RPG Planet

July 04, 2009

Jeff's GameblogHappy IndependenceShatnerday!

A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and DragonsMonster: Korrsakh

KorrsakhArmour Class: 5Hit Dice: 3+5***Move: 180' (60')Attacks: 2 claws + one biteDamage: 1-6/1-6/1-8 + poisonNo. Appearing: 1-4 (2-20)Save As: F5Morale: 11Treasure Type: NilAlignment: ChaoticXP Value: 125Magnificently horrible beasts, korrsakh could only be mistaken for horses in very bad light. Their coal-black coats, thick and rough, are scattered with keels of dense scales of onyx and,

A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and DragonsMonster: Glia

GliaArmour Class: 8Hit Dice: 1Move: 180' (60') (see below)Attacks: 1Damage: 1-2No. Appearing: 1-4 (2-12)Save As: Normal ManMorale: 6Treasure Type: NilAlignment: NeutralXP Value: 10An unexpectedly double-jointed animal the size of a very large rabbit or small dog, a glia resembles a tiny high-rumped antelope with distinctly sciurid traits. Its soft pelt is a buff grey, its tail a thick dense

A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and DragonsMonster: Abi (Catsquirrel)

Y'all thought I was kidding, didn't you.Abi (Catsquirrel)Armour Class: 8Hit Dice: 1+2Move: 150' (50')Attacks: 1Damage: 1-4No. Appearing: 1-2 (2-8)Save As: F1Morale: 6Treasure Type: NilAlignment: NeutralXP Value: 19Abis, or catsquirrels -- presumably the product of a very bored magic-user's experiment, or possibly a magic-user's lab disaster, but no one is 'fessing up to the matter -- show much

Sham's Grog 'n BlogFriday Flashback

Live version of 1971's Queen Bitch, which is cited by many as the starting point for Glam Rock, was David Bowie's tribute to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground:



Here's the studio LP track found on Hunky Dory being used in the end credits for The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou:



Which is Director Wes Anderson's video tribute to the end credits found here:



Yes! The always awesome Buckaroo Banzai! So, when's that sequel again?

Oh, and I forgot to mention, the music score for Life Aquatic was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. Yes, that Mark Mothersbaugh. Wes and he have teamed up for Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums as well.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

~Sham, Quixotic Referee

The Society of Torch, Pole and RopeOPDC: The Also-Rans

A brief synopsis of the judging process for the One Page Dungeon Contest goes like this: The judges read and evaluated all 112 entries. From the 112, we each chose the ones that stood out amongst the masses and made a list of those. From there, we re-evaluated those entries to cull them down to a list of our personal Top 20 entries. These twenty were them submitted to the all the judges to compare and contrast, and the ultimate winners came from the final paring down of all our combined lists. (Alex Schroeder goes into more detail about the process on his blog here.)

For whatever reasons, some entries made it to final round but fell short of taking home a prize. Because I think that several of these authors display great talent and I’d like to see more from them in the future and would encourage them to participate in the One Page Dungeon Contest II (if such a thing ever comes to be), I’m going to say a few brief words about some of the entries that made it to my Top 20 list but …

July 03, 2009

Alex Schroeder: RPGOrganized Good is an Oxymoron

Gleichman comments on my post on alignment with More Good and Evil Confusion. There’s also other comments on his post, which try to delve further into the Good and Evil debate.

Here’s what I thought were interesting statements in Gleichman’s post:

  1. “The pursuit of power for power’s sake is one of the definitions of Evil.”
  2. He says that “anyone saying they are ignoring questions of Good and Evil is lying.”
  3. He claims that I’ve “decided to make everyone Evil.”

I’m not sure I agree with the pursuit of power for power’s sake. The first problem I have is the meaning of “for power’s sake” – it’s hard to think of an example where this would apply. I think everybody in power has an agenda. Thus, I think it’s important to look at intents and consequences. Corruption, subjugation, plundering, war? I think we have to look at particular situations in the game before we can pass judgement on Good and Evil.

I also prefer to leave the judgement of intent and consequences up to my players. It’s more …

GrognardiaHow I Interview

Because my interviews with people associated with the early days of the hobby have become one of the most popular features of this blog, I thought I should clarify a few things about how I go about doing them.

Once an interviewee agrees to receive my questions, my first batch of them almost always consists of "softball questions," that is, fairly generic ones about how he or she entered the hobby, earliest and/or most famous publications, current activities, and whether he or she still plays RPGs. I never begin by asking anything too "controversial," because I prefer to wait until I receive the responses to my initial questions. Those responses provide me with a good gauge on how much -- or how little -- an interviewee wishes to share with me. In some cases, they provide ample opportunity for me to ask "hard" questions and in others it's clear that they're not interested in airing dirty laundry about the past. In the latter case, it's my practice to respect whatever boundaries they …

B/X BlackrazorSummertime Gaming



It's July 3rd, I am off work (since the 4th is on a Saturday) and I am enjoying a caffeinated beverage at the Neptune in Greenwood while my wife gets a pedicure with her buddy downtown and outside people are enjoying the beautiful summer weather.  Nevermind the drought, a quarter of the people in Seattle are transplants these days, and they are grateful for the break from the gray.

For me, it reminds me of my youth (what doesn't, really?) when I'd be out of school with no responsibilities besides taking the occasional family road trip and mowing the lawn weekly.  The rest of my time was spent lazing around, riding my bike, reading books, and playing D&D with my friends and family.

So right now I'm thinking of my old S1: Tomb of Horrors module.  I've been reading other folks posts around the internet and to me it feels like part of the Rite of Passage of an RPG blogger to share one's experiences with this fabled module. Guess it's my turn.

