Recaps & Roundups: Monster & Treasure Assortment Set Two - Levels Four-Six

Around this time in late 1977 the second Monster & Treasure Assortment was released.  (Note that this date is very approximate; I've used a number of sources to try to pinpoint release dates, but there are a bunch of products that just don't have that info out there.)  As with the first installment (which I covered here), it presents a number of pre-prepared encounters and treasures to help the DM stock their dungeons more quickly.

The instruction text at the beginning is exactly reproduced from Set One, including the example that uses introductory monsters from the first set.  As with the previous product, each dungeon level covered (in this case levels 4 to 6) has a list of 100 encounters and 100 treasures.  Most of them are standard fare, but there are a number of monsters that are appearing here for the first time ever.  I'll list them below.

• Black Widow Spiders: These spiders have hit points in the teens, so I guess they'd be around the 3-4 Hit Die mark. All of the encounters with these spiders give them a poison attack, but only some of them list a web attack.
• Crab Spiders: They average around 10 hp, so they probably have 2 or 3 HD. They're listed with a poison attack.
• Giant Driver Ants: Giant ants are a D&D staple, but I haven't seen driver ants given stats before.  They're a species of ant native to central and east Africa, but there's nothing about them that different statistically from regular giant ants.
• Giant Gecko Lizards: Giant lizards with no specific special abilities, and hit points in the high teens.
• Tiger Beetles: Giant beetles with no special abilities, and hit points in the low 20s.
• Living Statue, Crystal: Living statues were mentioned passing in the OD&D booklets, but this is the first time they are getting stats.  The crystal statue has hit points in the mid-low teens, and no special abilities.  They won't be brought forward into AD&D, but they will be included in the Basic D&D line.
• Giant Draco Lizard: Giant lizards with around 20 hit points and no special abilities.
• Giant Lizard, Horned Chameleon: Giant lizards with hit points between 20-30.  They have a "tongue" attack listed as a special ability, which I assume means they grapple opponents with their tongue and drag them into their mouth.
• Tarantella: A type of giant spider with hit points ranging from the mid-teens up to 30. They also have a "dance fever" attack listed.  This monster will appear in the Basic D&D line, where its bite causes the victim to dance uncontrollably.
• Living Statue, Rock: This statue has around 30 hit points, and may squirt magma on a hit, dealing 2-12 damage.
• Giant Lizard, Tuatara: A giant lizard with around 40 hit points and no special abilities.
• Caecilia: A type of giant worm that will swallow opponents whole on an attack roll of 19 or 20.
• Oil Beetles: Giant beetles that can make a painful oil attack that blisters opponents, giving them a -2 attack penalty for 24 hours.

Most of that list above will go on to appear in the Basic and Expert boxed sets written by Tom Moldvay and Dave Cook, while being excluded from AD&D.  The Monster & Treasure Assortments were reportedly put together by Ernie Gygax, so it's possible he created these monsters or was inspired to include them based on earlier games.  Wherever they came from, it's odd that they never made the jump to AD&D.  The AD&D Monster Manual would have been written around the same time as this product, so perhaps these monsters hadn't been created by the time it was finished.

Also of note is that the Monster and Treasure Assortments include a line for each monster showing what saving throw they use.  OD&D is fairly nebulous on the matter, just telling you to use the appropriate class and level equivalent to the monster's Hit Dice.  This is, I believe, the first product that gives concrete information on monster saving throws.

Finally, I want to mention the entry for number appearing.  As with saving throws, OD&D doesn't really tell you how many monsters should be encountered in a dungeon; the Number Appearing entry in that version of the game is meant to apply to wilderness encounters.  The Monster & Treasure Assortment could be used as a guide to determine the proper number to be encountered.  Take Orcs, for instance.  In OD&D, they will be encountered by the hundreds, at least in the wilderness.  In the Assortment, they are encountered as follows: 2-5 on level 1; 3-12 on level 2; 4-24 on level 3; 10-40 on level 4; not encountered after that.  There's no pattern to follow, unfortunately, but it's the closest that the original game ever gets to providing guidance on the matter.

I also just noticed that the blurb on the back of the product mentions some products that were never released.  Apparently TSR planned a fourth set of dungeon geomorphs (ruins), another set of outdoor geomorphs (castle/fortress), and a set of geomorphs for use with miniature figures.  None of these ever saw the light of day.  I'd assume this is because the other geomorphs didn't sell all that well, but I honestly don't know.

I'll leave you with this image from Set Two, which shows some poor bastard being eaten by an Umber Hulk.  My favourite thing about early D&D art is its dedication to showing adventurers meeting grisly fates.  It's definitely something that the more modern art is lacking.

Recaps & Roundups: JG37 The First Fantasy Campaign part 3

There's a whole section on Blackmoor town and castle. It's said to have a population of about 1,000 peasants, plus 100 soldiers, 100 elves, and a bunch of others (wizards, trolls, a dragons, etc.).  Blackmoor was described by Gary Gygax in one of the earlier D&D books (possibly D&D Vol. 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventure) as a "one-horse town", and I suppose that by the standards of other fantasy cities it is rather small.  In terms of resources it's rich in iron ore and coal, and the main form of livestock is a large type of bison.

The current ruler is Baron Fant, who was placed in charge of the castle after the first invasion by the Egg of Coot. His biggest ally is Sir Jenkins, who rules the northernmost area of the Great Kingdom.  He was a former bandit, but achieved great honours after the first Coot invasion, and married Fant's cousin to strengthen the alliance (Fant also married one of Jenkins' relations.)

Blackmoor Castle itself is said to have been built during the third year of the reign of Robert I, "King of all Geneva", primarily as a defense against the barbarians from the north.  (The mention of Geneva I take as a reference to the wargaming groups of Lake Geneva in the real world; in universe I suppose it means the Great Kingdom).  No exact time frame is given for when the castle was built, but the moat surrounding it was created some 400 years ago by a Wizard named Pissaic.  The castle was taken during both invasions by the Egg of Coot, but in both instances it was retaken.

One of those instances happened about 40 years ago, during the Second Coot Invasion.  The Keep's ruler at the time, Baron Ra-all the Wise, was promoted to King of Vestfold, and Blackmoor was placed under the rule of someone known as "the Weasel".  Blackmoor was besieged by barbarians, and the Weasel decided to try to negotiate a truce.  The barbarians sent ten delegates, but through magic unleashed by a wizard, the delegates transformed into hideous creatures and slaughtered the inhabitants of the castle.

Near the Blackmoor walls there are seemingly bottomless pits that connect to underground caves that riddle the area, leading to the netherworld and the dungeons beneath Castle Blackmoor. 

