Post 500

When I first started this blog, I sketched out 100 possible post topics, just to make sure I had plenty to write about (I didn’t want the damn thing to peter out from personal disinterest like my last blog). So far, I’m sure I've hit at least half of the ideas on the list but my love of the topic is what has really kept me going. Well, that and the generally positive feedback from my readers. Thanks, folks.

I wish I had something more for you for The Big #500…unfortunately, a peculiar form of writer’s block/performance anxiety has affected me and I absolutely could NOT think of anything super-special to give y’all. Sorry.

To make up for it, I’ll try to make my post-500 posts this week stand out a bit.

My B/X conversion of N1: Against the Reptile God should be done sometime before Saturday…probably tonight if I’m lucky (turns out, I was NOT able to “spread out” on the plane as I’d like, making the project a real bitch to work on). It’s nearly completely compatible with B/X as is (low level AD&D generally is), though I had to dip into my B/X Companion monsters to stat up the Big Bad. Which makes the adventure pretty insanely hard for a group of low level characters. But what can I do? The original “reptile god” of the module was insanely hard for low level characters…so much so that Niles had to include a 7th level NPC magic-user (or a fudged spell scroll) to get the characters through the end. Having play-tested the thing now, I’m inclined to think Niles was a big fudger in his own games, or he was just a straight ignorant ass…OR he had an exceptionally skilled and cunning group of players. I’ve had the latter myself, but when they encountered an adventure this tough, they generally would “get going” (as in, move on to easier pickings). So it goes…I suppose I could make it a YOUNG naga (like I did with White Plume Mountain’s “young sphinx”). Hmmm…

I’d really like to do a post on Terminal Space and space RPGs in general…actually a whole series of posts on the topic. My B/X Star Wars RPG may have to wait until someone with the cash to pick up the license commissions me to do it…although I might make a free, short .pdf one of these days. But regarding Off-World RPGs in general (from Dune to Cowboy Beebop) I think there is a LOT to explore on the subject…and many ideas that I’ve been “saving” for my own RPG should probably be brought out for discussion.

I would also like to try my hand at least a couple conversions of the The Compleat Spellcaster, most likely the witch and the necromancer. Witches have been a subject of this blog more than once, and I’m hopeful I can deal with the subject in a way that ain’t too offensive to our Wiccan friends (I’m not too concerned about offending the Christians). Necromancers, though, are probably better as a monster than a character class. Though it pains me to admit it, my imagination fails at the idea of a non-Evil necromancer, and one thing I’ve come to see (and like) about all the B/X classes are their versatility when it comes to alignment. Yes, clerics might play differently depending on alignment, but they are not limited to a single alignment or pair of alignments in B/X (unlike every other edition).

Actually, come to think of it B/X already has a Necromancer class…it’s called being a Chaotic Cleric. TCSC’s necromancer is based on the cleric template anyway…everything else is just animating the dead and having long conversations with the deceased, something already available (at least in my Companion spell list). Everything else dead-related is just the Chaotic cleric doing magical research as per the Expert set rules. Guess I don’t need to convert that one after all!

Of course, I also want to do a little bit more design brainstorm, riff off a couple recent posts over at Save Vs. Poison (specifically Rifts and Vampire: the Cash Cow), and throw down a list of my soon-to-be-in-the-works-design-projects. Oh, yeah…and give you all some updates on the B/X Companion project (still waiting on ISBNs, but the cover art is looking FANTASTIC, and my “branding expert” and I talked about the symbol for my company).

All right…more on all this stuff later. Thanks again for reading, people.
: )

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]

Just for Posterity

The top three poll results were:

#1 N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God

#2 Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits

#3 C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

I almost didn't even add C1 to the mix because *blea-ach!* I am so sick of it, having run it so many times. I even converted it to 3rd edition (D20) back in the day, if you can believe it! It says something that I have memorized the spelling of "Tamoachan" that I can type it without having to check the damn wikipedia (or the module cover).

Anyhoo, the poll is coming down now...thanks for playing folks!

; )

Somewhere In Virginia...

Thanks to everyone that got back to me on yesterday's Animate Dead questions. I'm one of those fanatical researcher types that (if I were home and not on the road) would be pawing through my various stale tomes, looking for my own answers prior to posting. It's a bit frustrating to be out of my "library."

