End-of-Week Lofgren and Poag (2/12/17): White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game

Yeah, this is a late Sunday edition of my EoW post (usually on Fridays). But it's worth it, because I ordered two copies of a little retroclone heartbreaker called *inhales deeply* White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.

Yeah, that's a mouthful!

Anyone who has watched/read my blog for a while knows I've cut way down on gaming and game blogging over the last couple years. This has mainly been due to my kids getting older and the accompanying increase in their extracurriculars, as well as the slow-and-steady implementation of plans to make a career change.

But damn, gaming is a part of my soul, man! I can't stay away! I have to dip back into the RPG well now and then, or I go MAD!

So, this past week I dipped back in...and caught wind of White Box: FMAG!

Now, I've acquired a lot of gaming goodness lately that I've been meaning to blog about: the 4th printing Kickstarter delivery (long delayed) of Dungeon Crawl Classics AS WELL AS the huge Kickstarter delivery (very long delayed) of the Conan board game that raised millions of dollars.

But thanks to my gamer ADD, White Box has gained pride-of-place (for now) in my fevered gamer's mind! I went online, did a quick bit of digging, and found out the game is currently on sale AT COST.

WHAT? Oh yeah! For about $10 I got two copies off Amazon! The image at the top of the post shows two of the three possible covers, with art by OSR darling Stefan Poag and a gent named Eric Lofgren.

As other OSR bloggers have pointed out, WB:FMAG contains sort of a "greatest hits" mishmash of aspects from other clones and puts them into a well-organized, tight layout. A welcome thing for this particular part-time gamer who doesn't have time to whip up his own heartbreaker, or to be a scholar of the intricacies of how the original clones and DIY gaming blogs have created subsequent waves of new clones...

(Note that Tenkar's Tavern called WB:FMAG an "excellent houserules/rewrite of Swords & Wizardry White Box," and who am I to argue with Erik?)

So, I read on the blog of WB:FMAG creator Charlie Mason that the current version of his game (which is Mr. Mason's riff on Swords & Wizardry) is only available until February 22nd. A new version is coming out this year, and will apparently be a complete overhaul. This includes a new name for the game.

I'm not sure why even the name is changing, but I'm sure there's good reason (perhaps legal?).

At any rate, I think it was well worth it to get under the wire before this current version goes away.
I've had an ambivalent relationship with original D&D and its clones. It has some appeal, but I've always preferred the Basic D&D versions of Moldvay and Mentzer.

And yet...there's a part of me that still plans on someday running a good old, gritty campaign using some variant of OD&D! When that happens, I have White Box as part of my arsenal! I really dig this little compact package that Mr. Mason has pulled together! Well done, sir! You have a fan in me!

My last salvo for S&W Appreciation Day: The Octopuppeteer

So, in my second post today, I gave you the skullcrab, a creature I created for use with Swords & Wizardry. Well, in that same post, I promised another beastie of my own creation. And now, here it is (just under the wire before midnight)!
 

Octopuppeteer

HD: 3
AC: 6 [13]
Atk: 2 strikes (1d6)
Move: 12
Save: 14
AL: C
CL/XP: 4/150
Special: Trap/crush, INT drain

The creation of a malevolent sorcerer, this creature appears to be an amorphous purple blob with numerous slim tendrils radiating from its shifting surface. Dubbed the "octopuppeteer" by its creator (though it has more than eight appendages), it uses humanoid skeletons as a means of transportation.

An octopuppeteer will gather the bones of a skeleton and inhabit the rib cage. Then, it will use its many tendrils to draw the remaining bones together, reforming a complete skeleton. When the process is complete, the skeleton is bound together and "animated" as if by living wire. Because the octopuppeteer's mass is spread out across the skeleton, the tendrils resemble nearly-invisible thread.

Creatures of malignant intelligence, octopuppeteers crave the brain tissue of intelligent humanoids. They will usually attack a victim with powerful blows (they don't use weapons). If a victim is struck by two successful strikes in one round, the character must make a saving throw or be trapped in the arms of the octopuppeteer's stolen skeleton.

Once a victim is trapped, the octopuppeteer will attempt to eat a character's brain tissue by slipping tendrils up the nose of a victim. Once the brain is reached, the character will permanently lose one point of INT per turn. The creatures must be killed before they are removed from a victim; otherwise, removal of a living octopuppeteer will permanently reduce the victim's INT by 2.

If an octopuppeteer chooses to do so, it can constrict its tendrils and use its skeleton to deal 1d6 in crushing damage per round.

