Little Big Man by Thomas Berger

Little Big Man
Written by Thomas Berger
Published by The Dial Press
$17.00/$11.51 Amazon

One of the reasons I enjoy reading outside the 'fantasy ghetto' is that you never know what you'll stumble upon. I can't remember where I first read that Little Big Man was a classic of the Western Genre, indeed, of American literature itself, but I'm glad I dug into it.

After finishing the book, I was informed of the movie featuring Dustin Hoffman. He does a great job in a solid movie but man, if anyone from HBO or Showtime is listening, Little Big Man could use a truer to book edition in a season or limited edition format.



So what does Little Big Man bring that makes it worth reading for gamers?

First off, Thomas Berger is a great writer. If you're looking for one liners or other bits to throw into your game, Thomas has more than his share of them.

"However, I believe that when Wild Bill Hickok faced a man he looked at his opponent's eye as if it was a cork." (pg. 305)

Alien  Cultures

Jack Crabb spends a lot of time among the Indian Cheyenne tribe. During that time, he enjoys boiled dog as well as having four wives. He returns to the tribe several times and it contrasts the ways of the Cheyenne, who call themselves 'Human Beings' to the 'White Man'.

In terms of other nationalities, we get a brief taste of them. For example, while on a raid, Jack is ambushed and almost scalped when the ambusher realizes that he's actually a white man. That particular tribe is fond of the whites so lets Jack live. Jack promptly repays him with three arrows in the back.

When adding different cultures, much less different races,  think about why they are different, to begin with. If the only difference between humans and elves turns out to be the lifespan, might as well just get rid of one or the other.

Think about how the children are raised. Are they raised by the clan?

What roles do men and women play?

What foods are eaten? Even in the modern day world people in the United States tend to look in horror at southern China's holiday where they eat dog. Now never mind that the Cow is a sacred animal to millions of Indians...

How is history kept? How is the passage of time measured? The author gives us an event driven history that doesn't rely on days or dates but on seasons and events.

Are there common sayings?

'My son," says Old Lodge Skins, "if it cannot, then the sun will shine upon a good day to die." (pg. 220).

Culture can be a thousand things and none of them are easy to digest in one sitting. Don't hit the players over the head with things until they stop playing but feed into the differences a bit per session until the players can recognize weird words and phrases both in character in the real world.

Character Behavior

Behavior and motivation are separate things. Behavior depends on a series of actions that are necessary for a profession that may be technical or may be encouraged by other's behavior.

'This is a good example of the suspiciousness which warps the minds of gunfighters. I had fell into it right quick, just being in Wild Bill's proximity. You feel like your whole body is one live nerve. At that moment one of them cardplayers having just won a pot, let out a holler of triumpth, and both Hickok and myself come out of our chairs, going for our iron..." (pg. 285).

'Of course I could see he was a fanatic. You had to be, to get so absorbed in talk of holsters and cartridge loads and barrel length and filing down the seat to make a hair trigger and the technique of tying back the trigger and arming the hammer to fire, etc., etc...

"Now then, about that S & W you carry. It is a handsome weapon, but the shells have a bad habit of erupting and jamming the chambers. I'd lay the piece aside and get me something else: a Colt's with the Thuer conversion..." (pg 286-287)

Here, the profession of the Gun Fighter shows its professional side. It's the difference between a mercenary who picks up a weapon and is surprised when it jams and the professional who can disassemble and reassemble it. 

Character Motivation

'Course, he says, there's where the personality come in; whether fast or slow, there was one perfect shot for each occasion, and you killed or died according to how close you come to achieving it. Once arriving at your decision to fire upon a man, your mind becomes a blank, and your will, your body, and your pistol merged into one instrument with a single job.' (pg. 305)

One of the easiest motivations for adventurers in any genre is to find that moment. While Dragon Ball Z's main hero Goku is nearly silly in his desire to be the strongest there is and to fight great opponents, he's always earnest in his desire. Gunslingers have been portrayed as seeking to be the best, the same is true of swordsmen. 

Family

Jack Crabb comes from an interesting family and makes more along the way. His father a bit of an insane preacher. His sister a strong woman out of her time. His brother? A dealer of poisons.

