Review: A Red & Pleasant Land

Notice: I am not taking down this post because I feel it is more important to leave it up, but also update everyone on what is happeing now as February 11, 2019. Please see this newer post first. http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2019/02/i-am-going-to-talk-about-zak-today-and.html

I picked up a copy of +Zak Smith's "A Red & Pleasant Land" on PDF recently.  I like enough to also pick it up in dead tree version as a post-Christmas present for myself (35.75€ or about $45).

I want to say off the bat that when I heard Zak was doing an Alice in Wonderland-ish sort of adventure my expectations were high, but guarded.  I have seen Alice done a number of bad ways; mostly ones that relied on a one to one translation between story to game.  That is all well and good, but ends up robbing the story of what makes it good and ends up short-changing the player's experience in the game.  To be blunt, it's not a D&D adventure.  I had reasonable assurances that this would not happen here, I didn't know what sort of thing we would end up with.

Also, and I have admitted this many times, I am not a fan of Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  But I can say that LotFP and James Raggi do have an amazing art vision and the budget to match and it seems (to me any way) that James leaves people the hell alone and lets them create.  You saw that in Zak's last work Vornheim, you can see it Rafel Chandler's "No Salvation for Witches", and you can see it this book as well.  While the LotFP rules are in mind when this was made, you can either run it with all the free rules that James gives away for free (another credit to him) or use whatever rules you want.  This is important to me and I will talk about it more later on.

So what *is* A Red & Pleasant Land?
Overtly it is an adventure, in the broadest sense.  It can also be a campaign guide to a strange new land (or world).  Breaking it down to it's atomic elements it is Vampiric court intrigue with the cast of Dracula, Elizabeth Bathory and Alice.  But that is like saying that putting salt on your meal is the same as putting Sodium and Chloride on your steak and trying to eat it.

Let me instead start on the outside and work my way in.  This book is gorgeous. It really is.  If you have Vornheim or spent anytime on Zak's blog then you have an idea of what you will be looking at, but that is not quite it either.  The art comes just this side of reality short of being phantasmagorical. Just slightly out of sync with what you should be seeing.  This is intentional since that is also the feeling of the adventure/text itself.  (I am going to keep calling this an adventure since that is the easiest translation).  Honestly, get this bound in red with gold trim and it would be a book better suited for a coffee table rather than a gaming table.  I don't mean that derisively, I mean that in open honesty.
If the art is fantastic then the maps are amazing. I love all sorts of old-school maps and I love a lot of different styles. But these again are very evocative of the setting.

 The other thing is this adventure is big.  While the form factor is small, the book has 197 pages.  There is a lot here.  Zak  suggests that you can use parts of this book or the whole. I will add that if you opt for the parts alternative then there is absolutely something in this book you can use.

Working in, the adventure and background are all woven together in such a way that it is all familiar and yet new at the same time.  It's like returning to a place you have been years and years later. Except when you were at the place back then you were on LSD the entire time. You memories of it have not faded per se but are warped.  This is like that but now your memories are perfect and the reality is warped.

This actually touches on the first issue I have with running this adventure. Now by "I" I mean just that. Me. Not extrapolating it to anywhere else.  I don't think I could run this as a D&D adventure for my group.  To be blunt about it my kids (which is my group) don't yet know enough about Dracula, Alice or any of the other elements in this to make it worthwhile.   This is an adventure for older, wiser and maybe even a little bit jaded players.  This adventure needs to be played by people that have tried to play Dungeonland and found it lacking.

You are going to need the right group for this adventure. The book it totally worth getting just to look at, read or steal ideas from, but if you are going to run it then you need to take stock of your own group and make sure it works for them.  If your group is more of the "kick in the door, kill the monster, get the gold, move to next door" type then this will only have some utility for you.  That is fine there are plenty of fun adventures for those groups.   I suppose that if you have read "A Midsummer's Night Dream" and thought to yourself that it would make a great adventure of intrigue then this one might work for you.   As point of reference, duels are covered as being something that can be deadly. And so are Banquets.  Again some people will scratch their heads on this but I can think of at least three players off the top of my head right now that would totally run with this idea.
It is a prime example of Zak making things he wants to play and if you like it you can come along too.

