#Greyhawk Grognard

[bc-johnson]

IP Freely

One of the really interesting things about this WotC / OGL thing (if it ends up coming to pass), is how it exposes a way they’ve shot themselves in the foot. I mean, other than the obvious.

Since you can’t copyright game mechanics (though I’m sure they’ll try to sue everyone anyway), D&D has two things remaining: brand recognition, and IP.

Their brand recognition is going to be the real hurdle, because it’s stronger now than anytime in the past, really. They’re about as close to mainstream as they’ve ever been. They got a Chris Pine movie coming out. They’re in the “generic” phase of popularity, where “playing D&D” is shorthand for the entire tabletop experience in all but the minds of the nerdliest of nerds (I include myself in this group, Deadlands4Ever!).

I’m not sure surmounting the brand recognition is possible for any new game (at least not on a short time scale), which is where the battle is going to be fought. Pathfinder has the strongest play, probably, if they can survive the legal fees they’re about to be assailed with. Sounds like Kobold Press is making some moves, too, and more power to them. Good luck, everyone.

However, WotC could have had an enormous second weapon in their arsenal, one they’ve systematically dismantled since around 3rd edition: their IP. Nowadays, I doubt many new players know anything about the D&D IP, and I don’t mean that in a grognard / gatekeepy way. I mean, the company used 3rd, 4th, and much of 5th (with exceptions) to wipe their own IP away in the name of ease of use. Which obviously worked for them - they clearly have the new player base they were looking for.

But, believe it or not, D&D used to have big iconic characters. Elminster and Tanis Half-Elven and the Dragon of Tyr. Fiction books on the best seller list. Spinoff game lore books in the dozens about each setting, packaged in full boxes with maps. Branded video games that introduced huge groups of non-dice rollers to places like Baldur’s Gate and Sigil. They had a mainstream Saturday morning cartoon show, for chrissakes.

Somewhere around 3e, though (when WotC took over), they started to seem embarrassed of their own IP. They released fewer novels, they alienated their own authors. They stopped making campaign settings (leaving 3rd parties to occasionally do it, but with little support or marketing), letting Dragonlance, Spelljammer, PlaneScape, Dark Sun, and Ravenloft wither on the vine. Generic Fantasy World A and B became the primary setting (Greyhawk in name only for 3e, the wildly beige “Points of Light” setting for 4e).

They certainly stopped trying to make movies or cartoons with their IP. Video games set in D&D worlds became thin on the ground, mostly just a half-hearted MMO no one remembers.

Why wasn’t there a Drizzt movie or cartoon? According to Telegram, the character sold 35 million novels and was on the New York Times Best Seller list dozens of times.

5e tried to make a course-correction. In the rulebooks, you started to see names like “Bruenor Battlehammer” in rules examples instead of the generic “Tordek” and “Mialee.” Curse of Strahd was probably the strongest IP exercise, single-handedly resurrecting Ravenloft and one of the brand’s most iconic villains for millions of new players.

But even these attempts have been lacking any real teeth. Ravenloft eventually got an anemic “Van Richten’s Guide” fully five years after Curse of Strahd became popular, a book that lacked sufficient detail for a true campaign setting - or sufficient flavor to excite newcomers. Dark Sun remains on a shelf. Dragonlance only recently started getting attention, but even those books have been premade campaigns pretending to be campaign settings. Spelljammer is probably their most notable effort in 5e, which actually came with multiple setting books, probably a callback to the heyday of Spelljammer (when D&D loved introducing you to new worlds).

But this isn’t about campaign setting books, though that shit contributes.

It’s more that WotC spent the past two and a half decades making D&D as generic as humanly possible, without all of the flavor and characters of their most interesting settings, and burying all of their actually valuable IP.

And now that people are looking to jump ship, the company has nothing more than branding to lean on.

I hate to say “I told you so,” but, well, shit. Turns out all those cool stories and settings hundreds of people worked on and millions of people loved had some value or whatever.

[fortheking16]

The Life and Travels of Obmi — Greyhawk Grognard

The Life and Travels of Obmi — Greyhawk Grognard

I make no bones about the fact that Lord Obmi the dwarf is one of my favorite characters in the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting. His combination of cunning and ruthlessness, plus his occasional flashes of humor, really appeal to me as qualities of a great villain. The Life and Travels of Obmi

[oldschoolfrp]

Greyhawk is a fun world to visit but the published version can be too big for players or DMs to grasp all at once.  Back in February 2012 Greyhawk Grognard posted a useful breakdown of 5 “Natural Campaign areas in Greyhawk” and marked them on Dᴀʀʟᴇɴᴇ’s map.  Each one has its own varied geography and their own internal and external political tensions.  Some actually were different early campaigns that were patched together to make the bigger world.  Any one of these would be a good place to start with a local focus then expand outward.

[thelibraryghost]

Dungeons & Dragons: A Reference List

Artwork and artists Ahmed, Saladin. "Saladin's Sundrarium: Five Iconic 1st Edition AD&D Illustrations Proving David A. Trampier Is One of the Best Fantasy Artists of All Time." Tor.com. September 28, 2011. <https://www.tor.com/2011/09/28/saladins-sundrarium-five-iconic-1st-edition-adad-illustrations-proving-david-a-trampier-is-one-of-the-best-fantasy-artists-of-all-time/> Appelcline, Shannon. Designers & Dragons: The '70s. USA: Evil Hat Productions, 2014. Bloch, Joseph. "Jeff Dee is Doing Something AWESOME." Greyhawk Grognard. November 9, 2011. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2011/11/09/jeff-dee-is-doing-something-awesome/> Maliszewski, James. "Dave Sutherland and the Birth of the D&D Esthetic." Grognardia. April 30, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/04/dave-sutherland-and-birth-of-d-esthetic.html> Maliszewski, James. "Excelsior!" Grognardia. January 9, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/01/excelsior.html> Maliszewski, James. "More Greg Bells Swipes." Grognardia. September 3, 2012. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2012/09/more-greg-bell-swipes.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Mighty Marvel Method." Grognardia. April 26, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/04/mighty-marvel-method.html> Rients, Jeff. "The Dungeonpunk Question." Jeffs Gameblog. January 1, 2007. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2007/01/dungeonpunk-question.html> Timrod. "Art of the MM: DCS Black Leg Syndrome." Cave of the Dice Chucker. June 20, 2013. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2013/06/art-of-mm-dcs-black-leg-syndrome.html> Timrod. "Art of the Monster Manual Part II." Cave of the Dice Chucker. June 21, 2013. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2013/06/art-of-monster-manual-part-ii.html> Witwer, Michael, et al. eds. Art & Arcana: A Visual History. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2018.

