Post-Eldritch Wizardry Campaign Round-Up

The following shows what the campaign will look like once everything up to and including Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry has been included. It should also be noted that the last time I did this was just before I tackled Supplement II, so the new inclusions here also include material from that product. As usual, any new additions are highlighted in red.

RULES:

The rules used at the beginning of the campaign will be from Dungeons & Dragons, the original three-booklet set from 1974. There are several things that are open to interpretation in these rules, and my interpretations are listed below:

• Player characters re-roll their hit points at the beginning of every game session; on some adventures they feel great, and on others they feel awful. These hit points will not be rolled until the first time the PC takes damage.
• Elves must pick what class they will play as at the start of every session, and abide by all the rules pertaining to that class. The only exception is that they can wear magic armor and still function as Magic-Users.
• The 'system shock' roll applies not only to the usual things such as resurrection and polymorph, but also to being paralyzed; there's a chance that such a trauma might stop the heart of weaker characters.

In addition, the following rules will be imported from CHAINMAIL:

• Turn Sequence
• Movement Rules
• Terrain Effects
• Fatigue (but only for the first session in the campaign, until the characters become used to adventuring)
• Specific Missile Fire rules
• Morale
• Catapults and cannons
• Random Weather
• First Strike rules for melee
• Parrying
• Mounted Combat
• Jousting
• Racial abilities for Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits and other monsters
• Class Abilities for Heroes, Superheroes and Wizards, mostly covering their effect on enemy morale
• Special abilities for various monsters

I will also be using the grappling rules from an early issue of the Strategic Review.

After a bit of tinkering and experimentation, I have decided that I won’t be attempting to use the CHAINMAIL combat system at all. It is far too much effort to hammer it into something that works for D&D.

RULES PROGRESSION:

I will start to introduce new rules once the campaign has had a decent amount of time as straight OD&D. This is the general order (a rough guide) in which new rules and additions will be implemented. Some of these changes will be made without the players knowing, and others will be explained to them through NPCs in the Guild.

The Strategic Review #1:

• Session 1: Mind Flayers start to appear in the dungeons.
• Session 2: The key that allows players to access The Pit of Ultimate Chaos will be hidden in the dungeons below Castle Greyhawk. See below for more on this dungeon.

Supplement I: Greyhawk:

• Session 3: NPC hirelings will now gain a half-share of XP, as they are learning better how to profit from adventures under the leadership of a PC. NPC hirelings are also starting to become subconsciously aware of when their employer is Chaotic, and their Loyalty to these characters thus becomes lessened.
• Session 4: The gods will decree that there is now a limit to the number of times a mortal may be raised from the dead.
• Session 5: Monsters and PCs will develop techniques and resistances that make the Charm Person spell (and its offshoots) less effective.
• Session 6: Experience points gained from defeating monsters will be greatly lessened. The earliest adventurers of the current era were truly exploring the unknown, and so gained more experience from killing monsters. Newer adventurers are operating with knowledge gleaned from their predecessors.
• Session 7: The new monsters from Supplement I: Greyhawk will start appearing in the dungeons and wilderness, as will the new magic items. (In other words, I will be replacing the relevant random tables from OD&D with those from Supplement I.) The secret of using the Stone of Controlling Earth Elementals and the Broom of Flying will be discovered to be easily usable by any class. Elementals will find that they are attuning themselves more to the magic of Earth, and now more powerful magic weapons are required to harm them. The Druids, having heard about the recent forays into the Castle Greyhawk dungeons, will begin investigating to make sure that it will not upset the balance of nature. A book or scroll will be placed into Castle Greyhawk that details how to use magic armour and shields in unison. Either the PCs will find it, or eventually an NPC will do so.
• Session 8: The Thieves' Guild, having taken note of the amount of treasure coming out of the dungeons, will start to take an interest in the dungeons around the City of Greyhawk. They will petition to join the Adventurer's Guild, but the "Guild of Clerics" will object, and will only relent if someone from the Thieves' Guild retrieves the Cleric's Orb, Crown or Sceptre from the Greyhawk Castle dungeons. The Guildmaster of Thieves will set this as a quest which the PCs may undertake, and if they do so successfully the Thief class will become a playable option. Otherwise, an NPC will complete this quest after a while, and the Thief class will likewise be available. The Guild of Thieves will impose no level limits on demi-humans, and this will prompt the heads of the Adventurer's Guild to "discover" that Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits with exceptional scores in their prime requisites are able to progress beyond their old level limits.
• Session 9: From this point on, when a Lawful Fighter with sufficient Charisma is created, the gods will appear to him and offer to make him a Paladin of Law. If no player meets these requirements and accepts the offer, an NPC will eventually do so, becoming the first Paladin in Greyhawk's recent history. Also note that this class is not restricted to humans; Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits may also become paladins.
• Session 10: Human-Elf half-breeds will start becoming more common, enough so that some are starting to become adventurers.
• Session 11: A slew of new spells will be introduced to the Adventurer's Guild, probably via a cache of Zagyg's spell books hidden in Castle Greyhawk. These are the new spells introduced in Supplement I: Greyhawk. With a wider range of spells now available, Magic-Users will no longer have the capability to learn every single spell in the game. Higher spell levels (7th to 9th) will be introduced that require the caster to have high intelligence to learn. With more things to teach, the guild trainers will no longer have time to teach 6th level spells to those students with lower intelligence.
• Session 12: In reaction to the increased power of the Guild of Magic-Users, the heads of the "Guild of Clerics" will release the knowledge of prayers previously restricted to their inner circle. (In other words, I will be introducing the new Cleric spells from Supplement I.)
• Session 13: As training becomes more reliable, Fighters become harder to kill, and so do Clerics to a lesser extent. Magic-Users, with increasing arcane demands, become less hardy. (In game terms, this means that the new hit dice method is introduced.) Also from this point on, the hit point totals of Player Characters will be fixed, rather than re-rolled at the start of each game session. Constitution bonuses for hit points will also be increased at this point.
• Session 14: Monsters will become hardier as they grow more used to raids from adventurers, resulting in their hit dice changing from d6 to d8.
• Session 15: Monsters and PCs will learn how to minimise damage from such weapons as daggers, meaning that damage from these weapons will drop from d6 to d4.
• Session 16: Monsters and PCs will also learn how to make other weapons do more damage. A trade off for these techniques, however, will be that many larger weapons will require more space to wield.
• Session 17: Monsters will learn how to use some of their natural attacks more effectively, while PCs will learn how to minimise the others. In game terms, this means I’m introducing the new damage ranges.
• Session 18: Fighters will now be able to train to make better use of their Strength, and to attain Strength levels that were heretofore impossible. At the same time, the training of Fighters and other classes has become more specialised and intensified, and weaker characters no longer receive the training that minimised their lack of Strength. (In game terms, Fighters will now get Exceptional Strength, as well as greater bonuses to attack and damage from high Strength. All characters with low Strength will now suffer greater penalties in combat as well.)
• Session 19: Fighters will now be able to train to use their Dexterity to dodge and parry more effectively in combat, making their defenses much better. (In game terms, the Fighter will now get AC benefits from Dexterity.)
• Session 20: The Adventurer's Guild trainers have worked out how to apply techniques that make certain weapons more effective against certain armour types. At the same time, monsters and players alike have worked out how to use armour more effectively against certain weapons. (In game terms, I will introduce the Weapon vs. AC tables.)
• Session 21: More effective techniques will be developed for attacking humanoid enemies who have fallen prone.

The Strategic Review #2 (all introduced in session 22):

• Ropers will begin to appear in the dungeons near Greyhawk.
• Rangers will hear about the dangers being posed by the newly reawakened dungeons, and some of their number will join the Adventurer's Guild through the Guild of Fighting-Men. They will become available as a PC class at this point.
• New types of pole arms will start to appear on the battlefield.

The Strategic Review #3 (all introduced in session 23):

• The following monsters will start to appear in the dungeons and wilderness: Yetis, Shambling Mounds, Leprechauns, Shriekers, Ghosts, Nagas, Wind Walkers, Piercers, and Lurkers Above.

The Strategic Review #4 (all introduced in session 24):

• Even more types of pole arms will start to appear on the battlefield, most of them redundant.
• An order of monks will start making its presence felt on the battlefield, introducing the jo stick, the bo stick and the quarterstaff.
• The secretive Guild of Illusionists, previously believed by most to exist only in rumour, will be approached to join the Adventurers’ Guild. They will join for their own reasons, but will refuse to share their magic with regular Magic-Users. At this point they will become available as a PC class.
• A Manual of Golems with the means for creating a Clay Golem will be hidden somewhere in the Greyhawk dungeons.
• IOUN stones will begin to appear.

Supplement II: Blackmoor:

• Session 25: The new monsters from Supplement II will be introduced. By this time the elite mermen will have been mostly wiped out, leaving only their weaker brethren. Giant Leeches will also see their blood drain ability become deadlier. I will also introduce the new random encounter charts for Sailing and Underwater.
• Session 26: I will place a number of the new magic items from Supplement II in the dungeons.
• Session 27: Lycanthropy will become harder to cure if it is contracted under the full moon during spring. At the same time, the curse of lycanthropy will be slightly easier to resist, not just being an automatic ticket to NPC-hood.
• Session 28: Chaotic Clerics will now be able to cause minor diseases with a reversed Cure Light Wounds spell.
• Session 29: Chaotic monks will start appearing in the dungeons, looking for ways to increase their power.
• Session 30: The Order of Monastic Martial Arts will petition for membership in the Adventurers' Guild, and from this point on the Monk will be available as a PC class.
• Session 31: Some Assassins who are also members of the Guild of Thieves will start making forays into the dungeons. Any PC who opts to be a Thief and meets the requirements to become an Assassin will be given the option to do so. He will not be required to divulge his status as an Assassin to the other players if he does not wish to.
• Session 32: The Adventurers Guild will begin teaching PCs a reckless combat style that allows for critical hits on specific body parts. If they PCs employ this style, the monsters will be able to exploit it in turn. Otherwise, it will not enter into the game.
• Session 33: At this point I will start seeding rumours regarding the Temple of the Frog adventure. If the PCs don't bite, someone will eventually try to hire them to investigate.
• Session 34: At this point I will start seeding rumours about the fantastic treasures to be found in the sunken cities of Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria.
• Session 35: An evil organisation will begin machinations to spread disease across the world. This will introduce the many ailments featured in Supplement II, as well as having the side-effect of making the rotting touch of Mummies much more deadly. I will certainly be making provisions for the PCs to investigate and halt this agenda.