Back on track.  The Alice.  This is a neat idea, but for me one of the weaker links. I totally get what Zak is doing here and maybe even a little of why. But Alice comes off as an ersatz, but weaker, Slayer, ala Buffy or maybe even the Schmuck quality from Army of Darkness. Though to be 100% this quote from the book is very awesome:

"Alices forever find themselves falling into cursed rabbit holes, accidentally killing witches, having their halfbrothers stolen by goblin kings, being willed magic rings, finding demons inserted in their chests or having armored knights ride through their homes at bedtime. Obscure gods, however, sympathize with them (they are often born to powerful families), and an Alice is a boon to any adventuring party. Some Alices wear striped stockings, some Alistairs wear pointed shoes."  - AR&PL, p. 30.

I love that image. In my games I have called these types of characters Dorothies.  The Exasperation Table really makes this character shine and makes it something unique.

The land itself, Voivodja, is in the truest sense of the word a nightmarescape.  It's not that it is just horrific, there is more. The best nightmares lull you into a false sense of hope or familiarity. You think you know what this is all about, but you don't.  The land is big, densely packed and old. Very old.  The main feature (well, to me anyway) is the intrigue between the Vampire Courts and the potential of what you can do with those.  Think about it really. Ancient, decedent vampire royalty fighting protracted war.  Sure. We did all that in the 90s with Vampire the Masquerade; but this is yet another new take on that.

The monster/NPC section is great. So many ideas.  If you are going to smorgasbord this book then start here.  There are unique vampire nobles and strange animals, so really enough to keep characters of any level busy. That's misleading...I personally think the vampire nobles in this book work better as non-combatants.  Their job is not to be sullied with the likes of mere adventurers.  But engaging them in courtly battles. That's where they shine.  Really, this is one of the first adventures where a battle of wits to the death (!) is not only likely, but likely to happen before breakfast.

We end this book with more random tables that you could (or should maybe) ever use.  30 pages worth.

So there are a lot of reasons to buy this book.  The only one that matters though is do you have the right kind of group for it? If any of these ideas appeal to you then get it. If you are unsure, well I am sure there is something here to make it worth your time and money.

Personally I want to give it a go under Ghosts of Albion.

In any case I think it is a solid hit.

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.

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #6 July 1975

Owl & Weasel #6 from July 1975 will be forever immortalized as the "Dungeons & Dragons" issue.

Page 1 of the issue describes the game we all know so well and it is interesting to read something like this; the game as something new and different.  The editors admit they are already obsessed with it and there is even a dragon on the masthead, making the issue temporarily Dragon, Owl & Weasel.
The article is continued later in the issue. Steve Jackson describes the contents of the box, 3 "little" books and not thousands of pieces.  Though he adds that he thinks $10.00 is "too much" to pay for the game.  Some things never change really. Jackson concludes calling D&D a "modern classic".

Moving on in the issue. The Letters page has a letter complaining about the lack women in gaming.  Again some things never changing.

Later on Steve Jackson discusses the costs of D&D. Again the $10.00 price tag is mentioned, but also $5.00 for Chainmail and "at least" $2.50 for dice.  Minifigs are also mentioned with several genres mentioned.   Additionally Games Workshop reports that they will be selling D&D in at least three weeks.

Page 11 is the second part of Percy Kenyon's coverage of Mah Jong. Interesting and more complicated than I realized. I mean I new Mah Jong was a strategy game (and not the solitaire version found on lots of computers) but I guess I didn't think about how detailed it was.

The back page features a TSR price listing of what will be soon available in the U.K.