  B2: Keep on the Borderlands Collins, Daniel R. "B2 Used d6 Hit Dice." Delta's D&D Hotspot. January 8, 2009. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2009/01/b2-used-d6-hit-dice.html> Denada. "[Let's Read] Module B2 - Keep on the Borderlands." Penny Arcade Forums. June 2012. <https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/161734/lets-read-module-b2-keep-on-the-borderlands> JB. "The Secret of the Keep on the Borderlands." B/X Blackrazor. August 30, 2011. <https://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2011/08/secret-of-keep-on-borderlands.html> Jeffro. "Keep on the Borderlands: Things Gary Gygax Never Told You." Jeffro's Space Gaming Blog. December 5, 2011. <https://jeffro.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/keep-on-the-borderlands-things-gary-gygax-never-told-you/> Zenopus. "Caves of Chaos revealed." Zenopus Archives. November 29, 2011. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2011/11/caves-of-chaos-revealed.html> Zenopus. "Gygax on B2." Zenopus Archives. <https://sites.google.com/site/zenopusarchives/home/modules-and-scenarios/b2-keep-on-the-borderlands/gygax-on-b2>

C1: Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan Bloch, Joseph. "Harold Johnson on the Mythology Behind Tamoachan." Greyhawk Grognard. April 25, 2012. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2012/04/25/harold-johnson-on-mythology-behind/> Collins, Daniel R. "Tip-Offs in Tamoachan." Delta's D&D Hotspot. October 2, 2017. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2017/10/tip-offs-in-tamoachan.html> DHBoggs. "Locating Tamoachan in Greyhawk." Hidden in Shadows. December 2020. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2020/12/locating-tamoachan-in-greyhawk.html> Scottsz. "C1-2: Levels, Strength, and Tournaments." Cold Text Files. May 4, 2011. <https://web.archive.org/web/20110813201957/http://coldtextfiles.blogspot.com/2011/05/c1-part-2.html> Character classes Bloch, Joseph. "On Barbarians and their Ilk." Greyhawk Grognard. June 25, 2014. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2014/06/25/on-barbarians-and-their-ilk/> Collins, Daniel R. "Class Trouble I: Thieves." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 11, 2007. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/03/class-trouble-1-thieves.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Class Trouble II: Clerics." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 11, 2007. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2007/03/class-trouble-ii-clerics.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Origins of Thieves Using Scrolls - Commentary." Delta's D&D Hotspot. May 20, 2011. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/05/origins-of-thieves-using-scrolls.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Those Blasted Clerics." Delta's D&D Hotspot. February 21, 2008. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2008/02/those-blasted-clerics.html> DHBoggs. "Clerics of Blackmoor." Hidden in Shadows. July 2015. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2015/07/clerics-of-blackmoor.html> DHBoggs. "Turn Undead – are we getting it wrong?" Hidden in Shadows. August 2014. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2014/08/turn-undead-are-we-getting-it-wrong.html> Jacobs, Jonathan. "The New Cleric is the Old Cleric (Part 1)." The Core Mechanic. November 11, 2008. <https://thecoremechanic.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-cleric-is-old-cleric-part-1.html> Maliszewski, James. "Idea Spawned by a Rules Oddity." Grognardia. July 2, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/07/idea-spawned-by-rules-oddity.html> Maliszewski, James. "The 'Real' Ranger." Grognardia. May 8, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-trouble-with-ranger.html> Paul. "Turning Through the Ages." Paul's Gameblog. November 18, 2011. <https://www.paulsgameblog.com/2011/11/18/turning-through-the-ages/> Rients, Jeff. "The Paladin Problem, part 1." Jeffs Gameblog. May 15, 2007. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2007/05/paladin-problem-part-1.html> Smith, Bret. "The Paladin (Part 1A)." The Grumblin' Grognard. December 15, 2008. <https://grumblingrognard.blogspot.com/2008/12/paladin-part1a.html> Zenopus. "Halflings as the Rangers of Basic." Zenopus Archives. June 10, 2014. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/06/hobbits-as-rangers-of-basic.html> Dungeon philosophy Anne. "XP for Exploration - Maps, Monster Drawings, and More!" DIY & Dragons. August 16, 2020. <https://diyanddragons.blogspot.com/2020/08/xp-for-exploration-maps-monster.html> Bloch, Joseph. "Megadungeon-Based Game Mechanics." Greyhawk Grognard. February 19, 2014. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2014/02/19/megadungeon-based-game-mechanics/> Bloch, Joseph. "What makes a megadungeon?" Greyhawk Grognard. June 1, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/06/01/what-makes-megadungeon/> Collins, Daniel R. "DMG Appendix A." Delta's D&D Hotspot. August 6, 2010. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/08/dmg-appendix.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Dungeon Geomorphs." Delta's D&D Hotspot. August 4, 2010. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/08/dungeon-geomorphs.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Reasons Your Dungeon is Unspoiled." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 25, 2016. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2016/03/reasons-your-dungeon-is-unspoiled.html> Grohe, Allan. "grodog's Greyhawk Castle Archive - Source Details (Chronological)." Greyhawk Online. <http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_castle_sources_details.html> Maliszewski, James. "Above Ground 'Dungeons.'" Grognardia. December 2, 2008. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/12/above-ground-dungeons.html> Maliszewski, James. "General Rules for Dungeon Designers." Grognardia. March 2, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/03/general-rules-for-dungeon-designers.html> Maliszewski, James. "More OD&D Tidbits." Grognardia. July 22, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/07/more-od-tidbits.html> Maliszewski, James. "Old School Dungeon Design Guidelines." Grognardia. February 20, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/02/old-school-dungeon-design-guidelines.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Problem with Dungeons." Grognardia. September 14, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-problem-with-dungeons.html> Melan. "Dungeon layout, map flow and old school game design." EN World. July 15, 2006. <https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeon-layout-map-flow-and-old-school-game-design.168563/> Spalding, Oakes. "The Dungeon as Mythic Underworld." Save Versus All Wands. May 31, 2017. <https://saveversusallwands.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-dungeon-as-mythic-underworld.html> Zenopus. "Gygax's Dungeon Level from Hall of Many Panes." Zenopus Archives. December 11, 2017. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/12/gygaxs-dungeon-level-from-hall-of-many.html> Zenopus. "Gygaxian Two-Way Secret Doors." Zenopus Archives. February 13, 2020. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2020/02/gygaxian-two-way-secret-doors.html> Edition comparisons Claveau, Dominic. "3 Reasons why D&D 5e is good but not great." Anadiel's Black Book. July 22, 2020. <https://anadielblackbook.wordpress.com/2020/07/22/3-reasons-why-dd-5e-is-good-but-not-great/> Collins, Daniel R. "3E Feats Have One Flaw." Delta's D&D Hotspot. October 10, 2008. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2008/10/3e-feats-have-one-flaw.html> Cone, Jason. "Philotomy's Musings." Classic Edition Fantasy Resources. 2007. <https://www.grey-elf.com/philotomy.pdf> Jacobs, Jonathan. "10 House Rules to Make Grognards Like 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons." The Core Mechanic. March 17, 2009. <https://thecoremechanic.blogspot.com/2009/03/10-house-rules-to-make-grognards-like.html> Jacobs, Jonathan. "The Pros of the New 'D&D Encounters' from Wizards of the Coast." The Core Mechanic. January 29, 2010. <https://thecoremechanic.blogspot.com/2010/01/pros-of-new-d-encounters-from-wizards.html> Maliszewski, James. "Adventure Planning à la Mentzer." Grognardia. November 20, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/11/adventure-planning-la-mentzer.html> Maliszewski, James. "Hit Points: OD&D vs Greyhawk." Grognardia. November 12, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/11/hit-points-od-vs-greyhawk.html> Maliszewski, James. "Kiddie D&D." Grognardia. March 16, 2010. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/03/kiddie-d.html> Maliszewski, James. "On the Loss of D&D's Endgame." Grognardia. March 27, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-loss-of-d-endgame.html> Maliszewski, James. "Save or Die, Part III." Grognardia. July 9, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/07/save-or-die-part-iii.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Enduring Appeal of Basic D&D." Grognardia. January 18, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-enduring-appeal-of-basic-d.html> Maliszewski, James. "What's the Point of Ability Scores? (Part I)." Grognardia. May 14, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/05/whats-point-of-ability-scores-part-i.html>

