Gog and Magog for Advanced Era Games

Don't you love it when you are doing a bit of research on a couple of different things and suddenly you read one thing and all these disparate threads come together as a nice whole?  Jung used to call it Synchronicity.  I say that if you bury your head in something for long enough your research numbed brain will see connections everywhere.  In either case this is some thing that clicked for me the other day.

I was doing research on the the original Balor/Type VI demons in 1st Ed AD&D and how there are only six of them.  The DMG lists them as Balor (their leader and the largest), Errtu, Ndulu, Ter-Soth, Alzoll, and Wendonai.  Wendonai.  Doesn't exactly fill you with fear does it.  Since I am using the OGC Balor as the basis of my own Baalor in my games I wanted to expand them a bit.  So these names are purely off limits (save for Balor).

That tied in with all the myths I have been reading (well, since forever) of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales (er Walesland?).  There was a Balor there too.  Only he was a giant with one eye on his forehead and another on the back of his head. I was reading about all these giants when I came across Gogmagog.

I had been familiar with Gog and Magog and Gogmagog because of an off-hand reference on Doctor Who years and years before.  I had scribbled down that Gog and Magog were akin to Ogres, but divine.  I choose ogres because of something the Doctor said "Gog, Magog and Ogre",  pronounced 'O-gree'.  In the book of Revelations Gog and Magog were the ultimate enemies of God's people.  Though to be fair Gog and Magog hopscotch all over the Bible and one is never really sure if they are individuals, peoples, or lands.  Gog and Magog also appear in the Qur'an as a monster (the monster of Gog and Magog) or again as a land.

Recently I reread the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.  The chief of the Balrogs was a being known as Gothmog.  I knew I was on to something.  Obviously Tolkien, a professor of English literature and languages (especially Old English) knew of Gogmagog. In some early versions of Tolkien's work Gothmog is even described as a "son of Melkor and the ogress Fuithluin",  Later a "Gothmog" was also the orc in charge of Mordor's army in the Return of the King.  Obviously named after the Balrog (and less confusing than Glorfindel of Rivendell vs. Glorfindel of Gondolin).

All of this though has given me some ideas.

Here they are using OSRIC and  LL Advanced  Edition Companion.  All text below is considered Open for use under the OGL.

Section 15: OSRIC Chapter V copyright 2007-08 by Stuart Marshall, Chris Hopkins, James Boney, Robert Ross, Jeremy Goehring, Mike Davison, Daniel Proctor, B. Scot Hoover, Chris Cain, Bill Silvey, Floyd Canaday, Vincent Frugé and Matthew James Stanham.
Advanced Edition Companion, Copyright 2009-2010, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.
Adventures Dark and Deep^TM Bestiary, Copyright 2011-2013 BRW Games, LLC.
Gog and Magog for Advanced Era Games, Copyright 2015 Timothy S. Brannan.

Gog and Magog
Class F Standard Order (true) Demons
Frequency:  Very Rare (Unique Demons)
No. Encountered:  2
Size: Large, 13' (Gog), 13' 5" (Magog)
Move: 60 ft; 150 ft flying (AA:III)
Armor Class:  -3 (Gog) / -4 (Magog)
Hit Dice*: 10d8+10 (Gog), 10d8+21 (Magog)
Attacks: 1 bite or by special attack
Damage: 1d12+4
Special Attacks: Flaming great sword (2d8) (Gog) or Flaming great axe (2d8) (Magog) + 3d6 fire
Special Defenses: +2 or better magic weapon to hit
Magic Resistance: 75%
Lair Probability: 0%
Intelligence: High
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Level/XP: 9/3,750 + 13/hp**

Gog and Magog are two unique demons of the same sort of Balor.  While they are larger and more aggressive than their kin, their natures preclude them from ruling large numbers of lower demons as their brethren might.   Gog and Magog are described as "brothers" and this has never been proven by any occult scholar.  They share a physical similarity to each other.  Gog is large, predominantly red in color with black hair and beard. He wields a large flaming sword in battle.  Magog is larger, predominantly black in color with red hair and beard.  He wields a large flaming great axe.  Either causes an extra 3d6 points of fire damage per hit.
Gog and Magog can also use the following powers at will: detect invisibility, detect magic, dispel magic, fear (as the wand), pyrotechnics, read languages, read magic, suggestion, telekinesis (600 lbs.), and symbol (despair, fear, sleep, and stunning).   A +2 or better magical weapon to hit.
Unlike other demons, Gog and Magog cannot gate in lesser true demons.  Instead they may summon 2d6 demonic Ogres each.  These creatures appear as normal ogres save that their skin is red and they are immune to fire, poison, sleep and charm spells.  They also need a +1 or better magical weapon to hit.  Demonic ogres always have the maximum hitpoints for ogres.
Much like other demons, these two will bicker and fight and even plot against each other.  However when confronted with a common foe the will work together to defeat them.  They are completely loyal only to each other. They are often found in each other's company.
They are most often found on the Material Plane, the summoning ritual for one will also summon the other and only rarely in the Abyss.
They are violent, aggressive and constantly angry.  Neither is much for planning, but when pressed they are good strategists and have been used as generals by stronger Demon Lords and Princes.  They have even been known to serve the Baalseraph Ahriman, also known as Angra Mainyu.  A common tactic among the Demon Lords that engage their services are to choose a location and let the brothers go.

