New Project: Slumbering Tsar Saga S&W Conversion! Part 1 Complete!

So I've decided to start a little side-project for myself.  I'm working on converting the epic adventure written by Greg Vaughan, The Slumber Tsar Saga, in the Swords & Wizardry ruleset!  Once upon a time I had great fun running this adventure for friends, in the Pathfinder rules.  It was a great time, until a player quit the group and we had to go on hiatus.  Someday I'd like to revisit that campaign, since it was so awesome, but in the mean time I figured it'd be fun to let other S&W fans enjoy the awesomeness that is this adventure.

There are about 14 parts to Slumbering Tsar Saga, though they were eventually compiled into a large hardback.  I've decided the best way to approach my conversion project is to do each of the 14 parts in turn.  This will help me focus on getting certain parts done.  When I GM'd the adventure, we only got as far as finishing the Desolation encounters.  The player's were nearing the time to enter the city of Tsar itself.  Those parts may be harder for me to convert, having never run them even in PF.  We will see how the project turns out.

If you haven't bothered to check out Slumbering Tsar, I demand that you do!  The best part is, the very first part is available for free on Frog God Games' website HERE.  So go check out that PDF, download, give a look over, and then head over to my dropbox link where my MS Word file is! The formatting will look off until you download it and open it in Word.  More details and instructions will be contained within.

Enjoy!

EDIT: A year later and I have updated the link to the free first part of Slumbering Tsar.

Class Careers: The Magic-User

So today, while musing about RPGs, it came to me that taking a look at the career of an adventurer from their lowly beginnings to the top tiers of their class's power.  Unfortunately, a lot of the classes don't have too much going for them (namely the fighting-man/fighter) but there is one class that I simply must write about.

Whether you call it them Magic-Users, Wizards, Sorcerers, or anything else, the magic using classes are always the one with the most progressive power increases over their career.  The term 'linear fighter and quadratic wizard' come to mind.  It's true though.  As a fighter gets higher in level he gets better at... fighting.  And not much else, depending on your game system.  He might build a castle and become a baron or start a mercenary company, but the abilities of a 15th level Fighter versus a 1st level one are not all that different.  Magic-users, on the other hand, experience the starkest changes in power.   They start as pin cushions that will surely die if hit by nearly anything, but eventually can grow to being able to slay gods (in Raistlin Majere's case).

Below, using the terminology of Dungeon Crawl Classics, Adventurer Conqueror King System, and Swords & Wizardry Complete, we'll watch the path of a lowly peasant as he becomes a demigod.  I'll be using male pronouns for ease of use as I'm imagining myself in this role, of course. :)
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Birth through level 0: With a meager amount of hit points and armed with a garden hoe, the pre-mage toils away in the fields as a peasant farmer.  His biggest worries on catching a good harvest before winter and not coming down with some common disease.  Should he fall down a flight of stairs he might just die.  He probably has never left his own village or town and his exposure to magical things are in legends and perhaps meeting a traveling alchemist.

Level 1: Whether by fate or design, the peasant goes on an adventure with a number of other normal individuals.  Many die but learning from this experience, our proto-mage becomes level 1.  Perhaps on this adventure he meets a mage who offers to take him as an apprentice, or a chance encounter with a magical artifact and/or spellbook sets him on his path to power. 

At this level of power, the mage is still barely different from his former peasant self.  He has enough mental energy to cast one spell per day.  His more brutish adventuring companions may snicker at his weakness, but when that spell goes off, it is miraculous.  The mage may turn an enemy into a fast friend before the others eyes.  Or illuminate a dark room with pure magic.  He may shoot magic energies at his foes or even put a whole group of malicious foes into a slumber, ripe for throat slitting.  The magic-user does not often show his power, but when he does the others are mystified.  This is sharp power increase from level 0.  The individual has forever stepped beyond their normal existence into one of power pursuit.

Level 2: The mage's power does not increase heavily here.  He is a little more resilient, and is capable of unleashing more of his cantrip-like power in a day.  He is still weak physically, and must be protected by the more physically inclined party members, but they value the arcane secrets the mage brings to the party's power base.  The mage is still mostly an apprentice though, and is finding more spells either through discovery of scrolls or tutelage by a master.

