Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 44 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.**
Now we will continue on with the Magic/Maps Determination Table and look at Miscellaneous Magic:
Now as we get into Miscellaneous Magic, we find Crystal Balls, Medallions, Amulets, Scarabs, the highly desired Bag of Holding, and so on.
Of course this table and all of the previous tables where applicable you can expand on them by using items from mythology and other sources or you can use those items as inspiration and create your own. From this you can create magic items and you can create artifacts (very powerful magic items). Of course using an artifacts can be very dangerous in many ways, not the least of which is drawing attention to yourself from very powerful beings.
Now current day it is easy to find huge lists of these mythological items from most cultures. But in 1975 it took quite a bit of work to create your own list to work from. Of course there was the winged hat of Hermes/Mercury, The Seven League Boots, The Swan Cloak, The Shirt of Nessus, The Ring to dispel any enchantment given to Sir Lancelot, The Nibelungen Ring, The Philosopher's Stone, Magic Carpets and many, many others.
Then there is fiction, both fantasy fiction and retold myths, legends, fairy tales and folklore. One example is The Star Mill by Emil Petaja (1966). You will either love this book or you will not be able to finish it, there really is no middle ground.
You can learn more about Emil Petaja here.
So you have examples of Treasure Maps for Silver, Gold, Gems and Jewelry. Maps for Magic Items, and Maps for Treasure and Magic. These tables can be repeatedly tweaked for any variety that you want.
I added these tables to go along with the adds I made at the beginning of this section:
Magical Maps:
01-50 Map of a Dungeon
51-75 Map of a Region
76-98 Map of a Continent
99 Map of a World
00 Map of some Other World
These maps have up to 10 uses each. If the uses have all been used you may not be able to return from whence you traveled.
These maps will transport you to any point on the map, if you enter the map, otherwise it will just guide you to that point. If a character(s) grasp the four corners of the map and jump in pulling the corners after them it causes a magical explosion with a number of consequences. (I had a group of players do this.) One of the consequences is that you draw the sudden attention of a number of very powerful beings who will mostly be upset with you.
Miscellaneous Map
01-50 Will direct you to the nearest good water source.
51-75 will direct you to the nearest food source
76-98 will direct you to the nearest treasure
99 will direct you to the nearest Magical Treasure
00 will direct you to the nearest Magical Item that you need
Note: The first two map types are up to 10 uses. The third map type is two uses and the last two maps types are one use. All of these maps disappear who the uses have been used.
Tomorrow we will dig into the Explanations/Descriptions of Magic Items, starting with Swords.
Today is Part 44 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.**
Now we will continue on with the Magic/Maps Determination Table and look at Miscellaneous Magic:
Now as we get into Miscellaneous Magic, we find Crystal Balls, Medallions, Amulets, Scarabs, the highly desired Bag of Holding, and so on.
Of course this table and all of the previous tables where applicable you can expand on them by using items from mythology and other sources or you can use those items as inspiration and create your own. From this you can create magic items and you can create artifacts (very powerful magic items). Of course using an artifacts can be very dangerous in many ways, not the least of which is drawing attention to yourself from very powerful beings.
Now current day it is easy to find huge lists of these mythological items from most cultures. But in 1975 it took quite a bit of work to create your own list to work from. Of course there was the winged hat of Hermes/Mercury, The Seven League Boots, The Swan Cloak, The Shirt of Nessus, The Ring to dispel any enchantment given to Sir Lancelot, The Nibelungen Ring, The Philosopher's Stone, Magic Carpets and many, many others.
Then there is fiction, both fantasy fiction and retold myths, legends, fairy tales and folklore. One example is The Star Mill by Emil Petaja (1966). You will either love this book or you will not be able to finish it, there really is no middle ground.
Of Finnish descent, Petaja's best known works make up the "Otava Series" based on the Kalevala, the Finnish verse epic: Saga of Lost Earth's (Ace Books, 1966), Star Mill (Ace Books, 1966), The Stolen Sun (Ace Books, 1967), and Tramontane (Ace Books, 1967).
You can learn more about Emil Petaja here.
Though he wrote science fiction, fantasy, horror stories, detective fiction, and poetry, Petaja considered his work part of an older tradition of "weird fiction." Petaja was also a small press publisher. In 1995, he was named the first ever Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction Writers of America.Next we have more tables connected to the Maps mentioned before:
So you have examples of Treasure Maps for Silver, Gold, Gems and Jewelry. Maps for Magic Items, and Maps for Treasure and Magic. These tables can be repeatedly tweaked for any variety that you want.
I added these tables to go along with the adds I made at the beginning of this section:
Magical Maps:
01-50 Map of a Dungeon
51-75 Map of a Region
76-98 Map of a Continent
99 Map of a World
00 Map of some Other World
These maps have up to 10 uses each. If the uses have all been used you may not be able to return from whence you traveled.
These maps will transport you to any point on the map, if you enter the map, otherwise it will just guide you to that point. If a character(s) grasp the four corners of the map and jump in pulling the corners after them it causes a magical explosion with a number of consequences. (I had a group of players do this.) One of the consequences is that you draw the sudden attention of a number of very powerful beings who will mostly be upset with you.
Miscellaneous Map
01-50 Will direct you to the nearest good water source.
51-75 will direct you to the nearest food source
76-98 will direct you to the nearest treasure
99 will direct you to the nearest Magical Treasure
00 will direct you to the nearest Magical Item that you need
Note: The first two map types are up to 10 uses. The third map type is two uses and the last two maps types are one use. All of these maps disappear who the uses have been used.
Tomorrow we will dig into the Explanations/Descriptions of Magic Items, starting with Swords.
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