Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 43 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 proceed to the Magic/Maps Determination Table:
This first table is rather odd since in the previous Treasure Types Table we looked at, only a few of the Treasure Types have a map as an option. So what is the purpose of this table if the split is already defined. Well one thing I did not mention before as I was saving it for here, is that under the column on that previous table titled Maps or Magic, many of the items in that column say "any." I have heard of people who interpreted that as any Magic Item, but it means any item - Maps or Magic. In those cases we use the above table to see which it is.
Since I love Maps I would have added this is it was not already there. A map is one way to give the players some information about possibilities that are available. A good map in my opinion will have at least a dozen points of interest and can have many more than that. It sparks questions from the players, gets them thinking creatively and helps them decide what they want to do. For many of us, decision making is quick and easy, but for many, especially those who have not had a chance to experience open-ended sandbox free-form gaming, the plethora of choices, when they are used to only a few or even only one choice can be paralyzing. Maps whether as part of a treasure or even obtained at the beginning of the game can help break through that paralyzation.
Next up we have a table for the main types of Magic Items and types of Maps.
So looking at the first table we have a 20% chance of Swords, 15% chance of Armor, but only a 5% chance of Misc. (not swords) Weapons, which IMO is way to small. A 25% chance of Potions, 20% chance of Scrolls, 5% chance of Rings, 5% chance of Wands/Staves and 5% chance of Misc. Magic.
While I only used the tables for short time before I stopped using them completely, except for when I am introducing complete newbie's (i.e. never played any RPG before), I have always continued to build and tweak tables and the beginning was no exception. I reduced the chance of Swords to 10% and increased Misc. Weapons to 15% which ensured a much greater variety of weapons in the game. I changed Potions to 15% and Scrolls to 10% and increased Rings, Wands/Staves/(and Rods), and Misc. Magic to 10%, 10% and 15% respectively. This ensured a much greater variety of all types of Magic items in the game.
The maps were 60% Treasure Map, 30% Magic Map and 10% Magic & Treasure Map. So of course I had to fiddle around with this. I changed all of this as follows:
01-50 (50%) Treasure Map
51-80 (30%) Magic Item(s) Map
81-90 (10%) Treasure & Magic Item(s) Map
91-95 (05%) Magical Map - the map itself is magical
96-00 (05%) Miscellaneous Map
Next up was the Magical Swords Table:
You will note that there is a 35% chance of a Sword +1, 17% chance of a Sword -2 (Cursed Sword) and these two alone constituted 52% of all Magical Swords. On the other hand there was a 5% chance of a Sword with 2-8 wishes. I thought this was really out of kilter and so I set about massively revising this table, but not really to use the table, I started early on to use tables as an easy repository of ideas. This repository of ideas was something I would read through now and then to bring them fresh to my mind and to see if any new ideas were triggered. But I soon stopped using the tables to determine what Treasure/Magic/Maps/Swords etc were present.
First of all Cursed Items, they are scattered all throught the tables and I never liked Cursed Items as a referee as there is something just wrong about them being common. So I reduced the odds of a Cursed Item to 1% per item. I would through in a few Cursed Items early on so the players were aware of the problem, but after that I went with the low odds of Cursed Items. I also thought the chance of Wishes was way too high so I also reduced that to 1% as well.
The first revised table had a maximum of a 5% chance of any one item, the second revised table reduced that to a max of 1% of any one item. Then I moved on from there and eventually Greyhawk came along and the official items combined with the homebrew items multiplied exponentially and greatly increased the number of tables.
Later I will go into some things in a lot more detail when we get to the section titled Explanations of Magic Items. But for now I will note that Swords had a +1, +2, or a +3 to Hit, but no damage bonus except when it named a specific monster or type of monster, then it also had a damage bonus.
Next up is the table for Armor:
There are only 7 Options, so pretty sparse. Although it is not stated anywhere, right away I added armor type and shield type which increased the variety. I would note here that playing BtB can be pretty bland in places and I think that was intentional, since there is initially in the first few pages of Volume 1 Men & Magic so much emphasis placed on it being your game, i.e. go innovate.
But there was 30% chance of a Shield +1 and a 30% chance of Armor +1 which takes up 60% of the table. Of course it is less stark when it is Leather, Chainmail or Plate, but still you can add a lot of variety to the table fairly easily. Especially pre-Internet with access to a university library and a group of widely varied academic majors.
Tomorrow we will continue on.
Today I interrupt my regularly scheduled post for a more solemn occasion:
Today April 7th, 2020 is eleven years since David "Dave" Lance Arneson passed away at the very young age of only 62. If he were still with us he would have been 74 years old on his birthday in October this year.
Here on the anniversary of his passing, the 50th Anniversary of the beginnings of Blackmoor (the game and the world setting), it is bittersweet to realize that he did not live long enough to see the start of the early stages of an interest in his contributions to gaming. From his wargaming, to the Braunsteins with David Wesely, to his creation of Blackmoor with his friends, to his introduction of Blackmoor to Gygax, Kuntz and friends , to the creation of Dungeons and Dragons, the publication of The First Fantasy Campaign, the publication of Adventures in Fantasy and beyond. We can only wonder at what he could have contributed to the Secrets of Blackmoor Documentary Volume I and counting.
