Session 1 was Groovy!

Posted this to Google+ Saturday.

I kicked off my "away game" last night. A gentleman named John is coordinating things at his house. In his living room, one group played Call of Cthulhu. I had the dining room (I had forgotten how much I enjoy running at a large, dining room table) and I ran my OD&D/S&W old school franken-clone thing.

I had four players, two of whom had never played D&D. One fellow thought it was going to be a 4e game and I hope he wasn't too disappointed. He did say he would be playing again next week, so I hope he does and decides to really give old school a try.

Everyone seemed to have fun. There was a save or die character death, so I hope that doesn't scare anyone away. The party thief, who was the one guy at the table who had any experience with TSR era D&D AND, I could tell, has played a thief before, chose the wrong time to not take things seriously and got the fighter killed by not doing his job. He seemed much more sober afterwards so I think his head should be in the game now. And everyone picked up some "player experience," the most important kind.

I didn't feel I was ready for Greyhawk yet and I'm still planning on using it for my home campaign, when it picks back up. I revamped The Black Mete a little, transformed my LL frankenclone into a sort of OD&D/S&W/AD&D/OSR Retro-Golem and that's what I ran Friday.

After I play-test and no doubt further tweak, I'm gonna write up an introduction crediting everyone I yoinked ideas from, slap an ogl on it and release my house rules booklet for free download. It's 38 pages and if I added spells, would be a full players handbook. I'm not going to write, or rather re-write spells for it, as the ones Matt Finch wrote for S&W Core, suit me just fine! No need to clone monster's either.

You can click the map for a larger version.

Beedo had a good post with accompanying poll, about DIY D&D, frankenclones, etc. Some interesting results in the poll, so far. Austrodavicus had some thoughts on the subject, as well.

I'm using Akrasia's Class Based Weapon Damage rules.  Really, really digging em too!

Finding a good Public Domain picture of a Thief, is a pain in the ass!

Oubliette #6 is Free through August and Kicks Ass!

Stop whatever it is you're doing and go download Oubliette #6, for Free! 47 pages of old school gaming goodness! 

• Tales from Hell - Kobold Skool

• Monster Club #9 - Animate Dead Special: Skeleton Lord

• Petty Gods Preview - A Sneak Peek at this Exciting OSR Community Publication

• Newland - A Fantasy Campaign Setting

• Shame of the Shaman - A Labyrinth Lord Adventure for 3rd to 4th Level Characters

• Whips in Labyrinth Lord

• Monster Club #10 - Dungeon Random Encounter Tables: Levels 1-3

• Goblin Quest

• Found Familiar - The Raven

• What's in the Oubliette? - Reviews of Alestorm, Quickshade, Game of Thrones and Ironwood Gorge

• Mouse Watch - The Raven Ryder

• The Song of Sithakk - Part 6 of our Serialized Story

• Plus Bonus Material: Business Card-sized Labyrinth Lord Character Sheets and Customizable Dungeon Encounter Tables

Happy Birthday Gary!

James A. Smith took the Hardest Gary Gygax Quiz in the World and got 70%!



You are a Gary Gygax Champion. If knowledge of the minutiae of Gary Gygax's life translated to political power, you would be the satrap of a continent-sized province, owing allegiance to no one (except maybe that Grognardia guy).

Paladin Code: You completed this quiz without using Google.

Really Good News and an Unexpected DMing Gig

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've been busy on other things and that's likely to continue for the next few weeks.

I blogged some time ago about a second group of gamers I had been playing with. Rotating GM's. I was going to run OpenQuest for them, but dropped out before starting. My wife's doctor had determined that her thyroid cancer had returned, for the second time in the past five years and I decided to confine my gaming to the home front, while we prepared for another round of radiation treatments. There were other considerations, both related and unrelated.

Good news. My wife's current doctor, stymied, decided to send her to a specialist in Ohio. Who, being at the top of his field, has access to all sorts of new, state-of-the-art tech. We were very, very fortunate that this busy, highly in demand doctor agreed to see my wife.

After running some newfangled tests, the specialist informed her that her difficulties were being caused by the recent radiation treatments she's had and being prescribed too much artificial thyroid replacement hormone, which was done to try and suppress the cancer. Or, as he put it:

"You don't have cancer and probably haven't had it in twenty years."