The enthusiasm in this article abounds. Sitting here comfortably on the other side of nearly 40 years (and after the largest Gen Con on record) it is easy to forget that once upon a time this hobby of ours was new. Not just new, it had a start and that start is documented here.   I am not trying to sound all sappy here. I am big proponent of always looking forward, but sometimes you have to look back to see where you have been.  Sometimes it doesn't amount to much, other times the difference is so striking that it leaves you somewhat agape or stunned. This is one of those moments.  Sure some of the actual words said are even the same (it costs too much, where are the women?) but these are the first times they have been said and that is something important.

Not sure what the next issues will bring, but for me I am looking for that joy of discovery of a new thing.  But I guess that is what it is all about all the time really.

eta: The middle pages

How to Run Your Game

We have a couple of independently produced books out now to help you run your game.  One new and one getting more attention.

The first is +Alexis Smolensk's How to Run: an Advanced Guide to Managing Role-playing Games.  It just came out last night.  From what I can gather (and I could be wrong) this is a guide that is more directed towards the long time gamer (thus the "Advanced" part) and it might be exclusively drawn from a D&D perspective.

The older book is +Mike Shea's  The Lazy Dungeon Master. It has the feeling of being on the other end of the spectrum from Alexis' book, but I don't have it either so hard to say.  What it says it is guide to help the time constrained DM.  It has some good reviews and the content seems to be drawn largely from later editions of D&D.  You can read a more detailed review of this book over at The Traveling Spellbook.

While I am sure both of these are very fine books I am wondering about their scope.  Or to put it bluntly are they only about D&D?  That is fine. D&D is a great game, one of my favorites. But it is not the only game I play. I also don't think I am the target audience anyway.

Over the last 35 years or so of my game playing I have read numerous books on how run games.  After a bit they do tend to get a little repetitive.  By the late 90s I was focusing most of my time and energy on running Horror games and Horror-themed fantasy RPGs; so my own reading took me in that direction.

For my money the best guide for running a game is still the 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide.
Not only is it a perfect example of High Gygaxian Prose, it is also just so filled with material you need to run a game.  I have often thought about doing an RPG.net style read-through of the DMG.  Follow it up with the 3rd Ed D&D DMG which is not as good, but still a surprisingly good guide.

If you want to run a horror game (and I often do) then the best guide is still Nightmares of Mine.  Written by Ken Hite and published by ICE and Chaosium it is small but filled with material, but it also out of print and not cheap. This handy little guide is everything you need to run every sort of horror game. Straight up horror, survival horror, personal horror, comedy horror. You name it, this book covers it.  Failing finding this a copy of Call of Cthluhu or GURPS: Horror are also good choices.

I am looking forward to hearing what people will have to say about these two new guides.

Is Dungeons & Dragons a Cult? and other Friday Questions.

Two recent articles have come out reflecting on the past of Dungeons & Dragons and the rumors of satanic involvement in the 1980s.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/04/are_dungeons_dragons_players_in_a_cult.php

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26328105

While today it is easy, and expected, to laugh at these ideas back then we were embroiled in a war, excuse me, I meant WAR!, against Satan and his chief tools to corrupt were Heavy Metal music and Dungeons & Dragons.

To get something of an idea of what this was all like back then here is a bit of the infamous 1985 60 Minutes feature on it.



If that doesn't work here is the link, http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=445_1232224067

I have to admit I did a lot of searching and while I wanted to find some sites that were still up in arms about D&D I mostly found sites and forums on "I played D&D and I am still a good Christian" and "How D&D Taught me morality".  So much for my "Atheist Agenda".
Though to be fair they might not care for Carcosa. But I don't care for Carcosa either, so that is not an indictment.

I was going to ask if you ever still feel pressure from religious groups about D&D.  But let's be honest. 90% of feel more pressure about playing from our spouses who would rather we be out doing yard work.

So here is a better question.

