It's been quite a month since I decided to get serious about this blog. Really, I had no idea where what I was doing, and where I was heading.
I stumbled into the OSR blogosphere when, back in March or so of 2010, WotC posted about about a D&D show over at The Escapist called I Hit It With My Axe. I loved the show and the fun group of players. Especially Frankie. Luckily the guy who ran the show also had a blog.
Zak's writing on Playing D&D With Porn Stars was never boring and quite insightful. The titalation factor of the show and blog was just a veneer hiding actual substance. Imagine that. And over at the margins, he linked to other gaming blogs.
Jeff's Gameblog was always great, and Alexis's mapping work over at The Tao of D&D spurred me to print out some hex paper and start drawing maps again in that time honored fashion. There were others. Inspired, I started up this blog.
The big problem was that they were all doing something that I was not - playing some form of earlier D&D. I was plugging away with 4e. I had a good group and a good campaign going - but I've never been in love with the system. Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons is good for what it does - creating exciting and dynamic battles. But in 30 years of gaming, it's never been the battles I remember. It is the character interactions. It is the role-playing. It is the descriptive voices and the furrowed brows at having to make tough decisions.
A complicated game of chess didn't inspire me to write a blog at all. I kept on reading the OSR blogs though. It never made sense to me why I kept on reading about a game that I didn't play and had no interest in playing.
Early January saw me taking out the old musty AD&D books. I didn't like handling them. Something about the dust on them made my fingers itch. But I just wanted to take a peek. I started reading about alignment languages in the Player's Handbook. It got me thinking and having no one to talk to about it, I just kind of wrote myself a note and published it on the blog.
Strangely enough, a guy named Jayson answered, and we had a little exchange.
My brain exploded.
I WANTED TO PLAY REAL D&D AGAIN.
I've thought about D&D every day since - and have written about it too. Over the years, I've had countless web sites and blogs. No subject I'd write about would hold my interest for very long. And certainly, no one bothered to read them at all.
Now I find myself with the inability to keep quite about a subject - and I'm attached to a community of people who actually will take the time to listen to what I say. It's a bit overwhelming. I was in West Texas in my AD&D years. Only a handful of us knew anything about D&D - and we had to be quiet about it. Satan was in those dice, you know.
People's responses have been very encouraging. I even got an award from Tim at Gothridge Manor. Talk about an ego boost.
Now it feels like I've been blogging about OSR forever - in a good way. I'm excited. I get to introduce my son the the game I enjoyed so much as a kid - and not just a modern glossy version with no soul. People seem to enjoy hearing about his ride, too.
My mind reals with possibilities. There is a tiny anime and comic convention coming to our public library next weekend - with some kind of big names there. I'm thinking of crashing the gates with Labyrinth Lord. All conventions need RPGs, right? And there is that Islet Project that Paul at Quickly, Quietly, Carefully made me get interested in. Forced me. At gun point. I need more hex paper. Not to mention my own campaign that I'm working on. I'm getting quite busy.
So you of the OSR blogging community, and you readers too, thanks for helping my find my roots again. I really feel like I have come back home.
- Ark
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Resurrection as a Commodity
I've been digging through Labyrinth Lord with the idea of creating a world - not based on real historical societies - but on the mechanics of D&D. Fighters are billy bad-asses, and high level magic-users are just frighteningly powerful with that wish spell of theirs. It's probably even hard to imagine our world if you were from a fantasy universe. But the clerics have some world-shaking skills of their own.
From first to eighth level, clerics gain the ability to cure disease, neutralize poison, and heal massive tissue damage. Starting at ninth level, they begin to gain the ability to erase any affliction known, including death. Sure, a magic-user can reincarnate you into a baboon or a unicorn, but the humble priestess can resurrect you exactly like you were, even if all that remains is a toenail clipping. In fact, it's easier to bring someone back from the dead than to regrow a toe.
Death is only a speed-bump. What does that do to a society? Being not-dead has got to be a hugely desired product - more popular that even smart phones. We have a problem here on Earth with not enough health care providers or the infrastructure to support it.
Loved ones will rush to the temple with their freshly decapitated loved ones - only to stand in line that would probably reach around the block multiple times. Vendors would hawk their wares, selling roasted turkey legs and ale to bereaved - if hopeful - relatives of the deceased. But there would come a point when some people would just have to be turned away. There wouldn't be enough clerics to handle the load of bringing to life everyone that someone didn't want to die. Resurrection refusal would lead to riots - and more dead people to resurrect.
Of course, the priest would have to charge for their services in order to meet costs and to find an economic balance. Even the best of intentioned clerics would be tempted to charge exorbitant amounts of money for resurrections - since they could only do a very small amount per month compared to the actual amount of people who die. Royalty, merchants, and successful adventurers would have much better access to the priests, of course.
Perhaps some temples would institute a raffle for some of the resurrections they would do to try to be fair. Others might only resurrect those they deemed worthy - but eventually they might have to determine worthiness by forms filled in triplicate and authorized by local bureaucrats.
Of course, all this might be simplified by the god or goddess of the religion directly authorizing healing or resurrection or particular people - direct divine administrative guidance. I can see a god getting pretty bored with that job, however, and parceling it out to avatars or angels instead - who would probably give it right back to the priests. The entire system may eventually devolve into a series of bingo games.
If a PC cleric reaches ninth level, it's in their own best interest to not let anyone know - ever. Our mighty adventuring priestess is supposed to be building a stronghold - a keep - at this point - not be working the night shift at Our Lady of Perpetual Life Hospital downtown on Washington and 10th Street as an intern. A ninth level priest is supposed to have on average, 150 soldiers suddenly appear - and I think I know why now.
It's the health care plan.
What this all boils down to in lower level game terms is that when the PCs come out of the the dungeon carrying their dead companion, there probably won't be some hermit priest on the side of the road ready to resurrect them. If that ninth level hermit priest was loitering in the ditch - a city would suddenly spring up around him overnight.
- Ark
From first to eighth level, clerics gain the ability to cure disease, neutralize poison, and heal massive tissue damage. Starting at ninth level, they begin to gain the ability to erase any affliction known, including death. Sure, a magic-user can reincarnate you into a baboon or a unicorn, but the humble priestess can resurrect you exactly like you were, even if all that remains is a toenail clipping. In fact, it's easier to bring someone back from the dead than to regrow a toe.
