Word of Wisdom from the Past – The Polyhedron Magazine #7

I started reading some of the old Polyhedron magazines and I am enjoying them quite a bit. I seem to like them more than Dragon or Dungeon Magazines. I really like their Living City articles and Rouges Gallery and find them useful. Reading through these lost tomes of yore you get a glimpse into the zeitgeist of the time in a way that is reasonably unfiltered. Many times, people question what people back in the day thought about X issue in the community. The response is usually, “They are still alive, ask them.” This has merit and is valuable, but not a complete story. Often time colors the past with rose-tinted glasses and memories change over time. Seeing these articles give us a clear understanding of the thought processes back in the day and the issues with the games that people were discussing. Here is a hint, it is the same stuff we discuss today. Apparently, the Thief class was always an issue and “fixing” it was always on the table as example. Below are two things I picked out of issue #7 that I thought were interesting and I wanted to share.

A person wrote into the “Dispel Confusion”, the Q&A column for Polyhedron, and asked about their created spell that healed at range. The reaction is stark and not even a bit nuanced, it is a bad idea. They go so far as to invoke the name of one of the creators, Gary, saying it is range cure is too powerful. They discuss it as an issue of balance, and this is the reason that Clerics get any armor is to be able to wade into the front lines and heal. Something of note too is in older editions you cannot move and cast, placing further limits on capability. I do not want this to turn into a 5e bash fest, as I do play 5e regularly, but is there a single heal that is not ranged now? I admit, I am not a 5e expert, though I have played it a lot. I am not trying to say, “See 5e is bad! You are bad for liking it,” but look at the changes to the thoughts of people in a relatively small amount of time. Changing rules like this change the focus of the game (not stating that is good or bad, just a given). When you change the healing mechanics (making range healing possible, using hit dice to heal, healing as a bonus action, etc) the core of the game changes with it. The game becomes less focused on the idea of survival in the face of imminent death, and more about grand champions boldly destroying foes. Am I stating anything new? No. Will people miss the bigger point and most likely argue in the comments about edition wars? Yes.

Next, was a piece for “Notes for the Dungeon Master”. In this article the writer, discusses an old topic in the community, “What do you do with a player when their character dies?” A big point of pride for many in the OSR/Old-School community seems to be when a character dies the player makes a new character and builds from level 1 again. I am generally for this, up to a point, and I agree with the article. Once the group gets its feet underneath it and starts to grow in levels this becomes silly. If the party is averaging 7^th level making a veteran player start over at level 1 seems silly. The article sets some ground rules and recommendations on how to handle this. The author tends to focus on levels, whereas I would focus on total XP instead. The article also recommends on how to possibly handle magic items and gear. I used the exact same system in my games before and it worked perfectly. I only mention this piece because I hear in the “meta” around the game online stories about how this was not even a thing “back in the day”. Death equaled reset always. It is the way the founders intended it. Etc. According to this, that is not the whole story.

The real focus of this piece for me is that even back in the day there was a plethora of ideas and ways of play, not one dogmatic “old-school” way of play. Odds are people in the comments will argue the merits of healing and starting PCs at level one, but there is not much I can do about that. Hell, odds are that people will comment without even reading the blog post. That is all for this issue. I am really enjoying reading these articles and I might write another of these if I find anymore gold.

I run Old School Essentials weekly and post our games to YouTube, click HERE to see.

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Faux-Adversarial Dungeon Master

 

               I have seen many a discussion on Facebook groups, YouTube, and Blogs that there are different styles of being a Dungeon Master. One style that is often looked upon negatively is the Adversarial Dungeon Master. This is a Dungeon Master that feels they are in competition with the players and one of their objectives is to “beat the players” often resulting in a total party kill. It is often stated that the Dungeon Master must be a fan of the characters and be there as a supporter of the characters. Some with an older mindset might feel that the Dungeon Master is a neutral arbiter basically calling “balls and strikes” in the fantasy world that is created. But what if you project the aura of an Adversarial Dungeon Master, while really supporting the players in the long run?

                Let us be clear from the get-go that if a Dungeon Master wants to kill a party, they will have not an ounce of difficultly in doing so. No amount of clever play will save you or amazing build for a character will survive. If the DM is out to get you, you are going to die. For all intents and purposes the DM is god in the game, and that give them the ability to interject deadlier challenges until the PCs die, they cannot be defeated. I think this fear exists in every player that the DM at some point could turn against them and it is all over. As Dungeon Masters, we can use this to make a more exciting game.

