The European OSR: Magyar Horde

[a short interlude from the ASC judgments...]

The Hungarian contingent has been a stable and consistent power block at Cauldron since the beginning, and the 2026 season looks to see their numbers swell as Hangyi is schedule to join the ranks of Premier, Chomy, Melan, Iudex, and "VorpalMace" (Tom). Time to talk about this loud, proud bunch.

Not that I really know them...I don't know their lives outside of gaming, don't know anything about their families, their politics, their jobs, not even their real names (other than half of them being named "Gabor"). Still, not knowing them doesn't mean I don't enjoy the hell out of them...they are to the Germans what German tourists are to the rest of Europe: fun, rambunctious, and a tad intimidating. 

If I still played, Vampire the Masquerade, they'd make a great model for a Sabbat pack.

I don't think it's inaccurate to say Hungary has an outsized impact on the OSR scene given its relative size. As a country it has barely more than 11% of Germany's population (9.5M compared to 83M) and less than 8% its GDP; in comparison to the USA, those percentages drop to 2.7% and 1.5%. And yet the quality of gaming material being created by the Magyars is impressive.

Melan is, of course, the most prominent of these creators. Castle Xyntillan is perhaps his most well-known adventure, but his Echoes from Fomalhaut fanzine (13 issues and counting) enjoys a strong reputation, while his Helvéczia RPG is magnificent...I own the deluxe boxed set, and it is a thing of beauty. Melan has been featured on multiple podcasts (Zockbock Radio and CAG for sure), his Melan diagram and discussion of adventure design has been highly influential, and his adventure reviews on his blog are highly respected.  He is an accomplished Dungeon Master, running multiple sessions in multiple systems  in each of the last three Cauldron conventions, and his tables fill quickly; as for his performance as a player, I can attest he is knowledgeable, cautious without being cowardly, and a respected (if reserved) voice of reason. 

Having interacted with him now on multiple occasions, I find Melan to be warm and unassuming, self-confident yet humble, a solid presence that obviously holds the esteem of his peers. Sharp-witted without being mean-spirited...I want to call him "kindly," but this is not an appropriate adjective to describe veteran, hard-nosed Dungeon Masters that have zero problem making "death" a consequence of mission failure. I will say that I have never heard a single negative word about Melan from anyone who's actually met the man.

Chomy, on the other hand, is as boisterous and fiery as Melan is solid. Not that he's not sharp as a knife with serious design chops...Chomy's placed in the top for two out of three NAP contests (winning one) and has published multiple well-reviewed adventures (in different editions). But I know Chomy as a player (and drinking buddy), not as a Dungeon Master. I wouldn't call him the "heart" of the Magyar horde...maybe the fire or, more accurately, the "balls." In any group, there's someone who needs to be the first to sticking their face into the potential danger...there has to be someone pushing, spurring the action. Someone's got to be willing to use the wand of wonder when shit gets hairball. Coupled with his native cunning, it makes him quite the rapscallion in the convention setting...but when it comes to design, that courage and push makes for some excellent adventure writing.

[I am publishing this now before I review his adventure for the ASC3 contest]

But neither Chomy, nor Melan were my impetus for writing about the Hungarian OSR (nor Premier, nor Tamas)...rather, it was what's going on with Iudex.

Iudex is a Hungarian living in the outskirts of Munich, who drives seven hours to Budapest on a monthly basis as part of his profession. While there, he's been working an on-going project called HOOT...the Hungarian Oldschool Open Table, a monthly get-together of rotating cast members at his local gaming club. He's been doing this for the last thirteen months...basically since Cauldron II...relentlessly encouraging "old style" play in his hobby community. Most of this has been with the OD&D rule system, but in November...

"...I decided to level up from cozy OD&D and tackle a proper AD&D first edition game..."

...mainly so that he could run the Cauldron '25 tournament module for the group. 

Not as easy as it sounds (as Iudex details in the five page "after action" report he sent me). However, he also writes:

"Frankly, I was astonished, how quick and how great the system worked during play (although I had to work a lot to arrive at a point where I did not need to open the book during play - well, most of the time)."

I think it's safe to say that most AD&D Dungeon Masters find themselves needing to open their books during actual game play. I certainly do (and I've been doing this AD&D thing for a long time)...if anything distinguishes the veteran from the novice, it is just that I can find a reference quicker, and thus the momentary distraction is nothing but that: momentary.

The important takeaway here...for Iudex and for any DM jumping into 1E for the first time...is to not be daunted or intimidated. The AD&D system works...and allows for some excellent gameplay at the table. The interaction of the various procedures makes for a type of experience that forces the players to engage with and attend to what's going on; this, in turn, makes the immersion process easier.

Knowing there was a desire and curiosity for 1E gameplay (not to mention interest in the Cauldron tournament adventure), in December Iudex deviated from his usual practice and introduced a 'pre-registration' process to the normally "open"call of HOOT...and had ten players show up, some driving from outside Budapest to attend. This is a solid table. Only two of them had actual 1E experience (having played in the 1990s); the others were either new or only familiar with 1E retroclones, like OSRIC.  

Hungarians in their typical subterranean gaming
environment. Note that most of these guys ride motorcycles
and can benchpress a Buick. All own sabres.

All but one was reported to have an excellent time in the four hour session, despite 70% being slain in the usual AD&D fashion. I'm not sure the reason for the single disgruntlement, though I'd hazard to guess it was the halfling thief who was fed (by the party) to a pack of winter wolves in order to make good their escape. Par for the course when it comes to rough justice in the Nagy Alföld...

But I'm digressing (as usual).

This is what I call growing the hobby. There is an appetite for AD&D that is not being tapped...despite the books again being available for purchase...partly due to misconceptions and intimidation but MOSTLY due to a lack of DMs running the game. And the reason for the lack of DMs (in addition to misconceptions and intimidation) is the lack of support for those willing to take up the mantle.

This, however, is changing. Folks like Iudex shows what's possible. Some of these players, no doubt, have their own home games going on. When they leave HOOT, they take their knowledge and experience back with them. Just demonstrating that AD&D is a playable, vibrant game can be the small flame that sets off a conflagration. In Hungary no less (it's already happening in Germany and Belgium). 

Remember that most of Europe was introduced to D&D through the Mentzer Basic set. So far as I'm aware, the first (and only) D&D edition translated into Hungarian was 3rd edition. And yet the old game, the good game, is alive...it is a spark that is being fanned. 

I think that's pretty neat. 

Anyway. I've decided that I will, indeed, be going back to Cauldron in 2026...this time with my son in tow. Entrance fees have been paid; I now have a handful of months to put together plane fare and prep my adventures. I look forward to seeing all these guys...Iudex, Tamas, Chomy, Premier, Melan...once again, clinking glasses and rolling dice. May their kardok stay sharp.

; )

The Busiest Time Of The Year

"Oof magoof," as my man, Chris Crawford would say. It's nuts around here.

This will be a short one: I've got my "nephew" Spencer coming over this afternoon, which means (in addition to having the house cleaned and straightened), I've got to do a little D&D prep work. Pulled out my ancient copy of C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan yesterday, and printed up the pre-gens. For an adventure I bought new in the early 80s (and saw considerable use), the module's held up remarkably well. 30 years of being stacked in a cupboard tucked in a closet (away from natural light), I suppose. Not that I am TRYING to preserve these things like National Treasures...my wife doesn't like me leaving my toys scattered all over the place.

One of the pre-gens got lost years ago, however...had to buy a PDF on DTRPG to have the full roster. Just looking over the thing now (something I haven't done in 20+ years, probably) it seems a little long for tournament play...55 encounter areas in two hours?...but then, the adventure is designed such that players are NOT supposed to screw around, and there are hefty (scoring) penalties for groups that deviate or wander off the preferred track. That being said, it is rather UNlike the tourney section of Dwellers of the Forbidden City, in that there are plenty of ways to get distracted. Eh, we'll see how it goes. Philipp ran this at Cauldron 2025 in a four hour time slot, which seems a LOT more doable (maybe), but I'm probably not going to have more than two hours tonight. Kids like to eat dinner and do homework, after all.

