Combat should be interesting

Combat obviously is an important element in most fantasy role-playing games. At its best, it’s exciting and dramatic. After all, the protagonists’ lives are at risk! And surprising things can happen – either because of chance (the rolls of the dice) or because of players’ inventiveness (or even inspiration on the part of the Game Master in the midst of a session). 

In the two campaigns that I currently am running – both using the Against the Darkmaster (VsD) system, one set in Middle-earth, the other in my home setting of Ukrasia – I rarely have more than one combat in any given session. Thanks to its “critical hits” system, combat in VsD can easily become quite deadly or debilitating, so players tend to avoid it when possible. Hence, two or more sessions (if not more) typically will pass between combats. I like this kind of pacing, as it ensures that when combat does take place, it is noteworthy and memorable.  

The two games that I play the most these days – VsD and Mythras – both have involved and colourful combat systems. While VsD has vivid critical hits, fumbles, and the like, Mythras has hit locations and exciting “special effects” (previously called “combat manoeuvres”) that allow for a wide range of tactical options, including defensive ones. They definitely are not “rules light” systems! 

Almost two decades ago (!), when I finally realized that I disliked 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons, I thought that that was because I disliked “rules heavy” FRPGs. But that wasn’t really the case. I’ve always liked certain “rules heavy” – or at least “rules medium” – systems, like Middle-earth Roleplaying and Stormbringer. What I disliked was how tedious the rules for 3e D&D were – both in terms of prep work and its combat system. Running and playing 3e D&D involved a lot of work – and there was very little pay-off for that, as combats in 3e were frequent but usually quite boring. For the most part, characters and their opponents were “blocks of hit points” that would be chipped away during combats that involved a lot of rather flavourless options (and ubiquitous, bland “attacks of opportunity”). 

The problem isn’t nearly as bad in 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons. But it’s still there: the game assumes that combat is common (which the DM can ignore, of course) and that it rarely threatens the lives of the characters (thanks to all their abilities, inflated hit points, “death saves,” and the like). (Yes, there are options to make the game more “gritty” and deadly hidden in the Dungeon Master's Guide, but the default mode is very much “fantasy superheroes,” wherein player characters rarely face serious risks.) Combat in 5e D&D is pretty dull in my experience – at least when compared to the alternatives with which I am familiar, such as Mythras and VsD.

So what my recent 5e D&D campaign taught me was that what I dislike are “rules heavy” or “rules medium” systems in which combat is insipid and (usually) not that risky (at least to the characters). I had to work hard to ensure that at least some of the combats in my campaign were novel. In contrast, no such work is needed for Mythras or VsD, given the intrinsic qualities of those combat systems. Even an encounter with some “vanilla” bandits or orcs can be risky and interesting.

That said, sometimes one doesn’t want to engage in a lot of book-keeping when running a game. That’s certainly fine. This is where older (TSR era) editions of D&D and AD&D shine (at least when one isn’t using all the rules outlined by Gary Gyax in the AD&D rules – which almost no one ever did or does). In old school D&D (and associated “retro-clones” like Swords and Wizardry, OSRIC, and Crypts & Things), combat is fast. So while it lacks the colourfulness and tactical depth of other systems, at least it rarely takes more than 20 minutes to resolve (unlike even trivial combats in 3e or 5e D&D). And of course, combat can be more deadly in older versions of D&D, given the lower hit points of characters, the absence of “death saves,” the relative rarity of healing spells, etc.

In short, my view is that combat should be either interesting or fast. One of my gripes with 5th edition D&D is that combat typically is neither (although sometimes it can be), at least in comparison to the other FRPGs that I play.  

Swords and Wizardry Kickstarter: 3 days left

I’ve been swamped with work lately – hence no posts at all in April (which, I think, is the first time that I’ve missed an entire month since starting this blog almost fifteen years ago). Because of this, I almost missed the current Swords and Wizardry kickstarter. It includes optional supplemental rules for S&W, a book of new monsters, an adventure, and a referee's screen. There are only 3 days left!

Swords and Wizardry has a special place in my heart. It is what inspired me to start this blog many moons ago – specifically, I wanted to post my house rules online so that other people could check them out. (Some of those rules later were incorporated into Crypts and Things.)

