What Gaming Stuff Did You Get for Christmas?

This time of year I'm usually excited to get back to work/school so I can do a little gaming "show & tell" with my fellow nerds. Since I'm 51 and the only gamer in my family, the only "nerds" I know are of the sports type I work with. They don't know what a d20 is to save their life, but can tell you who was the coach for any given professional football team in 2005.

As an allegedly grown-ass man I don't get to give my family lists of the shit I want so I generally get money if I get any gifts at all. That isn't an *actual* complaint, mind you....I'm more than fine with not getting gifts at all and money is nothing to sneeze ever since I learned that people will exchange money for stuff I want!

Last year I gave my gaming group some Lulu-printed game books that cover much of our weekly game, albeit with a custom cover I tweaked from the Rick & Morty D&D comics. There were...issues with everyone getting the books and I think it was June or July before everyone got their stuff. This year I didn't do anything....yet. If it's going to be June before people get things then I might as well make it Christmas at NTRPG when I see almost everyone....at least that's the plan.

EDIT: I just found out now (1930 on January 1st, 2023) that two of the players got their 2021 gifts last weekend!

I do have something for one buddy, but since I haven't mailed it off yet, I'm not going to mention it here lest I spoil the surprise. I could wait until June for that one too, but I won't.

Now, that's kind of a lot on what didn't happen this Christmas season, so I'll try to focus on the one dumb thing I did actually do, well kind of two things I did, but one is just random that happened while out and about in December.

Now I've managed to go to NTRPG for the last five years (not quite, but close enough for this blog) and during the year I try to support the con where I can, predominately by hunting for booze to be featured at a future Whiskey Tasting (it's becoming a thing), but also by bidding in the various Facebook auctions the con has (North Texas RPG Con Auctions). I've probably paid too much for a few items, but it helps the cons and usually it's something I really want anyway, so availability is worth the premium. I will also admit that I'll bid on stuff if it hasn't gotten much action and I don't really figure out what items are allegedly worth to begin with......

I also, evidently, do not always remember what I bid on or purchase. This last summer (?) I won a bid of an item and when it arrived I just set the package aside and promptly forgot about it. I'm not even sure how many months passed by before I realized that this was now a mystery package. When I was wrapping up my Christmas gifts, I just threw it in the stack and gave it to myself to unwrap at the family Christmas. I thought it was funny, but my family thought it was a little weird.....but let's be honest, because I game they already think that.

What did I buy, forget, and then gift myself?

Just a cover artist signed copy of Dragon Magazine #206. I have have a cover artist signed #200 already (got it signed in person at an event), and I'm rather pleased with myself. I still do not remember buying this...at all, so it was really a surprise.

The other thing was something I discovered at Half-Price Books in early December. These days it isn't easy to find gaming materials at this chain since "everybody" knows about the place, but occasionally a surprise can be found. I've been looking for some rather obscure reference materials for a family member (so not gaming related) and if I have time I'll stop in to look at the "old" book section as that's where it'd be. I had time to kill before a flight and stopped in this one HPB that has never had much for me, but it was on my way to the airport. I was surprised to find a boxed copy of the FASA Star Trek RPG from 1982. It was marked as "missing pieces" and not that expensive.....BUT it also had a sticker on it indicating that the rulebook had been signed by James "Scotty" Doohan. From what I gather the signature alone goes for 4x what the asking price for the boxed set was!

I was allowed to open it up and while I didn't do a complete inventory, the cards were unpunched and it looked like only one d20 was missing! It appears that whoever got this set only used it for the dice, which is funny to me because I remember, around that time, buying multiple sets of Basic D&D at Waldenbooks on clearance because it was cheaper and easier to get the set for the dice than it was to acquire rpg dice on their own.

So I think I had a decent RPR haul this Christmas......how did you fare?

Time for Me to Brush Up on My AD&D 1e Knowledge

It looks like I'll need to brush up on my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e knowledge, not just the rules but the history and evolution.