Since a skeleton animated by an octopuppeteer (a living organism) is not undead, it cannot be turned by clerics. Many clerics have learned this lesson the hard way...with their lives!

Behold the might of Swords & Wizardry!

The inspiration begins with the cover...

Swords & Wizardry got me back into roleplaying. Period. It was the first retro-clone I picked up. Not because it was the first one I encountered (that honor goes to OSRIC), but because it was the most persuasive. Reading Matt Finch's words was (and still is) pure inspiration. And I'm just talking about the Swords & Wizardry rules themselves. Let's not forget about his Quick Primer for Old School Gaming...but that's a whole other discussion.

Confession: I never cared about the fabled Little Brown Books. Not at all. But Swords & Wizardry (hereafter referred to as S&W) made me want to care. It made me care about the mutable simplicity of Original D&D mechanics, and more importantly, it made me fall in love again with the old-school way of roleplaying.

BTW: What I still don't care about, and never will, is that S&W is not as close to the OD&D rules as it could be. Who cares?! I, for one, am GLAD it isn't! It takes those old rules and makes them alive again, something vital and fresh, thanks to Mr. Finch's take on those original rules.

What sets Swords & Wizardry apart in my view? Here are some major points for me (based on my favorite flavor of the rules, the May 2011 printing):

Matt Finch's writing is welcoming and flavorful. When reading it, I feel like I'm being guided through the rules by a friendly narrator.

Also, the suggestion boxes that give alternate rules are awesome, such as the "Continued Level Advancement Options for Non-Human Characters" and his historical notes on how S&W differs from the original rules.

Then there's even more options. Options for combat sequence. Options for spellcasting. Options, options, options! What I'm saying is, S&W has flexibility, but it also gives you suggestions on how that flexibility can manifest itself! That's what this particular busy adult roleplayer needs!

Wanna create your own creatures to throw at hapless players? It's easy, and not just because of the "lightness" of the rules. Matt Finch has, again, conveniently given you some suggested guidelines for creating monsters. Here's a monster for you:

Skullcrab

HD: 1
AC: 5 [14]
Atk: 2 claws (1d6)
Move: 6 (Jump 12)
Save: 16
AL: N
CL/XP: 3/100
Special: Attach/blood drain (1d4/round), paralysis

There are cyclopean cliffs that rise above the ocean, riddled with caverns of unknown depth. Adventurers who have died plumbing these sodden depths have had their remains defiled by the aberrations that dwell where the ocean sucks at the land. One such creature is the skullcrab, a type of mutated mollusk that uses the skulls of the dead as protective shells. When not hiding in a skull, the creature resembles a large snail with crab-like claws and beaked mouth.

Those who discover the bones of the fallen should be wary when searching through the remains. A skullcrab inhabiting a skull will more often than not surprise the unwary, using its muscular body to leap at a victim. The creatures are surprisingly quick, and victims will not soon forget the sight of a death's head hurtling towards them.

A player must make a saving throw if a skullcrab makes two successful claw attacks against a character in a round. An unsuccessful save means the skullcrab has attached to the victim, and will begin to drain blood using a needle-like proboscis that extends from its beak (1d4 damage per round) until it is killed and releases its grip.

After one round of blood draining, the victim must make another save. If unsuccessful, they become paralyzed by the skullcrab's anesthetizing saliva. The victim will stay paralyzed if the creature is not removed; once removed, the victim will come out of the paralysis after 1 turn.

Voila! Light on stat block, heavy on description/flavor...as it should be when it comes to old-school roleplaying!

I might just post another S&W creature later tonight...I'll keep you all in suspense!

Yes, I love me some Swords & Wizardry, and I know you will too, if you give it a read. Come, join usssss... 

P.S. A final musing I wanted to run past you, dear readers: if OSRIC was the "first retro-clone" (as seems to be the case based on publication dates and OSR lore I've read on blogs), then S&W was the second. I wonder if it's a coincidence that WotC's first premium reprint was AD&D (which OSRIC emulates), followed by that fancy OD&D box (covered by Swords & Wizardy). Is WotC mimicking the publication order of the retro-clones? Hmmm...it may sound far-fetched, and I do so love a good conspiracy theory, but...you never know!

UPDATE: Well, it looks like Labyrinth Lord was published after OSRIC, and last came S&W. Oh well, so much for my cockamamie theory!

The BIG Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day SALE is ON!

