Last night I started picking through the rulebooks of AD&D to try and form a "Basic"version to use as a teaching aid. So often, players get bogged down in specifics and miss the whole point of what the game is about. The game is about getting together with other people and assuming a role while having a fun adventure. The "fun" in AD&D is survival and winning through nearly impossible odds. The rewards are a sense of accomplishment, treasure for the player character, and increased power with continued character growth.
That said, AD&D, in its most basic form, is nearly identical to any other form of the game ever made. There are six abilities, several races and classes to choose from, spells for the divine and arcane spell casters, and equipment lists. Monsters are defeated, treasures are won, and experience points are awarded to increase in level and face tougher monsters to get better treasures, and so on. However, there are some nuances to the game that many are unfamiliar with. For example, clerics in AD&D could not be of True Neutral alignment. Thieves had to be Neutral or Evil (NG being the only allowed "good" alignment and very rarely). Using the base classes (Cleric, Fighter, Magic-user, and Thief) and the base races of the original game (dwarf, elf, halfling, and human), one can explain the game thoroughly and yet still eliminate some choices. Players can be overwhelmed by the pages of rules that need to be known. Reducing all that to a pamphlet assists in learning the key concepts. The snafu of level limits, sub-classes, and exotic race choices aside, AD&D holds up well to a limited scope.
I started last night with stripping all vestiges of the gnome, half-elf, and half-orc from the player section. I then stripped out all the sub-classes (druid, ranger, paladin, illusionist, assassin) as well as the Monk and the Bard. This leaves 4 races and 4 classes - the elegant system of Moldvay Basic. However, I kept the races and classes as separate choices, whereas Basic D&D combined the classes into the demi-human races (so all elves were fighter/magic-users....probable but not desirable). Keeping the nine alignments and making sure that all the details of the AD&D rulebooks remained intact in the descriptions was easy to do and still have the game function. The greatest strength of AD&D was its modularity! Speaking of Strength, I removed percentile strength for this primer version of the game since it is a concept that seems overly complicated. I placed a note stating that in the actual version of the game percentile strength exists and that its use should be avoided until after the players have enough experience with the rules.
I discovered something that I rarely regarded with respect to level limits. All the limits in the book assume an 18 in the prime requisite ability. One must reduce these by 1 for a 17, and by 2 for a 16 or less. Even so, the lowest level limit (4th level for halfling fighters) is still not within the range for a 1st through 3rd level primer. I discussed level limits only to allow players to know that once they start playing the game for real, their choice of character race in the beginning of the game would have an impact on their advancement beyond 3rd level. I decided to keep multi-classing for demi-humans as a concept in the primer since that must be determined at 1st level and is hard to reintegrate once the game progresses.
I also decided to keep the number of cleric spells the same, while pruning the 1st level magic-user spells down to 20 (from 30) and the 2nd level magic-user spells down to 20 (from 24). The ones removed have little impact on the game and are more of the confusing spells or ones without immediate benefit to the magic-user (i.e. affect normal fires, forget, jump, push, etc.). Although they are eliminated for the primer, they are within use for experienced players when they begin using the AD&D hardcovers. The rule here is easier integration into the system slowly. I would have eliminated more of the magic-user spells (down to 12 per level) but then I would be forced to eliminate iconic spells from the start. I prefer to demonstrate the diversity of spell selection, especially since the characters need to follow the rules for intelligence!
Equipment is going to be a challenge. I'm tempted to leave it all as is, but perhaps giving some explanation for some items that require it. For instance, when teaching some of my friends' kids they snickered about buying a 10' pole. Their first time in B2 they triggered a pit trap which I told them could have been detected by the use of a 10' pole. If no one knows that secret doors are in the game, then no one looks for them. If the kids knew that pit traps could be detected with a pole, they would have carried one without thinking twice. Stuff like that will need to be explained to the neophyte players - stuff that was assumed to be known by veteran gamers in the late 1970s.
I don't know how much of the other stuff needs to be put into the primer. For instance, I don't think I need to include stats for all the 1st and 2nd level monsters in the game, just the ones likely to be encountered. Perhaps using or writing my own 1st level adventure is the way to do this justice. By placing in a little of everything into a short adventure I'm sure that it would serve to illustrate the basics of the game. I should also include some treasure, both mundane and magical. I don't think that any armor, shield, or weapon found in the primer should be above +1 value. Scrolls, potions, and minor wands would be the most common items, with a few iconic miscellaneous items. A few of the least magical rings would also be acceptable, but no staves or rods. Encounter charts for dungeons might be useful as well. The one section that I should stress is the combat chapter and the section on how to dungeon master - essentially copying the text from Dungeon Module B2 should suffice!
Despite the name of the game, dragons are too powerful for a neophyte party to face. Perhaps no more than a small black dragon or white dragon should be included to at least demonstrate what that type of monster is capable of. Again, limiting the choices in the primer is good, but in this case it may limit the DM's ability to create an adventure given the limits of environs for these dragon types. We shall see. I don't see myself including any creature beyond 4 hit dice into the monster section for the primer. This way the player characters can be surprised when the DM opens the Monster Manual for the first time! I'll have to set things up in the Dungeon Master's section in a way that allows the players to read the details without giving away too much. The Dungeon Master's Guide will be held secret from the players after all! A simplified "to hit" chart for all the classes and a neat little saving throw chart for the classes should suffice for levels 1-3. A simple to hit chart for monsters of ½ HD to 4+1 HD should be included. I think ogres will be the apex humanoid on the monster list for the primer.
The sample adventure should be short enough to hold everyone's attention, yet diverse enough to contain all the elements essential to understanding AD&D. Perhaps the 1st level of a dungeon with room for expansion by the DM if desired. The gatehouse idea from Basic was perfect, but too limited in scope. I intend to test play this adventure so that I can get an accurate "sample of play". Perhaps using my own Dungeon Trial of the Riddlemaster as the basis for the adventure would be the way to go here, although heavily modified. If that seems too long then perhaps one of the sample dungeons from later editions of the game or one featured in DUNGEON or Dragon Magazine would work. I have a soft spot for the older scenarios written in Dragon Magazine, but I would perhaps alter things slightly. Using the Basic starting dungeon from the Mentzer boxed set might also work. I need to incorporate animals, undead, humanoids, mindless vermin, strange monsters and some traps, tricks, and secret areas. One needs to learn about marching order, light sources, character interaction, signs to look for traps and secret doors, mapping techniques, how to conduct battles fairly and quickly, etc. So much to teach and only a few pages to do it in.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
D&D 5.0: That Didn't Take Long....