Originally, I was going to title this post "I …

LotFP: RPGI just got an email from Joseph Browning.

James,

I'm pleased to say that the voting members of Your Games Now have decided that they would like to have your products sold next to theirs and your company in our cooperative venture!

So LotFP: RPG pdfs will be available at Your Games Now.


To the question of "When?" I have my next appointment with a caseworker on Wednesday to decide if I'm to get that business start-up grant. I'm certainly more well-armed with both information on the market as well as details of how I'll operate and publicize between the Noble Knight and Your Games Now deals, as well as the upcoming Roolipelaaja interview.

But after that recommendation is made, I'm told it will be a week or so before I receive a final decision, and then it's literally a matter of going to an office and registering, and then LotFP: RPG will be Open For Business and have stuff On Sale. The LotFP: RPG website is being revamped to look more professional.

And I'm rather excited right now. And nervous. I tell you, if this whole …

Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets[New Spell] Wowing the crowd

Wowing the crowd “Oh, no, not the dancing handkerchief!” Koram said, his face in his hands. “Would you shut up!” Chalk hissed out of the corner of his mouth as a slightly soiled handkerchief seemed to peek around and slowly emerge from Chalk’s pocket to the amazement of the small crowd of yokels, “I am trying to [...]

Uhluht'c AwakensChocolate and Vanilla, great apart, better when swirled!

When I go to Dairy Queen and get an ice cream cone, I like to either get a vanilla/chocolate swirl or a vanilla cone dipped in chocolate. Sure I like either flavor alone, they stand up on their own very well. But there is something about that mix of flavors that offers a unique experience.

Yes yes, I'm getting to something RPG relevant, I promise! Ohhhh, the chocolate sprinkles! Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future are a lot like that. I see LL as the vanilla, and MF as the chocolate. Alone they rock pretty hard, but mixed together and suddenly you have AC/DC meets Queen, and you better look out.

One of the challenges of such a delightfully unholy union is achieving something resembling balance. I addressed this in the Mutants & Mazes section of Mutant Future, and I think it worked out pretty well. The thing about "balance" in relation to these games is that it is a subjective thing. There is no hard and fast formula for it, like there are with other games that use for example a point buy …

Alex Schroeder: RPGMore of my 1PDC Favorites

So, I’ve written about the first five of my favorite One Page Dungeon Contest entries. Here are the second five (in alphabetical order of the author names, not in order of preference).

Not all of these entries are real favorites of mine. I figured that if I were only going to pick the entries that I would really want to play, then I’d end up with a very narrow selection, where as I took the One Page Dungeon Contest to also stand for the incredible breadth of ideas out there. That’s why I picked several entries that I did not like that much, just because they seemed to be the best within their particular category. I guess I’m trying to force myself to be a bit more open minded, hehe. :)

Anyway, enough talk. Let’s get to the actual material! All of these eventually ended up on my initial list of 20 nominations.

warning warning warning Spoilers! warning warning warning

The Gray Goblin Warrens by Christopher Brackett: The map for this entry is very beautiful. There was another, similar entry, The Foetid Pit Beneath the Abdandoned Shrine …

A Rust Monster Ate My Sword...Scanning Project: Obkdy, Son of Tulu

Who do you talk to when you want to find something that's been lost? Well, if you're a resident of the Young Kingdoms in my mid-90's Stormbringer campaign, you talk to Obkdy.

If you're completely insane or unbelievably desperate, that is.

My adaptation of something found in Chaosium's Stormbringer supplement, White Wolf, Obkdy is a major demon who lives in his own little pocket dimension that is directly connected to the physical world. He has a very small group of followers (a sum total of two: an abnormally pale Death-Priest and an abnormally pale Death-Priest-in-training). This pair of devoted followers are the sole staff at the "Cave of Obkdy" (a great map of which can be found on page 43 of White Wolf), a place where the aforementioned insane and/or desperate few trek to for answers. Those deemed worthy of an audience with the Son of Tulu are bathed and taken unarmed and semi-nude deeper into the Cave to the altar chamber. Here they pray for Obkdy's blessing until they and the …

LotFP: RPGMy Tentative Ropecon Game Schedule

Ropecon is July 31 - August 2, and I'm planning to run games on the first two days. Here is what I submitted to the organizers:

July 31st 4pm
Original D&D (1974)/Swords & Wizardry - The Spire of Iron and Crystal
4 - 10 players
4 Hours

July 31st 8pm
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - Cairn of the Skeleton King
4 - 10 players
4 Hours

August 1st 12:01am
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - Tomb of Horrors
4 - 10 players
Until Death, Victory, or Everyone Quits! ... or 6am

August 1st 12pm
"Basic/Expert" Dungeons and Dragons/Labyrinth Lord - Castle Amber
4 - 8 players
4 Hours

August 1st 4pm
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - The Fane of the Poisoned Prophecies
4 - 6 players
4 Hours

August 1st 8pm
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - Sanctum of the Stone Giant Lord
4 - 9 players
4 Hours

August 2nd 12:01am
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition - Slave Pits of the Undercity
4 - 9 players
Until Death, Victory, or Everyone Quits!

I'm run the Tomb before, and I …

How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or LessA Non-Obnoxious Angle on Theme in RPGs

Trollsmyth recently posted a discussion of theme in sandboxes which hits a lot of points I've been thinking about lately because the techniques he's discussing are all things he's demonstrating in the Labyrinth Lord game. Basically I've realized that theme doesn't have to be the province of railroaders and "art" gamers: the DM can set up the questions, the players can provide (or attempt to provide) the answers, and that's theme.