Unlike most, he kept his childlike love of games his entire life and enjoyed gaming up to the end of his life. When David Wesely left the Twin Cities for service in the Army Reserves in October of 1970, Arneson took over running the Braunstein's for his fellow players. This is when the true creation of Blackmoor begin. Some players remember playing in Blackmoor in December of 1970 and one left the game because of his work, so he can precisely date when it happened. Other people claim that the official date is April 17, 1971. I am inclined to go with November-December 1970 as the true date, because when Arneson started running the Braunstein's himself, that is when I believe Blackmoor came to life. At that point it became inevitable in my opinion because it was a short step from what they were already doing. The Aha! moment of "What do you want to do?" had already occurred and after that it was the play testing and trying ideas to find out how this new thing worked. Although beyond the scope of this we must not forget the contributions of Duane Jenkins and many others in the creation of roleplaying and the campaign.
Arneson wanted to share this with other people and may have had thoughts of publishing, so he thought of Gygax who was part of the widespread gaming community.
From the Wikipedia Article
Much of the fantasy medieval trope of D&D, such as the concept of adventuring in "dungeons" originated with Blackmoor, but it also incorporated time travel and science fiction elements. These... ... were also present from the early to mid-1970s in the original campaign and parallel and intertwined games run by John Snider... Arneson described Blackmoor as "roleplaying in a non-traditional medieval setting. I have such things as steam power, gunpowder, and submarines in limited numbers. There was even a tank running around for a while. The emphasis is on the *story* and the roleplaying.
*IMPORTANT NOTE: Not story as railroad with script to follow, but story as created during play with great value placed on player choice.
Steampunk - yeah Dave Arneson created it, Gonzo gaming - Dave Arneson created it, Science Fiction gaming - Dave Arneson created it, etc, etc, etc.
I will note here that Arneson and Gygax had previously collaborated on Don’t Give Up the Ship a Napoleonic naval battle ruleset. More from Wikipedia starting with two years after the beginning of Blackmoor:
In November 1972, Dave Arneson and Dave Megarry traveled to Lake Geneva to meet with Gary Gygax, to provide a demonstration of Blackmoor and Dungeon! While meeting at Gygax's house, Dave Arneson ran the Lake Geneva gamers through their first session of Blackmoor. Rob Kuntz describes Dave Arneson as the referee, and the Lake Geneva players as being Gary Gygax, Ernie Gygax, Terry Kuntz, and himself. Kuntz describes Dave Megarry as the de facto leader of the group, as he understood the Blackmoor game and campaign world. In Wargaming magazine, Rob Kuntz wrote a short summary of their first Blackmoor session:
Gary, myself and a few other local wargamers were the first "lucky" fellows from Lake Geneva to experience the rigors of Blackmoor. This idea caught on deeply with Gary after an exciting adventure in which our party of heroes fought a troll, were fireballed by a magic-user, then fled to the outdoors (being chased by the Magic-user and his minions), fought four (gulp!) Balrogs, followed a map to sixteen ogres and destroyed them with a wish from a sword we had procured from the hapless troll earlier.
From the Secrets of Blackmoor FB page:
When Dave Arneson brought Blackmoor to Gary Gygax's house in 1972, a peculiar verbal exchange transpired:
Rob Kuntz, "Where are the rules?"
Dave Arneson, "There are none"
and
The mechanics of role playing games are all the little crunchy rules that are implemented within the role playing state, or condition, for the resolution of events. These rules are not role playing, they are just sub-routines within Arneson's play concept, according to Rob Kuntz.
How are these game mechanics used in a role playing game?
As one plays a game, situations arise…
"You come to a door in the dungeon. What do you want do?"
This will sound familiar to anyone who has played these games. The "What do you want to do", that comes from the referee, is a semantic trigger that tells the players it is now their turn to alter reality by making a decision.
From "Who is Dave Arneson?" (note some links on this site do not work as they have changed):
Practically all players of Dungeons and Dragons have heard of Gary Gygax. But you may be surprised to learn that during Gary’s very first role-playing game session in November of 1972, he wasn’t the DM. In fact, Gary was just another player in the party, listening intently while the DM narrated. The list of the other players in Gary’s group that night reads like a Who’s Who of role-playing games: Robert Kuntz, coauthor of both the Greyhawk and Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes supplements; Terry Kuntz, future creator of the infamous Beholder; Ernie Gygax, future player of Tenser, the eponymous magic-user of Tenser’s Floating Disk and Tenser’s Transformation, and Dave Megarry, creator of the classic dungeon-crawl board game DUNGEON! And who was the DM of Gary’s very first role-playing game session? None other than Dave Arneson. Robert Kuntz later recorded a few events from that momentous game:
“…our party of heroes fought a troll, were fireballed by a magic-user, then fled to the outdoors (being chased by the magic-user and his minions), fought four (gulp!) Balrogs, followed a map to sixteen ogres and destroyed them with a wish from a sword we had procured from the hapless troll earlier…”
If you’ve ever played Dungeons and Dragons, you might mistakenly believe from reading the above account that they were playing D&D, which in fact didn’t exist in 1972. Instead, they were playing an entirely new genre of game that Arneson had been developing for at least 18 months prior to demonstrating it to the Gygax. Dave and his friends referred to his new creation simply as “Blackmoor.” It was the world’s first role-playing game, the “prototype” of Dungeons & Dragons as Gygax himself called it. Following that first session, which “caught on deeply with Gary” and left him “exuberant,” Gygax went to work “immediately.” In about six weeks, after dozens of phone calls with Arneson, Gygax finished typing up a 100-page first draft of what would later become known as Dungeons & Dragons…
This next is from the Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons & Dragons
Gary, like his Blackmoor gaming companions of the evening, didn't sleep much that night. ... ... Gary lay in bed recalling the night's events. He and his band of adventurers had, in the course of that evening, explored a dungeon, fought a troll, been chased form the dungeon by a fireball-wielding wizard, encountered a handful of Balrogs, and, to top it all off, skirmished with over a dozen ogres. It wasn't so much the fighting of these creatures that had his head spinning... No, it wasn't the warfare that had his mind turning that night. It was the look and feel of the dank dungeon as they made their way through its dimly lit corridors; it was the plume of smoke that rose above the trees of the ogre camp as they approached. These visions had all been aptly described to them by the game's referee and creator, Dave Arneson. Furthermore, Gary's group was playing along, each adopting a persona with a certain set of skills, weapons, and armor. Each player spoke and acted as his character within the confines of the game, while the referee would describe not only the sights and sounds but also the effects of their actions.
