Halfling Love

Some folks have accused me of being down on the Halflings. Let me set the record straight right here and now: I LOVE the little guys.

Now halfling thieves (or any other bullshit aberration) can go to hell. But halflings as presented in the original Basic and Expert sets are a great little class, and one that I personally feel has a great deal of role-playing potential, as well as some real adventuring skills.

“Adventuring skills? Ha!” says the the un-believer. “Maybe up until the party starts hitting Name level. But once the Halfling reaches 8th, they’re pretty much topped out in 'skills' and 'abilities,' even when using the new rules presented in the B/X Companion. Come on, JB…if you really loved the Halfling, you’d be playing Pathfinder or 4th Edition, right?”

Wrong-o, pal.

And let me tell you MY inspiration when it comes to Halflings…it sure ain’t no halfling thief. As originally imagined by Messrs. Gygax, Arneson, and Tolkien I’m all about the doughty halfling warrior. You know, the one who carries a sword instead of a walking stick? The "Took-ish Hobbit," in other words.

Artwork to back it up and fire the imagination? You bet. The Willingham piece inside White Plume Mountain is pretty good, as is Jeff Dee’s work in the Expert set on pages X6 and X16. Contrast those with the stupid little fat man in Mentzer’s Basic!

However, for my favorite halfling warrior illos, it doesn’t get any sweeter than the halfling spitfire inside the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide, pages 170-173. Look at that little guy go…he is the first one to step up and Lunge, dammit, LUNGE…sticking salamanders and stone giants and getting ready to carve himself some troll steaks. Look at that dude with his little skull cap helm and main gauche. That’s MY halfling, boy-o!

[only wish I knew who the artist was...David S. LaForce?]

But let’s go back to the B/X Halfling shall we? So much tougher than the AD&D Halfling after all (What?! you say). Damn straight. Eight full levels (compared to 5 or 6 in AD&D), and better saving throws than a fighter of equal level…plus none of this “max strength 17” garbage. The B/X Halfling may take a knock in hit dice (D6 instead of the fighter’s D8) but at least he can get the +3 to hit and damage of a standard fighter. In AD&D, he’s limited to +1 only…and that’s in a rule set with bloated ability bonuses!

Anyway, the D6 hit points per level isn’t that bad…I mean we ARE talking about a dude that weighs 30-50 pounds, right? He’s still as tough as old leather…tougher than any city-dweller human (thieves, magic-users) and equal to paladins (i.e. clerics) and elves. No, the halfling doesn’t get as many hit points as a dwarf, but then he doesn’t have those stone bones that sink in water either!

; )

Yes, the halfling has a limitation on the weapons he (or she) may use…though of course this only matters if you use the optional Variable Weapon Damage chart. Otherwise, the halfling does the same D6 damage everyone else does (and with Strength as a Prime Requisite, he can boost that ability right from the get-go to do more damage). Truly, at the low levels the halfling is a formidable warrior.

But let’s look at the halfling adventurer’s other skills and abilities. No, not cheaper armor (you’re probably going to have to pay a halfling to make such tiny suits of mail…and even though less metal is used, it takes halflings longer to mine it. Purchasing it cheap from Big Folks just means needing to higher more guards to protect shipments from bandits and highwaymen that would prey on halfling caravans. Net result: same price). No, I’m talking about the normal special abilities inherent in any member of the halfling adventurer class: saving throws, accuracy, armor class, initiative, and concealment.

SAVES: According to the Basic set, halflings get a straight +2 bonus across the board on all saves compared to their fighter counterpart (this is increased to +4 in the Cook/Marsh rules, though I consider this a typo and have corrected it in my B/X Companion tables). Even with my “nerfing” correction, an 8th level halfling has the same saves as a 12th level fighter in every category save Dragon breath…and what halfling in her right mind is going to attack a dragon directly anyway? Outsmart, outsmart, outsmart!

