Quotes From Gary Gygax's Role-playing Mastery - The Creator - The... Kirk ;)

Another quote from Role-playing Mastery:

"The game master is the creator, organizer, and arbiter of all. His most important functions during play, though, are more mundane. He is nature. He provides sensory data, and finally he fills the roles of the living things the PCs interact with during the course of the session." Role-Playing Mastery, page 48, Gary Gygax

What sticks out to me is the "sensory data" part of the quote. This doesn't mean just sights and sounds, but even touch and smell.

Back in '93, at my one and only GenCon, one of the GMs we had for the tournament we went through was in a wheel chair. I never asked if it was a permanent or temporary situation for her, as the question would have been damn awkward, but I suspected it was the former.

In any case, she had a sense that she was hooked on describing - the sense of smell. Cooking, burning, blooming, rotting - she nailed them all with verbal descriptions that brought the actual smells to mind. Which was scary in a way, as they didn't seem to be integral to the plot (and I suspected she was filling these parts in on her own) but that sense of smell made the session she ran seem more real than any of the others I played in over those four days. Maybe the most real of any session I've ever played in.

Strange, we speak of "gamer funk" at cons and how it assails out nostrils, but we often forget to use that same sense of smell when describing events and such in our game sessions.

Haven't thought of that in a while. Interesting what a single quote from a book can dig up in one's memories.

Mini Review - The Dungeon Alphabet - Expanded Third Printing

+Vincent Florio another post with Ashley, just for you ;)

I have the original printing of The Dungeon Alphabet packed away somewhere, but I saw the expanded third printing last Friday when I was at The Complete Strategist here in NYC. I had to grab the new copy.

The shit rocks even more than before.

Like tables? It's got you covered.

Michael Curtis captures a piece of the soul of the OSR and smacks it down on a page and then does it again and again, consistently.  Did I mention the Erol Otis art?

The PDF version on RPGNow says it has 48 pages, but it's actually updated to the 3rd edition - so it's 64 pages or so. If you bought it in PDF back in the day like I did, you can download the updated version for free. That's damn cool!

If you don't have a copy, you probably should.

From the blurb:

An A-to-Z Reference for Classic Dungeon Design

Now updated to the same text as the third printing! This newly expanded version includes 16 additional pages of content, new endsheets, and new interior illustrations!

Designing dungeons is as easy as A, B, C! The Dungeon Alphabet compiles twenty-six classic dungeon design elements in one place to assist the game master in creating subterranean challenges. A is for Altar, B is for Books, and C is for Caves: the Dungeon Alphabet has advice, hints, and randomized tables that bring new life to your adventures. Suitable for any rules system, the entries are accompanied by outstanding art from classic fantasy illustrators, with a foreword by noted game designer Zeb Cook

Last Week Was My Lowest Post Count Since 2011 - I'm Failing My Initiative Rolls ;)

Work has been busy this summer, and it's been keeping me rather busy, as you can tell from my slowly decreasing post count here on the blog. Maybe I just need better time management skills ;)

In any case, I was going to try and organize a Virtual Con type of thing for mid to late September for Swords & Wizardry, but with VirtuaCon 13 the weekend of October 18-20 it seems kinda redundant. I've noticed a fair share of Old School and OSR games recruiting on VirtuaCon 13, so maybe a nice cold weekend in the winter, when no one wants to leave the comfort of their home anyway for the S&W Online Weekend. Work has to calm down by then, right?

The Unofficial OSR Zine's release is getting pushed back to late September / Early October at this point. We have some excellent submissions that I need to organize and well as an article or two to write myself before moving this over to the layout god. If you know of an easy way to grow my own fully mature clone to speed this up, let me know.

A DCC RPG Appreciation Day / Week was penciled in to mid October, but maybe moving that to November to avoid overlapping with VirtuaCon 13. I do have vacation the week of Thanksgiving.

