Silver Blade Adventures

[Review] AA9 The Lost Pyramid of Imhotep

2011-08-21T05:00:00.001+01:00

The Lost Pyramid of Imhotep

Author: Alphonso Warden
Contents: 12 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 10 pages of adventure, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6109
Retail Price: £7.00 or $12.00

Overview

An adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 4-7, the Lost Pyramid of Imhotep is an unusual five level dungeon with a tightly integrated theme. The physical product is furnished with a glossy cover stock, durable internal pages, clearly printed text, and well rendered black and white internal maps. Both the front and back cover illustrations are by Jeff Womack, though misattributed to Advanced Adventures stalwart Bradley McDevitt, and each depicts an encounter from the adventure with suitable atmospheric weirdness, complementing the relatively unusual subject matter. Whilst the title page illustration, also by Jeff Womack, is the only interior piece provided, it similarly sends a clear visual signal to the reader to anticipate a conflation of the familiar and the strange. Of the three images, this last is probably the most compelling, perhaps because it contrasts in its exterior enormity with the more claustrophobic and close quarter encounter environments used for the cover pieces. Even though the module is only twelve pages long, it is disappointing for there to be no other interior illustrations, especially when there are none of adventuring parties exploring or interacting with the dungeon and its denizens.

The scenario premise is straightforward, in that the player characters are hired by a magician to investigate recently unearthed evidence of a tomb in the desert. Since the adventure takes ancient Egypt as its thematic inspiration, there are numerous references to the trappings and theology of that culture, and a good deal of concern is given to the need to translate hieroglyphs. Indeed, it is noted that adventurers native to the area will have a much easier time than outsiders, and that holds true for much of the module. Progressing to the lowest dungeon levels requires being able to answer several rather culturally specific questions, and unless the players happen to know or guess correctly the game master will have to decide how to handle the player characters accessing the necessary knowledge. Whilst some of the rooms require clever thinking or intuition to overcome, many of them rely more heavily on the random outcome of the dice with little consideration given to alternative solutions. Although this is not much of an issue in cases of combat with guardians, it is more problematic when characters are left with no option but to make saving throws, as is the case in area fourteen for instance.

Interestingly, there is very little treasure to be had in the tomb complex, and what little there is could easily be missed. As a result the player characters will likely waste plenty of time searching fruitlessly, but in the absence of wandering monsters they can do so at their leisure. There is an item that could conceivably have a similar role, but as soon as the players figure out what is going on they are likely to stow it somewhere safe until needed and thereby obviate any time considerations. Similarly, the compact nature of the dungeon has left little opportunity for the game master to expand on what is provided, which is unusual for traditional style modules. Of the nineteen encounter areas at least seventeen of them must be explored, largely one after the other, in order to reach the final location. Naturally, this makes for rather linear exploration, which may frustrate players and game masters used to more expansive designs, but for tournament purposes is entirely suitable. Moreover, not every dungeon need be cut from the same cloth. Given that the adventurers manage to successfully negotiate all the dangers and puzzles there is a satisfactory denouement as well as a rather unusual, but substantial, reward to be had.

Technicalities and Errors

With regard to grammar and editing there is little of note to complain about. It is rather vexing to see a true minus used early in the text, only for hyphens to be used thereafter, but it is of little consequence. There appears to be a mistake in the ghoul statistic string on page five, insofar as damage is listed as "1-3/1-6/1-6" and it seems obvious that "1-3/1-3/1-6" was intended. As far as design flaws go, encounter area eleven is troublesome, in that failure to roll the right numbers on the dice not only results in an unsuccessful trial of strength, but destroys the means to carry out future attempts and thus the method of passing beyond the chamber. Stumbling blocks of this sort, but of lesser consequence, are typical rather than exceptional and can easily lead to a party being stuck in one area for a prolonged period. In another instance, one player is required to play and win the ancient game of Senet in order to obtain a necessary item, which aside from being quite random excludes the other players from active participation. However, whether any of these potential issues will manifest at a given game table is likely highly subjective, depending on the ability of the players and the skill of the game master.

Conclusion

Conceptually the Lost Pyramid of Imhotep is engaging and innovative, but whilst the design is suitable for a tournament environment, it could bear considerable improvement and expansion. Although redesigning the dungeon might not be a desirable undertaking, there is plenty of room for a wilderness description, random encounters, a settlement, rival treasure seekers, and other augmentations. Several encounter areas could also be improved on so that they are less linear and have several potential solutions. Less emphasis on combat in some instances would also be worthwhile, in particular for the locust and beetle vehicles; the usefulness of the latter in the passage of annihilation already hints at alternative possibilities, rather than simply combating a like opponent. Whatever its design shortcomings for regular campaign use, the adventure is well written and Warden demonstrates a considerable knowledge of the history of ancient Egypt without overwhelming the reader, though anybody expecting a swords & sorcery Stygian theme might well be disappointed. If the implementation of the concept is somewhat pedestrian, it remains an entirely playable and imaginative module that should make for one or two entertaining and challenging sessions.

[Article] Hit Points

2011-06-15T16:00:00.003+01:00

Of all the game elements introduced or popularised by Dungeons & Dragons the concept of hit points has probably been the most influential and widespread, finding its way into numerous tabletop and electronic games alike. The origin of the mechanism likely lies in the Chain Mail Fantasy Supplement where the superior fighting capability of heroes, wizards and monsters is represented by making them individually equivalent to multiple figures. For instance, a hero is worth four figures of any type, a wizard is equal to two armoured foot, or if mounted two medium horse, whilst a giant attacks as twelve heavy foot and defends as twelve armoured foot (or twelve heavy foot according to Fantasy Reference Table on p. 43). In each case, these powerful combatants are normally only slain after suffering enough cumulative or simultaneous hits to kill the number of men to which they are judged to be equivalent. That these were the forerunners of hit dice can be seen most clearly in the goblin, orc and hobgoblin entries, where they are indicated to attack and defend as heavy foot/light foot, heavy foot/heavy foot, and armoured foot/heavy foot, respectively, which is a relationship later reflected in their hit die ratings of 1−1, 1 and 1+1.

At an indeterminate but early juncture hits as kills were deemed insufficiently granular for swords & sorcery adventure gaming. Instead, each man equivalent was assigned 1-6 "hit points", a successful hit inflicting 1-6 damage rather than slaying outright. This approach had the advantage of allowing the average result of an isolated hit to remain a kill, but also ensured that five-in-twelve such hits would be non-lethal. It also created the possibility that combatants with multiple hit dice might be laid low with a single blow, if they had been unlucky in their hit point determination. Because of the way hits accumulate, the introduction of hit points strengthened the less powerful creatures and weakened the greater ones. Dealing with non-fatal hits is an area where Dungeons & Dragons often comes in for criticism, as its default assumption is that hit point loss in and of itself has no further deleterious effects. Since damage is most often conceived of as the inflicting of wounds, this seems counterintuitive, but it is worth recalling that the original edition of the game did give the subject some consideration, noting that "whether sustaining accumulative hits will otherwise affect a character is left to the discretion of the referee" (M&M, p. 18).

Both the first and second editions of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons take the time to address the issue of hit points and wounds, warning that debilitating injuries are "not the stuff of heroic fantasy" (1e DMG, p. 61) and that "characters have enough of a challenge as it is" (2e DMG, p. 74). Even so, it is nevertheless noted that this is not necessarily the case for monsters and in fact neither edition is completely opposed to the idea of inflicting specific wounds on characters. For instance, maiming is considered a viable alternative to death in cases where player characters have played well but been extraordinarily unlucky (1e DMG, p. 110), and the sword of sharpness is well known for its ability to sever limbs regardless of whether the hit points of the target have been exhausted. The hydra is a good example of a monster that suffers an injury for each hit die of damage suffered, in this case the loss of one of its heads. A more general example is extant for winged flying creatures, as it is specified that if such monsters lose more than half of their hit points they must seek to land (2e DMG, p. 78), whilst if they lose more than three-quarters of their hit points during flight they plummet to the ground (1e DMG, p. 53).

Lest we forget, the original Dungeons & Dragons game has rules for aerial combat, apparently borrowing from Fight in the Skies by Mike Carr, which involve specific body location and critical hits. Nor should the much maligned hit location system presented in Supplement II: Blackmoor, and its assignation of hit points to various body parts, be overlooked. By the same token, the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons includes a rule for handling attacks against combatants without helmets (1e DMG, p. 28), whilst the second edition discusses the inclusion of called shots (2e DMG, p. 58). Indeed, the methods by which hit points are commonly restored, such as healing magic, regeneration, or lengthy periods of rest, suggest that their loss is representative of wounds suffered, rather than luck, skill, endurance or divine protection. Whilst it might be reasonable to evade this conclusion by applying the retroactive logic that a character is not wounded unless healed, for which precedent exists with regard to saving throws against poison, such arguments are unlikely to satisfy anybody desirous of a cause and effect relationship. As with other elements in the Dungeons & Dragons combat system, hit points oscillate between having abstract and specific qualities.

In reality, any wound significant enough to impair fighting ability is likely to take an individual out of the combat they were involved in. On the other hand, the notable individuals who fight on despite injury are the very sorts that player characters are intended to emulate. Leaving things up to individual game masters as the original game does is the most coherent solution, but also runs the risk of seeming too arbitrary. The suggestion in the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide that characters reduced to zero hit points suffer some sort of injury rather than being slain is attractive, especially if the negative ten optional rule is discarded or modified. A house rule used in the World of Silver Blade is that characters brought to zero hit points or below are wounded and out of the fight, suffering ongoing penalties until the injury is healed, regardless of hit point recovery. Furthermore, and partly because magic is less prevalent in the campaign, characters can heal one hit point for every turn of rest after combat up to a maximum of one point for every die of damage suffered. So, for example, a character fortunate enough to have survived a fire ball spell that inflicted 6d6 damage can expect to recover six hit points after resting and tending his wounds for an hour.

Clearly hit points are a useful abstract combat mechanism for swords & sorcery adventure games, as well as being a source of controversy that defies singular definition. As Gygax notes in the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide it is ludicrous to suppose that characters can regularly survive multiple sword blows, but the binary "alive or dead" model that hit points seem to support seems equally unsatisfactory, and is a level of abstraction often gainsaid elsewhere in the text. Whilst it may be undesirable in a game of "heroic fantasy" for persistent or debilitating injuries to feature overmuch, a world without wounds is no more appealing. The key to reconciling this likely lies in realising that, although hit point loss may indicate injury and vice versa, the two are not inexorably related, which is to say a broken arm need not correspond to any form of hit point loss at all, and yet could be healed by restorative magic. Nonetheless, it is worth noting that healing magic in Dungeons & Dragons is bound up with the positive and negative energy planes, as well as the concept of life energy levels. Indeed, hit points are perhaps most usefully defined as "life force", but probably they are best understood as being whatever they need to be in the context of game events.

[Review] AA8 The Seven Shrines of Nav'k-Qar

2011-05-27T05:30:00.002+01:00

The Seven Shrines of Nav'k-Qar

Author: James C. Boney
Contents: 12 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 9 pages of adventure, 1 page of Your Games Now and Other World Miniatures advertisements, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6108
Retail Price: £7.00 or $12.00

Overview

An adventure for 6-8 characters of levels 8-12, the Seven Shrines of Nav'k-Qar is a straightforward two level dungeon crawl with a strong theme. The physical product has a glossy cover stock and durable internal pages, onto which the text and black and white maps have been clearly printed. Both the front and back cover illustrations by Bradley K. McDevitt are atmospheric and complement one another by contrasting two related scenes with different degrees of action. Including the title page, there are four interior drawings by Jeff Womack, each related to events and encounters in the module. Of these, the title page is the most compelling composition, depicting a group of adventurers apparently deliberating over how to deal with the smiling stone golem in area fourteen of the first level. Two of the remaining illustrations are of new monsters introduced in the appendices, and the last shows the focus of an encounter area. Although more interior art would be welcome, and the frequency varies considerably by module, the use of diverse artists in the Advanced Adventures series is much appreciated, as is the overall stylistic continuity, which speaks to a skilful choice of illustrators.

Very little space is given over to the premise of the scenario, just two paragraphs outlining the history of the titular toad cult of Nav’k-Qar and how the seven shrines came to be abandoned, whilst the introductory text contains the entirety of the otherwise unreferenced adventure hook. Unusually, there is also some advice to the game master with regard to fairness and moderation of the effects of randomness, which is probably not strictly necessary. A selection of rumours and wilderness encounters are provided as a precursor to entering the dungeon, the latter including swamp orcs and an adult black dragon, as well as several other interesting or environmentally suitable items. The dungeon itself also has several thematic and atmospheric features that help to give it a unique feel, such as the poisonous walls or the virtual carpet of toad bones covering the floors. On the other hand, the ogre and bugbear guardians held in suspended animation seem somewhat out of place, though such things are perhaps inherent to the design sensibilities of the author. Nevertheless, this feels like a missed opportunity to invent or use something more indicative of the degeneracy of the toad cult and its presumably twisted activities prior to being overthrown.

There is very little treasure to be had on the first level of the dungeon, but plenty of interesting and deadly encounters, so player characters that do not make use of divination magic, or otherwise fail to take sufficient steps to determine what they are facing, will be in for a hard time of things. By contrast, the second level is very linear in design; three sets of shrines must be entered and defeated, each pair in turn so as to gain entry to the next, before the seventh shrine finally becomes accessible. The challenges in these areas are heavily combat orientated, which is a bit of a pity as more puzzles would certainly have been welcome at this stage in the adventure, as would more latitude with regards to methods of bypassing the dangers. Once within the final sanctuary the party is confronted by almost an avatar of Nav’k-Qar himself, which should makes for a difficult battle and a fitting climax. Nonetheless, it is possible to come away from this module practically empty handed in terms of treasure; diligent parties will be well rewarded, but they run the risk of a final deadly obstacle in typical swords & sorcery style. As the introductory text warns, there are numerous places in the module where an unfortunate party could be wiped out.

Technicalities and Errors

In terms of grammar and editing there is very little to complain about, though the "chamber of dispair" on page four is a notable exception. As with the majority of Advanced Adventures preceding this one, there is a tendency towards using a hyphen instead of a "true" negative and it seems strange to see "1/2" in preference to "½", but the usage is consistent and so nothing more than minor gripes. Other very insignificant errors or inconsistencies include a colon after "HP" on page four, "d6" instead of "1d6" on page ten, the unnecessary pluralisation of the abbreviation "HP" to "HPs" in several places, and the appearance of "1-4+1" rather than "2-5" on pages four and five. In the latter case there is also an instance of "1-12+5" on page nine, but maybe that is a preferable notation to "6-17". That this is a module originally designed for use with the Old School Reference and Index Compilation and not a conversion from another system is evident throughout; indeed, the author has made full use of its terminology and potential. It might have been useful to include, for ease of reference, the movement rates for the various monsters in addition to their armour class, hit dice and damage, especially considering the environmental movement restrictions in the dungeon.

Conclusion

Whilst the Seven Shrines of Nav'k-Qar is perhaps not as strong an offering as the earlier modules penned by James C. Boney, it reads well and is bound to provide a satisfactory high level play experience. As with the three previous scenarios he has authored for the Advanced Adventures line, the most significant way in which this adventure could be improved is not in terms of quality but quantity. For instance, the concept could certainly be extended to a wilderness hex exploration of a partially swamp submerged and ruined city containing the eponymous seven shrines, with lizard men, bullywugs, swamp orcs, cultists, and worse vying over the drowned and broken remains. However, that probably goes rather beyond the scope of what can really be effectively conveyed in a standard sixteen page or even thirty-two page module, and as it stands the length and structure are well suited to a four to six hour tournament slot. Whilst the design is not particularly ambitious, it is certainly effective. A party of player characters of the appropriate levels should find the dungeon a difficult and entertaining challenge. Furthermore, they can consider themselves to have achieved something of note if they emerge relatively unscathed and victorious.

[Article] Spell Ability

2011-04-08T11:30:00.002+01:00

Whilst fighting ability and thieving ability are barely attested and at best ambiguous terms in the first edition Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, spell ability frequently appears and is fully defined in the former work as indicating "whether or not the class of character is able to employ spells" (p. 19). It is further divided into four types, which is to say magic-user, clerical, illusionist and druidic, each corresponding to one of the four major spell casting classes. However, much like the fighting and thieving characteristics, spell ability also has a narrower definition, referred to in the Dungeon Master’s Guide entry for the Ring of Wizardry; it is explained there that the "ring doubles spell ability (i.e. the number of spells a magic-user may prepare each day) in one or more spell levels" (p. 132). As with the other entries in this series of articles, it is the more limited definition that is of interest here, spell ability as an indication of the number of spell slots available to a character by level. Whereas the spell slot progressions in the various iterations of Dungeons & Dragons vary considerably in structure by class, the contention here is that a more consistent approach would be useful and do no violence to the overall system.

In the original Dungeons & Dragons game there were initially two spell casting classes available, the magic-user and the cleric, with the illusionist and druid subclasses being later additions in Strategic Review and Eldritch Wizardry, respectively. Famously, at first level a cleric had no spell slots available, his progression only beginning at second level, but what is rarely noted is that at eleventh level the magic-user and cleric have exactly the same number of spell slots available and this remains the case at twelfth level when they both first get access to spells of the sixth level. After that they deviate again, partly because their maximum spell levels differ (level nine for magic-users and level seven for clerics). The spell progressions for classes are slightly different in each subsequent edition, including the D20 version of Dungeons & Dragons, and this interesting transient equality is lost. On the other hand, in the advanced game, magicians and clerics nominally have the same number of slots available from levels one to four, but in practice any cleric with a wisdom score of thirteen and above has rather more. Their subclasses, the illusionist and the druid, follow completely different progressions of their own.

Apart from the major spell casting classes and their multiclass combinations, there are the fighter subclasses with minor spell casting ability, which is to say the paladin and the ranger, and not counting the capacity of the thief class to read scrolls. Of the two subclasses, only the ranger originally had any spell casting ability, though the paladin as he appeared in Greyhawk could always "lay on hands", "detect evil", and "dispel evil", which applied to "spells, undead, evil enchanted monsters, and the like" (p. 8). Indeed, it was only in the advanced game that the paladin acquired the ability to cast spells at relatively high levels, along with the precondition in the Dungeon Master’s Guide that such characters had served a "novitiate" much like the cleric and druid (p. 39). Along with the details in the same section (pp. 38-40), this reflects an increasingly complex and specific approach to explaining how magic works in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and as a result also partially defining its limits. The positive and negative energy planes have a central role to play in the process, always triggering the channelling of energy from other planes of existence or else serving as the prime source themselves, the effects of which then manifests of the prime material plane.

Perhaps the most significant delineation in the advanced magic system is the acquisition, memorisation and preparation of spells for clerics and magicians. For the latter, a spell may be taught by an already learned master, studied from a book or researched anew, but in all cases the magician is limited in both the number he may ever learn and even which spells he has the aptitude to learn. After successfully acquiring a spell it must be maintained in a spell book and memorised from the text whenever it is to be prepared. The cleric, by contrast, has knowledge of all existing spells for his class, but in order to prepare those of third to fifth level must communicate with intermediaries of his deity and have them bestow the spells requested upon him, whilst for spells of sixth to seventh level must petition the deity directly. Nonetheless, in order to prepare spells of the first and second level the cleric need only rely on his training and faithful service to his deity, which is to say the spells he desires are bestowed without direct communication, apparently simply a matter of prayer and meditation. There is something vaguely conceptually dissatisfying about this treatment and the open ended character of the clerical spell list is potentially troublesome.

Limiting the number of spells available to the cleric is most easily done by imitating the lot of the magician, requiring each spell to be acquired individually and maintained in a "prayer book", which is how it currently works in my Silver Blade and Greyhawk campaigns. When using published modules the simple expedient of treating spells memorised as spells known for non-player characters and monsters has proven to be largely satisfactory. Conceptually, the cleric is reimagined as a holy warrior so worthy in his abilities and faithful in his character that a deity or pantheon has empowered him with spell ability. As he rises in ability level the cleric must petition, usually through otherworldly intermediaries, for access to higher spell levels. Whilst the magician seeks arcane knowledge and may traffic with extraplanar beings to obtain it, understanding for the cleric comes in the form of divine revelations as to the nature of the multiverse, often conveyed by the very same outside intelligences. Regardless, not everybody, indeed few, have the potential to become clerics or magicians, whether it is a matter of inner qualities, external selection, diabolical compacts or a mixture of some or all, few can speculate with authority and none can say for sure.

There is no real reason for magicians and clerics to have different spell progressions, excepting perhaps an appreciation for an eccentric and erratic aesthetic, not lightly discounted by all. Still, if levels one to four and levels eleven to twelve can be the same, why not reasonably levels five to ten? As a known and stable value spell ability might be easier to design around and certainly easier to notate in statistic strings, though "SA" might cause confusion with "special attacks" or "special abilities", so might be more productively rendered "SCA". That said, acronyms could be created for the already existing spell ability divisions by class and subclass, if that were preferred, for instance "MSA", "CSA", "ISA", and "DSA". Either way the use of spell ability as describing the number of spell slots available by level is potentially useful. For those interested, a comparison of spell ability across the extant editions and classes of the game can be downloaded here in portable format document, including for Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, and the Old School Reference & Index Compilation. Differences from the original game are highlighted in red, from the basic and expert game in blue and from the advanced game in green.

[Article] Handbooks, Guides & Manuals

2011-04-01T08:19:00.006+01:00

One Ring To Rule Them All...

...And In The Darkness Bind Them!

[Review] AA7 The Sarcophagus Legion

2011-03-24T19:20:00.004Z

The Sarcophagus Legion

Author: Andrew Hind
Contents: 16 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 13 pages of adventure, 1 page of OSRIC advertisements, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6107
Retail Price: £7.00 or $12.00

Overview

An adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 2-4, the Sarcophagus Legion presents a desert wilderness area and two dungeons, each consisting of one level. The physical product has a glossy cover stock and durable internal pages; the text has been clearly rendered, as have the black and white interior maps. Happily, the spine seems to be showing more resistance to wear than the last two in this series. The cover illustrations by Bradley K. McDevitt depict encounters in the module and appeal to traditional sensibilities, though the back image is perhaps the more compelling of the two. Of the three interior pieces by John Bingham, the title page image is particularly good. In addition to being evocative of the substance and theme of the module, it is a stylistically strong example of his work. The writing is for the most part energetic and clear, but does sometimes become cumbersome and over descriptive in places. An informed reader might suspect that the module was written in the style of a Dungeon Crawl Classic and then later converted over as a prospective Advanced Adventure, the read aloud text being integrated into the area descriptions, and a repeat error in the monster entries appears to confirm that as a likelihood.

The basic scenario is relatively straightforward; the sultan of a small desert kingdom seeks to engage the services of the adventurers to retrieve his fifth wife, Syriana, from a band of dervishes, who have taken her captive after ambushing her caravan. However, unbeknownst to the party and only lately revealed to the sultan, this unfortunate woman has been determined to be the reincarnation of a long dead queen, whose blood can be used to ritualistically animate the dead. In particular, she can potentially be used to bring into undying service a legion of mummies reputed to lie dormant beneath an abandoned temple deep in the desert. This is a setup with great potential, and reminiscent of a good number of Doctor Who episodes, but it is unfortunately largely squandered. Instead of becoming embroiled in the political intrigue and power struggle between the sultan and the dervishes for control of the ruined temple and the means to awaken the undead legion beneath, the adventurers are sidetracked to a former derro stronghold where Syriana has ended up; after rescuing her they are unavoidably betrayed and captured by servants of the sultan, then expected to escape so that they can rescue her again from the temple.

