Tavern Time Book Club

Tavern Time is a semi-regular hangout at the Start Line Brewing Company, in Hopkinton, where we play games, run one-shot adventures, or just talk about fantasy and science fiction topics. This time, we will be discussing the classic Jirel of Joiry short story, "Black God's Kiss", by C.L. Moore. The stories that inspired early Dungeons & Dragons, famously recorded in Appendix N of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (AD&D) Dungeon Masters Guide, are a bit of a boys' club, and "Black God's Kiss" gives us a chance to break away and read a story by a female writer, featuring a female protagonist. It's a fun and interesting read, capturing the mix of medieval and weird fantasy that characterizes much of AD&D and other early roleplaying gaming. The story appears in many collections of early fantasy fiction, and is fairly easy to find text or audio online. Stop by to hoist a tankard of ale (or non-alcoholic alternative) and share your thoughts on the story!