A Variant On The Tagline: The Incidental Anecdote

The following article on the Dying Earth RPG originally appeared on DyingEarth.com in December 2004.

By Steve Dempsey

Tolstoy had it that there were only two possible plots: a man goes on a journey, and a stranger comes to town. And so it is with the Dying Earth. Cugel, as the main protagonist is usually up to one of two things. Either spreading his brand of mayhem to a new town, somewhere they haven’t yet had the misfortune of his endeavours, or fleeing from said town’s enraged inhabitants; Cugel doesn’t often visit the same place twice. Jack Vance uses this itinerant lifestyle to create ever more fanciful locations from the mud pits of Flutic to the “other cosmos” in a bag.

The Dying Earth game was written to recreate this kind of existence….

Download A Variant On The Tagline here

The Dying Earth — and its rules-lighter version the Revivification Folio — take you into the world of master fantasist Jack Vance, where a flashing sword is less important than nimble wits, persuasive words,and a fine sense of fashion. Survive by your cunning, search for lost lore, or command the omnipotent but quarrelsome sandestins. Purchase The Dying Earth or the Revivification Folio in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.