This is an idea that really works for me, since as an English major and a human being, theme is something I enjoy thinking about. Exploring a conceptual space set up by the DM is fun, satisfying, and keeps me involved in the game even when I'm not playing. I've never done a whole lot with theme in my own games, but now that I've got a framework for it I might have to change that policy.

A couple of observations to add: Part of what works about theme in Trollsmyth's game is how specific it is. (At least, the major one.) Are you for the gods and their empire, or …

GrognardiaInterview: David "Zeb" Cook (Part I)

Another of the new designers to join the ranks of TSR in the late 70s and early 80s was David Cook. He would eventually remain at the company for over fifteen years, during which time he would be involved in numerous significant RPG projects, including the Expert Rulebook, Star Frontiers, the licensed Conan RPG, the Planescape campaign setting, and, of course, the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. An avid player of games of all sorts, including the wargames that gave birth to the hobby, Mr Cook has since left the roleplaying field, moving on, like many others, to the computer games industry. He generously agreed to answer my many questions of him. The first part of this interview appears here, with the second part to follow tomorrow.

As always, I ask that your comments be pertinent and presented respectfully.

1. Like a lot of people in the early days of the hobby, you discovered roleplaying through wargames. What do you remember about your first encounters with Dungeons & …

LotFP: RPGOld Geezer Brings Down the Hammer...

... he's good at that. Remind me to stay out of his reach. :D

The quote from here about this.

Okay, so Skip Williams finally admits he was one of the 13 year old kids who kept getting his character killed by Gary and Rob because he had his head up his ass.

Note the comment about "aribitrary and capricious GMs." Good GMs aren't, and neither Gary nor Rob ever were.

About 1974 there was a sudden influx of younger high school age kids into Gary's mostly-adult game. We are still seeing the aftereffects.

Also, I was Skip Williams' patrol leader in Boy Scouts too.

Alex Schroeder: RPGGood, Evil, Bollocks

Ah, echo chamber or discussion group? Some people have been writing about the question of good and evil, recently. [1] [2] [3]

Here’s what I like when it comes to religion:

  1. Pick some deities and give them recognizable temples if the party meets them for the first time.
  2. These temples all perform a particular kind of service to the community and thus nobody really wants them to leave.
  3. We’re not talking about cults.

Here’s what I like when it comes to players:

  1. When there’s a fight, we fight.
  2. Enemies on loosing side will try to flee.
  3. Enemies in a desperate situation will try to surrender.
  4. Enemies who have surrendered will spill the beans. All of them. No torture required.
  5. There are no prisons. Punishment is effected bodily, by the people in charge, immediately. No prisons.
  6. If players release prisoners, they generally keep their word and disappear forever. Otherwise the players will never give quarter to anyone.

I’m keeping the definition of good and evil muddied on purpose. All the …

B/X BlackrazorRise And Be Healed!


Here I was going to write about my Tomb of Horror experiences, but I guess I should throw in another two cents on D&D spirituality by continuing my discussion of the power of the Normal Man.  In this instance, the Divine power of the Normal Man.

Anyone ever play Bard's Tale?

Bard's Tale is pretty obviously based on Dungeons & Dragons.  You put together a party of adventurers, each one being a different race-class combo with a set of familiar stats, levels, experience points, hit points, etc.  All very recognizable to the average old school D&D player.

However, there are a couple major differences.  One is the lack of any kind of "alignment" characteristic. Another is the complete absence of any kind of cleric/priest class. Oh, there's a paladin, and at least a couple of the magic-user classes (there are four: conjurer, magician, sorcerer, and wizard) have spells that "heal" or duplicate traditional clerical spells.  But otherwise, there's no "representative of the gods;" at least …

B/X BlackrazorAnother Reason For A B/X Companion

Much as I like Frank Mentzer’s Companion set, especially the dominion rules, there are some problems with it…especially with the dominion rules!

I’ll get to this in a moment.

This has to do with something I’ve been gradually realizing the more I’ve delved into Old School gaming: D&D, as originally conceived and written, is a game of heroes. And I mean old school heroes (not Old School heroes…ugh! Semantics!). The game doesn’t need any help for the PCs to be heroic…they don’t need extra feats and kewl powers unless one wants to play a comic book super hero-type fantasy game (and doesn’t White Wolf already have Exalted?).

Here’s what I’m talking about: PCs (and any NPC with a “class” that gains “levels”) are EXCEPTIONAL individuals. Non-exceptional elves are HD 1 elves; dwarves and Halflings are the same, just like orcs, goblins, etc. Non-exceptional humans (i.e. humans that are not clerics, fighters, magic-users, or thieves) are classified as Normal Men.

And that’s it…that’s …

Adventures in GamingWilderlands of High Adventure Player's Guides

Okay, here's a question for subscribers, mostly, but those of you who have bought Adventure Games Journal otherwise might be interested in answering.

As you've seen from Player's Guide #1: Tharbrian Horse-Lords, I am working on a series of supplements detailing the cultures of the Wilderlands of High Adventure.

Which of the following human cultures would you most like to see in a Player's Guide in the next issue of Adventure Games Journal? The plan is to include at least one in the Journal, which will be made available in PDF format later in the magazine PDF and separately, for those who do not want the whole Journal.

Aelphen Woods-Folk of the Elephas
Alryan City-Folk of the Roglaras
Altanian Highlanders of Altanis
Amazon Mercenary-Clans of the Southern Reaches
Amazon Savages of the Beast Lands
Amazon Warrior-Women of the Roglaras
Antillian City-Folk of Antillia
Avalonian Northern City-Folk
Cavemen Wild-Folk of the Wilderlands
Chaelo Peasant-Folk of the Roglaras
Dorin Desert-Folk …

Von der Seifenkiste herab...[Hackmaster Basic] Würfel!

