Tamoachan

Notes on Tournament Play:

The purpose of tournament play is to get out of the ruins before time runs out. Choosing less direct paths, arousing monsters, or searching for treasure will cost players precious time. There is a real time limit of 2 hours on tournament play. If a shorter playing tournament is desired, it may be played that when the party reaches room #39 they have reached safety. This shorer version may have a time limit from 1 to 1.5 hours.  The DM should note the time at which play begins and halt play when the predetermined length of time has elapsed...

- From module C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

It's been decades since I've run the C1 adventure. In the past, I've run it as both a "standard" camaign adventure, and in its "tournament" format...minus the time limit.  Having now experienced tournament play (and run several timed tournament sessions) I have a pretty good idea of what it takes and how much is possible when it comes to running such adventure sites.

Tamoachan is too big for the time allotted. That much was crystal clear from the outset.

Still, "nephew" Spencer was coming over Wednesday to play D&D, and by God we were going to give him a game! He picked up Sofia from school, and showed up around 3:30ish...about ten minutes after Diego got home. We sat down to play a bit after 4pm, pre-gens in hand, determined to tackle our "two hour" adventure. Meanwhile, my wife was working in her office, and had already agreed to make dinner (pozole...nummy!) after she knocked off work...figured we'd be eating around 7ish or thereabouts.

Then...at roughly 5:30pm...we heard a distant explosion and all the lights went out.

It's been "atmospheric river" up in Seattle over the last week...perhaps you've seen the images of flooding on CNN through some parts of the state (most notably Pierce County...south of Seattle). Well, it's been accompanied by a hell of a lot of wind, too. An enormous tree took out a swath of power lines and blacked out some 10 city blocks in my neighborhood. Our electricity wasn't restored till 3:20am.

Still...the show must go on. My wife moved out to the car where she could charge her phone and use her laptop to finish sending emails. Pizza was ordered from a place outside the dark zone (still had to go pick it up...but that gave me an excuse to get a six pack of beer). Candles and electric torches were lit, and we continued our game by lamplight, only breaking to eat.  

We finished up sometime around 9:40 (and then played a few rounds of laser tag in the dark house).

So...about four hours? And I ended the thing just after area #39, stating that the stairs beyond led "out" rather than to the slightly more complex (if shorter) 2nd level of the dungeon.

I should point out that the kids are no slouches, by the way, not even Spencer...who has less experience with AD&D than my kids at this point. He is very no-nonsense and decisive, maybe even more so than Diego who, I have to say, had a spot of difficulty wrapping his head around the scenario's parameters ("get out") when he's so used to the usual objective ("get treasure"). But he was able to buckle down pretty quickly, even as he decried the LACK of treasure within the adventure.

Sofia, on the other hand, was quite on her game. Of the pre-gens, she chose Rhialle the fighter (her standard class) which is the only character that speaks "Olman," the language of the various monsters and critters in the adventure. Which is great, because she tends to be a "talk first THEN kill" type player. She quickly won the friendship of the crayfish and guardian crab, scoring an off the charts natural "00" on her reaction roll, and likewise managed to 'talk down' the awakened monks and buy them off with a potion of climbing that she had little use for. She was also quite generous with the Keoughtom's ointment in her inventory and they'd used the entire thing before the end of the adventure. 

Diego, playing as Cair the magic-user/thief, and Spencer, playing Myrrha the cleric, alternated taking the lead for the party, though there weren't many disagreements (the one time they couldn't come to a consensus on a direction, they used augury to make a decision/achieve consensus). Both players ranged from good to great with their chosen characters:

Diego's an old hand at playing "thief types" (usually assassins) and had no issues knowing when to search for traps, picking locks, etc. and he's played plenty of elves and half-elves in the past. What was new for him was playing a magic-user...especially one with access to so many mid-level spells (he just couldn't wait to let that fireball off the chain), but he did just fine: killed the nereid's eel with magic missile, used detect magic on the statue's sword, knock to open the door in the flooded room (in order to safely empty the water), and light once the party ran out of torches (which just got them to the fire beetle chamber...thank goodness!). He did have a chance to use fireball...on the giant slug (in a chamber large enough to take the thing), boiling its hide and collapsing the wall on the thing...a fine use of the spell. And while he got his arm trapped in the beak of the eagle stature, he used his potion of stone to flesh to soften the thing so they could just cut him free without bashing his arm. 

Meanwhile, Spencer was fantastic as the cleric...quickly deducing that slow poison would help them with the poison gas of the place. using create water to wash the silt out from below the stuck door, and using snake charm on the two-headed amphisbaena in the final chamber, as well as the aforementioned augury and (duh) cure light wounds. He also made made excellent use of his wand of secret door and trap detection to (narrowly) avoid the sand box trap and to discover the secret door in the cat-faced wall (after Sofia had already failed her attempt to search for secret doors there) which would eventually lead to freedom...I think he ended the session with only 3 or 4 charges left after starting with 15. Kudos also for destroying 9 of the 15 zombies and knocking down another two with his quarterstaff.

And kudos to the whole group for simply ignoring the gas spore (Sofia did try to talk to it in Olman). Though Diego was tempted to take a swing at it (which would have been disastrous), they decided to simply not waste the time. I should note that NONE of the three players have the slightest idea what a beholder is, having never encountered one in the game (and not being the kinds of kids who fawn over a Monster Manual), so that probably accounts for their nonchalance about the thing.

All in all, the three of them hit some 24 of the 39 encounters that comprise the "lower chambers" and the "first tier" of the adventure. Even though many of these are designed to be easily bypassed or ignored for the sake of expedience, that's still remarkably  good time. Generally speaking, 3 to 5 numbered (i.e. "interact-able") encounter areas per hour of play is what I expect from an experienced group of players. Even accounting for the fact they weren't searching and looting for treasure, knocking down 6 numbers per hour is solid play.

Their scoring (tournament-wise) was pretty good as well. They had +46 positive points and only accruing -14 negative points. Adding +100 for all PCs surviving and the 100 point base, that gives the group a very respectable 232 point score. Not bad at all, despite struggling a bit with the whole nereid encounter and nearly losing Cair in the "plant pits" right before the end.

[to be fair, that one's a little "iffy;" Cair was healed...using the last of the Keoughtom's ointment...at the same time he was being reduced to zero hit points. We diced for initiative but the rolls came up tied, and I allowed him to continue on. Regardless, the PC wouldn't have "died;" he would have been "zeroed out," and still could have been dragged from the dungeon by his companions. Since they entered the final encounter area directly thereafter...and Spencer neutralized the snake threat immediately...Cair being down would not have altered the outcome of the session in the slightest]

Showing the map to the players afterwards, they were incredulous that the scenario could be completed in only two hours. Diego, a solid chip off the old block, was disgusted by the pitiful lack of treasure in the place (although I haven't actually run the numbers yet...). I did explain that treasure hunting was not the actual point of the adventure but, rather, escape...and the PCs could always go back, now that the air was somewhat cleared, and try plundering the Shrine. He grudgingly conceded the point.

[okay, I should probably look at this now: C1 should have an expected treasure yield of around 190,000 g.p. given that is it designed for five to seven PCs averaging 5th level and contains 54 numbered encounter areas. Total treasure count for the place is more like 90K-100K depending on how you want to price the many unique and weird magic items in the place. I suppose you COULD make up some of the shortfall by stocking an excessive abundance of "stucco figures" in area #1 (there's no specific number given, only their value) but an upwards limit of 4,000 g.p. worth seems appropriate. Still...only about half of what I'd like to see, and the upper tiers are especially meager. One podcast review of the adventure I listened to suggested doubling the value of all the ornamental jewelry and gemstones, and that seems like a reasonable (and easy!) fix, if you want to make the treasure count more palatable]

But it was fun; everyone had a good time, especially Spencer who loves "old school" D&D and just does not get enough of it. But isn't that something we ALL could say?

Okay, that's enough...hope I didn't spill too many spoilers on this (nearly 50 year old) adventure!  Cheers!

The Kids

Spencer

No apologies. Just been busy.

Some fifteen years ago, I introduced two kids...Zach and Spencer...to the D&D game. The children of our good friends, we refer to them as our "nephews" (they call us Uncle and Aunt), and we've been taking care of them/hosting them since they were little. Spencer, at age 4, was the ring bearer at our wedding in Mexico.

Well, it's been a long time since they were "little." Zach is 30 and 6'5", a former power lifter/body builder, he now resides in Virginia where he's working on his doctorate in organic chemistry. Younger brother Spencer (age 27) is a 6'1", 230# rock climber and professional chef, who's worked in some of New York City's best restaurants...he's come a long way since the last time I saw him (when he just heading off to culinary school).

But the kid is still our "first baby," despite the tattoos and the earrings and the fact that I only come up to the guy's chest. He's in town till September 11th, after which he's flying out to Madrid for a while before moving to Australia (for 2025), and he wanted to get together with us. And so we made it happen over the Labor Day weekend (not like we had anything else planned besides a three day soccer tournament for Diego). And wouldn't you know it, but the kid is still a big nerd who was absolutely Jonesin' for some hardcore Dungeons & Dragons. I guess there isn't much D&D in the East Coast culinary scene (not that they have any time with 80 hour work weeks...ah, to be 27 again!).

