The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - Packing It All Up

I think the only thing I didn't address in the D&D "White Box" in one of the previous posts is the Reference Sheets Booklet.  I call it a booklet, as it is assembled as such, but it is not bound or stapled, so the pages can easily be removed.

An experienced referee could probably run 95%+ of his game right from these sheets, with minimal referring back to the 3 booklets.  Which is pretty awesome if you ask me.  In a lot of ways, these sheets are the precursor to the DM Shields.

So, what is my overall opinion of the Original Dungeons & Dragons "White Box"?  Pretty damn high.  For the time it was written, it is (mostly) well organized.  Although it most certainly has wargaming roots, those roots kinda fade a bit in actual gameplay (or at least I expect they would, especially with a group that isn't rooted in wargaming itself).  You can read this and get an idea of what D&D was about.  I do think you would be hard pressed to pick this up and play this game as the rules intend with out having an experienced player start you off.  This isn't an introductory game (as it was the first of it's type and it was aimed initially at war gamers, you can rightfully surmised it was written with a wargaming background as an assumption in it's player base)

Production quality is top notch.  It's amazing for me to think this was before the days of desktop publishing.  The box has enough room that it can store other booklets, which was good planning (if planed) with the D&D Supplements that were to follow.

After all this, what would I give it as a final score?

I'm going to use Beer Steins as a rating, from 1 to 5.  This is, after all, a tavern ;)

Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" is going to score 4 Steins, with maybe a partial buyback on one of them (like a 4 1/2 score).  It was a ground breaker, professional produced and did all of the right things, with the possible exception of assuming that it's paler base would be primarily war gamers, as it quickly broke itself from that mold and found a wider audience.

The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - Wandering the Wilderness

No, I haven't forgotten this series of posts, just had a lot of other stuff on my plate.  Now that that is out of the way, lets continue our look at D&D Book 3, The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures.

Looking back at book 1, The Outdoor Survival Board game was a suggested accessory, but not required. Which is strange, as book 3 makes it seem like it is, at the very least, an assumed accessory:

The terrain beyond the immediate surroundings of the dungeon area should be unknown to all but the referee.  Off-hand adventures (WTF is an "off-hand adventure"?) in the wilderness are made on the OUTDOOR SURVIVAL playing board (explained below).  Exploratory journeys, such as expeditions to find land suitable for a castle or in search of some legendary treasure are handled in an entirely different manner. 

OUTDOOR SURVIVAL has a playing board perfect for general adventures.  Catch basins are castles, buildings are towns, and the balance of the terrain is as indicated.

Certainly seems like EGG and DA expected every ref to have a copy, or at least access to a copy of Outdoor Survival.

Heck there are other references to Outdoor Survival in book 3:  Terrain Penalties and Lost Parties both refer the referee to the Outdoor Survival Game Board and Rules for the relevant rules in these sections.  So yeah, you could run your game without OS, but you'd have to make up or fudge the missing rules.  If you ask me, this was either an attempt to send another company business (which I doubt) or a bit of laziness in rules design.

What else?

Wandering Monster tables by terrain type.

Construction of Castles and Stronghold.  This is where the campaign takes a turn in a different direction.  No mention of required levels to build a stronghold, all you need is cash.  The player draws a map of his soon to be build stronghold and gives a copy to the referee - cause you never know when a siege may take place ;)

It is nicely broken down, including diagrams of specific castle section, their dimensions and the cost to build.

Of course, if you have a stronghold, you need to hire people to keep it running and keep it protected.  The monthly cost of everything from Assassins to Men-At-Arms are included, so as to part the PCs from their treasures and gold.

Now here's a tidbit I don't recall:

Players / Characters must pay Gold Pieces equal to 1% of their experience points for support and upkeep, until such a time as they build a stronghold.  If the stronghold is in a wilderness area all support and upkeep costs cease, but if it is in a village or town not controlled by the player / character then support and upkeep payments must continue.

Kinda like a monthly PC tax.

Of course, if the PCs clear land for a barony (in other words, kill off the monsters that are there) they may collect taxes from the inhabitants of 10 gp each per year.

There are also rules for Land Combat (pretty much using Chainmail), Air to Air Missile Combat (which includes hit locations and a Critical Hit Table - damn, I guess crits have been in the game since the beginning) and Naval Combat.

Yep, that's book 3.  Next up:  The Wrap Up.

The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - Going Deep in the Underworld

Well, enough about the next incarnation of D&D.  Let's continue our look back at the Original Edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

So, what does Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures give us?

Well, we get a cross section of a dungeon.  Six levels (and side levels) and connections (Stairs, chutes and the like).  I never mapped out a cross section of any of the dungeons I've run.  Most didn't go beyond three levels (if that). Still, and interesting view of how it could be done.