We're very, very pleased by this. :)

Long story short, I'm picking up the away game again and have been asked to run this Friday. The group has gotten so large, 12 - 20 members, depending on if everyone shows up, that they're splitting it in two and are going to run two games at the same location, every other week.

I'm still working on the OSRIC/Greyhawk thing, but it's not ready for prime time yet. I'll probably save it for the home game, when it kicks off again.

So, I'm going to run my houseruled 0e/S&W. I've got a few things ready to use, but I'll spend the next day or two mulling that over and putting it together.

Interesting ebay item: THE ARMORYS 30 SIDED DICE GAMING TABLES

THE ARMORYS 30 SIDED DICE GAMING TABLES FOR AD&D RPG

Dude's been trying to sell it for weeks and keeps dropping the price.

$9.99 + $5.00 shipping. Never dealt with this guy, but his feedback looks ok.

I've been toying with snagging it, but spent my ebay money this morning on something Sweet! :)

It ends in just under 5 hours.

Considering the normal asking price for this, thought I'd pass on the opportunity for some cheap d30 love - like I said, though, I'm not endorsing this seller and I've never dealt with him at all.

T2 - Death Fungi Doom!

Inspiration: With thanks to Scottsz, James Raggi and Michael Curtis

I was reading scottsz' continued analysis of T1-4, in the comments of this post.

Something scottsz said in his latest, along with several other passages of his insightful commentary, set off a spark.

I had already decided that I didn't want "T2" to be a megadungeon. I wanted it to be T2, not T2-4 and suitable as a follow-up to T1. Also, T1 is taking place before the Giants/Drow modules, as those events are going to be in play, whether or not the players decide to investigate.

The Temple of Elemental Evil? It really was devoted to the Elder Elemental Eye. And Zuggtmoy? She aided Eclavdra and the EEE, in an attempt to weaken Lolth.

So, is Zuggtmoy trapped inside the ToEE? Yes. A smaller ToEE.

And, I know how she's trapped. I just need to come up with a plausible excuse, for the Druids to be banned from Nulb and the ToEE area, but still be able to operate in Hommlet. I've got a lot more studying to do and need to go back over scottsz' work, very closely. But, I know where I'm headed.

Earlier, I speculated:

Going further, Zuggtmoy might have allied herself with the EEE. How well known where the doings of the EEE cult, to Lolth Worshipping Drow? At the battle of E. Meadows, might those latter have fought a pitched battle, in the depths of the ToE, managing to imprison Zuggtmoy?

Could the whole of the surface world forces, been fighting a proxy battle, for allies unknown to any but those at the highest level of command?

I think the Druids are going to be responsible for setting Zuggtmoy's prison. I gotta work out, all those wheels-within-wheels.

Death Fungi Doom!

No, that's not quite right! All those undead wouldn't fit very well. I'd need something like...

Michael Curtis' Wrecking Crew. The Fungal Dead!

The fungal dead are human corpses whose bodies have been overtaken by a virulent strain of unwholesome fungus. These alien spores animate their non-living hosts into a nightmarish semblance of life and seek to spread the colony into new, recently-deceased corpses.

And of course, instead of a Vampire, down there, we have Zuggtmoy, needing the PC's as much as they're going to need her! And a certain bizarre, keening/humming plant creature, which puts fungi into a stasis, instead of undead. Crypts? Or, maybe thousands of dead combatants, strewn about the dungeon. Put into stasis right before the demonic fungi, was ready to activate their corpses.

Maybe old Zeke has been making forays into the place, taking out bodies one by one and burying them. Unawares, of the quiescent evil, of all that sickening growth. I might need to tweak the timeline, a bit. Maybe decide that St. Cuthbert's followers believe all bodies must be buried. An anti-cremation doctrine might fit well, with old Cugel-dudes historical inspiration.

Now, as an added bonus, I can throw a few scary undead encounters into the dungeon. :)

And a secret area, where one of Matt Finch's Shrooms, also lies in stasis, awaiting a foolhardy party of adventurers. If I get lucky, the players will never even know he exists. Until long after they've left the dungeon, that is!

Can I get a Mwahaha!? :)

Gamer ADD Strikes! OpenQuest and a Hot Ebay Tip!

So, I figure out what's going on with the ToEE (more on that tomorrow) and, temporarily done with Greyhawk, Gamer ADD Strikes! Typical.