Level 3: Once again, the mage now has gained enough experience to reach a new level of power.  Along with being more resilient and casting more spells of the lower end of power spectrum, he gets his first taste of true power over reality.  The mage will be able to create magical darkness, detect magical or invisible objects and beings, confer invisibility to himself or others, unlock doors magically, levitate objects, bolster the strength of his allies, conjure magical webbing, and more.  Where the 1st level of spells were little more than a magician's farce and slight advantages, 2nd level spells can change reality on levels that would completely blow the minds of normal folks.  At this level, a magic-user could easily scare a small village into worshiping him.  Unfortunately our magic-user is still in an apprentice role.  Fortune either smiles or frowns upon him as he delves dungeons looking for arcane lore and scrolls/spellbooks.  His master may still be helping him, but his avenues of gaining more power are limited.

Level 4: Another 'dead level'.  More resilience and more spell casting capacity, but no true secrets of the arcane are uncovered.  It should be noted that the magic-user can survive a few hits from orcs and the like now, if he is lucky.  However, if the level 4 magic-user could meet his level 0 self, the poor peasant might bow in fear of the strange powers he now possesses.

Level 5: Now here is where things get interesting.  Perhaps leaving his master's wing, or setting up a small library/workshop in some hovel, the magic-user has enough arcane know-how to being researching things on his own.   He is able to brew potions, scribe his own scrolls, and possibly uncover arcane secrets of his own.  Further more, he can now cast spells of serious magnitude.  On a whim the mage can choose to fly, send FIREBALLS exploding on his enemies, summon monsters to do his bidding, and even breath water.  Obviously there are more 3rd level spells but these are examples of just how crazy the magic-user has become.

Level 6: Dead level.  More hit points and more spells per day.  It's important to note we are coming up on mid-career now, or near enough.  Even at this point, the magic-user could pose as a god to a village of dumb peasant-folk and any challengers would quickly be burnt to a crisp. 

Level 7: More fun!  Another spike in power as the magic-user has access to level 4 spells.  Tales could be told of the mage who tamed a monster, drew doors to other places, mastered the elements and caused an ice storm, or crafted walls of ice and fire.  And at least we have the iconic power of reality of turning something into something it is not.  Fighter giving you a hard time?  Turn him into a rabbit.  Though foes can be turned, it's possible they could resist but when you turn a dragon into a salamander, no one is going to mess with you.  The mage's powers of reality are truly fearsome at this stage.  The mage is lucky to have gotten this far into his career without dying.  His tales are surely being told already, legends to be sure.

Level 8: Dead level.  You know the drill.  It should be noted that the mage can now cast a total of TEN spells per day.  His 'work day' is much longer than when he first started out.  He can waste lower level castings on more mundane tasks and save the big guns for dire situations.

Level 9: Alrighty.  What a long road it has been!  Chances are the magic-user decides he needs a place for all his library books of arcane lore he's been finding and builds some sort of Sanctum.  He may be approached by apprentice mages, much like himself at levels 1-3.  He also begins to dabble in the creation of magical items.  Maybe does his Fighter-buddy a solid and crafts a burning longsword for him (or curses it for fun).  To get the materials for such ventures he may begin creating his own dungeon to hold monsters he is raising or has charmed into living there.  He is 'that strange wizard who lives in the tower on the hill'.  Children tell scary stories about him.  He may be playing a larger role in the politics of a region, perhaps playing an advisory role to his fighter-buddy who built a fort in the wilderness.

He has access tot he fifth level of spell casting, meaning he can create terrible undead to do his bidding, conjure walls of stone or iron out of thin air, appear magically in places in an instant, and more.  He is a force to be reckoned with, even on his own.  We begin brushing the heights of power reserved for mythic beings.

Level 10:  Yeah yeah, keep it coming.  If the wizard hasn't retired yet he will now start getting into heavier stuff...

Level 11:  If before he only had a sanctum (ACKS) he now goes full-bore for a big ol' Wizard's Tower (S&W:C).  He may start researching great rituals of ultimate arcane power.  More servants, apprentices, mercenaries, and creatures folk to him.  His power reaches beyond even just spell casting.  He controls the fates of many others.  His dungeon might be getting quite large, with adventurer's plundering their deeps for treasure.  He might spend his free time creating magical constructs to do his will or be his servants.  The blasphemous cross-breeding of different monsters from his dungeon may be occurring.  In a sense, the mage is playing 'god'.  Creating new life forms and breathing new life into inanimate objects.  On the other side of the coin, he could be creating undead, or even working on turning himself into an undead lich so as to prolong his existence and continue uncovering more powers over reality.  Oddly at this level no new spell levels are opened up.