This here's my first post of the day in appreciation of Swords & Wizardry. With this post, I'm letting you know that Frog God Games has discounted their entire line of Swords & Wizardry products for ONE DAY ONLY in celebration of Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day. The discount is good for 25% off S&W Products but you must use coupon code SWApprDay on April 17th (TODAY) at check out.  Note that the coupon excludes items less than $1, S&W Cards, Pre-Orders, and Subscriptions. 

 

So, that's my sales duty done. Later today, my OTHER Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day post (the one with the real sizzle) will emerge from the blogosphere like a great behemoth that crushes adventurers to pulp! Why have I chosen to post later in the day, you ask? Why, to separate myself from the pack, of course! ;-) It's all about the strategy, folks.

Stay tuned!

P.S. It seems that John Reyst has created the code SWAD252013 for the SRD store where you can get PDFs. Sales here help support the SRD sites. Here are the links to the SRD sites: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ and http://www.d20swsrd.com/

Get in on the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day action!

Hey you! Yeah, you!

 

Do you have a blog? Do you like old-school roleplaying? Do you like the chance to win prizes just for blogging?

 

And now, for the BIG question: DO YOU LIKE SWORDS & WIZARDRY?!

 

If you answered yes to any of these burning questions, then head on over to Tenkar's Tavern and sign up for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day! You'll be glad you did! This ain't no April Fool's crap (besides, that was yesterday)!

 

No need to thank me. Now go away, I need to work on my own S&WAD post!

Bye Bye, Level Limits!

As an addendum to my post earlier today about my Labyrinth Lord house rules, I've decided to take a page from another retroclone, Swords & Wizardry, when it comes to the dreaded demihuman level limits. I'm referring specifically to page 16 of the 4th printing of the Swords & Wizardry Core Rules. That page discusses options for continued level advancement for "non-humans." I think it sounds like a great idea to allow demihumans to keep advancing in level, but just at a slower rate. To me, it's a good solution to the long-time debate.

Lankhmar Daydreams...

 

It's Tuesday after Labor Day, so it might as well be Monday. *sigh* I'm SO happy to be back at work. Yeah, right.

 

Anyway, I've really been dreaming of late about running a campaign in the world of Nehwon, where the legendary Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser dwell, using the cool Crypts & Things variant of Swords & Wizardry. It would be my first sword & sorcery-type campaign, rather than "traditional" D&D with its inclusion of high fantasy tropes (Tolkienesque demi-humans, etc).

 

Questions for you, good folks, if you choose to respond and share: 

1. Have you ever roleplayed in the world of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser? If so, please share something of your adventures.
 
2. Have any of you used the Crypts & Things rules in any sort of game, and if so, how do you like them? 

I am itching to use the C&T rules, and I am reading the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser stories I have not yet finished. Good stuff all around. So here I am, daydreaming of Lankhmar, City of the Black Toga...

 

Ah well, someday I believe I will accomplish this goal. But for now, I slave at work, dreaming of when I can once again sit at the table-top with my fellow gamers (I have to skip game night this Wednesday due to school starting back up for the kids). Mourn for me, dear reader, and may you have more gaming luck than me this week!

Early D&D and Feeling Left Out

I feel like there's something of an "inner circle" in the OSR. There's guys steeped in the early editions/versions of the game (OD&D/the LBBs, Holmes, Moldvay) and early supplements, and I am just now scratching the surface of that era in the game's history.

As I explore, I'm becoming more and more interested in stepping away, at least for a while, from my AD&D roots (which I'm currently expressing through AD&D's modern counterpart, Castles & Crusades). I'm becoming more interested in using the old rituals, so to speak, of Basic D&D.

Besides a yen to actually play in/run games using Basic D&D rules for the first time, I've also wondered about the reality behind names like Tekumel, Empire of the Petal Throne, and Arduin. I see the veneration for these items that some people have expressed, and I feel a certain envy, not having been exposed to those things when a young man starting out in the hobby.

Now, I've read up on the meat of Tekumel and Arduin, and further study has not garnered any particular interest on my part. Some of the mystery has been stripped away and I guess I wasn't too impressed. The same goes for my delvings into OD&D and Holmes...they just don't seem to do too much for me. Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X is where I really seem to start liking things, and on through the Mentzer era culminating in the Rules Cyclopedia.

As far as clones go, I like the style and passion that comes from Matt Finch's Swords & Wizardry, and also the magic that seems to be infused into the pages of Dan Proctor's Labyrinth Lord. As for "second generation" clones, I really like Adventurer Conqueror King, and Newt Newport's Crypts & Things is up there too.