The Strategic Review #5:

• Session 36: I will place a Robe of Scintillating Colours and a number of Prayer Beads in the dungeons around Greyhawk. I will also introduce Rakshasas, Slithering Trackers, and Trappers into some set encounters around the place.

The Strategic Review #6:

• Session 37: The worship of individual gods will start becoming more important, splitting the Churches of Law and Chaos into many factions. This results in a new alignment system with an axis for Law/Chaos and one for Good/Evil. As a result, fallen Paladins will now be able to redeem their powers with a divine quest or intervention.
• Session 38: I will start seeding rumours about the Vermillion Volume, and will possibly have the Witch-Queen Evvolon (or maybe Dunn-Red the Enemy) try to hire the PCs to retrieve it.
• Session 39: The Druids start assigning Bards to accompany various heroes into the dungeons to chronicles their exploits. After several sessions of this, the class will become available to PCs. I will also introduce the various magical intruments from this issue into the game. In rare cases they may be found in a treasure hoard, but they are usually gifted only to those Bards who do a great service for their people.
• Session 40: An NPC wizard in the Greyhawk dungeons will create his own homunculus. The PCs may be able to find his notes and replicate the process.

The Strategic Review #7 (all introduced in session 41):

• I will introduce the Cup and Talisman of Akbar (as well as its Arabic owner detailed below) into a dungeon near the City of Greyhawk. I will also place the Staff of the Priest-Kings and a number of Brazen Bottles.
• I will create a number of set encounters featuring the Denebian Slime Devil and the Catoblepas.
• The Adventurers' Guild will start training Thieves to make better use of their Dexterity. Thieves will now get a bonus to their skills for high Dexterity, and those with the highest score will gain Exceptional Dexterity in a similar vein to the way Strength works for Fighters.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry:

• Session 42: I will introduce the new Wandering Monster charts, which also brings the new monsters into play. I will also place a grimoire in the dungeons that contains a collection of knowledge about the various artifacts. This will be a whole host of plot hooks and potential adventures.
• Session 43: The mind flayers will complete the giant brain that serves to augment their psionic power. As a result, the emanations from the brain will also awaken psionic potential in humans and some monsters such as Tritons, and Liches, as well as various rodents. At the same time, Dwarves, Elves and Hobbits all gain a measure of resistance to psychic blasts. Also at this time, the Titans will regain the favour of their patron god, and thus gain high magic resistance and psionic power.
• Session 44: The Adventurers’ Guild, having seen how the Druids are making forays into the dungeons, will approach the Druids and ask them to join. It’s probable that this is a quest that the PCs will be sent on. At the same time, something in the dungeons will affect the Druids, changing the magic that they have access to.
• Session 45: A new and improved way of thinking about tactical movement and combat sweeps through the Adventurers’ Guild, and will be taught to the PCs. In game terms, this translates as the replacement of the initiative system from Chainmail with the more complex one from this supplement.

WORLD OF GREYHAWK:

The World of Greyhawk is currently at a level of society and technology equivalent to the Middle Ages of Earth. Although technology is at a late medieval era, scientific theory is centuries ahead of that due to magical research. The world also has seasons that are similar to our own. It consists mainly of the Great Kingdom. In a bog nearby is the weird enclave of Blackmoor, lying between the Great Kingdom and the fearsome Egg of Coot. The City of Blackmoor is a small village, a one-horse town. The City of Greyhawk is much larger, and detailed further below.

The world is flat, and ships can sail off the edge. The wilderness is generally an unexplored land dotted with cities and castles. These castles may be inhabited by any number of creatures fell or fair, but are most always ruled by some powerful character. Somewhere in the world there is a primordial swamp filled with dinosaurs. Elsewhere there is a mountain range that is home to a number of prehistoric mammals. There is also at least one forest which is home to many magical creatures such as centaurs and unicorns.

There is a common language that is known and spoken by most humans throughout the continent. Every other race that can speak also has its own language, and 20% of them can also speak the common tongue. In addition to this there are alignment tongues, special languages that were passed down to mortals by the primal forces of the universe. A creature aligned with Law that is able to speak will possess inherent knowledge of this language, and the same is true for each of the other alignments. The alignment tongues are now mostly reserved for ritual and prayer, but they are also frequently used by secret cabals and sects, and religious extremists who would never sully their tongues with less divine speech.

An ancient civilization once spanned the continent. They are known to have embalmed their dead, and that is why mummies are so prevalent in dungeons everywhere. Their language was once used to categorize monsters in a semi-scientific manner. That language survives in the name of the Red Dragon: Draco Conflagratio, or Draco Horribilis. It may also be the same language that gave us the name Chimera as a category of monster.

There is a group known as the Rangers, descended from an ancient line of kings, who patrol the borders of civilization and protect it from evil monsters.

There are also Witches in the world. If a male character is captured by one, he will either be turned into a pig or kept as her lover, depending upon his Charisma. Some Witches are old hags, and others are beautiful.

There is a civilisation of Amazons, whose traditional dress consists of little more than boots, belt, and a loincloth of some kind.

The Druids live in the wilderness, presiding over their barbaric followers and harnessing the power of nature for their own ends. There are only ever four Druids of 10th level in the world, two 11th-level Arch-Druids and one 12th-level Great Druid. The only way for a Druid to advance to these levels is to defeat one of them in a spell duel. Bards are closely connected to the Druids. Though Druids and their people are human, they are hugely respectful of the various demi-human races, and will allow them to study the Bardic arts.

There is a thriving slave trade, fuelled by Bandits, Pirates, and others of their ilk.

Electrum is a valuable metal, but its exact value depends upon who you are dealing with. Most value it at half the price of gold, but there are others who believe it is sacred, and give the metal double gold's value.

The rare silvery metal known as mithral is mined by the Dwarves.

The strange alloy known as Adamantite was once used to make powerful magical armour, but the secret of its making has now been lost.

Dwarves and Elves each have their own homelands. Among humans they are referred to as "Dwarf-land" and "Elf-land". It is possible that "Elf-land" is otherwise known as the Greenwood, and ruled over by the Witch-Queen Evvolon. Nearby is the land of Stra-Tac, ruled over by Dunn-Red the Enemy, who is at war with the Elves. He is known to employ human spies, as well as armies of Orcs. In the recent past, he stole a powerful tome called the Vermillion Volume from the elves, only to have it stolen in turn. Both he and the elves continue to search for it.

Dread Blackmoor Castle is a dungeon not far from Blackmoor city. Also in this region is Lake Gloomey, and the surrounding Swamp of Mil. In the swamp lies the Temple of the Frog, a secret place that is home to the Brothers of the Swamp, a sect that believes Man an abomination, and animals more fit to rule the world.

The Order of Monastic Martial Arts is an organisation of monks, divinely powered ascetic martial artists. Most are Lawful, but a rebellious few favour Chaos. They are forbidden from drinking magical potions, as it would defile the sanctity of their perfectly honed bodies. The Order has ten members who are greater than Grand Master. In order of rank and power, their titles are: Grand Master of Dragons, Grand Master of the North Wind, Grand Master of the West Wind, Grand Master of the South Wind, Grand Master of the East Wind, Grand Master of Winter, Grand Master of Autumn, Grand Master of Summer, Grand Master of Spring, and the Grand Master of Flowers. Progression through these ranks is determined by duels, but there can only be one Monk of each rank at any time.

Most of the large cities in the World of Greyhawk are home to an Assassins Guild, though never more than one in each locale. Each guild is run by a Guildmaster, a position that other high-ranking assassins can gain by challenging him to a duel to the death. The training of Assassins makes them extremely flexible in their mindsets and personal tenets, and as such they are able to speak in alignment languages different from their own.

In eons past there was a great flood, which may or may not have happened twice, when the ice caps melted during a war between the gods for control of the planet. Some of the gods grabbed up their subjects to save them from the flood, while others transformed their subjects to adapt to the water. Sea elves and mermen were created by the gods of Law and Neutrality, while those of Chaos made the Sahuagin, who are said to be the most evil of the evil.

The cities of Mu, Atlantis and Lemuria lie beneath the sea. Each of them is said to contain fabulous treasures.

Silver pieces are sometimes referred to as Silver Nobles.

Somewhere in the world there were once Priest-Kings.

The Isles of Woe upon the Lake of Unknown Depths were once ruled by a wizard-cleric who owned the Codex of the Infinite Planes. Knowledge from the Codex caused his downfall, and his domain was flooded by the waters of the lake.

At some point in the future, the event known as “The Coming of the City of the Gods” will occur.

CITY OF GREYHAWK:

The City of Greyhawk is large, with bazaars, inns, taverns, shops, temples, and a risky Thieves Quarter.

There is an Adventurers' Guild in the city, and this is the only place where the PCs may receive training. There are three sub-guilds that unite to form this organization: the Guild of Fighting-Men, the Guild of Magic-Users, and the Guild of Clerics. The Guild Elders claim that they are incapable of training demi-humans to the same level as humans, but there is a widespread belief that this is just a case of prejudice. One of the Guild's trainers is the Thaumaturgist Grimm.

The Guild bestows specific titles to those that progress through their class. For example, Fighting-Men begin as Veterans, and when they progress to the next rank they become Swordsmen. Each of the classes has a unique progression of titles.