You will note from this game description that virtually all of the elements that make up an Original Dungeons and Dragons game were already present at the time Gygax was first exposed to the Blackmoor game. The game engine and the structure, look and feel of play were already fully formed before Gygax ever set pen to paper. I am not denying the contributions of Gygax in converting Arneson's game to written form, his part of the crunch and his major role in bringing OD&D to publication. Let us just credit each man for what they did.
After EOI compared it to one of Arneson's Napoleon Simulation Campaign he says:
But never before had such a game been so immersive and flowing, with a single referee to set the game's parameters and keep the **story going, while each player played his own part. It felt like a form of group storytelling, or a play with a director but no ***script. The game was spontaneous and improvisational, unleashing tremendous creativity,****...
**game going, not implying following a script.
*** and no predetermined outcome.
****IMO following here as in other places and in other works fiction sometimes replaces fact.
So today remember Dave Arneson and tip your hat to him every time you game.
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 42 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.**
Today we continue on with the Treasure Types tables:
I will post the section of the table for Types B, C and D and then discuss it:
First up today is Type B Treasure and it has an interesting mix of monsters. First which monsters get Type B Treasure? Ghouls, Wights, Hydras, and Nixies. Rather an odd mix would you not say? A 50% chance of Copper and a 25% chance of everything except Magic which is only 10%. There is no upside to fighting any of these monsters, avoiding them is by far the best course of action.
Next up is Type C Treasure and it also has an odd mix of monsters. Which monsters get Type C Treasure? Ogres, Gargoyles, Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Pixies, and Gnomes. Wait what? Yeah, Gnomes! Seems odd company for Gnomes. A little odd for Ogres too. Ogres are our first special case, if you recall in the Monster Reference Table, Ogres have 1,000 GP plus Type C - so they have a base amount of treasure.
Now what is Type C Treasure? It is a very low chance for Copper and Silver, Nil chance of Gold, low chance of Gems & Jewelry, and only a 10% chance of Magic. So there is no upside to fooling around with any of these except for Ogres who have a base amount of Gold even if they have nothing else. Now the Gnomes you might be able to trade with or buy supplies from, although you must be careful about signing contracts without very careful thought.
Last in this group is Type D Treasure, which again has an interesting mix of monsters. Orcs, Hobgoblins, Gnolls, and Trolls which is pretty logical, but then we add Mummies, Cockatrices, Manticores, Purple Worms, and Dryads.
So let us now look at what Type D Treasure is, a very low chance of Silver and Copper, but they do have a 60% chance of Gold and then a low chance of Gems and Jewelry and an even lower chance of Magic, although you do have a chance at two items plus a potion. The big thing with orcs in their descriptions is that they might be moving wagons with a sizable amount of Gold. If you were lucky you could collect a toll from them with minimal risk.
Although I was not aware of it for years, outside of our little group, dungeons were the thing because that is where the large treasures and big hauls of magic were to be found. Although I did eventually start building dungeons, my original campaign was much more wilderness focused at the beginning and later on was always at least 45% and 10% was village, town, and city.
Next up let us look at Type E and Type F Treasure.
Type E Treasure is the province of Giants, Wraiths, Spectres, Gorgons, Wyverns, Elves, and Griffons. What is Type E Treasure, minimal chance of Copper, low Silver and Gold, very low Gems & Jewelry and low magic, but if the change is for any three Magic Items plus a Scroll. The exception here are Giants which have 5,000 GP plus Type E Treasure, so like Ogres they have a base amount. Later on I revised the tables to give most of the intelligent creatures - especially the humanoids and certain others a base amount also.
Next up is Type F Treasure. Here we are looking at Vampires, Basilisks, Medusae, and Chimeras. These are all quite dangerous foes and so let us see what kind of Treasure they have. Type E Treasure has no Copper, very low Silver, a decent chance of Gold, low chance of Gems and Jewelry and a 35% chance of any three non-weapon Magic Items, plus a Potion, plus a Scroll. So I put a base amount of 2000 GP for these and I always increased the chance of Gems and Jewelry for Vampires and Medusae from 20% to 35% for Gems and from 10% to 35% for Jewelry as it seems to me they would be interested in such items.
Now we will look at Type G and Type H Treasure.
Type G Treasure is the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dwarves. Now that is interesting Men and Dwarves get their own Treasure Type, but Elves do not. Type G has no Copper and no Silver, but they do have a 75% chance of Gold (10,000 to 40,000 Gold) and then 25% each for Gems and Jewelry. They also have a 40% chance of Magic of any four items plus a Scroll. So a much better potential Haul than Humans or Elves.
Type H Treasure is also the Treasure Type of only one Monster - Dragons. Dragons as you would expect are the biggest potential haul (as well as risk). A chance of Copper, a 50% chance of 1000-100,000 Silver, 75% chance of 10,000 to 60,000 Gold, 50% chance of 1-100 Gems, 50% chance of 10-40 items of Jewelry, and 20% chance of any four magic items, plus one scroll and plus one potion.
That leaves Type I Treasure.