*Many "Advanced Era Games" use a d8 for monster HD. I prefer to use a d10 myself.
** Adjust according to your preferred system.

Dungeon Master's Guide 5th Edition

I got my copy of the 5th Edition of the Dungeon Master's Guide the other day.  I have not read through the entire book in detail yet but I have read a good deal of it.

I am prepared at this point to make the claim that this is one of the best editions of the DMG ever.

It stands up extremely well to the classic 1st Edition DMG.  It is hard to match the 1st Ed DMG in terms of content, but this new book does an extremely good job of coming close.

It is certainly better than the 2nd and 4th Ed versions.  It has an edge over the 3rd Ed version as well, but that is only because at the moment I know the 3rd ed one better and the 5th ed one seems to have more material.

Of so far it seems that 1e, 3e, and 5e are the stand outs.

What strikes me the most about the new 5th ed DMG is that it is full of options, not rules.  It gives DMs ideas on how to make rulings, much like old-school games but leaves the details up to the DM.

Honestly if you are an old-school DM and you can't find something of use in this book then you are being unnecessarily obstinate.

This book continues the trend of reading like a "Greatest Hits" of D&D.  Everything from the earliest supplements to 4th edition is here in one form or another.   Sure you won't find the table of Harlots here, but the sample dungeon (also reprinted in 3e) is here.

The Great Wheel cosmology is here along with Sigil (covering 1st and 2nd Ed) the define your own multiverse is here (3rd Ed) and places like the Feywild and Shadowfell (4e) are here.   In fact this book makes all my 4e fluff books usable again. Yeah the mechanics will need to be altered in some cases, but so fare things like DC still line up real nice.

I am looking forward to spending more time with this book.  I am also looking forward to going back to my 1st Ed DMG to compare and contrast.

Healers in Old School D&D

I was going through some old materials the other day while working Strange Brew and found my notes on the Healer class.

That got me thinking and I dug up my 1st Ed AD&D characters and found my character Celene (enspired by this bit of Elmore art).  She was a Healer. Not a Cleric. Also she was my first 2nd character. Stuffed into the wrong folder I guess.

The healer I used back then was an odd mix of materials I had written for the witch, a necromancer class that no one has seen and the Sun Priest.
They all related in a weird way.

I tended to use Clerics more as the Occult Researchers of D&D.  If it was an evil monster then they knew about it.

So healers, even pacifist ones, had more to do in my games.

Did any of you use Healers as a seperate class? If so how did it work out for you? Did they have awesome 80s hair?

Skylla: Adventures Dark & Deep witch

I had planned on doing a Skylla write-up today, but for a different system.  But given that +Joseph Bloch is running a sale this weekend, I think it would be better to use his witch.

I reviewed his witch a while back and I enjoyed it even if there are couple things I didn't like about it. But it is still a fun class and I have enjoyed it.

So here is Skylla using The Darker Paths 2: The Witch and the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.

Skylla
CE Female Human
Witch 7

Abilities
STR: 9
INT: 11
WIS: 15
DEX: 11
CON: 10
CHA: 12* (initial)/5 current

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 7
Petrification, Polymorph: 10
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 13
Spells: 12
+1 to Magical attack saves

Special Abilities (class)
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar (Quasit)
Charisma degradation
Limited to 13th level
Wisdom Bonus Spells (2 1st, 1 2nd)

Secondary Skills
Alchemy

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Spells
1st: Charm Person or Mammal, Detect Magic, Infravision, Protection from Good, Witch Shot, Wither
2nd: Blight Field, Command, Magic Broom, Misfortune, Wizard Lock
3rd: Bestow Curse,  Hand of Glory, Magic Missile
4th: Polymorph Self, Sleep
5th: Season of the Witch

Skylla is a good fit for his style of witch i think. I would have to play more to be sure.  Limiting her to 13th level might the fit the narrative I have for her. She would later go on to take more mage classes.

BRW Games Summer Solstice Sale

I make no secret of my enjoyment of Joseph Bloch's, aka The Greyhawk Grognard's, work.
I enjoy his blog, his games and frankly he has helped tremendously in improving the perception that OSR-based Kickstarters are always late.

So it is my pleasure then to let you all know about his first, and maybe only sale.
All his products (and there is a lot there for a one-man shop) are on sale.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/browse.php?manufacturers_id=3728&affiliate_id=10748

Everything from Castle of the Mad Archmage to Adventures Dark & Deep his "what if" 2nd edition game.

Stop by and pick something up.  Honestly I say grab something, anything, if for no other reason than to tell Joseph that he is doing a good job and sales are appreciated.

Here are some of the books I have reviewed here and really enjoy:
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore
Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual
Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit
Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary
Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer
Darker Paths 2: The Witch

Great Gaming Weekend!

What a great weekend for gaming!

