Dwimmermount, Session 18

Last Sunday's Dwimmermount session went well and accomplished much. Unlike most sessions, Session 17 didn't end with the PCs leaving the dungeon and heading back to Muntburg. Instead, they decided to remain within the dungeon, which threw off my timekeeping records a bit, but I didn't mind, since it saved us a lot of time when it came to kicking off Session 18.

The room they entered immediately after we started contained a locked strongbox guarded by three shadows. Brother Candor was unhappy to learn that, in OD&D, shadows aren't undead -- they're raw Chaos given malevolent intelligence as I explained them -- and so can't be turned. They're also immune to normal weapons and most of the party still lacks magic items. This meant that only a few of the characters (and henchmen/hirelings) were able to engage the shadows in combat. The strength-draining ability of the creatures also reminded me that we hadn't established an exact ability scores of some of the NPCs, which we rectified on the fly, as needed.

The shadows, as it turned out, were guarding what was probably the biggest stash of loot on the sub-level, necessitating that the party return to the surface and then make the three-day journey to Adamas to get gems/jewelry appraised and to unload some of their haul. While there, they also stocked up on various supplies and tried to find ways to dispose of their excess coinage. As I've mentioned before, I only give XP for gold that's spent. The intention is to keep the character poor but living high on the hog, in true Howardian/Leiberian fashion. The problem my players have discovered is that, after a certain point, it's very hard to find things to spend their money on. Since the highest level character -- Brother Candor -- only just turned 5th-level, strongholds aren't really an option. Or are they? Dordagdonar's player stated outright that he intends to find a secluded vale near Dwimmermount and begin to build a home for himself and, he hopes, other elves fed up with with having to live with "ephemerals." Interestingly, the other players were quite enthusiastic about this plan and we've decided that our next session will be a wilderness adventure, seeking out such a vale in the area around Dwimmermount.

With that decided, they returned to Dwimmermount for further explorations. The section they were exploring was, as they'd noticed previously, one that had been shut off from the rest of the dungeon -- from the inside. Consequently, most of the rooms were empty, except for a strange phosphorescent fungi that they avoided, for fear that it might be deadly. They did find a room that contained a chute down to a black pit, but none dared venture downward at this time. A room with a couple of giant spiders did cause them some concern, but they eventually dealt with the foul arachnids handily. Several more rooms were discovered and their dangers, such as stirges, were avoided in the interests of journeying downward to the next level.

The next level -- roughly the fourth, by most reckonings -- seemed subtly different than the rest of Dwimmermount. There was less evidence of regular traffic and the architecture looked both older and creepier. The first room they entered had a statue of a robed figure with a stern face, holding a upward-pointing sword in one hand and an open book in the other. Brother Candor thought it might be another aspect of Turms Termax, the Thulian god of magic to whom much of the dungeon is dedicated, but he had no proof of his theory. The same room contained the mummified head of a frog-like creature -- like those seen earlier in the dungeon -- which bellowed a warning to the PCs, when they approached it, claiming that death awaited those who ventured any farther.

Naturally, the characters ignored the severed frogman's head and sallied forth into a maze-like series of corridors. Brother Candor was suspicious and used find traps to avoid a couple of pit traps placed within these corridors. He also began to think that, in future, he would take speak with animals as his 3rd-level spell, since he figured he could use it to communicate with the rats the characters have started to bring with them as lures and "trap finders" when the spell isn't available. A well placed web spell cast by Iriadessa allowed the party to quickly dispatch a group of frogmen they encountered along the way, before they decided to retreat and head back to Muntburg, with the goal of preparing to seek out a vale for Dordagdonar's eventual stronghold.

This was a very satisfying session and one that saw the players start to think a bit more about their characters' futures, at least in general terms. They also began to ask questions about the world outside of Dwimmermount, Muntburg, and Adamas. I was pleased by this, not because I'm tiring of the dungeon -- I'm not -- but because it gave me a chance to use a slightly larger canvas than I've used in the last five months of weekly play. I don't anticipate any world-spanning adventures any time (if at all), but I've laid the groundwork for expanding the scope of the campaign should the players ever wish to pursue it. Next session should be interesting, since it'll be our first fully-fledged wilderness adventure and I am intensely curious to see what happens.