And SPEAKING of the "OSR Euro Con," Cauldron 2026 opened for registration at 9am PST last Saturday...and filled up in roughly 22 minutes. I had all-but-forgotten about it (I've been pretty swamped lately, as said), but I happened to be up (as usual, drinking coffee while the rest of the fam slept in), and was able to grab a roster spot when I saw the note on the Cauldron discord. Not that I had decided to go back to Germany in '26...in fact, I was about 90% sure I was NOT going to be attending. 

However: after mentioning it to my family Saturday evening (after a loooong day of basketball, soccer, volleyball, and Christmas shopping)...I found them all enthused about the prospect, none more so than my wife! Like myself, she's a big fan of Germany, and while she has ZERO interest in gaming, she loves the idea of getting back to Europe and tooling around with Sofia while Diego and I are off at the Con.

Yes, I've got my son signed up, too. 

The whole thing seems, objectively, like madness...just the cost of plane tickets alone! But...hell. It's only money which (IIRC) you still can't take with you. Spending a few shekels for a four day AD&D tournament in Deutschland with my boy? Isn't that one of those experiences/fond memory things parents are always trying to create? 

Hopefully, the memories won't be of his father slurring his way through a game after too many shots of palinka. 

Anyhoo, talked to D about it and he is "cautiously" enthused, once I assured him he does not HAVE to game, but can mingle and observe and such. He doesn't plan on running anything himself, and he thinks he'd only be comfortable playing if he did it alongside me (as a fellow player) or if I was the Dungeon Master. I assured him that this could be arranged. 

I'm going to guess he'll warm up once he's there. My kids, for whatever reason, are like this. Yesterday, my daughter had an audition for Blanchet High School's production of The Music Man (they need a handful of smaller kids for the show) and her nervous "yeah" had turned into second-guessing and outright "I don't want to go to this thing" right up until the day before. After spending the two hours doing the singing, dancing, and side-reading she told me the experience was so awesome she wanted "to do it again!"  Diego was like that when I took him to his volleyball try-outs...I almost literally had to force him out of the car to go to the thing (that he had asked to sign up for). Once he got on the court, however...different story.

[chalk it up to parenting: my wife and I aren't hugely demonstrative of "bold" action in the world. We prefer to stay home, snug and comfy with our kids. But that's because we already did most of our "bold" and "daring" stuff in the decades BEFORE we had kids. A double-edged sword, that]

So, yeah...I've gone from 90% not likely to go to 90% that I'll be on-board an IcelandAir with my whole family come next October. Jeez, what a world....

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll be heading to Los Angeles with Diego for a 4-day volleyball tournament. We get home Sunday night and then leave the following Saturday evening (after Sofia's guitar recital) for Mexico. My shopping is done, but the wrapping and the packing and planning and...

[*deep breath*]

It's busy. The book is coming along. I hope to work on that in between matches at the tourney. I'm thinking of junking the first couple chapters and starting from scratch...I'm not sure about the original approach I was taking. I'll let you know once I've made some real progress.

That's all the gaming-related news (I won't bore you with the other hassles in my life). Later, gators!

; )

Let Slip The Dogs Of War (Part I)

In which I discuss in detail the games I ran at Cauldron 2025, spoiling secrets and providing insights into the cracked mind of a geezer DM....

FRIDAY BLOCK I: Silver Temple of Transcendent Flame

Friday Block I was billed as a “Temple of Doom/Sidekick:” a short gaming session (only three hours in length compared to the other, four-hour time slots) designed to ease people in as they arrived for the con. People were given time to check in, find their rooms, gather their bedding (we made our own beds), and snack and coffee-up prior to the session, which ran from 4pm to 7pm (at which time dinner would be served). Quickly dressing my bed (deducing…correctly…that I’d be in no shape to do so at the end of the night), I discovered that my room had been stuffed full of Americans, many of whom I knew by reputation (and voice) from the internet, but whom I’d never met. Great guys, all around. Gus has a tremendous mustache of which I am tremendously jealous.

Silver Temple of Transcendent Flame is not a “Becker” original; it is, rather, a tactical exercise Anthony Huso designed and wrote as an introduction to his players when he first re-booted his AD&D campaign some ten or so years ago. He details this on his blog: as a campaign starter, he had his players create new, 1st level PCs, but then RAN them through a high mid-level adventure using EVIL pre-gens of his own design, sacking a temple of goodness. Following the scenario, he returned the players their original character sheets and kicked off the campaign proper with the PCs dealing with the aftermath of the destructive raid.

It's a fine idea; quite clever, in my opinion. The adventure itself (the map and his game notes) are freely available on his blog, and I decided to run the thing at Cauldron…something different, something fast, something that I knew had already been play-tested by one of the modern masters of the AD&D craft. Easy-peasy.

Unfortunately, Huso long ago lost the character sheets for the pre-gens, and I was forced to recreate them (best as I could) from the notes he provided. This was the bulk of my prep, made more than a bit challenging by his use of three evil NPC classes (the anti-paladin, the necromancer, and the witch) from Dragon Magazine. I am familiar with these, but I’m not particularly enthused by their implementation or execution in the mag. As such, I altered the classes rather drastically from how they appear. Here’s what I brought to the tournament:

• Caul, Flayer of Men: 8th level “Anti-Paladin:” abilities taken from Hackmaster…basically as a paladin except with reversed abilities (cause wounds instead of heal, befriend undead instead of turning, protection from good instead of evil, etc.).
• Vessvka Vith, Drow “Witch:” female Dark Elf cleric/magic-user of 6th/6th level.
• Tergomant Glim: 7th level cleric and a monster of a man (18 STR, 6’1”, 270#; wields a footman’s mace with one hand).
• Ergonin Hews: 6th level half-orc fighter, wielding double-fisted hand axes. Agile for an orc (Dex 17).
• Nicodemus Plath: 7th level half-elf assassin, based loosely on my son’s main PC of the same type.
• Sable Croft: 7th level human fighter; exceptional strength (though less than Caul) with a magic bardiche. More beef.
• Vlaimir Sush: 5th level Necromancer; totally unchanged from the Dragon mag entry and given a scythe for a weapon because evil necromancers with two-handed scythes are the height of coolness, even if the class kind of sucks.
• Barthax Brunst: 6th level dwarven fighter/thief. NOT one of Huso’s originals (he only lists seven characters, probably because he only had seven players). I wanted more PCs in the party because Huso throws psionic couatls, silver dragons, clay golems, and magic-user/monks at people (he’s a bad, bad man). Also, the fighter/thief built in some skill redundancy for the party.

For the adventure itself, I reformatted and (partially) rewrote what Huso had done. Anthony, God love him, has a penchant for writing the purplest of prose…he is an actual author, after all…but I needed things terse and punchy, both to match my personal style as well as the three hour widow with which I was working.

Likewise, I had to remove the various “Huso-isms” throughout the text: monks getting DEX bonuses to AC, or bonuses from wearing “silk armor,” anything that appeared to come from the UA, nutty magical “eye traps” that had multiple effects and would be a bear to adjudicate without a battle map (something I don’t use). Huso loves nothing better than a protracted siege battle a la The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, but I didn’t plan on forcing the PCs to charge in guns ablaze. Why would they, when so many of their party members were more powerful in subtler ways? 

Besides, the adventure was plenty deadly as is.

Oh, yes…I also removed encounters #29-#33 and their associated sections of the map (too long, mostly empty, and redundant) and axed some of the other weird, none-too-normal weirdness (room #27 is simply empty and I switched the "Starfire Neonate" for a more Golden Child-like "Celestial Being").