Level 12: More of the same, except level six spells are unlocked. He can control weather itself, magically force others into completing quests, turning people to stone, moving mountains, summoning great beasts, or even simply commanding creatures to die on the spot.  To say there are magical forces beyond this to be learned is insane, but the wizard will pursue this power.  He is nearly a demi-god already. 

Level 13:  Dead level.  Keep going.

Level 14/15:  From here the Wizard's power increase again.  He is charming plants to his bidding, conjuring demons from the abyss, reversing the force of gravity, creating duplicates of himself, and manipulating reality to an even greater extent.  All this as long as he has uncovered the knowledge necessary.  If the secrets cannot be researched by himself, he will use his vast array of tools and minions to help him.  He could be the great villain of a nation, as power corrupts.

Level 16/17: The power spike here is not as noticeable, as the Wizard has already risen to heights of power rarely known on the face of the earth.  He can create clones of himself, pull large numbers of people into his thrall, make temporary magical effects now permanent, and more. At this point these powers are merely a bonus to the incredible power he already wields.  Only one last step to go...

Level 18/19 and beyond: The last rung of magical power is now attainable.  The wizard can use astral projection to be places unseen and still cast his powerful spells, he can open portals to other planes of existence (even the Abyss itself), stop the flow of time, rain down meteors to the earth, and reach the ultimate level of reality manipulation (wish).  The Wizard is a godling.  The vast array of power wielding by this being is immense.

From his lowly beginning as a peasant-farmer, our 'hero' has climbed the mountain of power and is capable of truly incredible feats of magic.  Whether he uses it to challenge gods, keep the peace, or rule the world, he will leave his mark in history.  The equivalent level fighter might be a great emperor and fearless warrior, but even he cannot stand against a 'wish' to remove him and any memory of him from the universe. 

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As you can see, the journey and career of a magic-user is fraught with danger, especially at low levels.  However, eventually the magic-user becomes as powerful as a mortal being can be.  An interesting journey to be sure, not counting the great epic tales the magic-user had as part of that career.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this.  Whenever my players complain about having to be the squishy mage with a handful of hit points, I'll point them here so they can appreciate the power that could await them! :)

OD&D Saves vs S&W saves vs D20 saves

Hey all.  Write after my last blogs post this topic was posted to the OSR Google+ Community:

"Is there a logic behind the OD&D saving throws, as in which is appropriate to use in a particular situation, why they are at the levels they are for the classes, etc?  Is there somewhere that talks about it that I can read?

I'm trying to understand the impact of moving to the single number in S&W, and to be able to respond to my Pathfinder-loving friend when he pontificates about how great the d20 method is."

This was a great question and I took the time to write a long response.  I've pasted my response here because I think the subject is a great one for a blog post:

"So this is going to be a long comment.  Should probably be a blog post for my blog but oh well.

I can't speak for the creators of OD&D but there probably was some logic to the savings throws.  The five categories were kind of tricky though.  Death rays and poisons are mostly straight forward, 'wands' are too bad to think about, turned to stone makes sense, dragon's breath makes sense, but to me the trouble pops up with Spells and staffs.  Why are wands and staffs treated differently?  Aren't wands using spells?  Why the breaking up of those ideas?   Of course things can get trickier: what save is used when it's a poison effect caused by a spell generated from a wand?  I'd say use the Death Rays and Poison save.  In the end, it's left up to the DM to figure this stuff out.

As for the moving to a single save in S&W, it has some advantages.  The reason I think, was originally for legal reasons to help make S&W it's own thing.  Though it's also a lot simpler.  If you were to take the save growths of each class in OD&D and mapped them by the type, you'd probably end up noticing a particular pattern in each save.  What moving to one save means is that that graph is averaged (more or less I think) so there is a single growth of save chances for a particular class.  Each class has bonuses to certain saves, to help reflect the fact some classes will fair better at some saves that others.  If you look at the original charts, you'll see that at any equal level, one class's saves to another only differentiate by a few points.

In practice, the single saves works.  I ran a 1st Edition adventure with S&W and it worked well.  I told player's to make a save, if they had a bonus they thought might have factored in, they'd ask me and I'd confirm or deny.

Now as to why each class is better in some that others, it makes sense that a Magic-user can deal with magic effects better than other classes.  Fighter's can better avoid Dragon's breath because they are probably more spry and used to running around.  Clerics are holy and are able to purify things, so it makes sense they can deal with poisons better, etc.