But then there's his 'cousin' Amelia. Only turns out, Amelia, a former lady of the night, isn't actually his cousin and Jack knew that from the start. Rather, it's that Jack 'adopts' her into his family and their both okay with it.

The family you make as opposed to the one you're born with.

Jack is also the father to a son not his own. He also loses his wife Olga and son to an Indian attack and finds them long after they would recognize him as both they and he have undergone many changes. The transitional nature of family and the roots one sets are made in numerous contrasts.

History

"That still leaves the matter of the meat, and you can't escape the fact that there was awful waste in that area, whereas Indians generally consumed in one form or another every inch of a buffalo from his ears to the hoofs, including even the male part, from which they boiled up a glue." (pg 325).

Sometimes the world moves in a direction and no matter what some due, they can't stop the movement of the world. In this case, Jack is assuring future readers that in many instances, the slaughter of the buffalo wasn't done to intentionally harm the natives, but rather, simply to make money.

If you look at the environment in 2017 and see how laws have been enacted and repealed and worked for and against, the pursuit of profit against the manner in which humans live, like dumping coal ash into rivers, is still debated.

Elves may love their forests, but people need the wood for fuel, they need it for constructing weapons and buildings. They need the space cleared for crops and grazing. Sorry elves, nothing personal, but you got to go.

Dwarves? Dwarves in a gold-rich environment? I can't imagine the slaughter that would take place in any fantasy campaign that wanted to throw historical accuracy at it unless the dwarves were able to completely fight off the attackers. Problem is that doesn't count say the numerous horrors for the beneath the earth that the dwarves are usually dealing with.

Plot Seeds

Unappreciated Treasures

Towards the end of the novel, Custer and his cavalry, are on the move. To ensure that the Calvary stays focused on the mission, Custer hasn't paid the men. Instead, the money is kept separately from them. When Custer and his people are slaughtered, the money blows away in the wind.

Sometimes the opponents a group faces, don't have the same values as those they fight. While some of the Indians may have found a use for the money, most were happy to take other sorts of grisly trophies of their victory against Custer.

In a fantasy campaign, if dealing with an insect people that have no appreciation of gold, jewelry or man-made weapons and armor, because they craft everything they need from the corpses of their dead using hard chitin weapons and armor, perhaps the players stumble upon a huge treasure that the enemy may not appreciate, but appreciate the presence of the player's even less.

Range Dependent Magics

'I was born there, on the Rosebud Creek. Indeed, my medicine works only half-strength when I come below the Shell River." (pg. 220)

Games like Rifts use Ley Lines or 'Dragon Blood' or some manner indicating that a certain part of the earth is rich with magic. Are there specific parts of a campaign setting that are known to be that like? Does victory depend on getting the enemy away from such a land?

In the Forgotten Realms for example, after the age old Avatar Crisis, there were wild magic and dead magic zones. Mages wouldn't be caught dead in a dead magic zone if they could help it. 

Use variances in power level based on location and see how the players can turn it against their opposition.

Reputation

'Wild Bill Hickok was never himself a braggart. He didn't have to be. Others did it for him. When I say he was responsible for a ton of crap, I don't mean he ever spoke a word in his own behalf. He never said he put a head on Tom Custer, nor wiped out the McCanles gang, nor would he ever mention them ten shots inside the O. But others would be doing it incessantly, and blowing up the statistics and lengthening the yardage and diminishing the target." (pg. 284)

In a game where there are 'wild lands' or sparsely populated areas, 'badlands', a player's reputation can take him far. What's he known for? What's he been seen doing?

A bounty hunter that uses a particular weapon in a particular way may have a greater reputation than another bounty hunter that uses the same weapon ever other hunter uses.

A character that gets lucky in a big brawl or arrives at just the right time may find themselves with a great reputation.

The only problem? Wild Bill Hickok had to defend that reputation and in this book at least, his actions come back to haunt him the one time he doesn't sit with his back to the wall. Being known for something, especially something that involves violence, means that there will always be others out there trying to make their own reputation. 