On the other hand, I do have a gorgeous view from the new resort/hotel window. Lot o green on that golf course!

: )

Anyway, I've got maybe an hour before I need to find a cab to my next "port of call" (another hour on the road...what is it with all these places being so spread out. Isolated communities? Reminds me of a Post-Apocalyptic novel...but with more strip malls), SO I figured I'd take a few minutes to explain exactly what's going on.

Last minute changes to the B/X Companion, that's what.

Fortunately all complete at this point. I explained much, much earlier that in writing the final expansion rules to the Basic and Expert sets I wanted to extrapolate on all the "hints" and "promises" scattered throughout the first two sets. However, at the same time, I didn't want to limit things to simply "how Gygax did it" as I find many of the goodies of AD&D to be very setting specific to Greyhawk and Gary's personal campaign.

Let's look at the spell section, for example. As with the original Moldvay/Cook/Marsh paradigm (and unlike Labyrinth Lord), I retained the standard count of 12 and 8 spells per level (for magic-users and clerics, respectively). However, these spells do NOT include Leomund this or Mordenkainen that, but were more generic. Also, while some of these may be generic versions of well-known spells (similar to what Mentzer did with his high level spells), others are completely outside of the known lists and/or function very different from similar (already published) spells.

ALL are designed to work in the prototypical Vancian style characteristic of B/X spell use...that is, even the most powerful spells require no more time to cast (or special material components) than any simple 1st level spell. You won't find any cacodaemon spell that requires hours of casting time...if a spell summons a monster, the monster simply appears with the wizard's phrase of power! Summon efreeti (a spell suggested by the text on page X31 of the Cook/Marsh rules) is one such spell.

Furthermore, with the exception of dispel magic, I originally had NO over-lap in spells between the magic-user and cleric list. The lists are so short (108 magic-user spells, 56 clerical spells) that I really didn't want to waste slots duplicating effects...besides, I see clerical and wizardly magic to be two very distinct and separate types.

This is all preamble to explaining that originally I left animate dead off the clerical list completely.

That's been rectified due to the following passages:

From page B42:

Animated skeletons are undead creatures often found near graveyards, dungeons, or other deserted places. They are used as guards by the high level magic-user or cleric who animated them.

From page B44:

Zombies are undead humans or demi-humans animated by some evil cleric or magic-user.

Leaving animate dead off the clerical spell list was thus a gross oversight on my part.

Fortunately, I had a spell on the clerical list that was dying to be cut anyway, and adding animate dead wasn't a problem space/editing-wise. The MAIN challenge for me though, is one of CONCEPT. Specifically clerical concept.

Fact o the matter is, the cleric at base is kind of a combo-templar/witch-hunter/paladin/undead slayer kind of archetype. Yes, yes...everyone uses the cleric as our favorite pagan priest also (whether they are high priests of Thor or spear carriers of Athena), but that's not how the class originated. Regardless of what they are thought of NOW, originally the cleric concept was simply a priest/champion of Light or (if Chaotic) of Darkness. THAT is the basic archetype of the class.

Which is great...until you start looking at "Animate Dead" as a basic spell of the class.

From page B11:

Lawful behavior is usually the same as behavior that could be called "good." ...Chaotic behavior is usually the same as behavior that could be called "evil."

From page X11:

Reversed Clerical Spells. Clerics can reverse a spell simply by reversing the required words and hand gestures. However, using reversed spells is looked upon with disfavor by the powers the cleric serves, and may result in penalties (or even an alignment change) if overused. Lawful clerics use the normal form of the spell and should use the reversed forms only in life-or-death situations. Chaotic clerics normally use the reversed forms and will only use the normal forms to benefit those of the same alignment or those directly serving the same power. Neutral clerics will have either the normal or the reversed form available, depending on the nature of the power they serve. No cleric should have both forms available.

What this suggests to me is that lawful clerics (and some neutral clerics) are basically "good," while chaotic clerics (and some neutral clerics) are basically "evil." In general, all the reversible spells are EVIL or malevolent in their reversed aspect: causing wounds instead of curing, instilling fear & disease instead of removing, slaying the living instead of resurrecting. Clerical spells that are non-reversible are generally neutral in application, detect evil being an arguable exception (arguable because I've always interpreted it as "detect danger" i.e. detecting evil intentions towards the caster, not just "evil alignment" which doesn't really exist in B/X).