So I like to support S&W whenever I can. Even though I’m not playing or running it right now, I very likely will do so again in the future. And the updated version of the rules is excellent!

My RPG Foci: Fantasy and Eldritch Horror

Recently someone over at the RPG Pub asked what genres people preferred in their gaming. Reflecting on this question, I realized that over the past twenty-five years or so, almost all of my role-playing activity has been focused in two genres: fantasy and horror. 

Fantasy

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vast majority of my gaming has involved various flavours of fantasy, especially the following sub-genres.

High Fantasy

By “high fantasy” I mean the kind of fantasy that you find in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien and the like. High fantasy worlds have a clear distinction between “good” and “evil” – even if there are morally ambiguous characters and difficult situations between the two extremes. 

I’ve mentioned before here that I was an avid player of Middle-earth Roleplaying back during the 1980s. Indeed, I probably played as much MERP as I did AD&D during my high-school days (it eventually became my group’s “main game”). And when I first started playing RPGs semi-regularly again, around 1999, I naturally started with MERP (before, unfortunately, moving to the Rolemaster Standard System, which despite its obvious mechanical relation to MERP [MERP was derived from an earlier version of Rolemaster], was not nearly as smooth or fun to use in practice).

A lot of the games that I’ve run over the years have been in this subgenre, including past and present Middle-earth games. My current “Court of Urdor” also falls within this category. 

The brilliant Against the Darkmaster FRPG – which is heavily inspired by MERP – is designed for precisely this kind of fantasy campaign. Indeed, it builds the “Darkmaster” conceit into some of its core mechanics. As the name indicates, the struggle against the Darkmaster is assumed to be a central feature of any campaign, even if only in the background. 

Swords and Sorcery 

Another familiar sub-genre. Robert E Howard’s Hyborea and Atlantis, Michael Moorcock’s Young Kingdoms (and “multiverse” more generally), Fritz Leiber’s Nehwon, Karl Edward Wagner’s “Kane,” and the like, are all exemplars of this sub-genre. I would include Jack Vance’s Dying Earth corpus, and many of Clark Ashton Smith’s stories (especially those set in Zothique, Averoigne, and Hyperborea), as members of this family as well.

After rereading REH’s Conan stories – and reading for the first time his Kull and Bran Mac Morn tales – fifteen years ago (when they were republished in nice volumes by Ballantine), I came up with a number of house rules for Swords & Wizardy in order to run some “swords and sorcery” flavoured games. Those house rules are still available here – and seem to attract regular visits to this day. Many of them were later integrated into D101 Games’ Crypts & Things role-playing game, which I highly recommend. 

In addition to running my modified version of S&W (and later C&T), I also was a player in a wonderful campaign set in the Young Kingdoms (of Moorcock’s Elric tales), using the Mongoose Runequest II system (the grandfather of the excellent Mythras RPG). 

Dungeons & Dragons

Blend the above two sub-genres together – and add some quirky monsters (e.g., beholders, mind flayers), novel twists on old ideas (e.g., drow elves, planar cosmology), and some innovations (e.g., dungeon-delving, wandering monsters) – for the singular “Dungeons and Dragons” sub-genre. I regard “D&D fantasy” as its own thing, even though it obviously draws heavily on a wide range of sources (not just fantasy). 

However, my experience running and playing post-TSR D&D has not been that great. I ran two 3rd edition games – one 3.0e and one 3.5e – just over two decades ago. The system was new and shiny, and seemed to “fix” all the purported “problems” with the earlier versions of the game. Both campaigns lasted about a year but became quite tedious to run once the characters reached 3rd or 4th level. I came to find that being a DM for 3rd edition D&D was simply a chore. After the second campaign, I vowed to never run the game again. I subsequently ran a few sessions of Castles & Crusades, AD&D, and played a bit of the Warhammer RPG (2nd edition). All of those games I enjoyed far more than 3rd edition D&D (although I probably would only bother with AD&D again today).

I skipped 4th edition D&D altogether. After reading halfway through the Player’s Handbook in fall 2008, I realized that it was just not for me. 

