In Praise Of Doraleus And Associates

If you happen to be a fantasy role playing game enthusiasts or happen to enjoy animation with witty dialogue, then you might just enjoy Doraleous And Associates. I feel like I'm a little bit late to the party, but I discovered this cartoon recently. It began back in 2012, created by Hank And Jed Movie Productions and had a total of 50 episodes.

It's a classic medieval fantasy type of show. Doraleous is the brave Warrior who leads the group. Neebs is an Elven Rogue with a bit of an attitude. At one point, he even gets fired for not obeying orders, and yet he has to be either the luckiest or smartest character on the show. Mirdon is the absent-minded but still very effective when you need him to be Wizard. Then there is Drak, the loyal Dwarven Warrior. These three are the main associates of Doraleous, but there is also Sir Walken, based on a very familiar actor of the same name, and the Barbarian Bruf.

Doraleous is based on your typical Warrior. He's good of heart and out to protect the realms. He always endeavors to do the right thing, and he's hoping that he and his associates might get paid. It seems like most of the time, things don't quite work out that way, but the group seems to have success most of the time, even if it doesn't work out exactly as planned.

The dialogue is clever and there are hidden meanings thrown in throughout the episodes. Though I don't necessarily believe this is a political cartoon, there are times when people will assume that it is. Really, the dialogue will have you laughing at times in every episode. It's all about the dialogue. What I notice is you'll have Doraleous explaining the plan, whatever that might be, and oftentimes, Neebs is the one coming up with an alternative. Mirdon is all too quick to side with Neebs or just say something silly.

From the comments you'll see for each video, many people have a negative view towards Neebs. To me, this is the character that makes this show the most entertaining. He's such a jerk sometimes, although he isn't necessarily trying to be a jerk. It's just who he is. He does have a heart, and you can see at times that he has a great amount of respect for Doraleous. He just doesn't agree with the orders or thinks he can do it better. Oftentimes, he's right. I have noticed a very striking similarity between the character Neebs and a certain actor, although it's not as in your face as the Sir Walken character.

We all know the classic King Arthur tale. The Lady Of The Lake bestows the sword upon him. Well, there is a similar type of theme throughout this series. The Lady Of The Lake in this case is a bit of a troll. She delights in offering up the sword to those who seek it, but it never quite works out for any of them. There are a few moments between her and Dotaleous. He came so close to actually getting it in the end, but you have to see how it turned out for him. If you give this series a chance, you might have to suppress the desire to binge watch all 50 episodes, which generally run between 4 and 8 minutes long.

I don't want to give away all of the plots and clever references from the show, but there is a kingdom that needed the assistance of Doraleous and Associates, or so Doralious thought. They were the Meh Kingdom. Ultimately, Doraleous walked away in disgust. I'd like to think that this particular kingdom went down, but somehow I can just picture the invaders doing the same thing.

There is also the Geigh Kingdom. The idea is to see how many puns and cliches they could stick into the episodes involving the people of this kingdom, although there's no indication that this kingdom is made up of people who happen to be gay. They were invaded by the Giopi's. Yes, you get the picture, and people of a political bent might be offended or amused, but this was not political in the least.

What made it amusing to me was when Neebs happened to show up when the Giopi's showed up to invade the Geigh's. Doraleous was so fed up with the Elf's antics that he fired him. Dejected by being dismissed, Neebs took on another profession, broom salesman. He knocked on the gates to the Geigh Kingdom, but he didn't want in. He simply wanted to sell them some brooms. What's interesting is you see how Doraleous does care about the Elf, even with him being out of the group. He tries to usher the Elf into the castle, but all the Elf really wants to do is sell brooms.

Once Neebs walks away, knowing he can't make a sale here, everybody is watching him from the top of the castle walls. Neebs, either courageously or foolishly, walks up to the leader of the Giopi army. He's trying to sell him brooms. As luck would have it, he makes the sale. And it's funny watching how this whole thing plays out. Was it all Neebs' plan to save the kingdom? Who really knows, but you have to see the episode to believe it. One of the lines of this episode is probably one of the most quoted in the series. It's a play on a line from the movie 300. As the Geigh Kingdom's soldiers prepare to defended themselves, the leader yells, "This is Geigh!"

Sadly, after the 49th episode, the creators stopped making new episodes. From what I have uncovered, they were unsuccessful in a campaign to raise money, and even with monetization, they're not getting enough compensation from YouTube to make it worthwhile. This is with between 300,000 and 500,000 views on most of their videos. It makes me sad to realize that there won't be any new episodes coming, or at least none are planned. There's so much more entertainment that could be offered up by Doraleous And Associates as they attempt to save the world from various evildoers.

At least we still have the episodes that were created to enjoy. About a year ago, they created a 50th episode, sparking some hope that they would come back. It was a one-off deal, but I guess you never know. You can look up Doraleous And Associates on YouTube and see for yourself. If you're a fan of fantasy role-playing or just witty dialogue in animation, as I mentioned above, you owe it to yourself to check this out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

First Episode - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dg1mxlzEP3Q

Journey Quest Is One Of The Better Web Series On YouTube

I mentioned this briefly in a an article a while back, but there are some very nice web series on YouTube that I enjoy. One such series is called Journey Quest and is the brain child of the people at Zombie Orpheus and the The Dead Gentlemen. Actually, The Dead Gentleman created the independent movie franchise, The Gamers. The latest movie, The Gamers 3: Hands Of Fate, is being shown as a web series on YouTube as I write this.

Journey Quest has run for two seasons with a third season already paid for and being planned. It tells the tale of four adventures on a quest for the Sword Of Fighting. The series is written by people who have played Role Playing Games at the table, so there is that sort of humor, but it can be amusing for non gamers who enjoy fantasy as well.

There is Glorion the fighter, who believes that killing equals honor. He's caused problems for the party by killing every Orc he sees, and now the Orcs are on their trail. There is Carrow the party healer, who tries to keep the Glorion from killing the party's Wizard.

That wizard is a cowardly man, who is equally bad at spell casting, named Perf. One has to wonder why he's even on this quest, but the answer lies in his feelings for the party's ranger, Nara. Nara believes the sword is her destiny.

A series of unfortunate events takes place in the first season as Carrow tracks down the fleeing Perf to warn him of the Orcs, only to get shot by a volley of arrows. Perf and Nara flee, only to fall right into the final room of the dungeon, the one with the much desired Sword Of Fighting, an intelligent, talking sword with an attitude.

Somehow, the sword ends up in the hands Perf, and that puts a bounty on the party's heads. As we follow along, we see Perf's feelings for Nara, but there's not much indication what she feels for him. Is it mutual? There is also Wren the bard, who tracks the party in secret to chronicle their exploits for her epic song. She has an encounter with the Orcs, and it appears the Orc leader, Rilk, is attracted to her. Will anything come of it?

There are several interesting characters and many well played out scenes during the two seasons, some of theses scenes are very amusing. Glorion is still in the dungeon, mowing down every obstacle that gets in his way, on a quest for the sword. What will happen when he discovers the sword is gone?

Journey Quest is not just about the humor. You start to like the characters and want to know what's next. There is quite a fan base for this show, and it's those fans who have donated to make the second and third seasons possible. I can't wait to see what's in store for season 3. I've included a link to the series web site below.

http://www.zombieorpheus.com/

Also find episodes on YouTube

The Lost City Was Classic Dungeons & Dragons With A Good Story

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One of the best adventure modules of the old Basic Dungeons & Dragons game was The Lost City by Tom Moldvay. Within it's pages is enough information to run an entire campaign that can last for weeks with a story filled with plot turns that keep the players guessing.

The city of Cynidicea was a thriving city at one time, but over there years it's glory faded. They worshiped the gods (Gorm, Usamigaras and Madarua) and a mysterious creature named Zargon. Zargon was indeed powerful, though not the god the priests made him out to be. He did possess a miraculous healing ability.

When a disaster struck, the leadership actually constructed an underground city underneath their great pyramid. This city had an underground lake, and they survived by cultivating mushrooms and other edible fungus. They built homes and a temple and other buildings in the underground city, but there were also places its citizens dare not go.

Worship of the other three gods was outlawed in the city, and Zargon was the god of worship. The ruling priests would sacrifice citizens to Zargon to appease him. The population was kept under control with a hallucinogenic drug slipped into their water.