                We can take on the mantle of the Faux-Adversarial Dungeon Master. What do I mean by this? Oftentimes in my game I will state things like, “Oh, you are going to die now.” Or maybe, “I am going to kill your character.” I FULLY have no intention on doing so, but this makes the player fell there is a viable threat. I become the makeshift “enemy” and they then become the team that is opposing me. This bonds them together. When I then make the proclamation, “You guys are not walking away from this fight!” They have that slight moment of fear, but when they overcome that obstacle, that the all-powerful DM said they could not win, they feel like they really accomplished something.

Give the players this look and make them think twice.

                I first noticed this phenomenon when I was playing dungeon crawl-like board games that have a competitive edge to the game. I am talking about games like HeroQuest, Star Wars: Imperial Assault, and Descent. These games mimic the Dungeon Master and player relationship of an RPG, but the difference is that the Dungeon Master is on their own side and out to win. In these games I was almost always the DM figure role. I noticed that players started calling me names, like “Dirty Imperial Scum” or “Bastard Sorcerer”. I became the personification of their enemy in the game because I was it. I was there to try and win, because if I won, I got cool stuff in the game too. This led to me playing hard to win and really pushing the players if they wanted to win. I remember playing Imperial Assault and I won the first 3 missions; I was killing it. The fourth mission they managed to win with only one character left on the board. The Rebel players literally jumped out of their seats they were so excited. High fiving each other and rubbing it in my face.

                The difference between these two situations though is that the power of the Dungeon Master role in the board games is limited by the rules. The power that is afforded a Dungeon Master in an RPG is virtually unlimited. The idea of the board game is that it is an equal playing field between the two groups whereas in a traditional RPG there is a clear imbalance in the way the power dynamic is structured. Thus, some kid gloves need to be applied. You cannot use this tactic when the players are already almost down and out. You cannot use this tactic on a player that has already had a string of terrible luck. You can use this tactic when the players are fully rested and ready-to-go. You can use this tactic when the players have a string of good luck. A basic guideline is to not pile-on the player or group but antagonize them a bit when they feel superior or immune from harm.

                Bottom line is that I want my players to be successful and I want their characters to do well and grow. I do not want it to be easy for them, because the struggle is the fun. I want my players to have ups and downs, but always feel like their character’s life could be in danger. If I must tease them a bit to make the win feel good, I will. Remember that a dramatic statement like, “I going after you, because I want you to die,” and a roll to hit out from behind the DM’s screen will add tons of tension to the game. Push on your players a bit, but do not push too hard.

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Why Rolling to Cast is a Bad Idea

               This article is really in response to Professor Dungeon Master and his video(s) where he professes to like random results for casting spells. Let me be clear here first, I love the Dungeon Craft YouTube videos and I love the FB group. I have stolen many of the Professor’s ideas and agree with him about 90% of the time, but I must break from him on this subject. This video also runs in complete opposition to the magic system that is used in Dungeon Crawl Classics. I love DCC’s style and I think their approach is wild. I like many of their adventures, but I will not be running any straight DCC anytime soon. The game, for me, is a bit too random. Though if that is your thing, more power to you.

DCCs art is rad.

                I brief synopsis of what I call “random” casting (or rolling to cast) is when a wizard/cleric casts a spell the player rolls a d20 to see if it is successful or not. Spells in this type of setting are not automatic (though I would argue that they are not automatic in classic D&D either). Depending on the d20 roll you can have about four outcomes. The spell goes off normally, the spell fails, the spell critically succeeds, the spell critically fails. The other bonus to this system is that spells can be cast an unlimited amount of times, but there is always a chance that the spell will backfire. I am sure that I am underselling the system a bit, but I think this is an accurate rough outline of how this system works.

Here is the video with his house rules. I agree with many, but not "Roll to Cast".

                Here are some of the reasons that I think this is not the best system to use. These opinions are coming from a classic D&D OSE/OSR perspective, so please keep that in mind.

1 – It is already tough being a low-level caster

                I have been running OSE/OSR now hardcore for about the last years and the biggest pile of dead heroes that I have is wizards. In my opinion they have the highest bar to cross as far as gaining levels, with the least going for them. They have bad ACs, they cannot use weapons, they have low hit points, and the list keeps going. The one thing they do have is a spell that possibly can turn the tide of battle once a day. Clerics are similar in that they have earn an entire level before even getting a spell and (odds are) that spell will be crucial in keeping another character alive. I just do not see the reason for having the one thing that makes both the classes unique fail or go catastrophically horrible. Why would people then really want to play these classes? The wizard sits back biding his moment and does little in the combats of the night. The Ogre rounds the corner, the party looks at towards the wizard and the wizard grins. He chants his magic as his eyes glow and casts Sleep. He then rolls a 1 and puts his entire party to Sleep and gets his head caved in by the Ogre. Fun times. They get one thing, let that thing be reliable.