Aus den KNIGHT OF THE DINNER TABLE Comics kennt man ja die penetrante Fixierung auf Würfel - die wohl in weltweit jeder Spielrunde (mal mehr und mal weniger) ausgeprägt ist...

Das Hackmaster-Regelwerk geht hier einen Schritt weiter und widmet den Würfeln (nicht ihrem Gebrauch, sondern den Gegenständen) satte 11 Seiten. Hier wird nicht nurerklärt was welcher Würfel bedeutet oder wie genau man Würfel werfen muss (mit tollen Beispielfotos), sondern ENDLICH bekommt der unbedarfte Spieler eine Handhabe, was er schon beim Kauf der wichtigsten Gegenstände im Hackmaster Spiel beachten muss.

Ich zitiere mal einen Abschnitt:

"I recommend going with dice produced ba a reliable manufacturer. Examine each die for imperfections such as misshapen appearance, flawed edges or mold marks/extra materialwhich protudes. Ask the shopkeeper if you can test-roll your dice selction prior to purchase. Any die that rolls a "1" should be returned to the dice bin on the spot (unless you' re actually looking for …

The Omnipotent EyePlaying the Dungeon of Voorand - going off the deep end

Today I had something happen that I had thought would happen in one of the first sessions. Having read about megadungeons, I put in a chute down to the deepmost level of my whole dungeon. I put it on level one. I kind of expected the players to find it and be spooked fairly early, but they just avoided it! It looked like a big well where the orcs on level one cast their refuse, but I literally said "they throw down everything they don't want or eat there". I thought that would make someone think they might want what they didn't. That way they never got hold of that magic weapon I put in there for them to be able to fight in incorporeal undead. They managed without, go figure. Today they found it, finally.

For that deep level of the dungeon, I decided to steal an idea from Dave Arneson. That's a good source for stealing ideas! You can read of some of the early adventures in Blackmoor here. So, at the bottom of the dungeon there should be a dragon, right? I placed one down there, and …

Bat in the AtticA crisis of PC Faith Answered

Ryan has a good post here about a player in his game that truly roleplays a cleric.

In GURPS or Fantasy Hero the issues he raise are a no brainer to deal with. They are among the many disadvantages one can take to gain more points for advantages, characteristics, and skills. In GURPS terms the character would probably have a Sense of Duty, plus a unique Discipline of Faith.

But he is D&D which doesn't have any game mechanics that benefit characters that start out with self imposed limitations. One way to handle this is how 3.X dealt with issues. Unique classes or prestige classes that give interesting powers in exchange for the limitations imposed by the class

While one can come with new classes for older editions there is an alternative.

Advancement other than levels.
Treasure other than golds or items.

Both boil down to embedding the character within the setting. Allowing the PCs to gain contacts, allies, status and join organizations. When done right the player eat this stuff up. …

A Rust Monster Ate My Sword...And the Winners Are...

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (well, maybe not so much), the winners of the One Page Dungeon Design Contest have been announced.

I was really hoping that The Gray Goblin Warrens would sneak into the "Best Old School Dungeon" slot, but I guess it just wasn't in the stars. It did make it into a runner-up slot though ("Best Hack-n-Slash" - heh) which is very cool - and Heron Prior's Cry of the Gravegod is more than deserving of having bested TGGW for the spot, IMHO.

[Edit: Apparently, the Best Old School Dungeon award actually went to Valley of the Necromancer Kings, which is still a worthy opponent. I could swear the initial post listing the winners had these reversed, though. Ah, well. You know what they say about the mind being the first thing to go...]


In the end, any disappointment I could ever feel over not placing as high as I'd hoped is totally overshadowed by the sheer awe of my little dungeon being ranked among such noteworthies. There was some really amazing talent …

July 02, 2009

TrollsmythTackling the Big Questions

Yesterday, Mr. Raggi posted an interesting rant against the use of supernatural forces, especially those of ultimate Good and Evil, in roleplaying games. He's since then gathered his thoughts into a more coherent, abbreviated form. I can see where he's coming from, and while I was considering a rebuttal, my own thoughts are casting out a broader net. So this is less an argument against what James has written, and more thoughts inspired by his recent exploration of good and evil and their place in play.

Unless the players are, in fact, playing rat-bastards, James is right that offering the players a choice between joining the side of Good or Evil isn't really much of a choice. It works in Tolkien because, in the novels, there is no Good side. Sauroman, who's supposed to be leading the good side, has decided that Good can't succeed without adopting the methods and tools of Evil. He builds an army of even-better-than-Sauron's orcs and then sets about to conquer his neighbors like …

GrognardiaIdea Spawned by a Rules Oddity

OD&D is rightfully known as being sparse when it comes to both details and its rules. When those two categories of sparseness come together, it sometimes leads to head scratching. A good case in point is this cryptic statement from Volume 1 of the three little brown books: "Note that clerics of 7th level and greater are either 'Law' or 'Chaos,' and there is a sharp distinction between them." (And before anyone points this out, yes, I know this version of the lines comes from a later printing, one that post-dates the supplements, but bear with me here). This implies to me that, in OD&D, Neutral is not a valid alignment for a cleric, at least not one who wishes to get far in his hierarchy and command great powers. AD&D specifically excludes True Neutral as an alignment option for clerics. Greyhawk introduced druids as a monster type and notes that they're "priests of a neutral-type" religion. Eldritch Wizardry opens them up as a player character option, but limits them to the neutral …

RPG Blog IIDispatch From the Sickbed

I am afraid I am a bit under the weather. Just a quick podcasting update for today: Episode 2 of RPG Circus was recorded last night, so that should be out the first of next week. I’m really looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks--I believe we covered topics that should generate some nice discussion.

Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG BlogSwords & Wizardry Quick Start - Second Draft

http://sites.google.com/site/chgowizsite/Home/Swords_Wizardry_Quick_Start.pdf

I want to thank you all for the awesome comments and suggestions you've made in helping me to tweak the Quick Start rules. I've made some changes and corrected a great many things. Here are some of the bigger changes:
- Added a character sheet
- Moved the ref's help tips after the dungeon to the ref quick start info
- Cleaned up the grammar, tense, headings and capitalization
- Dumped all references to halflings
- Reworded a lot to remove duplication, unnecessary prattling

So, with that - I'm releasing this second draft. This is the last of the "text only" releases - once I get feedback on this, I'll go to layout, which frankly scares me a bit. I've never done layout before, I don't know the Scribus application. I don't know how much art I'll have in this thing, probably not a lot as I want to keep this under 25 pages. And given my lack of layout skills and desire to put this at 25 pages, it probably will not …

Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets[New Spell] The Road Behind

The Road Behind Oh can’t you hear me calling Like the sad whale song I’m on the road behind —Gwar, The Road Behind  The Road Behind (Druidic) Level 2 Range: Line of sight of spellcaster Duration: 10 minutes per level of magic user. A complimentary spell to The Stars Above, The Road Behind is a spell that a druid can use to retrace their [...]

A Rust Monster Ate My Sword...Revised Basic Dungeons and Dragons NPC Sheet

You know, sometimes it occurs to me that I may be way too picky for my own good.

Case in point: the minions sheet I posted yesterday. Although I was generally happy with it when I posted it, upon closer examination I found several things that bothered me about it: It picked names from and array of only 100 values; it didn't determine character alignment; and the 13-year-old scanned sheet - although rich with old-school goodness - didn't please the eye (or the printer, IMHO).

So, here's a revision of that sheet. I apologize for pulling a 3.0-to-3.5-esque switch on you, but this really is a new, improved NPC sheet. It now pulls from a list of 250 names (all from Captcha words!), randomly determines character alignment, and has a more pleasing design. Enjoy!

. . . . .

LotFP: RPGThe Face of Old School in Finland

Nothing is definite in publishing, and this might all be cut down to a sidebar, small column, or be left on the cutting room floor completely... but...

Today I was interviewed by Jukka Särkijärvi for Roolipelaaja magazine. The interview lasted just about two and a half hours, and I'm told the plan is for it to be a three or four page article. We discussed the Old School Renaissance, my personal history with RPGs and being in Finland, and my upcoming publishing activities (I sent him advance copies of Death Frost Doom and No Dignity in Death: The Three Brides).

He said (not unprompted, I must admit) that I could end up being the face of Old School in Finland.

If he doesn't decide to focus on my weird stories and crucify me in the article, anyway. :D

He's also asked for a picture of me to run with the article. What do you guys think... would the one at the end of this post be good? Or the year-and-a-half old pic I use as my avatar here and on the forums? Or what?

B/X BlackrazorThrall of Blackrazor

Ha! I've never played the D&D Miniatures game (nor even the old New Chainmail)...but if I did I would make sure my warband contained this guy.

'Course, I might need to greenstuff the miniature to give hime a new hairstyle...and a new Blackrazor. What's up with Jimmy Neutron wielding Grazz't's sword?

Yeah, Thrall of Blackrazor...it's just such a cool name I'd be tempted to buy the piece simply for posterity. But it would probable be better to do my own conversion of an Alejandro-type piece (I found an illustration of the fighter the other day...once I figure out how to hook my scanner to my Mac, I'll upload the picture...).

I never did use miniatures in D&D games...that was one "option" I never put into practice. I always preferred the abstract "battlefield of the imagination." Even with 3rd edition it was a challenge to convert my game play to the tactical map...but I was a lot better than the "old school" players I tried with whom I tried 3E gaming...they were fairly awful with …

sword +1Ruins & Ronin Character Sheet

I have created a character sheet for the impending release of Ruins & Ronin. The sheet can be downloaded from this link, or under the download section on the right side bar. This sheet will be included as part of the book (and pdf download) too.

A Rust Monster Ate My Sword...This Is How We Used To Roll

Roll up a ton of characters for our dungeons, that is.

Back in the day (circa 1981) I mostly only played Dungeons & Dragons (Moldvay Basic) in head-to-head ("solo"?) games with my nephew. In those days, I played and acted as Dungeon Master at the same time. We each played a primary character that we put more thought and care into, and a few secondary characters that more or less acted as fodder. (Although, occasionally, a secondary character would - via particularly memorable dice rolls and such - distinguish him- or herself and get promoted to a primary position. Mostly, though, they just ended up dead.) Although I had the same primary player character from Day One, my nephew took a while to find his.

As a result of our style of play and my nephew's seeming inability to find a character worthy of becoming his primary PC, we usually needed a lot of characters for our games. To fill this need, I began creating characters on multi-columned sheets (the same ones I generally used at that …

Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG BlogSuddenly, those "lame" Giant Ants aren't so lame...

From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8127000/8127519.stm
Ant mega-colony takes over world

Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

OK... if that doesn't spur some really cool campaign/villain ideas, or apocalyptic scenarios like Mind Flayers using millions of ants to enslave the surface-dwellers at the same time...

(images courtesy of Karen's Whimsey - and some Photoshopping on my part...)

Alex Schroeder: RPGLulu Printing Knockspell 2

On 2009-05-27 I ordered four Lulu products for $59.85. Knockspell 2 still hasn’t arrived.

