White Dwarf Wednesday #41

May 1983 may very have been the beginning of the end of the so called "Golden Era" of RPGs, but it was also part of the era that would see a dramatic rise in the popularity in the public consciousness of RPGs.  It could be retrospect, rose-colored glasses or even bad memory, but Issue #41 seems to reflect this.
The stylistic changes that began that the end of 82 have hit their peak now.  Issue 41 is like picking up an old Judas Priest tape.  Not album. Not CD. Not any freaking 8-Track.  Those were the artifacts of different eras.  Judas Priest on Cassette and White Dwarf #41.

What do we have in this one?  Well lets admire that cover for a bit. Lone spaceship. Betcha that also means lone spaceship pilot. Flying over some distant planet.One man vs. the Universe.  Man that image is a freaking metaphor of the 80s.  I am sure he is listing to Judas Priest on a cassette in that thing.  No CDs or MP3s or data-tapes for that guy.  I am equally sure it is a "he" too.  Moving on.

The editorial is an interesting one.  Ian Livingstone can only be describing the beginning of the end!  Or at least as it might have looked back then.  He talks about some companies going out of business and the first great RPG boom is over.  Now I have read some reports that this boom was bigger than the d20 one nearly 17 years later, but I don't remember this time as being anything else but a boom time, but not one that was all consuming.  The warning though is clear.  No more mediocre games.

First up is Battleplan for Dungeon Master General.  This covers non-human armies such as dwarves, elves, kobolds and orcs. It is an interesting read.  The Dwarves and Elves are pretty much what you would expect. The kobolds are more aggressive and war like here, using numbers to make up for their size.  While in this post Tucker's Kobolds age we tend to see Kolbods more a little skirmishers that hit fast and run for cover.  The picture of the orcs tends to be more bleaker, that the orcs are basically cowardly, lazy bullies.  Since then we have had Orkworld and the Lord of the Rrngs movies where orcs look more like an organized, fearless military.

Critical Mass covers the British SF Association awards for 1982 and the Nebula Awards for the US for 82. Next month they will announce the winners. If you can wait you can go here to see the winners and nominees of the SF award and the Nebula.

Open Box has an interesting mix in Traveller Supplement 10: The Solomani Rim by GDW.  Andy Slack, Traveller savant in residence, gives it a rather mixed review saying it is great for novices but terrible for experts (9/10 and 2/10 respectively).  He does mention that this is how Spinward Marches should have been done.  I have not read either supplement in over 20 years, but I tend to agree.
One game I was always curious about, but never got my hands on was Man, Myth & Magic by Yaquinto.  Three products are reviewed here, Man, Myth & Magic RPG, Adventure 1, Episode 5 - Death to Setanta and Adventure 1, Episode 6 - The Kingdom of the Sidhe. Marcus Rowland did not care for how the game was set up feeling it was too hard to find the material you needed thanks to the design of the game.  You read the rule book and adventure as you learn.  This game was never popular around my area and I didn't even know about it really till I was researching the old Man, Myth and Magic encyclopedia.  I am not sure if they are related or not. Anyway Rowland gives the RPG and adventures 5/10, 4/10 and 6/10 respectively.
Finally Star Explorer boardgame by FGU was reviewed by Alan E. Paull.  He gives it 9/10.

"A Tasty Morsel" is a bit of RuneQuest fiction featuring Griselda.  I am no judge of gaming fiction really.  So I have no idea if this is a good RuneQuest tale or not.

Phil Hine has a bit on Sorcerous Symbols, or how to use sigils in AD&D.  Interesting little article that I don't recall reading in the past.

Don Turnbull is back in the Letters section defending his point of view in the whole Necromancer affair. Oddly enough he is being coy about knowing about the Anti-Paladin.  Maybe I am giving him too much credit or overstating the effect of Dragon Mag, but I thought for sure that everyone had seen the Anti-Paladin article by 83.

Andy Slack is back with a Traveller short Scenario, the Snowbird Mystery. I do remember this one. In fact I think it might even was the last Traveller Adventure that I was ever going to go through.  I didn't, part of my odd relationship with Traveller, but I knew that this was the one that was going to be used.  We played AD&D instead.

RuneRites has Unarmed combat for RuneQuest. Or rather part II to the article that appeared all the way back in WD 30.

