Tamoachan

Notes on Tournament Play:

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

- From module C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Kids

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!

; )

Tis The Holiday Season

Just pumping out a post 'cause I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to blog this week. Sofia's out of school, so while he's sleeping in (at the moment), I'm going to be hanging with her in my "free" time. Parent-teacher conferences at the middle school today...it will be interesting to hear what they have to say about my 6th grade daughter. I'm genuinely curious.

I don't talk as much about my daughter as I do my son. I don't know why other than I'm constantly amazed by his accomplishments. Sofia's amazing, too, but her "magic" is so much less demonstrative. I have a feeling that she will probably have the "bigger impact" on the world when all is said and done: she'll either end up some scientist that invents something brilliant or else she's going to wind up being some sort of famous film or music-related celebrity. But none of that is anything happening right now (other than she can astound people when she sits down at a piano in a hotel lobby)...right now she is this incredibly sweet, funny, friendly kid who just likes to smile and snicker and play. Since we brought my mom's piano home, not a day goes by without the sounds of music filling the house at some point. Right now it's a big Christmas piece she's working on. Delightful.

Yes, you heard me...delightful. I'm one of those curmudgeonly types that gets annoyed with people who start their Christmas-ing before Thanksgiving. Usually. This year has been...different. The "yacht rock" radio station that has long been on our satellite car radio...since at least 2019 as it helped soothe our nerves through the entire pandemic...disappeared a couple weeks ago to be replaced by the "Hallmark" channel which plays nothing but holiday music. And Sofia, of course, LOVES holiday music and so we've been listening to it, whenever we're out driving to one of her various things: school, church, soccer, basketball, piano, guitar. Whatever. And darned if I haven't gotten in to it, too. Like the yacht rock, it's soothing on the nerves.

Well, most of it (I'm not really into the "hip hop Christmas" stuff...give me Andy Williams or Nat King Cole any day of the week).

So, yeah. I've started the holidays early. I think we got our first thing of eggnog the week after Halloween? That went fast, and I haven't replaced it yet. Still have our "Autumnal" wreath on the door, but evergreen one is coming. We've got tickets to Mexico for Christmas...took us a while because they're so damn expensive (you can fly to Japan for half the price!). Not sure if that's just because the current administration is only interested in people taking one-way trips south of the border or what (*sigh*), but since they've made damn sure that's my in-laws can't renew their visas till 2027 (*sigh*) we must purchase four tix if we want to see our family, rather than just flying mis suegros up here. Too bad for the local economy, of course, as we'll be doing all our shopping down there...but then Trump has been nothing if not hard on the local economy. 

But enough of that...I've been in the holiday spirit, as I said, and I've been focusing on other things. My son, who I gush about far too much, has his first national volleyball tournament for his club in Los Angeles in a couple weeks, and he and I will be flying down there with the team. The last couple days we were at a local "exhibition" tournament...it was pretty wild. He's a U15, but his team was playing in the U16 division...four matches in the group stage on Saturday with two matches on Sunday in the playoff bracket; when not playing or warming up he and his teammates acted as line judges and scorekeepers for the various games going on non-stop on four courts in an airplane hangar-like gymnasium (they were running U14, U16, and U18 divisions...all men's volleyball). Holy smoke...what an event! And the L.A. one is supposed to be a LOT bigger...I can hardly imagine.

Anyway, their team is great and pretty talented. They ended up winning their division, winning in straight sets for both of their playoff games. They were rotating liberos between Diego and another, more experienced kid (except for D and Jesus, all the other kids have been together for two or three seasons), but by Sunday's championship game it was just Diego, clearly in command, exhibiting presence and leadership on the court, making spectacular saves, picking up his teammates...all the usual "Diego" stuff. When they were down 18-9 in th second set of their first playoff match, Diego came in as a DS to serve 15 straight points and put them up 24-18...he didn't come out after that. Just great stuff from the kid. We had been contemplating trying to get to his soccer game Sunday afternoon and said we'd think about it after we saw how the morning match went...he came of the court and just said "I'm staying for the volleyball." 