Whilst both dungeons are reasonably interesting and playable individually, they read as though they were designed independently and then stitched together into a heavy handed narrative. At first blush the wilderness map seems to promise open ended exploration, but the reality is much more linear, a string of encounters leading to a final showdown in the temple, the sacrifice essentially delayed until the adventurers show up. Hind, as always, provides numerous memorable encounters with innovative denizens, which offsets to some degree the larger design shortcomings. The clockwork spider and Laukshar the Leaking, a diseased ghoul priest, are particularly interesting examples of twists on conventional monsters, but there are also thematic magical items to be had and deadly locations to avoid, such as the "Pit of Fangs". Good use is made of task resolution mechanisms, rather than simple reliance on linear attribute checks, such as bend bars/lift gates to escape magical attacks and opportunities to forestall saving throws. Even experienced players should find an entertaining surprise or two in this module, and intelligent play will usually be rewarded, allowing the party to avoid expending resources unnecessarily.

Technicalities and Errors

Occasional textual errors, such as "desrt" (p. 2), are almost unavoidable, but still worth noting. The stylistic and notational inconsistencies are somewhat irritating; for instance, the forms "1-6", "2-12", "1-6+1", "1d6", and "d6" are all in evidence, and whilst such lack of standardisation might be thought endearing by some, it is seems doubtful that it was really intended. On the other hand, the notation for less than a full hit dice is consistent in that it is presented as a hit point range, even if fractional notation is arguably more aesthetically pleasing. However, the most significant technical fault of this module is that the movement rates for all of the monsters and non-player characters are the D20 values, up to and including the new monsters in the appendices. Consequently, skeletons and dervishes have a move of 30’ instead of 120’, and that can only be confusing for a game master who does not realise what has probably happened. Errors of this sort must be caught in editing, especially if a module shows signs of being originally written with a different system in mind. It is particularly unfortunate because the statistic strings are otherwise very consistent, the product of some considerable care.

Conclusion

Conceptually, the Sarcophagus Legion has a lot to offer, the sultan is well characterised and the political situation provides plenty of opportunity for adventure. Moreover, its individual elements are good examples of Andrew Hind’s imaginative approach to swords & sorcery adventure, but as a whole it falls somewhat short of being an ideal module. Perhaps its worst design transgression is the pause between dungeons that requires the player characters to surrender or die, presuming the former. The lack of wandering monsters in the dungeons and relatively linear structure of the maps (though this is less of an issue with the mines than the temple) are also issues. With enough time and will, any experienced game master could get a lot out of what is provided, but as it stands the Sarcophagus Legion is in need of redesign and further development to meet the full potential of the ideas it contains. That is not to say that the module is a failure, indeed it is not a bad marriage of traditional game rules and modern adventure design sensibilities. Nonetheless, that is not really what has come to be expected of the Advanced Adventures series, but it is still to be hoped that Hind continues to bring his creative talent to future modules of improved design.

[Article] Turning Ability

2011-01-10T21:30:00.002Z

The genesis of the Dungeons & Dragons cleric class is relatively well known. Inspired by the character of Van Helsing and his analogues as portrayed in the Hammer Horror films of the preceding decades, the cleric was created to combat a particularly troublesome vampire player character known as “Sir Fang”. To this somewhat narrow archetype were appended the trappings of a pseudo-medieval warrior priest typology, and the infamous restriction against the use of edged weapons (later “edged and/or pointed weapons which draw blood”). This latter clause was derived from a nineteenth century visual interpretation of the depiction of Bishop Odo in the Bayeux Tapestry, which was current in academic circles up until the late twentieth century, and remains embedded in the popular consciousness, even amongst those who really ought to know better. Gygax showed some trepidation in this assertion by the time of the Player’s Handbook, when he stated that the cleric has “a certain resemblance to religious orders of knighthood of medieval times” (p. 20), who he must have known were under no such compulsion. Regardless, the most formidable abilities of the class, casting spells and turning away evil spirits, have little to do with the military orders.

Whilst spell casting was already well established in the developing milieu, the ability to turn away undead, as well as lesser demons and devils, was a new addition. It fairly clearly has its roots in the conventional Hammer Horror scene where a character attempts to keep a vampire away by holding up a cross, with varying degrees of success (perhaps most amusing of these is an instance in which a character played by Peter Cushing destroys a vampire with the shadow of a burning windmill). These sort of scenes no doubt owe their currency to the myriad superstitions concerning the warding off of evil with magical amulets or sacred objects, and the reputed power of holy men to themselves drive away evil spirits. However, even in the original version of Dungeons & Dragons the vampire is singled out as averse to garlic, mirrors, and the sight of the cross, over and above any power of the cleric, if “presented strongly” (Monsters & Treasures, p. 10). Indeed, to turn away a vampire ordinarily a cleric must be at least sixth level (and thus equivalent in fighting ability to a hero) and roll a nine or more on two six-sided dice, a probability of only ten in thirty-six or just less than twenty-eight percent.

It is interesting to note that, just as the Chain Mail man-to-man combat system and its two six-sided dice gave way to the alternative combat system and its twenty sided die, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons did the same with regard to the turning ability. This was not the case with B/X or BECMI, both of which retained the shortened bell curve approach. Frank Mentzer, primary editor and designer of the later, has mentioned in the past that this also mirrored the B/X and BECMI morale rules, which used two six-sided dice, and that this was similar to how he envisioned a turning attempt, which is to say as a morale test for the undead. Of course, morale was not described in the original Dungeons & Dragons game, presumably the game master was expected to borrow from the byzantine Chain Mail version, though many must have used the “reaction test” as a stand in, again using two six-sided dice. Nonetheless, the morale rules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons used percentiles, with modifiers mainly in five-percent increments, which obviously would work well with a twenty-sided die. Oddly, the second edition of the advanced game compromises between the two methodologies by using two ten-sided dice for morale, but not to generate percentiles.

Once the numbers for the original chart are converted to percentiles (8.340%, 27.78%, 58.33%) it quickly becomes evident that Gygax rounded them off (0.10, 0.30, 0.60), inserted an additional increment between the largest step (0.10, 0.30, 0.45, 0.60) then shifted the probability down one for the latter three numbers (0.10, 0.25, 0.40, 0.55), paralleling what he did for armour class, before converting the probabilities to target numbers on a twenty-sided die (19, 16, 13, 10). He then extended the range downwards by increments of fifteen percent, and made “20” the top of the range (20, 19, 16, 13, 10, 7, 4). For whatever reason, levels 4-7 (hero to superhero −1) omit the 19 between 16 and 20, increasing the overall effectiveness of the cleric from what might be expected of the pattern between levels 1-3. Unsurprisingly, second edition standardised the table to follow the initial pattern, resulting in a corresponding decrease in effectiveness. The expansion in level range and decrease of one step between “D” and “D+” (or D*) somewhat flattened out the curve, along with the switch from “1-12 affected” to “2-12 affected”, and “7-12 destroyed” to “2-12 destroyed and 2-8 turned”, respectively.

Although the original version of turn undead specified the number to be turned as 2-12, it did not indicate how frequently the ability could be used, its range, area of effect, or for how long it was effective once employed, amongst other things. B/X somewhat clarified things by allowing turn undead to be used as frequently as desired, but reduced its effectiveness to 2-12 hit dice, albeit with a minimum of one creature affected. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons took the opposite approach, restricting use to more or less once an encounter (under limited conditions it could be used in consecutive rounds against different types) and specifying the duration as 3-12 rounds, with previously affected undead “being subject to further turning by the cleric” (DMG, p. 76). The second edition returned to vaguer language, and duration seems to be as long as “he continues to maintain his turning”. Whilst that works well for turned undead, it makes destruction results extremely effective; for instance, to a tenth level cleric a pack of 2-16 wights is potentially little to no threat, but 2-12 wraiths remain foes to be feared! Happily, it does at least specify that cornered undead will fight back, “breaking” the turning effect.

For my own campaigns none of the approaches above have entirely sufficed, even less so when chaotic or evil clerics are stirred into the mix, not to mention the unlooked for vulnerability of paladins. Perhaps a better way to handle it would to be to treat it like a spell, an approach that has certainly been postulated elsewhere. However, that is not really any different than restricting it to a once per day effect, which would avoid the complication of introducing an additional slot. As long as an encounter can be defined, there is no reason not to keep it at once per encounter. The variable number of affected undead is a little unpalatable as an all or nothing affair, and the obvious solution is to roll one turning attempt against each target up to twelve, which would result in a more average spread of results, but “T” and “D” effects would always be the maximum. One way to counter that would be to spread out the probabilities for one half of the matrix on a 1:1 basis and use a higher ratio for the other, such as 1:2 or the 1:3 of the original scale. As things stand turn undead is somewhere between a saving throw based fear spell and a percentile morale test, neither fair nor foul. For those interested, comparative charts can be downloaded here.

[Review] Blood Moon Rising

2010-10-14T02:33:00.001+01:00

Blood Moon Rising

Authors: Peter C. Spahn.

Contents: 32 portable document format black and white pages, 1 title page, 29 pages of adventure, 1 page of advertisements, and 1 open game license page.

Publisher: Small Niche Games.

Product Code: SNGLLA001.

Retail Price: $4.95.

Overview

An adventure for 3-6 characters of levels 1-3, Blood Moon Rising takes place in and around the small village of Garanton. It consists of a description of the settlement, short history of the locality in which it is situated, a five day festival itinerary, and three short encounter areas that become of interest during the course of the celebrations. The electronic product appears to use relatively large verdana font and spacing, which is easily legible, and presents the text in two columns with half inch margins and a header and footer decorated with a narrow celtic border pattern. Each page contains about 600 words, giving the whole document a total count approaching 18,000 or so. There are four maps, one of the village and three of the encounter areas, and four illustrations, the best of which is reproduced on the front cover and has a very gothic feel. Of the other three, there is a very dark and almost indiscernible image of warrior with an axe, a crudely drawn moon symbol, and what appears to be an image culled from a medieval manuscript of two Germanic knights duelling. The writing is clear and workmanlike, rarely dwelling needlessly on ancillary topics or over lengthy descriptions, which makes for agreeable and uncluttered reading.

Whilst the method by which the player characters are introduced to the village of Garanton is left up to the game master, the adventure unavoidably takes place against the backdrop of the five-day Feast of Saint Garan, whose tomb is nearby. The events and random encounters likely to take place during the course of the festival take up eleven pages, and the six pages of character descriptions and statistics towards the end of the module largely pertain to those individuals associated with these. As the festival progresses it becomes increasingly apparent that something untoward is occurring in the vicinity of the settlement, the result of the excavations of an inquisitive soul, whose actions accidentally reopen a portal to another plane, unleashing a plague of "night demons" and result in his own disappearance. Meanwhile, a number of orcs are attempting to open the long sealed tomb of Saint Garan, having been set to the task by their shaman, prompted by signs, portents and visions related to the impending release of the night demons. Active and motivated adventurers may drive off the orcs, uncover the secret of the saint in his tomb, reclose the portal and rescue its hapless victim, not to mention become embroiled in acts of murder and thievery in the village itself.

This is an adventure with a strong timeline, and keeping the action moving over the course of several days of game time will require more than the contents of the module, even with its robust selection of random and scripted encounters. However, there is plenty to build on, and it should pose little problem for a seasoned game master acquainted with settlement based adventures. The broad selection of non-player characters is diverse and occasionally amusing, such as "Big Annamar", a large barbarian woman with an affection for “little folk” and a poor reaction to rejection. Opportunities for role-playing abound, particularly with some of the relatively unsavoury rival adventuring groups present for the festival. The local inhabitants are of similar interest, and the larger world context is hinted at in the fact that there are no clerics amongst the local priests, all of whom are presented as fighters. Should the player characters be successful in putting an end to the night demon attacks, the village of Garanton would make a good base for further adventures, and in the traditional style it is hinted that the encounter areas already discovered may lead to larger underground complexes with greater evils to be faced and treasures to be won.

Technicalities and Errors

Happily there are very few editing errors to be found in this module, and it is particularly pleasing to see a true minus used over the less aesthetically pleasing, but more usual, hyphen. The only typographical errors that were noticeable was the occasional missing space as in the case of "battle axe+1”"on page twenty-four, but it seems to be applied so consistently in the text that this may be a house style, though it looks ungainly to my eye and a space is used on page eighteen outside of a statistics block. As noted above, an experienced game master should have no problem keeping the pacing, but there should perhaps have been some advice for the neophyte. The maps are not pretty and two appear to be crammed into the columns, but they seem to be useable enough, though the scale of one square to twenty feet is perhaps slightly overly ambitious. Whilst in line with the random charts in the rulebooks, the amount of treasure available does seem rather a lot, resulting in very quick advancement for low level adventurers, and it might have been a good idea for Spahn to have addressed this in some way. Finally, the name of the new monster seems rather unimaginative; "night gaunts" immediately leapt to mind as an alternative, but others can no doubt do better!

Conclusion

Non-dungeon based adventures are difficult to write, as they lack the structure that a restricted environment provides. Spahn has taken a reasonable approach here in using a timeline to substitute for that lack and has created an interesting locale for the players to explore. The night demon attacks are a little flat as written, but their execution is really largely in the hands of the game master anyway. Where this adventure falls short is when it comes to dungeon exploration, and that is admittedly a subjective criticism given the nature of the module, but expanded subterranean areas beyond the sparse four pages provided could only have improved the whole, even if left relatively incomplete. By the same token, more information on the plane of the night demons would have been welcome, particularly what lies beyond their mausoleum sanctuary. Of course, the inclusion of such additional material might also have driven the price beyond the target range, and there is little that could be reasonably omitted that was provided, save perhaps the details of the back story. All in all, this is a well thought out adventure, well edited, and worth the price. Last of all, it is worth noting that player characters who do too well may find an unexpected drawback in the prize!

[Review] AA6 The Chasm of the Damned

2010-08-28T02:50:00.001+01:00

The Chasm of the Damned

Author: James C. Boney
Contents: 16 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 13 pages of adventure, 1 page of OSRIC advertisements, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6106
Retail Price: £7.00 or $12.00

Overview

An adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 6-10, the Chasm of the Damned consists of eight relatively short dungeons, each accessed from the titular location, some of which are interlinked. As with previous offerings in the series, the physical product has a glossy cover stock and is clearly printed on durable paper with black and white interior maps, but with a spine that appears to be susceptible to wear. The cover art is by Bradley McDevitt and appeals to the traditional aesthetic associated with the game, as well as being reflective of the subject matter. Both the front and back illustrations depict atmospheric scenes from the module that are easily recognisable. There are six interior pieces by John Bingham, including a particularly evocative depiction of a new monster that features in the adventure, and as with the cover illustrations almost all self evidently refer specifically to the content of the module. With regard to the writing, James Boney is typically economical and clear, rarely dwelling overlong on a description, and preferring to provide only enough to spur the imagination of the reader, which is of course in keeping with the methodology of traditional swords & sorcery adventure module design.

What has earned the chasm its ominous appellation is that it is a well known but randomly located plane shifting occurrence, appearing regularly every thirty-seven years for four and a half days. Rumours abound that great fortunes are hidden in the caverns it harbours, which is a natural draw for adventurers of all sorts, but commensurate dangers await and few are said to escape unscathed. The module presents two possible ways in which to get the player characters involved. In the primary scenario, it is common knowledge that the chasm is due to appear again and they are competing with several non-player character groups to locate and raid the caverns before the allotted time is up. As the alternative scenario, it is suggested that the player characters are employed by an enterprising cleric or magician who has determined the location the chasm will appear at in advance, and are engaged to prepare an expedition in secret. Of course, if they are incautious there is an ever increasing chance that a local guild of thieves or assassins will get wind of what they are up to and lay an ambush for the treasure laden party upon their return. A collection of rumours of varying degrees of veracity are provided for the party to glean about the chasm in advance.

There is a map of the chasm provided; it is about a mile in length and divided into three levels, each of which has access points to two or more of the eight dungeons. Several additional access points are provided in order to alert the game master to the possibility of expanding the chasm. The caverns entered from the first level are fairly straightforward, offering some relatively standard monster encounters, a few strange objects to interact with, the opportunity to rescue and recruit some non-player character associates, and the possibility of negotiating for a place to rest. From the second level, the caverns accessed are stranger and feature three new monster types denoted bogwings, madsome gargoyles, and faceless ones. One area is home to a powerful middle eastern inspired character known as the Gray Sultan, who has quite a lot of potential for a thoughtful game master. There are also some more familiar monsters that may be encountered or avoided as fortune dictates. Should the player characters reach the final level of the chasm, which is somewhat inaccessible, they will have the opportunity to explore the last set of caverns and uncover the mystery of the chasm, perhaps earning themselves a powerful enemy or patron in the process.

Technicalities and Errors

Besides the occasional editing error, such as "shortsword+1" (p. 6), and the somewhat vexing, but hardly unusual and in any case consistently applied, tendency to use compound words such as "chainmail" and "shortbow" there is little to complain about. The use of hyphens for minuses (e.g. p. 10) is worth commenting on, since a true minus does appear (p. 14) and I would like to see that practice extended to all instances. Oddities like "2-4 +2 turns" (p. 3) occasionally crop up, and mixed use of terms like "footman’s mace" (p. 6), "mace", and "war hammer" (p. 14) are maybe questionable in the context, since it seems inconsistent to specify the former, but not indicate whether a shield is intended to be small or large (p. 14). Hardly an issue for any game master more than passingly familiar with the system, but worth mentioning all the same if simply overlooked. The large efreeti bottle (p. 10) is also of interest, since it is not bolded, leaving the reader to wonder at its significance, but perhaps that is the intent. On the whole, the module is an improvement stylistically on its predecessors, suffering from fewer inconsistencies and hopefully future instalments will continue to ensure there are very few nits to pick.

Conclusion

Chasm of the Damned is a good example of James Boney’s work. It has a strong and innovative adventure hook, is engagingly written, and features plenty of interesting encounters. As with his previous modules, there is a tendency towards the eclectic, with a number of seemingly randomly selected monsters appearing as the result of what amount to traps, and no fear of including creatures capable of draining life energy levels. The author shows excellent understanding of the system, and knows where to provide mechanisms for adjudicating otherwise undefined actions, as well as knowledge of how elements of the adventure are likely to interact with typical and experienced players. His modules feel like they are very much in the tradition of their predecessors without being simple retreads of the past, and have a definite identity of their own. That said, this adventure was less tightly themed than his previous two, and ran the risk of amounting to a number of dislocated set piece encounters. A more fully integrated theme and, as always, more content would have improved the whole, but it is nonetheless a very good module.

[Article] Henchmen & Hirelings

2010-08-20T04:30:00.002+01:00

Whilst a player in a swords & sorcery adventure game typically generates and plays the role of only one character at a time in the context of a single campaign, he is also well advised to recruit hirelings and henchmen into his service when possible. These individuals provide the character with additional resources, look to his interests when he is unable, and may eventually serve as replacement player-characters in the event of his retirement, incapacitation, disappearance, or death. Clearly, then, it can be desirable for a player to enlist both hirelings and henchmen, but there is also a downside. Such characters are a drain on resources, requiring payment, upkeep, and a part of the treasure seized, not to mention being apportioned a share of the experience points gained. This last aspect is often particularly contentious amongst players of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, since the Dungeon Master’s Guide implies that hirelings count for the division of experience, yet gain no advantage from it, whilst henchmen gain only half the benefit, and that amounts to "wasted" experience points (DMG, p. 85). Of course, the root of the idea is that player-characters are awarded experience in proportion to the difficulty of gaining them.

In the original Dungeons & Dragons game (1974), there is only a brief mention in Men & Magic (p. 11) of the difference between ordinary hirelings and "hirelings of unusual nature", but the idea that charisma limits the number of the latter, whilst the former can be employed in unrestricted numbers, is present. Even a player character with a charisma of one is entitled to enlist a single henchman, whilst an eighteen allows for up to twelve. The text notes that players "will, in all probability, seek to hire Fighting-Men, Magic-Users, and/or Clerics in order to strengthen their roles in the campaign", and also that "charisma will aid a character in attracting various monsters to his service." Further elucidation is provided on the following pages (pp. 12-13), where it is explained that monsters with the same basic alignment as the player-character may be "lured into service", but otherwise they may be charmed or subdued. In this context, it is also made clear that men count as monsters and that high-level characters can be enlisted in a similar way. Furthermore, subdued monsters can be sold, presumably even men if there is a market for them. A loyalty check is made for groups or individuals so enlisted, which affects all subsequent morale rolls.

Unsurprisingly, these somewhat brief guidelines were expanded for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1979) and a formal distinction drawn between hirelings and henchmen. The former group was subdivided into "standard" and "expert" types, the idea being that experts were more suitable for employment after the construction of a stronghold. That these included the various mercenaries available seems to contrast with the idea put forth in the original game that a player-character might wish to hire such a band to "participate in and share the profits from some adventure" (M&M, p. 12). Nonetheless, some provision was made for recruiting men-at-arms to participate in the danger of exploring a dungeon, though in restricted numbers, and the random non-player-character adventuring parties generated using the Dungeon Master’s Guide are noted as containing such hirelings only on the upper levels of the dungeon (DMG, p. 175). Subsequent versions of Dungeons & Dragons, as well as the second edition of the advanced game, downplayed and discouraged the use of mercenaries outside of the context of strongholds and domain management. This coincided, it is often noted, with the increased emphasis on small parties of four to six player-characters.

As with hirelings, henchmen are divided into two types for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which is to say standard and exceptional. The former are down on their luck adventurers of first to third level, arriving with little but themselves by way of possessions, whilst the latter are higher level characters who may agree to become permanent or temporary henchmen, depending on their level relative to that of the player-character seeking their service. Alternatively, they may agree to become associates, which is presumably similar to the relationship between player-characters. Indeed, the Dungeon Master’s Guide notes that henchmen operated independently tend to become associates, or even rivals, of the player-character (p. 38). The potential for a henchmen to become an associate or rival is somewhat analogous to the possibility of a player character being permanently rendered a zero level character as a result of life energy level drain (DMG, p. 119) or of the textually unmentioned, but otherwise well attested, capacity of a zero level and classless hireling to receive a battlefield promotion and attain the rank of henchman. Movement between hireling, henchman and associate, then, is a feature of the game.

The concept of a non-player-character associated adventurer is interesting, as when a player fails to turn up (and even the best campaigns invariably suffer from scheduling issues sometimes) this is what the character they would usually play essentially becomes, assuming some alternative device is not employed. It is also possible that a player whose character is slain, incapacitated, lost, or simply not present at the scene of action, will be asked to take the part of a non-player-character, such as an associate. This recourse seems most successful with experienced players, as they are usually better able to divorce the persona and aims of one character from another, or even capable of running multiple characters at once, but it is also a good exercise for neophytes and often a welcome change of pace. In the Shadow Peaks campaign there was a considerable amount of role-changing as player-characters were frequently incapacitated or removed from the action, and there were often several associated non-player-character adventurers accompanying the party. Such individuals were recruited to assist in difficult expeditions, allotted equal shares of treasure and received full experience, but had their own agenda.

