Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Creating Dungeons

Alright folks, I'm gonna power through the final sections of the Basic Set to wrap up the series in this post. About time, I know, right?

Creating Dungeons
Frank starts out this section of the book by defining a dungeon as "any place where monsters and treasures may be found. A dungeon is usually a group of rooms, connected by corridors. It could be a castle (new or ruined), some caves, or anything else you can imagine" (p. 46). I do like this definition, as it frees up the DM to go crazy and not worry too much about needing to stick to subterranean mazes (although those can be really fun). This is followed up with a reminder of the basic risk-reward scheme of the dungeon, the "level" where higher levels mean tougher monsters but greater rewards. It's a bit brief, but described in more detail below.

Types of Dungeons
This section is more about dungeon level orientation than type of location that could be used as a dungeon. Levels increase in number as you go down, or up, or farther from the entrance. Multiple entrances, especially entrances straight to higher levels, is a good thing. Frank closes the section suggesting to stick to traditional vertical dungeons at first, and gradually experiment, possibly after looking at a few modules.

Good and Bad Dungeons
Here, Frank is defining a "good" dungeon as a logically constructed one, and a "bad" one as a random mismash of rooms, monsters, traps, etc. "A good dungeon is reasonable. Its design is carefully thought out, and the monsters and treasures are placed for a reason" (p. 46). Of course, he does admit in the next paragraph that a randomly generated dungeon could still be a good dungeon if it has some sort of theme tying the otherwise random encounters together, and monsters that should logically be found in that sort of location. He admits that the Solo Adventure isn't really a "good" dungeon, since it was designed to help new players experience a variety of game mechanics and situations, but with a few changes could be made better.

I'm not sure that I agree with Frank 100%. The random, nonsensical dungeon can still be a lot of fun. And since people have a natural desire to see patterns when none exist, players will often construct a more logical narrative from a random experience. Frank does mention that dungeons shouldn't just be places to fight monsters -- it should have other forms of entertainment like puzzles and RP situations as well. And on that I fully agree. If I just want to grind through some random monster battles, I'll go fire up Dragon Warrior on my NES emulator.

Step By Step
This is the heart of the section, as Frank gives a six step process to create a dungeon. Of course, the above description of dungeons and levels seems to assume a "mega-dungeon" setting, this step-by-step section assumes dungeons as one-shot type deals, made specifically for that adventure (like in many modules). This did color my early dungeon crafting. I stared out with fairly random multi-level caves, then moved on to smaller, mission-specific dungeons as I grew as a DM.

1. Choose a Scenario
By scenario, Frank means both a theme for the dungeon, and a hook to get the PCs to explore it. He lists several good rationales for adventure. The only flaw with the presentation is that it left me assuming that the DM would just provide the players with their motivation, rather than letting players dictate their motives and me as DM creating the dungeon in response. I think this must have been fairly common (maybe it still is) due to the number of "You've been captured by..." adventures DMs love to spring on players. Yes, I've been guilty of this in the past as well.

The scenarios listed are: Exploring the Unknown, Investigating an Enemy Outpost, Recovering Ruins, Destroying an Ancient Evil, Visiting a Lost Shrine, Fulfilling a Quest, Escaping from Enemies, Rescuing Prisoners, Using a Magic Portal, Finding a Lost Race.

I do like how a lot of these don't require the PCs to go in guns blazing to complete the objective. I really think something like this, slightly modified, presented as a "Reasons to Adventure" advice section in the Players Manual would have been useful. As I mentioned above, this section seems to assume the impetus for adventure is on the DM. "Hey players, I wrote up a dungeon. Wanna run through it?" rather than "Hey DM, we want to do this next time..."

2. Decide on a Setting
This gives us a short list of potential dungeons (expanded in the Expert Set to include wildernesses, but for here it's fairly traditional): Castle or Tower, Crypt or Tomb, Caves or Cavern, Ancient Temple, Abandoned Mine, Stronghold or Town.

That covers a good amount of adventuring locations, and provided me with enough fodder for dungeon creation for years.

3. Select Special Monsters
Before making the dungeon map, you should have a few ideas about what monsters live there. In other words, make sure there's some thematic monsters to face that are appropriate to the scenario and setting selected.

4. Draw the Map
There's some general advice on dungeon map drawing, starting with setting the scale, defining the general shape/style, and finally filling in the details. It references the dungeon symbols on the inside front cover of the book, and again these did help inspire me to create more interesting dungeon maps than simply a connected series of rectangular rooms and 10' wide corridors.

5. Stock the Dungeon
Fill up the map key! First place the Special Monsters and their treasures, then select or randomly roll for monsters and what not in the rest of the dungeon.

6. Fill in the Final Details
Now that you know what monsters are where, you can add details about dungeon dressing, sounds, smells, etc. Frank gives some good advice to keep it simple, as players get bored by excessive descriptions. Just give them the feel of the dungeon. This is one area I could improve on, personally, as I'm often a bit too sparse in my dungeon keys, and rely on improvising such things in play, which means I sometimes for get to give enough description, or useful clues for players to work with.

Frank also suggests making Wandering Monster charts for each dungeon to fit the scenario. I used to do this often, but more recently I've gotten lazy (with the exception of my Megadungeon). I need to make wandering monsters a more important part of the games I run, especially Chanbara. It (and Flying Swordsmen before it), lacks that in the rules.

Random Stocking
This section (and the original version in Moldvay's Basic Set which developed a very simple system in OD&D) has rightly received much praise from various old school bloggers over the years. It's a simple system of rolling two six-siders, one of which determines room contents, the other treasure. The OD&D version simply said roll a d6, with a 1-2 being a monster, anything else is an empty room. Another d6 roll then determines treasure (1-3 for monster rooms, 1 for empty rooms IIRC). The same basic system is presented here, but fleshed out (by Moldvay) so that:
1-2 Empty Room (1/d6 treasure)
3 Trap (1-2/d6 treasure)
4-5 Monster (1-3/d6 treasure)
6 Special (usually no treasure)

This means that, aside from intentionally placed monsters (and treasures), about one third of all rooms are inhabited, one third have dangers or oddities, and one third are empty. Approximately one third of all rooms will also have some treasure.

We get a Random Treasures Table for use with this system as well. In my early days, and even up until more recent years, I tended to ignore this table, and just use the Treasure Types tables. That meant that sometimes fairly small groups of monsters would be guarding fairly large treasures. Sometimes that's not a problem, but it does make monster encounters more of a lotto style. Using this Random Treasures table, small amounts of treasure will be found more often, and every now and then there will be a jackpot. From what I've read about modern game design, that's a winning method. When I revamp my Megadungeon, or if I go ahead and prepare the 5E Dragonlance game I'm thinking of trying to run, I'll probably use this table more often.

Room Contents
This section gives advice and suggestions for Traps and Specials indicated by the random stocking method described above.

Traps
We tend to think of D&D traps as killers (Tomb of Horrors casts a long shadow), but Frank is explicit that traps should not usually be deadly, or at least not always. He defines traps as "anything that could cause damage, delay or a magical effect to occur" (p. 47). He mentions that Thieves are good at finding and removing traps (failing to mention Dwarves' special detection ability), and that while an area may have a combination of traps, they shouldn't be too dangerous. "Deadly traps are not recommended until the 2nd level of a dungeon (or deeper) is reached" (p. 47).

He then gives us a list of types of traps, and some possible variations, and while many do result in damage, poison, etc. there are quite a few non-lethal traps as well. He lists out:
Blade (damage), Creature (attacks with surprise), Darts (damage, paralysis, poison, curse, etc.), Explosion (damage), Falling Item (damage), Fog (strange but non-damaging effects), Illusion (as phantasmal force), Light (temporary blindness), Pit (damage, or chute to lower level), Poison Gas (damage or instant death), Poison Needle (unspecified).

Special
A lot of the fun of D&D, and many memorable encounters, are with specials, which Frank defines as "anything you place which is not normal, but is not a trap, monster or treasure" (p. 48). He provides a list of these as well:
Alarm (summons a monster, opens a door, or just makes noise), Illusion (a dungeon feature or creature is not really there), Map Change (shifting walls), Movements (shifting rooms), Pool (lots of strange potential effects), Sounds (moaning, screaming, talking, etc.), Statue (may be treasure, magical, alive, etc.), Transportation (hidden doors or stairs, elevators, magical portals, etc.), Trick Monster (examples are either variant normal monsters, or pun monsters), Weird Things (flying weapons, reverse gravity zones, shrinking/growing zones, etc.).

Basically, specials are there to add complications, mysteries, unexpected twists, or just plain old color.

Wandering Monsters
The final textual section of the book explains what wandering monster encounters are and what they are for, and how to run them. Having some monsters on the move makes the dungeon feel more alive. They also serve as a subtle reminder to players to keep things moving, although the book doesn't lay that out explicitly here.

Frank gives some advice on deciding when to have wandering monsters appear. Check once every two turns by rolling a d6. On a 1, wandering monsters appear. Noises, curses, or special areas may increase the frequency or probability of monsters appearing. Wandering monster numbers are typically less than a full room encounter, but the monsters rarely have treasure with them.

The inside back cover has wandering monster tables for dungeon levels 1 to 3, along with some Dungeon Master Reference charts (all saving throws, including for Fighters up to level 12 for use with monsters, and Monster Hit Charts up to 17+ hit dice).

For the Wandering Monster tables, there isn't much rhyme or reason to them. There are of course plenty of normal animals/giant insects, humanoids, some undead, and a few oddities on each level. While there are a few tough encounters on the first two levels, the third level chart does up the danger a fair amount with medusa, wererats and shadows making appearances. One handy thing about these charts is that it lists the page number on which each monster can be found in the book.

Index
The back cover of the Dungeon Masters Rulebook gives us an index of both volumes, with entries listed as P# for Players Manual entries, and D# for Dungeon Masters Rulebook entries. It's pretty useful to have, but I don't remember using it that often. I read through these books so often that first year I had them that I was able to find anything I needed so easily for years afterwards. But it is nice to have a good index in the book.

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And there you have it, folks! Mentzer Basic D&D, cover to cover. fin

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Explanation of Magic Items

This section starts with a paragraph on how to identify magic items: by experimenting with them. In other words, you need to risk exposing your character to curses or possibly death in order to be sure of your magic item's abilities. And you need to take the risk. If you have a hireling or retainer do it, they'll keep the item since they took the risk.

Of course, you could also ask a high-level NPC magic-user, but you'll need to fork out cash or complete some service first. This is a good thing, of course, because it provides a hook for adventure. If your magic item is cursed, it's a spur to adventure (at least until higher levels when a party Cleric or Magic-User can take care of that for you). If you want to take the safe (and slow) path of asking an NPC to ID the item, you'll need to complete some sort of adventure.

The next short paragraph just explains that some magic items are permanent and others temporary. Then, there's a slightly longer section on using magic items. Items that require concentration to make them function have a caveat that is important, but I often forget due to it not being a factor in more recent editions: when you use the item, "the user may not move, cast a spell, or take any other action during that round" (p. 42). Wands aren't like in Harry Potter, where they're a magical replacement for guns (or more accurately, Green Arrow/Hawkeye quiver of arrows). No John Woo stunts allowed.