GDQ1–7: Queen of the Spiders Bailey, R. Nelson. "Origins of the Drow in Dungeons & Dragons." Dungeoneers Guild Games. November 30, 2019. <https://www.dungeoneersguildgames.com/single-post/2019/11/30/origins-of-the-drow-in-dungeons-dragons> Bloch, Joseph. "Lolth and the Keys." Greyhawk Grognard. October 5, 2019. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2019/10/05/lolth-and-the-keys/> Bloch, Joseph. "Lolth in 'Vault of the Drow.'" Greyhawk Grognard. July 13, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/07/13/lolth-in-vault-of-drow/> Bloch, Joseph. "More on Eclavdra's Motives." Greyhawk Grognard. July 29, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/07/29/more-on-eclavdras-motives/> Bloch, Joseph. "The Elder Elemental God and the Hill Giants." Greyhawk Grognard. December 3, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/12/03/the-elder-elemental-god-and-hill-giants/> Bloch, Joseph. "Thoughts on the Elder Elemental God." Greyhawk Grognard. June 10, 2008. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2008/06/10/thoughts-on-elder-elemental-god/> Bloch, Joseph. "Thoughts on the Frost and Fire Giants (and Stone Giants, too!)." Greyhawk Grognard. December 5, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/12/05/thoughts-on-frost-and-fire-giants-and/> Collins, Daniel R. "D-Series Map Mysteries." Delta's D&D Hotspot. May 1, 2014. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2014/05/d-series-map-mysteries.html> Collins, Daniel R. "More Drow Tactics (Module D1)." Delta's D&D Hotspot. June 17, 2013. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2013/06/more-drow-tactics-module-d1.html> Collins, Daniel R. "More on Gygax's Drow." Delta's D&D Hotspot. April 25, 2013. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2013/04/more-on-gygaxs-drow.html>

