DragonStrike was a TSR board game that was intended to serve as an introduction to Dungeons & Dragons. It came with a somewhat surreal 30-minute video that was to act as a tutorial.
Some familiar names to long-time D&D fans can be seen in the opening credits, but I'll let you watch for yourself (though it is 33 minutes long):
While I'm of the mind it doesn't matter much what you call 'em so long as you play 'em, some terms of reference can be nice. Stuart over at Robertson Games has coined the term "Neoclassical Games" to encompass a lot of what we now refer to as the firestarter terms "retro" and "old school" RPG products.
I'm fine with this. They aren't the original, classic RPGs we played, but they're a direct attempt to return to that style. I'm not so sure about it being classified as a reaction against the Baroque style of 4e alone, as I think 3e was pretty ornate in a lot of ways.
(However, does this mean now the usual flamewar suspects can refer to 4e as "Baroque-en"?)
Like many others, I entered the one-page dungeon contest not too long ago. When I did my entry, I was keenly feeling the loss of so many founding fathers of gaming, as well as really thinking about appreciating those who are still with us. I wanted my entry to be a fun tribute to so many of the people who gave us D&D and the adventures and material of our youth (and beyond!). Enter my submission, The Hidden Temple of the Founders:
The good people of this region hold that their old gods, makers of the world, known collectively as The Founders, appeared in a dream to their followers centuries ago and demanded that their followers build a temple honoring them. The instructions for the temple were like none ever seen—a bewildering array of chambers carved into the side of a mountain, one specifically for each deity of the religion. The names of each deity were labeled on the doors of their dedicated room, and can still be used to identify each to this day.
In time, new religions came to the forefront, and the order of monks tending the sacred place dwindled to nothingness. But true believers and desperate adventurers alike still believe the complex is full of danger, riches, and perhaps divine power in turn. The Old Ways do not sleep.
Download the free pdf of The Hidden Temple of the Founders here.
Download the basic map by itself here.
OK, so in terms of style it gets its ass kicked by a vast majority of the other entries in that contest. But this is my "easter egg"-laden tribute to some of the founders of our hobby. I wanted something with a classic look, that'd be fun to play while honoring some of those who've gone before. See how many references you can find, and feel free to report back if you think you caught them all! (This module definitely relies on a strong DM, able to play off the base encounters included). I hope you guys enjoy it, and if you think to say "thank you" to one of the Old Guard after playing or browsing through it, that would make my day.
The players are exploring a new wilderness (perhaps not unlike this one or this one), and they discover a ruined temple. They remember that that crazy old trader back in the Imperial Town said a Black Dragon nested somewhere in here. They beat a hasty retreat; they know that they'll need backup or better specialized weaponry before going toe-to-toe for the dragon's horde. They sneak off to find easier pickings elsewhere.
Only a few miles away, on the remnants of a long-forgotten trade road, they are accosted by a band of hobgoblin bandits. It's a tough fight, but they manage to eke it out. Under some less-than-friendly persuasion, the one hobgoblin they capture tells them that there is an entire horde of hobgoblins in the foothills to the nearby north.
Moving on, they come to a small village on the edge of the river. After engaging in some bartering, they learn that the swamplands to the south are relatively safe, with a very few lizardmen and the sunken remains of an old shrine. One villager tells a crazy story about this abandoned dwarven mine down the river--abandoned except for an Ogre warlord and his followers, that is. But supposedly, there's still some mithril left--how much, no one can say. It is said the warlord controls at least one of the passes through the nearby foothills, though--and can be bargained with.
In the preceding example, level-appropriate challenges do not instantly appear. There are threats in the various hexes of the above adventure map that are fixed. It is up to the players, through exploration, trial and error, negotiation, information gathering, and interrogation, to gain an impression of the threats and features of their adventuring area. Challenges in an area do not scale because of their level; the world does not change itself because of the level of the players.
This can be included as an element of "sandbox" play, but I also see it as setting "organic" boundaries. There is no artificial challenge level adjustment--it is up to the player's characters to decide when and where there challenges occur. They decide the path of least (or greatest) resistance through the world, as well as when and where to gamble when the reward might be worth it. This approach puts info gathering and character interaction with the world at a premium. At worst, if the characters are reckless, heedless, or supremely unlucky, it can result in more Total Party Kills. At best, it makes the game less predictable, increases the feeling of exploration and danger, and gives the players a sense that the world will not bend to their whims or forgive their weakness.
I doubt I'm doing anything more here than codifying for my own thought process a practice that gamers have been using for a long time, but I do believe I prefer it to the "challenges remain or adjust appropriate to level approach".
Anyone use this style of encounter planning? Anyone shy away from it or dislike it? Thoughts?
