A Reminder

It's not just the history of the hobby that so many of us forget, it's even more recent history, such as The Joeskythedungeonbrawler Protocol, put forward only six months ago:

IF YOU MAKE A POST BLOG THAT IS ONLY A ARGUMETN AND WHEN I READ ITIT MAKES A BLAHBLAH BLAH SOUND, YOU HAVE TO GIVE ME SOMETHING FREE AT THE END: NEW COOL RULE, OR A MONSTER(S), OR SOME SPELLS, OR MAGIC ITEMS OR REGULAR ITEMS THAT ARE DIFFERENT, OR EVEN BETTER A MAP - AND IT CAN’T BE A LINK JUST TO SOMEP LACE ELSE IN YOU’RE BLOG, IT HAS TO BE NEW AND COOL.

IF YOU DON’T TO DO THAT YOU AUTIMATICALLY LOSE THE ARGUMENT AND THE OTHER GUY IS DECLARED A WINNER, WHICH MEANS YOU JUST WRITED 5000 WORD SFOR NOTHING!!!!1

Much as I love the Protocol, I'd like to suggest an addendum -- the "something free at the end" has to derive from your current RPG campaign. I say this because I honestly think there'd be a lot less contentiousness on the blogs and forums if more people were actually playing the games they're passionate about (whatever they are) rather than just talking about them in the abstract. I know this blog was a lot more ranty in the first year of its existence than it has been over the last two and I attribute that to the fact that, prior to 2009, I wasn't actually playing OD&D; I just talking about playing it. I can understand that, sometimes, circumstances simply prevent our being able to play as often as we'd like (or at all), but, ultimately, this hobby is about playing games, not merely talking about doing so. We need more playing and we need more talking informed through regular play.

So, to that end, I offer you the following as per my suggested addendum. The text in the quote box below is hereby designated Open Game Content via the Open Game License.

Tome of the Iron God: This large, metal-bound volume contains the rites and scriptures of the enigmatic deity known only as the Iron God. The Tome depicts the Iron God as a traveler from another world who came (or was sent -- the text is unclear on the matter) to do battle with demons and the undead. Consequently, the Tome's rites revere the Iron God as a psychopomp and eternal foe of those who disturb the eternal rest of the dead. Anyone who carefully reads the book in its entirety (a process that takes 1 week) and successfully rolls his Wisdom or less on 1D20 gain a permanent +1 bonus to attacks and saving throws against demons and the undead. However, this benefit is lost and may never again may be regained if the reader ever uses or has used upon them the spell raise dead, which is abhorrent to the Iron God's religion. In addition, clerics who successfully read the Tome gain access to the following spell:

Peaceful Repose
Level: 2
Duration: Permanent
Range: Touch

By casting this spell, a cleric prevents the body of a creature from ever rising as one of the undead, whether as a result of having been slain by an undead being or being reanimated through magic or other processes. A body protected by this spell may be raised from the dead, in accordance with the usual limitations on raise dead, but if the cleric who cast peaceful repose knowingly allows or does nothing to prevent such a magical resurrection, he immediately loses access to this spell and may never again relearn it (or, at the referee's discretion, might be able to do so if he undergoes an appropriate penance in the eyes of the Iron God).