Finally, we get a short explanation of charges in magic items. The rules say there's no way for the character to learn how many charges are in a charged item, but I always found this difficult to rule in play, especially since in the earliest days my two best friends and I co-DMed the same world. I've always just been open with players about how many charges were in their magic items. Not telling them makes them less cavalier about using them up, and while it might be kinda fun for them to gamble with their magic items, letting them know how many are left allows them to make informed choices about their use, which I think can also be fun (and probably more fun for the player). Oh, and there's a note that charged magic items cannot be recharged. I've recently overruled this for my games (not that it's easy to accomplish) because it can be a good spur to adventure if it's possible.

Swords
We get some basic information first. The 'plus' adds to hit rolls and damage rolls. Some of the swords get a better bonus against specific opponents. Weapon restrictions for classes still apply. Then, we get information on the two swords that can cast Clerical spells, with a note that other Cleric or Magic-User spells may be placed in swords. It's a nice way to let the Fighter, Thief, Dwarf or Halfling have a bit of magic. Oh, and then we are told that most magic swords are normal swords, but occasionally short swords or two-handed magic swords will be found, and the DM can select the type as they like or roll randomly.

Swords can, of course, be cursed. There's a 15% chance any sword will be cursed (roll 1-3 on d20). The cursed sword will appear to be the type rolled until used in combat. According to a strict reading of the rules, no matter what type was rolled, as a cursed sword it will be a sword -1. It doesn't mention if special powers, like additional bonus vs. specific types or spell casting ability still functions, but the implication is that they don't. One thing I have often overlooked is that a cursed sword, once uncursed, reverts back to the type rolled originally. Getting a cursed sword isn't screwing the player over that badly, as they can go on a quest to remove the curse, and then have whatever sweet swag they were expecting to have. Delayed gratification is a good thing, right?

Other Weapons
 This is a short section, as other weapons pretty much follow the rules for magic swords. For players who do prefer other weapons besides swords, there is a small silver lining (I mentioned in the previous post how the chances to get other magic weapons are much lower than swords). Other magic weapons are only cursed 10% of the time (1-2 on d20).

Armor
There is a chart for magic armor that is somewhat unnecessary. Since only armors of +1 value are given in this set, though, instead of explaining how the plus lowers your AC, there's a chart that shows the AC for non-magical armor, magical armor, and an encumbrance adjustment for wearing magical armor. The encumbrance adjustment is really the only useful part of the chart once you move beyond the Basic rules. And since shields can get a +1 or +2 enchantment, Frank had to explain the system for magical AC adjustment anyway. Maybe the chart is a hold-over from the days when the Chainmail combat system was standard, and AC had a slightly different meaning.

Cursed armor works similarly to magic weapons, in that a cursed item is -1 (adds 1 to AC). There's a slightly higher chance to get cursed armor than other weapons, but slightly less than magic swords (1 on d8).

Potions
There's a bit of description of potions first, then we're told how long they last (typically 7-12 Turns), and only the DM should know for sure. If you want to ID a potion, take a sip. To activate the potion, chug it! Also, unlike in AD&D (1E for sure, maybe 2E as well), there's no fun potion miscability table, just a note that if you drink a potion while another is in effect, you get sick for 3 Turns (no save) and neither potion has any more effect. Healing potions are exempt from this as they have no duration.

The potion of diminution is interesting in that it specifies that while shrunk down you cannot damage creatures bigger than 1' tall (you're not Ant-Man). It doesn't specify how you damage small creatures like that (roll damage normally? Do minimum damage?), nor does it mention hit point adjustments. It does say it will negate a potion of growth, so there's one exception to the "no mixing potions" rule.

The potion of gaseous form is specific in that gear is not made gaseous. It also notes that while gaseous you are AC -2 and only magic weapons or spells can harm you.

The potion of growth, unlike its counterpart above, does let you know that you deal double damage while giant size, but your hit points don't change. The exception to the sickness with potions of diminution is noted again here, as well.

Invisibility potions have an interesting optional rule which if you're going to use it for this potion, you might as well use it for others as well. At the DM's option, players may split the potion into six doses which each have effect for 1 Turn. That's nice for setting up an ambush, or group escapes.

Finally, potions of poision, even if just a sip is taken, can cause instant death! Yes, you get a save, and similar to the previous advice on poison, there's a note that the DM can have the potion deal damage instead of causing death instantly.

Scrolls
We get a bit of description of scrolls and how they function. There's a not that only spell-casters of the appropriate type can cast spell scrolls, but any character can use a Protection scroll or treasure map... but this forgets that characters of low intelligence have trouble reading, or can't read at all.

For spell scrolls, there's a 25% chance the scroll is for Clerics, otherwise it is for MUs and Elves. The scroll can have one to three spells, and at this level the spells may go up to third level (due to there being some higher level Cleric/Magic-User spells in the book. Especially for MUs/Elves, since they need to collect spells for their spellbooks, this is a good thing, because it adds a bit of tension to having a scroll and never using it so that it can be added to the spell-book later, or use it when it may be of help.

Cursed scrolls affect you just by looking at the scroll, so unlike magic swords, weapons and armor, the removal of the curse does not revert the scroll to a beneficial magical one, it just ends the effects. There are some curses suggested, and the fourth one is level drain "as if struck by a wight" with a note to avoid using this item in a situation where the characters are 1st level as level drain would kill them.  I think if this were the curse, I'd give a saving throw or something. Even a poison potion allows a saving throw.

Protection Scrolls are one of my favorite magic items. I'm not sure why, but I think it's the fact that any (literate) character can use them, and they have some useful effects. There are only two in the Basic Set, Protection from Lycanthropes and from Undead. There are more in Expert (don't remember off hand if the Companion Set added any), and even more in AD&D (Unearthed Arcana/2E at least). They create a 10' diameter -- as a kid I interpreted it as radius, but it says "10' across" (p. 44) -- moving circle of protection that prevents a certain number of creatures from entering. The number affected is rolled randomly, though, so if you roll low, or there are just a lot of that type of creature, some can get through. Still, when fighting lycanthropes or undead, preventing the whole pack from mobbing you is still not bad, although keeping them all away is best.

One thing that is unclear is how to rule the effect if there are more than one type of the creatures together. So if there are werewolves (1-8 affected) and weretigers (1-4 affected) together, do some of both get hedged out? Only the weaker? Only the stronger? DMs can determine it as they wish.

Treasure maps -- I mentioned before how I think these are kind of out of place -- may lead you to normal or magical treasure. You as DM should also prepare treasure maps ahead of time, which is a good idea, if you have plenty of prep time and your players really need accurate visuals. Frank suggests that foreign languages may be used on the map to make it difficult to read the map without magic.

Rings
Anyone who's read or seen Aladdin or The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings knows what the first section tells us: that the ring needs to be worn on a finger to have an effect. The game does explicitly tell us that you're limited to only one ring per hand, two total, or they all stop functioning (except a cursed Ring of Weakness). Also, anyone can use a ring.

The ring of animal control is (for me at least) an overlooked gem of an item. Maybe I just never had a PC that acquired one, and if any of my old players did, they never took advantage of it. I know I haven't had any rolled up in my recent dungeons or other adventures. The ring lets you control 1d6 normal animals or a single giant animal, as long as they're in sight, for up to one turn. That can take care of a lot of deadly encounters with especially poisonous creatures with little or at least lessened risk to the party. The down side is no movement while concentrating on the control. Also, the rules are worded a bit unfairly -- only one 1/2 hit die giant rat could be controlled, while 1d6 sabertooth tigers or cave bears could be controlled by a strict reading. And when you get dinosaurs in the Expert Set... Obviously some DM judgment is required.

There's not really much to say about the rings of fire resistance, invisibility, or protection +1. The first two work like the spells (fire resistance permanently, invisibility once per turn), and the ring of protection +1 adds to AC and saving throws continually. Nice, but nothing unusual about any of them.

The ring of water walking leaves me with one question (and of course, it's up to individual DMs to decide the answer). The description says "The wearer of this ring may walk on the surface of any body of water, and will not sink" (p. 44). How is that controversial, you ask? Well, what about other non-water liquids? Can you cross a river of vinegar or a pool of oil? If you have glass slippers could you cross acid? Can you pour some water over a pressure plate, then walk on the spilled water without setting it off? Lots of potential for fun with this one!

The cursed ring of weakness is last. It lowers your Strength to 3 within a few rounds, and lasts until the curse is removed. And unlike magic swords/weapons/armor, removing the curse doesn't revert it to a useful magic ring. I may add other cursed rings that affect other stats, or maybe just roll randomly what ability score gets drained, or have it affect the Prime Requisite, because most of the time a Magic-User or Thief with this ring isn't usually overly burdened, except that they can only then use one useful ring at a time. A ring of feeblemind, or ring of sickliness would be a fun change up every now and then (although magic rings being rare, compared to other items, and there being lots of types especially by the Companion Set/RC tables, they wouldn't come up often).

Wands, Staves and Rods
This is the only class of magic item that doesn't have any cursed items (at least in the Basic Set...I'll have to check if later sets add some). We get a bit of description of all three types of item, and a note that at least for the items presented here, only MUs and Elves can use wands, only Clerics can use staves, and anyone can use a rod. Also, wands will have 1d10 charges only when you find them.

Wands of enemy detection (and later the enemy detection ability of intelligent swords in the Expert Set) always seemed like a fairly useless item to us when we were kids, because (as I've mentioned countless times in this series over the years), most monsters would just attack in those early games. However, there is an ability of this wand that actually makes it super useful even after combat starts -- hostile invisible creatures get lit up, so everyone can see where they are. Hidden creatures like thieves or troglodytes also appear.

The wand of magic detection is a great item to have, as it frees up a spell slot, or speeds up identification of magical loot, and occasionally can be used to confirm that locks/traps/strange things are magical or not.

Wands of paralyzation are nice, they shoot a ray 60' long, 30' wide at the end, and anything in it must save vs. wands or be paralyzed for one whole hour. If there were a spell that had the same effect, it would probably be 4th level, or maybe 5th, since Hold Person, which affects 1 to 4 humanoids only, is 3rd for a magic-user. In fact, compared to Hold Monster, this wand's effect would maybe be a 6th level spell... And here it is in the Basic Set.

The staff of healing is nice and simple here (it gets optionally much more complicated in the Companion Set). It can cast cure light wounds on any number of creatures, each once per day. Any army or settlement's Cleric would probably go to great lengths to secure one of these items, as it can take care of most of that community's injuries without resorting to spell slots.

The snake staff is another (for my old group at least) overlooked gem. It's a staff +1 in melee (and we get melee stats for a staff here before it's provided on the weapons lists in Expert), and on command changes into a snake that automatically (no save) ensnares the target of man-size or less. While it does have hit points in snake form, and becomes non-magical if killed, that's a pretty good way to take a creature alive.

The rod of cancellation is the item any character can use, and none of them want to! Why? Because it turns what would otherwise be your magical loot into a non-magical item. Kind of a last resort, unless you're using it to remove an unwanted cursed item. This description does give us the concept of "Touch AC" which was enshrined in 3E. To hit an item with the rod in combat, you only need to hit AC 9 (unless, as Frank notes, the item is currently being wielded, which should provide it a lower AC).

Miscellaneous Magic Items
In general, I'm also a big fan of miscellaneous items, many because again any class character can use them (at least of the ones here in Basic), and they all provide some fun effects, some of which can only be achieved through these items.