Since each of these had their own personality and opinion of the party, the players grew to like and trust some of them more than others, which was rather gratifying. In fact, they had their beginning as the nine pregenerated player-characters for the Twisted Tower of Mordras introductory adventure (and can be downloaded here), but ended up as an integral part of the campaign, supplying the players with information and many role-playing opportunities, as well as accompanying them on adventures from time to time. For their part, the players seemed interested in the fortunes of these characters, even seemingly trying to impress them from time to time (their own reputation was a frequent source of concern to them). This did not discourage them from taking on hirelings and henchmen, though, so the party was usually comprised of four to six player-characters, two or three henchmen, two or more associates, and half a dozen hirelings. In fact, the difficulty of their adventures encouraged it. In retrospect it is interesting that at the time it seemed unusual to me, because my earliest campaigns were very similar, but at some point four to six characters became my normal expectation.

[Article] Thieving Ability

2010-08-14T01:30:00.004+01:00

Analogous to, and in contrast with, fighting ability, the concept of thieving ability usually refers to a discrete subset of "skills" typically only available to thieves, and the probability of their success. In the first edition Player’s Handbook it is referred to when describing the limitations of the multi-class thief (pp. 16 and 33), indicating the reduced capability of the assassin in the same regard (pp. 28-29), the monk (pp. 30-31), and the limitations on the bard (pp. 117-118). By contrast, the Dungeon Master’s Guide uses thieving ability in the sense of thief experience level when referring to life energy level drain (p. 119). A rendering of Conan as an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons character, authored by Gygax and published in Dragon #36 (April, 1980, pp. 10-11), makes use of both terms in the wider and narrower senses, also noting that his exceptional ability to move silently and hide in shadows (which Conan can naturally accomplish as though a tenth and fourth level thief, respectively) allows him to surprise opponents fifty percent of the time. So, as with fighting ability, the term appears to be employed loosely, but can be usefully applied to the collection of ten abilities that differentiate the thief class from the other three.

It is worth considering that there are a number of objections to the thief class, these often being rooted in, or deriving legitimacy from, the fact that the thief was not included in the original three booklets that composed the Dungeons & Dragons adventure game, but was introduced only afterwards with the Greyhawk supplement. These run from at best perceiving the class as superfluous to requirements, to at worst as a usurper of activities that ought to lie in the domain of the fighter. In fact, though, as soon as one steps away from the simple abstract dichotomy of the fighter and the magician, the result is intrusion or surpassing of a sort. Moreover, and as Robert Fisher pointed out to me several years ago by ways of his writings on the subject, thief abilities are not just colourfully named skills, but frequently duplicate spell effects, such as silence, invisibility, knock, find traps, and spider climb. The fighter class lost nothing in this regard, even if the perception was created that they could not be stealthy or search for traps. Indeed, it seems to me that the quartet of classes, fighter, magician, cleric, and thief, are fundamental to the identity of the game in a way that the subclasses and, even the races, are not.

Whilst objections on the grounds of aesthetics or misunderstandings have little weight, a more substantial criticism of the thief class is its relative weakness in comparison to the other three. As has been demonstrated elsewhere, the starting fighting ability and progression of the thief has varied across editions, and even the relatively speedy level advancement that he enjoys will not serve to make him the equal of the fighter nor often that of the cleric. Much like the magician and cleric, then, we must look to the special abilities of the class in order to seek justification for its inclusion. Unfortunately, the probabilities of success for most thief abilities start out exceedingly low and then rise rapidly until almost certain by around twelfth level in the original and classic versions of the game. For the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the starting probabilities were slightly increased and then the rate of advancement reduced by a relatively more significant amount, so that by the same point several abilities compared very unfavourably with earlier versions. With second edition an entirely new approach was taken making use of point allocation so that the player determined the probabilities within certain defined limits.

The benefit of this approach was that a single ability might start at around forty percent, higher if racial and dexterity modifiers were favourable, and be increased by up to fifteen percent at each level. The obvious problem with this was that the abilities of any given thief were unpredictable, depending on what the player had decided to specialise in (or not, as the case might be) and relatively less useful abilities were sacrificed in favour of high scores in more desirable ones. Less obviously, the allocation of points substantially increased character creation time, most importantly for non-player characters, and required an entire extra statistic line for each individual entry. This may seem like a small price to pay for a resolution to the problem of the underpowered thief, but it is more of a redistribution of power than it is an actual solution to the underlying issue, which is that the class starts out with very limited usefulness and then rapidly rises in capability in uneven steps, much like the non-advanced fighter does with regard to fighting ability. A comparison of the various approaches taken to thief abilities in different editions and versions can be downloaded in pdf format here.

However, there is one major difference between the first edition version of the thief and all of the others, and that is the seeming lack of a limit on the number of times a thief can try some abilities. In the case of move silently, hide in shadows, and climb walls there are obvious immediate repercussions for failure, but none that prevent further attempts under the same conditions, assuming life still remains of course! The asterisks in the Greyhawk supplement indicate that only hear noise may be retried, but the actual note only refers to pick pockets, so it could conceivably be an editing error (pp. 11-12). The rules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons put no absolute limit on the number of times that characters may listen, nor seemingly on the number of times they may attempt to open doors, or search for secret doors (DMG, pp. 60 & 97). In particular they contrast with Greyhawk by explicitly allowing repeated attempts at picking a pocket (DMG, p. 19). On the other hand, more than one attempt to open a lock is prohibited and restricted to one attempt per thief (PHB, p. 28). More significant is the time consumed for each attempt, as this increases the probability of being interrupted by wandering monsters.

For my Silver Blade campaign the concept of thieving ability has suggested a different approach to the problem. Many tasks are rated by thieving ability (or thief level), so certain secret doors can only be found by a third level thief, for example, and the same applies to hearing noises, opening locks, as well as finding and disabling traps. In some cases no ability check would be required, in others repeated checks permitted, though obviously the dice roll must be hidden from the players so that they remain uncertain as to whether they have failed or there is simply nothing to be found. The probability used is a base thirty percent plus five percent per level, though it can be adjusted if the situation requires. With regard to stealth, lightly or unencumbered parties have an increased three-in-six probability of achieving success, medium encumbered parties two-in-six, and heavily encumbered parties a reduced one-in-six chance. A magically silenced party, silently moving and lightly armoured thief, elf, scout or ranger would thus have a four-in-six probability of surprising enemies. I remain in two minds as to whether to follow the example of Conan in forgoing the move silently roll in favour of overall increased surprise.

[Article] Void Elementals

2010-08-07T00:15:00.002+01:00

The “great wheel” cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons was not something that particularly concerned me until the introduction of the Planescape campaign setting, and even then its impact was confined largely to extra-planar adventuring within official game worlds and products. As written, the “blood war” seemed an enticing concept, but the differentiation between demons (or daemons) and devils was not something that I cared for. Nor can I say that the four elements as discrete planes of existence really made much sense to me conceptually. Whilst the illustration that adorns the cover of the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide, depicting adventurers doing battle with an efreet on the Elemental Plane of Fire in the vicinity of the City of Brass, which “can be seen floating over a flame-swept sea of oil”, is evocative, it hardly speaks to a realm of existence primarily comprised of the element of fire. Indeed, such an idealisation of the elemental planes of existence is less than readily imaginable, mainly because the four elements hardly describe everything that there might be in existence, nor clearly define what exactly they do encapsulate. This, of course, led to such things as the para-elemental planes in second edition.

Elementals as monsters are initially found in the Chain Mail Fantasy Supplement, using the traditional earth, air, fire, and water typology. Interestingly, at this juncture air elementals were almost entirely synonymous with djinn, and fire elementals with efreet. That is to say, they were imagined as conjured spirits closely associated with a particular element, but not necessarily exclusively comprised of that element in the way they literally later came to be; they were also divided into two classes, those subject to flame (earth and fire) and those subject to lighting (air and water). All four types are impervious to normal attacks, but have different movement rates and fighting strengths. The air elemental has a move of twenty-four, fights as four light horse, and adds two to its dice score in aerial combat; the water elemental has a move of six on land and eighteen in water, fights as four light horse on land, but as four heavy horse in water as well as adding two to its dice score in such combat; the earth elemental has a move of six, fights as four heavy horse, and adds one to its dice score against earth-bound opponents; the fire elemental has a move of twelve, fights as four medium horse, and adds two to its dice score against fire using opponents.

It would seem that the fire elemental is the odd man out in the above schema, as its abilities rely not on the environment, but the attack forms of the enemy. By the time of Monsters & Treasure (1974) djinn and efreet were separated out from the elementals. The elementals were rendered more powerful than previously in terms of hit dice, which vary in number between eight, twelve and sixteen, depending by what means they were summoned. As before, the combat effectiveness of the earth, air, and water elementals increases if fighting in a favourable environment, but the conditions for the fire elemental are reversed so that it does more damage against normal opponents than against fire using enemies. This suggested that affinity for fire made one less subject to its attacks, rather than more vulnerable as a result of using its element. Movement rates remain the same except that the speed of the air elemental is increased to thirty-six. As with Chain Mail, elementals will run amok if not successfully controlled. The advanced versions of elementals are very similar, the main difference being the requirement to use magical weapons +2 or greater in order to be able to harm them.

Many other creatures are native to the elemental planes, and the Monster Manual alludes to the existence of beings of greater and lesser power or intelligence not documented, but the elementals seem to be the “purest” standard form. However, the idea of creatures and places that purely exist of one element is more limiting than it needs to be, and when it comes down to it fire seems fundamentally different from the other three, in that it is largely energy rather than substance. In perhaps pseudo-philosophical terms, earth, air, and water can all be hot or cold, and their form may change by the application or absence of energy; creatures eat, drink, and breathe, and they are hot or cold, but energy is active on each, rather than separate. At first it seemed that an “ice elemental” might fill the gap, but frozen water is not an opposite of fire. Reading around the subject it seemed that perhaps Buddhism might suggest a solution in the form of void as a fifth element, but that has more in common with the Aristotelian conception of aether as a sort of heavenly substance than with the presence or absence of energy. Indeed what is translated as void from the Japanese godai (五大) system is better understood as a form of divine or pure otherworldly energy.

Nonetheless, the more prevalent usage of void and connotation of cold suggests another possibility within the cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons, which is to say the negative energy plane. Indeed, it is possible to conceive of the planar layout as a three-part cylinder with the energy planes extending it in the two opposite directions, negative and positive. These would not represent physical places, however, but rather how negative and positive energy might relate to the other three elements, or states of being. The City of Brass could be located on a plane of existence suited to seas of fire, pitiless wastelands, and dry, hot air; an environment typically hospitable only for certain sorts of otherworldly beings, but visitable by those with the means, or misfortune, to find their way thither. Inhabitants of such a place would not normally be natural creatures, but rather spirits of varying powers, whether diabolic, angelic or somewhere between; garbed in terrestrial raiment, they may appear to be composed chiefly of earth, water, or air (or metal or wood, for that matter), but their true form might appear more like a burning white fire or an icy black void. The idea is that the physical manifestation of the spirit need not be a reflection of its nature.

These thoughts are admittedly incomplete ramblings, and present their own problems in equating heat with life and cold with unlife, whilst associating them with good and evil respectively. In its own way it makes sense for otherworldly evil beings to be closely associated with negative energy in Dungeons & Dragons, since clerics are able to turn or command them. But, by that logic, an evil cleric ought to be able to “turn” living creatures and good clerics be able to “command” them, though I suppose that is not too far from the truth. Still, part of the point is to allow elementals to be potentially more than simply the brutish personification of one of four elements and become more akin to the djinn or efreet otherwise closely associated with them. Whatever the case, a plane uncompromisingly comprised of a single element does not represent much of an adventuring locale, nor does it seem to correspond with renderings of the elemental planes, so that concept can be usefully discarded. As envisioned here, then, a void elemental would be a neutrally aligned spirit comprised of negative energy, exuding cold, and perhaps manifesting as an icy blue-black flame; a draft version of this monster can be downloaded here.

[Article] Fighting Ability

2010-07-31T04:20:00.003+01:00

Also known as “fighting capability” and “combat ability”, fighting ability in Dungeons & Dragons is used in the general sense to denote the combat abilities of a fighter and also in the specific sense as a measure of the probability of a character scoring a hit in combat. That is to say, a character with a fighting ability of six is sometimes said to fight as though a sixth level fighter, but this usually does not encompass the hit die size, saving throws, and rate of attack that the fighter class enjoys. For instance, the Boot Hill and Gamma World conversions in the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide distinguish fighting ability from saving throws and hit dice, but seemingly not from attack rate. On the other hand, the “experience” entry in the glossary uses fighting ability in the more specific sense of an increase in effectiveness on the attack matrices, and that is often the usual sense intended. Interestingly, this statistic has not remained very consistent across editions, neither with regard to classes nor monsters. The cause can probably be traced to its occurrence as a bridge between Chain Mail and Dungeons & Dragons, where fighting ability is expressed in multiplications of “men” and in terms like “hero” and “wizard”.

In the Chain Mail Fantasy Supplement it is stated that a hero has the fighting ability of four figures and a superhero that of eight figures, which is fairly straightforward, the value of a figure depending on armament; all other fantasy unit classifications, including wizards, have specific ratings. For Dungeons & Dragons, ten levels of fighting ability were allocated to the fighter, corresponding to ten experience levels. At first level a fighter was rated as “man +1”, at second level “2 men +1”, at third level “3 men or hero −1”, and so on. The exact significance of the “+1” at levels one and two remain elusive, but magicians, clerics, and thieves all start out with the rating “man” before advancing to “man +1” at level two. By way of analogue, monsters simply attack as their hit dice, with any plus or minus added to one roll, as explained on page six of Monsters & Treasure, meaning that a goblin (HD 1−1) attacks once and deducts one from the roll, whilst an ogre (HD 4+1) attacks four times and adds one to a single roll. This only applies when they are fighting “normal men” or the equivalent, however, and the fantasy combat table is used whenever more powerful types face off against one another.

The alternative combat system takes a different approach, with fighters advancing in ability every three levels, clerics and thieves every four levels, and magicians every five levels; normal men are treated as first level fighters, and this first bracket is equivalent to THAC0 19. Similarly, orcs (HD 1) and goblins are rated at the same level of fighting ability. With Swords & Spells this was changed with normal men, orcs and goblins being rolled back to THAC0 20, though first level magicians, clerics and thieves remained equivalent to the fighter. This also resulted in monster THAC0 being capped at ten on reaching fourteen hit dice, as opposed to nine in the original game, and reflected a one-hundred percent success rate against armour class nine. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that this was also the THAC0 of fighters of levels thirteen to fifteen, though they were themselves capped at nineteenth level with a THAC0 of six. The classic versions of Dungeons & Dragons (B/X, BECMI, and the simulacrum Labyrinth Lord) adopt the change made to normal men, but class everything up to one hit die as THAC0 19 and do not distinguish between fighters and the other classes with regards to starting fighting ability.

With the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, though, there was a rethinking of the situation, so that first level thieves, magicians, and normal men were classified as equivalent to monsters of lower than goblin fighting ability, which is to say THAC0 21; fighters and clerics were rolled back to THAC0 20, equivalent to a goblin, whilst orcs and other single hit die creatures were classified as having the original THAC0 19 once common to all. Even with their relatively speedy level advancement, it appears that Gygax calculated the fighting ability of thieves so that it would never overtake that of clerics with the same experience point total, a significant demotion. The cleric, thief and magician could advance until they had a THAC0 of nine, ten, and eleven, respectively, but the fighter could continue to advance in fighting ability up to level seventeen, when he achieved a THAC0 of four. Despite a strong start, monsters were capped at sixteen hit dice with a THAC0 of seven, though for every “plus three” after their hit dice they moved up a bracket. The intent seems to have been to make fighters stronger at higher levels, but also make all classes somewhat weaker at lower levels relative to monsters.

That the result was not very satisfactory to Gygax seems fairly obvious from the changes he instituted in Unearthed Arcana, particularly the introduction of weapon specialisation. With second edition all the classes were brought into line with goblins at first level, as well as men-at-arms and all other monsters of less than one hit die. The fighting ability of thieves was increased in advancement granularity at a ratio of 1:2 to levels, with the result that they became erratically related to clerics, sometimes ahead, sometimes equal and sometimes behind. Similarly, the fighting ability of magicians was increased in advancement rate at a ratio 1:3 to levels, but with less noticeable effect. The advancement rate of monsters was also made cleaner by hit die, though for some reason did not take the obvious step of 1:1 granularity, which OSRIC eventually adopted. With the virtual integration of weapon specialisation into the second edition fighter class his previous ability to attack as many creatures of less than one hit die (one hit die or less in the original game) as he had levels was eclipsed and that last vestige of the multiple men approach taken by Chain Mail was removed from the default rules and became truly optional.

It has often seemed to me that the system can be improved upon without going much beyond any of the paradigms already explored. That a fighter ought to start with a better fighting ability than the other classes seems desirable and the Chain Mail approach suggests as the equal of a 1+1 hit die monster. Considering the frequent complaints about the combat viability of low level thieves, it would also be a small matter to return them to their previous standing relative to clerics. So, if all classes start off at level one with a fighting ability of one (FA 1) and if this is equivalent also to a single hit die monster, then the rest almost writes itself. HD 1−1 indicates FA 0, equivalent to level zero, and HD 1+1 indicates FA 2, with fighters similarly having the equivalent +1 to hit mirroring the effects of weapon specialisation in that regard. In fact, HD 1+1 could also denote FA 1(2) with +1 damage and the standard statistic shorthand of the game would be largely unaffected. Advancement for each class would be 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3 with respect to fighters, clerics as well as thieves, and lastly magicians. An overview of the changes between editions and comparison with the potential aforementioned alternative can be downloaded here.

[Article] Yggsburgh Coinage

2010-07-19T02:40:00.002+01:00

One of the more troublesome aspects of the Castle Zagyg campaign setting is that its economy seems to exist in isolation from both that of Dungeons & Dragons (any iteration) and Castles & Crusades. As I understand it, the underlying reason for this was that Gygax approached the design and development of Yggsburgh from the point of view of his Lejendary Adventure system and Fantasy Worlds series, which is to say he used nonstandard terminology for the equipment lists and assessed everything in dollars. The issue was further problematised during editing by the erroneous conversion of dollars to gold coins at a rate twenty-five times that intended, and the smoothing over of any resulting inconsistencies. So, for example, a long sword at Elite Arms & Armour is valued at 4,200 gold pieces in the Yggsburgh campaign setting book, but was supposed to cost only 168 gold pieces (or $3,360 in the original manuscript). This compares quite disproportionately with Castles & Crusades and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, where a long sword costs a mere 15 gold pieces, but it is perhaps an unfair comparison given that hafted weapons at the same location cost generally less than 2 gold pieces at the correct price (that is less than $40 in the original manuscript).

At first it seemed simply a matter of going through the text and correcting the numbers, as the conversion error was apparently consistently applied throughout. However, because the setting book was only meant to be a starting point, it being expected that the game master would add detail either from his own imagination or using the then projected twelve town expansions, some frame of reference is necessary, and neither the listed prices in Gary Gygax’s World Builder, nor those in the Castles & Crusades or Dungeons & Dragons rulebooks, accord with what is found in Yggsburgh. Frustratingly, the town expansions that did see publication refer the reader to the Castles & Crusades equipment lists, which even after a degree of conversion are wholly unsuitable. The only really viable solutions are to either discard the Castle Zagyg price lists in favour of those of another system, or else to attempt some sort of integration. Whichever of these is attempted, it is first desirable to correct all of the erroneous calculations in the Yggsburgh text in order to get an idea of what the original manuscript intended; having had cause to do so myself I have made the results available for download here.

Whatever his ability as a game designer and author, numismatics appears to have been of only passing interest to Gygax. The exchange rates of gold to silver he provided for the Castle Zagyg campaign setting are the same as those that appear in his Fantasy Worlds series, and according to those volumes are based on renaissance exchange rates. Unfortunately, there is little to support this assertion, possibly his understanding of inflation and coinage for that period was flawed, but it is also notable that the ratio looks very similar to the contemporary market at the time of writing (about 50:1 silver to gold), which may have influenced his thinking. As with Dungeons & Dragons, Gygax envisioned the “gold piece” of Yggsburgh to be quite heavy (437.5 grains) by comparison with medieval coins, perhaps modelling them on the extremely rare late fifteenth century gold double sovereign (480 grains), the more well known silver guldengroschen (491 grains), or the sixteenth century silver thaler (450 grains). He also suggests that smaller coins might circulate, perhaps worth a half or a tenth of a gold piece, which rather makes one wish he had stuck more consistently to decimals for the purposes of game play.

It is worth noting at this point that several different exchange rates and coin weights have been used in Dungeons & Dragons. The original game (1974) used a 1:10:50 ratio of gold to silver to copper, whilst Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1979) used a 1:20:200 ratio. It was not until the Moldvay edition of Dungeons & Dragons (1981) that the more straightforward 1:10:100 ratio was adopted, which was rather sensibly embraced for the second edition of the advanced game (1989) and later for D20/3e. Encumbrance was originally measured in coins, and it was strongly implied that one coin was equal to a tenth of a pound (700 grains), even though also stated that the measurement encompassed bulk as well as weight. When second edition switched to using pounds directly as the measure of encumbrance the weight of the standard coin was also set at a fiftieth of a pound (140 grains), accompanied by a brief and somewhat inaccurate overview of ancient and medieval monetary systems. These largish coins would be roughly equivalent in size to the ancient stater, tetradrachm, or aureus, which would in turn be roughly twice the size of the drachme, denarius, or solidus. A brief and incomplete overview is available for download here.

The fact of the matter is that ancient and medieval coins could come in extremely variable sizes and denominations, not to mention purity. Whilst a weight of 1-10 grams seems to have been the most common range for coins intended for circulation, the gold piece need not be regarded as anything more than a unit of account, which is how the dollar is treated in the Lejendary Adventure system. Exchange rates are less readily dealt with; although a 1:20 gold to silver ratio is not entirely unreasonable, a 1:50 ratio seems faintly ridiculous for any setting looking to evoke the ancient or medieval world. As a compromise between verisimilitude, aesthetics, and simplicity of play the 1:10:100 ratio seems the most suitable. In the same spirit, the default coin would be best fixed at either ten or one-hundred to the pound. That ten to the pound is probably unsuitable is evident from a brief survey of the jewellery and other items of precious metal that appear in prominent Dungeons & Dragons modules. As early as G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief we are faced with a belt buckle (albeit giant sized) specified as containing one-hundred gold pieces worth of gold (ten pounds) and a large golden hairpin worth five-hundred gold pieces (fifty pounds).

None of the above is intended to invalidate any given approach to coinage in the East Mark or swords & sorcery adventure games more generally, but rather represents a short exploration of the relationship between the value and weight of precious metals in Dungeons & Dragons. Gygax famously noted in the Player's Handbook that the prices quoted reflected a “boom town” economy, the idea being that large amounts of treasure liberated from a dungeon would drive up prices locally. In fact, though, even relative costs are highly variable in the game system, some things are simply over or under priced for whatever reason, and the frequent appearance of multiples of “100 GP” are suspicious. The disparities have led some to suppose that there may be two economies reflected in the game, one “big” and intended for adventurers and the other “small” and representing more normative costs. When the wages of a captain outstrip that of the total for his entire company it is hard not to notice these issues, and yet one supposes these were interlinked design choices. At any rate, it is neither a relationship Gygax perpetuated for his Castle Zagyg campaign setting, nor a precedent I propose to emulate.