It's intensified by my thinking about OpenQuest, lately. This started a few days ago, when I decided to fix what was bugging me about the d100 system.

When I roll a "to hit" in D&D, it feels like I'm making an attack. In d100, it felt like I was checking probabilities, to see if I hit. It's just tied in to the way I think about percentages. I was putting an emphasis on the idea of the equation, and de-emphasizing the action of rolling the dice and trying to kill something imaginary. More cerebral, but not the gut feeling I want in an attack roll. It works best for me when both of those ideas are more or less, equal. So, I tweaked my mental equations about d100 resolution, so it would feel more visceral.

The new idea checks out ok, but now I want to run the game, so I can use it in action and smooth out my results.

Mongoose Games, isn't helping matters. They're selling some of their old backstock on ebay, under the seller name oop_games. New copies. The other day, I noticed several interesting items ending and picked up a HC copy of Lankhmar for Runequest. Hope it doesn't suck! With shipping, it was $6.00! Their latest batch of auctions ended on Friday, but if you're interested in picking up things like their Eternal Champion books and modules, I'd check back and see if they relist and/or list more items. A buncha Hawkmoon stuff didn't sell and they started all those auctions at $1.00. I don't have Mongoose's Runequest but it's gotta be compatible enough with OpenQuest to make conversion a breeze! I hope they list some more cheap goodies!

And since I was on a roll, I snagged a cheap, shrinkwrapped 4th printing copy of Snake Pipe Hollow, earlier this evening. With shipping, it was $10.50

I mention prices, when I talk about this stuff, mainly to give folks an idea of what goes on, market wise, on rpg items. Especially about the kind of deals, you can get nowadays. Yeah, sometimes I'm being pleased with myself, but if that was all there was, I wouldn't bother. Usually.

Not as cool as an earlier printing, but I'm told that the text isn't substantially changed and shrinkwrap counts for a lot, in an old rpg product! Not that I won't open it, because I will, but I like the reasonable expectation of getting a nice copy!

So, I'm gonna force myself to go back to Greyhawk work, today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I might get seriously distracted.

A Reporting Correction on Monsters of Myth - Welcome Back Christian - And I got one of my Grails! + other Stuff!

D'oh!

When I posted my Unboxing Ceremony for the New Black Blade/Usherwood OSRIC imprint, I mistakenly said that they had a new imprint of Monsters of Myth as well.

While Black Blade is currently selling Monsters of Myth, these latter are Lulu printings. Thanks Jon for correcting me, here.

Welcome Back Kotter! :)

I mean, Christian.

Been on Something of a Spending Spree

I've picked up more dead tree gaming stuff in the past six weeks than I think I purchased all last year! This month is my birthday and I'm seriously toying with trying to get a White-Box! If I see the right auction on ebay, I'm going for it!

And Speaking of Grails, I Got one of Mine!

A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across an ebay auction getting ready to end. The high bid was still cheap and I decided it was time! With less than a minute left, I put in my high bid and crossed my fingers. The Gaming Gods smiled upon me and with shipping, I paid just under $30. The Mail Gods soon delivered this 3rd printing of The First Fantasy Campaign!

It's in beautiful condition! Almost perfect!

Which means I'm reticent as hell, to handle it! :)

I can't make out the numbers in the map hexes at all. And it's a "magic eye" trick to make out that cover image! It's a dude that looks like Hermes, surrounded in flames. I've read that it's supposed to be a fire elemental.

As for the material itself, it looks like Bob called Dave and said "I wanna publish your campaign world. You've got 48 hours to get it in the mail!" And then, Dave gathered his notes, typed out anything not already typed, organized the pages a bit and mailed it in. In other words, It's Perfect! :)

Prepping for Greyhawk! Some Help from Rob Kuntz

Ooh! Rememeber that Loot! deal I reported on last month? A hell of a deal! With shipping I got all this for $20.98!

Plus a flyer, which looks cool enough that I put it in a cheap wal-mart frame to hang on the wall! The modules were all new & shrinkwrapped! Maze of Zayene #3 has some hard crease issues, but I'm ok with that, considering I got em for a steal! They actually came from Noble Knight, which still has them available for the regular price.