While checking out some YouTube videos yesterday I cam across one that essentially introduced the newest version of D&D - yes, that's right, ANOTHER, NEWER D&D than 4.0! The video is here.
Now I warn you, the video is an hour long. I sat through it all, including the Q&A session. It basically iterates exactly what my concerns and complaints were about the direction D&D was taking. Apparently the designers are well aware that the power in the game has shifted dramatically from the hands of the DM to the hands of the players since 1st edition. They finally realized that this is not optimal for game play (duh) and are starting to shift back to the middle-ground paradigm of 2nd edition.
Some very interesting questions were posed and the panelists danced around some of the questions, dodged others, but tried very diplomatically to address all the questions posed. These designers realize that they are there to provide a framework only, not tell you how to play the game. They create the tools that the players and DM use to enjoy the game. I'm glad they realize that. Really I am. However, one of the questions posed regarded re-buying all the books. Of course they did not answer it in the way anyone wanted them to, but they did address the fact that the constant re-vamping of the game had hurt it in the last 3 versions released (namely 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0). Essentially they want all players of D&D to be playing the new version. They want to make a core "kernel" of rules that apply to all games equally, then modularize the extensions that make certain game play possible and certain settings possible. So, if you liked the story-telling version of D&D (namely 2.0 and 2.5) playing in Forgotten Realms, then you use the rules for dramatic storytelling and the Forgotten Realms accessory which adds and subtracts from the kernel rules until you have what you want.
I think this may finally be the way to go with D&D. Making a completely neutral version of the rules separates all the aspects of the game into its base components and the DM picks and chooses what he or she wants to exist in his or her game. Collectors can still buy all the products and gamers can buy just what they want to play. It seems they are going to strip out all the tweaked rules from 3.0+ and leave the system streamlined, although feats and skills may still remain as a means of explaining how some rules work (i.e. climbing, swimming, perception, etc.) Some of the additions were pretty useful and made sense - not all were as elegant as a "simple" d20 roll that they promised. When it takes a page to describe how to even use the skill and all the modifiers and situations, then there is a problem with the system. I think that defining ahead of time how much detail a campaign will need is something of a watershed moment for the designers and they will have to determine how in-depth some things need to be.
I was NOT impressed in any way with version 4.0. I found the key elements of the game to be overwhelmed with a new way of doing things that, in my opinion, made it into another game entirely. I realize that MY favorite version of the game may never see print again (although they are releasing special editions of the core rules for 1st edition in July 2012), but the game should at least be recognizable as D&D so that if one of us "old timers" picks up a book we don't feel like we need a glossary to understand all them new-fangled rules.
Now I warn you, the video is an hour long. I sat through it all, including the Q&A session. It basically iterates exactly what my concerns and complaints were about the direction D&D was taking. Apparently the designers are well aware that the power in the game has shifted dramatically from the hands of the DM to the hands of the players since 1st edition. They finally realized that this is not optimal for game play (duh) and are starting to shift back to the middle-ground paradigm of 2nd edition.
Some very interesting questions were posed and the panelists danced around some of the questions, dodged others, but tried very diplomatically to address all the questions posed. These designers realize that they are there to provide a framework only, not tell you how to play the game. They create the tools that the players and DM use to enjoy the game. I'm glad they realize that. Really I am. However, one of the questions posed regarded re-buying all the books. Of course they did not answer it in the way anyone wanted them to, but they did address the fact that the constant re-vamping of the game had hurt it in the last 3 versions released (namely 3.0, 3.5, and 4.0). Essentially they want all players of D&D to be playing the new version. They want to make a core "kernel" of rules that apply to all games equally, then modularize the extensions that make certain game play possible and certain settings possible. So, if you liked the story-telling version of D&D (namely 2.0 and 2.5) playing in Forgotten Realms, then you use the rules for dramatic storytelling and the Forgotten Realms accessory which adds and subtracts from the kernel rules until you have what you want.
I think this may finally be the way to go with D&D. Making a completely neutral version of the rules separates all the aspects of the game into its base components and the DM picks and chooses what he or she wants to exist in his or her game. Collectors can still buy all the products and gamers can buy just what they want to play. It seems they are going to strip out all the tweaked rules from 3.0+ and leave the system streamlined, although feats and skills may still remain as a means of explaining how some rules work (i.e. climbing, swimming, perception, etc.) Some of the additions were pretty useful and made sense - not all were as elegant as a "simple" d20 roll that they promised. When it takes a page to describe how to even use the skill and all the modifiers and situations, then there is a problem with the system. I think that defining ahead of time how much detail a campaign will need is something of a watershed moment for the designers and they will have to determine how in-depth some things need to be.
I was NOT impressed in any way with version 4.0. I found the key elements of the game to be overwhelmed with a new way of doing things that, in my opinion, made it into another game entirely. I realize that MY favorite version of the game may never see print again (although they are releasing special editions of the core rules for 1st edition in July 2012), but the game should at least be recognizable as D&D so that if one of us "old timers" picks up a book we don't feel like we need a glossary to understand all them new-fangled rules.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
New World Old Skool!
Since I've been trying to preserve my old 1st edition AD&D books by typing them into the computer, I've been getting the itch to create again. I know I have limited time and all but I actually miss creating new and unique campaign elements. The closest I came to an original setting was Thuin, but later decided to scrap it since the interest wasn't there anymore. I'm starting to get more of a Sword & Sorcery vibe from 1st edition so I might like to try my hand at making a mega-dungeon and little details about the surroundings to begin with. This worked well with Thuin in the beginning, but the characters developed more of a wilderness bent in later years. What I may want to do is more of a Castle Greyhawk setting where the dungeon is the main antagonist and the players simply exist to explore its depths and find the treasures and mysteries. Using only the AD&D books originally published to make the game seems to be the way to go - no Unearthed Arcana or Survival Guides necessary. All by-the-book rules (those that aren't broken) to run the combats and spells involved.
