Time in my OD&D Campaign

I was running an OD&D game world when the first three AD&D books were published, and I resisted for a while, but of course made the purchases.

I read the new Dungeon Masters Guide cover to cover more than once while planning my new campaign world.  The section on Time, found on pages 37 and 38, struck me as especially important.

The subsequent seven paragraphs elaborate upon the subject, including examples and advice on calendars.  When I finally scrapped my OD&D game and started a new campaign world using AD&D, I started the game calendar on the 1st day of the year 1000.  I'm sure it was NOT a coincidence that this mirrrored exactly the example given in the DMG!   I used 30 day months, but kept real world month and day names.  That campaign was played throughout high school and on visits home from college, but it ended when I went on active duty in the Air Force.

During my first AF assignment, I convinced my wife and some friends to play, and I started a new campaign world using mostly 1e but with the 2e PHB and DMG.  This time around, I created a calendar from scratch.  I've been searching for the notes I put together when I devised this calendar, but have been unable to find them.  All I've got right now are two excerpts from the Primer I wrote for my players at the time:

and

The campaign calendar started early in 1989, and most of the events in this list were triggered in one way or another by the PCs.

Between the two, I have all the month names:  Elonar, Ornvar, Tovar, Vannar, Dinvar, Kervar, Lattar, Otvar, and Nassar.  Sadly, I don't have enough of the days to reconstruct the rest, but I still hope to find my old notes someday.



When I decided to run a new OD&D Campaign for my son and his friends, I knew I had to track time, and I even started doing session reports on Exploring the Outside Inn.  I dropped the ball on the session reports but have kept notes and a spreadsheet from every session.  I've run between 63 and 73 sessions in my OD&D campaign world so far, between two active groups of players, but clearly I haven't done as well as I should have with timekeeping.  I start each session telling my players the season, the current weather, and how long it's been since they last adventured, but I really need to go back through my notes for each session and put together a clean timeline, and a new calendar!

House Rule Updates for my OD&D Game

Back in February, I presented my players with some updates to my house rules.  I handed them a paper at the start of a session and asked everyone to read it before we started.  I did this for both groups, and nobody had any issues so we implemented immediately.

For ability checks, I’ve been using d20 against the appropriate stat.  From now on, we’ll use a number of d6 based on the difficulty of the task against the appropriate stat:

Trivial - 1d6

Easy - 2d6

Average - 3d6

Tough - 4d6

Gruelling - 5d6

For every 5 levels you've attained, you may subtract 1d6 before you roll.

For experience, I'm updating the method.  I've been using this:

10 xp for each point of damage caused to the individual who caused it.

20 xp for each point of damage sustained, to the person who sustained it.

20 xp for each point of damage sustained (by everyone) divided equally by all

I'm changing it to this:

5 xp for each point of damage caused to the individual who caused it

5 xp for each point of damage caused (by everyone) divided equally by all

10 xp for each point of damage sustained, to the individual who sustained it

30 xp for each point of damage sustained (by everyone) divided equally by all

And we'll retain the 1 xp per gold piece value of treasure brought back from an adventure, divided equally by all PCs.

Since then, I've heard from one player who isn't happy with the experience change.  He pointed out that this directly impacts the draft mechanic on "growing" magic items, slowing down the process.  He is correct.  It cuts the rate of advancement in half.  I'm sticking to it though.

You may recall I borrowed this directly from Alexis Smolensk, and his blog "The Tao of D&D."  I still really like the idea of experience being based on combat damage (both caused and sustained), but found that it was leading to some players going against type in order for their PCs to earn more experience.  With the change, the distribution of experience is leveled somewhat, taking it closer to the OD&D baseline, which of course is an equal division of the total earned by the entire group.

As for the change to Ability Checks, you need to know that for character creation, I've stuck strictly with 3d6, in order, for character stats.  This makes the even distribution of results on a d20 a lot tougher on the PCs than if I allowed 4d6 drop the lowest, or some other method of character generation.  So far, the new method has worked admirably.  Definitely a keeper.

The next change I intend to make is to update Critical Hits and Misses.  More on that in the near future.

