Editing Elric (section)

==/tg/ Relevance==
In the beginning, there was the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] Law/Neutrality/Chaos [[alignment]]. This wore Moorcock's Law/Balance/Chaos conflict on its sleeve. [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] added a more explicit Good/Evil axis to this basis, thus forming the [[Great Wheel]] ... and removing that Moorcockian conflict. Then [[Planescape]] (re)instituted the [[Blood War]] "but just for the bad planes" (well, that's what the clueless berks ''say''). Elements of this still sputter around later editions and [[Pathfinder]].

Meanwhile, whether involved in the law/chaos dustup or not, Moorcock's notion of multiple planes in a multiverse has been consistent in the D&D and post-D&D settings. For the latter, we have [[Beyond Countless Doorways]].

Elric (along with Stormbringer) was listed in the first printing of that AD&D Deities & Demigods rule book. However, Chaosium already had a role playing series in the works based on Elric & Stormbringer and the initial AD&D printing was not fully authorized. A mutually beneficial deal was worked out between Chaosium and TSR, yet TSR chose to remove Elric from later printings of Deities & Demigods. Didn't stop [[White Plume Mountain]] from ripping off the sword for [[Blackrazor]].

The world of Elric's Young Kingdoms was the setting of the [[Stormbringer]] role-playing game by the publisher [[Chaosium]] (Hawkmoon has also been so treated, as has Corum). After a disagreement between Moorcock and Chaosium, the Stormbringer line was discontinued. In 1993 Chaosium released Elric! which still used their BRP system. Its main difference was in the way magic through demon summoning was detailed and the allegiance system that saw characters lean either towards law, chaos or the balance, themes that underscored the books. Subsequently, a new version called "Elric of Melnibone" was published by Mongoose Publishing under their [[Runequest]] system.

[[Dragon Lords of Melnibone]] is a [[d20 System]] adaptation of the aforementioned "Elric!" game.

Elric's nickname "the White Wolf" inspired [[White Wolf]], Inc. Founders Steven and Stewart Wieck were fans of the character, and named their roleplaying game magazine, and later their company, after him. Before that company collapsed into its own arsehole.

Elric himself inspired the Black Blade [[Magus]] archetype in [[Pathfinder]], and two aspects of the [[Warlock]] (the [[Hexblade]] patron and the Pact of the Blade class feature) in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

The metaphysical battle between the forces of Order & Chaos went on to inspire the [[Chaos]] faction in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] (and its subsequent [[Warhammer 40,000]] spin-off). Although the dual Egyptian godesses of Ma'at and Isfet do predate the books by several thousand years, so the idea was already in the public domain.

The [[Elves]] of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] were clearly based on the Melnibonians, mostly by splitting up different aspects. The [[High Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|High Elves]] have the basic "gray" aspects of Melnibonians, being long lived, pointy eared expert magic users on a mysterious island, with a crazy powerful navy, caverns of sleeping Dragons waiting the last battle against Chaos, and an aloof deploring attitude towards the upstart young races. However, the [[Chaos]]-worship (downplayed in WFB compared to Elric), obscene decadence, rampant cruelty, use of black magic, and overarching sociopathy is the purview of the [[Dark Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|Dark Elves]].

[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category: Roleplaying]]