Goodness Gracious, I've Gone to the Dark Side

What with the new 2024 revisions due to start being released this coming September, I am converting my online game to D&D 5th edition.

I still have to end the multiverse in an upcoming session in my ongoing chain of campaigns (the hybrid in-person/online using Advanced Labyrinth Lord), where the Illithids will be heading back in time and who with it's anybody's guess. Codex of the Infinite Planes is involved which in my book gives the game ref pretty much carte blanche to do whatever.

So I have this blend for the online game where I removed cleric-types and wanted to run sort of this post Multiverse annihilation religious-agnostic setting where the outer planes are gone, obliterated. The culture still references religious icons and rituals, but there is is nothing out there or perhaps something that the culture doesn't expect.

Then my little hamster-wheel of a brain starts turning and what if this is a wraparound setting: BOTH post annihilation of the multiverse and pre-formulation. Interesting ideas there. While religion isn't my bag, I thought well maybe this particular little campaign can play around with religion/spirituality/what lies beyond or inside or outside the scope of what's on a particular PC's character sheet.

I had been toying a lot with planes of existence for oh the past decade maybe, picking up little tomes I thought might be helpful. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything that has dealt with planes in a fresh or different way that resonated with me. However...

During my old perusals I did pick up a copy of the first book published by Wizards of the Coast from back in their pre D&D days, The Primal Order about creating pantheons. Not having read that book much, but getting hip with the concepts, I also found a copy of Chessboards: The Planes of Possibility which deals with planar construction. The copies I have are the early versions with conversion charts for AD&D and other RPGs before the inevitable cease-and-desist letters arrived.

All the while I was intending to continue using Advanced Labyrinth Lord rules hoping that I could entice a few more of a large hybrid group to join the online game. After a couple sessions it was clear I had my core group of players and there weren't more coming at present, then I learned about the new 2024 revisions to 5th edition and my interest was piqued.

Now we did run our regular group with a hybrid 5th edition rules set "Advanced Knights of the All Mind" for about 2 years pre-Covid, so we are familiar with it. And of the core group one was super adept at 5e, and 2 others were reasonably proficient (better than me) getting me to think of building up my chops on the latest version of D&D. Ha, the players will also have some new bells and whistles while I mess with them.

We are sticking with just the core 5e rules until the revisions are released in September. And for running this campaign fondly being referred to as the "Psychedelic Deadlands" campaign, I put together a 5e gig bag which is not all 5e:

• All 3 of the core 5e books: Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual
• The "Wilderness Kit" screen which for my purposes is better suited than the DM screen "Reincarnated"
• The aforementioned Primal Order and Chessboard books
• Toolbox by Alderac Entertainment Group, a bunch of useful ref's random tables which I have owned for nearly 2 decades without using it much
• Vornheim: The Complete City Kit by Zak Smith still the best for random city construction/adventures and lots more
• Finally, my copy of The Critonomicon, a long out of print 3rd edition splatbook by Technomancer Press of very specific and fun crits and fumbles (Cripes, someone crafted a 5e version!)

One thing I have to remember is that WotC/Hasbro is a book publishing company, and not to fall in the trap I did during the decade of the Aughts with 3rd edition lore books. DIY is where it's at.

Happy 50th Birthday Dungeons and Dragons!

 

Per D&D Historian Jon Peterson, D&D was first released in late January 1974, so Jon picked Sunday, January 26, 1974 as Sunday was the day each week Gary Gygax invited folks out to his home in Lake Geneva to demonstrate the new game.

(I began playing about 4 years later, the last week of December 1977, after Dr. John PhD received the Holmes Basic Set as a Birthmas gift.)

Iconic RPG Author and Artist Jennell Jaquays Passed On Today

 
 Jennell Jaquays left us today. She wrote many Judges Guild scenarios for D&D that were used several times over during my early gaming,  most notably Dark Tower. Ha, I played a lot of paladins and always braved the tower for its Mitraic artifacts.

Later on I ran The Lost Tower for my ver. 3.5 Wilderlands campaign back in the ought's, converted Borshak's Lair for Empire of the Petal Throne, and used The Crypts of Arcadia as the underlying framework for a dungeon set in Arduin beneath the capital city of Talismonde.

In 2017 I was adapting Night of the Walking Wet to 5th edition rules when I read a post by Zak Smith that D&D was too male dominated, and a good exercise was to take that idea for a dungeon module you created and reverse all the genders, so kings become queens, dukes duchesses, lords ladies, and so on. Which is really interesting when for example an evil butchering baron who runs a keep is the evil baroness butcher.

I was working on that and having a great deal of fun, when I realized "woh" this could be seen as something mocking Jennell. I hold Jennell in such high esteem that, although probably she would never hear of my Walking Wet conversion, I wouldn't want to even throw that out in the world that this was some sort of personal satire about Jennell. So I searched for her contact information, discovering a contact form at one of her production companies, and wrote Jennell about my predicament. Offering just to scrap the whole project if she thought it was bad form.

Jennell wrote back:

Hi Matt.

Thank you for the letter. No worries about cheap stunts, etc. I jumped across the stream six years ago already. I'm surprised these days if someone HASN'T heard about it. And to answer the question that many ask, "Yes, I'm a LOT happier now."

I'll try to give your version of The Walking Wet a look over sometime soon. I ran a Swords & Wizardry version of it (with many modifications) two years ago in Texas and am currently doing a complete overhaul and expansion of it for one of my own projects. I set the events of my original adventure in the past of the one I'm working on. Lots of map expansions and revisions, new world content, some new monsters, and more. My current working draft is about 80 pages, typeset. I'm doing the same with another adventure Morkendaine Manor, that I wrote for issue 9 of the Dungeoneer as well. Unsurprisingly, a lot of my characters are female and unashamedly LGBT as well. 

 I currently have four different RPG adventure projects in the work and really need to finish one of them (I did, earlier this year, something called The Dragon's Secret for a fund raiser).

 Anyway, I hope the convention run goes well.

Folks that work in this niche hobby of ours are gracious as all get-out. I can think of only 1 single author of adventures I've enjoyed over the years who did not respond to a question or comment about their work. (Ha, and that query was really about obtaining something super rare that had been taken out of production.)

