"The Troll Ate My Homework"

Eight months later....still pimpin'

2011-11-30T11:58:00.002-06:00

Anyone who has published a RPG product in the last year;

The 2nd Annual Three Castles Award is still accepting submissions through the end of the year (December 31st) for next year's award, to be given out at the 4th annual North Texas RPG Con. If you published a RPG adventure, setting, rulebook or sourcebook between October 1st 2010 and October 1st 2011 you are eligible. The focus of the award is on design, and last year's nominees (LoTFP Boxed Set, Stonehell Dungeon, Dungeon Alphabet, Majestic Wilderlands and B/X Companion) and initial winner (Michael Curtis' Dungeon Alphabet) exemplifies the type of excellence in small press products we want to publicize with the award. The NTRPG Con makes nothing off the award; on the contrary, we will NEVER break even considering the amount Doug paid for the absolutely beautiful statuette award given to the winner!

This is a designer award, not a publisher award, although the publisher is welcome to submit anything they wish for one of their authors. The only way this award will one day be able to boast an impressive run of quality winners is if the VERY BEST items are submitted every year, and that is up to the writers/designers themselves. So please, if you have neglected submitting your item so far, take the time to visit the site (ntrpgcon.com), go to the 3CastlesAward tab, fill out the required paperwork and send in three copies of your product for the initial selection process. Every year the judges are shuffled, and this year they are going to be Dennis Sustare, Rob Kuntz, Sandy Peterson, Dave "Zeb" Cook, and Steve Marsh....a group with an impressive list of skins on the wall in terms of products and ideas in the industry.

Share this with as many RPG designers as you can, and if you know of someone with an impressive RPG product release in the last year, encourage them to send in a submission for the award. Besides obviously promoting our convention, we really want to promote the industry and some of the great products out there that may be overlooked by gamers who only pay attention to the biggest companies releases each year.

Jim Roslof Commission

2011-03-24T09:53:00.002-05:00

By now, those in the old school gaming community know of the unfortunate passing of one of the early TSR artists, Jim Roslof. Jim's unique style helped form the "look" of TSR just as much as Trampier, Sutherland and Otus. James at Grognardia and many other bloggers have spoken of Jim and his influence on the hobby, but mine is a more personal note.

Several years ago I realized some of the old guard TSR artist from the early days of TSR were still active (due to the DCC covers by Jeff Dee and Erol Otus). I began thinking about whether or not it would be possible to get a commission done by one of these guys, a personalized scene that I could share with my original gaming group. Back in the day (late 70s/early 80s), I was not one for writing up my own adventures. We ran through every module published by TSR, from the letter modules to the contest winners in Dragon magazine. So, my original group did the great GDQ crawl with their first characters, finally escaping the Demonweb Pits sometime in 1984 or so after a good five years of off and on gaming.

While looking for something to memorialize these times, I thought about the classic covers of the modules (all by David Sutherland) except for Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Dave Sutherland was sadly already gone, so I thought about asking Jim if he would do a "reinterpretation" of the classic Q1 cover, only with my group's favorite characters as the subjects. Through various online sites, I acquired his contact info, presented the idea to him, and he was very enthusiastic about the project. He told me that he had no problem going back to one of his classic pieces, and as a matter of fact it would be a lot faster and easier for him (as he could work with the original cover for reference instead of creating it from whole cloth). Jim was super easy to work with, and I remember him being very particular about what each character was wearing, what weapons they used, spells they liked to cast, etc. He wanted to make the art as "authentic" as he could so it wouldn't be just a generic fight scene.

I was simply blown away at the art Jim did for me (only taking 30 days from start to finish). Each character (From the left: Krago the Dwarf, Gandolin the elvish mage, U-gor the half orc fighter, and St. Michael the cleric) is clearly recognizable to everyone in my old group (U-Gor using his flaming sword, Gandolin casting one of his ever present fire spells, etc) as their personal characters. It is something that I will treasure forever, now even more so that Jim is no longer among us.

It is very obvious that Jim's skills were far from declining, and very sad he couldn't get more work in the gaming field in his later years (except for a few DCC covers and some incredible spreads in The Dungeon Alphabet). Jim still "had it", and in my opinion, his recent work was better than some of his originals (while still being recognizable as a Roslof piece).

Not much more to add, except that I wish I had gotten Jim to do some other commissions. As always, we don't know what we have until it's gone....one reason for the North Texas RPG Con is for the old school gamer and fan to mingle with these guys while they are still with us....no one is getting any younger. If you are putting off sending an email to or attending a convention with one of the old guard, DO IT.

Three Castles Award 2011 Nominees

2011-02-12T17:35:00.004-06:00

Last year I posted about the Three Castles Design Award and how the NTRPG Con was proud to present this beautiful hunk of statuette each year to the RPG game rules, adventure, supplement or settings that was a high point of achievement in the hobby for the past year. In the last few years there has been an explosion of releases, mostly by solo writers or designers, that are a testament to the intelligence, imagination and resourcefulness of gamers playing and writing RPGs. What better way to put a small regional con like ours on the map than by sponsoring an award like this, and recognizing a field that often gets short shrift in other yearly awards (the RPG field, specifically the OSR).

After due consideration the Steering Committee was able to choose five nominees of the many submitted to move onto the final round of judging. Some seminal names in the history of the hobby...Dennis Sustare, Paul Jaquays, Steve Winter, Tim Kask, and Rob Kuntz....have been asked to choose among these five for the first ever winner of this annual honor. The standards are very high, yet I feel that these five items are the creme of the crop of last year's releases, and one should walk away with the award. As you can see all four finalists (one had two nominations) are solo game designers often operating at small profit or even a loss, and it is our hope that by winning this award (or even by being nominated) they can all see a small boost in exposure and profits. I won't pretend this award will make or break anyone, but hey I can dream!

We plan on changing members of both the Steering Committee (who are different than the judges and are kept secret so as not to bias the proceedings in any way) and the group of five judges every year to keep things from becoming predictable or stale, and will choose members from the fields of game design, art, writing, and production, as well as the occasional respected fan or blogger to make things interesting. We are also looking at possibly working each years previous winner in the mix somehow as either a judge or special guest at the NTRPG Con.

This is the first year of the award, and I hope the standard it sets will cause it to grow in stature year after year, someday becoming as respected an achievement as winning, say, and Ennie is at Gencon every year. Anyway, we hope that if you are reading this and don't have all five of these products in your library you use this chance to purchase these and see why they were selected as this year's nominees.

Three Castles Design Award 2011 Nominees:

B/X Companion (Jonathan Becker)
LOTFP Weird Fantasy Roleplaying (James Raggi)
Stonehell Dungeon(Michael Curtis)
The Dungeon Alphabet (Michael Curtis)
The Majestic Wilderlands (Rob Conley)

NTRPG Con 2011

2011-01-15T08:48:00.012-06:00

The fact I haven't posted in months, with not so gentle reminders from friends, coupled with this wake up call by Cyclopeatron, here is the latest info on the North Texas RPG con...

First, before the prepared promo text below, I totally agree with Cyclo on the subject of minicons. These are a perfect, if not preferred, way to grow the OSR. Cheap and efficient, the rewards are huge, the outlay is small, and the enjoyment is worth any aggravation. When Doug and I started NTRPG Con, one of the things we discussed was being able to promote small, local mini-cons across the US where our preferred types of games would be played. Well, entirely without our promotion (we had a small hand in giving the Central Texas mini-con space on our website for registering attendees) this things are popping up all over.

All you need is a place for a couple dozen or more gamers to meet (if you are going budget, a local civic center, library, KOC hall, church, school or pizza place may let you meet for free), some volunteers to run games, and at least one masochistic soul to put it all together. Advertise in local game and comic stores, online at local websites, blogs, or larger sites that cater to old school gamers. Have a contact point (preferable a web site, but a blogspot or message board forum would work as well) so you can get word out of changes or updates to interested gamers. Schedule at least 2-3 games, with space for pickup games that could develop, and make sure food is available either nearby or at the gaming location itself. It really is that easy!

NTRPG Con 2011:

Less than 5 months away, the 3rd annual NTRPG Con will take place June 2-5 in Irving, TX (same location as last time, the Staybridge Suites). NTRPG Con is the south's premier old school con, focusing on pre-2000 RPGs of all types, particularly D&D in it's many forms. No card games, no board games, no 4e, etc. Only OOP or old school oriented games need apply!

Special guests this year will include (deeep breath):Returning Guests: Paul Jaquays, Rob Kuntz, Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Dennis Sustare, Steve Winter, Jason Braun; New Guests Steve Marsh and Erol Otus, and a surprise guest (Doug just informed me this week) will be Jim Ward, who has accepted an invitation and we hope will be recovered enough from his illness to travel here in June. As some of you might know Jim was scheduled to appear at last year's con, but had to cancel at the last minute due to a serious illness that has dogged him for the entire year. Jim says he will run a Metamorphosis Alpha game, and something from Eldritch Enterprises.

Some tidbits:

This year we will award the first ever Three Castles Design award for achievement in RPG design. The statuette is stone cold gorgeous! We have had some great submissions this year and we are still going through them.

Doug and I have discussed giving out an annual NTRPG Con award for best release at the con itself. Basically, any adventure released at the con for the first time will be eligible. We need to work on it a bit more but it looks like we'll take votes on all submissions and give out the award sometime at the end of June, to be awarded at the next year's con.

Reminder that registration for events goes live midnight April 15th....as some of you know events fill up VERY fast, especially premium events.

Speaking of which, this year both Erol Otus and Paul Jaquays will be gamemastering events. I believe Paul has not gamemastered (is this a word?) at a con in many, many years, and I think apart from games with friends Erol has not either. Paul is running a Runequest game and Erol is running D&D. Should fill up fast!

Some of you looking over events may have noticed this year's games seem to have taken a slight turn towards the sci-fi. Besides Jim's Meta Alpha game, we have two other MA games by Tavis Allison, more Urutsk from Kyrinn Eis, a Paranoia game by Ben Burns, another Gamma World scenario by Steve Winters as well as one by Rollin Kearney, and a Spelljammer retro game (using OD&D rules!) from Bob Reed. We didn't plan it this way but it sure looks quite interesting if you like mutants with your swords and sorcery!

This year we will have a special charity game (the first event of the con, Thursday afternoon) DM'd by the esteemed Taco Jon Hershberger, which will contain all the special guests we can round up a the time. Two prime seats in this session will be auctioned off to a pair of lucky gamers, who can then say they sat at the same table as some of the founding fathers of the game! This game will be in the lecture room with seats for sale (for charity) to anyone wanting to watch; I expect this to be quite....interesting. Taco Jon is going to have his hands full with this one.

Like last year we will have a mini-auction on Saturday, with some goodies from the prize closet. Included will be one of the 65 signed copies of the limited edition Erol Otus print done exclusively for The Acaeum last year....63 of these are owned by Acaeum members, which means there is a 99% chance none of these will ever see the light of day. This is the ONLY limited edition print Erol Otus has ever done!

As usual the raffle (get your tickets now!) will have some great items including a Dragon magazine #1, Dungeon Magazine #1, a Castle Zagyg boxed set, and some signed items from past cons. We are tired of Cimmerian and JohnGaunt winning everything the last two years.....

We will again have seminars this year. Friday there will be a 6 hour long (lunch included) adventure design seminar by Rob Kuntz where an adventure will be designed to be run by Rob on Saturday night! There will be an art seminar with Jason Braun, Erol Otus and Paul Jaquays; A "Tips for DMs" seminar with Matt Finch, Harely Stroh and Frank Mentzer; and an adventure writing seminar with Tim Kask and Dennis Sustare.

This year we will again offer tables and shelves for vendors. We have a few tables left at $40 a pop ($50 after May 1st); these are good if you have a volume of material to sell and don't mind sitting there shooting the breeze with buyers during the day. We have several vendor shelves available at $15 each ($20 after May 1st); these are a GREAT deal if you don't want to have to worry about taking time out of your day to sell stuff, or you aren't going to attend the con. We do the work for you, displaying and selling your items, and only ask for 10% of your total sales; the shelves sit by the register and can hold at least 4 modules flat, more if they are overlapping. One vendor last year who bought a few shelves made $900 at NTRPG Con!

Please post at this thread with any questions! Can't wait to see you guys again this year!

NTRPG Con Home Page

List of Events

Buying Raffle tickets ($5 each)

Staybridge Suites Info

Mike B.

'Bout That Time Again....Drama!

2010-08-11T18:18:00.004-05:00

Ah, it's been awhile since the latest dust up that lets gamers get all indignant and go on about suppression of freedom, oppression of free choice, and dire conspiracy theories....but enough about whether Edition 5.0 is reality or not....

The publication of the module "Insidious" by Die Cast Press has finally penetrated the blogger consciousness and the result is the typical S-storm such events bring. The main point of contention seems to be the use (front and center) of "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover, while availing themselves of the OGL at the same time. Reactions at Grognardia and The Underdark Gazette from the common folk seem to be full of doom and gloom that this gives "THEM" the ammo they need to finally awaken the ghost of Lorraine Williams and come at the OSR, retro-clone movement, and anyone with even a thought about publishing a D&D compatible item with both guns blazing (Yes, there have actually been comments about C&Ds, carpet bombing, IP and trademarks....it's 1994 and T$R all over again!!!).

Unless the WOTC police are coming to my house to pry my 1E and 2E books out of my hands (ok, they can have the Wilderness Survival Guide, but that's it), it shouldn't affect me one bit...nor should it affect the die-hards who have been slogging through these dramas for the last 30 years. We have been creating, self-publishing and sharing material before the Lorraine Williams driven internet purges of the '90s (btw, how did that work out for them? Sure shut down those ruffians for good!!!) and will continue until they pry our solar powered cognition memory boards out of our cold, dead hands sometime in 2050 or so....

Some observations:

1. This is a genius marketing move by Die Cast. Either nothing happens to them and they sell tons of modules due to the publicity of marketing a (gasp) ILLEGAL module, or they get a C&D letter and promptly stop publishing after having sold tons of modules due to the publicity...while holding back a handful of copies for collectible purposes (think a 2010 version of an Orange B3). Props.

2. Maybe Rob Kuntz was right when he said (during the Kask/Raggi flap) one didn't even need the OGL to publish compatible material...

3. Didn't Kenzer just publish a "compatible with 4E" box set awhile back? Anything happen to them?

4. If Hasbro was going to go after "everyone" as the result of this, even those legally abiding by the OGL, wouldn't they start with Paizo? Aren't they the only ones really making any money off this stuff? You know, Paizo, the guys who just won a dozen Ennies....yeh that'll happen.

5. And why all the sad faces and wringing hands from the guys who are diligently following the rules? The one guy that steps outside the lines is going to finish you all off? Sounds like a pretty precarious deal you got there....should have kept publishing under the table stuff using Microsoft Publisher on the home computer. Oh, wait, you could STILL do that even if tomorrow WOTC told everyone in the world to stop writing your own stuff, we really mean it....

6. Reminds me of the time way back when, I admitted on an online forum that I used to photocopy Dragon magazines back in the 80s and give them to friends....which prompted lots of "seruz biznez" posts about what an awful pig I was by breaking the law like that. While our hobby attracts some of the most intelligent, creative and imaginative guys in the world, it also seems to be a magnet to the most overly anal retentive, finger pointing, tattle taling, hyperbole spouting conspiracy theorists ever.

7. As I understand it, the OGL is for perpetuity. As in forever. Right? So when the Negative Nellies drone on how this will make things more "difficult" for publishers using the OGL, what are they talking about exactly?

8. Just THINK of all the good will WOTC would engender to gamers should they come down on the OSR like a ton of bricks. Why, look at the reverence and respect gamers even today hold a figure like Lorraine Williams after her actions of the 1990s. One can only imagine, with the preponderance of blogs, internet forums, and you tube personalities of today, how such a well-intentioned public relations move such as this would endear the failing 4E even MORE to gamer nation!

9. Man, the OSR sure has gone respectible. I remember when the OSR was a bunch of scruffy dudes with hand drawn maps, photocopied rules sets, and badly drawn artwork trying to set the world on fire. Now they are the "suits" with the haircuts and ties and pinstripes driving 55 in their Volvos. Hey, I understand, I know a lot of guys who stood in line with me for Clash tickets back in 82 that love a good Dave Matthews Band hoedown these days....

10. Everyone is just mad because they didn't think of it first (See Post #1)......

Sandbox fun in The Lost Frontier

2010-08-11T07:47:00.004-05:00

In prior posts I've talked briefly about a sandbox campaign I've set up for play when everyone can't show up for my "regular" campaign. The Lost Frontier has seen four sessions since then, and while I have been remiss at getting up the play by play, it's been going along exactly as planned. So far, there has been a different mix of players each time, with last week's session having the most players (four, with five PCs)and things being suitably, well, sandboxy.

Last week's session was remarkable in that as a DM I had to engage in not one, not two, but three complete focus shifts until the "real" adventure happened, which just highlights how non-scripted and seat of the pants such a campaign can become. The session started with the group meeting in the favorite inn/tavern of the town of Barnacus, and me presenting them with several (randomly rolled up) rumors from a rumor sheet of about 20+ adventure seeds. Some had been heard before, and dismissed (for the second time, a certain PC decided there was NO WAY he was going to try to find out why intelligent white apes were attacking caravans going to and from the city). Finally settling on a tried and true cliche ("A village at the foot of the mountains has had several young ladies kidnapped for an unknown fate")the party hired three NPC fighters, bought a pack mule, and headed off.

On the way to the adventure, the party passed through an area where undead were said to be attacking people. The party clerics decided it would be a good idea to look into this while they were in the neighborhood, so convinced the party to just stop and take a look-see. This led to a battle with ghasts and a delve into a underground crypt, and a room with four doorways, all with cryptic clues to which sort of undead lay within. The first room they choose was a skeletal figure on a throne, and after disturbing it, it waved it's finger at them....and teleported them all far away. To a completely different adventure!

They ended up spending the afternoon battling a small orc army (over 200 strong) protecting a freehold on the edge of civilized lands,and getting a better view of the wider campaign area (and the subtle idea that orcs are once again building up to another invasion of civilized lands, something that happens every decade or so with alarming regularity in The Lost Frontier).

For my part, I enjoyed the fact that the adventuring focus changed three times: from rescuing village lasses, to cleaning out a tomb of undead, to defending a fortress against orcs, and it was more or less all player driven. Had different decisions been made at approximately any point (choosing a different initial rumor, not investigating the undead, certainly not choosing the tomb of the Crypt Thing over the other three tombs) we would have had a totally different experience. It definitely kept me on my toes, even if I experienced the mental whiplash of three entirely different DM foci in the period of an hour! Typical adventuring behavior seems to have players focus in on one goal (which happened the 2nd and 3rd sessions, as two different groups decided to clean out one dungeon due to the rapidly escalating reward for such an endeavor) and move on from there. I'm interested in seeing where the more scattered sandbox approach will leave the landscape (half-finished dungeons? Rumors never followed up on? Threats ignored that will have to be dealt with "off stage"?)

Interestingly, hex crawling is a perfectly viable endeavor in my sandbox, yet the players have yet to go about adventuring in that way, although I hope they do at some point; simply because I've taken the ridiculous amount of time to plant over 1000 adventure seeds, treasures, NPCs, ruins, dungeons and what-not in the campaign area.

Probably my only "disappointment" so far has been no character deaths. NPCs have not been so lucky, and the different groups have been smart in hiring cannon fodder every time out (once losing four NPCs in a single session in a dungeon delve near town). If this keeps up the group may develop a reputation in town (although the NPCs that do survive are very comfortably compensated, so this might mitigate the criticism somewhat among possible hirelings). These are all experienced players, however, who know the value of caution, retreating, and can recognize a threat that is too dangerous for their low level group (an entreaty from the priests of the Temple of Elemental Fire hiring adventurers to clean out their temple invaded by rogue fire creatures met with nothing more than a chuckle or two). Now that the two longest lived characters are 2nd and 3rd level, I'm interested in seeing the player's reactions if/when these characters bite the dust, and they are forced to begin again from scratch. In the other campaign I run, characters that die are raised by their companions; I'm wondering if this same dynamic will hold in the much looser confederation of "game as you go" sandbox playing style. Certainly in the case of the lost NPCs no consideration beyond running away was taken in their unfortunate deaths....

Three Castles Design Award

2010-07-21T09:53:00.003-05:00

One of the joys of creating and running a convention like the NTRPG Con is the ability to actually influence people's gaming habits. Whether it's the fact you've managed to convince gamers from all around the US (and some from out of the country) to attend your little shindig, or the fact they sit around meeting and gaming with old school gaming luminaries like Rob Kuntz, Tim Kask, Paul Jaquays, Steve Winter, Dennis Sustare and others, or maybe they will be introduced to a RPG they would have never thought about picking up like The World of Urutsk or Swords & Wizardry...well you get the idea. It's a little like being a DM, setting up the convention (dungeon), giving people choices and watching them decide what to do with those choices....except unlike a dungeon adventure there is no chance for a TPK.

Besides the fun of bringing old school gaming to a bunch of really great gamers, through our association with Rob Kuntz the NTRPG Con was able to begin a tradition that I hope will go many, many years (well, at least ten years, as this is as long as we have guaranteed to run the NTRPG Con). The Three Castles award was created by Rob Kuntz and Doug Rhea, and it's purpose is to recognize excellence in gaming design. The three castles in question---Greyhawk, Blackmoor and El Raja Key---were the three original megadungeons, and their legacy has influenced fantasy roleplaying to this day.

Here is Rob's original post explaining the award; below is the criteria for the award, which can also be found on the NTRPG Con website.

Needless to say I'm very proud to be part of this award and of the process itself. I hope everyone reading this who has published something since October of last year throws their hat in the ring. The award is absolutely beautiful and an incredible item to have upon your shelf looking down on you....don't miss this chance to be part of the first ever Three Castles Award.

1) This is an RPG award. Qualified works must be printed and bound (*) and
include the following categories: RPG rules, settings, adventures, sourcebooks
and/or combinations of these. No fiction, board games, miniatures, electronic
media, magazines or loose game aids (cards, screens, etc). Where the design is
unique and might make use of a board or other unique components, please
query with a detailed synopsis and sample copy of the work. Enclose an SASE if
you want the sample returned.
(*) Only the following binding types are acceptable: hard bound, perfect bound, saddle-stitched
(at least 2 staples), spiral bound and comb.
2) This is a DESIGNERS award. Companies may submit titles from their author
base, however, if a win occurs the award will be sent to the lead designer. The
plate attached to the trophy will be inscribed with up to two (2) designer names in
the cases of co-authorship. The press release regarding the win will specifically
mention the company name with address that the product was published
through. An entry is automatically disqualified when no designer name appears
in the submitted printed work.
3) No more than two (2) titles may be submitted by any one company or
independent designer in a year.
4) Submissions open October 1st and close December 31st. All published works
from the current year and those published in the last three (3) months of the past
year can be entered for consideration. Final Publication Date Range: Oct 1st
(previous year) to Oct 1st (current year).
5) This is a multi-stage qualification process. Each entrant must initially submit
two (2) copies of each work that they wish considered. Submissions will be
reviewed by the Steering Committee for the final round. If the entry(ies) makes it
to the final round starting January 31st you will be informed to submit an
additional four (4) copies of each work that qualified for final adjudication (note
the 3C Award Judges below). You will be informed by email and mail that one or
more of the entries made it to the final round. The cut-off date for us to receive
your additional copies is February 15th. The Judges’ final decision will be
received no later than May 1st. The winner will be announced at NTRPGCON in
June. All dates are final and if not met will unfortunately disqualify entries from
further consideration. Unless otherwise noted submitted materials are not
returned to the entrants. We strongly suggest that you purchase tracking
services for parcels you send to the 3C Award Steering Committee.
6) There can be only one (1) award awarded per year. This is an award for true
excellence in RPG design. As such the guidelines for adjudication are detailed
and stringent. The 3C Award Judges may rule that no entry qualifies to be
awarded and thus no award would be issued that year.
7) Complete the following entry form in full once or each title submitted and
enclose it with the mailing(s). This form is not required for the final round
(additional) submissions.

