Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Vacuous Grimoire

From page 155 of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) by Gary Gygax:
A book of this sort is totally impossible to tell from a normal one, although if a detect magic spell is cast, there will be a magical aura noted. Any character who opens the work and reads so much as a single glyph therein must make 2 saving throws versus magic. The first is to determine if 1 point of intelligence is lost, the second is to find if 2 points of wisdom are lost. Once opened and read, the vacuous grimoire remains, and it must be burned to be rid of it after first casting a remove curse spell. If the tome is placed with other books, its appearance will instantly alter to conform to one of the other works it is amongst.
If I ever publish a fanzine, I'm calling dibs on The Vacuous Grimoire as its title.

15 comments:

  1. Are you suggesting something vis-a-vis the Arduin Grimoire?

    ;D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think there was a fanzine in the UK in the eighties named the Vacuous Grimoire, as far as I recall, although I never owned a copy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Poor Jeff; I think he would have liked to claim that one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think we all should be stunned that Gary was able to accurately predict the Rise of Twilight and Nick Sparks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I suppose that sounds much better than the Libram of Gainful Conjuration.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Could Gary have really been referring to the Arduin Grimoire there? :o

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's almost a certainty that he was, given that TSR sent a C&D to Hargrave over references to D&D in the Arduin Grimoire and when you consider Gygax's rants about "knock-offs."

    ReplyDelete
  8. I imagine later versions would sport board game pieces and references to times of day... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I would definitely subscribe to a 'zine called The Vacuous Grimoire, if for no other reason than the title!

    ReplyDelete
  10. For the moment, the title is all that exists for the thing. I doubt I'll ever get around to writing a 'zine -- I have a blog, after all -- but I still think it'd be an awesome title nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete
  11. He definitely was referencing the Arduin Grimoire. He says so on the enworld Q&A: 
    http://www.enworld.org/forum/archive-threads/193204-gary-gygax-q-part-xiii-63.html

    "I saw them when they were originally published. Ever see my magic item "The Vacuous Grimoire"? Baby fat indeed >:-("

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's too bad  EGG felt that way.  The AG's only supported OD&D and in return probably helped sell more White Boxes as the only way you would use Arduin rules is if you owned D&D as well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi James. I mailed you again about your contribution to the new supplement. Should be out shortly!

    Tim Gray, Silver Branch Games

    ReplyDelete