There were those who fought against the priests of Zargon to try and free the people of Cynidicea, and they worshiped one of the three gods. However, these factions often feuded with each other over how things should be done. The three factions set up bases in the pyramid above the city, and the priests of Zargon avoided that place.

The adventuring party would come across the tip of the pyramid as the rest was buried in the sand of the desert. Hungry, thirsty and with no sign of food in sight, they decide to investigate the pyramid. There is a way in, but it is trapped. This adventure can start out with death immediately if the party isn't careful.

It is assumed the party will be relatively new adventures, but they will gain more experience and power as they adventure into the pyramid and the city below. Moldvay outlined what was in the pyramid. The city has a map and ideas, but the Dungeon Master must fill in the blanks. The DM is encouraged to add new adventures and some ideas are suggested.

Basically, the players will run their characters through this campaign. Through this adventure, they will go from beginners to the heroes who saved Cynidicea by defeating Zargon, getting the drug out of the water and removing the priests from power. To do this, they will have to work with the three factions.

Molday, in my opinion, was one of the best creative minds D&D had in the early 1980's, and this may be his best adventure. He also wrote the 2nd edition rulebook for Basic D&D, which made the rules much easier to understand. If you can find a copy of The Lost City, it's interesting, even just to read.

I've never understood why D&D has had such a difficult time making a good movie. They could take a module like The Lost City and make a story out of that. There's so much there, it could even be a two or three part movie without much problem.

More Details On The Lost City: http://pandius.com/cynidgaz.html

If You Could Learn Five Magic Spells, What Would They Be?

The Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl Book is available a Lulu in PRINT       Or FREE DOWNLOAD...


NBC appears to be ready to run another spinoff series of Bewitched. This time, it's based on Samantha's granddaughter. I have to admit that I would love to be able to use magic. This has given me an idea.

Okay, here's how it works. You are offered five magic spells that you can use whenever you want. What would they be and why?

I used to play a lot of D&D back in the day and used to think it would be so cool if I could use some of those spells. You don't have to have played D&D to make a top five list. Just think of five spells you would like to use.

I would have:

Teleportation - I would really love to be able to go anywhere in the world in an instant and be able to get back home to my own bed.

Polymorph - It would be fun to be able to shape shift into various human and animal forms and use the powers on others.

Time Manipulation - Travel forwards or backwards or even stop time. Think of the possibilities. Gotta be responsible with it though.

Healing - Being able to heal people in need and even raise the dead would be a gift to share with everyone.

Create Food & Water - A cheap way to eat and you can feed the hungry.

Invisibility would be fun. It would be nice to be able to move around undetected, but I already said I could only have five. I'm already able to go anywhere I want to go, change shape, travel through time, heal the sick and create food. I think that pretty well covers it for me.

An Impromptu Heroes Of The Dungeon Crawl Session

Alas, Poor Gimpy, We Hardly Knew Ye

The Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl Book is available a Lulu in PRINT       Or FREE DOWNLOAD... 

Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl is still up on Lulu.  Nearly 100 copies have been downloaded for free and a couple copies have been purchased.  That's not much considering how long ago the Basic Charts Edition was released, but it's not bad.

Though we never finished the main rulebook with all of the details, the Basic Charts Edition rulebook contains all of the rules needed to play this game.  We're proud to have created some of the most simple rules for a Fantasy RPG that are out there today.

Our reason for that is simple.  We want people to play the game, not sit around the table reading books and spending time creating characters.  These days, people have to budget their time, so the quicker they can be at the table playing a game of HotDC, the better.

We're proud of the fact that one or two people have actually sat down and played a game of HotDC.  Recently, we had some people put this game through it's paces with some interesting results.

There are challenges for the Hero Guide, one of them is making sure that the game balance isn't tipped too far one way or the other.  This can be managed by making a note of each character's stats and adjusting your creature's stats as needed.  You may have simple battles here and there and more challenging fights at the end.  These stats are easily adjustable to accommodate your needs.

Because re-rolling a new character is a snap, character death isn't a big issue.  A player can have a new character in a few minutes.  We have thought about supplements with new character options for advanced players, but really, simple is better.  There are other games that can accommodate the need for a character to have more things.  On the other hand, a resourceful Hero Guide can easily incorporate house rules into HotDC that suit their needs.

For this game, we made use of the bandage option as a way to help prevent death and allowed the option of characters to start at 1st, rather than 0 Degree.  Most of the players opted to start at 0, but our youngest player started at 1st degree.  As a player under 10, this was done to keep him engaged.  He played a Warrior named Hawk.

Our one female player opted for a Mage named Sheena.  We had a Priest named Brother John and a Rogue named Gimpy.  Gimpy had some rather interesting stats and was at a disadvantage, but the player chose to play him anyway.

In the town of Dragon Vale, Hawk was graduating Warrior school and the other three needed to pass one more test to graduate.  The four were sent on a dual mission.  The church wanted the party to retrieve some honey from a nearby hive that was rumored to have a few Giant Bees among the colony.  The Priests wanted a sample of the honey to study its healing properties.

The Warrior's school wanted to put an end to a Goblin colony before it started  It was rumored that a Goblin Sargent was already leading a group of Grunt Goblins into the nearby cavern to set up base.  The school wanted to put an end to this.

Privately, Sheena had been informed by her instructor that the Goblins were in possession of something very valuable that could cause harm to the town of Dragon Vale.  A group of Demi Dragons have been launching raids on villages, and the intel suggested that the Goblins had somehow come into possession of a Demi Dragon Egg.

The party traveled North about five miles before venturing east into the forest.  About a mile into the journey, they could see bees flying around and the buzzing got louder.  Gimpy ventured in further for a closer look and saw a huge hive  He reported back to the group.  Hawk and Gimpy ventured in with a couple jars to get some honey.  The party decided that if the honey had healing properties, they should get some just in case.

On the way back to the other two, Hawk was surprised to be followed by three Giant Bees.  Gimpy was far enough ahead, but Hawk was attacked. All three missed him.  Gimpy armed himself with a bow and just managed to hit and kill one of them.  Hawk struck down another Bee and the third one fled.

The party continued back to the path and then ventured west towards the hills.  They were within a quarter mile of the caves when Gimpy ventured ahead for a closer look.  At the front of the cave were two Grunt Goblins.  He also noticed a pair of Pink Demi Dragons flying off in the distance.  They appeared to be searching below for something.

Gimpy reported the news and Sheena revealed what the instructor had told her about the Demi Dragons.  It is thought that the Goblins had stolen an egg, and the Demi Dragons are rumored be angry over the theft.  The egg belonged to their queen, and if they make it to Dragon Vale, they could cause serious damage.

The party decided to venture to the cave entrance where Sheena cast Short Nap on the two guards.  They tied them and gagged them and dragged them away from the opening.  They ventured into the cavern .  Off to the right was a passage that went downward a ways.  It had a foul and rotten smell.

The party discovered bones and tattered cloth strewn about the floor and surmised that this may have been where prisoners had been dragged and killed.  From the walls, it appeared as if the earth was moving.  It was Earth Mytes, living pieces of earth.  Sheena sustained a point of damage, but the three Earth Mytes were easily disposed of.

They ventured back to the main corridor.  Off to the left was a passage that opened up into a big cavern .  There was fire and the smell of something being cooked.  Gimpy heard female voices.  He understood Goblin and made out the fact that a dozen or so Goblins had gone out to raid a nearby camp of Kobolds.  One of the female voices was complaining that Sargent Kang and his guards didn't go and never seemed to go on these raids lately.

The party had a brief discussion and decided that this might be their best chance.  The went in deeper and Gimpy discovered a secret passage that led to what must have been the Goblin treasure room.  There were 100 gold pieces, 300 silver and a half dozen pieces of jewelry that looked valuable.

As they were bagging the obviously stolen money that was likely intended to be used to build a better fortress, three Ratlings came into the room unnoticed, hitting Brother John for 2 Life Points.  The party won the battle thanks to Hawk killing two of the three.  They discovered that under the pile of rags in the west corner of the room was a hole, and they could hear more Ratlins climbing up.

The party headed out of the room.  The party had Brother John eat their jar of honey, and he was healed completely.  After checking out three empty caverns that looked like they could have housed at least four dozen Goblins, they came across a crudely locked door at the end of the cavern.

