A to Z of Adventure! Z is for Zanzer's Dungeon

Z is for Zanzer's Dungeon.

Here we are once again at the end of the A to Z challenge.

Z, like some other letters here, does not signify a module code.  In this case there is an obvious choice.  Back in the early 90s the D&D brand was in transition.  There was the Dungeons & Dragons line, with rule-books named Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters, and Immortal (BECMI) and a single book Rules Cyclopedia that combined the first four.  Then there was the completely separate Advanced Dungeons & Dragons line which had rules-books named Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monstrous Manual.  These books were in their 2nd Edition.
Confusing?  Yeah it was to us too.

In 1991 TSR, the then publisher of D&D released their newest, and what would be one of their last, in the "Basic" sets. The set was called "The New Easy-to-Master Dungeons & Dragons Game" but gamers often called it the "Black Box".  The adventure inside was a bit of preview of things to soon come.  Zanzer's Dungeon was laid out like a board game complete with little plastic minis for the characters and paper fold top minis for monsters.  This was compatible with the BECMI flavor of D&D and worked as a replacement for the Basic Set and an introduction to the Rules Cyclopedia.

While the game was highly praised for it ease of use and intuitiveness. I never bothered getting it at the time.  I picked up my copy (pictured here) many years later as a means to teach my kids how to play.  Turns out they learned like I did...just by playing.

The board-game like play area is welcoming to new players.  Now they can see what they are doing.
Persoanlly that annoyed me because for years my rule books would say that you don't need a board, only your imagination!  Though today I use tiles and maps just like this.

In fact Zanzer's Dungeon here is the same scale as the maps used in 3rd and 4th edition D&D (and 5th if you care to), so the minis we have been using will work here too.

This set would later be expanded with the Dragon's Den boxed set, which was also board game "shaped".

One day I'll use these as an intro game for something.  Better than them collecting dust on my shelves!

A to Z of Adventure! M is for Masters Series

M is for Masters Series.

The Masters series of adventures were created for the BECMI version of D&D.  Typically around here I have BECMI as roughly synonymous with B/X D&D or "Basic D&D" well....the M or Master Series is around to remind me that this is not really the case.

So a bit history.
The first Basic Set was authored by John Eric Holmes in 1977.  Gamers often call this "Blue Book Basic".
The next Basic Set was written by Tom Moldvay and was followed by the Cook/Marsh Expert Set. These books are collectively known as B/X.
The next set would be the last "Basic D&D". It was written and edited by +Frank Mentzer and included the Basic, Expert, Companion, Masters and Immortal sets. Also known as BECMI.
Each set detailed more levels of the game; 1-3, 4-14, 15-25, 26-36, and Immortality, respectively.

The Masters set and M series of modules were designed for experienced players and characters of 26th level and higher.

Only five M series modules were made.

Code	Title	Levels	Author(s)	Published	Notes
M1	Into the Maelstrom	25–30	Bruce Heard, Beatrice Heard	1985
M2	Vengeance of Alphaks	28–32	Skip Williams	1986
M3	Twilight Calling	30–35	Tom Moldvay	1986
M4	Five Coins for a Kingdom	28–32	Allen Varney	1987
M5	Talons of Night	20–25	Jannell Jaquays	1987

Of these I only own M1, M3 and M5.

The simple matter is few characters get to this high of a level and often when they do the DM usually has their own adventures for them.

M1 Into the Maelstrom is a cool adventure with flying ships which became some of a fasination for +Bruce Heard.  If I were to play this one I would naturally have to include material from Bruce's own Calidar, In Stranger Skies setting.  Or set it in Calidar...hmmm this gives me some ideas.

M3 Twilight Calling is from the creative mind of the late Tom Moldvay.  Tom is something of a celebertiy in my home games. Every adventure I have run of his my family likes.  Likes enough to ask who wrote it. After saying Tom Moldvay for the third time (Castle Amber, Isle of Dread, Lost City, Secret of the Slavers Stockade...).   It is my favorite M series module and has the players go on a plane-hopping adventure to finally get to the Plane of Nightmares.  I have often thought it would make for a perfect "Final Adventure" for any party.

M5 Talons of Night by Jannell Jaquays is also fun, and really deadly adventure.  I grabbed it becuase of the dragon on the cover.  If M3 is the finale for my "Come Endless Darkness" game then M5 should be the finale of my "Dragonslayers" game.
Plus, it always reminds me of this song.



I mentioned H4 with it's 18-100 level range, and it is deadly.  But that adventure is just really a scaled up 20th level adventure.  These adventures are qualitatively different.

I am just disappointed that they are not available yet on DriveThruRPG as PDFs, though I am glad I have mine.

A to Z of Adventure! K is for the Known World

K is for the Known World.

Long before the game world of the D&D BECMI sets was called "Mystara", it was simply "The Known World" of the D&D B/X sets.

I posted some history here, but for me the best and first Known World module was X1 Isle of Dread.  I am going to wait though and detail that one on X day.

Back in the early days of the 80s we didn't have a developed campaign world like Greyhawk if you played B/X D&D.  That is until the Expert set came out and teased us with the maps of the Known World.  We took these little tidbits of the world and we built our own.  That is one of the reasons why my Glantri is a Theological Oligarchy but the official one is a Magecracy of Principalities.

This was my home for much of the early 80s. Building worlds, trying to fit square pegs into round holes.  Buffing out the rough spots.

The world that grew out my experiments in the Known World was later something that the Internet had already named; Mystoerth.  Now my kids are exploring this world and there are still new things to be found.  In some ways I would have liked to have created a world whole cloth then I'd have something to publish today. But in truth I rather like my hodge-podge mix of various pieces of other worlds. I can relate to the Mystara folk and the Greyhawk folk. If need a new area figure out, I grab something from my shelf.

That is the best thing about these adventures. There are always more and more places to have them.

