tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60544215289525947772023-07-30T14:43:45.461-07:00Spirit Of GygaxDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-70735223249730155932010-01-24T21:27:00.000-08:002010-01-24T23:55:03.424-08:00The Adventure So FarSo we got together on Saturday at around noon.<br />I had prepared what my friend called, "a cornucopia of meat" on the grill. Steaks, chicken breast, lamb and sausage along with mushrooms & onions which I fried up in a skillet with garlic salt & butter.<br />We fortified ourselves & with our bellies full, we made our way to the basement and continued the adventure in The Killing Keep.<br />The Killing Keep is a small, ruined castle built ages ago against a steep cliffside with a double wall and offset gatehouses which are also crumbling and falling into ruin.<br />Many of the outbuildings including the smithy, stables and barracks have all collapsed and are choked with rubble.<br />The main keep is still intact and is loaded with all manner of deadly stinging creatures called "lock lurkers", spiders, stirges and a few undead.<br />Adventurers also find it is riddled with a large variety of insidious booby traps from mundane trap doors in the upper floor to exotic, exploding candles.<br />Most of the traps in the Killing Keep were not designed to kill out right but to whittle away adventurers 2-3 hp at a time.<br />I have run this adventure several times & there is usually one fatality or crippling injury every time I run it.<br />However, the adventurers did very well and didn't lose a single character this time!<br />The adventure had begun on the first day of Hammer in the year 1356 DR.<br />It was at the Keep that two separate adventuring parties met and began the Fellowship of Blood.<br />As they entered the keep, the weather outside turned nasty and they found themselves trapped within by a raging blizzard. <br />A blizzard with the taint of sorcery about it.<br />With nothing to do but explore the keep, the adventurers found some treasure and thwarted or avoided most of the traps.<br />They had set out for The Killing Keep to try and find some lost records of the magical "gates" that are rumored to be within the Haunted Halls but if they do indeed exist, no such records were found.<br />Having finished their exploration, the party gathered in the main hall while two of the characters made their way back to the third floor for some privacy.<br />Sasheer, a thief and escaped slave from Calimishan and the barbarian from The Ride, Harlequinn "Harley" Davidson.<br />After some time alone and having shared some of the wealth that was found on the keep (a bottle of rare Cormyrean wine that was valued at 250 gp), the two romantics decided to check on the horses which had been stabled in the ruined smithy.<br />Outside the blizzard suudenly stopped and the party heard a booming voice, demanding they surrender a book which they had found in the keep.<br />In front of the keep, the adventures could see 3 levitating mages who claimed the book in the name of Manshoon, an evil mage from the grim city of Zhentil Keep.<br />Sasheer impetuously threw a magical dagger at one of the mages and caught their attention.<br />Both thief and barbarian were caught in a spell and held up while the mages again demanded the surrender of the tome.<br />Adrix, the wise yet befuddled old magic-user and sage, stepped boldly outside and told the levitating figures that the book was not theirs to claim and that Manshoon should come & take it for himself if he wanted it so badly.<br />The barbarian came crashing down among the adventurers as the bluffed mages flew off in the direction of the Haunted Halls.<br />With Sasheer as their captive!<br />The adventurers gathered their things and pursued after the mages and their companion.<br />Meanwhile, many leagues away in Silverymoon, a secret meeting was being held with some other adventurers who were asked to seek out the Fellowship & offer any aid and counsel to their leader, Branwen of Shadowdale.<br />To stress the urgency of their task, Lady Alustriel had them magically transported to the wilderness not far from The Haunted Halls. <br />They arrived at the front door to the fabled dungeon at almost the same time as the Fellowship.<br />The adventurers saw two possible entrances and chose the southern cave where they encountered two hungry owlbears!<br />It was here that the Fellowship lost their first comrade in arms.<br />Ryel of Daggerdale fought bravely but had the life crushed out of his by one of the beasts!<br />But there was still a chance for Sasheer who was still in the clutches of evil men!<br />Let me explain one thing. <br />This is a MASSIVE adventuring band! I have two players running multiple characters and I run several NPCs which equals out to be around 20 adventurers!<br />As I have said, I try to be a liberal DM when it comes to good character ideas and my friends always seem to have decent ideas for characters!<br />So the party splits up and rather than hiring henchmen, one group stays back at camp where they can rest, heal, study spell and share 250 gp bottles of wine while the rest of the horde explores the dungeon.<br />So 10 brave adventurers made their way inside and the fun really began!<br />This brings me back to the barabrian, Harley Davidson.<br />Yeah. It is the cheesiest in cheesy names and I equate it to my rolling a fighter that specialized in using a crossbow and naming him Koch Heckler or Springfield.<br />But this guy is a BADASS!<br />For those geeks out there that like stats, he has high ability scores across the board including an 18/percentile strength.<br />He is also double proficient with a bastard sword.<br />His bastard sword he calls, "Bloodwing".<br />He is a large, bearded, brute of a man who seems to know his business! <br />When my friend roleplays him, he uses a deep, booming voice that rings from the walls of my basement and would sound so cool in a damp dungeon somewhere!<br />So you just figure that Harley is not a man to be trifled with!<br />Which brings me to the really funny bit.<br />The explorers had several encounters with everything from giant rats to wandering ogres, a band of gnolls and even a few skeletons.<br />Harley consistently FAILED to hit ANYTHING!<br />He fumbled one time and nearly killed another of my other friend's characters, but really, when he missed, he just missed and nothing spectacular at all ever happened!<br />I think his average roll on the 20 sided die was a 3 or 4.<br />But Harley took it all in stride.<br />When combat ensued, my friend would start Harley with the declaration, "I draw Bloodwing."<br />He then described acrobatic maneuvers that would lead to his thrusting or hacking into his foe with his gloriously named blade.<br />And then he rolled his brushed stainless 20 sided die.<br />And it roll ALWAYS missed.<br />ALWAYS!<br />The combat would end with nearly everyone else having vanquished at least one foe and my friend, roleplaying Harley would stand up and proudly sheath Bloodwing as he gave nods of approval to the rest of the party.<br />My friends let me tell you, I laughed until I was CRYING!<br />I haven't laughed like that in months!<br />And it continued because this KEPT HAPPENING!<br />I nearly threw up I was laughing so hard! <br />I got up from the table and paced the room while I was double over in laughter!<br />You ever work with one of those people that always LOOKS busy but isn't really doing a damn thing?<br />That's Harley.<br />Eventually, his incredible no hit streak finally ended close to the time we wrapped things up.<br />The adventurers found a few riche, including an enchanted Myth Drannan painting and most importantly, they rescued their companion from the clutches of the Zhentarim!