MRQII Review at RPGnet

It's another insanely busy week in this wintry burg clinging to the coast of Lake Michigan, so no substantive post (yet again), but simply a link to a very comprehensive review of Mongoose's RuneQuest II at RPG.net.

Another Very Lazy Post...

This time, simply a link to a review of the Advanced Edition Characters supplement for the Labyrinth Lord game (the 'Basic/Expert' D&D 'retro-clone').

I pretty much agree with everything stated in the review, although I've only skimmed through my copy of AEC so far (too many cool things to read, too little time)...

Positive MRQII Review

I'm still working my way through Mongoose's RuneQuest II corebook (only up to chapter 2 so far in my 'careful' and 'comprehensive' reading of the rules, but I've skimmed/read bits from the other chapters as well). However, I recently came across this very positive review of MRQII on 'teh intraweb', and recommend it to anyone interested in this version of the classic game.

Dungeon Alphabet

I'm probably the last participant in the 'Old School Renaissance' to get a copy of Michael Curtis's The Dungeon Alphabet, but better late than never! The praise for this book is entirely warranted. Just flipping through it is a joy. The illustrations are consistently wonderful. (I was especially impressed by the pictures by Jim Roslof.)

The descriptions of the different dungeon elements are brief yet inspiring. The charts are delightful, and will almost certainly serve as a catalyst to future creative adventure design. After a quick survey, my favourite chart is the one for 'Books,' with the one for 'Weird' a close second.

The author has a 'round up' of links concerning The Dungeon Alphabet here. And a full review can be found over at 'Grognardia' here.

Mongoose RuneQuest II

My copy of Mongoose's RuneQuest II (MRQII) finally arrived today, and I am very favourably impressed. The book looks beautiful. I love the simplicity of the cover. The interior layout is clean, and the art is consistently quite good (even the 'cheesecake' pics aren't that bad). I'm not a huge fan of the recent trend towards 'full colour' RPG books, and I'm glad that MRQII opted for a crisp 'black and white' look, sans shiny pages, wide margins, and so forth.

At first glance, the rules look straightforward and interesting. I'm not a huge fan of hit locations, but I'll have to read through how precisely they work in MRQII before making a final judgement. The other material looks very cool and promising. I'm really looking forward to reading this, and comparing it my favourite 'd100'/'BRP' fantasy role-playing systems, OpenQuest and Elric!. Eventually I'll post my impressions here.

Advanced Edition Companion for Labyrinth Lord now available!

As most of you no doubt already know, the retro-clone Labyrinth Lord recreates the rules of 'Moldvay/Cook' classic D&D (the version of Basic & Expert D&D with the Erol Otus covers, from 1980-81).

Now available is a 'Companion' book that expands Labyrinth Lord to include the options that were made available in 1e Advanced D&D, i.e., additional races and classes. All of these additional options, however, are presented in a manner fully compatible with the core Labyrinth Lord rules (unlike 1e AD&D, which was a similar but nonetheless distinct game from Basic/Expert D&D).

More information available here.

Exciting news! I look forward to receiving my copy...

Turns Out the 4e D&D 'Basic Set' is yet more 'Crippleware'

Well, it certainly looks pretty and, um, familiar, doesn't it, gentle readers?

However, it looks like the D&D 'Essentials' box set will be yet another pointless 'starter kit' from Wizards of the Coast. It will only cover characters up to level 2 (and not 5, as was my initial impression). So, just like the 3e, 3.5e, and earlier 4e 'starter kits', we have a piece of 'crippleware', essentially an expensive piece of advertising, not a true game. Consequently, I have abandoned all interest in this product.

Now I realize that the Holmes, Moldvay, and Menzter Basic D&D Sets all went up to only level 3, and 3 is only one number higher than 2. However, character progression was much slower in earlier D&D than it is in 4e. Consequently, one could run a campaign of 6+ full adventures before characters reached level 3. Indeed, my summer Swords & Wizardry campaign lasted a few months, and at the end of it the highest level PCs were only level 3. In contrast, in 4e characters progress far more quickly. So there might be something like 10 'encounters' before the resources of this box set are exhausted. Meh.

