A thing that went surprisingly well

For once in my life something went more smoothly than I expected it to...

Last Sunday I finally got my Greyhawk campaign going with a couple of old friends. One of the players was in Toronto, the other in Montreal, and I was DMing from Milwaukee. We used 'google hangouts' for the session. The few handouts I used were emailed to them at the appropriate times. We all rolled our own physical dice (rather than use some online dice-roller), etc., and generally relied on the 'theatre of the mind' to follow what was happening.

I was surprised how well it worked. Indeed, I regret having bothered with 'Roll20' years ago (for a short-lived AD&D campaign), which was far more trouble than it was worth. I also regret not trying this much earlier. While I prefer meeting in person (who doesn't?), this was pretty close to that experience.

We all had a great time and plan to continue with regular sessions in the future. However, I suspect that things would not run as smoothly if we were a larger group. Three or four participants probably is optimal for online gaming (at least using a video conference tool).

Anyhow, I hope to write more about this campaign -- and Greyhawk in general -- in the near-ish future.

Past visions of the future: Germany 1930

I’ve always been fascinated by how people in the past envisioned the future. (Here’s a post from 2015 on how some 19th Century French artists thought life would be like in 2000.)

So I was delighted to stumble upon this article: “Wonderful Futuristic Visions of Germany By Artists In 1930.”

The pictures are all quite delightful, but this one struck me as especially prophetic:

Here is the caption:

Wireless Private Phone and Television.
Everyone now has their own transmitter and receiver and can communicate with friends and relatives. But the television technology has also improved so much that people can speak to each other in real time. Transmitters and receivers are no longer bound to their location, but are always placed in a box of the size of a camera.

These optimistic visions of the future are especially poignant given the hell into which Germany would descend in only a few years.

Role-playing games and self-discovery

I thought that I would mention a couple of recent first-person essays on role-playing games in the popular press. Both essays reflect on how playing RPGs helped the authors learn about themselves and develop in important ways.

Recently in Vox: “The best $1.16 I ever spent: a set of loaded Dungeons & Dragons dice” by Jessica Xing.

And in the Washington Post: “How my role-playing game character showed me I could be a woman” by Joan Moriarity.

I found both essays rather interesting. They were written from perspectives radically different from my own. Nonetheless, I can relate to the power of role-playing games in self-discovery and self-development. I know that I would’ve been a very different person—less imaginative, far more shy—had I not opened up the blue ‘Holmes’ Basic Set of Dungeons and Dragons (the one with chits!) many decades ago…

OSRIC fanzine: Saving Throw

Miss Fight On! or Knockspell? I know I do!
 
Well Saving Throw is here to give you that ‘old school’ thrill again.

Here’s the blurb (from DrivethruRPG):

Saving Throw — a fundraiser fanzine to help James D. Kramer
You may know Jim Kramer from his Usherwood Publishing modules & supplements, or his work helping produce works like OSRIC and Knockspell. You probably didn’t know Jim had multiple brain surgeries to remove tumors, and the battle has gotten much harder. To help Jim and his family during this difficult time, a group of his friends, collaborators, and first edition enthusiasts banded together to make this fundraiser fanzine, where all royalties go directly to Jim and his family. 

This 60+ page issue of Saving Throw contains:
• Introduction by Ron Redmond
• Island Tables - random generation and inspiration tool by Steve Smith aka “EOTB”
• Sorcerer’s Stone - dungeon level by Keith Sloan
• Trolls of the Simpolo Swamps - leech-mated trollish variations by Joseph Browning
• Perladon Manor - adventure module by Gabor Lux
• By The Runes - fiction by Dan Rasaiah
• Magic Item Intrinsic Material Values - variant magic item value rules by Guy Fullerton
• Goblin Garbug Cavalry - new monster by Andrew Hamilton
• The Tiled Labyrinth - mini-dungeon by Guy Fullerton
• Lotus Blossoms - magical and special properties of these exotic flora by Keith Sloan
• Burly the Baker - ready-to-use NPC and cantrips by Gary Francisco
• Darkworld Troll - new monster by Bryan Fazekas
• Offig’s Tomb - treasure map by Steve Smith aka “EOTB”
• Lizard Man Lair - outdoor module and new monsters by Steve Smith aka "EOTB"
• Mephitic Geysers of the Intaglio Rift - treasure map by Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (“grodog")
• The Mere Beneath - dungeon level by Guy Fullerton, Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (“grodog"), and Henry A. Grohe
• Sarendra’s Crew & Kelurrin’s Crew - ready-to-use NPC parties by Allan T. Grohe, Jr. (“grodog")
• Rescue from the Sanctuary of the Leopard Goddess - dungeon module by Matthew Riedel
• Featuring illustrations by Jimm Johnson, James D. Kramer, Wind Lothamer, Gabor Lux, Denis McCarthy, Peter Szmer (soon), Del Teigeler, and Alex Zisch. 

For the lucky price of $13, you get two treasure maps, three referee tools, five new spells, six modules, at least nine new monsters, twelve ready-to-use NPCs, and more. Plus the knowledge that your purchase helps a family during a difficult time.
Thank you!

I have it, I’ve looked it over, and it’s the real deal.  Fight On!