[Article] Saving Throws

2010-07-08T02:30:00.007+01:00

The concept of a saving throw both predates and appears in Chain Mail. Of course, the Fantasy Supplement contains several references with regards to spells and dragon breath (pp. 31 & 35), but its first appearance in Chain Mail in general is in the siege rules, where a “rock dropped down a ladder will kill the first climber, and the second and third men on the ladder must roll a die to see if they survive, 1-3 saving the second and 1-5 saving the third” (p. 23). This idea that the defender makes a roll to save himself, rather than the attacker rolling to determine if a kill is scored, takes the onus away from the aggressor and assigns it to the victim. In most cases the ability of the attacker is of no consequence, he is assumed to either be one-hundred percent effective, or else the probability of his action failing as a result of his own insufficiencies is accounted for in the saving throw. A notable exception to this is found in Supplement II: Blackmoor and the monk class, which can make a saving throw to negate a successful enemy attack roll with a missile weapon; these rolls are not opposed, however, and the probabilities of success are largely independent of one another.

Analogous to class based saving throws are the various other fixed probability rolls in Dungeons & Dragons, such as the chance of springing or detecting a trap, detecting and opening a secret door, and gaining surprise, for example, all of which are described together in Monsters & Treasure (p. 9). Indeed, initiative and just about any action that has a probability of failure and success could be described as a form of fixed “saving throw”, the consequences of failure being usually undesirable. However, the five class based saving throws (Death Ray or Poison, Wands, Stone, Dragon Breath, Staves and Spells) are differentiated from these in that the probability of success differs by class and increases as characters advance in experience levels. The categories were somewhat changed for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but are otherwise pretty much the same. It is very likely that these categories were organically developed and represent specific things that Gygax or Arneson thought of as particularly within the realms of heroic ability. Indeed, who can hear of the “death ray” and not think of Conan in Red Nails facing off against Tolkemec and his jade-hued wand?

Further elucidation, or perhaps post facto rationalisation, as to the meaning of saving throws, and indeed fighting ability, hit points and other improving characteristics, is provided in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, where it is explained in no uncertain terms that “the accumulation of hit points and the ever-greater abilities and better saving throws of characters represents the aid supplied by supernatural forces” (pp. 111-112), which is also related to the idea that “whether or not the character actively professes some deity, he or she will have on alignment and serve one or more deities of this general alignment indirectly and unbeknownst to the character.” (p. 25). That is not to say that saving throws are entirely unaffected by natural ability, since dexterity and wisdom certainly affect saving throws, and they can be entirely based on an attribute score, as with a system shock roll, which is specifically denoted as a saving throw in the Player’s Handbook (p. 12). Indeed, both the spells dig (p. 76) and phantasmal killer (p. 98) have saving throws that are simply attribute tests, where the player is required to roll under the relevant attribute on a specified number and size of dice.

Testing an attribute became a standard method for task resolution from around 1985 and was included as an optional rule in second edition for making saving throws. The recategorisation of the five specific instances to the three broader defences of fortitude, reflexes, and willpower in D20/3e represents a further move away from sheer chance or divine sponsorship towards emphasis on the importance of physical ability, neatly tied into the core mechanism of that iteration of Dungeons & Dragons. Direct magical protections can significantly improve saving throws in any edition of the game, but it is also interesting that regardless of the measures taken, class based saving throws always succeed on a 20 and always fail on a 1, which was an idea later borrowed for the attack roll as well, though interestingly not for skill checks. Personally, I am not inclined towards the “there is always a five percent chance” model, though the attraction is understandable there is a not inconsiderable case to be made for “assured results” as an alternative. Certainly, some of the most potent or powerful magical spells and effects do not allow saving throws and are rendered considerably more fearsome thereby; sleep, slow, and energy level drain are of this order.

As with many things in Dungeons & Dragons, saving throws are abstractions and lend themselves to interpretation and rationalisation after the fact. If a giant spider scores a hit on a fighter, but does not slay him by hit point damage and he makes a successful saving throw versus poison, then that can represent anything from a spider bite that failed to inject its venom to the character successfully fending off the attacks of the monster. The Dungeon Master’s Guide devotes a good page or so to the subject (pp. 80-81), with a lengthy preamble concerning the game function of saving throws and alternative ways to rationalise them by class and level. A section of interest concerning the potential modifiers follows, giving the example of a character standing in a pool of water as potentially more susceptible to lightning attacks and less vulnerable to fire attacks. In general, the game master is encouraged to adjust saving throws however he sees fit in accordance with what he feels is balanced, but urged not to remove all chance of failure or any chance of success, though such is permitted. Anecdotally, it would seem that such adjustments are little used, but perhaps this is something that should be more widely encouraged.

When it comes down to it, a saving throw is much like every other abstract and randomised element of the game, a roll of the dice to decide an uncertain outcome by means of probability. There is no reason that the game master could not simply assign the probability in every case on an individual basis, the charts are there as a guideline and aid to reduce his workload, as well as promote a sense of consistency and fairness to the other participants. It is somehow more acceptable for a base probability to be established by level, class, attributes and equipment, subsequently altered by the game master to account for circumstances, than it is for him to assign it out of hand, a sense of lesser arbitrariness, perhaps. Whilst there are aesthetic reasons to murmur against the concept of a single saving throw, modified by the above factors, there is little by way of practical effect. Even within the seemingly esoteric saving throw tables of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons there are quite simple mathematical patterns to be discerned and it is questionable as to whether there is much more to them than that. There is certainly something attractive to me about the idea of an unspecified generic saving throw as a baseline concept.

[Article] The Shadow Peaks Campaign

2010-03-05T22:00:00.001Z

It was probably the Summer of 2001 when I decided to get back into playing Dungeons & Dragons; the exact course of events is somewhat hazy in my memory, but I recall that we used the First Quest boxed set initially. Things developed organically from that starting point, and soon we were digging back through the various “complete” supplements and the like, searching for memories and new visions of past knowledge. Eventually I went looking for my old campaign notes, having decided that the campaign needed a world and knowing that I had one ready to hand. The world of Silver Blade was what I was using in my early to mid teens, and the material hardly seemed suitable to me in my early twenties. After all, I had been sporadically adventure role-playing and world building in the interim, just not using any of the various Dungeons & Dragons systems. My studies kept me mainly in Surrey at the time, so play was intermittent and related to the holidays, as that was when the members of our old group were located together and had sufficient time to spare. However, that grew increasingly difficult to arrange and unsatisfactory, so in the Autumn of 2002 I decided to put together a new group in Surrey.

And that was the beginning of the Shadow Peaks campaign. Having taken part in the earlier games, my girlfriend Maki was persuaded to participate, along with Chris and Phil, who we met through the university gaming society, both of whom would be regular players for the following three years and have remained good friends of ours ever since; rounding out the initial group was our housemate, Ajit, who had always wanted to try Dungeons & Dragons, but was too near the end of his studies to participate regularly. In order, the characters they created were a human magician/thief, a half-orc barbarian, a dwarf cleric, and a human knight. The adventure was set against the backdrop of the Calthornian reconquest of the eastern territories, which had been lost during the Talisasian invasion, and the assumption was that the player-characters had fought, or been present, at the decisive Battle of Black Crag, and subsequent pursuit of the enemy into their own territory. So, when the Calthornian army began dispersing to winter quarters, the adventurers find themselves in a fortified camp on the edge of the new frontier, and at the feet of the ill reputed Shadow Peaks mountains.

The background of the Talisasian invasion goes back to the first Silver Blade campaign I ever ran, which was set in the aftermath; the Calthornian reconquest was begun in earnest by one of the few player-characters to reach the heady heights of ninth level, a human fighter named Cirin, and was played as an amalgamation of Dungeons & Dragons and a strategic war game, with varying degrees of success. We did not have access to Battle System, so largely improvised the rules, utilising other miniature and counter based war games with which we were familiar. Naturally, once the new group were made aware of this, it leant the campaign world a sense of history and continuity, and in being furnished with an idea of what others had accomplished they seemed more greatly enthused about the potential deeds of their own characters. That only came up in conversation later, at the outset of things the main aim was to play an enjoyable game. It is not clear to me whether I wrote the campaign introduction before or after the first session, but if the latter then most of the content must have been explained at the table. A somewhat rewritten version of what eventually made its way to the players by electronic mail is available here for those interested.

Since the group was new, the hook was written to both get the player-characters swiftly into the action and to provide them with an immediate initial focus. As envisioned, the adventure was not easy, so the addition of an allied non-player-character, a second level fighter, and his four zero level men-at-arms seemed reasonable. The idea was to give the party some extra muscle, provide opportunities for role-playing, and alternative characters to play if theirs were incapacitated or killed, but it was otherwise designed largely for expediency. Despite being the one to have propositioned the adventurers, Ulius was treated as though an exceptional henchman of associate status. He turned out to be well liked by the players, his services being engaged fairly regularly over the course of the campaign. The adventure itself was tentatively titled the “Shrine of Sirke”, being partly inspired by a few lines from the Odyssey, and the premise was that a band of kobolds were operating out of the shrine aided by some powerful magic. These were, predictably, responsible for the disappearance of the survey party and various other mischiefs, it being left it up to the adventurers to find a way to the lair and deal with the problem.

From this small kernel grew the campaign; a number of clues to wider mysteries were present from the start, though their meaning had not at that time been fully thought out. It took two or three sessions to complete the initial adventure, and against all the odds the player-characters survived. With Ajit unable to play regularly, we canvassed for another player, which turned out to be Ed, and the following year we were joined by Ian, after Maki found herself having to divide her year between Japan and England. As with Chris and Phil, they were recruited through the university gaming society, were regular players for the rest of the campaign, and remain good friends outside of that context, which I think is the key to success with these sorts of games. If it matter, they both started at first level. We had a number of guest and temporary players over the course of the campaign, and in the last year Matt joined us as a regular player, again starting at first level. There were twelve major adventures, which I have been looking at publishing using OSRIC or some variant thereof, and a number of more minor encounters, locations, and settlements that I am undecided about how to present. I am also thinking of putting together a Silver Blade Adventures companion supplement of some sort.

Most of the adventures are already written in large part, though they will have to be edited for compatibility, since they were written with the proficiency system strongly in mind, and there is a lot of boxed text, both of which have since fallen out of favour with me. The least developed of these is the oft mentioned Twisted Tower of Mordras, which was initially conceived of as an introductory module for the university gaming society and a method of recruiting players, but because it was not really needed it never got fully developed. As a result, it may well turn out to be the most challenging instalment to write of this, admittedly, rather ambitious project, but it may also serve as the best testing ground with regards to feasibility. On the other hand, it was also intended to be played with pregenerated characters in one four-hour session, somewhat on the model of a tournament module; as long as the need for relative brevity is born fully and prominently in mind, it should be within my ability to complete before the end of Spring. That seems like a long time away at the moment, but there are many pressing matters to attend to in the meantime, and there never seems to be quite enough time in the day, so we shall see!

[Article] Attributes & Abilities

2010-01-31T00:00:00.003Z

A fundamental characteristic of every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and the simulacrum games that it has spawned, is that each player character is defined by a set of six ability scores: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. There was an abortive attempt to add comeliness in the mid-eighties via Unearthed Arcana, and an equally ill received attempt to introduce twelve subability scores in the mid-nineties by means of Skills & Powers. The majority of adventure role-playing games use a similar concept, though the number and nomenclature vary, as does the scale on which they are measured and the impact they have on the character. The traditional spread of numbers for each ability score is from three to eighteen, randomly generated on three six-sided dice, though it is thought that in Arneson’s proto-Dungeons & Dragons Blackmoor campaign the spread was two to twelve, using two six-sided dice. Many alternative generation methods have been presented over the years, the most popular seeming to be four six-sided dice, drop the lowest. Numbers outside the spread could also occur in various circumstances, the complete range prior to third edition being one to twenty-five.

By the time the first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide was released for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Gygax had decided that the overwhelming majority of non-player characters would have ability scores ranging from six to fifteen, indicating that such scores should be generated by rolling three six-sided dice and rerolling dice that came up with a one or a six. As is often noted, though, the advanced version of the game put more emphasis on the importance of attributes than the original incarnation. In Original Dungeons & Dragons, strength, intelligence, and wisdom only had an impact on the number of experience points earned by player character fighters, magicians, and clerics, respectively. A constitution higher than fourteen granted one extra hit point per hit die, or one less if below seven; a dexterity above twelve granted a plus one bonus to hit with missile weapons, but if below nine resulted in a minus one penalty (thus, the two significant ranges of nine to twelve and seven to fourteen were established in the earliest edition). In play, ability scores affected the game and were certainly tested in various unspecified ways, as little guidance existed to that effect in the booklets themselves.

The importance of ability scores rose dramatically with the release of Supplement I: Greyhawk, which presented the reader with most of the information regarding their impact that would become familiar in the advanced version of the game. Interestingly, it was slightly more lenient with strength, a score of eighteen being no different to eighteen with an exceptional strength roll of one to fifty, and a score of thirteen to sixteen providing a plus one to hit. This at once made a score of thirteen to fifteen of impact in combat and a higher score more desirable. The Greyhawk supplement also introduced the thief class, and with it a whole new slew of special abilities, such as move silently and hide in shadows, previously only achievable by the use of spells or magical items. Prior to that only three class abilities had really been described, fighting, spell casting, and turning undead, though it was noted that non-human races had bonuses to saving throws, attack rolls, and detecting traps and secret doors. As subraces, subclasses, kits, proficiencies, and rules supplements proliferated, new abilities came to be expected and were often linked to ability scores, such as by requiring a certain minimum score or by modifying the effectiveness of the ability.

Whilst the advanced system expanded on Greyhawk, the original system was revised and reinterpreted for an, arguably younger, audience. The impact of attributes was more strongly codified into discrete ranges that followed a “one, two, three, four, three, two, one” pattern, which has subsequently been adopted for Castles & Crusades. That system has also taken the logical step of discerning between abilities and ability scores by changing the nomenclature and using attribute scores to distinguish the latter, since it strongly emphasises the role of abilities in defining each class. When I initially returned to my Silver Blade campaign, the second edition of the advanced system formed the basis of the rules, but within a few months I had switched to an ascending armour class and started using attribute modifiers similar to those found in the basic game. On discovering Castles & Crusades and being exposed to the larger community via such forums as Giant in the Playground, Dragonsfoot, and Knights & Knaves, I dropped the somewhat clunky proficiency and skill system I had developed and returned to using a descending armour class. However, I retained my distaste for the organic disorder of the advanced attribute tables.

Early on in the design process for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, it was decided that the Labyrinth Lord attribute tables were slightly too powerful, and those in Swords & Wizardry slightly too weak, for what was desired. Part of the reason was to leave us with some room when determining the abilities of the four main classes and sixteen or so subclasses to be included in the game, but also because whatever method of generating the scores we recommended, we know that most veteran players have their own preferred methods. Limiting the impact of attributes on the effectiveness of a given class without going quite as far as a simple trichotomy of “good-average-bad” has been a challenging design goal. How far to go in limiting class options by attribute scores has also been of interest, as has been what to do about exceeding the normal range of three to eighteen. The unlimited cap of many recent adventure games seemed unfitting, leading to such oddities as dragons with a strength of forty, and so on. As things currently stand, the range is one to twenty-five, with scores above eighteen indicating superhuman ability, such as the strength of a giant or the wisdom of a sphinx, and so on.

For the last few years I have been using a modified version of the basic attribute tables for my Silver Blade campaign, borrowing ideas occasionally from the advanced tables when it seemed appropriate. Initially, the bonuses derived from attributes were quite high, with thirteen representing a plus one bonus and eighteen a mighty plus four bonus, but the benefits of a seventeen or higher were restricted by class. That proved a conceptual problem similar to exceptional strength when dealing with attributes outside of the normal range, but switching to a range more congruous with the basic tables and embedding bonuses in the classes has proven to be an excellent solution. It seems to be quite normal in my campaign for a player character to have a sixteen in his primary attribute, a seventeen is unusual and an eighteen is rare. I do allow adjustments during creation on a 2:1 basis, but not above sixteen or below nine, which may account for that observed tendency. Anyway, for your entertainment and edification, here are the attribute tables I have been using in a format compatible with OSRIC, along with some related notes to give an idea of how they interact with the game system and a hint of what we are doing in Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

[Article] Weapon Class

2010-01-21T00:10:00.004Z

As with many war games, the Chain Mail mass combat rules uses a troop classification system that governs fighting ability, movement speed, morale, and so on. The concept of discrete classifications appears to have been carried over into the man-to-man system with reference to the arms and armour of the individual combatants. Instead of a verbal descriptor of type, such as “elite heavy foot, each classification of weapon and armour conceived was allocated a number. In the case of armour, a number from one to eight roughly indicated the degree of protection afforded, with a higher number being generally better. The list of weapons follows a similar pattern, but size, and perhaps also speed, appears to have been the final determinant, with spears and pikes most prominently disrupting the low to high values. Gygax diversified the list of pole-arms in issue #2 of The Strategic Review, and in issue #4 he introduced three new weapons that no longer had one class, but rather separate length and speed ratings. With a view towards a more precise representation of the capabilities of a given weapon this separation is entirely understandable, but it was a step away from the simple abstraction and utility of weapon classification.

Neither the Original Dungeons & Dragons alternative combat system, nor the Greyhawk expansion featured any element of the weapon class concept, though the infamous inverted armour class rating was by contrast an integral factor, that of the defender being compared to the fighting ability of the attacker to determine the probability of his scoring a hit. The Greyhawk expansion does introduce one new feature, though, which is the space required to either side of the character to make effective use of his weapon. This idea is of more import in the Swords & Spells supplement, where it has an impact on the spacing between soldiers and thus the number that may fight in a given frontage. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons combat system took note of all of this and assigned each weapon an individual rating for length, space, and speed. As with the Chain Mail man-to-man combat system, length determined which combatant struck first at the point of contact, but weapon speed was reduced to a tie breaking mechanism, though there are vestigial rules and indications in the text that suggest it was at one point envisioned as having a more significant and wide ranging role; the effect of space was left unexplained beyond its inclusion.

One of the stated design aims of the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was to simplify the combat system and make it more dynamic. It included all of the many weapons available in its predecessor, but left out any rules governing their length or the space required to use them effectively. Each weapon was categorised as one of three sizes that determined whether and in what manner it was usable by differently sized creatures; as to space, it was simply stated as a general guideline that two fighters with long swords and shields could fight side-by-side in a ten foot space. Nonetheless, speed factor was kept as an optional rule, elevated in importance as an initiative modifier and ignoring any ramifications with regard to “first strike”. Detail was added in the Complete Fighter’s Handbook, the Arms and Equipment Guide, various other supplements, and articles in Dragon magazine, but little that addressed the shortcomings of the underlying rules, mainly having the effect of expanding the weapon list into an unmanageable, unbalanced, and undesirable morass. The D20/3e weapon tables were, by comparison, a much needed reduction, but that system eventually fell prey itself to the same phenomenon of addition.

For my ongoing Silver Blade and Dunfalcon campaigns I have been experimenting with the introduction of a basic weapon class system as a parallel to the armour class system previously discussed here. Initially the idea was to simplify the weapons tables to a short list of reasonably balanced choices, which was connected to my thoughts on weapon techniques, and appeared in the Castles & Crusades society electronic Domesday magazine, after being reasonably well received on the Troll Lord Games forums. The document itself seems to have been a relatively popular download and can be accessed here for anybody curious. However, after becoming somewhat enamoured of the idea of armour class as a numerical classification that described more than just the defence rating of a combatant, I began seeking ways to apply the same principle to weapon class and revised the document to accord with that idea. Initially there were something like twelve classes that broadly accorded with the speed ratings in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, but a recent revision has reduced the number to ten, prompted by an aesthetic sensibility for symmetry, but in practice a suitable solution to what had become something of a design conceit.

During the development of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, which has often prompted me to consider what lies behind my own assumptions, it became apparent that in swords & sorcery adventure games there is a frequent oscillation between the abstract and the specific, both in terms of design and in the course of game sessions. This creates a sort of “zoom in” and “zoom out” effect where, depending on the preferences of the participants, a specific interaction may be role-played out or a die roll used to determine the outcome in a more abstract way. A similar thing can be observed in the class and subclass system, where a fighter or magician encompasses a very broad archetype, but their subclasses concentrate on much narrower subtypes, such as illusionist, necromancer, knight, or barbarian. This principle is selectively applied to weapons as well, to the extent that Gygax could write that the short sword “includes all pointed cutting & thrusting weapons with blade length between 15” and 24”, and yet have separate entries for the long sword, scimitar, falchion, broad sword, and bastard sword. Once recognised, though, it seems possible to adapt these disparate levels of granularity to better serve the game.

The general observation that there are at least two levels of abstraction in traditional swords & sorcery adventure games suggests a potential design paradigm for races, classes, equipment, exploration, and combat. For example, at the lower level of detail a player character might be described as a third level elf fighter with mail armour, large shield, and long sword, whilst at a higher level of detail he could become a third level wood-elf ranger with mail hauberk, large kite shaped shield, and leaf-shaped long sword. Of course, it is possible to get considerably more precise, but the greater level of abstraction is both the least information required for play and the most portable between systems and campaigns. This concept has come to a degree of fruition in the current draft of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, which is divided into basic and advanced (or expert) rules, especially with regard to classes and combat actions, though we remain somewhat undecided about its viability with regard to equipment. Nevertheless, for your entertainment, I have put the basic weapon class system that I have been using in my own swords & sorcery campaigns into a form compatible with OSRIC that can be downloaded here.

[Article] Fighting Techniques

2010-01-14T00:00:00.002Z

Broadly speaking, the Chain Mail man-to-man melee combat system presents two kinds of weapons, those that can be wielded with one hand, and therefore in combination with a shield, and those that require two hands, meaning that the combatant must forgo such protection. A two-handed sword will generally score a kill on a 5+ or a 6+ on 2d6 with only plate armour and shield requiring a 7+, whilst a halberd requires an 8+ to achieve the same. By contrast, a one-handed sword requires a 10+ to score a kill against a plate armoured combatant and an 11+ if that same opponent bears a shield. However, the difference in weapon classes makes a big difference in what initially appears to be a relatively clear cut advantage. Because the one-handed sword is class 4 and the two-handed sword is class 10, a fighter wielding the former weapon has three options after the initial round. He can choose to attack twice, once before and once after his opponent with a two-handed sword (or, indeed, halberd); he can choose to reduce his opponent’s roll by 2 and attack after him; or he can choose to attack first and reduce his opponent’s roll by 1. The net result being that the weapon combinations are roughly equal, depending on the situation. However, the mace is the better choice, requiring only a 7+ to hit a plate armoured target and never needing more than the sword to hit any other class of armour.

This interestingly balanced system was largely thrown out for the alternative Dungeons & Dragons combat system, and by all accounts was never used by Gygax in the context of his own campaign. It is not hard to understand why, given that the man-to-man system was not written with monsters in mind and that the fantasy combat table was not designed to accommodate groups of heroes. However, in reducing all weapons to doing 1d6 damage and having a hit chance based on the fighting ability of the attacker, the alternative combat system made two-handed weapons redundant. A character could either use a one-handed weapon and shield, improving his armour class by one and doing 1d6 damage, or he could use a two-handed weapon, improving his armour class by none and doing 1d6 damage; not a particularly difficult choice. The Greyhawk supplement attempted to rectify this by introducing variable damage dice for weapons, and a weapon type versus armour class modifier to the attack roll. The solution was overcomplicated for the task at hand, which really only called for a +1 to hit for two-handed weapons, but it was probably seeking to address a wider range of interconnected concerns that had developed over time.