As for the D20 system, the system is great at what it sets out to do as a simulationist system.  I like the system a lot actually, though I don't play it much anymore.  The D20 system said, 'oh hey, those poison and stone saves?  Aren't they really asking for the same thing?' and made it fortitude.  Dragon's breath is essentially your reflex save, and the mind affecting spells became will.  Magical effects were broken into the 3 categories based on the type of effect, which is really a smart thing to do in my opinion.  There's nothing wrong with the 3 saves from D20.  DCC uses it still to good effect.

The truth is (and S&W's AC system will attest to this), the difference between the two methods isn't that stark.  Both are rolling to meet a target.  You must beat your save number in OD&D, and you must beat your save DC in D20.  The idea is you are meeting a threshold.  You can reverse engineer D20 saves to come up with a method to make S&W saves a bonus instead of a static number, just like armor class.  Just depends on how you actually want to play.

Hopefully this is helpful to you and I partially answered your question."

This has actually inspired me to write an additional post on S&W Appreciation Day concerning the 'save' system.  This will be in addition to my 'Why Play Swords & Wizardry' post.  Stay tuned!

Resurrections of the blog sort

So hello all.  For anyone still happening to come to this blog every now and again, I'm sorry to say I've been out of the blogging loop for awhile.  I was trying to get into the rhythm of posting once a week but like most bloggers I ended up getting a little too busy.

I hate the thought of being a 10-post wonder, as many blogs end up being.  We write a few good posts and then disappear for awhile.  My excuse is that my old roommate was moving out, with a new one moving in, some major living arrangement changes, stuff at my job intensifying, and trying to maintain some form of a social life.

Things have settled down enough now I may be able to post every now and again and I hope to do so.  The big reason for my triumphant return is Erik Tenkar's Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day.  The blog list is growing by the day and I've sent an email to Erik asking to be part of the list.  I hope I'm on there, and even if not, I'll be doing a blog post about good ol' S&W.  It's my current game of choice and now that I ACTUALLY have a gaming group going (sort of) that's the system we are using.

Tentatively, my topic is going to be 'Why play Swords & Wizardry?' though I think there will probably be a lot of other bloggers doing something similar.  I look forward to reading all the reviews, new monsters, opinions, thoughts, etc. on the 17th! 

In other news, Frog God Games' shipment of the S&W Complete stuff arrived a while back.  Everything is really spiffy and worth a look.  The new Monstrosities is excellent, and it's wonderful to have sitting next to my Tome of Horrors Complete. 

My OSR gaming bookshelf continues to grow, with a copy of DCC RPG on it's way.  I wanted to find a copy of the Gold Foil Limited Edition but all copies at vendors I frequent are sold out.  I missed my chance I suppose.  I'd like to make a larger post or series of posts int he future featuring all my OSR products and my general thoughts on each of them.  Not a true review, but a quick paragraph for each.  Might prove useful to a prospective buyer.

Anyway, thanks for reading.  See you on the 17th!

On sandboxes and Wilderlands Part 2

Last week I wrote about the influences of railroad and sandbox campaigns.  It's important to understand that creating a sandbox was sort of implied by the original rules of D&D.  You built your milieu as the players expanded their explorations and what you ended up with was a fleshed out world.

Very early in the hobby's lifespan a company called the 'Judges Guild' began producing licensed material for D&D.  What could be considered the first third party publisher for the game, they crafted a number of products that have shaped many player's game worlds and is still used today as the setting of many campaigns.  If you're not new to the hobby, you already know all about this but I think it's important to write about here.  My continuing theme of blog posts that are upcoming will reflect this.

In case you don't know the famous campaign setting I'm talking about, it's the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.  Though this isn't a review (it wouldn't feel right to try to review a piece of history like this) I want to discuss what made this book so incredible at the time.

For those who could not draw maps very well or hadn't quite developed the imagination to build whole regions of a world, this book was great.  Right as you open the book you find tables for rolling your d6, to randomly create caves, lairs, dungeon dressing, and more.  The real chunk of the book though, is the details of the campaign world itself.  As opposed to today's modern technique of publishing a 300+ page campaign setting book and numerous supplemental material, the Wilderlands itself was a 30-odd page digest packed full of useful tables and information.  It had a few sister-books that detailed other regions of the campaign setting but those too were relatively thin books.