Which is why I am breaking out my copy of the Dragon Magazine Archive. I didn't realize how important this would be for me on a personal level when I bought it back when it was released back in 1999. Apparently, I've lost the DM utility disk over the years. Doubt it would work on my Mac in any case ;)

Before the internet and social media became what they are now, the best way to get a feeling for the pulse of anything was magazines and the like. Dragon issues from the bast should give a decent view of the "inside baseball" of what became AD&D 1e.

Going to be some fun times :)

The Draconic Archeologist: Mix n Match- The Dragon Issue #8

I've stepped away from The Dragon Mags for a bit... there was just too much other stuff to get to.

Dragon #8 suffers from some sloppy editing.  It's forgivable tho.  It was literally cut n' paste back in the day.

Still, we get a nice article on The Planes.  Damn thing was a real PITA to try and upload ;)

1) Purple, The PRIME MATERIAL

2) Yellow, The POSITIVE MATERIAL PLANE

3) Grey, The NEGATIVE MATERIAL PLANE

4) Lt. Blue The AIR ELEMENTAL PLANE

5) Red The FIRE ELEMENTAL PLANE

6) Green The EARTH ELEMENTAL PLANE

7) Blue The WATER ELEMENTAL PLANE

8) Orange, The ETHEREAL PLANE

9) Lt. Blue, The ASTRAL PLANE

10) Blue, The SEVEN HEAVENS

11) Lt. Blue, The HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS

12) Blue, The TWIN PARADISES

13) Lt. Blue, OLYMPUS

14) Blue, ELYSIUM

15) Blue/Grey, GLADSHEIM

16) Grey, LIMBO

17) Red/Grey, PANDEMONIUM

18) Red, The 666 LAYERS OF THE ABYSS

19) Lt. Red, TARTERUS

20) Red, HADES

21) Lt. Red, GEHENNA

22) Red, The NINE HELLS

23) Red/Grey, ACHERON

24) Grey, NIRVANA

25) Blue/Grey, ARCADIA

Of course, the article on the Development of Towns in D&D just the above article in half... why?  But wait, the second part of the Planes article cuts the Town article in half.  Sigh.  

About 10 pages to part one of a serialized piece of fiction.  10 pages out of 32.  I'm not even counting ads.  Where's the gaming stuff?

There is a intro to Gamma World, but it's basically another page of fiction.

Rob Kuntz gives us a Gem and Jewelry table.  Tables rock!  We can even roll carat size.

The Featured Creature was actually a name and design contest.  Here's the Erol Otus art.  Got a name for it?

More Metamorphosis Alpha.  Apparently they expected it to be a bigger hit.

Eh.  Far from a great issue, but there's a few gems in the mix.

The Draconic Archeologist: Identity Crisis- The Dragon Issue #7

Is it Vol. II, No.1 as the cover states, or is it Vol. I No. 7 as the inside front cover says?  It's the 7th issue, regardless of numbering.

The editorial tells us that readership has increased 300% since the first issue.  Not bad for a new gaming magazine.

On to the articles...

What to Do When the Dog Eats Your Dice - alternate methods of random generation: chits, deck of cards, numbered straws, spinners, calculators (high end ones back then i would think), the second hand of a watch (not to sure about this method myself), phone book and blindfold, and a few ridiculous methods (counting flying birds, pulling out chest hairs, jumping beans).  There is an interesting chart to use 2D6 to generate results like a D20, reproduced below:

 PERCENTAGES GENERATED

WITH TWO STANDARD DICE (D6)

The following table is from FIGHT IN THE SKIES. The column

on the left is percentages and numbers needed to get them, while the

figures on the right are the actual probabilities. (I.E., if there is a 10%

chance of an encounter, a roll of “9” indicates that it occurs. The actual

percentage chance of rolling a “9” with two standard dice is 11.1% .)

