Recaps & Roundups part 24: The Strategic Review #7

Cover-dated April 1976, this is the final issue of The Strategic Review. TSR has formed a new division, TSR Periodicals, which will oversee the creation of two new magazines: Little Wars for miniature wargaming, and The Dragon for fantasy gaming. One of those magazines doesn't last very long, and the other stays in print for over three decades before moving into the digital realm. No prizes for guessing which...

In other news, Mike Carr and Dave Sutherland are joining TSR, a game called Little Big Horn is in the works, and another game based on Lankhmar is being created. There's also an ad for Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry, which says it will be on sale May 1st.

Other articles include a collection of military symbols for Classic Warfare, an exploration of ancient missile weapons (also for Classic Warfare), a fantasy short story (which I'm ignoring because it's not by a TSR designer),

The Dungeons & Dragons Magic System by Gary Gygax: Gary defends and clarifies D&D's "Vancian" spell system. Along the way he introduces the concept of spell components: verbal, somatic, material, and "psychic" (the last relating to the memorisation aspect of spells). He also breaks down the various spell effects by type, which is a step along the path to introducing the different schools of magic (conjuration, evocation, illusion, etc.). There's not much else here of interest to my project.

The Fastest Guns That Never Lived by Brian Blume: Boot Hill stats are given for various fictional cowboys: the Lone Ranger, Tonto, the Rifleman, Clint Eastwood, Yancy Derringer, Pahoo, Johnny Yuma, Matt Dillon, John Wayne, Paladin, Josh Randall, Yul Brynner, and Hopalong Cassidy. I only recognise about half of those, and obviously some of them are actors. Nevertheless, they'll all be around should players in my campaign venture to the Old West.

Hints for D&D Judges Part I: Towns by Joe Fischer: Some basic but solid advice for creating a home base for your PCs. The only possible relevance it has for me is the mention of Castle Black Star, the first level of which was given over to inns, pubs and shops, including the shop of a crazy wizard who employed a balrog named Boris and always seemed to have a little bit of everything (Gondorian Red, Mordorian Black, etc.). I started thinking about Black Star a while back based on some of Fischer's other articles, and may or may not develop it further.

Mighty Magic Miscellany by Neal Healey: A number of new magic items are introduced:

• The Cup and Talisman of Akbar
• Staff of the Priest Kings
• Brazen Bottle

The Cup and Talisman are carved with the name of Allah in Kufic script, which suggests that it might have originated on Earth (although paladins, rangers and dervishes can use it, which bears thinking about). The staff alludes to the existence of Priest Kings at some point in the past.

Creature Features: Two new monsters are introduced:

• Denebian Slime Devil
• Catoblepas

The catoblepas goes on to become an official monster, so it's definitely in my campaign. As for the Slime Devil, it's an obvious joke monster. I'll throw one in somewhere, in a place that's very difficult to find.

Thief Bonuses for Dexterity by David Klempa: The thief gets some bonuses to their skills for having a high Dexterity. The concept of "exceptional Dexterity" (akin to exceptional Strength for fighters) is brought in.

To the Everlasting Glory of the Petal Throne by MAR Barker: This is a collection of snippets of news and rumours as to what's going on in Tekumel, the setting for Empire of the Petal Throne. I won't go into any detail, because most of this will probably never be relevant to my project. I do plan to include a way for PCs to get to Tekumel, and I'm currently reading Empire of the Petal Throne to get a better grasp on the setting. I'll do an interlude post about it in the near future.

D&D is Only as Good as the DM by Gary Gygax: A DMing advice article mostly geared at keeping power levels down and fleecing PCs of their gold. Gary sticks the boots in to CalTech's ultra-high-level "Dungeons & Beavers" campaign, and notes that no PC in either Blackmoor or Greyhawk has advanced beyond 14th level.

Recaps & Roundups part 23: The Strategic Review #6

The February 1976 issue of The Strategic Review sees it expand into a number of different topics aside from D&D. It features articles on Fight in the Skies, War of Wizards, the Dungeon! board game, and Ancient Conquest. There's also an optional rule about how bravery affects shooting in Boot Hill, which may or may not be relevant in my campaign, depending on how deep it goes into Old West territory. In TSR news, the Dungeon hobby shop is just about ready to open, and Gary's Classic Warfare (which he had apparently worked on for over seven years) is now available. A line of D&D miniatures from Mini-Figs is on the horizon, and we see the first inklings of the mass combat supplement Swords & Spells.

The Meaning of Law and Chaos in Dungeons & Dragons by Gary Gygax: Gary goes into a deeper explanation of alignment and how it works in the D&D setting, adding Good and Evil to the system along with Law, Neitrality and Chaos. He begins with this chart:

From this chart we get the first proper mentions of:

• Hades, the plane of Evil
• Limbo, the plane of Chaos
• Nirvana, the plane of Law
• Paradise, the plane of Good
• Hell, the plane of Law and Evil, inhabited by Devils
• The Abyss, the plane of Chaos and Evil, inhabited by Demons
• Elysium, the plane of Chaos and Good, inhabited by Godlings
• Heaven, the plane of Law and Good, inhabited by Saints

Instead of three alignments, there are now five:

• Lawful Good (apparently typified by paladins)
• Chaotic Good (typified by elves)
• Neutral (typified by elementals)
• Lawful Evil (typified by vampires)
• Chaotic Evil (typified by demons)

Another chart is given that reclassified some monsters in the new system:

The reference to multiple Platinum and Chromatic Dragons might best be ignored, or applied in a multiversal sense (i.e. there's only one of each in every world, but multiples across reality).

It's mentioned that any character that follows any alignment (save neutrality) to the absolute letter must eventually move into the appropriate plane of existence - perhaps this could be one way of achieving demi-godhood.

This is interesting: "Also, law and chaos are not subject to interpretation in their ultimate meanings of order and disorder respectively, but good and evil are not absolutes but must be judged from a frame of reference, some ethos. The placement of creatures on the chart of Illustration II reflects the ethos of this writer to some extent".

The "universal constant" is said to be between law and chaos, and that in any final struggle both sides would be represented by creatures both good and evil. Barring that conflict, good creatures are more likely to band together, as are evil ones.

Paladins are now able to quest to regain their status should they lose their paladinhood due to evil/chaotic acts. High level clerics can also do so, but failure merely drops them back to 7th level.

Most humans are lawful, and somewhere in the middle between good and evil. The majority can be led to lawful good with the right leadership. Few are chaotic, and very few are chaotic evil.

The introduction of a new alignment axis should be a fairly world-shaking event, as it strikes at the fundamental nature of the D&D world. In the past I've considered using the introduction of various individual deities at this time as the catalyst, and that's still probably how I'll go. There are also discrepancies between the planes as charted in this article, and the planes as they'll eventually be revealed. I might chalk that up to faulty research by scholars.

The Quest for the Vermillion Volume by Rob Kuntz: This is a short story, which I'd normally ignore but am going to try to work into the campaign because it's written by Greyhawk co-DM Rob Kuntz. It tells the story of a group of adventurers who are hired by an elven queen to retrieve a book from agents of the enemy land of Stra-Tac. The adventurers manage to retrieve the book from enemy agents, but they fall into a trap set by a mysterious thief named "RST" who absconds with the book.

Here are some elements from the story for me to add to the campaign:

• The Greenwood, home to a number of elves (possibly the Elf-Land referred to in D&D Vol. 1: Men & Magic).
• Queen Evvolon, elven ruler of the Greenwood.
• The nearby land of Stra-Tac, which is an enemy of the Greenwood. The only people we know of that live there are human spies and hairy, brutish humanoids. These might be Orcs, but given the hair they could also be Bugbears.
• Dunn-Red, the ruler of Stra-Tac.
• Drystaff the Necromancer, leader of the adventurers searching for the book. He has a beard, a staff, and a pointy hat. A number of men-at-arms are in his employ, and he's working with elven scouts. Due to some anachronistic Earth references, he might have travelled there somehow, or simply scried it with his crystal ball.
• Grimm the Thaumaturgist, who was Drystaff's teacher.
• Drystaff's wife, who apparently cheats on him.
• Grumbold, Drystaff's mule.
• The Hog, a barbarian that Drystaff met in the past in the far north-east.
• Highton, the elven leader of the scouts, assigned to the mission by Evvolon.
• Lamhand, a Hero who works with Drystaff, possibly as his henchman.
• RST, the mysterious thief about whom very little is revealed.
• The titular Vermillion Volume. Not much is revealed about it, but it's sought after by Queen Evvolon and Dunn-Red the Enemy.
• The elves in this story are depicted less like Tolkien elves, and more like Christmas elves, with smaller stature and pointy shoes.

The lands mentioned in this story will have to small and of little importance in the larger scheem of the World of Greyhawk, because I'm pretty sure they don't appear on the official maps. I'll have the story as having happened recently, so that the PCs might get embroiled in the search for the book.

Bards by Doug Schwegmen: The Bard class is introduced for the first time, in a form much closer to the 3rd edition incarnation than the weird AD&D version.

• Bards and Druids belong to the same sect, and must aid each other when in need.
• There are a number of bardic "colleges", in order from lowest to highest: Fochlucan, Mac-Fuirmidh, Doss, Canaith, Cli, Anstruth, Ollamh.
• An adventure hook is given: a dragon who refuses to let a bard stop playing his restful melodies.