Yep, I need a clone. Simulacrum would want to kill me the moment it knew I exist if I recall correctly, so science over magic in this case ;)

Rediscovered Book - The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games by Rick Swan (published 1990)

It's amazing what a little emergency cleaning before the installation of Fios can dig up ;)

The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games by Rick Swan was apparently an 88 cent pick up at Odd-Job (pretty sure that discount chain is defunct now).

Sweet cover art by Phil Foglio too.

Looking at some random reviews:

GURPS 4 stars (4 seems to be max)

Rolemaster 2 1/2 stars

Mercenaries, Spies & Private Eyes 3 1/2 stars

Role Aids 3 stars (wasn't this a line of supplements and modules for use with (A)D&D?

Tunnels & Trolls 3 stars

AD&D 4 stars

High Colonies 2 1/2 stars (never heard of it)

High Fantasy 1 1/2 stars (ouch - and never heard of it)

Supervillains 1 star (Bamn! Pow!)

Alright, I may have to alternate some pulls from this book with EGG's Role-playing Mastery for future postings...

Anyone Know Where This Amazing Dwarf Came From?

I was just sent this in my email by a friend who stumbled across it on the net.

Anyone know the artist? Source (book, game, etc)

This is SO much my vision of Tenkar Calishun it just isn't funny :)

You Hit it on the Head! Helmets in 1e

I was listening to the Roll for Initiative podcast on the commute to work this morning, and they brought up one of the obscure rules for helmets in AD&D 1e - intelligent adversaries attacking an unarmored head 50% of the time.

As such, I remember we always bought helmets for our PCs and then had no use for the rule.

The thing is, I always thought of the AD&D combat system as abstract - it wasn't blow by blow and it didn't have hit locations, so this rule is a rule that kind of breaks the rules that were already in place by default.

Did you / do you use the unarmored head gets the shit beat out of it rule when running you AD&D / OSR games? Why / why not?

(damn, I should ask about "weapon speed" in a later post ;)

Character Class as a Role - or - Niche Protection Before MMORPGs

Tallifer made a comment in regards to my previous post that became a bit "thought provoking" for me. Here's the relevant bit:

"It is interesting that you recognize the existence of roles even in old school games."

Here's the deal Tal - we recognized the roles the different classes played in the game, even if we didn't label them Tank, DPS, Controller, Healer and the like. The roles changes for the classes as the game and character levels progressed.

Fighters (and their subclasses) were the front line fighters and the main damage bringers for at least the first few levels, before liberal use of fireballs and lightning bolts changed that balance. They had both the hit points and armor class to hang with the big baddies.

Clerics were always the premier healers. Druids made a poor substitute and Paladins served as little more than a bandade in that role. Hold Person as a 2nd level spell made Clerics decent Controllers at 3rd level and beyond. They could also on occasion fill in for a front line fighter when needed

Thieves were rarely the big damage dealers, but their skills with traps and locks kept the party alive in other ways.

Magic-users were weak as shit for the first few levels (but Sleep was always one hell of a game changer). At 5th level, Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Hold Person and the like change much of the DPS and control focus to the simple and fragile Magic-User.

And of course I'm leaving out the multi-classing, UA classes and different race adjustments that sneak into the picture.

This all being said, I don't recall us ever saying "we need X to fill the Y role". Still, you knew a balanced party included one each of the core four classes. While fighter subclasses did a decent job in filling the same niche as a fighter, the druid, assassin and illusionist generally made poor substitutes for their more popular siblings, but in the hands of the right player, even this could be overcome.

So yes, even 30+ years ago, we recognized there were niches or roles that a successful party needed to consider. It just hadn't occurred to us to limit ourselves by labeling the roles like MMOs do, which then carried over in many ways to table top role-playing.

The problem with MMORPGs is that if you aren't the best at what your "role is", then you are wasting the time of everyone else in the party. Limited to 4 slots or 6 or x in the party, you need to make every character count. Which makes MMOs seem more like an exercise in math and statistics than an actual game to me these days.