Monsters Bailey, R. Nelson. "Appendix N Connection: The Origin of Shadows in the D&D Game." Dungeoneers Guild Games. April 1, 2020. <https://www.dungeoneersguildgames.com/single-post/2020/04/01/appendix-n-connection-the-origin-of-shadows-in-the-dd-game> Collins, Daniel R. "Ghouls Through the Ages." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 5, 2012. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2012/03/back-from-dead.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Mummies Through the Ages." Delta's D&D Hotspot. October 30, 2017. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2017/10/mummies-through-ages.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Wraiths Through the Ages." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 9, 2012. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2012/03/wraiths-through-ages.html> Jacobs, Jonathan. "Extending Gygaxian Naturalism I (or Directed Graph Theory for Monster Ecology)." The Core Mechanic. October 3, 2008. <https://thecoremechanic.blogspot.com/2008/10/extending-gygaxian-naturalism-i-or.html> Maliszewski, James. "Alternate Humanoids." Grognardia. October 19, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/10/alternate-humanoids.html> Maliszewski, James. "Early Pictorial History of the Drow." Grognardia. June 19, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/06/early-pictorial-history-of-drow.html> Maliszewski, James. "Gygaxian 'Naturalism.'" Grognardia. September 4, 2008. <http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/09/gygaxian-naturalism.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Original Monster." Grognardia. October 7, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/10/the-original-monster.html> Paul. "Oozes through the Ages: Gray Ooze." Paul's Gameblog. December 21, 2011. <https://www.paulsgameblog.com/2011/12/21/oozes-through-the-ages-gray-ooze/> Rients, Jeff. "The Incomplete Pictorial History of the Bulette." Jeffs Gameblog. November 17, 2005. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2005/11/incomplete-pictorial-history-of.html> Smith, Bret. "Monstrous Discussions: What is an Orc?" The Grumblin' Grognard. December 30, 2008. <https://grumblingrognard.blogspot.com/2008/12/monstrous-discussions-what-is-orc.html> Smolensk, Alexis. "Changes in Experience." The Tao of D&D. January 22, 2009. <https://tao-dnd.blogspot.com/2009/01/changes-in-experience.html> Zenopus. "Gygaxian Orc Tribes." Zenopus Archives. October 4, 2016. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/10/gygaxian-orc-tribes.html> Zenopus. "Ochre Jelly Inspiration?" Zenopus Archives. August 29, 2018. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/08/ochre-jelly-inspiration.html> Published settings and setting elements Bloch, Joseph. "End-Game Implications." Greyhawk Grognard. April 6, 2010. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2010/04/06/end-game-implications/> Bloch, Joseph. "Greyhawk Design Principles." Greyhawk Grognard. September 3, 2018. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2018/09/03/greyhawk-design-principles/> Bloch, Joseph. "Greyhawk through the Ages." Greyhawk Grognard. April 15, 2014. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2014/04/15/greyhawk-through-ages/> Collins, Daniel R. "On Money." Delta's D&D Hotspot. March 30, 2010. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/03/on-money.html> Collins, Daniel R. "The Fallible Fiend." Delta's D&D Hotspot. April 10, 2017. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-fallible-fiend.html> DHBoggs. "Fitting the Great Kingdom onto the Flanaess." Hidden in Shadows. September 2020. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2020/09/fitting-great-kingdom-onto-flanaesse.html> DHBoggs. "How Big is Blackmoor?" Hidden in Shadows. May 2021. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2021/05/how-big-is-blackmoor.html> DHBoggs. "Mapping Greyhawk on Blackmoor." Hidden in Shadows. September 2019. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2019/09/mapping-greyhawk-on-blackmoor.html> DHBoggs. "Was Original Blackmoor a Greyhawk Campaign?" Hidden in Shadows. May 2020. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2020/05/was-original-blackmoor-greyhawk-campaign.html> Maliszewski, James. "Gygax's Inner Planes." Grognardia. May 7, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/05/gygaxs-inner-planes.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Implicit Christianity of Early Gaming." Grognardia. December 23, 2008. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/12/implicit-christianity-of-early-gaming.html> Maliszewski, James. "The OD&D Planes." Grognardia. December 23, 2008. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/12/od-planes.html> Maliszewski, James. "When Does D&D Take Place?" Grognardia. December 1, 2020. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2020/12/when-does-d-take-place.html> Rients, Jeff. "in defense of bog standard fantasy." Jeffs Gameblog. September 22, 2006. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2006/09/in-defense-of-bog-standard-fantasy.html> Rients, Jeff. "Languages in AD&D." Jeffs Gameblog. November 9, 2008. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2008/11/languages-in-ad.html> Rients, Jeff. "The Two Types of Fantasy Campaign." Jeffs Gameblog. October 4, 2005. <https://jrients.blogspot.com/2005/10/two-types-of-fantasy-campaign.html> Schick, Lawrence. "The 'Known World' D&D Setting: A Secret History." Black Gate. February 7, 2015. <https://www.blackgate.com/2015/02/07/the-known-world-dd-setting-a-secret-history/> Timrod. "Olde Greyhawke Mappe." Cave of the Dice Chucker. June 22, 2016. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2016/06/olde-greyhawke.html> Zenopus. "Locations for the Tomb of Horrors on the Great Kingdom Map." Zenopus Archives. October 26, 2018. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/10/locations-for-tomb-of-horrors-on-great.html> Zenopus. "Megarry's Copy of the Great Kingdom Map." Zenopus Archives. February 2, 2017. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/02/megarrys-copy-of-great-kingdom-map.html> Zenopus. "The City in the Lake of Unknown Depths." Zenopus Archives. December 8, 2016. <https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-city-in-lake-of-unknown-depths.html> Racism in D&D Barber, Graeme. "Decolonization and Integration in D&D." POCGamer. February 8, 2019. <https://pocgamer.com/2019/08/02/decolonization-and-integration-in-dd/> Garcia, Antero. "Privilege, Power, and Dungeons & Dragons: How Systems Shape Racial and Gender Identities in Tabletop Role-Playing Games." Mind, Culture, and Activity, Vol. 24, No. 3 (2017), pp. 232–246. Ghouse, Basheer. "The Truth of Colonialism in D&D." Fear The Swarth. February 28, 2020. <https://feartheswarth.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/the-truth-of-colonialism-in-dd/> Hoffer, Christian. "Why Orcs Are Problematic in Dungeons & Dragons." Comic Book. April 27, 2020. <https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-and-dragons-orcs-racist/> Jemisin, N. K. "From the Mailbag: The Unbearable Baggage of Orcing." Epiphany 2.0. February 13, 2013. <https://nkjemisin.com/2013/02/from-the-mailbag-the-unbearable-baggage-of-orcing/> Mendez Hodes, James. "Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror." James Mendez Hodes. January 14, 2019. <https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/1/13/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-i-a-species-built-for-racial-terror> Mendez Hodes, James. "Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part II: They're Not Human." James Mendez Hodes. June 30, 2019. <https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/6/30/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-ii-theyre-not-human> Olavsrud, Thor. "D&D, Torchbearer and Colonialism." Torchbearer. March 5, 2020. <https://www.torchbearerrpg.com/?p=905> Sturtevant, Paul B. "Race: the Original Sin of the Fantasy Genre." The Public Medievalist. December 5, 2017. <https://www.publicmedievalist.com/race-fantasy-genre/> Trammel, Aaron. "How Dungeons & Dragons Appropriated the Orient." Analog Game Studies. January 11, 2016. <https://analoggamestudies.org/2016/01/how-dungeons-dragons-appropriated-the-orient/>