Presenting a Monster

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you'll have noticed that I've never been very consistent in the way I present monsters. That's because I'm constantly experimenting with different formats and I haven't yet managed to find a perfect one -- "perfect" being that combination of exhaustive yet succinct that quickly gives me everything I need to know when using a monster in a game.

When I was a kid, I was very fond of the AD&D Monster Manual presentation, but, as I get older, I find I like it less. I feel it gives too much information to be useful in play. As a reference, it has value, particularly if you're of the Gygaxian naturalist persuasion. I myself have definite sympathies for that approach, but there is, I think, a danger in the way that the extensive Monster Manual descriptions, especially those of the 2e era, set details in stone and implicitly establish an "official" interpretation of a creature. The "Ecology of ..." series is the natural evolution of this style of presentation and not one I much admire these days. For my money, the Moldvay/Cook presentation of monsters comes closest to perfect, although it has a few flaws. The biggest is that it doesn't include "% in Lair," which is essential in a sandbox campaign or indeed in dealing with randomly-rolled wilderness encounters. I also think the inclusion of the XP value of each monster would make these entries more immediately useful.

Of course, in the end, the form of the monster listings themselves is less important than the short form used in modules. Nowadays, the term for this is a "stat block" and, if I had to point to a single thing that drove me screaming away from 3e, it was the ridiculous lengths of its stat blocks. In the old days, most modules used a very abbreviated listing for monster statistics, with the inclusion of individual hit points being the only constant. I think that's probably too little information unless you're running a LBB-only OD&D game, which is why, again, I prefer the Moldvay/Cook short form for most of my purposes. It's very usable, sacrificing neither speed nor clarity, and, most importantly, it doesn't take up half a page even when describing extremely powerful creatures -- a huge improvement over the WotC editions.

I'm going to be posting some sword-and-planet monsters over the next few days and I'll likely be using my latest ideas about the "perfect" presentation of monsters for old school D&D. Like everything here, I'm always open to suggestions on how to refine my raw ideas. As much as the monsters themselves, I'll be looking for thoughts on their presentation, since I'd like to come up with a consistent way to present them that I can use from now on.

Howard Thompson Letter

Al over at Beyond the Black Gate has posted a link to a very interesting letter written by Howard Thompson of Metagaming. I've reproduced it below:

The letter is interesting for numerous reasons, chief among them being Thompson's comments about the rules of The Fantasy Trip and, by extension, his thoughts about rules complexity generally. Unsurprisingly, I rather agree with Thompson's points and it's telling that, as early as 1980, the date of this letter, there was already a growing sense that RPGs were getting needlessly complex -- "longer instead of better" in Thompson's words. That's a problem that continues to this day and about which I'll have more to say in an upcoming post.

Pulp Fantasy Library: Pirates of Venus

Although better known for his stories of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs returned to the sword-and-planet genre he helped to establish with the 1934 novel Pirates of Venus. This novel is the first of five in a series following the adventures of Carson Napier who accidentally winds up on Venus when his rocket ship is thrown off-course -- its original destination was Mars, ironically -- by failing to take into account the effect of the Moon's gravitation pull. Once on Venus (or Amtor, as its inhabitants call it), Napier discovers the planet to be inhabited by a wide variety of humanoid cultures, the most important of which is Vepaja, from which Princess Duare, the protagonist's love interest, hails.

Readers familiar with the Barsoom novels will find a lot of similarities between them and Pirates of Venus and its sequels, especially in the personality of Carson Napier, who is every bit as courageous and resourceful as John Carter, often using his Earthling ingenuity to invent devices or stratagems that the benighted Amtorians never considered before. Moreso than Barsoom, Amtor's cultures are generally quite hostile and belligerent, with Napier frequently in danger of death at the hands of one or the other of its factions. Likewise, local technology is a strange mish-mash, with longevity drugs and atomic-powered ray guns existing side by side with swords and long-distance communication by semaphore. Until Napier builds an airplane, the Amtorians had never conceived of one, despite having other vehicles and devices equal to or more advanced than those of Earth.