<br />But unfortunately, they had taken a magical bag of holding that was in her possession and the bag held all their treasure which they found in the Killing Keep along with the magical tome!<br />So the adventure continues.<br />Perhaps this Friday on my day off!<br />I will let you know more.<br />Oh! We still need more players so more people can share this experience!<br />I'm not lying when I say it's fun!<br />And I promise many, many laughs!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-92128083631123454472010-01-21T02:36:00.000-08:002010-01-21T23:59:38.686-08:00Resurrection of The Old CampaignMany, many years ago, when my friends & I were still in High School, I ran an Old School AD&D campaign that was loads of fun! Granted, by my standards today, some of it was a bit cliche'. <br />But it was FUN!<br />Let me tell all of you something.<br />Before there was a Drizzt Do'urden, one of my players and best friends asked me, "Can I play a Drow Elf?"<br />Up to that point, no one I had known or played with had ever suggested such a thing.<br />At the time, I had to do a little thinking because despite the fact there were rules for Drow PC's in Unearthed Arcana, NO ONE had EVER played a Drow!<br />Especially a Chaotic/Good Drow!<br />Drow are evil! Everyone knows that!<br />But he had a really cool idea & I have always tried to be a fairly liberal Dungeonmaster. Especially when it comes to GOOD character ideas.<br />So after the clatter of some dice and another talented sketch, Denerite Evafair was born!<br />This is not her story.<br />Another friend of mine had a pretty nifty idea of running a different sort of character.<br />I was an avid reader of Dragon magazine back in the day. (Before it started to suck.)<br />One of the magazines I bought had an awesome cover of a scantily clad woman kneeling atop the horned head of a ruined statue, praying in the moonlight. (Anybody remember THAT cover?)<br />Inside was an article for the Witch NPC class.<br />Witches, much like Drow, are basically evil. Yes, they allowed for good & neutral witches but the article strongly suggested that most witches encountered should be evil and they should strictly remain a NPC class.<br />But, after being inspired by the impressive Elmore sketches used in the article, my friend approached me with a GOOD idea.<br />So after fiddling with the class just a bit, (I dropped the N and made it PC....not much effort really.), and the clattering of some dice, Branwen was born.<br />This isn't her story either.<br />Since most often there were only 3 of us playing and I was the DM, my players ran several characters at once, while I played several NPCs to help them in the tougher fights.<br />So along with Branwen & Denerite, I got to meet the dimwitted barbarians, Groo (Inspired by Sergio Leon's hilarious comic.) and Ernie Gung-Ho (Inspired by my friend's brother.) There were also the Paladins, Braddock and Andared Truesword, the ranger Arocken (a pre-rolled character from The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth) and the befuddled magic-user Adrix.<br />These, along with many other characters became the adventuring companies, The Fellowship of Blood and eventually, a group that broke off to become The Fist of Tyr.<br />These characters have adventured through everything from a modified Keep on the Borderlands, White Plume Mountain, the classic Ravenloft and the deadly Tomb of Horrors. They have even made it part way through Demonqueen of Spiders not to mention dungeons of my own creation. For months now, we have been trying to recapture the moments when we would hold our breath as the dice were rolled at a critical moment and the many times we laughed ourselves to tears when things didn't go quite the way they were planned.<br />Quite frankly, many of the recent few sessions I have run as Dungeonmaster have been a bit stiff and uninspired.<br />My players simply didn't seem to be getting into their characters.<br />I blame myself for much of that because of my love for the things I have done with Undermountain and my overwhelming desire to have them see what I've done with the place.<br />(See my earlier blog to read about the largest mass grave in all Faerun.)<br />But during our last session with their Elven band of adventurers, both my friends started telling me about their decision to bring back The Fellowship. (Most of it anyway.)<br />It's so hard for me as a Dungeonmaster to stifle creativity and let's face it, FUN!<br />I was feeding off their energy and by the time they finished telling me about their idea, we found a good place for the elves to stop in Undermountain and I got out the character sheets.<br />Soon, most of the old characters were rolled and we were nearly ready to play.<br />So on January 19th, 2010, in my basement, around my large gaming table and over cups of coffee, glasses of tea and bowls of stew, we set out with some of our oldest & most beloved characters and NPCs we have ever played!<br />Denerite has seen a few different incarnations as has Branwen. Denerite has returned as a Drow elf but Branwen is now a half-drow cleric/fighter/magic-user. <br />(Groo and Ernie-Gung Ho will probably never walk the Realms again, but we will remember them fondly. To be honest, they were almost always the cause of of our 15-20 minute interruptions in playing while we laughed ourselves sick but they are a handful for any DM!)<br />I started the adventurers as basically 2 separate 1st level parties and had to sort of wing it to bring them both together. This was a bit ham-fisted at times but it worked.<br />We started in the trap infested halls of The Killing Keep. <br />I know it sounds crazy, but including the NPCs, there are roughly 16-17 adventurers exploring the keep.<br />The players have decided to try a tactic where half of the party explores, while the other half rests, recuperates and recovers spells. So far, it has worked BRILLIANTLY!<br />I don't think we have had this much fun playing since we started playing again!<br />Thanks guys!<br />See ya Saturday!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-11938830706445691382010-01-16T11:22:00.000-08:002010-01-16T11:49:17.403-08:00Adventures in UndermountainI know I need to start posting more often.<br /><br />What's the point of having a blog if you don't post?<br /><br />Let me tell you of our last gaming session!<br /><br />As observed by none other than the Mad Mage himself, Halaster Blackcloak!<br /><br />"Undermountain is my abode! I shaped her with my Art, my wit and my will! I am very fond of her and love her as I would a lass!<br />She calls to bands of young, restless adventurers who would seek their fortunes in my halls! Most make their way to Undermountain through the deep, dry well at the Yawning Portal. I can hear the beating of their hearts as they are lowered down the rope to the small chamber with the sandy floor.<br />I watch them as they struggle through the monster and trap infested halls, daring to match their might, their wits and their skill against my creation!<br />Against me!<br />Few make it far.<br />Just yestereve, eight of the Fair Folk dared to test themselves in my home!<br />They proceeded oh so cautiously, thinking themselves clever but oblivious to the real danger!<br />They found a secret room where three orcs were gambling over a blade and a coat of mail.<br />I watched, excited as they slew the orcs mercilessly and took the treasures for themselves.<br />But soon learning that not all glowing blades are prizes!<br />I had found that cursed blade ages ago and in truth, forgotten al about it until it was discovered again.