What Robert Frost Might Have Written Had He Played Dungeons and Dragons
Posted 29 August 2008 in Gaming by Catriona
Yes, I’m talking about Dungeons and Dragons: Tiny Adventures again.
But, seriously, this is hilarious:
Two elves were fighting in a yellow wood. Long Saeana stood, trying to determine which one of them was the bad guy.
Saeana tried to peer as far down into one’s soul as she could, then fairly chose the other whose expression was less worn. More telling, perhaps were the symbolic trinkets each wore. The first’s marked him as an agent of evil, while the second’s marked him as a follower of good. After helping defeat the evildoer, she and the good warrior lay in the leaves, sighing and telling tales of deeds they’d done, and roads they’d traveled.
(There was a wisdom roll in the middle, there, but I think you can tell how that went. I worry about my Elf, when she chooses who to kill on the strength of how “worn” their faces are, and only then thinks, “Also, that necklace made from the skulls of children? That might be a clue.”)
Are the people behind Dungeons and Dragons: Tiny Adventures enormous fans of Robert Frost? He is a dearly beloved poet, after all.
Or do they simply have too much time on their hands?
As for me, I don’t have too much time on my hands, but—well, you have to do something during your cigarette breaks, don’t you? (Something apart from smoking, that is.) And it’s been a while since I posted a dreadful poem on the blog.
The Elf Not Slaughtered
Two elves battled in a yellow wood,
And, sorry I could not battle both
And win the battle, long I stood
And checked my Wisdom roll (not so good),
Lurking awhile in the undergrowth.
Then killed the nearer, a fitter goal,
As having perhaps the better claim,
Assuming that darkness was in his soul.
(Though, since I failed my Wisdom roll,
The two seemed really about the same.)
The other and I together lay
In leaves my mace had made gory
We would perhaps fight another day!
For, knowing how way leads on to way,
Odds are I must replay this story.
I shall be telling this with a sigh,
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two elves battled in a wood, and I—
I slaughtered the evil one, aye,
But it didn’t make a difference.
Share your thoughts [2]
1
Matthew Smith wrote at Aug 31, 11:48 pm
Wow that was very moving (and clever). I have a copy of road less travelled somewhere in the bookshelves but for some reason I’m afraid of it.
2
Catriona wrote at Sep 1, 06:13 am
(I’m channelling Tim here, but technically it’s “The Road Not Taken,” but that’s not important right now.)
There’s no need to be afraid of Robert Frost. He’s a famous . . . well, not quite recluse, but a curmudgeon. He is the “good fences make good neighbours” poet.
There’s a line in a Simon and Garfunkel song that evokes the growing separation between a couple with the line “And you read your Emily Dickinson and I my Robert Frost,” which I think is lovely. But I’m not overly fond of Frost; I don’t read him for pleasure.