Up next is something very interesting, a mini-Scenario for Car Wars!  It looks fun, but I never played Car Wars to be a good judge of this.


Fiend Factory has more Inhuman Gods, Deities for Non-Human Races: Part III.   Kraada (Frostmen), Zrunta Mountainheart (Mountain Giants), Carratriatuh (Greenmen from WD 27), Klagg (Grimlocks) and for the  Lava Children, two gods Halnass (Fire-Father) and Quorggg (Stone-Mother).   They are all in Deities and Demigods format. Of the lot, I think I would like to use Klagg, and given my association of Grimlocks with Charmed, I would make him a demon.

Starbase is back for it's bi-monthly publication of readers' ideas for Traveller.  This time it is Andy Slack (his name might be familiar) covering the same Covert Survey Bureau that was featured in the Snowbird adventure.

Treasure Chest has all sorts of discs as weapons.  Hmmm. When was Tron out again?   They include the Vorpal Disc, Disc of Shock, Torus, Crystal Disc, Disc of Eyes, Disc of Dismissal, Anti-Magic Disc and the Sonic Disc.  Between this and the Man, Myth and Magic RPG you could do Xena!  I will admit I had a character that used the Vorpal Disc.  I remember it well too, he had to get it from a greater Air Elemental.  Played it one day in Jr. High.

We end with some ads.

All in all I think this was a great issue.  Nothing jumps out at me and screams "use me" but everything was quality and I enjoyed reading it again.

Grognardia Book Shelf Meme, Part 2

Part of James's meme is not just book porn (it is that as well) but what books do you go back to for reading, playing and writing.

Well the truth is I buy a lot of PDFs.  I will go as far as to say I was an early adopter of the whole RPG books on PDF.  I love being able to access all my books anywhere thanks to PDFs or carry them aroung on a flash drive or my laptop or tablet.

So here is my "other" set of shelves.

Being a long time playtester and reviewer has it's advantages.  Yes those are batch files in the folder too, and yes the 'Palm' folder was for my old Palm Pilot.  I pretty much wrote Ghosts of Albion on my Handspring Visor.

And yes. I have multiple backups.

Grognardia Book Shelf Meme

James over at Grognardia wants to start a bookshelf meme.  What the hell.  Here are the books in my shelves that I go to most often.

Victorian Age games.

One of my D&D shelves; core rules from 0e to 4e, plus Pathfinder. Circa July, 2012.
Below are binders of characters, bottom right is my son's shelf.

More Character sheets.  Though the tabbed binder in backwards contains various OSR PDFs that I printed.

Various horror anthologies with witch minis.

Another view of the horror short stories, you can also see various d20 horror games I am reading currently below.  The White Box is the special Edition of Spellcraft and Swordplay.

Current research books for The Witch.  4e below that and various demon and devil minis above.

Another organization of my upper D&D shelves.

And of course...

My Eden/Horror shelves.  I have other horror games, but these are the ones I am playing/reading now.

And my witches meeting up in the Charmed Ones' attic in San Fran.  Zatanna is showing off by floating.

The large red book came from an AD&D Action figure, I thought it had belonged to Kelek, but I can't seem to find it online.

I don't have any pictures of my Sci-Fi/Doctor Who/Star Trek shelves.  You might recall from this post that all my superhero games have been sent to the lower shelves along with BESM, White Wolf games and other modern and non-horror games.

Well I did it after all (and other updates)

I picked up a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics.

I picked it up because I am a fan of Goodman Games and they have always had a quality product in the past.  It is also on sale now at DriveThruRPG.

I seriously doubt I will play this game and if I do it won't be with d7s or anything like that.
But I am enjoying the read so far and maybe there is something in this for my AD&D1 game.

There is a lot to get through.

In other news...
I picked up my Kickstarter Supporter PDF copy of the Adventurer Conqueror King System Player's Companion.

There is a lot of great stuff in this book as well.  I am going to hold off on a proper review till it is released on DriveThruRPG as well.  But I will say this, I am pleased with the Witch and Warlock classes (so expect to hear some more about those) and the Class Construction rules look very interesting.

I finished reading through the Swords and Wizardry Complete Rulebook from Frog God Games.  Again, some neat ideas, but I am not sure if I'll every play it or run it.  But it is a great toolbox for a near Editionless D&D.  More on it and my third in-depth dive into Lamentations of the Flame Princess in another post.

Edition Neutral? Curiouser and curiouser...