Reputation can be public and private. 'Even as a remnant, the Seventh Cavalry lived up to its glorious traditions, linking arms in public while privately slandering one another.' (pg 438)

An organization may be known for its professionalism and its tactic, but those who know the 'real' organization may have different things to say about it. You often see this with people with terrible secrets. "Oh, Fred? I would never have suspected that he was a cannibal."

Senses

'But as we come closer, the marble-white was not clear, but streaked and sometimes drowned in red which the heat turned brown, and the smell was starting up too, attended by millions of flies, and the birds rose in great circles at our approach and coyotes scampered off to a safe range.' (pg. 424)

Berger puts the most obvious sense, sight to good use. But then he goes into smell. And then, the byproducts that often accompany death, the scavengers. If the players come across a slaughtered caravan, do you describe how ripe the smell is? Do you tell them that the ground is sticky with blood? Do you talk about the insect life making it's home in the corpses? The egg laying? The eye feasting? 

Weird Stuff

'And then, the summer of '74 billions of grasshoppers descended on the plains in a great blanket stretching from Arkansas to Canada...a Union Pacific train was stalled at Kearney, Nebraska, by a three-foot drift of them insects.' (pg. 338)

Sometimes something weird happens. Throw it in the campaign.

Little Big Man is an excellent book for both players and game masters of any genre. Character motivations and adventue seeds aplenty, NPCs and settings call to those who heed this book.

Stagecoach (1939)

Continuing my Criterion Collection viewing before they leave +Hulu , next up was Stagecoach. It's not a movie I would have picked originally as while I do enjoy westerns, my enjoyment of the Criterion Collection is usually through their Samurai films.

But I'd heard rave reviews for years about Stagecoach and decided to pop it in.

What a rewarding experience.

First, if you're a young person, you should occasionally throw on an old movie, and I don't mean from the 80s, I mean from the 50s, 40s 30s or earlier. You should do this just to see what life was like in the days and times. The vernacular, the clothing, the attitudes, no matter what the people on stage are trying to portray, are the elements of the time the films were made.

Stagecoach provides the viewer with a brief meeting with nine individuals and their travels aboard a stagecoach. Each one with their own motivations for being on it. Each time they board it, they are in a dangerous territory and the resources protecting them grow fainter and fainter until they are all alone.

There is a lot going on and most of the characters get several moments to shine.

Much of it would still be relevant in today's society. For example, When Doc Boone tells Peacock that he served as a doctor in the Union Army during the "War of the Rebellion," Hatfield quickly uses a Southern term, the "War for the Southern Confederacy." The "wounds" of the war were still relatively fresh when this movie was made. You look around today and it seems nothing has changed.

The banker, Henry Gatewood, tells everyone how everything should be done. Loud and boisterous in demeanor acting as if his words were the words of the people. Until it's revealed that he's a thief, and unlike modern bankers, goes to jail. Well, I suppose modern bankers who, like he did, steal from the bank, would still go to jail... It's a huge flag of the hypocrisy of "I'm better than  you." even though, you know, he's not.

Another citizen, Dallas, is a prostitute who's been driven out of the city by a collection of righteous women under the organization "Law and Order League". So smug and satisfied with themselves that they can't wait for her to leave. 

The culture clashes abound as Dallas finds some sympathy with Ringo, played by a very young John Wayne here. As an escaped outlaw, Ringo's use for social classes is negligible. He treats everyone like people, responding to aggression with aggression for example.

And there are other bits. For example, Geronimo. His name holds sway over the entire trip like a powerful harbinger of terror. His mere name alone enough to cause men to tremble.

The variety of nationalities is present too, as when in one town, a Mexican is married to a Native American and notes that it's safer for him than for the others as he's already in the "family". Doesn't work out too well for him when his wife leaves and takes his possessions, including his prized horse who, it turns out, he loves and values more than his wife!

With the tricks of the trade in filming today, Stagecoach is ripe for a modern day remake. A full-color version that could capture the rocky plains, that could capture the rocky buttes , the isolation between towns and that last seat clenching battle as the Apaches and the Stagecoach riders fight tooth and nail against one another for survival.

Stagecoach has a variety of great characters that make great models. It has a variety of great scenery that can be inspiring. It has cultures clashing and numerous viewpoints coming together and falling apart in waves with no clear resolution.