<br />They fought a servant of mine, a Helmed Horror, that had given them a rare and wondrous gift! There was no need to fight the Horror for it had completed its task.<br />But the elves thought they were clever.<br />The Fair Folk have always been an arrogant and haughty race, given to frivolity.<br />But they do suffer sweetly.<br />I watched as they blundered about my halls, never knowing that certain doom is always upon them despite their efforts!<br />They stumbled upon four ghouls that were still gnawing at the remains of some nameless fool and feeling they had no choice, they attacked!<br />As they fought the undead, they were attacked from the rear by four orcs and slew three of these along with the ghouls, taking a lone orc prisoner.<br />One of the elves left his companions for some reason, perhaps simply elvish impetuousness, but he found a dozen of the Everlasting Ones had found their scent!<br />They prepared for battle with their meager Art and a few flasks of oil and watched, amused as they struggled to survive the onslaught.<br />When three of their party had fallen, a hungry but wounded Deathkiss came at them from the rear!<br />They fought on while the Deathkiss attacked both elf and troll, ravenous for blood!<br />The battle soon came to an end with the Fair Folk victorious but grievously wounded!<br />They made their way back to the chamber where they found the armor and sword and encountered three rat men eating cheese. <br />There was no battle for the rat men are clever and do not throw their lives away needlessly.<br />Perhaps the elves will soon learn this.<br />Perhaps they will also learn that they amuse me so far.<br />And that is why they yet live!"<br /><br />HDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-12267695839022456512009-08-17T23:32:00.000-07:002009-08-18T00:22:02.911-07:00The Tradition Carries On...Just when I thought the old, Gygax version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was more or less a relic from my past that only a few of us still enjoyed, I found a glimmer of hope.<br /><br />My friends have kids that recently expressed an interest in learning and playing Dungeons & Dragons. (Three boys specifically ages 12, 11 and 8.) Not only that, my best friend's wife and a girl I am seeing have also expressed an interest in the game.<br /><br />So after a crash course in the rules etc. I ran my date, her son and my best friend's two sons through a six room dungeon.<br /><br />It was very basic and I only threw four goblins, three large spiders, a skeleton and a 3rd level magic-user at them. <br /><br />I was amazed at how fast the boys caught on to the game!<br /> <br />In this day of Playstation and XBox, these boys took to the game like ducks to water!<br />During our game, the 8 year old announced that we should play all night long and just eat a bunch of junk food and drink coffee so we can stay up.<br /><br />The secret of Dungeons & Dragons is revealed!<br /><br />(This is the same kid that has an obsessive/compulsive thing about poking everything they find with a 10 foot pole.)<br /><br />This game was simply a learning thing and didn't count.<br /><br />Plans were made to start a new campaign in Shadowdale of the Forgotten Realms.<br /><br />All the boys wanted to know was when we would play again!<br /><br />So a week later, I rounded everybody up including my two veteran friends and we sequestered ourselves in the basement, seated around my gaming table.<br /><br />These are the games I have dreamed about as a Dungeonmaster!<br /><br />Eight players, one character each and each person with different goals, perspectives and styles!<br /> <br />I LOVED IT!<br /><br />The band of adventurers had gathered outside to Old Skull Inn to watch the festivities of Midsummer Night. There was singing, drinking and feasting as well as the tradtional "hunting" of maidens through the woods by their would-be suitors.<br />The festivities were interrupted when one of the hunters stumbled into the village after being grievously wounded by a Goblin arrow! Not only that, one of the maidens was missing!<br /><br />Search parties were organized, including the adventurers. Of course the adventurers were sent to the crumbling ruins of Castle Krag and of course this was the source of a great evil encroachment upon the quaint, little farming village.<br /> <br />Due to the youngsters getting tired and punchy, the game had to be halted as the party was exploring a strange room with six ghostly, floating harps that played a haunting tune. They had learned earlier that Castle Krag was once the abode of Lord Sargin Krag who went mad and stalked through the castle and murdered his entire family, servants and all his guests with a battleaxe!<br /><br />Of course I ended the game on a cliffhanger because as the party was examining the glowing, ghostly harps, six goblins marched into the room!<br /><br />I can't wait to play again!<br /><br />We have made plans to take a road trip to the Guardtower in Columbus Ohio so my new players can pick out their own dice and maybe some miniatures for their characters!<br /><br />I never thought I'd have so much fun!<br /><br />We're supposed to play when we get back so I hope I'm not too tired!<br /><br />Now that I think about this....<br /><br />None of this would have happened if I was still married!<br /><br />I get happier about my divorce everyday!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-87715198010373817832009-07-22T00:18:00.000-07:002009-07-22T17:29:21.382-07:00A Return to What Was....Having shared with the entire world the sad news of my recent divorce and other depressing events that have taken place in my life in the year 2009, I feel it's only right that I also share with the world the bright moments that I have experienced. At least the ones that concern my adventures with my oldest and truest friends and my old adventuring band.<br /><br />First, let me tell you about my characters.<br /><br />Now one must understand that I was young when I started these guys out and at the time, I didn't have much of an imagination when it came to naming my characters. <br /><br />The leader of my merry band of four, (I'm not robbing Ed Greenwood here, it's just that I had these four characters which I played with for years.)is a fighting man named Prometheus. I had always liked the name but the character had little to do with the Greek God. While he is now a shadow of his AD&D self, he is still the leader of the adventuring company and still has a pretty high opinion of himself. He often introduces himself as an explorer, adventurer and leader of men. He is physically powerful and while not a learned man, he is not witless and tries to use good tactical sense in battle.<br /><br />He is followed by the magic-user Gandalf. Again, a name we all know well and which I shamelessly robbed from Tolkien but he hardly resembles the wise and courageous wizard portrayed so well by Ian McKellen. He is more like Walter Brennan in Rio Bravo, befuddled, crazed and courageous only because he doesn't know any better.<br /><br />The third member of the band is a Northman Pagan Priest named Iarwain Ben-Adar. Another name shamelessly taken from Tolkien lore, (The elven name for Tom Bombadil for any who might not know.) He is physically powerful like Prometheus and he is a worshiper of the Norse gods Odin and Thor. He is your typical Viking with long blond hair, blue eyes and a full beard. <br /><br />The last is a mysterious man from the East named Takamatsu. For any who don't know, Takamatsu was a real guy. He was a Japanese martial arts instructor and is perhaps best known for his teaching of Ninjutsu. (I was a HUGE ninja fan like most guys my age in the early 80's and I just loved the name.) Incidentally, he was also the only AD&D monk character I every rolled up that made it to Grandmaster of Flowers. I must have rolled up at least 15 or 20 monks and like most people that played monks, they all pretty much died horrible and useless deaths.