But I'll always feel like I missed out on something as a kid, for not having experienced Basic D&D all those years ago, during my formative time in the hobby. Ah well. Here's to making up for lost time! GAME ON!

ALERT: Crypts & Things PDF Released!

Attention, RPG blogosphere! Newt Newport of Sorcerer Under Mountain has released the PDF of his much-anticipated Swords & Wizardry variant called Crypts & Things! If you've read my blog at all in the last few weeks, you've probably read just a wee bit about this sword and sorcery-focused version of Matt Finch's beloved Original D&D retroclone.

Newt, that sly fellow, had scheduled the PDF release for mid-November. So imagine my surprise when I received an email from Mr. Newport with the C&T PDF attached! Talk about a pleasant surprise!

Anyway, I am going to no doubt lose some sleep tonight digging through the game. I've been itching to get my hands on this thing, as I've been dreaming of doing some hardcore sword and sorcery gaming!

Below is a video walkthrough of the book, conducted by Newt himself. I hope that it gets you as excited as me for this game! Do yourself a favor and get your own copy! From what I'm seeing just on an initial skim-through, you won't be disappointed!

Have I mentioned Crypts & Things yet?

"Is the soup ready yet?"

I may have already talked about this before on my blog, but I can't remember. ;-) Anyway there's a pretty cool Swords & Wizardry variant out there called Crypts & Things (the image above is one of the many illustrations in the book). Creator Newt Newport has taken the S&W rules as a foundation and made them more swords and sorcery-friendly.

The project is about to hit the streets, and a lot of people are buzzing about it and have put in their pre-orders (myself included). The PDF is slated for release in the next couple weeks, with the print release before the end of the year. They've almost reached their pre-order goal. So go check it out, and get in on the action!

Gamer ADD and Burn-Out

Hey folks! Just wanted to check in and ramble a bit. Been feeling a bit burnt over the last couple of days with regard to gaming. And I know why: Gamer ADD. I've let that hoary beast push my beleaguered brain to the edge of reason once again.

I will confront Gamer ADD and say "Ah yes, my old friend and enemy, I see you lurking over my shoulder. You're the cause of my unrelenting need to dig through my RPG book collection almost every night.

You push me to flip through all those pages and dream about campaigns that may never be. You make me obsess over thoughts of adventures yet to come.

You distract me from working on the campaign I am currently running...a living and breathing campaign with great players that depend on my ability to provide a fun and exciting experience almost every week. They are what's most important right now. Not you. Begone, I say! The power of St. Gygax compels you!"

Seriously, I am feeling like I need to strike back somehow at my old foe. I am feeling that I need to put away all the other books and stay away from them for a good while. I want to just carry around my Castles & Crusades books and the materials I am using for my current campaign. I don't want what I currently have going on to suffer at all due to my penchant for daydreaming about what could be.

I think I can do it. So, for the time being, until I am no longer feeling fried in the brain pan, I will gently put aside (for instance) my copies of Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry. Just for a while. And with them, I will put my embryonic thoughts of getting down to some Original/Basic/Classic D&D goodness on the shelf. I will set aside thoughts of race-as-class and all the other trappings. Just for a while. So the gray matter can cool down.

Though I am scared of what will happen when the PDF of Crypts & Things comes knocking...but I can't worry about that right now!

I need to do this for my peace of mind, and for the good of my actual gaming. No need to sacrifice the "what is" for the "what might be," right?

If you're out there reading this and you are feeling the Gamer ADD crunch at the moment, gimme an amen! Remind me that I'm not alone! I need the support right now!

Crypts & Things available for pre-order!

The Swords & Wizardry variant Crypts & Things is now available for pre-order! I've been very excited about the arrival of Newt Newport's brainchild, I have to say! It has me daydreaming of running some savage sword & sorcery-style adventures!

I've placed MY order! Go here to order YOURS!

Readin' Up on Basic/Classic/Just Plain D&D

I was recently chastized for referring to Moldvay and Mentzer's sets as OD&D, and perhaps rightly so. Mea culpa. Again, I never actually played OD&D or Moldvay/Mentzer in my gaming career. I started out with AD&D from the get-go. I may have collected things such as the Rules Cyclopedia and the Big Black Box, but never played those versions.

