Interview With Frog God Games, Part 2

Yesterday was the first part of our interview with Frog God Games, the new publishers of Swords & Wizardry (and Pathfinder products, to boot). Today, in Part 2, we cover a bit about writing for 4th edition D&D, a bit more on Swords & Wizardry, support for Pathfinder, and plans for the future. Thanks again to Bill Webb, Greg Vaughan, and Matt Finch for all participating!

Going back to Necromancer Games for a minute, because I think folks (including myself) are curious: A lot of people were expecting to see some more releases from Necromancer in support of D&D 4th Edition. What happened there, and why the change in supported systems?

(Bill) I could not write 4e. I assume it’s a fine game, but its not the same game that I play. Frankly its rules confused me and made me want to play and MMO or Warhammer Fantasy Battle. The legal issues w/ 4e were uncomfortable; but I don’t really understand any of that stuff; Clark does. Suffice to say I will not produce 4e, and Clark is on an indefinite hiatus from the game.

(Greg) There was originally talk of me converting Tsar to 4e. While I respect 4e as a game, I simply did not believe it was viable to still be able to capture the heart and intent of what I had written in that framework. I know that sounds weird, but I have written 4e and I have written 3.5 and Pathfinder. I wouldn’t have been able to pull off a translation that did it justice. That said, translating backward through editions is certainly a possibility…

Call it the OSR, Old School Renaissance, DIY Grognards, Neoclassical Gaming, etc.—there’s a big community out there, providing a pretty wide range of homegrown support for classic and classically-inspired editions and iterations of the game. Where do you see Frog God fitting into that?

(Bill) Well, I am one of those guys, just not a big poster on the message boards themselves. I play S&W because my old white box set is falling apart and I wanted to teach my kids to play the same game I learned (my 8 year old is a formidable gamer). I have hosted a Wilderlands campaign since 1978 (maybe 1977—brain is failing me. I never really bought into the “upgrades”. I have played 2/2.5/3/3.5/Pathfinder, and they rock; they are still “the game”, but I like a simpler open format that is OD&D, and I have always come back to it. I was actually awarded the “Golden Grognard” award at the ENnies one year, so “these are my people,” as my wife is fond of saying. (Yes, I know that for the S&W players, the ENnies aren’t exactly the hallmark of old school, but hey, it’s a nice award).

Most importantly, let us know what you want us to do and what we are doing that makes you happy, sad or mad. My email is public knowledge, and I am the guy who takes complaints. I can be found at bill@talesofthefroggod.com or at necromancergames@yahoo.com. I NEVER mind folks giving us feedback; good or bad. That is my job (and why I get $5/hour and why everyone else gets $4—not kidding by much either). We are keeping our forums at http://necromancergames.yuku.com/ , but that may change in time. Matt’s S&W forums will stay open too at http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/forum/ .

(Greg) Wait, we get paid hourly?

If it helps people to understand what I’m targeting, I want to be the Judges Guild of 2010. By bringing higher production quality to the market, we hope to attract more people to the game. By letting Matt write, and not produce and edit, we hope to get more of his (brilliant) stuff out there.

We want to widen the audience, bring more folks back to the game, and produce cool stuff to help that happen. Pathfinder is a great game too—and lots of folks play that. We also want to support that audience and keep people rolling dice instead of clicking mouse buttons. We like to produce fan-written material, and most importantly, modules. I think the term module has been lost to the game in many cases. A module is something that is “modular” and fits in where a DM wants it to fit in. we don’t want to “tie you in” to canon like FR did. I want the community to take or leave our stuff in whole or pieces and make it work for the way/setting in which they play.

That’s part of the reason I never “cashed in” on a Necromancer World setting like about 100 other publishers did. You have your setting, I want to make stuff for you to use in YOUR setting. JG was different for me; I wanted to do that so I could use it. That and the fact that Wilderlands is about as cool a product as I have ever seen.

