30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 12: Favorite Dungeon Type/Location

Day 12: Favorite Dungeon Type/Location

I love cities.  From the shops, to the homes, to the back alleys and the sewers Cities are always the best dungeon crawls as far as I am concerned.  Plus there are so many ways for the characters to get into trouble and so many new things they have to do.  They can't kill that merchant in broad daylight or even carry weapons!

White Dwarf Wednesday #79

July 1986 gives us White Dwarf #79 with one of the most ridiculous covers ever.  I had always thought that this was a Chris Achilleos cover, but no, it is listed as Amazonia Gothique by John Blanche.  Let's be honest there is nothing practical about this armor even by White Dwarf's standards or even by John Blanche's standards. This of course has to be the ultimate evolution of the 80s big hair.  No surprise then that this cover would later be voted as one of the best.

Paul Cockburn takes over the helm of the editorial page. There is a notice that a warning label will now be attached to ads for lead miniatures.  Is there anything less old school than a warning label?  Don't know, but I am sure there isn't.  Cockburn promises more changes but already there seems some Imagine has leaked into my White Dwarf. If I had actually had a plan when I started this I should have alternated with issues of Imagine so I could better comment on this, but I didn't so we just have to go with it.

This is most evident in the Open Box reviews which look like the reviews in Imagine; reviews running across a span of pages.  Among the reviews, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (a game I have never played), Secret Wars II for MSH, Blacksword for Stormbringer, Terror from the Stars for Call of Cthulhu, Ghostbusters and Acute Paranoia for you guessed it Paranoia.  First I have to admire how gaming is diversifying at this point.  Outside of Stormbringer there are no FRPGs in the lot and only one TSR offering.

Where and Back Again? covers starting up a Middle-Earth game.  Graham Staplehurst spends four pages covering this well trod land. The focus here is on the ICE game of course, but a lot of it can be used with other incarnations of the game.  It is still a desire of mine to play a game here, maybe using the D&D Basic rules (or ACKs), the only thing I am lacking is time.

Critical Mass and 2020 Vision cover reviews of books and movies respectively.  There is a certain pathos in providing reviews to something review nearly 30 years ago.  Though the highlights are their review of Highlander.

The special feature of the issue is next, a alternate view on Psionics in AD&D.  Steven Palmer creates different "classes" of psioncs to help group the powers.  A potential psion has access to 1 to 3 of these classes.  He also gives characters an additional 3% if they have psions in their family line.  It is a clean up and clarification of the rules in the AD&D1 Player's Handbook, but not yet at the Psionics as a strange magic seen in later editions of D&D.

Graeme Davis has an adventure for the Call of Cthulhu game, Ghost Jackal Kill, which among other things features some new monsters.  I am afraid though the overall feel is one of a D&D adventure.

Phil Masters has an article on using the intelligence monsters have. Novel for the time, old information in todays games.

'eavy Metal is the new(ish) Miniatures feature.

Letters page gets a facelift.

The last part of the "brains" featured articles are Psi Judges for Judge Dredd.  Reading these I might actually give the game a go sometime.  But only if I can play them as very Big Brother or as Babylon 5 Psi Corps.

Fracas is the revamped Rumors section.  Notable the introduction of the Zochi 100 sided dice.

We end with ads.

Now to be honest this was a good issue. I felt the featured content on powers of the mind fit together rather well and even went across a few game lines. There were some good advice in the articles and it did the one thing I really want a game magazine to do; get me to play the games they are talking about.

We could be closing out the 70s here (issues, not decade) on a positive note then.  I know my opinion will change over the next 20 issues, but that is for another Wednesday.

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 11: Favorite Playable Race

Day 11: Favorite Adventure I Ran

So many here as well.  Since I am limiting it to D&D I think I am going to say Ravenloft, I6.  I have run it a number of times and each time it gets better and better.  Plus it is a lot of fun and I love all the gothic horror trappings.

Review: Basic Arcana

The idea of Basic Arcana is simple. Create an "Unearthed Arcana" for the B/X rule system.  Via the OGL and OSR this can be done for Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord.  The result of this idea from Tom Doolan is this book.

The style is very much in the feel of the old B/X books.  The text and most of the art is by Doolan himself, so kudos in that regard.

We start off with some class variants. The obvious parallel here is when the UA expanded the classes demi-humans could take but it also fills a niche.  Not all elves use magic, not all dwarves swing an axe.  While we can see some of this in ACKs, this has a tighter feel with the B/X design.  We get two new races, the Half-elf and the Half-orc and two new classes, the Barbarian and the Martialist.

There are some rule additions including various to hit bonuses, rules for Followers and the Mass Combat rules.

Mass Combat is interesting since it is a backwards evolution of what D&D took from Chainmail.

On the down side I did not see a declaration of open content. The OGL is there, but not the copyright for this book or how much open.

Also while the book feels packed it is only 17 pages total or about 14 pages of text.  I am of two minds on this. First the book does feel packed, so a lot was crammed into these 14 pages of text.  On the otherhand is $3 too much for 14 pages?

In the end I judged the price fair, but I would have liked to have seen some more.  Some special spells for the Dwarf Priest and the Elf Sorcerer would have been nice.

Who should buy this?
If you are a big B/X fan (like me) then there is a lot of value here for your buck.  If you play any of the "Basic Era" games then there are things you could use here.