This particular response, however simple to Jennell, was poignant to me and stretched me back 3 1/2 decades to my 16-year-old self.

Thank you Jennell, you are missed. 

If folks want to help out Jennell's wife, there is a Go-Fund-Me page that was to help with refitting Jennell's home to help with her disability. This will now go to pay down medical bills and cover funeral expenses. 😢

Bejesus, Satanis...

(Cha'alt, Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise, Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows)

Venger Satanis has wrought 10+ pounds in three volumes of gonzo, sci-fi, fantasy inspirations for your game (or a complete setting if you wish to start one). PDFs thrown in free and easy.

$120 within the United States including shipping if you order by Christmas. 

And lordy am I a sucker for this sort of gestalt, especially when I am running the gang through an end-times-return-of-the-old-ones-with-a-lochnar scenario. Jiminy Cricket, can you even find all pieces for the Rod of Seven Parts in a night's worth of gaming...? Well, it will be the DunDraCon!

"Death Dealer"

 

("Death Dealer" by Frank Frazetta, 1973)

Ok, fuuuuuuuuuck... I have so much shit I need to get done. Let's make a list!

Seriously, I was getting a bit overwhelmed a year ago when my work began opening up again that sorting things, listing, setting priorities really helped. Ha, I would prefer not to exit life with a bunch of half-finished contributions to the hobby I love.

First, say it, I waste way too much time reading posts in Twitter and arguing with right-wingers on Facebook. STOP IT! Pick one day per week, like Thursday night, take 4 hours to riff through the thoughts of others. (This worked for me in law school.)

Second, gotta allocate time for work, non-profit orgs, and family. 4 hours each day during the week is the minimum I need to plan for my practice, I spends something like 6 hours each week hoping to contribute to the greater good, 14 hours per week spending time with my son and special needs grandson and maybe another 6 hours every other week visiting with other fam.

Thirdsies, Sleeeeeep... Dude, you need at least 6 hours every day (my psydoc back in the day had me set an alarm for midnight each day so I would get to bed by 1am).

Fourth, meals and grooooomong. What, an hour a day unless I'm going out to eat.

Fifth, music. I orta practice an hour each day if'n I wants to get better on the drums. (Just kidding, still bassey.)

Ok so how many hours per week is that??? 4+20+6+14+3+42+7+7=103 out of 168 hours per week. 103-168=65 hours left over, say 9 hours each day. Obviously me and me spouse need our time, and there's gonna be time shopping for groceries, doing bills, cleaning, laundry, minor car repairs, etc. Given all that I should be able to set aside 2 hours five days a week to work on gaming stuff contributin' to our craft.

So what is in the pipeline for the past many months (years)...

1. Video on City State of the Invincible Overlord (Several folks have done overviews, but I don't think by anyone who gamed the City State. And we gamed it hard.)
2. Advanced Labyrinth Lord version of Underport (Just that new level nine needs some imaginatory time.)
3. Video on the underworld of Arduin (Continuations of my series of "brief" Arduin setting videos.)
4. Hard to be an Aorit-Q (My Qanon and last scenario for Troika!)
5. Metropolis of Chaos (The abyss under Underport, a lot of ideas on this.)
6. A weekly 2-hour online game (Hmmm, I am leaning toward LotFP. Our regular group runs every other month and I only Ref as part of a rotation. I get some satisfaction refing an ongoing campaign solo.)

So the bottom line breakdown is really this --- Exchange fucking social media hours for productive hours. Seems an easy task though will take patience and fortitude.

The Combat Discharger

I can't find out too much about Matan Thunder (except maybe he's this guy), the author of the probably the most gonzo magic item for the most infamously gonzo setting.

A little background...

There really were some evil Time Lords that attacked the World of Khaas. According to the Arduin Grimoire II, "Runes of Doom," it was all the Rune Weavers could do (after being much weakened from defending the world from Titans and Star Powered Mages 20,000 years earlier!!!) to seal the Time Lords in the Cavern of the Ancients located in the Great Rift.

The Nexis Points within the Kingdom of Arduin would not be discovered for another 8,000 years, and it was not until after 10,000 years of fighting the Wars of When (aka The Nexis Wars) that the Accords of Arduin came about. The time of the Arduin Grimoires is 1,211 years following the Accords.

So keep in mind that when Thunder refers to "The Arduin Consortium" and "Time Lords' Battle Sphere" these events must take place after the time of the Arduin Grimoires, likely a home brew and not Hargrave canon. BUT WHAT A FUCKING GAME!!!

(Also, crunchy note that Thundar seems to be using Arduin Trilogy/OD&D-style rules or maybe AD&D 1e.)

Anyhew, without further adieu, THE COMBAT DISCHARGER!

-----------------------------------------

"Combat Discharger" (by  Matan Thunder)

These devices were originally created by the Arduin Consortium as a means of conveying attack routines outside the Time Lords' Battle Sphere, while limiting the party’s potential to be injured in combat. These devices were much sought after inside the Consortium after their creation as they could serve as a very effective attack platform when present on any device with enough room for their user to project a specific attack sequence from. 

This 8’ diameter pad is 3” thick, and is made of a living symbiotic lifeform with the appearance of a brown leathery bouncy material backed that possesses a resiliency of steel. The primary function of this device is to provide for a distance attack system for melee weapons as well as any other type of attack. It can also serve as a mobile attack platform, as it can even fly and reach spelljamming speeds. 

The pad is activated whenever some creature places their feet on top of the device. This activates a 360 degree vision sensory field that can represent any place within 1 mile of the pad. The perspective presented is as if the user of the device were on the ground in the location currently occupied by an illusion (projected image) of the occupant of this device. The creature on the pad then may initiate any attack routine they have access to, which is then transmitted via a Remote Access spell affect. This conveys the attack to the site of the user’s wishes in precise synchronization with the user’s movements. 

The Combat Discharger will read/sense all movements of a creature on top of it, and it is then able to translate their attack routines with perfect precision to the target location through the remote access affect, as if the user were actually there. The only difference is that the damaging end of the attack materializes at the location within range Combat Discharger’s affect at the moment of the attack. This attack can be accompanied by an illusion of the attacker that the victim may key on to initiate counter moves, but there is no substance to this affect, except at the moment the Remote Access projects the attack to the victim. 