Mighty Magic Miscellany: A number of Bard-related magic instruments are introduced:

• Fochlucan Harp
• Mac-Fuirmidh Harp
• Doss Lyre
• Canaith Lyre
• Cli Mandolin

Sage Advice by "Theronius": Errata is given for Supplement I, giving details for the Homunculus, Golems, the rod of resurrection, the gem of seeing and the gauntlets of dexterity.

Recaps & Roundups part 18: The Strategic Review #4

Issue #4 of The Strategic Review was cover-dated Winter 1975. It's noted in the TSR News article that this issue was late, as is Supplement II: Blackmoor and a number of other design projects. In order to bring some organisation to the company, a few hires have been made: Tim Kask as periodicals editor, Terry Kuntz as service manager, and Dave Arneson as part of the regular design staff. Arneson only lasted about a year with TSR. Kask lasted until 1980, editing their various magazines. As for Terry Kuntz, it's not as easy to find out how long he stayed, so it's going to remain a mystery to me unless someone pipes up in the comments.

It's also noted that Origins I has happened before this issue came out (meaning that an early version of Tomb of Horrors has debuted, as shown in my last post), and that TSR is considering a D&D supplement authored by "Dungeons & Dragons Enthusiasts Everywhere", which I don't think ever eventuated.

Also: THE DRAGON IS COMING.

As for non-D&D articles, there's one listing new troop types for Panzer Warfare, and another with some suggested rules changes for Tractics,

The D&D related-articles, and their relevance to my campaign, are very briefly covered

A Few More Words on Medieval Polearms (by Gary Gygax, who else): The following polearms are introduced:

• Couteaux de Breches (treated as a Glaive)
• Scorpion (treated as a Bill Guisarme)
• Bohemian Ear-Spoon (treated as a Partisan)
• Korseke (treated as a Spetum)
• Chauves Souris (treated as a Ranseur)
• Bec-de-Corbin (treated as a Lucern Hammer with respect to its effect on plate mail; disregarded as an unlikely weapon, except when knights fight afoot on the field of honour)
• Military Fork (discussed, but not equated with any other pole arm)
• Holy Water Sprinklers (treated as Morning Stars, although longer Japanese forms are mentioned)

Chainmail Weapon Additions: The following weapons are introduced to Chainmail:

• Jo Stick
• Bo Stick
• Quarterstaff

I'll throw them into the mix around this time, perhaps due to some growing foreign influence, or the impending growth in influence of Oerth's various orders of monks.

Illusionists (by Peter Aronson): The Illusionist class is added to D&D. It comes with a number of brand new spells:

Level 1

• Wall of Fog
• Change Self
• Gaze Reflection
• Hypnotism

Level 2

• Improved Phantasmal Forces
• Fog
• Blindness
• Misdetection
• Hypnotic Pattern
• Deafness

Level 3

• Fear
• Spectral Forces
• Paralyzation
• Nondetection

Level 4

• Improved Invisibility
• Shadow Monsters
• Shadow Magic
• Minor Creation
• Emotions
• 1st Level Magic-User Spells

Level 5

• Summon Shadow
• Major Creation
• Chaos
• 2nd Level Magic-User Spells
• Demi-Shadow Monsters
• Demi-Shadow Magic
• Create Spectres

I'll probably introduce this class via some NPCs before making it available as a PC class.

Tsolyani Names Without Tears (by M.A.R. Barker): This is a guide to the naming conventions in Barker's Tekumel, the setting for the Empire of the Petal Throne RPG. Articles about this game are all over the early TSR magazines, and I'm probably going to include it as a world that the PCs can travel to.

Creature Feature: The Clay Golem is introduced.

Mighty Magic Miscellany: This introduces a new type of magic item, cribbed from Jack Vance: Ioun Stones. The following colours are used: incandescent blue; scarlet and blue; deep red; pink; pink and green; pale green; pale lavender; pearly white; clear

Gallery of Gunfighters: Doc Holliday is detailed. The Old West will be another possible destination.

Recaps & Roundups part 12: The Strategic Review #2

The second issue of The Strategic Review features several D&D articles, as well as some additions to Cavaliers & Roundheads, Panzer Warfare, and - most notably - an in memoriam for TSR co-founder Don Kaye. Kaye was a close childhood friend to Gary Gygax, and he died of a heart attack in January 1975, just 36 years old. It's impossible to know what influence he might have had on D&D had he lived, but his death started a long chain of events that had huge implications for TSR. His one-third share in TSR passed to his wife, and was eventually bought out by Melvin Blume, father of TSR's other co-owner, Brian Blume. This gave the Blume family a controlling interest in the company, which was one of several factors that led to Gygax's ouster a decade down the line.

The following D&D articles are also featured in this issue:

Questions Most Frequently Asked About D&D: This is one of the most important early articles for clarifying and expanding the original D&D rules. It deals with the following:

• It's recommended that the "alternate system" of combat in OD&D be used for combat with "principal figures" and stronger monsters.
• It's clarified that normally creatures get one attack per round, and deal 1d6 damage per attack. This has already been superseded by the rules in Supplement I: Greyhawk.
• An example is given where an 8th level fighter gets 8 attacks per round (1 per HD) against normal men or creatures of similar strength (kobolds, goblins, gnomes, dwarves, etc.). Whether this bonus applies to anyone other than fighters isn't said, but given later rules in AD&D I would think not.
• Initiative is said to be a simple d6 roll for each side, rolled every round, with the higher number acting first. In the combat example, this roll is modified by the lone PC's Dexterity.
• The combat example provides grappling rules, with both sides rolling 1d6 for every Hit Die involved.
• Monsters roll saving throws as fighters of equivalent Hit Dice. Those with magic resistance may save as magic-users.
• Morale is said to be up to the referee, although the 2d6 system from Chainmail is suggested.
• XP rewards for finding magic items are introduced.
• The "Vancian" spell-casting system is explained and clarified.

Creature Features: The Roper: The Roper is introduced for the first time.

Rangers: The ranger class is introduced as a sub-class of the fighter. They are heavily based on Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, and I plan to introduce them in a similar fashion: as the descendents of ancient kings that lurk on the fringes of society and protect it from evil.

Medieval Pole Arms: This isn't strictly a D&D article, but Gary Gygax has a long history of being obsessed with pole arms, and this will bleed through to the game eventually. This is his first stab at classifying and explaining the various kinds. Introduced to Chainmail here are the following:

• Voulge
• Bardiche
• Guisarme
• Glaive
• Fauchard
• Guisarme-Voulge
• Glaive-Guisarme
• Bill-Guisarme
• Partisan
• Spetum
• Ranseur
• Lucern Hammer
• Pole Axe
• Lochaber Axe

Recaps & Roundups part 7: The Strategic Review #1

In early 1975, TSR launched its first magazine, The Strategic Review. It was intended not only to support Dungeons & Dragons and TSR's other game lines, but also to cover the wargaming hobby in general. The first issue is only six pages in length, so it shouldn't take too long to cover. I'll tackle it article by article, ignoring those that have no relevance to D&D.

TSR News: It's noted that TSR has just acquired the rights to Don't Give Up the Ship, Tractics and (most importantly to this blog) Chainmail. A third edition of Chainmail is said to be arriving soon.

Supplements for D&D are also said to be a high priority, and the first will be arriving some time before GenCon (held in August). Supplement I: Greyhawk is believed to have been first printed in March, so they made the date handily.

Creature Feature: The Mind Flayer makes its first appearance.

Castle & Crusade by Gary Gygax: Gary defends to ineffectiveness of the spear in Chainmail with some historical context. He also promises a more detailed breakdown of polearms.

Solo Dungeon Adventures by Gary Gygax (with special thanks to George Lord): This is a series of random tables for creating solo dungeon adventures. I may use this in the Ultimate Sandbox as a dungeon that is always random, or perhaps a cursed demi-plane that is one huge, ever-shifting labyrinth.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #7 Part 4

Yes, yes, I know. It's been a long time. I'm back again, but I promise nothing – I can't guarantee a regular schedule because I'm naturally lazy and unmotivated. But for the moment, here's another entry, and hopefully there will be more pretty soon.

TO THE EVERLASTING GLORY OF THE PETAL THRONE:

This is our first taste of Empire of the Petal Throne, in the form of a number of missives sent to the Emperor to be bound in The Book if Mighty Imperial Deeds of the Great and Glorious Petal Throne (and say what you will about the setting, the names are always superb). What it amounts to is a whole bunch of plot hooks that I can spin out should my PCs ever make it into Tekumel.

Here are some examples:

There's a road east of Urmish, heading south, that appears on no maps. A priest tried to explore it, but he and his men were stuck by a malaise, and the countryside was dark and sere. The priest turned back without solving the mystery.

The Emperor's son has travelled to Chene Ho, and has been meeting with Lord Eselne for unknown reasons. Along the way he was attacked by monstrous Serudla, beasts that rarely venture into that area. Also, a Mu'ugalavyani spy was caught in the area, but killed himself before he could be questioned. Whether these events are connected in as yet unknown. (And yeah, there's a lot of unexplained stuff in this article, like names and creatures and countries. It's not too hard to figure out the broad strokes, but without the actual EPT game the specifics are vague.)