[fortunately the club was playing the no-win bottom of their division and got a 4-2 result even without their captain]

But it was an exhausting weekend. Diego had a hard time getting up this morning (he still has a couple days of school before break)...though he's excited because "cousin Spencer" is picking him up from school today! Yes, my 27-year old "nephew" is back in town...all 6'1", 205# of baby-faced kid. He just finished up a year long stint of chefing at some fancy restaurant across the street from the Opera House, and now he's back in the PNW before doing another jaunt, this time in Japan (his dad's originally from Canada so he has joint citizenship and can do a work exchange on the maple leaf passport). Anyway, hanging with us all weekend at the volleyball stuff, he's taking Diego rock-climbing this afternoon (just what my kid needs...to be introduced to another recreational hobby...). Fingers-crossed that Diego doesn't fall asleep in class or on the boulder....

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to run some D&D for Spence while he's in town...I know he digs that. He's heading out to Spokane on Wednesday (Thanksgiving with his mom's mom), so our window is tight, especially with the kids' soccer practice on Tuesday. Wait, wait...just checking and it looks like they might have the night off!. All right, maybe Tuesday evening then. If we DO get our game on, I've already decided I'll be breaking out C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan...a perfect little scenario for Diego, Sofia, and Spencer.

Mmm...looking through Ye Old Blog archives, I don't see I've ever written much of anything abou Tamoachan. It's a decent enough tournament adventure...probably my favorite of all the old TSR tournament modules (looking at both the A- and C- series). I've run it at least two or three times in the past, usually with the three pre-gens designed for the scenario. It's pretty tight, design-wise, and even though it's a fairly linear gauntlet (much like the tournament portion of S1) it has a ton of flavor and a lot of interesting bits and bobs. Though, man...I don't think I've run it since the early 90s (maybe the early 2000s...?). I should probably give it a quick re-read. I have no idea how the thing holds up in my current "paradigm" of game play, but Philippe ran it at Cauldron for some folks who had a good time...it should still work for a one-off.

Other than that....

I'm working on the book. It's slow going. I started writing the section on running combat...turns out this could probably be a whole book, in and of itself. Which is not really what I want, so I probably need to rethink the section. 

It's tough. I'm trying to condense and consolidate decades of knowledge and essays into a practical guidebook that IDEALLY would have a smaller page count than any of the existing (AD&D) rulebooks. It's a rather daunting prospect. This is far less about writing "AD&D for Dummies" and more like a Strunk & White's Elements of Style. Lord, how I wish I'd studied technical writing in college. Maybe I should go back and re-read my Strunk & White...it's still on the book shelf somewhere. 

Yeah. Probably going to end up bigger than S&W.

But I am writing.  A little bit óvery day. Except when I'm at all day volleyball tournaments. But OTHERwise...one brick at a time. Just laying one brick at a time. 

*sigh*

I should be publishing a couple adventures soon, too, depending on my illustrator's time schedule. Hopefully I'll have a couple PDFs out by year's end. We'll see. December tends to fly by when you're in the midst of holiday cheer with friends and family. And  now that my brother's hash is finally settled (he was evicted on the 12th...a day before my birthday)...I need to put the sale of my mother's house into overdrive. Sofia and I might be working on that a bit the next couple days, depending on when I can borrow my buddy's junk hauler. A lot to do but it is finally getting done. Finally.

Mm.

My apologies...did not mean for this post to slide into a downer note. It's the gosh darn holiday season! And I'm excited about all the stuff I've got on my plate right now. Yes, the busy-ness is off the charts. Yes, finding time to take a breath is a challenge. BUT:

- volleyball tournaments

- guitar recitals

- holiday feasts and get-togethers

- trips to see family and friends in Mexico

- school Christmas concerts

- running D&D

- publishing adventures

- writing books

- closing my deceased mom's estate

And just listening to cheerful music as I drive around town on my various errands...man, that is all GOOD STUFF. I am enjoying myself. I am really, thoroughly enjoying myself.

And I'll admit, part of it is that I'm home in Seattle for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday of the year) and that I get to eat some God-honest turkey for a change. I seem to be the only person in my family that craves a drumstick and a pile of apple-sausage stuffing drenched in gravy. My goodness! I am SO looking forward to Thursday!

Hope ALL of you have a happy one...I pray that all of you find some joy in season, and find a way to share that joy with others. Even a smile goes a long way this time of year.