Device Sighting System The viewing sensors of the Combat Discharger come from 3 small black sapphire nodes spaced equally around the discharger pad (flawless stones worth 10,000 gold pieces each). These sensors have a combined projected image & programmed illusion working in tandem to project a point in the surrounding terrain within a range of 1 mile. These provide a view of the location present near the location of the viewing powers of the device. They are the source of all the use of the Remote Access Powers of the discharger, but the sensors are intangible, and they can move about at the will of the Combat Discharger to move about freely at the users wishes. 

The sensors of the device are 3 invisible illusionary phantasmal sensors about 1” in diameter that can move anywhere within 1 mile of the platform discharger. The range of these devices when not aboard the Time Lords Sphere is 1 mile from their set up location.

In situations where they are in the Time Lords Sphere device, all range factor are related to the position of the Time Lord’s Battle Sphere’s outer hull (or 1 mile from the discharger if outside the sphere. They move about at quickling speeds throughout the area of affect. 

The primary sighting system provides a 360 degree panoramic view of any position within the 1 mile sensor range, with an illusion (like a projected image) of the creature occupying the Combat Discharger occupying a location that is directly in the sync with the illusion’s viewpoint. The view shows up as a light transparent blue bubble 10’ around the device’s user, that presents the view as he would see it if he were the illusion.

The user is allowed to emit his remote access power anywhere within 10’ of the illusion regardless of the illusion’s view, even behind a target. This primary sighting feature can zoom in/out with 1 segment of thought by the devices user. 

The viewing surface can also be oriented by the mental will of the user to make a secondary transparent target tracking option anywhere on its surface with 1 segment of thought. There is a slightly darker blue illuminated field 2’ x 2’ that will track targets within the 1 mile range. This second targeting viewpoint can zoom in/out anywhere within the 1 mile radius. The targets will be viewed as if from above, but the user can alter the viewpoint of this second view to any axis they wish. The sight surface can appear anywhere the user wishes in the 360 degree field, and the images on the surface will be red with the image of the target creature, (which is viewed by the sensors) appear on the surface. The system can track any creature moving throughout the 1 mile radius, regardless of size, even if invisible or out of phase. 

The viewing nodes of the discharger have each been also been True Adamantine & True Tin dipped for additional magic powers in visual and other spells for the discharger’s use. 

Node 1 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers:

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc…

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 

1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)

2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)

3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)

4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)

5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)

6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)

7. Lv 6 Balch’s Double Blow (3x) (Attack Augmentation)

8. Lv 3 Tenser’s Deadly Strike (Attack Augmentation)

9. Lv 8 Spell Holding (For the Above Spells)

10. Lv 2 Shadowstrike (Strobe-like Strike Attack Augmentation)

11. Lv 3 Quevven’s Draining Blades (Vampiric Drain Attack Augmentation)

12. Lv 5 Master of Arms (Weapon Proficiency Boost of 2 Slots In Specialization)

13. Lv 9 Envorpal Weapon (Confer Vorpal Strike to Bladed Weapons)

14. Lv 5 Quickblade (Weapon Bonus of +3 To Hit/Damage and -1 Weapon Speed Factor)

15. Lv 2 Amplify Damage (Bonus 2d6 Damage to Weapon)

16. Lv 6 Critical Hit ({Attack as ½ Lvl Fighter For Mages} & Double Damage)

17. Lv 4 Sakratara’s Triple Stirke (Two Arcane Weapon Duplicates (Normal Damage By Weapon)

18. Lv 2 Blinding Strike (-1 Initiative Bonus & Once Double # Attacks)

Node 2 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers: 

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 

1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)

2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)

3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)

4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)

5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)

6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)

7. Lv 8 Thrice Supreme (4x) (3 Rolls Keep Best For 4 rounds)

8. Lv 8 Spell Holding (2x) (Holds Spells On)

9. Lv 9 Life Field (Damage Augmentation to Attacks)

10. Lv 9 Return (Keeps 5 HP In Contingency of Death)

11. Lv 5 Conduit (Spells Into Multiple Arrows/Bolts)

12. Lv 2 First Strike (Auto Initiative For Multi Creatures)

13. Lv 7 Alter Occurrence (Alters a Recent Past Event Only 1 Chance)

14. Lv 5 Missile Multiplication II (Creates 3d6 Missiles From 1)

15. Lv 2 Whirling Blade (Around the Casters Wrist)

16. Lv 4 Darkray’s Anti Magic Ray (Dispel Magic Strike With Weapon For Dur)

Node 3 The sensor node also has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers: 

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

True Adamantine Powers (Regenerate every 10 minutes) 

1. Lv 3 Infravision (Sight Augmentation)

2. Lv 4 Ultravision (Sight Augmentation)

3. Lv 3 Wizard Sight (Sight Augmentation)

4. Lv 6 True Sight (Sight Augmentation)

5. Lv 7 Vision (Supernatural Guidance/Research)

6. Lv 9 Foresight (Powerful 6th Sense Between Self & Another)

7. Lv 9 Nrok’s Lethal Weapon IV (Weapon Forces saving throw vs Spells -2; 70% Death/30% 6xDmg)

8. Lv 9 Nondeath (Prevents Instant Death Magics/Damage Death For the Duration)

9. Lv 7 Fiction (Allows For a Tailored Outcome)

10. Lv 7 Eldron’s Second Chance (Time Alteration Spell To Repair Past Event)

11. Lv 6 Diamondblade (Vorpal Like Affect)

12. Lv 7 Luck (+1 Bonus to Rolls)

13. Lv 1 Kitric’s Dweomer Strike (+2 Weapon Damage Bonus For Duration)

14. Lv 1 Thellum’s Edge of Blasting (Damage Bonus to Weapon 1 pt Per Caster Level minus 1

15. Lv 3 Zorn’s Aerial Accuracy (Never Miss Thrown Missiles For 5 Missiles)

16. Lv 7 Anticipation (Know Attacks/Actions of Those within 60’ For 1 Round)

17. Lv 7 Dancing Weapon (Animate a Weapon Move 28” MC:A)

18. Lv 3 Lesion (Weapon Augmentation Treats All As AC 10)

19. Lv 7 Dimensional Blade (Blade Becomes 2 Dimensional Damage Augmentation)

20. Lv 9 Matan’s Magic Self (Create Mobile Magic Field Emanating From Self)

***************************************************

The substance of the Combat Discharger is made of specially created homunculus fashioned from tissue samples of: Living Scroll/ Tween/ Quickling/ Phaerimm/ Retriever/ Astral Dragon/ Star Selkie/ Carbuncle/ Living Steel/ Overseer Beholder. These creatures were melded together via successive Monimerge spells and the resultant creature was turned into a homunculus form through alchemical processes that allow it to gain further powers during this creation process. 