Death is only a speed-bump. What does that do to a society? Being not-dead has got to be a hugely desired product - more popular that even smart phones. We have a problem here on Earth with not enough health care providers or the infrastructure to support it.
Loved ones will rush to the temple with their freshly decapitated loved ones - only to stand in line that would probably reach around the block multiple times. Vendors would hawk their wares, selling roasted turkey legs and ale to bereaved - if hopeful - relatives of the deceased. But there would come a point when some people would just have to be turned away. There wouldn't be enough clerics to handle the load of bringing to life everyone that someone didn't want to die. Resurrection refusal would lead to riots - and more dead people to resurrect.
Of course, the priest would have to charge for their services in order to meet costs and to find an economic balance. Even the best of intentioned clerics would be tempted to charge exorbitant amounts of money for resurrections - since they could only do a very small amount per month compared to the actual amount of people who die. Royalty, merchants, and successful adventurers would have much better access to the priests, of course.
Perhaps some temples would institute a raffle for some of the resurrections they would do to try to be fair. Others might only resurrect those they deemed worthy - but eventually they might have to determine worthiness by forms filled in triplicate and authorized by local bureaucrats.
Of course, all this might be simplified by the god or goddess of the religion directly authorizing healing or resurrection or particular people - direct divine administrative guidance. I can see a god getting pretty bored with that job, however, and parceling it out to avatars or angels instead - who would probably give it right back to the priests. The entire system may eventually devolve into a series of bingo games.
If a PC cleric reaches ninth level, it's in their own best interest to not let anyone know - ever. Our mighty adventuring priestess is supposed to be building a stronghold - a keep - at this point - not be working the night shift at Our Lady of Perpetual Life Hospital downtown on Washington and 10th Street as an intern. A ninth level priest is supposed to have on average, 150 soldiers suddenly appear - and I think I know why now.
It's the health care plan.
What this all boils down to in lower level game terms is that when the PCs come out of the the dungeon carrying their dead companion, there probably won't be some hermit priest on the side of the road ready to resurrect them. If that ninth level hermit priest was loitering in the ditch - a city would suddenly spring up around him overnight.
- Ark
Darmok and Jalad
When I'm creating a campaign world, there are many random, haphazard ways I begin. The world that I am working on now popped into my head while reading Labyrinth Lord. Half-baked bits and pieces swirled together until I could see clearly enough to identify a theme. To hell with a world based in any sort of reality. Toss my decades of study on ancient civilizations out the window. Base a world on D&D. Not on any particular D&D world form TSR or WotC, but take the props, take the mechanics, and craft a world that makes sense. So, the world has lots of places for the PCs to go and get experience points, instead of lots of places to go buy mead and torches and doorknobs and palantirs. I think this is a completely new paradigm I am dealing with here. For me, at least. I think some other people may have worked this way for a while.
Enjoy the map. I'm slowly zooming into what I intend to be the main campaign area. I've discovered that some guys from my old 4e group are interested in flying in the wayback machine, so I may need to zoom faster. But what is displayed is a closer view of the Gulf of Labrys Basin.
Click to em . . . make bigger. You'll notice that I was watching Star Trek while drawing the map - a very dangerous prospect indeed.
Oh, the boy was drawing his own map as I was drawing mine. We'll get it up on his blog tomorrow probably. It completely rocks.
- Ark
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Of My Heart Now Baby
First off, I'd like to apologize. I am deeply sorry for getting a Carly Simon song stuck in everybody's head. I'd like to rectify the situation by installing some Janice into your ear. Go on. Take a listen. I'll be here when you get back.
Don't you feel better now? Good.
Now I'd like to welcome The Boy, my son, to the world of Blogging. He has crafted a blog entitled Most Impressive and it is impressive . . . most impressive. He even mentioned D&D so he's pretty much an OSR Blogger now. So go on over and say "Hi" if you so desire. He is currently doing the 'happy dance' upon learning that school will be closed again tomorrow. The fourth day in a row. Somebody please save me.
And the picture? That's an actual photo of him. Okay, not really. I drew an avatar for him when Fairly Odd Parents was all the rage. Looks just like him though. Still.
Oh, and I am so pumped about this Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Episode of Community coming up tonight (whatever the heck Community is.) Yeah! Chevy Chase! And a drow! Less yeah!
- Ark
Don't you feel better now? Good.
Now I'd like to welcome The Boy, my son, to the world of Blogging. He has crafted a blog entitled Most Impressive and it is impressive . . . most impressive. He even mentioned D&D so he's pretty much an OSR Blogger now. So go on over and say "Hi" if you so desire. He is currently doing the 'happy dance' upon learning that school will be closed again tomorrow. The fourth day in a row. Somebody please save me.
And the picture? That's an actual photo of him. Okay, not really. I drew an avatar for him when Fairly Odd Parents was all the rage. Looks just like him though. Still.
Oh, and I am so pumped about this Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Episode of Community coming up tonight (whatever the heck Community is.) Yeah! Chevy Chase! And a drow! Less yeah!
- Ark
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
I Bet You Think This Song Is About You
Vanity publishing! Yes, I have just done it! I've been slinging around a pile of short stories at poor, unsuspecting publishers for years. Regretfully, they were on to me and I've never had anything published. Well, not anymore!I stitched together the best ones (and a couple of odd poems) and come up with 90 whole pages of content. If you act now, you can get all of this in a pdf for free. Okay, if you act in a hundred years, you still can get it all for free in a pdf. This is really just an excuse to bundle up all my old work so I can start fresh in this new decade. I really enjoy them, but it's time to go send them to human lands where they can meet a wife and have children.
The cover has absolutely nothing to do with the stories. You may recognize the little red dude. Yeah. He's up there growling too. Hey - I bought the picture - I'm going to use the picture.
I also made a hard copy version available. That's really just so I can print out some copies for the family. If you really want to buy it - go ahead - but I warn you - I haven't even seen a copy and have no idea if it looks horrific or not. I did edit and proof the actual contents over the last few years - so that should be halfway decent. But how the printed bit looks - no idea.