Of course when I use the word 'detailed', I do so carefully.  There isn't much detail to be found here at all actually.  What you find is listing of cities with some rough statistics, as well as lairs/caves/encounters with descriptive text of what is going on at that location.  Their keyed location on the enormous map that came with the book was a great technique.  Not only did you have a huge map of hexes ready-to-use, but you already had city names, adventure hooks, and more already placed and easily referenced.  As opposed to the book painstakingly describing each city and region, these details are largely left to the DM to flavor in the way they choose.  Is Telegonist of Kest the ruler because he used his magic to enslave the villagers?  Or is it because they revere him as a god?  It's up to the DM and the players to paint the story here.

What this has led to is a number of different 'Wilderlands' settings exist, each personalized by the DM.  One of these I'll be discussing in a future post, but I really think this was part of the magic of the Wilderlands.  Sure more material would detail the City-State of the Invincible Overlord and other areas, but this book by itself could be used for endless gaming hours.

Now the format of the book could be considered a little cluttered and disorganized to the modern eye, but I would still recommend taking a gander at the book's contents.  The best part is, it's still available as a PDF!  Not to mention a large sampling of other Judges Guild classics.

Whew, I still write a lot.  The importance of the Wilderlands as a ready-made sandbox will be illustrated more as I continue my theme of sandboxes and campaign settings on this blog.  Next post, I'll be reviewing a product very relevant to this blog post.  Should be fun.   

On sandboxes and Wilderlands Part 1

Happy new year everyone!  I'm a week late but hey, holiday travel keeps you busy.  Before the holidays hit my last blog entry was about a decent hex grid I constructed in order to create campaign maps.  There was a particular purpose for this, which will be covered in new blog entries forthcoming.  For awhile there is going to be a running theme to my blog posts, mostly to do with campaign setting design.  Also, as a new years resolution, I want to bring write more reviews for the blog.  I have a large amount of gaming material I could review, some that I've used in my games and some I've just read through.  I actually have a review in the works I hope to push out very soon.  ANOTHER resolution is to try to make my blog posts shorter and cut them up across several smaller posts for easier digestion.  We will see if I can keep to that, I'm very long-winded.

Now that all that is out of the way let's get into the topic at hand.  Lately I've been into sandboxes.  In the OSR world and old-style play there is a good amount of focus on the sandbox.  I experienced it a long time ago but in the modern gaming scene railroading seems to be pretty prevalent.  I liken it to the MMORPG scene, where games like WOW and SWTOR feel very railroad-y (or in mmo terminology, amusement park style).  You go where the game expects you to go and everyone is along for the ride too.  Compared to say, the old Star Wars Galaxies MMO around first release (which I LOVED), which was a sandbox.  You went where you wanted, when you wanted, and the most important part: you made your own fun. 

When I think about the games I used to run when I was in high school and relatively new to the hobby, my adventures were very railroad-y.  This was okay, as my players were introduced to RPGs by me and it's all they knew.  A little structure helped them get their feet wet.  However, I didn't have much developed and had they wanted to go their own way I wouldn't have been able to do much.  There was a few occasions where I winged it, made up stats on the fly for things, but this was D&D 3.5 where things were supposed to be balanced.  Though those skills of crafting on the fly would help me today (throwing together HP, attack, and XP values), it didn't lend itself well to that system.

Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Paths are pretty good railroad adventures.  Many of them allow for some sandboxing and working outside the rail-lines but there is always the overarching railroad.  Most published modules are like this, really.  There is an expectation of what is going to happen.  By contrast having a good sandbox developed means the world is at the player's feet and it is up to those players to 'make their own fun' and do what they want to do, not what you as the DM want them to.

Just some thoughts and for any grognard reading this I'm preaching to the choir, I know.  Long-winded again, but tune in next time when I talk a little more about sandboxes and one of the most famous old school settings in the hobby's history.

Another essay about alignment

Few topics plague a Referee/DM/GM during play like alignment can.  All it takes is one pesky player with a slippery justification for his morally ambiguous act for the entire table to erupt in argument.  It may not happen often, but I've seen it enough to warrant a quickly written essay.