Spells and spellcasting Bloch, Joseph. "Aaron Uses His Staff of the Serpent…" Greyhawk Grognard. April 22, 2011. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2011/04/22/aaron-uses-his-staff-of-serpen/> Collins, Daniel R. "Fireball Missing Area." Delta's D&D Hotspot. September 21, 2011. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/09/fireball-missing-area.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Spells Through the Ages – Damage Types." Delta's D&D Hotspot. August 9, 2012. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2012/08/spells-through-ages-damage-types.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Spells Through the Ages – Fireball." Delta's D&D Hotspot. July 25, 2011. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/07/spells-through-ages-fireball.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Spells Through the Ages – Levels." Delta's D&D Hotspot. May 7, 2010. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2010/05/spells-through-ages-levels.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Spells Through the Ages – Lightning Bolt." Delta's D&D Hotspot. August 1, 2011. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/08/spells-through-ages-lightning-bolt.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Vancian Magic is Mathematics." Delta's D&D Hotspot. April 16, 2020. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2020/04/vancian-magic-is-mathematics.html> DHBoggs. "Cleric Magic." Hidden in Shadows. July 2017. <https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2012/07/cleric-magic.html> Paul. "Spells Through the Ages: Cure Light Wounds." Paul's Gameblog. November 19, 2010. <https://www.paulsgameblog.com/2010/11/19/spells-through-the-ages-cure-light-wounds/> T1–4: Temple of Elemental Evil Bloch, Joseph. "DMing into the Depths of the Oerth, Part III 1/2." Greyhawk Grognard. July 13, 2008. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2008/07/13/dming-into-depths-of-oerth-part-iii-12/> Bloch, Joseph. "More on the Temple of Elemental Evil." Greyhawk Grognard. April 20, 2014. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2014/04/20/more-on-temple-of-elemental-evi/> Bloch, Joseph. "The Egg and I." Greyhawk Grognard. June 17, 2017. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2017/06/17/the-egg-and-i/> Bloch, Joseph. "Thoughts on Q2." Greyhawk Grognard. July 2, 2016. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2016/07/02/thoughts-on-q2/> Bloch, Joseph. "Was Zuggtmoy's Prison a Temple of the Eye?" Greyhawk Grognard. February 12, 2020. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2020/02/12/was-zuggtmoys-prison-a-temple-of-the-eye/> Collins, Daniel R. "Wandering Hommlet." Delta's D&D Hotspot. May 27, 2019. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2019/05/wandering-hommlet.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Welcome to the Temple of Elemental Evil." Delta's D&D Hotspot. July 1, 2016. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2016/07/welcome-to-temple-of-elemental-evil.html> Drexlorn. "Drexlorn's Temple of Elemental Evil Research Project." Dragonsfoot. August 24, 2012. <https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=57795> Maliszewski, James. "Retrospective: The Temple of Elemental Evil." Grognardia. October 28, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/10/retrospective-temple-of-elemental-evil.html> Maliszewski, James. "Retrospective: The Village of Hommlet." Grognardia. October 1, 2008. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/10/retrospective-village-of-hommlet.html> Scott. "Lolth and the Temple of Elemental Evil." Doomsday Message Boards. July 24, 2004. <https://doomsdaygames.proboards.com/thread/155> Timrod. "Back to the Moathouse: Lareth was a Paladin!" Cave of the Dice Chucker. September 14, 2011. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2011/09/back-to-moathouse-lareth-was-paladin.html> Timrod. "Demographics of Hommlet: the Spreadsheet." Cave of the Dice Chucker. August 27, 2020. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2020/08/demographics-of-hommlet-spreadsheet.html> Timrod. "DMG Sample Dungeon Part 4: Cult of the Fiery Eye or Palimpsest of Hommlet." Cave of the Dice Chucker. February 13, 2012. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2012/02/dmg-sample-dungeon-part-4-cult-of-fiery.html> Timrod. "Hommlet: Heart of a Village." Cave of the Dice Chucker. February 28, 2013. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2013/02/hommlet-heart-of-village.html> Timrod. "Moathouse Monday: Structural matters." Cave of the Dice Chucker. September 17, 2012. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2012/09/moathouse-monday-structural-matters.html> Timrod. "The Loquaciosness of Hommlet." Cave of the Dice Chucker. November 3, 2016. <https://unfrozencavemandicechucker.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-loquaciosness-of-hommlet.html> Wargaming Blacow, Glenn. "Aspects of Adventure Gaming." Different Worlds, Vol. 10 (October 1980). Collins, Daniel R. "A Compilation of D&D Miniature Scales." Delta's D&D Hotspot. November 7, 2011. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2011/11/compilation-of-d-miniature-scales.html> Collins, Daniel R. "Critiques of Chainmail." Delta's D&D Hotspot. December 19, 2008. <https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2008/12/critiques-of-chainmail.html> Maliszewski, James. "1972 Gygax Article." Grognardia. December 2, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/12/1972-gygax-article.html> Maliszewski, James. "A Father of Miniatures Wargaming?" Grognardia. January 25, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-father-of-miniatures-wargaming.html> Maliszewski, James. "The Miniatures Heritage of OD&D." Grognardia. October 13, 2009. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/10/miniatures-heritage-of-od.html> Maliszewski, James. "Wargaming and RPGs in Boys' Life." Grognardia. March 18, 2021. <https://grognardia.blogspot.com/2021/03/wargaming-and-rpgs-in-boys-life.html> Rustic313. "US Naval War College Museum: Wargaming Exhibits." Original D&D Discussion. January 7, 2019. <https://odd74.proboards.com/thread/13356/naval-college-museum-wargaming-exhibits> WG4: Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun Bloch, Joseph. "Thoughts on The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun." Greyhawk Grognard. April 12, 2018. <http://www.greyhawkgrognard.com/2018/04/12/thoughts-on-forgotten-temple-of/> Kasparian, Michael. "22 Questions on Tharizdun." Greyhawk Codex. <https://web.archive.org/web/20001013011548/http://www.greyhawk-codex.com/codex/greyhawk/religion/tharizdunq.htm> Ross, David. "Tharizdun." The House of Zimri. September 29, 1999. <https://web.archive.org/web/20011125054818/http://home.att.net/~david.r.ross/NightBelow/tharizdun.html> Scottsz. "Cold Text File WG4 - Afterword." Lord of the Green Dragons. May 23, 2010. <https://lordofthegreendragons.blogspot.com/2010/05/cold-text-file-wg4-afterword.html> Scottsz. "WG4-1: A Suspicious Introduction." Cold Text Files. May 3, 2011. <https://web.archive.org/web/20110813202540/http://coldtextfiles.blogspot.com/2011/05/wg4-part-1.html> 