Gimpy went to work on the lock and picked it.  The room and three more beds and another locked door at the far end of the room.  A check of the furnishings revealed 25 gold pieces and a pair of standard daggers.  Gimpy picked the other lock and they entered what appeared to be Kang's headquarters.

The room had cheap rugs that might be with 1 gold piece and a few other furnishings that were in better shape than anything else in the cavern, but maybe worth 1 gold piece.  There was a desk with nothing of value, but a note highlighting Kang's instructions to steal a Demi Dragon egg so they could hatch it and raise it as their own.  It also pointed out that reinforcements will be coming from the south upon news that the egg had been secured.

In the far east comer was a treasure chest.  It was locked.  Gimpy again went to work and noticed this one was trapped.  He managed to disarm what would have been sleeping gas to reveal an egg wrapped up and a red gem.  As he was standing over the chest, looking at the egg, a voice came from the door.  It was Kang.

Kang ordered his three guards into the room and followed.  Brother John cast Life Boost on Hawk, and Sheena cast Stinging Mist at the three Grunt Goblins and their leader.  Gimpy fired an arrow at one of the Goblins and hit for a kill.  Angered, one of the Goblins struck a lethal blow at Gimpy, dropping him on the spot.

Hawk went for Kang and struck the first blow.  Brother John stood in front of Sheena and scored a hit on one of the guards.  Sheena wanted to cast Short Nap, but she didn't want to put any of her party members at a risk.  She threw a dagger at one of the Goblins, but she missed..

Brother John dispatched of a second Goblin guard and the remaining guard missed him.  Kang struck Hawk and Hawk hit him, but both lived.  Brother John hit the last guard, but he lived.  Taking a chance, Sheena drew her other dagger and swang at the guard.  She hit, but he lived by one Life Point.  He swing at her and hit, only doing two Life Points of damage.

Hawk missed Kang, but Kang hit him.  Had it not been for Brother John's Life Boost Incantation, he would have been dead.  Brother John killed the final guard and Hawk killed Kang.  The party tried to bandage Gimpy, but it was too late.  He was dead.  They gathered up everything they could take.   They had foiled the Demi Dragon egg plan and killed the Goblin leader.

Back in town, they were rewarded for retrieving the jar of honey, killing the Goblin leader and retrieving the egg.  The town would send a party to clean out the caves of any more Goblins.  The Mage instructor and Sheena would return the Pink Demi Dragon egg to it's mother personally to maintain positive relations.

The party was rewarded with 300 GP's each and the three 0 Degree adventurers were now 1st Degree.  Hawk was happy, because he could buy better equipment.  He was all set to go again, but his parents were ready to go home.  However, he left with a printed copy of the rules.  Maybe a new HotDC player was born today.  At any rate, it was nice to see the rules in action.

Alas, poor Gimpy didn't make it, but his player had a good time nonetheless.  As for Gimpy, he died valiantly and will take his place among the Hall of Fallen Heroes.  That's were they all go when they die.

Ideas From The Old Labyrinth Lord Forum

One of the reasons I back burnered Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl.  After releasing the Basic Charts Edition was because Labyrinth Lord came out.  In 2007, I was active on the Labyrinth Lord forums and even edited a couple adventures that were released.  I wanted to share a couple ideas I had posted way back then for those who may be interested...

 By the way, The HotDC Book is available a Lulu in PRINT       Or FREE DOWNLOAD...

A Map From The Old Days

I believe I have the beginnings of an idea for my first Labyrinth Lord adventure. I've mentioned it in other threads, and will probably get into more discussion of it here.

But this first post goes back to 1982 when I played out of a red book edited by a guy named Tom.

After going through B1 and B2, we started making our own dungeon crawls . I don't have many of the early ones that I did, but I have a few. My brother was the DM and could be brutal at times, but those were fun times.

It so happens that I have a copy of the first map he did. He has long since put away his dice, and he lost most of his old creations to his ex girlfriend. I managed to salvage some of them.

Anyway, this comes from a copy of the map that I have cleaned up a bit.

The adventure was called When In Doubt, Seek It Out. He liked to name dungeons after sayings for some reason. He had another one called When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going.

We did a lot of Hack N Slash playing in those days, but we had fun. I don't have the key to this one, but it was basically first and second level stuff with a touch of third. Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, that sort of thing.

There were a few things I recall about this one, though.

1-One room had a pair or Ogres climbing the walls for some reason. I think one of my characters may have said something to them and one fell from the wall. A fight broke out. I'm sure there was PC death in that one.

2-The main point of the plot comes from the room in the upper left corner. There was an alter. There were some evil wizards using a stone to animate undead. There were Zombies in this room (not sure how many).

3-As a welcoming moment to the party, you'll notice at the entrance was trap. A nice little ten foot pit trap. I know I lost characters to that type of trap, and there might have been a death there too. My brother loved traps.

I wish I had the key for this one. I know my brother ran others through this one and I ran people through it as well. Those were fun times. I still have many maps and all of our original characters (that lived anyway).

Though it's not on the drawing board at the moment, I'd love to do something with this map for old time's sake.

An Idea For A Labyrinth Lord Adventure

This was my post from the Filling The Known Lands thread. At the moment, I am taking notes and in the early process of creating something based on it.

Back in the 80's, my cousin and I did two D&D books for the fun of it, The Pro Set and The Book Of Options. The latter had an idea in it that I always wanted to try.

I made a chart of the half hit dice monsters. I may have written an adventure or two, but I can't seem to find any now. The idea was simple. I wanted to try doing an adventure for a party of thieves and magic users.

The problem is obvious. Without the heavily armored fighter or the cleric or dwarf, you are essentially dealing with an unarmored magic user who only uses daggers and a thief who may have a better weapon, but only slightly better armor. Plus, both only have d4 + constitution in hp's.

These guys could get taken out pretty quickly if you put them up against things that are too tough. But, what if we put our 1st Level thieves and magic users against half HD foes, such as Bee's, Rats, Centipedes, Kobolds and a few new foes of similar HD?

They may have a chance. Hence, a chart was born and an idea was born. Well, let's move it over to Labyrinth Lord. What could we do, and where could we put it?

I was thinking of making it an Old Wizard's School that was abandoned after something bad happened, maybe the school was attacked, or maybe a natural disaster. I was thinking of placing it somewhere near Dolmvay.

The reason the MU's and Thieves were called? Well, perhaps the MU's teacher has asked them to go to the old school to retrieve an old spell book or book of lore of some sort. The thieves are there in case of traps. The book will be on the second level of the school complex.

Can the group survive this challenge? What will they discover waiting in the rooms when they get there? I figured maybe 15-20 rooms per level. A few new monsters introduced to the game. A new place to add a little more lore to The Known Lands.

As I flesh things out on this deal, I have found a few other creatures that could make it into this one. I want to get work done on another project I'm doing, but I think this one could be fun to flesh out.

One possible name for this adventure will be:

Quest For The Ancient Tome

Well, that's one idea anyway. No date for completion is set at the moment. Don't want to put the pressure on myself. I suppose work could pick up on this one when I get my hard copy of Labyrinth Lord next week, but we'll take it as it comes.

Some Dialogue On My Above Idea

Thanks kipper.

I'm gonna leave your comments in bold and put mine in bold blue as you got me to thinking a little bit more on this.

By the way, the map in this thread is for a different idea, though I may look at doing something with it. Oh, and thanks for the comments Glgnfz. Might be a while before I do anything with it as I have a list of other things I'm working on.

Anyway...

That "Old Wizard's School/Quest for the Ancient Tomb" adventure idea looks really good! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

Here are some ideas for encounters the PCs might have (I'm usually not very good at this type of stuff, but your idea has got me thinking...)

Thanks. I've had these thoughts of trying to do something with half hit dice monsters and an adventure magic users and thieves could do for years now. There are plenty of options, and I like what I've got on scratch paper so far.

Oh, and I'm always up for suggestions. Somebody may come up with something I'm not looking at. I will give credit to anybody for ideas used.

1) Rats have got into something magical, giving them some kind of special abilities, I'm thinking human-level Intelligence. They've built a little town (maybe in the Library out of old books?) with houses, stores, and the like. Perhaps they are at war with another group of rats (feral rats, or another group of intelligent ones which have split off?) and/or another monster such as centipedes or feral cats? They may have some item they are willing to give the PCs in exchange for their help. The PCs will first have to realize they are intelligent and devise a way of communicating with them...