Koliada, The Winter Witch for D&D BECMI

Yesterday I wrote about Koliada the Winter Witch for D&D 5th Edition.  While I really enjoyed how she worked out I could not help but think how she might fare under the 36 levels of the Basic-era D&D BECMI.

I felt from the start of D&D 4 that is shared certain characteristics with BECMI.  Both go to really high levels (30 for 4e and 36 for BECMI) and both have immortality as a possible option for characters at their highest levels.
Early on, and I am not sure if I posted this or not. I remarked on how 4e characters start out fairly powerful. I said, at the time, that really a 1st level 4e character is closer in power to a 5th or 6th level classic character.  I have been wanting to put that idea to use (and I'll talk about this next month in fact), but I thought I would give it a go here first.

In D&D4 Koliada is a 26th level character.  Let's work under the assumption that the translation for D&D4 to BECMI is to add four levels.  So Koliada would be a 30th level Basic/BECMI D&D character.  But what kind?
In 4e she is called a "Solo Skirmisher".  When I translated her to D&D5 I opted for a Warlock with the Magic Initiate feat to give her some Sorcerer spells too.  BECMI is not as flexible in terms of class customization.  Magic-User is a choice.  But, and this should be no surprise, I am opting for Witch as her character class.

My 5e conversion made it pretty obvious that she is a Fey Pact. In my Witch book this would translate as a Faerie Tradition.  Though I think there is now ample evidence to me that there must be something like a Winter Witch Tradition too.   Not ready to debut that just yet though.
Also, in complete dumb luck, a 30th level witch in my Basic Witch book has the level title of "Winter Court Witch".  Witch it is then!

Now I Would have LOVED to convert this for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. After all what can be more Hyperborean than an evil winter witch?  But the level caps would not give me the conversion I wanted.  Sure I could do a 13th level Koliada, but that would not give me a decent basis of comparison.  So instead I am going with the D&D Rules Cyclopedia.
I also went to the 4e book, Player's Option: Heroes of the Feywild for ideas on their witches and on the Feywild.

Koliada, The Winter Witch
30th level Witch (Faerie Tradition)
Female, Chaotic

Strength 16
Intelligence 17
Wisdom 15
Dexterity 20
Constitution 19
Charisma 20

Saving Throws
Death Ray/Poison 3
Magic Wands 4
Paralysis, Polymorph 3
Dragon Breath 6
Rods, Staffs, Spells 5

Hit Points: 80
AC: -3
(leather armor +4, Ring of Protection +3, Dex 20 -4)

THAC0: 8
(I know, THAC0 was not used in Basic D&D. You know what this means)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Iceling*
(like a frozen sprite. From Dungeon 162)
Lesser: Speak to Animals (not plants as well)
Minor: Fae Shape
Medial: Curse
Major: Shape Change

Spells
Cantrips (6): Alarm Ward, Chill, Daze, Ghost Sound, Inflict Minor Wounds, Spark
1st (9+3): Bewitch I, Black Fire, Cause Fear, Charm Person, Chill Touch, Endure Elements, Fey Sight, Ghostly Slashing, Glamour, Light/Darkness, Minor Fighting Prowess, Silver Tongue
2nd (8+3): Bewitch II, Defoliate, Discord, Enthrall, Freezing Gaze, Ghost Touch, Hold Person, Invisibility, Phantasmal Spirit, Spell Missile, Whispering Wind
3rd (8+2): Arctic Grasp, Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Dispel Magic, Feral Spirit, Improved Faerie Fire, Lifeblood, Spirit of Hyperborea (Spirit of Avalon), Toad Mind, Witch Wail
4th (7+2): Analyze Magic, Bewitch IV, Charm Monster, Elemental Armor (Ice), Fluid Mastery, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Phantom Lacerations, Spiritual Dagger, Withering Touch
5th (7): Bewitch V, Blade Dance, Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting, Hold Monster, Nightmare, Waves of Fatigue
6th (7): Bewitch VI, Death Blade, Evaporate Fluids, Eye Bite, Mass Agony, Mislead, True Seeing
7th (6): Bewitch VII, Death Aura, Greater Arcane Eye, Greater Blindness, Insanity, Wave of Mutilation
8th (6): Bewitch VIII, Destroy Life, Greater Mislead, Mystic Barrier, Wail of the Banshee, Imprisonment (Ritual)

Note: Koliada's spells will manifest with some wintery, cold, or icy aspect.  So Black Fire is cold, Defoliate will cause a freezing wind to blow and kill plants, Elemental Armor will be ice and so on.

She has a lot more spells here than either the 5e or 4e version.  But both 4e and 5e have a number of "at will" powers or other powers/spells that can be regained.  BECMI characters have to wait till the next day for their spells to return.  So she also has some spells that have similar effects to other spells.

I also think I need a Winter Witch tradition and some more cold based spells.

Books used in the conversion process.

• Dungeon #162
• The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games
• Player's Option: Heroes of the Feywild
• D&D Rules Cyclopedia
• Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Class Struggles: Race as Class

My love for D&D Basic era play is well known and well documented, but my love is tempered and not complete.  I have a confession.  I really am not a fan of B/X or BECMI style Race as Class.

In the D&D Basic rules Dwarves and Halflings are basically fighters with level limits.  Elves are multiclassed fighter/magic-users, also with level limits.   While this certainly works, it also seems rather, well... limiting.  I mean really, the archetypical halfling/hobbit is a thief.  This was one of the reasons I think so many people went over to AD&D.  I know it was true, partially, for me.
Over the years of game-play I have worked around this, but I never quite got used to it.

Now one thing I do like is the idea that different races should different class expressions.  So not a "thief" per se but a "burgler" would be cool.  Something special.

The ACKS Player's Companion does a great job of this really. This includes such new classes as the dwarven delver, dwarven fury, dwarven machinist, elven courtier, elven enchanter, elven ranger, and the gnomish trickster.  While these could, at the surface level, be viewed as mere renaming of the basic four classes, there is a little more to play with here in terms of special abilites.
As mentioned in the past, this is also the book you need when you want to create new classes.

