A young and avid Isle of Wight novelist, Samuel Z Jones, has just published his first Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) roleplaying book.
AERP ‘Akurite Empire Role Play’ book is based on Samuel’s own fantasy setting, using the D20 open game licence.
The 36 year old has written 18 novels (and counting) in the Akurite Empire and is now branching out his setting to the gaming world.
A form of psychological portraiture
Samuel explains the thinking behind his work,
My work is based on Joseph Campbell’s theory of the monomyth, which I understand to mean that the subconscious imagery of dreams matches the archetypal imagery of mythology.
“Which is another way of saying that the psychological archetypes of Jungian theory are interchangeable with the mystical imagery of every human religion and culture. The theory goes on to suggest that individuation (that is, the psychological process of becoming an individual) is culturally progressive, i.e that the personal mythology of one modern human is theoretically as detailed as the mythology of an entire ancient culture.
“What this means in short is that I see Fantasy writing as a form of psychological portraiture. The point is to conjure fictional characters who are as psychologically real as possible. Where the subject is a single protagonist, then the external Fantasy world is a mirror of their internal state. Where the subject is an abstract concept, it will be represented in the form of a psychologically “real” character, where the context and potential variation of its meaning are mirrored in the Fantasy setting.
“If not, don’t worry; it’s all epic high Fantasy packed with adventure, heroics, romance, magic and monsters. Dig in and have fun.
The book is now for sale in local Games and Hobby shop ‘Cheep Thrills’ in Newport.
Find out more by visiting Samuel’s Website.
Image: © Richard Heaven