Interesting Memorial Day Weekend for the discussion of Old School Gaming. First, Grognardia started things off with "More Than A Feeling", which talked about defining old school games beyond a "feeling". That led to this rebuttal over at Wondrous Imaginings. Rob Conley then discussed why/when that Old School feeling is important, as as on defining Old School as an attitude. Alex Schroeder talked a bit about how this all worked in with affordance. And you know LotFP had something to say about it all.
Did I miss anything?
(I'm just going to enjoy Greyhawk Grognard's new bonus material for Castle of the Mad Archmage). I also wanted to thank you all for making our Indy 500 experience this month possible. I took home so many wonderful memories from yesterday, and I know we had such a wonderful time thanks to all of you.
I'll be pretty quiet on here this weekend, as we're getting ready to spend a weekend full of Indy 500 activity (thanks to all of you!). But that doesn't mean that we aren't going to have some of our usual Friday Discussion!
This week's topic: Which artist or artists best represents your vision of Dungeons & Dragons? No, they don't need to be TSR/WotC artists, and they don't need to be RPG artists. Otis, Lockwood, Parkinson, Bosch--all are welcome!
I'll come out swinging first: Darlene. Her Greyhawk maps conveyed a sense of wonder and yearning for adventure that remains unmatched. Love Trampier, love Otis, but if I were to go with one, it'd be her. Her work remains iconic in my perception of D&D.
For this past Friday's discussion topic, a couple of people mentioned the Bible as an inspiration to their roleplaying. I happened to come across this verse again in church yesterday:
(23) Then Elisha went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up by the way, young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!"
(24) When Elisha looked behind him and saw them, he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and tore up forty-two lads of their number.
-2 Kings 2:23-25
In the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide (1e), Gary Gygax laid out the literary influences for his work in Appendix N, near the back. It included such diverse authors as Andre Norton, Jack Vance, Lord Dunsany, Edgar Rice Burroughs, H.P. Lovecraft, R.E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, Roger Zelazny, and many others. The list and its contents have been analyzed, discussed, read, and debated many times since it was published.
So that’s this week’s Friday discussion: what’s your Appendix N? What fiction has influenced your campaigns, play styles, and writings? If you want to include TV or movies, by all means. You can do a separate Appendix for various genres, if you feel the need. If it's too much for the comments here and you need to link elsewhere, well that's fine, too.
Have a great weekend, and don’t hide your light under a bushel!
A great article at Tankards & Broadswords last week discussed players keeping "spare" characters in reserve. I've been working on something for my next campaign for a while along these lines, but I'd sort of been sleeping on it as of late. Well, thanks to T&B, I kicked my butt into gear and finished up my idea.
The premise for the next campaign is that the characters are part of a fringe outreach of the High Church, tasked with rooting out evil in the old ruins and haunted places of Northwest Irrin (a place, for the uninitiated, that is full of 1000-year ruins, fledgling settlements, and lots of unpleasant beasties). To reflect the varied, irregular, and occasionally impious forces making up this bastion of Mother Church, each character will roll up 3 characters at level 1. Only one character per player will likely be tasked on any mission (though there may be exceptions).
If a character dies while adventuring, you must use one of your other two characters to either finish the mission or for the next mission (whichever is applicable). You make a new character at level 1, but that character cannot be used until the next mission after that.
Did I mention we'll be tracking player/character accomplishment via this form? Stick with one character too long, and you drop precipitously if he dies. Balance out your mission selections, and face lesser risk.
It's my hope that not only does this lead to some friendly competition, but also leads to ensemble play. I'm working on factions and orders within and without the Church the characters can belong to. Imagine having all 3 of your characters secretly working towards different ends! I'm curious as to whether it would or not, but I'm optimistic. I think I have a winner on my hands, but we'll see.
Mark at the DM Sketchpad asked last night if I'd like to help out by doing a guest post, and I was only too happy to help out. My contribution came in the form of the Ring of the Toad God-King, an accursed item from a Labyrinth Lord one-shot I ran for my group a while back. Yes, it's goofy, but it was also a lot of fun. You can check it out here.
Greyhawk Grognard just announced the April installment of the Castle of the Mad Archmage is now available. It is no exaggeration to say this is likely the gaming product I've looked most forward to each month this year. Keep it up, Joseph!
I was able to be on TARGA's conference call this past weekend, and one of the things mentioned on the call was how Chgowiz had made a document that distilled (with permission) Matt Finch's popular Quick Primer for Old School Gaming into a single page. I think this could be a great handout document for those looking to explain to a fellow gamer or folks at a convention what sort of game play and feel they're striving for. I had some friends I wanted to share this with, and Chgowiz was cool with me switching the format into a pdf. Here's the link to the single-page pdf Introduction to Old School Gaming.
TARGA is looking at having some websites are sort of hubs and directories for the various Old School Renaissance games and their cousins, so I'll likely be modifying this document with links to that info once they are up. For now, enjoy, share with others, and here's hoping you get some good use from this!