So, Spence and I had a long discussion on Saturday (while sitting on the sidelines pre-soccer match). Discussed why his few forays into "modern D&D" had been unsatisfying. Explained why my version of D&D is different. Gave a brief history of the game's evolution, including why I write/sell the books I do. I didn't bother explaining to him the OSR or "CAG" or any of that rigamarole...just kept it simple, by explaining the difference between playing the game as a game and playing the game as scripted television for a YouTube camera (which he has watched, with both consternation and disgust).

THEN I explained to him that I'm running AD&D these days, unlike the B/X that I taught him and his brother all those years ago, and why and some of that edition's differences. Oh, boy was he down to play 1E!

So we did. Kids' first day of school was yesterday, but it was only a half day. Spence came over a little after noonish, and we just played solid AD&D till 5pm (when I had to take Sofia to soccer practice...I'm co-coaching the 5th graders again). He and my wife (along with Diego) whipped up a magnificent carbonara, and we had Spencer's parents over for a little wine and festivity, just like old times. We even had "dueling desserts" (I made my blackberry cobbler, he came with a raspberry crumble...I think mine turned out better, but..well, I'm eating the remains of his dessert as I type this).

Just about as flawless a day as I could ask for.

Fifteen years, I've been writing this blog. Twenty-five or so years since the first time I met Spencer. Time flies. I've written that so many times over the years,  it feels ridiculous to be jotting it down again. But it's so worth emphasizing. The years pass by quicker and quicker, especially when we're busy. And as I get older, and I see more time stretching behind me than in front of me, it's hard (for me) not to feel whimsical or melancholic. It's hard. Damn hard. Which leads me to try to stay busy (so I don't dwell on it)...which, of course, leads the time to flit by all the faster.  

I am enjoying my life, however (the vast majority of it for certain). 

Our game session was great, just by the way. We all had a blast, especially Spen. The adventure is, as yet, unresolved (we're still playing Dragon Wrack) so we might try to get together one more time before he hops his plane. I know he would like to do so, but it's a matter of making all the schedules work (four soccer games plus the Seahawks playing their home opener this weekend...and my kids are running cross country this fall, too). We'll see what happens. But at least he got to play again...this time as an adult...and saw that it's not all "nostalgia" in his head. The game is fun, the game works, the game can be played for a lifetime. It makes me so happy to have been able to show that to him.

And to my kids, too...it's not just Old Man Pops who is into this D&D stuff. Cool "Cousin Spencer" digs it, too.

Delightful.

I will, perhaps (hopefully), write about the particulars of the session in a separate blog post. A lot of fun, memorable moments (aren't there always?), but it's just war stories. The playing is the important bit. The ramped up tension. The excitement. The terror. The fun. A lot of (imaginary) treasure gathered; a lot of (imaginary) blood spilled. The usual. But, sure, I might blog about it...just to have a record of it, to look back on fondly in another dozen years or so.

One last thing: I did (briefly) mention the Cauldron convention to Spencer. Oh, man, was he intrigued. As I said, he'll be in Australia next year...which is the next year I plan on trying to get back. But 2026 or '27? Yeah, he's totally down. We'll be making it a twosome, if he can get the time off work. Hell, maybe even a threesome...I'm not sure sixteen year old Diego will be ready for such an excursion, but I know he wants to go.  Good times.

; )

The Dungeon Master Art

Not as easy as it looks.

Randy was our DM tonight (or rather, our "Labyrinth Lord" as we were playing LL tonight). We used the Advanced Edition Companion, so the game had a lot of similarities to the ol' hodge-podge mash-up of B/X and AD&D of my youth.

Wellll...kind of, not really. In my youth, the LAST book we acquired was the Players Handbook, the tome which features rather prominently in the AEC. My friends and I played pretty much straight B/X with the addition of the Monster Manual and DMG for a year or two prior to adding "race-not-as-class" and new-fangled classes and fancy armor and spells above 5th and 6th level.

And, yeah, having done it that way really does give me a slightly different perspective. I know a lot of folks who got into D&D about the same time as myself did the "mash-up" thing and I've read several reviews praising the AEC for the way it reminds them of their past, albeit in a more coherent form. For me, it just feels like "AD&D Lite." That's not a terrible thing, by the way...it's just not "how I used to play as a kid."

Anyway, we played tonight and Randy ran the game; his first time running a game. Wow. It has been a loooong time since I've seen a completely virgin DM run a game. God...you forget how damn tricky it can be (especially with eight players sitting around the table!).

I mean, I've been doing it for 30 years (shit, that's a long time) and even when I have "rust" from a couple year plus hiatus, it's not that hard to get back into it. I mean it really breaks down to:

a) knowing the rules,

b) managing the game/adventure, and

c) managing the players

Now, I'm a pretty hard grader, but my gut reaction is Randy still deserves a B+ for the outing. He gets a ton of props for managing a game with a group that size in that kind of environment. My knowledge of the rules was probably about the same (or less) than his my first time out, and I only had two players. And, no, just because we're adults and mature and friendly doesn't make it a walk in the park. Not at all.

A couple years back I introduced D&D to a couple teenage friends (my "nephews") and they positively loved it. Quit their World of Warcraft accounts even. Their family moved to Virginia (Arlington) and I gave 'em a copy of Labyrinth Lord for the road. A few months or a year later, my wife and I were back east visiting their family and I asked if they were still playing and they said, no. Appears S. (the younger) just could not grasp the rules and Z. (the older) just "didn't do it right" (according to his younger brother)...and Z. admitted it was a lot harder than I made it look.

I guess. But Z was twice as old as I was when I started playing.

Randy called the game a "clusterf***" and, sure, it was if one wanted to play "by the book." He haphazardly made up rules ("roll a D6 for that") or bluffed or just made spot rulings. But that didn't matter because there were really only two players at the table (myself and Luke) who had any DM experience or a clear grasp of the rules. And for the most part we just kept our mouths shut.

And so Randy did what good DMs do: he played with a shit-ton of panache. He kept the players in line. He made rulings on what they could and couldn't do. He didn't dismiss things out of hand, but he didn't let "bossy" players (like *ahem* me) push him around or dictate how the game was to be played. He included everyone. He listened. He narrated and described. He ran combat pretty f'ing fast-and-loose (a guy after my own heart there). And his adventure was nice and succinct being wrapped up in a single evening.

It was also pretty damn creative/interesting from a background perspective. Oh, he ripped off (at least partially) the plot of some fantasy book I've never heard of...and he included zombies of a more cinematic (as in movie) type (Randy digs on the walking dead), so it wasn't crazy original spun from his own brain. But it was pretty different from most anything I'VE ever played in a D&D game...at least for 1st level characters. It takes a lot of balls to tell players that they've been locked in an asylum because they've been infected with a mystic disease that will eventually turn them into psychotic zombies...and, oh yeah, you have no equipment or gear. At least my character had his spells tattooed on his arm, since he had no spell book. F'ing brilliant stuff that!

A couple of us died, but were brought back to life during the course of the adventure...another nice touch (instead of making the 1st level scenario super easy and survivable he just included ways to "get back in the game"). Oh, yeah, and we fought a giant demon and killed it...with "lightning powder" we spread on the small cache of weapons we managed to acquire scrounging through the ruins of the asylum.

I've said I would love to run or play the old TSR module A4: Dungeon of the Slave Lords. Randy's scenario was better (or at least on par).

But, man, it is hard. Having all those eyes on you, wanting you to entertain them and wanting to do a good job...or at least not look terrible doing it. As a fellow Scorpio, I'm well aware how fragile the ego can be in these kind of situations (not that we'd ever show it...or any kind of breakdown!...in public). But he did a great job and everyone had fun and now that we're out of the asylum, we all want to come back and see what he's got for us next week!

Of course, Matt and Josh may well be back, so then the group will be back up to ten. Eleven if Dan's wife shows up.

All right, that's enough of a "puff piece" for ol' Randy. I'll be harder on him next week if he doesn't get the surprise system right. But I still want to play...I like my character quite well: a gnome assassin-illusionist.

; )

G'night folks.

N is for Negotiation

[over the course of the month of April, I shall be posting a topic for each letter of the alphabet, sequentially, for every day of the week except Sunday. Our topic this month? Things necessary to take your D&D campaign from “eh, fantasy” to “kick ass.” And who doesn’t want that?]

N is for Negotiation…yet another fine art that shouldn’t be left out of your Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

I’ve written often enough of my disgust with the way the game has degenerated over the last 2-3 editions, gradually becoming more and more “combat focused.” I’m not going to rehash that here (i.e. I’m not going to spend time beating up WotC/Hasbro, etc.). Instead let me simply focus on the fine art of bargain, barter, haggle, and horse-trade. Specifically, two things:

1) What it can do for your game.
2) How to include it.