There's general unrest between the Priests of Good and the Priests of Evil, with a few violent incidents throughout the Empire. In one town, worship of the Goddess of the Pale Bone has been revived. (And man, that's a frickin' awesome name. Also, it seems that Good and Evil are held in equal esteem by the Empire, which is an odd set-up for a fantasy world. It's intriguing, I'll give it that.)

The empire's forces won in ritual combat against the armies of the Baron of Yan Kor. EPT has a whole thing with ritual combat, where two forces fight but must observe all sorts of arcane and obscure rules. Again, it's an intriguing touch.

A priest in Jakalla discovered a sort of subway train while exploring the labyrinth below the city, and rode it to a strange city where he was attacked by a tentacled robot. He made it back to Jakalla with another more docile robot that is now kept in the temple.

A further missive details later explorations of this area, which is infested with the deadly Ssu, who sound pretty badass. They have colour variations, and here a new variety has been discovered – Black. They are rumoured to possess 'one of the Ten Keys to the Gates which Imprison Sleeping Ksarul, the Doomed Prince of the Blue Room...'

Another army from Yan Kor raided the empire, and this time they won. The Emperor gives orders to send another force to challenge them.

The Governor of Jakalla is being held under house arrest, due to his interest in the Royalist party, but the situation is causing a whole lot of unrest from various factions. The Emperor replies with orders to promote the Governor to command of a legion and send him out to do battle with Yan Kor – hoping he won't survive the experience no doubt.

Under the city of Chochi, there has been discovered a labyrinth that sounds totally awesome. It contains 'a crystal tomb chamber which appears to shift between planes and which cannot be approached save with powerful magics. There are also catacombs of old, with the bodies of ancient priests buried in great panoply. The most intrepid party reached a level which contained the spoor of the dreaded Ssu, and there they found a river which rushed away into blackness. An inscription in Llyani spoke of this leading downwards to the Halls of Tenebrous Visitations and to a city older than time, inhabited by a principle so inimical to all life that the word “evil” cannot encompass the concept. The explorers fled upon the approach of a great snuffing beastly thing, the like of which has not been seen aforetimes. The place is rich in treasure and in items of usage, but it dangers are greater than any labyrinth thus explored within your Empire.' Pretty evocative stuff.

Someone has tried to assassinate the Emperor's daughter, and the prime suspect is Fu Hsi, a servant of the Baron of Yan Kor who is suspected of being some kind of ancient being. The attack was thwarted by a priest, and the princess has shacked up with him – has she been ensorcelled? And is Fu Hsi the real culprit?

Fu Hsi is spotted in the empire, possibly trying to gain vengeance for the loss of the Baron's forces. Traces of a drug named Zu'ur have also been traced there.

A priest has discovered Zu'ur being smuggled into the empire via underground rivers by the mighty and terrible Hlyss.


And that's that. It's an eclectic set of plot hooks, and suggests a complex campaign setting full of political intrigue and totally kickass dungeons. I'm not really sure how to extrapolate any of this stuff just yet – I'll need to track down a copy of Empire of the Petal Throne before I can do that. But just on the strength of this one article I already feel like I could wing a pretty decent couple of adventures in something vaguely resembling Tekumel.

NEXT: I start on Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #7 part 3

CREATURE FEATURES:

Denebian Slime Devil: This creature, most probably derived from a passing mention on Star Trek, is an obvious joke monster. It appears as whatever the creature's victim finds most repulsive, or otherwise as a blob of slime. It will tirelessly follow a human-type around, and is so abhorrent that anyone who meets a character being trailed by one will either flee or attack - I'm starting to think that the NPCs of this era are emotionally stunted in some way. The creature can only be killed or dispelled by a manner determined by the DM, and there are a number of highly unfunny examples given. And to make it a complete nuisance, it doesn't aid in fights, instead hangign around and whining much like C-3P0.

I will be including this creature, but it will not be native to Oerth, or any other D&D-style world. It may exist in other sci-fi based planets, possibly in the settings for Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World. I'll be substituting my own methods for destroying it, however.

Catoblepas: Ah, a real D&D monster – what a relief. Or it would be, if the Catoblepas wasn't an utterly terrible design. It has the body of a large water buffalo, with an ugly warthog's head on a long neck – this odd physiology is the result of it adapting to its swampy environment. The creature's gaze is the equivalent of a Death Spell – NO SAVE. And get this – if you're surprised, meeting the gaze is automatic. So there's a good 2-in-6 chance of your entire party being arbitrarily struck dead by any Catoblepas encounter. Their one weakness is that it's hard for them to lift their heads, with only a 25% chance to do so on the first round. But that chance increases each round, so you're going to cop it eventually... Their tail can also stun opponents, but that's pretty much small potatoes in comparison.

When I do include a Catoblepas, I'm going to make it a damn rare creature, and also one that is sung of in tales and legends. If the PCs enter an area where one lives, I'm going to make it pretty easy for them to discover that fact.

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL STANDARD MILITARY SYMBOLS:

This article presents a series of standard symbols for depicting various troop types on military maps. I'll use these on hand-outs should the PCs ever discover such a map.

THIEF BONUSES FOR DEXTERITY

This short article presents a table that gives Thieves a bonus or penalty to their special abilities based on Dexterity. This is a good thing – Thieves in OD&D need all the help they can get.

The next bit is a touch more contentious: the addition of Exceptional Dexterity. That is, if a Thief has a Dex of 18, he gets to roll percentile dice to see if he is extra-super dextrous. I don't mind the addition, to be honest. It works for the Fighter in terms of Strength, and I'm all for things that boost the Thief a bit.

The explanation for these rules being introduced will be new training techniques provided by the Adventurers' Guild – the old standby.

D&D IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE DM

It's a DM advice article by Gary, which goes through the usual motions: limit magic, make the PCs work for their rewards, play the monsters intelligently, etc. The most interesting thing here is a mention of the D&D campaign played at CalTech, a monster high-level gonzo game dubbed Dungeons & Beavers. I'm tempted to throw in a sub-level of Greyhawk that is completely over the top in this manner. Gary had a King Kong-themed level entitled 'Monkeying Around', so I'd probably give it a similar pun.

Oh, and Gary confirms that none of the PCs in either Greyhawk or Blackmoor are over 14th level at this point.

That's it for today. There's an Empire of the Petal Throne article I want to cover, but it's long and I can't be bothered - those EPT articles take some getting through.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #7 Part 2

HINTS FOR D&D JUDGES PART 1: TOWNS: This articles gives a whole bunch of good advice for designing the home base for your campaign, but it's all pretty basic stuff. It's the sort of article that would have been pretty useful in the old days when everyone outside of Gary and Dave Arneson was still learning the ropes. Nowadays this is the sort of advice that's already in the books and has been drummed into anyone with even a modicum of experience as a DM.

There's a little tidbit about the writer's home dungeon – Castle Blackstar, the first level of which is made up of shops and inns, as well as the home of a high-level wizard with a balrog butler. The question that now comes to me is this: do I try and incorporate all of this stuff into the campaign? If it was from Gary, I'd do it in a heartbeat. The same goes for Rob Kuntz, Dave Arneson, or any of the other guys whose name I recognise. But where do I draw the line, and what makes one piece of campaign lore more 'official' than any other in The Dragon/The Strategic Review? I'm leaning towards tossing everything in, so I think the above stays. The line I'm drawing is with fiction - I'll only stripmine it if it's officially D&D, or it's writeen by a prominent designer of D&D.

MIGHTY MAGIC MISCELLANY

Cup and Talisman of Akbar: This cup of gold and mithril (and the talisman commonly found within it) can only be used by Dervishes, Rangers and Paladins. Given that the talisman is engraved with an eight-pointed star and the name of Allah in Kufic script it must originate from Earth – proof of a link between Earth and Oerth grows ever stronger. The relics are worth a cool 75 thousand gp, but it has other powers. If you fill the cup with water, dip the amulet in and say the appropriate prayers, the water will become a potion of some sort. Effects range from a simple cure potion to a cure for level drain to the Universal Antidote, which I am left to assume cures anything and everything. As with all magic items not incorporated into the random tables, I'll have to place this somewhere myself. I'm thinking an Arabic sorcerer of some sort might cross over into the Greyhawk dungeons from Earth, a sort of Abdul Alhazred type, who has it in his possession.

Now, the question remains why can't Clerics use this thing? Holy items would seem to be their thing, yes? I'm thinking that this inability ties to the origins of the item – as it is an item seemingly powered by Allah, those who serve the gods of Oerth would not be able to use it. But that implies Rangers and Paladins DO serve Allah, which has all sorts of interesting connotations best saved for a later date.

Staff of the Priest Kings: This is the Clerical equivalent of the Staff of Wizardry. It can be used as a Snake Staff, and can also cast Sticks to Snakes, Insect Plague, Create/Pollute Food and Water, Cure/Cause Disease, Continual Light, Neutralize Poison and Cure Light and Serious Wounds. This is the basic model, but theres a chance the staff comes with an extra power – Find the Path, Earthquake and Hold Person, Raise Dead, Raise Dead Fully, and Restoration. Alas, no final strike capability. Clerics, as usual, just don't get the cool tricks that Magic-Users do.

Apart from some nifty abilities, this item also implies that there were once Priest Kings in the World of Greyhawk. I don't know where or when, and I can't really piece it together until I review the first World of Greyhawk folio.

