tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post6723312042451734925..comments2024-03-18T20:22:06.331-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Blue Book, Cover to Cover (Part IV)James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-38830744085215685232010-07-14T11:53:53.245-04:002010-07-14T11:53:53.245-04:00James -- In all honesty, I think that you maintain...James -- In all honesty, I think that you maintaining a site where this stuff gets shared and keeps people excited about it (including me) is all the thanks any of us need.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75254623413425913112010-07-13T22:13:57.117-04:002010-07-13T22:13:57.117-04:00Delta,
I say again: thanks for the corrections. T...Delta,<br /><br />I say again: thanks for the corrections. They're much appreciated. I owe you ... something ... for all the insights you've shared over the last few years anyway.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84106274157628434922010-07-13T22:12:06.872-04:002010-07-13T22:12:06.872-04:00I must admit that I initially refused to read your...<i>I must admit that I initially refused to read your series of "Blue Book, Cover to Cover" because I find your unwavering admiration of the books to be a little over the top.<br /><br />But this morning I read your posts, and I am completely fascinated with it all.<br /><br />Thanks for the fantastic retrospectives.</i><br /><br>Uh ... thanks! :)James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-31881989015083897132010-07-13T12:49:17.511-04:002010-07-13T12:49:17.511-04:00"In both games, all armored characters, regar..."In both games, all armored characters, regardless of whether they wear leather armor or plate, move at the same rate, which is 120 feet per turn..."<br /><br />Disagree with this. The phrase "Armored" here indicates the heaviest category on a "Light/ Heavy/ Armored" scale -- see Chainmail p. 14, OD&D Vol-1 p. 15, etc. More specifically: "Thus it takes ten minutes to move about two moves — 120 feet for a <b>fully armored</b> character." [OD&D Vol-3 p. 8]. The "fully armored" clearly indicates the heaviest category, and is consistent with a calculation of 6" x 10 feet x 2 moves = 120 feet.<br /><br /><br />"Holmes has muddied the waters somewhat but making the term 'turn' equivocal, sometimes referring to what I guess we can call a 'movement turn' and sometimes referring to what we might call a 'combat turn,' each having a different temporal value."<br /><br />This confusion predates Holmes. See my analysis of "turns", as related to spells in the LBBs and Sup-I, <a href="http://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/05/spells-through-ages-duration.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. (As a side note, I really much prefer Holmes' 10-second rounds.)<br /><br /><br />"Fascinatingly, Holmes includes an expanded 'Hostile/Friendly Reaction Table' for dealing with monsters compared to OD&D. It's still a 2D6 roll but it offers finer grained results than that in Volume 3 of OD&D..."<br /><br />The Holmes table is identical to that found on OD&D Vol-1, p. 12, for monster/NPC reactions.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-13303159395159298292010-07-13T09:57:52.980-04:002010-07-13T09:57:52.980-04:00I'm really enjoying the series, but quirks lik...I'm really enjoying the series, but quirks like this are really turning me back toward the LBBs rather than continuing on with modding Holmes. I couldn't imagine my own style of refereeing without the twin die rolls. I always roll two six-siders and glance at my notes each turn; one is a passive hearing roll for the party, the other is a wandering monster check.<br /><br />The wandering monsters shouldn't be out of control as long as you consider each entry on your chart to be a concrete encounter - if the party kills the gnolls that were 5 on the WM chart, another 5 means no encounter. (Of course, if they ran away, another 5 means the gnolls followed them...)<br /><br />Word verification: Nol'zomar, clearly a Chaotic Thaumaturge.Wayne Rossihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11347401495298367324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-45786580017391442862010-07-13T09:19:59.516-04:002010-07-13T09:19:59.516-04:00Ah, the combat turn vs. the movement turn. That c...Ah, the combat turn vs. the movement turn. That confused me to no end back when I was 10 and first starting out.Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14039652384328042542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-92211256462097664572010-07-13T04:29:21.731-04:002010-07-13T04:29:21.731-04:00I prefer the original method of checking for wande...I prefer the original method of checking for wandering monsters once per turn. It gives an average of one encounter per hour, as opposed to once per three hours in Holmes. The latter seems a bit sparse to me.Nathan P. Mahneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01184246437497081701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84796244479237460412010-07-13T03:13:55.196-04:002010-07-13T03:13:55.196-04:00Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying this bl...Just wanted to say I'm really enjoying this blue book series, which has encouraged me to reread my own copy. I love cherrypicking from various editions to round out my houserules. Thanks for the inspiration!nextautumnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05201978755112508204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-68682589482101114492010-07-13T03:07:48.769-04:002010-07-13T03:07:48.769-04:00I must admit that I initially refused to read your...I must admit that I initially refused to read your series of "Blue Book, Cover to Cover" because I find your unwavering admiration of the books to be a little over the top.<br /><br />But this morning I read your posts, and I am completely fascinated with it all.<br /><br />Thanks for the fantastic retrospectives.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07588841039231426774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-43388866227069319902010-07-13T02:17:17.147-04:002010-07-13T02:17:17.147-04:00"Wandering monsters are rarer in Holmes, as t...<i>"Wandering monsters are rarer in Holmes, as the referee only checks for them once every three turns as opposed to once every turn."</i><br /><br />I think I prefer this. Once every ten minutes always struck me as a bit too often.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01254215329246851683noreply@blogger.com