The 3C Award Judges for 2011 are:
Dennis Sustare
Paul Jaquays
Steven J. Winter
Tim Kask
Robert J. Kuntz

The full info on the award can be found here at the NTRPGCON website.

Tim Kask Adventures At NTRPG Con

2010-04-26T11:32:00.003-05:00

First post in a month and I'm pimping the con; hopefully I can put out some game related stuff in the next few days or I'll have to admit this blog is nothing but a fancy promo instrument for NTRPG Con!

The NTRPG Con is proud to announce we will be selling limited edition booklet copies of Tim Kask's adventures "High in the Hellgate Mountains" and "Temple of the Weaver Queen" at the con. ONLY AVAILABLE at the con, in limited quantities of 50 copies each, these adventures were presented (respectively) at the 2009 Gencon Acaeum Game and 2009 NTRPG Con, and have never been available before except in extremely rare DM copies auctioned or given away at the Gen Con Acaeum dinner or NTRPG Con #1.

The adventures will be in small booklet form, limited to one per attendee, with only 50 copies available of each adventure. Tim plans in the future to present these and other specially written adventures in a more traditional format, but for right now this is the ONLY way to get a look at two great old school OD&D adventures in their original form!

I've read both of Tim's adventures, and they don't come more old school. Tim Kask, 1st editor for Dragon magazine and one of the first TSR employees, stopped taking in D&D rules and other innovations about 1979 or so, thus his stuff is firmly rooted in the OD&D/White Box tradition. Some day these and other adventures from Tim''s marvelous imagination will see more wide-spread appreciation when he has them printed up in a more proper format. Until then, they will only be available at NTRPG Con.

As an item of interest, "Temple of the Weaver Queen" produced the con's first TPK last year at the Friday night game. Something about a lich riding a nightmare......!

Each year we hope to present some of these booklet sized, con only collectibles so NTRPG Con can be on the map as a "Must attend" for old school players, writers, designers and collectors.

Trust Me....Again

2010-03-17T11:24:00.003-05:00

Following a recent theme, and after reading some of Lord Kilgore's musings on the critical hit, I myself have some follow ups to my notion of "trust" being one of the more important DM/PC factors in a successful game.

In regards to criticals, I don't use them, but we did dabble in the past (leading to one of the most amusing tales in my D&D career when my father tried to sit down and play with us long ago, a story for another time). Criticals are fun (when they happen to the other guy, natch), giving an unexpected bonus to that 5% chance of rolling a natural 20 when attacking in D&D. Likewise when you roll a "1" and the other guy's sword breaks or he hits the guy next to him (again, not as much fun when it happens to you). Who knows where the idea of criticals first originated...people that weren't satisfied by getting a sure thing hit wanted more? Sure sounds like a generation of entitled gamers to me! But I kid, I kid...

Sidestepping entirely the idea of criticals (which is a long bit of potential subject matter in itself), is the way I approach the die rolls of "20" and "1" in my own campaigns. I tend to wait for particularly dramatic moments, and if either is rolled, it will affect game play in a way that I come with completely off the fly, apropos to the dramatic potential. While not absolutely consistent, I feel like it flows with the style of old school gaming I enjoy, and I've rarely had complaints from my players because (as in most cases) the results usually even out over the course of a campaign.

There are only two absolutes: First, if battling an opponent with only a handful of hit points left (say, 2-3), and a 20 is rolled, I don't even require a roll for damage....whatever rolled, the bad guy is brought down in a particularly explosive way (decapitation, sword through the body, arm whacked off, etc)....basically a nat 20 against someone on the ropes is an instant kill. Likewise, if firing into melee, a roll of "1" guarantees you will strike one of your buddies in the back of the head (ouch). Those are probably the only two guaranteed good/bad results of rolling a "20" or a "1" in my campaigns.

That rule in and of itself isn't particularly noteworthy or controversial. However, in particularly dramatic situations, a nat 20 can lead to interesting results. In a recent battle, a low level party was battling a foe far above their experience level (a fire lizard) who had just torched (literally) half the party and was chasing fleeing characters all over it's cavern lair. The party was making missile attacks work well against the menace, as in a stand up fight any of them would die easily under the lizard's claws, bite or breath weapon. Truthfully the party was inches away from a TPK, and when one character attempted a hit and run attack against the lizard and then turned to run for the safety of a nearby rock formation, the lizard scurried after him. Another character stated he was firing his bow at the giant lizard, trying to distract it. He rolled a natural 20, and so adding to the drama of the situation, I had the arrow miraculously strike the fire lizard in the eye! The now half-blinded, pain maddened lizard forgot about the retreating character, and was eventually brought down by the party's fired arrows (now emboldened by the fighter's lucky arrow hit, they rallyed for the win). It added to the touch and go aspect of the situation, by giving excitement and an entirely unexpected result, and the players were talking about the lucky arrow strike for hours afterwards.

That's what a crit should do, give players a bonus in a dicey situation, but even more, that's what trust can do in a game situation....there is no "rolled missile chart for crits" in my game....I made up the result on the fly to conform to the game situation, and it worked well. Now, for the opposite side, you ask what would happen if the fighter had rolled a "1" instead of a "20" in that tense situation. Well, I don't rightly know, being separated by the event by several weeks, but any number of dramatic situations....perhaps his bow would break, or the arrow would strike his fleeing friend in the back, or maybe even nothing except for a particularly bad miss....I would have decided on the spur of the moment based on what I thought was the best and most dramatic application of the bad roll.

Can every group have this dynamic? Of course not. Rules lawyers and BTB nuts would scream and howl bloody murder at such seat of the pants decision making. Where is the chart? The mechanic? The exploding dice? The rules, dammit! Such a method requires trust between a DM and his players....a willingness for players to accept the results such as this as it was...a lucky break, and likewise, a bad result as just one of those days when nothing goes right.

Now, this same character later on was battling a foe in a slippery, dark and muddy area, got to experience the other side of the coin. In battle against a minotaur (another tough foe for a low level party), they rolled a "1", which led to my ruling the character had done a total pratfall and landed on his butt. They had to spend a round gathering themselves and their weapon, but luckily nothing worse happened (the opponent randomly elected to attack a different party member that round). The player accepted it without asking to consult the rulebook to see if he really should have fallen in that situation...they had rolled a "1", the conditions were rough, and they fully expected in another dramatic situation that "something" was going to happen. I could have had the sword fly out of their hands, had it break, had them hit a nearby friend, or just make it a particularly bad swing. Once again, the decision was all with me.

There must be a level of trust between DM and player to have this happen, and it seems to be a particularly old school sensibility in that regard. I've noticed "newer" players (aka post-2000) tend to not enjoy my spur of the moment statements as to the result of a "20" or "1" in critical situations. Often they will ask for a saving throw, or a roll against their ability (DEX seems to be the most stated ability, aka "My DEX is 18, how did I fall down on the ice when my DEX is that high?"), or just grumble under their breath. Interestingly, this happens EVEN IF they have benefited in the past from a rolled crit, or the bad guy rolling an unexpected "1" and having their asses handed to them as a result. It's not about "fairness" or "balance" as much as it is about "What do the rules say?". Now I must say I rarely play with newer gamers so my experience in this regard is limited. One hard core 3E player I had for awhile hated my application of crits and misses; she kept bugging me to create a "chart" so that "some players" (aka herself) wouldn't think I was just picking on them. I told her the entire point of my method was that it was unpredictable and based on dramatic potential in the situation, something a chart or list could never quantify. I (and my regulars) explained I was very fair and would never DIRECTLY kill a character because of a bad roll (although the result could make their life difficult). She was still unconvinced and I think the idea there wasn't a official system in place made her nervous.

I do know that this method would not work with most groups, including a lot of old school players. Even back in the "good old days" a huge segment of RPG gaming was "Us vs Them", or "DM vs Player", I know because I experienced some of these games (and hated them). A competitive DM would look to the dice to screw you six ways to Sunday, and a savvy player would NEVER surrender such a spot decision to DM whim (based on the fact that this sort of DM would use a bad dice roll to nail you to the floor while conveniently "forgetting" to reward you for a crit). So perhaps this isn't necessary a old school or new school attitude; instead it seems to be situational based on the maturity of players and DM, experience, and how comfortable a group is with everyone else in the group. I've been very lucky the last few decades or so to play with mostly old schoolers, and except for my brother (who deep in his heart STILL feels after 30 years of gaming with me I'm out to get him!) they accept my decisions with a shrug of the shoulders and "hand me the dice, let's roll again" attitude. I wonder how many DMs out there are at this sort of comfort level with players, and if it's more palatable to old schoolers than the post-2000 crowd?

However lucky I am now I've had two groups the last two decades that I had to drop the practice with; one was a large group consisting of a LOT of schemers and a few players did not trust the other characters enough to wonder if I was somehow unconsciously influencing the application of crits and misses (one guy was so paranoid he was actually keeping his own scratch sheet detailing how often a rolled crit or "1" went for or against him or his rival in the party); another was the aforementioned 3E player who was so rattled by the entire thing we dropped it rather than completely freak her out (she ended up leaving after a few months anyway).

Next I'll talk about the most gigantic application of DM/Player trust I ever had to administer in game and the result...

D&D and Dopamine

2010-03-10T23:35:00.005-06:00

I just finished Jonah Lehrer’s excellent book on memory and the decision making process, “How We Decide”. The book is highly recommended if you want a little inner peek at how and why we make the decisions we do in our day to day lives.

One thing that Lehrer focuses on is the presence of dopamine neurons and their effect on our decision making processes. The nucleus accubens (NAcc), the part of the brain that makes you feel happy and generates pleasurable feelings, is what produces dopamine. Dopamine regulates not only the pleasure centers but all our emotions, the molecule in ourselves that literally controls us. Dopamine neurons are working all the time, constantly generating emotions, feelings and “patterns” that lead to pleasurable impulses (they can lead to negative emotions also if something not-as-expected turns up, such as expecting a desert of chocolate cake and getting lima beans instead might induce)

To make a long story short (and I heartily advise reading the book to learn more about how dopamine controls our lives), our decision making is often controlled by the pleasure we will receive when we get a dopamine “hit” to the brain after making a “good” choice. Now, I’ve known for years (ever since reading about how junkies, gamblers and sex addicts are afflicted with excess dopamine surges) that the pleasurable “high” I experience when, say, walking into a game store or opening a new D&D module is dopamine related. However, after reading this book, it amazed me how many activities related to D&D (and sometimes not even directly related) trigger the pleasure neurons and leave me with a happy feeling akin to a drug high. I made a list of D&D related activities that I am absolutely convinced cause dopamine surges in my brain and wash away any negative or bad feelings I might have at the time:

Looking at any classic “blue-white” map;

Looking at an unpainted lead miniature;

Looking at or drawing on graph or hex paper;

Rolling 3 or 4 six sided dice six times;

Flipping through a book of D&D monsters (any, but the 1E Monster Manual seems to have the best effect);

Seeing the cover of a classic pre-#100 Dragon magazine;

Opening D&D PDFs on my computer;

Seeing the names “Gygax, “Kuntz”, “Mentzer” or “Kask” almost anywhere;

Seeing, holding or rolling polyhedral dice;

Booting up the Core Rules Expansion CD on my computer;

Looking at any Trampier, Otus or Sutherland artwork;

Hearing certain albums like Led Zepplin IV, Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here, or The Who’s Who’s Next (all albums we were listening to intently while running our first campaign back in 1978-79 with G1-3; to this day hearing Zepplin’s Misty Mountain Hop makes me instantly remember G2 Glacier of the Frost Giant Jarl);

By extension, the word “Giant”, especially preceded by "Hill", "Frost", "Fire", "Stone" or "Cloud";

Looking at the underground hex map of the classic D "Descent" series;

Seeing the word “Greyhawk” almost anywhere;

Seeing the large first level poster map of Undermountain;

Sharpening a fistful of pencils with the same electric pencil sharpener I’ve had since high school;

Touching the smoothness of a Chessex battlemat;

Seeing any sort of “random generation” chart, whether it be for names, weapons, skills, locations, etc as long as you have to use a d12, d20 or d100;

What D&D related activities/word associations trigger dopamine surges of pleasure in your brain?

Trust Me, I Know What I'm Doing

2010-03-02T13:47:00.003-06:00

Michael on the Old Guy RPG Blog had a really insightful post about DM failure. I thought the entire post was quite illuminating and this is one of my favorite blogs simply because Chgowiz allows us very intimate looks at his thought processes, as well as both his successes and failures while running a sandbox type campaign in his unique setting.

I had a lot to say about this, but didn't want to entirely monopolize the comments section (although my two long posts probably did just that). After thinking about it some more last night, I think there are a lot of reasons this sort of thing happens. It happened back in 1979 when I started playing, and it happens to this day, which says as gamers (and humans) we haven't advanced much in the past three decades when it comes to trust issues. Because, when it all boils down to it, the DM/Player relationship, and really the entire gaming experience, comes down to trust.

Michael has a quote that really summed up (to me at least) the entire DM experience:

"I was hurt... hurt that after a year of playing together, after a tough game my players would think I would permanently fuck someone over with a no-win scenario."

I have been there, and I feel for him. Since we first started playing, being a DM to me seemed like a natural calling. I get my kicks out of creating the NPCs, the plots, the bad guys, the monsters, the settings, the worlds, that others adventure in....the lure of actually playing paled next to actually being the guy who pulled all the strings. So, my DM to Player ratio is surely something like 9 to 1, as I rarely enjoy sitting on the other side of the screen saving the princess...I want to be the one who locked her up to begin with! I think a lot of DMs are authors (frustrated or not) and DMing is a very cheap "fix" for us.

As a DM, I pride myself as being an impartial arbiter, although not always perfect (I think it's foolish to assume a DM can divorce all emotion from his game), I have trained myself over the years to be someone who REACTS to his players instead of GUIDES his players. Instead of deriving pleasure out of a by the book dungeon crawl, I've learned to find enjoyment at the differing ways players can confound expectations and sometimes accomplish a goal by a non-linear or unexpected route.

Now at this point I have to mention my middle brother, Rob. I've been DMing since 1979 or so, and my middle brother has been with me that entire time. And to this day, he STILL doesn't completely trust me as a DM not to screw him (or by extension the group) over!!!! Even when he KNOWS I've NEVER screwed him around "In play", EVER! I think a lot of it still comes down to the old "player vs DM" mentality that a lot of old-timers have fostered over the years, and the general nature of competitiveness the game brings out in us....especially since gaming so long with my brother, some battle scenarios literally come down to each of us trying to out-strategize the other (knowing each other's quirks quite well by now) and we sometimes accusing the other of using "out of game" knowledge to give the other an edge. If two people (related to each other!) who have gamed together over 30 years still have trust issues, it's no wonder they have cropped up in your game. Needless to say, we've grudgingly reached an impasse to where we trust the other, but are always ready to yell "Bullshit!" if something unkosher comes up on either side.

All these issues came together in one of my face to face campaign sessions (with my brother running a character). In a recent game, what I thought was going to be a really tough battle for a McGuffin that had a chance of falling into evil hands instead turned into a really tough battle....with the baddies having no chance of getting the McGuffin. For, you see, my intelligent players thought of a way to get the McGuffin (which in this case was an extremely powerful and evil sword) out of the dungeon and to a safehouse using teleportation, giving the ambushing baddies absolutely no chance to "win" even if they defeated the player characters. You see, I had been quite sure the players wouldn't give up their magical advantage by having the party mage leave the field of battle permanently (the teleport was one way with no method for return) just to make sure the baddies didn't have a chance to score the weapon. They did, surprising me, and in the battle that followed the party could rest assured that win or lose the baddies had NO CHANCE to come away with total victory (the PCs did win without the mage, btw, so the gamble paid off).

Anyway, this brings us back to trust. The players had to trust me as a DM (was I going to let their scheme to get the weapon out of evil's hands succeed, or would I screw them over by saying "Your teleport spell doesn't function here" or any number of ways to confound them?) and I had to trust them as players (down a powerful mage, were they going to accept the results of the battle if I stomped them dead, secure in the knowledge they had at least died to keep the weapon out of evil's hands, or would they cry and moan and accuse me of taking it out on them in revenge for them outthinking me?). Both sides had to have trust, and to our credit, it worked out quite dramatically, even if it was totally off the rails concerning every eventuality I had planned for (even down a mage, the characters triumphed over a white dragon and frost giant sorceress and her minions, with only one PC death).

It all came down to trust. I trusted they would take the results like men, since they had made the choice to be down a mage in the combat that followed; they trusted me not to dick them by either preventing their scheme from happening through some extraordinary DM bullshit, or take it out on them by proving "who was boss" in the combat that came after (oh, it would have been so easy to add another two white dragons to the combat....!). It worked out in their favor, but I have no doubt that had things turned nasty for them, they would have accepted the results and rolled up new characters.

The advantage our group had was that all the players are old school, experienced gamers. In Chgowiz's West Marches style campaign, there are no guarantees of that as anyone can show up for any session (I don't presume to know the experience of Michael's players, but the entire sandbox style is predicated on a hodgepodge of different player levels adventuring together). Part of the sandbox charm is the "anything can happen" vibe; however, this can also lead to lots of frustration, as the DM is not creating a railroad as much as he is just the conductor letting players get on their own train. If DM and Players are not on the same page in these sorts of situations, a lot of bad feelings can result.

The #1 thing to remember is communication. We've gone way past the days of "I'm the DM, you're the players, if I hit you with a 50 ton rock and kill you with no warning you just accept it and shut the hell up". That style was big back when you had a lot of really, really crap-ass DMs running around who were using this brand new game to feed their power mad egos; such DMs (at least BITD) ended up with bad reps and soon were only DMing groups of 13 year olds at the Rec Center once word got out. I love the ability to use the internet to post blogs and message boards about campaign history and doings; it is a great mechanism for addressing out of game concerns, and perhaps gently nudging players in the right direction, or giving them choices about what aspect of your campaign world interests them, and about what kind of game they are looking for (for example, if you are a fanatic about puzzle dungeons and your players are hack and slash fiends, someone isn't going to be having a very good time, it's nice to know that beforehand and plan around it).

Particularly in the case of a sandbox, which can contain numerous players with different levels of experience and attitudes about what constitutes a "fun" or "successful" adventure, communication is key. I thought Michael asked some really good questions about how he could improve his game, and gave some really good advice to his players in the aftermath of his game. Sometimes just unfamiliarity with a DM's style can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings...if you are used to a real DM vs PC type game, you might feel you have to constantly argue and pull out all the stops instead of trusting that certain DMs won't screw you over without giving you a fighting chance. If you are used to DMs who are a bit more lenient, it might be a total shock to be told "roll or die!" by a DM after being bitten by a poisonous snake (but, like, my last DM's snakes only had poison that made us dizzy!!!).

When I start a new campaign, using the power of blogspot, I try to set up a page dedicated to that campaign and lay out some of the ground rules....is it deadlier than most? More light hearted and heroic? Grim and gritty? If you choose to play a certain class or race will it impede your ability to succeed? I think this is one way to head off a lot of DM failure problems to begin with. If you are thinking "Dark Sun with even more attitude" and the player is thinking "D&D cartoon I wanna have a pet like Uni" before they even roll up a character, something's gotta give....

To be Continued....

More NTRPG Con Hints...

2010-02-25T08:47:00.003-06:00

"Behind-the-Scenes Cooperative Project: I can finally hint at this... This has been in the works for the last 6 months and is finally coming forward. It went from my desktop, to Andy Taylor, back to me, and then on to Journalizer (Lauren Hawkins). I cannot say much about it for now other than this is being worked on in concert with NTRPGCon's host and co-founder, Douglas Rhea and with further involvement at the primary level by a prominent ex-TSR artist. There will be an official announcement on this soon. I will tell you that it does involve a dragon and some castles... Much more in a couple of months. "

---From Rob Kuntz's "Lord of the Green Dragons" blog (http://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/)

Sometimes I wish I was attending NTRPG Con instead of helping to run it...sigh.....

BTW Joseph Browning of Expeditious Retreat Press is now running a Saturday morning session at NTRPG Con.

NTRPG Con Crashing Facebook

2010-02-18T20:30:00.005-06:00

Well, I gave in and created a Facebook page for the Con. Lord forgive me....but so far it hasn't been too much of an ass-whipping.

We are "North Texas RPG Con" on Facebook...link to us so we can spread the good word!

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=310434204630

NTRPG Con 2010: First Update

2010-01-23T22:15:00.003-06:00

Last year, defying all our own expectations, the first annual North Texas RPG Con was announced in February for that summer as a three day celebration of old school gaming. By June we had 60+ people signed up and a full fledged mini-con in session, with special guests including Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Paul Jaquays, Rob Kuntz, Dennis Sustare and artist Jason Braun. The point of the con was to prove we could get several dozen fans of old school D&D at a con featuring just old school gaming, and it worked. Over 50 attendees showed up for 14 events including OD&D, AD&D 1st Edition, Basic D&D, and Matt Finch's Sword and Wizardry. Attendees came from all over the world (the US plus Canada and the UK) and all events were completely booked up! (I had earlier predicted we MIGHT see a couple dozen gamers there!) Some of the highlights included releases of NTRPG Con logo versions of Goodman Game's Tomb of the Blind God, and the 1E version of DCC9 The Secret of Smuggler's Cove NTRPG version by Black Blade Publishing, a giant BBQ at co-founder Doug Rhea's house (Fresh meat for 50 people!), a tour of the Reaper Miniature's factory (thanks Gus!), and unbelievable support from the entire OSR and gaming community with treasure chests full of donated items including minis, modules, gamebooks, and more (all put in the raffle to offset costs). We lost a ton of money, but we proved it could be done, and I can safely say it was the highlight of my decade.

Where did we go from there? Having realized a small but loyal group of old school gamers would support a mini-con if properly run and promoted, we almost immediately started planning a bigger and better con for 2010. We quickly confirmed most of last year's guests and added Jim Ward and Steve Winters, two veterans of game design from the old days of TSR. We found a much larger and nicer venue (Staybridge Suites, with FIVE gaming rooms instead of the ONE gaming room we had to cram everyone in last year!). We planned more games, with another day on the schedule (Thursday) for 30+ events total (in contrast to last year's 14 events). We will have seminars and discussions in a lecture room at the hotel (the first scheduled is a seminar on module design featuring The Megadungeon). We have prevailed upon several new faces in the retro-clone, simulacrum and old school gaming industry to show up and run games, including Matt Finch (Swords & Wizardry http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/), Jon Hershberger and Allan Grohe (Black Blade Publishing http://black-blade-publishing.com/), Michael "Chgowiz" Shorten (Three Headed Monster Games http://thmgames.blogspot.com/), Richard McBain (Castles and Crusades http://www.trolllord.com/), Bill Barsh (Pacesetter Games http://pacesettergames.com/home), and many more. We basically pulled out all the stops to make this year's version of NTRPG Con even more like a "real" con and an essential stop for gaming grognards across the nation!

And we did this all before February of THIS year! Ahead of schedule, baby!