Having started playing RPGs with 2E D&D (as described in a previous post), most of my gaming experience has involved the nine alignments conjured from the ingredients of Good, Evil, Law (order), Chaos, and Neutrality.  For me it's always been the way things were.  3.x and PF use this alignment system as well and I'd say its the alignment system most people use these days.  The thing I liked about it was that it seemed to cover all the bases.  Evil could be lawful, seeking it's own twisted order.  It could be chaotic like a mass murdered, and so on. Now granted, neutral always seems to be the thorn in a DM's side.  "Oh no, that's not evil, I'm just doing what my character would do because I'm chaotic neutral."

Now compare that to 0e or most OSR recreations.  Law (order) vs Chaos.  Now for me, it's easy to see how that alignment system turned into the modern one.  It certainly seems confining.  Perhaps because of the original implied setting, the world is seemingly split into forces for Law and forces for Chaos.  Further, these are essentially guidelines for Good and Evil.  Most products allude to the good guys being Lawful while the force of Chaos seek to do evil things to us.  This is a hard pill to swallow for me, coming from a more modern background.  What if the syndic of the city is bringing Order to the land by being oppressive?  That sounds like Lawful Evil but it seems hard to define to me in the scope of the old alignment system.

What's seems better in my eyes?  Well, with the way players act in the game world, I think a different approach would work better.  The single-axis of the old style seems odd but the method is sound.  What feels better, is to largely ignore alignment completely when playing.  The only real alignments that exist are 'Vaguely Good' and 'Vaguely Evil'.  There are some things, like angels and demons/devils that just seem too polarized to be too ambiguous (not counting overly zealous angels who harm blasphemers or something, etc.) so some declarations are needed for the extremes.  Otherwise, all actions or persons/things in the world are somewhere in between, to the point of not bothering to categorize it.

I think this is how I will be running my own games from here on out.  I never quite understood how an axiomatic weapon worked any way. =P

  

Review: Hideouts & Hoodlums

Hideouts & Hoodlums is a variant of Swords & Wizardry written by Scott Casper of Great Scott! Games.  You can purchase the PDFs of the rules, supplements, and newsletter at DriveThruRPG here.

In the introduction to S&W, author Matt Finch states 'Take this framework, and then imagine the hell out of it!', which I think Scott Casper really took to heart when he wrote H&H.  In the introduction to H&H Scott describes his love for comic books and 0E D&D as a youth.  He had wished there was a way to combine the two passions, and now it seems he created his own solution.

H&H is an old school rules game of Golden Age Superheroes.  It features the charm and attitude of those comics while keeping the basic rule structure (or lack thereof) of S&W.  Since this game runs off S&W mechanics, Scott makes sure to notate in the text what is directly lifted from the S&W Whitebox rules and it helps show that all in all those 0E rules are very adaptive.

Before the modern age of superhero comics, the stories of the time were a bit more simple and 'pulp-y'.  Scott does a good job of infusing that into the game, referencing characters like Doc Savage and Dick Tracy as examples of the main character classes.  This time around you have the Fighter, Magic-User, and the Superhero.  For the most part the Fighter and Magic-User do not differ from the original game, but the Superhero could be seen as a re-themed Cleric.  Instead of turning undead, they 'wreck' things, which is an easy way to represent your superheroes abilities.  No trying to figure out if your character's unique powers don't fit the ruleset, the 'wreck' mechanic is all inclusive.  Scott also accounts for 'alter-egos' in the form of Superheroes being Fighters when 'out of costume'.

Overall the game is a great twist to the rules you might be used to seeing.  Though it's a lot of re-skinned 0E stuff, it just WORKS.  Scott also seems to be writing material for the game in much the same way 0E was originally released.  In the PDF bundle from DriveThruRPG, you get Book I: Men and Supermen, Book II: Mobsters and Trophies, and Book III: Underworld and Metropolis Adventures.  A big nod to the Little Brown Books, the content is relatively easy to digest.  Of course, after reading through I was trying to figure out what class Batman would be...

And then I read the supplements!  Here again, Scott mirrors 0E, and the first supplement 'Supplement I: National' reads almost just like the original Greyhawk supplement.  It adds the 'Mystery Man' class, which functions similar to the Thief but is the 'Bat-Man' or 'the Shadow' archetype.  The supplements function the same as the original supplements, adding more things to the existing classes, adding more monsters, treasure, and rule options.  Interestingly one includes the infamous body-hit-location rules from Blackmoor.  

Scott has also been releasing a newsletter of sorts called The Trophy Case.  The PDFs are available at DTRPG but are FREE.  They are a nice addition and include a lot of interesting tid-bits like comic history and plot hooks from reality and past comic adventures.