<br /><br />Now I had retired The Four many years ago but with some encouragement from my friends including the DM, I rolled them up under the OD&D rules and started playing them.<br /><br />To all of you out there who are not playing with us, may I just say that you have no idea what you are missing! My friend is running one of the most spectacular campaigns I have ever played in my entire life! I am not merely saying that, hoping he will read this blog so I get brownie points either! We have fought through countless zombies and other undead, orcs, goblins and other easily recognized D&D monsters. We have also fought beasts of his own creation including some form of bone golem, a floating undead thing that is somewhere between a ghost and a ghoul and I kid you not, a mechanical beast that looks and acts almost exactly like a Dalek from Dr. Who!<br /><br />I have been having a BLAST!<br /><br />While the names may not be all that imaginative, the fun I've been having with these old characters, despite the fact they do not measure up to the PCs I retired long ago and stuck in a crumbling folder, gathering mildew in my basement, I am enjoying playing them again.<br /><br />There are those that say you can never go back and I have to say they couldn't be more wrong!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-46518399049943083612009-06-14T14:23:00.000-07:002009-06-14T14:47:45.243-07:00Back From a LONG Hiatus!Greetings Fellow Gamers, Nerds, Geeks and All Other Cool People!<br /><br />I haven't blogged in months but as my close friends can tell you, I've had a ton on my plate and NONE of it's been good to eat!<br /><br />Just an update about what a shitstorm my life has been since February.....<br /><br />My wife left me. I stopped at the house while I was working and she basically didn't want to be married anymore. Found out later that she's had a boyfriend for at least several months but possibly (and likely) several years.<br /><br />Both my stepfather and my uncle died shortly after. <br /><br />I've been working many, many hours and of course it's been chaotic even when I only work a normal 8 hour day.<br /><br />To add to all this, I have been gaming with my close friends. GAMING not just blogging about it! It has been some of the brightest spots in my current life!<br /><br />My thanks to JM and His Girthiness! May we continue to try and put dents in my magnificent gaming table with our new metal dice! (Well....when yours finally come in Oh Mighty Girth!)<br /><br />It's been nothing short of a blast hearkening back to the days we spent in another basement gaming for hours on end, discussing gaming, planning on gaming, eating crap food, and even more gaming. The food has gotten somewhat better but not much. It's not home cooked like it often was in the past, but we make do.<br /><br />My good friend has been running an AMAZING OD&D campaign. It has been brutal, overwhelming and completely entertaining! I love it! His knack for describing monsters is simply amazing. He makes the simplest skeleton seem like a lich and I would run away in terror if he ever attacked me with a flumph!<br /><br />The AD&D campaign which I've been running seems a little weak to me. I know I'll probably get all kinds of dispute over this but it's high time I made some changes. Nuff said.<br /><br />I have had other pursuits recently. Maybe not quite "romantic" ones, but I do my best to get laid once in awhile. I'm working out, hitting my heavy bag quite a bit. <br /><br />But nothing is as distracting as ordering some pizza or getting stuff for sandwiches, maybe some chips and sitting down with a giant glass of tea and adventuring in places I hope I'll get to see after I die. It's my idea of heaven.<br /><br />I encourage all of you out there to call up your old pals and get everyone together even if it's for a one time/one night session, and play some old school AD&D, D&D, OD&D or whatever and dice up some characters! They don't need to be perfect, and you can start adventuring right away. Who cares if they get killed? We all have pretty good imaginations and we can come up with new ideas almost as soon as we roll for our first stat.<br /><br />You soon realize what you've been missing out on!<br /><br />I also want to take this opportunity to offer an open invitation to anybody that wants to come over to my place, meet up with my friends and I, and roll up a character and do some gaming in my basement. You won't have to rub the lotion on your skin, you'll get food and drink (no alcohol...sorry) and you'll have a damn good time!<br /><br />I know most of you live many miles away, but that's what they invented the combustion engine for. And you're not doing anything right now are you?<br /><br />I've been hit pretty hard over the last few months but it gets better everyday. I have many friends and family that have helped see me through. I owe them a debt of gratitude I'll never be able to repay.<br /><br />And I have gaming. Life ain't bad. Not bad at all.<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-34281127580179628402008-11-18T12:29:00.000-08:002008-11-18T14:34:44.240-08:00Capaign MomentumHere's something to think about.<br /><br />My buddy and I have started playing AD&D again in the Forgotten Realms. He is running an entire adventuring party which he used to run a few years ago until they were tragically and mysteriously lost. (Not in the game mind you, the actual character sheets, his notebooks and all his dice just simply disappeared!)<br /><br />So we re-rolled everybody and started fresh with everybody at first level. <br /><br />Growing up playing AD&D in our small community, we typically had to run more than one character at a time and many times, since there was only one DM and one player, we would run an entire adventuring party.<br /><br />Most of my friends are pretty good about role playing the different personalities of their characters and so forth, but essentially, it's pretty tough to do that consistently since all the characters are created from the mind of a single person.<br /><br />This adds an additional problem which I recently pointed out to my friend during his last foray into the Haunted Halls. (Using Greenwood's stuff but having been fleshed out, with an upper and lower level by your's truly.)<br /><br />I could see him making the same mistakes over & over because he only had his perspective of things to rely upon. Yes, he's playing 6 different characters at once, but they all SEE things the way HE sees them.<br /><br />This is really working against him and I have to say, I don't think it ever dawned on me all these years just how bad this could be for a player and his characters.<br /><br />It's also frustrating for me as the Dungeonmaster. <br /><br />Ideally, AD&D and other RPGs are designed to be played with a group of people, one of them acting as the DM, referee or gamemaster and everyone else running a single character. I'm not telling you anything new here but I'm just making sure everyone knows that I fully understand the concept.<br /><br />But living in BFE where many of the locals rarely even read a book without pictures and AD&D still has that lingering reputation for being an indoctrination into a suicidal, satanic cult, it's VERY tough to find mature players. You might get lucky and fing some fringe or a dabbler or two, but nobody that wants to play seriously or with any amount of dedication. Ones that you do manage to find have never heard of AD&D as we know it and they only want to play this pitiful shadow of the game that exists today.