With registration for games opening February 1st this year, we are expecting double or triple the amount of attendees from last year, and look forward to once again spreading the word about classic RPGs to both the enlightened and the masses. On the first weekend in June 2010(the 3rd-6th) we hope to see anyone interested in old school gaming (particularly Dungeons and Dragons) in attendance at our hotel in Irving, Texas, reading to roll some polyhedral dice! This year not only includes the mixtures of old school games we had last year, many run by veterans of the scene, but other diversions:

Vendor Tables where OSR publishers will peddle their wares;

Open gaming room with lots of board games both donated and brought by attendees;

Tim Kask running two sessions of the chariot racing game "Circus Maximus";

Another raffle with some amazing prizes donated by the gaming community (including a Dragon Magazine #1, a copy of the hard to find Castle Zagyg, and a painted mini by renowned artist Angela Imrie);

An auction of several items both unusual and rare;

Several "themed" games, including Matt "Mythmere" Finch's SIX PART "Tower of Mythrus" Megadungeon scheduled to run once in every session, and Jon Hershberger's all-day Sunday (8 hour) game of Megadungeon exploration;

A surprise announcement that should take the old school publishing industry by storm;

And much more, etc etc. Besides Garycon, there exists few outlets for gamers who want to go to gaming conventions and not have to wade through many events involving cards, furries, Battletech minis, and the latest abomination from WOTC to get to a game they know and love. Here is a convention with ONLY the games you know and love! When a con is properly set up, each session you miss should drive you nuts, and this weekend surely delivers in this department.

The best part IMO is the low key atmosphere of the con, where you can suddenly find yourself sitting in a 3 hour conversation between game designers Paul Jaquays (Dark Tower, Caverns of Thracia) and Dennis Sustare (Bunnies and Burrows) in the hotel lobby, or having a 1 am meal at IHOP next to Frank Mentzer (TSR) and Tim Kask (Dragon magazine editor), both of which I was lucky enough to participate in last year. We did a great job of finding special guests with a historical overview of the hobby who are approachable, funny, and above all still interested in talking about their years in gaming with anyone interested.

http://www.ntrpgcon.com/

My Confession...

2009-12-21T20:17:00.004-06:00

I Confess...

Things have really been going well for me in the realm of D&D right now. My Skype game is continuing to meet weekly, and after a short holiday break will head into a section of my campaign world that is a huge re-write of one of my all time favorite classic modules. After a several month hiatus, my face to face group has met twice the last two weeks and finished one of my most challenging scenarios, setting up a bunch of unscripted (sandbox) stuff for the next few after holiday sessions. All in all, I do some work daily fleshing out both campaigns, and I love it. It's given my impetus to pull out some of my decade old campaign notes and go over them for themes I might work into my present adventures (which all take place on the same campaign world, Azura).
While researching some tidbits from my campaign world, I came across the game play notes to my first two campaigns set in the world of Azura, right after I had tentatively created it and fleshed out a small sandboxy section of islands to start out adventurers on. These 14 year old campaign notes show just how far my campaign world has come in the last decade and a half, and have re-ignited my imagination in my first adventuring area, a small island chain consisting of five large islands and dozens of smaller ones. The largest such island had a fairly large trading center and port, but the real action was on the smallest island in the chain, Tiranouq (all the islands in the chain were named after members of the original adventuring band that discovered and settled the chain about 100 years earlier). The small island had one village, Rotwood, and their main industry was gathering reeds and weaving baskets....seriously.
Of course, from this sort of setting, you would expect most adventurers to want to leave..immediately...and not spend a bit of time exploring their island. However, I had seeded about half a dozen possible adventuring sites there to give them experience and then head on to bigger and better things. The characters began this first ever campaign in my world as simple farmers, fishermen, and goatherds, but eventually left the island chain on a series of adventures that culminated a couple years later (real time) with them controlling a nearby island chain after wiping out the pirate lords that ruled there.
However, at the beginning, there was just a group of inexperienced kids who wanted to explore the old abandoned manor on the other side of the island (Cough---U1---Cough). They soon acquired a sponsor for their group, who was a retired mage of some power, who mentored the spell casters of the party by giving them spells and sundry one-shot magic items to assist them. Jaylen the mage was a respected elder and member of the town council, and the kind of guy who would let a young mage copy a spell out of his own spellbook for nothing.

Jaylen was also an evil demon worshipping lunatic....which leads to this confession.....

When I first created the island chain (called New Empyria) and Tiranouq, I did some work on a back story.....not that the characters would ever fully know the full ins and outs, but I wanted to create a place that was "real" to me and had a history I could use if the occasion arose. Part of this was very vague adventure hooks for all the islands, including Tiranouq. One hook was that an isle about a mile off the coast had a long abandoned mage's tower that no one on Tiranouq had ever investigated. It sat within an owlbear-infested forest. There was also rumored to be an evil druid there who guarded the tower from all intruders.
It was meant to be the kind of adventure hook that you mention to players who perhaps wait a few levels to follow up on (the presence of owlbears and an evil druid were the warnings they would have to gain some experience to find out the mysteries of the tower). Little did the characters know, but the seemingly jovial mage Jaylen was there on the small isle in the middle of nowhere specifically to get inside that tower....for the demonic knowledge involved. Long ago, he had learned of the existence of the tower, and the extensive library within, but his research also showed it had been protected by some ancient mage through traps and glyphs keyed to specific individuals...and Jaylen was one of these. His infamous reputation as a necromancer (forbidden in many societies) had led to several confrontations with minions of good. He was a well-known, feared and hunted mage throughout the empire, which caused him to maintain a low profile as a kindly old mage in this out of the way island, awaiting his chance to get inside the tower and increase his power.
After many thwarted attempts to get inside, he hit on a plan: take a group of young people, sponsor them, and have a homegrown adventuring group assault the tower, and since he was a trusted mentor and teacher, have them unwittingly retrieve the books he wanted that would lead to dangerous (for everyone else) knowledge of the summoning of demonic beings. The party was actually his second such attempt; in my history, I said an earlier group attempted it and was destroyed by the dangers of the island (and their bodies would have been found had the party ever gotten to the island).
However, players often take you in unexpected directions. For many reasons, this plotline was acknowledged but never followed up on as the party acquired a pirate ship early on, and decided to sail away to see the wide world (which was logical, since all they had ever known as characters was the boring life on Tiranouq). They never really made it back to the island, which (I said to myself off-screen) infuriated the mage Jaylen to no end.

After a couple of years, the original party was high enough level that we decided to begin another group with their henchmen and followers. The group was about half the original players and half newbies, so once again we started out in the comfy confines of the isle of Tiranouq and village of Rotwood, where the fledgling adventurers had been sent to be sponsored and mentored...by kindly old Kaylen the mage!
Once again Kaylen attempted to put his plan into action, appearing the friendly old sage, but subtly pushing adventurers to investigate that abandoned tower on the isle full of owlbears. Once again, when the party reached a certain level (after I ran the excellent Citadel by the Sea from Dragon mag) they decided to investigate other islands in the chain, and follow up on knowledge they had gathered of a group of slavers operating the nearby seas....so once again Kaylen watched helplessly as another possible group of mercenary muscle slipped out of his grasp....!
Thus, Kaylen is really the oldest plot device in my campaign world....going back 14 years, and never a player realized it. Hell, they didn't even suspect it in the least....Kaylen's helpful demeanor took both groups of players in hook, line and sinker back in the day, and I have no doubt that had they been high enough level to eventually investigate the tower, Kaylen would have managed to acquire his books of power and become a major baddie in my campaign world. Whew...what a burden off my back, confessing this!

As for Kaylen, to fail once (the pre-campaign group that was killed) was annoying. To be thwarted twice in his gathering of patsies was very upsetting. To be turned down three times was maddening. If I was to play him again with another beginning group, I think I would make him just a bit more desperate and "hands on" trying to get the party to the island, merely because he has been waiting so long for his chance....
So, my confession, to anyone who gamed with me back in the years of 1996-2001 or so, was that the kindly old mage Kaylen who mentored you, gave you mage scrolls, and was always available to help out with potions of healing or just sage advice in general, was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Better you guys headed out into the wide world of adventure than be taken in by him and unknowingly fetch for him the ancient tomes of evil he would use to possibly destroy Rotwood, Tiranouq, and perhaps the world beyond.
That being said, maybe it's time to dust off the old campaign notes of Rotwood and the Isle of Tiranouq, and give poor old evil Kaylen yet another shot!!!

Holiday Gaming

2009-11-23T13:52:00.002-06:00

While most thoughts this time of year turn to family, friends, and food (not to mention football), the holidays were known for quite awhile in my family (from about 1979 to 1990 or so) as a time to game. After discovering D&D and RPGs in general in the late 70s, every stay at home holiday (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, Spring Break/Easter) when school wasn't in session turned into massive roleplaying exercises. You see, school would often but a crimp in our plans to game 24/7 so we used the time off to shove as much gaming in as humanly possible. One year, I think 1980 (being too young to drink) we started gaming about 6 pm New Year's Eve and didn't finish until sometime the next afternoon. I even remember the session, because it was one of the few non-TSR adventures I ran (a mash up of the High Fantasy modules Moorguard and Fortress Ellendar) and degenerated into a near punch-up when my middle brother was captured by orcs and they were debating whether to castrate him or not, and he (and his tied and bound character) great objected to this treatment (ahh, holiday memories!!!)

Holiday gaming took on an even bigger aspect in the 80s. In 1981 my brothers and mother moved 800 miles away, and when I went to college I only saw them during the holidays. Unfortunately the very small town my family moved to had a huge dearth of anyone interested in RPGs, so it was left to me and my visits during the holidays to bring gaming to my brothers and their friends. When I got into town for the Thanksgiving or Christmas season, we would literally game non-stop for days (ditto when my brothers came to visit me during those same periods). Often they had friends stop by to game with us, as I was a "REAL DM" from the big city, a fact I was inordinately proud of when one of my brothers would introduce me to the few eager fellows they had recruited to play. The gaming was mostly one-shot as we didn't have the means to do any campaign related stuff, so I still to this day recall weekend-long sessions running I2 Tomb of the Lizard King, the classic X4/X5 Expert "Desert Nomad" series, and the Call of Cthulhu campaign Shadows of Yog-Sothoth. A couple times we squeezed in Top Secret sessions using the Orient Express adventure pack (Top Secret was a great one shot adventure game, especially for those not familiar with roleplaying, because everyone has seen a Bond movie or two and wants to be a superspy, and shoot someone in the head). Several times the entire neighborhood (which consisted of maybe 5 other kids) stayed the night at my mom's house during Christmas or Spring Break vacation so that I could run a group through Temple of Death with just a break or two to eat thanksgiving turkey leftovers or Christmas pies and cookies. A couple kids in the neighborhood either had no family or very indifferent families (one friend of my middle brother had parents that had disappeared on a fishing trip years earlier, feared drowned, and he practically lived at my mom's house most of the year). I think those kids looked forward to my holiday visits and promise of escape into fantasy worlds as much as my brothers did.

In an earlier post I talked about a great Call of Cthulhu game run during holiday sessions, and we often ran one shots from The Asylum or Cthulhu Companion adventure packs. If we paused to contemplate the irony of rushing through our family Thanksgiving dinner so we could hurry back to butcher slimy Deep Ones and be eaten alive by shoggoths or have brains blasted to goo by Things Not Meant To Be, I don't remember. The best session we ever had was one of the last ones...the first year my brothers and family had moved back here, we decided to run a one-shot of B1 In Search of the Unknown. I made my brothers roll three 6 sided dice in order, old school, with the results of one brother running a functioning idiot (Int and Wis together about 10 pts total) and the other with a 90 year old priest (he said he was 90 because his Str and Con were about 4 pts each). The first character was so stupid my brother had him roll for his equipment randomly, which led him to bringing a cat (stuffed in his pouch) along for the dungeon crawl, and using a hammer (not a lucern or war hammer, just a....hammer) as a weapon. High point of the crawl was a desperate battle with orcs, which led my brother to take out the cat and throw it in the face of a surprised orc...and with it's claw,claw, bite, promptly rip the unlucky humanoid's throat out and cause the rest of the orcs to check morale and retreat at the "magical demon" the fighter had unleashed! We were laughing and hollering so loud during the entire game, we were getting dirty looks from the rest of the family engaged in more "genteel" pursuits on Christmas Eve (the only time we got dirtier looks was when we watched Reservoir Dogs one Christmas Eve on the big TV in the living room, but that's another story.....)

Looking back on it, gaming was something we had enjoyed together before our parent's separation, and being together for the holidays gave us a chance to bond as brothers in a way we understood. Some families have touch football games, drinking bull sessions, card games or watching sports as a "bonding" activity during these times....we did the same except we bonded with a fighter and mage destroying an evil temple and rescuing a large amount of gold and jewelry. The most natural thing in the world!

As we got older and my family moved back into my hometown, we didn't game as much during the holidays as we once did. Since we could see each other much more often, the urgency to cram as much gaming into the holiday period as possible wasn't there. Particularly when wives and kids became part of the picture, the RPG sessions we had enjoyed have become family game sessions (Trivial Pursuit is my favorite because I never lose, Scene It and Cranium are popular, but the kids love Apples to Apples and it's become somewhat of a Christmas Eve tradition). I sure do miss the day, weekend, and sometimes week-long RPG sessions of the 80s holidays though, when we didn't have a care in the world except which game session and adventure to use next!

Non-Standard Critters For Fun and Profit

2009-10-23T16:35:00.004-05:00

Nothing like the look on a player's face when you are playing a "traditional" game of D&D and they run into an "iconic" creature like, say, a troll, or a mummy, or a minotaur, that doesn't perform "by the book" (the spellcasting troll, the fire resistant mummy, the poison gas breathing minotaur, etc). Stats should be a baseline; a good gamemaster takes the ball from there and runs it in for the touchdown.

In my own campaign world, I do this all the time. I have dozens of types of skeletons and zombies; jungle stirges; arctic owlbears; a score of poisonous snakes (based on real life examples like the black mamba and fer de lance) each whose poison has differing effects; various varieties of iron cobras (some giant sized), spell-casting ogres, and much more. I know there is nothing "original" about this, but I have always disliked the player who memorized the Monster Manual to the point of a rabid zoologist and always knew the EXACT spell to counter any monster (which is the best time to mention that a blessed crossbow bolt does SQUAT to rakshasas in my world.....!) When I created my own campaign world, I gave certain monsters the "week off" (there are very few hobgoblins, bugbears and drow) and instead concentrated on more varied undead, climatical varieties of regular creatures (arctic owlbears and snakes, jungle stirges and ogres, desert spiders, swamp landsharks, etc), and intelligent spellcasting gargoyles, spectres and dopplegangers. I also allow monsters to pick up and use items like any other schlub. Why wouldn't a halfway intelligent creature pick up that glowing sword or shield instead of leaving it sitting on that sack of gold? The dead adventurer was wearing this pretty ring? I'm putting it on...hey, I'm invisible!

Confounding player's expectations is really doing them (and you) a favor. If a character in my campaign sees a giant of any type and assumes ANYTHING other than it looks mean, powerful, and could have something up it's sleeve this side of a vorpal blade, they have only themselves to blame when the "simple" hill giant begins beating the tar out of them using a girdle of Storm Giant strength...or begins casting a fireball at the party standing out of missile weapon range. Presuming to know the DM's world (or mind) without empirical evidence can get you dead really fast in my campaigns.

One of my favorite encounters was many years ago in some campaign or another I ran, as a band of adventurers was trudging across the wilderness and came across a kobold sitting on a fence post. He eyed the approaching group but did nothing to move or hide (a warning right there). In the middle of nowhere, the heavily scarred critter exuded toughness and had a gleaming sword hanging on a scabbard at it's side. Veterans of my campaigns knew something was up, so they gave the grizzled warrior a nod and wave and continued on. Newbies were looking at the vets with mouth agape..."It's a kobold, for crying out loud! Free XP! Let's get 'em!" as their characters rushed to what they thought would be easy pickens.

A few rounds later, the 10th level kobold warrior having viciously thrashed the sadder but wiser newbies (being careful not to kill them lest he raise the ire of the other adventurers), he paused to spit on the ground and pointed to the pile of groaning bodies. "These idiots belong to you?" he snarled. The unbeaten party members smiled, shrugged and nodded as he strolled on, his rest spoiled. The players learned a valuable lesson that served them well: appearances can be deceiving, and don't base your expectations on what is in-between the covers of the MM. They soon learned that while the MM provides a baseline description, in my campaign world, it pays to be cautious.

Here is a very heavily edited chart I sometimes use when I want to spring a little surprise using a iconic D&D critter. I usually just use it when I'm working on a unique encounter or trying to create a "boss" type with a little more "oomph". It's not the quality of a James Raggi Random Esoteric Creature Generator, but it does the job:

Breathes Fire (3-18 pts, cone 10 feet long at base)
Has Shocking Grasp (1-8 electrical damage per touch)
Poisonous breath (cloud 10x10x10, sv vs poison or die, immune to own breath)
Spellcaster (mage or priest of 1st-5th level)
Touch causes disease (as 3rd level AD&D spell)
Immune to attack form (Cold, Fire, Poison, En/Charm, etc)
Uses a magic weapon in combat
Uses missile weapons in combat
Reflects magic on caster
Smarter than the average bear
Uses magic item (ring, potion, amulet, etc)
Unusual alliance

For unusual powers like the above, I use the "touched by the gods" explanation in my campaign. In certain creatures, powers develop that mean that one is favored by the gods (may or may not be, it may be a mutation due to any reason) and they are often at the top of the food chain (natural leaders) of their group. Sometimes, however, their unusual powers make them outcasts and they will be found by themselves in a secluded lair, nursing their hatred at the world.

Breathes fire: self explanatory, can use once a round or turn;

Shocking grasp: can either turn it off or it is an continuous effect;

Poisonous breath: again, once a round or turn;

Spellcaster: Creature is particularly intelligent or wise (15-18) for it's kind, and has access to a spellbook and training or worships a god that answers it's call;

Touch causes disease: as the cleric spell, usually a worshipper of Bacaris (the god of Disease and Filth in my campaign, he often gives this boon to his worshippers hoping to spread plague)

Has a magic weapon: Got it from a foe defeated in battle or found it in a treasure horde;

Immune to a special attack form: choose randomly or use to confound expectations ( a troll immune to fire, for example, or a fire giant immune to cold);

Reflect magic: Only for "targeted" spells like Magic Missile or can expand to area spells;

Use Missile weapons: Many creatures would benefit from being able to fire a bow or even throw a spear or two before combat;

Smarter than the average bear: unlike most of it’s kind, the creature is a natural and cunning leader, of higher wisdom/intelligence, and is able to do some abstract thinking, use sophisticated battle tactics, and create devious traps/ambushes;

Uses a magic item: gathered from a defeated foe or found in a treasure horde;

Unusual alliance: has overcome it’s natural bestial hatred or hunger for others and entered into a mutually beneficial alliance with another creature.

Examples of each that could spice up your game and confound player expectations:
A Minotaur with fire breath
A Mummy with a shocking grasp
A Naga with poisonous breath (in addition to or in lieu of its poisonous bite)
A Medusa who is a 3rd level mage with Charm Person, Magic Missile, and Invisibility
A Carrion Crawler whose tentacles cause disease instead of/in addition to paralyzing
A Wolfwere with a +2 longsword
A Troll immune to non-magical weapons
A Spectre that reflects magic
A group of Gargoyles that uses longbows before they fly to attack
A Displacer Beast who is a genius of it’s kind….a leader of the pack extraodinaire, it has turned the other beasts into a well-trained fighting force; they use tactics like ganging up on one character to kill them before moving to another, bounding past fighters to attack spellcasters, and setting ambushes in the caves where they lair (aided by howls and barks of the genius Beast)
A Lamia with a ring of fire resistance and a potion of extra healing
A pair of Dopplegangers who have formed an alliance with a Deathkiss beholder. They wait in the wilderness and take on the appearance of a merchant and his mule being attacked by the deathkiss. As soon as the party engages the deathkiss and attempts to rescue the “merchant and beast”, the pair will attack by surprise.

It goes without saying that such unusual permutaions shouldn't be overused, lest your campaign become a "random monster" session and lose a lot of credibility. If every goblin, orc and werewolf is wielding a magic sword, wand of paralyzation and firing lasers from their frikken eyes, the campaign starts to resemble a particularly jokey version of Gamma World or Mutant Future. I also like to leave some sort of small clue that "not everything is quite kosher" to train your players to be more observant. Perhaps the bodies in the minotaur's lair are burned beyond recognition, or the one survivor of the medusa's fury says "she appeared out of nowhere, I swear!" while recovering at the local inn.

Remember to bump that XP reward, while you're at it!

NTRPG Con: 2010 Guest List Set!

2009-10-19T09:28:00.001-05:00

Here it is, not even October and all guests have confirmed for the North Texas RPG Convention June 3-6, 2010 in Dallas (all the info can be found here: http://www.ntrpgcon.com/). Last year, this tiny gaming con took the old-school world by storm by having Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Paul Jaquays, and Dennis Sustarre come to a La Quinta in Bedford, TX to game and hang out with a handful (50+) of old school devotees. Most of the con goers were members of The Acaeum and Dragonsfoot, with a few curious bystanders, and were excited to play almost non-stop OD&D, 1E and B/X events throughout the weekend.

Except for Gary Con (http://www.garycon.com/ ) there exists few conventions nowadays devoted exclusively to old school gaming. NTRPG Con was brainstormed up one fine day as a way for old-school gamers to get together and share the game they love without having to dodge Magic cards, LARPs, pirate-dressed wanna be actors, and the latest "Game Du Jour" put out by WOTC or whoever. All the guys running games (which last year included Black Blade Publishing's Jon Hershberger and Allan Grohe) know the score and sometimes the choice of playing in an event is downright nervewracking (Friday night, should I go through El Raja Key DM'd by Rob Kuntz? Tim Kask's newly written OD&D adventure Temple of the Weaver Queen? Or Frank Mentzer's adventure in his classic game world of Emphyria? Arrggggh!)

This year, we've expanded the action by a day to accommodate even more old school goodness, and have finalized our lineup of special guests for 2010. Joining Tim Kask, Rob Kuntz, Paul Jaquays, Dennis Sustarre and Jason Braun (artist extraordinaire) from last year are Steve Winter and Jim Ward. Jim's name is well known in old school circles as the creator of Metamorphosis Alpha and has had his presence in gaming since the beginning, his Tainted Lands setting has just been released by Troll Lords; Steve Winter worked at TSR for 20 years spanning the EGG era through the beginnings of 3rd edition D&D. Both gentlemen will be a great addition to the present lineup and we can't wait to meet both! (Due to other circumstances, Frank Mentzer won't be able to make the con this year, and we hope to have him back again for a con in the future).

For those not in the know, the guests at NTRPG Con are not required to run games (although most happily do); all we ask is that they be accessable to con members and mingle. Guests were often seen (when not running games) in the eating area of the hotel discussing many events (the epic several hour conversation between old friends Paul Jaquays and Dennis Sustarre was witnessed and participated in by many con members not gaming at the time; one of my personal high points of the con!!!) Having a bite to eat at the local Denny's with Tim and Frank late Saturday night (actually, early Sunday morning) was also a treat. Lots of stories and reminisces were shared and the entire activity becomes an incredible experience for anyone interested in the history of the hobby.

In addition to our guests we have had commitments by Sword & Wizardry's Matt Finch (http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/), Black Blade Publishing (http://black-blade-publishing.com/), Pacesetter Games (http://pacesettergames.com/), and Troll Lord (publishers of Castles & Crusades) to run games at NTRPG Con. We are also open to accepting other old school games and gamemasters as space opens up. I wish this was next week! I'm ready to go today!

Magic Item Junkie

2009-10-08T11:31:00.003-05:00

Thinking back on it, yeh, I'm a magic item junkie. I love endless variety in my magic items, as I figure mages in my world are of endless variety themselves and would naturally create magic unfettered by any boundaries. So, for example, instead of the usual 35 varieties of magic potions given on the standard 2E random chart, my jiggered chart in my heavily adapted 2E Core Rules CD set gives 90! Rings, 84 varieties instead of 34; Wands, 32 varieties instead of 19. This isn't even counting a lot of non-standard type magic items I have occur in my campaigns that are just simple variations on existing items (Bracers of Invisibility and Necklaces of Protection from Missiles are two that crop up quite a bit in my world). It's safe to say that players in my campaigns have absolutely no clue what they have found when they find a ring in a treasure horde that detects magical....it could do everything from protect against disease, allow you to understand any language, let you polymorph into a giant, to give you the simplest of protection (the humble +1 Ring of Protection). I'm also a huge fan of unique, individual items...it's safe to say a typical party of adventurers in my world won't have standard magical items and won't look like the typical party of adventurers in anyone else's world, which is a good thing. Nothing more boring than a ranger equipped with a +1 long sword, +2 shield, +1 long bow and Boots of Striding and Springing; my player's ranger would probably have a +1 long sword that speaks giantish, a long bow of distance, Shield +1/+2 vs missiles, and a Horn of Wolf Summoning. I just can't help but goose up the magic items one way or another to make them interesting and just the littlest bit more useful than the "average" magic item.