We’ll talk about #1 first, as I think that will be shorter and sweeter. Negotiation is the first part of role-playing. In some ways, negotiation IS role-playing. The dictionary definition of negotiate is:

To treat with another or others in order to come to turns or reach an agreement. To arrange or settle by conferring or discussing.

And isn’t that what we do at the game table? Assuming one is playing an RPG and not a board game, the DM and players are involved in discussion over what it occurring in the imaginary world, coming to terms over “what happens” using the rules of the game to facilitate resolution.

It ain’t Candy Land and you aren’t on a linear path (unless you’re playing The Forge of Fury adventure…). DMs provide some info. Players ask some questions, suggest some actions. DMs provide more information. Repeat for as long as you find this fun (i.e. so long as everyone is having a good time). Once leaving the table becomes more fun than staying at the table (when the CONS of ticking off your family outweighs the PROS of enjoying the game, for example), then the negotiation ends. Perhaps to be resumed at a later date.

Of course, that’s simplistic and not really what I’m talking about. What I AM talking about is interaction between player characters and non-player characters…or to be more specific, I am talking about resolving encounters and conflicts in a non-martial (i.e. non-combat) fashion.

This is one of those things that can only take place in a real RPG (as opposed to, say, a computer RPG). Conversation. Discourse. Negotiation. “Do we need to fight each other? Can we come to some terms so that bloodshed can be avoided?”

Seeing as how this IS D&D we’re discussing, bloodshed at some point is fairly unavoidable (except, perhaps, for the 15th level master thief…). And in latter editions of D&D (3rd edition and later) where character advancement is DIRECTLY LINKED to killing things, combat is pretty much an IMPERATIVE. At least if one intends to open “new content” within the game.

In older editions there is no such imperative, though there is INCENTIVE (XP awards for defeating monsters). However, more incentive is offered for the collection of treasure…and so:

Less bloodshed = less used resources = longer delves = MORE treasure/reward

Does that get your attention? MORE treasure equates to more EXPERIENCE POINTS, that Holy Grail every grubby player is looking for. The fictional grubby characters are looking for treasure (this is how they make their living, yo), but the players are looking to Level Up, opening newer and vaster horizons.

It’s a win-win for both players and characters.

Now for ME, a dude who’s interested in keeping a dying hobby alive, negotiation in game actually accomplishes some of MY goals, namely “showcasing what table-top RPGs can do.”

“Civilized” interaction (I use the term loosely when one enters “negotiation” with an orc raiding party) gives players (including the DM) a chance to engage with the imaginary circumstance at hand. Even if you’re not “talking in a funny voice” you are still having to STEP INSIDE THE MIND OF THE CHARACTER you’re playing. You have to think like an adventurer and the best way to deal with the pair of troll looking to eat you and your buddies for lunch. You get to play pretend in the most fundamental way possible…sure, you might have to roll some dice (Reaction rolls, for example) but even a brief moment of imagining you’re someone else, living vicariously through your character, is so much cooler than clicking your left mouse button to swing that sword over-and-over-and-over again.

I’ve played D&D with kids and teenagers and they LOVED this type of interaction. One 12 year old became a regular “Dr. Doolittle” as he stocked up on the speak with animals spells for his cleric character…he found it was a lot easier to TALK with a cave bear than trying to fight it. You can tell a lot about a player by whether or not their magic-user’s first level spell is sleep or charm person; the latter player? He may be a bit more experienced with the art of negotiation.

It sure can make your games more interesting.

All right now for getting negotiation into your game. I guess we can resort to a three step process to which we’ll give the acronym AID:

Awareness
Incentivize
Do it

Awareness: your players need to know and understand that negotiation is an OPTION. If every time the characters encounter some monster in the dungeon they’re reaching for their initiative dice and (imaginary) swords, you’re going to have a hard time getting any role-playing interaction with NPCs. Maybe the PCs will negotiate with each other over who gets which treasure item, but that’s hardly role-playing.

Slow Things Down. Don’t simply yell “bree-yark!” and show up with charging goblins. Bring curious monsters to the table. Have monsters that surprise players give up their free attack (I know, it hurts!) to talk to the players. Make the monsters mysterious enough that players are unsure if they want to immediately engage. Add helpful, non-opponent NPCs into the adventure (even underground/dungeon settings)…keep players on their toes instead of just throwing wave after wave of enemies at them.

Incentivize: you’ve got to show players that they get something out of negotiation. There’s got to be a reward to it. Reward mechanics don’t just influence behavior…they DRIVE it. If the PCs can somehow get paid by negotiating with NPCs they will do so.

I’m not talking about haggling the sale price of gemstones at Ye Old Trade Shoppe…that’s retarded. I’m talking about NPC monsters offering Big Money for the PCs to aid them against other monsters. I’m talking about PCs being able to fast-talk their way into some easy (and bloodshed-free) loot. I’m talking about avoiding energy drain all together because the wight/wraith/vampire was lonely and just happy to talk to someone for a change…or how about the giant-ass spider that speaks Common? It’s D&D dammit…add some fantasy to your game!

DO IT: The final part of the equation…YOU, the DM, have to be open to negotiation yourself. When the PCs try to negotiate or converse or otherwise interact in a non-combat fashion with NPCs and monsters, you need to LET THEM TRY IT. If the handsome bard wants to sweet talk Eclavdra in the Halls of King Snurre, let him! Who’s to say she wouldn’t be up for a little dalliance after a long hard day of sacrificing people to the Evil Elemental God. Just because the monsters are super kick-ass and outfitted for bear doesn’t mean you ALWAYS have to go toe-to-toe with the adventurers!

Allowing PCs to negotiate doesn’t mean you’re turning the game all “touchy-feely.” Remember, negotiation is a two-way street: eventually, characters doing deals with evil monsters will be presented with unsavory choices as their new “friends” call in “favors” from them. At some point, lines are going to be crossed and all hell is going to break loose, sure, and you’ll still have plenty of opportunity to lay the smackdown on PCs with your favorite Drow attack pet (or whatever). But maybe by the time you DO, the characters will be better prepared to face the challenge (having picked up some useful intelligence in their negotiations).

And MAYBE the players will find themselves engaged with the game in the way they never will be by mouse-clicking on a dude wearing a golden question mark halo.
: )

Warhammers Are Totally "BOSS!"

Welp, I’m back in cold, gray, pouring rain Seattle, WA again.

It’s good to be home.

Even if it does mean I’m back to the daily grind (hey, at least I’ve still got a job!). Tonight is Fiddler on the Roof at the 5th Avenue Theater which has got to be my first taste of culture and the arts in many moons…despite breaking her foot in D.C. my wife is excited to get out to the show (rain or not). I’m sure looking forward to it.

Just wanted to throw up some quick notes on Ye Old B/X Games of the weekend:

#1 D6 Damage Convert: This weekend for the first time EVER (as far as I can remember) I had all weapons do 1D6 damage with the exception of daggers, which only did 1D4 (‘cause they were smaller). Playing B/X with non-experienced gamers, they had ABSOLUTELY NO PROBLEM with this…in fact, they said it “made sense” that two-handed weapons were harder to use (I DID use my “two-handed weapon gets to add double strength bonus” rule, which everyone also agreed was both cool and sensible). End result: combat (and equipment selection, see below) was a lot simpler with newbies that didn’t have to ask, “how much does weapon x, y, or z do.” And since I’m one of those DMs that rolls all damage myself, the D6 only rule made combat much cleaner and faster. Loved it…I am fully converted to this type of play.

#2 Warhammers Are Boss!: So anyone remember my little ramblings about axes getting short-changed? Well, apparently, I am not the only one interested in non-sword weapons. Everyone wanted to wield a damn warhammer, and none o these kids are medieval history majors or any way versed on the finer application of hamer-to-armor ratios. “War hammers are just cool.” I did not disagree (and anyway, I’d already decided all weapons would do D6 damage, so who cares?). Party #1 had Gimly [sic] the dwarf and “Elfy” the elf wielding warhammers. Party #2 had Carl the cleric, “Elfy Jr.” and Burl the Burley all wielding warhammers. Party #3 (7th and 8th level characters) would have used normal warhammers, but I offered the elf a flaming sword for variety and he jumped on that. He DID ask if it could be a flaming warhammer. No. But I allowed the cleric to have a warhammer +1. Jeez. Oh…and while the elf had a “back-up dagger” hidden on his person, the cleric wanted a “little hammer” for the same purpose (wanted to use the “small hammer” that comes with iron spikes as a hidden weapon…no).

#3 Never Read That Before: Spencer pointed out the following paragraph at the bottom of the Basic set equipment list:

Sometimes the characters may wish to buy an item not on this list. In this case, the DM must carefully consider if such an item could be found for sale and, if so, how much it would cost. The item should then be added to this list.

Ok, Spence, what is it you want to buy? “A two-handed warhammer!” Like a big maul or war sledge? “Yeah!” Ok…um, we’ll call it 10gp for rarity and sturdiness of manufacture. They purchased one for Burl the Burley.