[authorofdreams]

Sunday Reading - 2020/07/12

Today is the fifth Sunday after Pentecost and the Fifths Sunday of Matthew. It is the feast day of Holy Martyrs Proclus and Hilary of Ancyra Today’s Epistle is Romans.(10:1–10) Today’s Gospel is The the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. (8:28–9:1) Reading Rolls D4: ”You cannot have a meaningful camaign…” D6: ”if strict time records are not kept” While I agree with Jeffro about this rule creating an entirely different game, I would argue with him about this being “real D&D”. While it may have been Gygax’s strong conception for AD&D, by 1977, well before first edition Dungeon Master’s Guide appeared, every play style seen today already existed. You can see evidence of them in fanzines and magazines of the period. That said, ignoring this rule is the reason for a lot of rules changes in later editions. Even the “long rest cures all HP lost” in 5e is reflection of ignoring the time dimension of the game. Finally, Dungeon World includes most of the ideas of emergent setting Jeffro discusses. It doesn’t include random tables, but those are easy to find and could be used seemlessly. D8: Greyhawk Grognard on the Wizards disclaimer D12: Change.org petition to remove the Wizards disclaimer The way I see it, Wizards want it both ways. They put out this non-specific disclaimer on all 4e and earlier products. Thus any future istophobia is covered without giving up any profits from istophobic materials. Read the full article

[doctornecrotic]

Do you think Planescape will return in full?

I doubt it.  But hey, it was one of the most heavily requested settings, next to Spelljammer, Greyhawk and the like.  (Personally, I think Mystara needs its dues more than any of them!)  The team said they wanted to open things up.  Hell, teasers are all around!  PS centric monsters in various books, Commander Holly’s recorded games on the official YouTube, more references in DCA (in part thanks to Holly), and so on.

Though, I don’t think I’d enjoy whatever Wizards creates.  I’m not a fan of the post-shadowfell addition for Ravenloft, let alone most of the lore edits for 5E.  I sure as hell hate the post-4E tieflings that remain core.  And short of me being a grumpy old grognard, a lot of players won’t understand my take on the game sans the new additions…  So,I dunno.  If there’s updated crunch that I didn’t think of?  Cool, count me in!  Otherwise, I don’t entirely care.  At least I could craft up some old school flavored stuff on DM’s Guild, as WotC are a bunch of Clueless Primers.  That’s enough out of my rusty bone-box, hehe.  A sore wound will make me gripe like no one’s business and you didn’t need that.  But yeah, I think it’ll be leaked further in some capacity.  I’d imagine they’ll do some big adventure thingy that briefly touched on Sigil, like the Demonweb Pits adventure in 3.5 does.

[samiledom]

Failings and Flaws (Part 1) — Why D&D 5th Edition is bad

We’re starting off with a bang aren’t we? Seeing how criticizing the things people like makes them feel defensive, I find it might be best to open up with a disclaimer:

Regardless of the flaws your system has and how bad it actually is, that does not mean you cannot enjoy it!

It is a common, but mistaken notion that anything someone likes is absolute good and that it cannot be bad. In a future post I’ll tackle a system I actually love. Just to make things fair!

Enough procrastinating though, let’s see why I cannot stand D&D 5th edition and why I do not think it to be the renaissance of tabletop. I will be handling this chapter-by-chapter for the most part. There will be varying lengths as some chapters simply have more to talk about than others. I will keep foul language and vitriol to a minimum, but...

Let’s just say I’m passionate about a hobby I love.

 Chapter 1  Introduction

I was going to skip this because no one really reads these, but already we have a giant red flag. Skipping the bulk of racist references from Dark Sun, explanations of situations that the rules don’t account for, and other things, we place our focus right on the ‘Wonders of Magic’ section. Already we can see magic being placed on a rather high pedestal, while also being strangely outlined as “rare”.

Considering there are entire church organizations of clerics, schools of magic, and nearly every village having a hedge mage of some sort, I’d hardly call it rare. Uncommon, sure, but rare? Not in Greyhawk. The default setting is still Greyhawk, right? We’ll have to find that one out later.

I realize it sounds like a nitpick over language—and it is, to a degree—but the place where language matters the most is in the introduction! This is where you tell people what your system is about and describing a franchise that has long been about high magic and heroic fantasy as having a scarcity of magic (that is what “rare” means) shows a deep misunderstanding about it. This is actually integral to understanding D&D 5e’s failings and why, even if it is an okay game (and that’s being generous), it is a terrible iteration of D&D.

But let’s move on and ignore how this section contradicts itself. For sanity’s sake.