Da Bonz

Last week, in one of the Facebook Groups I belong to, Jonathan Songe Scott offered to send free copies of his Mini-Adventure "Da Bonz" to seven people in the group.  I don't recall his exact words right now, but at the time I thought, "that'd be cool, but I don't qualify."  A day later, I noticed he still had some, so I put my name in, PM'd him my address, and got word it would soon be in the mail.

It came on Saturday, and I eagerly read it.  I just wasn't sure how soon I'd get to run it, since my weekly group had several other things going on.  Monday night came, and while the party was deciding what they wanted to do, the Mage headed to the bar they frequent in order to fill his wine skins for whatever journey they decided upon.  (AH HA!  I couldn't have asked for a better set up!)   The bar was empty, and the bartender complained that his regulars were all "at that new place down the road."

The Mage went alone and found himself at Da Bonz.  He surveyed the establishment, bribed one of the NPCs who appeared to be taking notes, and learned enough to know that the rest of the group would be interested.  And they were!

Da Bonz is a mini-adventure, a prop and a magic item, and can easily be slipped into any fantasy game.  Included is a map of the building, a key that describes the map and the various NPCs found there, a small pouch and 4 dice, as well as a chart to allow the DM to locate the named effect, and several pages of detail about said effects.

PCs pay for admission and then for a chance to roll "Da Bonz," the set of 4 dice that came with the set.  3 of the dice have rune-like symbols denoting the numbers 1 to 6; the 4th just has two:  one represents fortune, the other, misfortune.  Less powerful than a Deck of Many Things, Da Bonz nevertheless can have quite an impact on the PCs, both for good and for ill.  Most effects are categorized both by type and strength and the descriptions include both a fortune and a misfortune.

Each of the 5 PCs in Monday's game chose to roll Da Bonz; and two of them rolled a second time!  When they finally decided to leave Da Bonz and head out to explore, they ran into an NPC they knew, who was now down on his luck.  The Mage offered to buy him a roll of Da Bonz, and they went back inside.  Sadly, this resulted in "Fortune (Abysmal)" for the NPC, who only THOUGHT he'd been down on his luck before.

The booklet itself has a laminated cover, and is almost the same dimensions as my OD&D LBBs... I think it's A4 folded in half.  Inside the front cover is the map, inside the back cover is the chart of effects.  In between are 12 pages including a table of contents, an introduction, the effects descriptions, details of the various locations depicted on the map, and more.

I liked the writing, I liked the map, I liked the dice!  I'm now trying to decide how to get my other group to visit Da Bonz (same campaign world, different city), because I know they'll like it too.  (Of course, several of them read this blog, so I shouldn't have to try to hard; they'll ask me about it!)

The only issue I had running it was that I only read it over once beforehand, foolishly thinking "it's only 12 pages, I got this!"  True, but they're packed with information, and the first few rolls of Da Bonz had me scrambling.

My only issue with the product itself was the font size used.  The margins were big enough on most pages that increasing the font size a pt or two wouldn't have affected the layout, but would have made it easier on my old eyes.

All in all, I enjoyed Da Bonz immensely as did my players, and will keep an eye out for other game aids by Jonathan Scott!

Starting a Lords of Creation Campaign!

I think I've talked about my teen players before... several of them run their own games now, which thrills me, even though I'm only a player in my son's OSRIC game right now.  I ask my son questions about the other games after he plays, and I'm always intrigued:  one runs a game called Tephra, several run mash-ups of different versions of D&D with pieces of other games thrown in, and one runs a rules-loose game he created using The Metamorphica to create characters.  All of them seem to mix genres freely.  It makes me happy see that creativity, and I enjoy hearing my son tell me about their games, even if I'm not playing.

It got me thinking, though, that if they don't care much for genre-specificity, I might be able to run a game of Lords of Creation for them.  Although I've owned it since it first came out, I've only run a few short one-shots; it really didn't fit the TSR mold we were used to.

I decided to give it a try.  On the 26th of April, I started small... just my son and one of his buddies, both high school seniors.  I told them both that rather than roll up characters, they were gonna be themselves.  I had them assign themselves values for Muscle, Speed, Stamina and Mental, but told them nothing higher than a 15 or lower than a 7.  They then traded character sheets, just to provide input to each other.  For Luck, I had them roll 2d10 three times and take the average.

I set the game in early June 2019.  That would make Mike a new college graduate, and Greg, who plans on a three year school, a graduate with one year of work under his belt.  I let them adjust their stats a little to account for the next four years, then had them pick skills based on their college and work plans.

