OD&D - Dave Arneson passed away on April 7th of 2009 and I missed it!

Dave Arneson passed away on April 7th of 2009 and I missed the date. Fortunately there are others out there who are better at keeping track of things than I am. More on that in a moment. Has it really been 6 years since Dave Arneson passed away? I never played in one of his games, but by all accounts it would have been an incredible experience as he was a highly gifted referee. He was brilliant and creating Blackmoor which lead directly to OD&D was the leap of inspiration that no one else made. Would someone else have eventually made that leap, likely yes, but he did it first. 

Fortunately Bruno Galan over at Eye Ray of the Beholder is better at remembering things than I am. So go to his blog and read Thank You For Everything, Dave Arneson and thank him for remembering what many of us did not.

I also missed that Gary Gygax the co-creator of OD&D passed away on March 4th of 2008 and that M.A.R Barker the creator of Tékumel: The World of the Petal Throne passed away on March 16th of 2012. Both of these were brilliant men and great referees. I also regularly miss the fact that Dave Hargrave the creator of Arduin passed away on August 29th of 1988 (a man that was ahead of his time as he walked directly in the gonzo footsteps of Dave Arneson). To all reports he was also a highly gifted referee. These men not only created games, but they knew how to play them in legendary fashion. They should all be remembered and honored. I again thank Bruno Galan for reminding me of that.

OD&D - The Original Intended Audience & Basic Assumptions - 04 - Even More Follow Up

 I wanted to do a follow-up from some of the comments I received on this topic for those who may have missed it.

 

 hedgehobbit wrote:

Role-playing is about the experience and not "the character".
Role-playing is a tool that is used to allow the player to experience, as much as possible while sitting at a table in a basement, what it would be like to actually be a character in a dark dungeon surrounded by monsters. Today, there's the assumption that the player creates a character that has goals, likes/dislikes, and behaviors that are entirely separate and distinct from the player. That wasn't always the case. As a result OD&D doesn't have rules like personality mechanics, social skill, social "combat", etc as those things would distract from the player's ability to experience the world first hand. 

 

 +Gordon Cooper made this reply:

 

One of the things hedgehobbit has observed from reading about OD&D is that "Role-playing is about the experience and not 'the character,'" and that "As a result OD&D doesn't have personality mechanics, social skill, social 'combat...'"

I'd argue that role-playing has been about both from the beginning, and how much any individual player or referee is concerned about the virtual experience vs. faithfully portraying a character has always been a balance (or lack thereof) based on his or her preferences. Not everyone needs social interaction rules or role-playing compliance rules (I sure don't), but even OD&D had alignment rules, and you can bet the original players enjoyed hamming it up as their characters. Heck, they were inspired to do it in the first place from the proto-role-playing they did when they were playing miniature war games. As a war gamer, you might not even sympathize with your side, but it's often more fun to pretend you do and try to think and make decisions like the military leader you are representing. It's a purely voluntary form of playing "in character," with no codification necessary.

 

 I find that I am in agreement with +Gordon Cooper on this particular point. I would be interested in more comments.

 

 

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Google + and People who post NSFW stuff

I really hate to have to remove people from my circles, especially when I like the majority of what they post. But when they insist on posting NSFW stuff they leave me no choice. It is not about being a prude or censorship, its about common decency and common sense.

OD&D - The Original Intended Audience & Basic Assumptions - 03 - More Follow Up

Another thing that occurred to me while we are on this subject is that so many people object to Descending Armor Class. As many know the founders were familiar with other games that used Descending Armor Class IIRC in regard to ships.  So again it comes down to background.

In my case I grew up on a farm and here are two quick examples: Shotguns come in .410, 32 Gauge, 28 Gauge, 24 Gauge, 20 Gauge, 18 Gauge, 16 Gauge, 15 Gauge, 12 Gauge, 11 Gauge, 10 Gauge, 8 Gauge, 4 Gauge, 3 Gauge and 2 Gauge. Some of these are rare, uncommon, or collector only and the .410 is roughly 67 Gauge. In shotguns the smaller the number the larger the diameter of the bore.

A similar situation exists with wire gauge. Wire gauge runs from 0000, 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, ...  ... 37, 38, 39, 40. With 40 being the smallest and 0000 the largest.

These are two real world examples that I dealt with from early childhood, which made Descending Armor Class simple to both understand and to learn.

OD&D - The Original Intended Audience & Basic Assumptions - 02 - Follow Up

As a follow up to my previous post I present the following quoted from my forum: These guys are way more articulate that I am:


Mr Darke over on my forum started a new thread:

This is coming off a mention that The Perilous Dreamer and I had in this thread. For those that do not want to read it, we hit on something that had been missed in the standard set of assumptions by OD&D and, by extension, the OD&D clones. This could serve to explain why there can be such a disconnect between players of later editions and the game or the belief that the rules are somehow incomplete or hard to follow. Rather than give a lengthy discussion on this I will start with what I have noticed.

Point 1: Chainmail

It is assumed in the LBBs that the Player/DM will have a copy of Chainmail as well as D&D. While many of us know this it is overlooked to the point that the clones mostly use the alternative combat system. However, Chainmail was a part of the game from the beginning and was later removed. Most of the clones out there did not port this over to their game and I do feel something was lost.

Point 2: Experienced Gamers


D&D was not written for novice gamers. Besides Chainmail, there seems to be an assumption that the players would be gamers of some stripe. For the most part, I feel this would be miniature games but games like those of Avalon Hill could be included. The game was not written for , nor geared to, novice players. While a DM could teach from it, this would take patience on his part especially with non-gamers.