Years later, I ran a few one-shots of 5th edition. At first, I thought rather highly of it – at the very least, it seemed to be a vast improvement over 3rd edition. I quite liked some of the books that were published for it (namely, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and Goodman Games’ updated versions of classic TSR modules – not coincidentally, books that all contained a lot of “Gygaxian" Greyhawk material). 

More recently, I ran a campaign set in the World of Greyhawk, much of which took place in the legendary area around the village of Hommlet. It was great fun! But it was fun despite the system (at least for me as the Dungeon Master). The ubiquitous, often “free” magic, and almost absurd “superhero” quality of the characters, came to grate on my nerves. I’ve explained some of my problems with 5th edition D&D before (see here and here) so I won’t say any more about that here.  

After these experiences, I conclude that I definitely prefer “old school” D&D within this genre – specifically, the more challenging and flavourful 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons (and related “clone” systems, like OSRIC and S&W). I like magic to be at least somewhat rare and at least somewhat costly to use. (Endless cantrips and ritual spells? No thanks!) It’s clear to me that the post-TSR versions of the game just are not my thing. I certainly have no interest in the recent offerings from the Wizards of the Coast.

There is one honourable exception regarding 5th edition D&D: the Middle-earth adaptations of the 5e system, as presented in Adventures in Middle-earth and The Lord of the Rings RPG. I thoroughly enjoyed the AiME campaign that I ran a number of years ago. But those games don’t feel like “D&D” at all – the magic system is entirely different, the classes are entirely different, etcetera. They also import a number of mechanics from The One Ring RPG. And of course, those games belong to the “high fantasy” genre discussed earlier.

Historical Fantasy

As a player, the bulk of my gaming over the past decade has been in historical fantasy settings. I suppose that this is unsurprising, given that I’ve played a lot of Mythras (and its predecessors, RuneQuest 6 and MRQII) during this time.  So, I’ve played in long-running Mythic Britain and Mythic Babylon campaigns, as well as some one-shot sessions in other settings. 

Both Mythic Britain and Mythic Babylon are excellent and highly recommended!

Horror

After fantasy, I’ve mainly run and played in “Horror” games. But in this category, it’s been exclusively “Lovecraftian” horror, that is, “Cthulhu Mythos” stuff. 

I’ve run a couple of short Call of Cthulhu campaigns set during the “classic” period, in Toronto and Massachusetts, as well as a number of one-shots. I have material for other eras (e.g., Rome, medieval, and modern, including “The Laundry”) but have never run a campaign or even a one-shot outside of the default 1920s-30s period.  

As a player, I recently took part in a long-running Mythras campaign, using the classic Beyond the Mountains of Madness sourcebook. (Our last session was today. My character survived – and was even more-or-less sane!) I’ve also taken part in one-shots of Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green, and other related games over the years. 

Other genres?

 

I took part in a few Mythras sessions years ago set in the Luther Arkwright universe. I’m not sure how to categorize that setting (“science fantasy”?). They were fine but not the kind of thing I’d likely run myself. I also have played a few other one-shots here and there, but nothing really worthy of mention.

I haven't been remotely interested in playing in a “superheroes” game in recent decades (unless you count 5th edition D&D – I joke). It’s a genre that simply doesn't appeal to me. I’d be open to a “modern” game (say, espionage) but I have no idea how to run one myself. Likewise for science-fiction.

Back in high-school, my group tried all kinds of different games – including superheroes (Villains & Vigilantes, Marvel Superheroes), historical (Gangbusters, Bushido), and especially science fiction (Traveller, Star Frontiers, and even Space Opera – or at least I bought and tried to read Space Opera). We had a lot of time and energy back then!

Wrapping up...

These days, now that I’m an old man, I generally try to stick to what I know I like. So, I guess I’m a pretty limited gamer: I play and run almost exclusively fantasy and horror games. Maybe I’ll broaden my horizons when I retire. 

Looking back, I regret all the time I spent trying to get myself to like 3rd and 5th edition D&D. I should’ve just spent that time playing MERP or Stormbringer or Crypts and Things or whatever. At least I’ve learned my lesson: life is too short to try to force myself to like a game when there are other games available that I much prefer. So these days I’m happy to focus on Mythras and Against the Darkmaster – although, of course, I still pick up the occasional new system that catches my eye. 