Friday Night I went to my regular 2nd Ed game. We were missing some players so I got to bring along my oldest son.  We got there and more players were missing. So we created some new characters living in the same world with the idea that they could be alternates for anyone that drops into the game or we could even switch from our primary characters to these.  Some hiccups, but all in all a good night and a great bunch of characters.

Sunday Morning I registered for my GenCon games.  I didn't get everything I wanted, but I still got plenty. Going to be playing some Ubiquity and Mage the Ascension for the first time in years.

Sunday Afternoon.  Again, missing characters. This time my youngest son crashed on the couch from his night of playing paintball.  So my oldest wanted to play our 1st Ed game and finish up the Caves of Chaos.  Instead I had him take one of his alternate characters, an assassin, and discover that Mendel the Merchant was part of the Slave trade to and from the Caves.  This will play nicely when they hit the A series later.
Merchant killed, plot discovered.  All in a good day's work.  Now they just need to clear out caves A, B and C and they can move on to the next adventure.

Review: Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales (AD&D 2nd)

A couple of caveats. I love Victorian RPGs.  Also, I primarily reviewing the PDF release.

Wizards of the Coast and their partner DNDClassics.com has released the latest PDF from the TSR/WotC back catalog, this time a product I know very, very well.

Masque of the Red Death and Other Tales is nominally released under the Ravenloft line and you will need one of the Ravenloft core books to be able to play this along with the AD&D 2nd Edition rules.  However if you know the AD&D rules well enough you might be able to get by.  The premise of the game it rather a simple one. What if the Dark Powers from Ravenloft found their way to Earth?  Well...I should state out and out that they never actually say that, but imply it rather heavily.  The is a dark, malignant force controlling things on Earth, known here as The Red Death, and this Earth of the 1890s certainly has a lot more in common with Ravenloft.

Pretty much from the time it was published to the onset of the new 3rd Edition rules, Masque of the Red Death was my campaign world of choice.  I still played AD&D2 in Ravenloft, or rather, I ran AD&D2 in Ravenloft, but the lines between Ravenloft proper and "Gothic Earth" became very, very blurry.

For this review I am going to talk specifically about the PDF and only discussing the original boxed set format when appropriate.

To begin with we get five PDFs in this package. These correspond to the four books and the DM's screen.

Book I is the main Masque of the Red Death book.  It is 130 pages of a high quality, OCR scan.  Some the images are fuzzy, but I feel that is more due to the source images rather than the scan itself.  The scan comes in at just over 35 meg.
We begin with an overview of what this campaign guide is about.  I might be mistaken, but this is the first official AD&D product to take place on Earth.   This followed up with a history of Gothic Earth.  Things began to go downhill for everything around 2700 BC when Imhoptep (yes, same as the Mummy movies) began experimenting with darker magics.  The next dozen or so pages bring us to the present day (1890s).  The history is a fast read and I would not ignore it. It sets the tone for the entire game.
Chapter II details character creation.  There are different methods used than the PHB to reflect that characters are not your sword wielding barbarians of a bygone age.  So characters are more average.
There are rough parallels to all the classic AD&D classes, Soldiers, Adepts, Mystics, and Tradesmen.  The AD&D Proficiency system is used here as well.  Interestingly the system seems make more sense here (since skills are really what sets characters apart) but also shows its wear and tear.
Money and Equipment is also detailed in Chapter IV.   Interestingly this one of the few Victorian era games where the default currency is listed as American Dollars rather than Pounds Sterling.
It should be of note that this also the book that adds guns to AD&D2.  Quite a number of guns are detailed here as well.
Chapter V covers magic and you really need the Player's Handbook for this section.
Chapter VI covers the changes to combat.
Getting back to what really makes this special is Chapter VII An Atlas of Gothic Earth. I should point out at this point that the large poster sized map that came with the boxed set is not included here.  It gives a brief overview of the world.  This section is done much better in the full fledged product that shares it's name.
The first Appendix covers various character kits.  If you remember 2e at all, you remember kits. Quite a few interesting ideas are detailed, but you could also do these with the base four classes and good roleplaying.
Appendix II covers some villains of Gothic Earth. There are plenty of old favorite here and some new takes on old characters.  Though I will admit the one thing that still gets on my nerves is Moriarty re-done as a Rakshasa.  In my games he was human. And yes, Dracula is there as well.
And finally Appendix III covers adventuring in Gothic Earth.

Book II is an adventure in 3 parts by future Pinnacle Entertainment head honcho Shane Hensley and featuring the rock star of Gothic fiction, Dracula.  The advantage of this PDF over my boxed set copy? I can print this out and make changes to it. Yeah it is a good adventure, but I can't help but feel it is a pastiche of Hammer and Stoker's original work.

Book III is a Jack the Ripper adventure, Red Jack. Unlike Moriarty's change into a supernatural creature, this adventure make "Jack" into something more mundane.  Normally I would be fine this, but the name of the adventure itself and some of the elements BEGS it to be tied to the old Star Trek episode The Wolf in The Fold and Redjac.

Book IV is the Red Death, an adventure based around elements of the Edgar Allen Poe story.  Some details have been changed and added, but the spirit is the same.  Again, I am tempted to make the main antagonist, Prospero, the Prospero.

Book V is the DM's screen.