All of which might have little to nothing to do with Tallifer's excellent quote, but it got me thinking along my own set of ideas on the topic ;)

Do You, As a Player, Have a Preferred Class Type?

I've noticed in my gaming group that some players gravitate towards certain classes or roles.

Arcane caster, any kind of caster, fighter, thief - it seems most players have character types that they feel most comfortable with.

As for myself, I tend to GM more much more often then I play. When I do play, I'm willing to fill any unfilled role the party needs - and if the needs are filled, I'm looking to play a bard or some other class / class combo that can fill multiple roles as they come up. I don't THINK I have a preferred class, but if I did, it would be the "jack of all trades" type of character.

Do you have a favorite class or role to play in a party?

Quotes From Gary Gygax's Role-playing Mastery - About Understanding the Rules

And now a word from the author of Role-Playing Mastery:

"Knowing the rules of the game is not nearly as simple as committing the relevant passages to memory, because memorization does not bring understanding. It is not only important to know what is written in the rules but to also perceive how the parts of the rules fit together and work in harmony with each other. This later task is certainly achievable, but it is not always easy." Gary Gygax, Role-Playing Mastery page 24

It's kinda funny to read the above, as I always thought I had mastered AD&D, but I did so by eliminating weapon speed and not always enforcing spell segments and the like. So long as the changes applied across the board, PCs and adversaries alike, it worked.

When I ran a few DCC RPG story arcs last summer and fall, I didn't realize how little I knew until I ran the first session with characters that actually reached 1st level. I ran a hodgepodge of AD&D and DCC, and it worked, but mostly because I kept the action moving so the players wouldn't readily notice the discrepancies.

This time around, I think my knowledge of the DCC RPG is stronger, but it still has a way to go. I'm one of those that learns better not so much by reading but doing.

I'm also learning how the various twists within the DCC game truly makes it unique, which weren't so obvious to me from reading alone.

In any case, as I (re)read Role-playing Mastery over the next week or so, I'm going to pull out quotes that I find interesting. Hopefully, you will too.

Rediscovered Book - Role-Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax - Multiple GMs / Same Session

I have no idea when I first picked this book up, but judging from the shape of the spine I strongly suspect I never read it. I certainly have no recollection of any of it's contents.

So, I randomly opened it to pages 86 and 87, where Gary talks about "group size" and using GM assistants or even co-GMing. Interesting stuff.

The he says the appropriate ratio is 3 to 4 players per GM / assistant.

Was this really the case back in the early days of OD&D? I remember stories of a dozen players or more being run by one GM.

Heck, last night I safely juggled 7 in my DCC campaign and figure 8 is my safe max. Most groups I've been a part of have had 5 or 6 players plus the GM.

Was running games with multiple GM's actually feasible back in the day? I haven't heard of any games being run in that manner these days.

Damn, I suspect there are a lot of blog topic seeds inside this small book...

Is the Default D&D Next Stat Bonus a +1 Average?

So, I've been looking through Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle (not the best name - maybe they should have used +Matt Finch 's Tome of Adventure Design for some other naming ideas). I've just been flipping through thus far, enjoying some of the art (I suspect it's all recycled from different editions, which is cool but a bit jarring at the same time).

Then I came to the supplied pre-gens. Humans have a total stat bonus of + 7, demihumans have a total stat bonus of + 6.

Which means you could simply change all of the DCs and other rolls by one and return the average stat bonus to zero - but then they wouldn't look so heroic I guess.

I dunno, it just kinda stood out and hit me. If the totals were around + 3 or 4, I doubt I would have noticed.

In any case, I am able to read the stat blocks and have a pretty good idea what is going on, so this is still much closer to the D&D I know than 4e ever was.

