AD&D 1st edition
In 1984, TSR published the second of the Conan adventures, Against Darkness, by Ken Rolston. Oddly, it also proclaims on its title page that Anne C. Gray developed it; I can only imagine that Anne contributed significantly to the adventure. Such a significant credit line is rare in the products of the TSR era! As with the first adventure, Conan Unchained, this is a very … Continue reading AD&D Adventure Review – Conan: Against Darkness!
In the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, the rulebooks gave various methods of determining what monster was randomly encountered. The earliest tables used a flat roll – roll a d6. On a 1 it is an orc. On a 2 it is a goblin. And so on and so forth. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons gave a more nuanced approach: Percentile tables, with different probabilities … Continue reading Random Encounters: 1d8 + 1d12
Examining my old archives, I found the following entries relating to campaigns played 20 years ago or more… We played the events in 578 CY in 1997-8, if I recall correctly, using the AD&D 2nd Edition rules (using the Player Options books). The later events came from a campaign begun in 2000, in the weeks leading up to the release of D&D 3E and beyond! … Continue reading Memories of Greyhawk
I recently participated on a panel on boxed text in PAX Online. Before that, I asked some of my twitter followers questions that they had about the use of box text. We did not get to most of those questions, so I am using this article to answer them! A reminder: I am in favour of boxed text, when used well! “Would your approach to … Continue reading Boxed Text Q&A
I often begin my campaigns with megadungeons. I sketch out a couple of maps of the first two levels, stock them with monsters, traps, tricks, and treasures – usually using a combination of choice and random selection – and let the players go explore. I have never, however, spent the entire length of a campaign exploring one. Stories suggest themselves to me as we play. … Continue reading Enter the Megadungeon
My home campaign has continued its quest for the Rod of Seven Parts. With the first part in hand, they discovered the second part was possibly in the land of Ket; which was the place with which their nation was at war and why they were seeking the Rod in the first place! As it turned out, the second part wasn’t in Ket! Instead, it … Continue reading Adventures in Greyhawk – Tsojcanth
For some reason, I wanted to design this monster with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons statistics. I have no idea why. And I am sure someone else has done this before me. But I wanted to put it out there. TETRAHEDRON FREQUENCY: Very RareNO. APPEARING: 1-4ARMOR CLASS: 4MOVE: 4″HIT DICE: ¼% IN LAIR: NilTREASURE TYPE: NilNO. OF ATTACKS: 1DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1-4SPECIAL ATTACKS: MaimSPECIAL DEFENSES: Surprise on a … Continue reading The Most Fearsome Monster (AD&D stats)
Exploring the wilderness could be a dangerous endeavour in the early forms of Dungeons & Dragons. If the random encounter table indicated an encounter with goblins, OD&D suggested that the party discovered 40-400 of them! It paints a view of a dangerous world. Outside of the civilised nations, large warbands of monsters stalk the land. It was only the humanoid monsters (orcs, kobolds, goblinoids, bandits, … Continue reading I Track the Monster to its Lair!
Back in AD&D, each class had its own experience point table. Partly this was because the characters gained abilities at different rates, so a thief gaining levels quickly kept it more in line with the abilities of the fighter. And part of it was because that is just how they did things then. Different classes, different rates of advancement. The most iconic advancement was the … Continue reading If 5E Experience Tables worked as they did in AD&D
In the earliest days of Dungeons & Dragons, players rolled to determine their ability scores. On 3d6. In order. Creating a character involved rolling your ability scores and then choosing the race and class you wanted to play based on those scores. There was one element that alleviated the “3d6 in order” rule: You could reduce your scores in other abilities to increase that of … Continue reading Dungeons & Dragons Lore: Ability Scores