However, I see the act of animating the dead to be an inherently evil act. Not a "neutral" or non-aligned one.

Animating a dead body, whether as a soldier or servant, is an act of desecration pure and simple. It does not honor the memory of the deceased to turn it into a robotic slave. It objectifies the human (and demi-human form) which, from the viewpoint of most world religions, is a sacred creation and gift from God. What lawful cleric would ever animate the dead instead of giving it a holy burial/cremation? Answer: only a truly desperate one.

Again, see the emphasized sentence in that last quote.

Some of you might already see what I'm driving at here...why the hell would I add animate dead as a spell to the clerical spell list? Just so Lawful clerics would have a "hole" in their spell list? Just so they could skip around it and be limited to seven choices of spell at 3rd level, while Chaotic clerics got a full eight from which to choose? How the heck does that make sense?

It doesn't.

SO, since I had to include animate dead as a clerical spell, and since animate dead is inherently evil (sorry voodoo proponents), and since evil clerical spells only exist as reversible spells in B/X there was only one thing to do.

I had to make "animate dead" the reverse of a 3rd level clerical spell. Here's the description:

Smite Unliving*

Range: 60'

Duration: Instantaneous

By calling on the power of his deity, the cleric destroys a number of lesser undead (skeletons and zombies) within range with total hit dice equal to or less than his level.

The reverse of this spell, animate dead, is exactly the same as the fifth level magic-user spell of the same name. NOTE: the magic-user spell has no reverse version of this spell.

Thanks for your indulgence. The N1 conversion will be released shortly.

; )

Animate Dead Quandary

Greetings and salutations from the Not-Always-Sunny-But-Still-Sweltering Washington D.C., my nation's capitol and certainly my second favorite city after Seattle. Mmm...second favorite American city, that is (quite a few cities in Europe that beat the pants off it...also Vancouver B.C. is very nice and Mexico has both ancient sites and excellent cuisine side-by-side...a heady combination, that). But I'm a history fan and Washington certainly has a lot of it...as well as several nice monuments dedicated to inspiring individuals.

But enough gushing...sorry, I've been off-line but it's been busy and I've been trying to get used to the East Coast time (we had to get up at 7am yesterday which, since my bio-rhythm never truly adjusts to stupid Daylight Savings Time, feels like 3am...ugh!). Today, I'm feeling fairly fully recuperated, but I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment, as we make ready to move to our next set of accommodations. So I'll get right to the point.

I am NOT finished with my B/X conversion of N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God, and while all my notes are in place and it should NOT take me more than a couple solid hours to complete, I have hit a snag that is actually having some repercussions for my B/X Companion...as in, I am tempted to re-write a very small (if important) section.

Here's the issue: ANIMATE DEAD. The spell. In AD&D, it is both a clerical and magic-user spell; cleric at level 3, magic-user at or around level 5.

In B/X, it is NOT a clerical spell, though it is a magic-user spell (at level 5). In its current incarnation, my B/X Companion does NOT have animate dead as a clerical spell (for a variety of reasons that I don't have time to blog about right now, but which I'll get to in a follow-up post, okay?). Now I DON'T have all my various books here, so hopefully some of my readers can answer the following questions for me (I'll explain later). Thanks in advance:

1. Is animate dead a clerical spell in the Little Brown Books? In other words, is it limited to magic-users in OD&D as it is in B/X? (I am NOT talking about the supplement books, just the original Men & Magic). I suspect it IS limited to MUs, but I can't confirm that.

1b. If animate dead appears as a clerical spell in a later supplement, which one? When is the first appearance of "undead raising clerics," in other words?

2. Is animate dead a clerical spell in BECMI (Mentzer's re-do of B/X)? And if so, what level spell is it? Again, I believe I already know the answer, but I'm trying to confirm it.

3. The "zombie masters" in the module X1: The Isle of Dread...were they statted out as magic-users of 9+ level? Because this is the only type of character that has the ability to create zombies (and X1 was originally developed for B/X, not BECMI). If not, what was the justification (if any) within the module for the zombies. Were they created by the village matriarchs?

All right...thank you all in advance for any answers you can provide. Gotta' go make my check-out now!

: )