Monday 26 March 2018

More kobolds and The Silver Chair




I got a few more kobolds done last night. Along with the old Citadel one, there are two varieties of Reaper Bones here. The newest ones have sharper, more rat-like faces. The older ones (e.g. top right) have heavier muzzles. I also have some Citadel AD&D ones to add, and some made by Ral Partha. The latter don't have muzzles, but have monkeyish faces. I quite like the mix of different types; they remind me of Pauline Baynes' Earthmen from The Silver Chair - for me, the best of the Narnia books and certainly the one with the most D&Dish material.

Lewis's description of the Earthmen would do perfectly for any number of heterogenous D&D humanoids:

"All carried three-pronged spears in their hands, and all were dreadfully pale, and all stood as still as statues. Apart from that, they were very different; some had tails and others not, some wore great beards and others had very round, smooth faces, big as pumpkins. There were long, pointed noses, and long, soft noses like small trunks, and great blobby noses. Several had single horns in the middle of their foreheads. But in one respect they were all alike: every face in the whole hundred was as sad as a face could be."

So what does The Silver Chair have that the other Narnia books don't? Lots!


  • A parliament of owls
  • Wilderness adventure
  • Marsh-wiggles
  • The Ettinsmoors
  • Giants playing cock-shies
  • A black knight (silent and enchanted)
  • A green witch (lovely and deceitful)
  • The City Ruinous
  • A castle of anthropophagous giants
  • A cookbook with entries for MAN and MARSH-WIGGLE
  • The Warden of the Marches of Underland
  • Earthmen
  • "Many sink down, and few return to the sunlit lands." (with variations)
  • A cavern of sleeping beasts
  • Old Father Time, a sleeping giant
  • A subterranean sea
  • A subterranean city
  • A subterranean castle
  • The eponymous vile engine of sorcery
  • A mind-control spell
  • A witch changing into a serpent
  • Reports of "witty and eloquent" salamanders
  • Some truly tremendous names: Rillian, Glimfeather, Puddleglum, Harfang, Mullugutherum and Bism
  • A minimum of Aslan
I can think of few books that have so much material screaming to be plundered for D&D.


1 comment:

  1. I'll second this post..... The Silver Chair was the first Narnia book I read, and the others didn't hold a candle to it...it's so much more strange to my mind. Always fancied trying the molten jewel fruit of Bism. Your blog has made me order a copy of Whitehack and start planning some adventures to run with my kids.
    cheers.

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