MISSILE ACCURACY: considering Dexterity is another Prime Requisite of halflings (and can thus be raised at the time of character creation) many halflings will have great ability to hit with missile weapons. Missile weapons are the “great equalizer” (no damage penalties for low strength and the same damage for every weapon) and halflings are great shooters. Coupled with their concealment abilities, they make ideal snipers and bushwhackers, and because of their small size they’re probably low down on the priority list for opponents to “take out.” In B/X D&D, halflings move the same speed as anyone else, so a lightly armored halfling will be able to shoot, move, and reset without a huge fear of being run-down by a longer-legged opponent.

ARMOR CLASS: +2 bonus against creatures larger than man-sized? This is your ogre-killer folks. No wonder ol’ Sticker up there (as I call the halfling in DMG illustrations) is all about leading the charge into melee. Plate mail + shield + average dexterity = AC 0 at 1st level. A Dexterity of 13 (remember, raise that Prime Requisite) means AC -1. Let’s look at some of those chances to hit for large monsters:

Gnolls – 19 or better to hit AC -1 (10% chance)
Bugbears – 17 or better to hit AC -1 (20% chance)
Ogres – 16 or better to hit AC -1 (25% chance)

Now a chance is still a chance, but let’s play the Law of Averages game.

Gnoll average damage per round versus Halfling: .5…7 rounds to kill.
Bugbear average DPR: 1…3.5 rounds to kill.
Ogre average DPR 1.375…2.5 rounds to kill.

A halfling with a 13 Strength will average 1.8 DPR against any of these opponents, killing a gnoll in 5 rounds, a bugbear in 8 rounds, and an ogre in 11 rounds. However, if you factor in a possible halfling first strike from a missile weapon, these drop to 4.1, 7.2, and 9.7. An individual halfling will generally kill a gnoll in one-on-one combat, a 2nd level halfling will generally take a bugbear, and a 3rd level Halfling (average 10 points!) will give an ogre a pretty tough time.

Also realize that, due to size restrictions, larger-than-man-sized creatures will probably NOT be able to “gang up” on a Halfling warrior. This works in the halfling’s favor, of course (always better to face singular attacks than multiple), and a 4th Level Halfling Hero with Str/Dex 13 should be able to take any of these foes in single combat, even without magic weapons:

Hero vs. Gnoll: 3.2 rounds to kill versus 28 rounds to kill.
Hero vs. Bugbear: 5.6 rounds to kill versus 14 rounds to kill.
Hero vs. Ogre: 7.6 rounds to kill versus 10.2 rounds to kill.

Our man Sticker from the DMG drawing could take an average sized Stone giant single-handedly, without missile weapons, so long as he was 7th level and armed with +2 arms and armor. He’d still be the odds on favorite with only had a +1 shield, but it would be real tight (though see the Initiative Bonus below).

Compare that to a 7th level fighter (same 13 Str/Dex, same gear: +2 plate, shield, and sword): the fighter takes the stone giant in 9.6 rounds. The stone giant crushes the fighter in five (5).

Advantage: Halfling.

INITIATIVE: Shouldn’t it go without saying that he who strikes first has a better chance of winning a fight? Yes, yes, I realize that it’s NOT always the smart thing to jump aggressively into combat (I was a fencer, remember?)…but in the ABSTRACT combat of B/X D&D, initiative is simply a matter of who gets to DEAL DAMAGE FIRST. Maybe the round IS composed of elaborate feints and parries (or flying elbows and head butts), but the guy (or gal) with the higher D6 roll is the one that gets to “put the hurting on” before his opponent can do unto him.

The initiative bonus is only for INDIVIDUAL initiative…what one might call the “dueling scenario,” and halflings should already receive a bonus due to their high (Prime Requisite) Dexterity. However, DMs should account for the size advantage of a halfling when it comes to determining how many foes can actually engage ‘em in a single round. While I generally rule that two ogres can attack one man-sized opponent and three orcs or goblins can attack a human (that isn't surrounded), I’d reduce these numbers to 1 and 2 (respectively) for Halflings…and possibly 1 and 1 depending on the circumstance. Halflings are runty and this is an ADVANTAGE, especially in CQB. Yes, they break easily (compared to fighters…they’re surprisingly tough compared to other PCs), but they’re slippery and maneuverable and players (including DMs) need to remember this and take it into account within the chaos of a tunnel melee.