#4 No "Dump Stats" in B/X: Heard around the table (while rolling for ability scores): “Come on, come on Charisma!” While the kids had to be reminded of the difference between Dexterity and Constitution (they got these confused…hey, it’s not my fault kids these days don’t read much), EVERYONE wanted a high Charisma. “That’s how you get to hire people to fight for you!” Presumably armed with warhammers.

ALSO: the biggest crowing rights came over the character with the 18 Intelligence and the biggest egg-on-face from the guy with the 7 Intelligence. “Ah, lame, my guy can’t read!” Hahaha. This despite the fact that Intelligence offers no mechanical bonuses other than languages, and we didn’t even use THAT as I (in the mood to expedite play) skipped over the language selection part of character creation. So the 18 intelligence had 0 mechanical bonus except for bragging rights.

That being said, there were MULTIPLE times when I called for ability score checks, and Intelligence and Dexterity were the two most often used, so the high Int DID have an impact. Reaction checks (with regard to monsters, NPC enemies, and townsfolk) were also extremely frequent, and the 13 Charisma elf with a +1 reaction bonus was extremely handy.

#5 Race as Class: “Can I be an elven cleric?” No. Since these kids have never played anything but B/X and Labyrinth Lord (sans AEC), there is only one place they would have ever heard of such a thing: World of Warcraft. How many reasons are there to curse this foul tool of Satan? Ugh.

Elves don’t have clerics, I explain…they’re immortal unless they get killed so why do they need to believe in an afterlife or have priests? Spencer (who has not been raised with ANY religion at all) says: “that’s too bad…you elves could have gone to heaven.” No one wanted the dwarf to be anything other than a dwarf.

#6 And Speaking of Clerics: Asked what alignment the cleric wants to be, Spence says, “Chaotic…like a Death Knight!” (damn you World of Warcraft…) Upon explaining the spell restrictions clerics have regarding reversed spells, Spencer decides to be Lawful after all, so he can use the healing spells as his default. Elfy Jr. on the other hand? Chaotic (apparently because elves don’t believe in God…where’s Father Dave? We need to do something about these heathen children!).

#7 You Can Tell A LOT About A PC By His Spell Book: When embarking upon our 3rd B/X adventure (Total Party Kills did NOT deter these guys in the slightest…reminds me of MY younger days), it was decided players would be allowed to create higher level characters due to the difficulty of the adventure. Man, were they stoked to pick out more spells! Here is how the spell casters rolled in our group:

Elfy (1st level Elf): Charm Person

Elfy Jr. (2nd level Elf): Charm Person, Magic Missile (both were used to great effect before the adventure concluded).

Elfy III (7th level Elf): 1st – Charm Person, Magic Missile, Ventriloquism; 2nd – ESP, Phantasmal Force; 3rd – Invisibility 10’ Radius, Fly; 4th – Polymorph Self

What? No fireball? No lightning bolt? No sleep?! Nope, but charm person was cast in every single session and both 3rd level spells were used (and to great effect) before the end of the Black Rock Island adventure.

I was surprised he knew what “polymorph” was…but then, he’s a big Harry Potter fan.

#8 Old War Stories Alive and Well: Z. continued to talk about how “boss” his old Thief character had been (this being a D4 hit dice thief of 1st or 2nd level). He had school or I’m sure we could have enticed him to the table.

#9 High Level Play is Cool: The kids were fairly impressed with the draft copy of my B/X Companion and thought the idea of characters going up to level 36 was totally badass. They also liked the illustrations a lot. “I want to be that guy” (regarding the black orc bruiser). “Is that plate mail? Cool!” and “Why does the death knight have horns?” I’ll have to get ‘em a copy once it’s completed.

#10 Always Be Prepared: I had not really anticipated playing D&D when I packed for my trip, but I had my books along in order to do some “work” on the computer. And, yes, I DID have an extra set of dice with me…I guess there’s still a bit of that Boy Scout training stowed away in the ‘ol noggin. It was a spanking good time for everyone with a lot of laughter and wa-hoo moments as well as grim and hideous death for nearly all the PCs. Thank goodness B/X character gen was so short and sweet…down-time for character loss was extremely minimal.



***FINAL NOTES ON WHAT I LEARNED***

B/X is definitely a good “gateway RPG” into the role-playing hobby. Simple enough that anyone can learn, but structured enough that no one has a problem playing, and “rules light” enough that you can do most anything you want with the engine…at least in small scale.

Compared to AD&D (or later editions), B/X spell use is fairly limited. A 7th level magic-user only has eight spells for example. However, the simplicity of the game allows the DM to handle larger parties, with NPCs and multi-PC players, and with enough bodies you have PLENTY of “magical power.”

Kids whose main/only intro to fantasy RPGs is an MMORPG like World of Warcraft have difficulty with non-video game type challenges, pure and simple. They do NOT lack imagination…they’ve just been programmed (no pun intended) to play a certain, simplified way. And NPCs in D&D don’t have those big “quest” ?s or !s floating over their heads, you know?

At one point, the PCs discovered a magic statue that asked a riddle. Answering the riddle correctly opened a door, missing it sprayed everyone with a damaging acid/poison. While I consider the riddle fairly simple, (“I am so fragile, say my name and I am broken…what am I?”) they were absolutely stumped for 20-30 minutes. Fortunately, they could also break the statue to open the door…however, I had to suggest this idea as well.

I think solving these kinds of puzzles is an acquired skill…like the ability to do a crossword you have to practice and train your brain a bit. This is the kind of thing I want to see MORE of within adventure modules, not less.

Finally, the D6 damage for all weapons, D4 for daggers, and double strength bonus for two-handers was a great, great system. I plan on using it in all my games from now on. ALSO, the N1 “house rule” that characters reduced to 0 could be knocked out (and captured) rather than killed was also neat, so long as ample opportunities were given for clever characters to escape/overcome their captors (knocked out characters awaken with 1D4 hit points). It turns back-stabbing thieves from assassins into black-jack packing sucker-punchers.

Due to the excellence of the universal (D6) damage system, I’m considering installing a rather radical house-rule with respect to magic weapons. Instead of giving a bonus to both attack and damage, the “+” of a weapon will modify the attack roll (as normal) and increase the dice used for damage. It works like this:

Normal Sword (or warhammer, or whatever) – 1D6 damage
Sword +1 – 1D8 damage, +1 to attack roll
Sword +2 – 1D10 damage, +2 to attack roll
Sword +3 – 1D12 damage, +3 to attack roll

This allows players to use all their differently shaped dice (which is fun), gives magic weapons a real whopping potential for damage (possibly doubling what would be the normal damage roll), while also leaving the possibility of a minimal roll (after all, not every successful attack is with the enchanted edge of one’s magic blade…sometimes you’re just thumping someone with a fist full of steel). I don’t feel particularly bad about increasing the damage output of magic weapons as A) it will shorten fights between high level characters and tough monsters, B) B/X damage bonuses from high strength is already slim compared to AD&D counterparts, C) the AVERAGE damage inflicted is no greater than that of a universal D6 weapon with the appropriate bonus (for example: a D6 sword averages 3.5 damage; D6+1 averages 4.5 which is the same as D8, etc.).

When using this rule, I would not allow weapons beyond the +3 range, though “slayer” type weapons (+1, +4 versus dragons or whatever), might bump the damage category up one additional step to 1D20 against the specific enemy type ONLY.

N1, B/X Style - 2nd Run

So we ran N1 a 2nd time today with a new group of adventurers...this time, in anticipation of more "action" there were a total of four 2nd level PCs, rather than two 1st level PCs.

It was still a bit of a comedy of errors.

Knowing what to expect ("I had a dream of all of this before!") the PCs decided to exactly re-trace their steps but deciding to take different choices at critical moments. This time, they would make sure to A) NOT drink the suspicious, probably poisoned wine, and B) keep a dagger secreted on the elf's person (for cutting any bonds should they end up bound hand-and-foot.

Good thing about the latter, too because although they didn't get knocked out by the grog, they still stayed the night at the Cultist's inn and after a brief battle found themselves once again tied-up in the cellar.

(there is no "assassin class" in B/X so the Snigrot and Desleigh are both thieves...even so Desleigh is a handful when characters can be blind-sided by other cultists)

Cutting themselves free, they managed to charm Snigrot and had him lead them deeper into the cellar in search of their purloined gear...and then the giant constrictor fell on the henchman, devouring him. The party decided to run for it rather than fight or sneak past the snake in the midst of its meal.

Climbing through the kitchen window they (interestingly?) decided to run back to the temple of Merrika to complain to Mishi who had twice now (in two separate runs) suggested the adventurers stay at the inn. Apparently they wanted to complain to her.

(I had the players dice to see if they remembered/recognized her armored form from the night-time attack but the elf was unable to roll under his 18 intelligence on a D20, and the players themselves weren't suspicious)

So she asked them to wait there while she went to "get help." Which they did. And she came back with Abramo the high priest a bunch of skeletons and the monks. Oh, what? You mean she's evil, too?!

Duh.

The magic-user used a sleep spell to knock out the wolves and servants clearing a way to the (now closed) gate. While the cleric turned the entire troop of skeletons and the elf daggered the single surly gardner that had not succumbed to the magic-user's spell, Burl the Burley opened the gates and the characters once again ran for it.