I was going to revamp Thuin but decided that the dungeon as written was too campaign specific and needed to be redone anyway. A fresh start may do me good.
I was going to revamp Thuin but decided that the dungeon as written was too campaign specific and needed to be redone anyway. A fresh start may do me good.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Dungeon Module T1: Moathouse Monsters and Mayhem
Looking over the old modules for clues on how the game was played back in the day I stumbled over some very interesting stuff. While reviewing the monsters as written in the module there were a number of discrepancies between their stats as listed in the Monster Manual and the creature listing. The Upper Ruins were pretty much by-the-book, but once you got to the Dungeon Level it was seemingly a mash of old school references and what I can only refer to as "screw the player" mentality at work.
SPOILER ALERT (for all 3 of you who have never run or played this module....)
Room#1 of the dungeon is a stairway with green slime over it to discourage investigation of the lower ruins. The AC of the slimes is listed as 7, but in the Monster Manual it is AC 9. Seems a trivial complaint or perhaps a transcription error (many times people have sloppy handwriting and I can see a 9 being mistaken for a 7). In any case, this monster makes no sense since it has a Move 0" and "drops on unwary targets." So how the hell does a new patch develop on a ceiling to continue attacking this way?? Does it get moved there by other creatures? Does it have a reproductive system that violently splatters itself on walls and ceiling?
In Room #4 of the dungeon, there are 12 zombies, all perfectly presented as any other undead zombie in the Monster Manual, except for the fact that these zombies take only 1 hp of damage from any piercing weapons. It was written in so casually that it seemed as if ALL zombies are like this. No mention of where this decision or ruling came from. It does not exist in the Monster Manual. Could Gary Gygax have been working on ways of modifying the basic monsters? Was he somehow confusing them with skeletons which take half damage from piercing and slashing weapons? Are the zombies so dessicated that they are becoming skeletal?? No explanation is given.
In Room #7 the ogre Lubash is listed with 5+1 HD. Normal ogres are 4+1 HD. His bardiche does 2-8 + 5 points of damage. Ogres using weapons do only +2 damage per the Monster Manual. Leader ogres have much higher HD and hp and do up to +4 damage. So where do these modifications come from? One would think that a beginner adventure would have more info on why this creature differs from the norm, or at least a rationalization. Could Gary have forgotten ogre HD? Possible. Was he developing a better damage system for ogres based on size and strength? Perhaps. Did he mention why he changed it? No! In fact, this is a TPK waiting to happen. No party of 1st (or even 2nd) level characters stand a chance against an ogre capable of causing 7-13 points of damage with a swing. They would need to be very lucky with their rolls or gain surprise. Note that sleep is useless against his HD, perhaps a reason for making them so high.
Room #14 has a pack of 4 ghouls, much stronger than ordinary ghouls in that they cause 1-4/1-4/1-8 damage instead of normal ghoul damage of 1-3/1-3/1-6 per the Monster Manual. Now it does say that the "Master" keeps them well fed, but giving them MORE damage is just cruel to the party. Granted, a cleric has a chance of turning them at this level, but it is more likely for them to gain surprise and paralyze their targets before they can do so. If the ghouls have surprise, then the party is doomed since they can then strike any paralyzed members automatically for double damage! The only godsend of this monster description is that Gary finally saw fit to give us duration on the paralysis!! For the first time in any module I can remember, the paralysis is listed as 3-12 turns! Since most combats last only a few rounds, this is rarely an issue. Imagine though that the poor PC rolls a 12 for duration. That's 2 hours of paralysis in game time. If they were paralyzed at the beginning of the combat, that character is either dead when the party TPKs or useless for the next 12 turns of game time (a long time indeed). It's not likely that they have any means of removing the paralysis either.
Room #17 contains 15 guards. Let me reiterate that - 15 GUARDS!!! This breaks down to 12 normal men (0-level humans), 2 2nd-level fighter sergeants, and a 4th level fighter lieutenant. A normal party size is 6-8 characters of levels 1 (or 2 by this point). Most of a party at this level consists of henchmen of 1st level max. Most spell casters are out of spells. Unless the party decides to hit this place last after rest and recuperation (likely requiring several days to heal everyone to full) the temple force is likely to realize that the party is on to them and has learned too much already. Then again they are led by a wise cleric with an intelligence of 9 so who knows!
Room #18 contains the leader of this band of evil, Lareth the Beautiful, whom I suspect was originally a drow cleric converted to be a human. This cleric is a powerhouse! He has three stats at 18 (Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma), the best possible armor and weapons for his class, a nearly impossible to hit Armor Class of -1 (any character requires a 20 to hit), and a full complement of spells to use against the party. They are very unlikely to kill him if he is played correctly. His staff of striking can eliminate any target with a single swing while he is immune to "hold" spells due to his phylactery of action, and sleep will not affect him. Burning hands will likely not work if he has cast his resist fire spell, and neither will burning oil (another useful tactic used by old schoolers). Shocking grasp has a good chance of affecting him though as would some of the illusionist spells. He can take out a party of fully rested characters by himself, but add to this the 15 guards in the prior room (one of which is a 4th level fighter) and the tables are definitely turned. The party will NEVER gain surprise on them because there are 7 guards in the hallway BEFORE they even get this far! Tight quarters and defensive tactics ensures that Lareth will be triumphant. If anyone escapes he would assume that his agents could track them down and kill them before they reached Hommlet. If not he could also send word to the Temple to send reinforcements. The moathouse would likely be able to restock monsters faster than Furyondian troops could organize. If the Hommlet militia is called in, they may be able to overwhelm the men, but only if the secret exit is blocked. It's not likely that Lareth would go quietly but he is Chaotic Evil and would likely surrender to capture than die (given his high Wisdom). It might be better for him to leave the moathouse entirely, perhaps leaving deathtraps for future explorers (likes glyphs of warding at all the secret entrances). He could return later with a larger force of gnolls or bugbears from the Temple, or perhaps wait out any retaliation in a nearby shack or wilderness camp. The bogs around the moathouse are likely to be easy to hide in. If all else fails he can head to Nulb, but reporting failure to his superiors in the Temple would likely get him killed.