One-on-one with an initiative bonus means the halfling is getting the chance to do damage FIRST, more often than not. Since many foes will be concentrating on (literally) bigger threats first, this just buys the halfling MORE time to end the battle quickly.

CONCEALMENT: From page B10:

Outdoors, a halflings are difficult to spot, having the ability to seemingly vanish into woods or underbrush. Halflings have only a 10% chance of being detected in this type of cover, and even in dungeons there is a one-third chance (a roll of 1 or 2 on a 1d6) that a Halfling will not be seen in normal light if the character finds some cover (such as shadows), and remains absolutely quiet and still.

Compare this to the description of the Thief skill Hide in Shadows:

Hide in Shadows cannot be done unless the thief remains perfectly still (not moving or attacking).

These are two very different abilities. Let’s look at the first part of the halfling’s concealment ability.

“Outdoors, halflings are difficult to spot, having the ability to seemingly vanish into woods or underbrush. Halflings have only a 10% chance of being detected in this type of cover…”

Nothing here implies that a halfling has to do anything at all to be virtually undetectable (a 90% concealment rating is equal to a 12th level Master Thief’s ability to Hide in Shadows). So long as there is “woods or underbrush” into which the Halfling can disappear, the little guy (or gal) is gone. Likewise, nothing indicates that movement or attacking will break this cover, nor that a Halfling is somehow prevented from disappearing in plain sight so long as there is the proper cover to “seeming vanish” into! Basically, if the halfling is outdoors and not caught in the open (or in a desert or bare rock face), they have a Get Out of Jail Free card that can be immediately played.

Every halfling that encounters a possible opponent in the wilderness should immediately “go to ground” so as to observe and analyze potential danger. No, your buddies are probably going to be spotted (like the trolls nab the dwarves in The Hobbit), but YOU can escape and come back later with a well-timed rescue attempt or ambush! Only a RETARDED halfling would NOT disappear as soon as an encounter appears…even a surprised halfling (assuming he is not immediately engaged and attacked) should bug out as his first action.

Regarding the second part of the halfling’s concealment ability:

“…even in dungeons there is a one-third chance (a roll of 1 or 2 on a 1d6) that a Halfling will not be seen in normal light if the character finds some cover (such as shadows), and remains absolutely quiet and still.”

This appears to be the exact same as a thief’s ability to Hide in Shadows except that it uses a D6 rather than a D% (and the chance is fixed at 4th level thief ability). I presume “normal light” is normal for a dungeon (torches, lanterns, etc.).

How and when the halfling can use this ability isn’t discussed; one might infer that the demihuman can simply vanish into shadows as he does into the wilderness…a mighty useful ability. Also left unmentioned is who rolls to check if the Halfling remains “not seen.” UNlike the thief ability, there’s no mention that the halfling will thing himself successful at hiding, even when he’s not (it is specified in the thief description that DM makes the percentage roll). My interpretation: the halfling’s player makes the roll and immediately knows whether or not the character has failed to hide!

“Oh, crap! There’s not enough cover here to conceal me! My foot/cloak/sword is sticking out!” Guess it’s time to fight…good thing the Halfling has that initiative bonus!

The halfling character is a savvy warrior, not some incompetent, 2nd rate fighter. And with the multiple attack options provided to the experienced halfling in the B/X Companion…I’d be happy to play one myself! Have at you!
; )

Wow! Check Out the New Banner!

Not that Willingham's original art didn't suit me just fine...um...it did actually. But when a reader sends me a cool new banner, well...shoot. I hope you folks like it as much as me.

Thanks, Roland.