[Just as an aside, I would personally like to call Moldvay / Mentzer's versions D&D, rather than Basic or Classic D&D. Basic doesn't seem to fit to me, since Moldvay had an Expert set, and Mentzer had the Expert / Companion / Master / Immortal sets to follow up his Basic. I would prefer to call the iterations Original D&D, D&D, and AD&D...but I suppose that might not be clear enough. Ah heck, I guess I'll stick to Classic D&D, then.]

It's only now that I'm dabbling in Original and Classic D&D. I purchased Lamentations of the Flame Princess as well as Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry. As stated above, I have a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia at home, and even managed to snag some PDFs of the books in Moldvay and Mentzer's sets. So now I have piles of original versions as well as clones...and I need to start studying up!

I know in the past I declared Mentzer's version of Classic D&D to be my go-to once I was ready to run some plain-old D&D, either using the RC or the books from the sets. Well, now I'm not so sure.

So, I've decided to start really reading up on the old Classic material. I'm picking a starting point as of now, and that is Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X. I'm not really sure where I will go from there. Any advice would be very welcome!

And BTW, where's Holmes fit in with all this? I frankly have no real interest in considering Holmes. I've glanced at his version, and seemed like just a jumble.

Anyway, I'm off to start studying. If I have time, I'll post some impressions. Wish me luck on my journey of discovery...

EDIT: I suppose I should have included a status update of where my head is at currently with regard to "preferred" editions, eh? At this point, Labyrinth Lord seems to have risen above the rest of the pack, both original editions and clones, in my estimation. But I would like to read Moldvay to see how things were originally published. Mentzer and the RC call out to me, perhaps just from nostalgia. But from my prior superficial scans of the contents of LL, the Mentzer-era stuff doesn't seem as "shiny" anymore...at least at the moment.

As for Swords & Wizardry, it's sort of slipping further down on the rungs of my affection. I like some aspects of it, but these aspects (spells, some class options) may be things that I steal for use with a game founded on LL. And I have no interest in gaining access to the original books that S&W is based upon. Is that heresy?

When it comes to Lamentations of the Flame Princess, it too is probably something from which I will steal ideas. For instance, I may use Raggi's d6-based thief skills instead of percentiles. That would probably be the major borrowing.

See how this can all be quite maddening?! Curse you once again, Gamer ADD!

A Yen for OD&D

As you may know, I've been a part of a group that's been campaigning using Castles & Crusades since early this year. I've been a player and a GM in the group, and I have to say it's been an incredible experience. We're a small group, but what we lack in size we make up for in creativity, camaraderie, and lots of RPG experience. This group has fulfilled my long-time goal of finally gaming with new people. Until this year, I had only gamed with childhood friends. And it's been the true vehicle for the return to table-top roleplaying that I have yearned for since around 2007.

All that being said, there's the eternal spectre of Gamer ADD. I think I am a more-than-moderate sufferer of this dreaded condition.

So, perhaps I've fallen under the influence of JB over at B/X Blackrazor, but I've decided that, once our current C&C campaign runs its course, I would like to propose an OD&D game to my group.

This is my chance to finally game using OD&D rules, which I never really did...unless you count my recent, short-term use of the Lamentations of the Flame Princess Deluxe Edition rules when gaming with a couple old friends on a few occasions. OD&D represents a more "mythic" play style to me, where characters are more archetypal, more "primal" if you will. This taps into my strong belief that game system plays a large role in determining style of play (a topic I've been meaning to post about for some time now, but haven't yet gotten around to it).

First of all, I'm pondering what system(s) to use. Do I use the original games, or do I use a retroclone? There's a certain something to the thought of playing with the originally published rules. But then again, there's the often greater clarity of rules and presentation of retroclones. At the moment, I'm considering a foundation of Labyrinth Lord with some aspects of Swords & Wizardry thrown in for good measure. But my goal now is to read up on original B/X as well as the retroclones I like (Labyrinth Lord and S&W) to see which has the functionality I need. Oops, almost forgot: I've also got the Rules Cyclopedia as well as the books from the Mentzer Basic and Expert sets. So, I've got some readin' and decidin' to do, as well as battlin' with nostalgia over practicality.

Any suggestions/advice would be welcome! (this includes my request for advice on dwarves from this recent post)

As for the world in which I would place the campaign, I am thinking that I will do a homebrew world. Roleplaying has been a way to fulfill my creative urges. There's a level of creativity in designing adventures and plot hooks. But then there's another level in worldbuilding that I've been missing. I have been worried about lack of time, but I think I have some ideas to get this going.