There is another new product that appeared on Amazon's list of upcoming products for D&D.
Called "Storm Over Baldur's Gate" it is being touted by some as "Edition Neutral".
http://www.amazon.com/Storm-Over-Baldurs-Gate-Sundering/dp/0786964634/

I don't see it in the list of upcoming products over at WotC's site, http://www.wizards.com/dnd/catalog.aspx?sort=date-desc, so it is hard to know what it is just yet.

If so this is another interesting shift in the future of WotC's handling of the D&D brand.

Dragonfolk for the Advanced Era

Like his dad, my oldest son enjoys all versions of D&D.  He plays a 3e game with me and his brother, a 4e game with some friends and a Pathfinder game with some other friends.   He has also had the chance to play Castles & Crusades, ACKS and Basic Era D&D.  But so far his favorite has to be 1st Ed AD&D.

He also loves dragons.  Always has.  So it was a natural then that he would want to make his own dragon book and have some going back and forth we decided that an OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord Advanced compatible book would be the best.

Of course in what can only be called a bit of Generational Rebellion, according to my son there are no know Dragonfolk witches. 

So for your enjoyment here is a new player character race he has been working on for some time. 

The Dragonfolk.

All text below is considered OPEN for the Open Gaming License. It is copyright 2012 Liam and Timothy Brannan.

Dragonfolk

It is well known that dragons can often take the guise of humans, elves or other humanoid species.  It has been through this magic that the dragons have come into direct contact and congress with these younger species.  For years these various dragon-blooded and half-dragons roamed the world often ignorant of their own heritages.  It was not till the great hero Marduk, himself rumored to be the spawn of a human mother and Ea the Dawn Dragon, gathered all the dragon blooded to one one land now known as the Dragon Isles. He then became their first King.

Thousands of years later the Dragon Empires have waned, but the Dragonfolk have survived as a species in their own right.  They rarely leave their Dragon Isles and are thus rare or even legend in other parts of the world.

There are two type of Dragonfolk recognized, Imperial and non-Imperial.  Imperial Dragonfolk hale from the Isles of the Dragon Empire.  The Empire has waned in the 700+ generations since Marduk first united the Dragonfolk into a single people, but the Imperial Dragonfolk are still just as proud as they ever were.

Non-Imperial Dragonfolk are born from the union of a humanoid (typically human, elf or dwarf) and a dragon.  They are of the same general sort of their humanoid parent with the scales, coloration and temperament of their dragon parent.  Non-Imperial Dragonfolk are often shunned in human committees. Any non-Imperial Dragonfolk can claim to be an Imperial Dragonfolk only if they make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Dragons on the Dragon Isle and there renounce their ties to their humanoid relatives.

Description
Dragonfolk appear as dragonlike humanoids.  They share qualities with both of their parent stock.  They stand taller than humans typically 6 to 7 feet in height with males and females being roughly the same height.  They are warm blooded despite their reptilian appearance, though they are not as comfortable in extreme climates as are humans.   Dragonfolk lay eggs like dragons, but also produce milk like a mammal.  Typically only 1 to 2 eggs are laid in a clutch.  The eggs develop partially inside the female and then are kept warm by the male and female once laid.  Twins resulting from one egg is considered an ill omen.

Imperial Dragonfolk can claim human, elf, dwarf as well as a variety of draconic parentage.  Imperial Dragonfolk are only fertile with other Dragonfolk. Non-Imperial are fertile with other Dragon-folk and their members of their humanoid parent's race (and races cross fertile with them such as orcs, trolls, goblins).

Dragonfolk can come from any combination of dragon and humanoid parentage.  For Imperial Dragonfolk, ones that live or come from the Dragon Isles, this is not determination of potential alignment or powers. For non-Imperial Dragonfolk parentage can have an affect on coloration, powers and potential alignment.  

Dragonfolk only recognize the difference between Imperial and non-Imperial Dragonfolk, with Imperial Dragonfolk claiming superiority to the non-Imperial individuals.  Non-Imperial Dragonfolk can produce offspring with strong Dragonfolk traits. These straits remain strong even through many generations.

There is some questionable scholarly work claiming that Kobolds are non-Imperial crosses with gnomes or halflings.  While is this largely dismissed even the most conservative scholars do believe that Kobolds may be the result of non-Imperial pairings of dragons and goblins.