In short, I should've known better than to have been intrigued by this product. Turns out it's just more shiny rubbish.

OD&Dities is Returning!

Long before the 'retro-clones' emerged and the 'Old School Renaissance' existed there was a cool little fanzine for an out-of-print RPG. The RPG in question was 'Classic' (i.e., 'Basic' or 'BECMI' or 'Rules Cyclopedia') D&D, and the fanzine was 'OD&Dities' (the term 'OD&D' was, and still is, often used to refer to 'Classic/Basic' D&D, rather than the 1974 '0e' version of the game -- confusing, I know, but not a big deal, given the overwhelming similarity between the two systems).

Now, after 7 years, 'Methuslah' (a.k.a. Richard Tongue), the force behind OD&Dities, is starting the fanzine up again, and will be producing it on a monthly basis! The full scoop can be found at Methuslah's new blog 'OD&Dities.' If you would like to catch up on the first 12 issues of OD&Dities, they are available for free at dragonsfoot here (just scroll down). I highly recommend them.

This is excellent news for all fans of Ye Olde Game!

A 4e Version of the Basic D&D Box Set?

I don’t play 4e D&D, and I have not been following the product line since the initial three hardback books were published. (I read halfway through the PHB before deciding that it wasn’t for me.) However, it recently was brought to my attention that WotC is coming out with a number of ‘box sets’ later this year, including one that seems reminiscent of the old ‘red box’ Basic D&D set.

Here are their descriptions (from here):

Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game

The Essential Dungeons & Dragons Starter

Mike Mearls, Bill Slavicsek and James Wyatt

The best way to start playing the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

Designed for 1–5 players, this boxed game contains everything needed to start playing the Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game, including rules for creating heroes, advice for playing the Dungeon Master, a solo play adventure, and group-play adventure content. Learning the game has never been so easy!

Several different character races (dwarf, elf, halfling, and human) and classes (cleric, fighter, rogue, and wizard) are presented, along with powers for each race and class.

Game components:

32-page book for players, with rules for character creation and a solo adventure

64-page book for Dungeon Masters, with the rules of the game, advice on how to run the game, and adventure content

2 sheets of die-cut tokens for characters and monsters

Cardstock character sheets and power cards

Double-sided dungeon map

6 polyhedral dice

Item Details

Item Code: 244660000

Release Date: September 7, 2010

Format: Box

Price: $19.99 C$23.99

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5629-6

Dungeon Master's Kit

An Essential D&D Game Supplement

James Wyatt and Jeremy Crawford

Awesome tools, rules, and adventure content for every Dungeon Master.

If you’re a Dungeons & Dragons player interested in taking on the role of the Dungeon Master, or if you’re an experienced DM looking for more game advice, tools, and adventure content, the Dungeon Master’s Kit has exactly what you need to build your own Dungeons & Dragons campaign and excite the imaginations of you and your players.

This deluxe box contains rules and advice to help Dungeon Masters run games for adventurers of levels 1–30. It also includes useful DM tools such as a Dungeon Master’s screen (with tables and rules printed on the inside), die-cut terrain tiles and monster tokens, and fold-out battle maps.

Game components:

96-page book of rules and advice for Dungeon Masters

32-page monster book

Two 32-page adventures

2 sheets of die-cut dungeon terrain tiles

2 sheets of die-cut monster tokens

2 double-sided battle maps

Fold-out Dungeon Master’s screen

Item Details

Item Code: 244640000

Release Date: October 19, 2010

Series: Essential D&D Game Supplement

Format: Box

Page Count: 192

Price: $39.99 C$47.99

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5630-2

Player Essentials: Heroes of the Fallen Lands

An Essential D&D Game Supplement

Mike Mearls and Bill Slavicsek

Exciting new builds and character options for the cleric, fighter, ranger, rogue, and wizard classes.

This essential player product for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game presents exciting new builds for the most iconic classes: the cleric, the fighter, the ranger, the rogue, and the wizard. Each class comes with a set of new powers, class features, paragon paths, epic destinies, and more that beginning players can use to build the characters they want to play and experienced players can plunder for existing 4th Edition characters.