Again I'll point out that the large poster sized map is missing.

Once upon a time this boxed captured my imagination like no other game.  This PDF makes me want to crack open some 2e.

Dungeons.. AND Dragons.

So week end wrap up.

Wow. What a busy week really.

Tonight is 2nd Ed. AD&D, a continuation of our Basic game from two-weeks ago. But I am dead tired.

So here is a size comparison of some Dragons.  Happy Friday!

Playing Some Old School Basic D&D Tonight, Part 2

So my old school Basic game last Friday went great!

I got to play a witch from my own book that I didn't roll up myself.  It was so great.
Yes we were all 1st level characters. At one point we were attacked by giant rats, but since my familiar is a rat I managed to talk our way out wit no bloodshed and we even got the heads up on some of the monsters.
Our DM is using some houserules and they worked out fine.

What I think I am enjoying the most is that the game is set in the Known World of Mystara!

It was mostly a younger crowd.  Yes. My dice were older that everyone play save for me and the DM.
Next session we are converting over to AD&D 2nd ed.  One of the player has never played 2e and most of the players there never had played Basic either.

Our DM, Greg, is going to let me use my old 2e Netbook of Witches too once we convert.  We figure we will try out a few "old school" systems and then stick with what we like.  I have a feeling we will land on 2e in the end.  It seems to do what we want to do best.  Though we are looking pretty hard at +Joseph Bloch's +Adventures Dark and Deep for some ideas.

In any case this is going to be a lot of fun.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 16

Day 16: What was your first Edition War? Did you win?

I honestly can't recall my first Edition War. I personally find edition wars in general to be pretty stupid.

 I do recall a lot of complaining when 3e first came out.

I have participated in Edition Wars in the past, to be honest, I have gone in with the intention of defending whatever edition seems to be getting the wrong end of the majority.  Lately, that has usually meant 4th ed.

There is no "winning" in edition wars.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 15

Day 15: What was the first edition you didn't enjoy. Why?

Hmm. Generally speaking I have enjoyed every single edition. Sure for different reasons, but in truth as long as I am throwing dice with friends or family then I am happy.

Though I will admit I was getting burned out on AD&D 2nd ed by the mid 90s and when the Skills and Powers books came out I was pretty much done.

I felt the Skills & Powers books were overkill and took D&D into deep munchkin territory.
Picking up the new 3rd Ed Players Handbook in 2000 was the only thing that won me back to D&D to be honest.

Also at this point I was playing more WitchCraft RPG and branching out to other games more.  The AD&D Skill system was by then horribly dated.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 14

Day 14: Did you meet your significant other while playing D&D? Does he or she still play?

No. I met my significant other playing cards.  She was over in our dorms because she already destroyed everyone her dorm at cards.  Her game at the time was euchre, but she also played a lot of pinochle.  Yeah she kicked my ass, but I am not very good at cards.

It was not till more than 10 years later that she played for the first time.  It think it was 1997 or so.  We played some 2nd Ed AD&D and I was running Keep on the Borderlands.
They never made it to the caves.  I swear she and two of our friends spent more time buying stuff at the Keep's weaponsmith.
The other oddity of this they all wanted to play gnomes.  All first time players.

Strangest session I ever ran.

Come Endless Darkness,Part 2

So yesterday I posted this great idea I had for adventures for my kids for their 1st Ed game.
I *thought* I had a cool original-ish idea.  Well...not so much.

It was pointed out to me (thanks Sciamantis!) that this was already done in a series of 2nd Ed adventures.

• 9570 A Darkness Gathering
• 9571 Masters of Eternal Night
• 9572 Dawn of the Overmind

I must have had some knowledge of these, at least in a broad sense.  I don't own them and they date from my D&D hiatus of the late 90s.  They are written by +Bruce R Cordell, so that gives me confidence but otherwise I know very little about them.  Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these?  I'd like to know more about them before I start cruising  Half-Price Books and eBay for them.  They are not up on DnDClassics.com yet.

That also brings up a larger issue.  I am using modules in my game here to give my kids a shared experience with other gamers.  B2 is a rite of passage, the GDQ series is equally iconic.  These are things they can talk about with others.  Hell I don't even need to describe them, I can just say B2 or GDQ. 

But these other adventures are not the same are they?  They might be great, they might even be perfect for me, but if I didn't even recall them then how much of a shared experience can they get?

New Poll

I have set up a new poll, the first of a few.  I want to get a better idea what games everyone is playing.

This first pool is a simple D&D Editions one.  Your choices are:

*D&D (B, 1, 2) or Retro-Clone (Original up to 2nd Ed, all clones fit here.)
D&D 3.x/Pathfinder
D&D 4
D&D 5/Next

You may choose multiple choices. Even that gives me some information.
You can expand on your choices here if you like.  I am not interested at the moment in what you are *not* playing, but what you are playing.

The *D&D/Retro-Clone category is huge. Yes. But I am going to split that one out later.

So have it!  Tell me what you are playing.

To Stranger Skies

I have been watching, but not participating in (yet, see below) Bruce Heard's World of Calidar Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambreville/world-of-calidar

I will be honest, it looks fantastic and it should be a lot of fun.  But I was going to wait for the PDF since I never feared that he would get to his goals.  Plus I am trying to cut back on my Kickstarter addiction.