Brazen Bottle: This is a brass flask shaped like a Kline's Bottle, whatever that may be. If it is opened in the presence of djinn or efreet, it will imprison the monsters inside. It can also be used on Balrogs, Invisible Stalkers, demons and air or fire elementals. In general the creature inside will be mighty pissed off, and will attack anyone in the vicinity if the bottle is opened. But – if the creature has been imprisoned for a good thousasnd years – it might decide to serve the one who freed it for 1,001 days. Lovely – items with a strong mythological flavour are always winners.

Next time I will probably finish up with the rest of Strategic Review #7

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #7 Part 1

This final issue of The Strategic Review has plenty of material for my D&D campaign, and it occurs to me that once it relaunches as The Dragon it's going to have even more. Whereas in the early days I was covering issues of this mag in one installment, issue #6 took me 4 parts. This one will probably take the same, and things are only going to grow. In other words, I ain't going to run out material any time soon.

First off, a brief mention of the articles that aren't relevant to my campaign. The first of these is relevant to D&D as a whole though – the cancellation of The Strategic Review and its relaunch into two magazines – The Dragon (with a focus on fantasy and sci-fi gaming) and Little Wars (with a focus on wargaming). One survived for a very long time, and the other died very quickly. But this is a massive step for the game, and a real sign of just how far TSR is going.

There's also a hilarious, hilarious editorial by Gary, who has gotten himself embroiled in an argument with Avalon Hill over who has the best convention. I'm giggling even now just thinking about it. It's Gary in absolute top hyperbolic form.

The comic strip Dirt debuts, and it has its own simplistic charm. If anything you've got to admire a strip that's nothing but eyes on a black background.

What Price Gold and Glory? is a short story by Jim Hayes. Now I did include a bit of fiction from last issue, but that was by Robert Kuntz – innovators of the game get a special dispensation. Not so for this piece – sorry Mr Hayes!

The letters page Out on a Limb debuts here – with two letters from Gary!

And now into the meat of things. We start with a lengthy article entitled The Dungeons and Dragons Magic System by Gary. The gist of the article is to properly outline and elucidate the "Vancian" magic system (and yes, this is the first time it it referred to as such). Spells are said to be made up of four components: verbal, somatic, mnemonic and material. So to cast a spell, the magic-user must be free to say the correct words, make the correct movement, and also he must possess the materials necessary to power the spell. There are no concrete rules set down for this just yet, but it's a good indicator of where things will go once AD&D comes around. It does give a good indication of just how effective a Magic-User caught in a Web spell will be, though.

As for the mnemonic part, that's memory. Once again it is stated that a magic-user has to memorise each spell, and once that spell has been cast it is gone until memorised once more. We've heard it before, and here it is again – but at least it's consistent. It seems that many players were misinterpreting things in their favour here.

There's not much else of use in the article, but I'd like to note Gary's assertion that there would never be 10th level spells in D&D. It's an assertion he stuck by, so good on him.

THE FASTEST GUNS THAT NEVER LIVED: It's another Boot Hill article, this time giving stats for a whole host of fictional characters. So when my PCs get to the Old West, they're going to run into the likes of The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, The Rifleman, and others. Especially exciting to me is that we get stats for Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, and Yul Brynner. Sweet! My bad impressions will be getting a workout.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #6 part 4

Apologies for the lengthy breaks between posts here. I haven't been particularly into D&D of late (a probable by-product of not being able to play in a while), so getting around to writing these up has been a low priority. But rest assured that I'll keep chugging along – I can't promise to post every day, but I'll try to be a little more frequent and get this out at least a couple of times a week. Anyway, onwards with the remainder of The Strategic Review #6.

MIGHTY MAGIC MISCELLANY: This article presents a number of magic intruments, tied heavily into the Bard flavour from the previous article.

Each of the instruments is connected to one of the Bard Colleges mentioned earlier, and a Bard has to be of that college or higher to use it. If a lesser Bard tries it, he gets the old zappo so common to old-school magic items. A Bard of a higher college gets to use the abilities more than once per day.

It should also be noted that all of these instruments are identical until used – so any Bard who tries to play one won't know if he's high level enough or not. And nothing short of a wish can identify them.

Fochlucan Harp: This harp adds 10% to a Bard's chance to charm someone, and can also cast protection from evil, shield, and continual light, each once per day.

Mac-Fuirmidh Harp: This harp adds 20% to a Bard's chance to charm, and it's got all the abilities of the Fochlucan Harp as well. It can also cast invisibility, but given that the Bard has to play the harp to become invisible it's not so useful – he's likely to be heard. Finally it can be used to cast the Strength spell.

Doss Lyre: Adds 30% to charm, has all the abilities of the Mac-Fuirmidh Harp, and has other abilities too. The first is to cast Fly, but only so long as the Bard can continue to play. There are some nifty rules about how long the Bard can keep it up before collapsing from exhaustion, with the possibility of falling unconscious while in the air. The second ability is to Dispell Magic.

Canaith Lyre: Adds 40% to charm, has all the abilities of the Doss Lyre, yada yada. It can also cast Confusion and Fear, as well as a healing song – handy given the dearth of healing magic in OD&D.

Cli Mandolin: Adds 50% to charm, has all the abilities of the Canaith Lyre. PLUS! It has Telekinesis, and can heal better than the Lyre. PLUS! It contains an elemental! It's not stated what can be done with said elemental, but I assume that it obeys the wielder's commands. The mandolin can cast Remove Curse. It also has a 'song of fire' equivalent to some unspecified 4th level fire spell. The only spell that qualifies is Wall of Fire, which is good enough for me.

The article goes on about these instruments being added to the Miscellaneous Magic Item tables, but then proceeds to not outline where or how. So I'm instead introducing them as revered artifacts of the Bardic tradition. Though I won't rule out finding them in random hordes, they are generally only gifted to Bards who have done some great service for their people (those being the ones connected to the Druids).

BOOT HILL EXPERIMENTAL RULE: Since I'm including Boot Hill in my campaign, any of the various articles need to be introduced as well. This one brings in a rule whereby a character's Bravery score affects his first shot in a gunfight. In theory it's a great rule, but with no knowledge of the Boot Hill system I can't tell how it works in practice. It's a moot point anyway, as I'm going to have to adapt it to work with D&D.

GREYHAWK ERRATA: Hurrah! There were a number of things in Greyhawk that I noticed were missing, or in need of clarification. This article provides the answers I was looking for.

The Homunculus was mentioned in parts of Supplement I, but its entry went missing. Here we learn that it's a small winged humanoid created by an Alchemist and a Magic-User. Created from the M-U's blood (and a lotta cash!) it possesses all of the M-U's knowledge, and has a telepathic link with its master. The little buggers have a bite with sleep poison, but really aren't that formidable in combat – their primary application seems to be that of a spy. But if it's killed, the M-U suffers 2-20 damage. I'll introduce the Homunculus as a servant of some NPC Wizard in the dungeons – and if the PCs find his notes they'll learn how to create one as well.

The Golem entry gets a proper intro now, which does little except state that Golems are created by powerful magic-users. But at least now the Flesh Golem has hit points and a movement rate.

The Rod of Resurrection gets its entry fixed – it resurrects like a 15th level Cleric, can be used but once per day, and has 20 charges.

The Gem of Seeing, while present on the tables, did not get a write up. We learn here that it lets the user see hidden and invisible things, as well as secret doors.

Strangely, the Gauntlets of Dexterity get errata which is exactly the same as the write-up in my version of Supplement I.

And that's it for The Strategic Review #6, which I thought would be done in a single day but ended up stretched over a couple of weeks. Next time I delve into #7, which has Gary writing about D&D magic, more Boot Hill NPCs, some DM advice about building towns, magic items, monsters, Tekumel, more Gary and plenty of other stuff not really about D&D.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review part 3

THE BARD

D&D gets another character class here, and we're definitely getting away from the more general types and more into specific roles. The original classes of D&D lend themselves to interpretation very well. The later classes, the Bard among them, are locked into a certain image, and it takes a genuine effort to break them out of the stereotypes.

In case you haven't guessed it, I've never been a big fan of the bard class. I don't think it really serves a purpose that a multiclassed thief-mage can't duplicate, and the only unique things about it are fluff. And that's not even getting into the mechanical nightmare that is the AD&D bard. Thankfully, what we have here is a much more streamlined design than that. They resemble the 3e Bard quite a lot, actually.

The introduction describes the Bard as being inspired by the norse 'skald' (a sort of warrior poet-historian), the celtic 'bard' (mediators and chroniclers who served the Druids) and the european 'minstrel' (entertainers of the nobility).

What this boils down to in terms of D&D is a class that combines aspects of the Fighter, Thief and Magic-User. They get the abilities of a Thief half their level (no backstab though), may use any weapon, cast magic-user spells, and use the Cleric tables for fighting and saving throws. They are limited to leather and chain for armour. Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits can be Bards, but can't progress beyond 8th level. To become a Bard a character must have at least an average score in Strength and Intelligence, and an above average Charisma. I take this to mean he needs 9 or above in the first two, and 12 or above in the latter.