  5%  11                                       5.6%

10%   9                                      11.1%

15%   6                                      13.9%

20%   7,12                                 19.4%

25%   4,7                                   25.0%

30%   7,8                                   30.6%

35%   2,4,5,6                             36.1%

40%   5,6,8                                38.9%

45%   6,7,8                                44.4%

50%   4, 5, 6, 7                          50.0%

55%   5,6,7,8                             55.6%

60%   3,5,6,7,8                          61.6%

65%   4,5,6,7,8                          63.9%

70%   3,4,5,6,7,8                       69.4%

75%   all except 2,3,4,10           75.0%

80%   all except 2,4,10              80.6%

85%   all except 3, 11, 12          86.1%

90%   all except 9                      88.9%

95%   all except 11                    94.4%

Gary Gygax on D&D: Origins of the Game - A short article on how Chainmail evolved with Dave Arneson's help into D&D.

Our Featured Creature of the Months is The Prowler.  Never heard of it.  Nice Erol Otus artwork tho'.

The 7th installment of Gnome Cache - fiction that requires you to read 7 issues in a row.  Bad idea.

Hmm, fairly light issue as far as OD&D gaming goes.

The Draconic Archeologist: Bringing You The Death Angel - The Dragon #6

Ah, the cover to The Dragon #6 - again, a little fan-artish, but still better then the hippy dragon from the first issue.

Reading the early Dragon issues, you would think that games like Metamorphosis Alpha or The Petal Throne were going to be the long term keepers.  They seem to have just as many articles, and with less crunch, more fluff - in many ways giving more value then the D&D articles.  As I'm focused on the D&D articles, that means I'm skipping on some major parts, like the in-depth Legions of the Petal Throne Painting Guide by M.A.R. Barker himself.  I didn't know anyone really cared that much about painting the military figures for an RPG.

There were ads for both OGRE and Monters! Monsters! (a T&T variant).  Kinda warms my heart.

Then we have an article on Determination of Psionic Abilities that were introduced Eldritch Wizardry.  I didn't realize that there weren't any rules to determine such in EW.  I may need to reread that.

Hmmm, an article on morale in D&D.  Way too chart-ish for me use, but the hobby was in love of huge charts back in the day, so it is a sign of the times.

The Featured Creature was the Death Angel.  Nearly impossible to permanently defeat, I don't recall these creatures making any of the MMs in AD&D.

The ad for the D&D Geomorphic Dungeons is interesting - no wonder I never liked to leave empty space on the graph paper when I mapped dungeons out in high school - TSR didn't like empty space either!

The Draconic Archeologist: What the Heck is an Anhkheg? - AKA The Dragon #5

When I started this series of posts, I optimistically thought I would be doing something on the order of 5 posts a week on The Dragon.  Reality, I think, will put it at 3 a week or so.  So be it.  Focusing on the D&D stuff contained within.   Now, on to The Dragon Issue #5.

First things first - this is a cool cover.  More like fan art than professional, but very Swords & Sorcery-ish.  No hippy dragon either.

Lets see, what do we start with?  A seven page article / thesis on Witches in D&D titled:  Witchcraft Supplement for D&D.  Unknown author as apparently he (we know from previous issues women don't play D&D) failed to attach his name to his submission.  Like many of the early D&D articles, they don't follow a standard format.  What?  You say you want an example?  Okay:

WITCH MAGIC

Witchcraft, including those spells which resemble Clerical or wizard spells,

will not effect Djinn, Efreet, or Clerics of any alignment. These 3 character types

are immune to witchcraft.

All witches (except for a Priestess) have saving throws equal to warlocks.

For your saving throws against witchcraft, treat all witch magic as a “spell” on

the Saving Throw Matrix.

A good witch may normally perform 7 spells per day from the following

table. There is, however, a 4% chance that any good (Lawful) witch encountered

is ancient, thereby qualifying her as a Priestess. A Priestess may use the ten ordinary

spells daily, and once each week may employ one of her own, more powerful

spells. (Be sure to check every good witch encountered for category.)