"This epic series of modules was originally written for the World of Greyhawk by Gary Gygax's co-DM Rob Kuntz. Rob Kuntz published credits also include the original "Greyhawk" supplement, "Gods, Demigods & Heroes," "Legends and Lore," "Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure" among others. This series was originally set in the Great Kingdom as the party prepares to assasinate King Ivid the Mad but soon discovers the archmage Xayene is at the root of the King's madness. Soon the characters find themselves desperately trapped in the labyrinthine wake of Xayene's web of deceit.

"After leaving TSR to found Creations Unlimited, Rob Kuntz took this Greyhawk module and transferred it to his own campaign world of Kalibruhn. To protect his work from TSR he changed the game statistics and names, e.g., King Ivid is King Ovar, Xayene is Zayene, etc. All are minor changes that can easily be altered to transport these modules back to their proper setting. The statistic and spell changes are pretty minor and are identical to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in most respects. Indeed, the series claims to be "compatible with the most popular ADVANCED FRP game system(s)" :-) How's that for a thinly veiled reference?

The four Zayene modules are each 32 pages long and from my quick glance through, look really good! 

The Garden of the Plantmaster is 72 pages long and doubles as a source-book for "...creating and stocking fantastic gardens and forests." Haven't read this one yet, either, but it looks impressive! 

And Speaking of Noble Knight:

Noble Knight Rocks! While some of their prices are a little ka-ching!, many are quite reasonable and when you factor in the excellent service, shipping speed and honest, forthright descriptions, they're often a superior choice to the sometimes irritating ebay game. I ordered this pastel T1 on June 30 and it arrived in my PO box on July 5! Not bad for media mail, over a holiday weekend! 

It's a solid copy, the only major defect is a name in ink at the bottom of the first booklet page. Which, Noble Knight disclosed on the item's sale page. I was ok with that, though. So, I'm happy with my T1. It's the first pastel module I've ever owned. 

With shipping, NK charged me a little less than $25. It would have probably taken me several weeks to beat that price on a decent pastel T1, on ebay. And even then, it probably wouldn't have been by much. Pastel T1's are fairly hot items. The Green Cover ones usually don't go cheap, either and while I haven't followed T1's on ebay for long, they're often suffering from detached inserts and a lot of other defects. T1 modules, in general, seem to have seen a lot of play. I'm not surprised! This is the exact sort of thing I prefer to hunt for on Noble Knight!

Canada Mail is Fast!

Or, it's just those Mail Gods, being nice again. I posted on June 27 about copies of the free DCC Starter on ebay. Got it yesterday, all the way from Canada! The seller still has copies available for $4.99 + 4.00 shipping to the US and Canada. I don't know if that's still the cheapest on ebay. Search for Dungeon Crawl Classic Free RPG Day 2011 Starter and that should take you to game_keeper's item page. 

Call me old-fashioned, but I'd rather shell out $8.99 for a print copy than $4.99 for the pdf. And I'm with Drance on this one. I know times are tough, but I think it's kinda bizarre that Goodman Games would charge for this pdf, when everyone else is giving away their Free RPG Day pdf's. 

That said, I think it's a snazzy little game book. Definitely worth heading to ebay for, if your local store didn't participate. 

I Never Thought I Would be Saying This...

So, 2nd & Charles, the most awesome used bookstore in the multi-verse, sent me a coupon and with said coupon I got these for about $3 each!

Not the most highly regarded 1e HC's but for that price I wasn't going to let them just sit on that shelf! They now have a nice home, sitting cozily with my other AD&D HC's. 

And now, I'm hunting ebay for the cheapest, decent copy of The Wilderness Survival Guide I can find. Because, it's the only 1e HC I'm missing and The Collector isn't going to let that sort of thing go!

Some Appendix N type Goodness!

Well, Jack of Shadows is mentioned in Appendix N, anyway. I checked and didn't see C. L. Moore, though she gets a passing mention in Moldvay Basic. And when it comes to Conan pastiches, I recommend John Maddox Roberts over Robert Jordan, any day. 

Gygaxian Supernaturalism - Or, What Happens to Hommlet's Rufus at 8th Level?

The Gods are Watching You!

From T1:

Rufus Is also lawful good, and when he reaches 8th level he has been instructed to return to Verbobonc for special service in the Viscount‘s behalf.

Some Quotes from the DMG:

Page 81

Why then the increase in hit points? Because these reflect both the actual physical ability of the character to withstand damage - as indicated by constitution bonuses- and a commensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and similar life-or-death situations, the "sixth sense" whith warns the individual of some otherwise unforeseen events, sheer luck,and the fantastic provisions of magical protections and/or divine protection. (Emphasis mine.)