[everyone knows the old Eddie Murphy “Golden Child” movie, right? The adventure gives off quite a bit of that vibe anyway]

Thing is, Huso made a divine being in need of slaying, but then gave it immunity to weapons of less than +3 while only arming his pre-gens with +2 weapons (come on, Anthony!); as such, capture/kidnapping had to be on the table, unless I really wanted to spend time re-stocking the dungeon (but, then, that would have made the adventure more drawn out as PCs would have to search for items to use to destroy the child and yadda-yadda-yadda. No).

Interested people who want my pre-gens and the re-tooled/formatted adventure I used at Cauldron can download them HERE and HERE, respectively. In play, I changed/improvised the last paragraph of the “START” to explain their mission: find and destroy…or capture…the “Celestial Child” (with no more information given as to what exactly a “Celestial Child” is).

So how did it actually go? Great! The players decided NOT to charge into the dungeon, but scouted ahead with their assassin instead, who was able to completely surprise and recon the couatl and monks in room #1 and report back without sounding the alarm. Using silence to first neutralize the spell-casting ability of all within the chamber, the PCs then charged into battle and put paid to the initial guardians without sounding the alarm. Pretty good start.

In the great hall, however, they were forced to decide on a course of action…and had trouble doing so. Eventually they decided to just start “opening doors” and seeing what was behind them, which led to them alerting the four clerics in room #7, the bulk of whom would sell their lives while the other two retreated through the many redoubts of the map to alert the temple proper. The players pursued, but the need to unlock doors (and getting hit by fire glyphs, etc.) slowed them down. They managed to NOT activate the clay golems in chamber 14, found the secret door, and the corridor that led to the trapdoor in area #6 (wherein resides a silver dragon). However, before going through that they waited for Chomy (playing the necromancer), who had been gathering dead monks and clerics to make maximum use of his one animate zombie spell. The party waited below while they sent a pair of their “undead soldiers” up the ladder to scout around.

And then watched as the zombies were vaporized with fire.

By this time (of course) the bell had started sounding in the grand hall, the temple was on alert, and minions were rallying to their battle positions, as they had been trained to do. The party knew that time was of the essence, but they were still trying to compose a battle plan of their own, arguing the virtues of one form of action or another.

While they were doing that, the trapdoor opened above and the magic-user launched a fireball into the narrow corridor below. So much for the necromancer and his zombies.

The PCs returned fire…perhaps Nicodemus with his poisoned darts and/or Barthax with his crossbow…slaying the magic-user. The group then decided to posse to head up the ladder and not wait around anymore. Of course, they saw the dragon, as well as the other magic-user (with a wand of lightning). Much hilarity ensued as more PCs were cooked but, in the end, they slew both and made their way to the battle royale with THE TWILIGHT PRINCESS herself. Much fun, but the forces of evil eventually triumphed (I think Marcellia was felled with a hold person spell, a common theme of the con...), and the remaining survivors (which I believe only included Caul, Tergomant, and Vessvka), made their way to the Child, who was fairly obvious considering the lilac skin, single blue eye, and enormous halo of light. All good: they removed the child, the temple started to shudder, and everyone headed for the exits (including the surviving defenders of the temple).

A good, solid game and just a few minutes over our three-hour time slot…we still made it to dinner with plenty of time to spare. 

*****

FRIDAY BLOCK II (Friday Night): the Battle Emridy Meadows. 

As I described in my prior post, I played in Settembrini's Chainmail game…at least until I could no longer physically stand without the risk of collapse. I bowed out around midnight and hit the hay at roughly 12:30am. I was then awakened at 6:45am by several successive members of the American contingent marching through my room to use the shower (the one bathroom being located nearest to my bed). The person occupying the cot next to me slept like the dead and snored like a chainsaw (so loudly that individuals from two doors down commented on it)…fortunately, for me he was a bit of a “white noise generator” and actually led to a fairly restful repose.

I finally dragged myself out of bed around 7:30, as much to use the bathroom myself (which I had to go down four flights and leave the building to do, given the person occupying the shower), and headed for breakfast.

*****

SATURDAY BLOCK I: Rivers of Blood, Death, and Glory. 

I will talk about this in a separate post.

*****

SATURDAY BLOCK II: Caul’s Dark Citadel

The afternoon session, after lunch, and this time I would be doing a “Becker Original.” Ever since seeing WotC’s use of “the D&D kids” (from the 1981 D&D cartoon) as “content” for their new 5E 2024 books (and on the cover of their Stormwreck Isle starter set), I’ve wanted to write my own adventure that featured these characters. And for Cauldron, I decided that I would use them in a sequel adventure to Huso’s Silver Temple of Transcendent Flame.

My plan was to make the adventure more of a stealth/infiltration in contrast to the Caul's destructive raid to showcase different styles of play. The PCs would be tasked with the recovery of the Celestial Child’s remains: a mercy mission fitting their 'good guy' ethos, as opposed to a task of vengeance. I figured the PCs could return the ashes (or whatever) to the Silver Temple, where the surviving monks would use the power of "transcendent flame" (or whatever) to raise it from the dead. This was my idea for quite a while, even after I realized it was a long shot that Caul and his buddies would actually figure out a way to kill the Child.

And yet, that wasn’t my main problem. The main problem was the actual adventure site, i.e. the map. I needed a stronghold for Caul...and while it couldn’t be too large, it still had to feel like an “epic evil fortress.” Or, at least, weird. Or both. But with a capped number of encounters.

*sigh*  Let me explain.

In a convention time block...even a four hour one (which is long enough that you need to give the players at least a break, in my opinion)...there’s a limit to how many encounters they can get through. An excellent example is the tournament scenario found in Dave “Zeb” Cook’s module I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City. The scenario is a linear gauntlet: each encounter area needs to be bypassed, one after another. There are no branching decision points, no side treks, no work arounds. You have ten encounter areas…TEN…and that’s it. I’ve run this scenario countless times over the years, but the last two times were for Cauldron 2023, one in playtest (at home) and once at the convention itself, and both times with strict attention paid to the time limit. And in BOTH instances, I found it impossible for the players involved to navigate the entire length within the time frame…NINE encounters was the most anyone ever got through in four hours.

Dwellers is pretty dastardly, and it’s a good example for study: you have two large, “set piece” encounters. You have two “tricky” encounters that can be avoided through cleverness. You have one “trick/trap” room, you have two “small” encounters that should be resolved quickly, and you have one “medium” encounter that would normally be okay, but due to its position (at the end of the adventure), the party will be low on resources like hit points and spells and so it will PLAY harder than it might otherwise play. The last two encounters are (effectively) “empty” locations with nothing there except possible time wasting by the party. Generally speaking, a good overall formula…but, again, still too long for the time slot (it runs about 15-20 minutes over four hours, and I run the thing like a machine).

And anyway, this is supposed to be a fortress…a CASTLE, not a linear gauntlet. Dwellers works because of the scenario itself…you are burrowing through a mountain following a tunnel into the heart of the forbidden city. But I wanted something that could be explored with branches and loops and whatnot…an environment for exploration in other words. Where and how to even begin. So, I started thinking about what Caul’s castle would like like…something gifted to him by Dark Patrons (of course) since he was only 8th level and not stout enough to build his own. As such, it could be as twisted and fantastic as I wanted. And, of course, it would need ways to sneak in (because, duh, stealth mission, not “Avengers Assemble” frontal assault). So probably through a cistern or catacomb or something.

IN FACT, my original idea was to simply re-purpose the Pax Tharkas mission from DL1…even using the map from that module. How easy! (mmm…now that I’m remembering I was ALSO planning on using warped version of the DL heroes as the pre-gens before I finally decided on the D&D Kids). But after looking over Pax Tharkas, I realized that it was really, really crappy. I needed something else.