We live in a time where we have unprecedented access to games. Many really good ones that are even free.  Geek culture has never been more accepted than it is now. We have access to players around the world, not just in our own neighborhoods.  Even our former critics has been silenced and time has shown them to be the fools we knew them for.

Are we in a new Golden Age of RPGs?




And don't forget my Kickstarter! over 50% funded in under 3 days.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-pathfinder-the-ultimate-witch-and-war?ref=card

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.

British Invasion: Softcover Edition

I am not an obsessive collector compared to some out there.  I have things I like and things I want and I am pretty happy with that.

But something has always been on my list. Something I thought might be too rare to get.  That is till I saw it on eBay a week ago.   I put down my money and I got it.

I finally got a copy of the softcover Monster Manual printed in England.

There really is no difference between this and my hardcover Monster Manual.  Save for the fact I ahve always wanted this one.

That is not all!  In the process I discovered there was also an England only version of Mentzer Basic in a single volume format.

It is heavy on the text and really, really sparse on the art.  No Elmore art at all save for the cover.

Sorry for the blurriness, trying out my new phone.

All in all I am very happy with these!

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 4

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 4 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

23 What is the most broken game that you tried and were unable to play?
The Bram Stoker's Dracula RPG.  It's just awful really.  This one is an easy choice.  But the question remains, is it broken or just bad?

24 What is the most broken game that you tried and loved to play, warts and all?
Broken is sometimes a matter of opinion.  I personally think the Skills and Powers books for 2nd Ed AD&D are broken.  The World of Synibarr is broken and bad, and yet there is something appealing about it.  It's just so crazy it went past bad right into crazy ass gonzo.  I have seen people say (and complain) that AD&D is broken.  It might be, but it is still fun.

25 Which game has the sleekest, most modern engine?
Cinematic Unisystem.  There isn't anything that it can't do well. Or maybe more to the point there isn't anything I can't do with it.  I am sure others think the same thing about GURPS, d20 and/or Savage Worlds. For me CineUnisystem is a perfect fit.

26 What RPG based on an IP did you enjoy most? Give details.
At the risk of sounding vain, Ghosts of Albion. Based on Amber Benson and Christopher Golden's novels and animations.  Written by myself. ;)  But seriously those have been some of the most fun games I have ever played.  Outside of that then the Buffy or Angel games.

27 What IP (=Intellectual Property, be it book, movie or comic) that doesn’t have an RPG deserves it? Why?
Charmed. I am dead serious.   I have been wanting to write a Charmed game for years and honestly I think I could not only do it justice but get people to play it that never watched the show.  One of the most fun times I ever had at Gen Con was playing Piper (a witch from Charmed) in a Charmed/Buffy/Supernatural crossover game.  I would love to do it as a Cinematic Unisystem game.  And it would rock.

28 What free RPG or what non-English RPG did you enjoy most? Give details.
For free I would have to say Basic Fantasy.  It really is a great game and really represents what I feel is the best ideals of the OSR.  Plus it is that sweet spot of how I was playing in the early 80s; a mix of Basic and Advanced D&D.

29 What OSR product have you enjoyed most? Explain why.
Wow. There are so many to be honest.  Nearly half of this blog is dedicated to OSR products I enjoy.  One of the things I like most about the OSR are the products that don't give me things I already have, but things I have always wanted or never knew I needed.
Here are some of my favorites.
B/X Companion - it gave me a book I have been waiting nearly 30 years for.  I had left B/X years ago, but I always felt a little longing for the Companion rules (levels 14-36) that we never got.
Labyrinth Lord - The Basic version of D&D that opened up the OSR world to me.  While in some respects I prefer Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord is still one of my favorites.
Adventures Dark and Deep - Joesph Bloch's magnum opus. A "what if" book, so not a "retro-clone" really.  Something new based on history.  This book is AD&D 2nd ed if Gygax had not left TSR.  Is it "exactly" like what Gygax would have done? No. But this is the closest I think we will ever get.  Joe based this one the reading of all Gygax's letters and things he had mentioned in the pages of Dragon magazine and elsewhere.  It is also a perfectly enjoyable game in it's own right.
Spellcraft & Swordplay - Another "what if" game.  This one takes the SRD and uses the original combat mechanic found in OD&D (not the alternate d20 one we all now use).  It also streamlines a number of things and gives you a really nice, very gritty, old-school game.  One of my favorites.
Another favorite is Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea which I have talked about a lot here.