Highlights From the 2nd Session of "Doom of the Savage Kings" (DCC RPG)

Last week, some amazing die rolls by the party's arcane casters changed the direction and tempo of Doom of the Savage Kings a bit. Gone were the Jarl and his men. Added this session was +Erik Jensen 's gaggle of 4 peasants, handily recruited from the village's lynch mob ;)

Highlights from the session (vague spoilers but spoilers none the less - you have been warned)

- Dealing with the crone and trying to decide which party member would marry her for the help she offered (they decided on one of the "gaggle" of zeros)

- reminding the "lawful" character that killing in innocent so that you can use the now deceased body in a manner benefiting the party is NOT a lawful act ;)

- Looting the Jarl's Hall and finding little of true value

- Dealing with the Jarl's seer, and getting nothing but frustration

- Finding the "box within a box"

- The party Wizard has now cast TWO consecutive spells with a "natural 20". He so badly wanted to leech off of the halfling. I had to point out that even the roll he had would have destroyed half the village with his Scorching Ray, and he would be better ofhf notching it down one result. Sad Wizard. Happy, not burning village and dying villagers.

- Watching one of the "gaggle" get killed from a fellow party member's fumbled attack roll. The funnel finds itself some times.

- The funnel strikes a second time, as a snake-like thing swallowed another member of the "gaggle". And then there were two.

Third session of Doom of the Savage Kings is set for next saturday night.

I'm impressed with how well Google Hangouts / Roll20 handled 7 players (10 characters to start - 8 by the end of the session). Of course, somehow I had forgotten to upload the 2nd and 3rd maps for the adventure - brain fart - but seamlessly did so mid session. Huzzah!

Thoughts on a NYC Area "PubCon"

Yesterday afternoon (and a good chunk of the evening) I hung out with +Joe D and my beautiful wife Rachel. It was her first time ever to the Complete Strategist in Manhattan. She's a trooper ;)

Afterwards, we settled into Rattle N Hum, a truly amazing NYC Pub. Great place for a bite a and few brews after some heavy "game shopping".

Anyhow, to cut to the chase, Joe brought up the idea of a NYC PubCon. We've discussed this before (while at the same pub), so it's certainly something on our minds. I can guarantee you it won't be at Rattle N Hum, as the space is limited and the cost would be more than painful.

We are still in the early stags of brainstorming this. We figure Spring 2014 at the earliest, and probably one of the outer boroughs of NYC to keep the prices down. It would also be more of an informal con I suspect than a "professionally" run one - closer to a "gameday" with adult beverages and good food. Aimed at Old School Gaming, but not limiting itself necassarily to the OSR.

The place I have in mind is blocks from the subway, easily accessible by highway and has a legit (not hourly ;) hotel within walking distance. Not sure how many would need a hotel, as this would probably be one day only at this point, but just throwing it out there.

Just trying to judge the interest in this before working out more details (like how much it may cost us and finalizing a location).

Heck, my wife even said if we move forward with this, I need to teach her how to game so she can join in ;)

We're open for input...

Review - Five Ancient Kingdoms - Men & Mettle (Part 1 of 2)

There are three books and one adventure (and dice if you buy it in print) in the Five Ancient Kingdom set, so I'm going to try and go through the books in order. I doubt I'll be able to cover everything, but I'll do what I can.

Men & Mettle is the first volume of the three rulebooks. The default setting is bases off of the Muslim / Arab / Middle East of 800 AD or so (sorry - I don't use CE)

First things first - a small observation: The organization of the rules is not exactly what I'm used to these days, although it is reminiscent of the "Original Boxed Set". Basic explanation of task resolution, followed by classes, followed by subclasses, followed by stats and character generation rules. I'm used to stats, classes, character gen... So, I needed to adjust to the flow of things.

FAK uses d6s for everything. "1"s are read as "0"s all of the time. There are NO exceptions (at least none that I've found thus far). FAK reads much like an OSR ruleset, but I suspect it plays out very differently while retaining a similar feel.