Frog God will make books to support tabletop roleplaying games, period. I sincerely hope that all the DIY guys will keep doing the same. I also hope that I can help some of these guys get to press. I have to say, there are market realities. Artists, cartographers and printers don’t work for free—so some folks will like or hate prices as they see fit.

(Matt) Okay, let’s use loaded terms like “OSR” and see if we can make Tim Kask mad again. I’m sooooooooooo not touching that one with a ten foot pole. Does FGG “fit in” with the current model of the traditional OSR publishers? No. Clearly. FGG uses a “sales model” that’s quite different and based on how to work in a larger market. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it’s neutral. I don’t think marketing models affect gaming one way or the other – it’s the quality of what’s produced.

Bottom line: This will bring more players to the table, and more modules to the table, whether the company itself fits the normal profile or not.

Your company is supporting two OGL games in Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder that are quite different. How does your philosophy or strategy change (if at all) when writing for one vs. the other?

(Bill) First off, those modules are going to appear for both systems, but the different games mean that the conversion process, whether it’s from PF to S&W or from an S&W module to a PF one, is not a matter of cutting and pasting – the games are very different in the way they are played, and that means a lot of in-depth conversion to align a converted module to match the rules it’s intended for. Chuck and Greg play Pathfinder, Matt and I play S&W. Robert, Rick etc. play 3.5. None of us plays 4.0. We all support both games as a venue for folks to play the game as it was intended. Pathfinder is very complex and rules heavy—some folks love that. S&W is very freeform, and some folks love that. Personally, I have experimented with higher complexity (I ran a game using Balboa Games systems for 2 years), but I keep returning to simple d20/d6 rules. I like being a player in Pathfinder Games but I don’t know how Greg DMs it—its very confusing to this old frog.

My production philosophy is “high quality rules all.” That means content, art and maps. Some folks may not like that, but I will only produce what I consider to be professional looking, quality content stuff. No filler. That is a personal issue for me.

Obviously, not everyone has the same aesthetics. Some people like non-gridded maps like the one in Supplement 2. Some of us prefer the blue maps from B1. I happen to like darker colors (easier to see while gaming) and a more Judges Guild style. I’m willing to spend money to get that style done well.

Most of our profit goes into the next set of art and maps and printing. I guess we will make a bunch on our final book, when that day comes.

Our game philosophy is “old school,” and when I say that I don’t mean with all the theory and brouhaha that’s become attached to that phrase. At Necro, we called it 1e feel. Matt always says it best—“Imagine the Hell out of it” is the motto.

(Matt) Yep. Imagine the Hell out of everything.

(Greg) As a writer of adventures all the way back to 1e (yeah, I know, not 0e, but that was even before my time), I have found that many of the adventure concepts translate extremely well across the systems. In my opinion, 4e was the first D&D system to break with that in that the adventures by necessity began to take very different forms in format and play style. My first published adventure in Dungeon was a 3.5 update of an Expert rules adventure I had written for the Isle of Dread. I understand that the rules are significantly different and can be invasive, but the story still stands and works, which is what I think and adventure is all about: the shared story of its participants painted on the primer of the writer.

Let’s talk Pathfinder-specific for a minute. What products will you be looking at doing in support of Pathfinder?

(Bill) Everything (probably) except rulebooks will be done in both formats—to be clear, NOT dual statted; but as separate books. Slumbering Tsar may or may not be done for S&W because its huge (500k words) and I am not sure Matt and I will have time to convert it soon.

What else is in the pipeline for Frog God Games?