In addition they get the ability to mesmerize any creature that hears their music. The Bard has a percentage chance for this that increases by level, and there's a lot of business about stronger creatures being more resistant to this ability. Undead have an even greater resistance than usual, but I find it interesting that they're affected at all. By the rules a mindless skeleton can be mesmerised, which I find slightly odd. Balrogs are said to have 200% resistance, which I find inexplicably hilarious. As a side-note to this ability, it's also said that Bards can negate song-based powers like those of the harpy.

The Bard can then make a Suggestion to any creature that has been mesmerized, its complexity dependent on the intelligence of the target. The most interesting part here is that Bards get XP for charming and suggesting based on the hit dice of the opponent – that's a nice little bonus!

And then we get a nice little adventure hook: a Dragon who refuses to let a Bard stop playing his restful melodies. I'll work this in somewhere, whether it be as an NPC Bard who is already a captive, a Dragon trying to capture a Bard PC, or the PCs having to kidnap a Bard to appease a Dragon. Lots of possibilities.

The last ability is that of Lore, which gives the Bard a chance to know tales and legends about certain items or places. The most useful application of this is to identify magic items, but even this isn't foolproof – it doesn't work on the magical books (which is fair enough, as they all appear identical), and only a bard of 12th level or higher can identify the various necklaces and scarabs.

In general Bards can use the same magic items that Fighters and Thieves can, and can use the musical instruments with much greater effectiveness. The major thing to note here is that any bonus to AC granted by an item reduces the Bard's ability to mesmerize creatures. I'll chalk it up to an acoustical phenomenon of protective magic. Or something.

There's an interesting detail in the advancement table – as Bards advance they progress through certain colleges. A bard of 2nd to 4th level belongs to the Fochlucan college, 5th-7th to Mac-Fuirmidh, 8th-10th to Doss, 11th-13th to Canaith, 14th-16th to Cli, 17th-19th to Anstruth and 20th+ to Ollamh. What these mean isn't detailed, but mechanically they determine how many followers a bard will attract.

Bards can be any alignment, but most are neutral. A lawful Bard loses his Thief abilities, which is a little odd, but I guess they must require a certain mindset that only Chaotics can achieve. Druids and Bards are closely connected, and I plan to use this as a way to introduce the class. NPC Bards will be assigned by the Druids to accompany various heroes into the dungeons and chronicle their exploits. The presence of demi-human Bards muddies this up a little, but I'll say the Druidic peoples are highly respectful of the various fey-folk, and allow them to study the Bardic tradition if they wish it.

Next time (notice how I've stopped typing 'tomorrow'?) I'll try to knock off the rest of The Strategic Review #6.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #6 Part 2

Before I tackle the Bard, there is one more article that needs to be mentioned – The Quest for the Vermillion Volume, a short story by Robert J. Kuntz. I was all set to discount the story, since it is an obvious parody, but it's also Rob Kuntz. As Gary's major partner in the creation of D&D's earliest lore, I'm scraping through this story for nuggets that I can use, while ignoring the most obvious parody elements. The most obvious thing that can be useful is the cast of ready-made NPCs, as detailed below.

Drystaff the Necromancer: Drystaff is a stereotypical magic-user with his beard and staff and pointy hat. He is described in the story as a Necromancer, which makes him 10th level. He has in his employ a number of men-at-arms, as well as a troupe of elven scouts. Drystaff makes a number of anachronistic references to Earth culture, and given that my campaign will involve frequent world-hopping it would not be too much of a stretch to say that he has travelled to modern day Earth. But no, he says instead that he has scried other planes using his crystal sphere - either way works fine for me. We are also given some other minor details of his life: He has a cheating wife, and was trained in magic by the great Thaumaturgist Grimm. He rides a mule named Grumbold. He has also met a barbarian named "The Hog" in the north-eastern marches – perhaps the Ice or Frost Barbarians in the far north-eastern regions of Greyhawk.

Highton: Highton is an elf, the leader of the scouts working for Drystaff. He was chosen by his Lady, the Witch-Queen Evvolon, for the mission.

Lamhand: Lamhand is a Hero (a 4th level Fighter) who works with Drystaff, possibly as a henchman. He is a simple-minded oaf, and that's as much as we get from him in the story.

EVENTS:

So what happens in this story? It seems that the characters above are hired (or ordered in the case of Highton) by the Witch-Queen Evvolon to retrieve a book from near the lands of Stra-Tac. Stra-Tac is home to Dunn-Red, the Enemy, and his spies and servants are abroad searching for the book as well. They find the book, but Lamhand (who was sent ahead with a company of horsemen) steals it back from them. Drystaff and the elves are captured by Dunn-Red's spies, but Lamhand rescues the wizard and Highton. They escape with the book, only to fall into a trap set by a mysterious rotund thief, who absconds with the book.

Which leaves me with the biggest mystery of the story. Who is this guy? The whole punchline of the story is the reveal of his identity – which is given as RST. I have no idea who RST is, beyond being a rotund thief. It's quite plausible that it's a joke that won't translate at all well as a usable NPC, but I'd still like to know who it's meant to be, if only so I know what that story was on about.

OTHER DETAILS:

We learn that there's an Elf-Witch named Evvolon who lives in the Greenwood with her subjects. Could this possibly be the 'Elf-Land' that I conjectured from details in Men & Magic?

The Enemy of the elves is named Dunn-Red, and he rules the land of Stra-Tac. Little is shown of him, except that he employs human spies as well as armies of hairy, brutish humanoids – most probably orcs.

It's interesting to note the depiction of the elves here – these aren't your god-like Tolkien elves. Instead they're short with curly-toed shoes. They're more like the modern depictions of elves, Santa's helpers and Keebler elves and such. This fits into my conception of elves as a race on the wane - they used to be like Tolkien elves (and they may regain that power some day) but now they are diminished and wearing pointy shoes.

Silver Nobles are mentioned as a type of coinage – I'll keep that in mind when I'm looking for more evocative names for coinage than your average "Silver Piece'.

FOR THE CAMPAIGN:

The events of this story will have occured in the recent past of the campaign. With the book (whatever its purpose) having been stolen by the mysterious RST, both Evvolon and Dunn-Red will have servants hunting for it. The PCs could come into this story at any point, allying with one side or the other as they wish. How this scenario plays out could have a lot to do with the identity of RST – anyone out there have any ideas?

The NPC Drystaff will be active in the area of the Greenwood and its surrounds, as well as his men-at-arms and henchman Lamhand. Highton, as head of Evvolon's scouts, will remain in her service, perhaps heading up the hunt for the book.

The Greenwood and Stra-Tac will no doubt be minor regions in the World of Greyhawk. But thankfully that world is quite open to customisation, and I'll no doubt be able to fit them in somewhere.

Drystaff's mentor, the Thaumaturgist Grimm, I will have working as a trainer at the Guild of Magic-Users. Similarly, the barbarian known as "The Hog" will be a powerful chieftain, encountered should the PCs venture up into the realms of the Frost or Ice Barbarians.

Next up I'm tackling the Bard for reals.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #6 Part 1

The Strategic Review #6 sees a definite branching out of subject matter as compared to previous issues. With some fiction, reviews, as well as articles ongames like Fight in the Skies, War of Wizards, Dungeon, and Ancient Conquest, it's getting much closer to its later incarnation as The Dragon. There are also a number of fascinating D&D articles, as usual, starting with an overhaul of alignment.

THE MEANING OF LAW AND CHAOS IN DUNGEONS & DRAGONS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS TO GOOD AND EVIL: It seems that even in the old days alignment caused a lot of arguments, so here comes Gary to clarify things. But it's more than a clarification – this is a revamp of the whole system.

We already have Law, Neutrality and Chaos as alignments from the OD&D boxed set. This article introduces another axis of alignments – Good and Evil. These can combine in in six different ways – Lawful/Good, Lawful/Evil, Chaotic/Good, Chaotic/Evil and Neutral. It's pretty much the system used in AD&D, with a few options missing (Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, etc.). And it's exactly the system that was used in the Eric Holmes version of Basic D&D.

Before this point Law and Chaos were the only real cosmic considerations in the campaign, so I'll need to introduce something pretty drastic to justify the inclusion of Good and Evil to the system. I've already set up Law and Chaos as the two primal forces of the universe, constantly at war. Clerics before this don't worship specific gods, but are devoted to Law or Chaos. I'm thinking that this is the point where I will introduce specific churches, splintering the Church of Law and its chaotic counterpart into factions. From that point on a character's stance on Good vs. Evil will be just as important as his stance on Law vs. Chaos.

The article provides a chart to be used for tracking alignment shifts in PCs, but of greater interest are the details around the edge – our first glimpse of the Outer Planes! Eight of the planes are named and assigned to an alignment: Heaven (Lawful/Good), Paradise (Good), Elysium (Chaotic/Good), Limbo (Chaos), The Abyss (Chaotic/Evil), Hades (Evil), Hell (Lawful/Evil), and Nirvana (Law). Small details, but it's the clearest picture yet of the Greyhawk cosmology. However, further reading indicates that these planes have shifted a little in alignment once 1e comes around. I'll chalk this chart up as faulty research on the part of some sage or another. They've managed to explore into some of the Outer Planes, and discerned that they are related to the cosmic forces of Law, Chaos, Good and Evil, but their conclusions are wrong, as there are a whole lot more planes out there they don't yet know about.