Beneath the Guild is a strange circular portal, surrounded by hundreds of empty slots. There is a key for each slot, and when each is activated the portal has a different destination. Some of these destinations include Mars and Blackmoor.

The guild also runs a service whereby adventurers can name a beneficiary of their wealth and items, often a relative. The guild charges a fee of 10% of the goods transferred.

The following Guilds and occupations also operate in the city: Alchemists, Blacksmiths (including Armorers), Assassins, Animal Trainers, Engineers, Sages, Seamen (including Ship Captains), Spies and Men-at-Arms.

There is a lot of untamed wilderness near the city, and a large portion of it resembles the board from Outdoor Survival. This wilderness is ripe for conquest by the PCs, who may use it to build their own castles, but many areas have already been claimed by NPCs with castles of their own.

The lands around are lawless, and so the various humanoid types, especially Orcs, Ogres and Giants, are especially effective when they launch raids, possessing great hoards of treasure.

Somewhere in or around the City of Greyhawk there is a cult that sacrifices naked women to giant snakes. They look like the hooded cultist from Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry.

The Guild of Sages is highly protective of the niche occupied by its members, and it resents that Clerics and Magic-Users often encroach on that territory. As such its members do not hire out to these classes. Lower-level Sages have a very general knowledge base, while those of higher level will usually have areas that they specialise in. Sages are favoured by the Gods of Law, and so killing one renders the slayer instantly Chaotic. They also have the power to bestow powerful curses if brought close to death by violence.

Somewhere near the City of Greyhawk is a castle that is home to the Gatherer, an Evil High Priest, and his servants. These servants include undead, orcs, ogres, trolls, as well as a number of even stronger forces. The Gatherer was at one point insulted by Lord Robilar and confronted him with his strongest troops. During this attack the Gatherer's castle was assaulted by forces from Nazi Germany, brought there by a strange fog. There is a map of the area surrounding this castle in The Strategic Review #5.

CASTLE GREYHAWK:

Castle Greyhawk is a huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by a mad wizard who is also an insane genius.

The dungeon beneath has over a dozen levels in succession downwards, with more than that branching off at various points. At least two levels are under construction at any time. Included within the dungeons are a museum from another age, an underground lake, a series of caverns filled with giant fungi, a bowling alley for 20' tall giants, an arena of evil and some crypts. In addition the tunnels often change their configuration from one visit to the next, and there are various teleporters and strange corridors that make mapping the place very difficult.

The castle and dungeon itself seems to hinder the PCs; monsters inside can always see in the dark, but the PCs and their allies cannot. In addition, doors that are always stuck for PCs, and always swing closed on them, open easily for monsters.

Somewhere in the depths of Castle Greyhawk is an object decorated with a bearded demonic face (this is pure conjecture on my part, based on the illustration in OD&D).

The tricks and traps mentioned in Supplement I: Greyhawk are all a part of Castle Greyhawk.

One room in Castle Greyhawk is called "The Living Room." It is full of animated furniture that will trip, confine, and smother the PCs.

On level 2 of Greyhawk Castle there is a fountain that issues a continuous stream of snakes.

Somewhere in the Greyhawk dungeon is a Great Stone Face with two archways nearby. This face is also known as the Enigma of Greyhawk.

A demi-plane accessible in the dungeons will be ridiculously deadly and over-powered, in the manner of the D&D games played at CalTech. The sign pointing to the access point will have a 'Dungeons & Beavers' inspired pun.

OTHER DUNGEONS NEAR GREYHAWK:

Somewhere in a dungeon near Greyhawk there is a special iron golem that can only be killed by the very weapons that it guards. It has a fiery breath, a poison sword, and a whip of cockatrice feathers that can turn its victims to stone. Though many tales about it have been told, its location is unknown to most.

There is another dungeon near the City of Greyhawk. It has ten levels, and is six levels deep (as can be seen in the cross-section in D&D Vol. 3). The bottom level is dominated by a huge cavern. One of the deeper levels (5a or 5b) will include the sample dungeon level from D&D Vol. 3. Level 1 will feature details from the sample of play in Vol. 3, notably a room with six gnolls guarding thousands of coins and a pair of Elven Boots.

Another dungeon can be accessed only through the portal below the Adventurers' Guild: The Pit of Ultimate Chaos. Though certain locations in the dungeon are always present, the layout is never the same from one visit to the next. I will be using the random dungeon generation charts from The Strategic Review #1 to create this dungeon on the fly.

In a dungeon or lair somewhere near Greyhawk there is a dragon who has captured a Bard, and refuses to let the Bard stop playing his restful melodies.

Castle Blackstar is a dungeon, the first level of which consists of shops and inns, as well as the home of a high-level wizard with a balrog butler.

In one of the dungeons will reside an Arabic sorcerer in the vein of Abdul Alhazred, who has crossed over from Earth to the World of Greyhawk. He will have in his possession the Cup and Talisman of Akbar.

RACES:

The most common civilised races are Men, Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits.

There are three types of Dwarves: Hill Dwarves, Mountain Dwarves, and Burrowers (otherwise called Gnomes).

Dwarves and Gnomes share a great affinity, and may be different strains of the same species. Dwarves have a history of constant war with Goblins, and the same applies between Gnomes and Kobolds.

Dwarven clerics exist, but they do not venture forth and become adventurers. Their clerics are all accomplished fighters.

There are three general types of Elves that live in the world: wood elves, high elves and meadow elves. Though most Elves live on the same plane as the other races, many have retreated from the world to live in the Faerie Realm, and are known as Fairies. Elves share many of the same habitats as Orcs, Hobgoblins and Gnolls, and battle frequently with all of them. Elven warriors that remain in their homelands are all outfitted with Elven Cloaks and Boots. Those who leave to pursue a life of adventure are not openly shunned, but these traditional garments are denied them. Some elves with human ancestry are starting to appear, several of whom have even been seen sporting beards. There are also Elven clerics that do not become adventurers and rarely leave the Elven homelands.

Wood Elves (and possibly the other sorts) are short and wear pointy shoes. They once held greater powers, but are now a race that has dwindled greatly in power.

MONSTERS:

Common Dungeon Monsters: As shown in the Monster Level Tables in D&D Vol. 3.

Other Dungeon Monsters: These monsters are occasionally encountered in dungeons, though not very often. They are: Titans, Cyclopses, Juggernauts, Living Statues, Salamanders, Gelatinous Cubes, Golems, Giant Crabs, Giant Leeches, Giant Octopi, Crocodiles, Giant Squids, Pterodactyls, Cyborgs, Robots, Androids, Shadows and Dopplegangers. It is not known from where the Cyborgs, Robots and Androids come from.

Common Underwater Monsters: Mermen, Nixies, Dragon Turtles, Giant Leeches, Crocodiles, Giant Crocodiles, Giant Snakes, Giant Octopi, Giant Squids, Giant Crabs, Giant Fish

The following notes show how some monsters differ to what is in the rules:

Wraiths grow weaker when they venture forth from the dark demesnes; their level draining touch is reduced to that of paralysis, and this is how they act when fought in mass combat. Wights react in a similar fashion.

Zombies, regardless of whether they are encountered on the battlefield or in a dungeon, are immune to missile fire and can paralyze their opponents with a touch as cold as the grave.

The ghouls in dungeons occur naturally, though sages are as yet unsure how. Those found on the battlefield are created and strengthened with dark magic, and are immune to missile fire.

Spectres are also occasionally referred to as 'Nazgul', though the origin of this term is shrouded in mystery.

Trolls and Ogres are believed by sages to be a related species, though there is little evidence to support this supposition.

The dragons that venture forth to fight in mass combat are generally more vital than their dungeon dwelling brethren, who spend most of their days sleeping on piles of treasure. As such, they have no limit upon the number of times they can use their breath weapon. The current wave of dragons being encountered are the youngest generations, which age more quickly than did their ancestors, and are much less potent. Rumours persist that the ancient dragons yet live, slumbering in the bowels of the earth, and that they will yet awaken.

The Purple Worm is often called the Purple or Mottled Dragon. It is believed to be the result of a dragon that has no treasure hoard to sleep upon. They lurk everywhere, just below the surface of the earth.

Each type of Elemental can only be summoned once per day. This is a magical precaution against incursions from the elemental planes; the elemental summoning spell seals the plane behind the summoned elemental, and such is the strength of that seal that it cannot be opened again until the next day. Magic-Users are trying to research a way around this, but with little success so far.
The word Chimera was once used as a group name for strange monsters made up from parts of others: Manticores, Wyverns, etc. Eventually the creatures were given individual names, but the name Chimera stuck with the creature of the same name from D&D Vol. 2.

Every Goblin tribe has a King, who claims to be the one true king of the goblin race.

As strange as it may seem, the sorcerous interbreeding of Gnomes and Trolls resulted in the hyena-headed race known as Gnolls. Sages are still baffled.

Though Lycanthropy is a curse that can be passed to many humanoids, the various types of were-creatures are each a race unto themselves. How they feel about their cursed brethren is as yet undetermined.

Efreet reside in the fabled City of Brass.

Orcs are so common that they are freely available to hire as foot soldiers in large numbers.

Different kinds of Men can be found in any habitat. The same goes for all of the evil humanoids, including Trolls and Giants, as well as Demi-Humans and Ents.

Most cities in Greyhawk are built on the foundations of ancient ruins and graveyards, and as such encounters with undead may happen in certain city areas.

The presence of Cavemen suggests that the Men of Greyhawk evolved along similar lines to those of Earth.

The Dragon King, also known as the Platinum Dragon, lives in a palace behind the east wind. He is the king of all Lawful dragons. His main goal is to oppose the Dragon Queen and her host. The Dragon Queen, also known as the Chromatic Dragon, is the Queen of all Chaotic dragons. She lives in a huge cavern beneath the earth, and her main aim is to spread evil. These two beings are said to be unique, but every world has its own versions of them.

Displacer Beasts and Blink Dogs have a mutual hatred, though the reason for this is lost in antiquity. The cause may be as prosaic as the rare bark that they both relish. This bark can also provide a cure for malaria.