The core classes are Hero (fighter), Magician, Saint (Shaman for those that don't follow monotheism) and Thief. Pretty much the standard fair. What really ups it a notch are the subclasses. There are eight - two per core class. Each subclass's description takes up about 3 or 4 sentences. That's it. It's really a prefect way to handle it if you ask me. Just enough to make them different - not so much that they seem like a whole new class.

Characters have both an alignment (Law / Neutrality / Chaos) and a Motivation (fortune / glory / power / etc). Calling into play your character's motivation can have a mechanical bonus as well as a story effect. Heck, it's mechanics and a roleplaying nudge all in one, which is surprising when the author refuses to label FAK an RPG in the classic sense. I suspect that is much about splitting hairs myself.

The character stats are the ones we know well: STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON and CHA. Heck, even the order is classic. High prime reqs give and expo bonus, low scores give an expo penalty. High and low scores give an assortment of bonuses and penalties respectfully.

Stats are rolled using 4d6, drop the lowest counting all "1"s rolled as "0". The player may place the scores in any order they desire.

Hero Points are your Hit Points and are rolled each adventure (1 Hit Die per level, roll adjusted by class, all "1"s are "0").

Social Status is also rolled at character generation (and probably should have come before the description HPs, as Social Status is not determined each session but one time only). 3d6, giving a result of 0 to 18 - escaped slave to nobility. Social Status also determines starting gold - multiply by 10 and add 20 (although the example used later in this section neglects to add 20, so that might have been changed).

Last major thing to determine for starting PCs is their starting "advantage". Anything from extra wealth, failed magician apprentice (with some spell use), combat bonuses, story hooks - all are possible - 36 possibilities in all, it goes a long way to making characters unique and the concept easily translates to other OSR games.

Part 2 of the review will deal with mechanics, combats, saving throws, retainers and the like.

Hunting Down the "Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle" (D&D Next)

Yep. I did it. I picked up the GenCon exclusive "Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle", a D&D Next Mini Campaign over on Ebay for a surprisingly fair price (less than I paid for RQ6 in paperback at retail last year).

I haven't read it yet. Heck, I have barely peeked at it.

It will be reviewed over the next week or so (I need to read Five Ancient Kingdoms first).

I notice they credit Davis A. Trampier as one of the numerous artists. I'll need to make that my "Easter Egg Hunt" as I read through it ;)

Dungeons & Dragons the RPG - Alas, I Knew You Well (D&D GenCon 2013 Presentation)

Sadly, adter watching this video I now know what "Dungeons & Dragons" means - recycled fiction, 2 MMORPGS, lego like ugly ass crap with one recognizable character from the Drizzt series of books and it isnt even him, iOS Battlegames, iOS Boardgames, re-released 20+ year old computer games and if you are lucky there might be an RPG - but that's just to drive sales for all of the previously listed money makers.

Yes, I know this shit is a business, but WotC has gotten so corporate it's scary.

They will never sell the D&D trademark, but perhaps, one day, an RPG titled Dungeons & Dragons will live up to it's heritage in the hands of others.

Micro Review - Labyrinth Lord Gnome Class (Free OSR)

Now THAT'S a Nose!

I really can't make Labyrinth Lord Gnome Class a mini review - as the actual product less it's cover is a page long.

So Micro Review it is.

Magic User / Thief hybrid class that get's advanced (+2 level) thief skills and comparable MU spells for the same level. It's a bit over powered at early levels, but screw it, it's free, right?

My one concern is the lack of the OGL in a product that claims LL compatibility. No impact on gameplay, but I do believe that is a violation of the applicable licenses.

Is D&D Next "Close Enough to Emulate" the OSR, and is That Good or Bad?

I REALLY need to catch up on the latest release of the D&D Next rules, but as I'm sure others already are caught up, I pose the following questions to my readers:

- Are the rules close enough to the OSR to emulate OSR / Old School style gaming - or is this just a simplified 3x with some other pieces bolted on?

- Have they figured out the simple / complex - basic / advanced in the same campaign paradox that they were trying to implement? Does it do what it "says on the box"?

