning traveled back and fried the casters.

Or am I completely wrong on that?

[Litpho]

From what I remember the wires weren't used to ground themselves. Instead, the pair threw the wires at the wizards, so the lightning traveled back and fried the casters.

Or am I completely wrong on that?It was primarily used to ground themselves. After a few lightning strikes, the Mouser felt he could predict the rhytm of his opponent, threw the wire and put that wizard out of the fight.

[KenHR]

One of my favorite bits of magic in Lankhmar is when a wizard sends Fafhrd & the Mouser on a journey that lasts years by repeating a phrase three times. I don't know why that stands out so much for me, but it does. I even ended up using it to kick-start an AD&D campaign once.