Yep, I think I'll pass too.

Hey, look at that.  Two short Metamorphosis Alpha articles from James Ward.  I forgot the man could write quality (sorry, I'm still bitter about Crusader Magazine).

Featured Creature - The Anhkheng:  I don't know who named the silly thing, but the art is by Erol Otis, and it still resonates 35 years later.  Amazing stuff.  Oh, there's some stats and a paragraph of fluff.  Sorry, I'm still looking at the art.

Yes, the abundance of fiction is still annoying me.

Wizard Research Rules - it includes a nice random magic weapon table.  Look at that - True Ring Making - I think I'll make one for my Hobbit... I mean my "Halfling".

Which of course leads us to the famous article - Gandalf Was Only a Fifth Level Magic-User.  I've seen this discussed on the 'net since I first found out about the 'net.  Interesting read.

Damn it!  Thrity-two pages isn't so long when u take out the ads and fiction and non-D&D stuff...

The Draconic Archeologist: Someone Put Empire of the Petal Throne in My Dragon #4!

It's all Empire of the Petal Throne, all issue!

Alright, not quite but close to it.  There is a joke D&D article with literally nothing worth mentioning.

Finieous Finers does drop the S-Bomb (split between 2 panels, but still).

Oh, and some really bad pictures of miniatures.  Not sure if they washed out when scanned to PDF, or if they were just crap from the start.

Great issue if you are a EPT fan.  Not so great otherwise.

The Draconic Archeologist: Where All the Women At? (in The Dragon #3)

There are times I truly wonder how women ever entered this hobby.  Hell, I know they are a minority, but articles like Notes on Women & Magic - Bringing the Distaff Gamer into D&D weren't doing the hobby any favors.

Lets see, we'll make women roll Strength Scores on a d8 and a d6 - giving them a range of 2-14.  Why?  Why change the dice?  Oh, and females don't have a Charisma score, they get Beauty instead.  Roll that at 2d10.  Unless of course, they are lawful or neutral clerics - in which case they can't use Beauty.  Do they get a Charisma score instead?

So, wimin' get their own expo tables and HD tables that differ from the norm.  That's okay tho', because wimin' with high beauty scores get to cast special spells:  "Fighting Women (warriors) may incorporate the spells of Seduction, Charm Men or Charm Humanoid Monster depending on their level and beauty scores (see spells of seduction, et al)."  


Look at this ditty:  Horrid Beauty

This may be cast by any witches regardless of their beauty score but

beauty will affect how the spell will act. Direct sight of the witch within

16” is required to have an effect.

Grotesque witches — beauty score 2-5

Ugly Witches — beauty score 6-9

Ordinary witches — beauty score 10-12

Beautiful witches — 13-16

Gorgeous witches — 17+

Grotesque Witches will scare the victim! Those with 3 or fewer hit

dice will be scared to death! 3+1 or more hit dice will flee as from a fear

spell with morale lowered by 2 points for 4+(1-6) turns.

Ugly Witches will scare those with 2 or fewer hit dice to death.

Others will flee as from a fear spell with morale lowered by 1 point for 2-

(1-4) turns. Beautiful Witches will Seduce all with 4 or fewer hit dice as

with a 6th level seduction spell, no saving throw. 4+1 hit dice figures

may have a saving throw. Gorgeous Witches will seduce all with 5 or

fewer hit dice as with a 7th level seduction spell no saving throw. 5+1

may have a saving throw at -1.

Ordinary witches may have either effect on a 50/50 basis. Cast dice

for every figure individually. Duration — 6 turns (longer in the case of

seduction spells).

There's 4 pages of this crap.  From Len Lakofka no less.  I know it's a sign of the times it was written in but I still find it offensive.

Maybe the Birth Tables for D&D will have some redeeming features... hmmm, two pages of endless and convoluted tables.  I like tables.  I don't like these tables.  Ah well.

The Finieous Fingers strip holds up over time.  Thankfully.