What you get inside:
Table of Contents
The Value of a Second - (sci fi vignette)
Where to Play - (post apocalyptic Beatles story)
Dawn at Olympus - (the gods must be drunk)
Tech Support Mantra - (outsourcing poem)
Don't Cleanse Your Scent Glands for Me - (smelly sci-fi)
Robert E. Howard’s Last Manuscript - (what evil lurks in Cross Plains?)
Drops of Jupiter - (mopey sci-fi)
Bacon Ranch Salad y Happy Meal - (um, not really sci-fi, more geek)
Reflections - (hard sci fi)
Customer Service - (throbbing sci-fi)
The Squirrels - (RUN!)
Beacons of Light - (power suits galore)
Lyman Alpha Blobs - (astrophysics poem)
Sidebar - (what hath man wrought?)
The Transformation of Harvey in the Valley of the Butterfly Spores - (thump thump)
Ode to a Tachikoma - (Ghost in the Shell poetry)
Here is the Link - > The Value of a Second and Other Flights of Fancy
Enjoy! Or, well, don't enjoy. Your choice. :)
- Ark
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Fish in the Sea
Today my son asked me when I was going to sign us up for the Living Forgotten Realms games happening this weekend. I came clean with him. I told him that with the RPGAs inclusion of Fortune Cards in the LFR campaign, we would no longer be playing. I could no longer support an organization that ran a role playing game where you could get additional character benefits the more cash you shelled out.
He went to his room and cried.
I hate Hasbro and WotC and the RPGA for forcing that decision on me. But it is my decision, and I stand by it.
My son eventually calmed down and we had a deeper discussion about rightness and wrongness and fairness and treating people with respect. There are many more gamers outside the RPGA than inside. We will find more people to play with. And there is a nearly endless variety of games to play.
I do realize game designers' families gotta eat. I do not think this is the right way to go about it. But it's not my company - and I can walk away.
We are now deciding what do on the weekend. The Superbowl is here, so there is no point in even trying to drive on that roads Saturday or Sunday, so it's a good time to stay in. He's thinking about it and will get back with me later. :)
Stay warm.
- Ark
He went to his room and cried.
I hate Hasbro and WotC and the RPGA for forcing that decision on me. But it is my decision, and I stand by it.
My son eventually calmed down and we had a deeper discussion about rightness and wrongness and fairness and treating people with respect. There are many more gamers outside the RPGA than inside. We will find more people to play with. And there is a nearly endless variety of games to play.
I do realize game designers' families gotta eat. I do not think this is the right way to go about it. But it's not my company - and I can walk away.
We are now deciding what do on the weekend. The Superbowl is here, so there is no point in even trying to drive on that roads Saturday or Sunday, so it's a good time to stay in. He's thinking about it and will get back with me later. :)
Stay warm.
- Ark
Monday, January 31, 2011
Moses in the Rushes
So my son and I were clearing off the kitchen table,
getting ready to play our first official Labyrinth Lord game. Denis the Fighter's character sheet was laden
with scattered dice.
I love back story, so I ask my son, "So where does
Denis come from? A big city, a medium
town, or a small village?"
"A great big city," he hopped up to my desk and
pointed the rough draft of the Gulf of Labrys basin. "He was born there, in Norlun."
Hmm, I had intended to start off in Oshtan, which was
more to the south west. Oh well, I could
deal with that.
"Okay, so . . ."
My son wasn't finished.
"And his parents were killed when he was two and he was adopted by
dwarves."
I blinked a couple of times. That completely messed up my whole non-racial
fraternization concept for the world. I
began to imagine baby Denis in a basket made of reeds floating down the
Nile. Oh well, I could deal with that.
I scanned the map.
"There are some nice mountains near Norlun right here. I suppose there could be some dwarves living
here." I nervously looked at the
big word DUERGAR in the mountains. Oh
well, I could deal with that.
"No," he shook his head, pointing to the mountains
with DWARVEN STRONGHOLDS written on them.
"That is where his parents live."
I began scratching my beard. That was over 1,200 miles away from his
home. How in the hell did the two year
old Denis get all the way over there.
The dwarves, in my mind, certainly were not much for travel. They only hit the road if the needed a
Burglar to sneak into lonely mountains.
My mind raced.
"That's a long way away. Why would Denis' parents be anywhere near the
dwarven mountains?"
Of course, the Peanut Gallery had no answer.
"They must have been merchants," I muttered. “
Desperate merchants looking to strike a deal with the dwarves. They would have had to have gone through
here, the NEUTRAL ZONE, which is full of thieves and outcasts of society. They they'd have to brave the Lands of the Goblinkind
to get to the Dwarven Strongholds."
My son nodded.
"The Goblins killed his parents."
"Aha," I nodded back. "It all makes sense now. The dwarves rushed to help the humans, but it
was too late, and all they could save was baby Denis."
"The dwarves taught him to fight and vanquish
anything in his path."
"Vanquish?"
"Yes, it means . . ."
I chuckled, "I know what it means." We sat down and I began to flip to the back
of the Labyrinth Lord book.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Oh, it's a little adventure in the back of the book
I'm going to take Denis through."
"I don't want to do someone else’s adventure. I want to do one of your adventures. Your adventures are much better."
I watched the entirety of my plans go up in smoke. I took a deep breath. I could deal with that.
"Okay . . . so Denis is . . . at his home, in
Jarlsberg . . ."
The boy shook his head.
"It should be a cool name.
Like . . . like . . . Thornhold."
I smiled.
"Okay, So Denis is with his mother and father, Helga and Jarn . . .
Bronzebottom . . ."
"Just Bronze." he said.
"Okay, Denis is deep in the bowels of the Dwarven
Fortress of Thornhold, a hollowed out shell of a mountain. It's normally dark, since the dwarves can see
heat,"
"Like a snake?"
"Like a snake.
But Denis' parents have always carefully lit their home so that Denis
could see well and not stub his toes. So
Helga and Jarn dressed Denis up in the family armor and gave him a sturdy
shield and mighty sword. Then his mother
says 'We've taken care of you all these years, my son, and loved every minute of
it. We've taught you all we can teach
you. It's time you made your way to the
human lands. You need to learn about
being a human. You'll make human friends
and find a human woman to love and have a family with. You can't do that here - only with other
humans.’"