2 – Unlimited casting is not a good option either

                I can hear the comments now, just allow the casters to cast unlimited spells with a risk and that solves everything. I am currently playing in a Microlite20 game where my character can cast not unlimited, but quite a few spells compared to his OSE counterpart. I can drop Sleep like it is nobody’s business. This makes fights boring for the other party members. Since I can cast it roughly 10 times, we can navigate most of a dungeon without many combats. I go out of my way to not cast it because I want other party members have a chance to shine. When you can cast that many spells at low level, even with the chance of failure, it can reduce the dramatic tension of a session a lot. Combat, Sleep, Bash, Next, Combat, Sleep, Bash, Next, Etc. Spells as a limited resource is a good thing and even plays into the fiction well. The wizard is tiring and cannot produce more magic, the cleric is desperate, and their faith is wavering. While I believe low-level casters, especially wizards, need a few more spells, unlimited spell casting just does not seem to fix this problem.

 

This supplement does have a critical system for magic if people are interested.

Conclusion

                As I said in the beginning, I do not want this to come off as an attack on Dungeon Craft. I love the channel and respect the Professor. This is just one professor sharing his opinion on the subject as well. I would highly encourage you to check out Dungeon Craft as a YouTube station and a FB book group, you will not regret it. I also want to state that I like DCC and Goodman games. I own several products. I encourage people to buy DCC, because even though I do not run it, I have farmed it for many ideas and their adventure modules are some of the best in print now.

This is one of my favorite of his videos and rings so true.

I have previous blog posts on my thoughts on Wizards and possible ways to improve them at low levels. Check them out HERE and HERE.

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A Review For The Adventurer’s Guide to The Yol’Najj Forest

 

          Zine Quest 2 was a few months ago and many of the products are starting to reach the public. This week I received The Adventure’s Guide to the Yol’Najj Forest by Zeshio. I was not familiar with Zeshio before this project, but I was pulled in by the evocative art that many have mentioned has a Mike Mignola feel. I also knew going in that it would be a micro-setting that would be system agnostic. Other than that, I was just taking a $10 chance on a product. I am happy that I took that chance, because dollar for dollar, this was one of the best products I have purchased in a while.   

What You Get In The Book

-          37 pages including the interior of the back cover

-          3 maps (1 valley, 1 city, 1 fortress)

-          10 new pieces of gear/magic items

-          9 factions

-          15 NPC character descriptions

-          Lots of new creatures and plants

-          Plenty of lovely art

-          A ton of random charts

-          More stuff I did not mention

As you can see quite a bit is crammed into 37 pages of content. The one thing you cannot blame Zeshio for is not giving you plenty for the price of admission.

 

The Concept

                The setting for the book is about a magical forest and the surrounding areas. Besides the forrest itself there is the Cutting Fields, the Mycon Swamp, the Yol’Najj Jungle, the Votari Vertical Caverns, the Oldwood, Volax – The Crystal City, and the Crystal Crevice. Each location has a section in the book and gets a few pages of description, factions, monsters, and interesting inhabitants. The magic forest also sits on an ancient ley line that gives it power. The ley line is corrupted and causes an explosion in the mountain nearby raining magical crystals all over the area. These crystals are influencing the local flora and fauna in various ways. There are several factions in the area, and each are reacting to the magical crystals and the disease it creates, in different ways. As time goes on you can form relationships with different factions and completing missions for the factions will help in shaping the world around them.

 

Stuff I Like

                I have other articles that I talk about my love of “plug and play” mini-settings and this is just that. I could easily plug in all or part of this book into a larger campaign like Barrowmaze. If you are a reader of mine, you might have seen me compliment Thunder Rift as a product, and this is a smaller version of that. I also like that the art truly gives you a feel for the setting. Zeshio seems to have on their website different art projects and seems to be quite proficient in their craft. It would be easy to snip pictures from the PDF to create an art book for the players to look at during game or make tokens for Roll20 and the like.