The bag of devouring is technically a cursed item, although there are no restrictions like being forced to keep it. It appears to be a bag of holding, but if you leave items in it for too long (7 to 12 Turns), the items disappear. So once it's determined that this is a bag of devouring, you need to empty it out once per hour and refill it. Unlike the bag of holding, however, it doesn't list a maximum weight limit (although many DMs would likely imply one from the bag of holding's limit). A strict reading, however, gives unlimited capacity, but just the need to empty it and refill it once per hour.

As just mentioned, the bag of holding has a size/weight limit of what can go in it listed here, and it tells us that when full the bag only weighs 600cn (so the same as a loaded large sack). Unlike in AD&D, there's only one size bag to worry about. A must-have item for any adventuring party, and since it's available from the Basic levels, it's somewhat likely a party may end up with one or two before they get too high in levels.

A crystal ball is (again, for me) another underused item. While it only works 3 times per day, it can give you an idea of what's happening anywhere you want to look. Great for scouting or spying.

The elven cloak and elven boots are nice, in that they make you almost (2~6 on d6) invisible and (2~10 on d10) silent, respectively. Great for sneaking around and surprising enemies. It makes me wonder about other sorts of demi-human attire that could be found with magical effects...halfling cravats, dwarven caps, gnomish knickerbockers...

Gauntlets of Ogre Power give you an 18 Strength. If you already have an 18 Str, they're more or less useless to you, although they do allow you to punch creatures for 1d4 damage at a +3 bonus to hit. Again, later editions have added other items to increase other stats, and that could easily be copied for Classic D&D based on the rules presented here.

The Helm of Alignment Changing is a cursed item, and once put on can only be removed with spells or other curse removal means. And it changes your alignment, randomly, to one of the other two. But since there are no alignment restrictions in Classic D&D, it's more of an annoyance than an actual hindrance.

The Helm of Telepathy is a nice item. While you need to concentrate (which means not moving or taking any other actions), you can have a mental conversation with any willing creature, even if you don't share a language. You can also snoop on their thoughts without having to send a message, if they let you or fail a save.

The medallion of ESP, on the other hand, is kind of a chump version of the helm. You can only read thoughts with it, and you have a 1 in 6 chance to broadcast your own thoughts to everyone in range instead of reading the target's mind. If you have a choice, take the helm over this one!

Finally, there's another staple item many parties crave, the rope of climbing. Like the elven cloak and boots, it takes its inspiration from The Lord of the Rings. It can also hold up to 10,000cn weight, but I don't remember regular rope giving a weight limit. I'll have to look it up later. Still, that's pretty good, as you can use it to climb (of course), grab items that are out of reach, and several other uses.

And that's it for magic items. Next up, Creating Dungeons, which will probably get divided into two posts, with the end matter (back cover) being included in the second post. Two more to go and this series is finished.

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Magic Item Subtables

For the magic item subtables in the Basic Set, first you should roll a percentage die to determine the type of item, and then a d20 on the particular item type table. Since the magic item type table has everything in increments of 5%, I'm not sure why it's not also a d20 table. Maybe to keep it compatible with the d% tables for each type in the Expert Set later?

Anyway, one in four items will be a potion (25%), one in every five magic items is going to be a magic sword or a magic scroll (20% each), one in ten will be another sort of weapon or magical armor (10% each, although, as we shall see, armor is sometimes two magic items), and one in twenty will be a magic ring, wand/staff/rod, or miscellaneous item (5% each).

Swords are pretty much the most popular weapon from the get-go anyway, but if you want to be all cool and stylish and use another weapon as your go-to weapon at character creation, by the book at least, you're probably going to switch to using a sword later on, just because magical swords are so much more common than other types of magical weapons. Magical swords are twice as common as all other types of weapons put together. [Of course, what DM hasn't had a player with a stylish but (usually) suboptimal choice of preferred weapon, and not thrown them a bone and had them find a magical version by DM fiat rather than waiting for it to come up by random roll, if ever?]

Anyway, moving on to the specific subtables, the first of course is swords. There are eight types of swords, and there is a 40% chance to get a plain old sword +1 (although at these levels, it's not yet a 'plain old' magical weapon), a 55% chance to get a sword +1 with an ability of some kind, and a 5% chance to get a sword +2. The possible special abilities are a sword +1/+2 vs. lycanthropes, a sword +1/+2 vs. spell-users, a sword +1/+3 vs. undead, a sword +1/+3 vs .dragons, a sword +1 light spell 1/day, or a sword +1 cure light wounds spell 1/day.

Other weapons could be 10 arrows +1 (20%), an axe +1 (10%, either type I suppose), a dagger +1 (15%) or +2 (5%), a mace +1 (15%), 10 quarrels +1 (15%), a sling +1 (5%), or a war hammer +1 (15%). If you're a Basic level character who uses a spear, club, or pole arm, you're out of luck until level 4. It's also interesting that there are no magical bows or crossbows, only their ammunition, but there's a magical sling rather than ammunition.

For magical armor, there are six types of armor to be rolled: leather +1 (20%), chainmail +1 (25%), plate mail +1 (10%), shield +1 (30%) or +2 (10%), and the above mentioned set of chainmail and shield, both +1 (5%). So you've got a half a percent chance to get two items instead of only one when rolling for magical treasure. And really, most parties are going to split that magical armor and shield up if it gets discovered, unless the party unearths a fair amount of magical treasure in one go.

There are eight types of potions: diminution (20%), ESP (10%), gaseous form (15%), growth (15%), healing (20%), invisibility (5%), levitation (10%), and poison (5%). So, healing is the most common, and poison (thankfully) the least common type. And a nice spread of abilities. Growth and strength have the ability to double melee damage, and growth obviously has some other benefits and drawbacks. Gaseous form, diminution, growth, levitation, strength and invisibility are useful "getting around obstacles" abilities.

For scrolls, there can be scrolls with 1 spell (20%), 2 spells (15%) or 3 spells (5%), a curse (10%), protection from lycanthropes (15%), protection from undead (15%), a treasure map to 1~4k gold (10%), or a treasure map to a magic item (10%). I'm not personally fond of having treasure maps as "magic items." I'd much rather just leave maps laying around when I think it's appropriate, and give out actual magic items when I roll them. But that's just me.

There are six types of magic rings: animal control (15%), fire resistance (25%), invisibility (10%), protection +1 (25%), water walking (15%), and weakness (10%). Half of all rings at this level of play will be protective, three have utility powers, and one is cursed. Not too shabby a spread of powers.

There are three wands, two staves and one rod on the lists: wand of enemy detection (30%), wand of magic detection (25%), wand of paralyzation (15%), staff of healing (15%), snake staff (5%), and rod of cancellation (10%). Back in the day, I used to think the "detect X" wands (and later in the Expert and Companion Sets magic swords) were kinda lame. Now, being older and wiser, I like them a lot. They allow a clever group of players to scout out information about dungeons that can help them to level uneven playing fields (or tips scales in their favor) before entering combat, or to get the gold without a fight.

There are ten different miscellaneous magic items: bag of devouring (10%), bag of holding (15%), crystal ball (5%), elven cloak (10%), elven boots (10%), gauntlets of ogre power (5%), helm of alignment changing (10%), helm of telepathy (15%), medallion of ESP (10%), or a rope of climbing (10%). There are actually some powerful items here, for low level play. And since they become much more rare in an Expert level game, it's nice to be able to find them at low levels. Of course, unlike some of the other treasure types, there are two cursed items on the list, while each other type of item called. 

More on magic item descriptions tomorrow (at least I hope tomorrow, by the end of the month at least!).

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Treasure

The section on treasure starts out with a bit of description of what treasure is, and its purpose in the game. That purpose, of course, is to help characters go up in level, as the value of the treasure determines how many experience points it is worth. There are a few interesting notes in this preamble:

It mentions what to do with treasure, including better gear, hiring retainers, and buying spellcasting or other services from NPCs. Interesting that it leaves out the end-game goal of eventually building a stronghold. Maybe Frank is including that in "better equipment" (p. 40)?

Magic items (contrary to AD&D), are explicitly stated as not being worth XP. The value of magic items is in what they can do for you.

Payment for services rendered, or rewards for service, are counted as treasure (and hence worth XP).

"The DM should always determine the contents of a large treasure hoard before play, to decide how best to hide and protect the treasure from theft" (p. 40, emphasis in original). I'm not sure how much time Gygax spent in the AD&D DMG discussing how to hide/conceal treasure, but Frank gives us just a few lines like this (and one or two more later). While these days I can appreciate the concise nature of the advice, it pretty much passed me by early on. Treasure was sometimes in a chest, but often just piled on the floor in dungeons in my early (and even many later) games. Again, I think this was some video game influence, where treasure just appears after defeating the enemy, and you can just pick it up. I think a bit more about concealing treasure would have benefited my games more when I was young.

And finally, we get another note that monsters that can use magic items probably should! This of course, means that potions and scrolls may become rarer finds, as monsters are more likely to use them on the PCs!

Random Treasures
This section gives us a four-step process to determine treasures randomly. First, find the monster's treasure type in the monster list. Second, roll percentage dice for each type listed on that line of the table. Third, find the amount of each type present. Finally, roll for any magic items on the magic item tables, if any are present.

Fairly simple, and easy to understand. The section has another note about how to convert the number ranges to dice notation, to see which dice to roll. I think this is a good place for that reminder, as fledgling DMs are more likely to need reminders right here, when rolling for treasure, than in other places, and who wants to flip way back to the front of the book, or consult the Players Guide for this info when rolling up treasure?

Placed Treasures
Of course, rolling dice is fun, so I like to roll randomly first and see what I get, but I do often revert to simply deciding on the treasure present for many encounters or lairs (or at least partially so, I'm more likely to overrule the percent chances of treasure being present or not, and accept the amounts I roll).

Frank warns us here that it's OK to adjust the values up or down as needed, and to keep in mind that 3/4 or more of all XP is from treasure, not monsters defeated.

Then he tells us that as DMs get more experienced, they may just decide how much XP they want to give out, and decide on the treasure in that way. Of course, this is assuming the players will discover all the treasure (but if it's just scattered across the floor rather than well hidden...). What's most interesting about this is that it's in a way predicting the "XP Budgets" and "treasure parcels" of 4E, two areas where old schoolers tend to reject in that edition. While it's just a suggestion here, it was the standard rule there, which may be why many rejected it. Anyway, Frank ends this section by reminding the DM to "force the characters to earn their treasure!" (p. 40).

Adjusting Treasure
Of course, treasure found should be matched by the size of the lair. A hand-full of orcs shouldn't have a massive treasure, while a village of several hundred (plus maybe an ogre or troll) should definitely have a good sized treasure.

Interestingly, there's a note that if the number appearing is specifically 1-4, don't adjust treasure even if there's only one creature in the lair. This is obviously a reference to dragons, who all have an NA of 1-4 for both dungeons and wilderness encounters. But that would also apply to some bears, great cats, carrion crawlers (if you remember my analysis of that monster, though, this makes sense), some giant lizards, some lycanthropes, medusa, owl bears, giant rattlesnakes (two attacks plus poison and low treasure justifies this one), and some of the slime/ooze types (if they have treasure). It might have been better to just say, hey, single dragons are tough, and worth their full lair treasure.

While it doesn't inform the DM to divide the treasure by the percentages of the maximum number appearing present, it does tell us that in general, smaller lair numbers means smaller treasures. Which makes sense.