We played several hours, and they both seemed to have fun.  Since I'd told Mike I could run the game for five players (until I was comfortable with the rules,) we planned to play again on Tuesday, the 28th, since they only had a half-day of school. When everyone got to the house, I sent Mike and Greg to the basement to play video games while I ran the same character creation scenario with Jake, Logan and Donald.

I'll write about the two sessions in the near future, but the one thing I wanted to point out now was a real surprise to me:  In spite of all these guys having played in my OD&D and Traveller campaigns, and in each others' games, playing as themselves brought an entirely different vibe to the game!  No matter what I described, or how poorly I described it, it was clear, especially with my son, that the experience was far more visceral now that it was happening to THEM, rather than characters they'd made up.  I had a blast and it seemed like they did too!

2015 Gaming Goals

I posted my 2014 Gaming Goals on 1 Jan 14.  As with my 2013 Gaming Goals, I didn't do so well, although I was a little better.  I didn't make my 26 sessions goal and I definitely failed in my blogging goal.  I started my OD&D Player's Guide, but didn't finish it OR print it for my players.  I didn't host any non-RPG game nights either, although we did play a horserace game as one of our non-game parties drew down to 8 people or so.  On the plus side, I created 5 player character sheets; one for each character class (warrior, mage, cleric, thief and adventurer) and included a bunch of class-specific information on the back of each.  I'll post them here in the near future, but each time we play, either I or one of my players points out another edit I've got to do.  Finally, I did manage to start a second group in my OD&D campaign world.  I'm now running both a teen group and an "adult" group.

So what are my goals for 2015?  Here they are:

• Run at least 35 sessions between OD&D campaign and my Traveller campaign
• Blog at least thrice weekly, on average, all year long 
• Finish my OD&D Player's Guide and distribute to my players
• Continue to invite new players to join my games, running additional session for subgroups as time allows
• Host non-RPG game nights to try out some other games 

What are YOUR gaming goals for 2015?

Draft Players' Guide - 50%?

I've spent quite a bit of time this weekend working on the Player's Guide (PG) for my OD&D campaign world.  Not sure how much longer I'll be able to say it's OD&D though.  The PG started off as a copy of LBB 1:  Men & Magic.  I've been working through it, updating things here and there based on my house rules and other things I've posted here on the blog.

The goal is to create the document I can hand to any new player at my table, so that she can begin play immediately, but still have access to all she needs to know for long term play.

So far, I've added the Adventurer Class, the Initial Occupation table, a section on creating zero-level characters as well as one on creating leveled characters.  I've also added in the modified combat rules (ascending AC w/Combat bonuses vice Men Attacking and Monster Attacking tables or THAC0).  Still need to update the other classes, experience awards, magic and add the rest of my house rules.

Fully formed?

The last two times we played OD&D, my players asked when we'd play Traveller again.  I wasn't ready, as I've been fully immersed in my OD&D world for a long time, but suddenly I find myself back in the Star Clans universe.  During our last Star Clans session, the characters misjumped to an empty hex far from home, and were out of fuel as we ended the session.  Part of the reason we haven't played for six months was because I wasn't sure what would happen next.  I don't tend to plan things out in my game worlds; random events occur because of die rolls during play, and between sessions, I won't give things much thought until something big jumps into my head, 90% complete.

That happened twice in the last two weeks with Traveller.  I knew exactly what to write up for the next session... until two days ago, when the first scenario was completely replaced!  Now it's just a matter of jotting down some notes and scheduling the next game!

Am I the only DM/Referee who "discovers" his world rather than creating it?

Combat Charts for my OD&D Campaign

Armor class in OD&D

I have no real idea as to the history of Armor Class in the "alternate" combat system in OD&D... why it goes from 2 to 9, for example, rather than 1 to 8.  We had a copy of chainmail, but never used the original combat system out of it.  I only played OD&D for a year or two as a kid before AD&D came out, and we made the switch.  When it came out, I embraced THAC0 as a great little innovation for simplifying things for players and DM alike.