Chapter 1 (for real this time)

It is actually very rare for a section dedicated to making a character to have some severe flaw with it. Sometimes it’s a good example of how not to make a character, but that is not as common as one might think. Ultimately it comes down to a few things I’ve noticed as being treated as the default.

Such as rolling ability scores. It is honestly something I take a lot of umbrage with. You can harp on about how there is no ‘winning or losing’ in D&D, but let’s face it: people like to feel like they’re accomplishing things. When you introduce a stat rolling system as the primary means of finding out your attribute scores, you are potentially denying people that. It is possible for a highly mediocre character to accomplish things, but more often than not they end up either dying in an unsatisfying way or they end up having to get coddled. Which seems to defeat the purpose of rolling stats in the first place.

At the very least they still have point buy, but why is this not the default? Perhaps Mearls was wary due to the rather misplaced thought among the community that it’s for “min-maxers”, a common bogeyman among tabletop groups. A bogeyman I actually find absurd on its own, but that is a discussion for another time.

The only other thing that really stands out is that small change to “finesse” melee weapons and ranged weapons. That being Dexterity to both attack rolls and damage rolls. I have mixed opinions on this. Making things simpler is fine, but Dexterity is often considered a “god stat” due to how much it’s worth.

Well, there’s also the advancement table barely being helpful, but this is the flaw of making a system “modular”. Let’s keep going.

Chapter 2 : Races

Now we’re going to talk about races. I will refrain from being a “grognard” so to speak, but I will be looking at the mechanics of them closely.

I’m also going to ignore the constant use of “diversity” throughout this book. Diversity is good and desperately needed in the hobby, but the way it’s constantly signaled at feels like it’s trying to draw attention away from something. We already got a nice dose of some archaic 90s racism with the previous blurb about Dark Sun.

This isn’t a social issues blog, so I’ll keep that to a minimum.

Already it seems we are trying to appease both the “old” D&D crowds of pre-4e and the 4e crowds. At least people will be ecstatic to know that Gnomes are back to being a race in the core rulebook, but the raceplosion of 3.5 and 4e has still been dialed back. They often do that to sell more books, but it took a while for 5th edition to start truly releasing content compared to its predecessors. In fact, D&D 5e used to be so devoid of content and took so long to come out and presented such little information that on many boards it was considered to be vaporware.

I’ll confess to being one of those people and I still think that what we have gotten is a sign of a definite decline. However, tabletop as a hobby in general has been shrinking. It does that sometimes and the absolute wealth of specialized board games has been cutting into traditional RPGs quite heavily.

Anyways, I’m losing track of the topic here. Let’s see how 5th edition handles races.

First we have Dwarves. Or Dwarfs, if you prefer. No huge issues with their description, it’s typical and generic, but that’s the default. All I have to say is this:

What? Female Dwarves don’t have beards?

Joking aside, it’s very typical- hold up.

Darkvision got nerfed, huh? In older versions, Darkvision let you see within a threshold of darkness as if it were normal lighting. Now it only lets you see it as dim light. Interesting.

Racial combat bonuses against Giants and Goblins are gone. I would argue that this is a good thing as it separates culture from race and allows for things like dwarves who live in overworld urban centers who would probably not have this kind of combat training...

But then they still give them obviously cultural bonuses. Oof. I would argue that race and culture should be separate, but we can ignore the problems that arise from them being treated as similar and instead move onto Elves.

Who are still perfect. Good grief.

Nothing else- wait a moment. Darkvision? Now things are starting to make sense. It seems that Low-Light Vision from older versions and Darkvision have been pushed back together into something resembling Infravision from the AD&D days. Except a little less evocative. A weird change, but I guess we wanted to make things easier on new players and “sees farther in dim light” and “sees in darkness” are too complicated of distinctions.

Another curiosity is that racial penalties appear to be missing. This is definitely something of a hold over from 4e and I am fine with it. It’s a definite positive for people who might find an entire group of people being dumber to be offensive.

Now we are onto Halflings and what the hell is that?!

Ugh. Ugly design and art aside, let’s see. They try to avoid making the obvious faux pas that Halflings often have by making them nomadic thieves who travel on colorful wagons. You don’t get points if you guess what that’s a caricature of. In fact, they emphasize the default Halflings being Hobbits with the serial numbers filed off. This is what they originally were, so it’s a return to form of sorts.

They are even better at saving throws now. A reroll on a natural 1? With no daily limit? That’s fucking amazing. The Stout Halfling is also a rather clear winner here. Being survivable is valuable in D&D.

It’s time for Humans. Yawn. Not because Humans are dull, but it is very hard for a fantasy setting to make them exciting it seems. Either they are just the generic everyman or there is an almost uncomfortable and, dare I say, cringe level of “humanity fuck yeah!” to them. There is also a curious level of Forgotten Realms discussion in the blurb-

Wait. Is the default setting fucking Faerun? Did Mearls seriously, in the same breath, use Faerun as a base and then imply that D&D is low magic? Holy shit.

Moving on from my brief stint of acidic bile, we see that Humans are still the everyman. Big yawn. However, something draws my attention. Particularly that ‘variant rule’ box. Two piddling attribute score bonuses (but they can still be valuable increases, especially with a hard cap on stats) are nothing special, but proficiency in a skill (akin to 3.5′s free skill point) and a feat of their choice?

Given 5e’s feat design (we’ll be tackling that one later) that is a significant boon. In fact, it’s safe to say that humans are most likely one of the strongest races again. Some things never change.

Dragonborn are next. They essentially became the gateway furry race in 4e and it seems that we are keeping them here. Now, I don’t have a huge problem with Dragonborn, big dragon people are cool, but I can see how some people might have an issue with it, especially given their old and new lore. Whatever. We get a little blurb that people might be afraid of Dragonborn because your average peasant is kind of racist. Sure. Though I feel like if you are normalizing oddities like this enough for them to viable character options, only the most rural of folks would act like this.

Then again, probably not.

