2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day Eighty

Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!

Today is Part 25 of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Men & Magic - Volume 1.

Today we will finish up our look at Men & Magic Book 1.

MAGICAL RESEARCH:

Both Magic-Users and Clerics may attempt to expand on the spells listed (as applicable by class). This is a matter of time and investment. The level of the magic required to operate the spell (determination by referee) dictates the initial investment.

If you have been reading along, you know that we jumped in and started doing this rather quickly as the game initially progressed. After the Greyhawk Supplement, it sparked another round of creation, which will be addressed once we get to the supplements in this series. 

Investment for 1st level is 2,000 Gold Pieces, 2nd level is 4,000 Gold Pieces, 3rd level is 8,000 Gold Pieces, 4th level is 16,000 Gold Pieces, 5th level is 32,000 Gold Pieces, and 6th level is 64,000 Gold Pieces. The time required is one week per spell level. For every amount equal to the basic investment spent there is a 20% chance of success, cumulative. An investment of 10,000 Gold Pieces in order to develop a new 1st-level spell, for example, has a 100% chance of success after one game week.

We doubled everything noted above. So it was not just the Magic-Users and Clerics spending on this, the entire party was chipping in and sharing the expense. One of the things that I remember was the peaceful and efficient division of magic treasure and the mostly communal nature of the coin and gems.

The level of the spell researched must be consistent with the level of the Magic-User or Cleric involved, i.e. the character must be able to use spells equal to or above the level of the one he desires to create.

This is self explanatory.

Once a new spell is created the researcher may include it in the list appropriate to its level. He may inform others of it, thus enabling them to utilize it, or he may keep it to himself.

Since the whole party was helping pay for the research, all the spells were shared. When scrolls were obtained the Magic-Users and Clerics also took turns copying the spells into their own spell books.

BOOKS OF SPELLS:

Characters who employ spells are assumed to acquire books containing the spells they can use, one book for each level. If a duplicate set of such books is desired, the cost will be the same as the initial investment for research as listed above, i.e. 2,000, 4,000, 8,000, etc. Loss of these books will require replacement at the above expense.

The first book for first level spells came from the master than the spell caster was apprenticed to before joining the adventuring party. All future books had to be obtained by the character and they had to collect the spells that went into the book. And as noted all values are doubled.

This concludes the commentary on Men & Magic Book 1. Tomorrow we will start on our look at Monsters & Treasure Book 2.