I've definitely got giant rats in this one. I tentatively placed them in the old cafeteria, along with giant centipedes. I'll have to look closer at your suggestions though. In the other project I'm working on I have a rat like humanoid creature called a ratling. Perhaps there could be a mutation from the magic that made them that way.

One of the ideas in this adventure is that the magic got out of control making it an unsafe place for young students to learn.

2) A mixture of magical chemicals (inside an old alchemical laboratory) has generated some kind of new life form. Chemical-based, perhaps with toxic/noxious gas or the like. The PCs will have to 'think' their way around this problem (No ideas exactly how yet !)

I have that one thanks to a little prodding from Skathros and Dan. I wouldn't recommend going near them. Unfortunately, the party may have to. They are called Globules and are stated in a section of the Open Workshop if you want to take a look.

3) An old familiar of one of the ancient Magic-Users is still alive, albeit senile. Some things it tells the PCs are true, others are incorrect. Perhaps it thinks the school is still up and running, mistaking the PCs for new students?

Hmmm... I hadn't even considered that angle, and yet I think it works with this adventure. Perhaps I'll have to figure out who he (or she) is. In keeping with the theme, a magic experiment went awry and made this creature that way.

I did have the idea of having a group of kobolds here with their leader actually understanding 1st level magic and having the ability to cast spells.

That had me considering the possibility of creating a Kobold Shaman class, but that will have to keep. Need to focus on my project.

4) Giant Bees have nested in the roof. This is not much of a problem, except there is a hole in the roof of one room of the top floor, and the bees have built their hive down into it. The room's walls and floor will be covered with honeycomb and honey, making progress difficult for the PCs. If they can make enough smoke, they can keep the Bees away temporarily to make their way through, but they still need to slog through the thick, sticky honey before their smoke source runs out... (Maybe this smoke source can be found in the alchemical lab, noted above ?)

Giant Bees are definitely a part of this one. The magic users were using magic on normal bees to create healing honey, but things went awry. Suddenly, there are Giant Bees. However, you have added some ideas that could be considered here.

Fortunately, I only have a map of how the buildings are placed here, but not how the rooms are laid out, so there is plenty of room for adjustments.

5) The food stores in the cellar have long since rotted, now all that exists are some Rot Grubs, and they haven't fed in a really long time...

I'll have to look into this one a little bit. I had ideas for this area, but I hadn't even considered this possibility.

6) A small group of Kobolds is using one of the rooms (perhaps just inside a 'secret' back door to the School?) as a temporary base, while they raid neighboring farms for food. If the PCs can find this door and/or bribe the Kobolds, it will give them an alternate entrance to the School. The main/front door to the school is rumored to be trapped with magical runes...

Ah, this one is similar to my plot. The kobolds are an important part of the quest. When the school was actually being used, they were a nuisance for the magic users, though nothing they couldn't overcome when they had to. The kobolds know the lay of the land here and who occupies what. They know where a certain key is that the group will need to complete the quest. But, can they be trusted?

Also, the place the key is being hidden is not going to be a cake walk for the group.

Thanks for the input. The project is still in early stages. I have another project on the front burner for a game I'm working on, but this is penciled in for next. I'm just taking notes and coming up with ideas. I've got a few ideas not mentioned here too, but I don't wanna give away too many secrets just yet.

No ETA on when things will be done though. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself. I know I'm not the only one excited about Labyrinth Lord and the opportunity we all have to help make this game live.

About Globules

I was asked about a certain "bubbly" creature and what its stats might be

You would have to ask...

Lets see, I consulted one of my ancient tomes, which wasn't easy. I had to translate from kobold to elf and finally to human... Don't ask...

Anyway, this is what I found out about Globules. I must say that I wouldn't want to encounter too many of these at first level. Wouldn't be much fun. Feel free to tinker with this as you see fit.

Globules (water orbs)

No. Enc. 2-20
Alignment: Neutral
Move: 60’ (20’)
Armor Class: 9
Hit Dice: ½
Attacks: 1
Damage: 1-4 + Sleep
Save: F1
Morale: 9
Hoard Class: XIII

Through decades of contentious magical experimentation conducted by wizards and alchemists, in which the refuse was dumped heedlessly into the water drainage system, a strange phenomenon occurred. A strange and somehow intelligent water based creature shaped like an orb and full of a toxic air was created. The toxic air within the globule acts as a sleeping gas, and if the globule manages to hit and put a victim to sleep (save versus poison), that victim will become trapped within the orb. There is a 25% chance of the victim falling into the water while trapped within the globule. A trapped victim will be suffocated in 1-5 (1d6-1) rounds, but can be saved if somebody kills the globule. This has to happen prior to the globule sinking into the water. If it manages to kill it's victim, the globule will release that body and return above the water in search of another victim. That body will float back to the surface of the water unless weighted down. Once a Globule is destroyed, it will reform 1-3 globules within 2 days. This can be prevented if the water is drained from the area and placed in a location where it can evaporate or if it is soaked into land or fabrics, such as rugs or blankets.

Taking Some Of The Lethality Out Of Early Adventures

We had a thread that talked about Total Party Kills. I'll throw out the link in case you missed it:

http://www.freeyabb.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=68&mforum=goblinoidgames

(Forum no longer up) 

The reason I'm starting this thread is to start a discussion on the topic of taking some of the lethality out of the early adventure.

Blasphemy!  You may say. Well, you have a point. This was one of the things that made the game Labyrinth Lord emulates so special to me. You could die easily in the beginning. No big deal to me, actually. A few dice rolls, a couple minutes and I'm ready to go again. But, the gaming world has changed.

Gunslinger had a very good point to make in his statement, which in part read:

It's actually one of the biggest reasons I have a hard time getting people to play. "Too easy to die."

This may not be a big deal to some, I suppose. If so, don't mind me posting this. I want to offer ideas to help the newbie to LL. At some point, a Book Of Options or whatever may be put together with cool additions to the game.

I know one poster is interested in Half Orcs. New creatures for the game are already in the offering. At some point, a book may be written to include all of these things.  Or not, I don't know.

Anyway...

In the game I have been working on, I have addressed this very issue and included some of these options.

Basically, Joe RPG'er (Very original) comes to LL from the world of 3.5. He's an RP'er first and a Hack N Slasher second. He rolls up a thief, gives him a background. He's proud of his creation, despite only having 3 HP's. Well, one encounter into the game, and an arrow to the chest from an angry orc later, he's toast.

NEXT...

Joe is only going do this so many times, and then he's giving up on the game. He won't give it a chance.

So, what can we do? The rules are fairly simple. One of the things I think most of us like about this game is the simplicity of it.

Actually, it won't take much. Let's look at a few options.

1-One or two potions of healing to start with. This may be the easiest way to handle it. One of the nice things about LL is that a 1st level cleric has that 1st level healing spell, but this idea goes a little further.

2-If you are starting in a dungeon near the town, you can also use an old computer RPG idea and just let the characters see a local healer for 5 or 10gp per healing at first.

3-Maximum Hit Points to start, plus an assumed 18 constitution bonus, for 1st level only. The magic user and thief now have 7 HP's, meaning they should be able to handle at least 1 hit from most 1st level threats. A fighter now has 11 HP's.

This is for 1st Level only. After that, you have to roll for it.

4-The 1st level monsters that can use any weapon should be armed with no better than short swords or daggers. This keeps damage down to a minimum.

Note that this should NOT apply to the final battle scenarios. If you are facing the Orc King, for instance, he should have that sword or whatever, and he may even have a + to attacks and damages.

I know, I know. These ideas coddle the new player a little bit. That ain't the way my brother did it back in the day. In fact, he had a death quota. Still loved to play in his games.

But, this is different. We are trying to get people to sit down and play, and some of these people play the newer, slicker games. They can always go back to them. The newcomer who either has played none of these games or hasn't played since the 80's won't want to play if his characters are getting whacked left and right.

I should note 4a, which is if they do something stupid, they are going to die, even with these adjustments. If they do, let them die.

5-Go easy on the traps and death by poison stuff. I know, traps are a way of life in this game, but quick deaths like this are going to discourage people from playing.

Now, by no means am I saying don't do any of this stuff. Look, if you walk into a room with an unguarded treasure and think you can just strut up to that chest and take it, you deserve to suffer the consequences. Plus, it's the only way they will ever learn.