Pirates of Venus is a fun read, but it feels a bit more cartoonish than the Barsoom novels, almost a caricature of Burroughs's earlier work. There's a definite "Flash Gordon" vibe to the whole thing that, while not unenjoyable, somehow seems out of place compared to the slightly more sober John Carter novels. This feeling is made even more clear when contrasted with the social commentary and real world allusions that Burroughs makes throughout the novel. The villaninous Thorists, for example, are clearly Communists. There are also references to fascists, the Ku Klux Klan, eugenics, and other contemporary socio-political topics of the 1930s. The end result is an uneven goulash of ideas wrapped around a pulp adventure tale. It's not Burroughs's best work, by any means, but it still has a lot to offer anyone interested in the sword-and-planet genre. Plus, even when he's not at his best, Burroughs is still a remarkably compelling writer and that's very much in evidence here, despite its flaws.

Grognard's Grimoire: Alien Savage

Unlike yesterday's Stranger, which is a lot more usable in a variety of settings, today's Alien Savage racial class -- originally called "Green Savage" -- is a bit more specific to planetary romance/sword-and-planet settings. I still tried to make the class as broad an archetype as I could. Nevertheless, the Alien Savage is probably a bit more of a Tars Tarkas class than the Stranger was a John Carter class, so I'd appreciate any recommendations to make it more generic in future iterations.

The entirety of this class is hereby designated as Open Game Content via the Open Game License.

Alien Savage

Requirements: STR 9, CON 9
Prime Requisite: STR and CON
Hit Dice: 1d8+1
Maximum Level: 12

The Alien Savage is a barbaric native of another world/time/dimension. Hailing from harsh and unforgiving environments Alien Savages are tough, even brutish, often with little regard for the social niceties "civilized" beings deem important. Consequently, they value strength, personal honor, and, above all, loyalty. Their friendship, once gained, is unswerving, granting them a +1 bonus to attack and damage when defending those who have earned it.

Alien Savages eschew most armor, considering anything more protective than leather (and possibly a shield) an insult to their fighting prowess. They may use any weapon, but rarely employ ranged weapons other than throwing axes, javelins, or nets. Large and hulking, Alien Savages require only one hand to wield even two-handed weapons. Whether due to natural advantages or their martial culture, they may also attack with two weapons at once, although the second weapon incurs a -3 penalty to hit. This penalty decreases to -2 at 4th level, -1 at 8th level, and disappears entirely at 12th level. Alien Savages are also skilled night fighters, being able to see 60' in the dark without difficulty. They speak their own language and may learn to speak others, albeit haltingly, if they possess sufficient INT to do so.

Alien Savages save and fight as Fighters of equal level. They must have at least 13 in one or the other prime requisite in order to get the +5% bonus to experience. They must also have a STR and CON of 13 to get the +10% bonus.

Alien Savage Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d8+1)
0	1	1+1
2,235	2	2+2
4,765	3	3+3
10,025	4	4+4
20,251	5	5+5
42,501	6	6+6
90,001	7	7+7
170,001	8	8+8
340,001	9	9+9
560,001	10	+3 hp only*
780,001	11	+6 hp only*
1,000,001	12	+9 hp only*

*Hit point modifiers from Constitution are ignored.

Grognard's Grimoire: Stranger

Given the prominence given to Barsoom in the LBBs and how much of Appendix N is taken up by books in which 20th century Earthmen find themselves transported to fantasy worlds, it's amazing to me that it's never been formally included into any edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Here's my initial pass at a Labyrinth Lord-style character class based on this premise. The entirety of this class is hereby designated as Open Game Content via the Open Game License.

Stranger

Requirements: CON 9
Prime Requisite: CHA
Hit Dice: 1d8
Maximum Level: None

As their name implies, Strangers are human beings from another world/time/dimension, who are trying to make a life for themselves as best they can in their new homes. Despite their otherworldly origins, Strangers possess preternatural adaptability, being able to learn local customs and languages with surprising ease. Consequently, Strangers may learn the local equivalent of Common within hours of first hearing it, regardless of their INT score. Similarly, they suffer no reaction penalties when dealing with alien species/cultures. Indeed, many Strangers find themselves looked upon as long-sought heroes and liberators, whose mysterious arrival portends revolutionary changes in the status quo. Unsurprisingly, Strangers find allies and enemies in equal number.