Notably, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons combat system builds on the Greyhawk solution as well as incorporating bits and pieces of the Chain Mail man-to-man rules. One major innovation, though, was the introduction of a seemingly innocuous rule for fighting with two weapons, allowing characters to use a dagger or hand axe in addition to their primary weapon. A character utilizing this technique suffered a −2 to hit with his primary weapon and a −4 to hit with his secondary weapon, but the penalties could be mitigated to as low as 0/−1 if the character had a high enough dexterity. More significant as a balancing factor was that the dagger and hand axe had fairly poor modifiers versus armour. On the surface, this meant that the design of the game encouraged using two-handed weapons against large or heavily armoured enemies and fighting with two weapons against more lightly armoured small or medium opponents, whilst a one-handed weapon and shield combination occupied the ground between them. In practice, many game masters ignored the optional weapon type versus armour class table or failed to apply it to monstrous opponents, and perhaps more importantly many players recognised fighting with two weapons for what it was, a force multiplier.

Once it was realised that the associated penalties for fighting with two weapons were vastly outweighed by the potential advantages, the exploitation became obvious, particularly at higher levels where the modifiers to hit could be combined from many sources. The second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons took a much needed step towards reducing the potency of the technique in the default rules by explicitly limiting a second attack to one per round and preventing the doubling of attacks occasionally inferred from the first edition rules. However, the simplification of the weapon type versus armour class rules undermined the advantages previously enjoyed by two-handed weapons and removed the disadvantages that had been placed on secondary weapons. The simultaneous release of the Complete Fighter’s Handbook, authored by Aaron Allston, compounded these problems, making it possible to mitigate all the penalties associated with fighting with two weapons and allowing any one-handed weapon to be used in a secondary capacity. Allston also identified four fighting “styles”, or techniques, labelling them “single weapon”, “weapon and shield”, “two weapon”, and “two hander”, but they were less than equal.

Although the techniques were not equal, they required a significant expenditure of character building resources to acquire. A character specialising in single weapon technique could improve his armour class without a shield or secondary weapon by one for one proficiency slot, and by two for two proficiency slots; not a great deal when using a shield the first benefit is gained for free. A character specialising in two-handed weapons reduces the speed factor of the weapon by three and gains a +1 damage bonus when wielding one-handed weapons two-handed; so no reason at all to ever really choose the bastard or two-handed sword over the long sword. A character specialising in weapon and shield technique is able to attack with his shield as though fighting with two weapons for one proficiency slot, and reduce the penalties for doing so to 0/−2 by expending two proficiency slots, though when he does so he forgoes the improvement to armour class he would otherwise enjoy from utilising a shield; far better to invest one proficiency slot in two-weapon fighting and be able to use any weapon in a secondary capacity at a 0/−2 penalty, and switch between the two techniques as the situation demands.

The Player’s Option series and, as I understand it, the Birthright campaign setting took the idea of style specialisation even further, for example introducing the “shield proficiency”, which allowed fighter to expend one proficiency slot to improve the armour class bonus from a large shield by two, making it an instant sine qua non. Of course, D20/3e rather overreacted to the legacy of fighting with two weapons and the mid edition revision turned two-handed weapons into its successor. It is often noted that in actual play the underlying mathematics are not noticed or have less importance than as theoretical design elements, but the more robust the system the more likely it is to avoid breaking down in other areas. So, for your entertainment and convenience, here are my current campaign rules for fighting techniques along with a few combat actions for use with OSRIC. Obviously, some of these ideas will find their way, or have already found their way, into Astonishing Swordsman & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

[Review] AA5 The Flaming Footprints of Jilanth

2009-09-01T20:43:00.001+01:00

The Flaming Footsteps of Jilanth

Author: Andrew Hind.
Contents: 16 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 14 pages of adventure, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press.
Product Code: XRP6105.
Retail Price: £7.00 or $12.00.

Overview

An adventure for 6-8 characters of levels 3-5, the Flaming Footsteps of Jilanth presents a small subtropical isle and three dungeon levels. The physical product is sturdy enough, having a glossy cover stock and durable interior pages, on which the text is clearly printed and the black and white maps are well rendered, but unlike previous offerings the spine seems to wear easily. The cover illustrations by Bradley K. McDevitt are in keeping with the traditional aesthetic, though the image of an enraged carnivorous ape on the front is a little misleading, being only likely to be encountered as a wandering monster, and suggesting a homage to the Isle of the Ape that does not materialise. Including the title page, there are three interior illustrations by John Bingham, which relate directly to the substance of the module.

The premise is fairly straightforward; the Lord Admiral of the port city of Ranste has gone missing, and flaming footsteps, the hallmark of the long dead pirate lord Firebeard, have been seen in the streets. In response, the city council has dispatched the player characters to the isle of Jilanth, a former pirate stronghold, to search for signs that Firebeard might have returned, or else some other indication as to what is going on. The isle is about ten miles in diameter and consists of around seventy hexes. Four of the hexes are keyed as adventure locations, whilst the rest are a mixture of jungle, swamp, hill and mountain terrain types. The random encounter table has thematically appropriate entries for day and night, as well as three special events that each have quarter page descriptions. It is a little strange that the chart allows for the appearance of goblins armed with blowpipes, but not the lizard men whose camp is one of the adventure locations.

Each of the other three keyed locations presents a short dungeon level that consists of around a dozen or so encounter areas. The first of these is a cavern complex that was used by Firebeard and his pirates as a stronghold. The main opposition are giant vermin and skeletal undead, but there is also a mummified voodoo witch to contend with. Further upriver is an abandoned gnome hold, which can also be reached by means of an underground tunnel from the pirate caverns. Once a prosperous copper mine, the gnomes were overwhelmed by an insidious curse. In addition to giant vermin and undead, corrupted creatures known as hold creepers stalk the empty halls of the gnome hold. They have also captured the last surviving member of an ill fated expedition to the pirate caverns, who the adventurers may rescue.

If the players choose to continue following the river or otherwise explore the isle they may discover an entrance to the wizard lair that serves as the third dungeon. However, the magician has been driven out by a wax doppelgänger he created of himself, and languishes in captivity amongst the lizard men. The adventurers may find out about this if they manage to overcome his usurper and other wax creations, or if they encounter the lizard man encampment whilst exploring the wilderness. Should they be able to rescue or in some other way gain access to the magician, then he may reveal that he wears Firebeard's flaming boots, and that he is responsible for the reappearance of the flaming footprints in the streets of Ranste. However, his motives are left up to the discretion of the game, as is the reason for the disappearance of the Lord Admiral.

There is a lot of interesting material here, several new monsters and magic items, as well as a self contained wilderness area to explore. The author has added a twist or two to several conventional monsters, such as the skeletons in the pirate caverns, and generally shows good knowledge of the rules in developing the various encounter areas. It is not clear if the lack of wandering monsters in the lair of the wax wizard is intentional, but it seems a reasonable supposition. There are occasional missteps, such as the blessed ring in the well room, which seems out of keeping with more traditional dungeon elements, but such things show a willingness to explore the boundaries of the game.

Technicalities and Errors

The Flaming Footsteps of Jilanth suffers from the usual editing errors and notation inconsistencies here and there; for instance, hit point spreads are mainly used in place of fractional hit dice, but occasionally, as in the case of the giant centipede, the latter is used. There are also occasionally redundant phrases like "chain mail armour" and references to weapon nomenclature that is not used in the Old School Reference & Index Compilation. It should probably have also been noted next to the various stirge entries that whilst the creature has only 1+1 hit dice it fights as though it has 4. These are very minor technicalities, however, and do little to affect the utility of the module. There are rather a lot of calls for attribute checks, and a few rogue references to boat handling checks, which could probably have been safely excised. On the other hand, defined procedural methods are useful for a module when run under tournament conditions.

Conclusion

This is a module that would benefit from having a tighter focus. As it stands it feels like three short adventures that are otherwise unrelated have been combined. Each dungeon has the potential for significant expansion and seems like the kernel of a larger adventure location. The gnome hold in particular feels like it could have been developed as a completely independent module. Whilst a lot of traditional adventures leave undeveloped hooks to spur on the imagination of the game master, there is rather too much left open and unexplained in the Flaming Footsteps of Jilanth. An abandoned and haunted pirate stronghold on a deserted subtropical isle is a strong concept, and the presence of the wax wizard adds an extra threat, but in the form that they are currently presented the elements are too disparate and not suggestive enough.

[Article] Parrying, Dodging & Blocking

2009-07-31T08:00:00.002+01:00

An oft lamented aspect of Dungeons & Dragons is that as characters advance in level they become better at attacking, but not at defending. Occasionally it is contended that this aspect is represented by increased hit points, and that their loss partially represents the gradual erosion of defences due to fatigue. This might be a sustainable point of view if hit points were easily replenished without recourse to magic, but they are not. A recovery rate of one or two hit points per day of rest is not particularly suggestive of fatigue. In the Chain Mail man to man melee system, the ability to parry is a function of weapon class; a combatant has the ability to parry so long as his weapon is of a class no more than one above that of his opponent. The parry takes the form of imposing a −2 penalty to hit in most cases, but if the difference between weapon classes is eight or more it becomes only a −1 penalty. In any case an attack must be given up for a parry to take effect, though a character may have up to three attacks if his weapon has a sufficiently lower class than that of his opponent.

Whilst these Chain Mail rules could be used with Original Dungeons & Dragons, an additional rule was introduced in the Greyhawk supplement, to the effect that fighters could use their dexterity to attempt to “dodge or parry opponents' attacks”; for every point above fourteen, they would impose a −1 penalty to hit on attacks against them. This is obviously similar in conception to the protection afforded by a shield. By contrast, the Blackmoor supplement took a different tack with the monk class. Prohibited from wearing armour, the monk received a defensive bonus expressed as armour class that increased as he gained in experience levels. However, more significant was his ability to parry or dodge missile attacks (even magic missile) by means of a successful saving throw. This was a paradigm shift conceptually from what had gone before, introducing a second die roll unrelated to the attack roll and capable of negating all damage. This defensive mechanism took no account of the fighting ability of the attacker, only the experience level of the defender.

The defensive capabilities of the monk made the transition to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons relatively unscathed, and the ability of the fighter to use his dexterity to defend himself was extended to all combatants. The parrying rules from Chain Mail, though, were incorporated only partially, so that a character could impose a penalty on enemy attacks equal to his strength bonus at the expense of making any attacks that round. This was obviously of little use to a character with a strength less than seventeen. The cavalier class was introduced in Dragon #72, able to parry “more effectively” so that all of his bonuses to hit could be used as a penalty against enemy attacks. This class could also make a parry against a second opponent using his shield, which imposed a penalty equal to its defensive value, but prevented it from being used for the rest of the round. This was a long way from the original concept as articulated in Chain Mail, being over reliant on high attribute scores, as well as bonuses from magical weapons and armour.

With the second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, an optional parrying rule was introduced as a function of level and class. A character could give up his chance at action for the round to gain a bonus to armour class against melee attacks equal to half his level, with an additional +1 for fighters. That same year, the Complete Fighter’s Handbook suggested a second option, where a character could give up an attack to attempt a parry. This required the character to hit his opponent’s armour class to negate the attack, inadvisedly implying that the armour class of a combatant was reflective of his fighting ability. When the rule was revised and incorporated into Combat & Tactics, this premise was wisely discarded and a fixed armour class set as a level of difficulty. This should all sound familiar to players of War Hammer, where a character can similarly trade his attacks for parries, needing to roll under his weapon skill to reduce damage by 1d6 in first edition; in second edition all damage is negated on a successful parry.

A noticeable problem with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition is its approach to fighting with two weapons. Even though it limits the number of secondary attacks to only ever one, this still effectively doubles the attacks available to most characters. Coupled with the potential to eliminate the normal penalties through high attributes or proficiency slots, and weighed against the relatively small benefits of using a shield, it is often viewed as something of a rules exploitation. This was probably why Gygax earlier specified that the “secondary weapon does not act as a shield or parrying device in any event.” By contrast, War Hammer avoids this problem by not granting any additional attacks from secondary weapons; they are useful primarily because they provide bonuses to parry rolls. In developing Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, we have had to consider carefully how any combat actions we suggest might interact with multiple attacks in order to ensure that no undue or unintended advantages are unexpectedly revealed during play.

Regardless of whether a parry, dodge, or block takes the form of an attack penalty or a saving throw, the action must be traded against a commensurate disadvantage. A simple trade off of fighting ability against armour class is a fairly straightforward approach, amounting to –X to hit in return for –Y to be hit. However, the benefit of this trade depends on the number of attacks the character is exposed to in a round. The obvious recourse is to trade against the number of attacks the character has available, but this may unduly enhance the benefits of a secondary weapon. Since a shield lowers effective armour class by one, a secondary weapon ought to be of no greater advantage. Other methods to consider for modelling a parry, dodge, or block include opposed rolls, parallel armour class, and forced rerolls. In those cases, shields would have to be treated exactly like secondary weapons, meaning attack penalties for the primary weapon. I have made available a selection of possibilities for your perusal here and a compilation of the rules mentioned above here.

[Article] Combat Procedure

2009-05-31T08:00:00.002+01:00

Perhaps the most frequently debated aspects of the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is combat procedure and initiative determination. The rules as presented in the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide are a mass of vague and seemingly contradictory statements, or else exceptions with no clear order of priority. Many admirable attempts to make coherent sense of the text have been made in the last decade, and questions on the subject were often put to Gygax at the online forums he frequented, but his answers were rarely consistent. Apart from being a rather challenging and entertaining logic puzzle, the subject is one that has been of particular practical interest to me over the last year or so whilst developing Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea with Jeffrey Talanian, generating considerable debate between us. Whilst we more or less settled the procedure for our own purposes some months ago, I thought it would be of some interest to discuss the context and trace the history of combat procedure in Dungeons & Dragons.

As always, the first text I propose to look at is Chainmail; the turn sequence found therein is the one that the original version of Dungeons & Dragons (1974) expected to the game master to make use of. What Chainmail presents, though, are two discrete turn sequences, the first known as the “move/countermove system” and the second known as the “simultaneous movement system”. The essential difference is that in the former case the side that won the initiative takes a half move, after which the losing side takes a full move, followed by the winning side completing its move, whilst in the latter case each moves simultaneously in accordance with prewritten orders. Regardless of which method is used, missile weapons are discharged at the midpoint of movement and/or at the end of movement; bowmen are able to shoot on both occasions as long as they remain stationary and are not in melee combat at the end of movement, whilst heavy crossbows are shot once every other turn. This should sound familiar to anybody acquainted with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

The rules for Chainmail were supplemented by rules for man-to-man combat, which divided the ranges of missile weapons into short, medium, and long, allowed for parries and multiple attacks in melee, depending on the class of weapon, introduced the idea of “first strike” for longer weapons, and an order of blows that prevented return attacks by slain enemies. These rules were in turn augmented by a fantasy supplement, which amongst other things introduced the concept of wizards into the game. A wizard is capable of either throwing a lightning bolt or fire ball during the missile phase and of casting one of sixteen spells during an undefined phase. However, “in order to cast a spell, a wizard must be both stationary and undisturbed by attack upon his person” (fortunately they are also “impervious to normal missile fire”). Additionally, a random die roll determines whether a spell takes immediate effect, is delayed until the following round, or takes immediate effect. Notably, these spells appear to take place during or after movement and prior to melee.

Less well known than Chainmail is Warriors of Mars, which was released shortly after, and for use with, Dungeons & Dragons. It contains a revised turn sequence, with “written orders” only applying to 1:50 scale combat. The major innovation of Warriors of Mars is in the inclusion of a “beginning turn fire” phase prior to movement for combatants capable of shooting twice per round. Such individuals may shoot either then or during the “mid-turn fire” phase, but their second shot is always taken during the “end-turn fire” phase. Also of note is that its “move/counter move” sequence dispenses with half movement in favour of allowing the winner of initiative to move his infantry before the troops of his opponent, but his cavalry only after these have been moved. This staggering of multiple attacks should be familiar to anybody acquainted with pages 62-63 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the idea of beginning, mid, and end turn fire phases should be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered to what the description of the crossbow of speed is referring.

In 1976, Eldritch Wizardry gave Dungeons & Dragons players their first taste of segmented simultaneous movement, which included pre movement and post movement phases, using a rather complicated dexterity based system to determine at which point attacks took place. The same year also saw the release of Swords & Spells, which was basically Chainmail for the alternative combat system. This supplement presented only a “move/counter move system”, which resembled that of Chainmail with the addition of a beginning turn fire phase and an alternating first player/second player system. It also revised shooting rates, meaning that bows could be shot three times per round, and clearly defined during which missile phases spells, magical devices, and innate powers could be used. A character could not move and cast a spell, but was able to move and use a device. Under no circumstances could a character in melee shoot, cast a spell or use a magic device. Interestingly, the provision in Chainmail for combatants to hurl hand weapons at charging enemies was not retained in Swords & Spells, though such units could make a full move and throw their weapons if they did not also charge. However, the major innovation was in allowing one to three rounds of melee to be fought during a single two minute turn, the number depending on how far the combatants had moved. It is a short step from there to mixing melee rounds into missile phases.

Whilst Chainmail had allowed for spell casters to be interrupted, and both Eldritch Wizardry and Swords & Spells had refined the concept of delayed spell casting, it was only with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that the two concepts would be married to one another. It was far from an easy relationship. The idea of simultaneous segmented movement was described in Player’s Handbook, but left unmentioned in the combat section of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Each spell was given an explicit casting time expressed in segments, but its exact interaction with initiative was left vague, differed by attack form, and unrelated to other time dependent actions, such as movement. Similarly, the text is silent as to how rate of fire, rate of attack, and multiple attack routines interact with spell casting and one another. Indeed, even the “steps for encounter and combat” are a source of controversy, with some game masters treating them as a list of options and others an order of action. The classic Dungeons & Dragons line took a clearer line in establishing an order of action, made easier by a lack of casting times and segmented movement. The second edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons took a more abstract approach than its predecessor, allowing for both synchronous and asynchronous action, but rather too much was left vague, subjective, and reliant on the judgement of the game master. What we are doing with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is to follow the example of Chainmail and provide for both forms of action resolution. Our aim has been to create a clear sequence of step by step action that leads into an alternative simultaneous combat procedure. Of course, the details of our solution I am not at liberty to disclose, but for your convenience I have compiled the above analogues for comparison here.

[Article] Combat Actions

2009-03-31T08:00:00.003+01:00

Around about August time last year I started work on Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea with Jeffrey Talanian. The project is a micro campaign setting that will include a complete set of traditional adventure roleplay game rules designed to be fully compatible with already existing simulacrum games and their precursors. If you have a copy of Knockspell #1, then you have probably already read Charnel Crypt of the Sightless Serpent, an adventure set in Hyperborea. The setting is inspired by the fictional works of such authors as Robert Ervin Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, and Howard Phillips Lovecraft, to name a few, and the game rules strive to reinforce that sense. A feeling of fast paced and dynamic combat is part of our approach, and so aside from working with rounds of about six seconds, we have also been looking at ways to encourage tactical variability and innovation with regards to the declaration and resolution of both individual and combined character actions. What we have developed as a result is the notion of an open ended combat action subsystem.

Whereas one of the key design elements of D20/3e was the concept of feats, a finite character building resource that typically allowed players access to new or improved combat actions by level, and even more fully prevalent in the powers of D20/4e, a fundamental design aspect of traditional adventure games is the notion that characters should broadly be able to accomplish whatever their historical and literary analogues are attested or imagined to have been capable of. That is not to suggest that fully defined character customisation was an innovation of the D20 system; apart from the scads of other roleplaying games that have taken this approach, the allocation of discrete character building resources can be traced at least as far back as the weapon proficiency slots of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Player’s Handbook, 1978). In fact, the line of development can be almost directly traced from weapon proficiencies, to non-weapon proficiencies, to specialisation, fighting styles, kits, point based classes, feats, mix and match multi-classing, manoeuvres, and most recently to powers.

The basic premise at the root of this impulse to mechanically define the abilities of otherwise similar characters is a desire to differentiate them from one another in terms of what they can do in combat. The supposition is that this makes individual characters more interesting, and by the same token the combats encounters and adventures they participate in. In reality, what it seems to have done is turned character creation into a sub-game, and largely decreased the variability of action in combat by encouraging players to rely on the specialties and synergies they have advanced during character generation and allocated additional resources to during level advancement. A parallel development to this has been the introduction and integration of critical hits and fumbles into the game. Initially these were a method of increasing the randomness of combat results, and thus of heightening the excitement, but eventually they also became a way of differentiating between the effects of weapon types. None of which, of course, asked players to make much in the way of decisions during combat.

As with play outside of the confines of combat, the key to engaging the interest of the players in a traditional adventure game lies in giving them choices and having them make a decision, often with limited information. At some point it occurred to me that critical hits and fumbles might be more interesting if players chose whether to risk them or not; and with that thought, a floodgate of possibilities seemed to open to me, and I began to think of all combat actions more explicitly in terms of choices, risks, and tradeoffs. For example, perhaps the most basic set of choices are what sort of movement to make on encountering an enemy; charge, advance, stand ground (maybe set to receive a charge or make a ranged attack), fall back, evade, or flee? Each is suitable for a different situation, carries its own risk, and relies to some degree on the player predicting what his opponents will do. However, once in close combat, options tend to become more constricted, and can even become a slog where the only decision is whether to keep fighting or attempt to withdraw.

It is frequently these sort of situations that combat action subsystem has been designed for, though it also applies much more broadly. The basic idea is that when a player declares a non standard action, the game master has the option of allowing for a variable outcome outside of the default rules. This is likely nothing new for experienced game masters, especially those used to playing lighter sorts of roleplaying games, but the purpose is to provide a very basic structure for the less experienced, and by presenting potentially new ideas and possibilities encourage additional development and advancement on the part of the more experienced. The underlying premise is that, given the right conditions, a character sacrifices x to gain y chance of z happening. A typical example might be an attempt by a character of greater fighting ability trying to disarm another of lesser fighting ability. The game master might indicate that the character must give up an attack and roll a 16+ on 1d20 to force his opponent to make a saving throw or drop his weapon.

There are dozens of possible ways to resolve that action, even just establishing the percentage chances involved could have a score or more variations. The conditions are also subjective, so one game master might allow one thing, whilst another would not. Our current intention is to provide a number of example combat actions and leave the rest up to the individual game master to develop, ignore, or ad hoc. The subsystem is entirely optional, and can be used in full, in part, or not at all, depending on the preference of the group. For my part, I think the concept is a strong one, well rooted in traditional play, and with a great deal of unexplored potential, especially with regard to cooperative actions, and differentiating between weapons beyond the typical statistics. That the subsystem only ever need get as complicated as the individual group desires, and can always return to greater level of abstraction I also find very attractive. Whilst the exact form of combat actions in AS&SoH are subject to the vagaries of future development, to further clarify what is intended, I have created a short example pdf of combat actions that are suitable for use with OSRIC or some other similar traditional swords & sorcery adventure game.