I sent another email. I did not get any replies to my previous email. sucks

Unhappy.

Tags:

Gaming BrouhahaOld School Challenge: Play the “Name that supplement” game

This video has appeared on a couple different RPG blogs, including RetroRoleplaying.  After watching it, I thought it might be fun for my readers to turn it into a bit of a challenge because it’s filled with art that spans much of the history (especially from 1E & 2E) of D&D. Here’s the challenge: For [...]

Jeff's GameblogWhat Kind of Rat Bastard Are You?

Alignment is a touchy issue with some people, more from various DM's dunderheaded interpretations than anything in most rulesets. A while back I proposed my own dunderheaded alignment system based one picking a home team in the great cosmic battle of good versus evil. Here's another alternative.

First, let us begin by assuming that nearly all PCs are Rat Bastards in some way or another. (Do I really need to justify this position? We're talking about a game where core PC activities are tomb-robbing and orc-murdering.) Alignment under this system is determined by the particular manifestation of Rat Bastardliness.

Example 1: Why are the PCs sneaking around a dungeon, killing monsters?

Lawful: Monsters are evil, so sneaking into their homes and slaughtering them in their sleep is completely justified.
Neutral: The bad guys have all this gold. I like gold.
Chaotic: If I killed things back home, I'd be arrested.

Example 2: Having defeated the orc warriors, what do we do with the orc-mommies …

A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and DragonsMonster: Dreamthief

DreamthiefArmour Class: 3Hit Dice: 6+4***Move: 120' (40') climb 90' (30') fly 180' (60')Attacks: 4 claws, or 2 claws + 2 wingsDamage: 1-4/1-4/1-4/1-4 or 1-4/1-4/1-6/1-6No. Appearing: 1Save As: M7Morale: 10Treasure Type: IAlignment: ChaoticXP Value: 1250The size of an elf or a slight human, a dreamthief is a golden grotesque, a gargoyle of orange-gold scales and coppery armoured hide. Barbed

A Hamsterish Hoard of Dungeons and DragonsMonster: Diamond Storm

Diamond StormArmour Class: 4Hit Dice: 5**Move: fly 180' (60')Attacks: 3Damage: 1-6/1-6/1-6No. Appearing: 1Save As: M5Morale: 8Treasure Type: LAlignment: ChaoticXP Value: 425Spawned in the deepest of cold -- whether the northern wastes or the ground zero of a powerful spell of ice -- the diamond storm is part creature, part force of nature. A diamond storm appears as a great whirling mass of

LotFP: RPGHanging in the Balance (Abridged)

Yesterday's post was one of those that I knew was out of control, but I posted it anyway because, well, I'd spent the time writing all that stuff, what did it matter that I couldn't tie it all together coherently.

Here is the short version, including the thought inspired by a comment:

Good and Evil as Cosmic Powers are useless concepts. Don't use them.

Good vs Evil Cosmic Conflicts are bad because PCs really don't have much choice as to what to do (what, turn down the mission to save the world from Great Evil?) and failure really isn't an option if the campaign is to continue afterwards anyway. That's awful gaming right there.

Divine beings are going to be portrayed through our human perspective anyway, and even the weirdest creature or purest concept is going to be anthropomorphisized so using Gods as actors within your campaign just cheapens human-based plots by dialing up the WOW factor to 11 for no reason.

A religion doesn't have any bearing on the character or disposition of its …

B/X BlackrazorAnyone Else Read This?


So it wasn't more than a couple days ago that I googled "Blackrazor" and found that my blog had made it to the first page.  Sadly, today I see that I have once again fallen to page two, behind comic book police forces and cellular phone adds.

Obviously, I have been neglecting my own subject matter.

And so it is I return to the subject of returning to the adventure of our youth, White Plume Mountain.  Or to be more specific, one author's novelization of WPM: Paul Kidd.

Let me say right from the start, I was not a huge fan of this book.  In fact, I sold it to a used book store (sorry, Kris...it was actually your book, I know) rather than keep it on the shelf (remember, I'm the guy that re-reads books multiple times?).  Just why I didn't like it, I'm trying hard to remember, so bear with me (I probably SHOULD re-read it, just for reference).

First off...well, strangely enough, I consider RPGs their own art form, different from such forms of artistic expression as literature, film, and …

Adventures in GamingMonstrous Menaces #3

Castles & Crusades
Monstrous Menaces #3
Akhlat, Oogloog, and Woodwose

Adventure Games Publishing presents the third in a series of new monsters for the Castles & Crusades Castle Keeper to populate his dungeons and wilderness. Each installment of the Monstrous Menaces series presents three new monsters for a mere dollar, eminently affordable in today’s economy.

The third installment, Monstrous Menaces #3: Akhlat, Oogloog, and Woodwose, presents the Castle Keeper with a 4 HD Aberration, a 5 HD Ooze, and a 7 to 9 HD Monstrous Humanoid. Each entry includes complete listings for the monster’s description, organization, ecology, treasure, range, and special abilities.

Akhlat
An akhlat is a chimerical creature, possessing the head of a man, the feathered body and wings of a vulture, the legs and feet of a monkey, the arms and claws of a tiger, and the tail of an ass. The human head is overly large for the body, and bald; its eyes are black and beady like those of a vulture, its nose is large …

How to Start a Revolution in 21 Days or LessScan of a Map



So I ran the megadungeon again last night, and Artemis drew this neat map. I've been hesitant to post scans of the main maps because (a) they're not all that interesting and (b) my players haven't seen most of them yet, but this handles both problems nicely.