There is also only one Type of Monster that has Type I Treasure and that is the Roc. Type I Treasure is no Copper, Silver or Gold, a 50% chance of Gems and Jewelry (Birds like shiny things) and a small chance of one Magic Item.
Some monsters were not assigned a Treasure Type. Skeletons and Zombies - that makes sense. Unicorns, Ents, Pegasi, Hippogriffs, Invisible Stalkers and Elementals. That all makes sense to me. But Djinn and Efreet have no Treasure Type and that makes no sense, until you remember their Treasure is spelled out in their description. Then the cleanup crew, animals and insects have no treasure and that makes sense. Then there are those for no information listed. I gave Hobbits Type A, like humans; Balrogs I treated like Vampires; Titans and Cyclopes I treated like Giants; the other miscellaneous monster have nothing, but Gelatinous Cubes carry theirs with them.
I gradually quit using these tables and just assigned Treasure/or not to them as I went.
Tomorrow we will get into the Magic/Maps Determination Table.
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 41 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 are going to look at something that many players can get very enthusiastic about. Treasure! First we will look at the Treasure Types and I hope to highlight some things that may have passed unnoticed.
First up we have Type A, one of the unique things about Type A is that there are different numbers for Land vs Desert vs Water. Let us look at a few things:
Land has the greatest chance of Copper, Silver and Gold. It has the same chance of Gems and Jewelry as Desert, but in smaller quantities. It has a lower chance of Maps or Magic than Desert, but can have any three items. Desert then has lower chance of precious metal but larger amounts of Gems and Jewelry. It has no chance of Maps but the highest chance by quite a bit of any three Magic Items. Then we come to Water, no chance of Copper or Silver, but the largest chance and quantity of Gold. It also has the largest chance and quantity of Gems and Jewelry. But no chance of Magic, but a 50% chance of a Map.
It has always seemed odd to me that Desert and Water have a greater chance and a greater quantity of Gems & Jewelry than regular Land. Just as it strikes me as odd that Desert has the highest chance of Magic and Water has no chance of Silver (remember all those Spanish Treasure Ships of Gold AND Silver) and no chance of Magic only a Map. Water having the highest chance and quantity of Gold, Gems and Jewelry, I suppose makes sense in terms of Treasure Ships and encounters with Pirates and Buccaneers.
So the change that I made to the table is to give Water a higher chance of Silver to match the higher Chance of Gold. So Water has a 40% chance of 2-8 Silver and I also changed the chance of Magic and Maps from only a map to 1 Map AND 1 Magic at the same 50% chance. I left Desert as it was and changed Land to Copper 5-30 at a 30% chance and a instead of any three it became 3 Magic AND 1 Map.
This brings me to another point Type A is the treasure type for Men and for one other creature. Do you know or can you guess what that is? You have all of the various types of humanoids, plus Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits, but it is none of them. Have you guessed yet? It is Centaurs, go figure. But it gave me more ideas about how to play Centaurs. What do you think? Please share your ideas in the comments.
Next we will jump all the way to the bottom of the table to look at the three footnotes that apply to Type A Treasure.
First the note about Treasure only found in the Lair is the purpose of this table and any amounts carried with the various monsters is as was indicated in the individual descriptions. So if not in the Lair and not indicated in the description, Treasure found during an encounter is a house rule.
Now on to the three numbered footnotes. Note 1 are additional rules for Brigands and Bandits, the first only has important prisoners (*guess what happens to the unimportant) while Bandits just have prisoners. Both will carry a little bit of Silver on there persons. Berserkers have neither prisoners nor coin, while Cavemen have no treasure.
*What are your guesses? Please share them in the comments. I am looking for ideas other than killing them or abusing them.
Note 2 indicates that Nomads will have prisoners and some Silver on their persons, while Dervishes will have neither.
Note 3 indicates both Pirates and Buccaneers have prisoners the same as do Bandits. Instead of carrying a bit of Silver they each carry a bit of Gold. Mermen though only have treasure in their Lairs.
Although not mentioned, I always assumed that whether encountered outside the Lair or in the Lair, those Men that take prisoners would have a chance of having prisoners with them. I treated it as a 80% chance in the Lair and a 30% chance outside the Lair. My players found out that rescuing important people can be quite rewarding, but they unexpectedly found out that the benefits of rescuing the "ordinary" people could be in many ways much more rewarding. No, I am not talking about sex. Can you guess what some of those rewards are? Please share them in the comments.
Tomorrow we will continue on down the table.
2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary - Day Ninety-Five
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 40 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.**
Today we continue on with our look at the original D&D monsters starting with Horses and Mules:
HORSES: As explained in CHAINMAIL, war horses melee. The other characteristics of Horses (and Mules) are:
I would like to point out here that although I did not do it back in the 1970s, I later added in the weight that a Draft Horse or Mule could pull both alone and as part of various sizes of teams. I remember the Borax commercials and the 20-Mule Team of Death Valley. Also at that later time I also added Donkeys, Burros, Ponies and Oxen.
Horses and Mules are panic-stricken by raging fire and strange smells, although those trained for battle are not nearly so likely to be affected. Only mules are agile enough to be taken in dungeons.
Sorry, but while horses can be panic-stricken around fire, mules are on the whole more intelligent and much calmer than horses.
INSECTS OR SMALL ANIMALS: These can be any of a huge variety of creatures such as wolves, centipedes, snakes and spiders. Any hit will kill the smaller ones, while larger beasts (such as wolves) will receive one Hit Die. Generally speaking they will be Armor Class 8.
This is just using normal (mostly) insects and animals in your game and they should (IMO) be part of the encounters.