(Bill) Right now about 40 books, with more on the way. Most books will be short (24-32 pages). Our website details what is for sale now or soon. The most exciting are the Complete Rulebook and the Slumbering Tsar hardcover (really 14 modules in a huge book). We will be producing a few other DM utilities for use in both systems, but our real focus will be on One Night Stands and Saturday Night Specials. This is where I am looking for 12k word submissions for writers. I’ll have a guy handle the Pathfinder stats. It’s a great way to have folks get published and for a broad audience to get their work. Share cool stuff around as much as possible is the goal. Matt and I will also be writing for this line. What these are is (from our site):

“Remember when the world was a sandbox and you just inserted modules into your campaign whenever and wherever you wanted to? Remember when companies like Judges Guild and TSR produced short stand alone modules, not tied to any setting or campaign? Remember when the cost 5 bucks (ok we can’t do print books for 5 bucks anymore, but we can do that for the pdfs)? Remember when you directed the action independent of what the “world” rules said was there? We do, and in response we decided to fill the gap with our One Night Stands and Saturday Night Specials series.

These modules are designed to be played over the course of 1-2 nights. Each is a sandbox style short adventure (One Night Stands) or a short dungeon crawl (Saturday Night Specials). Frog God Games knows that in this day and age, sometimes a DM just needs a short trek to take his players on, or to fill those regular gaps and interludes in his campaign. Sometimes its just fun to enter a dungeon and kill things for a night! Old school feel is the trademark of these product lines. Look for easy deaths and tough puzzles. Frog God Games is not made for rookie players.

These series are designed as stand alone modules and are typically between 24 and 32 pages. We have designed just one piece of cover art for each series in order to keep the price point low (though the cover art is rockin’, and the interiors and maps are all of usual Frog God Games quality!). All of these books will be released in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry format.”

We will also be doing some sandboxy min-campaigns, and a very cool temple based series called Splinters of Faith—10 modules with adventures revolving around different aligned religions and temples. Very deadly and very fun.

This really is what is currently written, and art is in process. Lots more as soon as I figure out what we are doing next.

(Greg) I don’t know; Bill passed Creative Director duties on to me and Matt so he could run the company, and I haven’t been allowed to get up from my keyboard to look around since.

Interview With Frog God Games, Part 1

Today and tomorrow, we'll be featuring a Q&A with Frog God Games, the new publishers of Swords & Wizardry (and they of the late most recent online hobby dust-up). I asked them about their associations with Necromancer Games, their plans for Swords & Wizardry, their attitude towards the OSR, and much more.

Editor/Developer Bill Webb, Writer Greg Vaughan, and S&W creator Matt Finch took turns answering my questions. Enjoy, and we'll be back with Part 2 tomorrow.

First off, thank you for agreeing to this Q&A. Frog God is a spinoff of Necromancer Games, right? Why the change in names, and what’s the history there?

(Bill) FGG was created to separate my interests in Necromancer Games (owned jointly with Clark). Greg Vaughan and I started the company in May. Clark and I talked, and since he no longer has the time to devote to this, we agreed that I should start a new corporation to ensure intellectual property and finances were separate. No hostility or anything, it was for purely legal reasons. Since he was Orcus, and I have always been “froggie”, the name made sense.

(Greg) Bill told me I wasn’t cool enough to get into Necromancer. Just kidding. Actually, FGG came as a total surprise to me, one of Bill’s sudden bouts of genius. He and I and Paizo and everyone have been talking for years about how to get the Slumbering Tsar mega-adventure into publication. I wrote it six years ago for Necromancer, but it was slated to release right when the 4e crash occurred. It sat for years waiting a way to reach press, and then Bill had the idea to start FGG and release it as a serial. With the proceeds from it, it enabled us to look at more options for publication of some other unreleased materials and even new materials. And that’s how we got to where we are today with S&W.

What do you think Frog God Games will “bring to the table” in terms of product? Where are your strengths as a publishing concern? What can you “do” for products such as Swords & Wizardry, which is already available in another edition?

(Bill) Old school feel modules. We specialize in adventures. We do them well. I was the creative director at Necro; so if folks liked Necro they should like us. We may do other stuff like DM utilities (see Mother of All Encounter Tables by Necro etc.), but we do modules as a preference; just like Necro did. Our strengths are that we are, and continue to be guys who have always listened to our audience, involved fans in writing projects, and helped people publish their own “magnum opus”.