Point 3: Well Read


I thought of splitting this up into two points but one will serve. The assumption here is that those playing would be versed in fantasy and S&S literature as well as history. Notice there are no descriptions of equipment, armor or weapons? I believe that this was an issue of space but also an issue of believing that players would know what the equipment was or would look them up. This would also serve in creating the campaign and adventure.

Point 4: Older Players


With the above we can guess that the target D&D player was much older than what we see now. High School and College age would be the low end of the scale here with the higher end going well into adulthood. This would maximize the above points and their potential. It was not until later that the game was geared to a younger audience and this leads me to believe D&D's target audience was at least 18 to 20 years old.

Point 5: Everything Else was to be Added by the Group


 Older players would have the time, resources, and knowledge to make their own additions to the game. With systems under their belts, a miniature collection and knowing how rules work the idea would be that any additions would be made in group. Yes, the supplements were planned as were articles from Strategic Review and The Dragon. However, this would not trump the assumption that many things would come from in group and would be shared by others.


 Point 6: Times and Culture


  The original game was a product of its time and culture. If you look at what was used for the game and the amount of time a player would have to create there is a disconnect between 1974 and 2015. We have less time to work on leisure, game aids like miniatures are a lot more rare and many of the toys and figures used in those days do not exist anymore.

  There was also little to no gaming consoles, VCRs or DVDs were not around and television only had a few channels. The amount of media we consumed was a lot less and time was more available to work on the hobby. Now we are in a place where every minute of your time is demanded for something and entertainment screams at you from all sides. Its far easier to fire up Final Fantasy than it is to create a campaign and find players.


 The above are just what I have seen and observed as well as things that the clone makers need to take into account. While some of these can be worked on, the final point is one we have to make ourselves.

 I would love to hear how you guys see this.

Another poster jmccann rightly noted the following in regard to Point 6 above:

Point 6: Times and Culture

We have less time to work on leisure, game aids like miniatures are a lot more rare and many of the toys and figures used in those days do not exist anymore.

    jmccann wrote:

I agree with a lot of your points, but I don't think this is correct at all.  By the late 70s, there were many lines of fantasy miniatures as well as historical, but there are many, many more fantasy miniatures available today than during the mid-70s.  A lot of early D&D groups did a lot of conversions. And miniatures are a lot easier to get due to the internet today.

As for toys and figures, yes, a lot from back then are out of production, but I am pretty sure there is way more choice now, and w/ ebay, you can often get older stuff.  So I really dispute this part of post.

And then another poster wrote:


hedgehobbit wrote:

Here are a list of assumptions I've discovered since first looking at early D&D:

Game club-style open table sessions
Whomever shows up (or is invited) that session plays. There isn't a "party" except for whomever is currently at the table. As a result, XP is earned individually and class-v-class balance is much less important. The character's are not assumed to all be the same level.

Role-playing is about the experience and not "the character".
Role-playing is a tool that is used to allow the player to experience, as much as possible while sitting at a table in a basement, what it would be like to actually be a character in a dark dungeon surrounded by monsters. Today, there's the assumption that the player creates a character that has goals, likes/dislikes, and behaviors that are entirely separate and distinct from the player. That wasn't always the case. As a result OD&D doesn't have rules like personality mechanics, social skill, social "combat", etc as those things would distract from the player's ability to experience the world first hand.

The setting takes precedence over everything
The setting is persistent and of supreme importance. Everything else, the rules, the party, the character classes, equipment lists are subservient. The game world isn't generated during a special pre-game session and isn't beholden to character traits like "one unique thing" or "Icons" etc. [None of that would make sense considering the above.]

Encounter balance is about choice, not fair fights
The deeper you go, the harder it gets. Players choose the difficulty level of the campaign by the actions their characters make. The DM isn't responsible to make sure the players always win.

Zero to Hero (if you're lucky)
Because there is no party per se, it's up to each individual to make his or her way up to the top. Achieving name level is a goal and a difficult task. It isn't something that all characters will eventually get to just by showing up. XP is NOT a pacing mechanic.

These three posters I believe have covered the subject thoroughly and completely and much better than I could since I am so close to the subject that I just assume so much of the above is just the way it is and don't generally realize how remarkable it really is.

OD&D - The Original Intended Audience & Basic Assumptions - 01

When OD&D was first published back in January of 1974 there were some basic things that are usually overlooked. The common view point these days is that OD&D is essentially the same as the later versions, just not as well organized and full of unpolished stuff. I have always viewed OD&D as radically different from all of the versions that followed. I did have never viewed the later versions as being better organized not as having filled in holes in the rules or as having resolved ambiguities. I have always viewed those later versions as fixing things that were not broken. However, I believe  that the difference in viewpoint is due to a number of things that are not being considered. This post has developed out of a discussion over on my forum.

The title of the game is: 

Dungeons & Dragons - Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures

So the game in the very beginning had an intended target audience of adults and not just any adults. The target audience were adults who played wargames set in the medieval period who also had an interest in fantasy. Adults who were well read in fantasy, history and played wargame(s).  This is very much a niche audience. History shows us that the game sold and because of that was distributed and came to the attention of many who did not belong to the niche described by those four things: not all were adults, not all were wargamers, not all were students of history, although the majority were into fantasy. This resulted in a flood of questions being sent into TSR that initially baffled Gary Gygax and his staff, since they were used to people like themselves that played wargame(s) and were used to house-ruling things during the course of play. They did not understand why so many people needed help imagining things and creating things.