Catch it before it leaves Hulu or on Blu-ray.

Hondo starting John Wayne

Chicago enjoyed some odd 19 inches of snow yesterday. It was the fifth largest amount of snowfall in Chicago since snowfalls have been recorded.

An excellent time to watch a movie. Hondo for some reason stuck out to me and many of the reviews were compelling.

Fine movie.

I look at someone like Hondo. What goes through my mind?

Archetype outcast.

Hondo isn't like others in that he's a half breed. This gives him a more empathy for those who his government, the United States, seeks to destroy. He's also a bit of an outcast because he speaks what he feels is the truth regardless of how unpleasant that it. He's also not afraid to get his knuckles bruised or to fight over things that others might consider trivial.

Hondo stands with rifle at the ready while another man is getting ready to shot Hondo's dog. The meaning is clear. Pull on my dog and I'll kill you. But Hondo is a strange beast and doesn't say that. Rather the threat is more implied. "A man outa do what he thinks is best."

Hondo also enjoys 'benefits' from his half-breed heritage. For instance, an enhanced sense of smell. When the young wife Angie doubts him, Hondo goes on to explain a wide number of things that his sense of smell tells him ranging from her baking and bathing to the smell of her being a woman.

Hondo goes with the flow of life. While he admires the Apache that he fights against, he doesn't fight with them. He doesn't' join their side. There is no sudden conversion and seeing of the light. He rather stays with the new family he's somehow acquired.

"End of a way of life. Too bad. It was a good way."

With Hondo's proven skill with ranged weapons, especially his rifle, his keen senses, his loyal dog animal companion, Hondo would make a perfect Ranger in a game of Dungeons and Dragons.

Problem for me? While I like the idea of the ranger, especially the Ranger of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, the one who hunts in the wilderness, the one who brings others out of the wild, the one who fights against those in the vastness surrounding civilization, I hate almost every edition's take on the ranger except for 4th editions.

1st through 3rd used magic and animal companions while 4th went for a 'martial' variant who was part rogue, part warrior, part barbarian survivor. 5th edition went back to the whole magic user bit and well, I'm glad it has its fans, I'm just not one of them.

Part of the problem with an archetype that no one really agrees on. Even in most of the fantasy books that feature a ranger, Drizzt the dark elf, the dark elf rarely uses magic spells. Not only that, but Drizzt's 'animal companion' is a magical creature, a magic item itself! Not quite something that's should be an archetype core class in the player's handbook.

The world Hondo inhabits here is strangely nuanced. For such an old film, it doesn't portray the Apache as barbaric savages but if anything, a wronged people who seek revenge against a nation that's wronged them, even as they must deal with the fact that some of those people belonging to the nation that's wronged them, aren't bad people.

Despite the age of the film, there are some beautiful scenes in terms of background. A dry parched background with blue skies and dusts everywhere.

The leader of the Apache, Vittorio, a chief who sense Hondo's kindred spirit, a man who hates lairs, a man who, despite being at war with the 'white man', doesn't kill a lone woman and her child, but rather tries to protect them by adopting the boy into the tribe and trying to convince Angie to marry into the tribe for her and the boy's protection.

Despite the nobility of the people that is most inherent in their leader, not all of the Apache are of this noble spirit.

The guy in the center here? Silva? He's a bit of a bastard but can you really blame him?

When he first appears on Angie's farm, he approaches her son, Johnny who, despite being a child, humiliates Silva by blowing his staff apart with a pistol and making Silva fall to the ground and wonder if he's been shot.

Silva's brother, a member in a scouting party, is killed when Hondo turns the tables on the ambushers and is prevented from instantly killing Hondo because Silva's chief, Vittorio, has a blood bond with Hondo under the mistaken assumption that Hondo is the father to Vittorio's blood bound in-law son, Johhny.

So Silva declares blood right and fights Hondo and promptly, despite the injuries Hondo already suffers, loss. Another massive loss of face.

This materializes when after the Apache drop off an even more badly injured Hondo to Angie and Silva kills Hondo's dog.