From the Pathfinder perspective, the objective remains very similar to what we were doing with Necro Games. It’s to provide solid adventures and resources with an old-school feel.

From the Swords & Wizardry perspective, it’s obviously different. Swords & Wizardry is already about as old-school as you can possibly get. It’s a project that has been built up over the last couple of years by a large and creative base of writers and artists at the various messageboards dedicated to preserving the rules, the feel, and the playing-style of out-of-print D&D editions.

What we bring to the table for Swords & Wizardry is a larger slate of products, not a change in the way they are being done. We help pull together the authors, the layout art, the illustrations, and all the various resources Matt needs, and that means he has more time to write and to oversee the titles we’re producing for S&W.

The other big benefit we bring to Swords & Wizardry is a larger market, and the benefit we bring to that larger market is Swords & Wizardry. It’s probably not news to any of the old-schoolers out there that the old school message boards, in particular, can be scary places for newcomers who aren’t completely familiar with the older material. There are a lot of people out there interested in playing 0e who don’t frequent the old school message boards and can’t afford an expensive boxed set that’s now a collector’s item. Swords & Wizardry will get people playing 0e. In fact, it’s a good introduction to 1e as well. There’s going to be a lot of overlap across a lot of games, but S&W is a very strong focal point to get that moving.

In terms of our internal structure, we also have a stable of artists that have stuck by me personally for many years. Rick Sardinha is perhaps the finest cover artist in the industry. His awards (including several GenCon best of Shows) are numerous. His maps rock too. Rowena Aitken is nothing short of spectacular.

(Greg) Adventures, adventures, adventures, and some stuff to help DMs with their adventures. We’re not looking at devising new rules systems here, we just want people to be able to make the most out of the ones they have whether that be S&W or Pathfinder.

(Matt) From my standpoint, Frog God is going to make it a lot easier for me to keep doing what I do, which is to write. Swords & Wizardry has always depended on volunteers to fill in the gaps where I can’t do something at top level; Verhaden and Jim Kramer have stepped in to help with layout, Marv Brieg helped adapt my highly-supplement-based 0e game into a WhiteBox version, many artists have contributed phenomenal art to the rulebooks, the modules, and Knockspell Magazine. But there are difficulties in organizing volunteers – not everyone has free time available right when it’s needed, and also I’m not very good at getting out there and asking for help, to tell the truth – I hate asking for favors, even when there’s a whole messageboard full of people offering to help. It’s just a thing about me. Maybe it’s the anxiety/bipolar disorder, I don’t know. But I find that difficult. The team at Frog God makes it easier for me to hand off the more difficult parts of a project to people who are good at handling those parts. I am definitely not saying anything negative about the volunteers, here – it’s the volunteers who built this game – but in order to pull it forward into a larger size/scale, which is what we’ve always wanted to achieve, it helps to have a team “on tap,” if that makes sense.

Projects from the player base, whether they are one-person productions or a collaborative effort like the monster book, are still, ultimately, the guts of S&W. When people on the boards want me to help organize that sort of collaboration, I am all for it. Working with FGG is more like a new layer that creates an underpinning for the activity – this material is targeted at bringing new players into the fold, and for those players who aren’t into internet messageboards, it gives them support resources that are easier to find. Because Bill has the high profile that will raise the visibility of S&W. Hopefully there’s a feedback loop that benefits the messageboards, the fan community, and even any DIY gamers out there who happen to hate the internet. It’s a broadening of scope on all fronts.

Let’s talk some more about the “Complete Edition” of Swords & Wizardry, which is what you are working on publishing. What’s in it—rather, what makes it a “Complete Edition”?