I watched as my son's face began to drop and it almost
looked like he had a tear in his eye.
"It's okay," I said softly. "It's time for Denis to go have adventures now."
"I know Dad," he looked at me, "But Denis
is really sad. He wants to go on
adventures, but Denis loves his mom and dad a lot and will miss them a
bunch."
I nodded and gave him a minute.
"Ready?"
He nodded yes.
"Okay then, Denis' mom and dad hug him and warn him
about the goblins and send him on his way."
He smiled great big.
"Okay, I leave home and go off into the wilderness. Do I see any goblins?"
"As a matter of fact . . . you do."
Okay, now that is why I play.
- Ark
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Riddle Me This - Hit Points
So today I'm playing a little D&D with my son. I just got in the Advanced Edition Companion so I'm feeling all retro - and his fighter Dennis gets knocked down to negative one for hit points. It's been 20 odd years since I've read the dying rules, so I start digging through the AEC for the rules about bleeding from 0 HPs and they dying at -10 - but nothing. Nowhere. Hmm.
What the hell? An AD&D emulator with no 'dying' emulation? Was that not thought neccisary? Just the old 0 HP and you are dead?
So my quesiton is - how do you handle hit points and dying? Zero is death? Negative ten? Something else? And why?
- Ark
What the hell? An AD&D emulator with no 'dying' emulation? Was that not thought neccisary? Just the old 0 HP and you are dead?
So my quesiton is - how do you handle hit points and dying? Zero is death? Negative ten? Something else? And why?
- Ark
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Moving Right Along
As a student of Zen, I should really know when the universe is kicking me in the ass to do something. Okay Universe - I get it. Type IV is dead - long live Labyrinth Lord. Sheesh. Shut up already.
Sigh.
So, moving right along, I'm working on a world that supports the classic D&D feel. I'm having to scrape 4e thoughts out of my mind. Little things like elves being short little dudes that live over 1,000 years, instead of being human sized with 300 years lifespans - these differences really matter. The continuity of elven culture would be much more pronounced. If you can go ask great great uncle Ed what life was like 1700 years ago, well, chances are that kind of society would change very slowly.
Fourth Edition also harps on the fact that the different races are all mixed up all over the place - so while there might be more humans in general, every little village will have some dwarves making swords, halflings hanging out around the tavern, and the ubiquitous half-orc down the road selling doorknobs, or some other stupid things. Blech.
I've made a rough draft of a map for my new campaign. I've marked areas where different races hang out and there is little fraternization. Most races are more likely to kill each other than sell each other door knobs. To me, that feels more like old D&D, but perhaps that was just my pre-teen take on how such a world would be. You know, dwarf-lords in their halls of stone - and all that jazz. You can click on the map down there and it should pop up a bigger one with my nasty chicken-scrawlings more visible.
The idea behind this campaign is that in the past, there was a devastating war lasting thousands of years between the forces of Law and Chaos on the continent. Some humans escaped it by sailing to distant islands and hiding. Chaos won, but Chaos doesn't tend to maintain roads or stabilize local governments or anything useful like that, so everything fell apart.
A thousand years later, these islander humans - all pumped up on the religion of Law - come back to the continent to rehabilitate it. Five hundreds years after the first colony was built, the humans are still having a hell of a time keeping order. Boat crushing sea mosnters, hordes of goblins and orcs, pissed off elves, grumpy dwarves, rabble-rousing halfings, blight-ridden lands, evil high priests, cannibalistic necromancers, and mysterious slavers from the west tend to get in the get in the way of organization.
Who you gonna call?
Enjoy the rough, raggedy map. I'll be focusing in on the central area and developing a hopefully worthy campaign soon.
- Ark
Sigh.
So, moving right along, I'm working on a world that supports the classic D&D feel. I'm having to scrape 4e thoughts out of my mind. Little things like elves being short little dudes that live over 1,000 years, instead of being human sized with 300 years lifespans - these differences really matter. The continuity of elven culture would be much more pronounced. If you can go ask great great uncle Ed what life was like 1700 years ago, well, chances are that kind of society would change very slowly.
Fourth Edition also harps on the fact that the different races are all mixed up all over the place - so while there might be more humans in general, every little village will have some dwarves making swords, halflings hanging out around the tavern, and the ubiquitous half-orc down the road selling doorknobs, or some other stupid things. Blech.
I've made a rough draft of a map for my new campaign. I've marked areas where different races hang out and there is little fraternization. Most races are more likely to kill each other than sell each other door knobs. To me, that feels more like old D&D, but perhaps that was just my pre-teen take on how such a world would be. You know, dwarf-lords in their halls of stone - and all that jazz. You can click on the map down there and it should pop up a bigger one with my nasty chicken-scrawlings more visible.
The idea behind this campaign is that in the past, there was a devastating war lasting thousands of years between the forces of Law and Chaos on the continent. Some humans escaped it by sailing to distant islands and hiding. Chaos won, but Chaos doesn't tend to maintain roads or stabilize local governments or anything useful like that, so everything fell apart.
A thousand years later, these islander humans - all pumped up on the religion of Law - come back to the continent to rehabilitate it. Five hundreds years after the first colony was built, the humans are still having a hell of a time keeping order. Boat crushing sea mosnters, hordes of goblins and orcs, pissed off elves, grumpy dwarves, rabble-rousing halfings, blight-ridden lands, evil high priests, cannibalistic necromancers, and mysterious slavers from the west tend to get in the get in the way of organization.
Who you gonna call?
Enjoy the rough, raggedy map. I'll be focusing in on the central area and developing a hopefully worthy campaign soon.
- Ark
Friday, January 28, 2011
Card Pimps
I shouldn't be surprised, but I seeing it here in print is like a smack in the face. The LIVING FORGOTTEN REALMS® CAMPAIGN GUIDE Version 2.0 includes the optional use of Fortune Cards. This is not the option of the DM - no - it is the option of the players. You build your 'deck' almost like a Magic the Gathering deck. Surprise surprise. "You may have no more than one copy of any individual card (by name) per 10 cards in your deck." Per 10 cards. Multiples of ten. They come it packs of 8. So they are like hot dogs and hot dog buns - they don't match up in count. Great.