                The game is completely system agnostic and I do mean completely. There is not a stat in the entire book, just suggestions on powers or effects that should happen. I find myself automatically figuring out how I would make this magic item in Old School Essentials, 5e, or even Savage Worlds. This can literally be used with any system and is like Rocketship Empires in that respect if you are familiar with that game. Here is an example of a magic effect from an item in the book.

“Those hit with the bow are stunned briefly and take decay damage. Shadowy, ethereal tendrils cover the bow.”

                In OSE, because OSR rules are a bit brutal, I would have it be a +1-bow doing d6 damage, plus a save vs paralysis or suffer an additional d6 damage from dark energies.  If I were running it in 5e, I would have the have the bow be a +2 and do D8+2 damage plus a Constitution saving throw. On a fail, the victim is slowed the next turn and takes an additional 2d8 necrotic damage. As you can see it is completely flexible with whatever system you are planning to use and since I run a host of different games it is useful in my entire collection. 

What You Might Not Like About It

                I can see that some people might not like the fact that the game is completely game agnostic. There are suggestions on how monsters and items should be, but if you really want stats, this is not the supplement for you. I have been playing RPGs and especially D&D for 30 years and coming up with things on the fly are not difficult for me, but I know some people do not want to put work into a product for which they are paying money. I understand that feeling.

                The game has a subsystem in it that needs to be tracked if the setting is to be used fully. There is a mechanic that tracks Order, Health, Chaos, and Death. The actions that players take need to be tracked and they effect how the forest and the area react. Over time the meters will build, and the forest changes and different factions will take different actions. It is a bit of a clock mechanic that allows actions to happen in the background and make the world feel more alive. To be completely fair and honest, the mechanic is not that difficult to track, but I know some people do not want to have anything extra to do when running a game.

 

Where Can You Get It

                I do not think that it is currently available in print format, outside of the people who backed the Kickstarter. It is available in PDF format for $7.99 from here. For the price I do not think you can beat it. Possibly if there is enough demand another run of the physical product can be done.

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Old School D&D Trove Found

                I am from Florida and I have been riding out many of the heavy Corona weeks up in Maine with my in-laws. My wife decided to go digging around in the attic for some of her old stuff and stumbled across my brother-in-law’s old D&D collection. I thought I would share the photos of what I have found so far, I heard there might be more. I have several of these, but many I do not have, and I love getting to look through the older collection. Many of these I did not even have back in the day, so it is a real treat. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

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Rolling Ability Scores – DMG Delve Part 2

        You would think with all these years into the hobby, and all the characters that have been created we would know a few solid truths. One truth that tends to get circulated is that stats should be 3d6 straight down the line, no exceptions! This is not the case in the AD&D 1e Dungeon Master’s Guide. We come to a section early in the book about “Creating The Player Character” and the first sub-section is “Generation Of Ability Scores”. This section gives you information not only on the generation of PC stats, but NPCs as well. While many in the OSR movement claim that modern D&D has a tendency towards super heroes, it seems clear from Gary’s writing that the PCs in Dungeons & Dragons should be “a viable character of the race and profession which he or she desires”. 

Gary admits that it is possible to generate playable characters by rolling 3d6, but only after “an extended period of attempts at finding a suitable one due to the quirks of the dice”. This shows too that rolling over and over again to get a character’s stats at least was a thing. He also discusses how creating lower quality characters can often lean to characters having a short life and this in turn discourages new players. I think this is a great insight and I have argued this for a while online, people (in general) don’t like their characters dying. This can drive people from the game before they ever really try it. One of the best parts of the game is the ability to create a character that is “yours” and getting to play that character. This is not to say that characters should be immune to death, which is going too far. Without a solid threat of consequences, you are robbed of a sense of danger and accomplishment. We should though strive to have characters that are viable for their profession. Thus the rolling system used to create them must tilt slightly in the PCs favor. This should create adventuring folk, not monster bait. With this in mind Gary discusses four methods for rolling attributes for your PCs.

Method I: 

All  scores  are  recorded  and  arranged  in  the  order  the  player  desires.  4d6 are rolled, and the lowest die (or one of the lower) is discarded.

Method II:

All  scores  are  recorded  and  arranged  as  in  Method  I.  3d6 are rolled 12 times and the highest 6 scores are retained.

Method III:

Scores rolled are according to each ability category, in order, STRENGTH, INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, DEXTERITY, CONSTITUTION, CHARISMA.  3d6  are  rolled  6  times  for  each  ability,  and  the  highest  score  in  each  category  is  retained for that category.

Method IV:

3d6  are  rolled  sufficient  times  to  generate  the  6  ability  scores,  in  order,  for  12  characters. The player then selects the single set of scores which he or she finds most desirable and these scores are noted on the character record sheet.