(Matt) The heart of the Complete Rules is the inclusion of the full set of 0e character classes (with one exception – the illusionist from the Strategic Review isn’t in there). To emphasize the “make the game your own” side of things, we added two more alternative ways to order the melee round; one of these is the Holmes Blue Book system, and the other is based on, but isn’t identical to, the optional system included in Supplement 3 of 0e. There are a few other additions from the later supplements; ability scores have slightly more effect for high scores than they do in the Core Rules – basically as in Supplement 1.

It should be emphasized – this is not intended to supersede the Core Rules. It’s an alternative or a resource, depending on how you want to use it. Swords & Wizardry now has what I think are the three main iterations of 0e. There is the WhiteBox, published by Brave Halfling, which covers the game when it’s played with the extremely low power levels – hit dice are all d6, spells go up to level 6 only, monsters inflict a standard 1d6 damage (except ogres and a couple of other exceptions). The Core Rules are the middle ground, representing the step upward to the Supplement 1 power levels where there are variable hit dice, variable damage, and higher spell levels. The Complete Rules represent the game as played not only with the Supplement 1 power levels, but with several character classes.

Each of these three approaches to 0e has a very distinct and characteristic feel. Of the three of them, the Complete Rules may actually represent the greatest shock to players who are expecting 1e out of this, because so much is familiar on the surface, but there are weird, wonky undercurrents below that surface appearance.

Are you still working with Clark Peterson (from Necromancer Games) in any capacity on your new projects? I know he had earlier raised some concerns about the legality of one of the retro-clones titles (OSRIC). Obviously you wouldn’t be supporting a product (Swords & Wizardry) you felt was illegal; is this just a difference of opinion?

(Bill) Nope—Clark is not involved not on anything FGG. I have no opinion on the legality of any other OSR system, but I had S&W vetted through my lawyer, and he agreed that it was compliant. That is one reason we will not have an illusionist (from Strategic Review) in our rulebook.

(Greg) I still want to meet Clark, but Bill tells me I have to become a fourth order frogzletyte before I can. I’m still just a junior tadpole (sigh).

OK, I have to ask, otherwise someone will bring it up: there was a bit of a flap the other day about the quote on the “About Us” part of the website that seemed to be read, well, dismissive of DIY efforts on lulu.com and places of that sort. Bad copy?

(Bill) I am a “not so careful guy” when it comes to this stuff. I think I write better adventures than I do ad copy, yes. That’s why Clark always did the web postings and I did creative. Oh, and I took the quote off. But anyone who lived through d20 knew what I meant I think. I am a straight talker and not what one could term…well, PC.

The quote (may it rest in peace) was not related in any way to DIY folks—the target was a couple of larger guys who I think make junk and charge a bundle for it. I personally, and FGG and Necro before it, have and always will support DIY publishers.

It’s worth mentioning that I’m one of the fanboy buyers from Brave Halfling, NOD, Fight On! and some others who are well known publishers in the old school.

From the very beginning of this, Matt and I have been kicking around different ways to support the various old school conventions and also the guys who run out-of-print games at the bigger modern conventions. We’re definitely making a commitment to sponsor NTRPGCon already, since it’s in driving distance of Matt’s house, and he can bring stuff there. GaryCon is a bit more difficult to get to, so that’s definitely one of the areas where we’re accepting suggestions.

About the flap over my comment: I am the first to admit I am wrong and make amends. I pissed a few folks off because they did not understand the context of what I was saying, and I apologize. That being said, it’s over now and if they still are mad, so be it. Our products will speak for themselves.

Stay tuned tomorrow as we tackle D&D 4e, support for Pathfinder, future plans for Frog God, and more!

On Production Values

Yesterday’s little flap over the whole Frog God Games business got me thinking a bit about production values, specifically how I’ve regarded them over the years.

Keep in mind I come partially from a Palladium heritage in the hobby. That means books laid out by hand, not a lot of color, and black-and-white illustrations. Yeah, I loved the art from Ramon Perez, but I think we can agree that at least the interiors of Palladium products were not a layout artist’s dream.