But again, all of this is just very preliminary. I have no intention of abandoning my current campaign, and expect our C&C goodness to keep rolling for a good while. Still, there's something to be said for a little daydream-brainstorm for future adventures...

Facing Down the Beast

So, instead of bitching about gamer ADD like I've been prone to do in the past, I decided to man-up and do what I should have done before: take all the RPGs that have been plaguing my mind and literally spreading them all out in front of me. Like a lineup of the usual suspects. And I gave them a good hard look, and some thought, and I was determined to come to some conclusions. And I think I've finally regained mastery of my gaming domain.

First there's Castles & Crusades, my number one game. The Sancho Panza to my Don Quixote. The Little John to my Robin Hood. The Riker to my Picard. I started out my gaming career with AD&D 1E/2E, and C&C to me is a near-perfect reimagining of those editions of the game. I like what Troll Lord Games has done with the system by incorporating the SIEGE Engine mechanic, bringing some 3E into the mix. I don't have to do much in the way of house ruling to get it to where I need it to be at my table. I will never need to go back to AD&D, because C&C has become the ideal version of those editions, to me.

Now, as I've said before, until recently I never actually played any version of basic/original/non-Advanced D&D. I bought the Rules Cyclopedia when it came out in the early 90's, and also bought the "Black Box" version of D&D, but never actually played them. I missed out on the whole boxed set thing entirely when I was a kid. The LBBs and all that Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, etc. jive was something I would have appreciated back then, I think...but I missed it all. I was just never exposed to it.

But looking back now, and having dabbled in OD&D (especially via Swords & Wizardry and Lamentations of the Flame Princess), I have become more and more enamored of OD&D and its clones. But looking through Moldvay, Mentzer, the Rules Cyclopedia, clones like Labyrinth Lord and S&W and LotFP and all the rest, I think that I feel strongly about actually using the original Mentzer books rather than a clone. I just like the look of the game, the layout of the books, the style, the art (as a confessed Elmore nut). There's just something about it that calls to me.

So, when I get the chance to run some OD&D, I'm going to use Mentzer, with some house rules I'm mulling over to add a bit of spice to things. I'm taking inspiration for my house rules from many sources on the web and blogosphere, as well as from other games. This includes the beta version of Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG.

Now, there are some other various games that have also been tempting me with their shininess. Games such as Barbarians of Lemuria, Dragon Age, and even that game based in Middle Earth called The One Ring that I just learned about YESTERDAY! Yes, gamer ADD has no mercy. Heck, I just really discovered a lot to like about Dragon Age less than a week ago, on Free RPG Day. All of these various other games I have lumped together as potential candidates, but I have used a bit of reality to temper my expectations. These miscellaneous games are nice and all, but I either don't own them, they haven't been published yet, or they would take time to learn that I just don't seem to have these days.

Above all, I'm totally dedicated to the Dragonlance game I am currently running, and have no intention of sacrificing it in order to jump into OD&D right now. And especially not for some new shiny game that would require a whole new cycle of reading rules, learning rules, teaching rules to others, etc. I've been waiting a looooong time to do a Dragonlance campaign,  and I have met a great group of gamers who make running the game a pleasure.

Wow, it feels good to get that all out! All it took was standing up to the beast!

TotW Session 5 and Other Updates

Well, we had our fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday (I think I stated that in a recent post already, but, there you are!). The guys couldn't make it over last night, so next session is set for next Thursday, gods willing! You know how the permutations of adulthood can stalk and kill free time. In the meantime, I need to find the time to do an adventure log for the last session, add in NPCs, etc. Then prepare for the next session. Sheesh.

Things are going well, the guys and I seem to be shaking off the rust and are having a great time. I still sometimes wish we had at least one other player (and in particular a certain old friend who used to be one of our core players growing up), but for now things are going very well.

Anyone who's been reading my blog (thank you, the few of you who do so!) may have detected a recent bit of flip flopping, however. First, there was this last post on how I am now determined to switch the campaign from S&W/Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. In a few other posts (here and here) you can see my turmoil between settling on S&W/Flame Princess or C&C. I almost feel like I want to change my stance on whether or not an ever-growing number of clones is a good thing (I currently think that more is merrier...but that might change). There has been recent debate again on the blogosphere regarding the matter of retroclone proliferation...no doubt you've seen it.

On the other hand, I can't fault the plethora of clones for being the source of my Gamer ADD. I have always been this way, getting distracted by a new campaign setting or game system that rears its head. This has been true for my entire gaming career, long before the current retroclone explosion.