+James Spahn's Barrel Rider Games has a number of demi-human classes in the Class Compendium.  These include various dwarven classes; Raging Slayer, Rune-Smith and the Warchanter. Some elves, Dark Elf, Greensinger, Half-Elf and the Sylvan Elf.  And as to be expected, Halfling classes, Burglar, Feast Master, Huckster, Lucky Fool, and the Tavern Singer.

I think there are a lot of options for race-specific classes or archetypes.

Back in the 2nd Ed days we had "kits" for various classes and some of these were racial archetypes. The Complete Book of Elves is a good example.  There is a lot of fluff and some backgrounds, but the real meat comes in when we get into the sub-races.  I was never a fan of the Drow-fetish that plagued much of post 1st ed D&D, but a sylvan elf or something stranger like a snow elf, would have been cool to play.  Heck I even created my own elf race, the Gypsy Elf, to fill this need.  We don't get to any of the class kits till Chapter 10. There are some nice choices but we also get the nearly 'broken'* Bladesinger.    *I say broken, but really I just don't like it all that much, and it was abused a lot in groups I was in.

The books for the Dwarves and the Halflings & Gnomes book are similar.  What gets me though is really how much we are lacking in race-specific classes.  Sure the entire idea behind "Fighting-Man" and "Magic-User" is so they can be generic enough to cover all possibilities. But I think after we got past 0e and certainly into AD&D we would be at a point where there should have been more race-specific expressions of class archetypes.
Something like what I did for the Dwarven witch, the Xothia.  Still a recognizable archetype (witch) but presented through the lens of a specific race (dwarf).    Honestly I would like to see a reason, given in a similar format, for the gnome illusionist.  Why are there gnome illusionists? What are they called?

The Companion Expansion from Barrataria Games does cover gnomes and wild-wood (sylvan) elves, half-orcs, half-ogres and half-elves as race-classes.  Wood elves share the same spell lists as do druids and gnomes share a list with Illusionists and bards.  All for the B/X system.  Maybe something +Gavin Norman and +Nathan Irving could look into for their updates for their respective spellcaster books.

I think in the end I would like to see more racial, or read that as cultural, applications of classes.

Class Struggles: The Mystic

No. Not the fight between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, but something far more important.

"Class Struggle" is a new feature where I take a class from a D&D, OSR or related product and do a deep dive into it. I am going to focus on unique classes to each product, sometimes going back to the same product even to look at other classes.  In some cases I am going to look into a class and different representations in different products.  I am also going to mostly focus on classes that interest me. So heavy on the magic using classes.

I also want to start this feature with the Mystic, found in +Joseph Bloch's Adventures Dark & Deep.

Back in October of 2013 I spent some time doing a deep dive into Bloch's magnum opus and dedication to a game that never was.  If you have not had a chance to read over Adventures Dark & Deep I suggest that check it out.  It really is something interesting, even beyond the purely academic question of what would a 2nd Edition AD&D look like if Gygax had never left TSR.  It is also a very playable game and a fun one in it's own right.  It captures the feel of AD&D better than say OSRIC does.

If you want to just check out the new classes then BRW's first product, A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore has the new classes and few other rules.

The Mystic is one of those new classes featured in the book that was also talked about by Gygax in the pages of Dragon magazine.

Here is what Gygax said about the Mystic in Dragon #65 (from Bloch's own Greyhawk Grognard blog):

Mystic: This subclass of clerics is concerned more with prediction and detection than are other sorts of clerics. All mystics are of Good alignment, although they can be chaotic, neutral, or lawful within the Good alignment. As with other sorts of clerics, mystics would have seven levels of spells, but most would be of the sort to divine or detect. However, some new spells, and some very powerful upper-level spells, are planned.

I read this commentary from Grognardia on the same issue which got me thinking about the Mentzer BECMI sets and how they might have influenced the Gygax 2nd Edition.  To this end I will briefly mention the D&D Master Set / Rules Cyclopedia mystics.

The Bloch Mystic (for simplicity) is described as:

The mystic is a sub-class of cleric, and an initiate of an inner mystery tradition that seeks direct communion with the multiverse in order to achieve enlightenment. Insight, awareness, and a deep connection with ultimate reality are the hallmarks and ultimate goals of the mystic. Most good-aligned faiths have such mystery traditions within them, even if they are not enthusiastically promoted by the hierarchy or followed by masses of people.
The spells available to the mystic are centered on knowledge and defense, and his connection with the multiverse gives him special insights into the workings of the planes. He cannot craft magical items, but objects particularly associated with him in life, and even parts of his body, often become relics after his death.

This seems more inline with what is described as Mysticism.  I am currently reading "The Terror of History: On the Uncertainties of Life in Western Civilization" by Teofilo "Teo" F. Ruiz and this description is very much inline with Prof. Ruiz's description of Christian Mystics.

I think it is fair to say from the start that the Bloch Mystic is at least close to spirit, if not the letter of intent, of the Gygax Mystic.

Looking into the Mystic there are some "clerical" like powers and spells here, much in the same matter the druid has some too.   Interestingly, as noted above, they can't make magic items.  They can scribe scrolls which makes sense.  They also have pain management and meditations as skills/powers.
The mystic learns spells due to their "inner awareness". They have some spells they share with clerics and some new ones that really feature their differences. "Awaken First Chakra" is one such spell, Besides being able to glow under a blacklight, kidding...you radiate ultra violet light, you can also reduce falling damage and improve your dex score, at least temporarily with this spell.  There are seven chakras in total.  Also it is nice to see that for the mystic at least Astral Spell is 6th level.

Level progression is slightly greater than the cleric in most cases, but not up to the level of a wizard/magic-user.