Eventually, after bouncing off several different ideas (including a Harold Lamb description of the Hashashin's lair..and having my daughter draw me a castle map), I finally decided on something I could live with: the castle from the Jim Henson film, The Dark Crystal. It had everything I needed…a way in through the tunnels beneath (in addition to a front gate), a crazy-ass interior, vivid rooms/chambers (from the film), verticality, etc., etc. A place for Caul to set his throne, a lab for Caul’s evil wizard to do apothecary stuff, a “temple room” (the crystal chamber) for the witch to perform her dark rites, etc. Now all I needed was a MAP of the place…and I found THIS on-line:

Look at that thing, ain’t it a beauty? Except of course, it’s got the cutaway floor plan that doesn’t work for me and actually making the thing make sense was going to require a whole bunch of scribbling and erasing and scribbling on my part.

SO…I procrastinated. I detailed the actual encounter areas, numbered at 15. 'Hey! 15 is more than nine,' you say…heck, it’s more than ten! Yes, but this is not a "linear gauntlet." I wrote the thing in such a way that there were some nine-ish encounter areas for the PCs to surpass to both A) reach the Child’s destination (which would be determined by the results in the earlier “Silver Temple” adventure), and B) escape the dungeon. Because…stealth, right? We don’t need to confront Caul and his minions (though, if you do, it's frosting…). In addition, I threw in a bunch of slave areas (people for 'good guys' to rescue) because, of course there are slaves (like the podlings in the movie) AND...because I wanted to go “full Henson”...I also stocked in all the DC’s “Garthim” (giant black crabs…same stats as the MM) as Caul’s mutated guardian minions. Chef’s kiss.

HOW’D IT GO? Well, I'd hoped to get some of the same players from my Friday, Silver Temple adventure (continuity), but no such luck. Sign-up sheets filled FAST. And "Best DM" winner Grutzi…who had contacted me before the con and left this session open specifically to play this adventure at my table was unable to get a spot! Crap. I had only seven pre-gens (my other games were all 8+) because, of course, there aren’t all that many “D&D kids.”

[no, there was no “Uni the Unicorn;” my characters are a decade older and Uni has long since left ‘em to join a herd or something. The seventh pre-gen PC was a grown up version of Varla the Illusionist, a minor character introduced as a love interest for Presto in an episode I believe is called The Last Illusion. Yeah…an illusionist girlfriend. Suck it, Hank!]

Adult Varla

But at the last second, I decided that I was being stupid and I just went and grabbed Grutz and told him: get one of his own pre-gens and join the party. We went with eight and he brought a cleric, which was a welcome addition...although I had converted the older “Sheila” into a (dual-classed) thief/cleric to ensure the party sported some divine power. Now they had more.

ANYway...despite finishing the maps only two days before I hopped a plane and not getting a chance to play-test the thing…it played surprisingly well! The players decided to climb the castle (forgot to put rope on their equipment list…whoops!) and enter through the highest tower, working their way DOWN rather than UP. Which was fine…that, too, was a way I'd coded my encounters for the con. Their first encounter was with the assassin Nicodemus Plath, contemplating his life choices in the lookout. They got into a scrap with him and should have been poisoned five ways to Sunday, but my die rolls were pretty horrendous, and they beat the snot out of him. I had him surrender and then they got to tie him up and do some "role-playing" as they interrogated him about the layout of the place. “Well, it’s kind of hard to describe...”

Thing is, my map was all wonky with “non-Euclidean geometry:” due to me trying to crib together a vertical map into something horizontal I just ended up using no corners (nor even many straight lines), just a lot of “bendy,” wrap-around tunnels and a great many stairwells and changes of elevation. It worked well to make the whole expedition confusing, frustrating, and painful for the characters, as the slaves they encountered had only partial information and even then could only say, “Well, it’s kind of hard to describe…” Much hilarity.

However, the players were determined to kill Caul, Divine Child or not. One of the players, Dillon, was a self-professed Huso fan and knew all about Caul and really wanted to off the guy (Dillon was very enthusiastic about everything, actually…I think he was having a pretty good time as his first Cauldron…). They figured out where Caul’s throne room was and hatched some cockamamie plan to disguise themselves as a Drow (Diana wearing the witch’s clothes from a ransacked bedroom) and a slave (Varla using change self) with an invisible Sheila in tow to backstab the guy or some such. Caul wasn’t buying it of course…everyone in his castle was cleared by him and he knew there wasn’t any other Drows or “new cultists,” and also knew that slaves weren’t allowed in the throne room (other than his chained up scribe), so he dispatched his cadre of gnolls to round up the obvious imposters.

Fighting ensued; damage was done, Bobby stunned the hell out of everyone with a thunderclap (including his own people), but Sheila got off a hold person on Caul and the party carried the day to much fanfare. They found Caul’s hidden treasure vault, trapped with a necrophidius (credit to ChatGPT for that idea), but still: no Divine Child.

“We’ve got to find that temple with the witch…maybe we need to keep going lower.” But the party really did not want to end up in the catacombs…they had a sneaking suspicion that would be a BAD IDEA (and they were right because...you know...Garthim). But a little lower they went and ended up in the slave pens and fought and killed an ogre with a big old whip (not as dangerous as it could have been) and then said “AHA! Let’s cast speak with dead on the ogre and see if he can tell us where we find the Child!” Okay, cleric, you get two questions:

“Where’s the Divine Child, dead guy?” With the witch…

“How do we get to the temple?” Well, it’s kind of hard to describe…

Hahaha…no, just kidding. He told them go up the stairs to the main hall and take a right. How hard is that?!

They found the temple, the child, and the her cultist acolytes worshipping a stone obelisk, roughly shaped like a spider, that floated above a red glowing pit (Dark Crystal, right?). Eric was dressed in Caul’s armor, Varla was doing her illusion thing and they got close enough to the witch to trap her INSIDE Erik’s “dome of force” (that his magic shield could project 1/day), while the others blasted the cultists and Diana grabbed the Child and ran like hell (as a 6th level monk she was uber-fast) up to the top tower where she could feather fall off. Pretty sure Shiela ran behind her as backup.

Well, that wasn’t so hard…what the--?! As the GIANT MUTANT CRABS in the shadowed alcoves came out to attack. More combat but they won the day, the witch surrendered, and the party made her divest herself of all her gear and commanded her to return to the UnderDark, never to return.

All with minutes to spare before the dinner bell. Good stuff.

[to be continued...]

A moment of unbridled joy...

Cauldron Prep

What day is it? Thursday? Whatever...it's 5am (or, rather, it was...I scrolled reddit looking for a worthwhile post but it all just made me want to vomit...) and I'm up thanks to some ungodly "beeping" that went off in our house this morning. No idea what it was. Checked all the fire alarms (and it didn't sound like them anyway). Hasn't repeated itself. But now I'm up.

Status update on "stuff:"

• The Family is doing well. Adapting to our "new normal" of having a high school kid. So far, so good. D came down with a bit of a cold (not COVID), probably from the amount of stuff on his plate, but he's gotten over it quick. Sofia's getting pretty good at rocking Take It On The Run (REO Speedwagon) on her guitar. Wife hasn't murdered me yet. All's fine.
• Soccer: I'll have a better idea of all teams after this weekend.
• Seahawks: hey! I went to the game last week which was...terrible! Not just because they lost (always bad to drop a home game), or that they lost to the Niners (which makes it even worse), but because of how they played...oh, man. It is orky football for sure but, in Blood Bowl terms, they're like the ork team that has ONE goblin catcher (that would be Smith-Njigma) and no one else with any speed/catching ability. The offense failed to stretch the field at all. And "Riq" Woolen was awful. Really, really frustrating to watch. Also frustrating to have to pay $8 for a bottle of water at the game. *sigh*
• Legal Disputes: I might have found a way to resolve my civil suit as early as next week, fingers-crossed. The events that led to the irritation I expressed last Friday turned out to be a blessing in disguise (maybe). We'll see.
• My father was in town. Had a nice visit. He's pretty hale and hearty for an old codger (pushing 80), but I worry about his mind a bit. *sigh* That's life, right?