The sample dungeon level is more corridors than rooms.  Heck, if the PCs can't find the first secret door, it's going to be a very small dungeon for them.  That being said, it is a well explained dungeon level.  It is also an example of "do as we say, not as we do":

5.  The combinations here are really vicious, and unless you are out to get your players it is not suggested for actual use.  Passage south "D" is a slanting corridor which will take them at least one level deeper, and if the slope is gentle, even dwarves won't recognize it.  Room "E" is a transporter, two ways, to just about anywhere the referee likes, including the center of the earth or the moon.  The passage south containing "F" is a one-way transporter, and the poor dupes will never realize it unless a very large party (over 50' in length) is entering it.  (This is sure-fire fits for the map makers among the participants.)

Do you mind if I say "Holy Shit!  Ouch!"  Thank the Gods they tell you NOT to use it ;)

Then three's this little tidbit about Tricks and Traps:

The fear of "death", its risk each time, is one of the most stimulating parts of this game.  It therefore behooves the campaign referee to include as many mystifying and dangerous areas as is consistent with a reasonable chance for survival (remembering that the monster population already threatens this survival).  For example, there is no question that a player's character could easily be killed by falling into a pit thirty feet deep or into a shallow pit filled with poisoned spikes, and this is quite undesirable in most instances.

Risk is good.  Killer DM not so much fun.  Good advice, and something that most people don't seem to associate with Old SChool D&D.

When building a dungeon, place the main encounters, then randomly distribute monsters and treasure to the as yet unkeyed rooms.  1 in 3 rooms will have monsters (and half the monster rooms will have some sort of treasure) and 1 in 6 unoccupied rooms will have some sort of treasure.  Which I guess means half of all rooms half nothing at all.

It takes 10 minutes to move 2 moves or 120' for a fully armored character, twice that rate if running and not mapping.  So, you can run at a rate of 24' a minute if you pass on the mapping, or 12 ' a minute if you are mapping.  Did anyone ever stop and figure out how slow 24' a minute is when they wrote this game.  Assuming you are running with torches and lanterns, and making lots of noise with the jingling of armor, 24' a minute is the equivalent of taking a minute to cross a four lane crosswalk.  Or thirty seconds to cross a room.

Ah well, this book is going to take a couple of posts to progress through at 12' a minute ;)

The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - Uh Oh It's Magic!

Yep, I'm still digging my way through Volume 2 - Monsters & Treasure.  Specifically, I'm looking at the magic goodies in this book.

Some things to note - fully 20% of magic items are magic swords.  Yep, 1 in 5 magic items is a sword.  I can see where fighters (and thieves to some extent) have a head start in magic items.  It should also be noted that maces only come in a +2 variety ;)

Hmm - 17% of magic swords are cursed.  Ouch!  That being said, there is no cursed armor or cursed miscellaneous weapons.  Go figure.

Clerics get 25% of the spell scrolls, which means magic-users gets 75% of the spell scrolls.  Ain't that a case for discrimination?  And what is this?  "The referee must take extreme care in handling Scrolls with an eye towards duping the players when a Curse Scroll is found.  The curse takes effect immediately upon reading the Scroll; therefore having non-Curse Scrolls disappear on occasion if not identified will help force reading of Curse Scrolls."  Holy shit!  You basically are being told to take away legitimate non-cursed items to force players to activate cursed items!

The Curse isn't some lame shit either:

Range 3" (30 feet)

1 or 2   Any monster of the referee's choice

3 or 4   Disease.  Fatal in 3 turns unless healed (this is a party killer.  no indication if party members get a chance to save)

5 or 6   Polymorph into insect of referee's choice (another party killer)

7          Transportation 1,000 miles, random direction (the ref better have a new setting in mind)

8          Transportation to another planet (campaign reboot here we come)

Did I mention that 1 in 10 scrolls are cursed?

You have a 1% chance that the ring you find is a Ring of Many Wishes.  Roll 4d6 and the sum is the number of wishes you just gave the party.  May as well end the campaign right now, because either they are going to achieve some major unbalancing power with the wishes (average 14) or the referee is going to so screw them over by using the "literal translation of the wish in order to fuck over the party" method, at which point it's going to be campaign over.

All swords (no other weapons) are intelligent and have an alignment.  Most swords are lawful.  Fully half of all swords are intelligent enough to have one or more powers and be able to communicate with their owners.  I thing EGG was greatly influenced by Elric's Stormbringer  and such, especially when 10% of swords have a purpose (slay clerics or defeat law and such).

Wands are assumed to have 100 charges and staves are assumed to have 200 charges.  I'm damn sure staves were cut down in later editions.

Holy crap but they fit a lot into 40 pages - monsters and magical treasures.  Well done!

Next - Tiptoe through the Underworld and the Wilderness.