[by the way...my computer's been down for awhile...as has my brain...in case you couldn't tell. Just checked my email for the first time in several days. I will be answering my mail...and updating the blog, very shortly. Your patience is appreciated!]

Art Work Needed (B/X Companion)

By my reckoning, the Tom Moldvay Basic set uses about 9 pages worth of graphics (art, maps, etc.), NOT including charts. The Cook/Marsh expert set uses about 7 pages. That's out of 64 full pages, including the cover leaf.

Personally, I've always felt the Expert set felt a bit sparse in the art department and while some pages were positively inspiring as a kid (mainly Willingham's pieces), others felt...well, lacking. Do I really need a picture of a narwhale or a water termite? I'm not sure....

So, I'm going to shoot for at least 8 pages of interior art. I've already got a rough sketch of the cover (call it a "working sketch"), and at least a couple artists (maybe even four) lined up, I'll probably be soliciting anyone who's interested in contributing to the thing. Not that I'll PAY people anything, of course...but then I'm not looking for anything super-fantastic, either (about on par with the original B/X rule books; i.e. small black&white line drawings).

'Course people who contribute will retain all rights to their own art, and (if I use their piece) will definitely get a free copy when the thing is finally printed up.

Anyway...let me finish the other 58 pages first...39 down and 19 to go!

: )

Descent Into The Void

The in-laws have headed for home and I may now resume my normal blogging schedule...well, I may after I've resumed my normal sleep cycle. Yowza!

In looking back over my various posts from August, I see that I've completely neglected to fulfill my "pseudo-promise" (there's a better word, but I AM pretty sleepy right now and the phrase doesn't spring readily to mind) of detailing the why's and wherefore's of my Top Ten Adventure Module list. Tonight I want to look at #7 on the list, Gary Gygax's D1-D2 Descent Into the Depths of the Earth. Now as I said, I'm calling these as I purchased them, and when I got D1-2, they were one module combined. Yes, I realize they were originally published as two. Enough already! As I said, let's look at it...I mean LOOK at it! What a piece of cover art! Right there, the image is enough to stick it in my top ten. No giant, grinning blue man on the front, just a badass battle between several shady looking adventurers. Of course, the cat getting his brain sucked out on the back cover is pretty sweet, too...more Willingham goodness. For those who haven't played D1-D2, it is the middle section of Gygax's epic G-Q, 7 module series (yes, I realize Gygax didn't write Q1...Q1 is a different post folks). I don't think one could call a series of adventure modules an "opus;" not when the guy writing 'em has penned the DMG and the PHB. But there's no doubt the series is a classic. So why then do I only single out D1-2 for my top ten list? What about G1-3 or everyone's beloved Vault of the Drow? Is it just the cover art? Nah...though of the whole series, I find the Roslov illustration on D1-2 the best of the bunch. No it's the adventure. See, I've run the whole series...what...MAYBE three times? Q1, as I said, is a whole 'nother story necessitating its own post (some day, some day). I've actually owned the D series longer than I've owned the G series...hell, I had access to Q1 through a friend prior to finding a copy of G1-3 (and guess where? yeah, that little used book store in Missoula, Montana). So D1-3 I've run individually more than others, and of them, the first two are the creme de la creme for me.  I mean, come on! A wilderness adventure underground? Drow back when they were totally evil? Mind flayers? No, there are no dragons in the caverns of the troglodytes...but there is a badass lich.

I'm not even going to talk about the DM's option of crafting his own Underdark adventures by allowing the PCs to explore side passages...I, myself, never went though the trouble to detail "the rest of the map," though I think it's a fairly cool idea.  However, for the record, I think the first two scripted encounters (the Drow outpost and the Mind Flayer lair) are two of the best I've ever laid eyes on in a published module. Each encounter is like its own mini-adventure...you need brains and tactics to defeat both, and if your PCs have never encountered drow or mind flayers before they are in for just a vicious surprise.