 

Art credits (from top to bottom): Angus McBride, Andrea Piparo, Michael Whelan, Dave Trampier, David Benzal, Erol Otus, Angus McBride (again).

Beyond Dread Portals now on Kickstarter

I don't know what's in the air, but there seems to be an unusually large number of intriguing Kickstarters this spring. Another one just launched: D101 Games' Beyond Dread Portals.

 

The setting is clearly inspired by Planescape: it focuses on a huge city, Ys, that contains portals to other planes of existence.  But it's not simply a Planescape clone: Ys has its own flavour (among other things, it's an imperial centre, which controls territories on other worlds). 

The setting looks intriguing and fun:

At the centre of the game is the city of Ys, a baroque fantasy city which rules territories on three different worlds. The worlds Ys is in contact with vary in nature, with some being Earth-like, others less so.

Magic is common and an accepted part of Ysian society. The key reason for Ys's success is its army and powerful magical guild working together in territories outside the city.

These territories include the ocean world of Tethys, with its traders, undersea monsters, pirates and religious zealots. Then there is Marn, a world of many small human kingdoms, intelligent humanoid lizards, and vast reptilian monsters. Most recent of the Ysian conquests is Samara, a world of warring kingdoms and a strict caste system.

There are stranger places. Ys has a presence on the blasted desert world of Nespo, with its war machines and undead. At the fringes of Ysian knowledge is the Burning Heaven, a place which may be literally heaven or hell. And connecting them all are the endless tunnels of the world of Erebus.

But the heart of Ys is rotten. Its overlord, the Autarch, is literally a monster. His lieutenants, the Agents of the Autarch, sow discord in the city. The Autarch leaves the apparatus of government and the rule of law to crumble and divides the other power structures in the city, ensuring that nobody can depose him.

The player characters are members of the Explorer's Guild, hired by powerful Patrons to step through one of the magical portals into one of these worlds and undertake adventures on their behalf.

More information on both the setting and system (including a "preview" PDF) is available here.

Anyhow, I'm backing this and am looking forward to reading it. It looks like it would be easy to combine with my (as yet unused) Planescape materials, among other things. (And D101 has produced some very fine games.)

 

OSR miscellaneous items: Swords and Wizardry revised and Shadow Dark

For your OSR consideration:

 

 

I'll be backing this, even though I already have multiple copies of Swords and Wizardry (albeit most in storage due to restricted shelf space –- although the recent box set is sitting near two copies of Crypts and Things in my bedroom).

S&W got me into the ‘Old School Renaissance’ in a big way about 15 years ago. Indeed, this blog started as a repository for house rules and campaign notes for S&W (many of which eventually became incorporated into the S&W-based Crypts & Things).

I’m looking forward to checking out the revised version (with the new Erol Otus cover). And even if I weren't, I’d support the new version out of gratitude to Mythmere Games.

 

Also possibly of interest to gamers whose tastes tend towards the ‘old school’ side of things: the Shadow Dark role-playing game. The ‘quick start’ rules are free, and after a leisurely skim through them, I have to say that I’m favourably impressed overall. I like the game’s art and clean layout, as well as its motivating philosophy (especially its focus on keeping the game ‘moving’ at a brisk pace).

 

I thought that Shadow Dark might be trying to do (more or less) what Into the Unknown does: namely, provide a game that is fully compatible with 5e D&D (i.e., 5e-derived) but with some streamlined rules and an overall ‘old school’ ethos. But it looks like it’s something else: Shadow Dark is more of a (1980 era) Basic/Expert D&D inspired game (but with class and race separated) with a few mechanics inspired by 5e (e.g., 5e’s ‘advantage/disadvantage’ system, which I’m quite fond of) and other novel twists (e.g., a ‘real time’ torch rule). While I’m not sure I’d ever run it myself (although I certainly would not rule it out!), I think I'll be getting it any case. The random tables look cool and readily usable with other systems (S&W, ItU, etc.). 

 

(As an aside, I’m simply amazed that the Shadow Dark kickstarter already has raised over 800K USD [1.1 million CAD]! How is that possible?)

OGL Apocalypse: WotC goes full Chaotic Evil

By now I assume that most people who visit this blog are aware of the raging storm over the changes that the Wizards of the Coast (part of Hasbro) are seeking to make to the Open Game License (OGL).