These are the only problems I can see with the module. It is otherwise a classic example of how to start a campaign and establish a base town. There are three factions (Good - St. Cuthbert, Neutral - Old Faith, and Evil - Temple forces) and many NPCs to interact with here. There does seem to be a lack of trainers for all the classes, but the major ones are represented (except for thieves). It is likely that training would occur in Verbobonc, necessitating a day trip away from Hommlet and at least a week of time otherwise in training. This is not likely to happen more than twice for each character, and likely but once for most of them during T1. Since the group is assumed to be mostly good or neutral in alignment, training in Verbobonc is possible for all (except assassins). Thieves, clerics, and druids would advance the fastest, followed by fighters. More characters = less XP per person = slower advancement.
It might be fun to run this adventure in reverse - have the party be a group of evil adventuring mercenaries based at the Temple of Elemental Evil and hired on to cause trouble in the region. They could make strikes against the forces of good and use Nulb as a base of operations. Perhaps they are needed to locate other former holdings of the Temple, clear them out, and recruit new forces to the mix. I could see encountering gnolls in the Gnarley and fighting them to prove supremacy and strength. Perhaps they hire bandits as henchmen and raid farms (most of the farmers in or near Hommlet have militia training and could be a match if they have enough fighting men). The end goal here would be an attack on Hommlet itself to gain control of the village and cripple all trade through the region. In order to do this the evil party would have to run interference to keep the major powers of good (Celene, Ostverk, Verbobonc, and Furyondy) from finding out until it was too late. This would include intercepting messengers, rooting out spies, and attacking strongholds of elves, gnomes, and humans nearby. Naturally many NPC parties would be engaged in combat as well. Turning on their leaders in the Temple might also be considered in a bid of power to gain control. Perhaps they ally themselves with one of the elemental temples vying for dominance. Or they could be manipulated into freeing the demon trapped within.
SPOILER ALERT (for all 3 of you who have never run or played this module....)
Room#1 of the dungeon is a stairway with green slime over it to discourage investigation of the lower ruins. The AC of the slimes is listed as 7, but in the Monster Manual it is AC 9. Seems a trivial complaint or perhaps a transcription error (many times people have sloppy handwriting and I can see a 9 being mistaken for a 7). In any case, this monster makes no sense since it has a Move 0" and "drops on unwary targets." So how the hell does a new patch develop on a ceiling to continue attacking this way?? Does it get moved there by other creatures? Does it have a reproductive system that violently splatters itself on walls and ceiling?
In Room #4 of the dungeon, there are 12 zombies, all perfectly presented as any other undead zombie in the Monster Manual, except for the fact that these zombies take only 1 hp of damage from any piercing weapons. It was written in so casually that it seemed as if ALL zombies are like this. No mention of where this decision or ruling came from. It does not exist in the Monster Manual. Could Gary Gygax have been working on ways of modifying the basic monsters? Was he somehow confusing them with skeletons which take half damage from piercing and slashing weapons? Are the zombies so dessicated that they are becoming skeletal?? No explanation is given.
In Room #7 the ogre Lubash is listed with 5+1 HD. Normal ogres are 4+1 HD. His bardiche does 2-8 + 5 points of damage. Ogres using weapons do only +2 damage per the Monster Manual. Leader ogres have much higher HD and hp and do up to +4 damage. So where do these modifications come from? One would think that a beginner adventure would have more info on why this creature differs from the norm, or at least a rationalization. Could Gary have forgotten ogre HD? Possible. Was he developing a better damage system for ogres based on size and strength? Perhaps. Did he mention why he changed it? No! In fact, this is a TPK waiting to happen. No party of 1st (or even 2nd) level characters stand a chance against an ogre capable of causing 7-13 points of damage with a swing. They would need to be very lucky with their rolls or gain surprise. Note that sleep is useless against his HD, perhaps a reason for making them so high.
Room #14 has a pack of 4 ghouls, much stronger than ordinary ghouls in that they cause 1-4/1-4/1-8 damage instead of normal ghoul damage of 1-3/1-3/1-6 per the Monster Manual. Now it does say that the "Master" keeps them well fed, but giving them MORE damage is just cruel to the party. Granted, a cleric has a chance of turning them at this level, but it is more likely for them to gain surprise and paralyze their targets before they can do so. If the ghouls have surprise, then the party is doomed since they can then strike any paralyzed members automatically for double damage! The only godsend of this monster description is that Gary finally saw fit to give us duration on the paralysis!! For the first time in any module I can remember, the paralysis is listed as 3-12 turns! Since most combats last only a few rounds, this is rarely an issue. Imagine though that the poor PC rolls a 12 for duration. That's 2 hours of paralysis in game time. If they were paralyzed at the beginning of the combat, that character is either dead when the party TPKs or useless for the next 12 turns of game time (a long time indeed). It's not likely that they have any means of removing the paralysis either.
Room #17 contains 15 guards. Let me reiterate that - 15 GUARDS!!! This breaks down to 12 normal men (0-level humans), 2 2nd-level fighter sergeants, and a 4th level fighter lieutenant. A normal party size is 6-8 characters of levels 1 (or 2 by this point). Most of a party at this level consists of henchmen of 1st level max. Most spell casters are out of spells. Unless the party decides to hit this place last after rest and recuperation (likely requiring several days to heal everyone to full) the temple force is likely to realize that the party is on to them and has learned too much already. Then again they are led by a wise cleric with an intelligence of 9 so who knows!