My philosophy on placing magic is probably not grognard tested (or approved), but generally, the weakest examples of magic items (+1 weapons, +1 rings of protection, +1 armor) are not uncommon. I figure some smart leader type centuries ago got a mage school to pump these out on a fairly regular basis to arm his minions; through the intervening period, these weapons have fallen into the hands of much "common" folk. Actually, that's pretty much what DID happen in my campaign world almost 2000 years ago when the Overlord's army threatened to over run the entire world; he literally had hundreds of mages (and priests, for that matter) loyal to his cult churning them out assembly line fashion to arm his followers. After the Cataclysm, these weapons have indeed found their way into various treasure hordes scattered across the planet. In my campaigns, it's fairly easy to determine you have come across a magical weapon or armor; they are the only ones in the treasure hordes that haven't aged and look new once they have been handled and polished off a little. Their individual powers might be a bit harder to figure out, although if grasped most magical items in my world will let the wielder know it's powers or purpose (kind of a bummer when the item is evil in intent, whoops).

It's not out of the question to figure every village or town across my world has one or two village elders with a magical weapon or device squirreled away for an emergency. The trick is to make the +2 and higher weapons much, much rarer in context. Not only are they a factor harder to find, but almost every weapon of +2 and above is a "unique" weapon with a special power or two (even if the special power is only to create Light '30 radius or speak a language). So, if you enter a good-sized town and notice all the guard commanders have at least a +1 sword, be assured that only the Leader of the Guard will have something as esoteric as a Flaming Longsword or talking sword that also detects magic and alignment. So, while everyone in one of my campaigns may possess at least one +1 weapon by 3rd level, getting anything better than that prior to 5th-7th level may be quite problematic (unless the characters happen to defeat a group of adventurers of higher level, or specifically hunt down a long-lost treasure horde rumored to contain a magic weapon or two of high quality).

It also must be noted at although I dearly love different types of variations on magic items, I don't favor "powerful" types of magic. I generally stick to items that have one or two intriguing functions that are not game changing, but that may affect the game in various ways. That, and the aforementioned "tweaking" an item to so something "standard" (i.e., invisibility) in a non-standard form. How the characters use an item that has probably never come up in their play before is one of the things that really interest me as a DM and as a student of the game. Everyone has been in a campaign with a +1 Cloak of Protection; how about a cloak that lets you assume the form of a stalagmite when the hood is put over your head? (one of the non-standard items in my campaign). I enjoy seeing what the clever player can bring to the table when give an item like that that takes them a bit out of the their "typical magic item" comfort zone.

Now, I don't cater to party expectations and sometimes the characters must adapt to the weapons or items they have found, or use something they are not proficient with in order to wield a magical weapon. For example right now one of my current adventuring parties (everyone 3-4 level) has everyone wielding at least one +1 weapon (well, except for a priest who is only proficient in the sling, club and mace and hasn't stumbled across anything), although the thief isn't proficient in the magical dagger she has found, and the druid just this level gained proficiency in a magical spear he was toting for an entire adventure. A few times in the past I specifically placed weapons for characters, and I felt "dirty" afterwards....as if I was injecting far too much of my own bias in the proceedings. Since then, I've let the chips (or magical items/weapons) fall as they may, and it's much more fun to watch the characters adapt to what they find rather than the other way around. Sometimes players slog through a dungeon only to be rewarded with several items they cannot use (say, Robes of Shadow or Rings of Bone, which are evil in purpose, or esoteric like a +3 Maul or halfling-sized +3 banded mail). Sometimes, however, that's where the fun begins as players must figure out how to make a profit off such items, either by finding someone to sell it or trade it to. My caution would be if you play in my campaigns don't expect to be fully outfitted in magical gee-gaws by 5th level (or at least, the magical goodies you EXPECT to find).

Anyway, this is a roundabout way of saying that to this day I add to my custom stock of magical items in my Core Rules CD rom program on a weekly basis, whenever I come across something in the four volume Encyclopedia Magica (fantastic resource for ANY edition) or while thumbing through an older Dragon, Polyhedron, or random fantasy oriented mag or rules system (like Rolemaster or Runequest). Some unique or interesting items may only rarely come up as part of a random treasure horde, while others might fit the personality or aims of a NPC character so perfectly they just belong with him or her. Whether or not the party can use the item is somewhat immaterial to me; I know in the past (particularly in the classic TSR "letter" series of modules in the late 70s and early 80s) magical items were placed with a purpose (Dungeon Design Tip #101, so to speak). For example, anyone hack and slashing through the classic G-series will, by the successful completion of G1, have not one but TWO flaming swords as well as a sword of Giant Slaying! (nice of Nosnra to keep that lying around.) I do enjoy the frisson that accompanies finding a not so standard item; sometimes players are flummoxed when they are confronted with an item that doesn't fit their preconceived notions of past dungeon play. So who gets the Bracers of Missile Protection? No previous paradigm exists for most of the oddball items that I toss into the campaign, so a lot of times it causes a new dynamic to emerge. Thieves, who are almost always presented with a Ring of Invisibility in a treasure horde, are often reluctant to instead take a pair of Boots of Invisibility (what if Boots of Elvenkind pop up later?). Mages presented with the aforementioned Bracers of Missile Protection will be in a quandary when Bracers of AC 4 are discovered; a fighter who wins a flaming longsword in battle might be loathe to give up his +1 weapon, since it also has the ability to detect invisibility '10 and can speak elvish, dwarvish and orcish. Even more so the truly non-standard items I introduce such as Pooky the Bear (detailed below) that anyone can use.

Anyway, I do so love the non-standard magic item, and today while flipping through a random mag while on the throne (Polyhedron #58 from 1991, the Magic Item Contest Winners column they used to run every year) I found a few more to add to my data base. Here they are below if you want to throw a curveball into your own campaigns!

Weapon:
Warstar of the Manticore: Several of these morning stars, +1, are believed to exist. However, scholars believe most owners of these weapons do not realize they have more than a melee weapon. Upon command, a Warstar of the Manticore releases 1d6 spikes at any one target. The spikes have a range of a light crossbow and instantly replace themselves. the wielder must make one "to hit" roll, adjusted for range, for the volley of spikes. The wielder gains the Warstar's +1 "to hit" bonus and any bonus he normally would be entitled to for high dexterity (the Warstar's enchantment negates dexterity penalties). The spikes can be released up to four times a day (thanks to Michael Madden)

Apparel:
Rock Robe: This average looking garment radiates a strong aura of alteration magic, if such is detected for. When first donned, nothing unusual happens, as the robe takes 24 hours to attune itself to its new owner. After that time its powers become known to the owner. The robe has two powers, each usable at will. The first allows the wearer to become a statue, similar to the 7th level wizard spell of the same name; no system shock roll is required, and the effect can be maintained indefinitely. The wearer can change back and forth between his flesh form and statue, with each change requiring one round. No other action scan be taken during the transformation.
The second power is immunity to petrification. Further, the robe can be used to return a petrified individual to flesh after it has attuned itself to that person for 24 hours. The robe only functions when worn, and it is useable by any character class (thanks to Gary Watkins)

Protection Item:
Pooky the Bear: This protection device is unique and was created by a high level mage for his children. This huggable, lovable stuffed bear looks like a typical toy animal, However, when held somewhere on the body, Pooky acts like a +3 Ring of Protection. In addition, if held while slumbering, the owner is surrounded by a Protection From Enemies 3 foot radius. This protection ends as soon as the owner awakes. While sleeping, the owner is prevented from suffering bad dreams. Because of the restful nature of sleep while slumbering with the bear, hit points are restored at twice the normal rate.

(Pooky came from a oddball published module whose name I can't recall...I changed it up a bit and inserted it into an adventure I ran BITD. My brother's tough as nails high level dwarven fighter came into possession of it, and would wear it stuffed under his armor into battle. Despite a lot of ribbing he kept the item and was probably the only name level Dwarven fighter ever to run into battle screaming "For Pooky!" with a stuffed bear head peeking out over the top of his plate mail....!)

More Fun With Skype!

2009-10-01T12:22:00.003-05:00

Last friday night was our fourth session in a row with my Skype campaign. It was the best so far, mostly because I didn't drop out once (replaced a cable on my computer that was crimped, I believe that was the culprit) and the party reached a conclusion of sorts to their first real "dungeon" adventure on the jungle isle of Delos. They managed to defeat a far superior foe under tough circumstances, basically destroying a minor demon with the party only in the 2-3rd level range, with only one slight casualty (the npc fighter was hurled against a wall and knocked unconcious during the climatic battle, going to negative HP before being aided). Good show!
The party is really coming together, and it's always a magical moment for the DM when the players seem to "click" and everyone realizes their roles in the party...the thief/mage started hiding behind the burly fighter types to cast spells and shoot arrows, the cleric held his holy symbol and turned all the undead in sight, the druid began exploring the uses of his many spells when underground and battling mostly undead instead of outdoors battling living creatures, and the fighters, well they did what they do best. A lot less of "Everyone grabs a weapn and rushes up to whack the enemy" we saw in the first few sessions. I'm having a blast and the players seem to be having fun also.
While simplistic, Gametable has done just fine with the basics online (graph paper, drawing walls, pogs for representations of characters, monsters, trees, etc, dice rolling macros). I wish it had a few more features but right now it's performed admirably. Now that I replaced my cable, I had my first "drop free" session which helped quite a bit with the flow of the game....and might have hurt the players a little, they are used to having extra time to discuss strategy when I dropped out every 10 minutes or so for sixty secords or more!
I do miss some aspects of fact to face gaming...the minis, drawing out the rooms on the battle board, using my Dwarven Forge walls, being able to see the player's faces and react to that when I spring something on them, being able to easily show them visual representations, etc. However, Skype still remains IMO the best vehicle for gaming when everyone is scattered across the world, and has allowed us to have a 3-4 hour session four weeks in a row. For comparison, we haven't gamed in my face to face campaign since May, and even though it's been going for almost three years, have only managed back to back weeks one time (we are lucky to get once a month in at the best of times!)
My favorite part of the recent campaign (set on a steamy tropical jungle isle, and very reminiscent of pulp "Lost civilization" type adventures) was the last session when the party, who had successfully managed to deal with undead shadows, ghouls, zombies; poisonous snakes (the druid reasoned with the giant bushmaster snake and got him to leave!), tigers, and bloodthirsty native warriors....were almost wasted by....giant rats!
After clearing a room out of a bunch of ghouls, the party forced open a door that led a to a previously unexplored area. After entering, hordes of rabid giant rats began pouring out of a small pit it in the room. Two blown throws of oil vials later, the rats were swarming the party as I rolled 19's and 20's and covered the characters with bite after bite from the menaces. Finally, someone was able to get a pool of oil lit in front of the door and cut off reinforcements, just in time for the "king rat" (I described him as a rat as big as a potbelly pig, shades of Stephen King's short story "Night Shift") to show up and squeak a challenge. Just as they finished him off, a pair of ghouls returned from behind (whoops) with a Ghast leader, and the ghast quickly downed the two party fighters with paralyzing bites!
Suddenly, with the party's two fighters down to paralyzation, and still wounded from the attacking giant rats, (not to mention a rat as big as a pig gnawing on them), it looked reeeealy touch and go for a few minutes. I was down to deciding which character the ghast would choose as a "snack" after everyone went down, when the three remaining party members managed to hold off the undead just long enough for the paralyzed fighters to recover and rejoin the combat. That was a hard won battle, and in some ways was closer to a TPK than the later battle with a Shadow Fiend in the heart of the temple. Every campaign it seems has a moment early on when things are touch and go but the party pulls it out, and this gives them confidence for what lies ahead; this was definitely that moment!
Anyone wanting to keep track of the Isle of Delos Skype campaign (be warned, there's not much dialogue and it's more a "Just the facts, ma'am" type blog), the link is below:

http://delosdark.blogspot.com/

The Anti-Sandbox Sandbox Pt. 2

2009-09-25T12:52:00.004-05:00

So, since my first work on this way back in April, I've finished the first level of my megadungeon, had an adventure in my megadungeon, found a town/village I want to use, drawn a map for my sandbox area of 270 x 150 miles, and started fleshing out lots of areas. I am not getting too detailed on anything as I want this to be mostly seat of the pants, although I am recycling and borrowing a lot of "set piece" dungeons I can plop into the wilderness, both for my own enjoyment and hopefully to tweak the old school memories of players. So far I have taken a lot of the old Dragon contest winner dungeons of the early 80s and plopped them into locales...Forest of Dread, Citadel by the Sea, and Mechica await discovery within my sandbox area!

Just to update my purpose here, I wanted an easier, quicker adventure setting to run when my group couldn't get together, or I had random people populating my gaming table and didn't want to include them in my regular campaigning. Something quick but fun that I could pull out and run at a moment's notice, but enough "fiddly bits" that it would amuse me. I use 2E, with lots of fiddly bits, so I streamlined it down to a manageable set of rules, limited characters and races to mostly archetypes, and tried to get character creation quick and simple. While not as easy as running, say, Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord, I was able (with help from friends who took on character creation to work out the kinks) to get it down to 5-15 min (5 min for a simple fighter, 15 min for a paladin which had more decisions to make that I thought for his creation). With some practice I think I can streamline it even more. I'll have more on my rules systems, character types, etc in later posts. I tried to use as many random charts and lists as I could for ease of character creation, while allowing some choice. I just didn't want to bog down the process too much, while still keeping some of the aspects I enjoy about my own campaign world and the home brew rules system I use.

For the first adventure, I was able to write up about 40 rooms in the SE corner of my megadungeon (which, btw, in my search for simplicity is taken entirely from the classic D&D Dungeon Geomorph tile sets!) with the use of random charts and my imagination, and decided to wing it if they went any farther (I wasn't too worried, they were all first level and wouldn't survive too deeply into the depths). I'll have to think of a catchy name for the dungeon; for right now, it's the "Dungeon in the Desert". Here's the reason why, plus the initial set up:

On the edge of town, in front of the watchtower of the church of Kazull, stands a gate that leads to an underground dungeon. The dungeon is apparently vast and ancient, and is in some other part of the world, as those who have made it to the surface speak of a vast desert area (unlike the sylvan wilderness where the village and environs are located). The dungeon is located underneath ancient ruins, in a desolate sand desert with temperatures 100 degrees or more. Nearby, on the surface, is a stronghold of the evil priesthood of Inari, but the priests curiously show little interest in adventurers or the ruins. There is a small oasis nearby, but nothing else for many miles except for rock, sand and waste. Explorers say that if you travel far enough you get to the tall and unscaleable walls of some massive cliffs, surrounding on all sides, indicating the entire location is in a rift.

The gate was found one day several years ago. It apparently appeared out of thin air, as it was visible one morning on the outskirts of town. Curiosity drove many to investigate, where they found it led to some underground cavern. However, the gate is two way and soon fell creatures began emerging to terrorize the townfolk. The local authorities appealed to their duke for help, and he sent several troops to deal with the menace. They realized they were over their head as the creatures kept emerging. Responding to entreaties for aid, soon the church of Kazull built a temple in front of the gate to deal with any emerging creatures. They were joined by the priesthoods of Nythiir and Vistna who also set up nearby temples. War with humanoids and evil barbarians took up much of the duke’s time and men the last decade, so little could be spent fortifying the gate area. However, the gate began to attract visitors in the form of adventurers, and they were able to keep the monster population controlled, along with the help of the various priesthoods.

The dungeon dates from pre cataclysmic days and is the source of much treasure. It also is the source of many creatures of evil temperament. Since the mysterious gate opened, many gems, rare art, and magic has been brought out. However, many adventurers have entered never to return. Others have emerged rich beyond belief. Your destiny awaits!

The three priesthoods mentioned, btw, are the three main branches of religion that can be followed by PCs, and each church has a few special abilities available to their priests (Kazull-Battle, Nythiir-Healing, Vistna-Knowledge). Anyway, I've always wanted a deserted, forlorn, isolated setting, and the Dungeon in the Desert does this, while leaving escape back to a cozy and comfortable tavern and village if they make it back to the gate in one piece. I haven't worked out a ton of the logistics, but I figure the gate is a hazy shimmering in the air about 12 feet high, roughly oval in shape, surrounded by a small constructed archway/entrance (so some poor farmer or sheep herd or drunk doesn't stumble through on their way out of town by accident). Probably a contingent of city guardsmen and a few random priests in hastily constructed stone or wooden buildings about 100 yds away in case something nasty happens to stumble through from the other side. A small "waiting" area where people can hang out (or camp out) while waiting for friends or companions that have entered, or where loners can mill about looking for a possible group who is short on members, or other single adventurers like themselves, to join up with and try their hand at finding treasure and adventure. Perhaps at one time vendors and salesmen set up makeshift tents nearby to sell food and supplies to adventurers, but I've decided they are no longer allowed due to several incidents (plus, the shopkeepers in town protested vigorously as they were losing business to these fly by nighters). City guardsmen gruffly enforce the "move along, nothing to see here" attitude by knocking down any structures put up and arresting anyone selling items outside the walls of the town.

The first approach goes something like this: the PCs approach the gate area from the village, walking slowly to the hill where the tower of the Kazullian priesthood stands like a lone sentinel against whatever might emerge from the shimmering gate. As they get closer, a couple of adventurer types, covered with sweat, blood and dirt, walk past them, too exhausted to raise a hand in greeting as they head for the village to spend whatever gold or gems they found in the depths on drink, healing, sleep and a bath, in that order. A hundred yards away from the gate the makeshift wooden and stone buildings show some activity as priests and off-duty guardsmen mill about, fixing something on a pot suspended over a fire. A small knot of city guardsmen near the gate throw dice and laugh at the results as the players file past them to the waiting area. A few unsavory looking thief types, and a hulking barbarian, are sitting on large rocks and bedrolls eying the party as they troop right past the waiting area to the gate itself. Framed by a crumbling stone "doorway" that arches over the area, the 12 x 12 area seems to shimmer and haze like a mirage...the countryside beyond can be seen through the gate, but it's as if through a gauzy veil...if the stone archway wasn't in place, and unwary traveler might just stumble inside by accident.

When the gate is entered, the party is in the entry room of the dungeon.

ENTRY ROOM:

The atmosphere immediately changes, and you realize you are underground. A dank, musty, wet sand smell fills your nose. Someone has placed a large rock with a continual light spell in the ground about 15 feet in front of you, and it gives off it’s illumination against the dark.
Behind you is a solid wall of rubble dozens of feet high…the gate you came in from appears to lead into the rubble as if a tunnel, although you cannot see the place you just left (just as you couldn't see inside the cavern from the other side). In front of you and all around you are the remains of dozens (hundreds?) of battles, bones and broken weapons and pieces of equipment in the churned up sand that seems to be permanently stained with blood. Many battles have been fought in this area, some recently if the stench of death is any indication (joined by the stench of bat guano, a colony must reside on the ceiling here).
You get the impression of a large, high chamber, surrounded by blackness…the ceiling slopes upward at the edges to rise to a height of about 70 feet in the center. Behind the range of the light there you can see small shapes squirming on the ceiling…bats, many of them. Far above you can see a very faint sliver of light…..some sort of natural chimney must lead out to the surface. Outside the range of the artificial light, all is darkness except to your right (which you immediately label as East, despite any evidence for or against). About 90 feet away, you see several burning torches set behind what looks like a constructed stone wall about 6 feet high with a wooden door in the center. The wall extends for 100 feet or so and forms a semi-circle around a large stone wall. You can make out human shapes behind the wall at intervals, and they shout a warning at your arrival, giving the impression of alertness.
To the left, more ominous sounds, the rumble of humanoid voices and whispers from beyond the range of the light.

I had two players, one with an elven mage (he told me he had never run a mage before), the other with a Paladin of Nythiir, and the group was filled out with a dwarven fighter, a human thief, and a human priest of Kazull, God of Battle....more on their first foray later! Rolling up the mage was fast and simple, the paladin took much longer, most of that my fault, as I had not reckoned on someone wanting a paladin first up (like I said, my fault, but it was good practice and now I've streamlined the paladin creation). A party consisting of fighters, thieves and mages would be pretty quick to work up; clerics (and paladins by extension) take a bit more time to create due to religious considerations (each of the three priesthoods you can follow gives you special abilities). However, once someone is familiar with the three priesthoods, that won't take much time either. My goal is to be very Retro-cloneish or Simulacrum-like and have it down to five minutes or less (actually, you can have a fighter or mage up and running that quick or quicker already).

More on their first adventure, and some of my character types, later....

Skype May Be the Future of Old School Gaming

2009-09-14T16:06:00.005-05:00

Just starting my second online D&D campaign using Skype (and Gametable) for communication purposes as my players brave the jungles of the Isle of Delos. So far so good, even if my older computer causes me to mysteriously drop out on occasion (although I managed to hold on over two hours last session without a drop off, and typically I can immediately hook back up into the chat room).

For those that don't know, Skype is basically phone calling online....or when you have several people, like a giant conference call. You talk into a mic, and the sound comes out of your speakers (and sounds great). Heck, stick a webcam on your computer, and it's like those 1950's era newsreels that showed people talking on futuristic screens to someone else while calling them on the phone....although I think this level of participation isn't usually needed to enjoy a good D&D game online.

My first Skype campaign lasted for quite awhile and was truly a very important milestone in the way I now approach the game, and my hope for the future of old farts like myself that play OOP rule sets (we use a customized version of 2E). Below is a list of some of the reasons why I enjoy using Skype, and why I think it may be the future of old school gaming....

1. It allows gamers from all over the world to get together in one room.....and game.

My game now has a member from Alabama, Florida, Missouri, Canada, and Texas (myself). The odds are incredibly good that we five will NEVER be in the same room together at one time, much less the weekly meetings it would take to run a regular campaign. Gaming with someone stuck overseas (by chance or by choice) becomes a slight obstacle only in the area of different timezones making one player game at 8 pm and the other at noon.

2. It allows you to draw from a larger pool of old school gamers

All of us using OOP rules systems, particularly those of us in out-of-the-way or non-gaming areas, have experienced the pain of attempting to locate a group (more than two) of other gamers who not only play the GAME you want, but the EDITION you are interested in...all within the same area (say, an hour's drive) from where you live. While those of us who play in a large population center like the DFW area are better off, it still took awhile before I was able to locate enough gamers for a face to face group (a group that didn't play 3.5, basically). Using Skype, your pool increases quite a bit. It's especially a godsend for one of our current members (who is stuck in SE Missouri and has looked in vain for months after being relocated for a group to join).

3. It allows you to have a regular time and place to meet

I have a great face to face group, consisting of other old timers who love old school gaming...but due to commitments and distance that needs to be traveled (everyone involved must drive from 15-45 minutes to reach my place) we only meet once a month (if that). Skype allows you, from the comfort of your own home, to meet at a regular time every week because the travel time is nil. So far both of the games I've had using Skype met regularly once a week like clockwork. As a bonus, if the game runs over to say 2 am (as mine have) there are no inner monologues concerning how long it's going to take to drive home, or if you should have that last beer before driving, or if you can game any longer because you have work tomorrow...because as soon as the game ends, you shut off the computer and roll into bed. Less wasted travel time means more time to game....!