About five miles northwest of Blackmoor is a ruined temple that once belonged to the Dark Lords of the Egg of Coot. It was razed about 500 years ago.  In the middle of the temple is a great orange jewel on a black pedestal; adventurers have taken it several times, but each time those thieves have met a violent end, and the gem has returned to its resting place.  This is expanded on later: the place is also known as the Temple of the Id Monster, the gem is guarded by undead Super-Heroes, and anyone who steals the gem is pursued by the Id Monster, which only they can see. The creature will devour them and take back the gem, and the thief will wake up naked on the town garbage heap having experienced being eaten alive.

Northeast is the abode of the Wizard of the Wood (who was either called Pete, or played by a guy named Pete).  His abode is guarded by illusions of hideous monsters, a trio of Ents at the entrance, and a Fire Elemental in the fireplace.  "Pete" apparently died after playing for two years, on a trip to the City of the Gods, but his home is still there.

Not far from there lies the Super Berry Wood, a timeless place where all who enter lose track of time, and don't want to leave (anyone inside must make a save vs. charm person every turn).  The great "Berrium Maximus" grows there, also known as Super Berries, which are the size of pumpkins and have magical properties depending on the season, the phase of the moon, and the maturity of the berry.  Arneson doesn't elaborate further, mostly because his own players haven't figured a lot of this stuff out yet.

Wolf's Head Pass lies to the northeast, leading to forests dominated by Ents and Wood Elves of uncertain allegiance, and then to the southern lands of the Egg of Coot.

The Comeback Inn in Blackmoor has cheap food and lodgings, and is apparently a good place to find rumours, but it has a magical charm that prevents those inside from leaving; only by having someone outside the inn pull the person wanting to leave through the door can place be escaped.

Details are then given about Blackmoor Castle itself. It has a basement and five floors.  Many of those rooms are said to be haunted.  There is the ghost of Baron Alvarez, who was killed by barbarians, and whose appearance foretells doom. The Lady of Lust is fated to take any man who wanders into her grasp (apparently she was cursed for being an "uncooperative wife" which is uhhhhhhh uncomfortable, let's say).  There are ghosts of plenty of other former rulers, most of whom are scary but harmless.  A Lord Alfred was caught by his wife with a serving wench, and the gruesome beheading she gave him is replayed in one room.  A former ruler known as Balfred the Bald kept a "jungle beast" as a guardian; after he was killed by it the room was sealed up, but when the room was reopened, and the beast was gone.  Rumour persists that anyone who has betrayed Blackmoor that enters the room will suffer the same fate as Balfred.  These hauntings give the place quite a bit of flavour, but as far as I can tell the maps don't show where they actually take place.

Recaps & Roundups part 67: JG36 Character Chronicle Cards

This will be a quick on today, because there's not a whole hell of a lot to say about this product.  Judges Guild's Character Chronicle Cards are a set of 100 cards with character sheets printed on them.  The front and back of each card are as follows:

I suppose they could be used by players (especially if you're the sort who likes to have your character sheet on you at all times, just in case), but they seem of much more use to DMs, who will no doubt have loads of NPCs to keep track of.  Handy, but nothing you couldn't achieve with a stack of index cards, which would probably be cheaper.

Some of the categories on the cards are curious though.  What does GAM under the ability scores represent?  Gambling, maybe?  Boot Hill has a Gambling score, so it's possible.  Across from there is SL, which the card packaging says stands for Social Level.  Everything else is pretty self-explanatory, although I'm not sure what "Date" is supposed to be for.

Recaps & Roundups part 66: The Dragon #9

Cover art by Bill Hannan

This issue of The Dragon is cover dated September 1977.  Tim Kask's editorial reflects on the recent Origins convention, held in late July (so the cover date for The Dragon is fairly accurate as to when it was released).  It was apparently down on attendance due to a heatwave, but there was enough new product for Kask to be confident in the growth of the industry.  He ends it by mentioning that the magazine is expanding to 40 pages next month, and including Tom Wham's board game, Snit Smashing.

In other news, Harry Fischer's "The Finzer Family" concludes, taking up the majority of the page count.  "Floating in Timeless Space" is a Tom Wham comic promoting his board game, "Finieous Fingers continues to do its thing, and "Wormy" by Dave Trampier makes its debut.

There's also an ad for the D&D Basic Set, which was recently released.

The ad for the first Basic Set

"Varied Player Character and Non-Player Character Alignment in the Dungeons & Dragons Campaign" by Gary Gygax: In this article Gary talks about alignment, specifically focusing on the kinds of conflicts that can arise from having characters of varied alignment within the game.  It's interesting from a historical perspective, because I'd say it's pretty likely that the things Gary is writing about here are scenarios he had to deal with in his own games.  He says that the most common problem in long-running campaigns is with cooperating blocks of players, who coerce new players into taking a certain alignment, and dispatching those who refuse.  It reminds me a bit of the early days of MMOs, where stronger characters would frequently prey on newbies.  Gary's recommendation here is that new players simply lie about their alignment, and play along until they are high enough level to stand up to the established guys.  He even says that it's fine for the players to keep their true alignment secret from the DM, which isn't something I thought I'd ever see from Gary's pen.

It's mentioned that, in the Greyhawk campaign, "good" is the desired end sought by the majority of humanity and its allied races.  Most planned actions are based on a threat to the overall good by the forces of evil, but there's still room for lawful good to go to war with chaotic good, with either aligned with evil beings of lawful or chaotic alignment respectively.

The article also has a very vivid description of the City of Greyhawk that I'll reproduce here in full: "This walled town was the area trade center and seat of feudal power, then began to decline when the overlordship transferred from a suzerain to the city itself, but is now undergoing a boom due to the activities of adventurers and the particular world system events (a new struggle between lawful good and chaotic evil, with the latter on the upswing). The oligarchs of the city are neutral in outlook, if not in alignment, viewing anything which benefits their city as desirable. Therefore, all sorts of creatures inhabit the city, commerce is free, persons of lawful alignment rub elbows with chaotics, evil and good co-exist on equitable terms. Any preeminence of alignment is thwarted by the rulers of the place, for it would tend to be detrimental to the city trade."  That mention of a suzerain is intriguing.  TSR products have the mad wizard Zagyg as a former ruler of Greyhawk, so I could make that a reference to him.  It's also interesting to note that "chaotics" are said to frequent the city.  Does that just mean chaotic humans, or are there orcs, goblins, gnolls, etc. walking around and doing business there?  Something to think about.

The article finishes up with the example of a cleric who opens a small shrine and starts selling holy water.  This doesn't attract much attention, but once he builds a church and starts seeking mass conversions, this attracts the enmity of other leading clerics of the city, as well as the government.  Assassination attempts are possible, and hefty taxes and bribes will be required for the cleric to navigate the paths of power.  It paints a picture of a city where the rulers are desperate to maintain some sort of an alignment balance, so as not to disrupt trade and commerce, or otherwise upset things.

"Seal of the Imperium" by M.A.R. Barker: Professor Barker answers some questions and provides rules clarifications regarding Empire of the Petal Throne.  Some interesting stuff here, but it's relation to D&D is tangential at best.  I'll keep it in mind for when I need to compile info on Tekumel.