As the mystic levels up their minds become stronger so that powers like ESP no longer work on them.  They also focus their attention on more planar issues.  This gives a party with a mystic a good hook to the outer planes.

The mystic has a certain "monk" feel about it to be certain, but only the asceticism and divine aspects; not the fighting.
Speaking of asceticism the mystic can also take a Vow of Silence.  He can cast his spells where speech is impossible and gain a 10% bonus to xp earned, but the PLAYER also needs to keep their speech to a minimum.

There are plenty of uses for a mystic in a party especially a party that plans to hit the outer planes at any point.  Also if the idea of playing a cleric is not appealing the mystic makes for a good change up.  Though to be honest the things people normally dislike about clerics and paladins is amplified in the mystic.

Other Mystics

The Mystic of the D&D Master's Set or the Rules Cyclopedia is nothing more than the AD&D Monk for the BECMI system.  Though the connection between the mystic and the cleric is made more overt.

There is also a Mystic in Fantastic Heroes and Witchery.  This mystic is somewhere between the monk/mystic of BECMI and the Bloch Mystic.  They do not gain spells, but rather a Prayer ability introduced in this game.

Finally there is a mystic in the 3.x Dragonlance Campaign Setting book.  This mystic is more like a cleric without gods.  The mystic gains their divine power from within.  In many ways it shares the same relationship with the cleric as does the sorcerer to the wizard.   This mystic is also very tied up in the myths and history of Krynn.

Final Thoughts

The mystic as presented by BRW is a solid class and one with enough flavor to make playing one an interesting challenge.  I would like to try one out to be honest, maybe using 1st Edition rules or one of the many clones.  Of course it shines the best under Adventures Dark & Deep.

The class is interesting enough that I also think it would work well for Castles & Crusades or even D&D 5.  I think some more spells might be in order to give it a little more flavor.   If I were building one for just a home game I would also borrow some idea from Mage's Akashic Brotherhood.

Also if I were going to add mystics to a game I would remove monks, or more to the point, return monks to the pseudo-Eastern parts of the world.  There are traditions of both Eastern and Western mysticism, but for ease I might use the Monk and Mystic as each respective traditions mystics.

Hex and Skylla's Magic School Reunion

I am still enjoying the release of the Glantri Gazeteer on DNDClassics.com.  One of the really fun things for me was of course the Magic School.  Loved the idea of a huge magical university, esp since I had gone off to University at that point myself.

The Seven Secret Crafts of the magic school also grabbed my attention.  They were Alchemy, Dracology, Elementalism, Illusion, Necromancy, Cyrptomancy and Witchcraft.  No surprise it got my notice.

I always wanted to try these out in a game, but by the time I had purchased this book I was moving on 2nd ed and gaming and grad school didn't mix so well.

With this new release I thought I would come back to it!  And I have two perfect characters to try out, Skylla and Hex.  

So former BFFs and now Frenemies have come back to Glantri's Magic School on their 10th year reunion. Wacky hijinks ensue. Yes. You D&D game is not complete if you can't have at least one Wacky Hijinks adventure.  To get even crazier why not have Aleena and Morgan Ironwolf there as well. All four could have been living in the apartment when going to their various schools. Sure and Skylla dated Bargle. 

Honestly, the more I think about it the more I like the idea of a "Class Reunion" style adventure.  The PCs come back to celebrate 10 years since they graduated/left home and some local guy gets the idea of disrupting the scene.   That might become my next Gen Con adventure.

This isn't too far out of an idea. The Glantri book itself suggests a "Magic School" game where all the PCs are 12 year old 1st level magic users.

Anyway. I am thinking 10 year since I am keeping Skylla at level 7. I'll use Hex at 7 as well since that would give me a good bit of comparison.  These builds will use the BECMI rules (not my more familiar B/X or Witch rules).

Both characters are basically 7th level Magic-users as per the BECMI Expert Set.

Skylla, 7th Level Magic-User (Witchcraft)

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 11

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 15*

Wisdom: 12

Charisma: 8 (down from 11)

Hit Points:  25

Alignment: Chaotic

AC: 3 (Ring of Protection +1)

Witchcraft Circle Powers

First Circle: Brews and Philters, Silver Tongue

Second Circle: Doll Curse, Witch's Charm

Spells 

First: Charm Person, Light, Read Magic

Second: Knock, Levitate

Third: Hold Person,  Lightning Bolt

Fourth: Dimension Door

Magic Items

Ring of Protection +1, Dagger +1, Staff of Enchantment, demon helm (+1 saves vs. demons and charming magic, +1 AC)

Hex, 7th Level Magic-User (Necromancy)

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 9

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 18

Wisdom: 13

Charisma: 15

Hit Points: 30

Alignment: Neutral (maybe a little Chaotic)

AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Necromancy Circle Powers

1st Circle: Protection from Undead

2nd Circle:

Spells 

First: Dark, Shield, Sleep

Second: Levitate, Phantasmal Force

Third: Fly, Hold Person

Fourth: Ice Wall

Magic Items

Talisman of Protection (AC 6)

Not bad builds. There must be something to this CHA reduction; I have seen it too many times now.  I am not a fan of it, especially in older D&D, but I guess people like how it works.

Review: XL1 Quest for the Heartstone (D&D Expert Set)

Module XL1 Quest for the Heartstone is an adventure for the D&D Expert set, Mentzer/BECMI version.

Let's be honest and upfront right away.  This is not a great module.   The adventure is widely described as being akin to everyone's first module.  The adventure is your basic "retrieve an item at the end of a dungeon crawl" fare.

The real reason behind this module are the toys.  Specifically the LJN/AD&D toy line.

In fact you can pretty find an entry for every monster in the toy line, save for Tiamat herself.

Now I am not sure if the module was designed to sell toys (not likely since the markets seemed different to me) or rather as way to bridge the lines.  There are references in the module n which toy to use for the encounter and to tell you the truth, it sounds kind of fun.