LARGE INSECTS OR ANIMALS: This category includes giant ants and prehistoric monsters. Armor Class can be anything from 8 to 2. Hit Dice should range from 2 to anywhere near 20, let us say, for a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Also included in this group are the optionally usable “Martian” animals such as Apts, Banths, Thoats, etc. If the referee is not personally familiar with the various monsters included in this category, the participants of the campaign can be polled to decide all characteristics. Damage caused by hits should range between 2–4 dice (2–24 points).
This includes dinosaurs and the historical mega-mammals. Both books and movies (creature features) are a great source of these creatures. From movies like The Lost World Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (book and movie), King Kong in the 1930s to all of those B-movies of the 1950s (and later).
OTHER MONSTERS: There is no practical limitation to the variety of monsters possible. In the campaigns associated with the play-testing of these rules there have either appeared or been postulated such creatures as:
Titans: Giants with limited magical abilities.
These were detailed in Greyhawk and most others were detained in the supplements or in AD&D. I used these in the game.
Cyclopes: Super-strength Giants with poor depth perception.
Juggernauts: Huge stone statues on wheels which crush anything in their path. They are motivated by some unearthly force.
Living Statues: Various stone and metal monsters which come to life if trespass into a certain area is made. One of these monsters was iron, impervious to all weapons save two special ones he guarded, had a fiery breath, poison sword, and a whip of Cockatrice feathers which turned the thing struck by it to stone.
I used all three of these IMC especially Living Statues, I use these a lot and they have been a boon to my dungeons. And for the ecology minded - they do not eat.
Salamanders: Free-willed Fire Elementals of somewhat limited power, in reptilian shape.
Salamanders have a number of similarities to Dragons, just not as powerful and definitely not as smart.
Robots, Golems, Androids: Self-explanatory monsters which are totally subjective as far as characteristics are concerned.
I have also used these, especially Golems.
Tomorrow we move on to Treasure.
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 39 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.**
Today we continue on with our look at the original D&D monsters starting with what is called the clean-up crew. You should also note that these are semi-intelligent hives minds for there is never only one:
OCHRE JELLY: The clean-up crew includes Ochre Jelly and similar weird monsters. Ochre Jelly is a giant amoeba which can be killed by fire or cold, but hits by weaponry or lightning bolts will merely make them into several smaller Ochre Jellies. Ochre Jelly does not affect stone or metal, but it does destroy wood, and it causes one die of damage per turn it is in contact with exposed flesh. It seeps through small cracks easily.
All of these creatures are great fun and create a lot of grief for the adventuring party. The Ochre Jelly can seep through small cracks easily so it can show up unexpectedly. A character leans against a wall to rest and it oozes out of a crack the wall and starts feasting or maybe destroys so leather straps or eats the backpack. They are fairly slow, so when they are hit by weaponry and especially by lightning bolts, they tend to splash, so those several smaller Ochre Jellies can end up almost anywhere. They have a chameleon quality and tend to be very hard to see blending into the background.
BLACK (or GRAY) PUDDING: Another member of the clean-up crew and nuisance monster. Black Puddings are not affected by cold. It is spread into smaller ones by chops or lightning bolts, but is killed by fire. Black Puddings dissolve wood, corrode metal at a reasonably fast rate, have no effect on stone, and cause three dice of damage to exposed flesh. If an armored character runs through a Black Pudding the monster’s corrosive power will eat away the foot and leg protection of the armor so that it will fall-away next turn. Black Puddings can pass through fairly small openings, and they can travel as easily on ceilings as on floors.
Note the word "chops," a word that Dave Arneson used a lot in Blackmoor. These monster move twice as fast as the Ochre Jelly and they also splash too. Black Puddings can drop from the ceiling directly onto anything passing below. It only takes once and players learn to look up at the ceiling. Note also that these monster do three times the damage of the Ochre Jelly. Gray Puddings blend into many of the walls found in dungeons and they are often undetected until it is too late. They also are very difficult to see when they are on a ceiling, much harder to see than a Black Pudding even when there is plenty of light.
GREEN SLIME: A non-mobile hazard, Green Slime can be killed by fire or cold, but it is not affected by lightning bolts or striking by weapons. It eats away wood and metal but not stone. Green Slime sticks to flesh and penetrates it in one turn, thereafter turning the flesh into Green Slime. Green Slime cannot be scraped off, so when it contacts something the item must be discarded or excised in some way. A Cure Disease spell will also serve to kill and remove Green Slime, even when it is in contact with flesh.
There are Green, Gray, Red, Black, White, and Blue Slimes all of which are quite deadly. They secrete an anesthetic so it is very possible for it to be eating away at your flesh and you will not know it. People are known to have seated themselves in it, completely unaware until an arm or leg gives way beneath them.
GRAY OOZE: A seeping horror which closely resembles wet stone and is thus difficult to detect. It will not be spread by non-harmful weapons, but it is subject only to lightning bolts or cuts and chops by weaponry, for it is impervious to cold or fire. It does not harm wood or stone, but it corrodes metal at the same rate that Black Pudding does. It does two dice of damage to exposed flesh for every turn it is in contact with it.
This monster also secretes an anesthetic and can ooze onto a creature and start devouring it. Yes, unlike the slimes, this monster can move and it will try to stay undetected until it is ready to engulf you.
YELLOW MOLD: A deadly underground fungus which can be exterminated only by fire. It attacks wood and flesh — doing one die of damage if it contacts exposed skin — but does no harm to metal or stone. However, its worst threat is its spores. Rough contact with Yellow Mold will have a 50% chance of causing it to break and send forth clouds of asphyxiating spores in a 1” × 1” cloud. Any creatures within the spore cloud must make saving throws as if they had been exposed to poison, and failure to make saving throws results in death for the parties concerned.