Okay...onto gaming stuff.

Cauldron is barely a month away, and other than my day-to-day affairs (see above), this is my primary concern at the moment. Despite being on opposite sides of the globe, I've been in rather constant contact (through discord, natch) with the Euro-folks (helps that I don't get much sleep...) and things are getting exciting. Man, I'm so glad I'm going back there. Even if it SUCKS somehow, it'll still be fantastic to see everyone again.

This year they've got six gaming blocks going: two Friday (the first is a shorter, three-hour "sidekick" for folks arriving early), three Saturday, and one Sunday (after breakfast and awards). This year I'm signed up to run games in five of the six, including (*shudder*) Saturday's "night block" (9pm - whenever). In Cauldron 2023, I used that time to sleep, but retrospectively that's silly:

1. My sleep cycle is already out-of-whack from the travel.
2. I'm too keyed up by what's going on (hard to get to sleep and tend to wake before dawn).
3. I'm making the journey to play games, not nap!
4. I've got a nice long plane ride home on which to sleep (and I will).

SO: night block, here I come!

I am also the "tournament director" for this year's "Blackrazor Cup" which does not entail a whole lot of work (thankfully)...now that the adventure's been written, anyway. Probably I'l be tallying scores and whatnot in the wee hours of Sunday morning. No paper certificates this year...the con organizers got real life medals and trophies (I've seen pix). Amazing! I'm sure it will be a good time. 

[we'll see if all the players hate me after this year. It's their own fault for complaining last year's adventure was "too easy." This, however, may have been due to the way the adventure was DM'd...when I ran it for my home group  it ended in a TPK]

For my free block, I will be doing my darnedest to get into Settembrini's Chainmail game (yes, this Settembrini) which he is advertising as having space for seven, Even if I don't I might hang out and watch...regardless, I have that particular time block cleared specifically for that particular table.

Originally, I'd also kept the Night Block clear, partly out of a vane hope at sleep, but mostly because I was considering the possibility of one of Prince's epic night games (he usually brings some 10+ player extravaganza). Unfortunately, this year he ain't. Not because he won't be drinking through the night (au contraire!) but because he has games he wants to play in, for a change. However, he IS offering his own "tournament adventure" (with prize!) that he will be running himself in three different time blocks. It's called "Assault On The Beckerdrome;" the description reads:

Over the last years, you have endured and triumphed in the Blackrazor Cup, the most prestigious event in the history of the known world. Its lustre has endowed you with divine fire, but each night you weep, for lack of worlds to conquer. Yet there is hope. The earth shakes and is split asunder. An ancient fortress lies beneath. You have conquered the Blackrazor Cup, but how will you fare against the one who forged such a contest?

The ultimate challenge awaits.

So, yes. It appears I am the BBEG of his adventure. Sly devil.

[he will be paid back! In spades!]

Of the time slots I'm signed up for, four are nailed down. I'll be running a modified version of Anthony Huso's Silver Temple of Transcendent Flame in the Friday afternoon "sidekick," the BRC tourney module for Saturday morning, a new adventure that I haven't even drawn a map for yet (*headslap*) called Caul's Dark Citadel for Saturday afternoon, and MY version of I3, Legacy of the Pharoid, in the Sunday brunch spot. Of course, that one's not complete yet, either. 

[wait...checking. Checking. Yeah...no]

I'm actually probably going to have to scrap Legacy from the docket. I was only going to run the Body Banks section, but it's still 64 encounters (waaaay too many for a four-hour time slot) and less than half have been keyed. Too big, too long, too un-finished for this year's Cauldron...but I've been in contact with Kelvin Green about some collaboration on the project and it might be cool for a later Cauldron con (maybe as a multi-part running...as I did with Forbidden City in 2023). I certainly doubt I'll have time to write AND play-test the thing before con time, not with needing to do the same with Dark Citadel. I just have too many irons in the fire.

SO...I was looking through my inventory of adventures for a replacement, and I actually have a number of low level (3rd - 5th) adventures that might substitute AND be short enough. There's the Tomb of Bendan Fazier, which was a lot of fun for my home group (though, since I posted it to the blog a couple years back, it could be considered "spoiled"). There's Ice Box which, while written for OD&D is easily converted (it even uses Fiend Folio critters)...except the tournament adventure is already "cold themed." There's Lost Vault of Kadish (a stand-alone 'side quest' in Legacy). Heck, I could even run The Sunken City of Doom, my DL1 re-write; yeah, it's close to 100 encounter areas, but it's for the right levels, has pre-gens (twisted DragonLance PCs), and is mostly keyed...

Oh, wait: here's also Vermin Town, the rat-themed adventure I wrote for my own "Year of the Rat" adventure charity contest...now there's a compilation book I never got around to publishing (*sigh*). Why not? Because I drew my maps by hand and I can never get my damn scanner to work (frigging Paraguayan printer tech...). Ugh. This is a good one, but I'd need to FIND the maps for it (no idea where those are). Ooo...also The Tower of Ybarra Florin. That's an oldie but a goodie.  Okay, I have choices...I'll figure something out.

Then there's the Night Block.

I added an event here because A) sleep is for suckers, B) Prince ain't running, and C) I'm going to this thing to be active/contribute. I mean, Grutzi is running his Isle of the Dead, but I don't have a 9th level character to bring to the party (wish that I did), and pre-gens, IME, are always a bit of a crap-shoot. None of the other games in this block are particularly enticing: I'm already familiar with Black Crag and Black Mark (having reviewed them), the idea of playing a 4th level OD&D pre-gen is...nah. And there's just no way you'll find me sitting down to a game of "Ransack" (sorry, Parti...). No. Better to just run something of my own. I like to run games, after all. And running different games for different people keeps me sharp.

But what to run? Well, what I've got registered for the event is titled *something, something* Doom, but that's just a placeholder. My initial thought, actually, was to run one more session of the tournament adventure. We have eight different DMs runnng the thing (including me), but if I ran it twice, it would ensure that ALL the attendees who wanted to play would get the chance to do so.

[some quick math: there'll be about 80 attendees at Cauldron. The tournament adventure is designed for six to eight players so, with a Dungon Master, that's NINE people at a table. 9x9 = 81, right? But you subtract one ('cause I'd be running twice, and there's only one of me) giving a result that equals the con's headcount]

Plus, I'm kind of loving the adventure, and having already run it twice, I'm getting a good handle on it (there are some tricky bits). Yeah, more and more I'm considering one more session of Rivers...unless I get a message from someone else who wants to run it (which I might...there's still time). And if THAT happens, I'm thinking of running something high level. Maybe Hells Own Temple (which, re-reading it, could really stand some revisions) or Queen of the Demonweb Pits. I don't know. Something challenging. Something AD&D.

Okay, the sun's up and so are the kids...time to make breakfast. It is a perfectly beautiful Seattle morning: grey, misty, and drizzly (we desperately need rain). A little more coffee and I'll be able to tackle those maps...once everyone's out of the house.

Later gators!

: )

***EDIT: I found my maps. Oo-boy!***

The European OSR: Tourney

Happy All Saints Day! Time for another Friday morning blog post to read as you recover from your candy and booze hangovers!  Had a frightfully good Halloween myself (okay, sorry, bad pun).

As I mentioned in my original post of this series, even though I couldn't get over to Cauldron this year, I provided them with "tournament adventure" to run. Since I've fielded several questions about this the last few days, I figured a blog post might be the best way to disseminate information.

SO...y'all have heard of OSRIC, right? For those who haven't, OSRIC was one of the first D&D retro-clones published...in fact, I believe it was The First retro-clone published (unless you want to count HackMaster).  OSRIC is a clone of 1st edition AD&D; originally compiled by an attorney with the free time and passion for the project, its goal was to provide a framework through which hobbyists could write 1st edition adventures ("written for OSRIC") without getting C&D letters.

