Barbarian - a podcast by Brian Casey

It seems obvious, doesn’t it? I mean, we clearly know where Gary Gygax got the inspiration for the Barbarian Character Class in Dungeons and Dragons. He even references it in the famous Appendix N. Obviously, what he had in mind was Conan. Duh!

Ah but wait. Would we even be here if that were true? If the most obvious and plain explanation was the one that was correct, why even bother with the episode? Something must be up. And it is, because once you start digging into it, you learn several surprising things. Like, barbarian is kind of a no-no word. Conan doesn’t really fit the definition of barbarian. And Gary, once again, wasn’t really on point with his character design. But to find out more you have to listen to the show.

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