The Healer class is interesting, but as a class that wears no armor and doesn't get it's first cure wounds spell until 3rd level (and has no damage wielding  spells) I see it's survivability to be near nil.

The Scribe is an interesting Specialist.  Not the least of which is because he has "the ability to read and copy magical writing from Scrolls and Books of Spells into the Spell Books of Magic-Users and Clerics. Only Scribes may do this, for there exists a curse upon all magical writing which causes any but Scribes, who know the counter-spell, to go permanently and incurably insane (Remove Curse not-withstanding). Scribes may belong to any of two vocations; either they transcribe magical spells or clerical spells." I never knew clerics had sell books.  Go figure.

Cool.  A Samurai class.  Eww, critical hits with their special weapons.  Dexterity increases at certain expo totals.  Why?  Why does every new class variant break the rules in bizarre ways?

A New View on Dwarves.  Hmm, this article actually works.  Cleric and Thief Dwarves.  Expanded abilities and penalties for the race.  Doesn't seem to break anything.

A New D&D Subclass:  The Berzerker.  Uhm, at higher level these berserkers change into Wererats or Werebears.  Why?  Really, why?

Hmm, now we get the Idiot Class and Jesters.  Maybe this was an April Fools issue.

In any case, I'm tapping out.  Some gems, lots of garbage, even for the time in question.

The Draconic Archeologist: Just Have a Sip of The Dragon #2

Well, the PDF looks better then this blown up thumbnail.  It's actually a fairly cool Conan-esqe type cover.  I like it better then Hippie Dragon from issue 1.

Let use take a look at what issue 2 gives us, the D&D player.  Oooooo... Look, Monkish Combat in the Arena of Promotion.  Three pages of some combat system for monkish combat that I can't make heads or tales of.  Still, it just goes to show you can tack any system to D&D and someone will try and make it work.

More fiction, including fiction that continues from Dragon #1.  I assume somebody was reading it.

Moving on to one of the regular features - Hints for D&D Judges Part3: The Dungeons.  Here, we are given a nice random table for trapped chests.  Looking at the chart, half the chests in the author's campaigns are trapped.  Hmmm... spring loaded daggers... poisoned gas... poisoned daggers... acts as Mirror of Life Trapping... when opened and enraged spectre comes out?... all members within 5' lose one level of experience... WTF?... all members within 5' lose one magic item... you have got to be kiddin'.... chest is intelligent and acts as if a 2nd - 9th level magic user?... show me the somatic components it can do...wait... 60,000 chocolate centered gold pieces worth a copper each?  This DM is going DOWN!  Well, he does mention some less usual magic items too.  Leaving out the Stoner Stuff - Ring of Magic Missiles, Bag of Infinite wealth (that might be a Stoner Item) - ideas to change forms of magic items (a dagger that acts like a Wand of Fireballs and such) round out the article.

Fiction from Gardner F. Fox.  Might be great stuff.  Skip.

Interesting article on Quetzalcoatl.  Not sure how it fits the medieval fantasy setting of D&D, but interesting non the less.

Creature Features give us the Remorhaz and an awesome Erol Otus full color piece from 1976.  Pretty cool.

Holy crap but there is a lot of fiction in this issue.

Finally!  There we go, a new class for D&D.  The Alchemist.  The dude makes potions.  Making potions is really useful in the middle of a dungeon.  Why is his title for 2nd level "Cleric"?  They may use only one-handed weapons (except magic swords).  Do magic swords jump from their hands?  Interesting as a class for NPCs, maybe.

D&D Option: Weapon Damage - A  system of weapon specialization for fighters and thieves.  It increases the weapon damaged rolled (not a straight add).  This could work.  I may have to yolk this.

Alright, wrapping up so I can peek at Dragon #3 tomorrow.

The Draconic Archeologist: The Birth of The Dragon - Issue #1

Sorry to say, but issue #1 of The Dragon isn't much better then it's cover, which is a tie-dye psychedelic trip of sorts... which for the time (June of 76) it may have resonated better then it does now.