Straight to the (cultist-turned) constable.

It was like one nightmare after another. "Help us! Help us!" they cried, "Everyone's tried to kill us! Will you help us get our stuff back from the Inn?" Oh, sure, come on inside. "No way, we're just going to stay out here, we don't trust anyone." Okay, boys, maybe we oughta' just finish this out here (they were in the back lot).

The party decided to run (again). Donovan threw his spear +1 and Burl the Burley died, impaled. Then came a running hunt through the town as the bloodied characters would knock on doors, fail reaction rolls, and get said doors slammed in their faces.

Eventually Radagast the wizard went down with a crossbow bolt, and the elf ("Elfy Jr.") and cleric (Carl) found their way to Ramne's cottage, a small sanctuary in the eye of the storm.

Ramne wizard locked 'em in while he went to town to shop for gear. Elfy decided to brave the inn again, alone, using the old sorcerer's cloak of elvenkind...but after too many turns spent searching for secret doors in the python room, the snake finally smelled him out and he met the same fate as Snigrot.

Carl decided the town of Orlane could go to hell for all he cared.

Playtesting N1...B/X Style

Did I mention I'm a hack and a slacker?

Now I know that it's not cool to get too down on myself...after all, I'm providing SOME small measure of entertainment to the folks that read my posts. But I did say I would get a conversion of N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God out sometime soon, and I have not delivered.

Ah, well...what can you expect when it's all free?

Today, I've been playing ultimate frisbee (two intense games that both required showers), cabbed all the hell over Virginia, invented two new ways to play ping-pong (using a wall), chased (and bathed) a dog that had rolled in deer droppings, photo'd a deer, and consoled my wife who, it turns out, broke her foot while walking all over D.C. a couple days ago. Quite a full day really (besides eating...which I did a lot of...and explaining to a 16 year old the origin of Vlad Tepes and his relationship to the Twilight saga).

And yet I still managed to play a little B/X. Ahhh...dedication to the cause.

Ran a pair of 1st level characters through N1 (B/X style) today and the result wasn't pretty. Call it yet another TPK for yours truly, though our intrepid heroes didn't actually die. Rather, they suffered the proverbial "fate worse than death," which in this case consisted of being the living slave of a half reptile entity.

O the Humanity! Or (actually) the lack thereof!

I believe I mentioned this before...if not I should have...that N1 is an excellent module for experienced gamers that want to start a passel of new characters. Note the emphasis. Today's players consisted of rank novices and it showed.

I did my best to freak them out in the process...give 'em their money's worth, so to speak.

The thing with N1 is, it requires a plan of attack...unlike, say, T1 there's no major direction to go in. Characters need to explore the town and try to construct (or rather, "deduce") what exactly the hell is going on. The PCs in my game were more like, "where's the dungeon?" And in being led by the nose they were steered into a bad situation by cultists that drugged 'em, jailed 'em, then led them off to be "converted" into worshippers of the reptile god. Not a single saving throw was made successfully all game, and the end result was...well, about what one would expect from not making a single save all game.

MY mistake, as a DM, was thinking the PCs could handle an adventure like N1, simply because it's designed for "4-7 players of 1st through 3rd level." Had there been more PCs it would have simply been more lambs to the slaughter. Kids grown up on World of Warcraft (as these ones were) just don't have the necessary skills...or rather, they don't think the same as RPG players (which is a slightly nicer way of saying the same thing).

Where's the quest? What do I have to fetch and carry? What do I have to kill? Jesus H. Christ.

So they all ended up as slaves, which is fine by me, and they wanted to make new characters and try again, but instead we ate dinner and played more ultimate frisbee and then watched TV and talked...all of which was ALSO fine by me. I'm on vacation, after all.

But I do hope the rest of y'all have a bit more fun with this N1 conversion (hopefully finished by tomorrow). Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.

[P.S. saw my first fire fly(s) today...don't know if anyone else noticed or not, but I thought it was pretty cool]

Tomorrow's "To Do" List

Actually TODAY's "To Do" list (seeing as it's 2:45am).

Turned out only one of the nephews made it over this weekend, due to a family emergency with the younger (he's in the hospital...medium-length story, but end result is he'll be just fine). As a result, did NOT have a chance to run a D&D game, either with WHite Plume Mountain OR UK1:Beyond the Crystal Cave. Hopefully next weekend we'll all have a chance to get together.

I did watch a LOT of television, mainly NFL play-off games (sorry, in case you haven't noticed from snippets here and there, this is the pro-sport I truly give a shit about, though I DO like the Seattle Sounders pro soccer team). And tomorrow there will be more of the same. While it's sad to see Warner go bye-bye, at least there's no more question as to which "old man" I'll be cheering for in the NFC race (go Vikes).

As for game playing, there was quite a bit though only of the Apples to Apples, Jenga, and Magic card variety. Mucho fun, and a nice break from the D&D which may have been burning me out a little (and right now, I am blaming "burn-out" for my lack of production). However, tomorrow I WILL be doing some stuff, if only for the sake of my collaborator, the good Doctor. He's anxious/excited to get to work on inking my maps and (wow) paining the cover of me module...but to start all these he requires MY sketches. So the sketch pad will be used WHILE watching tomorrow's NFL games, so that I can get something to him in the mail this week.

That's the To Do list anyway: 4 maps (2 are simple lairs), 1 cover sketch. That's the goal by the end of Sunday. We'll see if this bleeds over to Monday (I've got the day off work...and good thing, too, as I'm still coughing a bit).

"Think Like A Leprechaun!"

I'm sick, I've been sick, perhaps tomorrow I'll still be sick. Today, I stayed home with the beagles and slept most of the day away.

But I also took time to read a module that I've owned for a number of years and...well, never bothered to read.

UK1: Beyond the Crystal Cave was written in 1983 and must have been published AFTER Unearthed Arcana as it has several UA references in it (a horn of bubbles, the spell chariot of Sustarre), yet before the Monster Manual II as it includes mud men (one of my favorite monsters from the latter book) in its appendix. However, I have no recollection of when I purchased the module...probably somewhere around 1986-88, though (got it used, of course).

I've never run the thing...heck, I'm not sure if I ever read it in its entirety before. But I've certainly never played it or acted as a DM for this module. Which is too bad, 'cause having read it NOW, I think it looks great!

But before I gush at its brilliance, let me just give some of my "why" reasons for not being interested in the past. Certainly any module with a "UK 1" designation would have been less interesting to me as a kid...I was not about to run anything out of England (at the time I did not realize the Fiend Folio itself was from beyond the pond). I wanted straight-up American adventures of the TSR classic variety...I was quite a snob on the issue.

Of course, UK1 IS a TSR module, and so my 2nd possible reason for setting it aside would have been the low level (5-7) of the adventure. Depending on when I purchased it (anytime between 1985 and the first half of 1987), I would have had no players in my on-going campaign with characters LOW enough in level to make use of it. This appears strange to some folks who are routinely running low level games, but the simple fact is Dungeons & Dragons becomes self-perpetuating after a certain point. Once characters can raise the dead or wish each other back to life, the only thing to stop the upwards progression of character level is a group's own interest in continuing play with said characters.

For kids who loved nothing more than our RPGs (and who created plenty of dramatic stories, backgrounds, and intrigues for our characters), there was little interest in "stopping play"...and a lot of free time FOR play (weekends, school breaks, etc.).

However, if I got the module AFTER 1987 or so (quite possible as I didn't really stop playing till '88 or '89), then one thing that might have stopped me, made quite clear in the first few pages of the module, is the thing that today I find quite brilliant.

This is a non-killing module.

I mean, it is certainly possible for a party armed-to-the-teeth to attempt to hack their way through the adventure...but doing so will make them extremely miserable. The easiest and most efficient means of getting through the module will be friendliness and diplomacy.

Not that there aren't dangers and pitfalls...in fact some of the "fail" possibilities seem more drastic in this particular module than a simple failed poison save in a different adventure. After all, poison can be neutralized and dead people raised. How does the possibility of being out of the campaign for a few hundred years sound? Pretty rough, at least in campaigns with fully developed game worlds (yeah, and what happens to your castle while you're out of action, Mr.Van Winkle?). And there are plenty of irritations (f'ing leprechauns!) as well.

Of course, being slowly and irrevocably turned into a tree ain't no picnic either.

This adventure, as much as any I've read including S1:Tomb of Horrors, is about challenging the players not their characters. A 1st level character will have just as much chance of succeeding as a 7th level character...or a 15th level character for that matter. After all, how many characters can really stand up to a demigod?

I love it. My nephews were supposed to come over this weekend for a big ol' D&D session, and I was intending to run 'em through White Plume Mountain, albeit my B/X conversion (why? well, 'cause I think everyone who plays D&D should have a chance to run in the best adventure of all time). But now I'm thinking Beyond the Crystal Cave would be right up their alley.

