The Murders in the Rue Morgue Murders in the Rue Morgue" continues an urban theme that was used several times in Poe's fiction, in particular "The Man of the Crowd", likely inspired by Poe's time living in Philadelphia. The tale has an underlying metaphor for the battle of brains vs. brawn. Physical strength, depicted as the orangutan as well as its owner, stand for violence: the orangutan is a murderer, while its owner admits he has abused the animal with a whip. The analyst's brainpower overcomes their violence. The story also contains Poe's often-used theme of the death of a beautiful woman, which he called the
Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales are included, each in its own 32-page booklet, called "Red Tide", "Red Jack", and "Red Death" respectively. "Masque of the Red Death and other Tales" is an "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" game supplement for the Ravenloft setting, published by TSR, Inc. as a boxed set containing one 128-page book, three 32-page books, one three-panel referee screen, one 21" X 32" map sheet, one 21" X 32" poster. Design was by William W. Connors with D.J. Heinrich, Colin McComb, and Shane Hensley; editing was by Anne Brown, Jonatha Ariadne Caspian, and Richard Pike-Brown. Illustrations were by Stephen Fabian and Ned Dameron,