- If it can come close to Old School style gaming, is that good for the OSR in general or a sign of the forthcoming gaming apocalypse?

D&D Next Playtest is Coming to a Close - Is It Actually Done?

Got this in my email this morning:

A few days ago, the D&D team announced that the next playtest packet will be the last in the public playtest. That’s why it’s more important than ever that you provide feedback. Today’s survey focuses on content that was updated in the August 2nd playtest packet, such as feats and classes.

So, if the public beta is done, does this mean the rules are ready to be finalized?

My group tapped out of the playtest in late spring of 2012 and I really haven't followed the updates all that much recently.

I know the initial vision of all things for all editions is pretty much out the window, but for those of you that have kept up with the beta, do you think we have a winner or another loss of market share?

Mini Review - Gygax Magazine Issue #2

I guess Two is better than One ;)

I wasn't all that impressed with issue #1 of Gygax Magazine, as it was full of a significant amount of "here's my Old School Cred" and very little material that was worth something to "Old School Gamers".

Issue #2 of Gygax Magazine has measurable value for "Old School Gamers". There are other games represented too (including The One Ring, which is tempting me to sit down with the rules and maybe learn them).

So, what old school goodness do we have?

First, the Jeff Easley cover. Well done and very evocative of the classic Dragon Magazine covers from the mid 80's. It sets a nice tone.

Next up is Leomund's Tiny Shelter - Len Lakofka talks about death in AD&D. A bit chart heavy for me these days, but certainly the type of article you would find in a classic issue of The Dragon.

Jon Peterson has an article about what might be the earliest version of the D&D rules. Yep, he's the guy that wrote Playing at the World. The article is a good chance to see if you like his style of writing. It's a very interesting article at that.

Ken St. Andre +Ken St. Andre writes about ordinary characters in fantastic worlds. No game rules, just ideas and thoughts. Systemless.

The Old School Renaissance gets some attention from +Vincent Florio .You know, the guy behind ENnie winning Mazes and Perils. A decent article to point those interested in the OSR in the right direction.

+Jeff Talanian presents an article on adding some Lovecraftian strangeness to run of the mill fantasy. Or even taking it further, and moving on to "strange new lands" inspired by Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith and leaving the stale fantasy behind. Again, systemless but easily used for inspiration with the OSR ruleset of your choice.

The Blighted Lands are a peek at +Luke Gygax 's upcoming campaign supplement. It looks to be AD&D compatible. The dead tree version will even have fold out maps. My one complaint is that the introductory adventure starts out with three paragraphs of text to be read to the players - my group will zone out some where after the third sentence ;)

Did I mention the very nice maps? I'll be eagerly awaiting my print issue to arrive in the mail.

Heck, there's even a page of Order of the Stick :)

Well, there's other stuff too, but I must say the amount of articles aimed at and usable by old school gamers like me is impressive. Issue #2 of Gygax Magazine has leveled up.

Well done.

Contents for issue #2 of Gygax Magazine

Tactics in Samurai Battles by Tim Kask

The evolution from wargaming to role-playing by Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.

Hitchhiking in Doctor Who by Jay Libby

Leomund's Secure Shelter by Len Lakofka

A forgotten grimoire and its curse by Jon Peterson

From one geek to another by Jess Hartley

Building a winning spellbook for Mage Wars by Bryan Pope

Heroes, kings, and champions by Ken St. Andre

The old-school renaissance by Vincent Florio

Weird vibrations by Jeffrey Talanian

The inkubus by Gordon Dritschillo

The hare and the hill giant by Shane Ivey

Special Attraction

The Blighted Lands by Luke Gygax

The Kobold's Cavern

Super-science in fantasy games by Eric Hindley

Dueling through the AGEs by Rodrigo Garcia Carmona

Lost wonders of Caelmarath by Brian Liberge

Comics:

Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams

Order of the Stick by Rich Burlew