Bruce is a great guy and I have been a fan of his work since the Glantri Gazetteer first came out.  So I know this is going to be a good one.  Thorfinn Tait is doing the maps. If you don't know Thorf, well he has been doing maps for Mystara's fan community for decades; going all the way back to the MYSTARA-L list on MPGN.net.

I changed my mind this past weekend.  I was going through a stack of old notes and sheets for a different project that I found my old Spelljammer characters.  I say Spelljammer, but we never quite got that far.  The idea was loosly based on Star Trek and they characters all started on ship that would eventually get to the stars.  All the characters were officers  so even the 1st level wizard began as a 3rd level fighter.  It was going to be something very, very different than what I had done in the past.  But the realities of college life got in the way and we never got all that far with it.  I have no idea if my DM at the time even did anything else with it.  I think he did.  The game was going to be predominantly on the shared Mystoerth world my DM and I had.

There had been games that have arisen in the past that made me think back to that old game, but this is the first that has made want to try it out again.

World of Calidar is set up to be "edition neutral" so really I could use anything with it.
So I am going to support this one. I'll look for a good edition to try it with too.  I'll admit I am tempted to do this with 2nd Ed AD&D or Adventures Dark & Deep.

Review: Adventures Dark & Deep The Darker Paths

Nearing the end of my delve into Adventures Dark and Deep so here are two older products. In fact I picked them up about a two years ago and reviewed them then.

These two classes appeared under the subtitle "Darker Paths" and they are two favorite classes of mine.

Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer
The Necromancer is the first in a set of alternate classes for the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.
The Necromancer is one of the more popular "alternate classes" developed for any fantasy RPG.  Almost always an alternate class and never a core one, the necromancer is the ultimate foe in many games or the ultimate PC in others.  But as long as horror and undead are popular in game, then the necromancer is right there with them.
Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer packs a lot of  punch in a small book. At only 24 pages, we get a new class, a "new" race and 75 new spells.  No small feat really. The material is for the Adventures Dark and Deep game, but it certainly can be used with any retro-clone, near-clone or any other game that emulate AD&D 1st ed or Basic D&D.  The art is mixed, but very evocative of the era.  Some new pieces and some public domain works (and it looks like the editor did his research too).
If you like Necromancers and play an older edition of the game, whether an honest older edition or a newer clone, then this is a good choice.

Darker Paths 2: The Witch
I am always a bit hesitant to review other peoples work on witch-related classes since I have products of my own out there. I fear of being too critical or too lax, each to out weigh the other.  In the end I think I just need to review the product as is.  Like DP1: The Necromancer this product is for the "Adventures Dark and Deep" RPG, OR any other near-clone of AD&D.  Also like the first Darker Path book this presents the witch as an evil character class; not the Earth loving priestess of old faiths or even the spiritual seeking witches of modern tales.  This must be recalled when reading the rest of this book.  These witches are more Baba Yaga and not Circe for example.  There is the obligatory disclaimer on Contemporary Witches and how this game is not that. (As an aside, as someone that has written these myself this one does seem more of a disclaimer of "don't email me" rather than a "I am not trying to offend", but that could just be me. EDITED: I did get an email clarification on this and the author was very much in the "I am not trying to offend, but these are different things" camp, which is cool by me.)
Witches in this game are all evil and their main ability is Wisdom.  Their Charisma must start high, but it degrades as the witch rises in level.  Interesting.  I am not sure I like that since it seems here that Charisma is used as an "Appearance" proxy and not as a "Force of Personality" one.  It would make it hard to make a character like Circe, who was evil, attractive and had a lot of force of personality, as a witch in these rules. That is fine, she would have to be something else, but I do want to point it out.
Witches advance to 13th level; so reminiscent of the druid.  She has a nice variety of spells to choose from (more on this) and there are rules for her brewing potions and poisons.   Like other witches of folklore, this witch can also have multiple familiars.  A nice touch in my mind.
The spells are the real gem of this book.  Nearly 50 new spells there are a lot of classics here.  There are spells on Candle Magic (and done differently than my own) and nearly every base is covered (curses, storm summoning, afflicting others).

Like with DP1, the art is a mix of new and public domain art, but all of it is appropriate to the feel of the book.  In the end this is a very good evil witch class.

One thing that is nice about these classes is  they are sub-classes of the Mage and Cleric respectively.  So you multi-class them.  Well...it's not in the rules per se but you should be able to.   Of course I have teh perfect test character for this.  My latest acquisition, Light Core Hex!