The dungeons are now home to a type of lice that becomes a burrowing killer if disturbed.

The Ogre Magi hail from the area of the World of Greyhawk that corresponds to Japan.

Bugbears, a hybrid of Giant and Goblin, often wear ceremonial battle masks carved out of pumpkins.

Shriekers, a type of large mushroom, are a prized food of Purple Worms and Shambling Mounds.

Ghosts are not true undead; their spirits never passed into the realm of the dead before returning.

There are vampires that hail from Greyhawk's equivalent of Asia, and they have different abilities to the regular variety.

Giant Rats are thought to originally hail from the part of the World of Greyhawk that corresponds with Sumatra.

Among the Mermen is an elite warrior class that is hardier, and able to breathe out of water.

Fire Lizards are believed to have been the ancestors of present-day dragons. It's unknown if this is true, but dragons generally avoid fighting them.

The Man-of-War, a type of Jellyfish, originates from the area of the World of Greyhawk that corresponds to Portugal.

Sahuagin never stop growing. Somewhere in the deepest oceans there is a Sahuagin behemoth that has prolonged his life with Potions of Longevity.

The disease spread by Giant Ticks has been identified as Spotted Fever.

Rakshasas hail from the area of the World of Greyhawk that corresponds to India.

The Denebian Slime Devil is a creature that originates from another planet.

Gray Oozes have a dim intelligence and latent psionic potential, and will lash out with a psychic crush if psionics are used near them.

A large colony of Yellow Mold can form a collective intelligence. Such a colony can release spores deliberately, and lash out with Id Insinuation if psionic powers are used near it.

Demons live in Hell, with a hierarchy of the strong ruling over the weak. They are ruled over by the Demon Princes, two of which are Orcus and Demogorgon. If any person speaks the name of a powerful demon, there is a chance he will hear and turn his attentions upon this person. Orcus is the Demon Prince of the Undead. Demogorgon is rumoured to be supreme among demons. Powerful demons contain their souls in special amulets that can be used to control them. Another of the Demon Princes is named Nql.

Shedu and Lammasu are cousins.

MAGIC:

The Adventurers' Guild supplies all of its spell-casting students with spellbooks. They receive one book per spell level, and each book contains all of the spells commonly in use. Magic-Users receive books full of magic spells, and Clerics receive Prayer Books with the sacred forms and rituals required to contact the forces of Law and Chaos. The only spells commonly available are those listed in Vol. 1 of the D&D boxed set.

The only Magic Items that have so far been regularly discovered are those listed in Vol. 2 of the D&D boxed set.

All Magic Swords possess some form of intelligence. In ancient times they were bound with the spirits of the living, and to this day they all retain some sort of sentience. Some of these swords have minds that are slowly dying, while others are as vital as ever.

The following Artifacts are known to be somewhere in the vicinity of the City of Greyhawk: a Teleportation Machine (the portal beneath the Adventurers Guild); a Crown, Orb and Sceptre for each of the three classes (Fighting-Man, Magic-User and Cleric); and the Stone Crystalization Projector. The Crowns, Orbs and Sceptres were once held by the most powerful guild members of each class, but the Guild has dwindled of late, and these items were stolen by a thief and lost within the depths of Castle Greyhawk. Before that they were known as the Crowns, Orbs, and Sceptres of Law, Neutrality and Chaos, one set for each alignment. Those of Law were owned by the Guild of Clerics, those of Neutrality by the Guild of Fighters, and those of Chaos by the Guild of Magic-Users. The Stone Crystalization Projector fires a ray that will turn anyone it hits to stone (with no saving throw), but its whereabouts are unknown.

Magic books require a specific size, shape and configuration. If they deviate from this design in any way, they will not hold the magic. (This applies only to magic items, not spell books). This explains why all of the magical books look identical.

The casting of spells requires four components: verbal (the words of the spell); somatic (the magical gestures); mnemonic (spell memorisation); and material (the objects used to power the spell).

Other artifacts that exist: The Invulnerable Coat of Arn, The Mace of Cuthbert, The Sword of Kas, The Wand of Orcus, The Rod of Seven Parts, The Hand and Eye of Vecna, Baba Yaga’s Hut, Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless, Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale, The Machine of Lum the Mad, the Jacinth of Inestimable Beauty, the Crystal of the Ebon Flame, Heward’s Mystical Organ, Horn of Change, Ring of Gax

The Eye of Vecna is spoken of only in hushed whispers, and speaking of it openly can lead to trouble. It looks like a cat’s eye, and so may not have been Vecna’s true eye.

The Axe of the Dwarvish Lords was forged in a volcano by a long-forgotten dwarven king, and passed down until it was lost about 1,000 years ago. Given that its powers require human sacrifice, it was probably forged during a particularly bloody Dwarf-Human war.

The Codex of the Infinite Planes was once owned by a wizard on the Isles of Woe. This wizard took it into the Abyss to confront the Demon Prince Nql, and was killed. It is olikely that the Codex resides there still.

The Mighty Servant of Leuk-O: This machine was left on Oerth by a race of space travelers, possibly from the same race as those found in the Temple of the Frog.

The Throne of the Gods: This throne was carved by an ancient race into the heart of a mountain. This race was probably the Dwarves, but nothing is certain as yet.

The Orbs of Dragonkind: There are five of these, each housing the soul of an evil dragon and running the age gamut from hatchling to great wyrm.

NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS:

Xylarthen: Xylarthen would have been better suited as a Cleric, but became a Magic-User instead. His statistics are: Strength 6, Intelligence 11, Wisdom 13, Constitution 12, Dexterity 9, and Charisma 8. He has 70 gold pieces and 0 experience points. Xylarthen will be available for hire by the PCs early in the campaign.

The following adventurers have operated in and around the city of Blackmoor: The Great Svenny, Marty the Elf and Richard the Hairy. Marty the Elf was killed by Nazis on a foray into 20th century Germany.

Drystaff the Necromancer: Drystaff is a stereotypical magic-user with his beard and staff and pointy hat. He is 10th level. He has in his employ a number of men-at-arms. Drystaff makes a number of anachronistic references to Earth culture, as he has scried other planes using his crystal sphere. 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. His elven scouts are led by Highton, who was chosen by the Witch-Queen Evvolon for the particular mission. Drystaff has a henchman, a Fighting-Man named Lamhand who is a simple-minded oaf. Drystaff and his men remain active in the area of Greenwood.

Highton: An elf who is leader of the scouts of Witch-Queen Evvolon. He has allied with Drystaff in the past, when both of them quested for the Vermillion Volume.

RST: A mysterious rotund thief who has made off with the Vermillion Volume.

The Hog: A powerful chieftain who resides in the far north-eastern regions of the World of Greyhawk.

Arn: Someone who created or once possessed the Invulnerable Coat of Arn.

St. Cuthbert: A holy man who lived some time ago. The Mace of Cuthbert is one of his holy relics.
Kas: One-time bodyguard to the lich Vecna, who was the mightiest swordsman of his age, and possessor of the Sword of Kas.

Vecna: An ancient lich who imbued his hand with power that lasted long after his destruction. He also had a powerful eye that is rumoured to exist, but it is unknown if it was his own or not.

Baba Yaga: Said to have been the greatest Wizardress of all time.

Tuerny the Merciless: Former owner of the Iron Flask of Tuerny the Merciless, in which was imprisoned the Groaning Spirit.

Queen Ehlissa: Reigned for several centuries. She was the possessor of Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale, and bent it to her will.

Lum the Mad: The inventor, or former possessor, of the Machine of Lum the Mad.

Leuk-O: The former owner of the Mighty Servant of Leuk-O.

Shah Cham’Ponee: The fabled former owner of the Jacinth of Inestimable Beauty.

Heward: The creator or former owner of Heward’s Mystical Organ.

Gax: The creator or former owner of the Ring of Gax.

RELIGION:

Law and Chaos are the fundamental forces of reality, and most creatures are aligned with one or the other. Some are neutral, not caring which side wins the cosmic struggle. Eventually Good and Evil will become important aspects of religion, but while these two qualities are subjective, Law and Chaos are not. In general, Good and Evil will oppose each other, but if an apocalyptic Final Battle ever took place the divisions would be along the lines of Law and Chaos.

Clerics do not serve specific deities, but devote themselves to either Law or Chaos. The cross is a potent symbol of Law used by its devotees. Cleric spells are divinely given. Later in the campaign the worship of specific deities will become more prominent. When this happens, Clerics must maintain their Good or Evil alignment or lose their powers. They may change between Law and Chaos, with divine retribution determined by the attitude of their specific deity.

Many Magic-Users believe that there are no great forces of Law or Chaos, and that Clerics have merely found some other method of tapping into the same arcane energies that they use. Clerics grow heated at this suggestion, and as such there is a great rivalry between the Clerics' Guild and the Magic-Users' Guild, to the point where someone of one class will not be permitted to switch to the other.

These are some of the beings that are powerful deities or representatives of Law and Chaos: Odin, Crom, Set, Cthulhu and the Shining One. Mars is also present, and often rides around on the shoulders of Talos, a giant man of bronze.

THE PLANES and OTHER WORLDS:

There is a spell that Magic-Users can cast to obtain knowledge from beings on "higher planes". There are 8 planes so far accessible through this spell, numbered 3 to 10 (the first plane being the material, and the second the Astral). These planes are levels of Hell, and it is demons who answer the questions; the higher the plane contacted the more likely the answer will be correct, but the higher the chance that the caster will be driven insane by contact with things man was never meant to know.

Clerics can similarly contact "powers above" for answers; these are the Gods, Demi-gods, Demons and Devils, powerful forces of Law and Chaos.

There are realms of the dead, but very few have been delved with magic; only those of Men, Dwarves and Elves are so accessible, and thus only these races can be brought back via the Raise Dead spell. The Hobbit realm of the dead is as yet undiscovered.