From there, I jumped into a ton of different games. Some had nearly no art (Traveller), some had tons of it (D&D), and some had art, but I didn’t like it (MERP and Rolemaster, aside from Pete Fenlon’s still-peerless cartography). Looking back, here’s my one-sentence summation:

I didn’t need what I thought I needed in a RPG product.

To me, important production values aren’t in artwork or color splashes, it’s in a solid, legible readout, and easily-referenced rules. Yeah, I like my cartography to be evocative and engaging, but that can just as easily be someone’s hand-drawn rough map as anything.

I don’t want to say production values don’t matter, but how I define what’s acceptable in them has certainly shifted over the years. Give me rules, make them easy to read and find, throw in a treasure/world/dungeon map, and I’m on my way.

If I had to make a Big 4 ranking of important attributes in a product, it’d probably go like this:

1) Enthusiasm: Does this book get me excited about playing the hell out of your product?
2) Rules: How about the rules? Do they work for what I want to do?
3) Clarity: Can I find stuff? Do I understand it? Is the product easy to read/access/utilize?
4) Cost: Is this going to break my measly allotment for gaming stuff? Do I have to buy a bunch of other stuff to use it?

I think art contributes to #1, Enthusiasm, for a lot of people. I know it has for me, too, at times, though I think good writing and outside influences trump it easily any day. But this is 2010. You can’t go online without tripping over 150 pages of art and photography to use in your game. I think that’s one of the reasons art in a RPG product is just not that important to me anymore. It’s not that it doesn’t matter at all, it’s just somewhere well lower on the list. All other things being equal, I am not going to pay $40 for a product that does the same thing as a $10 product, just because it’s got non clip-art illustrations or a professionally-illustrated cover. I certainly don’t begrudge those who do, though. It’s not my wallet.

I suspect I’m pretty far off the mark when it comes to all this, and that’s fine. I think we all know by now my site is not exactly a fount for what’s cutting-edge. It’s a pretty eclectic jumble around here, which suits me well enough. I guess it’s easy to forget we aren’t always the target audience for a product. I know I do at times, and probably will again.

TSR1-INSIDIOUS: Interview With Creator Devon Hibbs

It's been an interesting stretch for Die Cast Games. Not long after their TSR1-INSIDIOUS module was released, there was a firestorm regarding their use of the term "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" on the front of their book. It definitely made the rounds through the old-school RPG community, but lost in all this perhaps was the view from the publisher himself.

Today, we're going to try to rectify that a bit, with our interview with Devon Hibbs of Die Cast Games, creator of the aforementioned module TSR1-INSIDIOUS. We asked him not only about the contreversy, but about the content of the module itself, his working with (classic TSR alum) artist Jeff Easley on the product, and their future publishing plans. Devon, thanks for taking the time to do this in what I'm sure is a very busy time:

Briefly, describe INSIDIOUS for the readers. What sort of module is this? What sort of challenges will players face?

DH: TSR1-INSIDIOUS is a low level adventure written using rules for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game system. It has some town and wilderness adventuring as well as some good old fashioned dungeon crawling through the ruins of a manor. The PC's will need o accomplish two things: 1)Find and defeat the evil forces 2)Do whatever it takes to prevent this from happening again. Some have compared the feel of the module to TSR's U2-The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh.

From the back cover:

"The once peaceful town of Sheridan Springs is in dire trouble. Several townsfolk are missing. Strange creatures have been seen moving in the woods around town. At night, sounds that chill the soul can be heard coming from the town cemetery and the ruins north of town. Some even say the dead are restless and walk again.

The town sheriff has sent an urgent request for aid. Will your young and inexperienced group of adventurers heed the call? Fame and reward await those that can identify and defeat the evil menacing the town of Sheridan Springs."

We tried to give it a familiar look and feel by having a removable cover with the maps printed in blue on the inside. The adventure works well with beginner DM's as well as experiences ones. When play-tested as-is it ran about 3-1/2 to 4 hours. This is perfect for completing an adventure in one gaming session or maybe two short sessions. There is plenty of room to expand the town or add a couple of road/wilderness encounters if needed.