The Society of Torch, Pole and RopeThe Growing Division

As a rule, I try to avoid using the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope as a platform from which to throw rocks. I like to think of this blog as a place to celebrate creativity rather than chastise stupidity. There are plenty of other sites more than willing to indulge in the latter. Nevertheless, sometimes something so asinine occurs that I can’t help but break my own rule.

Today saw the conclusion of the One Page Dungeon Contest. This contest asked the gaming community at large to submit their best ideas for adventure locales in a game-system neutral format. The response to the call for entries was an unforeseen 112 entries, all of which will be offered as a free .pdf in the coming months. The winners of the contest were awarded a few generous, albeit not grandiose, prizes, and their endeavors will receive a great deal of exposure to gamers around the world.

Back in February of this year, Fight On! magazine offered the Erol Otis Art Challenge, which invited artists of all calibers to …

Alex Schroeder: RPGPersonal Favorites

Mike says it all: “Having the opportunity to read the 112 entries taught me a lot about what I like and don’t like in an adventure, as well as gave me a few hints, pointers, and things to steal outright next time I’m behind the screen.” [1]

Here are some random thoughts on the subject. Since I want to link to the entries I talk about, I have to limit myself to entries that have been published by their authors. (If you want to publish yours but don’t know how, let me know and I’ll host it for you.)

So, let’s start at the beginning… Sorted by author name. :)

Page 1 of my notes Page 2 of my notes

warning warning warning Spoilers! warning warning warning

Megadungeon Of The Mad Archmage Gary-Stu – Level 5: Crypt by Adam Thornton: This entry got 5/6 votes. It was very popular. Why did I like it? My notes say it was gonzo, huge, had a vampirella, and something called the zombiecalypse. Looking at the PDF again, I can see what I liked about it: The top left corner (rooms 10-17) has an unholy church, an altar with gargoyles guarding gems, a vampirella called Carlotta, …

GrognardiaMore Hendryx Information

In the first part of my two-part interview with ex-TSR designer Kevin Hendryx, Allan Grohe asked the question, "Do you touch on the ex-TSR folks' infamous newsletter, by chance? IIRC, Kevin was one of the primary instigators of its creation and distribution!" In answer, I have a reply direct from Kevin Hendryx himself. He says:
Lawrence Schick and I began this little private fanzine/newsletter in 1983, while we worked in the same office at Coleco. Just as a lark, and an outlet for our energies and a desire to maintain ties among the ex-TSR crew.

I sold my original two sets of this ("The CTHULHU CHRONICLE") in late 2007 to an avid TSR collector. There were 7 issues, if I recall correctly, published irregularly and only circulated among ex-TSR staff. Plenty of gossip and humor (?) and in-jokes, fully illustrated and wacky. We got contributions from other TSR alumni, including a few pages of hilarious sketches and jokes done by Paul Reiche and Erol Otus when they were …

July 01, 2009

LotFP: RPGHanging in the Balance

The past couple of days I've been talking about Good and Evil, and how the supernatural extremes of the two sides might be completely indistinguishable from a mortal on the ground. So how would one differentiate between the two on a conceptual level, and how to apply that to a game if the mortals don't understand the greater cosmic forces to begin with?

How do characters relate to all this? All this conjecture and theory about the Nature of Things is interesting and all, but without actual playable advice, it's really irrelevant.

First, perhaps some definitions.

Good doesn't mean perfect. Even a Greater Power of Good is going to be imperfect in ways and rub certain people the wrong way and even cause harm on the way to being Good. But for me, a working definition of a Greater Power of Good is one that, if it had its way, everything in existence would be measurably better off. Not to say existence would be a paradise or that certain types wouldn't be perhaps even fundamentally unhappy, …

B/X BlackrazorGaah! Evil!



Maliszewski wrote that he doesn't generally reference other blogs as "we already pretty much read the same ones anyway."  That could be, but I for one, am a little new to the blogging game (I have made it to July...yay!) and could certainly stand some references.  

For example, I came across this, written in 2006 that might have saved me a lot of ranting posts had I read it first (things don't ALWAYS have to be re-stated).

And yet, here I go again.  I was already considering the composition on "evil D&D I have known" when I saw this, and this, oh...and this, too.  Probably as I write this, someone is posting something similar. Seems like people have "evil" on the brain these days (or I just don't have an original thought in my brain).

I can remember when I first played D&D, I simply equated Chaotic with "Evil." Later on, when I got my hands on AD&D and I wondered how I possibly could have been so deluded?  Obviously, being Chaotic simply meant "loving freedom" and being Lawful meant …

A Rust Monster Ate My Sword...More Minions Than You Can Shake a 10-foot Pole At

A few weeks ago, I posted a record sheet for tracking NPC's. Since then, I've been stealing time here and there to make the sheet a little more useful - and to expand my knowledge of JavaScripting in Acrobat. Here's the end result: a self-populating hireling record sheet.

This PDF document will allow you to create and print up to four, um, colorful NPC's based on the Moldvay Basic Dungeons & Dragons rules. Specifically, you can generate characters of any class up through experience level 3 (as well as "normal," zero-level humans). Pefect for generating potential retainers for your low-level adventuring party, the PDF even gives each NPC a distinctive epithet and ultra-brief description. Here's a sample:

The sheet makes some assumptions, such as: most retainers being normal humans or fighters, dwarves and elves being fairly uncommon, and retainers generally coming poorly equipped.

Click here to download the PDF (~2.5MB)
. . . . .