Now that I've been running an OD&D campaign for about a year, and again using the combat charts from LBB 1 (Men and Magic), I find myself wanting to simplify things.  THAC0?  Nah.  As I make changes to the rules, I'm trying to make them better support the gameworld I've created.  In that world, normal humans are the dominant race, so the rules should be based on what normal humans do; with modifiers added as PCs level up.  If I recall correctly, zero level men-at-arms attacked as 1st level fighters.  I don't like that, since I've already added zero-level play to my rules.  Here is the original Men Attacking chart:

And here is the Monsters Attacking chart:

Instead, add one to the first column in Men Attacking, and you get a required "to hit" roll of 18 for Plate Armor & Shield.  That is what it takes a zero-level character to hit in my game.  Therefore, make 18 the AC value rather than 2.

Now the chart looks like this:

We can see clearly here that a shield improves armor class by one.  Should someone opt to use two shields, they won't be able to attack, but will improve their AC by two.  In the same way, I'll allow a character to parry with his weapon instead of attacking, and that will also improve AC by one.

To account for the improvements gained when leveling up, we use a "combat bonus" based on the improvements in the Men Attacking table:  +1 for levels 1-3, +3 for levels 4-6, +6 for level 7-9, +8 for levels 10-12, +10 for levels 13-15, and +13 for level 16 and above.  Of course this is just for fighters.  Clerics progress at 4 levels per group, and mages at 5 levels per group.  Adventurers and thieves in my campaign fight as clerics, so here's the Combat Bonus Table:

To compare, lets look at a 5th level fighter attacking an opponent wearing chainmail & shield.  Per the LLB chart above, we'd cross-reference the AC of Chainmail & Shield (AC=4) with the column labeled 4-6, and find that he needs to roll a 13 or better.  Using my charts, we know that Chainmail & Shield is an AC of 16, and a 5th level fighter has a combat bonus of +3.  Therefore, any roll of 13 or better would still be a hit.

To account for Monsters Attacking, their combat bonus will simply be their HD from now on, with any modifiers pushing them up to the next value, and 11 being the maximum bonus.  This eliminates the need for the second table.

This won't be an exact match to the old tables, especially for monsters attacking, but I like the way it works, so as of today, that's how combat in my game will work.  Hopefully, actual play-testing won't reveal some terrible bug I haven't thought of!

Further modifications to my OD&D... Hit Dice changes

As I modify the rules of what I'll continue to call my OD&D game, I've decided to change the hit dice progressions away from what is found in the LBBs and Supp 1.

Here is how the new hit dice progressions look:

As a character moves up a level, he will roll the total number of dice shown... and if the number rolled is higher than his current total hit points, he'll use the new total.  For example, a 3rd level thief with 11 hit points makes it to 4th level.  The player rolls 4d6, as shown.  If he rolls higher than an 11, he gets the new total; otherwise he keeps the 11.

For Mages, a d5 will be simulated as follows:  roll a d6, rerolling if a 6 appears.

In addition, characters with a 15 or better constitution can add a +1 per level to their score; and Fighters and Adventurers with an 18 constitution can add +2 per level to their score.

*From this point forward, a character's constitution bonus is frozen, and a cumulative addition as shown is added to the roll of the dice.  For example, a player with a Cleric attaining 12th level with a 16 constitution would roll 10d6 (tenth level) +10 (Cumulative but frozen constitution bonus) +2 (11th level) +2 (12th level).  If this sum were higher than the current hit point total, the cleric would use the new, higher total; otherwise would remain at the previous hit point total.

As with all modifications I attempt; we'll see how this plays out in the game...

Adventurer Class Update

In December, I posted about a new class I'm using in my OD&D campaign, the Adventurer.  Thanks again to James Mishler for the inspiration!  One of my players read it over, and opted to make one of his characters an Adventurer when he leveled up from zero.  He pointed out one thing I've mentioned at my table about fighters and wanted to know if it would apply here... I allow Fighters one attack per level when fighting creatures with less than full hit die.  His question was whether I was going to give the Adventurer that ability as well.  

The answer is yes, but as with most other abilities, the adventurer won't be as good at it as a straight up fighter.  Instead, he'll get one attack per level divided by 2, rounded up... like this:

As we play, I'll keep an eye on the adventurer, to see if anything else needs tweaked.