Other Treasure Types
This is something that the introductory adventure at the beginning of the book did well - show the DM that treasure doesn't need to only be coins (or gems and jewelry). In it, there are hat pins, plates and silverware, and a few other non-standard treasures. I never paid much attention to this section, though, until I got the Companion Set years later. It had much more detailed lists for making interesting treasures. These days, I love to add in tapestries, books, kegs of spices, letters of credit or deeds, and other valuables besides just coins. It's more fun that way.

Average Treasure Values
This is really handy - a table with the average amount of money each treasure type can produce. As the book says, after random rolling, or if deciding to place treasure, it gives you a good idea of how much the treasure may need adjusting. I've tried replicating the math (for Chanbara), and maybe I'm doing the calculations wrong, but I get some odd numbers when I try to multiply the average amounts by the percentages of treasure being present and adding the values together. I suspect it's the gems that mess up my calculations, but it's not a big enough deal for me to have to worry about finding the discrepancies between my method and however Frank calculated them.

Treasure Type H (dragon treasure) is of course the largest, with an average value of 60k. Treasure Type M, however, is similar with an average of 50k. There aren't any creatures in Basic with TT M, however. I'll have to go through my books sometime (or the RC, it's got them all together) to see what creature has TT M (if any).

Anyway, the lowest average value for a lair treasure is TT J at a whopping 25 gp. And who gets that? Kobolds. Yeah, they're really not worth the effort. Orcs or goblins have similar numbers in their lairs, and aren't THAT much harder to beat than kobolds. Orcs get TT D, average 4k, while goblins get TT C, average 750gp. You know what, take on the orcs. The risk/reward is best.

Coins
OK, here's the thing lots of people get hung up on. Coins in D&D weigh 1/10 of a pound. No, it's not realistic, but then D&D isn't a simulation, it's a game of risk/reward, and managing your encumbrance to maximize rewards and minimize risks is part of the game. Making treasure hard to carry makes players more likely to take risks rather than just spend every adventure trying to clear out weak monsters for piddly (but safe) treasures.

Anyway, we get an explanation that electrum is an alloy of gold and silver, and the coin exchange rates.

Gems
We've got a chart to roll for gems, with a percentage roll to determine the value, with a few examples of gems of each value. If only giving the players the names of the gems, they should be able to get them appraised in town. Frank suggests a fee of between 1-5% of the value of the gem for the appraisal.

Next, we get an optional rule, about combining or splitting the value rolled into different types/values of gems. I'm not sure why this is listed as an optional rule, instead of just a suggestion, since doing so has no effect on the value of the gems, and really only affects players as they try to divvy up treasures found.

Jewelry
Unlike gems, which have a flat distribution of values, jewelry values are on a curve, found by rolling 3d6 and multiplying the value by 100gp. This gives us an average value of about 1000gp per piece of jewelry. There's a table with some examples of different types of jewelry for different value ranges (and again, the Companion Set has much more detailed tables, but for early games, this was definitely sufficient).

There's also the rule about damaging jewelry. Fire, lightning, crushing, etc. can damage jewelry, reducing its value by half. I rarely remember this rule. If the PCs get hit by a fireball, or fall 20' or whatever, I should have them check to see if any jewelry they are carrying is damaged, but usually forget. Since jewelry is one of the best values for the encumbrance, I should really track this more often.

And again, we've got a section (not listed as an optional rule) about combining types of jewelry, and even combining gems and jewelry if they're found together.

Group Treasure Types Table
Type A: Bandits and Troglodytes have this type (and I think most human groups in Expert, like pirates, dervishes, etc. also get A). It's a nice sized hoard, the fourth largest with an average 17k gold, and with chances for all coin types, plus 50% chance of both gems and jewelry (6d6 worth of either!), and a 30% chance for any three magic items.
Type B: A fairly common type, the value isn't so high because it doesn't have much gold, lacks platinum, and there's only a 25% chance of 1d6 gems or 1d6 jewelry to be present. There's a mere 10% chance of a magic item, but it will always be a sword, weapon, or armor. It's likely there will be copper coins in this treasure hoard (50%), but the average value of 2000gp isn't bad, if you can lug out all the small denomination coinage.
One thing I noticed when I was looking through these just now is that Halflings and Green Slimes (next to each other in the monster listings) have the exact same Morale, Treasure Type: (P+S) B, Alignment (yes, green slime is Lawful - take that, Flumpf!), and XP value (5, which is obviously wrong for the 2HD** slime). Yes, there was apparently a copy/paste error here.
Type C: Another fairly common type (Lycanthropes, Minotaurs, Ogres and Neanderthals, for example, have it), which is limited to copper, silver and electrum coins, and 25% chance of 1d4 gems and 1d4 jewelry, and a 10% chance of any 2 magic items. It averages only 750 gp value, most of which will come from silver coins.
Type D: This is the treasure type for tougher humanoids (orcs, gnolls, hobgoblins, lizard men). It averages 4000gp, much of it gold (60%), and never has electrum or platinum. There's a 30% chance each for 1d8 gems or 1d8 jewelry, which is not bad. And for magic, there's a 15% chance of any 2 plus one potion. Not bad, if you can defeat or outwit some of the stronger humanoid types.
Type E: Doppelgangers and elves get this type (maybe a few more). It averages 2500gp, slightly better than B, and is unlikely to have coppers (only 5%), although again no platinum. It has only a 10% chance for 1d10 gems or jewelry, but a 25% chance to get any 3 magic items, plus one scroll. Not too shabby.
Type F: The medusa and shadow are the only creatures that get this type. It's fairly sizable, with an average 7600gp. It never has copper, with low chances for silver and electrum, and decent (45%) for gold and (30%) platinum. It's likely to have more gems than jewelry, 20% chance for 2d12 gems but only 10% chance for 1d12 jewelry...this is the first type to give different percents/amounts for the two. It's also got a 30% chance of magic items, consisting of any 3 non-weapons, plus 1 potion and 1 scroll. Medusas and shadows can be tough opponents, but they provide pretty nice treasures.
Type G: Only dwarves get this type, and I've seen it noted recently that dwarves are maybe the best treasure haul for the risk involved based on their numbers and hit dice. The treasure averages 25k, with only gold and platinum coins (lots of gold), and 25% chances to have 3d6 gems and 1d10 jewelry. Plus, there's a 35% chance to get any 4 magic items plus one scroll.
Type H: Dragon treasure. Need I say more? This is the most valuable type with an average of 60k gp value. Copper and platinum coins are only 25% likely to appear, with 50% for the other coin types, and with large amounts for each type present. 50% chance of 1d100 gems and 10 to 40 jewelry. The only down side is there's only a 15% chance of magic items, but when they appear it will be any 4 plus a potion and scroll. I think probably more than 15% of the dragon lairs I've placed have had magic in them, though. It just seems to me that dragons should have magic items. But really, with such a high monetary value, maybe the magic items are overkill. Let the PCs battle dwarves or medusa if they want magic.
Type I: No creatures in Basic have this type. The only coins it might have are platinum (30% chance), and it's got a high percent chance to have gems and jewelry, 50% for 2d6 of either, but only a 15% chance to have one magic item. The average value is 7500gp, which is pretty good, but you're never gonna find it until the upper levels.
Type J: As I mentioned above, this is Kobold treasure, and the average value is only 25gp. It will only ever be copper or silver coins, but on the up side, it will never be more than 7000 coins total... Do you really want to face a bunch of kobolds just to have to lug out a few thousand copper coins?
Type K: Again, no monster in Basic has this type of treasure. It's made up of only silver and electrum coins, mostly silver (30% to electrum's 10%). The average value is 250gp. Again, not great.
Type L: This is the treasure type for normal rats, of all creatures. The average value is 225gp, and it consists of a 50% chance to get 1d4 gems. That's it. So while facing rat disease may not sound so good, you're likely going to come out ahead of taking on the kobolds...
Type M: Like I mentioned above, this is the second largest type, with an average value of 50k gp, but no creatures in Basic have it. For coins, only gold or platinum appear, with a better chance and more platinum (50% for 5~30k coins compared to 40% chance for 2~8k gold), plus high chances for gems (55% for 5d4) and jewelry (45% chance for 2d6), but sadly no magic at all. If there are creatures in the later sets with this type (I'm too lazy to pull up my RC pdf right now and check), they're likely worth the fight for the loot you're likely to get.
Type N: This type consists of a 40% chance to find 2d4 potions, and that's it. No listed creatures have this type.
Type O: This type consists of a 50% chance to find 1d4 scrolls, and that's it. Again, no creatures in Basic have this type of treasure.

Individual Treasure Tables
The first five have no percentages, so creatures (usually human, demi-human or humanoid) with these types always have some coins in their pockets. The last two seem to are often used for either wealthier individual types, or for lair treasure of animal/unintelligent monsters, and to me seem to represent stuff you might find on the carcasses of things they were eating.
Type P: You get 3d8 coppers. Kobolds, gnolls, gnomes and normal men are likely to have coppers in their pockets.
Type Q: You get 3d6 silvers. Bugbears will have P and Q, dwarves get Q and S. Hobgoblins have only type Q.
Type R: You get 2d6 electrums. Goblins carry electrum. I wonder why? Someone should do a Gygaxian Naturalism post about why goblins always carry electrum coins.
Type S: You get 2d4 golds. Demi-humans always have some gold on them (and green slimes, if you don't realize the error like I just did).
Type T: You get 1d6 platinums. Elves (who get S and T) are the only creatures in Basic to commonly carry platinum. So elf lair treasure isn't amazing, but picking off random groups of elves is more profitable than picking off random groups of other humanoid types. Interesting, no?
Type U: Now, we get a "proper" treasure type entry again, with percentage chances of various types of loot being present. As I mentioned, lots of creatures (bears, great cats, giant lizards, oil beetles, some snakes) get this as their lair treasure. Bandits get this as their individual treasure...so forget elf hunting, go hunt bandits! There's a 10% chance of 1d100 coppers and similarly silvers, and a 5% chance of 1d100 golds. No electrum or platinum (the goblins and elves must have taken them all...). No gems, either, but a 5% chance for 1d4 jewelry, and a 2% chance for any 1 magic item. I rarely check each bandit I place for the 2% chance magic item, but I should from now on..."One of the bandits has a staff of wizardry in his breeches, another has a potion of invisibility."
Type V: The biggest normal animals (cave bears, sabertooth tigers, etc.) of groups that get type U for lair treasure instead get this. It doesn't have coppers, and instead has a 10% chance for 1d100 of both silver and gold coins, and a 5% chance for 1d100 of both electrum and platinum coins. Again no gems, but a 10% chance for 1d4 pieces of jewelry, and a 5% chance for any one magic item. Prehistoric animals seem to eat only the higher class sorts...

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Monsters - Shrieker to Zombie

After a short delay for real world stuff, here are the final three pages worth of monsters in the Red Box, with commentary.

Shrieker: Similar to many of the slime group, these guys have very slow movement, 9' (3'). It's so slow that I rarely even bother to move them around when encountered, but it could be fun to describe to a group how, as they desperately pound and slice away at the shriekers to shut them up before wandering monsters show up, how they're slowly and pitifully shuffling away.

One interesting note: the text says "Shriekers look like giant mushrooms" (p. 37). Look like? Are they not actually mushrooms? If not, what are they really? Interesting possibilities there.