All of these methods allow you to either arrange your stats, roll more than 6 times, or roll more than 3d6, some of the methods allow for combinations of these. Whichever way you choose to go about it, you are certainly going to get more options than the 3d6 in order. 3d6 in order seems to be the method for generating commoners and people of little renown. Gary mentions making NPCs (which he seems to mean powerful NPCs), which he seems to recommend them getting high scores because, “how else could these figures have risen so high?” General characters need to be average, so he recommends considering and 1s rolled are treated as 3s, and any 6s rolled are considered 4s. For special characters, not high NPCs, but not commoners (like henchmen) he recommends using the same system as the PCs, or doing the 3d6 method, but adding 1 to each dice rolled.

It seems clear that the idea behind the rolling systems is to have characters that are decent at their profession. This seems reasonable to me. I want competent characters and that can accomplish their goals like professionals. I do not want characters that are sickly and gross with little reason to be in the field. This seems to be the appeal of DCC, which is not exactly my cup of tea. There is nothing wrong with it, but it does not suit my style. What do you think? What method of rolling do you use? 

      This is some of the interesting stuff in the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide. I will continue the series Delving into the original DMG. If you are interested in the purchase of the book, please see the links below.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide you can get a PDF or Print on Demand HERE.

If you are interested in an original copy try HERE.







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The Greatest RPG Product Ever Made - DMG Delve Part 1

         I do not think I am the first blogger to make a claim to having the Greatest RPG Product ever. But even if you disagree with my choice, you cannot deny this book's influence.  The 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Master’s Handbook is iconic. Whether it is its advice, copious amount of tables, the informative Appendix sections, or even its art, it is a tried and true classic for any edition of D&D. The materials inside can actually stretch beyond its fantasy roots and act, in general, as an amazing tool for world building. I really cannot say enough good things about this book and all the guidance it gives you. My plan is to do a deep delve into this book pulling out different sections and discussing what they mean for the game as a whole, or how we can use the information in our own home games regardless of edition.

The image I most associate with D&D

         I wanted to start out today with something that is often overlooked, the Foreword and the Preface. Most people want to quickly get to “the good stuff” and never actually read the beginning parts of this book, or any book for that matter. I believe these opening statements give us, the readers, and an insight into the founders of the hobby and expose us to their intentions with the creation of the game. This lays a groundwork for not just D&D, but the RPG industry as a whole due to the influence D&D held, and still holds to this day. 

The Foreword

This is the only bit of content really in the book that is not written by Gary Gygax (unless you include the comics). The Foreward was written by then TSR Editor Mike Carr of In Search of the Unknown fame. Beyond other projects, Carr was the editor of AD&D’s core three books at the time the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster’s Manual. This gives him a wonderful insight into the thought process around the entire D&D world, at that time. He begins his letter to the player’s with an important question, “Is Dungeon Mastering an art or a science?” A question we can still ask ourselves today.

Carr makes the case that being a Dungeon Master is a little bit of both. It is an art, in that it is a creative endeavor that has each DM’s own “personal touches”. It is a science in the way that it requires both preparation and a keen attention to detail. While moving somewhat quickly away from the more “esoteric questions” he establishes that being a Dungeon Master is a “labor of love”. I want to pick that apart for a minute. You do have to love what you are doing to be a good DM. Have you ever played with a DM that obviously wasn’t feeling the game they were running? It is bad for everyone, not just the DM. It is the enthusiasm that you have for your game, as a DM, that will be infectious to the others that are playing. Stan Lee talked about how enthusiasm was the best sales pitch. If you want players to be interested in your game, you need to be excited for the game. 

        The second part of Carr’s quote is the concept of labor. Being a DM is work, and they are certainly the busiest person at the session. Any labor, whether for work or for love, has value. That value needs to be respected because the DM’s opportunity cost is generally larger than anyone else at the table. As a player be respectful of the DM’s time, effort, and energy. Allow basic etiquette to apply, pay attention to the game, act in the best interest of the game as a whole, don’t argue with the DM at the table, etc. 

This beginning section is a great section and at only five short paragraphs it has a lot crammed in for DMs and players alike. Carr discusses the boons and busts of being a DM that can resonate with anyone that has stepped behind the screen regardless of edition or even RPG. I think I will leave this section with a quote from the text, “Dungeon Mastering itself is no easy undertaking, to be sure. But Dungeon Mastering well is doubly difficult.” 