There are also four types of beings that epitomize the most extreme alignments: Saints are Lawful/Good, Godlings are Chaotic/Good, Demons are Chaotic/Evil, and Devils are Lawful/Good. This is the first real mention of demons and devils, and their alignments here match later depictions. There are no Saints in later editions so far as I know, but there are Angels – I believe that I can safely equate the two terms. Godlings are another matter. Nothing in later D&D mentions them, but to me the term conjures up images of demi-gods such as Heracles. Still, I'm not all that inclined to create a new race of demi-gods just yet – I'm placing these guys on the back-burner until further reading gives me some ideas.

Following this is another big old chart, the same as the previous one, but with D&D monsters scattered over it to indicate their new alignments. No real surprises here, although it should be noted that Orcs are Chaotic/Evil, not Lawful/Evil as AD&D has them. Liches are also listed as Lawful/Good and Lawful/Evil, indicating that the process of becoming undead to live forever doesn't necessarily make you a bad guy. Finally, the Chromatic Dragon and the Platinum Dragon, said in Supplement I to be unique, are here listed as plural. I'll take that in a multiversal sense – each world has only one, but there is more than one of each spread across multiple worlds.

After that Gary gives some rough guidelines on tracking PC alignments, and provides the following interesting line: "The player-character who continually follows any alignment (save neutrality) to the absolute letter of its definition must eventually move off the chart and into another plane of existence as indicated." That's cool, and I'll definitely be implementing it as a possibility for super-high-level characters.

It's also interesting to note that while good and evil are said by Gary to be subjective, Law and Chaos are not.

There's another line that gives a good indication of the D&D cosmology: "If we presuppose that the universal contest is between Law and Chaos we must assume that in any final struggle the minions of each division would be represented by both good and evil beings." So Law and Chaos are still the ultimate forces in the universe, with Good and Evil simply being modifiers within those factions. The former shows what side you're on in the universal struggle, and the latter shows how you act in pursuit of that struggle. Gary's also quick to point out, though, that outside of some epic final battle between Law and Chaos, Good beings are more likely to ally with others who are Good, and the same goes for Evil.

There's a bit about paladins, and how they must toe the line as far as being Lawful/Good goes. The loss of their powers still occurs if they violate their alignment, but a divine quest or intervention can now help them be restored to paladinhood.

This bit about Clerics is interesting, and contradicts some of my assumptions from earlier. Clerics of either Good or Evil alignment must remain so – but they are able to switch between Law and Chaos without retribution? I find this strange... But I'll tie this in with the burgeoning of specific deities and churches. Law and Chaos might be the fundamental forces driving the universe, but the gods who grant clerical powers are in general more concerned with matters of good and evil, and more likely to withold powers on that basis. The one mechanical thing to take out of this is that your standard clerics are Good, and anti-clerics are evil.

There's a final note that most of humanity is Lawful, and about halfway between Good and Evil. Few are Chaotic, and very few Chaotic/Evil. Sounds fair enough to me.

Whew. That was one hell of an article, so I'll be stopping here, I think. Next time I'll be looking at the latest class for D&D – the Bard.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #5

The Strategic Review #5 opens with a note that Blackmoor has just been released, and a general round-up of how TSR is expanding (quickly, by the sound of things). They also provide a number of bios on the various folks who work there, none of which is relevant to the project, but informative nonetheless.

STURMGESHUTZ AND SORCERY: As noted in an earlier post, characters from Dave Arneson's Blackmoor campaign have made forays into Nazi Germany. This article explores Gary's own attempts at such a game, and establishes that travel to the World War II era is possible near the City of Greyhawk as well.
The fantasy characters that were used in this game involved the Servants of the Gatherer, a motley force of undead, ogres, trolls, and orcs under the command of an Evil High Priest (who I take to be the Gatherer himself). They are said to live in a castle, so I'll be using these guys as the inhabitants of a castle on the Outdoor Survival map for when the PCs make wilderness forays. There are stronger warriors that normally inhabit this castle, but they're away warring with a Neutral Lord who insulted the Gatherer. I'll need to establish who this Lord is as well – I'll probably make it Lord Robilar, who was a prominent character in Gygax's campaign, but more on that at a later date.

The situation is that a fog has sprung up west of the Gatherer's castle, which leads into Nazi Germany. After a bit of scouting and such, a pitched battle erupted between the fantasy characters and the Nazis, with the Nazis taking the worst of it. The Gatherer loses a couple of ghouls, a troll, and his giant scorpion, not to mention various orcs. These events will be a part of the history of the campaign world - should the PCs everenage in drunken conversation with the Gatherer, he might start rattling off old war stories about Nazis soldiers.

Following this is a guide to rules for using the Nazi weaponry in combination with D&D rules. It's heavily reliant on the Tractics rules, which I understand is a miniature wargame for World War II. It's all handy stuff, though, especially the chart for damage for various firearms and cannons. A cross-genre campaign like this one needs this kind of material.

Oh, and there's a rough map showing the castle and its surroundings, which I must remember should the PCs come across it.

The possibility of sending the PCs into World War II appeals to me, and I like the idea that a randomly occuring fog can roll in at any time and send them there. I'll be including it as a possibility on the wilderness encounter tables, with a very low chance of occuring. I'll probably also include a way to make the Adventurers' Guild portal lead there as well, in case the PCs get the urge to make regular Nazi-smashing trips.

MIGHTY MAGIC MISCELLANY: A few magic items get introduced here, the first of which is the Robe of Scintillating Color. Usable by any class, it appears as an average robe, but it can only be activated by a character with a combined Intelligence and Wisdom of 25. It can be used to form a dazzling pattern that makes the wearer harder to hit – attackers get -1 to hit on the first round, -2 on the second, until -5 is reached. It also has a 5% cumulative chance per round of hypnotising anyone who looks at it (and it's even more effective out of combat).
And because OD&D always throws in something awesome like this: if a magic-user with an Intelligence of 17 or 18 gets hypnotised, there's a chance he'll go permanently insane. Cool!

The other item introduced is Prayer Beads, usable only by Clerics. They're a string of valuable beads, with a chance that some of the beads have divine powers. There are a few types listed. Beads of Atonement give a character a chance to regain an old alignment if he has transgressed. Beads of Response allow him to directly communicate with his patron deity, though they don't guarantee the response will be favourable. Beads of Damnation are great, in that they allow you to (unwittingly, I assume) communicate with your patron's nemesis – always a bad idea. Beads of Karma temporarily increase a Cleric's level. Beads of Succor increase the chance that a god will respond to your prayers, and Beads of Hindrance reduce this chance.
The catch with this item is that each strong of beads has an alignment which affects how it will work. For example, a Chaotic Bead of Damnation actually contacts a Lawful deity! So it's difficult to know exactly what these beads are going to do without careful study.

This is also the first mention I've seen that players can pray to their deity of choice, with a chance of reply. I like the concept, but something mechanical would be nice. I'm tempted to go with a flat 1% chance, with the caveat that the gods don't generally like being pestered too much.

GALLERY OF GUNFIGHTERS 3: This is a description of the life of Ben Thompson, another western gunfighter who will be roaming around as an NPC if the players ever visit the Old West. (See earlier posts for my reasoning in including western characters.)

CREATURE FEATURES: One classic creature and a couple of others get the treatment here.

Rakshasa: These 'evil spirits encased in flesh' are noted as originating from India, which I will take to mean the area of the World of Greyhawk that corresponds to India. As is usual with D&D monsters they eat people, and to aid themselves in this they have a host of abilities, including illusions, ESP, Cleric spells of 1st level and M-U spells up to 3rd level. They're also pretty nasty in melee with teeth and claws, and are almost impossible to damage – spells under 8th level don't affect them, they're immune to non-magical weapons, and weapons under +3 only do half damage. The best weapon against them is a crossbow bolt blessed by a cleric, which kills them instantly. I take this as a simple Bless spell. This might seem a bit simple, but I'll be making this information difficult to come by. Anyone who gets a hold of the knowledge will deserve it.

It's interesting to note that we're still in a time when it's assumed players will have certain knowledge outside of the game – there's no description here of just what a Rakshasa looks like.

Slithering Tracker: A transparent dungeon predator that is difficult to see, it rarely attacks immediately, preferring to follow its chosen victim and kill it in its sleep. The Tracker has a semi-fluid body that can slip through very small gaps, and a touch that paralyses its victims. And once you've been paralysed, it will suck out your plasma in 6 turns. That's right – your plasma!

Trapper: Another predator that has adapted to dungeon life, this one is an amorphous thing that can make itself look like a regular floor by altering its coloration. So it waits on the dungeon floor for someone to walk over it, then it wraps around and suffocates them. Simple, ridiculous and awesome.

That's it for The Strategic Review #5, except for an ominous message that is recurring through the issue – THE DRAGON IS COMING!

But that's for another time. In the next post I'll be tackling The Strategic Review #6.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #4

As usual, there are a number of articles not relevant to this project. Those that I will be incorporating are detailed below.

A FEW MORE WORDS ON MEDIEVAL POLE ARMS: Not content with his lengthy treatise last issue, Gary feels the need to add a few extra paragraphs here. Mostly it involves naming obscure pole arms, and which of the more widespread pole arms they correspond to. It gets extra points for introducing the Bohemian Ear-Spoon.