4. It allows minimal preparation time

No minis, no maps, no setup...You just turn on the computer, fire up Skype, connect everyone, and start gaming. I keep all my gaming info in a pile on my desk, although a lot of it is also on my computer. Rather than having to print out long descriptive passages, lists of treasure, character sheets, spell descriptions, etc...I can just cut and paste from my files or a pdf and email the player. For my recent game, I scanned in maps of the area and emailed them out to everyone. I also put together character sheets using the old 2E core rules and expansion cd roms, and email those also. For a gaming area we use Gametable, which has a graph paper grid, dice roller, and drop and draggable props like trees, monsters, etc.

While I dearly love using my collection of painted lead minis (some classics from the late 70s), my dwarven forge wall sets, my giant battleboards, piles of snacks and drinks, and my cool looking dice, it's fun to have my preparation time consist of turning on the computer and getting comfortable in my chair.

5. It will allow older gamers to participate no matter what their future lifestyle

My wife and I have toyed with the idea of "Living the RV lifestyle" on occasion, to the point of actually pricing and scoping out different "homes on wheels". I don't know if it's something we would do for a long time, but even a few years could be a crimp in my gaming schedule. Probably not a bunch of RV driving couples out there that have fond memories of their elven warriors tacking B2. Not with Skype...it would be as easy as finding a wireless connection (which are becoming more and more ubiquitous) to hook up and enjoy your gaming group. Not to mention, as we get older, physical barriers may prevent us from gaming more than we realize. Skype would also be a godsend to the handicapped, bedridden, disabled, and those of us that might retire to more inaccessible locales (say, the hill country or backwoods of Texas) where face to face gaming would be darn near impossible on a weekly basis.

6. Skype is easy to set up and use

I'm a total computer Luddite, and I was able to not only install Skype and us it but instruct others in it's use. all that is required is some sort of microphone (most modern computers have it built in; my older model has a very cheap plug in version that sounds fine) and to download Skype. We use a online gaming client called Gametable (there are may of these, of different types and complexity) which allows me to draw maps on graph paper or roll dice which everyone I'm talking to can see. There's absolutely nothing to it..it's totally intuitive and simple to use, even with a group. There are slight technical snafus every once in awhile, but none have ever proven anything but a minor nuisance.

7. Skype could become a successful way to demonstrate old systems or newer simulacrums

Maybe you meet a bunch of people in a chatroom online that always wanted to play 1E, or OD&D, or B/X D&D, but they have never met a DM with the rulebooks, or anyone else interested in using an OOP system. Maybe you want to run a Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry campaign, but none of your present group (or no one in the area) is even slightly interested. Skype allows you to go online, recruit a few volunteers, and be gaming in mere minutes. This works even better if you have a guilty thrill (say, Gamma world or Star Frontiers) that is really obscure and impossible to find anyone to play except that dude in Australia and the other in Seattle.

I don't know what Skype will look like in the future (or what it will be called), but it's given me a lot of hope for my gaming needs as I get older. I know that whatever happens, as long as I remain in touch with my gaming buddies from the past, or join an online forum like Dragonsfoot or The Acaeum where like minded people meet, I will be able to game online for as long as I can talk. Whether I end up on a ranch in the Panhandle, a nursing home on the coast, or driving across America in an RV, I'll be able to fire up the computer, get online, and game!

Anyone else successful in using Skype to game old school online?

The 1st Edition Forgotten Realms

2009-09-11T13:41:00.006-05:00

Ed Greenwood's Forgotten Realms has gotten a bad rep over the years, and old schoolers and grognards have blamed it for everything from destroying D&D to causing dandruff. I always get intrigued that most of the brickbats are thrown by a group of people (mostly the OSR crowd) that proudly carry the flag of never having bought or used anything post-EGG. The Forgotten Realms, in their mind, is just a handy scapegoat of the entire post-Gygaxian sweep that the POG (as Frank Mentzer calls her) instituted. Any contact might cause a disease of the most uncurable type!

Yet, when released in 1987, the original Forgotten Realms boxed set was firmly ensconced in the 1E game rules and mindset. It's my thesis that taken alone, with only the very few pre-2E products (the supplements FR1-6, plus module N5 and perhaps even the City System boxed set) is a pretty solid sandbox setting for old schoolers. Reading and using the above materials, I find it hard to believe that a lot of the complaints about the Forgotten Realms hold up. I know when first introduced, we started 1E campaigns based in the Moonshae isles with nothing but the boxed set, FR1 and FR2 to back us up, and it felt more like a sandbox setting than almost anything I've played since.

Complaint #1: It's second edition!
No, actually, the products above are all firmly 1st edition, and have a 1st edition feel and mindset. Ed Greenwood ran a 1E campaign, and most of the material presented in the first few supplements (and all of the boxed set) is from his original notes and campaign. Now, FR is not Greyhawk....it's more explicitly a FANTASY setting rather than the quasi-post war European/medieval setting of the WOG. Like Runequest, the FR posits a more fantasy milieu than the WOG's very much human-centric setting, not to mention WOG'sfirm boundaries between countries and regions, and "ghettoization" of the demi-humans into their own firmly established realms. FR is actually much more wide open, kitchen sink, dare I say, "SANDBOX" oriented than the firmly established pecking order of the WOG's setting.

That the FR setting was chosen as the "face" of the new AD&D 2E rules set has no effect on that which came before; the eventual examination, codification, and over-development of the setting in the wake of 2E was yet to come. As most old schoolers have read little that TSR released post-Gygax (more later), it's not surprising they would lump most of the FR setting into "Second Edition" and not realize the first couple of years were 1st edition material.

Complaint #2: It's too "Fluffy" and not grim and gritty enough
I would argue that as written, the FR is a pretty darn mirthless place. An entire country full of powerful evil wizards (Thay) seeking to subjugate their neighbors; an evil god roaming the Moonshae Isles; "The Savage North" well named because hordes of orcs and barbarians lurk around every mountain (with "Hellgate Keep", and entire city given over to demons and their ilk, as it's centerpiece); an entire evil organization (The Zhentarim) threatening to take over the Dalelands from it's center of evil, the city of Zhentil Keep; Elves, a powerful force for good, leaving the continent in droves to return to their homeland of Evermeet (leaving behind a gigantic ruined elven city full of nasties); a civil war ongoing in the country of Tethyr; an entire country run by a merchant council (this may be the most bonechilling of all!), and the supposedly placid Dalelands themselves just recovering from a nasty civil war (Lashan's Folly). Not to mention dangers only hinted at in the original boxed set. To me, this passage in FR5 The Savage North (written by the estimable Paul Jaquays) seems to put the lie to "fluffy" as a perspective to life in the North:

Though it has been centuries since the last orc invasion, there is still constant strife. Barbarians harass merchants,travelers, and towns; the seas are filled with Northmen pirates; the demon forces of Hellgate Keep assault the east; and two wars have marred the land in recent years. Luskan, now a fierce merchant city known to harbor (and support) pirates, wages war with the island realm of Ruathym over an actof piracy against a Luskan merchant ship; and to the far north, in Icewind Dale beyond the Spine of the World, the Ten Towns are slowly rebuilding after being nearly destroyed by the monstrous forces of Akar Kessell.

I would argue the "fluffiness" of the FR came later, after the Powers That Be decided to turn the FR into less a sandbox and more an "adventurer friendly" (or player centric as some have said). Heck, just compare the spare yet intriguing description of Waterdeep in FR1 compared to the bloated and over the top portrayal in 1994's remake Box set City of Splendors. Waterdeep turns from a somewhat sinister fantasy city with lots of dark alleys and dangerous inhabitants to the Disneyland of Faerun.

Complaint #3: The move from WOG to FR is a shift from a DM-centric to Player-centric model
I have no doubt this is what eventually happened, with the numerous and unending handbooks, supplements and compendiums. However, the original FR does NOT support this view. It can be seen as a really well written sandbox for both players and DMs, but initially, the DM is given a lot to work with. Remember, only a handful of products (Boxed set, FR1-6, N5, and City System) were put out to support the FR before 2E. Of these, one describes the setting in very bare terms, gives a couple of sample adventures, a smattering of campaign specific info (the gods of Faerun, the calendar, timelines, characters, etc), a paragraph or two about most countries...the barest of necessities to run a campaign there. FR1 deals with the city of Waterdeep (and is actually less meaty and detailed than, say, Midkemia's Jonril or Tulan, Runequest's Pavis, or Warhammer's Middenheim); FR2 the Celtic flavored Moonshae Isles; FR3 the odd triumvirate of Amn, Calimshan, and Tethyr south of the Northlands; FR5 the north, and FR6 The lands east of Thay and surrounding (FR4, The Magister, is an excellent sourcebook of new magic items, spells and tidbits).
Notice what is missing....no details about the Dalelands or Cormyr, seemingly too of the most advantageous locales for starting an adventuring party. That's because in the original boxed set, a page or two is spent on delivering some basic info about the Dalelands and Shadowdale, Cormyr, Myth Drannor and other interesting locations....because that was ENOUGH info to use for a campaign setting! Unlike later publications, you weren't beat over the head with detail after detail, and the development of these areas was left to the DMs (and Players) imagination. In the first few supplements, many possible settings for adventure (Waterdeep, The Moonshaes, the South, the North, Thay's neighbors) are developed to the slight extent that they can be expanded upon by a diligent DM

Complaint #4 : The Forgotten Realms was a slap in the face to Gary
What can you say? There are a LOT of old school guys that never again bought an item from TSR or WOTC after the way EGG was tossed out back in the 80s. I have to think Ed Greenwood and the Forgotten Realms were not remotely responsible, like any of us would turn down having our homebrew campaign world be the face of TSR at the time (and if you say otherwise, unless you were a personal friend of EGG like Frank Mentzer, take it somewhere else because you are a fucking liar). However, the FR did take on the "face" of the movement to toss Gary, and suffered among the old school because of this.
Like 2E hatred, dislike of the Forgotten Realms is rooted in deep-seated animosity that has nothing to do with the setting (or system). Sandy Peterson, Dave Hargraves, Paul Jaquays, Steve Marsh, and Steve Perrin could have gotten together and created the next setting and system of TSR, and it would have been spit on and derided by the same group of grogs. I find most FR-haters have no (or very little) working knowledge of the original setting except for the buzz word of "Elminster" (who started out a bit NPC character in the original setting) and aren't typically qualified to comment on whether or not it's any good; the circumstances of EGG's ouster are too ugly and painful for such to ever accept anything that came after. Suffice to say from someone who has all the FR releases (good and bad) from 1987 to the bitter end in 1999, 1E Forgotten Realms is an entirely different beast from that which came afterwards, and quite compatible with what any of us would want in a sandbox-type setting.

Complaint #5: Elminster!
...was barely a factor in the original release. He only became a nuisance later on; he's a shadowy and non-essential NPC figure in the original boxed set, and the narrator of the tour of the Moonshaes in FR2, But basically his character has little or no effect in gameplay. Mordenkainen and his bunch by comparison are scene-stealers of the highest order in the WOG setting.
Here's our original introduction to Elminster in the FR boxed set; would it have stayed so vague. Hell, he sounds like a powerful but harmless old coot you'd love to have a brew with:

ELMINSTER (El-MIN-ster)
Shadowdale and the Known Planes
26th level magic-user
CG, None
Human Male
The exact age of the sage Elminster is unknown and his year of birth unrecorded. It is suspected he learned his magical arts at the feet of Arkhon the Old, who died in Waterdeep over 500 years ago, and was in Myth Drannor near that magical realm's final days. The Sage currently makes his abode in the tiny farm community of Shadowdale, living in a two-story house overlooking a fishpond with his aide and scribe, Lhaeo. Elminster may be the most knowledgable and well-informed individual in the realms, though thismay be only his own opinion, it is often voiced in his discussions. His areas of specialization are the Realms and its people, ecology of various creatures, magical items and their histories, and the known planes of existence. Elminster no longer tutors nor works for hire, save in the most pressing cases.Many of his former students and allies include some of the most powerful good individuals in the realms, including the Lords of Waterdeep, the Simbul, ruler of Aglarond, the group known as the Harpers, and many powerful wizards and sorceresses.

Notice all the "mights", "maybes" and "suspecteds" strewn around there. Elminster as created could be as useful, or useless, as you wanted. Hell, he lives behind a fishpond and is called a "sage" instead of a wizard...the dude might just be a 7th level mage with a good publicist for all we know!

Likewise, the prominence of NPC's such as the Seven Sisters, Knights of Myth Drannor, Khelben Blackstaff and others is only hinted at. Using the broad guidelines of the original set, they are merely fascinating and possibly useful background characters instead of world-changing entities. Much more interesting, IMO, are the brief character sketches we are given in the NPC section of the FR boxed set. What kind of interesting scenarios does the below character conjure up just reading Greenwood's evocative description:

FLAME
Selgaunt
7th level thief
NE, Mask
Human Male
This dark-haired, nondescript young man now lives quietly in Selgaunt, where he arranges for certain people to be (willingly) hidden or transported to safety or (less willingly) kidnapped and held for ransom. Flame works with a small band of trusted aides, including at least magical powers (3rd-5th level).
Flame can be contacted through the Green Gauntlet inn on Selgaunt's eastern docks. Flame originally operated as an arsonist in Selgaunt, until a combined force of leading mages and clerics in the city convinced him of the error of his ways (via a series of flame strikes and similar mishaps). After a brief period of self-exile while this "heat" died down, Flame does a quieter business in town, and stays wary of both magicusers and clerics.

What I like about this description, which is true of a lot of the material in the boxed set and the first few supplements, is that Flame is shown as a mover and shaker baddie, yet he's only 7th level. The power inflation of characters evident in future releases is not part of the system yet....a 7th level thief can be seen as the head of a evil network and not be laughed out of the room.

Complaint #5: Waaaaauggggh!

Ok, just fill in the typical bitch and moan fest of any grognard who doesn't have a clue the Forgotten Realms started out at 1E, much less any useful information past 1984 or so dealing with AD&D. Most of the time the complaints don't make a lot of sense, once again because the person making them hasn't read the material. The Forgotten Realms, IMO, was never about the old-schoolers anyway; such a dramatic and different break from the stodginess of the WOG was intentional I believe. Yes, there are OLD old timers that moan and bitch about how EGG's WOG doesn't hold a candle to Dave Arneson's Blackmoor or Hargreave's Arduin, so in a way the cycle just continued through to Greenwood's Forgotten Realms.
It would be intriguing to have seen what would have happened had something like Dark Sun, Spelljammer, or Planescape (or even Keith Baker's Eberron) had ended up being the "face" of 2E in place of the Forgotten Realms. I doubt the animosity for the setting would be present had it stopped being published in 1990 (say, after the Forgotten Realms hardback) in lieu of some other "hot" gameworld. With only the products above to go on, I suspect the Forgotten Realms would be a rather quaint and quite well-thought of setting for 1E and beyond.

If I get time I'll go over all the 1E material for the FR....some real gems there!

1st Annual NTRPG Con Wrap Up

2009-06-13T23:15:00.001-05:00

NTRPG Con Wrap Up

June 5-7 saw the first annual North Texas RPG Con come to the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and it was a resounding success. Dedicated to old school gaming, this micro-con saw 55 attendees journey into original dungeon adventures by such classic DMs as Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask and Rob Kuntz, as well as “young guns” Matt Finch (creator of Swords & Wizardry), Jon Hershberger (Converter of Goodman’s DCC line to 1E versions), Mike Stewart (Castles & Crusades), Allan Grohe (Greyhawk scholar extraordinaire), and Al Silcock (crazy brit with the Tegel Manor fixation). With fourteen events over the course of the weekend, everyone had a great time experiencing OOP D&D gaming at it’s finest. The final tally was nine 1E games, two OD&D games, one Holmes basic, one S&W, and one 3.5 game (which actually was the longest run session at the con, taking place from 6 pm Friday night to 5 am Saturday morning!). Especially gratifying was seeing many of the 3.5 players engaging in 1E and other games the rest of the weekend, proving that most differences in editions are merely cosmetic and provide no real barrier to gaming enjoyment.

The two biggest thrills for me were the release of the NTRPG logo version of Goodman Games 4E 2009 con module C9 Tomb of the Blind God, and the debut of Black Blade Publishing’s initial 1E conversion of the DCC line, DCC #7 The Secret of Smuggler’s Cove (conversion by Jon Hershberger and Allan Grohe, and also with the NTRPG logo). Both sold briskly, and the possible conversion of every Dungeon Crawl Classic to 1st edition by BBP is pretty incredible news for the old school community. These guys have put it on the line by releasing genuine old school product, down to the classic blue ink maps (redone from the DCC originals), and anyone that says they support old school gaming that doesn’t throw a few bucks their way is a poser at best and a liar at worst. If this endeavor succeeds, it will signal a legitimate interest in adventures for OOP gaming systems by a 1st tier publisher. Everyone needs to purchase at least one just to give these guys props. www.black-blade-publishing.com

One thing that the NTRPG Con has proven to me is that the old school can support regional mini-cons if the time and effort is taken to promote the event as well as gather guys like Frank, Tim and Rob to run games. Honestly, we lost money on the thing (mostly due to the insistence of Doug Rhea to make as many events as possible free to promote the event) but the actual putting together of the event itself, including pining down special guests Frank, Tim, Rob, Jason Braun, Paul Jaquays and Dennis Sustare, took merely a few months. With an entire year to plan the next one, things are already getting bigger and better with a probably hotel with four times the gaming area!

I would love to see endeavors like the NTRPG Con be repeated across the US, in smaller venues that cannot support a full-fledged convention yet have nearby gamers who want to support systems and gaming styles other than the latest flavor from WOTC. We had attendees from the UK, Canada, California, Ohio, Illinois, Delaware, Missouri, Tennessee and elsewhere drive and fly to get here, which is pretty impressive for a con not boasting any major attractions except for guaranteed authentic old school gaming. We hope to double and triple our numbers next year as word gets around among the community…..and if you didn’t make it, check out the photos and video at the official NTRPG Con website: http://www.ntrpgcon.com/

Breaking the Demi-human Stereotypes

2009-05-21T09:11:00.002-05:00

In a recent column, Noisms stated how standing human universals on their heads can help “Alien-ify” (my new made up word of the week) a demi-human culture in fantasy RPGs. This helps put a fresh perspective on, say, dwarves (Noisms example is to imagine a world where dwarves have no concept of “hope”; a goal can either be completed, or it can’t) beyond the typical stereotypes. Needless to say, it’s an obvious, yet very neglected idea when putting together a fantasy world. Taking a human universal and turning it around is really a brilliant idea if you want to make a non-human race truly “alien” race beyond giving them, say, eyestalks instead of eyes. I highly recommend the Monsters and Manual blog! http://monstersandmanuals.blogspot.com/2009/05/towards-theory-of-demihumans.html

I’ve done my own tiny spin on this when I created my homebrew campaign world many years ago. My ideas aren’t as intriguing as Noisms, because they aren’t universals, but I think I did a pretty good job in some cases of going beyond the stereotypes to put a new perspective on certain demi-humans. Instead of a universal, I tried to either take a stereotype of the race and intensify it, or play against type and player expectations. At the time I came up with these, I was especially tired of the seemingly writ in stone way of playing certain demi-humans...everyone was playing their halfling like a Dragonlance Kender, or the 1000th incarnation of the gruff, axe wielding salt of the earth dwarven warrior. Today, I would probably hew closer to Noism's type of philosophy if I was give a do over, but these outlines served my purpose. Here are my demi-human “quirks”:

In my world, Halflings are basically “real world” gypsies, and perceived as such by all other races. They have no permanent homes (no “hobbitowns” in my world), tend to travel in large groups and settle on the outskirts of a community, then make themselves unwanted by stealing and grifting from the populace and then packing up one night and disappearing, leaving an unholy mess where their camp was...despoiling nature and civilized society both. They are distrusted by all other races (no one, for example, will swear an oath with or trust a promise from a halfling) and have adapted by becoming a race of glorious vagabonds (they are roughly based on Irish Travellers, look it up if you aren’t familiar with the group). Halflings are often sailors, because this allows them to travel and escape unfortunate situations quickly, and some of the most feared pirate captains in Azura are halfling rogues (with a large complement of bloodthirsty family members making up most of the crew).

The Elven race has been involved in a centuries long battle with the northern barbarians, and their race is dying out as the barbarians have been slowly winning this war by attrition (humans breed far faster than the elves). As a result, elves are resigned to extinction, and have a very depressing outlook on life (both theirs and others)…their observations and comments are fatalistic in the extreme. They are also extremely warlike, and very few elves live beyond middle age as it is considered their birthright to die in battle against barbarian hordes, taking as many of the hated humans as possible with them. All their great achievements are not in art, poetry, or music….but the art of war, and their blades, bows and especially warships are considered the best in the world. Their one advantage in the war, magic, has even taken this branch as they have developed many new combat spells for use in the battles. Art, music and poetry are looked at as frivolous and useless….unless it can be used in the war, all other abilities are considered superfluous. Every elf at sometime in his life is expected to serve in the elven military for at least one “season”; failure to answer the call of his “house” will cause a elf to become outcast…not only to be shunned by his people, but killed on sight if his status is known!

Unlike the elves, the Dwarven race of Azura is a flourishing one, as their future is full of hope. With only the race of Duergar and Derro to fight with for underground space and resources, in the last millennia their numbers have grown exponentially and their culture has entered a renaissance age of discovery and creation. Dwarven artisans are well known for the incredible statues and busts they create, and in the community being an artist is considered just as important as any other profession. While they dislike most other races except for gnomes (who they live with and share gods with), they are not gruff, rude or unruly towards either elves or man (they actually feel a bit sorry for elves, although they would never admit it, and have conceded the world above to humans as the best of several bad choices). They have other cultural quirks: there are no female dwarven leaders, adventurers or clerics (it is unheard of in their society for a dwarven female to leave the Clanhood; few dwarven females have ever been seen outside of a dwarven city). Dwarven females are housewives and mothers only, and rarely must deal with issues outside of home and hearth. Dwarves who leave the Clanhood to “adventure” are considered insane by “normal” dwarves and completely shunned, to the extent that they are not even allowed to worship Moradin and are “excommunicated” from the faith (since Moradin tells his children that above all they must serve clan, family and community). These outcasts have their own deity, the dwarven god of wanderers, and have been known to mock or ridicule any dwarves openly worshipping Moradin (leading to ugly scenes on many occasions in the surface world between exiles and representatives of one clanhold or another).

Gnomes are the ultimate adaptors; they co-exist with dwarves, and act as the scholars and teachers in dwarven communities. They also serve this purpose in large human communities on the surface, often serving as sages, historians, or librarians. Gnomes have an insatiable curiosity concerning the past, and will often join expeditions for the hope of learning a bit of historical knowledge (giving them great status in the gnomish community; the leaders are always the most intelligent and well-read, and they have no concept of a dynastic rulership by lineage). Gnomes are ever adaptable, worshipping dwarven, gnomish and human gods in equal measure, with no animosity between those of different religious beliefs. Gnomes seldom take gold or gems as payment for service: books, scrolls, and any sort of written history are considered payment far more valuable. Some of the most powerful mages in Azura are gnomes, and they excel in any field of magic equally. Gnomes are the only race to get along with both elves (the elves respect their knowledge of history, especially relating to warfare) and halflings (the little folk amuse the gnomes, who are usually serious in all other aspects).

Nothing earthshattering here, and certainly not as intriguing as taking a otherwise accepted universal and standing it on it’s head. But I find it does give an “experienced” roleplayer a welcome change from playing a grumpy dwarf, frivolous halfling or haughty elf. I also like it as it casts aside player expectations about how a race is "supposed" to act; woe onto the clueless PC who insults the "flighty" elf at the bar, or trusts the cute halfling lass serving drinks. The elf is probably a war veteran liable to beat the tar out of the PC with his bare hands for any insults to himself or his house; the halfling will take the PC for a ride when he realizes the "rescue mission" he was duped into taking to save the halfling's sister is instead a set up that lands him in a mansion with a (planted) bloody knife in his back pocket and a dead thieves' guild member on the floor in front of him, throat cut.