Verdict?

I'd say H&H is a fun variant that is worth looking into.  The PDFs are cheap, you can get every bit of material for under $20.  A complete game ready for your tabletop.  There is one caveat that I should point out.  The material is spread out much like the original books.  This can make organization a real hassle when you are looking at all the different tables and relevant information.

My recommendation to GreatScott! Games would be to go the way of S&W and compile the books and supplements into one larger PDF/book.  The organization of S&W is one of it's high points and H&H could benefit from the same sort of re-work.  Further, it'd be neat to see this compiled book placed on lulu.com (or other vendor) for some Print-On-Demand goodness.  I'd happily add H&H to my growing OSR bookshelf.

In other words, head over to DriveThruRPG and check it out!

Thoughts on Old School Rules vs New

To follow up on a point I made in my previous 'Introduction' post, there is a fundamental difference between the way old school and new school rule-sets approach a character frameset.

When I first started playing RPGs starting with 2E Dungeons & Dragons, I had no real concept for how the game should be played.  I understood fantasy tropes to a point so when it came time to create my very first character, I tried to come up with something 'cool'.  Prior to me ever playing or understanding D&D my uncle Bob would tell me about how he and my cousins would stay up late at night when they were younger and play a game with dice and graph paper.  He had a character named 'White Cloud', a reference to his imposing stature and tendency to wear white shirts I would later find out.  When I made my first character I named him Gray Cloud as a tribute of sorts.  I assumed my uncle's character was good, but since my character was going to be a chaotic neutral thief, 'Gray' seemed more apt.  Gray Cloud wore a black trench-coat lined with daggers on the inside.  He had a preference for throwing daggers, or so I envisioned.

Since this was 2nd edition, there was no 'character builds' to look up.  I simply had his attributes and some of the Thief ability percentiles (open lock, move quietly, etc.).  When I joined the party the rest of the group were of varying levels but I was the squishy level 1.  I could count my hit points on one hand.  My friend Bruce was the DM and happened to roll his dice in front of us for the most part.  In my character's very first battle, against an ogre, my strategy of going for the backstab was a faulty one.  The ogre didn't like my backstab, not one bit, and proceeded to attack me.  Natural 20, in front of everyone. Bruce was ruling a natural 20 was double damage, and with that, Gray Cloud poofed into a very big puddle of blood.  Max damage was rolled.  Oh dear.  Bruce felt bad but hey, it happens.  I rolled up a new thief, a chaotic good one (karma?), presented myself happily to the party, and was accepted.  This character even got Gray Cloud's old stuff.  I liked that trench-coat.

No what does that experience have to do with my original point?  Well consider that experience.  I created a character with a concept (trenchcoat wearing knife thrower), he indeed had a bit of personality, did not use a 'build' as modern gamers would be used to, and he was unceremoniously obliterated in his first combat.

Had this experience been done in a modern ruleset, such as 3.5 D&D or Pathfinder, I would have been worrying about what feats and skills might have fit the character concept or abandoned it entirely to use a good 'build'.  I think the 'build' mentality comes from the fact 3.x plays well with a video gamer attitude and those who play WoW or Diablo will know that good 'builds' are the key to victory.

Modern gaming also seems to support the idea (at least PF does) that the characters should succeed because they are the player characters, the heroes, for which the story and world revolve around.  Granted this is usually left up to the DM, but the feeling I get from most others in the hobby who play PF is that is the standard.  A character is something precious with a detailed back story and likes/dislikes planned out far in advance of the campaign starting.

Of course, when such a character dies, the player is quite upset.  All that work for naught.  What if the solution is to just create the character and let the character evolve during play?  These days, when I roll a a character regardless of ruleset, I give him one or two personality traits and go with it.  As the game progresses and it turns out my character has some survivability, maybe I can expand his personality.  At low levels where characters are fragile, I think it's best to leave them as mostly blank slates, as I like to think I did for Gray Cloud.

I greatly enjoy the concept in Old School Rules that the PC's are just people, somewhat extraordinary, but aren't really heroes just because 'they are PC's and that's what PC's are'.  They BECOME heroes over the course of the game.  I've always been irked by players who create characters who happen to be 'royal heirs' or 'have an important destiny they don't quite understand'.  Really?  I'm sorry that pitfall was your character's important destiny.  I guess it's a matter of preference, but my characters have always been nobodies who just MIGHT achieve greatness. Might.  Probably not.  But might.