Cheers.

: )

Killing Gods, Part 4

All right…that’s a long enough break since my last post on “killing gods.” More than enough. 

As a precursor, I need a moment to talk about the relationship between clerics and deities; I realize this will seem yet another digression, but it’s pertinent to the conversation. You see, this whole subject came up because I was unsatisfied with the way I feel (many) adventure designs of recent years have been unreasonable with their treatment of gods…but it’s quite possible that this trend (and my preferences) come in part from learning different styles of play. 

I will elaborate.

I’ve written before about the shift in perspective of What Exactly A Cleric Is that came about in 1983 with the publication of the Mentzer version of Basic. As I’ve recounted (often enough) this was NOT the brand of D&D by which I learned the game. The clerics in my first campaign (which I ran up till circa 1988) didn’t receive their spells from “the strength of their beliefs.” No. Un-uh. Spells come from the gods they worship…they are divine favors, pure and simple, miracles granted by higher powers. 

This is, of course, EXPLICIT in the text. The 1981 Moldvay Basic set described it thusly:

Since clerical spalls are divinely given, they do not have to be studied; the cleric need only rest and pray for them.

"Divinely given" is the key phrase here. I can understand if there is some confusion caused by the actual description of the cleric class in Moldvay; its text ("...they are trained in fighting and casting spells. As a cleric advances in level, he or she is granted the use of more and more spells...") could be interpreted as meaning that their magic is separate from their deity, that magical training is something only those who are initiated into the cult's higher secrets are taught. But unless Moldvay is speaking metaphorically (I don't think he is), the phrase divinely given in the Spell section makes clear just who is "granting" access to clerical magic...not higher level priests and patriarchs, but the god or goddess whom the cleric serves.

And Gygax is even more clear in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide:

It is well known to all experienced players that clerics, unlike magic-users, have their spells bestowed upon them by their respective deities.

The DMG text (page 38) goes on for more than half a page detailing exactly how clerics receive their magic directly from their gods, either by being divinely empowered (1st and 2nd level spells), bestowed upon them through intermediaries (saints, angels, demigods, etc. for 3rd through 5th level spells), or granted by direct communication with the deity itself (6th and 7th level spells). It is not a cleric's "inner strength," "strong beliefs," or "mystical training" that allows the character to create miracles...it is the god itself. A cleric with no god receives no magic. Period.

As said, Mentzer changes this in his 1983 Basic rulebook...a book I never owned until the 2000s, and certainly not the book I learned to play with. But a subtle shift in thinking is evident in TSR's publications as early as 1982. I refer here to two classic modules published that year: N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God and B4: The Lost City. I imagine both modules might be held up as inspirations for the works of recent designers I cited earlier, examples of "sword & sorcery" style adventures featuring "godlike beings" who are nothing more than actual (non-divine) monsters needing to be killed...respectively a spirit naga named Explictica Defilus and the tentacled monstrosity known as Zargon. These false gods, whether through longevity and fear or powerful mind control, have created cults of worship around themselves, followers who hold them in awe and carry out their "divine will, much as one might expect of followers duped by a charlatan.

And yet both modules include actual cleric followers of these monsters...clerics with the ability to access clerical magic. N1 has multiple clerics of Explictica using spells of up to 4th level (7th level clerics). B4 features Darius, a 6th cleric (also with access to spells up to 4th level) of the "cult of Zargon" as one of the Big Bads of the adventure. None of these characters make sense under the rules of the game; none of these characters should have ANY spells whatsoever.

Contrast this with the backstory found in the 1980 module C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan:

Eventually a new Archon mounted the throne in Pontylver, one who claimed [lawful neutral] Alia as her patron. The Temple of the Correct and Unalterable Way grew in followers and prestige, and as time passed, Myrrha noticed that her peers and superiors were becoming increasingly arrogant and arbitrary....Myrrha saw they were falling into the heresy of believing that law is concentrated in the individual and not the community. Investigating, she discovered a well-kept secret: many members of the ecclesiarchy were no longer able to cast high-level spells, thus proving their estrangement from their deity!