We also wanted it to be fast and easy for the Dungeon Master to set up. To that end we included extra information and stats that normally require constantly consulting screens and core rule books. Every creature has its THACO and Experience Points right there. If it has any special attacks or defenses they will also be briefly explained. Spells and magic items are similarly explained. There are also 8 pregenerated characters that can also be used as NPC's if needed. We are calling these "READY-TO-ROLL" adventures. So far we have heard nothing but good things about this concept.

You were able to get (TSR alum) Jeff Easley to do the artwork for this product. How did that come about, and what was it like working with him?

DH: My brother and I have known Mr. Easley for several years now. He has always been one of our favorite D&D/fantasy artists. We collect original published D&D artwork and have purchased several pieces from Jeff over the years. After explaining our goal of producing old-school D&D adventures he agreed to do all the artwork for the module. My first intention was just to let Jeff read the first draft of the module and draw whatever he wanted. He did the cover artwork this way (and we love it) but he was busy with several other projects at the time so I was kind of thrust into the role of "Art Director". I went through the module and came up with a list of illos and approximate sizes then emailed it to Jeff. A few weeks later I got a package in the mail with all the artwork. Working with Jeff was great and a learning experience as well. We hope to have him do more for us in the future.

What do you think makes for a good adventure design?

DH: I have always liked adventures that combine a little intrigue with some good old-fashioned dungeon crawling. An adventure shouldn't feel so linear that the players feel like they are just characters in a story. If thought out well an adventure will keep the characters moving along without hints or direction from the DM. I also prefer modules that can be played in one or two gaming sessions, especially when the PC's are still at a low level.

There's been a bit of a flap regarding your use of "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" on the product. Did that response catch you off guard, and do you plan do anything about it in future editions/products?

DH: Actually the module had been for sale about a month before I heard anything negative about the use of "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons" on the cover. It really was only a few people complaining on one forum but it stirred up a lot of interest in the module. Before the "controversy" I had sold almost 200 copies of the 250 I had printed. This was by posting on several D&D collector/player sites and by having a booth at the GenCon gaming convention. After the complaints hit I sold the last 50 modules in just a couple of days. Any publicity is good publicity it seems. I think we are so small that WotC wouldn't even bother with a "Cease and Desist" letter even if we hadn't planned on changing the cover a bit.

How do you see the pool of gamers for old-school products growing? Is there anything the community or hobby could be doing that it isn't doing now, or anything that could be done better?

DH: We have seen a trend in the last decade or so, especially since we collect D&D and watch ebay all the time. People who used to play D&D back in the 70's, 80's, and even the early 90's, are getting to the age where they have settled down and have a bit of spare income. They remember the fun they had playing the old 1st/2nd Edition D&D and AD&D games. They hit ebay looking to buy the D&D titles they had in their youth and discover there is so much more out there. Some just buy to collect but many more are starting to play as well. I don't think we will be converting many 3rd or 4th Edition players to 1st Edition, but you never know.

What's next for Die Cast Games?

DH: Right now I am working on a few changes to make the second printing of TSR1 less of a legal target ("Advanced Dwarves Nymphs and Dinosaurs" anyone?). The PDF version is already available but the final printed version will be different from that. I am also working on writing the most "realistic" cavern adventure possible. No stroll through a wimpy corridor-like cave here : ) I used to do a bit of "caving" in my youth, and every time I see a cavern in an adventure I laugh to myself at how unreal they are.

Our plans are to release 3 or 4 products in a year. We are more of a quality over quantity bunch.