There is an extraplanar "non-dimension" which is where Invisible Stalkers are summoned from. These dimensions are later discovered to be the Astral and Ethereal Planes. Aerial Servants also come from this same dimension.

Travel to Mars has been documented, although the means to do so is as yet unknown. It is believed that the portal beneath the Adventurers' Guild in Greyhawk may provide such a journey if the correct key is found. The following monsters are said to reside there: Apts, Banths, Thoats, Red Martians, Tharks, Black Martians, Yellow Martians, White Martians, Calots, White Apes, Orluks, Sith, and Darseen. Martian architecture will be generated using the article in The Strategic Review #2.

The spell Rope Trick grants access to an extra-planar pocket dimension, but where exactly this is remains a mystery.

The Astral Plane has been discovered and named; Magic-Users now have a spell to enter it, and those beings in the Astral Plane can see into the primary plane, but are invisible to non-Astral beings. Anyone whose spirit is separated from their material body is sent to gibber and shriek on the floor of the lowest hell. Astral forms are connected to their material form by a silvery cord, and if this cord is broken both mind and body perish. The Astral Plane is frequently beset by psychic winds which can sever the cord. The Astral Plane extends into outer space, where the psychic winds are more frequent.

There is also an Ethereal Plane, which certain magics allow access to.

There is a plane known as Valhalla from which the spirits of powerful berserker warriors can be summoned.

Travel to the American "Old West" is possible via the portal under the Adventurer's Guild. One person that the PCs might encounter is Doc Holliday (see The Strategic Review #??). Another possible NPC is Ben Thompson (see TSR #5). Others (from TSR #7) are 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.

Near the city of Blackmoor there is a teleporter that leads to Nazi Germany. Adventurers from Blackmoor have in the past made forays through this portal, and some from Greyhawk have made similar journeys.

Another destination possible via the Adventurer's Guild portal is the world of Tekumel. Names for Tekumel characters will be generated using the article in The Strategic Review #4. There are a bunch of plot hooks that I will be using in The Strategic Review #7.

Men from another world have made forays into the lands of Blackmoor. They are highly advanced technologically, with hovering satellite stations, power armour, and other gadgets. These Men are part of a seemingly benevolent organization interested in policing dimensional nexus points.

There are various other planes that match with the alignments. Heaven is the plane of Lawful/Good, Paradise is Good, Elysium is Chaotic/Good, Limbo is Chaotic, The Abyss is Chaotic/Evil, Hades is Evil, Hell is Lawful/Evil, and Nirvana is Lawful. Although magic-users and sages have done extensive investigations of the planes, their knowledge is sketchy and may yet prove unreliable. Saints are the epitome of Lawful/Good, and dwell in Heaven. Godlings are the epitome of Chaotic/Good, and dwell in Elysium. Devils are the epitome of Lawful/Evil and dwell in Hell. Demons are the epitome of Chaotic/Evil and dwell in the Abyss. It is possible for any powerful character who continually follows an alignment to the absolute letter to permanently move from the regular world and onto the plane that his alignment represents.

Alternate worlds exist, where specific actions and choices were made differently.

MASS COMBAT:

Once the player characters reach 4th level they will start to get offers to hire themselves out as mercenaries. If they accept such an offer, the game session for that night will be a CHAINMAIL scenario using their own characters as special troops.

Common Battlefield Monsters: Sprites and Pixies, Dwarves and Gnomes, Goblins and Kobolds, Hobgoblins, Elves (also include Fairies), Orcs, Heroes, Anti-Heroes, Rangers, Super-Heroes, Wizards, Wraiths, Werebears, Werewolves, Trolls, Ogres, Giants (probably Hill Giants), Ents, Red Dragons, Rocs, Wyverns, Griffons, Elementals (Water, Air, Earth and Fire), Djinn, Efreets, Basilisks, Cockatrices, Chimerae, Giant Insects, Giant Spiders, Giant Wolves, Dire Wolves, Wights and Ghouls, Zombies, Balrogs

The following monsters are found on battlefields, but only very occasionally: Blue Dragons, White Dragons, Green Dragons, Black Dragons, Purple Worms, Hobbits

The Wizards found on battlefields are usually specialised Battle Mages. They can wield swords, and their magic is often more potent, though it takes longer to cast and cannot be used in regular adventuring situations. They are also able to attempt magic more powerful than their level would allow, though at some risk.

The following battlefield spells are available at the beginning of the campaign: Phantasmal Forces, Darkness, Wizard Light, Detection, Concealment, and Conjuration of an Elemental. The second time the PCs get involved in mass combat, Moving Terrain and Protection from Evil will become available. The third time they become involved, the following spells will be there: Levitate, Slowness, Haste, Polymorph, Confusion, Hallucinatory Terrain, Cloudkill, and Anti-Magic Shell.

The armies of Law are often armed with Magic Swords crafted by the Elves. The armies of Chaos have no such means to produce these weapons on a large scale.

The Arquebus and the Horsebow are weapons that are generally only available in armies and mass combat situations. The scarcity of gunpowder guarantees that Arquebus's are difficult to obtain, and Horsebows are mostly used by Horse Nomads and so aren't in circulation in the City of Greyhawk and the surrounding lands.

Pole arms begin to be differentiated in order to increase effectiveness in different situations.

The standard symbols used on military maps are shown in The Strategic Review #7.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 17

Today: the final installment of Supplement III! Commence fanfare!

MIGHTY SERVANT OF LEUK-O: The first thing to note here is that this item is a relic of a race of space travelers. This ties in very well with the space-faring people that appear in the Temple of the Frog module, and is further proof that the World of Greyhawk exists in a galaxy with some highly developed planets.

The Mighty Servant itself is a huge automaton (9 feet tall and 6 wide), that can be used as a fighting machine, mode of transportation, or magical attack device. Such is its size that it causes intelligent creatures to save vs. fear. This is inconsistent with a lot of D&D monsters that are much larger and require no save, but I can chalk this up to the alien construction of the thing making it scary to look at. Anyway, the Mighty Servant is very hard to hit, completely immune to magic and has a whole bunch of other resistances. It's slow to move and attack, and it has a very small chance to hit, but if it does it deals 10-100 damage. Like Baba Yaga's Hut from the last post, this artifact is given a flat % chance to hit rather than using the standard method. I suppose it's fair enough that such a powerful machine would ignore armor, and it does take Dexterity into account, so everything works. But when people praise the unified mechanic of 3e for streamlining the game, this is the kind of thing they're thinking of.

Suggested powers: levitation, light, sleep, user becomes permanently chaotic, and the user is compelled to undertake a holy quest.

This last bit makes me think that the aforementioned star-faring race must have been a bunch of religious zealots.

Oh, and as usual with these artifacts we have the requisite NPC: Leuk-O. There's no indication here of who he is or what he's done.

THE JACINTH OF INESTIMABLE BEAUTY: This is a big glowing gem that charms anyone who looks at it. It is rumoured to have once been the property of 'the fabled Shah Cham'Ponee', but as usual we learn nothing else about him. The gem has some other suggested powers as well: acts as +1 armor, detects traps and secret doors, 20-die lightning bolt, death spell, paralization, wielder has a 25% chance to permanently lose a hit point whenever the gem is used, the gem causes extreme greed in any viewer and may cause him to try to kill the wielder, and the user becomes permanently Lawful.

THE CRYSTAL OF THE EBON FLAME: This is a crystal, smaller than a human skull, that constantly emits rays that induce fear in any viewer. Inside the crystal is a darting flame, and if it is focused on the other powers of the crystal may be used.

Suggested powers: Detect invisible, acts as +1 armor, 10-die cold ray, wielder has a 25% chance to permanently lose 1 point from an ability score every time the item is used, user cannot touch or be touched by metal, time stop.

Despite the evocative and cool name, this artifact is disappointingly devoid of any background info.

HEWARD'S MYSTICAL ORGAN: This is an enormous pipe organ, that is purported to have an air elemental trapped in the bellows to power the thing. The organ can create any number of magical effects, but if it is incorrectly played it will be detrimental to the user. There are no specific powers listed, so this one is really up to the DM.

(And, in my PDF this item is listed as "Reward's Mystical Organ". I've listed it as Heward, as it is in later versions, but I'm not sure if this is an OCR error or if it is in the actual text. Plus, new NPC - Heward. He is still a mystery.)

HORN OF CHANGE: Heh heh heh. When this horn is blown three times, it produces a random effect from the artifact tables. Man, I love randomised items like this one.

THE RING OF GAX: This platinum ring has an eight-sided gem on it, each facet of which contains a specific power. The gem can be twisted to use each facet, but it has a habit of turning at random by itself, so the PCs won't know which facet is which until they use a bit of trial and error. It's impossible to mark the ring, so they'll be going through this process every time they want to use it. Again, it's another semi-randomised item, to my joy.

Suggested powers: Fly, wizard eye, detect traps and secret doors, conjure elemental/djinn/efreet/invisible stalker, power word stun, user attacks anyone within 20 feet, item consumes 50-100% of the user's treasure, user cannot touch or be touched by metal, finger of death

And, Gax! Another as yet undeveloped NPC to add to the ranks.

THE CROWNS, ORBS AND SCEPTRES: There are several sets of these, one for each alignment. This raises a question right away - are we talking about the original three-alignment system, or the expanded system that includes Good and Evil? In the interests of keeping things simple, I will probably go with the original system of Law, Neutrality and Chaos.

There's another thing to think of as well - what of the Crown/Orb/Sceptre sets of the Fighter, Cleric and Magic-User that were posited in the OD&D boxed set? Are they connected, or a separate thing altogether? Again, to keep things simple, I will go with the former. The Crown, Orb and Sceptre of Law will be the same one said to be for Clerics, the set for Neutrality will be said to belong to Fighters, and the Chaotic set to Magic-Users. I've theorised before that they were once owned by the respective guilds of each class, but it's obvious from this that they will predate the guilds by a long way, and will have purposes of their own separate from the guilds as well.

