Re: Land of the Lost and DnD

On 8/26/2024 10:41 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sun, 25 Aug 2024 22:20:01 +0200, Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
 

My son got really into Land of the Lost (1974) despite it's atrocious
greenscreen effects. At least the claymation is actually decent.
Funnily enough the series shapes up to be much more well-written than I
remember from my childhood. I think the German dub I watched it with
might have had something to do with that.
>

I loved that as a kid.  The Sleestacks with their sssshhhhwwwuuusssshsss were great.

The old D&D module "X1 Isle of Dread" always seemed to owe a lot of
its tone and ideas to the "Land of the Lost" show, even if the module
was set on an island (obviously, X1 also takes from old monster movies
too; Monster Island, anyone?). But both early D&D and Land of the Lost
stole liberally from pulp adventures, even if it often didn't make for
a cohesive whole. Both often felt very experimental, filled with a lot
of 'wouldn't it be neat if...' moments that were fun to play (or
watch) so long as you didn't think too much about it.
 Later D&D (and fantasy in general) stepped away from this style,
focusing on stronger world-building, better characters and generally a
more epic feel overall. Like television shows, there was a growing
interest in longer, better structured stories over stand-alone
episodes. The silliness of the old modules (and shows like "Land of
the Lost") was seen as too childlike; something for young kids.
 Overall, I prefer the later adventures over the adventure-pulp that
was mainstream D&D in the 70s and early 80s. Still, I recognize that's
a personal preference, and I'm not condemning anyone who likes the
'classic' style (I mean, that's pretty much what "Dungeon Crawl
Classic" has built its brand around, so obviously there's still an
audience). Nor am I entirely opposed to playing that sort of game
(with moderation). It's almost tongue-in-cheek lightness adds a
certain verve to the game that is too often missing in more epic
quests.

It seems squarely based on/expanded from Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1918 "The Land That Time Forgot." Which I'm sure was an influence, even if Land of the Lost wasn't.
--
-Justisaur
  ø-ø
(\_/)\
  `-'\ `--.___,
   ¶¬'\( ,_.-'
        \
        ^'