The Murders in the Rue Morgue Poe, however, downplayed his achievement in a letter to Philip Pendleton Cooke: The word "detective" did not exist at the time Poe wrote "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", though there were other stories that featured similar problem-solving characters. "Das Fräulein von Scuderi" (1819), by E. T. A. Hoffmann, in which Mlle. de Scuderi, a kind of 19th-century Miss Marple, establishes the innocence of the police's favorite suspect in the murder of a jeweler, is sometimes cited as the first detective story. Other forerunners include Voltaire's "Zadig" (1748), with a main character who performs similar feats of analysis, themselves borrowed
Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales is an accessory for the 2nd edition of the "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" fantasy role-playing game. Red Death refers to a malevolent entity spawned in ancient Egypt during the "golden age of magic." It proceeded to wreak havoc for a few thousand years, promoting violence and catalyzing disasters. By the late 19th century, the era in which the game unfolds, the world totters on the edge of the abyss. The player characters are poised to challenge the Red Death and its minions. The Masque