And yet, the encounters also perfectly showcase what these two classic monster-types are all about. You get a taste of the drow, their matriarchal society, their clerical and magical powers, their weird magic, their purses filled with platinum.  You get mindblasted and brain-sucked by the illithid...holy crap! 

I should probably do a whole post about the mind flayer. It breaks my heart that I can't stick 'em in my B/X Companion (no psionics, no IP material). I had probably used or thought about using a mind flayer prior to owning/running D1 (I did have the Monster Manual, though I may have "winged" the psionics without a copy of the PHB).  But what happens when you throw one mind flayer at a party of adventurers? You get a dead mind flayer, no shit.

But throw TWO mind flayers at a party? With their wererat thralls as canon fodder/distraction? You get a LOT of dead party members, is what you get...ha!

Vicious, vicious, vicious...D1 taught me to respect the illithid for the terrible foe they are.

And the lich in the great cavern...how many of my players got encouraged to venture into its lair and start "detecting magic" by yours truly?  All of 'em, that's how many...no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to use such a powerful monster...hell, that's excellent XP for PCs and excellent loot to boot! Why stash something so cool in a hidey-hole. That lich is the most powerful being in the caverns, it only makes sense he'd be running the joint.

[just by the by...in Paul Kidd's Descent Into the Depths of the Earth that's his take as well, and I respect him immensely for it, even if I don't like what he did later in the book]

Anyway, I've wasted a ton of blog space on D1, and it's not even my favorite part of the module...that would be D2: Shrine of the Kuo-Toa. I LOVE the Kuo-Toa; don't ask me why.  They have a draw and appeal to me that is similar to the draw and appeal of H.P. Lovecraft's works...certainly there are marked similarities between the Kuo-Toa and HPL's "Deep Ones." Not to mention Blibdoolpoolp the Sea Mother...she could easily have been one of Lovecraft's elder gods.

But I found D2 and the Kuo-Toa long before I found H.P. Lovecraft.  And I dig 'em. I love their weird amphibious nature. I love how, while tool-users, they wear no garments besides harnesses for their weapons (how very Burroughs...). I love how they have this weird priest-hood and character classes including assassins and "whips." I think it is especially creepy and weird how they "grow with age" so the more powerful ones are larger than man-sized and imposing compared to the younger, grunts...I find that just disturbing and yet totally fitting for the weird pulpy "city" that Gygax has created in D2.

I mean, I could really go on for a long time. Jermalaine? Love 'em. Getting teleported to Blibdoolpoolp's elemental plane of existence? How could you not love it!

There ARE flaws to the module...I found much of the underground stuff more time-consuming as a kid than fun (I wanted to get to the action, not worry about wandering trolls!). The Svirfneblin are just "okay" in my book...I don't find it necessary to have some sort of short, good-aligned allies in the Underdark (dammit, it's too deep underground for "good" to exist!).

And I really don't like the whole Kuo-Toa boatman encounter. Not because the rogue monitor isn't a cool encounter, what with his chance to go berserk and his giant gar and all (who doesn't love a giant gar?). But I think it "gives away the farm" too fast.  Ideally, I would prefer the PCs to not have ANY contact with the Kuo-Toa prior to finding the Shrine. Having one that is "kind of friendly in a professional if slightly crazy way" down-plays the weirdness and inhumanity of the Kuo-Toans. In my opinion, tt would have been better for this encounter to have occurred AFTER the shrine (as in, on the way down to the vault) where the strangeness of a "friendly monster" would have been more felt (after invading and fighting hordes of the things).

All right, I should probably talk about why D3: Vault of the Drow FAILS to make my top ten list when it rates so highly with others. However, this post is already running pretty long, so I'll save it for another day.

Indel...you Blankety-Blank, you!