But I think that my roots in 1E AD&D are finally coming out. So, even though it can be argued that C&C adds in a dash of 3.5 Edition, etc, it's got that 1E feel, with the added benefit of being more organized and less dense than the original AD&D books...and easier to get ahold of for the most part (CKG being the long-time exception, of course).

I'm not saying that I won't someday revisit the OD&D clones of my choice (S&W/Flame Princess) but they were inspired by a version of D&D that I didn't really experience in my formative years. Nostalgia trumps all, I guess, in this case.

Then there was my recent encounter with Barbarians of Lemuria, which indeed drove me into ADD overdrive! And also, always lurking in the back of my mind, is the vow I made to myself to finally run a Dragonlance campaign. I read the Dragonlance novel Stormblade 20 years ago, and it was the real spark that turned me on to D&D. I plan to read it again soon, and I am also planning on that campaign before my next birthday. How I will make it happen is still beyond me, but dammit, I am DETERMINED!

All of this inner turmoil has not caused a collapse in the campaign I am running...so far. And I want to keep it that way. So far, the guys seem to be having fun, so things are well. But the worst thing I could do right now is keep switching things around on them. They seem fine with a move to C&C, but I don't think they would appreciate being teleported to a new campaign world again or yet another game system. And I am also not sure they would want to be in two simultaneous campaigns. So I need to hold steady with the TotW campaign for a while, and be patient. Argh!

Anyway, another reason for my attention being drawn again to C&C is TrollCon East! Finally, a Con in my part of NJ! Can't wait to meet those guys!

That's all for now. As you can see, there's a lot going on. But you know, in the end, I'm loving it all!

I guess it's better to have too much going on...

...rather than nothing at all! Well, we had a great session fifth session of my Tales of the Wanderers campaign last Thursday night. The players are really getting the hang of things, especially our resident newb. The game is picking up some good steam, and it was (IMHO) our best session yet! I just haven't found the time to do the adventure log entry for the session, nor to add the new NPCs, locations, etcetera to the wiki.

I have to say, though, that the yen to move the game from S&W/LotFP to Castles & Crusades has returned. Yes, the best laid plans of orcs and men, as they say. But the more time passes, the more I feel like we need the flexibility of C&C (mainly with regard to the SIEGE Engine attribute check system). I'm also starting to really miss the separate races and classes from my good old AD&D. Yes, I really think my roots are coming out, as I've stated before in this blog that I never really played OD&D back in my early days. I was AD&D right out of the gate.

Granted, the SIEGE Engine is grounded in d20/D&D 3.5, but it's workable. But I'm still a big believer in player skill versus character skill. I hope to have a hybrid of the two in the game.
Players should rely mainly on their own wits, with the rolls as a supplement to that...and not the other way around.

I just hope the players don't protest the switch! Although, I don't see it as a major learning curve. But they may see it differently. At the very least, they'll have to get used to a whole new character sheet, with a bit more going on.

The shift to C&C will also get me closer to something I swore I would do: finally run a campaign in the Dragonlance world. As I stated in the first part of my testimonial, a Dragonlance novel really got me into fantasy fiction in a major way as a kid. It's been a couple decades now since that formative moment, and I've vowed to finally make my own adventures on Krynn in homage. I'm not sure when this campaign will finally start (sometime this year, I think), but I want to make it my best ever. So I need to plan...

And Barbarians of Lemuria is still lurking in the darkness at the back of my brain, crouched, ready, waiting to pounce again on my frontal lobes and cause my RPG ADD to flare up once more!

Oh, and one other thing is on my gaming plate this week: TrollCon East is coming to my beloved South Jersey! Finally, a Con that isn't a half-continent away from me! The store at which it's taking place, All Things Fun, is one of a handful of gaming stores in my area. And it is hands down the best of the lot.

Ah, my life has gone from a gaming famine to a feast, indeed!

Damned Barbarians!

Now, anyone who's been visiting my blog to read my infrequent posts should know that I have a relatively young campaign going called Tales of the Wanderers. I'm using a S&W Complete/Flame Princess hybrid rules set for it. There has been a bit of dimension hopping going on already, with characters starting off from Greyhawk's Oerth and Dragonlance's Krynn. Yes, a kender walked on Oerth for a short time, but alas he has now returned to his homeworld. His player had come to me to let me know that he has had a long-standing yen to play a monk character, and this was made possible after I aquired the S&W Complete rules (I had initially been using only the Lamentations of the Flame Princess deluxe box set rules). So the kender left our ongoing storyline, to be replaced by a monk.