Anyway, these items are scattered around and lost, and can only be used by someone who shares their alignment (as usual, punishment is visited upon anyone else who picks one up, and there's no use of detect good/evil to get out of it). Each item has a number of powers, and more powers become available if you complete the set.

Suggested Power for the Orbs: Light, fly, double-strength slow spell

Suggested Power for the Sceptres: Acts as +1 armor, telekinesis, conjure elemental/djinn/efreet/invisible stalker

Suggested Power for the Crowns: ESP, detect magic, shape change

Extra powers if two items owned: user immune to magic but cannot use magic himself, Legend Lore, Commune

Extra powers if three items owned: items cause extreme greed in all viewers, summon a demon once a day

THRONE OF THE GODS: A massive gold-inlayed throne crafted by an ancient race in honour of their gods (oh so lovely and vague, I can cram that in anywhere!). It's carved right into the heart of a mountain, and so it can't be moved. That makes me think Dwarves at the moment, but I suspect I might be swayed towards one of the Underdark races if I'm feeling nasty. Anyone who sits on the throne gets a random magic item, but can only do so once. Also, he can use any of the throne's powers, but is subject to the drawbacks as well.

Suggested powers: Clairvoyance, telekinesis, speak with dead, teleport, charm monster, death spell, locate treasure, gem of seeing, raise dead fully, throne releases gas which puts all nearby to sleep

Woah. If the suggested powers are anything to go by, there aren't a lot of drawbacks to using this thing. Luckily it can't be moved. Given the general benevolence of the thing, I'm likely to stick with ancient Dwarves as the builders.

THE ORBS OF DRAGONKIND: Hey, shades of Dragonlance! These five orbs are about as big as a human head, and each contains the imprisoned essence of a dragon.
The Orb of the Hatchling: The user of this orb has the suggested power of ESP, and does not need to eat or drink. This orb is pretty weak, and will obey any person who can speak the language of dragons.
The Orb of the Dragonette: This is like the one above, but with different powers: detect evil, wizard eye, 10-die cold ray, user becomes fantastically strong but really clumsy.
The Orb of the Dragon: Again as above, but with different powers: Telekinesis, death spell, locate treasure. The drawback? The user is instantly killed. Hey, hope your buddies enjoy that treasure you just located!
The Great Firedrake's Orb: This orb is much more wilfull than the previous three, and can try to possess the user like a magic sword. It's extremely evil, so if the user is possessed he'll try to control or destroy those nearby. The orb's powers are: move at double speed, fire resistance, dispel magic, user loses 1 hit point permanently with each use, disintegrate
The Orb of the Eldest Worm: This one can possess you like the previous, but it's even more likely to succeed. It's powers are: speak with dead, adds`1-3 to an ability score, charm monster, finger of death, user has a chance a body part will rot and fall off, power word kill

That's it for artifacts, and for the rest of the book effectively, as the remainder is a revision to the Wilderness Wandering Monster tables. I'll be quietly incorporating that at the same time as the rest of this book. Since that wraps up Supplement III, my next post will be a round-up of the various elements that have been incorporated into the campaign so far. That might take me a while, so my usual Friday update may not appear.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 16

In this installment: VECNA!

THE HAND OF VECNA: Here it is, probably the most iconic D&D artifact ever. For the probable few of you who don't already know, this artifact is a shriveled and blackened hand that is the sole remnant of an ancient lich who imbued it with power that has lasted long after his destruction. In order for the hand to be used, it must be attached to the stump of an arm, which has resulted in all sort of hilarity perpetrated on PCs over the years. The owner becomes undetectably evil, but can remove the hand at any point up until he uses one of its primary powers. After that, each use of a power drops the chance to remove it by 10%, until after ten uses it can never be removed. Not only that, but every use of a primary power subjects you to a negative effect from the artifact tables, so this is a very nasty thing to have. Even worse, none of these ill effects can be altered in any way, even by acts of the gods. This is said in ALL CAPS, so it is extra-true.

The hand has secondary powers that can be used without ill effect. They are: the user has an ever-increasing chance to automatically become ethereal when under stress, levitation, infravision, fly and detect traps and secret doors.

The hand's primary powers are the ones that come with ill effects. They are performed by making finger gestures, and can only be discovered by trial and error. Something tells me my players will go for the Ronnie James Dio horns first thing. The primary powers are: Sleep, double-strength slow spell, finger of death, regenerate half of all hit points lost in combat, teleport, monster summoning, x-ray vision, 10d6 cold ray, death spell, locate treasure, and your touch turns your opponent's bones to jelly. Oh, and you always get a premonition of danger just before it happens. Okay, yeah. I can see the upside to this thing.

THE EYE OF VECNA: I've always thought the eye a little creepier than the hand, so far as Vecna is concerned. Its existence is rumoured, and has yet to be confirmed, but is only talked about in hushed whispers, and never to strangers. I'll have to remember this if my PCs ever decide to hunt this thing down. Asking around for the Eye of Vecna could lead to trouble for them. It's also of interest that the eye glitters in the maner of a feline, and so may not have actually belonged to Vecna.

Much like the hand, the eye must be pressed into an empty eye-socket. Once it's in there, it can't be removed, and it turns the wearer Chaotic.

Secondary powers (no ill effects): immune to disease, clairaudience, water breathing, paralization.

Primary power: The wearer is granted one wish per week. Every time the wish is used, there's a cumulative chance that the power of the eye will break free, destroy the wearer's soul, and use his body to kill all of his hirelings and associates. Good times.

BABA YAGA'S HUT: This hut belonged to Baba Yaga, who is said here to have been the greatest Wizardress of all time. It's a hut that's bigger inside than outside, and it walks around on giant chicken legs that it can also use to clobber enemies. It's interesting to note that they are said to have a 30% hit probability. So this means that they completely bypass the Armor Class system? It can also cast a Finger of Death once a day, and the image of the hut pointing with a chicken leg to cast it already has me in hysterics.

IRON FLASK OF TUERNY THE MERCILESS: This is a heavy metal urn closed with a turnip-shaped stopper covered with mighty runes. Inside the urn is 'the Groaning Spirit', a devil or demon which can be loosed to perform evil deeds. The wielder needs to know a special word to open the stopper, the special spell which commands the Groaning Spirit, and the word of closure to seal it up again. Otherwise, shenanigans. It's got a few other powers as well: teleport, stone to flesh, the user receives a premonition of danger just before it happens. The urn will consume half-to-all of the user's treasure to sustain its power.

The question remains, though, who was Tuerny? A cursory bit of research reveals him as a wizard of Greyhawk, a former king, and a bad dude. I'll have to do some more poking around when I get into my post-OD&D research phase.

QUEEN EHLISSA'S MARVELOUS NIGHTINGALE: This is a bejewelled mechanical songbird held in a mesh of golden wires that springs to life when activated. Its song causes wondrous effects, as do the scintillating lights from its eyes, and the two in combination are said to be able to produce many powerful spells. It also has an aura that protects all nearby from detection spells, as well as hunger and thirst.

Suggested powers: detect evil, speak with animals, double-strength slow spell, restore one lost level per week. It's suggested that maybe the restored level can be taken from another nearby PC, but I don't think that's really appropriate for this item. It also has a cumulative chance that the power of the bird will break free, destroy the wearer's soul, and use his body to kill all of his hirelings and associates. This is harder to reconcile with a seemingly benevolent item, but I guess appearances can be deceiving.

Queen Ehlissa herself is said here to have reigned for several centuries, bending the nightingale to her will and never allowing it to escape.

THE MACHINE OF LUM THE MAD: This is a gigantic machine covered in levers and dials, with a large booth for people to stand in. Twenty of the levers and dials are unusable due to age, and the thing is too large and delicate to be transported with teleport magic. Anything in the booth will be affected when the levers and dials are operated. The thing has 80 powers, which is just about everything in the book, and the DM is also encouraged to come up with some things himself.

Who is Lum the Mad? Another quick check on the internet reveals him to have been a Baron and warlord who got betrayed and hurled through a dimensional rift into limbo. Again, more on this later I guess.

Next: More artifacts, more artifacts, more artifacts. I have a child, and so henceforth will refrain from promising to finish up with this next time.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 15

More artifacts today.

THE AXE OF THE DWARVISH LORDS: Forged in a volcano by a long-forgotten dwarven king, this axe was passed down until it was lost about 1,000 years ago. It works like a Sword of Sharpness, and anyone who uses it gets the special abilities of a Dwarf (which always seemed weird to me, in that the special dwarven weapon grants more powers to non-dwarves than to dwarves). Not only that, but it makes the wielder resemble a dwarf as well. And since I'm firmly in the camp that says dwarven women have beards, this is a great one to spring on that guy who's always playing elven chicks.

Suggested powers: Teleport 2 times a day, Wish once a week, user takes double damage from attacks while wielding it, user must sacrifice a human being to the axe so it will function for 24 hours.

That last one gives a pretty good indication of what the dwarf king who forged this axe was like, and how he viewed humans. A sacred relic it might be, but it seems it was forged for nefarious purposes. Possibly during a particularly bloody war between men and dwarves.

THE WAND OF ORCUS: As described under the entry for Orcus himself, this is an obsidian rod topped by a skull. If someone other than Orcus gets his dirty mitts on it, it has a 50% chance to annihilate any creature struck (except for Demon Princes, High Devils, Saint and Godlings). Each time it is used the wielder is subject to a negative effect, with 2-24 points of damage being the suggested penalty. It's other suggested powers are move at double speed, cure light wounds once a day and speak with animals. Those last couple of abilities seem a bit incongruous, but who can fathom the mind of a Demon Prince?

THE ROD OF SEVEN PARTS: So iconic it has its own super-adventure. Basically, this is a rod that has been broken and scattered around the world. When the first part is found it will lead you to the second, and then the third, and so on, and each time a new section is added it gets a new power. Whenever a new power is gained it replaces the previous one. Once the rod has been assembled, it can't be broken by the user, but there's a 5% chance every time it's used that it will scatter again.