Update for NTRPG Con

2009-04-19T19:00:00.002-05:00

The number of D&D Old Schoolers flocking to Texas the first week in June continues to grow. I'll never live down my quote of "If we are lucky, we'll get 10-15 gamers here." Whoops. We now have 48 registered with six weeks to go!

Since my last post on this subject, we've added Rob Kuntz to our guest lineup, the co-dm of Castle Greyhawk and the creator of Castle El Raja Key and the World of Kahlibrun. Rob has agreed to run two ERK delves but space is VERY limited! Rob joins old school luminaries Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask , and Paul Jaquays in our all star lineup. Needless to say the guests we were able to hook, plus the response, has gone beyond my wildest expectatons. Sign up for games will be at the end of the month, and I expect the spots to go VERY quickly!

There will be lots of old school gaming, some raffles, a BBQ, a tour of Reaper miniatures, and of course lots of fun and fellowship during the mini-con. Check out the site, and if you are in Texas the first weekend in June, come by and meet some of the Giants of the Game.

http://ntrpgcon.com/

BTW thanks to James Maliszewski and his shout out for the NTRPG Con on his very excellent blog grognardia (http://grognardia.blogspot.com/)

The Anti-Sandbox Sandbox Pt. 1

2009-04-15T11:15:00.005-05:00

Well, I noticed I haven't posted in a week, but I have an excuse: income tax time. Ok, well, not really since I let my wife handle all that ("Did I make any money this year, honey? No? Am I getting a refund check? If I am you're spending it at JoAnns? Ok thanks!"). No, I got the sandbox bug and decided to go after it, so every non-working moment has been filled with the joy of filling blank sheets of graph paper and finding various sources to help me do it.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum....

I first thought I would give it a try because it's really hard to get my core group of five grown men (including myself) together more than once a month (if that) to game. And sometimes (the last three times, specifically) one has been missing due to obligations outside the game table. So, I thought, let's have a "backup" campaign that is easy and quick to run in case only two show up, or in the case I have unexpected guests want to join in at the table (my present 2E campaign is very plot and character oriented, and it's hard to shoehorn a "one week only" character into the ongoing plotline). Just roll a few dice, arm your character, and it's off to the local megadungeon to kill wandering monsters. It would be great, I could use an existing simulacrum rules set like Labyrinth Lord or Swords & Wizardry to keep the simplicity, and roll up a bunch of random stuff and link it all together. Everyone would have fun for a few hours getting their characters killed by orcs.

Except, there weren't enough fiddly bits. I love the fiddly bits, the crunchy bits, what have you. Heck, I wanted to play AD&D before I was even through with my first game of Holmes D&D. The tiny spell lists given in basic D&D and the simulacrums weren't enough. 8 spells? How about I add a few....and then why are all the priests the same? I'll have a priesthood of Healing,one of Battle, one of Knowledge. Whoops, they all have to have unique powers, right? Ditto with the mage spell lists. Have to beef it up a bit there too. Of coures, gotta have the fighter and thief. Oh, yeh, and the bard, love bards. Oh, and Rangers and Paladins. What the heck , a Barbarian.

Then I started making the "random" dungeon. Cool, there is a priests stronghold in the first big room? What are they doing there? They are there to heal up and support delvers. Before I knew it, I had a five paragraph writeup of who the priests were, their motives, what they were doing there, their spells, their belongings, their treasure, arghhh!!! Ok, onto the next room down the hall . Goblins? How come they are not that faraway from the priests? Ok, they recently arrived and are engaged in a war of attrition with the priests. Pretty soon....another few paragraphs about the goblins, their leader, their goals, motivations, treasure, why the have bugbear with them...arghhh! This is taking far too long for a random dungeon. Let's skip a few rooms....a fountain? Cool! What does it do? Another few paragraphs...erk.

Ok, this is getting too complicated. Let's concentrate on the city/town nearby. Keep it simple, right? Just need a pre-fab like the city in L1, or...hey, what about Carse? I always wanted to use that. Dang, it's huge! Well, that would make sense, my dungeon backstory would support a large city nearby. But look at all the work involved, I just wanted a small village where the characters could buy equipment...but wouldn't it be more logical to have this city? All the gold coming out of the megadungeon, it would lead to this, right? So much for the easily dropped in Village of Hommlet-type setting....

And thus it came to pass, I realized I am the anti-sandbox DM.

I will say, I did give it a shot, in good faith. I used for my megadungeon the levels of the classic TSR Dungeon Geomorphs (fitted together to make one giant level), I figured that would be a fun inside joke for players if they happened to recognize it, and made my participation minimal (only having to roll for room contents). All the rest of it...not so much. I just couldn't jettison the homebrew rules I've lovingly crafted the last 25 years or so for someone elses system, no matter how brilliant. And as I said, I really love the fiddly bits. So, instead of a simple return to Holmes basic or Labyrinth Lord, I'm back to using my version of 2E. So much for simplicity.

Now, I will say, I am proud of myself for some of my innovations here. I did manage a few easy workabouts, and the rules system actually came together really quickly once I realized I am far too wedded to my own campaign worlds and house rules to jettison them for anything else. I can cut the rules down to but a few pages of essential bits, basically throwing out all the options and sticking to the basics (you swing, you hit or you miss, nothing fancy. Mages throw spells. Thieves do thiefly things. Clerics heal. That).

But I streamlined it down to an odd hybrid I'm going to call "2E/OD&D". Basically, the characters, spells, monsters, etc are all a stripped down form of the 2E game we play and loved for the last 15 years, completely btb. I halved the spells available, kept the class abilities to a bare minimum, and did a few other time saving features that will have character generation down to five minutes, tops. However, except for that, the DM figures everything else out and tells the players what happens. So, keep track of your character abilities, thief skills, spells, etc. Stuff like movement rates, initiative, surprise, encumbrance...not so much. The DM will let you know all that stuff, it won't need to be looked up, and when in doubt I'll just roll the dice to keep the game moving. My goal is to have completely rulebook-less sessions here, and I think it can be done if I pass out spellcards (how many sets of the Wizard and Priest spell card sets do I have floating around, half a dozen?) and print out short "cheat sheets" of character abilities. If a character wants to do something, I'll make a ruling, and we'll roll the dice, no page flipping required. I've been gaming for 30 years now, I trust myself to make on the fly decisions that won't break the game. We very seldom look at the books at this point in my regular game, anyway. As for the rest of it, well, I have a few tricks up my sleeve...I hope

Can We Have a Do-Over?

2009-04-08T00:36:00.002-05:00

In the wake of one of the biggest "oops" in RPG blog history (the mistaken reporting of D&D co-founder Dave Arneson's passing earlier today), there has been a generally red faced, embarrassed, "what on earth happened?" response among the blogger community. Not one of it's best days, and it could have been easily avoided. The problems range from using Wikipedia as a source (it had the false news up pretty quickly) to not checking sources (basic operating procedure for any serious member of the media) to joining the ill-informed, rush-to-post gang of would be Woodward and Bernsteins for no reason than to be the "first one" to inform the world at large of a "death in the family" (actually kind of a morbid response, if you ask me, to try and get the news up before anyone else scoops you?).

One of the reasons so-called "hard news" (newspapers and television) is failing miserably lately (a record number of print publications are going under this year) is because of the immediacy offered in internet news and reporting. Bloggers exemplify this immediacy and their importance is seen daily by the amount of people that now rely on them for their news fix everyday in lieu of "traditional" news sources. Unfortunately, a total cock-up like this is what leads to lots of greybearded types knowingly nodding and saying things like "THATS why you can't trust blogs".

For quite a while the entire lure of blogging was "Anyone can blog" (which often leads to the thought, if you read enough of these, "No, NOT anyone can blog") and traditional media outlets contributed to their own downslide with stuff like the almost constant ridiculous scandals at the New York Times (where they make up more news than they report real news). However, the sort of outpouring of grief and sentiment today for Dave....to only be forcefully stopped as dozens of bloggers backtracked all over the place....is the kind of silly tent-show that makes one wonder how this blogging thing expects to ever be taken seriously.

Wacky opinions about Non Weapon Proficiencies, OD&D vs 1E vs 2E, how 3E became the end of D&D as we know it, and whether Monte Cook is a sell-out or not doesn't mean our types don't do serious commentary on serious subjects...I read insightful comments everyday and respect the hell out of many of the bloggers I read (and recommend anyone I have listed on "My Blog List" in that respect). However, these types of fiascos, while understandable, do nothing but undermine any sort of basic tenets we operate under and cheapen anything serious we have to say. Radio, TV and News 101 in high school teaches the first thing you do before running with a story is to get at least THREE confirmations of your story; Now, I took that class almost 30 years ago so I don't know what the procedure is now (one source that's not drunk, in politics, or named "Wikipedia?). But I'm talking about a solid line of bloggers restating something they read on Wikipedia (the most laughable source of information in the history of the internet) or on someone else's blog with ZERO confirmation...please.

Unfortunately the lure of being the "first" causes a lot of us (and a lot of professionals, mind you: Dewey beats Truman, anyone?) to run with a story before going through the proper channels. And despite what this looks like I'm not hammering the one or ones who originally ran the Arneson story (I'm honestly not 100% sure who it was, anyway); I'm actually a bit more annoyed at the legions of others who ran with the story based on this information or something flimsier. Next time someone in our family dies, or doesn't die, can we please make damn sure we know what we are talking about before running with it?

WOTC, and PDFs, and I Don't Care.....

2009-04-07T15:24:00.003-05:00

By now everyone has heard the new of WOTC’s PDF Pull Program….and the screams and cries of rage coming from gamers worldwide. WOTC has pulled all PDF sales of current and OOP products, and are positioning to either sell them on their own site, or sell the company (also explains the recent announcement about seeking prosecution against some poor saps pirating the recently released PHB2).

My reaction was a big, fat…Meh. Tempest in a teapot, anyone?

I feel sorry for everyone purchasing a PDF expecting a certain amount of downloads (typically, five) through a service such as Drive Through RPG or RPGnow. But frankly, your beef should be with those companies and not WOTC…because obviously, they were promising something they had no control over. I don’t know the nuances enough to understand why WOTC only gave a day’s warning before pulling the PDFs, but I doubt the reason was to screw over the common man (no matter how important most of us think we are). Some kind of legal froo fraw is my guess….the same reason they are being less than forthcoming in the face of thousands of fans screaming for blood. I think it’s wrong to react too strongly to this, since I think we are seeing one of the first actions in some kind of pre-planned strategy, so save your ire for the eventual atom bomb to be dropped in the months to come....

Oh, and a did spare a few giggles for the indignant “I’m never buying from WOTC again!!!!” comments here and there. Please. WOTC doesn’t give a hoot, and besides they know you are lying anyway. People say all kinds of things in the heat of the moment (“No, really, I’ll call you tomorrow” being one of my unfortunate fallbacks in the past) that they have no intention of following through on….this being one of them. Unless you are an old schooler like myself or most reading these sorts of blogs (I haven’t bought anything from WOTC since 1999) you’ll be back in the fold as soon as the next kewl item gets released.

I’m going to go all out and say this move has little or nothing to do with actually piracy, but is all about cleaning up their house…..part of the same strategy as bringing Dragon and Dungeon magazines back in house (albeit in a ridiculous form) last year. Bringing the PDFs in house along with everything else, along with trying to shore up their copyrights and bottom line, can be seen as an interesting move…perhaps along the lines of getting their properties “fixed up” for marketing in a future sale.

The bottom line is that practically anything TSR ever published is still readily available for download with a minimum of effort. All the wailing and gnashing is for naught, and actually rather embarrassing if you want the truth.

That all being said, already there are a few winners and losers here:

Winners:

Resellers. Despite what WOTC or anyone believes, many people will not illegally download and will gladly pay for the privilege to download OOP products such as 1E items. While PDFs will still be abundantly available (again, despite whatever WOTC is claiming), there does exist a segment of collectors and gamers that will simply move to once again buying hardcopies of modules and books. Although the genie is out of the bottle (PDFs have been available for many years) we could still see a modicum of interest in the print versions of old school classics and 3/3.5 items alike. Prices should rise.

RetroClones: Maybe not a flood, but perhaps a trickle of interest will grow in these products as old school rules sets (OD&D, Basic, 1E) are not readily available in PDF form for purchase. It’s up to the creators of said simulacrums to strike while the iron is hot and parlay their creation’s best aspects (free, nice easy to read layout and arrangement, virtual exact copies of the originals) into increased readership. Hopefully the easy availability of most of these will lead many old schoolers to use them instead of the real thing…not that I have anything against the real thing, but in the long run it might end up easier for gamers to use Swords and Wizardry than the original OD&D rules if the latter are unavailable online, and will definitely help spread the word to future gamers who will never pick up a white box set but would definitely flip through the awesomely

Old School Defiance: All the grognards and cynical old bastards like myself get a chance to lean back in our rockers and cackle maniacally at all the frantic outrage. “Told Ya So!” will ring out across the land….especially since 99% of us haven’t purchased anything from WOTC this century….

Losers:

WOTC: Not in any monetary sense (a bunch of online bitch babies screaming they won’t buy their product anymore won’t impact the bottom line at all), honestly a company as big as WOTC/Hasbro only looks at the bottom line and PHB2 sold bunches. However, in the sense that those who were too young to experience the Lorraine Williams’ driven internet purges of the early 90s (when any page mentioning “Armor Class”, for example, got a cease and desist notice from T$R’s lawyers) or the 6-8 month “Great Silence” when fans were lied to about the sudden demise of TSR (right before being bought out by WOTC they quite paying their printer, all products including the magazines were halted, and no one at TSR said a word to anyone about why their subscriptions had suddenly stopped) don’t understand that WOTC never really was their “buddy”. The good will built up by the Open Gaming and other innovations was unceremoniously dumped out and a new generation of buyers/fans will be more wary of buying into whatever it is WOTC is now peddling. Welcome to the old schooler world, kiddies….

PDF Buyers: I myself have about 40 GB of PDFs on my computer for easy reference, and I find it quite a bit more convenient to go through these than dig through a mountain of boxes in the closets for that one issue of Dungeon or one basic module I need for a reference. I understand that most people don’t have this sort of library at their fingertips (mine took about a decade to accumulate) and for them I feel bad, especially if they paid for a service they now don’t have (eternal downloading of a PDF at an online service, for example). I’m not going to advise hunting up a bit torrent and downloading some ginormous file with every published TSR item on it, but….why not.

Old School Nostalgia: If you want a copy of the OD&D rules, or B1, or the Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, and you aren’t proficient enough to operate a bit torrent (or even understand what one is), or are dead set against any sort of illegal downloading, you are stuck with buying a copy off ebay or hoping someone you know with 40 Gigs of RPG stuff will burn you a CD copy. It’s not as easy as rolling over to an online store and charging 5 bucks to your account anymore to get a copy of whatever you wanted to

I keep getting the sense this is but the first move of what may become in interesting 2009 in regards to D&D, WOTC, Hasbro, RPGs in general, and their interaction with each other in particular. Sleep on the left side, keep your sword arm free...

The Holmes Delusion

2009-04-02T09:57:00.003-05:00

There’s this pernicious rumor going around old school circles nowadays. I’m sure you’ve caught a whiff of it, either on the forums supporting basic D&D or simulacrum games, or in the writings of the various bloggers that talk about old school D&D. The rumor is that play at lower levels is desirable to the point where mid level or high level play shouldn’t even enter the equation. To wit, that it would be a swell deal to cap level advancement at, oh, say, 3rd level, and have an entire campaign built around a Conan-wanna bes blundering around at 1st and 2nd level for the duration of the campaign (after an estimated 1-2 years of playing time, mind you). I’m going to call this “The Holmes Delusion” in honor of the ruleset enabling this madness, the basic blue book D&D rules by J Eric Holmes.

Now, to start out, I have nothing against the “Holmes” edition of Basic D&D. It’s the rules set I started with (out of the classic blue box with the Dragon cover), and B1 was the first adventure I played in as a player and ran as a DM. As a starter, and a beginning introduction to the game, it’s great. It introduces the concepts you need to know, with character classes, spells, magic items, monsters, and a great beginner’s dungeon (Tower of Zenopus). Along the way most of the concepts of RPGs are disseminated---going up levels, melee, different character classes and races---the “basics” as it were. The preface itself states “It (the book) is aimed solely at introducing the reader to the concepts of fantasy roleplaying and the basic play of this game. To this end it limits itself to basics. The rules contained herein allow only for the first three levels of player progression, and instructions for the game referee, the “Dungeon Master”, are kept to the minimum necessary to allow him to conduct basic games.” All very well and good, and definitely spelled out, if not implied: This set does NOT go to “eleven”. Roll with this for awhile, but when you know what you are doing, move to AD&D and continue your advancement and enjoyment of this game. The blue book can be your guilty little pleasure; keep it around to run your kids through it someday to whet their appetite for the real thing.

Some however have a different viewpoint. Why not the ENTIRE campaign in this one blue book, capping everything at 3rd level (the highest level discussed in the rules set), and go from there? Which isn’t a problem per se,, since different strokes for different folks, etc. What’s interesting to me is the amount of play this discussion has generated, and the positive spin given this style of play from the grognardic masses.

The idea was first introduced (as far as I can tell) on the Dragonsfoot boards by none other than Geoffrey McKinney of Carcosa fame (http://carcosa-geoffrey.blogspot.com/). In a thread entitled “Holmes Basic D&D as a Complete Game”, Geoffrey leads off his post with “The 46-page basic D&D rulebook edited by J. Eric Holmes in 1977 can serve as a complete game in and of itself. The rulebook has rules only for characters of levels 1-3. There is no reason that even a long-term campaign could not be conducted using PCs and NPCs of only 3rd level and lower.” The posts go on to describe in more detail the fantasy world where everything tops out at 3rd level, and the consequences of such (mages not being able to cast more than 2nd level spells, limited magic items, severely high mortality rate among PCs, long stretches between leveling, Gods who are barely higher than 3rd level in power, etc), and what a game of Holmes-only might look like. Both pros and cons are given for this quirky idea, and anyone wanting to explore this further can travel to the Dragonsfoot threads under the “Classic D&D” board to get more info (check anything with “Holmes” in the title).

Left by itself, this idea hurts no one, and IMO only exists in a sort of make believe campaign world that you think up when you are either drunk or really desperate for something new (How about a campaign world where there are only elves? Or one where we play intelligent talking bunnies? How about a world where orcs are good and humans are evil, and there are no other monsters? ). It falls under this category because no matter how exciting or intriguing the idea is at first, inevitably this type of campaign is exciting and intriguing to only one or two people (the creator/DM being one of these), and either never gets created, or gets played maybe a handful times before everyone gets thoroughly bored of the concept and moves on to more traditional fantasy settings.

I feel the “Holmes Delusion” falls squarely under this category. While it would be a novel idea for a short period of time (particularly as a good backdrop for a tournament setting), I find it very unlikely a solid group could be found to experiment with this concept for a year or more, delighting when their long-surviving character (the 19th one they have rolled up) finally makes the jump to 3rd level (only to die at the hands of a group of kobolds the next adventure). Not the stuff of heroic roleplaying, for sure. The entire premise of Dungeons & Dragons is setting a long term goal for your characters, whether it be material wealth, a kingdom, marrying the princess and moving to the suburbs, killing the lich that killed your pet dog, whatever. To do this, the general idea is to acquire more and more abilities, spells, powers, and magic items to achieve your goal. To say the entire concept of the game is built around rising in “levels” is so entrenched it pretty much goes without saying…..hey, even EGG ran some high level characters once upon a time (Not to mention those pesky character experience tables in the PHB that show advancement to double digit levels)

So by itself, an interesting idea by Geoffrey of a campaign world that surely no one would be masochistic enough to actually play in, no harm there. Except something I like to call “The Holmes Delusion” starts creeping in, and suddenly supporters for this unusual proposal start piping up as time goes on with the idea that “this is real old school D&D”. With a touch of “Good Old Days Syndrome”, suddenly a bunch of otherwise rational gamers are writing things like “All the best games are low level games, anyway” and “Low level playing more accurately replicates the traditional Sword and Sorcery experience” and “Conan was only a 3rd level fighter, anyway” and “Low level playing is grittier and grimmer; high level play loses all sense of wonder”? I can and have refuted all of these assertions time and again, but the consistency with which they are spouted make me wonder if these supporters are truly serious, or like in the above examples, they are just fantasizing of a simpler time and place and would no more start up a “Holmes Only” campaign than they would a “Pixie Characters Only” campaign.

What is very interesting to me is the amount of Dungeon Master types that jump at the idea of limiting a game to level three (or level six, or level 9). I wish there existed the means to study this phenomena more and work up some kind of operating hypothesis….are they, deep inside, afraid to run higher levels? Are these mostly DMs who are regularly out-maneuvered by players once the players get more capabilities, and wish to keep the advantage? Do they have trouble imagining a campaign that goes beyond a randomly made underground dungeon with kobolds, orcs, and giant centipedes? Does the thought of the TPK give them anticipatory shivers of delight? Are they truly just hankering for a time when a simpler game meant one rulebook, some dice, graph paper and a pencil? I wonder if the conclusion reached would be that those who want a more “authentic” sword and sorcery experience are just not equipped to run players higher than 3rd level? BITD a notorious OD&D DM I knew of was quite good at killing off players by the handful (no one made it over 5th level in any of his campaigns) and slowly but surely the players in his games dwindled as they came to realize he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. Running a high level party does require a DM to keep track of a lot of nuts and bolts, and having run the GDQ series as a fledgling DM I can attest to the fact that the only thing that kept me ahead of 4-5 players with 2 characters each was extensive preparation and quick thinking on my feet. But honestly, I bet none of the above are the main reason.

Perhaps all this Holmes Love, it’s nothing more than a “Back to the Womb” by older type gamers who are also enamored of the renaissance of retro-clones and simulacrum games (which I admit I am also fascinated by). Alas we’ll probably never know. From my experience I enjoy low level play, mid level play, and high level play about the same….all types have their own attractive bits. Part of the fun for me at DMing higher levels is the entire vista that opens up when characters get to 9th level or so, a new world of dragons, giants, beholders, high level evil mages and clerics, liches, etc. Not to mention you aren’t afraid to have your characters jump on a boat and cross an ocean, climb a mountain, or trudge across an arctic waste (why, the hypothermia alone would kill poor little Pipkin the 1st level fighter in a Holmes game!). And for my games in particular, higher levels are the times when the characters move from dirt covered peons to true movers and shakers in the campaign world. In the Holmes world, it’s impossible to be much of a mover and shaker when a well trained war dog can gut you in two rounds….but that may be the point.

Somewhere along the way, tied in with dislike of 3E and it’s successors, and going all the way back to the shabby way EGG was treated by TSR, the old schoolers have latched onto the “Less is better, more is worse” mantra and are now taking it to it’s logical extreme. It’s only a matter of time before someone creates a D&D campaign that resembles Twerps, with every die roll being a d6, all dungeons being completely random affairs with miscellaneous monsters and treasures, and each adventure being a “back of the 1E DMG charts” created megadungeon of 15 levels sitting one atop the other with no rhyme or reason.

There was a reason the game evolved into the version most of us prefer ( a pre-2000 version in most cases): We got bored of that random, low level shit. We wanted our mages to toss Fireballs and Lightning Bolts and Cloudkills; we wanted our fighters to hack through an army of gnoll warriors to rescue the princess; we wanted our thieves to backstab the gloating evil priest before he ever got a spell off; we wanted our clerics…well, hell, we wanted our clerics to become the head of their own church with followers, worshippers, and servants doing our bidding (who says there isn’t a touch of the Jimmy Swaggert in some of us???). WE WANTED POWER! It’s a dream as old as the day the schoolyard bully shoves your face in the dirt; “Hey, you scaly little kobolds, WANT A PIECE OF ME NOW????” The Holmes Delusion eliminates that possibility; you might as well be playing “Schleps and Schlubs” as D&D, with your 10 STR fighter screaming like a little girl as he runs from the bugbear threatening him in the dungeon (after playing said fighter for a year and getting him to the edge of 2nd level, of course).