The players characters are now on the world of Golarion, the default setting for Pathfinder. I find the setting fascinating, from the nations to the history and the gods, and at the moment found it more appealing than Oerth, Faerun, Krynn, or any other prepublished setting. Perhaps this is because I've done a lot of recent gaming in those worlds, and because at least one of my players has read a good bunch of novels based in Faerun. I felt like Golarion was new ground, and could be easily tweaked and reshaped into my own image. And I absolutely need a published setting to help me provide details for the campaign, because I just don't have the time to create my own world from scratch. But I am taking many liberties with the setting.

Anyone interested in knowing more about the goings on in the campaign can read the adventure log at Obsidian Portal.

Now, all that said, I want to stress that I really love what I've created with my players for the Tales of the Wanderers campaign. I like how I've blended S&W and LotFP, I like my smattering of house rules for the campaign, I like the characters my players' enthusiasm and the characters they are using. I have lots of ideas to throw at the players. Yeah, everything is good.

And of course, along comes the serpent in the garden. The serpent's name is Barbarians of Lemuria (referred to as BoL from here on out). You see, I have a weakness for swords & sorcery. Most of my roleplaying experience may be with epic or high fantasy, the default mode of Dungeons and Dragons-style gaming, but I love my Conan, my Elric, my Fafhrd and Grey Mouser, etcetera. So when I heard rumors of this BoL game, I had to seek it out.

I acquired a copy, and quickly I was ensnared! The system is simple and is well suited for games that aspire to capture the swords & Sorcery feel. I recommend checking it out.

But now I am eager to finally do a campaign set in Hyboria, something that has been gnawing within me forever! And though BoL has a the built-in Lemuria setting, it can easily be used for a game set in Conan's world.

Damn you, Gamer ADD! Damn you, "new shiny"!

So, here's what I'm currently planning. I am thinking of starting a campaign called "With Steel and Spell: Adventures Across Hyboria" using the BoL system. It will serve as a "side campaign" of episodic adventures, just like Robert E. Howard's Conan stories. This campaign will be a quick and easy game for those times when my players and I, for whatever reasons, are not prepared to delve into our main campaign. There are nights when some or all of us are not up to the demands of the more structured Tales of the Wanderers game (we may be exhausted from a hard day's work, I may not have had time to prepare materials for a session, etcetera).

That's where BoL comes in! We can still use our game night for gaming, but without worrying about the more serious campaign. So, that's how I am trying to contain the BoL beast, through compromise and not outright denial! Repressing one's urges is never good, right? Especially urges of a barbaric nature!

Questions for the masses:

Has anyone else out there recently been hit with a bout of Gamer ADD, and if so, how did you overcome/appease it (if you were able to do so at all)?

Has anyone had any experience with BoL, such as actual play? If so, please share!

Tales of the Wanderers: Session 4

So we finally got the group back together after a bit of wintry mess and had our fourth session for ye olde campaign (the third session with both of my players in attendance). Here's the latest adventure log post on the campaign's Obsidian Portal page.

We're still using a Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess rules combo, despite my recent thoughts of changing rules sets, and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. One of my players, Dan, had been playing a kender, but he and I decided that he would move to a monk character that he had been thinking of before the campaign started. I allowed this, since we are not too far into the campaign and he really seemed to have a great yearning to play a monk (made possible by my purchasing the Swords & Wizardry Complete rules).

Anyway, hope you take a look at the OP page, and I welcome comments, thoughts, etc. It's been a great experience so far, and me and the guys are happy as heck to be playing! We're having lots of fun, and it seems like it will only keep getting better! That's all I could ask for at this point!

Speaking Too Soon

So, in a recent post yers trooly made a declaration about my intentions to switch my current campaign from a foundation of Swords & Wizardry/Lamentations of the Flame Princess to Castles & Crusades. Well, I spoke too soon.

It seems that my players made it plain that they would prefer to stick with the rules we are currently using, at least for the time being. They've just gotten the swing of things, and are sort of dreading a switch. I guess I don't blame them. If we were a lot younger and a lot less burdened with adult-type stuff, then maybe the switch wouldn't be a big deal. So, if the players speak, then who am I to argue? Oh wait...I AM the GM, aren't I?!

Actually, I've been mulling over the possibility of moving the campaign to the world of Nehwon, and I think the S&W/LotFP hybrid that I'm using will suit that setting just fine.

So, onward on!