What I am talking about is throwing a 10' pit into a hallway that leads to nothing special in the first place and that sort of thing. Putting the new characters into constant battles with creatures that have poison or other special attacks is just asking for that new player to walk away.

Get that player to the table, let them experience some success. Once they get used to things, make them work for it a little harder.

6-Bandaging as an option. Wounded in battle, down to 0 hit points, get that guy bandaged fast. This isn't original, but it is a good option. In the game I'm working on, I have left the chance that death will happen anyway or that this character will die unless healed immediately.

Well, these are just a few ideas to consider. What I would like to see is any ideas that go along these lines. I know this isn't for everybody. Some games are going now that don't need any of this sort of stuff. But to those who are looking for these sorts of options, here you go.

Gotta Love Lulu

When I was doing the desktop publishing thing, I would have loved having something like Lulu to turn to. It might not have worked as well for my weekly stuff, but it would have been perfect for special editions. They really do nice work. I knew if I could make Heroes of the Dungeon Crawl presentable enough, I would go to Lulu for printing it and for other projects as well. It's like having something you could buy at a store.

Lulu was huge in getting the OSR movement off the ground, and you can still find cool stuff there. I could have ordered Labyrinth Lord there when it was released, but Goblinoid Games did such a fantastic job of promoting it I had another option. I was able to order it at Barnes & Noble and go in there and buy it. My local game store owner didn't have a clue what I was talking about, but he sells it now. There was something so cool about buying it in a store like the old red box. I may have been the first person to buy LL that way.

I decided to support the OSR movement in December by purchasing Stonehell Dungeon and Dragons at Dawn. I became aware of Stonehell Dungeon by accident through Youtube. The publisher was LL'ing people through it and posted videos. A massive dungeon crawl. I've been thinking about making one myself and have had several ideas bouncing around for a while now. Several notes are already written.

Anyway, the Stonehell Dungeon book is a massive resource in itself, and he has supplements available and a second book planned. Lots and lots of maps and ideas. The adventure does count on the DM to be familiar with the rules and monster stats. The descriptions are not laid out like Palace Of The Silver Princess or Horror On The Hill. But, the rules are so easy that shouldn't be a problem. There is so much there it is well worth the price. We basic gamers didn't get too many big dungeon crawls back in the day, so that makes this even cooler.

Dragons at Dawn is sort of a "what if" concept as in what if Dave Arneson had published rules to the game he played prior to contacting Gary Gygax. The author spent months researching Dave's old material and interviews, comments made by players who were at Dave's table back then. The result is an interesting read and a playable game that I would bet captures the spirit of Dave's game. Short of Dave being here doing it himself, we don't know 100%, but I think it's pretty darn close. I bet Dave would approve, and anything that helps remind people of Dave's role in all of this crazy RPG stuff is alright in my book.

I have my eyes on the expansion, Dragons at Twilight, and will probably get that eventually. Another potential purchase will be Swords & Wizardry. I've only skimmed through the original D&D rules. I find the Moldvay Basic to be more to my tastes, but I'm curious enough that I may take the plunge. Besides, the author of S$W is one of the people responsible for helping make what the OSR movement is doing now possible.

Two purchases I just made other day are LL adventures, The Courtyard of Gerald Red and Fabled Curse of the Brigand Crypt. I've read some game session reports on the latter and decided I'd make the purchase. Both are set in the LL default setting, The Known Lands, and that was another plus in my book. I'd like to see more attempts to flesh out The Known Lands. Maybe one of these days I'll make an attempt myself.

I'll update this to mention I received both books, each at 16 pages with simple adventures based in the default LL setting of The Known Lands. I've skimmed through them both, and I'm impressed with Lawrence Blake's work here. He not only wrote these, but did the illustrations as well. It's simple art, but it works. I like it. If I had a game going, I would have no problem running either of these as is.

There are some challenging encounters here, but the rewards are great. As somebody who back in the day may have awarded too much treasure at times, I'm almost tempted to say there's a little bit more treasure than needed. A lot of it is one usage stuff though. The challenges are here though, and TPK can easily happen in either module if the party isn't careful. There is a save or die situation here that had it's "sting" removed. I'd probably let the dice fall and the rules stand as written in the old books, especially given the reward. All in all, though, I like what I see in both of modules.

I am working on HotDC stuff right now, and I'm contemplating an update to the Basic Charts Edition book or a supplement. I may chose an update for the book. At this point, here's what I'm thinking:

Additional Creature Charts. I do charts for 0 through 3rd Degree in the book, but I have lists for 4th through 8th.

Additional Priest and Mage Incantation lists. The lists in the book go 0 through 3, but I have 4-5 mapped out.

The Three Kings Island Map and some basic descriptions of the areas. I have been working on this a little.

That's about it, but as I work I get inspired more. The update is really the easy way because the other option is fully fleshing out and doing the proper rulebook and covering 0-10th degree for character advancement as was planned in the beginning. If nothing else, I want to talk HotDC in future posts. The one thing that is cool is having Lulu available to get things printed if/when they are ready.

A Post For Jean Wells

I wanted to post about the passing of another of the pioneers of D&D from the TSR era as it was reported earlier this week that Jean Wells passed away at the age of 56. I don't really consider that old in this day and age, but I am aware that Jean was dealing with health issues. In her interview on the Save Or Die Podcast within the last few years, it didn't sound like she was in the best of health

Jean is probably best known as the author of the original B3 Module, Palace of the Silver Princess. She wrote several Sage Advice columns for Dragon Magazine and had her finger prints on several of the best known D&D products, including B1 Keep On The Borderlands, The Monster Manual and (uncredited until an article in Dragon Magazine pointed it out) The Dungeon Master's Guide. Jean was a pioneer for women in the RPG industry.

I never knew Jean's version of Palace existed until years later. The Tom Moldvay/Jean Wells version is the one I was aquainted with. Though the newer version still retained some of Jean's characters and flavors, some stuff was removed. Tom was reportedly instructed to do whatever he needed to do to "fix" it, and Jean recounted later that she was not allowed to participate in any of that.

Now, I'm a fan of Tom's work and what he did with that module. Fact is, it's somewhat more survivable for new characters than the previous two "B" Modules, and it is enjoyable. However, Jean did a variation on Mike Carr's B1 In Search of the Unknown. Some rooms of the palace were left to the DM to stock as was the case with all B1 rooms, and others were fully stocked.

Another thing this module offered was a campaign settting. She wrote this in 1980 as The Known World was being created by David Cook and Tom Moldvay, and the palace was based in Glantri, which appears in The Known World. The area of Glantri in Jean's module has a few places descrbed to allow the DM to continue running adventures there, and there were a few NPC's desribed that the characters could interact with. She also introduced several new monsters.

True, the Moldvay/Wells version was better defined, but Jean's version gave you a foundation and the tools to allow you to build on it. Looking back at the controversy over some of the Erol Otus art and the Ubues, I can't help but feel a bit sad for the ambitous young lady who probably had a few other good ideas up her sleeve. The art was tame compared to some of the art that appeared in earlier D&D books, for one thing, but with the forces of PC and religion coming after the game, she was the one who took the fall.

I wasn't there, and I'm just a fan looking at what others who were there had to say, but I can't help but think some people wanted her to fail. There was art in there that the artist should have known better than to create. The office insider stuff that should never have been created and put into her module. I wonder, if somebody had been there to offer moral support and watch out for stuff like that, what might have been.

The concept behind Jean's Palace was solid. Maybe a rough edge or two, but it could have been smoothed away without much effort. I like much of Erol's art, but perhaps this wasn't the place to make any statements he might have wanted to make against the powers that be? But, it happened, and Jean took the fall.

When I read her comments in her Grognardia blog interview or hear what she said in the Save Or Die Podcast, it makes me sad. I wonder what could have been. She sounds like she had a love for this game back then, but the experiences with B3 soured her. She mentioned in that podcast having another adventure to publish for free if she could get the help. Much like the rumored works of Moldvay after he died, I somewhow doubt anything will come to pass, and that makes me sad.

It wasn't until I read Jean's version of B3 that I realized that she had some good ideas and lots of potential. It makes me wish I could have been there for her to help fight off the negativity coming her way and help her B3 get the fighting chance it deserved. Alas, that was not to be, and this is just me rambling.

So, I'll end this by saying thanks for the menories Jean. You weren't at TSR that long really, but you still managed to make a positve impact while you were there. May you find happiness and peace in this stage of your journey.