Yellow Mold is just one variety and it comes in many different colors. As with the other members of the clean-up crew above, it is semi-intelligent and a hive mind that is distributed throughout its every occurrence within a dungeon.
This next one appears a few pages later, possibly because it was added later in the process and it saved retyping this part of the manuscript.
Geletinous Cubes: Underground creatures of near complete transparency which fit exactly the typical corridor of a dungeon. Metal objects absorbed into them would be visible thereafter within their body. These monsters would be difficult to harm and have a large number of Hit Dice.
In all the early prints it was misspelled and the spelling was not corrected to read Gelatinous Cubes until the 2013 print. At least I always assumed it was misspelled. This monster was also not included in the table that started this volume. Since less information was provided (it would not be detailed until the Greyhawk Supplement was released.) this gave us even more leeway than usual to define things about this monster.
So I wrote up this. Number appearing 1-2, AC 2 (difficult to harm), Move in Inches 6/12 (I gave it a charge move), Hit Dice 10 (large number of Hit Dice), Lair 100% since it carries its lair with it, Treasure Type - 70% chance of mundane weapons or armor plus a variety of coins of up to 4000 GP in total value and there is a 20% chance any weapons or armor are magical. Since it is of near complete transparency and the poor lighting of torches and such, there is a 40% chance of blundering into it. When it touches you, that part becomes super-sticky and it holds you as it rapidly engulfs you. If other character try to help you get loose, they risk, 30% chance, of becoming stuck themselves or (separate check) 30% chance it will try to engulf the additional characters. This monster is a scavenger and and a predator given the opportunity. It immediately starts dissolving all organic matter, doing one die damage per melee round as it is strongly caustic.
All weapons both mundane and magical do half damage (except fire) and it regenerates as a Troll. Like a troll it can be given permanent damage from both mundane and magical fire, acid is ineffective because it is able to neutralize acid.
Tomorrow we will start off by looking at Horses and Mules.
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 38 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.**
Today we continue on with our look at the original D&D monsters starting with Invisible Stalkers:
INVISIBLE STALKERS: As previously noted (Book I) these are monsters created by level 6 spells, uttered directly or from scrolls. They are faultless trackers. They follow continually until their mission is accomplished at which time they return to the nondimension from whence they came. Until their mission is completed they will never vary, and must be destroyed by attack to be stopped, although a Dispel Magic spell will also work. The referee should note, however, that Invisible Stalkers resent missions which entail long periods of continuing service such as guarding a Magic-User for a month, a year, etc. They will then seek to fulfill the letter of their duties by perverting the spirit. For example: An Invisible Stalker is ordered to: “Guard me against all attack, and see that I come to no harm.” In order to faithfully fulfill this endless duty the Invisible Stalker will have to take the Magic-User to its non-dimensional plane and place him in suspended animation, and assume this is accomplished whenever a 12 is rolled with two six-sided dice, checking either daily or weekly as the campaign progresses.
Interesting is it not? Created, not summoned and from a non-dimensional plane. Does the non-dimensional plane come into being each time one is created? Is there a one non-dimensional plane for all of them or is there a unique non-dimensional plane created for each one as they are created. If they return to the non-dimensional plane, could you create a spell that would summon a previously created one, instead of a new one each time? If there is a new unique one created every time the spell is used, at some point do their numbers increase to where their non-dimensional plane, become a dimensional plane?
I love everything about the write-up above, how single minded they are, how implacable. This is a great monster.
ELEMENTALS: There are four types of Elementals: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. Each will be dealt with separately. There are variations of strength (hit dice) within all four types:
Four types? No, there are Five types for the Five Elements, they left out Aether Elementals.
Regardless of the strength of an Elemental, only one of each type can be brought into existence during any “day.” Thus, if a character possessed a device to call up an Air Elemental, but before he could employ it an opponent conjured an Air Elemental, another could not be created until the next day. Only magical weapons/ attacks affect Elementals.
This "one of each type during an day" I immediately did away with. They are all unique and independent of each other. Note the "brought into existence." Each one can only be destroyed by a Dispel Magic spell, if they fail their saving throw. This is because once created they start to take on a life of their own, they save as a Fighting Man 4 levels lower than the hit dice they have.
Air Elementals: Air Elementals move only by flying, moving at a maximum rate of 36”. When engaged in combat in the air they add +1 to damage scored from hits. They normally do one die roll of damage. They can turn into a whirlwind which will sweep all creatures under two hit dice away, the whirlwind being conical in shape, 3” diameter at the base, 6” diameter at the top, and as high as the number of hit dice possessed by the Elemental (16”, 12” or 8”). Forming a whirlwind requires one full turn as does dissolving it.
Note how fast these can move. Elementals are another great monsters for Magic-User villains. Very useful against an opposing army.
Earth Elementals: Earth Elementals move but 6” per turn and can not cross water. However, when they hit they score damage with three dice (3–18 points) against any opponent which rests upon the earth, and they score two dice of damage against all other opponents. They have the effect of a super battering ram against walls, scoring damage as if they were striking an opponent (3–18 points).
Slow but powerful, very useful against a massed army, but also very useful as a siege engine against fortifications.
Fire Elementals: Fire Elementals move up to 12” per turn. They score two dice of damage against all non-fire-using opponents, and one die –1 (2–7 hit points of damage) against fire-using opponents. They act as incendiaries when in contact with inflammable material. They cannot cross water. They are brought forth from flame of considerable heat, i.e. a large fire, lava pool, etc.