Hex
CE Female Dark Elf
Witch 5 / Necromancer 5

Abilities
STR: 10
INT: 15
WIS: 18
DEX: 9
CON: 10
CHA: 13

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 9
Petrification, Polymorph: 12
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 15
Spells: 12

Special Abilities (class)
Magic bonus: +6 to magical saves
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Affect Undead
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar
Limited to 13th level in Witch
Charisma degradation

Special Abilities (race)
Infravision 120'
Speed 150'
Bonus Spells
Sunlight Vulnerability

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Experience: 38,050 (19,025 each)

Spells
Witch
Blue Flame, Ghostly Hands, Witch's Mark, Blight Field, Fascinate, Magic Broom, Fear, Hand of Glory, Spit Poison

Necromancer
Chattering Skull, Death Mask, Detect Bones, Ectenic Blast, Eyes of the Dead, Animate Dead

Bonus (race)
Faerie Fire, Dancing Lights, Darkness 5' radius, Detect Magic, Know Alignment, Levitation, Clairvoyance, Detect Lie, Suggestion, Dispel Magic

Bonus (wisdom)
Detect Good, Ears of a Bat, Charm Monster, Misfortune, Magic Missile, Sleep

That's a lot of magic!

I have done Skylander's Hex before for other systems:

• 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (witch class)
• Pathfinder (witch class)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay (warlock class)
• Basic Era, The Witch (witch class)

This one is by far one of the more powerful!  To get an idea of the rule differences between the systems, have a look at all these versions.

So +Joseph Bloch, if I ever play Adventures Dark & Deep with you at a convention can I use this character?!

Review: Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary

If you ever only buy ONE product from BRW and the Adventures Dark & Deep line then make sure it is this one.

I love monster books. I have said so many, many times. But I also hold them to a high standard.  While I Will gladly buy any monster book, few get my high praise.  Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary is one of those few.

Let be honest up front.  We have seen most if not all the monsters somewhere else before.
Most are in the SRD or from other Open sources. The new ones are great, but they are ideas we have seen.

And none of that matters.  This is still a great book.
At 457 pages (pdf) it is a beast. Monsters are alphabetically listed by areas you would find them in.  So Wilderness and Dungeon is by far the bulk of them, but there are also Waterborne (fitting in with the rules) and "Outsiders" or monsters from the other planes.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

The book begins with two monster spell casters, the Shaman and the Witch Doctor.  Shades of similar classes from the BECMI RC to be sure. But they work here great and frankly I know someone will want to use these rules to play a Shaman one day.  Heck I once tried a Wemic Shaman in early 2e days myself.  Maybe I'll see if I can do that here.  The classes are not detailed and they don't need to be. The do what they need to do.

The Monster descriptions are a bit like those found in OSRIC though there are some interesting additions.
Each Monster has a Morale, like that found in Basic and 2nd ed, though it is not score but an adjustment.  Attacks are listed in the stat block, though they are the attack types. This is most similar to "Special Attacks" in other rules.  Also wholly new are "Weaknesses" which is an interesting idea and one I think other OSR publishers should adopt.  Each monster then gets a couple of paragraphs of text.  Many are illustrated thanks to the highly successful kickstarter for this (more on that later).  The illustrations are great too as you can see here and here.

All the monsters have General, Combat and Appearance sections in their write-ups.

Unlike 2e (and 4e) monsters are not confined to one-page entries.  Some have paragraphs, others just a few lines.  This is good since I think we would have something like 1000+ pages.  I think I read there are 1100 monsters in this book. Maybe 900.  Anyway it's a lot.  I spot checked a few monsters I thought might not be there, but sure enough they were.  Ok so the ones that are Closed via the OGL are not here, but I was not expecting those.  There are some alternates and stand ins if you really, really need them though.

The book sections are:
Wilderness and Dungeon, aka Most of the Monsters
Underwater and Waterborne, larger than expected, but not surprised given the material in the core books.
Prehistoric Monsters, always nice to have; Dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals.
Extra Planar Monsters, your Outsiders.

Appendix A details creating your own monsters.
Appendix B has something I didn't even realize was missing till I started reading the stats; a basic psionic system for psychic strikes.
Appendix C covers random creatures from the Lower Planes.  This is the first "Gygaxian" touch I have noticed in this book.  Reminds me of a really old Dragon magazine article from years ago..
Appendix D is magic resistance table
and Appendix E covers the abilities of Gods.

All of this in a PDF for just under $15.

I have mentioned before that Joe gets his work done and gets it done fast. Well this is not only no exception but it is the new benchmark.  Joe ended his kickstarter and then got printed books out to people 6 months early.  Let that sink in for a moment.  In a hobby where we tolerate (although not quietly) Kickstarters with delays of 18 months, Joe and BRW are out there, turning out product and getting it to people early.
You should buy a copy of this book on that principle alone.

So should you get this book?

If you like monsters then yes.  If you need monsters for your oldschool game then yes.  If you want to support Joe and the Adventures Dark & Deep system then yes. If you want to reward good Kickstarter behavior then absolutely yes.

Lots of good reasons to get in my book.  It is also the best book in his line. Kudos to +Joseph Bloch .

Review: Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit

One of the greatest books ever produced for any game is the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.  One of the most disappointing books ever made was the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.

The logic for this was good.  All the information that all players need should be in the Player's Handbook.  The rest goes into the DMG.  The result should be a larger Player's Book than a Game Master's book. That is what we got for 2nd ed.  Somehow it didn't quite work as well.

Adventures Dark & Deep follows the same logic but gain a different result.
The Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit is the book that BRW and Joseph Bloch didn't have to do a Kickstarter for.   The statement that Joe put out at the time was Kickstarters are for projects he needed to finish the funding for.  The Game Masters Toolkit did not need it.