CHAINMAIL WEAPONS ADDITIONS: The Jo Stick, the Bo Stick and the Quarterstaff are added to Chainmail. Perhaps one of Greyhawk's orders of Monks (maybe the Scarlet Brotherhood) are starting to get involved in military matters?

ILLUSIONISTS: A new class is introduced - the Illusionist. They are basically Magic-Users with a different spell list, and a few other changes - a 15 in Dexterity and Intelligence is required to qualify, and they are really limited in how many magic items they can use. Seriously - they can only use four wands, the crystal ball and illusionist scrolls. So it looks very underpowered on paper, but illusions in the hands of a creative player can be very effective.

The rest of the article introduces a whole host of new spells, most of which made the cut for AD&D. I'll only give descriptions for those spells that aren't self-explanatory from the name. The new spells are:

1st Level - Wall of Fog, Change Self (make self appear as a different humanoid), Gaze Reflection (reflects gaze attacks), Hypnotism (a more effective charm that requires the victim to look in caster's eyes)

2nd Level - Improved Phantasmal Forces (caster can move while using the spell), Fog, Blindness, Misdetection (might block detection spells), Hypnotic Pattern (fascinates creatures), Deafness

3rd Level - Fear, Spectral Forces (a better version of Improved Phantasmal Forces), Paralyzation, Nondetection (blocks detection spells)

4th Level - Improved Invisibility (attacking doesn't negate invisibility), Shadow Monsters (creates semi-real creatures), Shadow Magic (creates semi-real offensive spells), Minor Creation (create temporary objects), Emotions (make the target feel a number of emotions with set effects - even suicide is a possibility!)

5th Level - Summon Shadow, Major Creation (like Minor Creation, but better), Chaos (a Confusion spell with multiple targets), Demi-Shadow Monsters (like Shadow Monsters, but better), Demi-Shadow Magic (like Shadow Magic, but better), Create Spectres

The introduction of Illusionists in the campaign will begin as a new, secretive guild that opens in rivalry to the Adventurers Guild. At first there will be illusionists making forays into the dungeons in opposition to the players, but eventually I plan to soften this and make the Illusionists Guild join up and become a PC class.

TSOLYANI NAMES WITHOUT TEARS: This is a lengthy article about names in the game Empire of the Petal Throne, and how to generate ones that fit the setting of Tekumel. Whether I use this article depends on one thing - how close is EPT's game system to D&D? If it's basically a D&D variant, I'll be using Tekumel as another world the PCs can travel to. If it's a system unto itself, then I won't bother. The world of Tekumel is an interesting one, but my gut feeling on it is that it's just a bit too alien for the average player to 'get'. It's hard to get into the mindset of a person from that world. But take a group of D&D characters and throw them headfirst into Tekumel? Now that could be a lot of fun.

CLAY GOLEM: The latest new monster is a man-like automaton brought to life by a Lawful Cleric by way of various spells and a whole lot of gold pieces. Only its creator can command it, but in every turn that it is given a command it has a 1% chance to become Chaotic and go berserk. It's major ability is that it can Haste itself for 3 rounds. It's an obvious attempt to depict the Golem of Jewish myth, with a few D&Disms tacked on. Disappointingly, this version doesn't have the absurd requirements for healing damage inflicted by the golem that would creep into later editions.

I'll probably introduce this monster by way of a Manual of Golems - if a PC finds the book and wants to build one. That 1% chance of a rampage will be my little secret, though.

IOUN STONES: Taken from a Jack Vance story with the author's permission, IOUN Stones are little gems that circle around their owner and give him some sort of bonus based on its colour. There are nine colours detailed here, with bonuses including heightened ability scores, absorbing spells, hit point regeneration, better spellcasting ability, and allowing the user to go without food and water. I have an urge to introduce these items from another world, for some reason.

GALLERY OF GUNFIGHTERS Part II: This details the life and statistics of Doc Holliday. See my previous post for why a famed western gunslinger is going to be included in my D&D game.

TOMORROW: I've reached Supplement II - Blackmoor, but before that I feel that I should post another recap of what the campaign looks like at the moment.

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #3

ARTICLES NOT RELATED TO THIS PROJECT: This issue begins with a nice rant by Gary regarding a negative review of D&D - classic Gygax. There's a news section that assures us Empire of the Petal Throne is nearly done, and also gives the odd bit of news that Gary is full-time with the company. There's a humour article featuring new monsters that are so obviously intended as a joke that I won't be using them. An article on the Battle of the Ebro River, and a song about a unicorn round things out.

And now, a whole lot of monsters!

YETI: These white-furred monsters live in the snow and aren't seen much by men - which is lucky for them, because like most D&D monsters Yetis like to eat people. As expected, they're extra-vulnerable to fire. They're also hard to spot, and if they surprise you there's a chance you might look into the beast's eyes and be paralyzed.
It could be hard to get these monsters into the campaign - there aren't too many snowy environments near Greyhawk. But perhaps when I get the PCs up north to Blackmoor (which I intend to do through the Adventurer's Guild portal) I'll throw some in. They'll certainly be a standby for random encounters in snowy areas.

SHAMBLING MOUND: Or as they are otherwise called, "Shamblers". They are basically a giant heap of intelligent, rotting vegetation. There's a bit of biology, noting that the Shambler's brain is right in the centre of its body. They're also resistant to lots of attacks - fire does nothing, cold is only 50% effective, and lightning actually heals them. Even weapons deal half damage, so it's almost as though the creature has 12 to 18 hit dice instead of 6 to 9. Their deadliest feature, though, is their ability to smother and suffocate any foe they hit twice in one round.
Fitting Shambling Mounds in ought to be no problem - swamp or forest encounters will fit, and even some dungeon locations would work.

LEPRECHAUN: Ah, more irritating fey. And these ones are irritating by design, as they like to steal things and frustrate players with their wide array of magical powers and resistances. The only consolation you might get from these annoyances is in tricking them out of their treasure, but even that is hard. Though they do love wine...
Being so specifically Irish makes them a poor fit for D&D at least as I envision it - but I'll enjoy harassing my players with them, so it's all good.

SHRIEKERS: Great purple mushrooms that shriek loudly when light or movement is nearby - attracting monsters of course! I notice here that they can move around - I never knew that. And they are a prized food of Purple Worms and Shambling Mounds, which gives me a pretty good idea of what might be attracted to their shrieking.

GHOSTS: For some reason they are said not to be true undead - but they are the spirits of totally evil humans, and hate all life. The sight of one can age you ten years, and its touch ages you from 10 to 40! Mostly they try to possess you, though, which seems to me a lesser evil. And being incorporeal, they are absolute bastards to hit.
The comment about not being true undead is curious. I can't think of what separates them from something like a Wraith or a Spectre. Perhaps ghosts never crossed over into the land of the dead, and so can't be considered "un"-dead, having never officially died in spirit. Or something.

NAGA: There are three varieties of Naga, all snake-like in body. The Guardian Naga guards treasure for Lawful beings, and can spit poison in addition to being able to cast Cleric spells. Water Naga (the most common sort) usually live in palaces at the bottom of lakes, and can cast magic-user spells. Spirit Naga are evil, and have human heads as well - and they have a gaze that can charm you permanently! And if that doesn't work they can cast both types of spells, so they're not to be messed with.

WIND WALKER: Telepathic wind monsters that live on high mountains or deep caverns. Only other wind creatures (such as Djinn, Aerial Servants, etc,) can melee them, and there is a very limited range of spells that can affect them (mostly weather-based). Storm Giants often force them into servitude.

PIERCER: Unfairly maligned, I think. They are basically monsters shaped like stalactites that cling to the roof and drop on adventurers, attracted by noise and heat. Sure, they're more of a trap than a monster, but I love them in all their nonsensical glory.

LURKER ABOVE: It's a manta ray with a rocky hide that can cling to ceilings to become undetectable. They attack by dropping on victims and smothering them, which seems a good way to take out a few adventurers at once.

That's the new monsters done, but there are a few other articles of interest to follow.

GALLERY OF GUNFIGHTERS: It's an article about gunfighting in the Old West, which is pretty interesting. But why am I talking about it here, in a D&D campaign? Go take a look at the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide - there's a section in there about converting Boot Hill characters to D&D. Boot Hill was TSR's game about the West - and if Gary is providing a method for using it with D&D, then I'll have to find a way to include it in my mega-sandbox. The Adventurer's Guild portal is the obvious answer - I'll hide a key somewhere in Castle Greyhawk that leads to 1885 in the USA, and watch as my players flip out.

DESERTED CITIES OF MARS: We also have an article about the architecture of the races of Barsoom (which we know as Mars). Some rules for Mars were already included in OD&D, so it's already a destination I have planned for. I'll use this article to help design buildings and such.