If N1 was properly designed (that is, written to follow the instructions laid out in the rule books), neither Abramo nor Misha would have access to clerical spells above 2nd level (and maybe not even those) and Gareth Primo would have no magic at all because a spirit naga is not a god and, thus, not capable of granting spells.

That is the game, folks, and I honestly don't think it's "open to interpretation." But...perhaps because of "satanic panic" pressure over the pretending to worship strange gods (see the 1982 Mazes and Monsters where Tom Hanks plays a batshit-crazy cleric)...TSR started to move away from its own rules. Started to say, hey, being a cleric isn't really about worshipping a god, it's about your character's training and "strong beliefs" manifesting powers...you're just a magic-user in priest's clothing and it doesn't matter whether you're worshipping the One True God or some tentacled space slug that crashed on the planet a thousand years ago. We aren't teaching children about the worship of strange pagan gods...heavens, no! There is no god except God, these are just strangely deluded fantasy priests. Pay no attention!

And you see that carried all the way down to today's designers. From Jason Sholtis's magnificent Operation Unfathomable:

...clerics operate under the delusion that their deities actually exist (they do not!). In truth, clerics are merely a distinct variety of magic-user, devoted to one or more of the ten thousand Gods of Order. Clerics manipulate chaos to achieve their results through the mental constructs of their religious practices, rather than rote memorization of arcane mummery.

From 2017's Lamentations of the Flame Princess (James Raggi):

Cleric magic is divinely inspired, and is granted to Clerics through prayer. Whether these powers are granted to Clerics by higher powers, if these higher powers are what the Cleric believes them to be, or if all Cleric spells are merely ritualized forms of sympathetic magic, are all subjects frequently debated...

I would include the 2018 adventure The Red Prophet Rises in this mix of confusion, in which a heretical priest (Khazra), mistakenly worshipping an ancient vampiric entity, still (inexplicably) retains access to the spells of a 6th level cleric of "the Bull God." Why? Is the Obelisk that Thirsts a divine entity? No. Does it serve the Bull God? No. One would think spells would be withheld from the priest, if only to inform him of his delusional apostasy.  Guy uses a sword in combat anyway.

These authors (and others) seem to have been influenced somewhat by these later (post-1982) influences when it comes to explaining the relationship between clerics and their gods. Which is to say, there is little relationship, if any. Any failure of clerical magic can simply be attributed to the cleric losing faith in herself: it is not the deity that withholds magic, but the cleric's own psychological barriers to accessing a purely internal mechanism. 

I'm not a big fan of that interpretation. It doesn't jibe with the D&D I learned to play. It is not the AD&D of Gygax; it runs counter to the DMG and the information found in Deities & Demigods. And while I'll be the first to admit to being a stodgy, groggy, grumpy old man when it comes to my D&D, I'd even say that it's not very "Sword & Sorcery," either...despite what (many of) these authors hope to emulate.

Because as discussed in my first post on the subject, much of D&D is inspired by fantasy fiction of the pulp variety...and in pulp fantasy you see PLENTY of deluded cultists following charlatans and false gods, but they aren't getting any magical powers by doing so. False priests don't get spells: they use tricks and psychoactive powders or rule through fear and tradition and superstition. Real magic linked to worship is generally called sorcery and rightly so, as it is linked to the favors granted by demonic entities...but such infernal divinities are still "divine," supernatural and extra-dimensional. Only divinities grant divine powers: when Jagreen Lern or Elric conjure in the names of their chaos gods, THEN magical stuff happens. 

But maybe I need to rein in a bit and bring this all back around to the subject at hand ("killing gods"). There is, I think, a certain prevalence or attitude or orientation in the Old School Role-playing circles that has wandered far afield from the game as it was originally envisioned. Maybe. Maybe I'm wrong. But here's how I see it:

• As Mike Mornard writes, the original designers "made up some shit they thought would be fun." It involved exploring strange environs, finding treasure, building worlds. It was inspired and influenced by adventure fiction, much of it "fantasy" in nature.
• As a game, D&D has a system; it has rules. It models something (a fantasy world of adventure) and the rules are applied to the thing it models (the fantasy world of adventure) up to and including things like "how/why a cleric gets spells" and "how many hit points a god like Zeus might have."
• That divine architect that Elric is always searching for? The supreme being that orders the lives of even the gods of his world? D&D has that, too: it's called the Dungeon Master. And just like Elric's "supreme being" (who would be Michael Moorcock...duh), the DM is not a creature to be encountered by the protagonists (in D&D's case, the player characters). The DM creates the world but is not OF the world. What will be encountered are game constructs, up to and including the gods that inhabit the game world.
• As a constructed fantasy world D&D has a cosmology. As a game that models a fantasy world, that cosmology can be exactly and minutely defined...right down to just how much damage Thor can do with a hammer blow, or how many greater devils inhabit the 3rd layer of the Nine Hells...should such info ever become necessary for play.
• The game (D&D) has parameters (structure) of play. It has assumptions and expectations of how play resolves.  These expectations of play resolution are determined by 1) the rules, 2) the way the rules model the world, and 3) the fiction that inspires the game...in that order. Don't (for example) tell me "well, Gandalf used a sword!" The inspiring fiction (#3) comes behind the rules (#1) and the modeled fantasy world (#2).

As originally conceived, Dungeons & Dragons was never about "telling stories." It was about playing a game of exploration and survival (adventure!) in a fantasy game world. However, some folks were quite unimaginative with how they worked within those parameters, creating murder-hobo funhouses of the poorest variety and this caused pushback in the form of front-loaded drama. We shall not wait for a story to emerge from our adventures! We shall make sure there is MEANING to these characters' (fake) lives!

Combine the success of that front-loaded drama (through company supported publications like Ravenloft and Dragonlance) with an imperative to cut anything perceived as controversial (i.e. impacting the bottom line) from a game now being marketed to children (this being the shift that began circa 1982), and one can readily see the consequences: we don't kill gods. We kill demons. We kill immortal liches. We kill creatures masquerading as gods. We kill surrogates in order to have our high stakes, high drama, emotionally invested play.

Because, originally, emotional investment in a character was mainly found in long-running (i.e high level) characters. And high level characters, by necessity, required greater challenges to stay engaged...tackling gods (modeled as part of the cosmology) and godlike beings (that giant ape from WG6) are a natural evolution of challenge for characters of the highest echelon, because lesser challenges don't cut it anymore. If you want to run a high level campaign, you're going to want to study up your copy of Sailor on the Seas of Fate because that's about "par" when it comes to suitable challenges. Good old Demogorgon has been a part of the D&D tapestry since 1976...and for good reason. 

[hell, I used to fight Demogorgon...on the playground...waaaay back before I ever laid eyes on ANY D&D book. Before I even opened my first box of the Dungeon! board game, even]

Not low level characters (I'm guessing).

Outside of WotC's latest-greatest editions, D&D designers have (mostly) moved away from front-loaded drama and railroad story arcs, but they've still passed some sort of threshold from which they can't seem to return. They want high stakes, high challenge, high weirdness in their adventure...but they don't want high level player characters. They want their players to continue playing "small ball" forever after, retiring (I suppose) should they ever, somehow, reach 8th or 10th level of play. "Too superheroic," is the refrain I hear. "The game is no fun after around 5th (or 6th or 7th) level."

Bull. Crap. But that discussion is for another post.

Throwing high level challenges (like godlings) into low level adventures is an attempt by designers to have their cake and eat it, too. It's an attempt to inject Elric-levels of amazeballs fantasy into the lives of grubby, Warhammer Fantasy-level adventurers in order to draw out low-level play while still keeping long-since-jaded players engaged with the game in front of them. Is that as bad as playing pre-generated snowflakes traveling the Dragonlance railroad? Absolutely not. But it's got to be grating after a while. It would certainly bug the shit out of me.

All right, that's it. I lied about this being the concluding post...just had too much more to say. The NEXT post will definitely be the conclusion to this series. 

Poison (Final Thoughts)

Had a chance to review both the Little Brown Books and Holmes regarding their take on poison.

Holmes doesn’t include neutralize poison in his spell list…no surprise, really when you consider no one makes it past 3rd level. Meanwhile all monsters with poison attacks seem to be of the instant variety…snakes or spiders or medusa, if you blow a poison save in Holmes you’re dead. This certainly fits with the high mortality rate of this particular edition.