Suggested Powers:
2nd part: User attacks anyone within 20 feet
3rd part: Move at double speed
4th part: Metal passes through user with no effect
5th part: Cast a 20-die lightning bolt once a day
6th part: User takes double damage from all attacks
7th part: Raises all ability scores to 18 (With (00) for Strength!)

So it looks like the quest for the Rod would be an interesting one, with the rod alternating between help and hindrance. Especially when you have the second part, and start hacking your way through everything that moves...

THE CODEX OF THE INFINITE PLANES: Woah, heaps of things to take note of here. First up is that the Isles of Woe upon the Lake of Unknown Depths were once ruled by a wizard-cleric who owned the Codex. I believe this lake is the Nyr Dyv, located pretty close to Greyhawk City? If so that's awesome, and it gives me yet another potential adventure site in that region. It should also be noted that this unnamed wizard-cleric is definitely breaking the rules - in OD&D, Wizards can't become Clerics and vice-versa. Things were obviously different in Ye Olden Days.

So eventually this guy's knowledge from the Codex caused his downfall, and the waters of the lake flooded his domain. The Codex survived, and made it into the hands of the Wizard Tzoonk, who left behind a mysterious scrap of paper before he disappeared. This is the infamous Tzoonk Fragment, and I'll reproduce the whole thing here:

"... and thereupon the voice belled forth in tones of hollow iron and spoke of the Coming of the City of the Gods. Such future events interested me not, so I gave the command: 'Answer in th ...' (here the fragment becomes entirely illegible) . . . so knowing both the secret and the spell which would unlock the Way to this horde of the Demon Prince Nql . . . (another break in the writing unfortunately occurs here). . . gathered the nine as required and proceeded forth. With me in addition were the dyoph servants necessary to transport the Codex, for I would not leave it behind on even so perilous a journey as this." (Here the entire fragment ends.)

Where to start? It seems that Tzoonk went off to face a Demon Prince (whose name begins with Nql), taking the Codex with him, and never returned. Which leads me to believe that the Codex now resides somewhere in the Abyss, under the generous eye of Nql himself. The other interesting tidbit here is the mention of the City of the Gods, and its coming in the future. This is a reference to a Blackmoor adventure run by Dave Arneson, which seems to be available as module DA3. I do know that Rob Kuntz adventured there, and has provided some details on his website.

Back to the Codex, it is said to be very large and difficult to transport. It is 99% likely to slay anyone who opens the book, and anyone under 10th level who even touches it will likewise be annihilated.

Suggested Powers: Clairvoyance, speak with plants, read magic, monster summoning once a day, user must sacrifice a human to the book for it to function, raise dead fully once a day, creatures of same alignment automatically serve wielder for 1-6 turns. After a set number of uses, the user is transformed into a minor demon or godling and is at the complete beck and call of a major demon or godling.

Next: I might just finish with the Artifacts.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 14

Today I'm going to finish up with Supplement III's monsters, taking a look at a number of psionic nasties.

SU-MONSTERS: They resemble a "wasp-waisted, great-chested hound" with a monkey's head, and if it wasn't for later illustrations in AD&D I might have a hard time imagining what that is meant to look like. Anyway, they're chaotic evil, live underground or on the surface, and have four prehensile feet with sharp nails, which they use to hang upside down to ambush prey. They're often found in family units, and as usual the female will fight at double value if her young are attacked. Good ol' Dad ignores the kids, but goes likewise nuts if his woman is attacked. They have a "latent psionic ability", and what this means is that if anyone near them uses a psionic power, they can retaliate with some form of psionic attack. They themselves are completely immune to psionics.

And you know what? Psychic monkeys. I can't wait to spring a whole pack of these things on an unsuspecting party.

BRAIN MOLES: These are small rodents that inhabit "most places above and below ground". So they must be quite common. This ties in with my previous ideas about the origin of psionics if I say that various rodents are being mutated as well. Rodents are everywhere, after all, and at least this is an explanation for why Brain Moles won't be encountered earlier in the campaign.

They're attracted to psionic activity (even that originating from spells), and seek to feed on it by "psionically burrowing". On a psionic character this works like a really powerful Mind Thrust, and on non-psionics replicating a power with a spell it has a chance to drive them insane. The only out is to run away or kill the bastard mole.

CEREBRAL PARASITES: These are invisible creatures that can become ethereal or astral, that attach to psionic characters and feed off their psionic energy. Once they feed enough, they reproduce and drain even more energy until the victim is used up. The only way to detect them is for a psychic to carefully examine the victim's aura, and then they can be treated like a disease.

I do wonder what happens when a character is completely drained of psionic power, though. There's nothing to indicate that it results in death. Is it just that the character becomes markedly less effective as a psionic? Perhaps that is disadvantage enough, especially if he gets into psionic combat with something.

THOUGHT EATERS: Appearing as a sickly grey, skeletal platypus with an enormous head and webbed paws (Undead Psyduck?) these creatures live in the Ethereal Plane and are basically mindless. They can sense psionic activity in the physical plane, and absorb any psionic or spell energy used near them. They can even consume the thoughts of non-psionics, resulting in permanent loss of Intelligence. Here we get a bit of insight into what low Intelligence actually means. If you have 0 Intelligence, you are dead. At 1, you are alive but mindless. At 2 you are an idiot, and at 3 you are an imbecile, and at 4 you are a "low-grade moron". Nice.

Back to the monster, you can defend against it with the Mind Blank spell and other mental defenses, but it can only be attacked by ethereal characters.

And that's it for the monsters. It's a nice bunch, mostly Demons and psionic-related creatures, but not really the sort of things that will see heavy use until higher levels. I can see why they didn't appear until the third supplement.

ARTIFACTS

Since I seem to have a bit of time, I might as well dive into the copious list of artifacts herein. And this is great stuff, a real trove of old-school D&D lore. I like how the items are given a list of suggested powers, but the DM is encouraged to change them up so that players won't know exactly what to expect. I'll probably go with the powers listed, as my players are unlikely to ever crack the cover of Eldritch Wizardry.

It should be noted that all of these items are one-of-a-kind, most are thousands of years old, their owners generally become like Gollum, and those who try to destroy them usually end up dead. Sounds promising so far.

THE INVULNERABLE COAT OF ARN: This is a shining coat of chainmail, said to be a relic of a bygone age. Not much to go on there, but it fits any humanoid regardless of size and makes the areas covered completely invulnerable to physical attacks. It's also resistant to spells and fire, and makes the wearer completely immune to acid, cold and disease. Suggested Powers: Invisibility, double speed, wearer's touch poisons any human, and wearer shrinks 2 inches every time the armor is used. Heh. It's awesome, but the drawbacks ensure it's use is temporary at best.

THE MACE OF CUTHBERT: This mace is said to be a holy relic from the times of St. Cuthbert, and this is our first mention of this Greyhawk deity (and I believe the first mention of any official deity). It's a +5 weapon that can only be used by good Clerics. Suggested Powers: Levitation, fire resistance, dispel magic 4 times a day, death spell 2 times a day, only activated when it kills a specific monster type, and loses powers when it kills a different specific monster type. That last ability makes it a little unreliable, and I'll have to work out just which monsters make sense for such a power. Perhaps once I know a little more about St. Cuthbert I'll be able to figure something out.

THE SWORD OF KAS: D&D lore, ahoy! This sword belonged to Kas, the one-time bodyguard to the legendary lich Vecna. Alas, that's all we get of the story at the moment, but there's more to come when I get the a certain infamous Hand and Eye. Kas is said to have been the mightiest swordsman of his age, and the sword is made from a thin grey blade of unknown metal.

The sword is +3, +5 against demons, undead and godlings. It's sentient (as all swords are in OD&D) and has very, very high Intelligence and Ego - it's likely that it will possess most of its wielders, and since it is evil will cause a lot of headaches. Suggested Powers: Water breathing, become ethereal 2 times a day, cast a double-strength Cause Serious Wounds 2 times a day, complete magic immunity (but also cannot cast spells, and permanently drains any magic item the wearer touches), restore a level lost to energy drain once a week (it's suggested the level might be drained from a nearby friendly PC...).

Next: More artifact-y goodness.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 13

Supplement III continues, with more weird and wondrous monsters.

COUATL: These are winged snakes covered in feathers, rarely found outside of warm jungles. They are also said to be found "flying through the ether", which I am taking to mean the Ethereal Plane, as my memory is telling me they are extraplanar in later editions. Hmmm, having checked the Monster Manuals for AD&D 1e, 2e and 3e, there's nothing explicit, but they do have the power of etherealness from 2e onwards, so I'm on the right track.

Couatl's have a whole load of special abilities – they can polymorph themselves, cast spells as a 5th level M-U and/or a 7th level Cleric, and possess a pretty high level of psionic power. All of this means that they are regarded as divine beings by the inhabitants of their homelands. Luckily for PCs they are Lawful, and luckily for DMs who want to use them as antagonists they have Neutral tendencies.

KI-RIN: The Ki-Rin, which "somewhat resembles a cloudy horse", lives by itself in the clouds, and its hooves rarely touch the ground. They're totally lawful good, and as is usual with Gary, that means that they are super-powerful. Get this: in addition to being of the highest intelligence, they can travel astrally or ethereally, are resistant to all magic cast by a user under 12th level, have 90% resistance to all other spells, can cast spells as an 18th level M-U, and possess every single M-U psionic ability! Oh, plus they have all the abilities of a djinni at double strength. And their air spells are twice as powerful. And they can talk to anything. As much as Gary designed some real rat bastard evil monsters intended to hose the PCs, he had a penchant for making the good guys really overpowered. There's a slight balance in place with the Ki-Rin's tendency to ignore human affairs, but the proper magic can get around that right quick.