1) Living Scroll: This created lifeform creates a living scroll that can cast the spells on it. This device possesses a 17 intelligence with magical powers similar to those granted on the intelligence sword tables of the Dungeon Masters Guide. Furthermore, if the mage possesses a spell book the scroll can memorize 1 spell per intelligent point above an 8 intelligence. The 9 spells at this time are:

1. Lv 9 Absorption (Magic Absorbing Affect)

2. Lv 9 Meteor Swarm (Attack Spell)

3. Lv 7 Teleport Without Error (Evasion Spell)

4. Lv 7 Duo Dimension (Evasion/Concealment Spell)

5. Lv 6 Chain Lightning (Attack Spell)

6. Lv 9 Shape Change (Alters Device to Evade Capture)

7. Lv 7 Devastate (Spell Power Increases)

8. Lv 9 Time Stop (Attack & Evasion Spell)

9. Lv 7 Volley (Spell Protection Reverser)

Whenever a spell is used by the living scroll it disappears from their memory and must be replenished with the new spell as if the spell caster were relearning the spell on a daily basis. This device can use any level of spell out to ninth level. 

2) Tween: This symbiotic denizens of the ethereal plane are smoky outlines of their host for those viewing them on the prime. The tweens have the ability to see seconds into the future which allows their host to make two dice rolls and take the best of the two rolls. Unfortunately others within 50’ are forced to make two rolls and will always take the worst. (These devices are immune to the affect, so if two dischargers are within the 50’ range they are not affected).

3) Quickling: These creatures offer the Combat Discharger user great speed and tremendous agility for the device, and to gain the following powers when using it: Move 96”; 3/1 Number of Attacks; 100% Invisible when not moving; 90% Invisible when moving (during attacks); Spells each one use and simple will activation: ventriloquism, forget, levitate, shatter, dig, and fire charm.

4) Phaerimm: This cone shaped creature serves as a great deal of the power for these devices. They offer vast mage spellcasting powers that are activated by silent act of will. This creature conveys the device the following powers: 44% Magic Resistance to all but petrification/polymorph attacks witch are 77% Magic Resistance; Those spells overcome by the Magic Resistance% that cause damage become part of a defensive reflex that will confer healing to the creature or have the spell affect 100% reflected back to the source (Healing is at the rate of 1 hit point per spell level & otherwise a reflected spell affects the rebound victim normally); Supra Genius; Operate as a 22nd level spellcaster (5,5,5,-5,5,5,-4,4,2); The device also has adopted one spell per level as a spell caster that they can cast at will one time per day: They are: Innate: 1st Chromatic Orb & Magic Missile; 2nd Detect Invisibility & Mirror Image; 3rd Non Detection & Wraithform; 4th Firecharm (Fire) & Rock to Mud; 5th Cloudkill & Demi Shadow Monsters; 6th Mass Suggestion & Permanent Illusion; 7th Limited Wish & Duo Dimension; 8th Polymorph Any Object & Trap the Soul; 9th Foresight & Time Stop. Spells by casters lvl: 1st Magic Mssl x3; Enlarge, Mount; 2nd Knock, Improved Phantom Forces x2, Web, Flaming Sphere; 3rd Blink, Water Breathing, Hold Person, Hold Undead, Explosive Runes; 4th Improved Invisibility, Evard’s Black Tentacles, Phantasmal Killer, Ice Storm; 5th Magic Jar x2, Wall of Force, Passwall, Cone of Cold; 6th Chain Lightning, Disintegrate, Globe of Invulnerability, Mislead, Projected Image; 7th Mass Invisibility, Phase Door, Delay Blast Fireball, Control Undead; 8th Glassteel, Incendiary Cloud, Symbol; 9th Time Stop, Foresight.

5) Retriever: Multiple eye attacks from this part of the homunculi are part of this creature’s legacy to the Combat Discharger. These can be projected through the Combat Discharger by the mental command of their user. Each of these rays has a 60’ range & can be used per round (but must recharge 6 rounds after use): fire blast, cold blast, lightning blast, & transmutation (mud, stone, gold, or lead st vs. petrifaction). The eye powers offer damage equal to the device’s current hit points, which are related to the creature’s 10 hit dice (roll randomly for each discharger).

6) Astral Dragon Age 10: This creature offers the homunculi and Combat Discharger a number of powers. They are granted to the user of the discharger by silent act of will. They can: Sense psionic use/creatures within 240’ of users remote access location; +6 psionic blast; Breath weapon 6x day magical force blast 10’ wide x 160’ long which causes damage (per dragons current HP) & saving throw vs dragon breath or be feebleminded for 1 turn per age level; Spellcaster’s at age 10 = 9th level spell caster (higher level casters have been alluded to in githyanki lore). Its spells are: ?? (7th Lvl 4,3, 2, -1) = 1st Mount, Alarm, Gaze Unseen Servant, Sleep; 2nd Mirror Image, Magic Mouth, Detect Evil; 3rd Fireball, Tongues; 4th Confusion

7) Star Selkie: This creature is an ethereal shapechanging race that provide a Combat Discharger (and its user) motive powers that can allow for travel while riding the device and still using its powers. The creature conveys to the rider: In space an SR of 5; Encapsulation of the rider/user in their bullet-like shaped bodies for a ram attack that does 11-20 damage (or 1-2 hull points damage); the final power of the homunculi device is to allow it to shape change to a human like form for transport with the user.

8) Carbuncle: This luck generating doglike creature conveys additional powers to the device. They are: Fly 32” MC:A; Immune to psionic attacks; Double strength LUCKSTONE powers (10d4% to luck/5d2 on saving throws, etc..)