30 Which non-D&D supplemental product should everyone know about? Give details.
Chill Vampires. If you ever want to use vampires in any game then I suggest you get this book. If you can get the Pacesetter, 1st Edition version then do so, otherwise the Mayfair, 2nd Ed. version is good too, it is just missing a couple of the vampires I really found interesting.  It really is a great book on how vampires can go from being just another monster to an enemy that needs to be studied and understood before fighting.

31 What out-of-print RPG would you most like to see back in publication? Why?
Castle Falkenstein.  Not only is it a fun game, but Mike Poundsmith is one of the best game designers out there.  The premise is cool but the game design blew me away. If you have only ever played D&D or it's direct clones/offspring then you owe it to yourself to play this.  It is available in PDF but I would love to have it in print.

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 3

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 3 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

16 Which RPG besides D&D has the best magic system? Give details.
Ghosts of Albion. Which is a total cheat on my part since I wrote it.  But seriously. I love the magic system in it.  I might never top that in my writing but I am sure as heck gonna try.  The system is flexible enough to cover D&D like spells, Mage like powers and even the innate magic of supernatural creatures.
Outside of Ghosts my favorite magic system is the one from Eden's WitchCraft RPG.

17 Which RPG has the best high tech rules? Why?
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space.  Mostly because it hand waves the tech rules.  Games run the risk of looking very, very dated when it comes to tech.  Look at Traveller, ShadowRun or even Kult.  Doctor Who plays it simple and therefore it works so much better.

18 What is the crunchiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?
Maybe GURPS or even D&D itself.  I like most games to be honest so to me enjoyment is more a factor of the playing rather than the rules.

19 What is the fluffiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?
Monsterhearts. It is quite fun, but not for every audience.  Also Monster of the Week is in there; similar mechanics.

20 Which setting have you enjoyed most? Why?
Anything in the Victorian age. I love the time period and it is great for all sorts of conflict. You can play class vs. class, modern vs. old world or even magic/supernatural vs. science.  The world was new to explore and people had the means to do it. It was an exciting time for nearly anything you would want in an adventure game.

21 What is the narrowest genre RPG you have ever played? How was it?
70s Black exploration.  The games that suited it best were Solid! and Damnation Decade. I played a hippie witch from Berkeley. Interestingly enough this was an extension of my Chill game from the 80s.  I normally am not a fan of the 70s, but these games were great.

22 What is the most gonzo kitchen sink RPG you ever played? How was it?
Back in the early d20 days I was playing with my son.  We used D&D 3.0, Mutants and Masterminds, BESM d20, Star Wars, Silver Age Sentinels and anything that wasn't nailed down. We had a blast.

Friday Video: Satanism Unmasked Dungeons & Dragons

I am obsessed with the 80s Satanic Panic.  Here is another little turd from that time.

Christians talking about how morally deficient and evil D&D is.

)

Why is that these people get their facts so wrong?
Not just the really wrong shit of satanism in a game, but they can't even get the basic facts right.

...Satanism is not part of Witchcraft and visa versa.
...Those are not the words from "Shout at the Devil"
...NecroNOMicon, not Necro"NOME"icon.
...no suicides due to D&D.
...what the hell is a "training 'prim-er'"?
...interviewing prisoners. Always a good source of "credible" information.

I could go on. But what is the point.  Here is a great podcast from "The Thinking Atheist".

)

And this gem, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jrMoVWl5KA

Ok. How about this.