When I was a young kid, I read quite a few comic books. My family would go on road trips for vacations, usually to Montana or Port Angeles to see relatives, once as far as California (Disney Land, suckers!). My mom or dad could run to the store and buy a stack of comics, and my brother and I would have several hours of time occupied in the back seat (in my youth it took me 30 minutes to read a whole marvel comic, skipping over the advertisements and such, thus 2 comics/hour...you'd need 20 for a full trip to Montana but there would be spent time sleeping and talking and fighting with your brother as well). Not that my parents purchased DOZENS of comics...usually, just three or four. But my bro and I would take all our favorite OLD comics, too, and simply re-read them.

Even before I started playing D&D (or at least around the same time) I can remember coming across TSR's advertisements in Marvel comics. Though neither I nor my parents were into buying whole series o comics (that would come later for me), I was always jonesin' for the next installment. Was Indel the Elf going to bite it with the green slime? (yes), was he going to survive falling through a trap door? (yes), was he going to get eaten by the dragon? (no, as it turned out).

You can check out the whole series here...I am greatly indebted to Das Ubernerd, for allowing me to read the chapters I missed.

What's more interesting to me at this late age, is the portrayal of Indel the Elf in these comics. Although, he morphs into something a bit more heroic over time (possibly through the addition of a new artist: Willingham) the first installment of the series shows him to be much less than the shining Elf lord of Tolkien. In fact he looks more like the Snap, Crackle, Pop boys or one of the Keebler elves. THIS is a problem for me (cue usual rant).

But it makes a lot of sense, ridiculous as it is. Elves in mythology started out as god-like being, then became simply fair and magical humans, then degenerated into naked cobblers and winged faeries...tiny little cherubs to decorate Victorian wallpaper. If you asked the average American circa 1970s what an elf looked like, he or she might well have described something like the Rice Crispy trio...assuming, of course, that they hadn't read Tolkien.

This little torchbearer, who seems "merry" enough, is the humorous clown of the group...getting himself into dangerous and perilous situations, he's in constant need of rescue. About what you'd expect from one of the "non-boss" Keeblers. Ugh...who would want to play that?

Maybe someone that wanted easier winning conditions? Indel the Elf, with a prominent lack of both magic and fighting ability, more resembles the Elf character from TSR's 1975 board game Dungeon! According to wikipedia, Dungeon! was released a year after D&D, but "was already in development when D&D was released." The Elf in dungeon is runty, he has no spells, and is the worst fighter of a player's options. However, he does find secret doors easier than the other available characters and he only needs to find 10,000 gold coins in treasure to meet his winning conditions; other characters need 2, 4, or 6 times that amount!

Ugh (again)...the origins of the hobby are mired in the murky depths of 30+ years, and the evolution over time makes it difficult to sort the history from the fantasy from the guesswork. Even Grognardia's interviews can only begin to scratch the surface of those early days of game development...who knows how someone's particular breakfast experience in 1976 influenced a whole line of supplements, or how a conversation after a night out in 1985 ended up changing long-held rules for generations to come.

I guess I'm giving way too much importance and time to a game. I don't grieve for those lost comics of my youth; strange that a game for players "age 10+" still continues to affect me today. I guess I have a lot of pent up things to say.

Elven Role-Models (One More Rant)

Out of both the Modvay and Cook rule sets, out of all the BECMI rule books, and out of all the pages of Rules Cyclopedia, there is exactly one decent picture that represents (for me) the Elf class...it's the elf in the center of the Willingham illustration on page B1 of the Moldvay Basic Set.

Yep...that's her. That's it. Nada mas worth mentioning out of 11 rule books and one rules compilation. Pretty crappy, if you ask me.

See, the thing is with these RPG things is that the game world is all imaginary.  There's no board to the game, there are no illustrated cards, there's certainly no animated computer images.  Everything is in your mind.

And because everything comes from one's imagination, the artwork and illustrations in the game books are immensely important.  They are what inspire and fire the imagination.

I am sure that one of the reasons D20 and later editions of D&D have sold as well as they have, despite being such shoddy products play-wise, is the beautiful illustrations in the game books.  3rd edition was great...hell, the half-elf bard was cool enough to make me want to revisit the bard class, 2nd fiddle character though it was. The 4th edition has art that's even better.  The slick production values allow the artists' visions to jump off the page and into the minds of players and DMs alike.