9) Living Steel: This creature offers some very useful components to the homunculi component of the device. The creatures grants: A solid texture to the skin-like material that makes up the surface of the discharger; Immunity to all weapons of up to +2 to the discharger itself; It can alter its from to anything, which included a number of forms that create armor for the user, while still retaining its Combat Discharger powers (i.e. the mat can become an armor that still allows for the use of the devices powers); It takes 1 round to change forms; It grants immunity to electricity/fire based attacks of less than 55 hp in strength (if exceed the discharger will take full damage, but will reform in the following round); Cold attacks that make it through Magic Resistance can slow the discharger by 50%.

10) Beholder (Overseer): As you can imagine the device gains the full gamut of eye powers for the overseer: These powers include: cone of cold; paralysis; telekinesis; mass charm, mass suggestion; spell turning; temporal stasis; dispel magic; chain lightning; emotion; domination; major creation; Serten’s spell immunity. Each are useable in a single round as these eye affects have access to remote access spells to shoot their eye rays through.

*********************************************************** 

The nature of the homunculi creation has further augmented the powers above. This creation was granted (as part of being a new lifeform) a great increase in speed that effectively doubles all speeds that the tissue supplying creatures above. This means that the user of the discharger is granted the following adjusted speed augmentations: Speed of movements 192” move/ 64” Fly MC:A; SR 10; 6/1 attacks per round; 2 spells cast for each round (or 2 times the number of powers used i.e. eye rays, etc…). 

Each Combat Discharger has also had the True Adamantine Treatment applied to its surface. This coating will has been subjected to an Alchemical process called True Admantite Dipping which allows them to store, regenerate, and use a number of spells during a day. There are 11-20 spells that can be stored in this manner (roll randomly), and they regenerate each turn. Part of this same process requires the application of the substance known as True Tin that will provide the following powers:

Immunity to control spells such as charm, hold,, slow, etc… 

The substance also conveys Rulership powers (as the Rod of Rulership) to up to 100 level/hit dice of creatures that are forced to obey the device wielder. Only those creatures with a 15> INT or 4+ hit dice are allowed a save vs spell to avoid being compelled to obey. 

There are 1-20 spell affects that are capable of activating over the entire surface. The following spells are applied via this procedure. The spells are all cast as if by a 26th level spell caster in duration, range, etc. The spells are the following: 

1) Lv 5 Tempus Fugit (Time Alteration)

2) Lv 4 Remote Access (x5) (Distance Attack Facilitator)

3) Lv 5 Awaken From Afar (Activates Magic Items From Distance)

4) Lv 5 Telekinesis (Grasp/Grab/Attack Force)

5) Lv 7 Silent Accord (x2) (Mind Attack Spell Even a Miss is a Failed Save Later)

6) Lv 6 Projected Image (x2) (Distance Illusion of Combat User)

7) Lv 9 Matan’s Hydra Head (Multiple Head & Actions)

8) Lv 9 Morg’s Contemplate Fate (Future Decision Help)

9) Lv 9 Morg’s Duality of Mind (2 Minds In One Body)

10) Lv 8 Continuous Spell Holding (Locks Another Spell On)

11) Lv 5 Dart’s Multiple Arms (4 Arms For User)

12) Lv 5 Visions of Future Clarity (See 1 Turn Into Future)

13) Lv 9 Ageless’s Force of Will Spellcasting (Instant Spell Casting)

14) Lv 9 Matan’s Magic Self (Create Mobile Magic Field Emanating From Self)

You should note that all spells could be changed out for others allowed in your campaign, and by the same extension you could go for a wider range of monstrous homunculus components in the creation of your own customized versions. Of course you might be careful with the flight components, as their loss makes the mat somewhat difficult to move.

Chronospatial Details in Lamentations of the Flame Princess Adventures

 

I have been intrigued for the past few months to run a sand box campaign in the Lamentations of the Flame Princess early modern weird historical fantasy milieu. While refereeing our games I have made brief ventures into alternative timescapes, but always part of a larger, sword and sorcery medieval fantasy campaign. In Lamentations weird historical fantasy the scene is primarily set in actual early modern 17th century Earth. It is an era of post-renaissance scientific revolution, commercial exploration, colonialization, and exploitation, and some profoundly devastating military conflicts often based around religious or quasi-religious differences.

Mechanically, the basic impact from the early modern setting is the addition of rules for simple firearms such as the flintlock. Other than that there is certainly enough mysterious and uncharted territory (at least from the European perspective) in Africa, the far east, the Arctic, and in the Americas.

In terms of a campaign setting map, I discovered this awesome 17th century atlas, Atlas Maior published between 1662 and 1672, which provides very cool worldwide maps. I just struggled a bit with how to initiate the campaign in a region and timeframe where I could maximize in both a spatial and a temporal sand box the potential incorporation of Lamentation adventures already extant. 

So, what I fashioned is a spreadsheet of Lamentation adventures and supplements that includes product number, title, year, location, some locations notes, any recommended PC level, and (for giggles) the product release date. While I purposefully attempted to avoid spoilers, this is really a resource for game referees and not players.

My hope is that with the adventures outlined I can pick a time and a spot for a campaign that will maximize my use of the standard Lamentations products which in turn lets me know where I may be filling in encounters with my own home brew material.

Fireworks Hailing Over Cube World

(Artist unknown, embellished from a t-shirt)

Sandy is how I enjoy my D&D campaigns. Roll some PCs then let things run amok. Ha, enough about me. What's up with Cube World...?

A month ago I wrote what I knew about new Cube World releases (table top RPG, not computer game), what that world appears is thus and what I saw as Cube World installments' significance to the hobby.

As a refresh, Cube World is the overall campaign setting that contains Vornheim: The Complete City Kit, Red and Pleasant Land, Maze of the Blue Medusa, and Frostbitten and Mutilated rpg supplements. It is literally a cube-shaped world with the campaign taking place on one of the six "faces" of the cube. However, "The entire planet is a hive of stone tunnels carved by long-dead civilizations."

Since new releases began last April began there have been roughly 200 pages of new campaign material published in 13 separate installments.

Here is a link to the author's description of each installment and how to purchase them. 