Reviewing the module again in this light, as an excuse to use the toy line, it actually dawns on me that it would be a blast with the right group.

It should also be said that this module includes the stats for many of the favorite npcs/figures such as Warduke, Kalek and Strongheart, plus a few I didn't even know about.

So viewing the module in this light, is could be quite fun despite it's short comings.

BECMI D&D at DnDClassics.com

I learned D&D from a badly xeroxed copy of Holmes basic.  I later cut my teeth on The Basic book by Moldvay and the Expert book by Cook.  When the BECMI (not the B/X) sets came out, I ignored them.

Well now these books are hitting DriveThruRPG and DnDClassics and I for one am thrilled.

I know that when I say "Red Box D&D": it is the Mentzer set that most people think of.  This one the one that introduced so many to the game.  The dragon cover is iconic, so iconic in fact it has been used to sell the 4th ed of the game and the style was also used for the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon boxed set.  It gave us Aleena and Bargle, though I was always more partial to Morgan Ironwolf and Black Dougal.

I did pick up a near mint copy of the Red Box rules.  It still had dice in the plastic bag.  I got it signed by Frank Mentzer a couple of Gen Cons back, great guy. Really happy to sign the book. It is a piece of D&D history that I had missed out on.

But that is now changing.
Today the Red Box was released to DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and DnDClassics.

Player's Manual: http://www.dndclassics.com/product/116578/D%26D-Basic-Set---Players-Manual-%28BECMI-ed%29-%28Basic%29?affiliate_id=10748 

DM's Rulebook: http://www.dndclassics.com/product/116619/D%26D-Basic-Set---DMs-Rulebook-%28BECMI-ed%29-%28Basic%29?affiliate_id=10748

To celebrate the 30th Anniversay of the Red Box DnDClassics is offering a code to get the B series of adventures at 50% off.

Additionally we have seen the release of the fantastic D&D Rules Cyclopedia.  Which might be the best version of D&D ever.  And the release of the Creature Catalog for BECMI.

For me getting these books is like rediscovering the game that I loved.  There are little bits here and there that I have never read before. The game is the same, but the feelings are new.

Special: C is for Companion

Yes I know. No A-to-Z posting on Sunday and C is Monday's letter.  But I do have a C for Monday.

The Companion Edition of D&D was one of the near mythical books for me growing up.  As I mentioned yesterday that I began my game playing with the Basic/Expert, known today as B/X, sets from the early 80s.  The expert took the game from 3rd to 14th level and the Companion book was then going to take the game from 14th to 36th level.  Even though I knew of AD&D at the time, I thought that the Companion book was going to be the way to go. So I waited for it.
And waited.

And waited some more.

Finally I gave up waiting and dove into AD&D instead, leaving Basic D&D behind.  Eventually a Companion Rules Set did come out.  But it was for the new Mentzer-edited Basic set (now called BECMI) and I no longer had any interest in it having discovered the world could also have Assassins, half-orcs and 9 alignments.

I did manage to read it once.  I was in college and it was at Castle Perilous Games in Carbondale. Of course now AD&D 2nd Ed was the new hotness and I had no desire to look backwards.   What I saw though at the time did now impress me.  I think the entire Mentzer set at the time (AT THE TIME mind you) made me think of it as D&D for little kids (now I see it differently).

Fast forward to the Old School Revolution/Renaissance/Resurgence/Recycled and I have re-discovered the Basic sets (all of them) in their imperfect glories.  And I am not the only one that must have felt a little gipped by not getting a Companion book for B/X.
JB over at B/X Blackrazor designed his own Companion rules.
If it is not exactly what the companion was going to be, it is really, really close.

I have gushed on and on (and on) about how much I love this book here and elsewhere.  If I went on anymore then Jonathan owes me advertising. ;)

But I have to add this. B/X Companion I think is the best embodiment of the what is the spirit of the OSR, not to diminish the to efforts of others (hardly at all), but the B/X Companion gives us something new, something that we didn't have before.  Something, for me at least, that I have been waiting years for.

I only have two issues with the book.  First I want a PDF of it.  It is  my only old school book that I can't cart around with me everywhere. Though now according to JB the pdf is on the way! Second I wish he had used the OGL so others could expand on it, make modules for it.  But no big deal, I am just thrilled to have it.

Speaking of which, I did get a chance back in the day to get my Companion fix in.  My DM ran the module CM2 Death's Ride under AD&D and it nearly killed us all.  In a perfect world I'd run Death's Ride again using the B/X Companion.  Maybe one day I will.

In general I like the idea of the Companion rules, either of them. They take the rules into a different place; a place that the Basic or Advanced rules had not previously done well.  The idea of running a kingdom or even traveling the planes.  Great stuff.

D&D: Back to Basics

So I have spent a lot of time (and money it seems) on "Basic" D&D recently.  I now have every version of "Basic D&D" that has ever been made.  That's a lot of rules for characters 1st-3rd level.

and

I REALLY should be doing something with these rules.

I started out with Holmes Basic, moved to Moldvay/Cook and then AD&D.  I never played Mentzer Basic (or any of the BECMI rules) though I now have that boxed set as well and the Rule Cyclopedia.

And this doesn't even scratch the surface of the Retro-Clones.

Of course my kids and I want to play 4e.  I am in a Pathfinder game, I am running a 3.x game, I played the hell out of 1st and 2nd Ed.  It is getting (or has gotten) insane.

So to help me figure this out I am bouncing some ideas here.

My friend Jason Vey has pointed out (and rightly so) that in 4E the characters already start out as heroes.  There is no growth from a normal, mundane person to powerful hero;  ie like Luke Skywalker, Harry Potter or Bilbo Baggins.  This is an important observation.  There is a powerful archetype at work here. So powerful in fact it has it's own name, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
Look over the builds I have done for some classic D&D icons ([1][2][3][4]) despite my attempts to "normalize" these characters there is one glaring truth.  For low level characters they are awfully powerful.