One thing I often forget with shriekers is that each only shrieks for 1-3 rounds, then stops. There's a 50% chance (4-6 on d6) chance each round of a wandering monster hearing it, and investigating within 2d6 rounds. This means that if, as a player, you do run into shriekers and don't have (or want to waste) a silence 15' radius spell, you could play the odds and just let them shriek, and hope that either they don't shriek for long (but with up to 8 in one encounter, there's a good chance at least one will shriek for 3 rounds), and/or that if they do shriek no monsters hear it, and/or if they do hear it, it the party will have enough time to get through the area and get away or hide before the monsters show up, and/or that the wandering monsters aren't very tough. That's a lot of good risk/reward management decision making right there.

Skeleton: The text says that skeletons are usually found as guards set by a high level MU or Cleric that animated them, which suggests that unlike other types of undead (besides zombies), this is the only way they are encountered, but in practice that's rarely the case. Unlike AD&D, skeletons in Basic have no special resistance to bladed weapons, but they are tenacious, with a Morale of 12, so once a battle starts, they never stop until destroyed. Also, the minimum number appearing (indoors or out) is 3, so while they can be turned fairly easily, in numbers they can still pose a threat if the Cleric can't turn them all in one round.

Snake: The text tells us that, like many other normal animals, "snakes do not usually attack unless surprised or threatened" (p. 37). However, in practice I tend to use snakes like most other monsters, with them in a hostile mood unless I remember to roll reaction dice and see what that tells me. Players, also, tend to encounter snakes and instantly go into attack mode.
Spitting Cobra: These guys have a poisonous bite, and of course the ability to spit poison in your eyes and blind you, and the text says they prefer to spit. A parenthetical note in the text tells us that there's a cure blindness spell in the Expert Set, but the DM may allow other methods to cure the blindness. I think early on, I let players douse their eyes with a waterskin worth of water to wash away the poison when we were young, but once we got the Expert Set, and had Clerics able to cast the spell, we just did that. I may still allow the eye flushing method in the future, if it happens really soon after the attack. Like, 1d4 rounds later, the damage is permanent unless cured by magic. Oh, also the poison in its bite takes 1d10 Turns before it affects (kills) the victim.
Giant Racer: This "giant" snake is only 4' long. That's not actually giant, real racers tend to be anywhere from 2' to 5' long. Still, it's got a 1d6 damage bite, which can be dangerous at low levels. Plus, Frank tells us to sometimes put in larger ones, 2' long per HD, and increase the bite damage accordingly. This is the second instance of "monster scaling" in the Basic Set, the first being dragons. And now I want to use some 10 HD, 20' long racers with 1d12 damage bites in an encounter.
Pit Viper: As I mentioned several posts back about infravision in general, pit vipers have it (60' range). They also have poison, and because they are fast, they always win initiative. There's no time limit given for the effects of their poison, so I can only assume it's instant death if you fail.
Sea Snake: Like giant racers, sea snakes are listed as explicitly scale-able (which in this case makes sense since more nautical adventures are likely to happen once you get the Expert Set). They have an unusual rule, which is that their bites go unnoticed 50% of the time. If the DM rolls in secret, this is easy to hide, but could feel like a "gotcha" to the players when later they need to save vs poison or die. If you roll in the open, though, it requires a trust in the players that they will not metagame knowing they've been bitten if the PC fails to notice the bite. Their poison description is a bit inconsistent, saying that it is "slow-acting; its full effects take 3-6 turns to be felt if the Saving Throw is failed" (p. 37). It doesn't explicitly state what the full or partial effects of the poison are, however. Like most poisons, we can assume it means death, but it suggests there may be other effects. Oh, and it says that unlike the others, sea snakes think humans are tasty and will be more aggressive.
Giant Rattlesnake: These guys are 10' long, so I think that for sure counts as "giant" (compared to the giant racer). Of course, they've got the patented tail rattle to scare off potential threats. Their poison takes 1d6 turns for its effects to be felt, when you die. So it's potentially faster acting than the "slow acting" sea snake poison, potentially taking the same time (and the spitting cobra above's poison may be faster or slower than the sea snake's...sea snake poison must be slow acting simply due to the fact that it will always give you more than one turn to deal with). Giant rattlesnakes are fast, and always get to attack twice in a round. The book says to always roll the second attack at the end of the round, but I find it simpler to keep track of if I just have it bite twice on its turn.
Rock Python: These snakes are 20' long (so about normal python size, and they're not listed as 'giant'), and have only 5 HD, which goes against the 2' long per HD basis most of the other snakes abide by (giant rattlers get a bonus 2', being 4 HD and 10' long). Pythons are 4' long per HD. The big danger of these guys, of course, is that after their bite hits, they wrap around the target for automatic squeeze damage each round. It doesn't mention how hard it is to escape the coils, so I assume you're meant to be trapped until dead or the snake is killed, but I'd likely allow a check of some sort to escape. It doesn't say the victim is helpless, so I'd let the victim attack or try to escape or maybe even cast a spell while tangled up.

Spider, Giant: An interesting general note about spiders, "they are rarely intelligent, and will often flee from fire" (p. 38). I've never used a 'rare intelligent spider' (not counting aranea or other spider-monsters), but it's an interesting idea, I guess riffing off of Shelob in LotR. I also should remember to have spiders (and other normal animal types, really) flee from fire more often.
Crab Spider: These guys have a chameleon power, so often surprise (1-4 on d6), when they jump on their prey to attack. They don't have webs. They have a weak poison, so the victim gets a +2 on the saving throw, but it's fast acting, killing you in 1d4 turns if you fail the save.
Black Widow Spider: Black widows have webs (actually the only one of the three that does!), and the text says, "The webs should be treated as the magic-user's Web spell for the chances of breaking free, once entrapped. The webs may also be burned away" (p. 38). This then implies that the webs can be burned to damage anything in the webs (including the spiders, of course), but real spider webs don't go up in a conflagration that way, so I'd be more tempted to say the webs burn away realistically. PCs can clear a space with a torch around themselves in one round, but the whole web doesn't go up in flames. Anything trapped in a section of webbing would be burned, though.
Tarantella: This is a magical spider, as per the text, which looks like a tarantella. Again, maybe I'm being pedantic, but saying it "looks like a 7' long tarantella" (p. 38) makes me question it. Maybe it's just worded that way to say that this is different from a giant natural tarantella? Anyway, this is a fun monster, because its magical nature makes it interesting. When it bites, its poison doesn't kill the victim, it makes them spasm rapidly, as if dancing. And the magical effect is that anyone watching it must save vs magic or also spasm in the same way. Victims aren't helpless, but they do get -4 to hit, and opponents get +4 to hit them while they dance. Interestingly, the spasms last for 2d6 Turns, but if it goes on for 5 Turns, the dancers drop from exhaustion and are now helpless.

Sprite: There's yet another formatting error in the Sprite entry. The opposite of the Rat entry, here everything is bumped up one line, so that the AC line has hit dice, HD has move, etc. This means that for years, until I got the Rules Cyclopedia, I had to just make up my own best guess as to what the Sprite's AC should be. Yes, I guess I could have checked with a friend who had the AD&D books, but I never did. Since I'm going off of my pdf copy to write this entry, not my old hard copy, I don't remember exactly what I penciled in for the AC. Pixies are AC 3, so maybe I went with that.

Sprites don't have a damaging attack, but they can, in groups, cast a curse spell. The curse is something relatively harmless but funny, which makes these monsters the sort players will either love or hate. I'm of the opinion that making the party magic-user fart audibly and stinkily every time they cast a spell to be funny. Your mileage may vary. Anyway, if you get cursed, you need to wait until the Expert Set to get a remove curse spell.

Stirge: This is another one of those "wouldn't be D&D without it" monsters, at least for me. It's described as "a bird-like creature with a long nose" which has always colored my image of the creature. While it attacks like a mosquito (and I remember hearing someone somewhere on the internet expound authoritatively about how Gygax based it on Wisconsin mosquitoes...take that for what it's worth, i.e. not much), the "bird-like" portion has always colored my image of these guys. In my head, they're feathered, two-legged monsters, not like the insectile things from 3E.

One thing I usually forget when running the game is that they get a +2 bonus to hit on the first attack by diving at the target.

Thoul: One of the creatures unique to Classic D&D (well, maybe it's been ported into more recent editions, I'm not sure), a thoul, you'll remember is a cross between a ghoul, hobgoblin and troll. How does that work exactly? Ghouls are undead, but can they serve as an incubator for a baby thoul? How do the hobgoblin and troll impregnate the ghoul without getting paralyzed and eaten? I guess some crazy wizard did it, right?

Thouls are meant to be a gotcha monster, since they look exactly like hobgoblins, but have a paralyzing claw attack of a ghoul and the regeneration of a troll. I don't know if I've ever successfully fooled a group with thouls mixed in among hobgoblins, which seems to be their purpose. Maybe my players are just able to metagame, since if the "hobgoblin" tries to claw them, they realize it must be a thoul. I'll have to try to work some into an adventure I run for some newbies some day and see how they react.

Troglodyte: I remember when I was a kid and found out the word "troglodyte" was an actual word, and not just made up to name this monster. I thought that was so cool. And since I've always been partial to reptiles, I love to use these guys. They can change colors like a chameleon (surprise 1-4 on d6), and if you're in melee with them they can nauseate you with their stench (-2 to hit if you save vs poison). The stench only affects those in melee, and doesn't ruin their chances of surprise, so it must be only a close range effect, or controlled by the troglodyte (although the text doesn't say that). These guys are given a "hate everything, usually attack" motivation, which helps foster the idea that monster encounter=combat encounter that D&D is prone to, but they're still pretty fun to use because of their two special abilities.

Undead: This is a reference listing for the four types of undead in the Basic Set. It mentions that all undead are created by "dark magic" (p. 38), but there's no mention in the ghoul or wight write-ups of that. It reminds us that undead are immune to sleep and charm spells (since hold is in the Expert Set, it's not mentioned here). Finally, it tells us that undead "make no noise" (p. 38). While this is intended to mean that listening through doors or down passages won't warn you that there are undead, I misinterpreted it as a kid to mean that undead were always silent, and that even intelligent undead like mummies, spectres and vampires couldn't talk! I always thought it was strange, but figured that was just a unique D&D aspect. Of course, I was never shy about breaking the "rule" for vampires, because of course Count Dracula can talk...

Were-creature: Another reference listing, which lists all of the were-creatures, and says to see Lycanthrope (where they all are anyway). Why this is here, I don't know. Maybe some people were confused, looking for werewolves and not finding them?

Wight: The third undead creature in the set is the first and only level draining creature in the Basic rules. Energy drain is of course greatly feared. All those months and years of hard earned experience points getting sucked away in an instant really sucks, and the higher level you are, the worse it gets, thanks to the quadratic increasing of the XP needed at each level up to Name Level.

Wights are described as evil spirits animating dead bodies, so they're presumably intelligent, or at least semi-intelligent. Silver or magical weapons are needed to damage them. And if they kill you, your body also gets animated by an evil spirit 1d4 days later, under the slayer's control. I really need to build and adventure around a "pyramid scheme" wight leader some day. The alpha wight has X wight minions, and each minion has Y wight minions of its own, who each have Z wight minions of their own...