Dragonfolk develop from egg to hatchling in 6 months and are weaned after 6 months. They reach maturity at 13 years.  Imperial Dragonfolk are considered Citizens at 21 years of age.  Their average lifespan is 250 years.  A mated pair will usually mate first between 14 and 21 years old and they will stay together for life, though they may not not necessarily live with each other.

Honor and Caste
Dargonfolk have a strict code of honor. This and the Dragonfolk caste system will be detailed in the future.

Requirements: CON 9

Ability Modifiers: STR +1, CHA +1, DEX -1

Ability Min/Max: STR 4/19, DEX 2/17, CON 9/18, INT 3/18, WIS 3/18, CHA 4/19

Languages: Dragonfolk learn Draconic as their primary Language and can learn the common tongue and alignment language.  They may learn additional languages to these based on their Intelligence score. If Kobolds have a unique language then Dragonfolk will also know this language. 

Infravision: 30 ft

Low-light vision: 120ft

Naturally Dragonfolk are a highly magical race. They gain a +2 to all saves from Spells and Spell like devices.  The gain a +4 vs Dragon Breath saves.  

They can see Invisible creatures and items on a 1 on a 1d6.  They can find secret doors on a 1-2 on a 1d6 as well. 

Dragonfolk are naturally resistant to weapons due to their tough, scaly hides. They gain an additional -1 to their Armor Class. 

Permitted class options: Cleric, Fighter, Paladin, Magic-User*, Thief, Cleric/Fighter, Cleric/Paladin,  Fighter/Magic-User, Fighter/Thief.

Level Limits

Cleric: 9th 

Fighter: Unlimited

Paladin: 17th

Magic-User*: 11th

Thief: 8th

Dragonfolk have their own type of magic-user known as Dragon Mages.  These will detailed later.

Dragonfolk Thief Skill Adjustments

Pick Locks -5%

Find and Remove Traps +5%

Climb Walls -15%

Movement Rate: 120 ft

Breath Weapon

A holdover from their draconic heritage, Dragonfolk have a limited breath weapon.  Regardless of their coloration or alignment the individual Dragonfolk can choose among Acid, Cold, Gas, Electricity,  or Fire.  

Once per day a Dragonfolk can emit a powerful breath weapon attack.  This attack does 1d6 + 1hp/level damage. The damage type is chosen at character creation and can't be changed short of a Wish spell.

Dragonfolk and Kobolds

Dragonfolk and Kobolds share a relationship similar to that of Humans and Halflings or Dwarves and Gnomes. In areas where Dragonfolk are more common Kobolds will live on the outskirts of the Dragonfolk communities.  Kobolds will adjust their normal behaviors and alignments to suit that of their Dragonfolk cousins.  Indeed small communities of kobolds near good aligned Dragonfolk areas have been known to be good aligned as well.  

Religion
Dragonfolk follow a form of Ancestor worship where they honor the spirits of fallen warriors, kings and dragons.  They claim that many of the dragon "gods" that cultures around the world worship were in fact personages in their history.  Many times these gods were non-Imperial Dragonfolk that rose to great power and honor.   Such dragons and Dragonfolk are Aži Dahāka (The Destroyer), Druk (thunder dragon), Ea (Dawn Dragon), Jawzahr (Moon Dragon), Karkeu (Diamond Dragon), Marduk (Dragonfolk Hero and Emperor), Quetzalcoatl (Dragonfolk Lord of the Sky), Tiamat (Mother of Monsters), Yam (Son of Ea and Tiamat, dragon god of the Sea), Zirnitra (Dragon God of Sorcerery), and Zmey Gorynych (Darkness).

Section 15.

OSRIC. Copyright 2008 Stuart Marshall.

Advanced Edition Companion, Copyright 2009-2010, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.

"Dragonfolk for the Advanced Era" Copyright 2012, Timothy & Liam Brannan.

Second Chance Weekend

Thanksgiving at my parents was great.  Got a chance to talk to the guy who was my fist AD&D DM.    I knew I was going to run into him so I took a copy of my Witch book.

I also grabbed my copies of Sword & Wizardry and Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
These are two games I gave passes on.  S&W because I was into Labyrinth Lord and Spell craft &Swordplay, and LotFP because, well frankly, I didn't see the point of it.

I am rereading them both now and getting slightly different points of view than before.

I'll keep you all posted.