So why O why isn't there more than one decent picture of an Elf in the whole of the "Basic D&D" line?

C'mon...sell me on playing one of these chumps!  What's the matter?  Is it that the illustrators couldn't think of how to make the Elf lord...well, "lordly?"  Certainly they couldn't in the MCI rule sets...and they couldn't do it in the Rules Cyclopedia either.  Where's the Elf in full plate with a two-handed sword?  Nope...they're all scantily clad and wielding bows.

The image I've posted is the only one that does justice to the elf class.  Here we see an obviously low level elf, only fitting as the illustration is the title page for the Basic set.  She's probably wearing the best armor she can afford...chain mail, perhaps magical.  She's armed with both a shield and a sword; no bow in sight. 

Even if she hasn't already used her handful of spells for the day, she knows better than to try them against a red dragon...sleep and magic missile will do little, and shield won't protect her any better than her armor and saving throw versus dragon breath. Quite possibly she is the leader of the party, seeing as how she is in the forefront of the engagement.  She is not hanging in the back casting spells or shooting arrows, but rather taking the brunt of the dragon's fire while the rest of the party supports her. 

Yes, her goose is probably cooked...but at least she'll go down swinging.

Similar to the halfling illustrations in the Cook Expert set, this Elf looks both courageous and determined. She's not backing down, she's not running for cover, she's not holding back.  The dragon is unfortunately awake, not surprised, and has rolled a nasty Reaction roll.  The whole party's quite possibly dead (their magic-user's got nothing better in the tank then throwing fireball at a red dragon?).  But the Elf is going to uphold her honor.  Of the bunch, she's probably the first one that'll deserve to be raised by the local healers.  

I'd like to see more of her type in the game world.

White Plume Mountain (Part 1)

For most old school D&D players, the Willingham art in the title bar should be immediately recognizable as the back cover of S2: White Plume Mountain by Lawrence Schick.

In an interview on Grognardia, Mr. Schick explains how this module was created as a writing sample to get hired on at TSR. Personally, I'm not qualified to judge its literary merits, but from a design standpoint I find the adventure is fantastic, perhaps the best of all the Golden Age modules.

For one thing, it combines two very basic elements to create an archetypal adventure: the dungeon crawl and the quest. Plenty of early modules included a dungeon with very little objective (exploration, treasure seeking, monster killing being the de facto motives for entry). White Plume Mountain has strong objectives with a definite "victory condition." Find the magic weapons. You do this and you win.

For another thing, it is both short and self-contained. Unlike the sprawling S3 or S4 modules, it has one simple map and can be completed in one or two sessions no sweat. I've lost count of the number of times I've run this module over the years, but it has so few encounters (less than 30, including the optional one at the end) that it requires very little preparation for me as a DM to familiarize myself with the adventure.

Likewise, as there is no "spill-over" from the adventure, it can be plopped-down in any campaign world, with little affect. White Plume Mountain itself isn't in danger of eruption, the wizard Keraptis isn't plotting to take over the countryside, failing to find the magic weapons doesn't set off Armageddon. It has a nifty little outdoor map that has no bearing on the adventure itself, and can be discarded wholly (unlike the later Return to White Plume Mountain module).

The third thing this module has going for it are its encounters, an excellent mixed bag of monsters, tricks, traps, and treasure. Monsters range from evil humans, to mythological creatures, to 1950's giant monster, to undead. Many of the encounters require cleverness from the players and player inventiveness is well rewarded. Mr. Schick says he borrowed "the best bits" from other adventures, and boy, he sure got the best! To me, it's a great introduction to what D&D is all about.

Finally, the magic weapons themselves feel truly magical in nature. Objective and reward both, they have their own names, purposes, and curses associated with them...in addition to being powerful weapons. I suspect this blog will be discussing each in turn, and the titular Blackrazor especially.