Compare that all to this post. http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/10/explaining-d6-damage_21.html
JB makes a good point in here that Normal people are supposed to be weaker.  In Basic D&D a normal person has 1-4 hp (as do Magic-Users) so any weapon that does 1d6 has a pretty good chance of killing them outright, and there is still as chance it will kill any demi-human, cleric or thief too.

Now it depends on what I want my game to "be".  Is this a tale of normal people that become heroes?  Or potential heroes that rise up to a greater challenge?  There is a lot to be said about that farm kid learning to be a hero.  But also the biggest gripe I have about playing those early days of D&D is that characters are often too damn weak.

Take the Wizard/Magic-User for example.  Here we have someone that supposedly has been to magic school.  They have learned spell theory, occult knowledge, and all they know is one spell?
Really?  We don't make archers take just one arrow, so why do this?  Plus outside of XP bonuses the Prime Requisites has little meaning in day to day play in Basic.  AD&D improves this a bit.

So I had this idea.

I am going to figure out the make up of the party.  I am letting my players play two characters each, with the caveat that these two have some past history.

Then I was going to run these characters through one of the D&D Basic sets to build up their powers to what you see in D&D4.  So run them levels 1 through 3 and then move on.

So far my oldest son wants to play a Dragonborn Paladin and a Dragonborn Sorcerer and they are brothers.  My youngest wants to play a ranger and a bard, both are 1/2 elf.  Ok.  Problems already.  These classes or races are not even covered in the D&D basic rules.
I suppose I could go very simple and basically use "Dwarf" as a dragonborn and elf as a half-elf; tweaking as needed.

The idea has some appeal to me, but I am not just the only one playing here.

My kids, whose game this is for, could care less about Basic D&D or anything else Old School.  They like and want to play D&D4.

So despite a lot of good games now in my possession, and a lot of good ideas  I am sticking with the new game.  I'll go with the philosophy that while some heroes are made, others are born to greatness and their challenges need to match up to them.  Plus, just because someone has a lot of "kewl powerz" doesn't mean they know what to do with them.
Maybe I'll pull some "Basic" ideas out every so often.

Or maybe I'll just get a separate Basic D&D game going.

B/X Companion is Mine!

I had this cool plan of doing some 4E writing tonight.  A couple of things that have been stewing in the back of my head.  That is till I came home to this:

Yes that is the B/X Companion in all her glory.  The product I think I have been waiting for for close to 30 years.  Sure I have had books that have covered the same ground, and books that made this book obsolete, but somewhere, deep in my psyche there is still that 12 year old version of me wishing he could take his cleric to 15th level.  

The B/X Companion does not disappoint.  Let me just say that if this isn't exactly how it was going to be, then I'd be hard pressed to know what it would have been.  I am reading through it all now and I am purposefully NOT comparing it to the BECMI version of the Companion rules.  Maybe later, maybe even later but before this is posted.  But right now I only want to compare it to the B/X books of which is it is, well, a companion too.

The cover of course is very much part of the original scheme.  The three principle characters, the fighter and the two wizards (or maybe she is a cleric, that could be a "light" spell, though she has a torch too) stand in front of their followers.  They braved the dungeon, the wilderness and now they are ready for the next adventure.  So are we.

For those of us that grew up with the Moldvay/Cook Basic and Expert sets, the Companion book feels very familiar.  The layout is similar, the flow is similar and even the art has a familiar feel.  If you own the Basic or Expert books then finding something in the Companion book is trivial.  I turned right to the character rules and took a glance at all the tables.  Yes sir they run from 15 to 36, just like promised.  Clerics still top out at 7th level spells, but eventually they get 9 of them.  Wizards still go to 9th level, and get 9 of those too.

Fighters get more attacks per round (as they should) and thieves get more abilities.

There are plenty of new spells here.  Many look like they take their inspiration from the products that came after, the Player's Handbook or the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, but nothing is an out right copy.  It does have the feel like Becker sat around one day and thought, what are some good spells and what level should they be.

There new monsters and advanced versions of some others.  The Greater Vampire nearly made me laugh out loud as I had done the exact same thing after reading and playing the Expert book for so long.  My Greater Vampire was a photocopy of Ptah from Deities and Demigods with some fangs drawn in.  I never claimed to be an artist.  Te monsters all seem to be appropriate for the levels, though a few more in the 30 HD range might have been nice, but not really needed.

The BIG additions here though are the ones that were most "advertised" back in the day. 

Running a High Level Game  is great advice for ANY edition of the game.  It gives this book the same place as say, the Epic Level Handbook for D&D 3.0 or even the Epic Tier for D&D 4.  Chances are very, very good I'll be using the B/X Companion in my next D&D 4 game in fact.

Related are running a domain and running large armies.  Battlesystem would later give us these rules for AD&D, but here they are much simpler to use.  Again, something to consider to port over to other versions of the game.

I loved the new magic items and can never get enough of those.  I also liked the part on the planes and how it is totally left up to design of the DM.  I wonder how many people out there will re-invent the Gygaxian Great Wheel for their B/X/C games?

Others have reviewed this book already and my insights won't add or subtract to those.  A particularly insightful one is by James over at Grognardia.  I concur with a lot of what he had to say, with the possible exception of his take on demi-humans and frankly I have no idea what I would have done in Becker's place as I am not fond of level limits or even demi-humans as classes.  That being said lets put this product in context.

I would have liked thicker covers to be honest. This book I am afraid will not wear so well.  I would also LOVE to have it as a PDF.  I don't bring a lot of books to the table anymore, I bring a laptop.  So can you hear me JB!  Sell me a PDF! :)

Companion to Basic/Expert Rules

Obviously this is where it works the best.  But there is something here that I don't think others have tapped into just yet.  Companion makes the Moldvay/Cook rules a complete game.  With these three books you now have a complete D&D game.  The only thing really missing is a "C1" module or maybe a BXC one.