"The Fastest Guns That Never Lived - Part II" by Brian Blume: Blume provides stats for the following fictional cowboys and actors:

• Don "Red" Barry
• William "Wild Bill" Elliot
• "Hoot" Gibson
• William S. Hart
• Tim Holt
• Allan "Rocky" Lane
• Colonel Tim McCoy
• Joel McCrea
• Tom Mix
• The Durango Kid
• Bob Steele
• Lee Van Cleef
• The Cisco Kid and Poncho

Hardly household names these days, except for perhaps Lee Van Cleef, but I'll have to find a place for them should my campaign ever take a turn into the Old West.

"Tombs & Crypts" by James M. Ward: This is a set of charts for randomly determining the contents of a tomb. Always handy to have, and quite reminiscent of the kind of thing found in Judges Guild products.  I rolled on the charts and came up with the following:

• A roll of 11 on 1d12 means that it's a wizard's tomb
• The tomb is one room, cave or mound of dirt
• It contains 2,000 gold pieces, 20 base 10,000gp gems, 2 base 500gp gems, a map, 4 pieces of base 500 gp jewelry, and a misc. magic weapon (10 arrows +1)
• Guarded by vampires 

That was rolled up pretty quickly.  The system is perhaps a little too generous where gems and jewelry are concerned, but Jim Ward's defense that anyone special enough to be placed in a tomb probably had a lot of treasure to be buried with is hard to argue against.

Recaps & Roundups part 65: Judges Guild Installment N - Barbarian Altanis/Glow Worm Steppes

This package was sent out to Judges Guild subscribers in August/September of 1977.  It contained the following products:

• JG43 Booklet N - Barbarian Altanis/Glow Worm Steppes
• JG44 Barbarian Altanis/Glow Worm Steppes Campaign Maps
• JG45 Journal N
• An additional notes sheet, that just has some stuff about subscriptions on it.  I don't need to cover it here.

I'm not sure if the cover above was used for Booklet N or not.  It's the first printing of Wilderlands of High Fantasy, into which Booklet N will be incorporated.  The price tag and the line at the bottom mentioning five maps makes me think it's not the proper cover, but I couldn't find an image of the legit one anywhere.  In lieu of any other evidence, I'm going with it.

JG45 Journal N

I don't have a copy of this, just an image of page one.  I'll quickly run through what articles I can.

• "Jocular Judgments": This column kicks off with some refutation of recent NASA revelations regarding Mars, as it doesn't mesh with Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories.  Of more interest is the section praising the recently released Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set.  I have that product being released in September.  Installment N came out in August/September, so I'm thinking that perhaps I should shift all of the Judges Guild installments to late in their second cover date month.
• "Shrewd Slants from the Sagacious Sage" by Bob Bledsaw: This article mentions one Terry Tout, who wants to get a con running in western Canada, where there haven't been any before. .It then asks whether JG subscribers prefer dungeons or campaign setting materials, and ends with some advice to limit the powers of gods when the PCs call upon them (or draft the PC in question into service).  I'm not really sure what the point of this column is other than letting Bob Bledsaw write about whatever takes his fancy.
• "Scrolls from the Archives": This begins what looks to be a write-up of a D&D game session. It only gets as far as showing the stats of the PCs before it gets cut off, but I can use those PCs somewhere: Vadi Mackvallen, a 7th level fighter/magic-user; Shartra, a 3rd level cleric; Nori, a 5th level dwarven fighter; Old Drussus, a 6th level druid; and Captain Angriff, a 4th level fighter.
• "Tips from the Tower": This talks a bit about Judges Guild answering fan requests by providing two maps with this installment.  It also talks about some correspondence they had with with Gary Gygax, which they use to defend the number of high level NPCs in JG products.  Of note is the tidbit that there is a blacksmith in the City of Greyhawk who is 7th level; I'll have to remember to include him or her when the time comes.  Also mentioned is the arrangement that TSR has with Judges Guild for their products to be officially licensed.  I guess this arrangement starts around the time of this installment.  Finally, it's mentioned that JG37 First Fantasy Campaign - which details Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign - is available.  I have that as being released in September, which is more evidence that I need to push back the JG installments in my chronology.

JG44 Barbarian Altanis/Glow Worm Steppes Campaign Maps

These two maps were printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper.

Barbarian Altanis

Glow Worm Steppes (although it's actually labelled on the
map as Valley of the Ancients)

No indication of how these maps relate to each other, or to Campaign Map 1 that was in Installment K.  Based on a map that came with JG10 Guide to the City State, the Barbarian Altanis region is south of Campaign Map 1, and the Glow Worm Steppes/Valley of the Ancients map is to the northeast of Map 1.  Probably my biggest complaint about the JG product line is that the content is so scattered.  There's loads of it, but good luck finding anything quickly.

JG 43 Booklet N

This booklet provides details of the regions shown on the maps above.  It will later be combined with Booklet O, and sold as JG48 The Wilderlands of High Fantasy.  The information presented here is incredibly terse, and presented in the same style as it was in the booklet that accompanied Campaign Map 1.

Villages on the map are detailed, with a name, population, the race that lives there, leader, alignment, level of civilisation, and major resources.  Most of them are good springboards for a DM to riff on.

"Ruins and relics" are a list of odd items guarded by monsters, generated by tables which I'll talk about below.  A lot of them are nonsensical, as can happen when using random charts, but there are some gems.  "Crystallized titan's skeleton fully covered with vines - 3 TROLLS" is a personal favourite.

There's a list of citadels & castles, which has little more than bare stats for the ruler and the number of troops.  That's followed by a list of monster lairs, which simply have the name and number of monsters.  The real gem of this section is the list of islands, which provide a one-sentence description of what can be found.  Pretty much all of these are great, and could easily be expanded into a whole adventure.  "Isle of Ekur - 2 giant lizards attack all who land".  "Isles of Jynoquil - haunted by ghosts of dead sea men".  "Isle of Zueringi - Numerous zombies protect a magic-user attempting to strengthen their kind".  None of it's too out of the ordinary, but these short descriptions can be just what you need sometimes, especially when you're winging it as a DM.

All of this content is well and good, but they give little indication as to what these regions are actually like.  Culture?  Climate?  Perhaps the details given do cohere into something when used in  a game, but if there's sense to be found here I can't see it.  So far, what I'm seeing is a patchwork of mostly random elements held together with some really cool maps.  For me, the Judges Guild materials come alive when focusing in on smaller areas, not the big picture stuff.

As usual with JG products, the booklet is also packed with charts and new rules, which I'll go through below.