Having run a few games with these kids, "hack-n-slash" is NOT their first instinct...and personally I'd like to nurture that. I mean, the Crystal Cave can be downright punishing for players that have a "stab first" mentality; why not give 'em the chance to run it BEFORE they develop the habit?

Or maybe I just like the idea of showing newbies what's possible in a game like this before the develop set notions about "what D&D is." It doesn't have to be World of Warcraft.

Could 4e do Beyond the Crystal Cave? It would seem to me that the answer is: no, not really. At least, not in the way the game is really designed to be played. It seems to me I saw some argument on a different blog or forum about why (4th Edition) D&D bothers to include monsters of good alignment at all.

Ugh. If I wasn't already sick, just the thought of how the game's been run into the ground over the last few years would put me off my dinner.

Anyway, I'm glad I took the time to check out UK1; it's very different from other published adventures. I could probably say more, but my head's a little stuffed right now. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be up on my feet again...if I don't get right, I won't be running anything for anyone this weekend. Peace, folks.

Speaking of the Nephews

Forgot to mention that my nephews, S. and Z., of whom I've blogged on several occasions are moving away...as in, the other side of the country.

This is a sad turn of events for yours truly (and my wife, too, to be honest) as we will miss these guys a lot. But their dad got a very good promotion that entails them moving to the Washington, DC area and after February we don't anticipate seeing 'em too regularly. Though you never know...their parents may send 'em west in the summertime.

Oh, and we do get out to the DC area every now and then...maybe every other year or so...but I doubt there will be much time for gaming in our short visits.

Still, I'm pleased I have sowed the seeds I have. The kids love D&D and Labyrinth Lord. The wife and I got to attend S's birthday a couple-three weeks ago, and I got him a new set of dice and four classic B/X modules: B3: The Silver Princess, B6: The Veiled Society, X1: Isle of Dread, and something else I don't remember right now...maybe X2: Castle Amber? I know it was an Expert set module and one that I already owned, but I don't think it was X4, and I wouldn't have given him X5 without the other.

Anyway, both he and his older brother were very excited to get both. I may have mentioned earlier that they've been trying to run Labyrinth Lord but have complained that DM'ing the thing is too hard (or complaining that one or the other "doesn't do it right"). I think those of us that grew up with the original B/X take for granted the inclusion of introductory modules: B2: Keep on the Borderlands and X1: Isle of Dread for the Moldvay and Cook/Marsh rules respectively.

I feel very strongly that these adventure modules help to inform play...that is, they provide a template for beginning DM's, a "how-to" for running an adventure.

Heck, it's possible that some of the ubiquitous "okay your adventurers all start at the local tavern" scenarios descend in part from the tone set by those initial adventures set in B2 (not that the action begins in a tavern, but the tavern of the Keep is a fairly detailed location in the module, providing much in the way of assistance, hirelings, rumors, and of course food).

Anyway, I haven't had a chance to check in with those kids (busy, you know?) but I'm certain this year's winter break has featured at least some LL adventuring for them. And I'm glad I got to show them the ropes...the game is one they can carry with them wherever they go in the future.

Ok...gotta' catach a couple hours sleep now. Today is going to be a HUGE day.

: )

Vindication (For Me, At Least)

I'm starting to see there's some commercial value to elves.

So, it appears I've managed to corrupt yet another of America's youth with the lure of Dungeons & Dragons. This time a teenage girl, age 14.

I should explain that while my wife and I don't have any children of our own (yet!), we have many friends that do, for whom we often act as surrogate parents, baby sitters, or "uncle and aunt." This comes about from knowing our friends for a long time, and their kids since they were just wee little ones. My "nephews" who I've blogged about before are not actual blood relations, though they do call me Uncle even when talking of me in the third person. Hey folks, it takes a village, right?

So yesterday, yet another kid we know and love spent the day with us (well, and the night, too...she's sleeping upstairs as I type) to hang out and be merry and practice her Spanish with my in-laws. One of the reasons we haven't seen a lot of L. (as I'll call her) in recent years is she and her fam moved down to Argentina for a year...but they didn't like it too much and eventually returned to Seattle. Their two daughters (both teenaged) enjoyed it a bit more, perhaps, and did pretty good at picking up the language, but they don't get as much opportunity to practice here as they could. ANYWAY...

We had a great time and stayed up long into the night after a day of exciting fun for the whole family. However, what is pertinent to this post is L. saw my Companion project on the ol' Mac and wanted to know what I was writing. A game, I explained, which completely piqued her curiosity (L likes games) as she had never seen such a weird looking game.

So I explained to her what an RPG is. She knows of World of Warcraft (she has a friend she thinks is silly for the amount of time he spends on it), but she prefers games like Rock Band and Halo, being an active kind of kid (she doesn't tweet, she plays basketball and soccer, and the latter at a high level having gone to the State finals this year). And she's HEARD of Dungeons and Dragons...apparently there's a commercial on TV for the latest version?!!

So I showed her B/X and explained how the game is played as well as the difference between B/X and the current edition and its craziness (I find my old 3rd edition hardcovers are making great visual aids for these kids).

And she's down. Oh, she is totally down. She thinks B/X is super cool, thinks my Companion project is super cool, says I should try to get black and white interior art but do a cool color cover in the style of the original Erol Otus drawings (yeah, kid, we're already on the same page).

AND she wants to play. Hell, she wanted to know if we were going to use props, like costumes! She TOTALLY wants to play an Elf...perhaps with a pet faerie. But the idea that she can play any character (and play a different character every session) and explore a fantasy world has her totally intrigued. The imagination part is what's charged her batteries.

Well, my wife's input about her elf character helped. What is it about girls and elves and fairies anyway?

So now it appears we will be organizing a game with L and my nephews sometime in the coming months so that she can have a chance to play Dungeons and Dragons. Maybe I'll have to buy her a copy of Labyrinth Lord as well.

; )

By the way, quick note to Hasbro/WotC: America's youth does not seem to have the patience to learn to play 4th edition D&D. It is too damn big, complex, and intimidating. If they want something like a video game program, they'll just play a video game. Sheesh!

First Character Death (Sort Of)

Yet another thing I realize I haven't mentioned (jeez...where's my head been at lately? maybe preoccupied with the health of my home team quarterback; Hasselbeck will be playing with two broken ribs today...at least we're playing at home) IS the play report from my most recent B/X D&D session with my teenage nephews.

Just by the way, they love D&D, though perhaps not their favorite of the ones I own. They REALLY like Warhammer. For Z, this is because he loves the "army construction" part and because he enjoys the tactile nature of miniature wargaming (if I used miniatures in our D&D games, I think it might bump WH into 2nd place). For S, he likes WH because it is the one game where he routinely beats his older brother...he also gets really excited when he's rolling handfuls of dice.

Regarding the latter, at times it DOES feel anti-climactic (to me anyway) to roll singular dice in D&D. "Everything comes down to this roll" again and again and again...and regardless of probability it feels as random as flipping a coin at times (especially when the roll comes up a "1"). At least with multiple dice you get a feeling of the "degree of goodness or badness;" which is probably part of the appeal of games like Shadowrun and White Wolf games.

[that's a note to self regarding game design folks; I know it was purposeful in Ron Edwards' Sorcerer game]

ANYWAY, we played a couple sessions of the old solo module M1: Blizzard Pass, which I love for a variety of reasons. As I've mentioned at least a couple times, I really dig any kind of arctic environment for an adventure...and a snow-capped mountain pass is as good as a lost city on a polar icecap for this purpose. Describing the cold, the snow, the blizzard itself (which is part of the adventure background) is all great fun and really helps to set the players' perceptions of the game. Although it served no game purpose, they were always making sure to use blankets (available in the Labyrinth Lord equipment list) and build fires when they set-up camp.

Because there were only two players (they begged and pleaded with my wife to play with them, but c'est la vie...), I allowed each to create and control two PCs. Attributes were rolled in standard fashion (3D6 in order) and created surprisingly viable characters, all sporting at least one or two 13s or 16s. I gave them the choice of playing two 2nd level characters or a 1st and 3rd level character. Z opted for the former and started with a a 2nd level elf and a 2nd level thief. S went for Option B and had a 3rd level cleric and 1st level dwarf.

Another note to self...playing one-off games like this with new characters of low-level, no one has any interest in playing a magic-user. Until 10th level, an elf has the exact same magical ability and is otherwise superior in every way to the MU. The "more XP needed to level" doesn't matter when the characters are changing each adventure OR when the rate of XP gain is so slow (that really is a topic that deserves its own post). But as it stands, if one is playing B/X D&D or LL at low levels, there is absolutely no incentive to play a magic-user. Which is kind of sad, in my opinion...certainly it needs some further review/thought/discussion.

The thief was actually a chip off the old Conan as thief block...he had a 16 strength and a 13 dexterity, and I purposefully described him as burly. Z loved the whole idea...and since he was 2nd level (and ended up with 7 hit points) he didn't feel like some sort of weenie urban scoundrel. 'Course he still fought with two-fisted daggers (Z's idea) so the Conan image wasn't totally the same.