"You must have a minimum of 3 cards of each type (Attack, Defense, Tactics) per 10 cards in your deck." Oh just peachy. If the booster set you buy doesn't have the right mis of types, you must buy more. AT 50 cents a card.
THERE IS NO LIMIT ON YOUR STACK. You could have 180 cards piled up on your character sheet.
I could go on quoting the new rules, but I would vomit all over my keyboard. It would be bad enough as a DM running a home game to suffer though the whines of the players begging to use the cards. But in RPGA play - everyone can use them - which means that everyone will. Except the poor shmuck in the corner without enough cash. That little bastard has the fact that he can't afford it ground into his face.
I should stop before I start cursing.
Damn I'm pissed. I'm going to go chew my leg off to calm down.
- Ark
Thursday, January 27, 2011
More Impressions - Labyrinth Lord
I have this unstoppable habit of spelling it LABRYNTH or
LABIRYNTH. I blame Sir Arthur
Evans. For many years, I devoured
anything I could find on the ancient Minoans and Mycenaeans. Good old Arthur, who dug up the palace of
Knossos on Crete, felt that there was a connection between the
"laBYRinth" of Minotaur fame, and the double-sided axe, or
"laBRYs." Other people thought
he was stark raving mad. You see my
confusion - BYR vs. BRY. Sir Arthur
brought the word “labrys” into the English language. It has haunted me to this day.
In a previous post, a reader mentioned that Labyrinth
Lord had helped clear up past confusions with the classic game, echoing my
initial experience with Proctor's work.
I wondered why that was. Was it because
the writing was just clearer?
I pulled up a, er, up, copy, of both Holmes and Moldvay
and read sections of them that corresponded with Proctor. I can't say that one was clearer than the
other two. Holmes may have been a bit
less concise, but Moldvay was equal in brevity and getting to the point.
One factor that did strike me was layout. Labyrinth Lord uses fonts and spacing and
table format that is much more comfortable on the eyes and does not create a
clutter that interferes with getting the data into my head. It looks more modern with the standards that
Word and HTML and Adobe has made us conform to. Perhaps it's not better, but it's more modern
and what we are used to.
A bit of thinking about it lead me to a theory. The difference was me. The distance from 11
to 41 is a long one. I didn't understand
a lot about the game back then. But
honestly, I don’t think I gave them much of a chance. I packed my bags and ran off to AD&D as
soon as I could afford the hardbacks.
Then yeah, whammo. AD&D was
some tough stuff. Rules that I didn't
understand got rewritten on the fly into something that I and the other players
understood and could work with. I didn't
try to make the game work as written.
Since 1981 I've run 30 or 40 different rule systems - and
read a lot more. With 4e I sat down and
read and read and read the rules and discussed them with the players and we
hashed them out until we were playing RAW.
For a whole year I refused to 'fix' any rule, since I wanted to know
fully that I was running it right before I started tinkering with it. When I did start changing things - rewriting
monsters and adding critical hits power-ups and adjusting some magic items - it
rarely felt okay. I would change one
thing and another part of the game would suffer. It was like a house of cards with me
scrambling around under the foundation trying to keep the mess from toppling.
Classic D&D was never sacrosanct. Rules went in and out all the time, sometimes
multiple times in a single session.
I took another gander at the DMG. Back then it kind of hurt to read. Thirty years later, old Gary still hurts my
head sometimes. Read NON-LETHAL AND
WEAPONLESS COMBAT PROCEDURES. No,
really, read it. Here, I'll give you a snip-it:
![]() |
| This is not me - just a radioactive zombie who looks like me. |
"The base score on percentile dice is opponent AC
value times 10 to arrive at a percentage chance to hit, i. e. AC 10 = 100%, AC
9 = 90% . . ."
Um, Gary, dude, I kind of get it, but why did you invent
an entirely different game to slug some zombie in the face? Playing with Gary as DM - sure - that would
be completely awesome. But an 12 year old trying
to run a game like that? Yeah,
right. Well, I guess it was supposed to
be ADVANCED, right?
I thumbed through OSRIC to see if my bearings were
straight. Yeah. They were.
Those rules are hefty. It's not just
a matter of how they are explained. They
sure are a THICK CHUNK to try and cram into your mind.
Labyrinth Lord is that simplicity that I rejected as a
young man because I wanted to be and adult and be smarter than everyone
else. Cripes, I took physics and calculus
for fun too. I wanted to be ADAVNCED -
even if I had no clue what that was.
Digging through the Advanced Edition Companion I see a
completely different idea going on. It's
Moldvay with Advanced sprinkles on top. Really
– very similar to the way I used to play it.
I think that is pretty nifty. It’s
not just a Xeroxed clone. It’s a clone
of the spirit.
I need to find this Daniel Proctor guy and shake his
hand. I suppose instead, I can just
Google him right now though. If only he
wouldn’t have called it Labyrinth Lord.
Something I could spell. Like
Crypt Commander. Or Trench Titan. Or Hole Hero.
But I Gary used tons of words I couldn’t spell either, so I guess nomenclature
legerdemain is something game designers revel in.
- Ark
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Chekhov's Can of Soup
My son has been home sick for the last few days. He's a pretty social kid, and he was beginning
to go stir-crazy. After work today, I
noticed Denis the Fighter under some papers on my desk and asked the boy if he
wanted to finish buying equipment and filling out the rest of his sheet. He looked about as excited as I am
confronting 1040 Full Form Income Tax Return - but said yes.
After settling on the banded mail, shield, and long sword
(who needs the rest of the stuff?) we moved to the Saving Throws. He looked confused.
"You know that roll you make when you get flung off
a cliff or . . . well . . . when anything strange happens and you have to roll
a 10 or above?"
"Yeah," he said, eyeing the chart full of
numbers.
"Well, that's kind of a dumbed down version of the
classic Saving Throws. Some things just
hit. A dragon shouldn't have to roll to
blast you. If you just stand there, you
are toast. It's up to you to pull
yourself out of the frying pan. Or to
not look at the medusa. These are the
numbers you have to roll."
"Oh," he nodded. He did a few test rolls. Poor Dennis would have been a burning,
petrified, poisoned, dead Fighter. My
son frowned. We moved on to Armor Class.
"So when did AC stop being upside down?"
"Um, Third edition, I've heard. Want to see how it
works?"