Page 25

Whether or not the character actively professes some deity, he or she will have on alignment and serve one or more deities of this general alignment indirectly and unbeknownst to the character.

Page 79

By means of skill, luck, magical protections, quirks of fate and the aid of supernatural powers, the character making his or her saving throw takes none or only part of the indicated results - fireball damage, poisoning,being turned to stone, or whatever. (emphasis mine.)

There's more relevant material, such as that involving alignment languages, the penalties for changing alignment, etc. Hell, it's "passim" throughout the AD&D rulebooks!

One more quote, from Deities & Demigods, this time. Page 9:

Otherwise, the accumulation of hit points and the ever-greater abilities and better saving throws of characters represent the aid supplied by supernatural forces.

So. The supernatural realms and the relationship with deity is very, very important in AD&D. And an integral part of an AD&D campaign world.

Now, back to Rufus.

8th level! One step away from Lord. He's already gotten 3/2 attacks. Rufus is about to become a Superhero!

Rufus Is also lawful good, and when he reaches 8th level he has been instructed to return to Verbobonc for special service in the Viscount‘s behalf.

Now, Rufus wouldn't know what 8th level means. Would he? As you might suspect, I'm going to make the case that yes, 8th Level would indeed, mean something to Rufus.

Gygaxian Supernaturalism! (With Thanks to Mr. Maliszewski.) 

He might refer to it as becoming a Superhero. I don't think the text states that Rufus is a follower of the Cugel fellow, though Burne is. For the moment, let's assume Rufus is as well. It's likely, the cult of St. Cuthbert would have it's own title for 8th level. Or, maybe Superhero is more widely used.

The point is, that in a world where Leveled Characters are so closely married to the gods and supernatural powers, a Fighter as high as 8th level, especially one as well connected as Rufus, would have an idea of where he stood with his god, church and the Greater Supernatural Realm.

So, what might the Viscount have said to Rufus?

"Return, when you have witnessed the Vision of the Cugel at Noon."

Or, something.

In a world so tightly wielded to the supernatural powers, being a leveled Fighter, serving a deity, perforce, might be somewhat akin to being part of a Mystery Cult. Rufus would know when he had crossed an important threshold and we might assume that 8th level represents just that! An important threshold. Because not only is that the point at which Rufus was ordered to return, but because it was known that he would recognize his entry into 8th level. It could simply be that every level would be considered important. Or, maybe just every one above, say 5th.

At what point does a Fighter start noticing that he's a pawn of the gods?

Hell, he's probably been having dreams, nightmares and visions, sent by St. Cuthbert, and/or Planetars, lesser servants, etc., for quite some time. Not to mention nasty, demonic beings, or deliciously enticing ones, trying to make him swerve from his LG path.

The idea that the gods are giving characters all this aid, which increases at every level, yet have virtually nothing else to do with them, is rather problematic. Gods just aren't the type to be so altruistic and helpful, without ever being more noticeable. Or, demanding. Characters serving under protest, as it were, might be subject to more subtle treatment. Or, not! Those more involved with Churches and Organizations, might also only see signs of the deity, "out of the corner of their eye," as it were. Or, they might find themselves more directly put-upon.

Rufus' deity has been helping him out with Hit Points, Saving Throws, etc., to the point, where Rufus is 8th Level! He lives and moves in a supernatural reality and the gods have a vested interest, however small, in his doings. PC Level ties into this relationship directly! While it's easier to see with Clerics and MU's, as a Fighter gains levels, he's also becoming more tightly enmeshed within the schemes and powers of his deity. Whether he wants to, or not!

It makes perfect sense, that he would be able to see and track the progress of this relationship, at least somewhat. And that he would notice the effect, his relations with the divine, were having upon him. His church, certainly his deity would know!

Established signs, omens, etc., not to mention the possibility of initiatory rituals of a sort, would fit in just perfectly.

Maybe the journey to visit the Viscount is a ruse and the Powers that Be, want to get Rufus out of Hommlet, so they can test his worthiness, to operate at 8th Level.

Oh, apparently Burne and Rufus are lovers. I don't really see St. Cuthbert as the sort to have a Sacred Bander wing of his army. Further research is called for!