My Opinion, Based On Little Information

So, the D&D Experience has taken place, the seminars happened and some lucky players got an early look at what sounds like could be the "basic" version of what's next (What's wrong with calling it 5e I wonder).

The comment made a week or so ago that got the whole community talking was the idea that this next iteration of the game would allow a 1e or basic player to sit at the table with that character while somebody else plays it 2e style, another 3e and another 4e. The collective "huh" (or something unprintable) heard around the net was from the people wanting to know what they're drinking up there in Washington.

Well, this week sheds some light on that lofty proclaimation from the wizards. They probably should have qualified the 1e player and 3e player with "it feels like a character from that edition". I think it's obvisous there will be no decending AC. That ship has sailed, but does it really matter?

For my part, I don't get the problem with decending AC. I NEVER had a problem understanding it, but whatever. I don't think that is a deal breaker, but they should understand something. Every little tweak they make to those old rules, while claiming it is in the style of the old game, will be a potential "deal breaker" for those players. That goes for any edition, I suppose.

The funny thing is, I think they understand that. They are walking a tightrope, but I think they truly believe they can pull this off. I'd say it won't be easy, but maybe it will be easier than anybody is giving it credit. Maybe? I don't know. I'm not a mind reader. Every overature made to the old gamers is annoying the newer gamers. Yeah, it's a tightrope.

The question still has to be asked and that's how can you have that basic character in the group next to the one with all the newer feats and other "cool" stuff? Well, it hasn't been said, but I think the idea is that the old style player is expected to "gravitate" towards the new style a little at a time if need be, AND the rules are being wrtten in that way.

So, here's the thing I've been thinking and I admit I could be wrong. The first installment of this deal needs to be basic in the "style" of the old game. That's what needs to be in the box or hard books. Whatever. For this point, I'm calling it D&D Basic, but I'm not stuck on that name.

This D&D Basic needs to cover all the basic stuff in that certain "style" where all the future installments can be bolted on by those who want them. It should cover at least 10 levels if not more. You should be able to do a whole campaign with just this set of rules if you want to, AND none of the future installment's rules should be defined at all other than a hint at what's to come.

When people run games at the game store, they will have the option of naming the style based on what installments are used, such as D&D Basic, D&D Expert or D&D Master, meaning all rules covered up to that point. This way those wanting only that style who are DM'ing can cite that they are playng D&D Basic. No guy with feats sitting next to basic guy, unless that is specified. If your own group is playing D&D Basic at home, this isn't an issue, but we're talking game stores and such places.

Problem with not doing this is simple. Somebody buys a rule book that has all the bells and whistles and is told they can't and the response is, "But it's in the rules." There's been a history in recent years of having to allow it if it's in the rules. But, if you have all the basic rules only in the first installent, response can be, "but this is all that's covered in the rules that we are using, and you're welcome to play by them."

It's just a thought, but I actually think it can work if they do it like this. I'm sure there will be huge core books at some point with everything in there, maybe defined within those pages as to what is Basic, Expert and Master to work with those DM's, but having the rules rolled out starting with D&D Basic will send a clear message of support for those who just want to play in the basic style,

At least, thats how I see it. I could be wrong. Who knows? It's all just speculation at this point. A segmenent of the old crowd didn't budge for 3e or 4e. Heck, some of them bristled at the thought of playing 2e as well. What makes anybody think this next deal will be any different? I know one thing, if Mike and Monte can pull this off, they could become real legends in the industry. I'd stop short of Gygax and Arneson level, but what the heck? I hope they can pull it off. Time will tell.

Still Impressed With Labyrinth Lord

Another visit to my local game store revealed the presence of Labyrinth Lord, and I do have to say Goblinoid Games has done a fine job of representing old school. It's my understanding that there has been a group playing the game at the store in the past, but not recently. I've been out of the game for a while and missed that.

Now, this store has the heavy dose of D&D and Pathfinder you'd expect. What makes it cool is he has a good supply of older versions of D&D and is always adding more. Nothing from the Basic line at the moment other than a Mentzer Expert Box. There are other games there and Knights Of The Dinner Table. Had to get a copy of that. It's been a while, and it helps me feel close to the game reading those strips.

Anyway, I was pleased to see Labyrinth Lord and Realms Of Crawling Chaos on the shelf. It was a year or so ago when I saw the LL book and Advanced LL there as well as a copy of Village Of Larm, which I bought. When I was active on the old LL forum, I had a few discussions with the writer of that excellent module. I went on to help edit his Mountain King module.

Now that was an interesting concept. The mountain king was a kobold with Gauntlets of Ogre Power and a nice sword. In one forum post, he related that a play test resulted in a total party kill in that big encounter. That was one kobold you didn't want to mess with. I understand there was a sequel to that one too.

Now when the LL forum was opened it was pretty busy in the early days. There were lots of ideas flying around and a desire that everybody seemed to share that LL be successful. When Daniel put up the map of The Known Lands, I started a thread about filling the lands with stuff. There were lots of ideas, but Mortiz was the one who started making it happen. The Mountain King, The Road to Dolmvay and Village Of Larm were three of them.

What's cool is Daniel put that map out that is totally inspired by a certain other map from a blue book we all remember and said, "Do what you want with it." And people did. I'm sure some of the ideas came from people's old game sessions from way back when too. What a cool thing. I mean, OSRIC and LL made this happen, and suddenly new adventures were added to the old school canon.

When I ask where that Basic game is, I know where it is. It's been here for about five years now as Labyrinth Lord, just not backed by a big company. It's always been my game style of choice. I'd like to see one of the big companies of choice get behind a basic style game, and that seems to be happening now. But old school basic is alive and well with LL.

When Daniel released LL and hinted at Advanced LL being next, nobody said how about Basic LL. Let me qualify that statement. You see, LL is more based on Moldvay's work than Mentzer's, and it does a great job. This is just a new thought that I had while looking at the Starter Set Box with the Elmore Dragon on the shelf at the game store.

You see, Frank did so much in capturing the imagination when he did that Basic Set in 1983. Moldvay's red book probably had the rules in an easier to access format, but Mentzer made it come to life. You don't hear the phrase "Kill Bargle" for nothing. Poor Aleena, why did she have to die? People talk about that too. I recall that solo adventure, wondering what was in that treasure chest I couldn't get to due to a lack of a thief.

In short, the Mentzer Basic Set told a story, while also explaining the rules to play levels 1-3. Heck, you were playing before you knew the rules. I would guess one reason for the lack of such a book for LL is because the rules are already in that book and this wouldn't be cost effective. But, the idea just hit me and I thought it sounded cool.

Imagine a similar, but different where it legally has to be, Basic LL book with a solo adventure. A few NPC's introduced. Somebody dies. The story can be different, but the goal is the same. Engage the imagination of the new gamer. Of course, Frank did that so well, maybe we don't need that now. I don't know. I just thought it was a cool idea.

Anyway, my main point is I'm happy that Labyrinth Lord is still alive and well entering it's fifth year, and even happier I'm hearing NOTHING about a new edition. The cool thing is, if it ever came down to it, you may see some new art or a change in wording here or there, but I doubt you'll ever see the game change. It really doesn't need to.

A New Edition? I'm Shocked!

Well, maybe not that shocked. Okay, let's face it, it was inevitable.

In 2007, I finally made the trip to Gencon. I write about that elsewhere on this page, but it was an opportunity for me to meet so many people in the RPG business that I respect. Tom Moldvay had passed away earlier that year, so I knew I had to go when the opportunity presented itself.

Anyway, I was there when something occurred that I wasn't anticipating. The Wizards announced 4e D&D was on the way. I admit I'm not as in the loop about these things. When the Basic line was dropped in the mid 90's, I walked away from the table. What was left of my group was pretty much gone anyway, so I played the D&D computer games and continued to add books to my collection when I could.

Here's the thing, though. They introduced 3e in 2000. Some complained, and some hailed it as the update that was needed. It was a good thing for the game. Plus, The Wizards were the ones who sort of ended the Gygax/Arneson feud (maybe feud is a little strong?). What I mean to say is Gary and Dave were at the table together at Gencon that year talking about D&D, Gary wrote an article for Dragon on the history of the game, which I have. Both of their names were at the front of the new books as founders of the game. Both got a chance to contribute to the game going forward, though Gary opted to do his own thing. Dave returned to Blackmoor with new books. Both were involved in the two movies as well.