"Sure."
"Okay, let's see," I opened to the monsters and
immediately saw the entry for Zombie.
"So Denis is in the dark labyrinth with his sword and, um, well, he
probably would have brought along a torch too in his shield hand. And suddenly, a zombie jumps out!"
His eyes widened.
"I stab at him!" My son
arced his arm over his head and I leaned back just in time to avoid getting a
broken nose.
"Okay, get a d20 and roll to hit."
He dug for his special multi-colored lucky one that he
loves, except when it rolls low so he has to give it a stern talking to.
"Do I hit?" he asked, pointing at the 15 on the
die.
I shrugged.
"You tell me. His AC is
8." A quick explanation of the hit
chart and he was all like . .
"Booyah! Now
damage," he understood that one pretty well. "Okay, 6 plus my strength bonus is
7. Does that kill him?"
"Dunno. Let
me roll his hp." Before he could
even ask, I pointed at the zombie entry. "See, he's got 2 hit dice. That's like levels. So I roll 2d8 for his hit points. No one just a a flat amount of hp around here. There we go - nine hit points. So your sword sends chunks of rotting flesh
flying, but your zombie friend is still standing andis looking to get his dance
card punched again."
My son has learned over the years to ignore most of the
bizarre, out of place things I say and distill it down to what matters.
"I HIT HIM AGAIN!"
"Hold up - he attacks you. Oops.
He swings his rusty sword over your head. It would be quite a refreshing breeze if thick puss wasn't oozing from his eye sockets."
"I HIT HIM AGAIN!"
"Hold up - initiative." He grabbed his d20. I shook my head and pointed to the d6. He rolled a 6 and the zombie a 1.
"I HIT HIM AGAIN!" he pointed to the 11 on the
die and on the Attack Value Track.
"See! Three points. He's dead!"
"The zombie explodes like a can of Campbell's Chunky
Sirloin Burger with Country Vegetables put in the microwave for 30 minutes."
"EWWWW!" he said, and went on the clean out the
next eight rooms in the impromptu dungeon.
The two lizardfolk at the end gave him some trouble, but Denis the
Fighter came through with his scalp intact.
A great big smile was on his face. "That went by so fast. It would have taken forever with
Essentials."
I grinned. "And where were all the minis?"
"In here." The pointed to his forehead. "I imaged the whole thing. Denis has great big muscles."
"So did you like it?"
He nodded it the excited way he does, slapping his chin
on his chest. "And, um, I was
wondering. If I'm sick tomorrow, can we
play a whole adventure?"
I imagined spending the day throwing the bones and
chasing my son around in his mind with beasties and wicked bear traps. It sounded really nice. But suddenly I had to be the Dad. "I don't think you are sick any
more. And even so, I still have to go to
work."
He looked down and sighed.
"But since you've been sick, I haven't signed us up
yet for the RPGA games yet this weekend - and they are pretty full. Why don't we stay home this weekend and I can
take you through something." I
glanced briefly at the purple module on my desk that had just arrived in the
mail. Keep on the Borderlands
winked back at me.
"I'd like that." my son smiled.
“Me too.”
- Ark
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
I Finally Found the Link
I guess I should have known. Oh wait - I did.
Reading . . . reading . . . reading . . .
- Ark
Monday, January 24, 2011
Even This Guy Wears a Belt
With much joy, I found Labyrinth Lord sitting in my mailbox today. I had expected it Saturday, but then I always forget that mail speeds seem to slow dramatically in January, as compared to December. I suppose it's when all of the post office's seasonal employees are laid off.
Sitting here holding the book, I find that I am happier with it than most of my RPG purchases over the last few years. So often I'm flipping through a new book and thinking "Dear God what the hell did I just buy, and why the hell did I buy this?" This one is still bringing a smile to my face.
It's much nicer than I thought. I've never bought anything through Lulu, and am surprised. I swear, the binding even looks like it will not splinter into a thousand pieces if I open the book up wide. The art is cooler than I thought it would be, and it is so much damn easier that reading the pdf. And what I have read seems to be clearing up misconceptions and confusions that I've had with D&D for 30 years now. I think I have a winner here.
The boy is tucked in his bed reading a tattered copy of The Hobbit. I think I shall grab some ice cream and apple cobbler, retreat into my bedroom, and devour Labyrinth Lord. Oh, and maybe the cobbler and ice cream too.
- Ark
Sitting here holding the book, I find that I am happier with it than most of my RPG purchases over the last few years. So often I'm flipping through a new book and thinking "Dear God what the hell did I just buy, and why the hell did I buy this?" This one is still bringing a smile to my face.
It's much nicer than I thought. I've never bought anything through Lulu, and am surprised. I swear, the binding even looks like it will not splinter into a thousand pieces if I open the book up wide. The art is cooler than I thought it would be, and it is so much damn easier that reading the pdf. And what I have read seems to be clearing up misconceptions and confusions that I've had with D&D for 30 years now. I think I have a winner here.
The boy is tucked in his bed reading a tattered copy of The Hobbit. I think I shall grab some ice cream and apple cobbler, retreat into my bedroom, and devour Labyrinth Lord. Oh, and maybe the cobbler and ice cream too.
- Ark
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Classic Roleplaying in the DFW Area?
So far, the people that I know have just given me blank stares when I bring up the idea of starting an AD&D-type campaign. Many aren't even sure what it is and have little interest, but some who do just give me look of pity, like I was some sort of simpleton. I figure that if I'm going do some Classic Roleplaying in the next year, I had better start beating the bushes now.
I have heard that there will be a "old-school" D&D Con in my neck of the woods in June (NTRPGCON,) so there must be interest. I'm going to start digging through my usual sources (Pen and Paper Games and . . . um, okay, not sources - source,) but I figured that I might as well ask here as well.
So does anyone in the DFW area play Classic D&D, OSR, or one of the clones, etc, etc? Or if you don't, are you interested? Or know of anyone else who does or have links or resources? Anything? Bueller? Bueller?
Oh, and if you don't know what DFW means, then, well, yeah. Hmm. Dallas-Ft. Worth. Yeah. You probably live too far away. :)
Thanks kindly for any help!