When the opportunity arises, when Vittorio is killed against the US military, Silva is now able to lead a full attack against the retreating military whose picked up settlers, including Hondo and Angie. This allows the viewers to have a 'villain' Apache without all of the Apache people getting targeted with the same paint brush as when Hondo finally engages Silva in hand to hand combat, it's a man on man combat and not the embodiment of two people's will engaged.

On his own side? Those military forces that Hondo works for? He knows that they're not always right. When we're first introduced to Hondo speaking with Angie,, he warns her that she's got to leave the settlement. She declines because she's always been friends with the Apache. Hondo notes that it was the United States that broke the treaty and that the Apache might not be so friendly any more.

Later on, when the military comes sweeping into the wilds to safely escort settlers out of the Apache regions, Hondo notes to his friend, Buffalo Baker, that the commander is too new and is going to get everyone killed. Buffalo remarks that it's up to people like him and Hondo to make sure he stays alive long enough to get that experience.

In another instance, another scout, Lennie, remarks that he wants Hondo's rifle and if he doesn't get it, he'll tell Angie that Hondo murdered her husband. Hondo's reply is something along the lines of "I never liked you."

Despite that and the brief beating Hondo delivers to Lennie, Lennie saves Hondo's life later on with Hondo's rifle, which Hondo awards to the man. The threat of being killed by the Apache, even a half-breed like Hondo, is too much for a fellow scout to take.

There are numerous other bits that stand out. For example, Buffalo Baker. Here's one of Hondo's old friends who bets against Hondo not making it out of the Apache infested lands and is disappointed that he's lost the wager!

He's also a man who protects Hondo from getting shot in a bar brawl.

Hondo's known Buffalo for years, but it's not until Angie invites Buffalo in for some food and drink does Hondo learn's Buffalo's last name.

In older editions of Dungeons and Dragons, the idea of a 'henchman' wasn't that unusual. In Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion works, there is the idea of the Eternal Companion. This isn't the usual hireling but someone with their own set of skills. Buffalo would fall into that category quite easily as the two men have a steady back and forth and share a similar set of skills and outlook on the world.

Anyway, Hondo is a solid movie that does a good job of showing forces in opposition where the people involved aren't monstrous and vile and individuals on all sides must be watched.

Has anyone read the book? Any recommendations or warnings on it? It'd be a while before I got to the novel as I have many a book to get to before that, but I'm always open to hearing about it.

Tales of the Far West A Wuxia Western Anthology

Tales of the Far West is an anthology of wuxia western basis for the Far West setting. I didn't back the Kickstarter but it's a topic I'm interested in. One of the things I like about antholgoies is that it's a little easier to sneak them in then a five hundred page monster novel. In between some of the games I ran at Gen Con, this was good 'buffer' material to prevent me from rereading sections of the One Ring over and over again.

In terms of why I bought it, first thing up movies. While The Man With the Iron Fists isn't going to win any awards, there were some great fight scenes. Another favorite of mine, Sukiyaki Western Django combines a lot of those elements and then there's the Warrior's Way where a man from the east winds up in the west. Of course this ignores Kung Fu from back in the day.

Anyway, you can see why I might be interested in the theme.

The book is hit or miss. For example, Riding the Thunderbird by Chuck Wendig just doesn't go anywhere for me. I found that odd as I enjoy a lot of Chuck's work. I check his website on a regular basis and have bought several of his books on writing. He has a good 'voice' if you will. Maybe it was just too short for me.

And that's exactly the problem with Purity of Purpose by Gareth-Michael Skarka. I would swear that if the RPG comes out, this is going to be the chapter opener for how advancement or combat works. It's well told but so short I was left wondering why it was included. It's basically a well told fight scene. Yeah, it's well told. Love the description of the guns for example.

Mind you as science and technology go, I wonder how longer term that will work. In most fantasy genres, the strength of the ancient swords and armor are reliant on the old magic and forge abilities that have been long lost. That doesn't necessarily work that way with technology. Hard to look at a gun from one hundred years ago and think, "Yeah, that's going to out class some of the newer stuff."