Couple things common to each installment:

1. These installments are MODULAR. You can just as easily drop them into your own campaign as run them in conjunction with a Cube World campaign. You can also break them up and reconfigure them to suit, and often suggestions are included how you might adjust elements for a one-shot or, conversely, an even larger adventure.

2. The adventures are ACTIVE. Meaning, stuff's happening independent to the adventuring party that reflects NPC and monster motivations; chains of circumstances to alter the tone, complexity, and/or nature of specific encounters depending on PC actions or lack thereof.

These are aspects of every installment and adventure by design, so you can expect being able to utilize all the material either within setting or out, and that adventures engage players from the outset with situations that demand decisions. Freewill? Of course... with consequences planned out for you ahead of time. (Fuck, Rush, there is a host of holy horrors pulling strings!)

Note Also: Maps and art are FULL COLOR with separate hi-res JPGs included. Many adventures include suggestions for running in the Weird Earth early modern Lamentations of the Flame Princess setting.

Perspective of a Cube World campaign from the new material:

You can check the link to peruse according your taste for individual characteristics of each installment. Below is my version of a topographical flyover lending an eye on how new pieces fit.

1. Still centered on Northern Continent, but further south.

(The fairy tales of Charles Perrault; Illustration by Harry Clarke; Harrap, 1922)

Vornheim and The Devoured Land are previous major regions detailed for Cube World's Northern Continent, both being north of the goblin empire Gaxen Kane. The largest area by far contributed from the new installments are to the Northern Continent land of Broceliande.

Broceliande is south to the horrible goblin empire of Gaxen Kane. Various nations of Broceliande, in particular the gray elves, have warred with the goblins since Cube World's primordial time. Broceliande is "unusually lovely and green, with tall castles, jousts, quests, wild forests, foxes, frogs and fae, elves in the north, halflings in the south, dwarves in mountains..."

Broceliande information is contained among several Cube World installments about seven kingdoms/baronies/duchies and discrete geographic regions, eight cities/towns, and six dungeon/adventure scenarios. Most all receive at least a half-page to a page of detail (much more for adventures), with major adventures there being political schemes and hidden dungeon treasures in the Duchy of Teeming, a siege to the eastern port city of Ortheque by Chaos Pirate warbands, warring mutant tribes from a spawning lake, rescuing treasure from a castle on the back of a mountain-sized giant, and two dungeons, one very dangerous and the other very mysterious, in the Barony of Eeping.

Lest you begin to consider Broceliande a region of mostly mere classic fantasy sorts, hidden areas are also occupied by strange psionically telekinetic/telepathic creatures: The Philosophers. An entire installment (#13) is dedicated to descriptions, environs, and four adventure encounters with this near-Lovecraftian species from another dimension.

2. Sea of Ignorance and Pain bits to the Scorpion Lands, "sailor's legend" of Drownesia, and hints of Southern Continent to points far east.

(The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, by Lotte Reiniger, 1922)

Should PCs take to water off the east coast of Broceliande upon the Sea of Ignorance and Pain, they'll find scattered islands and island-fortresses.

Traveling southward in the sea one installment (#4) provides an adventure encounter on Iguana Isle just off the Scorpion Lands on the north coast region of Cube World's Southern Continent. The island hosts a pirate queen's fortress, and the queen is in need of some "engineering" assistance obtaining a mysterious artifact lodged in the coral beds nearly 200 feet beneath the sea's surface.

Rumors heard at pirate island can help lead an adventuring party west to the jungle-thick collected islands of Drownesia, a mysterious land of dinosaur-riding dark elves. That same installment provides elements for the Drownesian island of Palafesh Opnow with two on-island adventure scenarios plus a megacorpse floating somewhere off the island's coast.

Should adventurers sail east from Iguana Isle another installment (#12) contains two islands with adventures that also hint to what lies on the Southern Continent mainland in those areas. PCs would likely first encounter the "sorcerer-tyrant and his monstrous pets" on The Isle of Massive Crustacians. Moving still further east might choose to become involved in a pair of rival sorcerers skirmishing over a powerful item come lodged beneath the midpoint of a thousand-foot bridge between their two isles in Peacock Isles.

There is another far east scenario for PCs to engage with maritime battles of an ancient wizard. The wizard possesses a terrible item used to take lands adjacent to Eight Demon River there as the wizard's own.

3. Nephilidia and the western sea.

(Photo by unknown)

If you happen to be running a campaign set around Vornheim (or just be keen on amphibious vampires), there is a sea west to the Northern Continent named, respectively at least in the sea's waters off the west coasts of Broceliande and Gaxen Kane, Goblin Sea or Sea of Dead Elves. Nephilidia, Eversinking Isle of seafrost and rime, is up in the cold northern waters of the western sea.

Nephilidia is home to Nephilidian Vampires, most preferring never to leave their half-drowned empire knee-deep in black and stagnant water. Another single location installment (#11), the adventure scenario includes random encounters for waters surrounding the island, an island map for overland encounters, tools for generating random dungeon ruins as needed, and The Last Palace of Queen Naxxala.

Nephidilia is, apart from encounters with The Philosophers, singly the most dangerous from these recent installments. A commensurate table of 1,000 Nephilidian magic items provides just rewards for survivors.

There is also one more island of note for the western sea from the installments, Isle of the Lava Trolls. The encounter has some nice terrain features that would provoke interesting exploration and combat, plus throwing the adventuring party on a volcanic isle in the middle of an icy sea. Ha, there's that.

4. Miscellany.

The installments do have a couple of scenarios related from the previous works. One is A Place of Garments horrific dress maker set in the kingdom from A Red and Pleasant Land. Another is Temple of the Mantis set near Vornheim that travels through a secret portal to the extradimensional place of the Mantis Cult. 

A special setting that may be used in a variety of places is Curated Destruction, a elvish library containing all knowledge and art deemed important by elves.

Likewise The Tracery along with echo chambers may be used as a strange and otherworldly means to link any dungeon sections, although a scenario involving heresy and lycanthropes is provided to draw PCs into the dungeon.

There are a number of items in the installments in addition to expanding the Cube World setting: Several particular d1000 treasure tables, book generators, useless book generators, and varied random dungeon tables along with a sample dungeon, Lair of the She Jackal, as example of randomly generated dungeon.