 

The current OGL (v. 1.0a) has been around for over two decades now and has facilitated a number of important developments in the role-playing hobby. In addition to all the material produced for Dungeons & Dragons by third-party publishers (mainly for 3e, 3.5e, and 5e), it enabled the creation of a number of role-playing games that draw upon some of the core mechanics of D&D (e.g., Mutants and Masterminds). The Old School Renaissance (OSR) probably would not have happened (at least not in the way that it did) without the OGL. The original retro-clone, OSRIC, restated the 1e AD&D rules, using the OGL for cover. (It was a brilliant insight on the part of Matt Finch, aka “Mythmere,” that this was possible.) Likewise, the first edition of Pathfinder used the OGL to repackage (with some tweaks) the 3.5 edition D&D rules in order to cater to gamers dissatisfied with 4^th edition. No doubt WotC was not happy about that! But ultimately it pressured WotC to rethink 4e D&D (as did, I think, the OSR to some extent) and produce a far superior product, 5e D&D.

 

Anyhow, it looks like WotC aims to try to revoke OGL 1.0a and replace it with a new one (v. 1.1) with rather draconian conditions. For a helpful (and brief) overview, see this Inverse article, or this Forbes (!) one, or this Ars Technica one.

 

As a side note, legally speaking (but keep in mind that I am not a lawyer) the OGL was never actually necessary and in fact imposes conditions stricter than those imposed by standard US copyright law (let alone the laws of other countries, which tend to be more generous with “fair use” than the US). The reason for this is that game rules cannot be copyrighted. So a product that dryly restated the rules of AD&D, for instance, would be perfectly legal. However, artistic and literary expression can be copyrighted. Given the literary nature of role-playing games, a lot of the specific descriptions of classes, spells, monsters, settings, and so forth can (arguably) be legitimately copyrighted (but not their underlying mechanics). So one would have to tread carefully in restating a set of rules. And of course, even if one has the legal right to do something (e.g., indicate compatibility with another company’s game), one nonetheless may be subject to legal harassment or bullying by a company with deep pockets. One thing that the OGL did was remove any uncertainty about potential legal harassment or worries about whether some element of the game was copyright-protected or not. (For an excellent overview of this matter, see this Electronic Frontier Foundation article.)

 

A lot of RPG publishers are now abandoning the OGL. Even if WotC backs down and allows OGL 1.0a to continue (or modifies 1.1 so that it is far less restrictive) many gaming companies are sensibly deciding that they do not want to be vulnerable to future Hasbro corporate whims. (And it very well may be the case that WotC does not back down and pushes on with OGL 1.1.)

 

As a player, most of my time has been spent using Mythras over the past twelve years, with occasional forays into other systems (e.g., The One Ring, Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green, etc.), none of which have been dependent on the OGL. Among other things, I’ve been a sorcerer in a Young Kingdoms campaign (which used Mythras’s predecessor, Mongoose’s RuneQuest II), a Roman mystic in a Mythic Britain campaign, an aristocratic messenger in a Mythic Babylon campaign, and a paleontologist in a Return to the Mountains of Madness campaign.

 

But as a creator and gamemaster, I’ve been heavily involved with Dungeons & Dragons and related systems. Years ago, I got into the OSR in a big way and developed a set of house rules for modifying Swords and Wizardry (the 0e retro-clone) to give it more of a “swords and sorcery” flavour. Many of those rules appeared in articles in Knockspell and Fight On! All of those rules remain available at this blog (and were never offered here under the OGL). Many of those rules were incorporated into D101’s Crypts and Things game (which does use the OGL). (I hope that C&T rides out this storm and continues to be available. It’s a great system!)

 

Also, despite some problems here and there, overall, I like 5e D&D. It’s not perfect – it still has too many fiddly (“exception-based’) rules for my taste – but it’s the first “official” version of D&D since the TSR era that I’ve been happy to run. (Making feats optional was huge improvement over 3e.) I’ve been using it for my current Greyhawk campaign. And I thought that the 5e-derived Adventures in Middle-earth game was quite good. The Mirkwood campaign that I ran using AiME a few years ago remains one of my all-time favourites.