Companion to Labyrinth Lord/Basic Fantasy

The new Becker Companion has a lot it owes to Labyrinth Lord (LL) and Basic Fantasy (BFRPG).  While maybe not directly, these two games showed that there is a market out there for "Basic" styles of play.  Both LL and BFRPG take the modern 1-20 level limit for human classes.  Companion is 15 to 36.  So some adjustments need to be made.  There are a few differences in the how each of these books calculate XP per level, and how they do spells.  But nothing so complicated that a a good DM couldn't figure out.  

Personally if I were playing a LL/BFRPG game, I'd go to 15th level and then switch over to B/X Companion. for the next levels to 36.  OR even go to 20 and use B/X Companion as a guide to levels 30 or even 36.

Frankly the homebrewiness of it all has me very excited for anyone that has decided to throw their lot in with "Basic" D&D.

The B/X Companion vs. the BECMI Companion

Ok, I know I said above I wasn't going to do this, but after re-reading James's post over at Grognardia and his post on the Mentzer Companion I felt it was worth a look.

Now I am no expert on the Mentzer era of the rules.  I had moved to AD&D by the time they were out and I never owned them.  I picked up the Rules Cyclopedia a while back and got all the BECMI boxes on PDF back when Wizards sold them on DriveThru.

Both Companions cover similar ground.  The spell progressions and XP look about the same (given that they use simple math, no surprise).   The BECMI Companion only goes to 25th level, not 36 like the B/X Companion. The BECMI Companion generally speaking has more detail than the B/X one, but that is not really a nitpick since the abstraction of the rules in B/X is greater to allow more with less; just like the B/X books it was modeled after.  

Final Tally

I like this book. A lot.  It makes me want to pull out my ratty Basic and Expert books and play Moldvay/Cook era Basic D&D again.   In the mean time, I think I'll just have to satisfy myself with converting some D&D 3.0 or 4e characters over to Companion,  just for the fun of it.

One thing that did disappoint me though was the lack of the OGL.  There is a lot of really cool stuff here and it could be shared.  I suppose that something like this, talking to Johnathan Becker is always the best the way to go.  

Aleena, doomed cleric for D&D 4 Essentials

“My name is Aleena. I’m a cleric, an adventurer like yourself. I live in the town nearby, and came here seeking monsters and treasure. Do you know about clerics?”
- Aleena, D&D Basic Set, Player's Book, page 4.

I never knew Aleena.

I never knew about her ultimate sacrifice for what could have been millions of would-be adventures out there.  I never played, or owned, the Mentzer Basic Set.  I started with Moldvay and Morgan Ironwolf never would have gone down after one magic missile.  But I got on the 'net and soon I discovered her tale and that of Bargle. 

I liked Elmore's art, always have. That alone seems invalidate my Old School street cred.  I love his witches (no surprise) and love how he draws women.  So when I finally got my hands on a Mentzer basic set, I loved the art and yes, I found Aleena.  Though there was no emotional connection there with me.  I felt that killing her was a cheap attempt to get the players involved.  This is called a "Women in Refrigerators" effect and its a cliché.

That all aside, it also worked. 
People to this very day still remember Aleena and hate Bargle.

Give that Aleena was the star of the Mentzer Red Box, then it is fitting that she be given stats for the new D&D 4 Essentials Red Box.  Though we never got stats (at least what I could find) for her in the  Red Box Basic.  She did appear later in some D&D (BECMI) products, which gives us an idea what she eventually did.  Of course assuming that she somehow came back to life.
I say in D&D4 she is reincarnated, and given a second chance.

Like with Morgan Ironwolf, I went through the hand process.  Yes, I have DDI and it is a lot of fun, but I felt Morgan and Aleens deserved to have things done the "old-school" way.  I did most of her sheet while working tonight away from my books.  It went really fast.

Comparing Aleena to Morgan Aleena obviously has more powers and spells, even if many effect how her weapon of choice, her mace, does damage.  I like this, it very cool.  I choose Pelor as her God, even if she is Mystaran and Pelor is from the Greyhawk campaign world, but I felt it fit the concept well and Pelor is an old god.  I did not give her many combat-related feats, she was felled by a single magic missile after all, but she did manage to scare off some ghouls.  So I emphasized her "turning undead" and healing powers.

In truth, she feels like a cleric from one of the older rule-sets with some house rules that her spells are focused through her mace.  Hell, the Sun-Domain War Priest here is not very different than the Sun-Priest class I made for 2nd AD&D so many years back. In fact I like it so much that I might have to break with tradition and have my first D&D4 Essentials character be a Sun Priest, er Sun Domain War Priest.

There she is.  The reason so many of you play.
Print out the sheet and go save her.  Or maybe she will end up saving your butt one day, cause I don't see this one going down without a fight.  So her and Morgan are going to team up and go after Bargle now.

Mystoerth, my Old School Campaign World

So I have been threatening this since 1st Edition gave way to 2nd, but I think I finally might be able to pull this off. I was inspired by the new Forgotten Realms smashing Abier into Toril to make a new world that I wanted to bring back a smash up I loved. Plus given all my love for the old-school movement, I think it is time for me to pull out my favorite old-school worlds.

Mystoerth






This combines Mystara (the Known World of BECMI/RC D&D) and AD&D's Oerth. This map is based on the work of James Mishler and Chatdemon.

Given this combination I am most likely to run this under my house-rules Basic Fantasy game that melds D&D and AD&D1 together. Though I would write anything generically enough to handle any version of the game.

As you can see it is a good merging of the Mystara Map http://www.geocities.com/havardfaa/mystara_continents.jpg and the World of Greyhawk Map. http://paizo.com/download/dungeon/desktops/Greyhawk_1600x1024.jpg

Both worlds have Blackmoor so I can use its destruction as a common element. I get to keep all the well defined areas of both worlds, leaving a bunch of areas to be developed. Both also have a Hyborea which is nice.