Anyway, as you see, I have lots of observations but no solid conclusions. The rules don’t support such an interpretation, so anyone wanting to run such a campaign must have solid reasoning that goes against everything EGG and others who created this game both played and preached. I have asserted time and again that I’d love to hear an account of a regularly attended Holmes run game as described that extends past a year (with the same players who are still hanging onto their 2nd level characters, one sword hit away from rolling up Joe the Fighter #16). So let’s go to the DMs and supporters of the Holmes Delusion, and ask them: Do you want to run this sort of game? Have you run this sort of game for any length of time? What is the appeal of this sort of campaign? I’d also love to hear from players who would enjoy this type of campaign and why; seems like the very antithesis to what we have come to expect out of RPGs in general and D&D in particular. Personally, I love to wrap up a 2-3 year campaign with the clichéd giant battle against the Evil Overlord’s Army of Darkness, not Fred the Ogre’s motley band of goblin minions.

Things To Come

2009-03-25T22:28:00.003-05:00

I've always been a sucker for sneak previews, trailers and "Next Week on...." blurbs. Now that I have an official blog, I have so many ideas it's a fight to see which I want to throw down next. But with my once a month D&D game coming up this weekend and other commitments, I may not be able to post in awhile (how do these other guys post daily????). Anyway, a few of the more coherent subjects I want to cover in the near future include:

Why I Might Not Be Old School

Ruins of Undermountain: The One True Megadungeon

The Most Useful D&D Item Ever Sold

The Genius of Ed Greenwood: Maskyr's Eye

The Holmes Delusion

How much is that Castle Zagyg in the Window?

My Love Affair With Dungeon Magazine

The Greatest Modules Never Sold: Winners of the IDDC Contest

Top Ten D&D Items of All Time

A Blast From the Past: The Tabletop Warriors Story

Might be a week until I get around to any of these, but I can't wait....!

Greatest....Campaign.....Ever!!!

2009-03-25T01:13:00.007-05:00

Do you have a campaign or gaming session that, even after many years, sticks out in your mind? The one you and your buddies like to mull over when you are deep in your cups on a hot summer night, "Ah yes, remember when...?" The one you wish all the rest could be like...even if you know deep in your heart it was so perfect that you could never again approach that?

I've had a few really fun campaigns over the years, ones that went over and above what you get out of gaming with friends..some that come to mind are my AD&D Ruins of Undermountain campaign that lasted about 2 and a half years that involved about a dozen players, over 30 characters, and never left the walls of the City of Waterdeep but twice in all that time period; the Villains and Vigilantes campaign I ran in the 80s that was the absolute antithesis of anything superhero long before it was "hip" for comics to do so (the group was led by a 12 year old megagenius and they killed all their defeated bad guys to prevent any recurring foes); the "all brothers" AD&D Forgotten Realms campaign I ran in the early 90s that had myself and my two brothers gaming every Monday night from dusk until dawn for a couple years. Maybe a few others. But the #1 campaign I ever ran was Call of Cthulhu's Masks of Nyarlathotep in 1985/86.

Now, at this point of the 21st century, Masks' greatness is not a secret. It has long been discovered by the masses, reviewed, lauded, and called not only the best CoC supplement ever, but possibly the best all around RPG supplement ever (Rick Swan's Guide to Roleplaying was the first to name it thus, but many have followed). It is epic in the way only a few published campaigns have been epic before or since. A true world-spanning adventure, it is like a Lovecraftian Indiana Jones pulp novel, with separate chapters for New York, London, Cairo, Kenya and Shanghai (this was before the "lost" Australian chapter was added) as the characters rush around the world to prevent...well, the end of the world, of course. An ill-fated expedition to Africa by dilettante Carlyle and his entourage turned into an unspeakably evil ceremony and may hold the key to releasing Nyarlathotep's full power on earth, unless the lost members can be located and the evil plan discovered in time. The players travel around the globe, finding clues and the means to stop the evil plan, and end up in Shanghai for the spectacular denouement in a live volcano of all places (think James Bond, Lovecraft, Doc Savage and Astonishing Tales pulps all rolled into one....)

I won't go into too much detail since I assume most gamers are at least passing familiar with this incredible campaign by Larry DiTillio and Lynn Willis, and I don't want to ruin anything for those who hope go play in it someday. The original box set was a thing of beauty, with separate books for each location/chapter, each crammed full of detailed Mythos goodness. I had purchased this as soon as it came out in 1984, because at the time I had a CoC group that would meet on the occasions when my youngest brother Matt came into town on vacation (he and my mother moved to South Texas after I graduated high school, and I only saw him on holidays and during the summer). Along with my other brother and who ever we could rope into playing, we managed to work our way through Shadows of Yog Sothoth and several other stand alone adventures in the early 80s(the entirety of The Asylum was one such endeavor). Unfortunately it remained somewhat of a guilty pleasure since I couldn't get anyone except for my youngest brother (also a huge Lovecraft fan) to play it on a regular basis (most of my D&D buddies were terrible CoC players, going through characters like crazy, as they tended to play gangsters, private eyes and ex-WWI vets so as to load up on guns...which as any CoC veteran knows, is not going to help a whole lot)

Anyway, I bought and read through Masks when it came out and was pretty excited...I started working up a campaign in a notebook, and made notes on and off for the next year or so. On one of his visits I told my brother Matt about the campaign, showing him the box and books, and he got excited too. So we decided to tackle it the next time he was up for the holidays. I ended up getting some cheap "mood music" cassettes of African, Chinese, Egyptian to play in the background during the various chapters, along with a few old 1920 National Geographics for visual aids (the first time I had ever done something like that). The African music actually got to be quite the favorite by the time we finished, and the mags got a workout too, as I used several old, grainy B&W photos to illustrate locations. Nowadays such props are looked on as essential, but these were quite the novelty back in the mid 80s, and much appreciated by the players.

So we started Masks during Thanksgiving holiday (everyone rolled up characters that weekend and I set up the adventure), then when Christmas break came the next month we played nearly every day for two weeks. The group consisted of five people (one guy attended every other session or so because of work commitments); the other four were there until the bitter end. Sensing some deaths on the road to Shanghai, I had the group roll up three characters each (except for my younger brother, I had him pick from his stable of CoC characters, admonishing him of the difficulty and low survivability) and had them each run two at a time. I pulled out a few tried and true CoC NPCs from the group pile to fill in the holes. The usual CoC game I ran was based around a rich lawyer named Goddard who basically supported a group of multi-talented adventurers in their jaunts across the globe in the 1920s...sort of a Lovecraftian Mission Impossible set-up. So whatever the situation called for, Goddard could send a character to fill out a party who had a specific need, from gangster to archeologist to airplane pilot (Goddard and his mansion/base were destroyed years later, sucked into a gate in an epic campaign conclusion that spelled the end of our 1920s campaign and beginning of our Cthulhu Now campaign, but that's another tale....).

Now, the coolest part of the entire set up was two of the players. My two brothers and the sporadically attending guy were veteran gamers, and had played CoC many times. The two guys that joined us were friends of my brother, and had never played CoC before....amazingly, one guy had NEVER played ANY sort of RPG before in his life! The best part of the entire experience was watching these two guys (especially the guy who had never roleplayed) become totally immersed in their characters and the entire unfolding plotline of Masks. I have to say they had the most fun of anyone, and years later I unexpectedly ran into the guy who had never played RPGs before....he still remembered the game fondly and brought up several incidents from the game that even I had forgotten. He played an Indiana Jones type that used a whip and pistol, and in his mind he was basically acting out the Indiana Jones movies (albeit with horrific other dimensional evil creatures); I believe his character was named something silly like Ohio Smith. Needless to say he had a blast, and his enthusiasm got ahold of the entire group and translated into above-average play (and gamemastering) through the campaign. The other most memorable character was my brother's WWI veteran, Jimmy Jack Jones, who my brother had selected among several characters that had survived over the last few years from the horrors of Shadows of Yog-Sothoth and The Asylum (shout out to any old school CoC players who also ran adventures from those supplements and somehow had a survivor). Jimmy was a good old boy farmer turned sniper, and his expertise with a rifle saved the party's ass too many times to count (he personally assassinated several high priests with called shots to the head at extremely tense times of the game in London and Egypt)....when he died in the final battle by a purely random die roll, it was perhaps the most affecting death we ever experienced in an RPG up to then (due to the absolutely senseless nature of the death and the horrors he had survived from WWI, through Shadows, and all the other games we had run plus Masks). Only a really, really good RPG can give you those connections a make-believe character.

Anyway, the players very quickly jumped into the action as we started off in New York, and my youngest brother very efficiently was able to keep track of all the members of the Carlyle expedition and different locations/rumors/information through a small notebook he kept by his side during the entire campaign. The battle at Ju-Ju House was considerably epic, with a bloodbath there which included their first death (an intrepid NPC reporter woman who had managed to survive several earlier adventures but was torn to pieces by raving cultists), and the incredible swordplay of the clinically insane actor James Raven (a totally throw away NPC from Shadows that the players had adopted into their group because of his expertise with the sword and the fact he was already totally nutso) who single handedly killed over a dozen bloodthirsty cultists in a series of impaling rolls even I could hardly believe. The adventure ended with a Hunting Horror and naked, screaming, pranga swinging cultists chasing the surviving party members through the midnight, rain slick streets of Harlem, dodging cars and killing random passersby until brought down by twin sub machine guns wielded by party members, supported by two of New York's finest who showed up (who promptly went insane when they saw what they had killed, after which the party members calmly picked up their weapons and stole their police car to escape...waste not, want not!!!). Let's just say after such a riotous beginning, it only got better as time went on....

Several characters distinguished themselves: The afore mentioned Jimmy Jack, who took out both Edward Gavigan in London and Omar Shakti in Egypt with amazing impaling head shots that defied science and logic; Father Michael Flannigan, who fought only with staff and the holy book and was finally hacked apart by cultists in Kenya while holding them back as the rest of the party escaped; the absolutely amazingly average HP Jones the third, a completely average character that somehow survived over a dozen CoC adventures including this one by nothing but sheer luck, for actually coming out unscathed from Gray Dragon Island being attacked by the Bloated Woman, insane cultists, deep ones, and a shoggoth while carrying a wounded party member to safety....all by the virtue of insanely impossible luck and dodge rolls (made every dang one of them). Never have a I ran a campaign where so many characters impressed themselves on my memories for so many years afterwards; to this day I remember the Indiana Jones-like Ohio Smith dying during the final battle using his whip and pistol to bring down super villain Aubrey Penhew into the magma as he himself lost his balance and fell in after him. Who remembers the death of a third rate Indiana Jones knock off among hundreds of gaming sessions over the past 25 years? Masks just creates memories like that, it seems.

Due to the circumstances we could only game during holidays, so we continued the campaign during Spring Break, and finally finished up at the end of May when summer break started. The campaign was hideous, hilarious, sobering, exciting, frightening, and nail biting by turns. Twice the party was a hair's width away from a TPK (underneath the pyramids in Egypt and in Carl Stanford's hideout in China) that would have necessitated a reboot of epic proportions. Needless to say we couldn't wait to get at it every chance possible, with the two novice players practically jumping up and down with excitement as they waited for my brother to come into town during the Spring Break and Summer breaks. We gamed from 8 am to midnight a few times during the campaign, and no one was tired when we would finally have to call it quits each session. The best parts were the aforementioned Ju-Ju House, underneath the pyramids in Egypt, the horrific scene on the mountain in Kenya (probably the most outrageous set piece in any RPG ever published), and of course the final battle on Gray Dragon Island. No one was safe, anyone could die or go insane at any moment, and the fate of the world hung in the balance. By the end half the original characters had perished, and the rest weren't looking too hot (sanity scores were teetering, dangerously so on a couple of characters...James Raven, he of the 20 SAN, of course made every roll along the way and came out more or less just about as insane as he ever was before this entire Carlyle business). The end was suitably majestic ( I won't spoil it for anyone), and all the living party members had to make a final luck roll at the end to survive the explosive conclusion (this is where the poor, doomed Jimmy Jack made his one crap roll of the entire campaign, and died after experiencing all Nyarlathotep could throw at him....by a fist sized rock that struck him on the head, killing him instantly. No heroic death for the most bad ass character in CoC history, but such is life).

I could go into minute detail of the entire campaign, but suffice to say that afterwards, every other CoC adventure seemed drab, colorless, and somewhat....mundane. Even later, battling a Dark Young in the woods outside of Jimmy Jack's grandpa's house (his grandfather became a recurring character after JJ's death in Masks) took on the gravity of the JLA coming back to earth after fending off an alien invasion to bitch slap the Riddler. "Dark Young? Suck it, WE KICKED NYARLATHOTEP'S ASS!!!" Needless to say, rather than ruin their remarkable run of luck by dying at the hands of some random Deep One later on, we retired most of those characters (and the entire campaign, via End of Days final battle that took out their benefactor), and continued with the characters grandkids in a 1980's Cthulhu Now campaign (supplement that was very conveniently released in 1987, just in time for the switchover).

Anyway, the Masks campaign is by far the standard bearer of all future campaigns I have run or will run. If I could someday again channel the excitement, suspense, and thrill we experienced the first time, I'd love to run it again, but I'm afraid that no matter who played or what happened it wouldn't match up. I don't know, maybe nearly 25 years is long enough to wait for lightning to strike twice. I still have the National Geographics, the 1996 printing "Complete" Masks (with the Australian chapter included), the old ethnic music cassette tapes ( I guess I could spring for CDs at this point), and with the power of the internet could pull up tons of reference material....but it would have to be a helluva run to top that original game.

What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Non-Weapon Proficiencies?

2009-03-24T01:49:00.002-05:00

Certainly the authors could have included a skill system covering activities such as “horse riding” or “swimming”, but doing so is actively detrimental to heroic gaming. Had we included a “horse riding” skill, characters would start falling off their horses.
---From the OSRIC rules

When a character uses a proficiency, either the attempt is automatically successful, or the character must roll a proficiency check. If the task is simple or the proficiency has only limited game use (such as cobbling or carpentry), a proficiency check is generally not required. If the task the character is trying to perform is difficult or subject to failure, a proficiency check is required.
---From the 2E Players Handbook

Soon I'll have a post entitled "Why I might not be Old School" and list the reasons, despite my favorable demographics, why I just don't "fit in".

One of the reasons: I regularly use (and use, and use) NWPs, and have for 20 years.

I absolutely love the things. The make DMing easier, because I never have to decide if Player A can swim the raging river carrying a halfling on his shoulders while being shot at by orc archers; or whether or not Player B can train the war dog he just bought to attack on command; or if Player C can tell by the way the victim in the tomb was ritually sacrificed what evil priest is awaiting them further on; or if Player D can throw his voice, make a metal weapon, or literally "sing for her supper" and perform at a local tavern without having food thrown at her (Ventriloquism, Weaponsmithing and Singing, respectively). It's all there in black and white on the player's printed up (core rules, natch) character sheet, and the best part, the PLAYER HIMSELF has chosen these NWPs based on his own ideas (character development, an attempt to min/max, or just because that particular NWP "looked awesome").

Frankly, who would have any sort of problem with this?

Oh, of course: Old Schoolers.

As a tacked on system late in the life of 1E AD&D, the appearance (while imaginative and mold-breaking in it's simplicity yet depth) got mostly jeers, sneers and the middle finger at the time because old schoolers were in a huge snoot about EGG getting booted from TSR. When it made a prominent (but optional) appearance in 2E, it was thrown out by them like everything else that was wrong with 2E (in the eyes of Old Schooler); I won't even go into it's appearance in 3E and on because, frankly, I don't know a thing about it past 1999 since I don't use 3E and only pay attention to the d20 rules set when I happen to glance through a module, adventure or supplement published past 1999.....but I could give a happy hoot since I play 2E anyway.

So, despite finally giving rulesy types a way to have a FINAL SAY on subjects like making your own arrows or training your pet bear to gently bite the rope typing your hands to untie them from behind your backs, all that came out of the collective arse of the old schooler was whining about how "NWPs tell more about what a player CANNOT do, than what he CAN do! It's LIMITING OUR IMAGINATIONS!". They were more concerned, and I quote (from OSRIC), that reliance on NWP instead of DM fiat would lead to endless rolls having characters fall off horse, burn their bacon while cooking, and failing to catch a squirrel for dinner in the woods (despite the rule SPECIFICALLY STATING THE OPPOSITE in the 2E PHB...a book, while detested by many old schoolers, that has never been formerly read by the same).

Now look, in the old days, if your player wanted to do something like jump over a waterfall and swim to safety to escape the orc horde, or survive in the arctic wastes for a week on nothing but ice, or canoe upstream while being chased by hungry cannibal headhunters, we pre-2E DMs had a simple yet elegant solution: We just rolled the dice. Maybe, if you had established a bit of a backstory (you were raised by an eskimo-like tribe and grew up in an igloo), we might cut you some slack on the arctic survival (but probably not on piloting the canoe upriver in the jungle for the same character, since it would be stretching your backstory even by heroic fantasy standards). If we were feeling generous, we'd hand wave the entire thing. If not, we'd hem and haw a bit ("Ok, Bob, since you have never owned a horse the entire time we have been playing, and you're 9th level, I'm going to give you a very generous 10% chance to escape the leucrotta trotting after you while you ride bareback on your stolen horse through the forest at night....) before handing you the dice and letting you roll. Inevitably, despite DM fiat, the bitching and whining and moaning (don't kid yourself, the ultimate authority of the DM could be tenuous even back in the day, especially if the player was providing the ride/beer/munchies/hot chick eye candy cousin playing her first game while giggling about how "cute" the painted lead figures were) would bog the game down at the most exciting part in Strahd's castle as your buddy grumbled about you "screwing" him by not letting him catch a dagger thrown by a gypsy thrall (Juggling NWP, just for reference).

Ok, so then 2E unveiled a somewhat clumsy, but completely workable NWP system that more or less covered all these "out of game" type things you really didn't want to bother with as DM or player....now, they could choose whether or not they could fletch their own arrows, fall down a staircase without taking damage, or cook a meal fit for royalty, and it was all in black and white on their character sheets. The best part? They could STILL try stuff like canoeing, swimming and tumbling......even if they didn't have the particular NWP, if the DM was so inclined. The NWP only came in handy if the circumstances dictated you had to be an "expert", or do something over the top (the aforementioned swimming the raging river with the halfling on your back, etc). Heck, we could even deal with the sometimes tricky problems of "exactly what languages do I speak/read/write?" because even THAT was covered in the new NWP rules. Brilliant! In 20 years of gaming since, I have yet to have any sort of rumble over what a character can and can't do not covered in the character class rules themselves.

Except I must have missed the really, really, really hard and obscure parts of the rules that all the Old Schoolers seem to find, because many of them have HORRIBLE problems trying to make this simple system work. Instead, all these old school DMs are continually rolling every time the characters try to climb on a horse, or fry up some bacon on the campfire, or try to catch Fuzzy the Bunny for a little snack while out in the wilderness for a few days. Despite, as I have to say again, the rules making it PERFECTLY CLEAR that this isn't the intent It's enough to think these hopefully intelligent old codgers are perhaps PURPOSELY ignoring the rules as written for some reason.....? Heaven Forbid!!!!

And don't say it's "metagaming" to pick skills. Guys, I hate to spring this on you, but practically everything about a character in 1E is "metagaming", from the fact wizards can't use swords to the fact there is some funny language called "common" running around all 1E fantasy worlds that everyone speaks. Remember, also, these are the EXACT SAME GUYS that will have an absolute hiss fit if your mage character dares to pick up a dropped longsword so he can defend himself from certain death, or your cleric happens to swing a non-blunt weapon at the ravening vampire attacking him, or your fighter tries to pick a lock, or your thief picks up a shield......because THATS NOT IN THE RULES!!!!!!! But if half the party picks Swimming, that's "metagaming" because heaven forbid you put in your character's background he grew up in a shack on the river...

Look, tongue in cheek examples aside, all NWPs are skill checks with a little chrome. There's no more simple mechanism than rolling a d20 against one of the PCs prime abilities. At it's heart that is all the 2E NWP system is (histronics aside), and if it does anything it makes adjucating situations easier, not harder, when faced with a chance to use one. Rarther than dominating a game (or even a session), they are fun little character bites that are used occasionally to let someone do something "not in the rules" to help their character shine a little.

Did I mention again I've never had a problem using NWPs in all my time gaming with them? And all sorts of players I've had during that time must have perfectly understood the rules as written because they also haven't had any problems understanding what they are and what they are used for? Am I completely wrong to wonder aloud that perhaps the problems aren't with the NWP rules as written, but the Old Schooler who hasn't actually bothered to read the NWP rules as written????

That Post Where I Plug The Local Con

2009-03-22T17:56:00.002-05:00

The obligatory "Here is the local way cool game con, please come!" post. Only there are a few tidbits that make this just a bit out of the ordinary, not the least of which it's being held here in Texas in June (usually that's the time of year people LEAVE our fair state for the summer to save their sanity....)

First of all, this con directly came about because of a friend of mine, Doug Rhea, who had the same idea I have talked about for years: a local roleplaying gaming con. By local I meant not in Dallas or Fort Worth (which, now that I think of it, really have none anyway). Sadly the DFW area has not had a proper RPG convention since the days of the old Dallas Fantasy Fair (which was really more of a comic con anyway) which closed up shop over a decade before. There are some anime cons and boardgaming cons with gaming at them, but nothing RPG only. So for years I made imaginary plans of how I would plan my imaginary convention if I had the time or money. Then, after meeting Doug, we both found out we were interested in the same things, but Doug can make the imaginary come true. And Doug has much more get up and go than I do, and basically pulled this together through sheer will power. So the North Texas RPG Con came into being. I told Doug I would be happy with 10 people (all the Acaeum guys that live in the area, and maybe a couple of strippers); we rented a meeting room that can hold 50 (what a joke that was, I thought). Now we have 30+ people signed up and it's still two months away!!!

The details are: on June 5-7 this year in Bedford, Texas (right between Dallas and Fort Worth in an area known as the Mid Cities) we are having a small get together at a La Quinta there, to play games and meet some great old school gamers and guests. This first ever NTRPG Con will be held there, with lots of games, merriment, and old school goodness. Here is the link to the website, will all the info you will need to plan your weekend: http://ntrpgcon.com/index.html

Second, I'm not just talking guests. I'm talking GUESTS. We basically pulled off a coup that cons twice our size can't manage by securing both Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask, two oldies but goodies in the gaming world. Frank and Tim both worked for TSR and very closely with Gary Gygax back in the day. Tim is probably best known for editing Dragon magazine in it's beginnings, while Frank may be best known for his work on T1-4 and a host of other TSR products in the golden age of D&D. Tim and Frank have both cordially agreed to run old school games at the first ever NTRPG Con

But we didn't stop there. Oddly enough, Texas seems to be this weird gathering spot for many of the old school guys in the roleplaying industry. A lot of that is probably because of the computer companies that spring up here, such as id. Obviously Steve Jackson's SJG is based in Austin, but over the years I've discovered luminaries such as Steve Marsh (Chaosium), Jeff Dee (TSR artist), Sandy Petersen (Call of Cthulhu) and Paul Jaquays (Judges Guild) are residents (some practically neighbors!). Doug had communicated with Paul Jaquays (author of such classic D&D adventures as Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia) on earlier occasions when Paul had placed some items up for sale on Ebay; a few phone calls later, and we had the great man himself also heading to the Mid-cities to meet and greet.

We were also happy to get artist Jason Braun (Labyrinth Lord, Bottle City) to drive up from San Antonio to be with us; and long-time Greyhawk historian, gamer and writer Allan Grohe to come down from his Kansas haunts to join us. Honestly, I've been to conventions where the lineup didn't TOUCH this all star cast of characters, and I was charged twenty bucks for the privilege.