The good news is that I didn't feel lost when reading the stories. There are a few things that poke odd as odd but I assume they'll be getting more details in the future. For example, how 'magical' is the setting. Demons are mentioned as a rumor, but there are 'thunderbirds'. There's a lot of 'steamtech' but seems fairly out of the way for the most part.

The setting also seems capable of handling more than just straight up wuxia action. For example, Ari Marmell does a tale that fits soundly in the horror-suspense field. While its a little jarring compared to some of the high action we see in other tales, its told well enough and fits with one of the other themes of the setting, steam punk weird science.

That genre blending comes into focus in the tale Crippled Avengers by Dave Gross where the main characters all have some type of crippling injury inflicted on them by the villain only to have Science! restore them.

The even better news though, is that there are some solid stories in here. The strengths of Riding the Thunderbird and Purity of Purpose may have seemed weaker and out of place because they followed He Built the Wall to Knock it Down by Scott Lynch and In Stillness, Music by Aaron Rosenberg, both of which were longer and fuller and really brought the action.

He Built the Wall to Knock it Down hits a lot of the standards of 'fantasy' writing/showcasing that I've mentioned before. It includes the unknown stranger with a dark past, the building up of the stranger in terms of his strength by showcasing what a powerful fighter he is against more and more outrageous odds and then the final show down. Even better though, some of the characters introduced can make future appearances or even show up in flash backs to previous tales. It's that strong in my opinion.

All told there are twelve tales including authors like Matt Forbeck among the others I've mentioned. The electronic version is under $5 so if you're looking to dip your toe in something a little more off the beaten path, this should have you covered.

Django Unchained (2013)

Rare is the day I go to the movies. Still, I enjoyed the original Django. The imagery of an unknown man carrying around his own coffin, only to have the contents of that coffin be iconically used in mediums many years down the road, still lurks in my mind. Add to the fact that we have a great cast here including Jaime Foxx as Django himself and Quentin Tarantino making movies that I usually enjoy and well, I'm glad I was able to see it in the theaters.

I'll be discussing some specifics from the movie that will include spoilers. If you wish to avoid those, read no further.

Mentor: Django is seen initially as a slave whose freedom comes from an outside source that then proceeds to arm and train him. Django has natural talents that fall into place with this new profession of bounty hunting though and excels at it. Django is not alone in having a mentor. Many characters ranging from Rand from the Wheel of Time to Vin from the series Mistborn, have senior characters whose skills and experience are a stepping stone for the other characters to rise above their, often low and humble origins.

Flaws: Despite being a mentor and a man who hates slavery, Dr. King Schultz is seen several times having such issues with slavery, that he finds himself on the verge of 'breaking' character. Indeed, is it Schultz failure to control his anger that he winds up getting killed and putting Django in danger. This is not necessarily mirrored well in games like Dungeons and Dragons that are more concerned with combat matters and spent hundreds of pages detailing hot to engage unique abilities in combat, but other game systems have various triggers that can be used to force character behavior ranging from Disadvantages in Champions to bits in Gumshoe.

Slavery: A huge issues in and of itself, slavery is one that is ripe with roleplaying opportunities. These range from pitting the players into gladiator roles such as in the movie gladiator, trying to change the social situation of slaves, such as in Spartacus or the Ten Commandments. These classics of the cinema deal with slavery as a bit of a story telling element in that they are used to get the action going or keep it in place.

Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator is a slave because it puts him in a situation where the audience can then enjoy various spectacular combats. Spartacus the TV show takes that a step further and puts in various characters and cast to make it more of a drama with fighting than the slave rebellion the original movie was.

It can be a powerful field though so if your unsure of what your players think of the subject, check with them first.

The Quick Talker: In one scene, Django is about to be taken to a mining camp to serve out the rest of his days. Some quick talk puts him in possession of weapons that enable him to deal quick death to those who were about to take him in. While it is a scene of violence, the act of getting to that scene would work well as a Skill Challenge in 4th edition requiring some fast talking and some ability to convince. Fortunately for Django, in this case he has his bounty sheet from his first kill as a 'good luck' charm and witnesses to his status as a bounty hunter that allow his false story to ring true.

Django does a good job of moving quickly despite its length and can be a great example of a con gone wrong among other bits.