[Article] Swords & Sorcerers

2009-01-31T08:00:00.002Z

An often noted convention of Dungeons & Dragons is the very limited selection of weapons available to the magic-user as compared to the fighting-man. Even the cleric, with full access to all types of armour, is prohibited from the use of the vast majority of martial implements, including bows, spears, and swords. This is somewhat at odds with the Chainmail Fantasy Supplement where it is asserted that "wizards can handle magical weaponry" (p. 30), that "certain magic-users can wield magical weapons" (p. 38), and also that Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné "combines the attributes of the Hero-type with wizardry, and wields a magic sword in the balance!" (p. 38). Given such precedents, and the prominent depiction of a sword wielding magic-user in the well disseminated Lord of the Rings, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that many early groups ignored the admonition in Men & Magic that magic-users should be restricted to the use of daggers (p. 6). Indeed, perhaps in response to a perceived prevalence of the variant, Gygax specifically singled out the practice in his Sorcerer's Scroll column as a point of contrast with prospective Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaigns (Dragon #26, Vol. II, No. 12, p. 30).

Such changes between Chainmail and Men & Magic foreshadowed the general strengthening of fighters relative to magicians referred to in the Player’s Handbook (p. 7), a trend that was continued in Unearthed Arcana. Nonetheless, despite the definite archetypal division that Gygax ostensibly sought to establish between sorcerer and swordsmen for men, the same did not apply to elves or half-elves. The multiclass terms "fighter/magician", "magician/thief" and "fighter/magician/thief" were coined specifically for them, and blurred the lines between the classes. The counterbalance, that such characters have a limitation on the experience level that they can reach, has proven less than satisfactory for some players. The relaxing of those limits for second edition only exacerbated the issue, and provided no alternatives. As I recall, our group responded by banning multiclass characters altogether, haughtily declaring them to be only suitable for "munchkin" players. Only single class characters were allowed at our table, and woe to he who dared to mention the dualclassing rules.

Naturally enough, we strained against the boundaries we had set for ourselves. For my part, I petitioned the game master running our Greyhawk game to allow my first level elf magician to gain proficiency in the long sword and long bow, a proposition endorsed by the rest of the group. I also gleefully rolled up an elf priest of Corellon Larethian for our Forgotten Realms game using Monstrous Mythology, with the same result. The latter character was horribly killed by revenants somewhere in the underdark, but the former progressed as high as level nine or ten before I retired him, and I presume still lives somewhere in the vicinity of the free city. When Player's Option: Skills & Powers was announced with the tag line "ever wanted your wizard to wield a sword?", I thought that we had pre-empted the designers and natural progression of the game. I did not consider the possibility that this was a belated response to perceived changes in the expectations of their audience, and did not realise that it signalled a paradigm shift in the design of the brand. D20/3e was at the door.

When I resurrected my old second edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign to start a university group, one of the first things that had to be decided was exactly what rules would be used. The multiclass and dualclass rules remained unattractive to me, but I still wanted to allow for some flexibility in character concepts. Using the various Player’s Supplements and Player’s Options books in combination with the Player’s Handbook and Dungeon Master’s Guide, I came up with some rudimentary rules for creating variant classes for my newly recruited players. We ended up with a human fighter (knight), a half-orc fighter (barbarian), a dwarf cleric (axes allowed), and a human magician/thief (spellthief); they were joined a few sessions later by an elf fighter/thief (scout). It should perhaps have been apparent to me then that I had wasted rather a lot of time, but in truth it was a learning process. Players naturally gravitate towards the basic classes for a variety of reasons; preconceived expectations and the palatability of familiar conventions no doubt play their part, but also because the archetypes are so general that they are difficult, if not impossible, to escape. Indeed, classes are perhaps best understood as tools intended to facilitate play; what differentiates one fighter from another are the details of his life, the adventures he has had, and the personality he projects, not signature weapons, nor detailed rules governing and defining his every ability.

But I digress. One of the more interesting facets that I encountered in the process of creating variant classes is the distinct lack of appropriate terms for combination classes. Typically, new subclasses are a more specific subset of the class from which they derive: pirate, thief, borderer, reaver, ranger, knight, barbarian, hoplite, enchanter, necromancer, warlock, acolyte, ascetic, sorcerer, invoker, etcetera. Suitable designations for describing the fighter/magician and magician/thief are few and far between, never mind their subsets. The D20/3e designers clearly encountered this problem when adding new classes, and made use of compound nouns patterned on the model of the "spellthief" and spellblade", resulting in nomenclature such as "warmage", "duskblade" and "hexblade". More natural sounding designations were less frequently conceived, such as the "beguiler" (a sort of illusionist/thief). The likely reason that we lack an abundance of adjectives and nouns to simultaneously imply both magic and fighting, or magic and theft, is that the assumption of their individual exclusivity is a conceit inferred from the concept of discrete classes. That is to say, Elric of Melniboné is a swordsman and a sorcerer; a spellsword is a game construct.

Which brings us to a more pertinent question: by exactly what means does a magician gain his powers? In mythology and fiction, the remarkability of a hero is often prefigured by a strange conception or ancestry. Achilles, Hercules, Alexander, and Arthur, as well as Bilbo, Aragorn and many others can be counted amongst these. The magical powers of Merlin are often ascribed to a demonic parentage, as are those of the sorcerer Tsotha in The Scarlet Citadel. It is similarly notable that in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons the races eligible for the fighter/magician and magician/thief combinations are elves and half-elves, or fey and fey touched. Whilst the game certainly posits that magicians learn their sorceries, and that natural ability in the form of intelligence governs their potential, this does not preclude the idea that some other condition, perhaps natural talent or strange heritage, is required for the study of magic to be successfully undertaken. Indeed, it might even be argued that to some degree this is assumed to be the case, else the world would surely be filled with sorcerers. Regardless, in a fantasy milieu where wizardry is taught and learned there must be those who, like the Grey Mouser, are displaced or otherwise choose not to devote themselves entirely to the pursuit of magic. It would perhaps be simplest to allow humans to multiclass as half-elves, but characters in my campaign rarely advance far beyond ninth level, and truth to tell I am still ill disposed towards the multiclass rules. So, on the supposition that others might feel similarly, here are two subclasses I use written up for OSRIC in pdf form.

[Article] Armour Class

2008-12-02T00:00:00.002Z

Combat in traditional swords & sorcery adventure games is typically described as an abstraction, rather than a simulation. The significance of this is sometimes misunderstood and conflated with a perceived absence or presence of realism. For instance, a common complaint is that the one minute combat round is unrealistically long, to which the typical Gygaxian response is that the abstract approach "assumes much activity during the course of each round". However, this does almost nothing to address the real issue, which is that "one telling blow every sixty seconds" arguably lacks verisimilitude. That is to say, the one minute combat round is both abstract and unrealistic, the former having little to no bearing on the latter. The criticism must be contested on its own terms to be successfully rebutted.

For other elements of the traditional combat system, the degree of abstraction does have a direct bearing on the level of realism. Of these, hit points are perhaps the most widely identified as being unrealistic, which is a pity and possibly related to their widespread currency and representation in computer games where a "hit is a hit", but meaningless beyond being a step closer to death. In fact, the truly abstract nature of hit points allows the game master the freedom to determine the extent to which realism will be a concern. When a character loses twenty of thirty hit points to a single attack, it is up to the game master to describe the event, and also to decide if there are any effects beyond their loss. To put it simply, the value of the abstraction is in its ambiguity.

Which brings us to the subject at hand. The term "armour class" as it first appears in Dungeons & Dragons is derived from the nomenclature of Chainmail, which describes troops, weapons and armour as being divided into classes. The closest it comes to using the actual term "armour class" is with "armour classification" and "class of armour worn", on pages thirteen and forty one, respectively. There are eight classes of armour in both games, or more accurately there are four classes and four modified classes. These are: unarmoured (9), leather (7), mail (5), and plate (3); each is lowered by one if a shield is added [i.e. 9/7/5/3 becomes 8/6/4/2] and every class is five percent more likely than the last to entirely negate the chance of a hit. What this means is that each unmodified category of armour makes it ten percent more difficult to land a blow. Since fighting-men similarly advance ten percent in fighting ability every three levels until sixteenth level [i.e. a total of +40% in four equal steps between levels one and fifteen] there is an obvious dichotomy of fighting ability relative to armour class.

With the advent of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, this elegant symmetry was abandoned to accommodate a greater number of armour classifications and a more granular progression in fighting ability. The protective value of mail and plate was increased by reducing default fighting ability by ten percent, but only by five percent for fighters and clerics, the separating of normal men from first level fighters (which carried over into subsequent versions of Basic) and further stratification of monster fighting ability by hit dice (which was partially carried over). The weapon versus armour modifiers, which were derived from Chainmail for Supplement I: Greyhawk, were also included. These last can make weapon selection more interesting, but by the same token they seem to increase the degree of simulationism in the combat system. Quite what they simulate is open to question, as they are implicitly optional and appear to have little basis in any historically authentic relationship between weapons and armour. On the other hand, the modifiers do tend to make two handed weapons a more viable choice.

One significant thing that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons carried over from Supplement I was the idea that strength should not only increase hit probability, but also the amount of damage delivered. Along with variable damage dice for weapons, this was yet another step away from the initial abstraction, and requires some interpretation to be reconciled with the assumptions of the broader system. In general, armour is overcome in two basic ways; it is either bypassed or it is penetrated. Since strength is not only an indication of the raw power with which a combatant may deliver a blow, but also contributes to its speed and precision, there is a logic to a hit and damage bonus even when facing unarmoured opponents. However, that brings up another question; if strength and weapon class directly increase the amount of damage inflicted, should not armour class also reduce the amount of damage sustained? Is it reasonable for a successful blow against an unarmoured individual to have the same potential for damage as one delivered to a character fully encased in plate armour? Every addition a step away from the initial abstraction...

What to do about this simulation creep, then? Where to draw the line? For my home campaign, I decided that I would take armour class literally and partially divorce precise forms of armour from the traditional ten categories. Instead of looking at AC6 and seeing "studded or ring armour and shield" or "scale armour", the exact armour type is left vague. Perhaps it represents a mail haubergeon, a rusty mail hauberk, or a bronze hoplite panoply. There are limits to what is plausible, but I would argue that in assigning the conventional ten categories default numerical values in accordance with their relative position, rather than as a reflection of the armour they nominally represent, a greater degree of flexibility and robusticity is achieved. For pricing the armour, I took the rough "doubling" effect evident in the original version of Dungeons & Dragons, and extended it from the three basic armour types to the nine advanced armour classes, which gives roughly similar approximations. Since, in addition to unarmoured, there are nine armoured categories, I decided to divide them into three groups of three for the purposes of movement and damage reduction. The former was a fairly straightforward assignment of 12/9/6 to the three groups, respectively. The latter required a bit more thought; the temptation was to use a 1/2/3 progression, but in playtesting I found that a 0/1/2 progression was generally preferred on account of the difficulty of inflicting damage with a dagger. Anyway, for your entertainment, I put together my variant in a pdf: Armour.

[Article] Dragon Men

2008-11-01T23:00:00.002Z

For me, one of the more surprising features of the D20/4e derivation of Dungeons & Dragons was the introduction of a race of dragon men as a default player character choice. Although I was reasonably familiar with D20/3e, I was indifferent to the debut of the "dragon born" in Races of the Dragon, and unaware that they had achieved any degree of popularity. Having read a good deal of Dragonlance as a teenager, I was familiar with the concept of dragon men in the form of draconians (evil foot soldiers of the Dragon High Lords, and surrogate orcs). Still, I was somewhat surprised to find heroic versions of them in the Player's Handbook.

I should say that I do not think that dragon men are a bad idea, quite the opposite in fact; I think that they are in good company. Traditional adventure games abound with human-animal hybrids: lizard men, snake men, hyena men, frog men, and so on. Such monsters have ancient mythological and literary precedents, which are often directly borrowed. The hybridisation of man and beast as a signifier of the fantastic has a long pedigree. Strictly speaking, dragon men stand slightly apart from this as a combination of man and imaginary beast, but this does not detract from the shared root. However, "beast men" are typically presented as an "other", outside of society and conventional experience, sometimes under a curse, and almost always dangerous for ordinary men to interact with.

Nonetheless, the appropriation and normalisation of the other is not an entirely new or modern phenomonen. A strange heritage is almost axiomatic of the heroic archetype, helping to explain their mighty deeds and emphasise their special nature, whether descended from deities, demons, or conceived through enchantment. Indeed, the traditional "demi human" races are arguably attractive because of their combination of familiar and alien qualities; elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, and half-orc. Presenting them as more than humans in exotic garb has been the stated aim of many a would be innovator, but the very elusiveness of that goal should be a clue that their primary function is as a foil for human experience.

I do not imagine myself alone in concluding that characters like Tanis Half-Elven and Drizzt Do'Urden are the true forerunners of the dragon born as a player character choice, rather than the more obvious draconian analogue. As a "fragmented and declining warrior race of honourable mercenaries" they have a stoic "last of their kind" quality, and are effectively constructed as an entire society of powerful and exotic loners. Whilst the more Elricesque themes have been reserved for the tieflings, it does seem to me that the D20/4e dragon born are a familiar trope in a new skin.

Of course, I wrote as much of the draconians by comparing them to orcs, and in doing so am saying little more than "there is nothing new under the sun", but that is only tangential to my purpose. One of the things I find most attractive about traditional adventure games is the simplicity of the basic rule structure and consequent ease with which additional content can be introduced. Whilst some might understandably balk at the idea of using a concept so closely associated with D20/4e as dragon men, I view them as no less appropriate for swords & sorcery adventure than more conventional human monster hybrids. Indeed, I found the prospect of adventurers encountering dragon men so appealing that I decided to write them up and make them available here.

Whilst I was not particularly interested in the "noble warrior race" angle, I did rather like the idea of dragon men as born for war. I wanted them to be similar in power level to hobgoblins and gnolls, so decided to give dragon men two hit dice and make any wings vestigial. A minor breath weapon seemed the simplest way of conveying a "draconic" aspect in combat without making them overpowering, and an immunity to magical fear a good way to make them more reliable. I like monster background to be relatively open, ideally conveying a few different alternatives for the reader to develop. As presented above, I think there are two or three directions suggested, but I would expect more imaginative souls to think of many more that would be equally or more appropriate.

[Review] DCC The Saga of the Rat King

2008-10-02T00:00:00.001+01:00

The Saga of the Rat King

Authors: Jeffery Quinn, Harley Stroh, and Jon Hershberger.
Contents: 64 soft bound black and white pages, 1 title page, 56 pages of adventure, 4 pages of handouts, 2 pages of advertisements, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Goodman Games.
Product Code: GMGGC08.
Retail Price: £8.99 or $15.99.

Overview

A compilation of three thematically linked adventures for 4-6 characters of levels 1-6, each instalment being intended for a shorter and progressively higher power range. The first and last of these are conversions of Dungeon Crawl Classics #1 Idylls of the Rat King and #27 Revenge of the Rat King, designed and written for third edition by Jeffery Quinn and Harley Stroh, respectively. The module that now bridges these two, Scourge of Silverton, was authored specially for this compilation by Jon Hershberger, who also did the first edition conversion work.

As is the case with all of the adventures in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, the Saga of the Rat King is nominally set in the world of Áereth, but is intended to be easily adapted to any conventional swords & sorcery campaign milieu. Parts one and two take place near to the small mining settlement of Silverton, which receives around a page of exposition in the first appendix; part three takes place in, or rather beneath, the free city of Soulgrave, which is left undescribed beyond a few brief details. The adventures are tied together by the intrigues of the vengeful scions of the Gannu family; disinherited and cursed to live as wererats, their purpose is both revenge and redress.

The physical presentation of the compilation is very familiar and intentionally recalls the classic first edition aesthetic. The artwork is mostly reproduced from the original modules, the exceptions being three new pieces for Scourge of Silverton and the cover illustration, which is by Jeff Dee. The original cover art by Jim Holloway for Idylls of the Rat King and the original and alternative cover for Revenge of the Rat King also feature as interior illustrations. I particularly like the drawing of the great rat idol being despoiled by adventurers, a laudable homage.

Each part of the saga is provided with an introduction, summary, and background, as well as advice for the game master regarding scaling the difficulty, involving the player characters and dealing with their possible defeat and death. These individually take up two to three pages of text and clearly relate all the intended material. They are followed by the various encounter area descriptions, each of which contains information to be immediately conveyed to the players and a separate section for the game master. All handouts and maps are found at the end of the module, except the map for Revenge of the Rat King, which is attractively printed in black and white on the inside covers. The text is easy to read and I was pleased to see that the wide margins evident in previous first edition conversions have been reduced from three quarters of an inch to three eighths.

I was also gratified to note that the tendency to fully repeat monster statistics whenever and wherever they appear has almost entirely vanished. In some cases they could have been shorter still, as with the triple identical listings for the wererats in Idylls of the Rat King, and in others the necessity of listing variant possessions is sometimes overlooked, as with the crossbow armed goblins in area 1-5 of the same adventure. However, these are fairly minor editorial quibbles and do not detract very much from the intended brevity and functionality of the compilation.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of converting third edition adventures to first edition is how to approach task resolution. In the case of Saga of the Rat King, this has for the most part been left open; secret doors and hidden items are noted, but the method of their discovery is not specified. This is an excellent approach for experienced game masters, who may assign a reasonable probability to the finding of such things as a result of a general and abstracted search, or allow the player characters to discover them by interacting directly with their imagined surroundings. It might be more daunting for less seasoned game masters, but the same answers are available in the rulebooks. However, towards the end of the compilation, some of the encounter areas begin to suggest or call for attribute checks on 1d20, generally in order to maintain balance, jump or swim. Whilst these are reasonable task resolution methods, I think their inclusion was unnecessary.

Idylls of the Rat King

The first adventure in the compilation is a four level dungeon crawl through what was once an abandoned mine, but now serves as a bandit lair. There are two pages of handouts, two pages of maps, and twenty-three pages of text that detail sixty encounter areas. In the original version, the bandits were a goblin clan that Lawrence Gannu had subverted to his purposes by means of his curse. The conversion takes the time to briefly explain that, since only humans are susceptible to becoming wererats under first edition rules, it was necessary to diversify the bandits to include half-orcs and humans. At the behest of the eldest son of the Gannu family, these have been attacking caravans and seizing silver shipments, which is what draws the interest of the player characters.

As might be expected of the first adventure in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line, this is a very traditional and straightforward affair. The dungeon rooms are uniformly rectangular or square, and the passageways are all ten feet wide and turn at ninety degree angles. There are numerous traps and secret doors, plenty of directional choices and the constant threat of wandering monsters. The first two levels of the mine are principally defended by goblins, half-orcs and men, though a few wererats are present on the second level; giant rats may be encountered, as might some stray zombies or a small group of skeletons. In the original version there were also several groups of goblin women and children, which have been replaced in the conversion with slaves and half-orc taskmasters. I was glad of this, as my feeling is that the inclusion of such dependents only serves to pointlessly humanise and undermine the monstrous perception of goblins.

I think some of the encounters rung a little false, such as the secret vault that contains an empty locked and trapped chest, whilst the true treasure, a silver long sword +1, is hidden beneath a loose flagstone. According to the area description, the blade was left behind by a mortally wounded fighter for others to find, which is reasonable enough, but the chest seems like a lot of unnecessary trouble for a dying man to go to. Some other encounter areas feel a little disconnected, such as the secret chamber that conceals an amulet of protection from evil; the area description tells us that Narzy Hilspek suspects the existence of such a chamber and would pay handsomely to know of it, but there is no hint of a reason as to why he would. An imaginative game master can come up with solutions to these oddities, and they can be construed positively as challenges to his creativity, but I think they could have been presented in a more inspirational manner.

The presence of undead on the wandering monster tables for the upper levels and the amusingly labelled “zombie closet” are explained by an undead mining operation on the third level of the dungeon. A human necromancer temporarily in league with the rat king is using zombies to extract silver ore. In the original version he was an evil gnome, and two of his minions were zombie badgers; the conversion has replaced these last with more conventional dwarf zombies, which makes better sense to me. The area is quite maze like, which means there is plenty of potential for wandering undead, such as skeletal ogres, to harass a slow moving party, but there are relatively few encounter areas. The necromancer is the most significant keyed hazard; the text indicates that he will attempt to bargain with the adventurers, but only with a view towards immediately betraying them. I suspect that an earlier draft presented him in a less uncompromising manner, since this is the very Narzy Hilspek who would pay to know the location of the secret chamber on the second level of the dungeon. Depending on how the player characters approached him, I would probably be inclined to have him bide his time before betraying them.

The final level of the dungeon is the abode of the rat king and his wererat minions, but unknown to them it is also the secret prison of a powerful vampire. It is quite possible that the player characters will defeat the rat king without ever discovering this additional terror, which makes for an interesting potential future plot hook. Indeed, even if released by over covetous adventurers, the vampire may become anything from a temporary ally against the wererats to a recurring villain, neither of which are mutually exclusive. Lawrence Gannu himself is a reasonably challenging foe, and since he is not inclined to flee or surrender, the adventure will either end with his death or those of the player characters.

This is a good conversion of an entertaining dungeon crawl; most of my criticisms are relatively minor and rarely detract from the functionality of the module. The dungeon maps are a bit artificial and some of the encounters a little forced, but the content is very playable and interesting. Almost all of the design choices made for the conversion have made for a better adventure and, combined with the inclusion of details such as the spies amongst the slaves, makes me wonder whether a heavier hand might have further improved upon the original. My one real complaint is that the body of the father of the rat king, Aaron Gannu, is entombed at area 4-13, as it is in the original. In the context of this compilation such a consistency question makes little sense, since Aaron Gannu is the primary villain for the remainder of the saga.

Scourge of Silverton

The adventure that links Idylls of the Rat King to Revenge of the Rat King is a fairly short affair, taking up only eight pages of text. Whilst it is intended as to form a bridge between them, it can be used independently of either with only a few minor changes. The premise of the default plot is that Marcus Gannu, half brother of Lawrence Gannu, has come to Silverton seeking revenge on the slayers of his sibling. To this end, he has taken prisoner a number of the local villagers and is purportedly holding them for ransom in the abandoned Deveraux silver mine. However, this is merely a pretext to lure the player characters into his trap; the unfortunate prisoners have already been taken to Soulgrave to be sold into slavery.

Assuming that the adventurers take the bait, they are told to deliver the ransom money to the nearby mine, where Marcus and his men await them. Whether they pay the ransom or not, it quickly becomes apparent that the hostages will not be relinquished easily. Arrayed against them are some thirty or so adversaries, mainly low level assassins and bandits, though there are also some dire wolves, a third level fighter and a dual classed cleric/magician, in addition to Marcus himself. All are lightly armoured, which allows them to effectively employ hit and fade tactics, the aim being to draw the party deep into the mine, through prepared defences and into a final killing ground.

This sort of dynamic scenario can prove quite deadly to an incautious or overconfident group of player characters, especially if a party of assassins manages to achieve surprise. Unless they manage to take out their opponents quickly at each stage, the party may find the last encounter too difficult to overcome, and their fast moving enemies will likely catch any fleeing adventurers in short order. The text indicates that any player characters captured are conveyed to the dungeons of the elder rat king, and any who are slain are resurrected and treated to the same fate, which leads directly to the third instalment of the saga.