MAPPING THE DUNGEONS: This is mostly a round-up of some minor D&D happenings, but one report comes from a certain Dave Arneson, and involves a foray his players made into Nazi Germany! Here's the text:

"We had an interesting game this weekend in preparation for the great SUPER-NAZI confrontation. A band of heroes went through the ol’ teleporter, and after mucking around awhile (robbery, kidnapping, murder, rape, etc.) the locals sent the police and army after them. (The Germans thought it was guerrilla activity.) The army finally found the farm they were using as a camp and moved in to search it. While thus busily employed the heroes returned from a foray and ambushed them. It was The Great Svenny, Marty the Elf, Richard the Hairy, and 5 berserkers against 26 soldiers with 2 cars, 2 trucks, 4 light mg’s, 2 mortars (60 mm), and the usual bevy of small arms. Marty the Elf and 2 berserkers were killed, while the troops lost 7 KIA and 1 wounded before fleeing — good thing too, for shortly thereafter the remainder of the heroes’ force arrived, 3 magical types and another 12 berserkers! The Nazis will certainly be back in strength, and this will result in a big battle . . . "

Not only do we learn the names of 3 prominent adventurers of Blackmoor (The Great Svenny, Marty the Elf (who dies), and Richard the Hairy), we learn that somewhere in Blackmoor is a teleporter that leads to Nazi Germany. And not only that, but Gary follows it up with a story of similar goings on around Greyhawk. There's a lot of dimension-hopping hinted at in the last few entries, that's for sure!

TOMORROW: The Strategic Review #4

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Stretegic Review #2

This issue begins on a rather sombre note, by mentioning the recent death of TSR co-founder Don Kaye. I don't know how influential he was on the game itself, but he certainly helped to shape the company, and his death here was the earliest seed of Gary's eventual ouster from TSR.

From there it's an editorial by Brian Blume, some stuff about the Strategists' Club, additions to Cavaliers and Roundheads, and a round-up of recent Wargaming news - none of it relevant to the project at hand.

QUESTIONS MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED ABOUT DUNGEONS & DRAGONS RULES: In short, a FAQ. This is chock-full of information.

The first section deals with combat - it mentions that the regular Chainmail combat system is intended for large battles mainly involving humanoids, and that Chainmail's Man-to-Man and Fantasy Supplement systems are for battles of smaller size. The 'alternate system' provided in D&D is recommended for important melees - and aren't they all? I won't be using the Chainmail systems for anything less than skirmish combat, so it's of little concern.

The next paragraph mentions that there is normally only one exchange of attacks per round. It's then clarified that all attacks deal 1d6 without regard for weapon type, unless otherwise noted. Since I'll have already introduced variable weapon damage from Supplement I, this is also of no concern.

What is of concern is the clarification that PCs get multiple attacks when fighting creatures of 1 hit dice or less. It's not stated whether this only applies to Fighters. In AD&D it does, but for OD&D I'm inclined to let every class get multiple attacks based on Fighting Capability. So when your Fighting Capability says you fight as 2 Men, you get two attacks against creatures of less than 1 hit dice.

Initiative and surprise get a brief mention. It is stated that initiative is checked every round, and adjusted by Dexterity - high Dex grants a +1 to the roll.

The combat example shows a 4th Level Fighter getting ambushed by 10 Orcs. Its interesting in that it provides perfectly workable grappling rules that I've never seen elsewhere. Basically each side rolls a number of dice based on their hit dice total, and the higher result wins the grapple - grapplers may also be thrown off and stunned for a number of turns. I really like this, it's simple and easily used at the table.

Monster saving throws get a mention - most monsters save as a fighter of the same hit dice, and those with magic resistance might save as magic-users.

Morale is mentioned, seeing as it did not get covered in OD&D. PCs and unintelligent monsters don't use it, but others do. The simple system provided involves a roll of 2d6 where low is bad and high is good. It's much like the one from Chainmail, so no problems there.

Experience points for magic items are discussed, even though no such possibility was brought up in OD&D. Rewards range from 100XP for a magic arrow to 1,000 XP for a +1 Sword to 5,000 XP for a 'Genie Ring' (presumably a Ring of Wishes). The rest if this section reiterates what is said in OD&D, adding that creatures with special powers should be worth more XP.

This concludes with a discussion of spells, and how many spells a magic-user can cast in a day. It also clarifies that spells cast from scrolls disappear. The usual Vancian stuff.

THE ROPER: It's a new monster! This 'mass of foul, festering corruption' is cigar-shaped, about 9' tall, and has six sticky tentacles that cause weakness that it uses to drag victims into its maw. It's immune to a lot of stuff - lightning, charm, half-damage from cold, and 80% magic resistance to top it off. Fire is more effective against it, and since that's usually a Magic-User's first go-to weapon they'll find that out quickly enough.

This is one of the first instances we have of treasure inside a monster - the Roper often has gems in its gizzard.

Ropers are yet another cool monster that I've never used in a game - more a factor of infrquent gaming and my games petering out before high level than the monster itself.

RANGERS: It's a new class! This Ranger is heavily based on Aragorn from Lord of the Rings - the warrior that protects civilization from the monsters of the wild. They first appeared in Chainmail as slightly tougher Heroes, but here they are expanded into a class all their own.

It's much like the 1st Edition AD&D Ranger. Strength is their Prime Requisite, but they also require a high Intelligence, Wisdom and Constitution - not many characters rolled by 3d6 in order will qualify. But that's ok - I prefer the more powerful sub-classes to be a rarity. They also have to be Lawful, and if they stray lose everything except their abilities as a Fighter.

Looking at their XP chart, they take longer to advance than Fighters, but they start with 2 hit dice at first level. At much higher levels they get the ability to cast both Cleric and Magic-User spells, which I suppose is intended to model some of Aragorn's powers.

Despite these advantages, there are a few drawbacks - they can only own what they carry, they can't hire servants, and only two can work together at any one time.

They automatically get a 25% bonus to XP! That's pretty good, and just about negates their steep advancement chart - except that it's lost after 8th level. They can also track creatures, are difficult to surprise, and get a damage bonus equal to their level against monsters of the Giant class - from the Wandering Monster charts, this includes all the evil humanoids and giants.

At higher levels they get access to more magic items, and they automatically get some followers. Most of these are similar to the PC types, but other options include Werebears, Hill Giants, and even Golden Dragons! Something tells me that some of these options will get excised when AD&D rolls around...

In campaign terms, all of these guys are going to be much like they were in Lord of the Rings - the ancestors of ancient kings of men that lurk at the fringes of society and protect it from evil monsters. Once rumours of the dungeons reawakening get out Rangers will start investigating that and become part of the Adventurers Guild - not through their own guild, but as part of the Guild of Fighting-Men.

MEDIEVAL POLE ARMS: Aaaaaaaaaah! It's Gary banging on about pole arms for a couple of pages - if you own a copy of Unearthed Arcana you've already seen it in all its ghastliness. This is the first iteration, but by no means the last. At least it provides stats for using some of these in Chainmail. About this point I'll probably introduce a weapons vendor who keeps trying to entice players into his shop with glaive-guisarmes and bohemian earspoons.

On Monday I continue with The Strategic Review #3, which sees the introduction of a whole host of new monsters, as well as... Nazis and Cowboys?!? Believe it!

The Ultimate Sandbox: The Strategic Review #1

This was the first magazine published by TSR, and the precursor to Dragon. It comes in at a whopping six pages, but they manage to pack a lot of stuff in. I'll be ignoring the articles that don't pertain to D&D and my campaign - for a more thorough treatment, check out this link.

TSR News notes that D&D supplement books are a high priority, and there will be at least one out before GenCon. They never would have believed how much stuff comes out these days.

CREATURE FEATURE: We get our first new monster: the Mind Flayer! It's a classic right off the bat. They are described as super-intelligent humanoids with tentacle mouths that eat brains. If a tentacle hits it will draw the victims brain out in a few rounds, leaving the victim very dead. On top of that there's the mind blast, which has a range of effects from death, insanity, stunning, and putting the victim in a coma. It's more effective against the very stupid and the very smart, less so against those with average Intelligence. Sometimes it doesn't pay to be exceptional! Magic-Users and Clerics are slightly more resistant than others.

It's also noted that the Helm of Telepathy provides some resistance to the Mind Blast, and can be used to stun the Mind Flayer in return.

You really can't beat Mind Flayers. They work as masterminds, and you can use them as arbitrary villains because they have that whole "unknowable alien" thing going on. It's easy to give them minions of the mind-controlled variety. Plus, they just look cool. And thankfully there's nothing here that's contradicted later on. They're the first new monster introduced for the game, and that means they'll be the first new monster to show up in the dungeons of my campaign as well.

CASTLE & CRUSADE: Gary gives us an article on Chainmail weapons, mostly explaining why the spear isn't all that effective in the game and in history. It ends with an ominous paragraph where Gary promises a complete run-down on the Pole Arm next issue. The first, and by no means the last...

SOLO DUNGEON ADVENTURES: This article is a series of charts and tables that can be used to create dungeons on the fly for solo play. It turned up later in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide with a few changes and more detail, but this one works perfectly well.

It's not much use to me as is, but I'm toying with the idea of a dungeon that is completely and utterly random. I'll call it The Pit of Ultimate Chaos, or something equally cheeseball. Every time the players enter it will be different than it was before. It'll be a bitch to run, but fun as well. The only constants will be a few special rooms on each level, but the locations of those will always be different for obvious reasons. I'm even toying with the idea of randomising the levels every time the PCs switch floors, so that if they go down to level 2, then back up to level 1 it will all be different and they'll be hopelessly lost... But probably not. It's a little too punishing.

Well, that was quick! (Consider it a gift after yesterday's behemoth.) Tomorrow, not so much, as I'll be starting with Supplement I: Greyhawk, and the many goodies and nasties contained therein.