Because of this additional audience AD&D was written that defined way more things and tried to answer most of the common questions with rules.  For this and a number of other reasons the Holmes, B/X and BECMI D&D versions were created and these were for market reasons aimed at a much younger audience that were not wargamers, were not well-read in fantasy or history and that resulted in what I consider a completely different game from OD&D.

To quote Mr Darke on my forum:

This also may be why OD&D and the clones can be hard to grasp for newer players, especially those coming from newer D&D editions. While you can clone the rules you cannot clone the assumption that a player or DM would have a working knowledge of the Hundred Years War, Howard's Conan tales or know how medieval weaponry worked. This is something to think on and something I think those that make the clones need to consider.

 I agree with this and I believe that he hit the proverbial nail on the head.

OD&D - "Purist" vs "Traditionalist" Styles of Play

IMO there are two groups in the OD&D camp and they are as different in their understanding of the game as it is possible for them to be. There are the OD&D "Purists" and the OD&D "Traditionalists."

An OD&D "Purist" adheres to the spirit of OD&D as expressed in the rules (guidelines) as evidenced in the following quotes with emphasis added by bolding the text:

These rules are as complete as possible within the limitations imposed by the space of three booklets. That is, they cover the major aspects of fantasy campaigns but still remain flexible. As with any other set of miniatures rules they are guidelines to follow in designing your own fantastic-medieval campaign. They provide the framework around which you will build a game of simplicity or tremendous complexity – your time and imagination are about the only limiting factors, and the fact that you have purchased these rules tends to indicate that there is no lack of imagination – the fascination of the game will tend to make participants find more and more time. We advise, however, that a campaign be begun slowly, following the steps outlined herein, so as to avoid becoming too bogged down with unfamiliar details at first. That way your campaign will build naturally, at the pace best suited to the referee and players, smoothing the way for all concerned. New details can be added and old "laws" altered so as to provide continually new and different situations. In addition, the players themselves will interact in such a way as to make the campaign variable and unique, and this is quite desirable.
If you are a player purchasing the DUNGEONS and DRAGONS rules in order to improve your situation in an existing campaign, you will find that there is a great advantage in knowing what is herein. If your referee has made changes in the rules and/or tables, simply note them in pencil (for who knows when some flux of the cosmos will make things shift once again!), and keep the rules nearby as you play. A quick check of some rule or table may bring hidden treasure or save your game "life".

 There are unquestionably areas which have been glossed over. While we deeply regret the necessity, space requires that we put in the essentials only, and the trimming will ofttimes have to be added by the referee and his players. We have attempted to furnish an ample framework, and building should be both easy and fun. In this light, we urge you to refrain from writing for rule interpretations or the like unless you are absolutely at a loss, for everything herein is fantastic, and the best way is to decide how you would like it to be, and then make it just that way! On the other hand, we are not loath to answer your questions, but why have us do any more of your imagining for you? Write to us and tell about your additions, ideas, and what have you. We could always do with a bit of improvement in our refereeing.

 An OD&D  "Purist" is one who follows the DIY spirit of the game and through house rulings makes each OD&D game uniquely theirs. As you can see above it is clear that house rulings are part and parcel of the makeup of OD&D. In addition, all reports of Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax as referees of OD&D agree that they did not follow all the rules as written but house ruled their own games and frequently winged it during games.

Now an OD&D "Traditionalist" on the other hand is someone who does not believe in house ruling the game and only in playing By the Book. In later versions of the game, these came to be referred to as rules lawyers. Two completely different styles of play and two completely different viewpoints with not much overlap. IMO that is the source of most old school arguments and also explains the disconnect many have with everything written after the version they started with. Back in the day, I don't remember ever playing with anyone like that out of the 30 people that I played OD&D with over the period of 1975-1979. 

One thing that strikes me as funny is that the BtB people have to ignore the things I have placed in bold in the rule quotes above and pretend that they are not there. I.E. OD&D is unique as a game in regards to the fact that to play BtB in reality requires you not to play BtB and to house rule the game and make it your own. In the case of OD&D the spirit of the game and the letter of the game are the same - both point to house ruling the game and making it uniquely your own.

BTW to be clear here: I am not saying OD&D Traditionalists are bad people - I am not, what I am saying is that OD&D was both explicitly and implicitly set forth as a game to be house-ruled and made your own; therefore a Purist house-rules and a Traditionalist goes BtB (in contravention to the rules themselves). I am not saying that you cannot play BtB or that you are somehow having wrong-bad fun if you play BtB. Please play anyway you want to. I am just pointing out that OD&D is the one game that was not designed or intended to be played BtB.

So how does this relate to the OSR and the clones? I consider all the clones/retro-clones/or whatever you want to call them (some clones claim not to be clones) to be a collection of each authors house-rules of OD&D or Holmes or B/X or BECMI or name the version. Since I am an OD&D player none of the clones fill a niche for me; however, I am always looking at them for good ideas and also to see if any of them succeed in capturing the spirit of OD&D.

When you take OD&D and try to "fix" all of its "faults" and try to make it "perfect and complete" the more you lose the charm of OD&D. A lot of the so-called faults of OD&D are what make it special and when you clean those things up the "special" may (not will, but may) be gone as well.  My hope is that each clone will have its own idiosyncrasies that will make it unique and special in the same way that OD&D is unique and special.