The Preface

This was a letter from Gary Gygax to his fellow campaign referees (Dungeon Masters) about the book they just purchased. Beyond that, it really discusses some of what he saw as the job of a “referee” in running a campaign. He stresses that this books is solely for the Dungeon Masters and is not for the players. He goes so far as to state that players should not own this book, and those that do are “less than worthy of an honorable death.” This seems like such a foreign concept these days as it is eliminating a portion of the market. I think a significant portion of the people who play D&D own the core, three books of the PHB, DMG, and MM. You are just throwing sales out the window, for the sake of keeping the core game mechanics a secret. Remember at this point the DMG, not the PHB, has most of the rules for play. Combat is not covered in the PBH, because that was not for players to know. 

Art from the DMG.

        I am not sure how tongue in cheek the statement above is, but it seems serious in the passage. He also suggests charging PCs who own the DMG, more money from sages for information. If meta-knowledge is used from the DMG, it is suggested that the player should lose several magic items and apparently that is letting them off easy. One thing this shows us is the value knowledge had in older (A)D&D. My players have come to realize this more recently. They would much rather get a useful piece of intel then a magic item, because knowledge often keeps you alive. This could have disastrous consequences for the tournament scene, which he mentions as a reason for the standardization of the rules. 

        Gary says that this work is “written as one Dungeon Master equal to another.” The DM is the “creator and ultimate authority in your respective game”. Regardless of that power, this book was about taking the rules and trying to create a “degree of uniformity” so that players could travel from one game to another and not, in essence, be playing a different game. He admits to the fact that no two games will be 100% the same, but hopefully the core will remain the same. Races will be the same, spells will work more or less the same way, magic items might vary, but will have a common resonance. Thus in some ways this book is about putting some limitations on the game and set up a group of boundaries. These boundaries are important, because at some point you run the risk of drifting out of what is D&D. He warns players, “Similarly, you must avoid the tendency to drift into areas foreign to the games as a whole. Such campaigns become so strange as to be no longer “AD&D”. They are isolated and will usually wither.” The trick seems to be to create something new and unique to yourself, while maintaining the viability of the rules i.e. the systems and “laws”.

        Other bits of advice from the letter involve getting the most out of being a referee. He discusses how you will spend hours making, creating, and running your game. The best reward a DM can hope for is that people (players) use what you created. Isn’t that what we all want? So that are effort wasn’t for nothing? We just want someone to play with our toy. I think this is a great insight, and he discusses some pitfalls. He mentions how player, in general, want their characters to succeed. There is nothing wrong with that, but if left to their own devices they will often want to succeed quickly and with as little struggle as possible. Players with a strong personality can manipulate a DM into ideas that might be good for them and their PC, but bad for the group or game world in general. Players that do not have as strong a personality will drift from the game as they will want something more egalitarian and possibly challenging. The opposite is a problem too. Games that have too high a difficulty might feel unfair, or that the DM is just out to “get” the players. This can lead to resentment and players ditching the game in order to avoid a weekly beat down. 

       This article is wonderful and shows players of any edition the thoughts that went behind some of the earliest years of the game. The book was released in 1979, but he does mention in this letter he had been working on it for at least 2 years. So the construction of this mammoth tome was started about 3 years after the hobby was created. We see some of the intentions of the creators in that the DM is the ultimate authority of his game, the rules need to be grounded, but flexible, and that knowledge should be a commodity in D&D games. 

        I plan on continuing this series and delving more into the AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide to see what it can teach us about today’s gaming. If you would like to see more, please comment here or on social media to let me know. Overall this has been one of my favorite articles to write as I have always had an affinity for this book, though 1st Edition AD&D is the edition I have played the least. I think all editions can benefit from this book, and I plan to show it.

If you are interested in getting a copy of the AD&D 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide you can get a PDF or Print on Demand HERE.

If you are interested in an original copy try HERE.







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Can We Talk About The Dungeons & Dragons 3: Book of Vile Darkness Movie?

                  I know…..Believe me I know……I was there opening night in the theater for the first Dungeons & Dragons movie. I attended a watch party at a friend’s house for the second Dungeons & Dragons movie. At that point I tuned out of the entire process. I did not know that they even released a third movie until 2018 when I read a random blog that mentioned it. I made an immediate search for it and watched it that night. I remember telling my wife before watching it, “This will be shit, but I have to watch it.” She laughed and told me that I did not have to watch it, but I did. And……..

I did not hate it, in fact, I kind of liked it.