Room #18 contains the leader of this band of evil, Lareth the Beautiful, whom I suspect was originally a drow cleric converted to be a human. This cleric is a powerhouse! He has three stats at 18 (Strength, Wisdom, and Charisma), the best possible armor and weapons for his class, a nearly impossible to hit Armor Class of -1 (any character requires a 20 to hit), and a full complement of spells to use against the party. They are very unlikely to kill him if he is played correctly. His staff of striking can eliminate any target with a single swing while he is immune to "hold" spells due to his phylactery of action, and sleep will not affect him. Burning hands will likely not work if he has cast his resist fire spell, and neither will burning oil (another useful tactic used by old schoolers). Shocking grasp has a good chance of affecting him though as would some of the illusionist spells. He can take out a party of fully rested characters by himself, but add to this the 15 guards in the prior room (one of which is a 4th level fighter) and the tables are definitely turned. The party will NEVER gain surprise on them because there are 7 guards in the hallway BEFORE they even get this far! Tight quarters and defensive tactics ensures that Lareth will be triumphant. If anyone escapes he would assume that his agents could track them down and kill them before they reached Hommlet. If not he could also send word to the Temple to send reinforcements. The moathouse would likely be able to restock monsters faster than Furyondian troops could organize. If the Hommlet militia is called in, they may be able to overwhelm the men, but only if the secret exit is blocked. It's not likely that Lareth would go quietly but he is Chaotic Evil and would likely surrender to capture than die (given his high Wisdom). It might be better for him to leave the moathouse entirely, perhaps leaving deathtraps for future explorers (likes glyphs of warding at all the secret entrances). He could return later with a larger force of gnolls or bugbears from the Temple, or perhaps wait out any retaliation in a nearby shack or wilderness camp. The bogs around the moathouse are likely to be easy to hide in. If all else fails he can head to Nulb, but reporting failure to his superiors in the Temple would likely get him killed.
These are the only problems I can see with the module. It is otherwise a classic example of how to start a campaign and establish a base town. There are three factions (Good - St. Cuthbert, Neutral - Old Faith, and Evil - Temple forces) and many NPCs to interact with here. There does seem to be a lack of trainers for all the classes, but the major ones are represented (except for thieves). It is likely that training would occur in Verbobonc, necessitating a day trip away from Hommlet and at least a week of time otherwise in training. This is not likely to happen more than twice for each character, and likely but once for most of them during T1. Since the group is assumed to be mostly good or neutral in alignment, training in Verbobonc is possible for all (except assassins). Thieves, clerics, and druids would advance the fastest, followed by fighters. More characters = less XP per person = slower advancement.
It might be fun to run this adventure in reverse - have the party be a group of evil adventuring mercenaries based at the Temple of Elemental Evil and hired on to cause trouble in the region. They could make strikes against the forces of good and use Nulb as a base of operations. Perhaps they are needed to locate other former holdings of the Temple, clear them out, and recruit new forces to the mix. I could see encountering gnolls in the Gnarley and fighting them to prove supremacy and strength. Perhaps they hire bandits as henchmen and raid farms (most of the farmers in or near Hommlet have militia training and could be a match if they have enough fighting men). The end goal here would be an attack on Hommlet itself to gain control of the village and cripple all trade through the region. In order to do this the evil party would have to run interference to keep the major powers of good (Celene, Ostverk, Verbobonc, and Furyondy) from finding out until it was too late. This would include intercepting messengers, rooting out spies, and attacking strongholds of elves, gnomes, and humans nearby. Naturally many NPC parties would be engaged in combat as well. Turning on their leaders in the Temple might also be considered in a bid of power to gain control. Perhaps they ally themselves with one of the elemental temples vying for dominance. Or they could be manipulated into freeing the demon trapped within.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Greyhawk Pre 1980
I came into Dungeons & Dragons a little later than I would have liked. The sad truth of the matter is that I was born too late to actually be involved in the initial printing (I was 4 years old in 1974) and in the wrong place (most of the D&D stuff was in the midwest, I live on the east coast). By the time that AD&D came along I was still too young (8 years old), but well on my way of becoming more interested in that sort of gaming. I had loved Greek Mythology as a child and continued to love sci-fi and fantasy well into my early teens. My father taking me to see Conan the Barbarian (starring Arnold Schwartzenegger) really charged me up for sword and sorcery gaming. So, in 1980, when I had a slight taste of Basic D&D for all of 2 weeks before the game was returned and DUNGEON! purchased, I began my journey into RPGs. At the age of 13 I learned about RPGs and AD&D through a school club. I later joined a group of my own, a bunch of teenage boys bored and looking to have some summer fun. It was the summer of 1983 that introduced me to the World of Greyhawk Boxed set, and the love affair bloomed!
The maps were incredible, the setting so deep and filled with a multitude of possibilities, many of which were beyond my young and inexperienced mind to realize. Sure, we played the initial adventures in a Greyhawk that was only loosely considered to be part of that world (mostly in name only), but simply using the maps was magical to me.
It wasn't until college that I learned about D&D that existed BEFORE AD&D. I had no idea that anything was produced prior to the hardcovers. Learning about Greyhawk Supplement I and the Folio were something of an eye-opener. I had no idea how the game had evolved. What mysteries lay in this booklet? Not many, I can assure you...
The Greyhawk supplement was little more than "new" rules for the game, rules that later saw print in standard AD&D. There were no maps, no explanations of cultures or background, and no secrets to be revealed. It wasn't until I started re-reading the old modules that I realized that Greyhawk as Gary ran it was NOT the published version from the Folio and later sets. Gary's Greyhawk was wide open and little explained, only some information given as pertained to the adventure at hand. If you don't believe me, try reading the intro to T1: Village of Hommlet and try to rectify it with the wilderness map provided - it does not fit. Forum discussions with Gygax revealed that his Greyhawk was a version of North America with a few pieces enlarged or reduced. The Nyr Dyv IS Lake Superior - the shape is nearly identical. The Hellfurnace and Crystalmist Mountains are the Rocky Mountains. The Scarlet Brotherhood apparently resides in Florida, and the Great Kingdom was once the American Colonies with the Malachite Throne situated either in New York or Washington D.C.
Oh well, I may never get to experience the original Greyhawk, but knowing its origins, a new one can be re-created by using my map experiences.
The maps were incredible, the setting so deep and filled with a multitude of possibilities, many of which were beyond my young and inexperienced mind to realize. Sure, we played the initial adventures in a Greyhawk that was only loosely considered to be part of that world (mostly in name only), but simply using the maps was magical to me.
It wasn't until college that I learned about D&D that existed BEFORE AD&D. I had no idea that anything was produced prior to the hardcovers. Learning about Greyhawk Supplement I and the Folio were something of an eye-opener. I had no idea how the game had evolved. What mysteries lay in this booklet? Not many, I can assure you...