Yellow Mold: The final member of the icky, oozy, group of monsters (sort of), yellow mold is just a fungus that covers areas of the dungeon, so it's immobile, and can always be hit, but it can only be damaged by fire. The description says "It can eat through wood and leather but cannot harm metal or stone" (p. 39), but since it is immobile, and attacks through releasing spores in response to being attacked, that sentence seems out of place. I assume this is either a mistake, or it means that in the places where it grows, only metal or stone objects will be left after it's cleared out.

Wolf: There's no general text for the wolf, just specific descriptions for the two types:
Wolves: What's interesting about wolves is that it's explicitly stated that cubs can be captured and trained (low level quest objective!) and that since they are pack animals, if there are 3 or fewer, or the pack is reduced to 1/2 their number, their morale drops from an 8 to a 6. They aren't the super aggressive, vicious beasts they're portrayed to be in the media.
Dire Wolves: Bigger and semi-intelligent (based on Tolkien's wargs, with no mention of prehistoric dire wolves), these guys get used by goblins as mounts. Like normal wolves, though, they are neutral, and cubs can also be trained (low to mid-level quest objective!).

With only four illustrations of monsters in this section, why were wolves one of the choices? Granted, this is kind of a cool picture, but an illustration of an actual monster might have been a better choice.

Zombie: The final monster! Zombies are listed as having a claw attack or a weapon attack, but since the claw does 1d8, I rarely have them use weapons, most of which are 1d6. The text tells us they are mindless, and, like skeletons, animated and used as guards by NPC magic-users and clerics. They don't have any weapon resistances like in other editions, and since they are apparently Romero zombies, they always go last in combat.

Alright, that's all for the monsters. Next post in the series starts my examination of the treasure section.

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Monster List - Medusa to Shrew

Time for some more Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover! More monsters! With plenty of time before Halloween!

Medusa: Now, anyone who's read some Greek mythology will know a medusa will turn you to stone if you look at her. The medusa in D&D is pretty nasty in that regard, but that's not all. Even if you shield your eyes, giving you a penalty to hit and the medusa a bonus to hit, her attack is with the snakes that make up her hair, so there's poison damage to consider. If you don't get turned to stone, you're likely to get poisoned instead. Also, medusae get a bonus to saving throws against spells (but not other attack types) due to their magical nature.

One thing I think is interesting is that they can also use weapons (and we all remember the great Harryhausen medusa from Clash of the Titans with her bow, don't we?). Of course, unlike in Clash or the Castlevania games, a medusa is fully humanoid, rather than having a snake-like lower body. There really should be a "greater medusa" that fits that mold, along with the standard humanoid one.

Minotaur: This may seem incredibly irrelevant, but as a kid (and still today), the fact that the minotaur is AC 6 and has 6 HD was so easy to remember made it the only monster in the book for which I could remember its AC exactly every time. Hit dice were usually easy enough for me to remember, but not AC, except for these guys. The minotaur is another nice example in which it's given some motive - they like the taste of human flesh, and pursue relentlessly as long as they can see you (they aren't that smart). Of course, they live in mazes and twisty caverns, so it might not be that hard to get out of their sight...

We have to get all the way to Minotaur to get a second picture in the monster section. Illustrating monsters was definitely not a priority for the Classic D&D line, like it was for AD&D.

Mule: If you see a mule in a dungeon, there's likely an NPC party nearby. Rob from or kill the mule at your own risk! 

Neanderthal (Caveman): These guys are fun and interesting monsters. Not only because they're a "lost world" staple like the cave bear and sabertooth tiger, but because of their leaders and reactions to other humanoids. The neanderthal is listed as squat and muscular, but the leaders of a group (one male, one female), usually encountered in the lair, are 10' tall! And they have 6HD compared to the 2HD of the normal neanderthal.

Frank tells us that they often keep white apes as pets, and hunt cave bears (no mention of mastodons, they're in the Expert Set, or the other Pleistocene creatures in The Isle of Dread). So there are two related monsters. Also, they are shy around humans but get along well with dwarves and gnomes. Similar to the dwarves and gnomes, they hate goblins and kobolds. Are dwarves and gnomes descended from the (squat, powerful) neanderthal, while elves and humans are descended from the (not listed) cro-magnon? Food for thought. But there's more. Not only do they hate goblins and kobolds, but they always attack ogres on sight! Maybe ogres are descended from those 10' tall neanderthal leader types?  Or the other way around?

Normal Human: In the previous post in this series, I covered the "human" listing, which was both a reference list for all "human" monsters, and notes on how to add a small number of (classed, leveled) NPC humans to dungeons. Normal humans here now, are what AD&D calls 0-level humans. These are your typical townsfolk, serfs and slaves, nobles and merchants, etc. What's interesting is that while they are 1HD creatures (not 1/2), the DM is advised to select how many hit points they have depending on their profession. So a blacksmith or soldier would have 6 or more, a child, beggar, or scholar might only have 1 or 2. The other interesting note is that as soon as a Normal Human gains any XP, they must then select a class (becoming a Human in game terms). It doesn't say if they get the class abilities instantly, though. It's basically the DCC "funnel" concept, done 30 years ago.

NPC Party: The third (and final) listing for encountering humans in dungeons, although I guess technically this one also can include demi-humans mixed with the humans (or maybe even all demi-humans). An NPC party could be keyed into an encounter (I did that a few times when I was younger), but I tend to prefer to put them on Wandering Monster lists, as like the PCs they are probably moving around the dungeon a lot compared to many of the monsters.

Normal player character creation rules should be used to create the NPCs (a good reason to have a few parties pregenerated if, like me, you like to use them as wandering monsters). Frank suggests that the party should be similar in number and class selection to the PCs' party, PLUS 1d4 Fighters to discourage combat (which, he notes, could be deadly and complicated). Instead, Frank gives us a specialized and simplified reaction roll table (still on a 2d6) for determining if the NPC party gets pissed off and leaves, negotiates, or makes an offer to buy/sell information. I like the fact that Frank gives a price range of 10-500gp as the amount offered to buy information from the party, or to sell their own information. It's a good range to use for buying information in town, as well.

While the text doesn't mention this, if you place an NPC party in a dungeon, you might want to consider placing some mules in a nearby room.

Ochre Jelly: Another slime-group monster, and this one can only be damaged by fire or cold (the most common set of weaknesses among these types, it seems). Unlike the gray ooze or green slime, these guys can destroy wood or leather in 1 round, but can't dissolve metal or stone. The cool thing about them is that if you use the wrong attack type (weapons or lightning), it splits them into several smaller jellies, each with 2HD and doing half damage. Ochre jelly apparently doesn't stick when it hits, which may be the reason why I often forget to have gray oozes stick to their targets.

Ogre: There's not so much to say about ogres. They're fun monsters (I think Disney's Gummi Bears cartoon made me partial to them), and lucrative, too. Any wandering group of ogres "will be carrying 100-600 gp in large sacks" (p. 35). Better than you'll get with most wandering monsters, although ogres aren't pushovers for parties level 1 to 3. Of course, it's mentioned here that the hate is mutual, they attack neanderthals on sight.

Orc: Orcs get a lot more information written up about them than the other humanoid types. It's about double that of goblins, and triple that of hobgoblins, kobolds or lizard men. While it doesn't specify pig-faced features, it does say they have a combination of animal and man. They've got a daylight penalty like goblins, which again I often forget about. Any group encountered (the minimum number appearing is 2) will have a leader with maximum hit points and a +1 damage bonus. Kill the leader, and morale drops.

They're often used as soldiers by "Chaotic leaders (both humans and monsters)" (p. 35). Like Professor Tolkien's orcs. But, we've got a note that orcs (unlike gnomes) hate machines and only the leaders mentioned above know how to operate them. So not so useful in a siege, unlike Professor Tolkien's orcs.

Finally, we get some information that's absent from all the other humanoids. There are many different tribes of orcs, and each tribe's lair has an equal number of male and female adults, and a number of children equal to the number of adults. No other humanoid types have family listed. Finally, the tribal chieftain is a standard humanoid leader type, with 15 hit points, who fights as a 4HD creature with a +2 bonus to damage (but no bodyguard). Also, there's a 1 in 6 chance of an ogre in the lair, and if you have the Expert Set a 1 in 10 chance for a troll to be there, too. I don't know about you, but in my campaigns the chance is a lot higher. If I'm making an orc lair, there's likely going to be one or the other, if not both an ogre and a troll!

Owl bear: I've preserved the name as it appears in the text. Should it be two words, Owl Bear? Should it be one word, Owlbear? Later editions go with the latter, so I usually do, too, but you could make a case that they just forgot to capitalize the B and it should be two words. Like bears, they can stand upright to attack (8' tall), and can hug if both paws hit for an extra 2d8 damage (remember, that's 4d8 total, plus possibly another 1d8 if the bite hits!). They're listed as aggressive, hungry, and preferring to eat meat, so a fun (and dangerous) monster for low level PCs to face.

Pixie: Similar to the way that gnomes are related to dwarves, pixies are stated to be related to elves. These guys are fun, because they have the ability to become invisible and stay that way while attacking, making them dangerous opponents even though only 1HD and with an attack that only does 1d4 damage. Oh, and they fly, too. They always get surprise if invisible, and depending on how you interpret the passage "They may not be attacked in the first round of combat, but after that their attackers will see shadows and movement in the air" (p. 35), they could get two rounds of free attacks. I've never run it that way, but it's a valid interpretation of the wording, I think.

There's a note that pixies can only fly for 3 Turns before needing to rest 1 turn. I think if it weren't for the invisibility, they'd make an interesting PC option (and with invisibility, they're an interesting cohort option). They'd be severely limited in weapons, armor and carrying capacity, but could make up for it with mobility, but at the risk of attracting more wandering monster rolls due to more frequent resting... Maybe even with the invisibility they'd make decent demi-human PC class. I should check what the Creature Crucible series did with them (I never had those books, and while I now have them on PDF I've never looked at them).

Rat: There's an editing error with the rats, which lists their stats one line lower than it should be (AC is blank, the AC number is listed on the HD line, etc.), so you'll need to calculate XP for them yourself.

Now there are normal rats (6" to 2' long!) and giant rats (3' long or more! R.O.U.S.s for sure!), and other than the fact that normal rats attack in packs (or swarms in modern edition parlance), they pretty much follow the same rules. The general description says THEY WILL NOT ATTACK unless summoned (by wererats or other creatures), but they swim well and may attack creatures in the water. So those rooms with a few rats and 2000 cp are probably the easiest 2000 cp you're gonna get, unless the room is filled with water or has a wererat in it as well!

Rats have a disease, and it's rather fiddly in how it works. Any time a rat hits, you need to roll a 1d20. On a 1, the target is infected, and must make a save vs. poison or be diseased. If diseased, you have a 1 in 4 chance to die in 1d6 days, otherwise you're bedridden for 1 month. Not the smoothest mechanics there.

Oh, one more thing - normal rat packs are noted as being able to knock victims down, but there aren't any rules given for how. Is it a special attack? Do victims need to make a saving throw? I guess it's up to each DM. I usually forget about that, since I rarely have normal rats attacking players.

Robber Fly: It's only within recent years that I realized these are giant versions of a real insect. I thought they were just made up for the game. They're listed as being black and yellow striped, and easy to mistake for "killer bees" (the name from Moldvay, they're Bees, Giant in this set), but often attack bees as prey. These guys are stealthy, surprising on 1-4 on d6, and can make a 30' jump and attack.