[I’m going to say a word or two about Holmes elsewhere…it deserves its own post]

The LBBs poison is all of the “instant variety” as well. However, the LBB DOES have neutralize poison in the clerical spell list. However, similar to AD&D neutralize poison will NOT save you if you’re already poisoned (i.e. DEAD)…as with AD&D there is no ten round “grace period” of writhing in one’s death throes during which time an antidote might be administered.

However, there’s no “Slow Poison” either…which means that poison is much more deadly in OD&D than even AD&D.

When viewed through this lens, I can't help but hypothesize that Slow Poison was a “fix” instituted for AD&D. This appears to be the case if we review the chronology:

#1 OD&D: Poison kills instantly. Neutralize poison can only detoxify objects, not “cure” poisoned individuals.

[interestingly, OD&D’s neutralize poison is the only version with a duration: 1 turn. This means that after ten minutes the item becomes toxic again? So even if you “de-poisoned” a corpse and raised it from the dead, it would need to make an additional save ten minutes later? Poison isn’t just deadly, it’s continuous and permanent with no means of curing AT ALL!]

#2 Holmes D&D: Poison kills instantly. No neutralize poison because clerics only go to 3rd level.

#3 AD&D: Poison kills instantly. Neutralize poison only detoxifies. Slow poison (a lesser spell) keeps individuals from dying until that poison can be neutralized.

#4 B/X: Poison kills ten rounds after taking effect; i.e. a person blows their save and poison “goes off” instantly (giant snakes, purple worms) or after a delayed period (medusa bite, giant spider). “Going off” means the 10 round timer starts running. Neutralize poison cast within that 10 round span saves the victim, otherwise they’re dead. There is no “slow poison.”

#5 BECMI: Continues B/X.

#6 AD&D 2E: ???

#7 DND3+: Poison is nerfed of its “instant kill” effects.


Now, since I started playing D&D with B/X where “neutralize poison” actually cured individuals, I just carried that “cure” assumption over to my AD&D playing (I was 11 years old…give me a break!). In fact, the ONLY time I can recall using Slow Poison at all was when running the 1980 tournament module C1: The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, in which Slow Poison figures prominently to the plot (interestingly, a plot that might seem to break with the use of NP…or not. I don’t remember…I know that more tournament points were awarded for casting Slow Poison).

Okay, I think I’ve written all I can on this particular subject. I know some people consider “instant death” effects to be a bit “un-fair.” The way I look at it? Getting chomped by a T-Rex or swatted by a fire giant and ending up with 0 hit points makes you just as dead. D&D is a game about people risking their lives (and often finding death) in pursuit of “fantastic treasure.” Dead is dead is dead…and D&D at least gives you some creative options for escaping death, INCLUDING spells like raise dead and neutralize poison. This is why I never sweated offing my players (we always found a way to “bring back” the ones we liked)…”killer DM” though I may have been, I was a always a softie when it came to cheap resurrection.

After all, I see death in the game as a penalty (for both bad luck and poor play) but it shouldn’t be a penalty that stops game-play completely, right? ‘Cause if play stops, well…so does the fun!

So anyway I always liked poison…and truth be told it rarely killed anyone in my games. Hell, people get saving throws after all, right?

[case in point: when I was playing the cleric in our B/X on-line game last year, I went toe-to-toe with a giant spider while the other party members…um, were they cowering? No…I think I was just off exploring a cistern by myself or something. Anyway, the creature only hit me once or twice before I was able to squash it…and I made all my saves. Sure I was sweating the prospect of death a little bit…but at 2nd level you’re nearly as likely to be “instantly killed” by a good damage roll from an orc or ogre. Poison? Eh – no big deal]

Still, of all the versions of poison across editions, I do prefer the B/X. It makes more sense, it’s simpler, it’s fun…and there’s no confusion between slowing and neutralizing poison.

‘Course, when you think of poor Black Dougal writhing on the floor, foam coming from his mouth as his nervous system shuts down…perhaps still able to watch Fredrik the dwarf clean out his pack as his eyes glaze over…you can’t help but think his buddies were even bigger shmucks than you ever imagined. Couldn’t Sister Rebecca at least cover the poor guy with a blanket to ease his last few moments of suffering? Sheesh!

; )

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!

; )