Perhaps because journeys between worlds/times/dimensions are inherently hazardous, only the most resilient -- and fortunate -- Strangers survive. Members of this class use the same saving throw charts as Fighters but gain a +4 bonus. Owing to the unusual nature of their fighting styles, Strangers gain a +1 bonus either to Armor Class or to hit and damage when fighting opponents unfamiliar with their ways. Which bonus the Stranger wishes to use must be declared before each combat begins and, should the opponent survive to face the character again, the bonus is nullified thereafter in the case of that particular foe.

Stranger Level Progression
Experience	Level	Hit Dice (1d8)
0	1	1
2,187	2	2
4,375	3	3
8,751	4	4
17,501	5	5
35,001	6	6
70,001	7	7
140,001	8	8
280,001	9	9
400,001	10	+2 hp only*
540,001	11	+4 hp only*
660,001	12	+6 hp only*
800,001	13	+8 hp only*
1,000,001	14	+10 hp only*
1,200,001	15	+12 hp only*
1,400,001	16	+14 hp only*
1,600,001	17	+16 hp only*
1,800,001	18	+18 hp only*
2,000,001	19	+20 hp only*
2,200,001	20	+22 hp only*

*Hit point modifiers from Constitution are ignored.

S&W Wins Silver ENnie

Swords & Wizardry won a Silver ENnie Award for Best Free Product at GenCon tonight. If nothing else, it shows that retro-clones are starting to get some recognition outside the old school renaissance. I can't deny that I'd have much rather seen S&W walk away with the gold award, but second place is nothing to sneer at and Matt Finch deserves a round of applause for having produced a game that's received a lot of positive attention in the hobby. Bravo!

Pandora's Box

RuneQuest begins with the following words:

This book is dedicated to Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax, who first opened Pandora's box, and to Ken St. Andre, who found it could be opened again.

I regularly hear gamers make the claim that one can never go home again. That is, there will never again be a game like your first; you can't experience the thrill of discovery more than once. Once the Red Box has been opened, it's a lifetime of cynicism thereafter.

I find that attitude odd, because it doesn't at all reflect my experience in this hobby. It is possible to go home again. I know this to be true, as I've experienced it many times throughout my time roleplaying. D&D may have been my first game, but it wasn't the only game to fill me with awe. Traveller and Call of Cthulhu had as profound an impact on me as did D&D. Likewise, rediscovering old school D&D after years of not having played it -- or, in the case of OD&D, never having played it at all -- has been like a homecoming. And, as my recent reading of Stormbringer has shown me, there are always new-old horizons to explore, many of which bring me as much pleasure as the first time I cracked open the Holmes rulebook at Christmas 1979.

Here's to opening Pandora's Box many more times.

Dark Sun for D&D IV

Never let it be said that I don't occasionally have kind words for Wizards of the Coast. According to this press release, the next campaign setting for D&D IV will be Dark Sun, one of my favorites from the 2e era. Of all the settings WotC could have chosen to revisit for the current edition, I think Dark Sun is probably the best choice. Indeed, it's, as they say, a gimme, since Athas is a world perfectly suited for the style of play D&D IV is supposed to provide: over-the-top action by larger-than-life heroes amidst "points of light."

I will confess this announcement is the first thing I've heard from WotC that makes me even the slightest bit interested in buying it. Of course, looking over at the nearly-complete set of 2e Dark Sun materials I have, I quickly come to my senses again. If ever I wanted to play a campaign in Athas, I already have more than enough materials to make that happen. Nevertheless, I'll be keeping an eye on developments regarding the new Dark Sun, which I hope will, at the very least, be better than the half-baked treatment it was given during the reign of D&D III.

Part of me does wonder, though, why no genuinely new settings have yet been released for the current edition. Perhaps it's just a matter of time and costs: why develop something original when WotC has 30+ years of other people's ideas to mine. Or perhaps even the latest edition is not immune to the siren song of nostalgia ...

Gelatinous Cubes

The evil geniuses at Otherworld Miniatures will soon be releasing miniatures of everyone's favorite "cleaning crew" monsters: the gelatinous cube.

The cube comes in a "standard" and "deluxe" format, the deluxe version having an undigested skeleton floating in the middle of it. I have to admit that I'm very tempted to get one of these, but, given the pace at which my previous Otherworld minis have been painted, I'm not sure I can justify the expense at this time. Still, it does look terrific, doesn't it?