I tweaked the speed of a Fire Elemental to 12"-18"-36" since fire can run with the wind. The first speed is against the wind, the second is in calm air and the third is with the wind.
Water Elementals: Water Elementals are generally confined to water, being able to move only 6” from such a body of liquid. They move at a rate of 18” per turn in water, 6” outside water. In water they do damage equal to two dice, while out of water they do but one die of damage when meleeing. Water Elementals can only be brought forth from a considerable body of water, i.e. a pond, stream, or larger body of water.
In the oceans Water Elementals are more powerful doing three dice of damage and in some places they are a great hazard to shipping as part of pirate attacks.
All elementals must be controlled at all times by the persons who have called them forth. Failure to control any elemental will result in its turning upon the one who called it up and attacking. The returning/attacking Elemental will move directly toward the one who summoned it, attacking anything that gets in its path as it returns. Note that once control is lost it can never be re-established. Control consists merely of the summoner maintaining undivided attention upon the Elemental; and being attacked, moving, or any other action will tend to break this concentration.
It is very difficult to hold concentration for an extended period of time.
No Elemental may be hit by normal men unless magically armed.
And even then they only take half damage.
DJINN: All Djinn are aerial creatures and have not the powers typically credited to them in fairy tales. They fight as Giants with a –1 as far as damage is concerned, thus doing from 1–11 points of damage when hitting. They can carry up to 6,000 Gold Pieces in weight, walking or flying (the latter for short periods only). They can create food which is nutritionally sound. They can create drinkable beverages. They can create soft goods and wooden objects of permanence, but metallic items last but a short time when created by them (the harder the metal the shorter its life), so that Djinn-Gold lasts but one day. They can create illusions which will remain until dispelled by touch or magic, and they need not concentrate upon the illusions to maintain them. They can form a whirlwind 1” base diameter, 2” top diameter, and 3” in height which otherwise is like that of an Air Elemental. Djinn are also able to become invisible or assume gaseous form.
I increased their speed on foot from 9" to 18" and their flying speed from 24" to 48". Djinn have the power to do many things and so are the prize of kings who are usually responsible for imprisoning many of them in bottles and lamps and other items. I do not give them the full power of some fairy tales, but a lot more than what is noted above.
EFREET: These creatures are similar to the Djinn, but their basis is in fire and they tend to be Chaotic. Their fabled home is the City of Brass. They are enemies of the Djinn. The Efreet are otherwise like Djinn, with damage scored equal to that done by a Giant (two dice, 2–12 points), and they can carry up to 10,000 Gold Pieces weight. In addition they can create a Wall of Fire and they can become incendiaries. They will serve for 1,001 days.
All my comments about Djinn also apply to Efreet. The Efreet are a little more powerful than a Djinn and they also can be imprisoned in bottles and lamps and other items.
Hope to see you all back here tomorrow.
Celebrating 2020 - The Year of Blackmoor - 50th Anniversary of Blackmoor and of Role-Playing!
Today is Part 37 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.**
Today we continue on with our look at the original D&D monsters starting with Gnomes:
GNOMES: Slightly smaller than Dwarves, and with longer beards, these creatures usually inhabit the hills and lowland burrows as opposed to the mountainous homes which Dwarves choose. They are more reclusive than their cousins, but in all other respects resemble Dwarves.
IMC Gnomes do not resemble Dwarves. Dwarves are very stocky the body with thick muscular arms and legs. Gnomes are slightly shorter on average than Dwarves and the average Gnome weighs about 40% of what the average Dwarf weighs. Gnomes are very lean and muscular with very little body fat. Gnomes have very long beards of which they are very proud. By the end of adolescent Gnomes have white beards and bald heads, causing most other peoples to assume that only very old Gnomes deal with the outside world and while this is partially true Gnomes from early adulthood at 50 until the end of their lives around 800 or so tend to all look the same age.
As I noted earlier in a previous post: Gnomes were changed to be only Lawful as in extreme Lawful. They are the bean counters of the world, the dot every i and cross every t, adhere to every line of a contract type of folk. They are by nature incapable of changing Alignment just as Undead are unbreakably Chaotic. Gnomes I play as touchy and very concerned about the exact letter of a contract and very hard to deal with. They have strong magical powers and inclined to be isolated.
Gnomes do not care that you broke the contract because you were taken captive and barely escaped with your life and have only just made it back to civilization, they only care that you broke your contract with them and they want satisfaction.
Of course Gnomes have the same benefit facing large great creatures that Dwarves do.
DWARVES: Because of their relatively small size, clumsy monsters like Ogres, Giants and the like will have a difficult time hitting Dwarves, so score only one-half the usual hit points when a hit is scored. Any body of Dwarves will have one above average fighter for every 40 in the group, and to determine the level simply roll a six-sided die, the number of pips equalling the level of fighting of the dwarf. If in their lair the score will be adjusted so that 1 or 2 equals 3rd level, 3 or 4 equals 4th level and 5 or 6 equals 5th and 6th levels respectively. For every level of fighting ability there will be a 10% chance that the dwarf will have a magic shield, magic armor, or a magic sword (die 1–4) or hammer (die 5, 6). Unintelligent beasts may sometimes be used by Dwarves to form a part of their defenses (domesticated bears, wolves, or whatever, at the referee’s option). They are otherwise as outlined in CHAINMAIL.