- Ark
I have heard that there will be a "old-school" D&D Con in my neck of the woods in June (NTRPGCON,) so there must be interest. I'm going to start digging through my usual sources (Pen and Paper Games and . . . um, okay, not sources - source,) but I figured that I might as well ask here as well.
So does anyone in the DFW area play Classic D&D, OSR, or one of the clones, etc, etc? Or if you don't, are you interested? Or know of anyone else who does or have links or resources? Anything? Bueller? Bueller?
Oh, and if you don't know what DFW means, then, well, yeah. Hmm. Dallas-Ft. Worth. Yeah. You probably live too far away. :)
Thanks kindly for any help!
- Ark
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Today I Tried to Kill Zeb Cook's Nephew with a Pack of Wild Dogs
![]() |
| I'm in ur liteboks steelin ur lite |
Despite the belts, I saw a pair of fleshy cheeks and a crack at a table. This was from a guy I know graduated high school in the 1990s. We can't go around blaming the teenagers this time. It was a man unknowingly showing off his man ass. It was cold this morning. Did he not notice the breeze? Hmm.
I DMed an LFR mod where there are mysterious sicknesses plaguing a floating school. The PCs are hired to take on the role of substitute teachers and track down the hidden menace. There were lots of opportunities for role play, and the group that I was with took full advantage of them and we had a great time. For the first time in quite a while, We had more ROLE that ROLL.
One of the guys there who I've been playing with for some time turns out to be David "Zeb" Cook's nephew. He mentioned it after the game when I steered the conversation to AD&D. I had no idea they were related. Zeb Cook worked many of the awesome games and mods I played in the 80s. He also was the lead designer on the reason I fled D&D and didn't return for 20 years - the 2nd edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.
Zeb's nephew is one of those people who is very inventive with his characters. They all some some bizarre neurosis or characteristic. There was the guy who would attack any statue he saw. (Pretty good survival tactic in D&D, actually.) There was the Warforged that thought he was a gnoll. And then there is the current character, a shaman that . . . well . . . it gets complicated. The shaman's spirit companion is actually the one in charge. The mortal husk of a shaman is more of a host for the spirit. Needless to say, my son loves his wacky antics.
So, today I tried to kill Zeb Cook's nephew with a pack of wild dogs. I failed, but I did put some severe pain on him. Take that, Second Edition AD&D! Booyah!
- Ark
Friday, January 21, 2011
Sherman and Mr. Peabody
After I chipped my way through the ice into the car this morning, my son and I began the short trek to school.
"So you want to play a game tonight? We could play Trouble or Sliders." When the boy asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him 'boardgames you'd like to play with me.' Ties suck. He got me (R2-D2 is in) Trouble and Sliders. Much better than ties. Oh, that is Sorry Sliders, not the TV show with Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies - though the first two seasons of that would have been cool too.
"Um . . ." he started off with the tone in his voice he gets when he thinks I'm not going to like his answer. "Maybe we could play Castle Ravenloft or Small World." The two were games I had put on my Amazon wishlist for Christmas and actually received. He had been on a Trouble and Sliders kick and the change piqued my interest - but the punch in the arm from the slug bug sighting interrupted my train of thought.
"Ow! You got me!"
Then I smiled back at him. "How about Castle Ravenloft - since I finished reading the rules on that one and haven't started on Small World yet." I still had twenty pages to read of a Living Forgotten Realms mod I was running on Saturday morning and didn't want to learn an entirely new game all at the same time. My brain is old and floppy and can't keep up like it used to.
"Great!" he smiled.
"So two different types of D&D in two days. Wow." I pulled into the dropoff lane. "That reminds me. My copy of Labrynth Lord should be arriving in the mail this weekend. We can take Denis the fighter out for a spin soon."
"I shoulda named him Regdar." he sighed.
"Well, lets keep him as Denis for our Basic type D&D test game. You'll need to roll up a new guy for the the AD&D type campaign. Why don't you call that one Regdar?" The possibility of the first Basic D&D character he creates to die a miserable death is high, so I really didn't want to kill a Regdar on my son's first outing.
"Okay," he said without a fight. "I'll keep Denis, and the new guy for AD&D will be Regdar the First."
A look of confusion spread over my face as he got out of the car.
"My original Regdar was the one we played in the Sea of Tears game. He's Regdar the Second. Regdar the Third is the Regdar in Living Forgotten Realms. So the AD&D Regdar will be Regdar the First."
"Huh?" I asked, knowing that the parents behind me were getting angry, but having a burning desire to know what the hell my son was talking about.
"It' OLD Dungeons and Dragons dad. OD&D. OLD. We are going back in time, right? So this will be Regdar the First. Duh."
It took me a while for my brain to parse that. "Oh."
"Bye Dad!"
Geeeez. The neighborhood parents must hate me by now.
- Ark
"So you want to play a game tonight? We could play Trouble or Sliders." When the boy asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him 'boardgames you'd like to play with me.' Ties suck. He got me (R2-D2 is in) Trouble and Sliders. Much better than ties. Oh, that is Sorry Sliders, not the TV show with Jerry O'Connell and John Rhys-Davies - though the first two seasons of that would have been cool too.
"Um . . ." he started off with the tone in his voice he gets when he thinks I'm not going to like his answer. "Maybe we could play Castle Ravenloft or Small World." The two were games I had put on my Amazon wishlist for Christmas and actually received. He had been on a Trouble and Sliders kick and the change piqued my interest - but the punch in the arm from the slug bug sighting interrupted my train of thought.
"Ow! You got me!"
Then I smiled back at him. "How about Castle Ravenloft - since I finished reading the rules on that one and haven't started on Small World yet." I still had twenty pages to read of a Living Forgotten Realms mod I was running on Saturday morning and didn't want to learn an entirely new game all at the same time. My brain is old and floppy and can't keep up like it used to.
"Great!" he smiled.
"So two different types of D&D in two days. Wow." I pulled into the dropoff lane. "That reminds me. My copy of Labrynth Lord should be arriving in the mail this weekend. We can take Denis the fighter out for a spin soon."
"I shoulda named him Regdar." he sighed.
"Well, lets keep him as Denis for our Basic type D&D test game. You'll need to roll up a new guy for the the AD&D type campaign. Why don't you call that one Regdar?" The possibility of the first Basic D&D character he creates to die a miserable death is high, so I really didn't want to kill a Regdar on my son's first outing.