The GMTK is smaller than the Player's Book at 174 pages.  Not as small as the 2nd ed DMG, but the comparison is there.  The GMTK also includes some information from A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore but it also has a lot more.

The GMTK also follows an example from 2nd ed and it largely mirrors the layout and placement of sections form the Players Book.  Something that the 1st ed DMG could have done better.
We start with a discussion on "alternate" races like the Dark Elf or Deep Gnome.
Various NPC types are discussed including class distribution and some non-classes like noble and hirelings.
There are tables to generate personalities and physical traits for random NPCs, as well as alignment and possessions.

We get into the Game Environment that is a hold over from A Curious Volume.
Swimming, Underwater travel and Flying are also discussed along with various terrains and hazards.  A little bit down we have a section on ships that is greatly expanded.  Again, could have used this when I was wrapping up my 1st Ed AD&D game.
The feel of these is similar to the classic DMG, but better organized.

Social Encounters come from A Curious Volume, but having them here in context with the other rules is much nicer.

Treasure types are discussed and magic item distribution.

The most interesting bits to me are coming up.   To me this shows the influence of the 3e DMG or just a natural progression.  Bloch covers not just the campaign world, the campaign mythos as well.  So whether you like playing in a Classical world, a Lost Golden Age, Underground or even in a Lovecraftian-inspired world is up to you. You are given the tools to build what you need, but not the worlds themselves (this is Feature, not a Bug!).

Religion and Gods are covered next.  Various reasons to have a god or a patron deity are covered and what sorts of powers they all have.  The list of powers and abilities is more 1st Ed than 2nd Ed.  I will also admit I don't know much off the top of my head about what Gygax said about gods and religions.  I know he said some things.  On a personal note I had conversations with  Mr. Gygax himself on the topic of religion and I know he was no great fan despite his own history.
Bloch though moves on and gives us a sample Pantheon to use in our game, the Norse gods.  Again from personal knowledge I know that Joseph Bloch is a fan of the Norse mythology and gods, so this is a good fit really.   Though I do wonder at the utility of listing the XP for permanently slaying Odin (1,022,000 XP btw).

The Planes of Existence is up next and it is cut from the Gygaxian cloth.  Wholly compatible to what we have seen in 1st and 2nd ed, there are some nice twists.  I like the art depicting the planes in relationship to each other.

Next we get into a section on Designing Adventures.  Covered are Dungeons, Wilderness and Urban.  The section is not long, but very useful.

Magic Items are next.  Personally I would have liked the charts for the Magic Items and the descriptions to all be in one place.  This takes up quite a bit of the book at 70 pages.

Appendix A is last and it collects and reprints all the useful tables.
Correction: Appendix A is a whole new set of random tables.  Sorry for the oversight on that!

With the GMTK you can really see the utility of Adventures Dark & Deep over a reference guide like OSRIC.  Not a slight at OSRIC at all, but this book has a slight edge in just by being a seperate Game Masters book.

To me the advantages of this book, all this information is one place, is better than say OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord + what is missing.

That being said, there are still some things I would have done differently. Most involve the placement of various section. Others I know are "locked" into the Gygazian visions or at least how Joseph Bloch interprets them. For me, I think I would have expanded the sections on adventuring in Dungeons, Wilderness and Urban settings more.  I would have expanded the section on how to create magic items and even changed somethings.  But that is me.

All in all this is a good addition to the game line.  I felt less of the Gygax connection here. Hard to say if that is me not knowing what he said on these subjects OR these are things that need to be here logically to make the rest of the game work.  In any case I am happy with what I got.

Review: Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual

Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual is the first major release from BRW Games and the first major release of what is the Adventures Dark & Deep game.  Again, a lot of what I have said about
A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore is true here.  Including how this was the result of a particularly successful Kickstarter that shipped early.

The book works under the premise of what would 2nd Edition have looked like if Gary Gygax had stayed at TSR.  Joe has taken articles, interviews and discussions and something like an anthropologist pieced it all together to get something new and yet familiar.   Unlike the previous book, the Player Manual makes no assumptions that you have AD&D1 or OSRIC.  There are some obvious roots in those games, but this is now it's own thing.

Like most Player's books this one concentrates much of it's text on creating characters.
There is the obligatory sections on how to use the dice and then how to generate ability scores.  In a difference from this game and it's spiritual cousin AD&D 2nd ed, we still have exceptional strength.  Also all the ability score tables go to 25.  Humans (and most PCs) still rank 3-18.
The same six ability scores are here.  Interestingly enough, not Comeliness.  I thought that would have made the cut.

Races are covered.  Again the same ones we have seen before.  But thats the point isn't it? This a AD&D2 as if Gary had created it.  So there are a lot of elements in common here with AD&D 1 and 2 plus older versions.  We do get a Dark Elf (not a Drow) and Half-Orc.  It would take a critical eye to see the differences here between Adventures Dark & Deep and say OSRIC.