I think this is where the idea that Old School is typically more gritty than New School.  The Old School of Thought can maybe be a 'realistic' world where people die and so often, considering the dangerous circumstances of adventuring.  New School of Thought is that the game is the player's fantasy of heroics, where everyone gets what they want or close to it, in terms of storytelling.  I think both schools have their place and use.  This is probably why I will continue to play both Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder. 

Okay, that's enough rambling for now.  A lot of this is anecdotal and somewhat opinionated, I'd love to hear others' thoughts.  

An Introduction

Hello!  Somehow you have stumbled upon this blog and it is my duty to introduce myself as well as the purpose of this blog.

Though there are many tabletop RPG blogs out there, the most fascinating to me have always been the OSR blogs.  For those not in the know, OSR stands for Old School Renaissance or Old School Rules.  I could try to explain the OSR movement in depth but I think this post at Hack & Slash does a great job.  There is also a great definition of terms here.

Most of those who write those blogs are veterans of the hobby, having played over the course of many decades.  I, on the other hand, have only lived a little over two.  I'm one of the ever growing number of new-grognards.  Those who may not have been around for the Old School Rules but find that they work wonderfully to meet our gaming needs.

Many of my blog posts will be about the OSR and the products and projects associated with it.  I must admit though that I still have connections to modern rulesets and may include thoughts and opinions on various other things.  I have been a pretty loyal fan of Paizo Publishing the last few years and have been playing Pathfinder almost exclusively until the OSR movement came to my attention.

I think this sums things up, feel free to check out other posts on this blog.  For those a little more interested in me, read on as I describe my gaming history and why OSR is such an amazing thing.

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My first interaction with D&D came when I somehow got one of my parents to purchase the 3rd Edition (3.0) starter set from the local book store in the mall when I was much younger.  I had no true knowledge of D&D at the time but the cover (adventurers busting through a door running from a red dragon) seemed pretty awesome and still has an impression on me.  I sort of understood the rules, but alas had no one to play with.  The set came with punch out tokens that I still have on my bookshelf today.

It wasn't until a few years later in high school that I approached a few people from school who I knew to have been playing the game.  By this time I had learned a lot about the hobby via the internet but had yet to play.  Those people became great friends and I still miss playing D&D with on Sundays.  Having moved to the West Coast from PA, I don't get to see them often.  The oddity was that though 3.0 (and soon to be 3.5) were the current editions of the biggest name in tabletop RPGs, my group played 2nd Edition.  This seemed to be because one particular friend had a big box of the books, gathered over years of play by his dad and uncle.  My starter box was left in my closest (though I still have the original dice) as I learned and played 2nd Edition for awhile.

I think this had an impact on my expectations from an RPG.  2E was an evolution of AD&D 1E, with only some slight differences.  The problem was that I did not have the books themselves, so it was hard to keep up with things or get a strong knowledge of different concepts with no book to refer back to.  With my paltry income as a youth I purchased the 3.5 core rulebooks, and from there spent years playing 3.5 in the rest of high school and college.  I even ran my own games for quite awhile.  Managed to get a number of my high school's football team into the hobby, much to my delight.  It helped that I played football and it was a small school.  The Lord of the Rings films were a nice incentive as well.

Eventually 4E was released and I, like many others, chose not to jump ship.  Though many people had spent many years with 1E and 2E before the change to 3.x, I had only spent a handful of years enjoying the system before it stopped being supported.  I didn't like the rule design of 4E either.  It was then that Paizo and Pathfinder hit my radar and for the past few years I've been supporting them and the system.  I've been to PaizoCon 3 years in a row and plan on continuing to do so.

The only thing was I always had an itch for something I couldn't quite describe until now.  Something I had missed since my first foray into gaming.  It was the free-form playing, the reliance on character action and not just character sheet.  It was the story being created by the players and characters.  Characters who are not invincible superheroes but slightly above average folks doing some amazing things.  I'll write more about this in my next post, but upon realizing OSR was the road to this feeling, I've acquired a print OSRIC book, the AD&D re-prints, Dark Dungeons, and soon Swords & Wizardry.

I plan on running S&W games soon, with Pathfinder and S&W being my main rulesets going forward.  Both games offer different experiences and I see value in both.

If you made it this far, I commend you.  Thanks for reading, I hope this post clears up who I am as a gamer.  If this blog interests you, be sure to check out the other OSR blogs and websites!