Issue #1 stands in at 32 pages, which isn't bad (and I believe is longer then any of The Crusaders that have been published - Dragon certainly fits more words on the page, but I digress).  My first turn off?  The about of space devoted to short fiction.  In all my years of reading The Dragon, I don't think I EVER read any of the fiction.  It just never appealed to me.  So, in my eyes, a waste of space.  In your eye, it may have some value.

Getting back on track a bit, we get a D&D article on How to Use Non-Prime-Requisite Character Attributes.  I have no idea why it refers to the non-prime reqs.  In any case, this convoluted system requires you to roll percentile dice, then refer to a table that will tell you to roll a certain number sided die (4 sided, 6 sided, etc) then take the new number generated, multiply by the stat score in question, then roll below or equal to that number to determine success - thank god this never became official.  I would have left the hobby for sure.

Magic and Science - Are They Compatible in D&D? by James Ward.  Better then the previous article.  Better then his Crusaders.

Languages by Lee Gold (of Alarums & Excursions fame) - Interesting take on learning new languages in D&D and languages in general in D&D.  Common does not necessarily equal "native" language for humans.  This article is a small gem.

This issue's Creature Feature gives us the Bulette (pronounced boo-lay).  For 30 years I've been calling it a Bullet.  Ah well, live and learn.

Hints for D&D Judges in this issue deals with mapping the wilderness for your players.  The wilderness is a pretty lethal place.

Mighty Magic Miscellany expands leveling for Illusionists to level 14, with expo and spell charts.  Also, new spells at spell levels 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.

Hobbits and Thieves for The Dungeon Board game - I guess the cease and desist from the Tolkein Estate was still in the mail.

So, a gem, some useful pieces and a scary piece of poo as the first D&D article in the magazine.  Hopefully, Issue 2 picks up just a wee bit of the slack.

The Draconic Archeologist: Picking Through the Dragon's Bones - Prelude

Everyone offered some good ideas, and I think what I'm going with steals from your thoughts, which were then put in a blender and this is what I got.

The Draconic Archeologist, because I'll be exploring the old Dragons as they relate to our hobby (and the OSR corner).  I'll be picking through the Dragon's bones because the magazine is dead.  No, WotC's online version does not count.  They are good bones.  Valuable and and full of history.  Hopefully I'll be able to treat them right.

I'll be starting with The Strategic Review,  as it is definitely the prelude to The Dragon and it's a treasure trove of stuff that later made it into the OD&D Supplements.  If I have time after hitting the pub, I'll post tonight.  Otherwise, it will wait till tomorrow.

Look at What the Cat Dragon

Yeah, the title is a piss poor play on words, but whatever ;)

In any case, I just realized I have a Dragon Magazine Archive that I recently found the missing CD for.  I was damn close to buying another Archive last summer on Ebay, as I was missing the first disc from my set, but cleaning prior to renovations revealed the missing disc.

I'm going to be dropping the PDFs onto my iPad and reading them in order.  I don't plan on doing a play by play review of the issues, but I will try to highlight the bits and pieces I think are of most value to those of us that enjoy OSR related gaming.

Yes, I'll still be reading stuff to review.  Yes, I still need to complete The Synapse challenge.  Yes, I'm still renovating the house.  No, I haven't logged into a MMORPG (Rift) in about 2 weeks.  No idea when I'll be getting my Fantasy Grounds Tunnels & Trolls game up and running.  Time will tell.

Someone Rolled a "00" on the Weather Table

This week NYC is waiting to see how much of an Ice Storm this latest bout of winter weather brings. Which still doesn't compare to the beating Northern Australia is in for with rain and winds.

I'm beginning to think those weather table from the old Dragon Magazine were more accurate they I even gave them credit for. I'll need to dig it out and "DM Roll" us some milder weather ;)

At least I now know the difference between "sleet" and "freezing rain".