In the case of Mystara's "Arypt" and Oerth's "Erypt" I simply combine them to "Ærypt" and use Gary Gygax's "Necrocopolis" from SSS and some of the ideas from his Mythus game.

For the long dead Blackmoor use Blackmoor from all the new Dave Arneson supplements.

There will be a "Graveyard of the Dragons" from the D&D cartoon (one of the few cool episodes) and it serves as my lost Melniboné-like kingdom of a long dead race and the current home of the Dragonborn.

I have also decided that the world is not hollow (Mystara) and it does not sit in the center of it's solar system (Oerth); intellectual conceits on my part. It does have three moons, two of which can be seen and third that is invisible (Celene, Luna and Lilith). I have a spot for Kara-Tur but the descriptions would have to be changed to fit the realities of the maps. Though I have also considered recently to use some Forgotten Realms goddesses, so the moons might end up being named Sehanine, Selûne, and Shar. In fact, I like that a lot. Sehanine actually has a foothold in Greyhawk anyway and Selûne and Shar are very Greyhawk like.

Gods will be gods, but characters still have the chance to become Immortals. In some cases an Immortal might be more important to a region than say a God, who might aloof and distant. Immortals still involved themselves in world affairs. So I am totally stealing this from both the BECMI/RC Immortal rules and the Epic level tier from D&D 4.

Dates

The last year in Mystara was 1200 AC (Alphatian Calendar) according to the books. The last year in Greyhawk iwas 591 CY (Common Year) according to the books. I used the destruction of Blackmoor as a common element, and I came up with the date of -3000 AC and -3746 CY as the date (no idea how I did that). My present day according to my Excel spreadsheet (which was still in Excel 97 format) is 1661 AC and 915 CY, or about 460 years after the Gazetteers and 324 years after the Greyhawk books. Again, kind of a nod to the new FR book, but I still plan on playing this world with Old School rules.

So what would my world be like? Well here are a bunch ideas I have considered for other games and game worlds in the past. Most of these are random ideas. I'll start with races first and then get into cultures and history later.

Orcs

Orcs are still brutish, prone to violence and often in the employ of evil overlords, but orcs themselves are more mercenary. I would borrow a lot from Warcraft and Shadowrun, and a LOT from John Wick's Orkwolrd. I would make them more a more proud, tribal race. Orcs are still the ancient enemies of the elves, but because orcs tried to settle in elven lands and the elves attacked them. Orcs are still arrogant and prideful and take the smallest slight or insult as challenge to death. Male Orcs are expected to be warriors, female Orcs are expected to raise children and become the shamans of the tribe. An orc will still mostly like attack first and ask questions later. Most orcs have difficulty learning Common, and are thus often seen as stupid. While an orc is generally no less or no more intelligent than a human, it is their prowess in battle that determines their social rank and not their intellect. To an orc there is nothing greater than glory in battle. To die in battle ensures them a place at Gruumish's side in the orc afterlife. Half-orcs are not the result of orc rapes of human women, orcs are far too proud for that; only orc females are worthy enough to bare orc children. Half-orcs are the result of orcs and humans living with close confine to each other for mutual survival and sometimes the will of an overlord looking for the strength of orcs and the intelligence of humans.

Goblins

Goblins are small and crafty. While obviously related to orcs they are smaller, a little more cowardly, and fond of human cities. Goblins in the wilderness areas are typically bugbears or hobgoblins. Real goblins want to be where the crime is. Attracted to money, goblins will run all sorts of scams in order to obtain more. They rarely have the talent to run businesses and the concept of a banker or even an account (someone that deals with someone else's money) is an unheard of concept to a goblin. Money is to be kept in an old sock under the bed or better yet, held on the person. Goblins can learn to speak a large number of languages, mostly to deal with other races. Goblins can interbreed with just about anything humanoid, but the offspring is always a goblin. Hobgoblins and Bugbears are larger and more evil, believed to be an ancient goblin/demon or goblin/devil crossbreed.

Dragonborn

Yes, I'd like to try out some Dragonborn in my old-school games. They live on a small island ("Fireland" on the old World of Greyhawk maps) that is full of active volcanoes. Think of Iceland, only with dragons. The "Dragon Isle" would be a cross between Iceland, Melniboné and the Graveyeard of the Dragons. Dragonborn are an ancient race that have been inactive for centuries. They would take the place of the "dying race" in my games. Something that elves, dwarves and gnomes have done previously. This is place where it is believed that dragons first entered the world.

Elves

Elves are much like they are now. I'll borrow a lot for various editions and have a bunch of different elven races. Right now I plan on using High (Eladrin), Wood, Valley, Grey, Moon, Sun, Desert and Gypsy Elves.

Drow

Drow are evil elves in my world, but I want to take them back to the days of G123, D1-2, D3 and Q1 when they were secret evil masterminds. I will incorporate some ideas I have had about "night elves". I am also considering making drow albinos. Drow had been Night Elves/Star Elves before their fall.

Dwarves

Dwarves will have a more prominent role in the world. Much of what is considered "elvish" stereotypical will fall to dwarves. They are the most populace after humans. Dwarven females do have beards and a dwarf woman without a beard is considered to be too young to marry or to be cursed.

Gnomes

What I wanted to do with them has been done in 4E, so I am likely to use them as their appear there.

Halflings

Going back to the roots and Halflings will be Hobbits.

Mind Flayers

One of my few purely evil races. Mind Flayers came "from beyond the Stars". Their goal is the conquest of all. They have a mad plan to blot out the sun and leave the world in cold darkness.

Saurians

Another evil race Saurians (lizard men, troglodytes, and the like) battled the Dragonborn back when the world was young. They also seek to rule the world and place all the mammals under their yoke.

Trolls

Not green and rubbery, but rather like thin ogres. They are for the most part unchanged but are closer to the trolls of Norse myth.