Thursday, November 08, 2007

Today's word is "myrmidon"

So, there's this word thing that a bunch of us are doing following Zifnab's excellent suggestion.

Today's word is myrmidon. You can find the definition here.

OK, so what to I have to say about it:

First, let's try the short and sweet version: THIS IS THESSALIA!

The second thing I'd like to say is that I am currently very actively recruiting myrmidons to do research with me as doctoral students. (Actually, that's not completely accurate, but it amuses me to write it. I certainly want loyal students, but I do want them to question me and not just take me at my word.) Bring on the dancing minions!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wasn't the myrmidon one of the nastier "kits" for fighters from the 2nd edition splatbooks? That's my first (and only, really) thought on seeing the word...

Mason said...

Now that you mention it, that is vaguely familiar. I looked it up on wikipedia and it appeared in the Complete Fighter's Handbook. (Actually, that series of books that offered variations on the different classes was actually pretty good.) Didn't the term "splat book" basically arise with third edition? I don't remember seeing that term until D & D 3.0.

Had I remembered this use of the word without your jarring my memory, I may well have used that in my blog entry.

Anonymous said...

Considering the format of the books, I'm pretty sure it started with 2e and carried over to 3.0. I get odd looks when I refer to the 3.5 books (Complete X, Races of Y, etc.) as splatbooks, though, since they're all hardcover.

Mason said...

The use of splatbooks in 3.x that I see is always just referring to things based on the fact that they have (often overpowered) optional rules.