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

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

Today is Part 35 (Part C) of my series of looks at OD&D starting with Monsters & Treasure Volume 2.

**For those coming in, in the middle of this series I am giving you my take on OD&D during my first exposure starting in Sept of 1975. For this first part it is just the first three books of the original woodgrain box set and prior to obtaining the Greyhawk, Blackmoor and later Supplements.**

So now to continue on with a few of the other things that I did with Dragons back in the fall of 1975 through the spring of 1976.

You will remember the original Dragon Breath Weapon Table looked like this:

and this is how I revised it around April of 1976 prior to when we obtained the Greyhawk Supplement:

At that time I also changed Dragons to an eight-sided die for hit dice and for the breath weapon. You will note that there is now a noticeable progression of the Range and Size of the Breath Weapon between the different Dragon races. I also increased the range of hit dice for each race and increased the likelihood of a Dragon being about to talk.

This previously noted house rule," was deleted:

At the fullest extent of the cone, the diameter would be equal to the range.

Since I revised the table.

But this house rule I kept:

I allow the Dragon to swing its head and spray a wide area with acid from one side to another, but not with a lightening bolt. 

I also kept this house rule:

I changed Chlorine Gas to Mustard Gas as the actual substance, although of course I did not use that name with the players.

I also changed Gas to Lightning for the Golden Dragon and clarified that the Golden Dragon may choose to use either Fire or Lightning on any given use of their breath weapon.

You remember the Dragon Age Table looked like this:

I revised this previous house rule:

I upped Old Dragons to four times per day on the breath weapon and Very Old Dragons to five times per day.

to a new version and reading to match the revised table.

I upped Mature Adult Dragons to four times per day on the breath weapon, Old Dragons to five times per day, Very Old Dragons to six times per day, and Ancient Dragon to ten times per day.

The new Dragon Age Table below:

All of this was to establish the Dragon as clearly the Premier monster in the game and to establish that Dragons are never to be taken lightly regardless of how powerful a player and an adventuring party might become.

Dragons besides being Immortal also grow throughout their lives and never stop growing. The older a Dragon is the larger it is, the tougher its skin becomes, and the longer it sleeps, and the more unwise it is to disturb its sleep. The Hit Die limits shown in the first revised table above only apply up to Mature Adult Dragons, the last three age categories will have a greater number of hit dice than those listed in the table.

The Legend of Dragon Mountain claims that it is really the oldest Dragon in the world and has been sleeping for many millennia and it is covered with trees and other vegetation. A wide area around Dragon Mountain is home to many Dragon lairs and they highly discourage visitors to the area. Very rarely (once in a hundred generations) will someone be deemed a Dragon Friend and allowed to visit this area.

Tomorrow we will move on to Balrogs and other monsters.