Once again S. went for the cleric option...he really liked playing one earlier and once he had the option of playing two characters (so that he could try out one new type o guy) he jumped at the opportunity to play once. It didn't hurt that he had a high wisdom, too.

This time we also got into the discussion of what weapons a cleric can use (as I use my own alternate damage by class rules) as they understood clerics only use blunt weapons. It turns out Z and S HAVE been playing Labyrinth Lord at their house (when I'm not around), but they prefer to play with me as the DM. And NOT because Z (whose been acting as DM) is terrible. It's because it's more fun to play with more people and is not as much fun playing the one DM/one player paradigm. I asked why they didn't include some of their other friends in the game, but they just said their friends didn't play these types of games.

The thing is, for all my "cool uncle" status, the kids still attach the "nerd" stigma to most of this stuff. These are cool kids, fairly popular in school (especially Z who's acquired a bit of the "lady magnet" rep over the last couple years); when they're with me and my wife (or at home by themselves) they feel free to indulge in their "inner nerdiness," but they don't feel this same kind of freedom when they're with their peers.

Which I understand, having lived through that myself, but dammit! I've been trying to cure them of this particular perception. I mean, I can see how there's nothing inherently nerdy about having good harmless fun while you're a kid. I know how little the BS of your school days will really impact your life down the line (at least in my experience: not very much at all). I understand that life is too short to not be true to yourself and that reading books for godsakes is kind of a practical thing compared to say, shooting people in Halo 3.

And I have communicated this to them, and they ARE bright and they DO get it...but it's just difficult for them...ah, well.

SO, back to the game: the brothers did both better and worse than I expected they would and one character died in a heated battle with a hated racial enemy. By getting the drop on the ogre door man (a good surprise roll) they were able to Charm an ally to help them, and the first major battle with wolves in fighters was tough, but winnable, despite neglecting to fire off their Sleep spell. The elf got very much into his role as a combat machine as a plate, shield, and a high dexterity meant he was almost never wounded in battle. But others were (the ogre was gnawed to death by wolves) and the party decided to retreat from the cave.

S. as cleric had once again prayed for non-curing spells and once again found himself wishing he hadn't. At these low levels, cure light wounds is just the most useful clerical spell...more than anything else in the spell book. Sleep and Cure Light Wounds...it's amazing how they so out-weigh their counterparts.

It was the second entry into the caves that led to one party death. This time, attacked by goblins and a single fighter, the party remember its Sleep spell and knocked out the majority of the opposition. However, it still left a 3rd level fighter and a goblin war chief to contend with.

The dwarf and goblin chief went toe-to-toe and the goblin smote the dwarf...poor Gimli!...before the rest of the party could take down the monster. This was a very exciting part of the battle, as I really played up the dwarf-goblin rivalry (Gimli the dwarf was the only character that spoke goblin language so they were yelling back and forth at each other). But he was only 1st level and the goblin chief had three hit dice...it was a tough fight despite his 9 hit points and plate mail.

S. took his first character death pretty well. Surely, having a 2nd character helped...but he was also pleased with HOW the dwarf died; his death felt meaningful. The party did bury the dwarf with his enemies weapons (after slaying all the sleeping goblins I might add) outside the cave, leaving his axe as a grave marker. I think if his cleric had fallen instead, S. might have been more upset (but that didn't happen so it's hard to say).

Anyway, that's pretty much where we left off and we didn't return to the adventure, being preoccupied with other fun games. But there was certainly things to take away and incorporate into future game sessions.

: )

Last Night I Dreamed of Kuo-Toa...

No seriously, I did! Though my dream did not involve being chased by monstrous Deep Ones or anything (point o fact: I very rarely if ever dream of anything "fantastic"...well, once I DID dream I was being menaced by a giant purple behir that was simultaneously the musician Prince; for some reason I was Han Solo in that dream and I did defeat the lightning-breathing many-legged wyrm...um, but that's kind of unusual).

No what I actually dreamed was that I was holding/reading an adventure module that had a very cool picture of a Kuo-Toa (or a couple of 'em) on the cover. And not the greenish, bulbous illustrations of yesteryear, but something more akin to the cool KT artwork of the 3rd edition.

What this means is anyone's guess but if I HAD to make a judgement call on interpreting it, I'd say it's a signal from the divine powers that it's time I got down to serious brass tacks when it comes to working on my writing stuff (my undersea adventure module is begging to be filled-in!).

Fact o the matter is I've been slacking...I've been spending way too much time PLAYING games and not enough time to writing (I believe I've mentioned before my deep need to "give something back"). Well, what can I say. The economy is tight, which means I've been spending more of my work time working and less time writing my non-paying side projects. *sigh*

I never would have made it as a starving artist...too lazy...

Plus, I've been ref'ing other types o games for the nephews. Yes, we did have a chance to play some B/X D&D last week, specifically Blizzard Pass (with all new characters), but the D&D time was only a fraction of the total "game time" which also included Dark Tower, Apples to Apples, Magic Cards, Blood Bowl, and of course WH40K. Oh...and REAL football, too (watching on TV, at the stadium, and...for the younger kid...playing on the field). Asked what his favorite games of the week were, S. listed (in order):

#1 Warhammer 40,000

#2 Dungeons & Dragons (and Labyrinth Lord by association)

#3 Blood Bowl (when playing his brother as an opponent)

#4 Dark Tower

#5 Magic Cards

#6 Blood Bowl (with me as an opponent)

[I really should introduce these kids to Mordheim one of these days, which I've always felt is really the closest thing to a D&D/wargame hybrid...it's a damn site better than WotC's Chainmail anyway]

I should note that I ended up occupying the referee spot more often than not in many of these games...guess I've just had too many years of being a "Dungeon Master." It was funny how many house rules got instituted to temper the bickering that might otherwise go on between the young players. Ahhh...direct competition. S. really was NOT interested in playing against me in any of these games as he doesn't like to lose and I tend to win handily when I play. Z. likes to play against me, but prefers to gang up with his brother as he tends to lose terribly otherwise (I can't remember exactly how many 20-0 games of Magic we played but it was at least five).

Even today, both S. and Z. came by to play Warhammer (they had the day off school and a couple hours to kill). I ref'd for S. and Z. but the game got cut short when S. had to go to a doctor's appointment. We then re-started with me using S.'s space marine army (which Z. had just played) against a fairly cheesy Eldar force that Z. created special. By the end of the second turn, I'd wiped out half his army and he'd conceded, having failed to remove a single mini from the field. And I don't even particularly LIKE space marines...

Anyhoo, the point is I've been playing (or watching or adjudicating) far too many games and have neglected my writing of the same. I think THAT is what my dream was trying to tell me (most of my dreams that I remember are of the worry/anxiety type so that's not surprising this one is tinged by those feelings o "guilt"). Perhaps tomorrow I'll actually get some stuff down on paper/laptop as there are currently no distractions planned (the kids are back with their parents, my wife has a baby shower to go to, and I refuse to watch college football). Hopefully I can turn out a productive Saturday.

Later, gators!

Temporary Parenting

Welp, it’s Friday, which means I finally have a break from the daily tasks and craziness in order to do a little writing, my teenage nephews have been staying with the wife and I since last Thursday, and that means my writing time has been shortened with the day-to-day tasks that come with being a temporary parent. Hey, this has been a crash course in teen warfare…you “old hands” at the kid-raising have had years of practice.

Fortunately, M and I are pretty smart and sturdy enough that we can force a little self-discipline on ourselves for the time being (skipping our adult TV shows, getting to bed early, getting up early to make breakfasts and drive the kids to school (actually, this only force M to get up early…I’m up at 5:50 anyway) and making healthy, wholesome dinners).

Not that it hasn’t been a blast entertaining the little nerdlings…I’ve played a lot of Magic cards the last few days, and I forgot how entertaining that could be. You know…kicking someone’s ass over and over again (and yet, they keep coming back for more…go figure).
: )

One thing the kids have been clamoring for all week is to play “D&D.” And I mean, every day since they got here. Now unfortunately we’ve played precious little which I know may seem like madness to regular readers of this blog. After all, I love B/X play (or so I’ve written) and it’s been hard the last few years to find folks who are as into these games as me (people with Old School game fetishes can surely relate).

But it IS tough when there’s so much else going on in life. As a kid, I had lots of free time and was a “self-starter” when it came to gaming…I’d get home, crack the game books, and set up the game. Now, I don’t get home from work till after 6, usually have to run errands, help with homework, drive/pickup kids from football/drivers ed, eat dinner, and then maybe an hour or two of entertainment (often continuing to watch a show or movie that got started during the dinner hour) before packing the kids off to bed by 10pm (the older one has a later bedtime, but he usually has some extra homework and/or “texting” to get to). If I was home by 3pm, I’d certainly be putting the extra hours to good use, but I’m not.

Is this why so many kids feel like they don’t get enough attention/entertainment from parents? Because after 10-15 years, parents are burned out of spending all their free time “playing” and so tell the kids to go read a book or whatever?