The dungeon itself is laid out so that players have a number of directional choices, and good tactical use can be made of the environment. Particularly cunning adventurers may even manage to cut off the escape route that Marcus has planned. There is also plenty of room left explicitly for expansion, should the game master be inclined. The suggestions for wandering monsters serve as good inspiration for what might dwell in an expanded mine; a giant frog spawning ground was my first thought.

Whilst relatively brief, this is a well put together adventure that provides an interesting and extendable dungeon environment, sets up a compelling villain, and demonstrates a confident familiarity with the flexibility and potential of the first edition rules and design philosophy. A good example of this understanding in practice is the mix of class levels and hit die advancement used to effectively represent the capabilities of the villains. Producing a bridging adventure of this sort cannot have been altogether easy, but this module both serves that purpose and stands well on its own merits.

Revenge of the Rat King

The final part of the rat king saga takes up twenty-two pages all told, including two pages of handouts. There are thirty encounter areas divided into three stages, most of which are quite unavoidable and must be completed to reach the next. The central premise of this adventure is that the player characters are captured by the rat king in area 1-14, the remainder of the module being concerned with their escape from his prison. This event is considered to be so critical to the progression of the plot that the game master is advised to increase the number of wererats in the planned ambush from more than a score to as many as needed, should it look as though there are not enough to prevail.

Having read through the original, I had hoped that the conversion would dispense with the importance attached to the capture of the adventurers, and so I was disappointed to find it was still so strongly urged. A predetermined event of this sort constrains both players and game master in a way that undermines the fundamental “choices and consequences” nature of traditional adventure gaming. It would have been more aesthetically appealing to have provided the rat king with alternative courses of action, each depending on the outcome of his primary plan; if the wand of stone and earth were placed in the possession of Azrod the Dying and the capture of the player characters turned into a possible outcome, rather than a mandatory event, this adventure would have been much improved.

Whilst in terms of overall design concept I thought this was definitely the weakest instalment in the compilation, by contrast it also boasts some of the strongest set pieces. From the zombie infested collapsible cages of the slave pits to the failed clones in the workshop of the Dying One, the dungeons of the rat king are full of evocative and deadly encounters. I particularly like the rat filled swarming hole; the numerous additional rats that rain down on adventurers as they try to cross over, by means of a narrow and slippery beam, creates quite the visceral mental image. I thought it a bit of a pity that the curse of the spinner encounter area was not included in the conversion, as that was also rather good. I would quite like to see it converted as a web supplement at some point.

Although most of the dungeon runs fairly linearly, areas 2-6 to 2-8 form an adjunct, and are deliberately left open ended for the game master to expand upon. They can be reached from the main sewer by means of a large drain, and comprise a small part of an ancient and ruined necropolis; the accessible part leads to the tomb of a fallen paladin who bargained away his soul to a demon prince in return for worldly power. The strange writing and whispering demonic voices that begin if anybody reads the words aloud are well used here, creating a sense of otherworldly danger and apprehension. There is just enough information about this area to get the reader thinking about how to develop it, a solid element of first edition adventure design.

Apart from the plotted event structure, which a skilled game master should be more than capable of overcoming, this is actually rather an interesting dungeon. It is diverse and has plenty to offer by way of challenges, only really lacking a dynamic and adaptable outlook to get the best out of. A significant shortcoming by any stretch of the imagination, but hardly an insurmountable one. Whether the rat king escapes or is defeated, there are many potential plot strands left intentionally unresolved for future development, and which can be used to tie the series into the larger campaign milieu, such as Áereth or some other suitable swords & sorcery setting.

Technicalities and Errors

Conversion work is a double edged sword; editing errors in the original are usually spotted and removed, but substantial changes always run the risk of introducing new mistakes into the text. I did not spot a great many of these, but there are some, such as the notation “Ftr5/Th6/Brd3” appearing at location 2-3 on the Encounter Table on page three, or the assertion on pages twelve and forty-two that some of the wererats have a “giant fat form”, which gave me a chuckle. A less obvious error is the accidental conflating of Silverton with Soulgrave on page twenty seven, the former of which is unlikely to have much of a slave market for its own citizens. In keeping with a great many other modules, terms such as “long sword” are treated inconsistently, occasionally being rendered as “longsword”. There is also a noticeable tendency for repeat words to crop up in the writing here and there, which is a little disconcerting, and could have probably used another editorial pass.

Some of the background material was rewritten to improve cohesiveness, which is by and large an improvement on the original. However, some strangeness has resulted from some of the changes, such as the mention of a goblin shaman on page five, who no longer features in the adventure, all the goblin clerics having been converted to humans. Similarly, the half-orcs in area 2-2 fight with “suicidal devotion” because their slaves are at stake, which made more sense in the original when it was their dependents at stake. There is also the illustration on page sixteen, which depicts the original bespectacled goblin wizard in area 2-21, rather than the human magician of the conversion. More annoyingly, the title page illustration shows a crowned wererat sat upon a wooden throne, flanked by two vicious looking goblin types bearing spears; this can only be the bandit chief from area 2-18, whose goblin bodyguards have been replaced with humans. It would have been no trouble at all to have made these half-orcs, not even their hit dice would needed to have been changed.

With regards to the technical rendering of statistics, I found the notation for hit dice less than one to be unnecessarily baroque. For instance, goblin and giant rat hit die are presented in the form “HD 1-7 Hit Points” and “HD 1-4 Hit Points” respectively, which contrasts with the more concise “HD ¼, HP 1-2” used for normal rats. These would have been better rendered as “HD 1-1, HP 1-7” and “HD ½, HP 1-4” for the sake of consistency. In a similar vein, when class level is indicated, providing hit die type and number is redundant, as class type and level supersede this notation for the purposes of determining saving throws, to hit numbers, and life energy levels.

I also thought that the wererat and rat king statistics could have been briefer, more along the lines of those used for Marcus Gannu in fact, and that the ogre zombie and skeleton statistics could have done with another edit, but it is hard to say for sure as they are listed as new monsters. For the most part, excellent use is made of hit die advancement as an alternative to advancement by level and class for non player characters and monsters, but there are also occasional lapses. Most of these appear to be simple editing errors, such as the hobgoblin slavers on pages forty-three and fifty, who are listed as “Ftr1” and having “HD 1+1”, or the notable villagers of Silverton, who are variously listed as “Expert5” or “Commoner2”. The half-orc slavers in Revenge of the Rat King are a different matter, as their hit die notation shows that they were intended to be first level fighters; my complaint with regard to this is that it actually makes them weaker in terms of offensive strength than the half-orc bandits in Idylls of the Rat King, which I do not think was intended.

In terms of further minutia, the notations used for damage are often inconsistent. For instance, on pages thirty-one and thirty-two, Cedric the cleric/magician has the damage notation “2-5+1”, which should more reasonably read as “3-6” or if complete clarity is desired “1d4+2”, whilst Marcus Gannu and the bandit leader have their damage ranges listed as though using normal weapons, though both bear magical blades that should show the notations “2-9 and 2-7” or “1d8+1 and 1d6+1” respectively. It is also worth noting that whilst the rat king is listed with a rapier +2 and his minions with mundane equivalents, the weapon does not appear in the first edition rulebooks and so lacks any extant weapon versus armour modifiers; they could have been replaced with scimitars, as was done with the Tower of the Black Pearl, but this would have contradicted the cover art.

Conclusion

There is a lot to like about Saga of the Rat King; the production values are high, the aesthetic appealing, and the writing is good. The content is a bit variable in places, but generally strong, especially with regard to the individual set pieces; I particularly liked the encounter with the demon summoning cleric at the start of the sewers of the slavers, for instance. The conversion work has been handled skilfully and with obvious practical and theoretical knowledge of how to get the best out of first edition. I very much appreciated the open approach taken toward task resolution and willingness to present variations on the default statistics for characters and monsters.

Where I felt the compilation was at its weakest was in some of the things it carried over from the original adventures. I would have liked to have seen a greater degree of the text reworked in a way that facilitated more dynamic and less static activity on the parts of the monsters and characters arrayed against the adventurers. However, I also recognise that there is only so much that can be done with this sort of project before the adventure ceases to be recognisable as a conversion.

This is a solid first edition conversion that will make for several entertaining sessions of play, either as part of a longer campaign or within their own context. The additional material that has been included is all to the good of the whole, and the presentation is both functional and pleasing. I think I would have preferred as the cover illustration the despoiled rat idol to the rapier wielding rat king, but that is no doubt a subjective preference. The conversion work is a significant improvement over the offerings of previous years, and the content is comparable in terms of quality. Overall, I was very satisfied with this product.

Alternative Reviews: None

[Review] DCC The Golden Auroch/Tower of the Black Pearl

2008-10-01T00:00:00.001+01:00

The Golden Auroch/Tower of the Black Pearl

Authors: Harley Stroh and Andrew Hind.
Contents: 24 saddle stitched black and white pages, 2 title pages, 20 pages of adventure, 1 page of handouts, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Goodman Games.
Product Code: GMGGC08-2.
Retail Price: £5.99 or $10.99.

Overview

Two distinct adventures for 4-6 characters of levels 1-2, each designed to potentially serve as the starting point for a longer campaign or be played as they are. The Golden Auroch and Tower of the Black Pearl were originally written and designed for third edition by Andrew Hind and Harley Stroh, respectively; both titles first appeared in Dungeon Crawl Classics #29 The Adventure Begins. They have been adapted for first edition by Jon Hershberger, who also did the conversion work for Iron Crypt of the Heretics and Saga of the Witch Queen.

Whilst both of these adventures are intended for use with any traditional swords & sorcery campaign setting, they each have a suggested location in the default Dungeon Crawl Classics world of Áereth. The Golden Auroch takes place on the eastern edge of the Achsfel Wastes, in the shadow of the Kitezhan mountains; the Tower of the Black Pearl lies some thousand miles and more distant, in the Straits of Ymtal. However, if it were desired to play both these adventures one after the other with the same party, it would be no great stretch to move the tower to the coastline north of the wastes.

The module is presented as a “flip book”, which is to say that it is printed in such a way that there are two front covers, each reading forward, and no back cover. The maps are not printed on the inside of the covers, which I understand to be mainly on account of the expense involved. Instead these can be found in the middle of the booklet, where the two adventures meet. The internal art is mainly taken from the original versions, but the cover pieces are entirely new; both are by Brad McDevitt, and rendered in a neo traditional monochrome style that recalls the earliest first edition offerings.

Both the Golden Auroch and Tower of the Black Pearl have their own introduction, summary, background, suggested methods of getting the player characters involved, and advice for scaling the difficulty to accommodate larger and higher level parties; these take up a page and a half of each module. In each case, a short description of the adventure location is followed by the various keyed encounter areas, which make up the bulk of the text. Every encounter is divided into information to be immediately related to the players and details reserved for the game master. The text is clearly printed, and the margins set at three eighths of an inch, which is half the width of earlier Goodman Games conversions, and results in more words to the page.

The monster and non player character statistics are suitably brief, and no space is wasted with needless repetitions, which is very much appreciated. Task resolution has mainly been well handled, all evidence of the third edition skill system has been erased, and the game master left free to determine whether to leave things up to the dice, player interaction with the environment, or a combination thereof. Some tasks are described as “extremely difficult” or “easy” and that is about all the guidance that is needed.

The flip book format is undeniably a gimmick, hearkening back to venerable predecessors, but it is also perfectly practical. The two halves feel entirely distinct and there is no need to page through the booklet to reach the second module, as there would be if they were simply bound one after the other. Whilst in general I prefer the aesthetics of a module with a front and back cover, there is no denying the functionality of the design; it is a durable product with very good production values.

The Golden Auroch

This adventure takes place amidst the desert swallowed ruins of Ur, a cursed city destroyed at the behest of a vengeful deity. Beneath the shifting sands some structures remain partially intact, not least of which is the palace turned tomb of the sorceress queen Nicrotis, wherein the golden auroch lies, long undisturbed. The premise is straightforward enough; the city state of Akkad is in the grip of a drought, and the aforementioned relic is said to have the power to end it. The player characters have undertaken to find the auroch and their guide, a man named Nebu, has brought them to the ruined city. Of course, unbeknownst to anyone, Nicrotis still dwells in her palace and, what is more, she has need of brave mortals. So, when the adventurers find themselves hopelessly outmatched against the Scourge of Ninurta, a powerful guardian set to watch over the ruins, a nearby pair of doors inexplicably open and provide a convenient means of escape.

Unlike the introductions to many other Dungeon Crawl Classics, no space in the Golden Auroch is given over to an explicit list of plot hooks for getting the player characters involved. Rather, it is simply assumed that they are seeking the relic on behalf of the prince of Akkad. There are alternative explanations offered, but they are very brief. The adventure begins at the buried city, and any game master who wishes to deal with prior events is essentially left to his own devices. Starting the game in media res has the advantage of bringing the players straight into the action and is also good for tournament play, but it also robs them of the opportunity to gather information, plan their expedition, and equip themselves accordingly. Consequently, whatever knowledge the player characters have is entirely at the discretion of the game master. For my part, I tend to run modules independently of campaigns and do not want to spend a lot of time setting up the story, so I favour this approach; nonetheless, anyone used to having more elaborate plot hooks provided may feel the lack.

The opening encounter with the Scourge of Ninurta is problematic; it is scripted so that the adventurers quickly recognise they are outmatched and flee into the palace. If they choose to make a fight of it, or run in a different direction, they will almost certainly be slain, because the guardian is an eight hit dice monster with more than fifty hit points and a movement rate of twelve. Even if the game master uses Nebu to show the players the “right” course of action, there will almost certainly be casualties, and a party lacking hirelings is likely to suffer. However, the real problem with this encounter is that even once the adventurers acquire the golden auroch, which weighs five hundred pounds, the guardian has no reason to allow them to leave with it, short of a deus ex machina. Unfortunately, the prescribing does not end with the party being funnelled into the palace; poor Nebu is destined to dramatically die at the hands of a new monster, a dust para-elemental. Happily, this event is unimportant, easily ignored, and the only other scripted portion of the module.

Despite the rather heavy handed introduction, the dungeon itself is designed to be explored in a much more open and traditional manner. The player characters are presented with a number of directional choices, and could potentially locate the auroch with relatively little in the way of combat. The dust para-elemental will shadow the adventurers, moving between encounter areas to ambush them at opportune moments. However, once it is defeated they are relatively free to rest and recoup as their rations allow, as there are no other wandering monsters in the palace. Therefore, the way in which the game master handles the dust para-elemental has the potential to significantly affect the difficulty of the other encounters with regard to the renewable resources available, particularly spells. That said, with the Scourge of Ninurta awaiting them outside, other opportunities for rest are decidedly limited, making the eventual destruction of the dust para-elemental a virtual necessity for a successful outcome, its role as the guardian of the golden auroch not withstanding.

In addition to the Scourge of Ninurta and the dust para-elemental, adventurers may encounter a number of diverse monsters, including an animated iron maiden, a horde of carnivorous beetles, and an enraged magmin. The golden auroch itself is protected by a seething nest of vipers, whose venomous bite could easily confer an unpleasant death. However, the most dangerous foe in the dungeon is the sorceress Nicrotis, former queen of Ur. What remains of her mortal shell is almost entirely confined to her throne and slowly crumbling away, but as a sorceress she is still a potent threat. Nicrotis’ aim is to persuade the player characters, by means fair or foul, to complete the ritual that she failed to finish and fully open a portal to the para-elemental plane of dust. Of course, complying with her wishes is inadvisable, resulting in the restoration of her corporeal form amongst other misfortunes, but an unsuspecting party may well be fooled. In the original version of the Golden Auroch, players could defer to a character skill to determine Nicrotis’ true intentions, but under the first edition paradigm they must rely on their own intuition, a by far preferable situation.

Conceptually, this adventure is great. A divinely cursed and desert buried city serving as both the prison and the tomb of a desiccated sorceress queen is a premise almost guaranteed to fire the imagination. The ruins of Ur could easily be expanded and developed into a major adventure location by an enterprising game master. The conversion work is excellent, each encounter being a suitable challenge to a well organised party without being impossible for a group of new players. However, an unseasoned game master might find running the adventure difficult. Using the dust para-elemental as intended requires experience and skill, and the same could be said of the Scourge of Ninurta. Of course, dealing with challenges is the principal means by which such skills are acquired, and the text provides some pointers here and there, so there is little reason to dwell on that overlong. As written, the Golden Auroch is a good module, and my principle complaint is that it is not longer, as it seems to me that this is only the kernel of what it potentially could be.

Tower of the Black Pearl

The focus of this adventure is the exploration of an underwater tower that emerges from the ocean once a decade. Should the inherent mystery of such a place prove insufficient, rumours of a black pearl of unusual size and value may entice reluctant player characters. There are three potential plot hooks presented in the introductory material, each revealing the existence of the tower and a reason to seek it. These may prove useful starting points for a game master who desires to integrate the module into an ongoing campaign, whilst for those wishing to move directly to the dungeon proper they do good service as instant background. Although the introductory suggestions are principally methods of involving the adventurers, they also provide differing degrees of information about what they can expect to face. There are three salient details that the game master may reveal; that the black pearl is said to be cursed; that the tower will be accessible for only eight hours before the tides return; and that a notoriously vicious pirate named Savage Quenn is seeking the pearl for his own nefarious ends. Control of this information is significant, as each rumour has the potential to alter how the player characters initially perceive their expedition and its purpose.

There are twelve encounter areas described in the module; the first four correspond to the immediate upper levels of the tower, and are accessed one after the other. The whereabouts of the other eight is more ambiguous because they are accessed from area 1-4 by means of two magical portals. Judging from their size and the fact that they begin to flood if the black pearl is removed from its pedestal, they are most logically situated beneath the tower, but the text leaves this open to interpretation. As with the first four, the remaining eight areas follow one after the other in a linear fashion. A particularly quick thinking or daring party might manage to move directly from 1-6 to 1-10 or 1-11, but there are otherwise virtually no directional decisions for the players to make, which is a bit of a shame. On the other hand, it means that the adventure is very straightforward; the only real problem a prospective game master might face is if the players take a long time to solve some of the puzzles, as my group did. Deciding how to measure the passage of time and whether or when to give hints is crucial.

Savage Quenn and his pirate crew provide the main combat opposition, and are encountered in three groups. The first three stalwarts lie in a stupor atop the tower, having succumbed to the temptation of a cask of rum whilst supposedly guarding the long boat; a second party waits at area 1-5, ready to ambush anybody who steps through the portal; the last group have accompanied their captain as far as area 1-7, where they have been stopped by a great iron door. Additional pirates may also be encountered as a wandering monster result, though the confined quarters of the dungeon will sometimes mandate the use of discretion for the sake of internal consistency. The adventure is designed so that Savage Quenn and his companions have not managed to open the gate by the time the player characters arrive, a fact that prompts him to propose a short term alliance. The text indicates that the pirate captain will betray the party as soon as the door is breached, which I regard as a missed opportunity; far better to have Savage Quenn stretch out his treachery until the black pearl is within his reach, the tower flooding, and everybody scrambling to escape. I ran this encounter as the module suggested, and instantly knew I had made a mistake.

The conversion work for the pirates is good, and corrects an error in the original text whereby they lacked the bows mentioned in the first area description. As veteran fighters armed with short swords and short bows, they are dangerous, but their poor armour class means that they are also vulnerable. Savage Quenn is a somewhat better fighter, but similarly first level, making intimidation and deception his best weapons against the adventurers. In addition to the former crew of the Black Mariah, there are giant rats and animated statues to contend with, as well as a skeletal boatman who takes exception to being short changed. Of these, the statues are new monsters with first edition appropriate statistics.

At various points in the dungeon are puzzles that have to be solved in order to reach the next encounter area, and which have the potential to significantly slow the progress of the player characters. With only forty-eight turns to explore the tower before the tide returns, the speedy resolution of these obstacles is paramount to success. The first challenge is the entrance hatch, as it requires a specific action to unlock, and there are no prompts. It took my group a couple of turns to figure it out by trial and error, but they could have gotten the information from one of the pirates they captured, had they questioned them more insistently. The same party found activating the first portal in area 1-5 more difficult; ignoring the evidence of a recent blood sacrifice, they spent rather a lot of time rearranging the jewels in the hope of activating the portal, and a hint was eventually necessary to get things moving. The traps and tricks in areas 1-7 to 1-10 are fairly straightforward, and some lateral thinking allows the worst of their effects to be mitigated, though it seemed odd that the spear trap in area 1-10 had a reset mechanism that so readily revealed its presence. The final puzzle of the tower is how to reach the black pearl itself, which is separated from potential thieves by thirty feet of water broiling with poisonous sea snakes; if the players have not yet given any thought to the wisdom of stealing the black pearl, this should give them cause.

This adventure falls short in two principal regards; it is too linear, and the main opposition too static. If there was an event timeline, so that reaching the black pearl was a race against time, then linearity would not matter so much. Catching up with, or beating, Savage Quenn to his goal would be the main objective of the adventure, and the players would probably have to make some interesting choices along the way. As written, the pirate captain and his companions will be encountered at area 1-7 regardless of whether the adventurers arrive on turn ten or turn forty. The way that certain elements of the adventure interact with one another also seem a little inconsistent; for instance, how is the tower flooded by the removal of the black pearl, and why do the solars watching over the candles in the hall of mysteries allow them to be extinguished by the flood, but punish characters who maliciously extinguish them? Questions to be answered by the game master, no doubt, but the lack of ready solutions makes things feel a little haphazard. That said, this is not a bad module; the encounters are diverse and well balanced, the concept is interesting, the writing is engaging, and it makes for an entertaining evening of adventure gaming. A bit of work is needed to get the best out of it, but that can be said of a good many traditional modules, and the Tower of the Black Pearl is no different in that respect.

Technicalities and Errors

It is surprising how many editing errors can creep into even a short work, and conversions are prone to introducing new ones, even as they correct mistakes in the original. An example of an inconsistency that was not caught here is the illustration of the dust para-elemental armed with scimitar and round shield on page four of the Golden Auroch, which is faced by a short description indicating that it is “armed with tower shield and spear”. A newly introduced disparity can be found on the cover illustration of Savage Quenn; his scimitar has a guard in the shape of the head of a cat, but is described on page seven as having “a black steel blade” and a “pommel cast in the shape of a cat’s head”. I might also complain that the handout on page ten is somewhat misleading as to the distance separating the adventurers from the black pearl, at least as seems to be implied on the map. Moreover, the map for the Golden Auroch has a wall separating areas 1-12 to 1-15 from the rest of the complex, which is not mentioned in the key and can only be an oversight.

There are occasional inconsistencies in the monster statistic blocks. The animated figurines are listed as having “HD 1d4, HP 2”, whilst the giant rats are listed as “HD 1-4 HP” on the same page, which reads confusingly and should preferably be rendered “HD ½, HP 2 (or 1-4)”, and the same for the poisonous sea snakes and vipers. Similarly, it is superfluous to indicate that the pirates are “HD 1” when they are listed as first level fighters, a convention that is variably repeated with Savage Quenn as “HD 1d10” and Nicrotis as “HD 7”. The pirate captain is also listed as doing “1-8+1” damage with his scimitar and “1-3” damage with his dagger, which ought really to be “2-9” and “1-4” respectively. I suspect that the absence of a damage listing for the skeletons on page seven is a mistake, and in the same vein it is not clear why movement is listed for some monsters and not others.