• There are extensive tables for generating random ruins and abandoned relics.  On first glance I thought the results here were fairly mundane, but looking further down the list I saw things like rat chariots, space craft, and even a nuclear submarine!  I rolled on the charts to generate some results, and came up with the following comparatively boring results:
• A ruined, eroded citadel keep with four towers and a moat, partially covered in slime and inhabited by a catoblepas.
• Crystallized or petrified scraps of papyrus, hidden in a crevice and guarded by werewolves.
• A pair of greaves, half sunken and unguarded.
• There's a chart for determining the type of lair a monster has, based on its type: burrower, migratory, underwater, airborne, animal, and troglobite (which means something that lives underground).
• Extensive charts are given for randomly generating cave systems, based on the terrain you're currently in.  I started making one, and got as far as creating a limestone cave that's entered through a 400' diameter sinkhole that's 110' deep.  After that, you generate tunnels - including height and width - and it all got a bit too much.  For my tastes, it looks a touch too complicated to use during a game.
• A quick method is given for generating dungeons on the fly.  It's perhaps a little too simple, and the random dungeon generation tables from The Strategic Review are suggested as an alternative.
• A quick chart of random burrows is included, featuring things like a giant anthill, worm tunnels, weasel burrows, and hobbit smials.  Also mentioned are "glow worm caves", though no indication is given of what a glow worm is in D&D terms.  I guess it could just be a reference to real-world glow worms.
• Charts are given for dwellings and camps, but they're so cursory in comparison to the caves above that they needn't have bothered.
• A system is given for what players might find when searching a 10'x10' area.  There's some good inspiration here, although results like "cabinet" are somewhat ludicrous.
• A "keen sighting" chart is given, which shows a PC's likelihood of spotting something based on terrain, height, weather, etc.  This is a case of Judges Guild getting lost in the weeds a bit, I feel.  Rules are all well and good, but there's a limit to what can be implemented effectively at the table.  I guess it might be necessary for when the party is exploring that big campaign map though, to see if they actually find the encounters in the hex they're exploring.
• A chart for "hydrographic terrain" is given, that details the smaller waterways (not shown on the map) that PCs might discover.  None of the results on the tables are of particular interest.
• Rules are given for prospecting, which is somewhat more useful.  The charts provide the type of deposit, yield, and all manner of other data that gets a bit mathematical for me.  I suppose it's a way for characters to get rich, but it doesn't sound like as much fun as heading into a dungeon and skewering some orcs for their gold.
• Finally, the booklet ends with an example of how the larger map hexes break down into smaller hexes.  The example given is the hex containing the City State of the Invincible Overlord, which is obviously the most useful place to start.  Rules are given for movement on that smaller scale, complete with rules for fatigue.  As with most of JG's rules material, I find it a little unwieldy.

Recaps & Roundups part 64: White Dwarf #2

Cover art by Christopher Baker

The second issue of White Dwarf is cover dated August/September of 1977.

"Editorial" by Ian Livingstone: The issue kicks off with Ian Livingstone's editorial, in which he wonders why so many old-school wargamers are hostile to the new trend of sci-fi and fantasy gaming.  His conclusion that they're perhaps worried that this trend will completely take over the hobby is astute and prescient.

"Competitive D&D" by Fred Hemmings: This series continues, with Hemmings describing the set-up for a game run over "D&D Day", whatever that was.  The game sounds like an interesting one: the surviving descendants of the Underhill family - a family that has been made up of nothing but adventurers for four generations - has been summoned at the behest of their recently deceased uncle Ragnarock "Digger" Underhill to compete for the treasure in the dungeons beneath his mansion.  The surviving Underhills are described as follows:

• Cassia, a 5th-level, neutral, right-handed Fighter, with 16 strength, 21 hit points and a potion of invulnerability. Partnered with Carl.
• Carl, a 2nd level, neutral, right-handed Monk, with a constitution of only 6, 4 minus 2 hit points and a +1 sword (IQ 1). Partnered with Cassia.
• Brutus, a 5th level, neutral, either-handed Fighter, with 25 hit points and a rod of cancellation. Partnered with Lotus.
• Lotus, a 2nd level, neutral, left-handed Illusionist, with 4 hit points and a scroll of non-detection. Partnered with Brutus.
• Flash, a 2nd-level, lawful, right-handed Ranger of 17 Strength and 15 Constitution, had 12+2 hit points and +1 armour. Partnered with Milo.
• Milo, a 2nd-level, lawful, left-handed Cleric. He had 6 hit points, a +1 shield, and a staff of striking with 80 charges. Partnered with Flash.
• Jose, a 2nd-level, chaotic, left-handed Magic-User of 6 Strength, 4 hit points, and no magic items.  Partnered with Will.
• Will, a 3rd level, chaotic, right-handed Bard, with 7 hit points and a +1 protection cloak. Partnered with Jose.
• Zadok, a 3rd level, chaotic, left-handed Thief, with 6 hit points and a sword which would break the first time it was used.  Partnered with Prudence.
• Prudence, a 3rd level, chaotic, ambidextrous Fighter with a constitution of 16, 10+3 hit points, a potion of levitation and a +1 sword which was also +3 vs. clerics (IQ 4). Partnered with Zadok.
• Pierre, a 2nd level, lawful, right-handed Cleric with a strength of 5 and 10 hit points, but also the handicap of a shield that would break at the first blow. Partnered with Joan.
• Joan, a 2nd level, lawful, right-handed Fighter with a strength of 14. She had 8 hit points and a potion of bronze dragon control. Partnered with Pierre.
• Tonto, a 5th level, neutral, right-handed Magic-User who had 14 hit points and a bowl of watery death. Partnered with Avon.
• Avon, a 2nd level, neutral, right-handed Thief. This unfortunate person had a strength of 3, a constitution of 5, 6 minus 2 hit points and a +1 sword with the ability to locate objects (and an IQ Ego that would take her over in stress situations). Partnered with Tonto.
• Burke, Uncle Digger's hulking moronic grandson, a 2nd level, neutral, left-handed Fighter with a strength of 18 (+3/+5), while both intelligence and charisma were 3. His special equipment consisted of a scroll vs. elementals and a sword of draining (which transferred all hit point damage to the wielder for 24 hours).

The family is summoned to the Brass Monkey inn, run by "Greasy Pete", where they receive their inheritances (the magic items given in their descriptions) and a map to their uncle's former home and the dungeons beneath.  The dungeon is only vaguely described, and will apparently be shown in more detail next issue, so I'll save it until then.

To me, the above scenario has a real Judges Guild vibe, so I think it would fit pretty well into the Wilderlands setting.  As for getting the PCs involved, I could perhaps reveal one of them to be a distant Underhill relative, or have one of the unscrupulous NPCs above bring them in as ringers.

A lot of the article focuses on how this was run as a competitive game, with point values for various tasks, and the rules of the competition.  None of that's really relevant to my project, but it's an interesting look into the way competitive D&D was run in that time and place.