 

But this latest action by WotC has left a foul taste in my mouth. I already was put off by the movement toward “D&D One” (or is it “One D&D”?), which struck me as undermining some of the strengths of 5e D&D – among other things, by “hardwiring” certain elements that I prefer to keep optional, e.g., feats and inspiration, into the core game. Changing the OGL and wreaking havoc with 3^rd party publishers is just plain malevolent.

 

So … I’ve had it with WotC. I won’t be buying anything from them for the foreseeable future. (Not that I was buying much anyway – it’s been almost two years since I last purchased a book from WotC. Most of my recent 5e purchases have been from 3^rd party publishers like Goodman Games.) 

 

I’m not going to abandon my current Greyhawk campaign. It’s been too much fun – and the characters just made it to level 4! But I think I’ll be using Into the Unknown as the rules base going forward (supplemented with a few 5e options for the sake of continuity).

 

Aside from my current Greyhawk campaign, my focus (as a GM) lately has been on the Against the Darkmaster system. I hope to run a sporadic VsD campaign set in Eriador (Middle-earth) over the next few months. Aside from that, I plan to develop my own setting over the coming year. We’ll see how that goes. (Of course, VsD never used the OGL – and has a generous license for other publishers.)

 

Well that’s all for now. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once OGL 1.1 is unleashed on the world. 

 

From the Shroud #3: A Crypts and Things Fanzine

 

Want some new material for Crypts & Things?

 

Well, you’re in luck! Newt Newport of D101 Games is at work on the third issue of the From the Shroud fanzine for C&T. I’ve backed the kickstarter for it and encourage anyone fond of C&T to do the same. More information available here.

 

By Crom!

Crypts And Things had gone Platinum

Kudos to D101 Games on the platinum status of Crypts and Things at DrivethruRPG! 👍

 

 

Crypts and Things on sale

Until midnight (GMT) on Monday the 21st (February 2022), there is a sale at the D101 Games web store. Everything is 25 percent off if you enter the code "shakespear" when reviewing the cart before checking out.

 

A golden opportunity to obtain the premier swords and sorcery role-playing game Crypts and Things!

 

By Crom!

My Favourite Games these days

In case anyone is curious, here are my current favourite role-playing games (in no particular order):

Mythras (including Lyonesse). 

I’m playing in a Mythic Babylon campaign right now, and look forward to digging into the (very thick) Lyonesse tome over the next couple of months. I have some ideas for a Lyonesse campaign that I might sketch here. (I should also mention that one of the best campaigns in which I ever played used the Mongoose RuneQuest II system, which is an earlier incarnation of Mythras [very similar in terms of core rules]. Here is my log of about two-thirds of that campaign.)

Crypts and Things. 

This excellent game draws upon my Swords & Wizardry house-rules.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (and OSRIC).

The old reliable warhorse.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition (including the Adventures in Middle-earth variant system). 

I hope to return to my Greyhawk campaign using D&D 5e soon, as well as finish up the log of my recent epic Middle-earth campaign.

Against the Darkmaster. 

This is a quasi-clone of MERP, ICE’s old Middle-earth Roleplaying game. It has been shorn of MERP’s explicit Tolkien references, and introduces some rather cool refinements and additions to the system. I plan to write something about this exciting new game very soon!

Call of Cthulhu. 

Yeah, “old reliable.” My favourite system for one shots and short campaigns. Alas, I haven’t played it in over two years. I would like to run either a Cthulhu Invictus or a Dreamlands campaign someday.  

(I’ll add a new section on the right with links to these games in the next day or two.)

Review of Crypts and Things Remastered

There is a quite informative review of Crypts and Things Remastered at Ynas Midgard's RPG Blog. (It was posted over a year ago, but I only just recently came across it.) 

Since I’m a great fan of C&T (and contributed some rules to it) I thought that I would mention it here, in case anyone was curious about the game.

Tales From the Sorcerer Under the Mountain

I’m not really a fan of Kickstarter these days, but I made an exception for this one: Newt Newport’s Tales from the Sorcerer Under the Mountain (from D101 Games).