Although on the whole vestiges of third edition have been excised from this product, they do occasionally crop up here and there. The two references to “chain mail shirts” on page seven of the Tower of the Black Pearl appear to be of that sort, as does the “tower shield” on page five of the Golden Auroch. On the other hand, the vast majority of new monsters read as first edition entries, though I thought the complete removal of damage reduction might have been a little overzealous. The one exception to this is Nicrotis herself, who seems to be partially presented as a seventh level magic-user and partially as a monster entry, which is reminiscent of the way third edition handles such things. A typical monster entry with the notation “casts spells as a seventh level magic user” would perhaps have been clearer, even bearing in mind that no statistics are provided for her “restored” form.

Conclusion

Although I am certainly not without complaints, both of these are good conversions for first edition, and either will provide for an entertaining session with minimal preparation; however they do feel too short, and when I compare the twenty four pages of the Golden Auroch / Tower of the Black Pearl to the sixteen pages of the Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom I am struck by how much more is packed into the latter compared to the former. I do not usually think it appropriate to criticise the use of boxed text, as it is as much a stylistic preference as a functional one, but I think in this case these adventures could have been much improved by the reduction of each entry and the inclusion of more areas. Of course, that is not really a reasonable criticism of a conversion, but it is of the complete product. There is a lot of potential here, and I would have liked to see it more fully realised.

Alternative Reviews: None

[Review] AA4 The Prison of Meneptah

2008-06-12T18:47:00.001+01:00

The Prison of Meneptah

Author: Alphonso Warden
Contents: 32 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 28 pages of adventure, 2 pages of OSRIC advertisements, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6104
Retail Price: £7.00 or $13.00

Overview

A stand alone adventure for 4-7 characters of levels 8-10, this is an interesting offering and, compared to earlier modules in the series, very reasonably priced. The background and concept are extremely appealing and captured my interest right away, being a heady mix of extra planar travel, devastated locales, unwise ambitions and fallen deities. The introduction takes up only the first page of text and the adventure hook is a straight forward offer of a large sum of gold in exchange for the services of the player characters.

The task involves travelling through a portal to a barren world in order to ascertain the fate of a party of explorers previously sent to investigate. After the introduction, the first fourteen pages or so of the module deal with travelling through the wilderness, the various random encounters possible, a planned encounter, and three or four relatively short, but potentially deadly, adventure sites. This is followed by twelve pages dealing with the prison proper and one page detailing new monsters and items. The external and internal artwork meets the familiar old school aesthetic.

On the whole, I found the first part of the module to be more satisfying than the second part, which I thought was a bit of a disappointment. The variety of approaches and possibilities that surrounded the adventure sites, and even the random encounters, made the main dungeon seem somewhat stifling by comparison. The diverse challenges in the prison are ill served by being grouped together and tailored to specific classes, not to mention being exceedingly deadly and too often combat orientated. Furthermore, there seemed little reason for the builders of the prison to create class based challenges, rather than layered defences, which made the context of the dungeon seem an excuse for the ordeals.

I was expecting the dungeon to be more of a prison, and I was left wanting on account of that, but that was admittedly a result of my expectations. Conceptually, I found this module to be inspirational, but as a result I would want to rework much of the second half to better meet the potential that I thought it had.

Technicalities and Errors

My copy of this module had an odd ‘raindrop effect’ on the front and back covers only visible on close inspection. I do not know if this was damage sustained in transit or a printing error. However, pages twenty four and twenty six have certainly been misprinted at an angle, which was somewhat annoying, though all of the information is legible.

There are a number of errors in the text, relating both to internal consistency and technical accuracy. On page two, for instance, the Ashai are said to have been a northern people and the Muhati a southern people; however, from that point on, the opposite appears to be the case whenever it is mentioned. On page twenty one, the commander and lieutenant are described as being armed with boulders and spears respectively and then the reverse is asserted to be the case.

The notation ‘SA +X to hit’ is inconsistently used. Whilst in most instances it takes into account both strength modifiers and magic bonuses, such is not always the case. The primary examples are the dervishes on page four, entries which also take the time to note ‘SA Spells’, but not ‘SA Turn Undead’, leaving the reader in some doubt as to whether they can. Moreover, the armour class of the third dervish is in error, forgetting to take into account his dexterity. It is also noticeable that these four, and others elsewhere, are said to be armed with ‘footman’s maces’, which are designations not present in the OSRIC document. It would, perhaps, have been wiser to simply list these as ’mace’, as is done with the first assistant on page six and a practice universally applied to ‘shield’ [i.e. there are no ‘large’ or ‘small’ shields]. The DMG and MM are also occasionaly referenced, which I thought a bit risky.

Similarly, the nomads on page five are listed with an armour class that does not take into account their unusually high dexterity. Additionally, the nomad leader on page six seems as though he ought to have rolled for exceptional strength, but that could be purposeful. Another odd instance is the monster zombies on page eight, who are listed with ‘longswords’, but with damage 4-16. The terms ‘long sword’ and ‘long bow’ are also inconsistently applied, sometimes appearing as ‘longsword’ and ‘longbow’.

As with the previous modules, there are a number of textual errors here and there, but no more than one might typically expect.

Conclusion

On the whole, I thought this was a good module. There is plenty of adventure fodder here and, whilst stronger on concepts than content, I was pleased with it. It could probably have done with one more editorial pass with an eye for the above consistency errors before going to the printers and I think there was greater potential than was realised in the prison itself, but it is a worthy addition to the Advanced Adventures line.

Alternative Reviews: Stuart Marshall,

[Review] AA3 The Curse of the Witch Head

2008-06-12T18:26:00.001+01:00

The Curse of the Witch Head

Author: James C. Boney
Contents: 12 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 10 pages of adventure, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6103
Retail Price: £6.00 or $11.00

Overview

A stand alone adventure for 4-6 characters of levels 6-10, this is a tightly plotted module with an interesting premise. The background and introduction take up just over a page of text, relating a tale of family woe, dark magic, unworthy successors, bribery and patrimonial greed. The motivation for player character involvement is a ducal promise of an unspecified boon, if only they will wrest the witch head from his enemies, a task that has already proven too much for his own soldiers and two groups of adventurers.

The objective is a place known as the Witcheed Hill, beneath which is a single level dungeon complex. Although the journey from the ducal residence to the hill twenty five miles there are no prescribed or suggested wilderness encounters, so the game master is left free to choose whether to introduce any or move directly to the adventure location. The dungeon itself takes up only five pages of text, but it is action packed, filled with traps, oddities and dynamic denizens who have a plan of defence. The last four pages constitute the appendices, which describe the primary antagonists, special traps, as well as three new monsters, two new magic items and a relic.

This is a good module and my only real compliant is that it is a little on the short side, being four pages shorter than the previous two offerings for the same price. There is room for expansion here and I would have been happier with a standard sixteen pages, and very happy if they were as well presented as the rest of the adventure.

Technicalities and Errors

Apart from the occasional editing error, I didn’t notice any inconsistencies or mistakes in the main body of the text or printing errors. I did spend some moments wondering of what use the leather baldric +1 carried by Sendric was, eventually concluding from his armour class that it was being treated as leather armour +1. Lasker is similarly listed as having an armour class of 2, which does not take into account either his shield or the magical benefit of his plate mail +1, I could not decide which; nor is his +1 to hit from strength listed in his stat block, which might easily be overlooked. Auron has rather a lot of spell slots for a level seven cleric, but I assume that is purposeful. The only other problem I had was that the Labyrinthine Golem is not assigned a hit die total, which I would have preferred to have had.

Conclusion

All in all, a very good module with plenty of adventure potential, a non linear dungeon layout and dangerous adversaries. It is hard to design challenging and interesting adventures for unfamiliar mid to high level player characters, but Curse of the Witch Head succeeds with regard to both. I was very pleased with my purchase.

Alternative Reviews: Grodog, Gnarley Bones,

[Review] AA2 The Red Mausoleum

2008-06-12T18:19:00.001+01:00

The Red Mausoleum

Author: James C. Boney
Contents: 16 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 14 pages of adventure, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6101
Retail Price: £6.00 or $11.00

Overview

A stand alone adventure for 6-8 characters of levels 12-15, this is a brutal three level dungeon crawl designed to challenge powerful characters and experienced players alike. The background and introductory material take up about a page or so, outlining the events leading up to the involvement of the player characters and providing a brief description of a small hamlet, Rausen Point, which lies on the edge of the Sistermoors and serves as the starting point for the adventure. The plot is straightforward enough, the gnomish settlement of Grent has been sacked by black armoured raiders and their undead minions, encounters with which have been steadily increasing in recent months. The source of the threat is thought to be an ancient mausoleum, and so the local baron and gnomish laird have offered sizeable rewards to any brave enough to venture into the Sistermoors, descend into the catacombs, and put an end to the undead menace.

Following the introduction, there is a page or so devoted to traversing the dangers of the Sistermoors, the monsters that might be found there, and the frequency with which they might be encountered. Of particular note is a Druid called Sywlgan, who may frustrate or aid the adventurers, depending on what they tell him and his own variable inclination. These wilderness hazards appear designed to wear down the resources of the player characters prior to reaching the mausoleum, and the game master is encouraged not to be sparing with them, but skilful play can greatly reduce the time spent wandering the moors.

The dungeon itself takes up around ten pages of the module, the last two pages of adventure being given over to describing two new magical items and three new monsters. On arriving at the mausoleum, the first difficulty that the adventurers must overcome is gaining entrance, a task that focuses on challenging the players and sets the tone for the rest of the module. To be sure, there are plenty of powerful monsters to be overcome, and the lord of the mausoleum is a formidable adversary, but how the players handle the traps and puzzles will almost certainly be the deciding factor as to their success or failure.

I do not really have much in the way of complaints. I thought more could have been made of the wilderness encounters, and found the veritable menagerie of monsters in the Hall of Honoured Dead to be a little too wacky for my tastes. Also, and as others have pointed out, there are a lot of undead in the lower levels that pose almost no threat to a high level party, but some of that depends on the presence (and survival) of a cleric, how exactly the turn undead rules are implemented, and how the game master runs the dungeon.

About the only thing I think this module is missing is access to pregenerated player characters, which failing inclusion in the product itself could have been included online. I have never known any characters who reached as high as levels 12-15, and would expect those that did to potentially vary considerably in terms of power. Whilst I could always use pregenerated characters from other modules, their absence renders this module somewhat inaccessible to those without examples.

Technicalities and Errors

As might be expected, this module has a few editing errors here and there, such as inconsistent use of ‘Sistermoors’ and ‘Sister-moors’, but I did not notice anything much more significant than that. I thought it was a little strange to devote nearly a quarter of a page to the potential encounter with Sywlgan the druid, and then assign him only a one in a hundred chance of turning up on the wilderness encounter table. Similarly, I thought the half page devoted to Rausen Point was either too little to get a feel for the place or too much to serve as a springboard.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought this was a great adventure, aesthetically reminiscent of the modules it does homage to, and very much in their tradition. The art on the title page is particularly evocative of the perils of traditional adventure games, and the same feeling that one misstep could spell disaster is maintained throughout. Well worth picking up, both for those who would like to play using high level characters and those who are interested in ways to challenge them in the dungeon environment.

Alternative Reviews: Anthony Roberson, Gnarley Bones,

[Review] AA1 The Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom

2008-06-12T18:03:00.001+01:00

The Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom

Author: Matthew Finch
Contents: 16 saddle stitched black and white pages, 1 title page, 14 pages of adventure, and 1 open game license page.
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Product Code: XRP6100
Retail Price: £5.00 or $10.00

Overview

A stand alone adventure for 6-8 characters of levels 2-4, this is an open ended three level dungeon with an unusual theme. The introduction and background material take up less than half a page and describe a relatively straightforward scenario. It seems that a number of animals and people have gone missing from a local village and strange creatures have been sighted in the woods; some of the braver folk have followed the tracks into the hills, but none would enter the fissure into which they eventually led. The villagers have three potions of healing to offer as a reward, but otherwise the game master is largely left to his own devices to attract the interest of the player characters. This relative lack of fiscal enticement places almost all the treasure in the dungeon itself, which allows it to be run in reverse without unduly affecting the available rewards.

After a few brief additional notes that address starting the adventure on the third level, the text moves directly to the dungeon key. There are about twelve pages of keyed locations interspersed with three half page maps and two illustrations, whilst the remaining two pages of the module describe four new monsters. These last include the shrooms, evil and sorcerous creatures that resemble giant toadstools with arms and eyes, and the pod men, vaguely human shaped semi intelligent plants that are often the servants of the former. Of course, it is a shroom that is behind all the trouble, growing pod men in hidden caverns and raiding the surrounding countryside for the means to increase their number, as well as the resources to further his own magical research.

There is a mixture of humour and weirdness in this adventure that is very appealing, and a number of quite strange encounters that are enticingly left otherwise unexplained, no doubt in order to encourage the game master to exercise his own imagination. Some things are perhaps left too vague, such as the mechanism by which the waterfall is diverted in area three, and I thought that the monsters on the third level seemed a little over eclectic, but there is much more that is interesting and inventive. The layout of the caverns is non linear, meaning that player characters are generally not limited to one path between areas, and often have to choose which direction to take.

By way of complaints, I do think that the module is a little bit easy for the recommended number of characters and levels, and would be tempted to reduce the level spread to 1-3, though that is not to say it could not prove a challenge to higher level characters. In particular, I found the inner sanctum of the shroom to be too lightly defended with only two pod men as guards. That said, there are some potentially very deadly encounters, such as the troll in area sixteen.

If there was one thing that I felt was lacking from this adventure, then it was some guidance for wilderness encounters. A particularly cautious party might be willing to wait for some monsters to emerge from the fissure or for a raiding party to return. The frequency of such events and the likely numbers could certainly be inferred or invented, and other wilderness encounters added as the game master desires, but I would have liked to have seen such an addition nonetheless. On the other hand, the module is already so full of material, it is hard to see where such information might be included.

Technicalities and Errors

I noticed some minor editing errors here and there, but nothing of any great significance in that regard. One noticeable error is that flame arrow is listed as a second level spell on page ten of the module, but it is in fact a third level spell. Another interesting oddity is that the shroom’s pod men guards are listed as having 4 hit dice, which is an exception from normal pod men who have 3+1 and large pod men who have 4+1. I do not think this is necessarily a mistake, but it does make a difference with regard to their to hit rolls. It has also been noted that there is no scale provided for the maps, but I suspect this lack is intentional, encouraging the game master to decide what is appropriate for himself.

Conclusion

This is an excellent module, innovative and familiar all at once. It presents traditional adventure design elements in a modern context, and makes sophisticated use of a well developed methodology. This is not a simple retread of the past, nor a mere aping of long out of print predecessors, though aesthetically it clearly recalls them, rather it is an example of the virtue of brevity and the complexity of action that can be achieved with relatively open game design. A very good beginning.

Alternative Reviews: The Red Priest, Gnarley Bones,

[Article] Orcs' Nest

2008-06-12T13:38:00.002+01:00

The idea for this was originally suggested by Robert Fisher. Essentially it was to produce a Fast Play document for OSRIC that could be freely disseminated as a pdf, downloaded, printed, and distributed locally to promote the game and build awareness. It struck me as an excellent idea and worth taking as far as possible. It was also noted that there was increasing interest from all quarters in traditional adventure role-play games, a revaluation of the past which was thought to be a combined result of the respective deaths of Gary Gygax and Robert Bledsaw in March and April of this year. With the impending (and now actual) release of a new edition of Dungeons & Dragons and the rapid approach of Free RPG Day, I decided it would be opportune to suggest the idea at the Knights & Knaves Alehouse, which received a favourable response. Robert and others put forward some ideas, and I started writing...

So, here we are a few brief weeks later with a finished and disseminated product. A few hours before writing this, I dropped twenty four copies of the beta version off at my local game shops in Newcastle (yes we have two of them), twelve at the Forbidden Planet and twelve at the Travelling Man. They are being given away at those stores for free, probably to those customers making purchases of other products, but essentially at the discretion of the staff. I finished writing the alpha version of the module almost a week ago, and started threads about it at a number of RPG internet forums with a link to a free download of the pdf. I received mainly positive feedback, and was glad of some constructive criticism that I incorporated into the beta version.

What I want to discuss here is where, why and how the fast play rules for OSRIC differ from the ordinary rules. There are not many differences, but there are some. For the most part they were conscious changes or simplifications, but there are one or two that started as accidental errors on my part. What follows is basically exposition on the design of the fast play rules for Orcs' Nest.

Time: In OSRIC, a turn is defined as ten minutes, a round as one minute, and a segment as six seconds. I purposefully left these strict definitions of time out of the fast play document because the units are abstracted, and new players can find one minute long rounds a bit offputting and difficult to imagine. It doesn't really matter whether you consider a round to be one minute, thirty seconds, ten seconds or, indeed, six seconds, so long as you are aware how it interacts with segments and turns. Personally, I prefer six second rounds on the whole.

Surprise: The way surprise segments are handled is more detailed in the OSRIC core rules. For the sake of simplicity, the fast play rules went with one segment as being always the result of surprise, but in the full game it is possible to surprise or be surprised for more segments, depending on the roll of the die and the initial probability of surprise.

Inititative: The rules in the source material for OSRIC have been the cause of much confusion and disputation. In OSRIC, each party determines which segment the other will strike blows on, usually hoping to roll high so their enemies will act late. In the fast play rules, each side rolls its own initiative, hoping to roll low so they will act early. It makes little difference which way it is resolved, so long as everyone is clear on what they are rolling for beforehand.

Charging: In the full rules for OSRIC characters may only charge once per turn. Furthermore, their armour class either worsens by one point during a charge or they lose all dexterity bonus to armour class, whichever has the worst effect. For the purposes of the fast play rules, this last did not matter, because no character's dexterity improved their armour class by more than one point.

Closing: An option left out of the fast play rules is to approach the enemy more cautiously, which is to say at a normal rate of movement. In this case neither the advancing character nor his opponent may strike blows during the advance.

Attack Roll: Thieves and Magic Users normally use a slightly worse chart than Fighters and Clerics at first level. The chart the Human Slaves are listed with in the Monster section is the one they use in OSRIC. This was originally an oversight in the fast play rules, but it was later decided to leave it as it was for the sake of simplicity (and space!).

Ranged Weapons: In the normal rules for OSRIC, bows may be employed twice per round; it was decided to ignore the complications of staggered multiple attacks for the purposes of the fast play document.

Hit Points: When reduced to 0 hit points in OSRIC, a character loses one hit point per round until they die at -10 or the bleeding is stopped. The recovery rules are also slightly more complicated.

Spell Casting: Some groups prefer to have all spell casting begin on segment 0 and the segment they occur being governed by their casting time. Personally, I like to use whichever is worse, the casting time or the initiative roll.

Withdrawing and Fleeing: The current OSRIC rules do not define at what rate of movement characters may withdraw or flee. A close reading of the source text would allow fleeing to occur at twice the rate of a withdrawal.

Other Combat Rules: There are a number of other options in OSRIC not discussed in the fast play rules.

Thief Abilities

General Note: In order to successfully use a Thief Ability, the game master rolls a die to model the probability of success based on the number next to the ability in the character description, with the number expressing the percentage of success. So Sunara, for instance, has a 25% chance (1 in 4) of successfully picking a lock. Some game masters allow the character a chance to succeed once per turn, some allow only one chance, and others consider grades of failure to sometimes represent a delayed success.

Thieves and Bows: Going strictly by the core OSRIC rules, Thieves are not allowed to employ bows as weapons. However, the source material does allow for it as an optional rule, and that was assumed to be in play for the Orcs' Nest module.

Errata

Editing Error 1: During editing area 16 acquired two 'b' labels; the first 'b' was intended to read as 'a'.

Silver Blade Adventures?

2008-06-09T19:43:00.001+01:00

Silver Blade (well, actually, Silver Sword) is the name I decided my Advanced Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting needed about fifteen or so years ago. I couldn't have been any older than fourteen at the time, and was strongly under the influence of the branded and official TSR campaign settings, particularly Dragonlance. I had not actually played any of the modules, but I was well acquainted with the accompanying literature (though I was initially better acquainted with Middle Earth and Conan), and by then had adventured my way through Hero Quest, Advanced Hero Quest, Warhammer Fantasy Role-play and the Red Box version of Dungeons & Dragons. A fairly typical pattern, or so I am told.

For a few years I voraciously read Dragon Magazine and played a lot of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (second edition, mind you), and in many different campaign settings (Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, Planescape, etc...), but eventually my friends and I grew tired of classes, levels, and were unexcited by the latest TSR releases. We started trying other systems (GURPS, Rifts, Star Wars D6, RoleMaster, Cyberpunk and a whole bunch of other RPGs I can barely remember). Somewhere in all that our group got collectively burned by Magic the Gathering, but I don't recall the details. By the time I was in sixth form, I played only very irregularly and mainly used a homebrewed skill based system, low magic and gritty, of course. We still wandered the Forgotten Realms from time to time, but I had long since cancelled my subscription to Dragon and ceased purchasing TSR products (or any RPG material, really).

I was bitten by the RPG bug again in about 2000, and not by the release of D20 (which I was only barely aware of, the extent of my exposure having been seeing an advert for Wizards of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons 3e whilst I was visiting America), but by the Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine. I was familiar with some of the early strips from Dragon, but after my girlfriend bought me a couple of issues of KoDT, I found myself very much enjoying vicariously revisiting AD&D. I stepped outside my student digs in Surrey, my girlfriend's credit card and mobile phone in hand, rang up Kenzer & Company, and promptly ordered a box full of Bundles of Trouble (I think I might have been drunk).

In any case, I was inspired to get a group together and restart my old campaign world in the summer of 2001, and that's what I did. Best campaign I ever ran, involving about a dozen players all told (both new and old) and lasting until summer 2005, when I left Surrey to move back up to Newcastle. I realised at that time I was going to be too busy to run a full on campaign, and so decided to try a few pick up and play D20 adventures (mainly the ones freely downloadable, but also the Fighting Fantasy conversions that Myriador put out. It was about this time that I started frequenting RPG internet message boards (I know, I thought I could handle it), rather than just browsing the WotC D&D website.

I think it was on the Kenzer & Company forums that I first heard about the OSRIC project; I had been to the Knights & Knaves Alehouse and Dragonsfoot prior to that, and I had even read adverts for Castles & Crusades in KoDT, but I had no idea of the significance of what was going on until I downloaded OSRIC and started reading. Within about ten minutes I was entirely convinced that OSRIC was one of the best things to ever happen to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and traditional adventure role-playing games. Since then, I have spent a considerable chunk of my 'internet time' investigating and testing the veracity of my original conclusion and am still satisfied with the answer. I have gotten involved with the project to the best of my ability, purchased some of its fruits, and thoroughly enjoyed devoring them.

So, bit of a long preamble, but let us get back to the original question. Silver Blade Adventures? This blog has a number of purposes, but it is probably primarily a centralised space for me to make my thoughts on traditional swords & sorcery adventure games accessible. One of the things I intend to do with OSRIC is use it to publish some free modules, most of which will have been originally created for Silver Blade Adventures. So, one of the things this blog is going to do is provide support material, links and errata for anything that I create using OSRIC (or, indeed, Labyrinth Lord or Castles & Crusades). I also intend to post reviews of already existing material here, as well as adventure journal entries and anything else that seems like it ought to have a place here.