CONCLUSION...

BUY THIS STUFF! Cube World installments have two things every dungeon master needs: Utility and surprise! These installments are dense because everything needed at the time fits on one or two pages with color-codes on the tables to move expeditiously to the information you need. 

The scenarios are varied and often with multiple decision trees such that I expect many of them with a tiny bit of re-skin you could run your same players through more than once without them catching on you're recycling. At minimum these are privately published ideas from a professional and award-winning author that your average gamer can't get at their FLGS.

Nearly all of the installments are just $5 each so you can afford to pick and choose to see how they run - either in your own game setting or that of a full-fledged Cube World.

Next up I am going to get a group to run through some of these, probably starting in Broceliande using our standard Advanced Labyrinth Lord. When that happens I can share play reports. Until then, ha, go easy, and if you can't go easy go as easy as you can.

Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 3 (Home Brew)

A delve into the original gonzo DIY RPG setting of Arduin.

In this video, while working out new audio, I take an interlude to expose some of my personal Arduin home brew from a long ago campaign.

Note: I mention that each DM's scenario lasted for 3 sessions. Understand at this point in our gaming (late 1980s) our gang is mostly in our mid twenties, some are married, some with children, so we gamed probably once every month or two in Saturday night marathon sessions lasting 10-12 hours.

Also, I think now looking at the overland map that the party never made it across Moon Water to Bordertown. It looks like Black Bog is right on the way around Moon Water and that just happened to be where things ended up after my last session.

Campaign Hexagon System...

Home Brew Map...
Blipping Campaign Webpage... 

Blipping Campaign Video Playlist... 

Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures

(Arduin home brew map...)

Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 2 (Cosmology)

A delve into the original gonzo DIY RPG setting of Arduin.

In this video I examine information on cosmology of Dave Hargrave's Arduin campaign from the "World Book of Khaas: The Legendary Lands of Arduin."

Correction: When I mentioned David Hargrave's AKA "Dream Weaver" I also mentioned there is a class by that name. The class is correctly "Rune Weaver" and in the game's far distant history were "the first true men" who defeated the reptilian Kthoi.

Elric_of_Melniboné...
World of Khaas web archive...
Emperors Choice Games...
Emperors Choice on DriveThruRPG... 

Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures

(From Moons of Arduin by Thomas Grable)

Legendary Lands of Arduin, Episode 1 (Published Materials)

First episode of a delve into the original DIY gonzo RPG setting of Arduin.

In this initial video I examine the different sourcebooks and rules versions for Arduin as a prelude to a multi-part review of "World Book of Khaas: The Legendary Lands of Arduin."

Apologies! The author of "White Roc Inn," "World of Khaas," and "Arduin Eternal" is Monty St. John. I repeatedly in the video misstated Monty's name as "Monty St. Jean" so sorry. Monty spent more than a decade keeping the Arduin fires burning!

One other note: Monty St. John also authored for Emperors Choice an unpublished "retro" version of Arduin, based on the grimoires, called "Arduin Bloody Arduin." So, rather than an earlier title for "Arduin Eternal," references I recalled to Arduin Bloody Arduin may have been to this different version. Many of the discussions were on Google+ which are not generally recoverable now and I am left with my fallible memory.

Jesus instead of speaking extemporaneously I should write a script... Village of Hommlet (1979) would have been the summer between my frosh and sophomore years of high school AND... I forgot we picked up Tegal Manor as our first Judges Guild. City State would have come along later probably summer of 1979.

Alarums and Excursions...

Emperors Choice Games...
Games of Berkeley...
Emperors Choice on DriveThruRPG...
Dragon Tree Press...
Arduin Eternal on Amazon...
Arduin Eternal Bestiary on Amazon... 

Arduin is a Registered Trademark of Emperors Choice Games & Miniatures.

(David Hargrave, Copyright 1983 by Different Worlds)

Roleplaytime

Luka Rejec is a Slovenian game designer, illustrator, and writer based in Seoul, Korea.

He creates awesome things like Ultra Violet Grasslands, quotes Blue Oyster Cult songs, and wrote this poignant essay about our hobby...

"Roleplaytime"

Happy Dave Arneson Day!

(Dave Arneson, b. October 1, 1947, d. April 7, 2009)

October 1st, 2019 is the Tenth Annual DAVE ARNESON DAY, a tribute to the inventor of the role-playing game method and co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons.

Harvards Blackmoor Blog has freebies, articles, and tributes in honor of Dave.

There is a some-what present day intellectual discussion regarding Dave Arneson's contributions, essentially inventing the game style of a referee/entertainer creating and running the game for players who in turn run their player characters.

The discussion coincides with the release earlier this year of the new documentary, "Secrets of Blackmoor." I was able to view the film as a backer of the Kickstarter and it is super elucidating and fun to watch as members of Dave's Minnesota war gaming group describe how their wargames evolved into Arneson's Blackmoor role-playing campaign that preceded the development of Dungeons and Dragons.

T$R published the "Supplement II, Blackmoor" to original Dungeons and Dragons in 1975. After Dave had a falling out with T$R, Judges Guild in 1977 published the maps and game notes of Blackmoor in the now out-of-print "First Fantasy Campaign" which tacked Dave's Blackmoor lands onto the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Following the settlement of a lawsuit Dave filed after his name was removed as co-creator in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, T$R released Dungeons and Dragons "B/X" edition which re-attributed Dave as co-creator, and afterwards T$R produced a number of Blackmoor modules under the DA series.

So tip your hat to a visionary man who invented our wonderful and amazing hobby!

Blipping Campaign Video Playlist on YouTube

I just created a YouTube playlist here for our Blipping campaign videos from the 1990s. There are presently 60 5-minute segments, essentially 5 hours of gaming spread among 12 different game sessions of varying length.

Ha, it may be that some folks have game snippets or single games, but the nearest I can tell we were unique being the first and only by around 2 decades to video tape most of our game sessions. Plus we gamed 1st edition (with various mods depending on who was DMing) up until the end of this campaign in 2005.

There a many more videos to come as I am barely to mid-1993...