2014 Gaming Goals

I posted my 2013 Gaming Goals back on 23 Dec 12.  How did I do?  Well, the first goal was to run my Traveller game at least monthly... FAIL - I only ran 7 games!  The second goal was to start my OD&D campaign... SUCCESS - I ran about a dozen games.  Third goal was to start running OD&D with another group, not made up of my son's friends:  FAIL.  My final gaming goal was to do a better job blogging, both in terms of frequency and length/content... PARTIAL SUCCESS - Overall blog count was up, but I slacked off after the school year started, so frequency fell to zero.  Not so hot, 2013!


For 2014, my gaming goals are as follows:

• Run at least 26 sessions with my current gaming group, including both my OD&D and Traveller campaigns 
• Blog at least thrice weekly, all year long 
• Create a "players' guide" to my OD&D world, and print it for each of my players 
• Start a second group in my OD&D campaign, with a group of coworkers/friends 
• Host non-RPG game nights to try out some other games 

What are YOUR gaming goals for 2014?

A New Class for My OD&D Game

I owe special thanks to James Mishler, for the “Vancian Adventurer” he described at his blog, Adventures in Gaming v2.

Since I mentioned his article to my players, I’ve been asked several times when it would be available to them… and I told them it would be ready for our 22 Dec 13 game.  I’ve taken the Vancian Adventurer he created, and modified it to fit better with OD&D and my own house rules.  This is really just a first draft, and will likely be changed as I see how it works out during our games.

Here it is!

The Adventurer

The adventurer class is an alternative to the standard classes, and allows a player to run a character best described as a “jack of all trades, master of none.”  The adventurer will not be the best at fighting, nor at spellcasting, nor at thievery, but he will have abilities in all these areas!

Prime Requisite: None.

Minimum Ability Scores: None.

Racial Level Limits: Human Unlimited.

Hit Dice: Adventurers gain one hit die per level up to and including 9th level. Two hit points are gained per level after 9th, with Constitution modifiers no longer applicable

Armor: Any, however, armor use can cause issues when using magic spells or thieving abilities.

Fight As: Thief

Adventuring Abilities: An adventurer begins play at 1st level with the following abilities:

• All standard thief skills, but each is 5 points lower than the thief

• The ability to cast spells, along with a first level spell book containing four spells, and a Casting Rank of 1.

Saving Throws: An adventurer begins at 1st level with a base saving throw of 16 in all five categories. At 1st level he divides 8 points among the five to lower the scores; he may spend no more than 4 points on any one saving throw in this fashion. Every level thereafter the adventurer lowers two saving throw scores by 1 point each. Once a saving throw reaches 7, it can only be improved 1 point by applying both points for that level to that saving throw. No saving throw may be improved to better than 3.

Spell Casting: An adventurer can cast spells. Spells are cast at a level equal to the adventurer’s level.

If an adventurer has a low Intelligence score, he has a base chance of spell failure with each spell as follows:

• Int 3 = 10% chance of spell failure
• Int 4-6 = 5% chance of spell failure

If the adventurer casts a spell while wearing armor, there is a chance of spell failure. The chance is equal to any base spell failure chance plus 10% per point of defense the armor provides (not including magical bonuses) plus 5% per level of the spell, less 5% per adventurer level, less 5% per point of Intelligence bonus.

The adventurer begins play at 1st level with a spell book, containing Read Magic and three randomly chosen spells.  To determine the spells known, roll a d10 and consult the1st level spell table. If you re-roll a spell it means you were stiffed by your master and were taught one less spell.

The adventurer can only learn spells that are of a spell level equal to half his level rounded up. An adventurer must have a minimum Intelligence of 18 to learn 9th level spells, a minimum Intelligence of 17 to learn 8th level spells, and a minimum Intelligence of 16 to learn 7th level spells.

While Read Magic is not needed to determine an unknown spell contained within a spell book, its use is required in order to read and attempt to learn the new spell.  The adventurer must spend the usual time and gold to learn the spell, roll a Learn Spell check based on his Intelligence score, and if he learns it, he can thereafter memorize it. He can only learn spells by acquiring other spell books or by researching and recreating a spell (i.e., the bonus spell gained by choice at each level).

If an adventurer fails to learn a spell, he may attempt to learn that spell from another spell book after he has gained a level. Note that the Intelligence-based minimum and maximum spells known is not applicable to adventurers.