<br /><br />If you manage to find enough people to play AD&D the way it was meant to be played with a diverse group of people with varying opinions and perceptions, then you are very fortunate. You run into problems keeping the momentum going and it's much easier to synchronzie schedules when the group is only two or three people that live within 10 minutes of each other.<br /><br />In the case with my one buddy, we are able to play almost weekly and that way, keep the game flowing without significant gaps in playing time.<br /><br />One thing for sure, despite all the limitations and frustrations that come with running a single player in a dungeon, I am having a pretty good time.<br /><br />(I think my player might be too.)<br /><br />And that's the most important part.<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-54043549371703204142008-11-17T15:23:00.000-08:002008-11-30T19:42:18.336-08:00Heroes & HeroicsI know we have beaten this dead horse in the past but I decided to post this to educate both novice and veteran players alike.<br /><br />Let's put this in the perspective of "winning" any competitive sport or event.<br /><br />In the game of chess, (Which I ain't half bad at, I'm no Bobby Fischer or Kasparov, but I do alright.) the game begins by moving pieces. In order to win, you have to move pieces around the board and place them in jeopardy.<br /><br />In order to win a fight, (MMA, TKD tournament, or even on the street), you have to let your hands and feet go. You place yourself in a position to be countered and hit in return or taken to the ground or whatever.<br /><br />You need to stay on the edge of defeat.<br /><br />Let's apply this to roleplaying games. AD&D in particular and one of my dungeons specifically.<br /><br />In order to be classified as a hero by me, you need to show that your character lives up to the name. Some people think that because you are 1st level, have exceptional stats and more hit points than your average 0 level peasant working behind a plow that you are automatically a hero.<br /><br />Wrong.<br /><br />What you are is the guy that decided to TRY and become something better than your average peasant. You decided to be an adventurer. That doesn't make you a hero in my game.<br /><br />What you do with your opportunity does. Just like if you decided on some bold endeavor in the real world, you have an opportunity to succeed gloriously and have your name and deeds sung about by the bards or to fail miserably and become nothing more than a funny smell in the dungeon when the next group of bright-eyed victims comes adventuring through.<br /><br />If you act as if every single door before you is booby traped with some fiendish device that will slay your character instantly and irrevocably, if every treasure chest is really a triple hit-dice mimic, if every floor is a "Trapper" and every ceiling a "Lurker Above" then you are obviously being an overly cautious, pussy.<br /><br />After all, it's only a character and you can always roll a new one.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong! You should never stroll casually through one of my dungeons, booting every door and shouting "Have at thee!" every time you burst into the room.<br /><br />You need to walk that tightrope between bravery vs lunacy - caution vs cowardice.<br /><br />That is unless your character IS a raving lunatic or a mincing little coward.<br /><br />Then you're just role playing.<br /><br />Let me offer some suggestions if you want to survive one of my dungeons. I discussed earlier that I have always had a soft spot for thieves. For some reason the class has always appealed to me. Partly because of Bilbo Baggins, partly due to Robin Hood I don't know. (I also used to play Thieve's Guild...anybody remember that gem?)<br /><br />So, I used to think up new tactics and tools beyond the mere "Thieve's picks & tools" to help keep them alive. What's great about this stuff is that ANYBODY can use it! No special training in a shadowy Thieve's Guild in the bad part of town, no need to learn any special ninja skills, just use your head!<br /><br />What's wrong with carrying a couple of half pound bags of white chalk powder around? You come to a room where something might be invisible and you toss the bags up into the air or let them impact with some hard surface and invisible objects are (possibly) revealed. Of course it can be hurled into the face of an enemy for the same purpose.<br /><br />Instead of a 10' pole, I like the idea of a 100' piece of string with a small lead weight tied on the end. This is tossed down a hallway so the string lands on trip wires and such. (Special Ops guys use Silly String for the same purpose.)<br /><br />10' poles are far too unwieldy. Try carrying a real 10' pole around once.<br /><br />Small wooden wedges for doors vs iron spikes. You can carry more and they can fit in tighter spots.<br /><br />Many people come up with elaborate tools to open doors. What about simply standing to the side and pulling/pushing the door open? You will avoid MOST traps that way. Maybe not the poison needles and other stuff, but you should be relatively safe.<br /><br />And I can't stress enough that you need to look at everything and take some freakin' notes if your memory sucks! <br /><br />The bottom line is you need to be creative. Creative in your tactics, in your characters and in your roleplaying and just let go and have fun!<br /><br />It's like my friend said, "Embrace the dungeon!"<br /><br />Wiser words were never spoken!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-75489193594654934582008-10-13T21:57:00.000-07:002008-10-13T23:05:49.833-07:00Horror Story for Halloween...I just thought I would share a story with you about a D&D game gone wrong.<br /><br />My first gaming group consisted of me, my brother and two other friends. This group is not the core group that would later be dubbed the Foaming Flagons, but it was my first.<br /><br />I started my gaming with the purchase of one of every type of gaming die,(Assorted colors.) and the Keep on the Borderlands module.<br /><br />I had no idea what the hell I was doing.<br /><br />I was only about nine at the time so you gotta forgive me.<br /><br />About a week later, my mom, my grandma, my grandpa and my brother went to a Rinks store in New Philadelphia, Ohio where I purchased the first Basic D&D red box. (The Mentzer set.)<br /><br />I nearly puked with excitement. I was that kind of a kid.<br /><br />My hands shook as I ripped the cellophane off the box and tried reading bits of text as we passed under street lamps along the highway.<br /><br />I devoured that Player's Book in about 30 minutes.<br /><br />Of course I purchased the Expert set and eventually got into the AD&D stuff when I hit Junior High.<br /><br />I always took pretty decent care of my stuff.<br /><br />I kept all my D&D stuff in pretty good shape.<br /><br />(You know this is really funny because after all these years, I have been told I can break an anvil with a rubber mallet.)<br /><br />But my brother is a walking disaster.<br /><br />We were gaming in our room with a couple of buddies. I think my brother might have been in the 8th grade and I was in 6th.<br /><br />Back in those days, he could steal snuff (AKA Dip AKA Chew) or at least get some older people to buy it for him. (We lived in a rather rural area but I never picked up the habit myself.)<br /><br />Like many people with that particularly disgusting habit, my brother had a large mason jar which he used as a spitoon.<br /><br />Do you see where this is going?