IMO if you take OD&D and house rule it your way then you are perfectly representing the 0E experience as you see it. IMO OD&D consists of the 3LBBs, Chainmail, and Outdoor Survival. Everything else is house-rules - all of the supplements (official and unofficial), The Strategic Review, The Dragon and all other sources of inspiration, monsters, spells and treasure are house-rules from which you can use as little or as much as you like. And as I have said before, I don't really think of non-mechanical things like monsters, spells and treasure as being house rules. You are also free to subtract from this as well as add. Is there a point at which it is no longer OD&D, IMO yes and I know it when I see it.

That means that I consider all of the OE clones to be house-ruled OE. My quibbles usually fall under the heading of "if I wrote something and wanted to claim compatibility with your clone do you force me to include something I do not want to". If you don't do that then I usually have no quibbles. Personally I hope many more clones are written (of high quality and I can not think of any so far that I would consider of poor quality) and many materials to support them. So I don't care if there is a gap or not. Keep them coming!

OD&D - 3LBBs vs 3LBBS + Supplements

A number of people all over the web have made the assertion that 

3LBB gaming is really an artifact of the OSR movement rather than something that actually happened at the time.

As I have noted elsewhere, I don't buy this assertion. People certainly used only the 3LBBs with or without Chainmail until Greyhawk first came out 14 months after OD&D was published (Blackmoor came out 20 months later). The ref that brought OD&D to college in the fall of '75 started us out with just the 3LBBs even though he had Greyhawk and I started reffing with just the 3LBBs. After I had reffed a for quite while then he brought out Greyhawk and we jointly decided what to try and keep and what to try and not keep. Perhaps I am wrong, but the vast majority of OD&D players the first few years were adults or young adults and I find it hard to believe that the majority adopted each supplement in toto as it arrived. 

The main things our group adopted were monsters, spells and treasure (which I don't to some extent view as house rules since they are non-mechanical in nature.. The new mechanical things are what we carefully considered before trying. He used more of the mechanical things than I did. My preference has always been the 3LBBs plus house ruled spells, monsters and treasure from where ever I found them or created them. I have always preferred to limit the mechanics to the 3LLBs or to tweak those mechanics and try different things. IMO the stat bonuses introduced in Greyhawk are a slippery slope and while I have used them from time to time they are not my preference. I have a hard time believing that bitd I was completely unique in that regard. Perhaps the percentage of people who preferred the 3LBB mechanics to Greyhawk mechanics were not the majority over the period running up to 78-79, but we were certainly not non-existent either.

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs 017

A new blog titled My Two Copper Pieces by Phillip Riley in which he notes that 

After almost a decade away from roleplaying, I'm starting to get back to it.

He also says:

In past times I've ran a few websites. You may have known me as Lord Eadric, The Wandering Bard, or just Phillip Riley. I've ran a variety of websites and a blog at one time. If you've ever run across the Oriental Adventures Project, that was me. I still get emails about my online name generators. All links will be at the bottom of this post.

I remember him as Lord Eadric and I liked his name generators. So just this little post to welcome him back.

OD&D and the Save or Die Podcast

The Save or Die Podcast is now up to episode 105 see the link below. Thanks to them for mentioning my new OD&D forum at Campaigns and House Rules Discussion for OD&D.

Save or Die Podcast - A Classic Dungeons & Dragons Podcast

Meet the Staff

OD&D - Magical Items 001 - Artifacts

Does your campaign have any Artifacts? If so, how do you handle them? I have occasionally introduced Artifacts into my campaigns and the one of the twists that Artifacts have IMC is that many, if not most, are restless. That is they were created in circumstances that resulted in almost all Artifacts having a purpose. 

When and if a player finds an Artifact, if the player is aligned (not alignment) with the purpose of the Artifact a little the Artifact may stick around for a short time or if a lot, then the Artifact may stick around quite a while, possibly for the adventuring life of the player. If not at all, then the Artifact, will just disappear in a very short time as they seek someone who will use them to fulfill their purpose. 

All Artifacts IMC are sentient to one degree or another. In addition, when Artifacts are used they create a magical signature that can be detected and to some degree traced by certain powerful mages and magical creatures.

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs 016

As I continue to try to follow the blogs on my list and catch on my reading here and there, I am continually struck with the range, the breadth and depth of the talents that resides in these blog and that for the most part it is by people who are not getting paid to do it. All this is shared with us for free:

Rended Press
He says he is going on Hiatus for a while, but don't let that throw you off. By the time you read his archived posts and check out the downloads and other resources, he will likely be back at it with new materials.

Howling Tower
Here is a sweet little blog with quite bit of resources for old school and new.

... and the sky full of dust.
Here is what it says about itself and I cannot improve on that:

I draw maps, I play games, I try to write too. You can see some of my maps on my blog, you can buy/read some of my stories, and you can follow my two current campaigns on Obsidian Portal (Against the Giants and Álfheimr). I am also open to being commissioned for drawing maps, and you can follow me on G+ if you are so inclined. 

Remebering Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy has passed away. Sad as it is, it comes to all of us and it is a time to reflect. Even when someone has lived to a ripe old age (83) it is still hard to see them go. I never met him, but he brought a lot of joy to my life and that of many others. In his portrayal of Mr Spock, he taught those of us who love games like D&D that when you portray an "other" whether a Vulcan, an elf or dwarf or something else, how it is done. Star Trek would not have been what it was and is without him.

A few things he said:

"I am not Spock. But given the choice, if I had to be someone else, I would be Spock. If someone said, 'You can have the choice of being any other TV character ever played,' I would choose Spock. I like him. I admire him. I respect him."