Third, it's FREE. For our first year, the only thing you are paying for is your own food, hotel room and transportation. And that's not including the huge BBQ we have planned Saturday afternoon that is also FREE. To offset the cost, many of the guests have been nice enough to donate gifts for a raffle and auction (some items you don't have to be present to win) that include a Dragon magazine #1 (I bet Tim would sign it if you ask nicely); copies of the adventure Tim plans to run at NTRPG Con; Strategic Reviews #1-6; character sketches done to order by Jason Braun, gift certificates for Reaper miniatures, and more. I really can't think of a bigger bang for your buck unless you are talking about the new Dallas Cowboy stadium where games will cost you $150 a seat...oh, sorry, I forgot, Jerry World is a huge RIPOFF (whoops, shouldn't have gone there, let's get back on target...)

Fourth, what are we going to do here? Well, old school game for one. Both Frank and Tim are running games; Allan Grohe has volunteered to do something Greyhawky if asked; there will be lots of boardgames like Divine Right, Arkham Horror, Talisman and others strewn about the place just begging to be played. If you are an old school gamer, or you just got into the hobby recently, I would have to say a chance to pick the brains of contributors to the hobby like Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask and Paul Jaquays and NOT HAVING TO TRAVEL TO GEN CON TO DO IT is close to a once in a lifetime opportunity. Remember, these three guys were there during the Golden Age of RPGs (1974-1982) and saw things that you and I can only imagine. I've spent time with Frank at the last two Gencons, and I can honestly say he's got more stories than is humanly possible to tell in one weekend; I've seen Tim hold court and if anything he might even be more verbose and opinionated than Frank. And my question list for Paul is already half a page long.....

To top it off, there will be a tour of Reaper miniatures in Denton Sunday morning (thank you, Gus Landt) that should be fun. I'm a huge Reaper fan myself (a huge lead fan) so I am very excited about this: http://www.reapermini.com/

And as an added bonus to anyone stopping by here and finding out about NTRPG Con for the first time.....Tim and Frank aren't leaving town until late Sunday...so there could be a smaller, more intimate setting for gaming or just shooting the bull when a lot of the other attendees have left to go back home. Stick around after the tour Sunday and you might have some tales to tell the grandkids!!!

All I Really Need To Know I Learned In B1

2009-03-21T18:18:00.006-05:00

The first adventure I ever played in (and ran) was the classic Mike Carr instructional module, B1 In Search of the Unknown, which was included with the Holmes set I bought in the spring of 1979. To this day, it's my favorite published adventure, and considering the amount of use I have gotten out of this adventure (I've run it probably two dozen times at minimum), it was also the most bang for the buck I've gotten for any gaming item except maybe the Core Rules CD Rom (more on that in a later post).

James Maliszewski has a great post about B1 here http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/09/restrospective-in-search-of-unknown.html , and I agree with many of the points he makes. As a beginning adventure, it does so much for both the player and the DM. It is an exciting, mysterious, and unusual environment for a first time player; it's format makes it easy to run for a 1st time DM. To top it off, it literally contains everything you might need if you are the DM, from good "how to" tips to tables random rumors, treasures, monsters, and NPCS. Even the backstory is perfect, with just enough detail to intrigue the players but not enough to tie the hands of a fledgling DM who wants to set the adventure in his own (or any) campaign world.

I'm going to assume that anyone reading is familiar with the set up of B1, which is full room descriptions minus any monsters and treasures which are placed by the DM (ooops, there's the set up, wasn't that easy). The descriptions are simply perfect; enough information and detail to tweak the imagination of beginning DMs and Players, yet enough left unsaid to leave room for lots of innovation. In a few cases (#8 Wizard's Workroom, #10 Storeroom, #11 Supply Room, and #13 Implement Room) long lists of items as room contents are given, none immediately useful (not like, say, a glowing broadsword), but intriguing enough to get any fledgling player thinking and using his noggin (and getting the more paranoid players wondering "Should we carry around that small barrel of lard, just in case???). For example, the list from the Implement room reads thusly:

A box of wooden pegs
A coil of light rope, 50'
A coil of heavy chain, 70'
A coil of fine copper wire, 20'
Mining picks (32), all unusable and in poor repair
Chisels (15)
Shovels (13)
Empty barrels (11)
Mallets (8)
Iron bars (29, each measuring 1" in diameter, 8' in length)
An iron vise (12" jaws)
Mining jacks (2), broken
Crosscut saws (2, 2-man)
Hacksaw (4)
A mason's toolbox (containing trowel, stone chisel, plumbline, etc.)
A cobbler's toolbox (containing small hammer, knife,heavy needles, etc.)
A small barrel of unfletched arrows (60, all normal)
An empty wooden bench, 10' long

If half a dozen uses for, say, the hacksaw, mallets, and heavy chain doesn't jump inside your head while toiling around Quasqueton, perhaps you should give up gaming and take up sewing. What these lists do is give the beginning DM a sort of insight into how to make a dungeon somewhat "realistic" (obviously, if Quasqueton was under construction, the supplies would have to be stored somewhere, correct?), and show him how fun it can be to stimulate the mind of the players in directions "off the map", so to speak. There is no given use in B1 for the iron bars, a sack of barley, a jar of vinegar, or a box of wooden nails...but the players don't know this, and it forces the beginning DM to learn an important lesson of dungeon crawling: "Players will always do something you don't expect". If later on in the lower levels, the players use the copper wire to their advantage, they have exceeded the parameters of the game and should be rewarded.

I've always been surprised TSR didn't publish more of this type of adventure to help out the hordes of new players that would be flocking to the game in the early 80s (B2, while also a classic, is nowhere near the cakewalk B1 is to run and tinker with). Considering that the initial Top Secret adventure (Sprechenhaltestelle, including in the Top Secret boxed set) contained virtually the same set up (area descriptions without "treasure" or "monsters") it seems the powers that be realized the potential, but never really followed up on it. A B1 type adventure, published every five years or so and included with whatever boxed set was being sold, would have been a perfect companion to the rules set. I really wish TSR had continued down the path Mike Carr started, we would perhaps have a handful of classic beginning type adventures instead of just this one perfect example.

For myself, the adventure is IMO the best introduction to my favorite game that I have ever used. It's the one I reach for when I run into someone that wants to experience D&D for the first time (it's the only adventure my wife has ever played, when she was in her "What's this D&D thing all about anyway?" stage). It's versatility is a strength. I've run it as a necromancer's lair (full of undead); as a base for a group of orc bandits; a base for hobgoblin bandits; a base for kobold bandits; as the hideout of a evil priest and his minions; as the base for a low level thieves' guild; as a decades-sealed dungeon filled only with mindless creatures and constructs; and sometimes just as written: a bunch of random encounters in a long abandoned stronghold. I've used it in the World of Greyhawk (set right outside the Village of Hommlet so characters could get some experience before tackling the moathouse, or in the mountains outside Geoff, or in the hills of Keoland); Forgotten Realms (in the hills outside Shadowdale); my own campaign world (many, many times, usually in the hills right outside of the town the player's characters meet in for the first time). The setting and intro are so classic and generic the adventure could be set anywhere, from the jungles of Delos to the mountaintops of the Thunderspires (locations in my own campaign world where I have used B1).

While reading over this minor masterpiece yet again, It's really hard to come up with the definitive "IT" factor that makes B1 such a great adventure. There are some great set pieces (entry hall magic mouth with the dead bodies; room of pools; mushroom chamber) but nothing that really jumps out and blows you away. When looking at it, this is actually a strength of the adventure, in a lot of spots it's all very mundane and rote, and just what a newbie expects an abandoned dungeon area to resemble...living up to expectations can be a good thing. Sure there are a couple of surprises (the portcullis in the NW area of the fortress that can trap characters; the one-way secret doors that monsters can use to surprise characters that exit and return time and again; and of course the pit trap that empties into the pool of water on the lower level) and in truth the lower level is actually quite a let down compared to the upper level; but on the whole it's competent and workmanlike instead of all Ravenlofty. Then again you don't want to hit the beginners with too much, and the simplicity of mapping Quasqueton (and the obviousness of secret rooms...they are all where the empty spots on the map are!) is actually a plus here (The party is MEANT to discover that secret lab anyway!)

The lower level comes as a bit of a let down, in my estimation, since it's really nothing more than caverns, tunnels and caves. It does, however, show the newer players that mapping isn't always a "10x50" hallway leading south (especially if they forget a light source, don't have a mapper, or are running for their lives like scared ninnies from a pair of ghouls!). There are two good areas, however: #53 the giant bat cavern (perfect spot for a nasty melee) and the #55/#56 connected area that just begs to be used as the boss bad guy's last stand (or final encounter if there isn't a "organized" opposition in the ruins).

To top it off, the very structure and set-up of B1 lends itself to all sorts of one-shots and pickup games, even for those who have braved it's dark hallways many times. The funnest, and funniest, pickup game I ever ran involved my two younger brothers and myself one Christmas Day several years ago. Sitting around with nothing to do after dinner (with the kids all tired out from Christmas presents), I had them roll up 3d6 in order characters (two each) and gave them an NPC cleric as they did what I billed as a "completely random" run through B1. One of my brothers had a fighter with a great strength but a very low intellect (I'm thinking it was 4 or 5). He was ruled to be a moronic brute, and I rolled his possessions randomly on the AD&D equipment table. His weapon turned out to be a club, and his possessions included no armor and his pet cat. We had a lot of fun in the ensuing crawl, which included a classic combat vs orcs where my brother's moronic brute threw his cat into the face of an orc...and the cat promptly killed the 1 hp orc with several hits from his panicked claws. Sweet! The fact that half the party died in the ensuing pitfall into the 2nd level pool of water (who knew the kobolds in that room would be so accurate with their arrows???) was icing on the cake ("Ha, ha, your characters got killed by kobolds"...and yes my brothers are the only players I'll mock like that during a dungeon crawl).

To top it off, who doesn't feel a surge of nostalgia at the names of Kracky the Hooded One, Presto, Eggo of the Brotherhood and Estra Zo? Ah, the days when you could get away with naming your character one of these or "Fred the Fighter" instead of something all flowerly like Renarius Daelon of the High Forest? As a matter of history, "Krago of the Mountains" was used by my brother in this adventure, and survived to one day 7 years later finish up the GDQ series with the rest of the original party members I ran through B1.

As a last note, I leave here the list in the back of B1 entitled "Tips for Players", which IMO should just be stamped inside whatever is currently passing for a Players Handbook nowadays. Especially #10 seems to have been lost sight of in the edition wars and old school grognards trying to reduce the game to playing a set of numbers. It shouldn't be taken to mean playing a character like you are trying out for the local production of Seven Wives for Seven Brothers, but instead encourages getting into the game and experiencing it instead of rolling dice and observing. Well, that's my take at least.

TIPS FOR PLAYERS
Beginning players would do well to profit from some basic
advice before beginning their D&D careers, and with that in
mind, the following points are offered for consideration:
1) Be an organized player. Keep accurate records on your
character (experience, abilities, items possessed, etc.) for
your own purposes and to aid the Dungeon Master.
2) Always keep in mind that the Dungeon Master is the
moderator of the game, and as such, deserves the continued
cooperation, consideration and respect of all the
players. If you disagree with him or her, present your viewpoint
with deference to the DM's position as game judge, but
be prepared to accept his or her decision as final—after all,
keep in mind that you may not know all aspects of the overall
game situation, and in that case, not everything will always
go your way!
3) Cooperate with your fellow players and work together
when adventuring. Remember that on any foray into the dungeon
or wilderness, a mix of character classes will be beneficial,
since the special abilities of the various characters will
complement each other and add to the overall effectiveness
of the party.
4) Be neither too hasty nor too sluggish when adventuring. If
you are too fast in your exploration, you may recklessly endanger
yourself and your fellow adventurers and fall prone
to every trick and trap you encounter. If you are too slow, you
will waste valuable time and may be waylaid by more than
your share of wandering monsters without accomplishing
anything. As you gain playing experience you will learn the
proper pace, but rely on your DM for guidance.
5) Avoid arguing. While disagreements about a course of
action will certainly arise from time to time, players should
quickly discuss their options and reach a consensus in order
to proceed. Bickering in the dungeon will only create noise
which may well attract wandering monsters. Above all, remember
that this is just a game and a little consideration will
go far toward avoiding any hard feelings . . .
6) Be on your guard. Don't be overly cautious, but be advised
that some non-player characters may try to hoodwink
you, players may doublecross you, and while adventuring,
tricks and traps await the unwary. Of course, you won't avoid
every such pitfall (dealing with the uncertainties is part of the
fun and challenge of the game), but don't be surprised if
everything is not always as It seems.
7) Treat any retainers or NPCs fairly. If you reward them generously
and do not expose them to great risks of life and limb
that your own character would not face, then you can expect
a continuing loyalty (although there may be exceptions,
of course).
8) Know your limits. Your party may not be a match for every
monster you encounter, and occasionally it pays to know
when and how to run away form danger. Likewise, a dungeon
adventure may have to be cut short if your party suffers
great adversity and/or depleted strength. Many times it will
take more than one adventure to accomplish certain goals,
and it will thus be necessary to come back out of a dungeon
to heal wounds, restore magical abilities and spells, and reinforce
a party's strength.
9) Use your head. Many of the characters' goals in the game
can be accomplished through the strength of arms or magic.
Others, however, demand common sense and shrewd
judgment as well as logical deduction. The most successful
players are those who can effectively use both aspects of the
game to advantage.
10) The fun of a D&D game comes in playing your character's
role. Take on your character's persona and immerse
yourself in the game setting, enjoying the fantasy element
and the interaction with your fellow players and the Dungeon
Master.
Enjoy yourself, and good luck!

Interview with the Troll

2009-03-21T00:14:00.004-05:00

Let's just say I can't think of a good way to start this...

So how about a little Q&A with the Blogspot Troll (Otus drawn, natch) so you can take a peek at what I'm all about?

OtusTroll: So good to have you with us today.....

Badmike: God this is stupid, let's just do it....

OT: When and where did you start playing D&D?

BM: That would be spring of 1978, here in Texas (I'm a life long Texan) in a suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth were I went to high school. I was introduced at the end of my first year in high school. A new neighbor (who I am still friends with, btw) moved into the area and kept raving about this new game they all played in his hometown of Maryland. We both went out and found the Holmes boxed set at a local hobby store, brought it home, and the rest is history. I've been playing RPGs ever since.

OT: Did you continue playing Holmes style?

BM: No, we switched to AD&D almost immediately, even if we did have to wait for the DMG to be published. Having no access to the original white box (I seem to remember having a Greyhawk supplement) we had to wing a bunch of it at the time, including most of the magic items.

OT: Do you still play 1st edition AD&D?

BM: No, we switched to 2E when it came out and have stayed there since. I have a lot of fond memories of the original AD&D game, but we had houseruled it so much that when 2E was released, it was pretty darn close to the game we were already playing. It was a pretty seamless switch, and I've never went back. I do play the occasional 1E or Holmes version D&D game at conventions or for special occasions.

OT: What about 3E?

BM: Uh, no.

OT: 4E?

BM: I'm pretty comfortable playing what we play now. Over the past couple of decades our house rules have been adjusted and codified enough that I'm perfectly satisfied with them; new editions are just more rules to learn. Often we'll have sessions where I never glance at the rule book once.

OT: Do you regularly play any other RPGs?

BM: Unfortunately, I don't at this time. There is just a finite amount of free time you have when you get older and have more responsibilities. I have, however, played a lot of Call of Cthulhu (my second favorite RPG after D&D), and have run a long going campaign of Villains and Vigilantes back in the 80s. My group also dabbled in Gamma World, Top Secret, Champions, and a few others. I actually haven't played a lot of RPGs outside of the ones I mentioned, although I've collected almost every system put out before the 90s.

OT: Do you play any boardgames?

BM: I am really not a "boardgame" type person; one of the reasons I enjoy RPGs so much is that I hate to lose with a passion, and always have, as far back as I can remember. I remember getting furious losing a game of Monopoly when I was maybe 12, and pretty much giving up on boardgames at that point. When I discovered RPGs, I realized the abstract system was perfect for me, with no real "winner" or "loser" to gum things up. The result is nowadays I'll only play a boardgame I have a better than average chance of winning. Games of pure chance are straight out. I enjoy a game of Trivial Pursuit every once in awhile, along with Dungeon, Search for the Emperor's Treasure, Arkham Horror, and Talisman. Divine Right is one boardgame I still love to this day, even if it takes all day to play.

OT: So you mostly concentrated on RPGs, specifically AD&D. And it seems that most of your formative gaming years were spent in the "Golden Age" of RPGs, specifically 1974-1982 or thereabouts. Can you tell us a little about that?

BM: It was really a great time to start gaming. I was the DM probably 90% of the time simply because no one else wanted to, and I was fine with that. I always loved peering "behind the curtain" and knowing what was behind the next doorway. I wasn't much of a "creator", more of an "adaptor", so I would run all the TSR modules as they were released, but changed up considerably over what was on the page. I think I've run pretty much every published adventure that came out before 1986, some more than once (some many more; I've run B1 several dozen times). At any one time I would have at least two campaigns going, one was my original group (which gamed from 1978 through 1986) that ran through most of the classic TSR modules of the period including the GDQ series. The other group started later, about 1981 or so when I started college, and ran through a lot of the lower level classic modules like the U series, A series, and most of the I-Series, and later on the S-series. I'd throw in the occasional Judges Guild or Dragon magazine adventure for good measure. The trick wasn't writing them, it was taking a finished product and adapting it to whatever level the party was and changing it up enough so that it felt like "mine". I never understood how anyone ever had the time to write an adventure from scratch! I was pretty busy with school and work during those years, and played RPGs every chance I got,

What was great back in those days was the lack of familiarity with RPGs was actually a plus when you were trying to recruit people to play. That along with the fact that EVERYONE just played ONE sort of D&D....the question wasn't "Do you play ODD/1E/2E/3E/4E", but "Do you want to learn this really cool new game?". The plethora of worlds that would come with 2E, as well as the different editions and styles of play, hurt the hobby more than anything else I can think of....particularly the divisiveness that is now worn as a badge of honor by a lot of gamers. Back in the day, you sat down and played, and didn't particularly cared if it was white box, 1E, Moldvay, Mentzer, etc. You were just playing "D&D" and sometimes you would mix it up; I played in Howardian games, Lovcraftian games, Vancian games, Burroughsian games, whatever. To this day I can't even remember what edition or rules set most of them were. The fact that now people will "only" play Type X D&D but never Types Y & Z is really quite an odd mindset to me after almost 40 years of our hobby.

Anyway it was a great time for RPGs....you could always find a group, and there was always a game going on somewhere. I remember at one time playing a pickup game at my college while at the other tables there were games of Runequest, Traveller and Boot Hill going on. So you could table hop and play medieval fantasy, SF and western RPGS all in one day! For all I know that kind of stuff is still going on, but I doubt it....with all the other attention stoppers like minis and CCGs I doubt you could find that sort of variety in your average gameshop or college campus. But maybe I'm wrong, I'm starting to fall into the role of an old fogy these days....

OT: Back to D&D, do you consider yourself "Old School?"

BM: I think it's getting harder to define Old School. Is it a system? A philosophy? A way of playing? I enjoy nostalgia but I think a lot of those who call themselves "Old School" get really caged in by a set of tropes that stagnate rather than expand the possibilities. I come from the school of "If you're having fun, it's all good". Unfortunately a lot of old schoolers seem to come from the school of "If you're not doing it my way (or the old way), you aren't doing it right." I understand a lot of people don't want to use any set of rules that was released post-Gygax when it comes to D&D, it's a "thing" with them and I respect that. There are groups that can't wait to roll through the Caves of Chaos for the 99th time, and more power to them (I just ran B2 myself last year). It does get a bit ridiculous IMO when someone is really proud about the fact they haven't picked up anything published after 1986, or haven't given a look to any adventure published by Necromancer games, or think that anything that makes the game easier (say, the CD rom core rules for 2E) is the tool of the devil, etc. They are missing a lot of good stuff. It's like saying all fantasy writing stopped with Tolkien, or with Howard, or Lovecraft. Which come to think of it, there are those out there also.

So obviously I dislike when the "Old School" starts becoming the equivalent of the old man shouting "Get off my lawn, you young punks!" and instead of trying to become inclusive, revels in their ability to put up roadblocks. Value judgements based on minor changes in the rules really get my dander up. I appreciate that people still enjoy the "old way" of doing things; I think it's against the heart and soul of the games to tell others they are doing it wrong.

But yeh, sure, give me a 16 level megadungeon and a party with a elven mage, dwarven fighter, halfling thief and human cleric and I'm happy as a clam.

OT: Do you support the Simulacrum gaming renaissance?

BM: Actually yes. I think it's very cool. I've read through most of these (Labyrinth Lord, OSRIC, Swords and Wizardry) and really appreciate the feeling behind them. I'm a big supporter!

OT: Ok, this is turning into a short novel. I'm just going to run through a few quick thoughts having to do with D&D. Just give a short comment, these should pigeonhole you for the masses.....

BM: Me, a short answer?

OT: Favorite Authors?

BM: Howard, CAS, Lovecraft, Saki, Karl Wagner, David Gemmell, Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny, Theodore Sturgeon. I am a huge pulp fiction fan and enjoy a lot of the crime stuff from the 30s-50s.

OT: Favorite TSR modules?

BM: B1 In Search of the Unknown (it may be the "perfect" beginning adventure); I1 Forbidden City; Ruins of Undermountain; L1 Bone Hill; the entire GDQ cycle.

OT: Favorite non-TSR modules?

BM: Anything by The Companions; Midkemia city supplements like Carse or Tulan; Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia by Judges Guild; Starstone.

OT: Favorite gaming world?

BM: Actually, my own. I've DM'd in both Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms, but in the past 15 years I've come to realize that your campaign is not truly your own until you create your own campaign world. It truly re-energizes you, and keeps your players guessing.

OT: Some of your house rules?

BM: No level draining undead (STR and CON pts are drained instead); no level limits for Demi-humans; very limited alignment choices; all priests are specialty priests; demi-humans aren't abnormally long lived (200 yrs at most); ability rolls to decide some actions; probably a lot more I can't think of off the top of my head.

OT: If the dice told you to TPK a 1st level party in the 1st room of B1, would you do it?

BM: Hmm, interesting question. If they had done something unforgivably stupid maybe. Otherwise probably not...I'd work it into the story somehow (maybe they would be captured by their foes to be sold into slavery, so I'd give them a chance to work up an escape plan). I'm not a big believer in the TPK even if the dice dictate it. The dice aren't my boss.

OT: Would you let a player roll up an assassin character?

BM: Nope. Been there, done that, have the scars to show for it.

OT: Blunt weapons only for Clerics?

BM: Unless their God says otherwise, and in my campaign many do say otherwise. I have clerics that use daggers, spears and swords in my games.

OT: You randomly roll up +5 platemail as a treasure in a low level dungeon. Do you let your players keep it?

BM: I don't randomly roll up treasure....

OT: Backgrounds for PCs, or just roll 'em up and play 'em?

BM: I like backgrounds, but nothing more than a couple of sentences, I like to avoid the "Dragonlance" syndrome where everyone has a gut wrenching back story. OTOH, I don't like throw away characters either, because if players know you don't care then they will show you how little they care themselves in their style of play. The player that will rush the red dragon with a dagger because "he can just roll up another one in a couple minutes". There has to be some small attachment to that piece of paper with numbers on it, otherwise there is chaos.

OT: Anything controversial you want to add?

BM: Let's see; I use a laptop and the core rules cd Rom when I DM instead of a screen; psionics have no place in D&D, and I consider gamers who play strictly "by the book" imagination-less bores. Nothing else right now.

OT: Thanks, and happy to join you on your blogspot!

BM: Anything Otus is fine by me...!