"Asgard Miniatures" reviewed by Ian Livingstone: Ian reviews a range of figures from a company co-founded by Brian Ansell, who will go on to co-design Warhammer Fantasy Battle and buy Games Workshop from Steve and Ian.  It's interesting to note certain things, like Ian being pleased that there are finally some good cleric figures on the market, and that the size of figures representing giant animals varies greatly.  It's easy to forget when reading this stuff just what a nascent hobby fantasy gaming was at the time.

"The Green Planet Trilogy of Games" reviewed by Lewis Pulsipher: Pulsipher reviews three games - Mind War, War of the Sky Galleons, and Warriors of the Green Planet - which can all be combined for a single campaign.  It's set on a future Earth that's devastated by an axial shift, where civilisation rises again in Africa with lasers, airships and mutated psychics.  Sky Galleons focuses on air combat, Warriors on ground combat, and Mind War on psychic combat. Pulsipher displays his usual no-fun-allowed nitpickery, but his reviews are nothing if not rigorous.

"Before the Flood" by Hartley Patterson: Gives a history of the game Midgard, which I gather was a sort of play-by-mail game with a newsletter, where the players were the rulers of various areas of a fantasy world.  It started in the UK and spread to the US and Australia, apparently.

"Open Box": This issue there are reviews of Steve Jackson's OGRE (that's the other Steve Jackson, not the GW co-founder), the Lankhmar boardgame from TSR, a sci-fi game called War of the Star Slavers, and the seminal fantasy game Tunnels & Trolls (which was tellingly not reviewed in any TSR publication).  Predictably, Lewis Pulsipher does not approve of T&T's silly spell names.

"The Monstermark System" by Don Turnbull: Turnbull continues to rank the deadliness of D&D monsters using his mathematical system.  This time around he tackles fire-breathing monsters (including dragons, naturally), weird miscellanea, golems, elementals, demons, and the monsters from Empire of the Petal Throne.  Most of the monsters match up relatively about where you'd expect, but there are some oddities.  Dragons are much weaker than I would have thought, and demons rate very highly.  I'd have expected the numbered demons to advance progressively, but in terms of power on this scale they go (from lowest to highest) V, I, IV, II, VI, III, with the Succubus trailing way, way behind.  Turnbull chalks the odd power scale up to differences in Armor Class.

Ropers receive a huge score, comparable to demons, and with scores in the tens of thousands iron and stone golems are way off the chart.  These are all tough monsters, but I'm not sure they're as tough as Turnbull's system makes them out to be.

The article wraps up with revised wandering monster tables by dungeon level, which I'll recreate here. They include the EPT monsters and some other oddities, and could make for some interesting dungeons very much rooted in 70s D&D.

The Monstermark Wandering Monster Chart

"Treasure Chest": This is the regular segment where contributors present new additions to D&D: classes, monsters, magic items, etc.

• "New Magic Item: Needle of Incalculable Power" by Julian Cable: This needle has whatever power the player who picks it up thinks it will have, which has all sorts of potential for fun but also for breaking the game.  It's offset by a reduction to the user's prime requisite, and by the restriction that it can't have the same power for two different players, but I still think that players could create all sorts of havoc with this once they figure out what it does.
• "New Class: The Scientist" by Dave Langford: A parody class in much better taste than last issue's Pervert.  Langford becomes a staple reviewer in British gaming mags, and this article has some solid gags.  Upon reaching name level, the scientist becomes "out of touch", and must restart from level 1, for example.  I won't be using this class, but it did get a chuckle or two out of me, which is more than can be said for most of the humour in The Dragon at this time.
• "New Monster: Spinescale" by Ian Livingstone: I'm a Fighting Fantasy nut, so any D&D content from Ian is right up my alley. Spinescales are frogs mutated by chemicals from the lab of a master alchemist named Vollan.  They have a poisonous bite and a tough hide that provides protection, but their eyes and underbelly are soft.  It's notable that it says that normal weapons will bounce off the hide; is it completely immune to all attacks that strike it there?  It only has AC 7, and I've always been iffy on how to rule monsters with different protection on different body parts.

Art by Polly Wilson

• "New Monster: Dune Stalker" by Ian Livingstone: Similar to Invisible Stalkers, Dune Stalkers are extra-dimensional trackers that are usually summoned/created by evil magic-users that have been exiled to desert lands.  They're immune to normal weapons, attack via sonic vibration, and also have a "kiss of death" which is fatal. This monster will later be included in the Fiend Folio.

Art by Polly Wilson

• "New Monster: The Ning" by Ian Livingstone: A creature created by evil priests, which is kept imprisoned in a flask. They are often placed in treasure hoards as protection. When the flask is opened the Ning materialises and attacks, hypnotising with its gaze and crushing those affected with its powerful lower arms.  It's immune to all attacks, and can only be defeated by severing the two arm-like antennae on its head.  It's more of a puzzle encounter than anything, and would best be used sparingly.

Art by Alan Hunter

• "New Monster: Giant Caterpillar" by Ian Livingstone: Another giant creepy-crawly, of which D&D can never have too many. This one has a poisonous bite, and a skin that can be sold for hundreds of gold pieces.  The skin is especially prized by "hill people" who wear it as a ceremonial dancing costume.

Art by Alan Hunter

• "New Monster: Blood Hawk" by Ian Livingstone: Tougher and more aggressive hawks, basically, that like to line their nests with gems.  Somehow this one made the cut for the Fiend Folio.

Art by Polly Wilson

"The Loremaster of Avallon" by Andy Holt: Last issue Andrew Holt made many complaints about D&D, and proposed some ways to fix it.  This month he goes into more detail about his various solutions.  There's an alternate system for devising ability scores, which is far too removed from D&D to be of use, but his magic system is intriguing, as it uses a spell point system and has unique chants for each spell that must be recited by the player from memory.  I could see that being fun at the table, although perhaps favouring certain types of players.  Some new spells are given: Bow Break (causes a strung bow or crossbow to break); Mammal Empathy, and Stun.

"Letters": Graham Reynolds writes to complain about the gravity chart in last issue's Metamorphosis Alpha article, Graham Buckell quibbles over the review of Starship Troopers, and Adrian Bolt lets the editors know what he thought of every article.

Recaps & Roundups part 63: The Dragon #8

Cover art by Bill Hannon

The Dragon #8 was cover dated July 1977.  I originally covered it in more detail back here, so I'm going to skim over it this time.  Tim Kask's "Dragon Rumbles" editorial talks about how proud he is to have Harry Fischer writing fiction for the magazine, and he also lies about the potential return of Gygax's "Gnome Cache" serial.  The story by Fischer - "The Finzer Family" - is interminably long, taking up far more real estate than any fiction should in a gaming magazine.  "Featured Creature" presents an Erol Otus illustration and asks the readers to design a creature around it. I'll cover that when the time comes. Finally, "So You Want Realism in D&D" by Brian Blume provides a satirical method of ability score generation designed to gently mock those calling for greater realism.