<br /><br />I was DMing this particular day and my brother jumped to his feet to go to the bathroom. My precious books were spread out on our bedroom floor. As he stood up, he bumped his foot against a mason jar that was three quarters full of tobacco spit, spilling the tarry, foul liquid all over my beloved tomes.<br /><br />I don't believe and no one can convince me otherwise that the D&D game has ever caused, directly or indirectly the death of any person.<br /><br />Except for almost once in this occasion.<br /><br />My brother still lives of course and eventually he took up smoking, but I will never forget the horror and disgust of that day.<br /><br />At least he was good enough to clean it up himself.<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-57776591885517017942008-10-05T12:37:00.001-07:002008-10-05T13:41:03.634-07:00Vorpal Blade or Sword of Sharpness?I once had this debate with one of my old DM's.<br /><br />He was queer for the Sword of Sharpness and tried to convince me it was far better than a Vorpal Sword. his reason for this was that it hacked off limbs thus increasing your chances of delivering a crippling blow that ended any fight.<br /><br />But the Vorpal Sword decapitates.<br /><br />That means the head comes off.<br /><br />Doesn't that end the fight too?<br /><br />(OK! So maybe not against a Hydra or even an Ettin.)<br /><br />And let's look at the way these blades work. (At least according to REAL AD&D.)<br /><br />The Sword of Sharpness is typically a +3 weapon. (If you look up Excalibur under the Arthurian Mythos in Legends & Lore, it's a +5 Sword of Sharpness so there must be others with different pluses out there.)<br /><br />Anyway, these bonus points are not tallied all together. In fact you get a +1 to hit, a +1 to damage, and a +1 to determine if you sever an arm, leg, or neck/head.<br /><br />So if you don't roll a modified score that is high enough to sever, you get +1 to your damage roll and the fight continues.<br /><br />A Vorpal Sword is also typically a +3 weapon. It's +3 to hit and damage and the +3 to hit roll is used to determine if you decapitate and kill, (In most cases) whatever you are fighting.<br /><br />I don't have the score charts in front of me so I could be wrong, but if memory serves me, you need an unmodified roll of 18 or more to score a sever with a Sword of Sharpness.<br /><br />I believe an unmodified roll of 17 is required for a decapitation with the Vorpal Sword.<br /><br />I understand that it wouldn't be of much use against beasties with no heads.<br /><br />Slimes, jellies and pudding have no limbs either so the debate here is kinda pointless.<br /><br />But to me, it seems the Vorpal Blade wins out since you don't need to roll as high and when you do, it ends the fight. Rather decisively I would say.<br /><br />I suppose if you are fond of gory battles and whittling your opponent down to nothing, then you would have a soft spot for the Sword of Sharpness.<br /><br />But if you like headhunting.....<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-36797006404605620042008-10-05T12:37:00.000-07:002008-10-05T12:38:26.099-07:00Vorpal Blade or Sword of Sharpness?Dungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-20759411133071418112008-10-04T13:03:00.000-07:002008-10-04T13:37:49.688-07:00A Continuation or Clarification of Things Said....My esteemed friend and fellow Flagon did point out some cool things that Troy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Denning</span> did write.<br /><br />I can't <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">blame</span> him for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Maztica</span> crap. That was all Douglas Niles.<br /><br />But I sure as hell can blame him for the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Tuigan</span>!<br /><br />My point on this wasn't really to bash on any published author.<br /><br />I mean, they ARE published and all I do is post stuff on my blog and on some LE Forums.<br /><br />Who the hell am I?<br /><br />But, my point is that I simply can't understand why we take a FANTASY world and inundate it with stories inspired by events, wars and calamities that took place in our world.<br /><br />If I had wanted that, I wouldn't have bought the Old Grey Box in the first place!<br /><br />I simply would have had PCs adventuring in Scotland until they took ship for Spain and the characters could then have sailed for South America where they, rather than <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Cortez</span>, could have slaughtered all the Mayans and the Aztecs.<br /><br />But I didn't want to play in this world.<br /><br />I guess it wouldn't sell as well if your campaign setting had the major race of PC as Gibbering <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Mouthers</span>.<br /><br />Most of the monsters ARE based on legends from our own world's cultures, so it probably came naturally to simply include those same cultures where the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">MMI</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">MMII</span>, and FF got their inspiration.<br /><br />(However, I ain't never heard of anybody, including those crazy Egyptians, having a Rust Monster.)<br /><br />Now I know why <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Waterson</span> won't sell out Calvin & Hobbes.<br /><br />Personally, I will use almost all of Greenwood's stuff. I still think the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Ravenloft</span> module is one of the best ever made, but I will adapt it for FR use, and if I ever get to run and Oriental Adventures campaign again, I will probably still use the trail map for simplicity's sake. But it's gonna have a different feel than the Asia of this earth.<br /><br />(No General <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Tso's</span> Chicken!)<br /><br />The martial arts will be different. I can <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">accpet</span> ninjas and samurai, but ninjas will really be able to turn into smoke and the samurai's sword WILL be his soul!<br /><br />I grew to dislike the Mortal <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Kombat</span> thing, but the one idea of the martial arts being linked to white and black magic.....I find that appealing.<br /><br />A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">kung</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">fu</span> punch that damages your soul as well as your body?<br /><br />I'm right there!<br /><br />Lots of possibilities!<br /><br />So let's explore those and skip the Mongolian invasion and the slaughter of millions of obsidian club wielding, naked natives.<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-17437869389475952922008-10-03T15:56:00.000-07:002008-10-04T13:03:53.657-07:00Where the Realms Went WrongI was having a talk with my friend the other night.<br />It was the first time that we've talked in too many years.<br />After catching up, our conversation turned to one of our favorite topics.<br /><br />Gaming.<br /><br />AD&D in particular.<br /><br />Anyway, one of the points we discussed is how the Forgotten Realms was so brilliant in the early days and then after a few years, started circling the drain.<br /><br />Pretty soon it got flushed down the commode of commercialism.<br /><br />Personally, I think it started during the so called, "Time of Troubles."<br /><br />If I had been in the IRA, I might have taken offense.<br /><br />(I know, they refer to it simply as "The Troubles" but let's not split hairs.)<br /><br />Here we have all the Gods of the Realms sent down to walk the world of men in avatar form and they become embroiled in all sorts of mischief, catastrophes and bloodshed.