The third picture! It's a robber fly!

Rust Monster: Another classic, iconic monster of the game (like the carrion crawler and gelatinous cube). It wouldn't be D&D without rust monsters. Now, we all know these guys attack your weapons and armor, and I've seen players afraid to attack them because they think their weapon will rust on contact, but the text is explicit that normal weapons damage them and do not rust, only the rust monster's attack does this.

Now, the Basic set doesn't give any listing of preference or order of items destroyed (does AD&D? I think so) so it's up to the DM to decide if shields, weapons or armor are affected by any hit. Magic items get a 10% chance to resist the attack per "plus" which isn't much but is something at least. Still, it's a bit of a death spiral, because each hit will reduce a plus if it doesn't resist. And even in the Masters Set, the best enchanted weapons and armor are +5, so you've got a 50% chance to resist being drained to +4 on the first hit. If you fail that first roll, you've got a 'death spiral' of getting your gear ruined -- although if you've got +5 gear you probably have a friend with spells that can take out the rust monsters without risking your kit.

Shadow: Shadows are the first (and only, IIRC) monster in any of the BECM box sets (I won't include the Immortals Set, as I'm less familiar with it and its selection of monsters) that drains an ability score. Of course, these days, thanks to the d20 system, players are mostly familiar with ability score drain/damage, but it's a unique attack in Classic. And of course, if you get drained to 0 you become a shadow yourself...

Shadows are NOT undead in this set, it's explicit, which marks a point of departure with AD&D. They are only harmed by magical weapons, though, and another editorial mistake - there's no asterisk after the name. I penciled it in in my book years ago. While shadows are not undead, similar to them they are immune to sleep and charm (but hold might work on them?).

Shrew, Giant: I should use these guys more often. They burrow underground, "see" by echo location within 60', and get 2 attacks per round. Because of their speed, they always get initiative in the first round, and have a +1 bonus on subsequent rounds. They go for the eyes, Boo! Any target of 3rd level (3HD) or less has to save vs. death ray when attacked or run away in fear! (It doesn't say for how long.)

The fear thing is actually easy to forget, at least for me. Not that I use giant shrews often. I should though! They'd be great trained attack beasts for any humanoid types (or if players can capture some and hire an animal trainer from the Expert Set...).

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Alright, that's all for this installment. One more to go for monsters, then it's on to treasure!

Mentzer Basic Cover to Cover: Monster List - Dwarf to Lycanthrope

I just checked, and I started this series back in November of 2013. I had planned to cover both books during that year, and move on to the Expert Set the year after (I also had thought I'd have Chanbara finished around mid-2014 as well). Three years later, I'm finally closing in on the end of the Basic Set. Well, better late than never, I guess!

Here we go with thoughts and observations on some more monsters from this set.

Dwarf: The dwarf is the first version of a PC playable character type listed as an NPC (unless you count bandits, which are listed as NPC thieves but don't explicitly have any signature thief abilities other than the Thief saving throw). NPC dwarves often have a leader (one for every twenty dwarves, and the maximum listed number appearing for the wilderness or a lair is 40, so possibly two) with higher class level (3 to 8). One thing I like, and I think is easy and useful is the system used to determine if they have any magic items (Elves also get this): take their hit dice x5. That's the percent chance they have a random item from lists of items they can use. Simple, easy to use, and much better than 3E, where it was a nightmare having to look at the "expected wealth per level" tables, the sample NPC blocks in the DMG, the magic item lists (and prices), and maybe the CharOp boards to see what are the best things for that NPC race/class to have - and considering which you want your PCs to get a hold of. What a nightmare that was! With this, you figure out a percentage, and check each magic item subtype table to see if there is an item, and then determine it randomly.

Dwarves get to roll on all the tables except Scrolls and Wand/Staff/Rod. The second makes sense, but considering that "Scrolls" contain treasure maps and protection scrolls that any (literate) character can use, I don't know if disallowing that is so great. Yeah, it might be strange if the dwarf leader has a clerical scroll of bless, but it might also be strange if he's got a pole arm +1 which he also can't use.

The dwarf also has our first instance of a racial/species animosity, stating that groups of dwarves "hate goblins, and will usually attack them on sight" (p. 29). I love notes like this, because they allow the players, once they figure it out, to more easily negotiate with monsters they find in the dungeon, but can also provide problems. Ally with the dwarves, and your chances of keeping your truce with the goblins, which you made so you could focus on the orcs, goes WAY down!

Elf: And we get the second demihuman class as monster right away. It suggests choosing the spells elves get (each gets a single 1st level spell) randomly, and I think that's a good idea. Monsters/NPCs don't need to be optimized the way PCs should be. Recruiting elf allies because you expect them to all have memorized sleep is not a good plan. Elf leaders who appear if there are 15 or more elves, may be from level 2 to 7, and check for magic items the same as dwarves, but get to roll on all tables.

In OD&D, Holmes and Moldvay (and into AD&D), I'm pretty sure elves as a monster type have damage 1d10 listed, to simulate them having access to magical swords. Here, the attack is "1 weapon" and the damage is "by weapon" so they're slightly powered down from previous editions. This may be the only time in D&D history where Elves were made LESS powerful than before! (Or at least the first.)

Ferret, Giant: A giant animal that can be tamed and trained, but are unpredictable. I never had any players try to capture and train them, although to be honest I don't use them in dungeons very often. I am sort of partial to them, and always connect them with Elves in my mind, partly because their stat blocks are right next to each other, but also partially because of the Endless Quest book Return to Brookmere, where you play an Elf and one of the paths you meet with a giant ferret that was trained by the elves and helps you.

Gargoyle: This is the first monster presented that can only be damaged by magical weapons, and they're also immune to sleep and charm. That, combined with four attacks per round make them pretty dangerous, even though the claws each do 1d3, the tail 1d4, and the bite 1d6. Oh, and they can fly, and are often mistaken for statues (although the book doesn't give them a bonus to surprise). On top of all that, they also "attack nearly anything that approaches them" (p. 30).

The text is explicit that they are magical creatures, but doesn't say whether or not they are magical creations/constructs. It says they are at least semi-intelligent, and back in the general rules section, they are listed as having their own language. Having a language implies having a culture, which argues against them being constructs (as in later editions). I've always imagined them as relatively humanoid, sort of like demons. But thinking of actual architectural gargoyles, to which they are compared, they should really be more draconic. Maybe in some campaign in the future, I'll have two races of gargoyles who hate each other...

Gelatinous Cube: One of the iconic D&D monsters. When I ran a 3E OA game years ago, I threw one in, and one player's post game comment was, "It wouldn't be D&D without The Cube." But you know what's interesting? This: "This monster is made of clear jelly, usually in the form of a 10' x 10' x 10' cube (though other shapes are possible)" (p. 30, emphasis added). How often have you encountered a gelatinous trapezoidal prism? Or a gelatinous box? Probably not very often. Of course, this raises a question: can a gelatinous cube change its shape? Can it squeeze through small spaces, or is it doomed to perpetually patrol the 10' x 10' corridors of standard dungeons forever?

I like how whatever incidental treasure they might have is actually inside it. PCs need to dig through the gloppy remains after it's dead.

One other question comes up, since this is the first of the slime/ooze/jelly category of monster (or the "dungeon cleanup crew"). Weapons and fire harm a gelatinous cube, but not cold or lightning. Other slime/ooze monsters have different immunities. Why was it decided that each type should be vulnerable to some attacks but not others? Yes, it makes them all different, and keeps players on their toes, so there is some added challenge with this class of monster. I'm just curious about the design decision early on to add this feature to all of the slime group monsters.

Ghoul: The first undead creature in the book (there are a lot of firsts I'm mentioning, and that's a good thing, it shows what variety there are among the monsters in this set) is a pretty nasty opponent for low level PCs. Like all undead, they're immune to sleep and charm (and later hold when we get to the Expert Set), but vulnerable to turning. Of course, a 1st or 2nd level Cleric doesn't have great chances to turn these guys. They also have 3 attacks per round. While each does low damage (1d3), they each force a save vs paralysis unless you're an Elf. And the text states that they don't stop to feast, but instead once you're paralyzed they'll attack other mobile targets until the threat is gone. Like the carrion crawler mentioned previously, this makes them a nasty opponent for even mid-level adventurers.

Gnoll: The name seems inspired from the story by Margaret St. Claire, writing as Idris Seabright, The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles. The description seems to be taken from Egyptian mythology: hyena-headed humanoids. The rumor of their creation (hybrids of gnome and troll) seems to be based on nothing more than the spelling chosen for the monster (although St. Claire's 'gnoles' are fairly gnome-like). So really, gnolls are a strange creature. They also are the first instance of a humanoid getting a leader type with just a set number of greater hit dice or hit points. Bandits, dwarves and elves all get classed/leveled leaders using PC rules. Gnoll leaders, one in every 20, simply get maximum hit points and attack as a creature one hit die higher (or +1 to hit). Of course, because gnoll number appearing is 1-6 in dungeons and 3-18 outdoors, gnoll leaders are rarely going to be encountered outside of a wilderness lair (by the book, anyway).

Gnome: Gnomes are described as "a human-like race related to (but smaller than) dwarves, with long noses and full beards" (p. 30). In temperament, they are listed as excellent metalsmiths & miners, greedy and reckless when it comes to gathering treasure, and fond of machinery, favoring the war hammer and crossbow as weapons. So yes, the "tinker gnome" cliche predates Dragonlance, although the setting did run with the idea to comedic excess. Gnomes also are listed with a racial predisposition to dwarves, but hatred of goblins and kobolds, the latter are usually attacked on sight.

Gnomes get a 2HD leader type (11 hit points) for every twenty encountered, so in a maximum wilderness encounter (5-40) there could be two. In their lair, there are a tougher chieftain and bodyguards (another first, this appears later). The chieftain has 18 hit points, counts as a 4HD creature, and gets +1 to damage. Bodyguards have 10-13 hit points (1d4+9) and count as 3HD creatures. I often like including these leaders/elite type humanoids in my dungeons, but it's something I rarely see in other published adventures.

Goblin: No one seems to be able to agree as to what color goblins should be, but here they're described as having earth-tone skin, from tan to gray. They've got a king and bodyguard similar to gnomes (I assume these were inspired by the Great Goblin in The Hobbit, but I may be wrong). There are two things that I often forget when using goblins in my games. The first is important - in sunlight they get a -1 penalty to hit. I've had plenty of times when goblins were attacking the town, or encountered during the day in the wilderness, but almost always forget about the -1 penalty. The second is that when encountered out of doors, 25% of the group should be mounted on dire wolves. I really should use more wolf-riders in my games.

Gray Ooze: I've often thought this to be the "safe" introductory member of the slime family of monsters. It's only 3HD, and is harmed by weapons and lightning (but not cold or fire). But this is because I usually forget something mentioned in the description: once it hits a target, it sticks to it, doing automatic 2d8 damage each round and automatically destroying armor. That can take down even a mid-level fighter fairly quickly. No way is mentioned to stop the autodamage, other than I assume killing the ooze. At least it's incredibly slow. Its move is 10' (3'). You can always run away (unlike the faster gelatinous cube, at 60' (20') which can catch your armored up characters).