SHEDU: The Shedu is said to be somewhat like a Lammasu, having a human's head on the body of a winged bull. They are even said to be cousins of the Lammasu, which is a tidbit to remember, even serving pretty much the same purpose as Lawful Good guys who protect those who serve Law. The only real difference is that they have a load of psionic powers, and can travel Astrally or Ethereally. They seem a little redundant, actually, and I suspect they're probably here just to check off another name from mythology.

INTELLECT DEVOURERS: Ah, a lovely new evil beastie for my collection... Chaotic, evil, intelligent and highly malign – these are the kinds of things that really enamour me towards a monster. Now, I remember these guys as being brains on legs, but here they appear as "a ball-like body of sooty black poised upon four legs." Their colouring lets them hide in shadows like a 10th level Thief, and as such they like to live deep underground, or aboveground in the darkest places. They have claws, but in general attack only with psionics, and they eat psionic energy – "whether gained from the dying shriek or by more subtle means." Rad. If anyone nearby uses a psionic powers, the Devourer will stalk and ambush them, and if it kills the poor guy it will inhabit his body and try to get at other characters. As with most monsters in this book they come with a lot of psionic powers, and they're a bastard to kill. You'll need a +3 weapon at least, and even those do just 1 point of damage. Bright light will drive them away (being shadowy beings, I guess) and a Fire Ball acts as such, but Lightning Bolt is barely effective. Death Spell works a quarter of the time, but Power Word Kill does the trick (it would want to at that level!). Oh, and they roam the Astral and Ethereal Planes. Gary's milking those planes for all they're worth now that they're properly defined.

Adding these new monsters should be no trouble. One lives in jungles I presume to be far away from the City of Greyhawk, one lives in the sky, one lives in the Astral or Ethereal Plane and the last inhabits remote regions underground. None of them are likely to be bumped into on your average dungeon or wilderness jaunt.

MIND FLAYERS: We've seen Mind Flayers before, in The Strategic Review #1, but here they are for the first time in an official supplement, so let's see what is different. Surprisingly, not much. Their stats are unchanged, and so are their special abilities, the only addition being that they now have Psionic Powers. Their Mind Blast is also very slightly changed, in that a few of the numbers on the old Mind Blast chart are switched to ranges. For instance, what would once have put a character in a coma for 3 days now does so for 1-4 days. Although it does seem that Elves, Dwarves, and Hobbits are more resistant than they were – I chalk this up to the awakening of psionic potential in all the humanoid races. The fact that Mind Flayers are now more psychically powerful than they were will tie in nicely as well - obviously they are doing something to enhance themselves, probably building some giant brain-thing or other. The side-effect of the Giant Brain's emanations is that humans and some other types are getting powers too.

NEXT: I finish up with the monsters. Get ready for psychic monkeys, people!

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 12

With the rank-and-file demons out of the way, we move to the Demon Princes. It's noted that there are several such Princes, but Supplement III only has details on Orcus and Demogorgon.

ORCUS: This demon lord is 15' tall, grossly fat, with the head and legs of a goat, the wings of a bat and a poisonous tail. The picture of him that is provided is pretty cool if simplistic, and has remained the basis for the character's depiction all the way up to 4th Edition.

In terms of powers, this guy gets it all: High intelligence, 85% magic resistance, and immunity to all weapons of less than +3 enchantment. Shall I list his at-will abilities, just for fun? Oh yes I shall: continual darkness, charm person, create illusion, cause fear, detect magic, read magic, read languages, detect invisible, ESP, pyrotechnics, dispel magic, clairvoyance, clairaudience, lightning bolt (12 dice!), suggestion, polymorph self, wall of fire, telekinesis, speak with dead and animate dead. Not enough for you? He also gets these once a day: feeblemind, project image, any of the symbol spells, polymorph any object, shape change, and time stop. Oh, and he has an 80% chance of gating in any other type of demon. He'll never gate in another Prince, which is a nice hint about the nature of demonic politics, but at that stage it's probably a moot point.

The list above does speak to the way the game has developed with 4th edition. Even at this early stage, monsters had a bunch of special abilities. 4e pared them right back, citing that things had become too complicated, and I agree that by 3rd edition they had. But in OD&D I feel it works, mostly because you can pretty confidently just look at the name of the ability and extrapolate its effects off the top of your head. That's the beauty of one paragraph spell descriptions.

But I digress. Moving back to Orcus, we discover that he can summon certain members of the undead because he is their Prince. This ability is a doozy, even moreso than the power to gate in other demons. 2-8 vampires are going to ruin your day, you know?

Orcus also wields the Wand of Death, which is made of obsidian and topped with a skull. It's very metal. Anyone touched by it is killed or annihilated unless they're on Orcus's level - that includes other Demon Princes, High Devils, Saints, and Godlings, all of which have been hinted at in Gary's revision of alignment.

DEMOGORGON: Gary was really firing up the imagination when he came up with this guy. He's 18' tall, with the scaly body and legs of a giant lizard. His arms are tentacles, and he has two heads, each of which resembles an evil baboon. I've always thought baboons were kind of creepy looking, so kudos on that. He's rumoured to be supreme among demons, and able to command all cold-blooded creatures, such as snakes and octopi.

As for spell-like powers, I won't list them, as they're pretty much the same as those of Orcus with a few swapped around here and there. Demogorgon can't animate or speak with the dead, for example, but he does get Power Word Stun.

In addition, DG has a hypnotic gaze, and if he fixes the stare of both heads he can hypnotise a whole bunch of guys depending on their hit dice. Anyone under 15 hit dice is affected automatically, but luckily the commands are obeyed for just a few rounds. If just the left head gazes, it works as a Rod of Beguiling, and if the right head gazes it causes insanity.

And just so you don't get the idea to melee this guy, his tail causes level drain of 1-4 levels. And his tentacles rot any body part they touch, making limbs fall off in 6 rounds. It's not quite as final as Orcus's Wand of Death, but there's something even more horrifying about having your arm rot than just being instantly annihilated.

DEMON AMULETS: It turns out that the Demon Princes, and lesser Demon Lords, have their souls contained in amulets. Anyone who possesses the amulet has power over the demon, though not for more than a day. After that the wielder has to return it to the demon, or else can destroy it and exile the demon to the Abyss for a year. Presumably such treatment would not be looked on kindly when the year is up... There are other dangers of carrying one of these, as it doubles the chance of a demon hearing when you say his name, and any demon you're not controlling will instantly attack you. In general any demon thus commanded is going to be pissed off, but there's a slim chance that exorbitant payment for aid rendered, and careful return of the amulet, will placate it. But because this is Gary, it's couched in terms that make it seem highly unlikely.

Oh, and to finish up, we get the psionic strengths of the various demons, all of which have psionic power except for Type I.

NEXT: More monsters of the crazy variety.

Supplement III: Eldritch Wizardry part 11

Today I'm tackling the debut of everyone's favourite denizens of the Lower Planes, the Demons. Demons have been mentioned in D&D before, most notably in Gygax's alignment article from The Strategic Review, in which we learned that they live in the Abyss and are the epitome of Chaotic Evil. But this is the first time we get anything approaching detail – and while it's a good chunk of detail, it seems pretty sparse from a modern perspective.

The section begons with a note that there are demons of various types, as well as the Demon Princes Orcus and Demogorgon. Huzzah, long-standing canon! All demons can see in the dark, teleport without error, cause darkness, and use the Gate spell to summon other demons. So, yikes, already. Also, every demon type has magic resistance, meaning a percentage chance to totally shrug off any spell.

Again it's reiterated that Demons are Chaotic Evil, and the stronger types rule over the weaker. Demons range from Type I to Type VI, and any demon over Type V is not slain when killed in combat but forced back to its home plane for 100 years.

Demons don't serve anyone willingly and in general try to kill their masters whenever possible. Unless they take a liking to someone – then they only carry them off to be a slave (much better!). For added fun, if anyone speaks the name of a powerful demon, there's a chance the demon will hear and turn his attentions upon them – meaning a swift death to the weak, of course. The chance is quite high as well, much to my delight.

Type I: A sort of human-vulture hybrid, with weaker abilities than the other demons – it can even be hit by normal weapons!

Type II: A disgusting frog demon. Again they can be hit by normal weapons, but they can also cause fear and levitate.

Type III: These guys are huge, with goat heads, pincer hands, and a seemingly useless set of regular human arms. Once more, surprisingly, they can be hit by normal weapons. I was certain all demons required magic to hit, but I suppose that's the later editions talking to me. Besides the regular demon abilities, they can polymorph self, but it seems more useful for trickery than combat when your natural form is that of a four-armed demon.

Type IV: Ah, now we're talking. These winged ape-boar demons have a whole host of nasty abilities, and they can only be hit by magical weapons. Most potent among their arsenal are the symbols of fear and discord, and the ability to gate in demons up to Type VI.

Succubus: Taking a detour from the regular demon types, we find the classic demonic temptress. In addition to high magic resistance and an immunity to normal weapons, their kiss causes level drain, and they get a number of abilities related to disguise and mind control. For ultimate fun, their Gate even has a slim chance of summoning one of the Demon Princes – I guess they help out the hot chicks more than the weird ape-boar things, huh?

Type V: A demon with a snake's body, and the torso of a six-armed female. As before, high magic resistance and immunity to normal weapons. They can use a weapon in each hand, and like the succubus they get a chance to Gate in a Demon Prince.

Type VI: Hmmm. Not sure what's going on here, but my entry seems to be incomplete here. All we get is the note that they are 12' tall, highly intelligent, and that they have more powerful versions of the abilities already gifted to other demons. If we go back to the stats, it's noted that they roll a 10-sided die for hit points, rather than the usual 8. Going back even further to the Table for Attack and Damage Type, it seems that this monster is a replacement for the Balrog. Interesting. It would be nice to have the complete entry, though.

It's surprising to me the lack of real detail we get here. So far, the demons are all just a physical description and a bunch of special abilities. Admittedly that's not much more than we get for the other monsters in OD&D, but I was expecting a little more. Perhaps a bit more of the lore will become apparent when I get into the Demon Princes next time.