Shield of Faith
(Basic Era/Labyrinth Lord/Basic Fantasy/S&W)
Level: Cleric 1 to 7
Range: 5' in front of the Cleric
Duration: 1 round per level
By means of this spell the cleric focuses their faith into a tangible shield that will protect them from harm from creatures the cleric can consider "Evil".  Typically this is a creature of Chaotic alignment (or Lawful for a Chaotic cleric) and an "outsider" or supernatural creature. This includes (but not limited to) undead, djinn, effrit, demons, devils and any type of spirit. Sometimes even faerie creatures.
The spell reduces the attacks of these creatures at a number of hp per the spell level.  So a 5th level cleric using a 2nd level Shield of Faith would be able reduce 2 points per attack for 5 rounds.
The cleric must present their holy symbol when casting and they cannot attack.
Material Components: The clerics holy symbol.

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 2

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 2 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

9 What superhero RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Mutants and Masterminds is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed Villains and Vigilantes and Superbabes.
I just liked the way M&M worked to be honest.
Back in the day we used to take our D&D characters and drop them right into V&V.  It was the 80s things like that were allowed.

10 What science fiction RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space is my current favorite sci-fi game.  I like it's flexibility and it's openness.  Plus being a big fan of Doctor Who doesn't hurt.  But in all seriousness it is just a really fun game and really forces you to think about how to do things other than fighting all the time.

11 What post-apocalyptic RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Gamma World or Armageddon. I am not a huge fan of post-apoc games to be honest, but I have had fun with them in the past.  Gamma World is gonzo fun and Armageddon is a nice addition to the WitchCraft line.

12 What humorous RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Army of Darkness. I think counts. It has a solid humor element. Same with Ghostbusters. Witch Girls Adventures also has a humor to it that I like.  I like to inject all my games with a bit of humor. Temper the darkness a bit.

13 What horror RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Too many to count really.  Chill, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, WitchCraft, Buffy, Army of Darkness, Vampire, Mage, Ghosts of Albion, Kult, Monsterhearts, Wraith and lots more. I love horror games. I even run my D&D games as horror games.

14 What historical or cultural RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Not sure what this one is asking. I like anything Victorian.  But outside of that Mage the Sorcerers' Crusade for playing in the Renaissance. For a purely historical RPG, Victoria is one of my favorites.

15 What pseudo or alternate history RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Castle Falkenstein is one of my favorite alt-history games.  Victoriana is another good one. And Space: 1899.  Anything in the Victorian period really.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 28

Day 28: What is the single most important lesson you've learned from playing Dungeons & Dragons?

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

― G.K. Chesterton

The same thing can be said about D&D.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 27

Day 27: If you had to do it all over again, would you do anything different when you first started gaming?

I don't know.  I am not one for regrets or second-guessing my choices.
I think I would have liked to have bought more of the classic books when I could and saved more of the things I wrote. Playing some more games when I was younger would have been nice too.

But yeah I mean I had a blast. I am still having a blast. Why would I want to change any of that?

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 26

Day 26: Do you still game with the people who introduced you to the hobby?

I started 35 years ago.  The people I gamed with then have all moved on and now have families of their own.  The ones I still keep somewhat in touch with are still over 200 miles away.

Maybe someday I will game with them again.  My boys are also playing 1st Ed. AD&D now so everything has come full circle for me.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 23

Day 23: First song that comes to mind that you associate with D&D. Why?

Hmm.

Again, given the age I am I usually associate D&D and AD&D in particular with Led Zeppelin.

I grew up in the mid-west, the middle of Illinois to be exact.  Classic Rock was all that was on the radio.  So songs like "The Battle of Evermore" or "Misty Mountain Hop" invoke that quasi-Tolkien feel that goes hand in hand with D&D.  But I also have to mention "Kashmir" and "The Immigrant Song" as having some lingering associations for me.