Geez, did anyone beat this thing? I was looking Something Awful's very funny article on the Tomb of Horrors, and immediately hearkened back to my own experiences with this module. I've played in it twice, and DM'd it twice. In that time, I've seen two--two--characters make it to Acererak. Both died, near-instantly.
We had one kid who was in our games off-and-on boast that he had beaten it, but he had played with a total Monty Haul DM--the kind that allowed players the power to clean out the Planes on a regular basis for fun. When he ran it with us, his Fighter died along with my Cleric in the initial stone block trap.
As best I can remember, here's the accounting on 4 forays into the Tomb of Horrors. I believe the lowest character level was 8, the highest around 16.
Session 1
2 Fighters, 1 Wizard, 1 Thief, and a Cleric (me): Total Party Kill
-All within the first few traps, I believe. We had been playing less than an hour when the last of us fell.
Session 2
1 Cleric (me again), 1 Wizard, 2 Thieves, 1 Fighter, and a Paladin: Total Party Kill
-One of thieves died at the three hidden treasure chests. The remaining Thief and Wizard reached Acererak, but died very quickly. The Thief was higher-level than the Wizard, and so was slain by the right-eye jewel. The Wizard got off a couple of spells that did damage (Shatter?), but met the same fate as the Thief from the left-eye jewel or one of the teeth a few rounds later. My friend Rich had nursed that Wizard over 8 months of continual weekend gameplay up to his lofty perch, and he was pissed.
Session 3 (I DM'd this one)
1 Wizard, 1 Cleric, 1 Thief, 1 Fighter, 1 Anti-Paladin: Wizard alone survives
-Another false-entrance trap slays another Cleric (I was sympathetic). Wizard teleported out, leaving our group's (homebrew) Anti-Paladin to die (pit of 200 spikes). It was a vendetta killing of sorts, the Anti-Paladin having (predictably) angered the group by acting like an, well, Anti-Paladin.
Session 4 (I DM'd this one, same basic group)
1 Wizard, 1 Paladin, 1 Bard, 1 Fighter, 1 Cleric, 1 Thief: Thief alone survives
-The Thief didn't stick around long on this one. I believe he used a magic item to egress after seeing the Fighter go down at the Face of the Great Green Devil.
I've never found a module as lethal as this. I remember I once thought The Doomgrinder had potential by the sound of its name, but that ended up being a bit of a disappointment.
So, did anyone out there actually trash the Tomb of Horrors and give Acererak what he had coming? I want to know if you did, and more importantly, how?
It's been awhile since we've done one of these, but one of my favorite things to do is to look through old Dragon Magazines (#102, October '85) and check out some of the ads. You know, having Dragon in print isn't really what I miss--there's Kobold Quarterly and Fight On! and the like--it's having a magazine like this be a medium for relaying new product outside of just a single RPG. There's a charm about it that just isn't there anymore.
(Note: This is the Dragon Magazine featuring Gary Gygax's "Pushing the Pendulum the Other Way" article, which is an interesting article on the relationship between "role-playing" and "game" elements in the D&D of the time, and likely deserves an entry all its own).
If you ever wondered how the horror RPG Chill may have differed from White Wolf's RPGs, consider this ad:
The end of 1985 also brought this:
8 years later, this would become the first fantasy RPG I played:
"Experienced" gamers only, please:
Well, they tried:
This is the sort of post that is me trying to wrap my head around a few changes to my approach towards our hobby.
While reading up on my usual blog rounds (in particular those of Odyssey and Chgowiz), I started to think about my own participation in the old-school renaissance and retro-clone communities. Now, one of my first RPGs (and certainly one of the most influential) was Rules Cyclopedia D&D, back in ’93 (a year which can only grant me Junior Grognard status, I freely admit). So, you can say I am not without some background and appreciation for the play and broad philosophies supported by this renaissance.
But the thing that puzzled me, as I began to examine my own place and direction in the hobby, is why my level of involvement, participation, and especially content generation is so high compared to only a few years ago. By all means, it should be the opposite. I have 3 young kids, a family, an involved job, and less time than ever to write game material and read and play RPGs. My current job hours are less forgiving, and I am slowly adjusting to that lessening of personal time that can make hobby participation so tough. So how is it that I am writing more, reading more, and (I hope) being a more productive member of our hobby?
I think the answer is found within the old-school community itself. I don’t think I’ve ever been party to as big an emphasis on Do-It-Yourself thinking and personal RPG customization as I have with that group. Publications like Fight On! emphasize adding your own rules, toying with the ludicrous, and put your own stamp on things. I saw people putting their ideas out there in various articles, products, and blog posts. Some were brilliant, some I thought silly, but that’s just seemed to help all the more.