"Whatever I have given, I have gained."

"The miracle is this: the more we share the more we have."

"When you let me take, I'm grateful. When you let me give, I'm blessed."

"I believe in goodness, mercy and charity. I believe in casting bread upon the waters."

 "Live Long and Prosper"

OD&D and Magic Sword House Rules

How do you run Magic Swords in your campaign? I have run them a lot of different ways over the years. Here is the current method I use in my Redwall inspired campaign:
Magic Swords

Magic Swords, unlike other magic items, are intimately tied to their master on every plane of existence. A magic sword once claimed and used by its master, then becomes the ultimate symbol of its master’s power. An unused, unclaimed magic sword starts out as a semi-sentient entity with the potential for relating to its master as a good dog relates to its dearly loved master. Magic Swords start as a blank slate and align themselves over time with the alignment of their master. A magic sword has its own life-force that it bonds with its master’s life-force when it is treated with the proper respect and care and they become intertwined over time so that they cannot be separated willingly.

A mistreated sword will turn on its master seeking to cause him harm in battle and slowly drinking his life force. A stolen sword is deadly to the thief and will seek to return to its rightful master.

When the master of a sword dies, if he so chooses, his soul will combine with the sword increasing the power of the sword, its Intelligence and its Ego. In this way it is sometimes possible for a great Artifact to be created.

When its master dies there are usually only two things that can normally be done with a magic sword, one is to pass it on to a blood relative who must be like minded with the original master and must seek vengeance for the original master’s death if the killer still lives and if they choose to take up the sword. These inherited swords are the only ones that do not start as a blank slate. If the blood relative is not like minded or does not choose to seek vengeance assuming the killer lives, then they should not take up the sword or it will turn on them.

Inherited swords can be passed down through several generations until a suitable master is found. The other option is to bury the sword with its master where it will guard its master and is deadly to grave robbers.

When the conditions are right for an Artifact to be created, these Magic Swords have a definite purpose and as such it is possible for someone other than a blood relative to wield the sword. This type of sword will seek out the person best suited to fulfill its purpose. Usually this person will have to undergo a series of tests in order to be found worthy.

A newly gained magic sword starts with the ability to glow in the presence of its new master’s enemies and the ability to wound anything that requires magic or silver to wound. As the master grows in power and skill, so grows the sword and they will grow from semi-sentient to fully sentient over time. Swords will as their master grows discover talents unique to that master. No two swords are ever the same. Swords used by those who also wield magic will discover talents unique to that master. Swords forged with unique and special metals will also discover unique talents. The more powerful the master, the more powerful the sword will become.

Ye Olde School List of Retro Games & Clones, Retro Clones, and What Have You! - 003

Just jumping on here to give you links to two new retro clones out there. Since I don't want to appear to favor one over the other. I am making a d6 roll (1-3 vs 4-6) to see whose game I list first. They are both focused on OD&D - two different takes on it. The roll is in and here are the games:

Treasure Hunters RPG
This game is by Scott Anderson and he has been developing it in a couple of threads over on Dragonsfoot and it is, as noted above focused on OD&D as the source. It is as he says not yet complete, so take a look and then go give him some feedback.

Iron Falcon Rules for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing
This game is by Chris Gonnerman who is best known for writing Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game. Here he shows us his version of OD&D as it was in 1975 after the thief class was introduced. You may also want to get a copy of The Role-Playing Game Primer and Old School Playbook. I am not sure if this last is a download or hard copy, but if I get a link to it and I will come back and update this post with it.

While I have not read these in detail yet, I am certain they are both worth a good look. Great job guys. Keep creating!

New OD&D forum: OD&D - Campaigns & House Rules Discussion - Purpose: widen the discussion on the creative do-it-yourself part of the game!

Announcing a new discussion board focused on Campaigns and House Rules.

The primary purpose of these forums is to discuss fantastical medieval wargames campaigns and house rules in all threads, unless otherwise noted. The primary focus is on OD&D, other Classic D&D rules and their various simulacra as the assumed foundational rule-sets for our campaigns, as well as, the house rules used therein.

This will be a place to vet house rules and discuss them before they are tried out on the unsuspecting players. We will post new monsters and all types of new material for our campaigns; including, but not limited to, setting ideas, setting/world building and the like. Tips on how to run a campaign, how to ref/DM and other related topics are also welcome.

This new forum is not an attempt to replace any existing forum, but rather to complement and spur more creativity. The focus is more on using and adapting the rules to your personal campaign. We hope it will be a great deal of fun to look at other people's campaigns and see how they do things. Even on those rare occasions when there is nothing that you directly want to borrow, we hope the discussion will always prove inspiring.

If this is of interest to you, please join us in this joint creative effort to harness the synergy of sharing ideas and mixing them to get more old school goodness out of many minds than what one mind working alone could accomplish alone.

You can find us at: OD&D - Campaigns and House Rules Discussion.

Worldbuilding and a Link Collection of Resources - 003

For worldbuilding there are a wonderful cornucopia of resources available for free and here are some of the links that I have looked at from time to time.  One of the things that you will notice if you google the topic is that most of the resources are geared towards writers of novels and not towards referees that want to create game settings (worlds). So most of the resources are top down design and you are hard pressed to find much related to bottom up design or a combination of the two. You will also be hard pressed to find much specifically for game settings.

My favorite site is this one, but a lot of the links are old and you may need to use the Wayback Machine and a little work to access some of the resources:

Worldbuilding Links 
Since a lot of these do have to be accessed through the Wayback Machine I will likely post some of those links at a later date.