<br /><br />C'mon!<br /><br />Who the hell are we kidding?<br /><br />In comic books, some of the more popular terms used to describe these events are "Alternate Reality, Crisis of Infinite Earths and Secret Wars."<br /><br />In business I think they call it "Corporate Overhaul or even Hostile Takeover"<br /><br />Anyway, I feel that Troy Denning's works were shit.<br /><br />One of the heroes was named Midnight for Pete's sake! That's what an eight year old names her new pony!<br /><br />But at the time, I was on a Forgotten Realms craze and I bought all the books and devoured them.<br /><br />But then they just started flooding the market with mindless drivel! I mean FLOODED!<br /><br />Is it just me or did anyone else see the problem here?<br /><br />Look at the Oriental Adventures expansion of Kara-Tur.<br /><br />Why couldn't they come up with their own Asian flavored hot sauce instead of loosely disguising the world in which we live in? Koryo (Korea), Wa (Okinawa).<br /><br />Crap!<br /><br />Maztica?<br /><br />I think my brother nailed it when he saw this stinky pile and said, "There are no Spaniards in the Realms!"<br /><br />(It was really funny because of the way he said it.)<br /><br />Then we got that Tuigan crap.<br /><br />The Mongolian Horde invades!<br /><br />EEK! Run away!<br /><br />BULLSHIT!<br /><br />Now with the latest edition, there has been a "Spellplague" or whatever the hell they call it and all magic-using creatures were wiped out. I would have loved being in the room during that brainstorm! I think I would have said something like....<br /><br />"Are you fucking retarded?"<br /><br />Here's my advice for anybody that still loves and plays the OG of D&D.....ok maybe not the OG, but the most popular version.<br /><br />Keep all the old stuff you can find. Keep developing your own world. And keep on playing!<br /><br />But then again, I guess we can all fall back to the Greyhawk stuff. It was a pretty darn good world too!<br /><br />Old gamers never die. They just roll away.....<br /><br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-50533639188412974932008-09-26T14:00:00.000-07:002008-09-26T19:11:48.140-07:00Fates Worse Than Death....In my humble opinion, a good <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Dungeonmaster</span> knows that he or she is creating a world and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">PC's</span> are a vital part of that world.<br /><br />I have never had a problem killing off any character. In fact, some could say I was ruthless at times.<br /><br />Sure, there were traps that decapitated, poisons that killed instantly and deadly attacks that allowed no saving throws.<br /><br />Used sparingly and creatively, these things will keep players thinking constantly. Which is a good thing.<br /><br />Even with these grim <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">situations</span> present, I almost never put the PCs in an inescapable situation.<br /><br />One particular fiendish trap was a cursed scroll that when read, "gated" or <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">teleported</span> the PC to another room in the dungeon. They arrived in a suit of armor that was lined inside with hundreds of spikes much like an Iron Maiden. This did not kill instantly but caused a slow, agonizing death at 1-2 hit points per turn. What was "supposed" to happen, is the loot happy adventurers would most likely examine the scroll immediately. (Like ALL cursed scrolls, the effects are instantaneous.) The unfortunate victim would be heard shrieking from a nearby room, the rest of the party would come to the rescue and pry the poor wretch from the deadly trap.<br /><br />However, due to a lack of foresight on my part, the party returned to town before they sifted through all their goodies.<br /><br />Uh-oh.<br /><br />Suddenly, one of the adventurers was no longer swilling ale with the rest of the victorious heroes and had vanished in a smokeless "poof" from the tavern.<br /><br />Being a generous <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Dungeonmaster</span>, I dropped enough hints that the victim might have been taken back from the trap infested dungeon they had recently explored and overcome.<br /><br />Unfortunately, they didn't make it back in time since they had to ride through a blizzard.<br /><br />On top of all this, they couldn't leave the ruined keep with their deceased pincushion since it had been surrounded by evil looking men in black, cowled robes hurling searing bolts of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">eldritch</span> flame. This was where I concluded the adventure.<br /><br />(Originally, that was supposed to take place in a dramatic attack upon the inn back in the village in which the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">PC's</span> were sorting their booty because they had found an item these bad guys really wanted. But I adapted.)<br /><br />Now all this sounds bad.<br /><br />Very bad.<br /><br />However, what I would like to point out is the fact that there are far worse things you can do as a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Dungeonmaster</span>.<br /><br />My good friend and fellow Foaming Flagon will agree with me.<br /><br />Taking a beloved character from first level nothing up to 8<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span>, 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span> or 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">th</span> level badass is a wonderful and rewarding <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">achievement</span>. An <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">achievement</span> that I shared in as a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Dungeonmaster</span> with all my players. (Well....ALMOST all of them.)<br /><br />You can't be human and not feel that sympathy with a good player and a great character.<br /><br />Then that character fights a wight, a vampire or some other level-draining beast.<br /><br />Shit.<br /><br />You HATE to see it!<br /><br />Even as a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">DM</span> because you had a great adventure planned for the next weekend!! But now that the 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">th</span> level hero is now a 4<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">th</span> level bitch, you don't think they could make it.<br /><br />(And if you are being fair, you would be right.)<br /><br />I remember when my good friend acquired a sword from a published adventure that I ran which I thought fit his character perfectly! It was an amazing blade that drained levels/energy from the creatures that it hit. <br /><br />Unless they were undead.<br /><br />Then it worked in reverse.<br /><br />After a couple of really good hits on a vampire that should have nearly vanquished the foul undead, I had to inform the player that they had just lost 4 levels of experience.<br /><br />(Remember, the hit points, spells, special abilities and everything goes with that.)<br /><br />My friend was <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">devastated</span>. So much so that he hurled the blade away intent on never using it again.<br /><br />(This is an AMAZING player here folks!)<br /><br />I had to convince him the blade itself was not bad. (Reminds me of a really good book.)<br /><br />I just hated to see him lose such a powerful item. He just had to make sure he carried a spare weapon that he used for undead.<br /><br />You see, with death, resurrection is almost always possible. Unless your paladin hurtles down a greased chute, cursing his God(s) and plunges into a river of molten lava. That pretty much puts a finale on anyone.