The Greyhawk supplement was little more than "new" rules for the game, rules that later saw print in standard AD&D. There were no maps, no explanations of cultures or background, and no secrets to be revealed. It wasn't until I started re-reading the old modules that I realized that Greyhawk as Gary ran it was NOT the published version from the Folio and later sets. Gary's Greyhawk was wide open and little explained, only some information given as pertained to the adventure at hand. If you don't believe me, try reading the intro to T1: Village of Hommlet and try to rectify it with the wilderness map provided - it does not fit. Forum discussions with Gygax revealed that his Greyhawk was a version of North America with a few pieces enlarged or reduced. The Nyr Dyv IS Lake Superior - the shape is nearly identical. The Hellfurnace and Crystalmist Mountains are the Rocky Mountains. The Scarlet Brotherhood apparently resides in Florida, and the Great Kingdom was once the American Colonies with the Malachite Throne situated either in New York or Washington D.C.
Oh well, I may never get to experience the original Greyhawk, but knowing its origins, a new one can be re-created by using my map experiences.
Monday, March 5, 2012
Updating Keep on the Borderlands
I spent a better part of this weekend going over Dungeon Module B2: The Keep on the Borderlands in an effort to see how it could be brought forward and used as an introductory module for D&D 3.5. I was amazed how much of the advice given in the DM section is still relevant to modern gaming. Gygax's "writing voice" came through clearly in every paragraph.
The style of the module is similar to Gygax's own campaign - lots of different monsters in a small area existing in some sort of chaotic ecosystem without rhyme or reason, but close enough to civilization to be considered a threat. I've always assumed that evil congregates as the result of a summons, sort of a calling from some master planner or ultimate villain. Evil creatures would rather attack each other than cooperate, but if some "master" villain calls them together for a purpose, then they may fight but remain obedient to their master out of fear. Such was my assumption with the Caves of Chaos, but the details were never actually placed in the module itself.
I've read on other gaming blogs how people think that B2 is hokey and makes no logical sense. Well, you really do have to take a few things into consideration. First off is game mechanics. You simply can't have a game that relies on experience points and treasure for advancement and NOT have some dungeon-like adventure; gamist adventures work in the system, novelist approaches fail. If you go into the adventure with the idea that the dungeon accommodates the game mechanics, then its much more enjoyable. Secondly, over-thinking and rationalizing why things are the way they are detracts from the adventure and causes it to fail or blow up in one's face. I've seen people slam the module for the concepts - that's odd, because it was an instructional module on how to play the game, not some opus written to win awards or change the face of gaming. The fact that it DID revolutionize gaming is amazing! In essence, though, it was a one shot adventure, a throwaway used to show people how to play and DM the game, then make their own campaigns. In that way it was one of the best teaching tools ever made, and is still relevant today.
So now I'm looking at this adventure and I'd like to update it to D&D 3.5 stats. Doing so unmakes the very reasons why it was such a strong adventure in the first place. Simple, elegant, and quick to adjust on the fly, updating this module would require an added complexity that doesn't work well in instructional writing. The entire ruleset of D&D Basic was easily fit within a few pages of the rulebook. In most instances, you could add rules in as you went, so long as the basics were covered. In order to run an 3.5 game, one has to explain how the modifiers all work together, stat blocks become longer than a line of text, and detailed explanations of why things work in a certain way need to be explained. One cannot have a generic stat block when all the creatures are using different weapons (which affects what feats they have), or they use special gear which has a situational modifier, or when special attacks depend on size and HD categories. It was rather depressing to see that simply detailing the Keep itself was going to be a major hassle - and an unnecessary one according to D&D 3.5 rules. Other than a short paragraph and stat block for the Keep, all the details on buildings and treasure troves within the keep could be eliminated. The focus of the adventure, the Caves of Chaos, becomes the meat of the module. In essence, this is how it should have been, but then again it was an INSTRUCTIONAL module. It's easy to pick and choose details once you have the basics understood. A base town, in my opinion, should be not only a source of rumors and training, but also of adventures within the town walls and interactions in the ways that most novelist gamers would desire.
D&D 3.5 with its myriad of choices and preferences complicates the simplicity of B2 with unnecessary clutter. Perhaps running the adventure as simple B2: The Caves of Chaos would make it a more palatable experience. Also breaking up the adventure by eliminating some of the caves or spreading them out along the northern hills also makes more sense for an instructional adventure. I found from DMing novices that their attention span wavers after a few rooms. They also need closure. By separating the lower level caves and placing them near to each other but not on top of each other makes for an easier and neater game experience. Placing some evil idol in the Caves of the Unknown as a unifying force to gather nearby evil makes it seem like the whole is more cohesive. Perhaps some psionic entity is trapped within the idol (some interdimensional prison) and is summoning a force of evil to free it from its bounds. The clerics of chaos could be working to save their master (hence the tunnel leading out from their cave, probably towards the Caves of the Unknown). The evil emanations have twisted those in the region to evil, hence the reason why the lizardfolk in the fens are Neutral Evil in alignment. The old hermit (perhaps once a druid) is now driven mad as the unnatural entity corrupts his mind - or he could simply be a Neutral Evil druid wanting to be left alone. The fact that he has a mountain lion companion fortifies this assumption.
Some of the caves could include clues that link the whole together - missives from the cleric to the more intelligent tribes in the region, shamans and witchdoctors bearing fetishes with the idol's image, treasures from the ancient Caves of the Unknown paid to the humanoids by the cleric for their continued allegiances, etc. The entity would likely need to be Neutral Evil in alignment to account for all the various alignments congregating under one Evil being. Surely, the Lawful and Chaotic bands of evil humanoids would fight each other for top position (especially goblinoids vs. orcs), but outright tribal warfare would be kept to a minimum. The Keep obviously is strong enough to resist assault from the various humanoids, but a force of evil sweeping through may cause widespread destruction and the Borderlands are vast and unprotected except near the road. Keep forces sent to quell rebellion in one area would mean leaving the roads defenseless to other tribes. Perhaps a necessary artifact is in the hands of the Castellan of the Keep, some artifact necessary for the idol to be released or defeated (or both). Convincing the Castellan of the necessity of this action would require proof and thus the characters have a region to explore, follow clues, and investigate all the caves in the region! Failure may mean that evil forces will continue to arrive in the region until the clerics have enough force to overwhelm even the Keep's defenses.