Campaign Re-Boot

(Patrick Wetmore's ASE overland map hand-copied into the free-version of Worldographer) 

When we originally conceived what became the "Blipping" campaign back in 1988, I did not envision any "blipping" at all. First off, we never had other characters disappear just because the player was absent from the session. Basically, their characters became quasi-retainers who hung in the back and out of combat, but were ready to be used in an emergency if the party ended up in a tight spot. These lurking PCs did not receive any share of experience though, unless they were called upon to enter combat, cast some healing, or such, then they received a whole share if I remember correctly. (A boon because if the character was thrown into combat they could be killed too even with the player awol.)

Kind of like now, but for different reasons (our main DM Dr. John was off on his journey becoming a mad scientist), I ended up DMing our main game fore a long time and wanted to game a character of mine own for a minute. My original plan, upon which apparently I did not achieve consensus, was to start out in the land of Arduin and branch out from there. I even drew a starting map.

Arduin worked not only because it hosted the nexus of all the planes of the Multiverse, but also because the setting could handle straight sword and sorcery up to techno and sci-fi. Plus all of our group were familiar with the setting and there were enough hooks with little that was canon which in my idea left us free to extrapolate.

I ran the first three sessions in March-April-May 1989, doing some overland and Dead Watch Mountain I believe. Next Dr. John took over and BOOM we were on some other planet. As time passed we went from blipping to other settings each time a new DM took over (typically 3 session cycles) to our characters blipping in and out dependent on whether the character's player was actually present. Best laid plans, eh?

This time around, 30 years later(!), I am again trying my hand birthing a co-created connected land.

I bounced around for a setting (and had just about settled on Chaosium's original rpg treatment of "Thieves' World") when "Anomolous Subsurface Environment" (ASE) popped up during my online search/musing of all things Labyrinth Lord (the old school retro-clone settled on for our trip back to old-style gaming).

ASE is gonzo, sci-fi infused megadungeon that I had been interested in for many years. What I did not realize is contained in Patrick Wetmore's adventure is a gonzo city and setting surrounding the megadungeon. As I read more ASE seemed the perfect starting point to our campaign. A futuristic world destroyed thousands of years ago and now a place of magic and barbarism - just enough details to go off in any direction. (Was particularly keen on versatility because the suggested next DM up wanted to run an Arabian Nights theme.)

Next thing that cam to mind was how to keep the maps together as close to seamless as possible?

Mapping software was the obvious solution, however, many of our group (myself included) are rather short on the ducats. That meant for mapping software to work for everyone there had to be a free solution.

Inkscape is far and away the best quality freeware for vector graphing, but requires time both to learn and to draw. I tried a number of online applications (like HEXTML, HexDraw, and others) which all had limitations in the free versions such map size or features that made them less useful.

I finally settled on Worldographer, which the main drawback I had to live with is I couldn't draw coastlines freehand. Arrggh!!!! Ha, otherwise though the free version is pretty sweet with classic-style terrain and hex features.

Since most of our group does not hyper-focus like me this is the best thing to easily encourage everyone to add their overland to the unified campaign.

First game in 4 weeks, and then I'll get you my pretty...!  ;~)

Basic Fantasy RPG v Labyrinth Lord

(my personal comparison between BF & LL)

A couple things happened...

First off I ran my regular game back on June 15th and during our musings I let fly that the current campaign was running toward a conclusion. With DunDraCon moving from Saint Ramon to Saint Clara in 2021 my goal was to wrap up sometime in the next year in order to have a new campaign up and running for the new convention location.

The idea was to go back to rotating Dungeon Masters, only this time "trying" to use my original idea from back in 1988 of a cooperatively developed world rather than characters full-on dimension hopping every two to three games.

Second, I literally ran my very fist player character since I got sober 14-plus some-odd years ago after being invited to Jeff Rients' online campaign, Lost Tombs of the Western Kingdom. Literally all I have done is DM, first straight-up 3.5, then beginning in 2012 our 1st/3rd hybrid, and most recently since 2018 the gently modified 5e.

Part of the problem is despite every single one of our group have played and DMed for at minimum more than a decade, everyone was brought up on 1st edition AD&D which we beat into the ground playing from 1978 until 2004.

Our problem with 1st edition was rules arguments. If folks didn't like the rule as written, they argued logic. If they didn't like the logic they argued rule as written. I don't think we had a single game without at least one 45-minute rules argument.

3.5 solved that because there were rules for everything down to the most granular level. However, most everyone felt incompetent rules-wise to run a game (except for me because I am a friggin' professional rules lawyer...).

Ok, so Jeff's game is Moldvay & Cook B/X-based which my original group, despite being much more Arneson than Gygax and huge Judges Guild and Blackmoor fans , missed because we started with the 1977 Holmes' blue book adding the 1978 AD&D Monster Manual and Players Handbook before we even had a clue about how AD&D was Gary's plot to drive off Dave.

B/X retains several of the OD&D rules that are different from AD&D. No armor AC is 9 insread of 10, dwarves, elves, and halflings are classes, but it also has some modernish trappings. For instance, Gary did not like blow-by-blow fighting. Being in the wargamer mode for Gary combat rolls indicated the results after one minute of fighting and several blows.

In B/X combat rounds are 10 seconds and each score is an actual hit. (Similar to how we played, anyway. We developed a weird 6-second segment by segment combat using the Players Handbook speed factors.)

After looking over B/X and playing in Jeff's online game seamlessly (ha, just like riding a bike, eh?) I began entertaining an idea that perhaps we should try running our game using a retro-clone in the old style. Retro-clones were not available when I restarted the game in 2005, so other than re-using our old, falling apart books the same game wasn't an option. In particular for the new players in our campaign.

The two main B/X style retro-clones I found are Basic Fantasy RPG and Labyrinth Lord. Ha, I went back and forth between the two. Labyrinth Lord is very, very true to the originals while Basic Fantasy RPG is its own game and has some modern conventions like ascending AC and Darkvision.

In the end, I think I'll have to propose Labyrinth Lord to our group. The Advanced Edition version especially is super close to what we played for years and as we are all much older now, it seems appropriate to revisit the old-style with some of our new edition chops maybe helping us better resolve rules issues. There we go, I will propose soon and let y'all know how things turned out...