<br /><br />But when your levels are drained. (Vampires in the old AD&D system drain two levels every time they pimp slap you in your miserable suck.)<br /><br />Do that over 3 rounds of combat and you suddenly need an 18 on the dice to even hit the fanged fiend.<br /><br />Good luck winning that fight now.<br /><br />Then of course, it's much tougher to adventure with the rest of the party who are still at a significantly higher level. In order to keep things fair and fun, you have to continue providing challenging beasts, traps and other encounters. Things that may (and should) be more than the lower level, former hero/leader of the adventuring group can realistically handle.<br /><br />Yes. It can be done. But you just don't get as many experience points hiding behind the crates and boxes in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Illithid</span> smuggler's lair or lurking outside the den of the dragon while everyone else goes in and fights. (And gets slaughtered.)<br /><br />And face it. Unless the character was a sneaky little spit of a thief or a quivering magic-user that buggered every boy apprentice he ever had, the player starts feeling left out.<br /><br />(No one I remember ever played a pederastic magic-user, but it would have been hilarious!)<br /><br />It makes for complexities in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">DM's</span> campaign writing that can prove to be extremely difficult to deal with.....interesting at times; yes....but difficult.<br /><br />Additionally, any catastrophe that befalls a hero that permanently disfigures them, lowers a stat point or otherwise alters them forever can also be <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">entertaining</span>. If you have a good player, it can be loads of fun and will be seen as a chance to develop the character and not just toss them in the waste basket or the "retired" file of <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">character</span> sheets.<br /><br />But the player has to be good.<br /><br />If the player is a dick, there's a good chance they'll just start crying.<br /><br />But NO ONE likes it when they get their hard-earned levels kicked in the nuts!<br /><br />Anti-HumanDungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054421528952594777.post-49424927617137781772008-09-25T17:06:00.000-07:002008-09-26T13:55:41.934-07:00On being the DM....I'm kind of new to this whole blogging thing so bear with me.<br /><br />I have been given far too much credit for my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Dungeonmaster</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Kung</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Fu</span> when in fact, many of my earliest dungeons.....all of them in fact....were completely random <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">dungeoncrawls</span>, hacking apart monsters with rubbery tentacles, dodging fiendish deathtraps and gathering loot.<br /><br />Not much of a plot in any of them.<br /><br />I ran several different published modules and after purchasing The World of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Greyhawk</span> boxed set, decided then to start adding undying antagonists, (Notice I said undying as in they didn't die, not necessarily undead.) <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">plotlines</span>, background and all that other cool stuff.<br /><br />I have to give credit to one of my friends who introduced me to the Forgotten Realms for switching on that little light in my brain that took my campaigns to a different level.<br /><br />I had passed by the FR boxed set numerous times and I admit, I was reluctant to buy it. Face it. Money was tight, and the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Greyhawk</span> set WAS very pretty. (Not too much substance really. It's almost written like a modern day census of any major metropolitan area. With hobgoblins.)<br /><br />If it were not for my friend telling me about this amazing FR <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">boxed</span> set and this bearded lunatic named Greenwood, I don't think I would even have any interest in playing anymore.<br /><br />To me, the FR stuff back in those early days was what Dungeons and Dragons was meant to be.<br /><br />I still consider Greenwood to be one of the most creative designers that has ever lived and were it not for the FR stuff, Dungeons and Dragons would have gone the way of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Rock'em</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Sock'em</span> Robots.<br /><br />Our adventures in the FR campaign were simply the best!<br /><br />And just when I thought it couldn't get any better.......<br /><br />The Ruins of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Undermountain</span>!<br /><br />Overwhelming doesn't quite do it justice.<br /><br />This was a dungeon that ALL <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Dungeonmasters</span> used to dream about!<br /><br />(We simply never had enough graph paper.)<br /><br />If you are fortunate enough to own the first <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Undermountain</span> boxed set, (The follow up set was crap!) I suggest you try fleshing out that beast! It's not impossible, but it's like building your own space shuttle with your ass. No hands. Just your ass.<br /><br />Now, here's my thought.....<br /><br />Personally, I never liked the way they started to "fix" the AD&D system. I think <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">TSR</span> basically gave <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Gygax</span> the shaft and while I think the FR stuff was used to slowly push him out, it really did a lot to resuscitate the dying dragon.<br /><br />The system, while never perfect, worked. Sure, empty hand combat was far too complicated and it always seemed to me that they only put in partial rules for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">psionics</span>. (I was never a math guy and that bullshit was all numbers. Don't even get me started on Traveller! I had to ask my math teacher for help figuring that stuff out!)<br /><br />But in the words of a famous <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Dungeonmaster</span>......"Wing it!"<br /><br />Either let it happen, don't let it happen or bounce a D20 and see what happens.<br /><br />But I guess some people have to have a rule for everything.<br /><br />Honestly, I don't know what it is, but I still enjoy gaming even though I have virtually no time for it anymore. I enjoy coming up with gaming ideas and scribbling them into crumbling notebooks that I have had for over 15 years.<br /><br />While I loved being a player, I think I enjoyed being the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">Dungeonmaster</span> far more.<br /><br />Even if I was working with an imperfect system.<br /><br />Creating or sharing in the creation of a world that challenged and entertained my friends (And caused the gruesome deaths of a few of their characters...heh...heh...heh.), was one of the most satisfying things I have ever done in my life.<br /><br />If you have never <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">DM'd</span> a game, then you should at least give it a try. It's a lot of time and effort, but it has its own rewards.<br /><br />In the words of a very wise <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Dungeonmaster</span>......<br /><br />Shut up and roll!Dungeonmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332533619750466218noreply@blogger.com2