Bottle Fairy

Introduction

Once upon a time, way back in the late 1970s, I embarked on a hobby that has lasted me until the present day and given me a lot of friends. No. Not writing. Gaming. You see, I'm one of the survivors of the '70s RPG scene, the '80s gaming explosion, the '90s storytelling revolution, the '00 edition wars and the '10s indie-gaming scene. I've seen gaming fads come and go, and I'm still here - still playing.

However, one thing led to another. Like most gamers, we wrote our own campaigns to suit our players and what they wanted out of things. This ultimately led to writing fictions based on our games, then on to writing for the sheer pleasure of it.

One of my favourite systems was a set of rules called 'Tunnels and Trolls'. This was an alternative to the better-known 'Dungeons & Drangons', with a much quirkier ruleset and a background that did not rely on pseudo-European medievalism. Instead, it was more like 'The Epic of Gilgamesh', with its heroes, strange gods and lost civilisations. It also did not rely on the traditional human/elf/halfling/dwarf breakdown of playable races. Potentially you could play anything from a pixie to a dragon - if the referee let you! - including fairies.

While the world that Lamma, the protagonist of the stories here, lives in is similar to the world of T&T and has many of the same quirks to it, the details of it are down to me and my imagination. After all, that is what gaming and writing are all about.

So, consider this collection my tribute to swords and sorcery, bizarre fantasy and the games of my youth.