The adventurer does not need to memorize spells in order to cast them, but he must spend 5 minutes per spell level per spell studying his entire spell book each day in order to cast any spells that day.  This study enables the adventurer to cast any spell he knows as needed.  The adventurer can cast a total number of spell levels per day equal to his level plus his Intelligence bonus plus his Wisdom bonus plus his Casting Rank

An adventurer can attempt to cast a spell from a spell book.  If it is not the adventurer’s spell book, a Read Magic is required.  This requires one full round per level of the spell. The chance to successfully cast the spell is equal to the adventurer’s chance to learn a spell, plus 5% per level, minus 5% per spell level.  Casting a spell this way does not count against the adventurer’s daily total, but does erase the spell from the book as though it were a scroll.

Thieves Abilities: Adventurers possess all the basic thieving abilities at 1st level (but at 5 points lower each), and may advance in them as they gain levels.  The Adventurer does not gain the backstab ability.  An adventurer may wear armor while attempting thieving abilities, but suffers the usual penalties for doing so.

Advancement:   An adventurer chooses which of his abilities to improve upon as he gains experience.  Upon reaching a new level, the gained the adventurer may choose one of the following:

• Advance thief skills by 35 points total (for example, add 5 points to each of the seven thief skills); or
• Advance thief skills by 18 points total and learn one new spell of his choice of any level he can cast (provided he can find and hire a teacher); or
• Advance thief skills by 18 points total and increase his Cast Rank by 1; or
• Increase Cast Rank by 1 and gain one new spell of his choice of any level he can cast (provided he can find and hire a teacher); or
• Automatically learn two new spells of his choice of any level he can cast (provided he can find and hire a teacher); or
• Provided he can find a cleric to train him (usually requiring training, tithes, and certain spell casting knowledge, if not also adherence to dogma), he can gain the cleric’s turn and/or control undead ability as if he were a first level cleric; or
• Advance his clerical turn or control ability one rank and learn one new spell of his choice of any level he can cast (from among those taught by his temple)

Draft Mechanic for "Growing" Magic Items

I've been thinking further on the idea of making the majority of magic items in my OD&D campaign unique.  Here’s a draft mechanic I’ll be testing out in my game for weapons and armor.

Arms and armor, if finely crafted by an expert, MAY have a +1 bonus based purely on the extraordinary nature of the craftsmanship that went into their forging.  (This will depend on the cost of the item… such work requires the full attention of the smith and will cost no less than ten times the usual amount for the item.)  When a character begins to use such an item (whether or not it has a bonus), I'll keep track of the combat experience gained during its use, with the item earning an amount equal to 1/4 of that earned by the character.  (If the item is intelligent, such as a magical sword, it will gain experience at 1/2 the rate of its wielder, like an NPC, including experience earned for treasure.)  The trigger events can take place any time AFTER the requisite amount of experience has been earned.  Magical Attacks are “survived” only if both the item and the wielder make their save.  Heroic Actions must be combat-related, appropriate to the level of the wielder, and played out in game.

These charts show how these items can level up:

Arms Table:

Armor Table:

In addition, these items CAN earn experience from treasure in one way:  the treasure in question must be spent specifically to non-magically enhance the item in question.  For example, decorating the item with gems or precious metals would count, but treasure spent to pay for further enchantments would not!

It should also be noted that magic arms and armor found as treasure must also become attuned to their wielders.  Those powers that work by default (for example combat bonuses) will become available one at a time for every 100 experience the item earns with the wielder, while those that require a command word will have to be discovered through character research and action!  Magical items found can be improved over time through experience using the above tables, but experience earned must be great enough to have “created” the item in the first place (so raising a found +2 sword to +3 would require it to first earn 200 to fully attune to the wielder, and then 3000 more experience and a Heroic Action .

Final thoughts:  This method will be very slow, since the item earns experience far more slowly than a player character would.  This is NOT meant to replace the usual magic item research and creation process by spell-casters, but to provide an in-game alternate method based on the actions of the characters!

A Great Week of Gaming!

Last week was a great week of gaming for our group!  On Monday, I ran my Star Clans Traveller game at V's house.  This was the first time at other than my house for this campaign.  V's older sister, L3, is home for the summer, and joined us as a new player.  V's Dad is around my age, and would have joined us, but he felt the table was too full.  Instead, he stood by commenting (both to me privately and to the players) and generally having a good time with us.  He was a big player of Traveller in college, so maybe next time, M2?