When I was a young kid, my parents played games with me (though perhaps not as much as I would have liked), but as I got older this trailed off…through mutual consensus as much as anything. I remember coming home with Dungeon! (the board game) and playing it with my brother and my mom…that was the closest thing to D&D I ever played with EITHER parent, and one of the last board games I remember playing with my Mom until adulthood. She liked Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble and knew how to play cards (being from Montana), but she just wasn’t much of a game player. I don’t remember my father playing games with us at all as a child (though I know he played cards and parlor games with other adults at social events). At least, indoor games…he was often up to doing things with a bat and softball or other outdoorsy activities. But I was always more of an indoor person.

[No, I am probably NOT going to be very well prepared for the 2012 Earth changes]

Huh, now that I’m thinking about it, I realize I have no idea where my inclination for game playing comes. Certainly I have an Mars in Aries in the 5th House which can make a guy highly competitive, and the 5th House traditionally rules “games of chance.” But as far as upbringing goes…I don’t know. Maybe I never got ENOUGH gaming as a kid…certainly we were never allowed to play much in the way of video games (the Atari 2600 spent most of its life locked in a closet and only brought out on the occasional rainy Saturday).

Anyway, back to the present…the kids have been clamoring to play D&D since Day 1, and M has been encouraging the clamoring though not so much that she wants to play (to be fair, she’s more than a little fatigued this week as she’s been getting up earlier than normal, working full days, and making dinner, all without the benefit of my usual foot massages in the evening. Hey, I offered to do “burrito night” last night and she turned me down!). I told S that we would play Saturday if he won his football game, which he did…but then we never did, getting distracted by Dark Tower and Magic Cards. And Sunday we had the Seahawks game to go to which is kind of an all day event with the Seattle traffic.

So it wasn’t until Wednesday night that we actually got around to making characters. Last night (Thursday) we had the opening encounters in the classic solo B/X module M1: Blizzard Pass. The players took a pounding but survived, and after many high fives between the players, we found a good stopping point and everyone got packed off to bed. However, having “whet our whistles,” I have a feeling that tonight is going to be a long and epic session to confront The Master of Blizzard Pass. Stay tuned!

: )

Wizards of Marketing

So I "took possession" of my nephews yestereve (their parents are in Spain for the next ten days), which means I was up making breakfast before school this morning at 7am after being up till 1am or so organizing Magic Cards and watching Project Runway.

[yet another side note: I watch three reality shows with startling regularity: Top Chef, Project Runway, and The Amazing Race. The first two are simply an exercise in bottled creativity, and results are judged by experts of the field rather than BS call-in proletariat...something I love. The latter show is about a group of competing cooperative couples ("parties") traveling around the world ("adventuring") exploring crazy locales and overcoming obstacles ("tricks/traps" and sometimes "monsters") in order to win a million dollars ("acquire treasure")...YOU do the math]

Ten days of watching the (teenage) kids means ten days of entertainment for yours truly, though it also means a dearth of my own side projects I'm afraid. Sorry...I unfortunately continue to belong to the non-gaming rat race (unlike some lucky Old Schoolers) and consequently need to put in 50 hours or so (including commute/lunch time) per week doing things other than writing and gaming in order to maintain my wife, beagles, and mortgage in the manner to which they've become accustomed (my wife works even more, so I thank my lucky stars...of course, she gets to travel).

However, the little extra stress of caring for two kids with football practice and high school dances (not to mention fixing real meals and getting 'em to school/bed on time) is small potatoes compared to the fun factor. My wife is already telling them (the kids) that they should take the opportunity to start "a series" with me (her word for a D&D Campaign). They (the kids) are very enthusiastic...in fact, the 15.5 year old may forgo hanging out with his hoodlum friends after school in order to get home early and play with Uncle JB.

Of course, D&D won't be the only game we play. For one thing, the kids brought their Wii over to the house. Normally, I would work covertly to ensure the game system never got turned on (distraction and attention is an amazing way to keep kids off the vids, I've found) but this time it appears we'll be playing it as they brought over Rock Band which my wife loves and has been jonesing to play ever since our XBx 360 burned out.

*sigh*

Another thing is the kids' personal vices. For S, this is Warhammer 40K which he ALWAYS wants to play when he comes over (I've put that off for over a year, but the minis might be coming out this week). For Z., this is Magic: the Gathering and THAT's already out (as I said). He made sure to bring his shoebox of cards and is anxious to test his "kick-ass black & white" deck against me. Poor (6' tall) kid...I've got FOUR shoeboxes full of cards. I should probably just put together a deck of Swamp-walk and Plains-walk banding critters to shut him up.

>: )

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm from Seattle which is fairly near the birth place of Wizards of the Coast (I'm not sure exactly where it started, but their headquarters were located in Renton for a looong time and they had several flagship stores in the greater Seattle area for years). Strangely enough, I came pretty late the the Magic Card craze. I wouldn't buy my first deck until 1999 or so, more than six years after the initial release of the game.

I had been aware of Magic Cards, of course. The first time I saw them was my third year of college, which would have been...well, 1994 come to think of it. The guy who ran the Call o Cthulhu game at one of the dorms was the roommate of my (non-gamer) buddy, Matt. O, jeez...I can't remember that guy's name! Paul? Maybe...he was from Kelso, Washington which is pretty much saying "from the sticks." I had to ask Matt "what the hell are those?" To which he told me, "some sort of card game, I don't know, he plays ALL the time." I never saw Paul play. He did end up joining a very short-lived Vampire game (mmm...that one's a LONG story...), but he never "showed me the Magic."

Actually, come to think of it, my buddy Joel also had some Magic cards, but when I asked him about them he showed complete disdain for his own collection (Big Joel was always big on disdain regarding a LOT of things besides peace and justice and throwing down "the man"). Of course, most of the time I was with Joel was spent drinking and perusing...um..."other pastimes." He WAS rather passionate about Ars Magica, come to think of it, and he introduced me to that game back then....

So I managed to get through all of college with never buying or playing Magic at all.

It wasn't until I was unemployed and living in a house with two WSU non-alums circa 1999 that I picked up my first deck and laid land to laminate. Steve and Salter were non-gamers (though Steve had played some Rifts with me back in high school), but all of us were heavy drinkers and two of us were between jobs, so we had to find something to do.

Salt worked as a part-time caterer while going to cooking school, and he was the guy with Magic cards. He pulled them out one night after we'd been drinking a lot (I don't know what it is about Seattle-types being so nervous about being judged by others...maybe because we're so judgmental ourselves? Probably) and wanted something to do besides watching Strangers With Candy and smoking cigarettes. I think we probably ended up playing till dawn.

Of course, after that we were sold. Steve and I used Salt's spare cards to construct decks that we would play against each other and Salt, then we'd tweak 'em between games to better take on our opponent(s), then we'd rinse and repeat. My wife (at the time "girlfriend") got into it as well, and Steve, M. and I would show up at Baranoff's in Greenwood, eat a hearty (if greasy) breakfast and play Magic for two-three hours. We'd buy used cards from the local game shop (20 for a dollar? Something like that) and never actually gave WotC so much as a red cent all while enjoying the hell out of ourselves.

This went on for a couple months till we'd all found jobs. But it was definitely fun while it lasted!

It was also much MORE fun than playing computer games on-line, IMO. There's nothing like throwing down some big-ass monster with "trample" and seeing the crushed look on your opponent's face, or making bird "skraw" noises every time one of us summoned up a flying creature. We all had personal nicknames for our best cards. M. loved her blue deck specifically for this flying djinn card she somehow always managed to pull; she referred to him as "Superman" and still does (as she did last night...and she hasn't touched a Magic deck in close to ten years!). Good times.

Here's the interesting thing...the actual initial point of this post before I got a little side-tracked: Magic the Gathering has an incredibly low buy-in for its amount of fun/addiction. Kind of like Tom Moldvay's Basic set. Meanwhile, D&D in other formats also has a high fun/addiction factor but a terribly high buy-in. Most people just don't want to spend the money or the time necessary to learn the game themselves.

Case in point: my nephews. They LOVE D&D. If I had to ask, I think it would be one of their top two or three games of all time after only having played TWICE (by the way: they have BOTH cancelled their World o Warcraft subscriptions and sworn off the game). But even though I bought them their very own Labyrinth Lord (AND dice), they haven't yet read the rules or tried running games themselves.

Now, I haven't questioned 'em too closely about this (as I said, we just got 'em last night and they only had time for dinner, homework, and a some Must See TV before bedtime). But the impression I got is they simply don't have the patience to learn the game from a book. And this is Labyrinth Lord we're talking about...not even AD&D or Pathfinder! That's a pretty short book!

It reminds me of my brother and his console games...he enjoys video games but he never bothers to read the instructions. And these are SHORT instruction books. I read 'em and operate his console games better than him right out of the gate; he doesn't have the patience to learn the many intricacies until (maybe!) several hours of gameplay have elapsed. Are we just that impatient as a culture? That would probably explain my questions regarding WoW the other day (people just don't have the time and energy to play table-top RPGs or "create imaginary worlds"). Still and all, I find that pretty sad if it's the case.

Ah, well...enough whining. I'm heading for home to build some Magic decks.

: )