I think there is worth while in identifying some spells from various "Basic" sources that might work well with the new classes. Books such as Magical Theorems & Dark Pacts and my own The Witch.

You can find Tom on the web at http://wishfulgaming.blogspot.com/

30 Day D&D Challenge, Day 10: Craziest Thing

Day 10: Craziest Thing that's Happened that you saw

I have shared this story in the past, but it was too funny not to share it again.
I have played exactly 1 ninja my entire  gaming life.  His name was (horrible I know) Oko-nishi.  My lame attempts at a Japanese sounding name.  In my defense at what I knew was bad I made him a half-orc.  It must have been around 1984-5 as I made him using the Oriental Adventure rules.  My then DM and I had worked up a D&D combat simulator and we plugged him in with 9 other characters.  He was attacked by a Black Dragon (or Red, cant recall) and killed. The dragon kept attacking him and only him.  We had not worked out all the errors. In the end he had been reduced to something like -70 hp.  My DM offered to let him be ok, or keep him dead. We enjoyed watching it so much and getting the mental image of this dragon jumping up and down on my dead ninja that I felt it was a waste to say it never happened.

Cryptworld: Chilling Tales!

As many of you know I am a long, long time fan of the old Chill game.

I have also enjoyed the recent set of games using the "Pacesetter" system, Rotworld and Majus.

Well it is my pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of the Goblinoid Games Pacesetter Family.

Cryptworld!

I love the Jim Holloway art and the "Chilling Adventures into the Unexplained".

I just got my pre-release copy and it is awesome.  This plus Majus, Rot World and all my other Chill books should get me back in the mood for my "Spirit of '76" game.

I will get a proper review up soon.

Heading to the Manor

I have had these wonderful zines sitting around so I thought I would share some thoughts with you all.

The Manor is the digital zine from Tim Shorts over at Gothridge Manor.  I have always enjoyed Tim's blog. He began his blogging around the same time I really started blogging in earnest. Plus he is a fellow Tim and our sites both use a dark marble background, so I am inclined to like it.  He also posts some great stuff too so even better.

The Manor #1
The Manor #1 is the first of the quarterly (or so) issues of the fanzine from Tim Shorts of Gothridge Manor.  The zine takes on the feel of old-school zines from the late 70s and early 80s. Though one could argue that the art and layout are better today.  The inaugural issue has a quick dungeon, a random table of various items found in a Troglodyte dung heap, a modern day encounter location (with some monsters), forest enocounters and an NPC and his wares.

The Manor captures the feel and the spirit of the old school zine quite well. The only thing that is missing really are ads for local gaming groups!
If you enjoy old-school style new  games or the original games they are based on.

All in all you get 24 pages of material.  Not a bad deal really.

The Manor #2
The Manor #2 keeps right on going with another 24 pages of material.   This one is setup to allow you to print it out and then fold it over and staple it for that "real zine feel", nice, but sometimes I prefer to read these things on my computer. (Edited to Add: There is a "regular" version as well).

In this issue there is Hugo's House of Healing. An encounter/resource.
An inn which would be great to use anywhere and a random table of 20 things you find under the cot.

The inn and Hugo's house (that is Hugo on the cover) take up most of this issue.
One other minor quibble, and this is more me than the zine itself. There is no OGL license.  Granted, it doesn't really NEED it (and I am not taking off for it's omission) but it would have made it play nicer with the likes of Basic Fantasy, OSRIC and Labyrinth Lord.

Still though. Top notch effort and results.

The Manor #3
The Manor #3 increases to 32 pages. Though it feels like there is more here than that.
The main article is the Mine of Rot and Disease, a great little old-school adventure.  Stats are 1980s era D&D, but easily converted to anything.
The art is fair, but perfect really for the feel of this issue.  The maps though are quite nice.

Another poetry slam.  It is what makes The Manor unique and I hope it does not go away.

Pog Nog the Goblin is a great little NPC/resource and one I am going to use in my next adventure with my kids.

There are some, self-admitted, dumb jokes. Again, perfect for a zine.
Ending with a new god of Monster Hunting.

If you remember the zines of the 80s (and some of the best ones I remember from the late 80s even) then this a very nice stroll down familiar, yet new, territory.  If you were not around then but enjoy oldschool games, then this is also a great find.

I have not picked up The Manor #4 yet, but here are some Tim's other books.

The Mini Manor: Faces Without Screams
The Mini Manor is a free adventure made specially for Swords & Wizardry appreciation day.  If you are familiar with the adventures found in the Manor zine.
The adventure is somewhat reminiscent of a horror movie setup but works well.

If you want a good free adventure then grab this.
If you want an idea on how the adventures in The Manor feel like, then grab this.

Note: this publication DOES include the OGL.

Knowledge Illuminates
Knowledge Illuminates is a 28 page (24 pages + 1 cover, 1 toc and 2 end pages) adventure for Swords & Wizardry complete, though it could be used with any OSR game.

This adventure is designed to be the start of a campaign or the first S&W adventure.
There is quite a lot of information here in case the players want to go off exploring on their own.  There is also a fairly detailed XP allocation chart in back, helpful for new GMs.

This adventure is also released under the Pay What You Want feature.  So if you have some spare change and need a good starting S&W adventure then this might be exactly what you are looking for.