I liked that about 3e. People went back to playing when Wizards sold to Hasbro and suddenly in 2004, 3.5 came about. Time for new books. There was complaining. Can't say I blame people. I'm of the opinion the core books should have a run longer than 4 years, like maybe 10? But people still played, and the vibe I got was one where the people who played had fun. That's the point, isn't it? The impression was they would stay with that edition for a while when suddenly, in 2007, the announcement came for 4e.

What is going on here? Do you need me to spell it out for you? It's pretty obvious that Hasbro has higher expectations for this franchise. TSR probably would have stayed with what they had for a while and supported it with the usual supplements. WotC before the sale probably would have done so as well. But the bigger corporation has bigger expectations. This has been mentioned by people who know more about this than I do.

There were plans for a virtual table, new legal documents for third party support in an effort to put the old OGL in the past. Hype for 4e buried versions of the game people like. I recall seeing some of that at Gencon. Of course, isn't that the point when selling the new version, to tell people why they should switch? From what I understand, initial sales were good. At this point, I was focusing on other things.

While I was gone, Paizo had taken the OGL and cleverly put out Pathfinder as an RPG to support their adventure paths. In looking at past threads on forums, there were plenty of predictions of failure. But it was a brilliant move by Paizo. They opened the door for people who preferred that style of play to stick around, and people did. Still, 4e enthusiasts cried foul. How dare Paizo! Ha! How dare Wizards leave the door open for this to happen with the OGL. It was a brilliant move by Paizo. They became the company of the little guy, AND they ate into D&D business.

Wizards answer was Essentials and an attempt to explain the game in simpler terms. My observation. You still don't get it, do you? The 4e core books were fine for that style of game play. People who would play it, knew what to do. No, what you should have done is maybe pick up a phone and call Frank Mentzer. Take a look at BECM. Get a clue. No, that doesn't mean present the old rules, but rather, present a streamed down version of current rules in a way similar to the way those four boxed sets did it. It's NOT rocket science people, really. To hear some people talk, this just gets frustrating to me.

I hear can't a lot, and I say nonsense. I hear you'll split the fan base. Really? #1 It's a little late for that, isn't it? #2 If it's Wizards doing both sets, the money goes to the same place. #3 As per the TSR downfall argument, Basic was gone when the stuff hit the fan there, and in its place were tons of boxes of campaign settings for 2e. There's your overkill, and maybe, just maybe a Basic Set would have been a positive. I know it was for over a decade.

But, that aside, 4e got less than four years, including a reboot before this new announcement. 4 years! The new version will "probably" be out in 2013 if I had to guess, so a five year life span that included the reboot. Guys, this has to stop. The game can't keep taking this nonsense. Already I see comments like 6e in six years. Lets gets some stability back. The Monte Cook rehiring strikes me as an atempt to go in that direction. Still hate to see Winter and Baker gone as they are two people who have been there for some time now. It's good to have some people around with a long time perspective, in my opinion.

So, really, I don't want to complain here. There are enough people out there doing that. I want this edition (They seem to be backing off of the 5th edition term in describing what it is) to succeed, and I want all new edition talk to go away for longer than 5 years after this. They will hopefully have the online stuff working well on launch. They will hopefully have a good computer game on the way when the books launch. The books will make more people happy this time, hopefully. I hope they have a good basic version ready this time for beginners AND those of us who like rules lite games (signs point to that as a possibility, but we'll see). Maybe they will explore avenues for marketing this game, such as movies, t.v., cartoons or whatever.

When Gary and Dave put the first game together, the rewrite for AD&D 1e came about due to a need to clarify rules and have a rule set adequate for tournament play. Gary put his phone number in the original book and got all kinds of calls at ALL hours of the night asking for rules clarification. AD&D 1e went all the way to 1989. 2e bumped things up a bit, but didn't rock the boat too much. It lasted another decade. THIS is the kind of stability that is needed. Let people get back to the game and not worrying about new sets of rules being immanent.

Also, I should add I would love to see them work on getting older editions out there for Print on Demand. For one, it's a real olive branch to players of the older games with worn out books, and secondly, it will bring in some extra revenue. Also, a way of getting official new material for those editions should be explored, and these rule sets should be playable on the virtual table. Why not? It's more money and some people would subscribe if their version of the game were supported in that way.

Some of the things I'm reading make me think they are working on something like that. They appear to want to reach out to the older gamers. Newer gamers sometimes cringe at that thought, but why can't they attempt to reach out to all camps? D&D is a big tent, and it's high time that everybody is acknowledged, while the game moves ahead with whatever new ideas are considered good enough to put the logo on it.

So, I don't know where they are going, but I feel it's important that they get this right. They are reaching out to the fans to play test this different version. That is a good step, but it's just one step. I don't envy them their task, because I know it won't be easy. They know the sentiment out there isn't all positive, and they see the negative reaction to 4e pretty well in what Paizo was able to accomplish with Pathfinder. But, dammit, D&D is my game. I've played others, but I want these guys to be successful. I won't support blindly, but I am hoping they pull this off. I'm hoping this will be their biggest success yet. Only time will tell if that turns out to be the case.

Crawling Around In The Dungeon

The frustrating thing about wanting to game is not being able to. My group has long since broke up and gone our separate ways. It happens. I'm not a big fan of the rules heavy stuff out there, so not playing Pathfinder or D&D means not getting into games at the local store. I readily admit that's what the gamers playing now want for the most part, but there's always been a segment who wanted lite rules. How else did Basic last for so many years? Somewhere along the way the designers just decided that it all needed to be complex and rules heavy, and THAT was the ONLY choice.

Try and suggest the alternative and you get shouted down in the forums and told how stupid you are for wanting it. It's sad, but true. Now, Paizo seems to have stumbled into this debate, and I say stumble because of what they were aiming for with the Beginner's Box. It was not put there for a rules lite version of the game. It was there as an intro that eases you in. Well, they did it so well that people who loved the old Basic and Expert books started asking for the Expert rules. Problem was, this was not part of the plan, and they don't want to splinter off the game base as they say.

I'll be interested in seeing how they feel after examining the holiday sales numbers. Paizo is s smart company. From the moment they were licensed to make Dragon and Dungeon magazines to all that followed, it's been a series of moves designed to make gamers happy. If they can cover the bottom line, I don't see why they wouldn't at least make Beginner Box 2. To be honest, 10 levels is all that you need for this. I know Mentzer did wonders with BECMI, but many gamers never went past BE. They could say if you want more than 10, get the core books, and I'd say, that's fair. Thank You. It can be done, and I don't buy that this a a case of a hard no from Paizo. More like a, "Maybe, if it's financially feasible, based on numbers from the Beginner's Box."

At the moment, I've been thinking about what I would do with HotDC if I went back to it. I feel very creative at the moment, but that could go a number of ways. I could always use the energy for a module for Labyrinth Lord too. I did just make two purchases over the holidays, one was Stonehell Dungeon and the other a look at what Dave Arneson's original game might have looked like called Dragons at Dawn. I bought the latter for the fantasy glimpse at the past, and it is interesting. I enjoy a good contemplation on the idea of what if. They did this to make a full fledged game, and it seems adequate. Not all RPG's need a mountain of rules.

The Dungeon Crawl has always fascinated me. Stonehell Dungeon is the biggest one I've ever seen for what is essentially the old Basic game. I've only skimmed through it. I like the concept. It's pretty much shorthand in areas I'd like more details, but if you are the one running the game and know the rules, it's a snap. This is a basic game after all. All in all, it looks like an adventure that will take quite some time to complete and would be lots of fun. Isn't that what it's all about?

Now from the time I got the old Modvay Basic book, I devoured it's contents. I knew the rules in and out. I could run the game without the books and people would have fun playing. Towards the end of my gaming, the last few years, I usually just threw a map together, decided what the plot was, what main monsters would be there, what rewards and off they went. It really just took as long as it takes to roll up a character to make an adventure. The characters from that campaign are central people in the Dragon Vale campaign I was designing for HotDC.

Dragon Vale got it's name because the mountains nearby had dragons. This comes from the Three Kings Island campaign from my younger days, but Dragon Vale is a newly founded town by three characters of the last campaign, Vanz, Tyranius and Fitertu. I didn't realize how much I had written down in the HotDC notepad until reviewing that recently. The basic idea was that the three adventures had an ulterior motive for founding Dragon Vale. Yes, the people are happy there, but the trio are in search of something, an ancient, lost and still thriving city.