On Tuesday, I ran my OD&D game at my house.  For that game, I made two rule changes.  Since I recently found and downloaded a .pdf of Supplement I (Greyhawk), I converted the thieves to those rules.  I had been using Jimm Johnson's house rules for the thief class from his Planet Eris.  Of course, we've only had thieves for a few sessions, since it took most players far longer than I expected to level up from zero!  The other change I made was to do away with the OD&D experience awards in favor of trying out Alexis Smolensk's experience system from his "The Tao of D&D."  I liked it a lot, and several players commented in favor of it as well.  You can read about it in Alexis' own words here, but the short take is that you get 10 xp for every point of damage you cause, and 20 xp for every point of damage you take; and the party as a whole gets an equal share of another 20 xp per for all the damage the party suffered as a whole.  I'll use this system for a few more games and see how it goes, but at first blush I think it'll be a keeper for my OD&D campaign.

On Wednesday, we went to S's house (she normally Skypes in from college but she, too, is home for the summer), and my son ran his 2nd edition AD&D game.  M's game is the only one I play in, and I'm having lots of fun playing my rogue, Corrin Aledrinker.  We had no luck getting S's Dad to play (he's also right around my age), even though he played years ago... but we'll keep trying!

All-in-all, lots of fun last week!

Back to OD&D

We played in my son's game a few times, and then in my Traveller game a few times, and now I've been asked to run my OD&D again for this Friday night... Not too big a deal, I've been running the Milburn Hall campaign with the dice leading the way.  Encountered orcs on the road to Kemper Village?  Guess what, their village is just a few miles away, and they see you as easy marks:  instant recurring encounter with orcs manning a new toll-gate.  Encountered a roc a little further north on the same journey to Kemper Village?  Well, I now know they inhabit the mountains to the east of the road.  Shot and killed a centaur in Kemper village?  Hmmm... wonder what THAT might lead to... Oh, and those kobolds in the underground lair near Milburn Hall?  You never finished them off...

Yeah, there's LOTS to keep us busy this Friday night, but I'll put in a few hours prep this week leading up to the game, just so I can be ready for whatever the players OR the dice throw at me!

2013 Gaming Goals

Tim, over at Gothridge Manor, asked this question the other day, "So now the world is not ending, what game are you hoping to get into this year?  What gaming goal, if you have one, would you like to accomplish?"

My gaming goals for 2013 are several... First, I want to run my Star Clans Traveller game at least monthly.  This will probably be the tough one, since the current players are my son's high school marching band friends, a group of young people with very little free time!  Second, I want to finally start the OD&D campaign that's been floating around in my head since summer.  I may actually run two groups there, my son's friends, and a group on the Air Force base where I work.  There's a nice cafeteria/lounge area that's available in the evenings, and I know of several folks there who might be interested.

Finally, I WILL do a better job of posting on my blog(s), both in terms of frequency, and length/content!

My OD&D (LBB) Sandbox

I've been mulling it over for a while, promising my son, and now some others, that I'd be ready to run a new campaign world soon...

Lot of ideas floating around in my head.  Here's a detail free list of some of them...


Citta (The World City) and The Outside Inn
Tesseracts, Klein bottles, and Mobius Strips
Portals, Gates, Windows and Doorways
Space Travel, Time Travel, Mutants and Aliens
Primordial Gods, Forgotten Gods, Missing Gods, New Gods and Dead Gods
Golden Ages, Apocalypses and Post-Apocalyptic Ages
Cursed Lands, Blessed Realms, Parallel Worlds and Skew
Memory, Masks, Dreams and Nightmares
Eternity, Stagnation and Change
Birth, Life, Sleep, Disease, Madness, Death and Rebirth
Swords and Sorcery

Ann Rice, M.A.R. Barker, Gary Gygax, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Arthur C. Clarke, to name a few...

Hexmapping

Have been working on an OD&D (LBB) campaign world, and was at a loss as to the best size for a campaign map hex... came across this gem of an article:  In-praise-of-6-mile-hex.  Using 6 mile hexes, with (when necessary) half-mile sub-hexes, and 72 mile superhexes should work out very well!