Also: check out the OSRIC webpage.

Mythic Babylon cover

My friend and gaming colleague Chris Gilmore (‘Hartmut Hare-Eye’) is the co-author of the forthcoming Mythras setting book Mythic Babylon (it will be part of the Design Mechanism's 'Mythic Earth' series). The book won’t be coming out until next year, alas, but the Design Mechanism has previewed its cover. It looks suitably epic:

I know little about Babylonian mythology aside from the Epic of Gilgamesh (a novelization of which I read years ago). So I’m really looking forward to this, not only for the gaming content but for educational purposes as well.

Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophers: The Sci-Fi Debate

It’s been a while, but there is a new installment (number VIII) of “Dungeons & Dragons & Philosophers” at Existential Comics!

Read the whole thing here.

Kudos to Dungeon Master de Beauvoir for adhering to the old school D&D philosophy of permitting ‘science fiction’ elements into her campaign.

(A pity, though, that the comic doesn’t mention the ‘classic’ role-playing game Cyborg Commando!)

The Lost City (B4) to rise again

Cool! The fourth ‘Original Adventures Reincarnated’ book from Goodman Games will be The Lost City (B4). 

From GG's announcement:

“First published in 1982, B4: The Lost City was designed as a stand-alone adventure for use with the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set. Author Tom Moldvay wrote the adventure with the intent of teaching novice gamemasters how to craft and run a dungeon. For that reason, many areas of the original adventure—including much of the titular city itself—are left undefined. And if you’ve read any of our earlier releases in the OAR series, you know that those areas are not going to be left blank for the Fifth Edition translation!
OAR #4: The Lost City will combine scans of the original edition of the module with 5E conversions and new material, as we’ve done with prior books in the OAR series. The conversion is being handled by Chris Doyle and Tim Wadzinski, the same team responsible for OAR #1: Into the Borderlands and OAR #2: The Isle of Dread.
At this time, the target release date is June 2020, but we will keep you updated as time passes. And not just about the release date—we’ll also be giving you sneak peeks and behind the scenes info on the book!”

I'm very happy with what Goodman Games did with B1-2 and X1. I'm looking forward to their treatment of S3 (Expedition to the Barrier Peaks) and am thrilled that B4 is now in the queue.

It's a bit odd, though, that Goodman Games will be lurching from the Basic/Expert (B/X) Dungeons and Dragons line to the 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons line for S3, and then back to B/X for B4.

[Some adventurers versus 'Zargon'. Picture by Jim Holloway]

Also, it’s a pity they're skipping B3, Palace of the Silver Princess. It would've been nice to have a reprint of the 'forbidden' version along with the 'expurgated' version! (For an interesting discussion of B3, check out “The Day the Old School Died” at the Alexandrian blog.)

[The original orange cover version of B3. Picture by Erol Otus.]

OSRIC and Dangerous Dungeons

Some good news for old-school gamers! Thanks to ‘Pres-Gas’, there is now a Wiki for OSRIC (Old School Reference and Index Compilation)—the ‘retro-clone’ for 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons.

Also available: the material for Dangerous Dungeons! For over a decade now Kellri has been putting together a massive supplement for OSRIC (+ 1e AD&D). I wasn’t sure if it would ever be made available to the wider public—but now it is! (I made a small contribution to DD: a system of ‘background professions’ for characters, originally posted at this blog.)

Enjoy, gentle readers!

[Trampier's picture of a dragon vs. some kobolds in the 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide]

The Second Age of Middle-earth—and only the Second Age!

Here is further confirmation that the forthcoming Amazon television series set in Middle-earth will take place during the Second Age (as recently mentioned at this blog):

Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey, who is supervising the show’s development, told German fansite Deutsche Tolkien that the estate has refused to allow the series to be set during any period other than the Second Age of Middle-earth.
[…]
Spanning 3,441 years, the Second Age begins after the banishment of the dark lord Morgoth and ends with the first demise of Sauron, Morgoth’s servant and the primary villain in The Lord of the Rings, at the hands of an alliance of elves and men.

One advantage of having the series take place during the Second Age (noted by Shippey in the article) is that it gives the writers more room to develop stories and characters than they would have if the series were to take place during the later part of the Third Age (the time of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings) or the First Age (the time of The Silmarillion). In contrast to the First and Third Ages, Tolkien’s writings on the Second Age primarily are timelines and overviews of key historical events. However, the series—thankfully!—will be constrained by the events that Tolkien did note (so the series, Shippey notes, “must not contradict anything which Tolkien did say”).

This is perhaps the best combination: a set of fixed events ensuring that the series can ‘stick the landing’ (the first defeat of Sauron in the Last Alliance would be a great way to end the series) while allowing genuine ‘creative room’ for the writing team.

So I remain cautiously optimistic about this…

(The linked article’s headline is rather misleading, I should note, as it seems to ignore the plethora of ‘plots’ throughout Tolkien’s many writings on Middle-earth. Moreover, if the series is set during the Second Age, it is ridiculously incorrect to claim that it’s an adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.)

[Celebrimbor forging a ring of power. Cover art for ICE's Treasures of Middle-earth by Angus McBride.]

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!]