The founders of the human colonies of the island one by one disappeared. Where? Nobody knew. The king and his son both left, and the grandson does what he can to keep rule, but his power is a fragment of his heroic grandfather King Robert I. There are whispers of a secret society running things on this island and neighboring ones, possibly reaching onto the mainland. But, who are they and what are they up to? Nobody knows, not even the king. Does it tie into the disappearance of all the early human colony founders? The trio of Dragon Vale founders think so, and they believe the secret city is the answer.

I originally called the city Moldayvia, but I'm not crazy about the name. The city is based underground. I had the concept jotted down, but I had written a couple of other adventures before walking away from HotDC. One was Danger in the Dwarven Dungeon, which was a five level dungeon crawl for characters of 0 or 1st Degree. I want a Dungeon Crawl for this game, a good one with storyline material, but plenty of Hack N Slash too.

What's funny is when I started down this road and was looking to name my little enterprise, I settled on Basic Old School Games. My friend, who is good this sort of thing and has never gamed suggested the name, Die in a Dungeon. I think, now, that he meant call the game that. It makes sense, as I always envisioned this game to have lots of action in dungeons. The name popped up when I was looking at the notes, and I realized the module could be called that. I envision a whole dungeon world beneath the land with cities, towns and villages at certain points.

I envision it starting with a character or characters waking up in the room of a dungeon. Where are they? How did they get there? How do they get out? The adventure begins there, but where does it end? It is essentially a campaign setting with everything they need to survive somewhere in this dungeon world. It is an insanely huge idea though and would require several modules to complete. I've actually considered using Neverwinter Nights 1 to help me create that vision. A pity I don't have a group to game with. It would be an excellent way to really put HotDC thought its paces.

Look! A Dungeons & Dragons Ride!

I noticed in a thread on one of the boards recently that somebody suggested there was value in a D&D cartoon potentially attracting new players to the game. Well, obviously Gary Gygax thought that or we wouldn't have had that old treasure from the 80's. I bought the Special Edition DVD when it was released. For all the bashing of that cartoon, and admittedly it wasn't the best, even for a children's cartoon, I think it was an effective tool for bringing new players to the game.

The Basic Set helped, I'm sure. Kids had an easy way into the game. It would seem the latest Basic attempt, the Starter Set, was their best in years, but that's not saying much. They can, and hopefully will, do better. Now, couple a good basic version of D&D with a cartoon. There's got to be some place for it.

What would it be about? A continuation or sequel to the original? Maybe not. How about a combination where we have kids gaming at the table and their imaginations coming to life via their characters in the campaign they are playing? Perhaps we show touches on the kid's lives, school, doing well, sometimes getting into trouble and restricted by parents from playing, where another kid comes in to play? We'd see the picture of a fun game, while teaching the lesson that other things in life are important too. Well? Maybe not.

Or, a cartoon just based on one of the campaign setting worlds, or even story arches from various rotating campaign settings? Hmmm... Maybe there is something here. Actually it could be a good tool for introducing a new setting when you think about it. Point is, a cartoon could be a good way to market the game to a younger audience, even going so far as having a commercial for the entry into the game.

On a side note, I would love to see a cartoon for Knights Of The Dinner Table. That would be perfect for Adult Swim.

It's The End Of The RPG As We Know It, And I Feel Fine

With the conclusion of 2011, the experts have all come out and begun the proclamation that Dungeons & Dragons and the RPG are doomed. Why? Well, The Wizards released a couple of their long time employees, while rehiring Monte Cook of 3e fame. That must mean 5e is around the corner, right? Secondly, all indications are that Pathfinder was outselling D&D for most of last year. Surely, this means 5e is on the way, right?

I want to get into two things, the OGL and the idea that people aren't buying 4e. On the second point, You have to factor in the DDI subscription rate. This is several thousand subscribers, or so I've heard. If that's the case, they are making six figures per month, at least 300k. Not chump change, and no need to print anything for that. Just maintain the online system. As for book sales, how much is being sold online at various sites? Now, I'm not disputing the success of Pathfinder. That's pretty self evident. But, just how bad is it for D&D?

Now, to the OGL, let me quote the man who was there and is now currently doing business with the main competition, Ryan Dancey from a recent post at Enworld:

"One of the goals of the OGL and the D20 project was to ensure that no single company would ever have the ability to kill Dungeons & Dragons. TSR almost did so; near the end of its existence it had pledged the copyrights and trademarks of the D&D franchise as security against loans it could not afford to repay. Had TSR gone into bankruptcy it is likely that for at least some time, and possibly an extremely lengthy period, nobody would have had the right to publish using that IP while the bankers fought over the carcass of TSR."

I've seen him say words to this effect elsewhere. Now, I do think the OGL was pretty cool. It gave rise to the old school revival. I wonder how much that may have influenced Paizo's decision to go with Pathfinder when they lost the rights to Dragon and Dungeon magazines as 4e came into being. I know there was more to it than that, of course. OGL inspired OSRIC, and OSRIC gave rise to the old school movement where works compatible with 1e and the old Basic game could legally be published.

Having said that, the OGL was an incredibly bone headed move, as written, for WotC to make. Make it open with an expiration date, but not indefinite. Every time a new version of D&D came out, some people chose to stay with the old one or went elsewhere. But, there wasn't a clone supported by a company that had the funds to make a dent in the D&D empire. Until 4e came out. Was 4e really needed? And if so, was it needed this soon? The usual fury greeted that release, but this time something else followed. An option. Play 3e under the name of Pathfinder. Brilliant move by Paizo, but an option that never should have existed.

I find it hard to believe that death of D&D was really a motivating factor for the OGL, especially coming from the company that brought us the Magic Collectible Card Game . WotC wasn't going out of business, and giving away the rules wasn't a smart BUSINESS move. From a gamer standpoint, sure. Business-wise, no way. This move did make a dent in 4e. It effected their hold as the leader of the market and allowed the competitor to compete using rules that came from D&D originally. Not smart, but what's done is done.

Now, because of corporate demands, there may be higher expectations with Hasbro for D&D. Is 4e a failure? I don't have enough information in front of me to make that call, but something tells me no it isn't. Not as successful as they would like? Probably. The OGL a factor? Yes. There's one way to put an end to that. Release 3.5 again. What would be the point? For one thing, a gesture to that crowd. Release material compatible with 3.5 and 4e. A little more work? Sure. Doable? Yes. Pathfinder may still be a factor after that, but people can go to D&D for 3.5 material now too.

But, let's not stop there. Drop the idea of 5e for now. It's not needed. D&D already has enough competition with itself without adding a new edition. However, if they are as interested in winning over the old schoolers as recent columns from their site would seem to indicate, old editions could be officially released again. This could be done with a limited print edition and Print on Demand or just the latter. D&D Retro, if you will. What this does is show that they really do want everybody back under the D&D umbrella, whatever edition you prefer.

One of the reasons to do this is to attend to the leak of D&D customers buying older versions of the game under different names and bringing some of that money back home. Of more immediate concern is the rift between 3.5 and 4e that led to Pathfinder stepping in. I also favor a new Basic game done with longer playability the way it was done over 20 years ago, but that's a side issue. You handle the loss of old players by giving them what they want, not telling them 4e or nothing. That's what caused this mess.

The problem with the idea of 5e is you continue the cycle, this time pissing off a segment of 4e players and fragmenting the game some more. 5e can wait. If the state of D&D is so bad that a new edition is needed to "save" the brand, than they really are screwed. If they can't then make the greatest RPG ever, the brand is screwed. By restoring 3.5 and supporting both it and 4e, you are mending fences and restoring consumer faith. The Retro D&D idea, even as a POD with occasional new adventure mods, further adds to that effort, though some may say screw those people. With PoD, however, it would be a money maker in the long run.

But, it's all just speculation. I'm just somebody with an opinion like anybody else. Where they go with the game is anybody's guess. I don't see the doom and gloom others may see. The game will go on. Hopefully, if they do go the 5e rout, it will be a uniting factor in the community, and D&D will also make use of technology in a way that ensures a long life for the game. That's what really matters. Plus, we'll always have the older versions no matter what comes in the future, but maybe the future game will offer something everybody can enjoy. Now, there's a nice thought.