[if any of that info is incorrect, please feel free to ream me in the comments]

Anyway, the folks behind OSRIC are working on releasing a NEW edition of OSRIC; cleaned up, clearer, better usability, etc. While I don't see any news about this on their web site, this isn't some big secret: it's been a topic of conversation on several discords I read, and there have been forum announcements about it. The kickstarter hasn't launched yet, but I know it's in the works.

What might be a secret (apologies for the spoiler) is that, some months back, several folks were asked to help with the KS by writing adventures...presumably for 'stretch goals' or the like. I was one of the people invited to participate, and I offered to do "something with pirates and saints' relics," this idea rising from the world/setting concept presented.

Enter my adventure: Children of the Sea. Here's the blurb from the intro:

A holy relic has been stolen, and the Church of Sacramental Bliss has offered a substantial reward to anyone that can recover it. Careful investigation has revealed the lair of the pirates holding the blessed item: an abandoned temple on a small, craggy island. Can brave adventurers recover the relic before someone else claims the prize?

That was written in early October; I can see from my laptop that I created the document that would become Children of the Sea on September 30th (for the interested, the maps were created October 4th). 

But I'd had several months to ponder the project: I was first contacted about penning an adventure in May...but summers are busy 'round these parts (I told them it would be tough for me to get it to them by August but November/December wouldn't be an issue). It would sit percolating on the mental 'back burner' for a while...

However, in July the fam and I travelled to Europe and I had a chance to meet up with Prince of Nothing in Amsterdam (that will be the subject of a later post...). Even by then I'd started thinking about offering "something" to the Cauldron people...some way to 'keep my hand in,' even if I couldn't make it to Germany. When I broached the idea of an adventure to Prince, he suggested I just take the idea direct to Settembrini (the main con organizer), whom we'd both met and knew to be an amiable guy.

So I did...in September. As I said, summers are busy times for us and the start of the school year ain't anything close to a "slowdown" in the action. On September 16th I mustered the courage to send an email, writing:

"While I won't be at Cauldron this year, I'd like to offer a new adventure that can be run at the convention. Similar to the old tournament modules of GenCon's yesteryear, this would be a short 1E module, fleshed and prepped, that willing DMs could run and (hopefully) help fill out your event schedule. I'll include pre-gens, etc. to make the thing as easy to "read and run" as possible, and it will be of suitable length for a 4 hour time slot. 

"My thought is that (if several DMs were willing to run the adventure) such a thing could be a shared "touchstone" for Con-goers."

However, I did not start writing (being busy and then suffering a bout of Covid) and, instead, waited for a very busy man to get back in touch with me. Which he did on the 28th. Buoyed by this affirmation,  I set to work and had the whole thing out the door by October 5th.

Cauldron is a fairly small convention..."cozy" is the word that comes to mind. Some 54 (55?) people live, eat, and game together in a German manor house over a long weekend; in 2024 folks arrived Thursday afternoon and departed Sunday morning. Games are played in four hour blocks from 9am till...well, till whenever people decide to sleep...with meal breaks in-between. Seven "official" gaming blocks were assigned Thursday through Saturday, with Sunday being reserved for brunch, awards, packing up, etc.

Children of the Sea was run by six different DMs for 43 total players, providing a shared gaming experience for 90% of Cauldron participants. Better than I'd hoped for when I first had the idea.

I don't know if GenCon still runs tournament adventures. But I know they used to, and several adventure modules rightly called "classics" started their lives as tournament scenarios. We laud those old adventures because they are so ubiquitous...so many people have played them over the years, the S-series, the G-series, the C-series. That shared experience is the thing that keeps them in our memories, more than whether or not they are exceptionally written and/or designed. So many of us can crow about how we dealt with the giants or bitch about getting murdered in a Tomb of Horrors trap or whatever. Common war stories...THAT is what we get from these things. Like the way I've seen war veterans from different social classes and different ethnic backgrounds still bond with each other. 

Yeah, it's fun to have a D&D "competition," but the tournament exercise also strengthens the community.

Or so it seems to me.

Anyway. Much fun was had by all. Certificates for winning play groups (and runners up) were given out. One group's score sheet was misplaced and was later found to have actually had the most measurable success of all (they will be acknowledged in the published version of the adventure). From all the reports I've received and read on-line, it was a good experience with all groups managing to "win" the scenario to one degree or another and with only a fifth of the players being killed or "transformed without their consent." 

The Cauldron people have decided to make it an annual con event: the "Blackrazor Cup." Named for the iconic AD&D sword, not for me (the "Becker Cup?" Hell no...hard pass on that!). It will not, of course, always be an adventure penned by myself (though I am already thinking of what I might write for next year), but it will...I hope!...always be done in a similar spirit: providing a shared gaming experience where teamwork and cooperation and ingenuity are needed to overcome challenges and obtain great reward.

As for the adventure? I am currently in the process of polishing the thing for the OSRIC release, incorporating the feedback I received from both players and DMs alike...that's a lot of playtesting that got done in Germany!  My own gaming group didn't have a chance to play it till this week (Wednesday afternoon). We ran Children of the Sea exactly as written for the tournament, including drawing our six PCs from the tournament pre-gens, and setting a time limit of four hours.

The result was a TPK with 105 minutes still left on the timer. But I'm a pretty ruthless DM.

; )

[the kids still had a blast]

Happy Friday, folks!

The European OSR: Czech Mate

During the days leading up to this year's Cauldron convention, I spent not a little time reading and rereading various blog and forum posts from last year's post-Cauldron swoon. Why? Partially because I'm a glutton for punishment and I wanted to remember all the fun I would be missing with my choice to stay home. 

; )

But more than that, I think that there has been something of a shift in gaming vectors since the advent of Cauldron...a subtle change in this wind that we call "old school" gaming. Other factors (especially Prince's NAP contests and the Classic Adventure Gaming podcast) have certainly contributed, but Cauldron is an EVENT, not theoretical discussion; an event where people meet, and experience, and gain practical knowledge through actual play. This practical, tangible experience is something the con-goers can then take back to their own gaming circles, disseminating knowledge all over Europe.

Yes, Cauldron is an international convention. Located (centrally) in Germany, last year's Cauldron had representatives from eight different European nations (plus one American, *ahem*). This year, that number jumped to 14 (or more, depending on how you want to count folks from the UK). And keep this in mind: the knowledge base of D&D in Europe is far shallower than that of the United States.  The total amount of D&D gaming that Europe has been exposed to over the years...especially in countries whose native language isn't English...is quite limited considering the game's 50 year history. European gamers have simply not had the access to the game and its product, the vast majority of which have been published locally (i.e. on this side of the ocean) and in the vernacular of its American publishers.

Please note: I am not trying to disparage our friends across the pond: there are many great minds on that side of the Atlantic who have made it their mission to explore and understand the history and workings of the D&D game...people whose understanding equals or (perhaps) exceeds my own. But for the majority of Europeans, their exposure to the history of "American D&D" starts far more recently than our own. The 1990s is usually the decade I hear cited by geezers my age and, as has been chronicled elsewhere, radical changes to assumptions and expectations of play took place with the advent of 2nd edition AD&D (published in 1989).

At this point, I will use Euro gamer Michal as an illustrative example. Michal (or "Mike" as he introduced himself to me) identifies as Slovakian, and it is his posts on a Czech gaming forum that actually started me ruminating on this subject. 

I got to know Mike at last year's Cauldron con. He looks more like a professional athlete (well over 6' tall and built like a linebacker) than a gaming enthusiast, but enthusiast he is...not just for D&D, but war games as well (he is deep into the Advanced Squad Leader...). Tactically oriented, he has a cooperative, team-oriented approach, and brings focus and intelligence to the gaming table. He won the "Most Valuable Player" trophy at Cauldron 2023, voted on by both peers and DMs, and it was well-deserved. He played in two of my game sessions, and he saved the party's bacon on multiple occasions with his actions.