The style of the module is similar to Gygax's own campaign - lots of different monsters in a small area existing in some sort of chaotic ecosystem without rhyme or reason, but close enough to civilization to be considered a threat. I've always assumed that evil congregates as the result of a summons, sort of a calling from some master planner or ultimate villain. Evil creatures would rather attack each other than cooperate, but if some "master" villain calls them together for a purpose, then they may fight but remain obedient to their master out of fear. Such was my assumption with the Caves of Chaos, but the details were never actually placed in the module itself.
I've read on other gaming blogs how people think that B2 is hokey and makes no logical sense. Well, you really do have to take a few things into consideration. First off is game mechanics. You simply can't have a game that relies on experience points and treasure for advancement and NOT have some dungeon-like adventure; gamist adventures work in the system, novelist approaches fail. If you go into the adventure with the idea that the dungeon accommodates the game mechanics, then its much more enjoyable. Secondly, over-thinking and rationalizing why things are the way they are detracts from the adventure and causes it to fail or blow up in one's face. I've seen people slam the module for the concepts - that's odd, because it was an instructional module on how to play the game, not some opus written to win awards or change the face of gaming. The fact that it DID revolutionize gaming is amazing! In essence, though, it was a one shot adventure, a throwaway used to show people how to play and DM the game, then make their own campaigns. In that way it was one of the best teaching tools ever made, and is still relevant today.
So now I'm looking at this adventure and I'd like to update it to D&D 3.5 stats. Doing so unmakes the very reasons why it was such a strong adventure in the first place. Simple, elegant, and quick to adjust on the fly, updating this module would require an added complexity that doesn't work well in instructional writing. The entire ruleset of D&D Basic was easily fit within a few pages of the rulebook. In most instances, you could add rules in as you went, so long as the basics were covered. In order to run an 3.5 game, one has to explain how the modifiers all work together, stat blocks become longer than a line of text, and detailed explanations of why things work in a certain way need to be explained. One cannot have a generic stat block when all the creatures are using different weapons (which affects what feats they have), or they use special gear which has a situational modifier, or when special attacks depend on size and HD categories. It was rather depressing to see that simply detailing the Keep itself was going to be a major hassle - and an unnecessary one according to D&D 3.5 rules. Other than a short paragraph and stat block for the Keep, all the details on buildings and treasure troves within the keep could be eliminated. The focus of the adventure, the Caves of Chaos, becomes the meat of the module. In essence, this is how it should have been, but then again it was an INSTRUCTIONAL module. It's easy to pick and choose details once you have the basics understood. A base town, in my opinion, should be not only a source of rumors and training, but also of adventures within the town walls and interactions in the ways that most novelist gamers would desire.
D&D 3.5 with its myriad of choices and preferences complicates the simplicity of B2 with unnecessary clutter. Perhaps running the adventure as simple B2: The Caves of Chaos would make it a more palatable experience. Also breaking up the adventure by eliminating some of the caves or spreading them out along the northern hills also makes more sense for an instructional adventure. I found from DMing novices that their attention span wavers after a few rooms. They also need closure. By separating the lower level caves and placing them near to each other but not on top of each other makes for an easier and neater game experience. Placing some evil idol in the Caves of the Unknown as a unifying force to gather nearby evil makes it seem like the whole is more cohesive. Perhaps some psionic entity is trapped within the idol (some interdimensional prison) and is summoning a force of evil to free it from its bounds. The clerics of chaos could be working to save their master (hence the tunnel leading out from their cave, probably towards the Caves of the Unknown). The evil emanations have twisted those in the region to evil, hence the reason why the lizardfolk in the fens are Neutral Evil in alignment. The old hermit (perhaps once a druid) is now driven mad as the unnatural entity corrupts his mind - or he could simply be a Neutral Evil druid wanting to be left alone. The fact that he has a mountain lion companion fortifies this assumption.
Some of the caves could include clues that link the whole together - missives from the cleric to the more intelligent tribes in the region, shamans and witchdoctors bearing fetishes with the idol's image, treasures from the ancient Caves of the Unknown paid to the humanoids by the cleric for their continued allegiances, etc. The entity would likely need to be Neutral Evil in alignment to account for all the various alignments congregating under one Evil being. Surely, the Lawful and Chaotic bands of evil humanoids would fight each other for top position (especially goblinoids vs. orcs), but outright tribal warfare would be kept to a minimum. The Keep obviously is strong enough to resist assault from the various humanoids, but a force of evil sweeping through may cause widespread destruction and the Borderlands are vast and unprotected except near the road. Keep forces sent to quell rebellion in one area would mean leaving the roads defenseless to other tribes. Perhaps a necessary artifact is in the hands of the Castellan of the Keep, some artifact necessary for the idol to be released or defeated (or both). Convincing the Castellan of the necessity of this action would require proof and thus the characters have a region to explore, follow clues, and investigate all the caves in the region! Failure may mean that evil forces will continue to arrive in the region until the clerics have enough force to overwhelm even the Keep's defenses.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Revisiting D&D 3.5
I was bored this weekend. I've pretty much had enough of playing computer games and I'm looking to get back to tabletop gaming. My AD&D group was a bust this weekend since they canceled at the last minute so I started seeing what their characters would look like in D&D 3.5. I had their stats from 3rd level on and it was simple to backtrack them to 1st level again. The hardest part of the whole process was determining what skills and feats they would have selected for their characters.
It turns out that the NPC fighter in the group was ultra kickass at 1st level. The druid was less than spectacular. A complete role reversal from 1st edition AD&D. The assassin and wizard were about spot on if not more powerful than their 1st edition versions. I've been using an assassin class developed from expanding the prestige class from the DMG out to 20 levels. The druid would have been much more powerful if he was developed by the player from 1st level since the choices he made were within the framework of the AD&D rules. Druids used to advance lightning fast, gaining 2nd level spells at 2nd level! He was the first of the characters to break into the upper levels since his XP chart was so fast. In our AD&D game the assassin died from hypothermia early on (4th level) and the others died or lost levels at least once. The druid had lost 2 levels to wraiths and still was on top of the level charts. It would be interesting to see how these characters developed in both worlds and to see how much different advancement would have been after 12 years of running the same ones like we have in AD&D.