"Planes: The Concept of Spatial, Temporal and Physical Relationships in D&D" by Gary Gygax: This one is real doozy folks.  It's here that Gary first sets out the planar cosmology of D&D, complete with a diagram, the names of all the planes, and how they interact with D&D spells and magic items.  Here's the diagram:

The diagram is kind of pointless with annotations, so I'll list out all of the Planes as well.

1. The Prime Material Plane (where most D&D worlds sit)
2. The Positive Material Plane
3. The Negative Material Plane
4. The Air Elemental Plane
5. The Fire Elemental Plane
6. The Earth Elemental Plane
7. The Water Elemental Plane
8. The Ethereal Plane
9. The Astral Plane
10. The Seven Heavens
11. The Happy Hunting Grounds
12. The Twin Paradises
13. Olympus
14. Elysium
15. Gladsheim
16. Limbo
17. Pandemonium
18. The 666 Layers of the Abyss
19. Tarterus
20. Hades
21. Gehenna
22. The Nine Hells
23. Acheron
24. Nirvana
25. Arcadia

Many of these are appearing in D&D here for the first time, but some have been mentioned before.  The elemental planes have been at least implied in the rules about elemental summoning, and the Astral and Ethereal Planes have specifically appeared in certain spells and monster descriptions (particularly in Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry).  Heaven, Paradise, Elysium, Limbo, the Abyss, Hades, Hell and Nirvana all got mentioned in an article on alignment from The Strategic Review #6, and placed on a chart the I'll show below.

The planes shown here correspond with their placement on the chart above, which is the kind of consistency that I'm here for.  Unfortunately, it gets shifted around a bit by the time the Players Handbook tackles the subject in 1978.  The change is in the order of planes 11 to 14, which are shown as: 11. Twin Paradises; 12. Elysium; 13. Happy Hunting Grounds; 14. Olympus.  The version in the PHB is the one that sticks going forward, so I can only conclude that the planes can be shifted around somehow, or that early planar scholars were incorrect about the configuration.

In addition to the planar cosmology, Gary delves into the idea that creatures that can only be hurt by magic weapons exist on multiple planes at once.  Creatures hit only by +1 weapons exist in two planes at once, those hit only by +2 weapons exist in three planes, etc.  Similarly, magic weapons extend into multiple planes depending on their bonus, and those that deal more damage to specific monsters have a more intense nature in the plane relevant to that monster.  The idea is even posited that every type of creature is somehow connected to its own sub-plane, to explain those magic weapons that deal extra damage to monsters who aren't immune to normal weapons.  It's all pretty wild stuff, and very AD&D in flavour; in fact, Gary casually drops at the end of the article that he's revising the whole game to incorporate these ideas.

"The Development of Towns in D&D" by Tony Watson: This article gives some advice on laying out the PC's home town, including how to map it out, what types of shops and areas it should include, and notes on population and how NPCs should be generated. The following examples are given that I can include as part of the Ultimate Sandbox:

• An inn named Falgrave's, which is run by a dwarf named Falgrave and mostly frequented by demi-humans.  Falgrave is up on all the non-human gossip.
• Blatherson of Hillock, an NPC with the following stats: Str 12, Con 9, Int 13, Cha 15, Dex 8, Wis 7.  He's 4th level, and I assume a fighter. He's Lawful, old, loyal to his friends, cooperative and friendly.  He likes to frequent the Golden Goblet tavern, where he constantly drinks mead and tells stories about his exploits in the Goblin Wars.

There are also some examples of goods and services given that I may or may not use:

• Cartographers sell wilderness and dungeon maps for 100 to 600 gp, depending on how remote the area is.
• A shave and a haircut at the barbers costs 1 gp.
• Armour and weapons can be bought at pawnshops, but they have a 1-in-6 chance of being defective.
• There is a 1-in-4 chance that a foreign merchant or two will be present in the main square.
• Horses can be boarded at the stables for 2-3 gp per week.
• In the seedy area of town, there is a 1-in-8 chance per turn of encountering a thief or a band of brigands.
• Soothsayers charge 20 gp to predict how a planned adventure might turn out.
• There are magicians who will cast spells for a fee of 50gp x spell level. Now this is something I will have to limit to very low level spells, probably only 1st or 2nd. The price is far too low for anything more powerful, and only the weakest and poorest of magic-users would resort to selling their services for such a low price.
• Brothels charge 20gp (and 35 gp for the special!). Bribes of 10-100 gp can be made to find out information.
• Surgeons can heal 1-6 hit points for 25 gp with a 50% chance of success. They have a 1-in-6 chance to cure poison for 35 gp.
• Scholars at the library can research facts for a fee that begins at 100gp and goes up as the info required gets more specific.

"Introduction to: Gamma World": This article gives a brief overview of the backstory of Gamma World: in the 23rd century a mysterious group known as "The Apocalypse" issues an ultimatum to the world powers to stop fighting or be destroyed.  Mankind bands against them, and the resultant war devastates the Earth.  Gamma World gets into my campaign because the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide has conversion rules for it.

"A Re-Evaluation of Gems & Jewelry in D&D" by Robert J. Kuntz: This article presents more comprehensive tables for determining the value of gems and jewelry, as well as their type.  I'll keep this in mind for when I get around to working up some comprehensive charts of my own.

"Still More Additions to MA" by James Ward: This article presents twenty new mutated plants and animals for use in Metamorphosis Alpha: jawed lily pads; fungus domes; red puff balls; stalkers; radiation vines; island plants; jawed creeping vines; reflector brambles; spear trees; poison thorn grass; tigeroids; gorillaoids; bulleroids; rabners; blumers; carrins; kerasks; gygarants; sotherlans; and wardents.  You might have figured out that the last have dozen or so are based on TSR staffers, and have abilities that are based on the personalities of those folks.  It's all a bit inside baseball, but the monsters are workable and the names not too stupid, so I'll use them.

Recaps & Roundups part 62: Character Record Sheets

Cover art by Tom Wham

I've reached July 1977 in this D&D product chronology, but evidence suggests that Character Record Sheet came out around April.  These aren't the first player character sheets to be made by TSR, but they are the first to be sold commercially.  I covered the first ones here, along with The Character Archaic from Wee Warriors.

Finding actual scans, not recreations, of these sheets was a little difficult.  These were the best I could manage.

There's nothing too surprising on the front, though I always find it a little odd to see Psionic Strength listed right there alongside D&D staples like the six ability scores; it's just never been a part of my games.  I always like a sheet with a space for a drawing though, and this one doubles down on that by also having a space for a "sign or blazon".

The back sheet gives a lot of real estate to equipment and where its stored, affirming old school D&D dedication to encumbrance.  The big box for GOLD should probably read TREASURE.  I don't know why there's such a large space for Experience, though.  It's probably not going above seven figures, right?