Mike is also quite a bit younger than myself (15 to 20ish years younger, I'd guess...he just had his first child this last year). He does play "old edition" D&D, and had no problems sitting down to my 1E games, although he found my approach somewhat...mm, "disconcerting" at first.

You see, Michal cut his teeth on 2E AD&D in the 1990s. The '90s! That means he has a quarter century of role-playing under his belt!  But 2E is not 1E. Here, I will quote from Michal's own "after action report," using the (somewhat adequate) magic of Google to translate from Czech:

"Jonathan distributed pre-generated characters...I somewhat impulsively took a 6th level human cleric Daniel...

"...I ask Jonathan, is Daniel a cleric of any specific deity? I say no, it can't be solved. Okay. And he doesn't play make believe either. Okay...?! I feel a little insecure and I want to show a little insideness on the outside. I pull out the DMG and the D30 Sandbox Companion, and with feigned self-awareness, I begin to generate Daniel's personality from the tables - that he is restless, has a sense of duty motivated by visions from childhood, that he is afraid of blood (but does not mind dirt in the heat of his faith), that he is arrogant and selfish -entitled, a morose pessimist and a coward at that, but virtuous and with pure faith. And he has a suspiciously extensive knowledge of gambling, even if he avoids it. (Additionally, Dexterity 15 and Charisma 16... coincidence?) In a burst of inspiration, I also came up with an undefined neutral good deity of Foghorn, i.e. "Hmiel Corner" (probably some deity of sailors, lighthouses and marsh guards). That's a pretty cool figure, isn't it? And do you think it mattered? Not even a bit!"

I love the honesty here. I remember this exchange: Mike was very interested in playing his character right as a character. What are my motivations? What is my religion like? How am I supposed to portray this individual? I may have been a bit terse (because time is an issue in a convention game, and I knew none of that stuff mattered), but I did explain that the focus of the adventure was on the action at hand, not any kind of character development. 

Michal gives a very detailed play report in his post, but I'm less interested in what happened in the adventure (a scenario I've run many times in the past), and more interested in his thoughts and feelings, during the session. Check out his comments (some four/five encounters into the adventure):

"At this point I began to appreciate several aspects of Jonathan's tinkering: 

• He framed our task very clearly and gave clear instructions. He also clearly listed his house rules, without justification or suggestions for compromise. At the same time, it appears confident and trustworthy - as if this system has been playing for years and knows what it is doing and what style of play it wants to achieve. It works, we accept his rules of the game and let ourselves be guided. 
• It has very brief and precise descriptions. No delay, no flowery styles, no attempt at literary realization. At the same time, the descriptions are consistently from the perspective of the characters - what we can recognize, as long as we see what we can classify (e.g. he did not name the opponents). 
• He has the game system in his little finger. Any action or intent is mechanically resolved within a few seconds, clearly limiting the characters' options - eg "you can move towards him, but you won't attack again this turn". At the same time, it isolates the players from the numerical mechanics, although it seems to me that if the player had better control of the mechanics (for example, how initiative or charge works), then this could affect tactical decision-making. Some nooks and crannies of the system are only revealed through the game. For example, I was surprised that if the character falls into the negative, after healing, he needs a week of recovery and thus is out of the expedition (and even an additional security risk). I'm beginning to feel at this point that there is very little judgment, ad hoc decision-making or "rulings" in the procedures. Instead, [the game] has its support in the rules for almost everything. It has its own game tools, a file with several pages of tables. It creates a sense of competence and impartiality. 
• He is focused and has no side notes. He doesn't push his personality to the fore, he doesn't try to stand in the spotlight. He doesn't deviate, he doesn't salt the announcements. He seems to be keeping his fingers crossed, but he is also fair. Perhaps it is precisely referring to the module that allows him to assume a bit of a teacher's position, that he helps us with these difficult exams (and he is not to blame for them, they are already in the module)…"

Reading the subtext here of what Mike feels is different about the way I run an adventure at table, one can start to get an idea of what kind of game he is more used to seeing/playing. Games without clear objectives. Games that focus on description, narrative, and story. Games with ad hoc rulings by DMs with looser grasps of the system they're using. Games where DMs want to "ham" for the benefit of the players or for their own aggrandizement. 

That's not how I run D&D.

"In this room, Jonathan shows that if the fight needs to be fought, we will fight it even with the full mechanical load. I had the feeling that even in a situation where there are only a few weak opponents left, I would itch to feel that the players are bored and that I am delaying, since there is nothing at stake. I would feel pressured to say "and you killed the rest". But Jonathan, as well as later Prince, have such respect for the rules that the situation must be resolved through them. That irritated me a bit. One possible explanation is that even fights with weak opponents have a wear and tear function. And when one of the players gets on their nerves and lobs a high-level [Area of Effect spell] to get rid of them, that spell may be missing later."

Indeed. We are not telling a story. There are game consequences to game actions. Fights can be ended short of annihilation (via surrender or retreat) when warranted. And, as Michal notes later:

"Initiative mechanics are very important in such plans. AD&D has such fast-paced fights that they rarely last longer than three rounds, and sequencing actions really matters—and AD&D's initiative mechanics, despite their complexity and wide interpretability, shine."

Yep.

"Another note about the personality of the cleric Daniel. Later I talked to Jonathan about roleplaying and he says that it doesn't matter at all. You play as you would in that situation. There is no mechanism that captures roleplaying, Jonathan also cut off the belief. He does not insist on direct speech, even he reserves in-character NPC playing only for situations when the player requests it (i.e. my Speak with Animals, Speak with Dead, or interrogation), even though he roleplays very competently. But he says he doesn't play AD&D for this - he plays it for the challenge. And I got the impression that even his home gaming is oriented towards modules and jumping straight into the action."

A slight quibble with his assumptions here: my home game is not nearly as compacted and intense as a tournament game. There are periods of downtime; there are stretches of "inaction" (or, rather, activities of less intensity than dungeon exploration and combat). Campaign play is different from one-off convention play. But even then, there is little emphasis on portraying a fictional character at the table. In fact, there is NO emphasis on doing so. The character is an avatar for the player. If the player wants to act like an ass, they're welcome to do so, but they will probably face consequences (from both NPCs and their fellow players) for their actions. Usually, this isn't a problem in my home game: I strive to create a level of hazard/risk that forces players to cooperate and get along. Usually that's enough to keep the game focused.

The responses and comments on the forum thread offer further insight and interest...if you happen to read Czech or have the time to Google Translate it. Those interested can find the full thread here, from November of 2023, mere days after ending last year's Cauldron convention.

Since that time, I've had the opportunity to interact with Michal via the CAG discord on multiple occasions, usually offering suggestions or advice with regard to running 1st edition AD&D. Despite the newborn, Michal has continued to game (not always easy!) and is, I believe, currently DMing his home group through the old Slaver series, modified for campaign play.  In June of 2024, nearly eight months after meeting, he sent me a message (in English) which read (in part):

"Hello Jonathan, I wanted to reach out and thank you for the thoughts you placed in my head and the experiences you have shown me at the Cauldron Con. I have noticed that my game has shifted to a much more engaging playstyle than it was, say, one year ago, and it was strongly influenced by you. Before my goal was to show the players a somewhat whimsical and bizarre sandbox world with peculiar characters and monsters (such as a medusa repairing a bridge using petrified passersbys, or a rakshasa collecting religious scriptures) and yet internally coherent, however allowing interaction with the world in numerous registers akin to the literary style of the picaresque (i.e. if the players would decide to run an inn, we would I guess focus on the inn - although there was an explicit social contract that the PCs are ne'er-do-wells motivated to explore dungeons), and with much less focus on combat and other types of challenge. Characterisation of NPCs and PCs had a place too. I have the feeling there was some similarity to how Gabor Lux runs his games, except in reality my players never properly, intently, pursued XP or treasure.