"Okay," he said without a fight. "I'll keep Denis, and the new guy for AD&D will be Regdar the First."
A look of confusion spread over my face as he got out of the car.
"My original Regdar was the one we played in the Sea of Tears game. He's Regdar the Second. Regdar the Third is the Regdar in Living Forgotten Realms. So the AD&D Regdar will be Regdar the First."
"Huh?" I asked, knowing that the parents behind me were getting angry, but having a burning desire to know what the hell my son was talking about.
"It' OLD Dungeons and Dragons dad. OD&D. OLD. We are going back in time, right? So this will be Regdar the First. Duh."
It took me a while for my brain to parse that. "Oh."
"Bye Dad!"
Geeeez. The neighborhood parents must hate me by now.
- Ark
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Maps
Alexis over at the Tao of D&D set up a wiki a while ago called The Same Universe which is "an experiment in virtual world construction." I think it's a cool concept and have offered up some maps, just in case that is the kind of thing he is interested in. I am not 100% sure that it is, but that's what I've got.
Hopefully the image to the right is changing, but not too annoying. It's a part of the world of Bristia. I drew the outlines many years ago with an actual pen and ink. Bristia is a world that has one season every 365 days. The long winters cause the poles to freeze up, forming ice caps which melt during the spring. The coastline is under constant change, which the animated gif hopefully is depicting right now.
This four year long seasonal cycle creates havoc with anyone trying to live a normal life. The winters are extremely dry, turning most of the the inland areas to desert. The summers obliterate any previously existing coastline. Permanent agriculture is impossible. Groups fight for land that they leave one season and want to return to the next. Imagine ancient inland empires needing to reply on magic and careful water management to survive the winters.
Bristia is a place of constant change where thousands of years of failed empires crumble beneath the feet of the inhabitants. Flash foods caused by glacial melting can be as dangerous as the monsters that roam the land. Plants have developed unique strategies of surviving, including burrowing, locomotion, and big sharp pointy teeth.
I'm done with Bristia. It was fun, but I'm on to other things. I've cleaned up the maps of place names and other doodles and will be offering them to whoever wants them. My hope is someone may fiddle with a campaign there, filling in the blank areas with cultures and cities and dungeons galore. If not, that's okay too. But at least they are out there and not molding in my drawer.
They are not really pretty or anything, but they are functional for a strange world with a seasonal dysfunction. I'll make them available at a printable dpi level format one way or another, I'm just not sure what form that will take yet.
Oh, and I've been meaning to mention this for a while now. George over at Legends and Labyrinths had been looking for some help with his map. I enjoy projects like that, so I fired up Hexographer, and made him a shiny new one.
If you are interested in having a map Hexographered into something vaguely resembling the old Greyhawk maps, let me know. I don't promise anything - but it's the kind of thing I like to do. For free. Yeah, I'm a sucker for latitude and longitude and compass roses.
- Ark
Hopefully the image to the right is changing, but not too annoying. It's a part of the world of Bristia. I drew the outlines many years ago with an actual pen and ink. Bristia is a world that has one season every 365 days. The long winters cause the poles to freeze up, forming ice caps which melt during the spring. The coastline is under constant change, which the animated gif hopefully is depicting right now.
This four year long seasonal cycle creates havoc with anyone trying to live a normal life. The winters are extremely dry, turning most of the the inland areas to desert. The summers obliterate any previously existing coastline. Permanent agriculture is impossible. Groups fight for land that they leave one season and want to return to the next. Imagine ancient inland empires needing to reply on magic and careful water management to survive the winters.
Bristia is a place of constant change where thousands of years of failed empires crumble beneath the feet of the inhabitants. Flash foods caused by glacial melting can be as dangerous as the monsters that roam the land. Plants have developed unique strategies of surviving, including burrowing, locomotion, and big sharp pointy teeth.
I'm done with Bristia. It was fun, but I'm on to other things. I've cleaned up the maps of place names and other doodles and will be offering them to whoever wants them. My hope is someone may fiddle with a campaign there, filling in the blank areas with cultures and cities and dungeons galore. If not, that's okay too. But at least they are out there and not molding in my drawer.
They are not really pretty or anything, but they are functional for a strange world with a seasonal dysfunction. I'll make them available at a printable dpi level format one way or another, I'm just not sure what form that will take yet.
Oh, and I've been meaning to mention this for a while now. George over at Legends and Labyrinths had been looking for some help with his map. I enjoy projects like that, so I fired up Hexographer, and made him a shiny new one.
If you are interested in having a map Hexographered into something vaguely resembling the old Greyhawk maps, let me know. I don't promise anything - but it's the kind of thing I like to do. For free. Yeah, I'm a sucker for latitude and longitude and compass roses.
- Ark
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Basking in the Glow
I have a horn and I'm going to toot it.
I won an award! The Newbie Blogger Award over at Gothridge Manor, to be precise. Yeah! I'm a newb! Or, as my son would say, I'm a BEAST FAIL NOOB. Um, that is a good thing, right? These kids and their slang.
So thanks for the award Tim. And thanks for the nomination, Mike. And if I know how these things work, thanks Happy Whisk!
I'd like to thank my son for providing content and laughs. Also, a huge bowl of thanks goes out to E. Gary Gygax - because those of use with first names we hate so much that we can only refer to them by one letter have to stick together. Oh, and for writing some stuff.
- Ark
PS Oh yeah, and YOU the reader. Yes, YOU. Reading. Now. YOU. Thanks.
I won an award! The Newbie Blogger Award over at Gothridge Manor, to be precise. Yeah! I'm a newb! Or, as my son would say, I'm a BEAST FAIL NOOB. Um, that is a good thing, right? These kids and their slang.
So thanks for the award Tim. And thanks for the nomination, Mike. And if I know how these things work, thanks Happy Whisk!
I'd like to thank my son for providing content and laughs. Also, a huge bowl of thanks goes out to E. Gary Gygax - because those of use with first names we hate so much that we can only refer to them by one letter have to stick together. Oh, and for writing some stuff.
- Ark
PS Oh yeah, and YOU the reader. Yes, YOU. Reading. Now. YOU. Thanks.
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