Green Slime: In more recent editions, this monster has been reclassified as an environmental hazard, but here, it's obviously got some level of awareness, as it has a move speed of 3' (1') [yes, even slower than gray ooze] and a Morale of 7. The fact that it can always be hit may be more due to its alien mindset not caring about taking damage rather than an indication that it's just a puddle of dangerous goo. Green slime can dissolve cloth or leather instantly, and wood and metal in six rounds.

Green slime is nasty because instead of doing hit point damage, it just sticks to you and very quickly turns the victim into slime. Because it can only be damaged by fire or cold, once it gets on you you have a limited number of rounds to burn (or freeze) it off. We get a very detailed description of the procedure for treating green slime (burning does 1/2 damage to the slime, 1/2 to the victim). So if you have hit points equal to or lower than the slime's, you're just dead. And not just dead, you become a new green slime!

There is a bit unclear about this. The entry says that it dissolves cloth and leather instantly but takes 6 rounds to eat through metal or wood, right? Later, when discussing the 'burn it off' procedure, it mentions that it turns a victim into a new green slime in 1d4 rounds "after the first 6-round (one minute) period" (p. 31). Is that assuming it's taking 6 rounds to eat through plate or chain armor? Does a Magic-User or Thief only get 1d4 rounds to burn it off? Or does everyone get 6+1d4 rounds? If so, and you're wearing metal (or wood) armor, then you've got 12+1d4 rounds to burn it off. I think in the past I went with the latter, but going forward I'll go with the former.

Halfling: Like the other two demi-human classes as monster, halfling groups can be encountered, but their leader (level 2 to 7) and village guard (5 to 20 members, 2HD) are only encountered in the village (population 30 to 300). Unlike the other two demi-humans, there is no mention of randomly determining magic items for the leader. Is this an oversight, or do halflings dislike magic? You make the call.

Harpy: This is the only creature in the Basic Set with an innate ability to charm victims. Spell-casters like NPC humans, elves and dragons may have the ability or not. Only the harpy can be guaranteed to try and charm the party. And as the sample dungeon earlier in the book warns the novice DM, this can make them very challenging creatures. One interesting thing to note in their stat block is that their attacks are listed as 2 claws/1 weapon +special, and damage is listed as 1-4/1-4/1-6 rather than 1-4/1-4/by weapon. I'd guess this is another editorial oversight due to making "optional weapon damage" the default assumption.

Hobgoblin: Not much to say about the hobgoblin, actually. They've got no penalty in sunlight, and their king has 22 hit points, fights as a 5HD creature with +2 to damage, his bodyguard count as 4HD creatures with 3d6 hit points each (figure that one out).

Human: This is a long (stat block-less) entry that both serves as a reference listing (like "Animal, Normal and Giant") but also gives advice about how to stick human NPCs into a dungeon. There will normally be 1-3 of them, according to Frank, and they can be used to add role playing opportunities and "create a more realistic mood for the adventure...provide goals for player characters, and lead to entire adventures" (p. 31). Then we get some advice on just this - how a human encounter may cause you to adjust nearby monsters or treasures based on the explanation/reason for appearing, and a warning that making a human encounter may take more work than other monsters, but can be very entertaining. Also, a suggestion that demi-humans might use the same system presented here to give them some variety.

Next, we get some random tables to determine the type of humans encountered. Find number appearing (1-3 apparently), roll (or select) each human's class (3 in 6 chance they are a fighter, 1 in 6 any other class), alignment (3 in 6 Lawful, 2 in 6 Neutral, 1 in 6 Chaotic), select or roll for the reason they are there (another table below), select their equipment and possible magic items (but make sure they use them and be prepared for the PCs to acquire them), and any other details you need (AC, HP, spells, etc.).

The one thing it doesn't tell you is what to roll to determine their level, since these are all classed NPCs (for "0-level" NPCs see Normal Man in the next post).

The next table, as mentioned, has 8 possible reasons they might be in the dungeon:
1. Alone (and scared)
2. Bait
3. Escaping
4. Looking for a friend
5. Looking for an item
6. Not what they seem
7. Running away
8. Sole Survivors

This is not a bad selection of motives for NPCs in a dungeon, but they do have consequences. #2 and #6 will only work so many times, then the players will become suspicious that any humans encountered may be trying to trap/trick them. #4 and #5 give some motive to the players - either to cooperate to find the missing friend/item, or as competition to find them first! #1, #3, #7 and #8 are nice in that it gives the DM a way to warn the party of extraordinarily tough monsters or traps in the area. Of course, it's possible to make up all kinds of other motivations in addition to these eight.

I really should use more encounters like this. Too often, I just have monster lairs be full of monsters, and any humans encountered are prisoners/slaves (current, not escaped), or a full NPC party (described next post).

Insect: Another reference listing, covering Bee, Beetle, Centipede, Locust and Robber Fly, and explains why insects aren't on the "Animals, Normal and Giant" listing. It still doesn't explain why the giant lizards and snakes aren't counted as "animals" in the game.

Kobold: Let the great debate begin! Kobolds are described as "small, evil dog-like men...They have scaly rust-brown skin and no hair" (p. 32). So are they little dog men, or little lizard men? Their skin is scaly, but not explicitly reptilian by this description. I always assumed (even as a kid) that 'scaly' in this case meant diseased, like shingles. And the "dog-like" bit is there, too. I used to think of kobolds-gnolls as similar in a way to goblins-hobgoblins-bugbears because of the dog/hyena similarity.

Frank tells us they "prefer to attack by ambush" (p. 32), which has come to mean, thanks to Mr. Tucker, they set lots of traps everywhere. Their chieftain has a whopping 9 hit points, and fights as a 2HD monster, while the bodyguard have 6 hit points and fight as 1+1HD monsters (or functionally the same as the chieftain).

Living Statue: I love living statues. Not sure why, they're just fun. Maybe it's because statuary should be common in dungeons, and there are so many fun things you can do with these guys. I'm always wondering why other editions don't include them (probably someone says "But we already have golems in AD&D/3E/[current edition]! Why do we need these guys?" completely oblivious to the functional similarity of the multitude of humanoid opponents in any edition invalidating this argument.

Living statues are explicitly mentioned as animated creatures created by wizards (Constructs in later editions), unlike gargoyles. They are all immune to sleep, but not immune to charm or hold! Three types are given, and it's suggested the DM should create more.
Crystal Statue: No special powers, just a living rock guy. It says they're often human but could be anything. I usually make them human-shaped. Probably I should add more variety.
Iron: These guys are fun, because metal weapons may stick to the body, making them tactically challenging foes to defeat.
Rock: These guys shoot liquid hot magma from their hands (or whatever other appendages if they aren't human-shaped). Very cool. I love these guys!

Lizard, Giant: Not animals, apparently. We get four varieties, the gecko, draco, horned chameleon, and tuatara. While I like lizards, so use giant lizards often in my games, they aren't really that interesting. They can climb walls, draco lizards can glide down to attack, horned chameleons surprise on 1-5 on d6 (!) and can shoot their tongue to grab opponents, and tuatara (as mentioned several posts back) get 90' infravision. Oh, and horned chameleons get a tail knockdown attack listed in their description but not in their stat-block, making it easy to forget.

Lizard Man: Did I mention that I like lizards? I love lizard men as humanoid opponents. And here, we get some motivation for them that many other monsters don't get -- they like to capture humans and demi-humans to take back to their tribes and feast on them. If you see them, they're probably going to be hunting you. And if they capture some of your party (or some friendly NPCs), you've got an adventure hook right there. Go rescue them before they become dinner! Oh, and lizard men are 2+1HD, and get +1 damage to their weapon attacks, making them kinda tough among the Basic Set humanoids.

Locust, Giant: Of the giant insects in the Basic Set, giant locusts are probably the most tactically interesting, but because of that, kind of a challenge to use well. They pretty much always flee combat (Morale 5, plus the description also says the usually just flee instead of fighting), yet they aren't very smart and have a random chance to flee toward the threat, getting a hit roll against a random member of the party for a bump attack. If they actually fight, they have a bite (only 1d2 damage) and a spit attack (and we get an early version of 3E's "Touch AC" in that the spit only has to hit AC9, regardless of the target's actual AC) which can debilitate the target with its stench if the target, and anyone within 5', fails a save vs poison. Oh, and they make a shrieking noise, which likely draws wandering monsters to investigate the noise.

So that's a lot of stuff for the DM to keep track of, and a treasureless pest monster for the PCs...but wait, there's more! They eat fungus and mold, and are immune to yellow mold. I've never thought to try it, and never had players try it either, but if you could capture or corral some of these guys, they could totally be exploited to remove yellow mold or shriekers or some other fungal/mold monsters in another part of the dungeon.

Lycanthrope: Yeah, yeah, yeah, the group name should be "therianthrope" but hey, lycanthrope sounds a lot cooler, right? The general description before each of the five types are described lets us know that they are people (rats) who change into beasts (humans), so they don't wear armor. They can summon 1 or 2 normal animals of their type, which arrive in 1d4 rounds -- something I often forget to have them do, since I often have old Universal Wolfman movies in mind when I use werecreatures. Wolvesbane, of course, is their weakness, forcing them to save vs poison or flee. I often have my PCs buy wolvesbane, but when the lycanthropes are encountered, the party is usually packing enough magical weaponry that it doesn't get used (or it's just been on the equipment list unused for so long I've forgotten about it).

Next, we get some tips about animal form, in which only silver or magical weapons harm them and they can't speak normally but can communicate with their animal type, and human form in which they tend to have some physical features that resemble their animal form (hint hint, your buddy suddenly looks more wolfish than he did before...better watch out next full moon!) but can be harmed by normal weapons.

Lycanthropy as a disease only affects humans. Demi-humans die instead. If a were creature takes away more than half of your hit points, you become one in 2d12 days (and yes, it says the victim begins showing signs in half that time...so body changes in human form, and I would assume taking on some animal-like behavior traits under stress?). High level clerics, of course, can cure the disease, otherwise your PC becomes an NPC controlled by the DM.

There's no mention of the moon anywhere in the description, actually, so the change is apparently voluntary on the part of the lycanthrope. 

Wererats: I've always wondered, since they are rats who can change into humans (inspired by Lankhmar stories), do humans contract lycanthropy from them? If so, aren't they then humans who turn into rats? Does it matter?
Werewolves: Something I often forget but think is cool is that werewolves in the game are said to hunt in packs together with normal wolves, and they have a leader (30 hit points, 5HD creature, +2 damage). Again, old werewolf movies and TV shows make me think they are normally solitary creatures, when they should be dangerous pack predators!
Wereboars: These guys count as berserkers in human form, which may make them a bit less of a normal threat, unless they can stop berserking long enough to change into boars if they get hurt. Otherwise, they may fight to the death in their weaker, more vulnerable state. They are Neutral, so it's possible they can be bargained with or even become allies.
Weretigers: Due to stealth, they can surprise on a 1-4 on d6, but like actual big cats are curious and not always hostile. Again, Neutral alignment allows them to be potential allies.
Werebear: These guys are obviously taken from Beorn in The Hobbit, and the text says they retain their full intelligence in animal form (only wererats also retain full intelligence) and may be friendly at times. Like all bears, they get a bear hug in bear form, so if you get in a fight, they are very tough opponents!

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Alright, that was a long one. Two more monster posts to come, then we'll move on to treasure.