Recaps & Roundups part 61: Dungeons Geomorphs Set Three: Lower Dungeons

The exciting cover of Dungeon Geomorphs: Set Three

I origjnally had this product placed chronologically later in the year, but it's listed as being for sale in Judges Guild Journal M, so I've moved it back to June of 1977.  Set One was said to be available by the time Judges Guild put their first products out, which was in August 1976.  That leaves the question of when Set Two was first on sale.  It wasn't listed in the products for sale in Judges Guild Journal L, but it's there alongside Set Three in Journal M.  That leads me to conclude that Set Two and Three came out at the same time, but it's pretty weak evidence.  Weak evidence is better than no evidence, but I'm still not certain about it.  (ADDENDUM: I just discovered that Set Two was advertised in The Dragon #6, so it would have been available by April 1977.)

Dungeon Geomorphs Set Three: Lower Dungeons features - like its predecessors - example dungeon layouts that can be mixed and matched on the fly to create dungeon levels.  Set One featured simple dungeon layouts, and Set Two featured caves.  Set Three returns to the dungeons, but with slightly more complex designs, with more slanting passages and oddly-shaped rooms.

The instruction page for putting the geomorphs together is the same as in the first two installments (and can be read about here and here if you want more..  The sample level at the back is as follows;

The sample dungeon layout.

Every one of these sample dungeons uses the longer strip sections as well as the squares, and it really offends my design sense.  I'd prefer to see them laid out in such a way that they're still square or rectangular, which is boringly symmetrical but more aesthetically pleasing to me.

I'll reproduce the map key (presumably written by Gary) below.

7A. One huge Black Pudding, H.P.: 50. This monster is always very hungry, and it will pursue relentlessly as long as the party is in the room complex. Amidst the mass of junk in its lair is a bag of devouring with 7,000 gold pieces therein which it uses to attract prey.

7B. The Altar of the demon Sha-Hec'urah, set with fifty base 100 GP gems. There is a pit trap (10' deep, with six poisoned spikes) before it, with the cover trip mechanism to lock, unlock, or spring it hidden in a recess in a wall at the spot marked X. Touching the altar automatically alters 7C (below).

7C. An evil lama and curate (H.P.: 26, 21; A.C.: 0, 2; S.A.: Lama has snake staff and normal mace, curate has +1 mace) who serve the altar. With them is the "Arm of Sha-Hec'urah," a creature which appears to be a troll, but which strikes as a nine-die monster and causes only a loss of strength at 1 point per hit. Strength loss lasts for 2-12 turns, except on a roll of 20, in which case the loss is permanent unless a cure disease spell is cast upon the victim within 24 hours of the hit. The "Arm" wears an amulet which gives him this weakening ability. If he is slain the amulet may be worn by any player character, and his scoring a hit by touch will enable the strength loss to take place; the wearer loses 5 points permanently from charisma and will become more and more chaotically evil until becoming the new "Arm." The "Arm of Sha-Hec'urah": H.P.: 43; A.C.: -2 (due to the amulet). The "Arm" will call if below 20 H.P., and if the demon is thus summoned, there is a 10% chance it will come.

7D. 6 GNOLLS, H.P.: 13, 11, 11, 10, 9, 7. These are the guards for 7E, and as soon as they see any trespasser enter their area two will run for help, three will attempt to hold off the enemy for a moment, and the last will slip to the alcove in the passage leading out. As he hears his three rear-guards shouting, he will pull the chain which opens the bars of the cages set high in the walls of the chamber they are deserting, freeing 2 GARGOYLES (H.P.: 20, 17). In the far corner of the chamber are 3 magic arrows (+1) and 670 GP belonging to the gnolls.

7E. 2 STONE GIANTS. H.P.: 44, 36. These two are quite clever for their kind, having amassed treasure of 10,400 CP, 4,500 SP, 1,980 EP, and 625 GP stored in two large chests with no locks or protection.  They have hidden a potion of hill giant strength in a bucket of water on their table. The "water" in their bucket is actually a powerful delusive agent, and if it is touched it will cause delusions that the bucket has disappeared. There are ten base 100 GP gems hidden in the larger giant's club handle.

I'll use this sample dungeon level, combining it with the levels from the other geomorph sets to make a complete geomorph dungeon.  The only curious thing in the room description above is the note in room 7B that touching the altar will alter 7C.  It doesn't say how 7C will be "altered", so I'm taking this as a typo that should say that it will "alert" 7C.

Recaps & Roundups part 60: Judges Guild Installment M - Modron

This was the package sent out to Judges Guild subscribers in June of 1977.  It contained the following products:

• JG33 Journal M (issue 4 of the Judges Guild Journal)
• JG32 Booklet M - Modron
• JG31 City of Modron Maps (one for Judges and one for players)
• JG35 Monstrous Statistics Compendium Sheets

JG33 JOURNAL M

The journal begins with its regular "Jocular Judgements" segment, which is mostly very short news snippets and recommendations.  Of particular note is that the authors have been sent a pre-publication version of the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set, due out in September.

"Shrewd Slants From the Sagacious Sages" notes that Monster Assortment Set One: Levels 1-3 has just been released by TSR, as has Dungeon Geomorphs Set 3: Lower Dungeons.  I just covered Dungeon Geomorphs Set 2, and had the third set slated for coverage later in the year; I need to update my chronology a bit.  It ends with a short note from Bob Bledsaw answering some frequently asked questions about the nature of the alignments of Lawful Evil and Chaotic Good. He equates Lawful Evil to characters like Tolkien's Morgoth, or Adolf Hitler, and Chaotic Good to unorganised, sporadic acts of kindness such as those practised by flower children.

"Demented Demography" by Bob Bledsaw: This article provides some notes on the demographics and economy of the area surrounding the City State. This includes all sorts of little snippets of info: five hours of labor in the City-State is worth 1 copper piece; the total population of the City-State is about 80,000, with a further 6,240 living outside the walls; there are villages that provide troop levies, and notes on mercenaries.  It ends with a short look at the ratio between adventurers and regular folks, and an explanation for why pretty much everyone in the City-State has a level in fighter or some other adventuring class.  It's a glossing over of materials that are obviously of great depth: it's apparent that there's much more to the City-State that has yet been published.  I find it interesting to see the emphasis that the different RPG companies have.  Judges Guild has a focus on intricate setting details, with a strong basis in a workable economy to underpin the adventuring side of things. The majority of what they've put out has been urban-related, with lots of shops and NPCs.  TSR is much more focused on things that directly pertain to adventuring, and to me it seems like they couldn't care less if the economic side of things makes sense.  I think this holds up going forward, at least for the next few years: TSR's products will mostly be self-contained adventure sites, with little in the way of coherent setting details.  They'll eventually start doing setting materials, but I don't think they ever create something that gets down into the details like Judges Guild.

"Religion and Justification for Magic" by Tom Holsinger: The author puts forth the idea that magic is actually taking energy from another realm through a "gate", and spends a couple of pages writing about the nature of gods and religion in D&D campaign worlds, and giving some suggestions, with special mention being given to the religions in Empire of the Petal Throne.  There's good advice and ideas in here, but it's all pretty scattershot, bouncing from topic to topic without ever expanding on the concepts introduced in a useful way.

