It was the 10th February 2024 when I bought my first new RPG rulebook of the year. Certainly, I had treated myself to Rolemaster Spell Law just 11 days earlier, but this was the first new game proper: Man, Myth and Magic (1982) by Herbie Brennan.
Although I couldn’t explain why I bought it, I saw a post about a new supplement for “Man, Myth, and Magic” and sensed that this was a game I should explore. I followed my intuition and, having downloaded the .PDF, was at once thrown into wonder and delight with what I found.
You and those around you blink at the sudden bright sunlight. Your ears pick up a strange sound, like the humming of a beehive, or the low growl of some fantastic animal. It is the most threatening, most thrilling of all sounds: the expectant murmur of a vast, bloodthirsty crowd.
Man, Myth and Magic (1982), Classic Reprint by Precis Intermedia, Book I, page 3
This game is designed to introduce people to roleplaying games in a direct and highly engaging manner. But it is so much more than an introduction to RPGs. It’s a game that takes you on a journey into the mythic past of our imagined world on a path towards immortality.
In ADVANCED M, M & M you reincarnate anew for each adventure, enabling you to experience a vast variety of viewpoints and abilities. And from incarnation to incarnation, you carry something of your past experience with you, building up a character type as far beyond your first gladiator as a man is beyond an amoeba.
M, M & M (1982), Book II, page 3
I was hooked for days and found myself drinking deeply from the well of inspiration inside that game. The only thing that prevented me from going further was the sense that, save for a solo foray, it was unlikely anyone would want to play. Sadly, like most games I read, the book was finished and I returned to more familiar ground.
Truly, this is a game worth reading and I would love to play it! I can’t help wonder what might have been had I discovered it back in 1982.
Game on!
Today’s #RPGaDAY2024 prompt was, “First RPG bought this year.”
Roleplay Rescue’s Blog 
I was fortunate enough to play it in the early 1980s, and it was indeed a fascinating and enjoyable departure from other role-playing games. Unfortunately, it was a brief foray. I still wonder what it would have been like to play a long campaign.
One change I would make is to adjust the random tables of professions so that all professions have an equal chance of being rolled. Otherwise, you get far too many merchants and farmers, if I recall correctly. It might not be accurate, but it’s more fun.
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It’s quite a game, and the late Herbie Brennan was quite a character. His other RPG, Timeship, is memorable for the ritualistic structure of play it prescribed, almost like a magical ritual. In fact, Brennan was, among other things, an occultist, and believed that the act of roleplaying is in fact a form of astral travel, so that resemblance is not coincidental. He also briefly discussed the matter of roleplaying in his small book, Astral Doorways: Simple Magical Techniques for Exploring the Mysterious Astral Plane, when he revised it for reprinting in 1986.
He also wrote children’s books and other fiction, and passed away on the first day of this year.
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