"Meeting you has opened my eyes to challenge-oriented play where the GM plays more adversarially and provides hard situations for the players - and there is now much less focus on characterisation or whimsical (non-player) characters. I construct open environments and scenarios which are hard and tactically complex, and which are placed in a simulated sandbox world with its own (economic, ecological, political, military) dynamics. There is a bit of classical wargaming heritage in there, both in the sense of the role of terrain, manoeuvre and deployment of combined forces on the micro level, as well as simulation of the wider macro context...It is in a way liberating, since it feels much more authentic and enriched by my wargaming hobby and knowledges and skills I acquired throughout my life and academic career...."

Kind words indeed!  Would that it were so easy to change hearts and minds as just sitting down at a gaming table and throwing imaginary snake men at players!

But I didn't attend Cauldron to change hearts and minds, nor even to change people from one edition of D&D to another. The fact is, the first Cauldron was advertised as a venue for 1st edition AD&D...and I wanted to play 1st edition AD&D! That's why I went there (though, I do love Germany...). What I found when I got there was a lot of people who didn't have all that much experience with 1E (because, again, 1E doesn't have the history in Europe that it does in the United States), and the games I ran were as much demos for a particular playstyle as they were a chance to stretch my DMing chops.

Michal, unlike myself, was able to attend Cauldron this year. He did not win the MVP trophy this time, nor was he on the docket to run/DM any of the sessions. But he did have an excellent time at what he calls "the most focused and best organized RPG convention" he's ever attended. And regarding the actual gaming at this year's Cauldron, he had the following, telling comments:

"I seem to have noticed a much sharper, agile and action-oriented atmosphere and approach in the sessions I attended as compared to the previous year. It seems to me that in 2023 many of us have just come to witness 'proper' playstyles and GMing approaches and were fairly shy. But we have been marked, we have taken something precious with us when leaving the Schloss Hohenroda. In the year between, the Classical Adventure Gaming approach has spread like a virus to many of our homes and gaming rooms, and this year we returned more experienced and emboldened. Seeing the same faces again, retelling old battle stories and delving once again into the unknown, risking life and limb, felt like coming home. Thanks to the organisers we are witnessing the rise of a new European gaming culture, with ties and friendships across the continent and beyond, with passionate heralds as well as a new generation of designers..."

There is a shift that is taking place among certain groups of D&D hobbyists. Michal is not the only person touched by the change. Last year's Cauldron offered 16 sessions of AD&D, four of which were offered by Yours Truly. This year's Cauldron saw 20 registered 1E sessions plus 7 registered OSRIC sessions (the 1E retro-clone). For roughly the same number of convention-goers. I find that both amazing and encouraging. What will 2025's Cauldron convention look like?

I hope to see it in person.

***EDIT & ADDENDUM***

After sharing this post with Michal, he had a few comments/corrections he asked me to add:

1. Any suggestion or inference that Mike was a "storygamer" (his word) prior to his first Cauldron attendance is false. While he has gone through several different gaming phases (2E trad, 3E tactical, Indie/weird), he has been strictly "OSR" since the mid-2010s, and even had his own OD&D retroclone in circulation. His games used gold for x.p. had numerous player deaths and ran a number of (presumably OSR) modules.
2. Michal disagrees with my "subtextual assumptions" regarding the style of play he was used to, and upon further review, I agree that I allowed my own bias to jump to the conclusion of "games without clear objectives." However, my intent was not to insult but to distinguish 1E's measurable goals from objectives that are arbitrary, hidden, or (DM) fiat-based...all things endemic to 2E (and now 5E) play. That being said, Michal was talking about my clear-cut, goal-oriented obbjectives, which are part of (my) convention play, and not indicative of (my) normal campaign play.
3. Michal states the Google translation is "terrible."
4. Mike also corrected my assumptions about his age...we are actually quite close in age (he just looks a lot better/younger than I do...all that hair!). He has been playing role-playing games for 32 years.

Having hopefully set the record straight (feel free to skewer me in the comments section, man!), I believe I have been inspired to post a (somewhat) related follow-up that is NOT "Euro OSR" specific. Stay tuned!

The European OSR

It's 8:12pm in Seattle, Thursday night. In Hohenroda, Germany, it's 5:12am on Friday. 

Yesterday (German time) was the first day of Cauldron 2024, the second unfolding of the "OSR" EuroCon...a celebration of "old edition" gaming, mainly AD&D (1E) with a little OD&D, Basic, and assorted wargaming (Chainmail, Braunstein...even Diplomacy) thrown in. Last year, I attended the first Cauldron. This year, I am home in Seattle.

Of my own choice. 

That's important to the next bit I want to write: I have the money ("gamer money," the pittance I earn from selling books) which would have paid for my airfare and con ticket. I chose to stay home with the family this year, and I'm glad I did: my son's last weekend of his final middle school season of soccer (with playoffs and championships on the line), my daughter's (two) soccer games (I'm coaching both), getting ready for Halloween (our family is into the costume thing), mi suegra is in town, plus Autumn is my favorite time of year in Seattle. I wanted the year off.

But Cauldron...I miss you.

The gaming, of course: always excellent to play D&D with adults, always excellent to play 1E with anyone. But MAINLY just the people...good people from so many countries and cultures, all joined together by their shared love for fantasy gaming, all on the same damn page. Breaking bread together. Tipping beers together. Rolling dice together. Being kind to each other.

Even for non-gamers out there (who might be reading this blog): I fervently hope and wish for you to have a similar experience in the hobby/passion of your choice. 

*sigh*

I chose this year not to be there. But I still wanted to be there, at least, in spirit. I wanted to take part...I wanted to contribute. D&D is what I do. It is my "claim to fame" (as much as I have any such claim)...and after last year's extraordinarily enjoyable event, I wanted to do something to add to the convention experience of those attending this year.

So I offered the con administrators a tournament module: something that could be run at the con, similar to the old tourney adventures of Gilded Age GenCons. A shared experience for the con-goers...a touchstone adventure that would provide a memorable reminiscence (hopefully a positive one) for those in attendance. 

Kindly, they accepted my offer with six DMs stepping up to run the thing. 

As I said, I want to be here, in Seattle, right now. I have a lot going on. And I have no regrets of my choice, no Fear Of Missing Out on the con. What I DO miss, mostly, is the people and the shared camaraderie. It is not often...or ever!...that I find myself surrounded by so many kindred spirits. I have attended conventions in the U.S. where I felt far more out of place. Strange as it sounds, as far as gaming cons go, I felt less a stranger in Germany than in my home country.

And so I provided Cauldron with an adventure. It is not the same thing as being there, even if it IS a piece of me...of my creative expression. But it is something...something to mark that I was thinking of the folks there. That I was considering them. That I was cheering for them to have good games, and solid D&D fun.

I'm weird like that.

The title of this post is "the European OSR." That's because I want to write a (short) series of posts about these European aficionados of old edition gaming. Why? Why not. Okay, perhaps more than that: there is a group of European gamers who are as sincere and passionate about these old games as any geezer American (like me), despite being 'late to the party.' Many were only introduced to D&D with latter day editions: 2E or 3E or (maybe) Mentzer's BECMI sans context...a problem in and of itself, regardless of translation issues. Somehow, this group has found their way over to my side of the game...some of them even making the commitment to 1E years before I got my own head screwed on correct and re-pledged my love to the King of Games. And I want to write about them; I just do.

This is just the first of those posts. I have European D&D on the mind (no wonder!), and I hope to yoke that inspiration. 

But right now, I'm heading for bed. I've a long day tomorrow, even if doesn't involve DMing games for Germans and Hungarians while quaffing tremendous amounts of bier und palinka.

; )

Later, Gators.

[11:21pm, Seattle time; 8:21am (Friday) German time; paused for dinner]