The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - Killing Things and Taking Their Stuff

Book 2 of the 3 volume set of the D&D "White Box is titled Monsters & Treasure.  Within we will see what we can kill, and the kinds of loot we may find when we kill things.  Huzzah!

One thing I never realized until today, even though it has literally stared me in the face since I started reading the little 3 booklets, is the subheading under "Dungeons & Dragons" on each of the cover pages:

Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures

See, the first RPG didn't even know it was a role playing game.  It was a war-game, just played on a different scale than most.  Never doubt the war-game roots of RPGs, as they are deep and strong.

Anyhow, back to Book 2.

We are given our monsters as a list which is vaguely grouped by type.  The list takes up two pages, and goes from left to right with the following headers:

Monster Type   # Appearing   Armor Class  Move in Inches  Hit Die  % in Liar  Type or Amount of
                                                                                                                                         Treasure

Notice the "% in Liar".  That's not a typo.  Or rather, it is a typo, but from the original source.  This % in Lair crap carried over to AD&D.  I didn't see it's use then, I don't see it now.  Ah well.

Monster descriptions are generally two to three sentences long, although some (like dragons) are major exceptions.  More than a handful refer the reader to Chainmail for further info.      

I like the description of the Gray Ooze, it part because it makes little sense:

A seeping horror which closely resembles wet stone and is thus difficult to detect. (if it is in an area with wet stone.  put it on a wooden floor and it becomes obvious) It will not be spread by non-harmful weaponry (what the hell does this mean?  is it spread like butter otherwise?  what the f' is "non-harmful weaponry"?), but it is subject only to lightning bolts or cuts and chops by weaponry, for it is impervious to cold or fire.  It does not harm wood or stone, but it corrodes metal at the same rate that Black Pudding does (so those weapons you used to kill it?  gone...).  It does two dice damage to exposed flesh for every turn it is in contact with it.  This sucker kicks ass and takes name.  Evil, evil little beast.               

Treasure Types Table - these never made sense to me in any version of the game and I don't recall published adventures ever appearing to follow these tables.  I will admit to using the ones in AD&D back in my teen years, but than I was also putting mature dragons in 10' square rooms and allowing the party to fully engage.  Still, if I was going to pick my favorite treasure type, I'd choose "H".  Best chance of hitting Megamillions (alright, 10's of thousands of GPs)

(i'll pick up with the magic treasures in the next part)

The Original 7 - Dungeons & Dragons "White Box" - And So It Begins

Before I actually started the process of delving neck deep into the Original 7 RPGs, I thought about the scholarly approach I was going to take.  Let me start right now by saying "that shit ain't happening!"  Or, it may, but only as circumstances permit.  I find myself enjoying my trip far too much to make this a purely scholarly project.

In any case, I've been working my way through Dungeons & Dragons Volume 1 - Men and Magic, and finding the nuggets that, to my eyes, are the most insightful.

Number of Players:  At least one referee and from four to fifty players can be handled in any single campaign, but the referee to player ratio should be about 1:20 or thereabouts.  (holy shit!  50 players?!?  1 ref to every 20 players ?!?  I have trouble running a game with more than 5 sitting at my table these days)

Under Recommended Equipment - Imagination and 1 Patient Referee ;)

Elves:  They may use magic armor and still act as Magic-Users.  (as elves swapped out their classes, choosing between being fighters and magic-users in between adventures, the magic armor perk is pretty powerful)

Other Character Types:  There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided that they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e., a player wishing to be a Dragon would have to begging as let us say, a "young" one and progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign referee.  (hmmm... by the time AD&D was introduced, this little gem was forgotten.)

Strength gives no bonus to hit or damage.

6 levels of Magic-User spells and 5 levels of Cleric spells take up 11 1/2 pages.  About one spell level per page.  Digest sized.  How come we can't write stuff as concisely these days?

The Original 7 - Quick Peek at The Arduin Grimoire

Not longer than 10 minutes ago, my doorbell rang and my postman handed me a package containing the following valuables:

The Arduin Grimoire Volume 1, Welcome to Skull Tower (Volume II) and The Runes of Doom (Volume III).

I now have something I had heard about but never owned.

I was supposed to be reading the OD&D boxed set today, but I have a feeling these little treasures will be stealing some of my attention today ;)

The Original 7 - Quick Peek at My OD&D Collection

As I'll be reading the core three from the OD&D Boxed Set from cover to cover over the weekend, I figured I'd take a quick pic to show off my collection.

I still need to pick up Eldritch Wizardry, Gods Demi-Gods & Heroes and Swords & Spells to finish off the collection.

Oh, and I picked up the dragons at A.C. Moore last fall at dirt cheap prices.  I figured that they deserved a shot at the limelight ;)