Classes include the new and the old.
From A Curious Volume we have: the Bard, Jester, Mystic, Savant, Thief-Acrobat, Mountebank
From the classic sources we have: the Paladin, Cleric, Druid (topping out at 15th level), Fighter, Barbarian, Ranger, Mage, Illusionist, Thief
And new to this volume we have: the Cavalier, Vates (Druids of 15th level and higher).
The Assassin is listed in the Appendix.
Classes are grouped into Class and Sub-class like AD&D1/2 but not like OSRIC.  So all in all 17 (18) classes.  Not bad really.

The Alignment system is the same as *D&D.

Secondary Skills is pretty much the same as what is found in A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore. Same with the Monthly Expenses which is now part of Social Class.

The next big section is Combat which includes the standard D&D style combat we all know and the additional material from A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore.  Morale is back in this edition, sort of like it was in Basic and AD&D2.   There is a nice section on item saving throws. I have seen similar ones over the years, but this one seems fairly complete.

The next section is Magic.
It includes the making of magic items, learning spells and even an optional rule on sacrifice.  The bulk though is devoted to spells.
The Spells are listed by class and level, but all the spells are alphabetical.  There are 118 pages of spells, so roughly what you would expect from OSRIC and A Curious Volume. I see about 6-7 spells per page, so maybe close to 650 spells. There could also be more, but I did not check every single one.  The spells are are written in a way that makes them compatible with pretty much every other OSR-style book out there.

Appendix A covers the Assassin class.
Appendix B covers weapons vs. various Armor types. A very Gygaxian holdover. As opposed to vs. AC, this is actually the type of armor. I like it and it makes sense.  I am thinking of using this in my own old school game to be honest.
Appendix C covers combat tables.

The book does capture the feel of old D&D with some interesting twists. None that would trip you up, but still enough to make you go "huh, that is kind of neat".

The art is nice and still invokes that Old-School feel without looking dated.

The PDF is copy/paste restricted, but not print restricted. Which is good because I want to print that Appendix B.  The physical book is nice and sturdy and at 257 pages it is a decent sized book. It compares well to the AD&D 2nd Ed Player's Handbook to be honest.

It is a nice book.

So who should get this book?
Well if you like the OSR or enjoy AD&D then this is a good choice.  It is a better "game" than OSRIC is.  I say "game" because OSRIC isn't a game as much as a reference to a game you already know how to play.

If you have A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore and OSRIC then yes you could re-create this book on your own.  But part of the utility of this book is that all of that information is in one volume. 

It is worth it for the new classes and spells too.

I like it because it is a well researched "What If" experiment, much like Spellcraft & Swordplay (what if D&D continued using the default combat roll) and B/X Companion (what if the Companion rules had come out for B/X and not BECMI).  We will never know what Gygax's 2nd Ed would have been like. In a way, really we don't need to know. 2e was fine and Adventures Dark & Deep is here now.
It is perfectly playable and fun.

More tomorrow!

Review: Adventures Dark & Deep A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore

A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore is the first of Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep books.  It is presented as an add-on or supplement to OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord or any other "Old School" game.  But its roots are obviously in AD&D 1st edition.

The book works under the premise of what would 2nd Edition have looked like if Gary Gygax had stayed at TSR.  Joe has taken articles, interviews and discussions and something like an anthropologist pieced it all together to get something new and yet familiar.
At a modest 140 or so pages, this book packs in a lot.

We begin with some level limits of some newer races. By newer I mean ones that did not appear in the Player's Handbook/OSRIC.

We quickly move into classes.  First up it should be noted is a usable Bard class.  No more advancing as a thief, fighter and then druid to get to the bard, this is a straight out bard class.  Already makes it worth it.  The bard also has some nice powers too.  I will be honest, when playing in my "old school" games this is the Bard I look to the most often now.
We also get a Jester class, which is nice because it is one of those classes I remember Gygax talking about wanting to use all the time.  Same with the Mountebank.
The mystic class seems closer to the BECMI/RC version than it does to the monk.  Which is fine by me really.
The last class is a savant, another one I recall reading about back in the day.  This one is more of your occult investigator/sage with some magic type.

So far as a "class book" it is shaping up real nice. Lots of ones I'd like to try out and they fill niches that /could/ be filled by other classes, but they make it their own.

The next section is on Secondary Skills, which seems to refine the system in AD&D, but not quite a full blown skill system.  Very much in the vein of "your class is what you do, but you have this extra thing" philosophy.
We end up the characters section with monthly expenses and starting ages.

The next section is on combat with an alternate combat system.  Again I seem to recall talk of such a thing, but it is more vague in my memory that the classes.
The system is detailed and should appeal to anyone that like more flavor to their AD&D combat.

We get a page on Social Encounters.
Next is an expanded Treasure listing and a section on ships and waterborne adventures.  Something I could have used at the close of my AF&F 1st ed games to be honest.

The next 25 pages are dedicated to magic including a number of new spells for the new spell casting classes.

The Game Master's section is next, though it is not specifically called that.
New dungeon hazards are covered and then we get to magic item descriptions.

We end with some new monsters which include various Angels, Demons and some dragons.

All in all this is a good addition to the AD&D/OSRIC/LL-Advanced game.  Even if you don't use everything here there is enough to make it worth your while.