First I will list some of the other resources that are available and then later on (i.e. not in this post) I will post additional information. This links are not posted in order of preference, but in the order they came up in multiple google searches (which may make you go "Huh???!?!". Again remember that these are geared more towards writers not referees and they vary in a lot of ways.

7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding

The Rules of Quick and Dirty Worldbuilding (possibly NSFW book cover in essay)

12 Questions to Ask Yourself About the System of Magic in Your Fantasy Novel

13 Worldbuilding Questions

Worldbuilding for Urban Fantasy 

FAQS About Worldbuilding 

Country & Culture Development Questions

Five Foundations of World-building 

Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions By Patricia C. Wrede 

Too Much Fun: A Review of Patricia C. Wrede's World Building Questions 

Berley’s Top 10 World Building Tips for Sci Fi or Fantasy 
 
Reddit Worldbuilding 

20 World Building Questions for Authors to Ask Themselves  

The Scriptorium - World Building Basic Worksheet - Science Fiction/Fantasy 

5 Tips: World-Building Template  

World Building Worksheets Part One 

World Building Worksheets Part 2 

ADDENDUM : World Building Generators: Seventh Sanctum 

Creating Your Own World: A Masterlist 

Creating Your Magical World Workshop 

Dystopian World Building Worksheet: Part I

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part II

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part III 

A World Building Checklist 

Designing a Planet for the Non-Scientist  - Requires Facebook Login

Organic Worldbuilding

World Building I: When Genres Collide

World Building II: “The Creator’s Checklist”

World Building III: Republics and Empires

World Building IV: Magic is the Opposite of Everything

Welcome to My World—A World-Building Checklist

Tips for World Building When Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction

Creating a Realistic Fantasy World  

Kick the Fantasy Cliche (And Some World Building Tips) 

Rich Staats' RPG/World Building Articles 

The Spiral Method of World Building 

The Worldbuilding School: blog 

OD&D - Mixing in some Original Arduin Trilogy 003

The first non-TSR product I ever used in a game was the first volume of The Arduin Trilogy which is The Arduin Grimoire. It was quirky and full of wild ideas, tiny print only young eyes could read without help and generally just had so many different things in it ranging from completely silly to brilliant that I found it inspiring . It set the standard of there are no limits, this can be as wild as you want it to be. I hope to talk about some of the things I used out of Vol I going forward from here. A thing to remember is this started out as a OD&D fan supplement until TSR sent a CEASE & DESIST letter to Dave Hargrave. So he whited out the D&D references, typed over them and kept printing.

Here are the unedited Table of Contents from the first three volumes - The Arduin Trilogy:

Table of Contents (unedited) The Arduin Grimoire Vol I:

How to Play the Game
Experience Point Chart
Experience Level Charts
Character Limitation Charts
Height and Weight Charts
Notes on Fantastic Beings
Allignment Chart
Special Abilities Charts
New Character Classes
Multiversal Trading Co. Price List
Magik in Arduin
Clerical Undead Turn-away Charts
Various Saving Roll Charts
Random Chance Weapon Creation Chart
Prismatic Walls
New Spells
New Magikal Treasures
Notes on Allignment, Combat, Movement, Monsters, etc.
Melee and Attack Charts
Main Combat Table
Critical Hit and Fumble Charts
Brawl Chart
Were-creatures Combat Chart
Dinosaur Charts
Sea Creatures List
Escape Table
Encounter Charts
Weather Tables
Random fog/mist Generator
Random Trap Matrix
Fantastic Diseases
New Monsters
Demon Lore
The 21 Planes of Hell
Lesser Demon Lists

Here is the Table of Contents for Welcome To Skull Tower Vol II (without any editing):

TABLE Of CONTENTS

Notes on character functions, capabilities  and characteristics
New character classes
Character Saving-Throw and Limitation Charts
Character Resurrection and Reincarnation Charts
Non-Weapon Attack Matrix and Critical Hit Charts
Real medicine and fantasy gaming
Gunnery Charts
Monster-Slaying Experience Charts
General Hireling Pay Scales
Multiversal Trading Company Price lists, Price Examples, etc.
Coinage Value Chart
Gems and other valuables
New Mages' Spells
New Druidical Magik
New Clerical Magik
New Treasure
New Monsters
Dungeon Sign Posts
Rules changes and additions
Notes on Magik
Notes on Combat
Weapon Breakage Chart
Weapon Classification Tables
Miscellanous Notes
Travel Notes and Charts
"Stoning" Save Chart
Comments
Arduin, its Seasons and Days
Arduinian Guilds and Societies
Religion in Arduin
Law and Punishment
Rank and Royalty
Arduin, a Capsule History
The Elf-Human Wars
The Inns and Roadhouses of Arduin
Undead Attack Chart
Space Creatures and Aliens

Here is the Table of Contents for The Runes of Doom Vol III (without any editing):

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Character individualization, leqacy and equipnent charts, etc.
Character aging
Natural Character Armor Classes
Random events, charts, solo DM'ing, etc.
New character classes
Resurrection and other clerical notes
New Character Hit Point System
Guild fees
Random Life Style Changes
Combat and Other Notes
Energy Weapons (Chart) in fantasy games
New Magikal Items
New Mages Spells . .
New Clerical Magik
New Druidical Magik
"Techno Magik"
Hell Spirals
100 New Monsters .
True Elementals
New Lesser Demons
The Great Name Demons
Arduin's Principle Noble Familys .
The Bandits, Brigands & Highwaymen of Arduin
Denizens of Arduin's "under citys"
Notable Characters of Arduin's Legends
Principle Wild Tribes of Arduin :
Arduin' s Dungeons, Towers, Cavarns and other areas of Death & Glory
A Message to the Fans of Arduin

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 015

I ran across this wonderful blog a few days ago and now have a chance to talk about it a little:

Go visit Great & Small: The Roleplaying Game Of Animal Fantasy 

This blog is brand new this year and it is already a must read. Go there look around and read this essay: What Is Animal Fantasy?  He talks about several different kinds. Mine, which I will post on this blog by and by, was inspired by Brian Jacques' Redwall series. He has a completely different and fantastic take on it and I look forward to seeing the finished product. 