                Don’t get me wrong it is not an exceptional movie by any means, but taking into account a few factors, it is an actual home run in comparison with the others. I do not think the movie would be enjoyable to people outside the hobby, but people who enjoy D&D might be able to get some cool stuff from the movie. Some of the characters are quite memorable, the plot is very Dungeons & Dragons, the special effects, while not great, are evocative of the game. The acting has its limitations, but I can honestly say that they are trying. It is also a more adult story than the previous two movies. There is some nasty gore, orgies, and some really evil acts. What were expecting from The Book of Vile Darkness? The story feels like it actually has at least a modicum of weight to it and I like the situation that the main protagonist is placed into and what he must do. They throw in some obvious 4e references like what armor the main character should buy heroic or paragon. Cheesy, but it is not altogether ruining of the story.

Slight Spoilers Ahead

                I am going to try and explain bits of the movie without spoiling the whole thing. I will try and stick to information that can be gleaned from the trailer provided with this article. With that being said, here we go. The story is about a young knight/paladin that is in search of his father, who himself is also a knight/paladin of a sacred order. He learns that a group of foul mercenaries are working for his father’s abductors and decides to join them in order to learn the whereabouts of his father. The mercenary company is looking for pieces of the Book of Vile Darkness in order to reassemble it and rule the world. While working for the mercenaries the knight is forced to make decisions on how far he is willing to go in order to rescue his father. He is faced with interesting decisions and moral dilemmas that would be fun as a DM to make the players face. He is constantly faced with blowing his cover, or doing something against his code of honor.

The main characters are the following:

• Grayson – A young knight/paladin who will do whatever it takes to rescue his father. His faith is constantly tested.
• Akordia – A Shadar-kai witch who appears to have escaped from enslavement and now just wants to adventure.
• Bezz – AKA The Verminlord This guy is great. He is a mustache twirling bad guy, but the performance is fun and the concept is interesting. He appears to be a wizard with the theme of plagues of insects.
• Seith – A shadow assassin with a religious bent. He believes the world is basically those who kill and those that can be killed. The fittest will survive.
• Vimak – A goliath barbarian who is in it for the wine, women, and song. He has a slightly interesting background that gets explored in one scene.

Lesson For Our Games  

                This movie is an interesting example of how you could in theory run an evil party without it going completely to shit. It actually has a paragon of virtue knight running with them as well and it seems natural. The evil party never quite trusts one another, but they need each other to accomplish their goals. Do I recommend running evil parties, in general, no. If you were going to do it though, and you had that one hold out that HAD to play a paladin, this is a way you could go about it. It would take a lot of maturity from the players, and accepting to precepts before the game even started. It could work, it has a lot of ways it can go wrong, but it could work.

                I also like the way that you could see alignment through this movie. The young knight was obviously a Lawful Good person when the movie begins, but he is forced or tempted throughout the movie to make interesting choices. I emphasize the word interesting. Many times, I am guilty of it too, DMs put players in situations that at stark good or evil, it is the gray decisions that are so much more fun though. I have a thing I do with my parties that I occasionally write them “Love Letters” as stolen from Apocalypse World RPG. These letters are basically downtime actions and situations that the players face. Since I am writing them ahead of time, I have plenty of time to make the situations “interesting”. Below is an example from my game.

Dearest Hera,

                You barely scrapped out of that last bit of fun didn’t you? You left the corpses of at least four followers and one companion on the field dead. You are finally getting some time to rest and recuperate in the fine town of Helix. One day Hendon comes up and asks to speak to you. He states that his son, Tamson, has been acting funny lately. He is extremely sullen and generally does not eat well anymore. He is worried about his son and was hoping you might take a look at him. He knows that Paladins often times have the ability to heal disease and he fears that he caught a nasty pox. Hera, your father taught you about such symptoms and they are often psychological. Your father said these people were suffering from “Soldier’s Heart”. Sometimes when a solider sees something they cannot comprehend, something inside breaks and they cannot function well in society.  Curing diseases of the mind is generally not the area of magics, but you have heard of men and women who work in the powers of the mind. They often gather in remote monasteries to practice their traditions.

Here’s the rub…..

Hendon believes this illness that has struck his child was cause by his overbearing nature in wanting to protect the boy. He feels great guilt about this and is desperate for a cure. You can alleviate that guilt by telling him the truth that you were using his child as a guide. This will solidify that he will not trust you or your crew ever again, thus not allowing you to help Tamson with his illness.