The conversion has whetted my appetite for more D&D 3.5. I started looking at my old Greyhawk Campaign from the beginning and wondered how different it would have been if I had done all the adventures by hand instead of adapting previously made modules from 1st edition. The game as I remember it was very power-hungry and it seemed to be even worse of an arms-race than 2nd edition. My preference for low-fantasy campaigns aside, I think it was a monty-hauler's dream come true. My only sticking point was that spells were so categorized and regimented that they lost all the charm of the magic system. Wizards also got the shaft since the progression of spell defenses quickly out-paced the power of the spells. Most of the classic "no save" spells of the early days now received saving throws which were so easy to make that the spells became pretty much useless. If you could cast 6th level spells, then it was pointless to use any spell below 6th level in combat since the opponents were likely to save against them. This is such a switch from 1st edition where the higher the spell level, the more dangerous the spell was to cast, while the lower level spells were much more utilitarian even in combat.
My only pet peeve about the later editions was how long it took to develop the monsters for each encounter. Unfortunately that is a big turn-off for me, especially since I like to adlib my way through an adventure sometimes. My stint as a fairly permanent DM for 5 years straight only proved that D&D 3.5 was a railroading engine made to glorify the PCs, not challenge them. Still, some of the more interesting bits of the game made everything make more sense as a whole. I like the fact that ability scores mean so much more now. I also like the idea of customization through skills and feats, although I think they went overboard with all the options. I truly wish that they had converted the older modules and reprinted these classics instead of releasing reams of unnecessary splatbooks. It would have been helpful for them to make a monster-designer book where they take you through the process of crafting unique individual encounters by showing you the match behind the conversion. Analyzing various stat blocks from DUNGEON magazine made it painfully obvious that some of the module writers were just using some creatures/classes to get a bonus in a min/max encounter design specifically made to screw the characters who were unprepared or knew too much. In fact, it seemed that EVERY adventure showcased at least one completely bizarre chimeric creature tricked out to the Nth degree for no reason other than "they could."
I've since returned to the simpler 1st edition AD&D because I prefer the speed of play and the reduction of options. But I would love to play in a campaign for D&D 3.5 where the players are well-versed in the way the system works and have no expectations of how play should proceed. A clean slate campaign, if you will, is a dream that I can no longer hope for. I would have to mine my archive of previous Greyhawk scenarios for a workable campaign and most of the players I've had have already experienced the adventures I've made. I would have to go whole-cloth on a revised campaign and no one has the time for that to happen!
It turns out that the NPC fighter in the group was ultra kickass at 1st level. The druid was less than spectacular. A complete role reversal from 1st edition AD&D. The assassin and wizard were about spot on if not more powerful than their 1st edition versions. I've been using an assassin class developed from expanding the prestige class from the DMG out to 20 levels. The druid would have been much more powerful if he was developed by the player from 1st level since the choices he made were within the framework of the AD&D rules. Druids used to advance lightning fast, gaining 2nd level spells at 2nd level! He was the first of the characters to break into the upper levels since his XP chart was so fast. In our AD&D game the assassin died from hypothermia early on (4th level) and the others died or lost levels at least once. The druid had lost 2 levels to wraiths and still was on top of the level charts. It would be interesting to see how these characters developed in both worlds and to see how much different advancement would have been after 12 years of running the same ones like we have in AD&D.
The conversion has whetted my appetite for more D&D 3.5. I started looking at my old Greyhawk Campaign from the beginning and wondered how different it would have been if I had done all the adventures by hand instead of adapting previously made modules from 1st edition. The game as I remember it was very power-hungry and it seemed to be even worse of an arms-race than 2nd edition. My preference for low-fantasy campaigns aside, I think it was a monty-hauler's dream come true. My only sticking point was that spells were so categorized and regimented that they lost all the charm of the magic system. Wizards also got the shaft since the progression of spell defenses quickly out-paced the power of the spells. Most of the classic "no save" spells of the early days now received saving throws which were so easy to make that the spells became pretty much useless. If you could cast 6th level spells, then it was pointless to use any spell below 6th level in combat since the opponents were likely to save against them. This is such a switch from 1st edition where the higher the spell level, the more dangerous the spell was to cast, while the lower level spells were much more utilitarian even in combat.
My only pet peeve about the later editions was how long it took to develop the monsters for each encounter. Unfortunately that is a big turn-off for me, especially since I like to adlib my way through an adventure sometimes. My stint as a fairly permanent DM for 5 years straight only proved that D&D 3.5 was a railroading engine made to glorify the PCs, not challenge them. Still, some of the more interesting bits of the game made everything make more sense as a whole. I like the fact that ability scores mean so much more now. I also like the idea of customization through skills and feats, although I think they went overboard with all the options. I truly wish that they had converted the older modules and reprinted these classics instead of releasing reams of unnecessary splatbooks. It would have been helpful for them to make a monster-designer book where they take you through the process of crafting unique individual encounters by showing you the match behind the conversion. Analyzing various stat blocks from DUNGEON magazine made it painfully obvious that some of the module writers were just using some creatures/classes to get a bonus in a min/max encounter design specifically made to screw the characters who were unprepared or knew too much. In fact, it seemed that EVERY adventure showcased at least one completely bizarre chimeric creature tricked out to the Nth degree for no reason other than "they could."
I've since returned to the simpler 1st edition AD&D because I prefer the speed of play and the reduction of options. But I would love to play in a campaign for D&D 3.5 where the players are well-versed in the way the system works and have no expectations of how play should proceed. A clean slate campaign, if you will, is a dream that I can no longer hope for. I would have to mine my archive of previous Greyhawk scenarios for a workable campaign and most of the players I've had have already experienced the adventures I've made. I would have to go whole-cloth on a revised campaign and no one has the time for that to happen!
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