Sham's Grog 'n Blog112 Page Dungeon Contest

As most are aware at this point, the highly successful One Page Dungeon Contest (OPDC) Winners have been announced. I'd first like to thank Chatty DM and Chgowiz who together took on the bulk of the effort here; announcing the contest, assembling a staggering array of prizes, accepting entries, and remaining flexible during the entire process. They also served as judges, and brought in myself and a few other innocent bystanders to help in that department, namely Alex Schroeder, Amityville Mike, and Dave the Game, for a total of one half dozen judges charged with reading and evauluating all 112 entries, and coming up with winners.

By the time you read this my esteemed cohorts will have already compiled the Honorable Mentions, Runners Up, and Winning Entries. Rather than make you read what has already been posted, simply follow these links from three of the judges involved. I'd like to thank all 112 of the contest entrants. It was an honor to be able to get an early look at these …

GrognardiaIn Praise of the Rules Cyclopedia

Long-time readers of this blog will know I'm not a huge fan of the 1983 Frank Mentzer-edited version of Dungeons & Dragons, even though I retain a lot of fondness for the Companion Rules that are part of that series. The reasons for my dislike are partially esthetic and partially philosophical, but they're not really important right now, because I'm not actually going to talk about those boxed sets in this entry. Instead, I'm going to talk about their 1991 Aaron Allston-edited descendent, the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia.

The Rules Cyclopedia was, in many ways, the final gasp of OD&D, as it was the last time TSR published a version of D&D that wasn't a sub-set or spin-off of AD&D. Weighing in at just over 300 pages, it was also a complete game, containing all you needed to create and play characters from levels 1 through 36. When I say "complete," I'm not exaggerating (much), since the Cyclopedia had rules not just for characters, combat, spells, monsters, and treasures, as …

Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG BlogOD&D Solo game w/wife - quick bits

Last night, we continued our "quick sessions" style to conclude my wife's investigations of the ancient tower and underground areas that she's been exploring for awhile. Last night was one of those "all role playing information dump" kind of games.

I will not love my NPC or plots

From day 1, I've been very leery of how much to involve my NPC. I've treated him like another character in terms of advancement and opportunities, and I've tried to always play him second fiddle to my wife's character, Aeli. He gets spells as he finds them - he doesn't even have Detect Magic and wants to find more spells to trade with. He tries to help but not be overbearing. I've come to like this mage though - and although I find it easy to keep him hamstrung because I don't want to make a mistake and create a "DM's favorite" - I find I am developing a bit of emotional investment to him. Probably time to kill him off. :D I don't want to fall into that trap.

I have, however, gotten over my reluctance to …

Ancient Vaults & Eldritch Secrets[New Encounter] The People of the Summer Wind

The People of the Summer Wind     “Hey Chalk, you gotta check this out!” called Koram from across the table as the adventurer leered at the attractive tavern girl. “What is it?” asked the wizard as he poured over a text the duo had recovered from their last adventure. “This girl has no belly button!” the fighter replied. With a [...]

GrognardiaRetrospective: The Awful Green Things from Outer Space


If boardgame designers had their own religion, surely Tom Wham would be their god of mischief. Over the course of the last 30+ years, he's designed some of the most delightfully offbeat but playable games I've ever owned, including my personal favorite, 1980's The Awful Green Things from Outer Space.

TAGTFOS, like many Tom Wham efforts, appeared first in the pages of Dragon magazine, but, when TSR was looking to expand its product lines into the realm of family boardgames, it was one of several games chosen for this purpose. Since I never owned issue 28 of Dragon, the boxed version was my first encounter with the game and I loved it from the first. Much like Dungeon!, it very quickly became a staple of my gaming group, something we'd play when we were waiting for our friends to arrive for the RPG session or when we didn't have the time to run an adventure module or whatever.

I think what we liked about the game was that it wasn't just playable but re-playable. Much of the game play …

Von der Seifenkiste herab...[BHP] LEGENDENREICH-CON

Von den Plänen für die FeenCon habe ich ja schon berichtet, aber eine Woche später (am 18. und 19.7.) gibt es eine weitere kleine aber feine Con in Kaiserslautern.

Mal sehen mit wie vielen der tapferen Halblinge ich dort aufschlagen werde, aber einen Stand wird es auf jeden Fall geben, an dem die letzten Exemplare der auf 100 Exemplare limitierten Schmuckstücke geben wird:
XORO - ein eifelareanisches Abenteuermodul;
DER GLADIATOR - ein Quellenbuch, der dem LL-Spielleiter erlaubt Gladiatorenkampagnen zu planen und zu leiten.

Außerdem wird es an jedem Tag eine Herr der Labyrinthe-Spielrunde geben, bei der wahlweise "Die Festung des Bergkönigs", "Die Rückkehr des Bergkönigs" oder "Die Prüfung des Bergkönigs" gespielt werden wird.

Mein dritter Programmpunkt ist ein Workshop, in dem ich in einem festgelegten Zeitpunkt mit 5 wagemutigen Teilnehmern ein spielbares (eventuell editionsneutrales) Verlies basteln werde mit dem Titel: "Große Freiheit auf kleinem Raum!"

Ich freue mich …

Von der Seifenkiste herab...ONE PAGE DUNGEON CONTEST

Pünktlich zum 1. Juli gibt es das offizielle Ergebnis des ONE PAGE DUNGEON CONTEST.

... und was soll ich sagen?!? Bei mir hat es nicht zu einem Preis gereicht, aber Michael Wolf, a.k.a. Stargazer, eine der tragenden Säulen des Dungeonslayers-Spieles hat einen "Runner-Up"-Preis abgeräumt - und zwar in der Rubrik: "Best Non-Fantasy Entry".

Herzlichen Glückwunsch von mir! Und auf die PDF-Datei mit den ganzen Sieger-Beiträgen freue ich mich schon wie verrückt!


Ode to Black DougalHappy Birthday Canada!


O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.