In addition to new builds, this book presents expanded information and racial traits for some of the game’s most popular races, including dwarves, eladrin, elves, halflings, and humans.

Item Details

Item Code: 247520000

Release Date: October 19, 2010

Series: Essential D&D Game Supplement

Format: Trade Paperback

Page Count: 352

Price: $19.95 C$23.95

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5620-3

Monster Vault

An Essential D&D Game Supplement

Rodney Thompson, Logan Bonner, and Matthew Sernett

Iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters that are easy to run and fun to fight.

This essential product for Dungeon Masters collects the most iconic monsters of the Dungeons & Dragons world in one handy box and presents all-new variants, including new spins on such beloved monsters as dragons, orcs, and vampires. The monsters described herein are designed to be easy for Dungeon Masters to use and fun for players to fight. In addition to combat statistics, each monster entry comes with story information to help DMs incorporate the monsters into their adventures and campaigns.

In addition to a comprehensive collection of iconic Dungeons & Dragons monsters, this box contains die-cut tokens for the monsters that appear within, as well as a 32-page adventure that showcases several of the monsters.

Dungeon Masters can easily incorporate the adventure into their ongoing campaigns. Game components:

160-page book of monsters

32-page adventure

10 sheets of die-cut monster tokens

Item Details

Item Code: 244650000

Release Date: November 16, 2010

Series: Essential D&D Game Supplement

Format: Box

Page Count: 192

Price: $29.99 C$35.00

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5631-9

Player Essentials: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms

An Essential D&D Game Supplement

Mike Mearls and Rodney Thompson

Exciting new builds and character options for the cleric, druid, paladin, ranger, and warlock classes.

This essential supplement for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Roleplaying Game presents exciting new builds for the game’s most popular classes: the cleric, the druid, the paladin, the ranger, and the warlock. Each class comes with a set of new powers, class features, paragon paths, epic destinies, and more that beginning players can use to build the characters they want to play and experienced players can plunder for existing 4th Edition characters.

In addition to new builds, this book presents expanded information and racial traits for some of the game’s most popular races, including dragonborn, drow, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings.

Item Details

Item Code: 247510000

Release Date: November 16, 2010

Series: Essential D&D Game Supplement

Format: Trade Paperback

Page Count: 352

Price: $19.95 C$35.00

ISBN: 978-0-7869-5619-7

So what is going on here? Do these box sets mark the beginning of a new ‘basic’ D&D – apparently called ‘Essential D&D’ – to run parallel to the main line of ‘regular’ D&D in just the way that Moldvay/Cook D&D, and later Mentzer/Allston D&D, ran parallel to AD&D in the 1980s and early 1990s? The ‘Starter’ kit even seems to include a ‘solo’ adventure, just like the Mentzer Basic D&D set.

Unlike the distinction between ‘D&D’ and ‘AD&D’ during TSR’s hey day, I suspect that the system for ‘Essential D&D’ will be pretty much the same as that of 4e (simply a stripped down version of it). But that minor difference aside, it does indeed seem that history might be repeating itself.

Thoughts?

Badwrong Fun

Hey gentle readers and fellow grognards, the next time someone tries to tell you that playing 'old school' games can't be fun because they're 'broken' or 'outdated', send them this link to this Onion article:

Man Who Enjoys Thing Informed He Is Wrong

JANUARY 25, 2010 | ISSUE 46•04

LOS ANGELES—George Himmelsbaugh, 32, was informed Tuesday that he was incorrect in enjoying a thing he had been deriving pleasure from for many years. Authorities in the field informed Himmelsbaugh that, although he believes his appreciation of the thing to be a matter of subjective personal taste, any positive feelings or satisfaction taken from this are by definition erroneous. Furthermore, sources reported, Himmelsbaugh does not in fact enjoy the thing, but has merely been convinced that he does by the influence of others who also claim to enjoy the thing but who must be insane or developmentally disabled if they actually do. Himmelsbaugh has responded to the information by endeavoring to enjoy the correct things in the future.