Here is something that most people never noticed or knew. Dwarves (and Gnomes and Hobbits) take half damage from attacks by monsters like Ogres, Giants and the like. (Some may have noticed that I say "and the like" or something similar a lot, blame Gygax)
I made this change: Parties of Dwarves of 10 or less will include at least one 2nd level Fighter, parties of 11-20 at least one 2nd level and one 3rd level Fighter, parties of 21-30, at least two 2nd level and one 3rd level Fighter, parties of 31-39 at least three 2nd level and one 3rd level Fighter, and parties of 40 and over have additional above average Fighters as follows: for every additional 10 there will be one 2nd level Fighter, for every additional 20 there will be one 3rd level Fighter, for every additional 30 there will be one 4th level Fighter, for every additional 40 there will be one 5th Level Fighter. These additions for over 40 are cumulative. Parties of 80 or more will always have one 6th level Fighter and every additional 80 will add one additional 6th level Fighter.
Dwarves are the makers of the premium mundane and magical weapons and armor with only the exception of Elven Chainmail, Elven Swords, and Elven Bows which have their own special magic. Even mundane Dwarven weapons gain non-magical +1 to hit and a +1 to damage due to their extraordinary quality. The great Dwarven Armor and Weaponsmiths wield powerful and secret magic to create their magical wares. While they freely sell their mundane items, the magical items - especially the weapons - are sold for a King's ransom and then only when the purchaser - who must be the user - takes a blood oath to never use that weapon against a Dwarf, unless he has been banished by the Dwarves and bears the mark of banishment.
I will also note here that Hobbits were left out of this volume of OD&D and no additional information is provided.
I previously in an earlier posted noted that I added: Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves could be any of the three alignments the same as Men. I specified which was the most common and least common extrapolated from the original specifications.
I also as I noted previously added: If you look at Chainmail, you see that they can fire a stone as far as an archer shoots. So I did not allow hobbits to use bows, but they could use slings. As for the deadly accuracy part I did not spend a lot of time trying to parse what that meant and how to implement that. I just eyeballed it and gave hobbits a +3 to hit with sling stones and have never changed it.
ELVES: Elves are of two general sorts, those who make their homes in woodlands and those who seek the remote meadowlands. For every 50 Elves encountered there will be one of above-normal capabilities. Roll a four-sided die for level of fighting and a six-sided die for level of magical ability, treating any 1’s rolled as 2’s and 6’s (magical level), as 5’s. For every 100 encountered there will be a Hero/Warlock. One-half of the Elves in any given party will be bow armed, the other half will bear spears, and all will have swords in addition. Elves have the ability of moving silently and are nearly invisible in their gray-green cloaks. Elves armed with magical weapons will add one pip to dice rolled to determine damage, i.e. when a hit is scored the possible number of damage points will be 2–7 per die. Elves on foot may split-move and fire. Mounted Elves may not split-move and fire, for they are not naturally adapted to horseback.
I added that there were multiple sorts of Elves that were adapted to any terrain type, from deserts, to mountains, to swamps, to coastal Sea Elves and so on for all terrain types. For groups of Elves of less than 50 there will always be at least one 2nd level Fighter/3rd level Magic-User. If a single Elf is encountered this is what he will be. The color and appearance of Elven Cloaks changes with the habitat.
All Elves carry a bow and all carry a sword, half also carry a spear. Elves are deadly with bows having two shots per melee round, increasing to three shots at 4th level.
ENTS: These tree-like creatures are encountered only in forests and woodlands. They have the ability to command plants like themselves, so if they are within 6” of a tree they may cause it to move 3” per turn, each commanding up to two trees in this manner. Although Lawful in nature, Ents are not prone to involve themselves in affairs which do not directly concern them.
IMC there are Ent-Wives, they are lovely and willowy creatures very different from the craggy appearance of the Ents. And let us just say that seeds that grow into Entlings are lovingly planted and cared for until they are able to walk. Woe betide anyone or anything that harms an Entling.
PEGASI: Winged horses are wild and shy, being most difficult to capture. They will serve only Lawful characters, and once captured Pegasi are the equal to any horse in battle, for they fight as heavy horses.
These are highly prized as mounts almost as much as Griffons.
HIPPOGRIFFS: Although the name would imply a cross between the horse and the Griffon, the Hippogriff is another kind of beast entirely. They are fierce fighters, attacking with both their hooves and with their sharp beaks. They are otherwise similar to Pegasi in nature, although the two creatures do not herd together and will normally fight each other.
The name does not imply a cross between the horse and the Griffin, it does imply a cross between a miniature hippopotamus and a Griffin (do not ask), which is in fact the case. Once tamed they will typically ignore other mounts, even Pegasi.
ROCS: This term has been used to encompass large and fierce birds; the Roc of mythology preys upon elephants! Therefore, the data given for Rocs is understood to be that for the small variety, and that for the largest Rocs should be doubled or even trebled. All Rocs nest high in the most inaccessible mountains, and if an encounter is made when Rocs are in their lair, which is their nest, there is a 50% chance there will be from 1–6 young therein (eggs, chicks, or fledglings). Young Rocs can be tamed and taught to serve as steeds. Adults are always hostile if there are young in the nest. Otherwise they will be positively hostile only to Chaos and Neutrality, ignoring (80%) or being friendly (20%) to Lawful characters who do not attempt to approach too close.
Also a prized mount especially when traveling into the mountains.
GRIFFONS: These creatures are the most prized of steeds, for they are swift, loyal, and fierce. However, they are fond of horse flesh above all other foods, so the two creatures cannot be mixed or even brought within 36” of each other. In their wild state Griffons will attack anyone nearby with little provocation, particularly if their lair is nearby.
Griffons, like Rocs, can only be trained when they are very young and can be imprinted on their owner. A wild adult can never be tamed. It is said that trained Griffons can sometimes be taught not to attack horses, but usually they must also be charmed to accomplish that if it is needed.
Tomorrow we will continue on.