In addition follow this link and take a look : Revels & Rhymes - A "World's 1st" Fantasy RPG That Never Was. Where he says:

During that time, I began to wonder: what would the world's first roleplaying game look like if it had been invented by a Shakespearean theater troupe instead of a wargaming club?

Revels & Rhymes: First Folio -- The Original Shakespearean Fantasy Roleplaying Rules 
As he says these rules are not complete and have never been play tested. But look at them!  I hope at some point he decides to finish them.

Who is King Truffle IV? His name is Robert F. Mason according to the above blog and let's encourage him to keep posting!

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 014 - Jeff Perren Co-Author of Chainmail Rules Needs Our Help

As I continue to highlight blogs that I find of interest, I ran across the latest post at Follow Me And Die! - Ramblings of an Old Gamer on the topic of Jeff Perren Co-Author of Chainmail Rules Needs Our Help.  Apparently Jeff Perren needs a stair lift so that he can live at home with his daughter instead of in a nursing home. Seems like a very worthwhile thing to help with. Go here to see the information: Stair lift needed for Jeff Perren. Please check out both links! :)

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 013

Here are some more blogs that I find to be interesting and a source of intriguing ideas. Have a look! ;)

The Darkside of Willmark - A Long Time Ago, In A Blog Far, Far Away ...
Over on Willmark's blog take a look at this post The New Shadow- Middle Earth.

World of Ortix
A lot of great resources and links at this site, very useful.

World of Tiglath
His most recent post about the Old Dark House trope stirs the idea cauldron of my mind and gives me an idea to spring on my players. Perhaps it will do the same for you.

Yog-Blogsoth
This blog is another fun read and yes he is into H.P. Lovecraft and others. :)

Ye Olde School List of Retro Games & Clones, Retro Clones, and What Have You! - 002

Here is an addition to the Retro Clone List.  Had to use the Wayback Machine to find these. I thought I remembered something from a few years back and it was not an easy search but here it is.



Campaign journal

The Dark Coast

Player's Handbook v3.7, Lvs 1-14. Warriors & Wizards
(OOo v2.0 format)

Player's Handbook v3.7, Lvs 1-14 Warriors & Wizards
(PDF format)

Spellbook v1.31.
(OOo v2.0 format)

Spellbook v1.31.
(PDF format)

Eastern Ursian Regional Map

Thrud the Barbarian's Classic DnD Character Sheet

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 012

Here is are some more worthwhile blogs that I have an appreciation for:

Campaigns Playable - . . . with paper and pencil and traditional legendaria . . . Come and check this out:
Campaign Setting - the ever-developing "fantasy Christendom" wargames campaign: "Dun Kells." I cannot wait for more to be posted. 

Roles, Rules, and Rolls - classic games of fantastic adventure Rules & Tools - free resources and a well stocked archive of posts - what more could you want.

Coffee swillin' analog gamer this is a blog that I like and although it has been quite as of late, I have every hope that it will resume again.

Sham's Grog & Blog - Original D&D Rambling from the Quixotic Referee this is another blog that I like, it has a fantastic archive and it has been quite for going on three years. I have every hope that it will resume again.

I hope to over time encourage a lot of great old school blogs to continue or resume their posting. They have voices that need to be heard!

Ye Olde School Megadungeons

This thread found here Ye Olde School Megadungeons was created by libertad and is posted here with his kind permission. There megadungeons run the gamut of versions of D&D and related games:

Back around mid-2012 I decided to create a Master List of D&D Retroclones and Simulators. For a time it became a very popular resource before it was eventually eclipsed by Taxidermic Owlbear's own list (which was inspired in part by my previous efforts).

In regards to last year we saw the release of several mega-dungeons. The long-awaited Dwimmermount, Castle of the Mad Archmage (a sort of inspiration of the old Castle Greyhawk legacy), and soon an upcoming Barrowmaze Complete!

I figured that a compilation of megadungeons would be a worthy project. But first we should define what a megadungeon is. My terms are broad: a megadungeon should be a large enough dungeon which could encompass the better part of a campaign for players to explore session after session. Note that while some megadungeons might be spread over multiple products (some of them being more recent Editions), I intend to cover megadungeons built for OSR games or whose legacy is encased with the TSR eras of D&D for the interests of this forum.

For those wishing to build their own megadungeons, this thread contains some very useful advice on the matter.