--Thanks, Devon! Best of luck going forward, and thank you for taking the time to answer the questions! -ZH

We’re Pretty Lucky

Yesterday, as I was cleaning up my RPG collection (more on that tomorrow) I was thinking about all the different kinds of D&D I have on my shelf. I’ve got my old D&D Rules Cyclopedia sitting next to a copy of Swords & Wizardry. My old 3.5 D&D core books (and the couple of supplements I've kept from that edition) sit next to the Pathfinder core rulebook. Every single one of those product is support with print and pdf products, if I want them. I know my friends that enjoy 4e can say the same. Kobold Quarterly, Knockspell, Fight On!—the quality support doesn’t end. And that’s not counting newer favorites, such as the awesome Chronica Feudalis: Blue Knight Edition, Warrior, Rogue, & Mage, and Shadow, Sword & Spell. I don’t need to look far for support or a game to play.

And to top it all off, a bag of Gamescience dice sits next to it all, infused with the implied precision-edge blessing of Louis Zocchi himself, ready to be broken out on the table at a moment's notice.

Yep, it’s a pretty awesome time to be a gamer, regardless of your edition of choice.

One Awesome Dungeon Generator

Over at It’s OK, Gary Sent Us (great blog name, btw), I saw a link for the Dizzy Dragon Games Adventure Generator.

Holy. Crap.

That is one sweet dungeon generator! What a fun tool! I needed to tell you about it ASAP, so you, too, could spend your time merrily generating random dungeons, complete with room descriptions.

Is The OSR Better Than TSR?

Has the Student become the Master?

That’s the claim that James Raggi made yesterday at his site. On one hand, it’s very difficult to argue that we are seeing some high-quality products right now that generally beat some of the old TSR product in terms of accessibility, layout, and usability. That’s largely to be expected, a few decades later; we’ve had over 30 years to refine the product, and new tools to use when designing that product.

In terms of game content, well, that’s tricky. Are we talking 1981 products or 1986 (Jim makes it clear in his post he’s discussing pre-1989)? Some of the later modules (past about ’85) definitely weren’t the peer of the older adventures. And I sincerely place works such as the Castle of the Mad Archmage or Death Frost Doom at least in the same company as some of the early TSR modules. But I still think that there’s a reason modules like Keep on the Borderlands have lasted in our gaming consciousness as long as they have. Those were our first products, our introduction to the hobby. To supplant those types of legendary adventures, well, you’re battling against nostalgia, and you’re battling against a shared experience. Some of the dungeons currently being designed out there are probably technically superior to a number of earlier TSR entries. Fair or not, though, that’s what they’re fighting against—an established legacy.

So yes, I think in terms of layout and accessibility, what those currently participating in the neoclassical movement are creating is something that could give the organization and display of those old modules a run for their money. In terms of enjoyment, fun, and dungeon design, I’m not sure I could pick a single group as better than the other—I can’t judge TSR’s work as one lump sum, nor should I even try.

In the end, though, the thing that the current old-school community has for it over TSR is how much it’s seen me involved in creating and sharing with others. The accessibility, the countless outlets for expression—sure, those are signs of the times and the internet, but it wouldn’t be the same without all the cool people making it happen. That doesn’t often happen like that under a strict corporate umbrella.

So, to review, I find myself cheerfully indecisive on the whole business. I’m sure Jim’s original post will be delightful cannon fodder somewhere, but that it’s even being discussed shows how far the entire OSR idea has come.

DragonStrike Video

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):

Neoclassical Gaming

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"?)

The Hidden Temple of the Founders

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.

Setting Organic Boundaries

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?

Old School, Back and Forth

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.

Anyone Have $5K To Burn?

If you do, you can look at this. Wow!

Friday Discussion: Which Artist Represents Your DnD Vision?

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.

The First Recorded Use of Summon Monster IV?

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

The bears would have been from the third-level summoning list. Seems to line up.

Friday Discussion: What’s Your Appendix N?

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!

Multiple Characters & A Leaderboard

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.

Labyrinth Lord: Ring of the Toad God-King

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.

New Castle of the Mad Archmage Level: April

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!

One-Page Introduction to Old School Gaming

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!