It consists of two things:

1. A set of old school rules—namely, a lightly tweaked version Swords and Wizardry (which is itself a ‘clone’ of 0e D&D), not Crypts and Things (so expect clerics, dwarves, and so forth).
2. An adventure—called The Sorcerer Under the Mountain—with stats for both S&W and 5th edition D&D.

Okay, I need another 0e D&D clone like I need a hole in the head...

But… the adventure is inspired by the distinctly British style of fantasy role-playing of the early 1980s, as manifested in such products as the classic Fighting Fantasy adventure books, early White Dwarf magazines, the U1-3 AD&D modules, and the like.

Even though I grew up in Canada, I very much appreciate this aesthetic. Fighting Fantasy books were quite ubiquitous there—you could buy them in most bookshops—and helped me pass many afternoons and evenings when I couldn’t get together with my friends to play D&D or MERP. Also, the gaming store at which I purchased most of my early supplies (“Fads” in London Ontario) stocked White Dwarf, which always seemed like the ‘cool’ alternative to Dragon.

The title ‘The Sorcerer Under the Mountain’ seems like a clear homage to the Fighting Fantasy book The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (which I recall as the most frustrating of the FF books—I don’t think I ever ‘won’ it). So for that reason alone I’m looking forward to checking it out!

[The Warlock by Russ Nicholson -- one of my favourites!]

Crypts and Things Sale

Until the end of May the products in D101 Games’ Crypts & Things line are all 25% off at DrivethruRPG.

Crypts & Things is my favourite rules light(-ish) swords and sorcery FRPG. (And I’m not saying that just because some of my Swords & Wizardry house rules were integrated into it!)

If you want a D&D-ish system that captures the flavour of R.E. Howard’s ‘Conan’ and ‘Kull’ stories, or Clark Ashton Smith’s tales of ‘Zothique’ and ‘Hyperborea’, or the more ‘metal’ portions of Michael Moorcock’s ‘Elric’ saga, then C&T is for you!

Also, C&T benefits from some very creative modules! (Check out this review of Life and Death from the notoriously harsh Bryce Lynch.)

My favourite role-playing games

Apropos of nothing, here is a list of my favourite role-playing games...





















Mythras (formerly RuneQuest 6 and Mongoose's RuneQuest II). 

This is the game that I've played (as opposed to GM'ed) the most in recent years. Highlights include: (a) playing a half-Melnibonean sorcerer in the Young Kingdoms (using MRQII) and (b) playing a Roman mystic-philosopher (in Mythic Britain). Among its many virtues, Mythras has (hands-down) the best combat system I’ve found in a RPG yet.



Call of Cthulhu. 

I've run a fair amount of this over the years, both campaigns and one-shots. It is probably my favourite game to run overall.



Classic Dungeons & Dragons (including Basic/Expert D&D, AD&D, and related 'retro-clones' [e.g., Swords & Wizardry, OSRIC] and 'pseudo-clones' [especially Crypts & Things]). 

I haven't played too much 'classic D&D' in recent years—except for a short AD&D campaign and a number of sessions of Crypts & Things (a game to which I contributed some rules)—but it remains a constant love for 30+ years.



Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition (especially as modified for Adventures in Middle-earth). 

Finally, an 'in-print' version of 'D&D' that I enjoy! I'm currently running an AiME campaign. It's a pretty solid realization of Middle-earth.




Elric! (a.k.a. Stormbringer). 

An old favourite (especially Elric!/SB5e). It’s a fantasy version of BRP (Basic Role-playing) that is easy to run and has a lot of flavour. While I think that the MRQII version of the setting (now out of print, alas) does a better job in realizing the Moorcock’s multiverse, I have fond memories of this game. 



Middle-earth Role-playing (MERP). 

I haven't played this game in years (the last time, I think, was 1999-2000), but I cherish my ICE collection of MERP adventures, campaign guides, and (especially) maps. Indeed, I am using some MERP material in my current AiME campaign. I ran my first 'real' (i.e., coherent) RPG campaign using MERP while in high-school, and still look back fondly on it. To this day I enjoy reading the critical charts.

There certainly are other games that I’ve played and enjoyed over the years (e.g., Traveller, Star Frontiers, Thieves’ Guild, DragonQuest, The One Ring, Trail of Cthulhu, etc.). But the ones listed above are the ones that stand out for me.