I have to admit I once wanted to create a series of adventures all based on the songs from Led Zeppelin 4 (aka "Zoso").  While that is SOOO a typical High School kid in the 80s thing to do with D&D, I still think it might be fun.  I mean look as the adventures I did for The Dragon & The Phoenix, Season of the Witch and The Hex Girls.  Obviously I listened to a lot of music in my formative years.














"Does anybody remember laughter?"

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 22

Day 22: First D&D-based novel you ever read (Dragonlance Trilogy, Realms novels, etc.)

I have to admit I don't read a lot of game-based fiction.  I did. But not anymore.

So like most people my age the first D&D book I ever read was Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

I remember being rather excited about it when it came out.  I read it and it was ok.  I liked the Twins Trilogy better, but lets be 100% honest here. These are not great works of literature.  They are fun.

I recently set out to reread the Annotated Dragonlance Chronicles recently.  I have not gotten very far.  There is a surprising lack of violence in these books.  Plus they commit one of the cardinal rules of fiction in my mind, things happen to the characters rather than characters doing things.

My son is reading this now.  He will enjoy it since he is the same age now I was then.

I will admit to reading all the Gord the Rogue books and all of the Ravenloft ones.
To be fair with the Ravenloft books though there are some "names" in those early books, Laurell K. Hamilton, P.N. Elrod, Christie Golden, and Elaine Bergstrom.

I have never read any Forgotten Realms books or anything for any other game line.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 21

Day 21: First time you sold some of your D&D books--for whatever reason.

Not sure when the first time was.  I do recall though a great 2nd ed purge around 1997 or 1998.  I had a ton of books and I wanted to get things down to the bare essentials.  This also corresponds to the time I was getting out of D&D.

I remember selling some items at the local Game Plus Auction, but I also sold a more significant amount on Ebay.

This was right before the Dragon magazine archive went for sale so I unloaded my old Dragons for a decent price. I sold all my 2e splat books.  My best sell was a near mint Complete Book of Necromancers. I had bought it for $15.00 and it was then being sold at $18.00  I made $83.00 on it.

I almost always regret selling my games and have often bought them back.  I have owned over the years 3 different copies of Chill and Quest of the Ancients, two copies each of BESM, Vampire, Mage and various Star Trek games. There are more.  Interestingly enough I recently picked up a copy of the Complete Book of Necromancers at Half-Price books for $9.00.  That is the same price as the PDF.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 20

Day 20: First non-D&D RPG you played.

It is a toss up really.  I am not quite sure of the dates but it was either Traveller or Chill.

Of course with Chill I never played, but I managed to run a couple of sessions.
Traveller, at least how we played it, ended up being D&D in Space.

Though now that I think about it is also could have Villains & Vigilantes.   But all we did in that was use our D&D characters.

Since then I have branched off into scores of games and have a few that I regularly play.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 19

Day 19: First gamer who just annoyed the hell out of you.

There have been a few.

I have had "the unwashed guy", the "creepy guy" and the "angry guy" all in my groups at one point.

But the one that I have to admit who annoys me the most is also one of the first I ever ran into, he is the "You're Doing it WRONG guy".

This is the guy who has been playing for a while and has decided, for whatever reason that your brand of fun is somehow wrong or deficient in some matter.

I would run into him when I was playing Basic/Expert D&D and he was playing AD&D. I ran into him while playing Chill and he was playing Call of Cthulhu.  I run into him all the time on internet.

Of course by "him" I mean a metaphorical "him", but I have never run into a woman gamer that did this.  Most times they are older than me (which is now thankfully rarer) but sometimes younger.

I look at this guy the same way I do Edition Wars. Ignore him and continue with my fun.

D&D40 Bloghop: Day 18

Day 18: First gaming convention you ever attended.

I had attended some smaller Con at Southern Illinois University back in the late 80s.  But being a poor college student I didn't get a chance to do much.

My first Gen Con was not until 2007.  I have had a blast there every year since (except for 2013, we didn't go).

This year I am taking my boys again.  It should be a blast!