So here's my list so far. Tell me if you have any others to add, or if I missed any relevant products:

Anomalous Subsurface Environment (ASE1 and ASE2-3, available for Labyrinth Lord)

Barrowmaze ((I & II, available for Labyrinth Lord)

Castle Greyhawk (WG7 Castle Greyhawk for 1st Edition AD&D, Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk for 3rd Edition D&D, Castle Zagyg series for Castles & Crusades)

Castle of the Mad Archmage Adventure Book (available for Adventures Dark & Deep and Pathfinder)

Castle Triskelion (available for AD&D 1st Edition)

Dwimmermount (available for ACKS and Labyrinth Lord)

Rappan Athuk (available for Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder)

Stonehell Dungeon (available for Labyrinth Lord, Down Night-Haunted Halls with 2 bonus Supplements)

Temple of Elemental Evil (available for 1st Edition AD&D, has sequel adventure Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil for 3rd Edition D&D)

Undermountain (Undermountain I and II for 2nd Edition D&D, Ruins of Undermountain boxed set, Expedition to Undermountain for 3rd Edition D&D)

One of my readers suggested:

Greyhawk ruins for 2nd Ed
Castle Whiterock from the d20 DCC line

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 011

Continuing my series on looking at other peoples blogs brings me to Robert Conley's blog Bat in the Attic and not just his blog either, here are some other links of his: The Sage's Tower - The Majestic Wilderlands, Bat in the Attic Games, Thieves of Badabaskor (14 page preview), Judges Guild - Wilderlands of High Fantasy and Points of Light (Preview).

There are a lot of resources here, many are completely free and some are for sale.  I applaud his efforts on both fronts as I applaud anyone else that is creating old school goodness, those people are to be commended.

This blog has been around since 2008 and has a healthy archive of good reading.

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 010

Another great set of blogs with some twists on things is The Semi-Retired Gamer, author Charlie Warren. One of the highlights of this blog is he talks about Adventures in Fantasy (AiF) by Dave Arneson and Richard Snider.  He goes through several posts giving a through description of what is in the box and it looks like the series is to continue and be even more in depth. In addition to that he has a Book of House Rules in Development!

There are also posts about a new game Perilous Journeys which I am looking forward to learning more about and he has created a character creation reference sheet for it also.

He also has two more blogs: The Old Gamers Notebook and A Megaversal® Miscellany . The second one is focused on:

Assorted ideas and resources for the lesser supported game lines of Palladium Books®.

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 009

Another old school blog and website is the BusyGameMaster along with some thought provoking posts there are also some free downloads and other products. Please take a look, besides the author Gregory B. MacKenzie has old school blood flowing in his veins.

For some right scholarly analysis with footnotes! check these out. :)

Attack Matrices in Men & Magic

Style v.s. Substance in OSR Role Playing, Does it Matter?

The Magic in the Matrix

He raises some questions that require some thought? I might even change my mind about a couple of rules.

OD&D and Taking a Look at Other Peoples Blogs - 008 (comments on post)

This post is part 3 of a 3 part post.

Over on the blog Smoldering Wizard ~ Old-School Role Playing in a post titled The Many Unique Rules of OD&D, Doug M. (the blogs author) for each of the 3LBBs, creates a list of rules that are unique to OD&D. He has a lot of other posts you should check out, but this one was of direct interest to me.

He states:

The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures Volume 3:

The condition of surprise allows a free move and attack, or two attacks (if the distance rolled is 10 feet, although the second attack could be construed as merely winning initiative the first combat round).

Bitd we did use this rule and the italic above is an interpretation as it is not stated that way, but it is in effect exactly what happens.

There is a 25% chance a surprised player will drop a held item.

This rule we never used at all and if I were to implement it, I would reduce it to a 5% chance.

“Angry Villager Rule” – Players who commit some sort of offense in-game can be brought back into line by an angry mob, thieves from a thieves’ quarter, city watches or even insertion of a Conan-type character.

I love this rule, never had or needed to use it, but I love it.

Encountering a Fighting-Man stronghold will result in players being challenged to a jousting match, or paying a toll of 100 to 600 GP.

Never have used this option. I usually have enough other stuff going on, there has never been a need.

Encountering a Magic-User stronghold will result in either a Geas, “request”  for a magic item or toll of 1,000 to 4,000 GP.

Never have used this option. I usually have enough other stuff going on, there has never been a need.

Encountering a Cleric stronghold will result in either a Quest or a 10% tithe of all money and jewels (lawful Clerics) or an attempt to kill the players who cannot pay (chaotic Clerics).

Never have used this option. I usually have enough other stuff going on, there has never been a need.

All monsters can see in the dark, but no players can do so. Monsters serving a player (either by subdual or charm) cannot see in the dark, however.

I always have played this that only humans can not see in the dark. I have always played it that elves, dwarves, hobbits, gnomes etc., can see in the dark. I understand the reason for the rule, which is to force the players to always have to use artifical light - torches and such - which leads to them never being about to surprise the monsters and always being the ones at risk of being surprised. However, an NPC (monster) elf being able to see in the dark, but a PC elf not being able to see in the dark for me breaks that "suspension of disbelief" required for full enjoyment of rpgs.

Burning oil is only mentioned as a way of deterring monster pursuit.

Good catch! I don't recall anyplace else it is mentioned, although we used it for lots of things, especially mummies and trolls.

Most dungeon doors are difficult to open for players and doors always close on their own, but monsters have no problem opening them.

Great rule!

There is a 1/3 chance that doors spiked open by players will close due to the spikes slipping.

Another great rule!

Movement is given in inches, but this translates to feet indoors and yards outdoors.

This makes sense to me, it is dark, you are checking for traps, secret doors, the floor is wet and slippery, etc.; so you will be moving slower.

There are detailed Aerial and Naval combat rules.

Bitd we never used those at all. The campaign I stared in 2009 spent about 2 years of game time on a ship. I thought it was a lot of fun.
 
Thus ends this 3 part series.