Or

You can keep the secret to yourself an obvious lie of omission, and attempt the help the boy with the father continuing to feel guilt for a crime he did not commit.

Your call…..

Hugs & Kisses,

Your GM

The group had approached Hendon, the father, to act as their guide, but he refused not wanting an adventuring life anymore. His 15 year old son, Tamson, knows the area quite well and was guiding the group without his father’s permission. The group knew his father would not approve. They used him several times, but the adventure just before this the party was attacked at night twice by undead, and they lost several members of the party. The boy panicked and had never seen undead before, let alone them feasting on his companions. It broke him a little. Now the paladin has to make a choice, lie, in order to be able to help the boy in the future, or keep the secret, but let the father believe he is to blame. I think this is an interesting choice, and scrapes some alignment boundaries.

Conclusion

                Is it a great movie, no. Is it and interesting movie for some, yes. If you can check it out, I see a lot of reviews on amazon that say it is much underrated, and I would agree with that sentiment. To me this is the best “official” D&D movie we got, and I do still watch it on occasion for fun. Like just last night to prepare to write this today. I tried to stay brief on details to not spoil much of the movie, so if you can find it, give it a chance.


The DVD can be found here, it looks like it is region coded, but can be played on computers.



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Should D&D be Competitive?

(The article below discusses Tournament D&D, if you are unfamiliar with that concept, please click here for an explanation.)

              Something happened last week in my local area there was a 5e D&D tournament. I know this was a popular event in the D&D in the 70s and especially the 80s, but as far as I know seemed to start to die out with the introduction of 2nd edition. I joined the hobby right as 2nd Edition came out and was quite young so I was never able to attend any of these events in their heyday, but in reading and listing to interviews with some of D&D founding members, it was not only popular, but highly profitable. It seems weird that something that was this profitable (according to interviews) would not have continued with D&D in a bigger fashion or at least be picked up by someone else, unless the culture had changed dramatically. I know that there are still many versions of “organized play” i.e. Adventurers League, Pathfinder Society, etc, but I believe people would not classify those as competitive. I also know that tournaments still happen at major events, but from what I can gather, they are not nearly as popular. 

                I use to go to DragonCon every year before my son was born. I was there 1999 thru 2012, and there was an event that I played in a few times called “Cheese Grinder”. It appears that they are still running these up to today, but the goal was to live the longest in a series of death trap style rooms. You make the “cheesiest” character within the guidelines and try to not die. If you die you are immediately replaced by another person. I think it was $1-3 per character, and you waited in a bull pen for your turn. It was competitive D&D in a sense, because you were only out for yourself. These events were a lot of fun, I wouldn’t exactly call it a tournament, but it had some of the same elements that a tournament might have.

Responsible for tournaments in the past.

With the Old-School Revival being gaining a lot of traction, and 5e being super popular in the past few years it seems that these type of events might start gaining traction too. If it is though, I am unaware of it. It also seems that with the advent of computers and the technological revolution it would be easier to organize and get something like this running. Would people play in it though? Here is the kicker from the story above about the D&D tournament that was local here in town, it was a ghost town. There are several possible reasons, the store hosting is very new and this was an attempt to get people in the door. The city I am in has about 5 solid gaming stores with D&D Adventurers League running 5-10 tables per event, so players in the area is not an issue. I also run a D&D club at my local college with about 30 members, I offered to run a tournament at a games day we were having, and I received no interest in the idea at all. Competitive D&D was not accepted by newer generations in my group.

From Designers & Dragons, shows that AD&D was being developed for the tournament scene.

Could one of the Old School Publishers like Goodman, Necrotic Gnome, Goblinoid Press, or Frog God Games step up and organize these tournaments on a semi-regular basis? I know that they are often extremely small companies, but I believe they could get a lot of help from volunteers in the community. Or has the culture of D&D shifted over the years and the tournament scene could never get to the place it was before? The people that play D&D now are not into the idea of being competitive, and only want to play a co-operative experience. Could WotC create a new competitive scene with 5e D&D and promote it within the community? With Twitch and YouTube taking off it seems like you could find a possible wider audience for tournaments with D&D. ESports and D&D are popular on those mediums so maybe the tournament scene could flourish?

Sweep the character sheet, do you have a problem with that?

This brings us to the overall question, should D&D ever be played competitively? D&D has its roots in wargaming, and wargamers have tournaments all the time. Have role-playing games separated themselves so far from the roots that tournaments are no longer a viable option? I find it to be an interesting question. Have any thoughts on the matter? Post below with your opinions.





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