"Economics & Technology" by Tom Holsinger: This article, like the Bledsaw one from earlier, stresses the importance of a strong economy in a campaign. It gives special attention to the realities of transporting food, and the effect that can have on a nation's military. It then gets into some very dense economics from the author's own campaign, and I have to admit that this stuff flies right over my head.  I can see the value in it if you're interested in having any sort of realism in your campaign world, but I struggle to care about it, and I rather doubt that the amount of effort required to get it to work would be worth it, unless you and your players are into that sort of thing.

"The Quest of Klanker Wildfoot" by Cathy Bledsaw: This is the beginning (I think) of a short story that apparently continues next issue. It's about a hobbit who is given a treasure map by a creature called an Alleroid.  The story begins in Modron, so I'll have to consider it as having happened in the Wilderlands setting.  It's not particularly good though.

JG32 BOOKLET M - MODRON

The original cover, and the 1980 rerelease

This book details the port city of Modron, which lies northeast of the City-State of the Invincible Overlord.  Five hundred years ago it was a thriving centre of trade, whose inhabitants worshipped the river goddess Modron, and Proteus, the Shepherd of Neptune. A migration of orcs cut off their flow of dwarven merchandise, trade dwindled, and the rival temples erupted in civil war.  Raiders from the sea started carrying the people away into slavery, and the city finally fell when orc scavengers moved in.

More recently, a new town was founded on the old one's ruins, funded by the City-State to protect the Overlord's merchant ships from river pirates. The builders of this new city were protected by Maelstron, a giant sea snake who owed allegiance to the City-State. (This is a pretty odd detail that should be elaborated on further, but really isn't.  He's shown in an illustration and titled Guardian of the Estuary. Is he still there?)  The new city has been open for the past fifty years, filled with "sailors, star-men, buccaneers and traders".  Star-men?  Is Modron being frequented by visitors from outer space?

The intro ends with this evocative paragraph: "Soggy, bound chests still nestled in the holds of scuttled warships dot the bottom. A legendary fortune is said to lie within the sunken temple's ruins. Columns laying in the sand, arches dislocated and slime-misted statues are visited only by the Creatures of the Deep. No hero has returned from the foamy labyrinth river-bed. Sulphurous smoke still bubbles from boiling water in one area of the sound. Sages tell of a river of incandescent lava beneath the wavelets, sea-bats, a Triton Treasure House, sea-frogs and deadly clouded water."  It all sounds quite evocative, and would probably make for a good adventure. Too bad it's barely in the book.  Instead, it's much more focused on the city and its inhabitants.

The city of Modron is presented in much the same content-dense style as the City-State, although it's a bit more manageable in terms of size. It's major features are the two docks, the palace to the north-west, the Temple of Mitra to the north-east, and an arena for gladiatorial combat to the south.  Other than that it's shops, shops, NPCs, more NPCs, and probably a few more shops.  It's good content if you're looking for a city adventure, or a place to base your PCs, but it's not the most exciting thing to read, and it's very much the kind of thing that Judges Guild has already provided in plenty.

The city is ruled by the Patriarch-King Anoethin, who came to power after the death of his father two years ago. The other two powers in the city seem to be the Temple of Mitra (a Hyborian god whose stats were given in Supplement IV), and the Waterfront Storage Company, an evil group who run a lot of the city's sea trade.  Anoethin is a 10th level cleric, so I assume he must be a cleric of Mitra, but it's not specified.

The NPC singled out for the "Benevolent Character Module" is Sonniboot the Pirate, who is constantly switching sides to get ahead in the cold war between the temple and the Waterfront Storage Company. He has a tendency to kill gnomes on sight, which is a trait that I can admire.

There's also a write-up of the goddess Modron, for whom the city was named.  She has great power underwater, but can't survive on land for more than 6 turns.  Her temple is currently underwater, but can be reached via a tunnel from the cellars of the Kellarbari Tavern.  There are still some worshippers who go down there, and there's also a city of mermen that attend services.  If any adventurers want to go adventuring underwater, there's a sea hag who lives outside the city walls who serves meals made of red seaweed and octopus eyes that can confer water breathing for a day.

The rest of the book is given over to charts and rules for underwater adventures. These include expanded rules for swimming in armour, drowning, and the effects of weather conditions on both. Also included, pertaining specifically to the map below, are charts for visibility in certain underwater terrains, the effects of certain magical misty waters, and the effects of different types of coral.

The following underwater map of the bottom of the estuary to the west of Modron is provided. It shows the Temple of Modron and the merman village mentioned earlier. It would certainly be possible to run an adventure there as is, but some more details of this would have been appreciated.

The bottom of the Roglaroon Estuary

The back of the book has charts with stats for underwater creatures, and includes a lot that are new to D&D. Most of the underwater monsters from Supplement II are there, as well as a whopping 24 different varieties of shark, and some new fish and sea monsters. I'll list the new ones below:

• Sand sharks
• Porbeagle sharks
• Lemon sharks
• Great hammerhead sharks
• Bull sharks
• Whaler sharks
• Great blue sharks
• Tiger sharks
• Black tip sharks (small and large)
• Ganges River sharks (which would need a name change if I ever used them)
• Bay sharks
• Mako sharks (misspelled as maco)
• Great white sharks
• White-tipped sharks
• Bronze whaler sharks
• Brown whaler sharks
• Nurse sharks
• Whale sharks
• Basking (bone) sharks
• Makara (a sea monster from Hindu mythology)
• The Loch Ness Monster
• Killer whales
• Kraken
• Zeuglodan (a type of prehistoric whale)
• Cecrops (a mythical Greek king who was often depicted with the lower body of a serpent or fish-tail; how he can have a Number Appearing of 1-4 is anyone's guess)
• Ea (the Mesopotamian god of water)
• Great barracuda
• Flying fish
• Bluefin tuna
• Tarpon
• Needlefish
• Muskellunge
• Ocean sunfish
• Blue marlin
• Atlantic halibut (name change required)
• Conger eels
• Black jewfish
• Black drums
• Stingrays
• Catfish
• Paddlefish
• Stingarees
• Devil rays
• Ratfish
• Lantern fish
• Pilot fish
• Sea bass
• Sea raven
• Porcupine puffer
• Star gazer
• Wolfish
• Remoras
• Goosefish
• Hagfish
• Sea turtles
• Giant clams

It may not be necessary, but it sure is comprehensive.

JG31 CITY OF MODRON MAPS

This is the Judges Map of Modron.

The city of Modron

JG35 MONSTROUS STATISTICS COMPENDIUM SHEET

These three sheets compile the stats for most of D&D monsters to date.  They're identical to what was printed on the recent Judges Shield, which I covered here. No need to go over it again.