Now there are wonderful homebrew rules, ideas, and settings out there for just about any type of RPG you can think of—and this is where the words get a little tough—but for me, I was never totally comfortable with putting my ideas out there. I know that’s on me and not those game communities. But I think it’s the type of encouragement and peer example I’ve had from so many within the old-school community that have made the difference. You might say it helped me get over a case of writing “stage fright”, so to speak.
I was really too young to participate in any sort of molding or contribution to those originals off which the retro-clones are largely based. Now, I feel like I’m part of a community, with each of us throwing in our own bits and ingredients. And ok, maybe no one will use the article I posted to Fight On! or the new items I put on my blog. But they might, you see, and just the thought that something I wrote can be shared and might cause a spark makes it worthwhile. This is our way, our shot, to contribute to the games we’ve loved so much.
We are plotting the dungeons. We are writing the magazine articles and supplements. We’re sharing the wild charts and tables. And though many have come before, it’s a great thing to be contributing to yourself.
Maybe we all have different entry points for this sort of thing. Mine happened to be the old-school renaissance, from the Troll Lords to Jamie Mal and Jeff Rients.
In a lot of ways, guys, along with this blog, you’ve given me my hobby back. So thank you, and Fight On.
Poor AD&D 2nd Edition! Reviled by grognards and RPG fashionistas alike! Yet, I submit from my own personal experiences that 2e still has a decent amount of groups out there who play it or occasionally cycle back around to it. In my own group, I have at least 2 players who consider that their edition of choice, and I'm fairly certain a goodly number of players near my age (near-30ish) started with that edition.
Now, some of the main criticisms of 2E were:
-The "softening" of D&D by removing mentions of such things as demons and devils
-Removal of bards, monks, and half-orcs
-Removal of dungeon generation tables from the 2e DMG
-The way Non-Weapon Proficiencies worked (or didn't)
I think a lot of the strengths of 2e were in the "fluff", settings, boxed sets, and the Complete _______ line of books--all things that wouldn't or couldn't translate to a retro-clone as well as mechanics.
Let's be honest--in a lot of ways, AD&D2e is the "Silent Years" between the Old & New Testaments of D&D for people. I think if we see a completed 2E retro-clone, it may well come from outside the current retro-clone community. The closest thing I've seen thus far was the 1e/2e mix of Hackmaster, and that's also now out of print (the next edition will be a completely new game). I think it is has been stated as a clear point of delineation by many old-schoolers, and I won't argue with that. I think the game may even stand for a different style of play then the retro-clones we've seen up to this point. But it is still a part of D&D's history with it's own charms, and it would be at least interesting to see such an effort.
One of the biggest goals of the main products of the Old-School Renaissance, I think, is the entire philosophy of a “toolkit” or “DIY” philosophy. We see it in Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry, and we see it in the contributors of Fight On!. By design, the simulacra of the old school do not cover every situation in terms of rules and mechanical resolution; adjudication by the DM/GM/Referee is key. Similarly, the games are built for your own additions as you see fit, be they a new thief class, optional poison rules, or throwing in some new magic items or effects.
I think one of the best and brightest examples of this philosophy in action has to be The S&W Companion. Designed to support Swords & Wizardry, this resource page is a tremendous example of the sort of fun additions you can add onto a game. I was surprised just how fast this collection has grown, and hope it continues to do so. Adventures, combat tweaks, and new classes all await your viewing pleasure!
(I especially like the add-on classes, from the Druid to Assassin. Very nice write-ups!).
Perhaps one of the nicest things about dipping your toe into the world of old school is that if you don’t feel you are that creative, have a case of the ol’ writer’s block, or don’t want to mess with optimizing your game of choice for your table, there are some of the most talented gamers in the world who have already provided a ton of cool stuff for free. The S&W Companion is a splendid instance of that.
(This post could be alternately titled "Joseph Bloch does it again!"). My favorite RPG product of the year has seen yet another release! March's edition of the amazingly still-free Castle of the Mad Archmage is up and ready to be enjoyed! There's new monsters, new "classic blue" dungeon maps, and an entire new level to explore. Not to give any spoilers, but this level should see plenty of opportunities for negotiation, dungeon politics, trickery, and diplomacy for those who want it!
Old-school ventures Fight On! and Swords and Wizardry both have a chance to win a top 3 finish in Lulu's current contest. To close the deal, they need to sell a few more print copies (Fight On! is currently ranked at #3, and Swords & Wizardry at #7). The top 3 finishers win cash prizes and get some cool publicity perks on lulu, so that this could be a very good thing for the companies that win goes without saying.
To help push their print sales across the finish line, both endeavors have teamed up to offer Art of the Old School, a compiled collection of pieces from the various old-school renaissance publications. Click here to get it from Swords & Wizardry, click here to buy it from Fight On! And make sure to check out both storefronts from limited-time sales on some great products to help out with this contest.
