The Origin Of D&D Adventurers: Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser – Prime
In the years before Dungeons & Dragons, two erstwhile heroes laid the foundation for every PC ever. Including yours.
Dungeons & Dragons is a genre unto itself. It’s not quite high fantasy, nor is it strictly medieval dark fantasy. Through the years, D&D has acquired a texture from rolling, Katamari-like, through its various influences. D&D heroes are neither tragic nor tortured. Nor are they paragons of virtue. Instead most adventurers tend to be, well…
Whether it’s taking everything that isn’t nailed down, or trying to figure out how to make a 10 foot pole lethal, adventurers are basically chaos monkeys. And years before D&D was a glimmer in the eyes of Gygax and Arneson, two characters laid the blueprint for all of this. Come and meet Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
It doesn’t get more D&D than Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Fritz Leiber’s most famous duo. These two are the stars of Lankhmar, a fantasy city so well developed it became a boxed set.
That’s how integral these two are to the DNA of D&D. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are basically D&D players. Their antics capture the heart of PCs to a tee. And you can see why in one of their first stories, Swords and Deiltry, when Fafhrd faces dangerous jump across a chasm. This alone is a D&D situation. His solution? Even more D&D, as Fafhrd straps fireworks to his skis in order to rocket across the chasm.
There are almost fifty years of stories much like that one. The duo frequently quip to bartenders and delve into dark humour. Especially when other characters are delivering flowery speeches. They adventure across the world. And of course, they encounter were-rats and ghouls (and end up dating both of them), so there’s another D&D trope. Take a look at Fafhrd and his friend PC-ing it up:
“As they were anchoring in Ilthmar harbor, the Black Treasurer literally fell apart like a joke-box, starboard side parting from larboard like two quarters of a split melon, while the mast and cabin, weighted by the keel, sank speedily as a rock.
Fafhrd and Mouser saved only the clothes they were in, their swords, dirk, and ax. And it was well they hung onto the latter, for while swimming ashore they were attacked by a school of sharks, and each man had to defend himself and comrade while swimming encumbered. Ilthmarts lining the quays and moles cheered the heroes and the sharks impartially, or rather as to how they had laid their money, the odds being mostly three-to-one against both heroes surviving, with various shorter odds on the big man, the little man, or one or the other turning the trick.
Ilthmarts are a somewhat heartless people and much given to gambling. Besides, they welcome sharks into their harbor, since it makes for an easy way of disposing of common criminals, robbed and drunken strangers, slaves grown senile or otherwise useless, and also assures that the shark-god’s chosen victims will always be spectacularly received.
When Fafhrd and the Mouser finally staggered ashore panting, they were cheered by such Ilthmarts as had won money on them. A larger number were busy booing the sharks.”
I’m pretty sure that I’ve also fought a sword-wielding octopus. The stories blend humor and fantasy and brazenness to brew the perfect recipe for adventure.
These stories feel like D&D stories. AAfter all, they revolve around companions having adventures. With Fafhrd we see a Conan-esque hero: a northern barbarian as skilled with a sword as he is a song. His companion, the Mouser, is a much more slight hero and thief. The Mouser dual-wields sword and main-gauche, and the occasional bit of magic.
These two rogues are ruthless and cynical and prone to spending their fortunes before they can truly amass any great wealth. But that is just more motivation to keep them adventuring. The two are sellswords, and frequently head out in search of gold, establishing a pattern that DMs still rely on to this day.
It’s little wonder that they would inform the attitudes of the typical players. Gygax was clearly trying to emulate their misadventures, right down to thieves’ guilds sending assassins after characters who thieve without a license.
While they don’t necessarily leave their mark on any of D&D’s rules, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser define the spirit of the game in ways we still feel today.
What are your favorite D&D influences? Let us know in the comments!