Their stats are typical and what you’d expect. There’s also a blurb about Draconians from Dragonlance now being evil Dragonborn. Okay? They say that they lack breath weapons and have unique spells instead, but they don’t say what these are so it’s an actual waste of fucking space to mention. There aren’t any subraces or actual variants, which is a bit egregious due to how different dragons are.

Now we are at Gnomes. I don’t like them. I find it funny how they have been downgraded from a core race to an unusual one. I also find it bizarre and I am curious about the reasoning behind it. People may find a sense of dread in the “Seeing the World” section outright saying that Gnomes tend to be obnoxious pieces of shit and I would agree with them.

Fuck Gnomes.

Mechanically speaking they are odd in that the base race barely applies anything at all whereas the subraces add in the vast bulk of it. All Gnomes are more intelligent than others, but for the most part it seems that they are keeping the differences between them significant. Which is fine.

Half-Elves are kind of whatever. No subraces, despite Elves being different from one another. Okay.

One of the most problematic races of them all, Half-Orcs, are still in. They’ve been a core thing for a while, but it can make some people uncomfortable. Whether it’s due to the typical circumstances of their birth or the near-alcoholic levels of urges to commit violence, they are worth a lot of complaints. You can tell good stories involving these, but it’s a hot topic that may not be worth tackling.

As usual they are oriented entirely towards hitting things good and being hard to kill. Halflings are more survivable though.

Now here’s something interesting: Tieflings, but no Aasimar. Surely with the subrace system an overall Half-Outsider with subraces involving the main planes would be better? I guess not. Oh well. Surely Mearls has used this subrace system to allow for Tieflings that have descended from different devilish lineages? No?

What a fucking waste of potential. Again. I really have nothing more to say about this.

They’re what you expect.

That’s about it for this post. The next one will pretty much be solely dedicated to classes. There’s a lot to go through there and this post is already painfully long. Long enough that I may break it up into two parts in the future. We’ll see. Until next time!

[nerdarchy-blog]

Twas the week of Christmas/Hanukkah and all through the… Oh, Hell, I can’t think of a fun rhyme. In any case, this time of year many gamers have visions of dice rolling through their heads. Hopefully you all avoid rolling 1’s (unless you’re playing Squad Leader).

My spouse is not a gamer, so my holidays were practically game free. As I’m an old grognard, I was around for first edition Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons  by TSR. One Christmas I received an amazing (for me) Christmas gift I didn’t expect. This is that story, so gather around the fire with your eggnog or whatever (I’ll have a Glenmorangie, please) and I’ll tell it.

The cover of Deities and Demigods features entities from various pantheons. [Art by Erol Otus]

Deities & Demigods

Back in 1980, AD&D was finally rolling. The Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide were available, as were a good amount of the legendary modules you’ve heard about in whispers around the tavern table from old timers like me. I grew up in a poor family in a dying foundry town outside of Philly, so Christmas wasn’t extravagant. However, that year I asked for a book my parents never heard of: the brand new Deities & Demigods book.

Deities and Demigods (hereafter DD) was an update of a book from the old Gods, Demi-Gods, and Heroes book from 1976 (which had a nekkid lady on the cover! Ooo!). The 144 page hardcover book detailed religions and such from the world as well as from popular fantasy novels.

I turned 14 in September 1980, and I was in 8th grade. By that point I was thoroughly in the grasp of hobby gaming. The money from my paper route was funneled into the tills of Strategy & Fantasy World in King of Prussia, Penn. and Coventry Hobbies in Phoenixville to feed my frenzy. I was playing regularly with two high school friends.

Anyway, back to the book. I saw it at S&F World and couldn’t afford it at the time, as I was buying gifts for friends. I put it at the top of my short Xmas list, pointing out where it could be found but not expecting it. After all, this was the time of the D&D Panic, where evangelicals were grasping their pearls about the game. Someone killed themselves at Michigan State and the parents blamed the game. My parents weren’t religious in any sense, but they were very conservative. If they’d heard about the “Panic” (and who hadn’t?) I’d be banned from playing.

Christmas morning dawned sunny and freezing cold. I remember three gifts for me under the tree. (I’m sure there were more.) The first was a model of the Starship Enterprise. There was a box of shortbread cookies… and DD!

Back then we’d go to my rich uncle’s place for Christmas dinner, but I spent as much time as I could poring over the tome. There were 16 different mythologies, but it was the three I’d never known about that intrigued me the most: Cthulhu, Melnibonean and Newhon. These were from series of novels by HP Lovecraft, Michael Moorcock and Fritz Leiber respectively. If nothing else, DD corrupted my young mind by introducing me to amazing fantasy authors I love to this day.

Two of the three sections caused issues. TSR thought Lovecraft’s work was public domain, and received permission from Moorcock to use Melnibonean (Elric and all that). Rival game company Chaosium owned a license for producing Cthulhu Mythos games from the copyright owner, as well as a license for the Melnibonean world. Oops! So after the first print run they added credit to Chaosium for use of the works. No, it wasn’t an intentional rip off. They simply didn’t know. See “seat of their pants” referenced later. In 1981 they dropped those two sections from the book, so first editions of this book, especially first printings are now prized collectors’ items. Mine has no such credits.

But I didn’t know about any of that. I was glad to have new monsters and ideas for the game. When I Dungeon Mastered I was quick to introduce monsters from the book like Vampire Trees, Newhon Ghouls, Salt Spiders and Shoggoths. Oh, they were too powerful?  Hey — I was 14! I thought it was the DM against the players! (I was soon set straight on that!)

Also, when I returned to school in January I brought the book with me to art class where I used some of a roll of brown paper (the one cheerleaders used to make banners) and made a book cover for DD. My other AD&D books were already showing wear and I intended to cover those as well, but never did. I still have them, and they’re in bad shape.

Now, 39 years later I still have the DD book. I haven’t seen its cover in all that time but I know it’s in great shape for two reasons — it has a tough cover (which I really intended to decorate but didn’t) and… I really didn’t use it that much. The other books saw heavy use, but not this one. Let’s face it, aside from paladins and clerics religion didn’t come up much in our campaigns, and my DM used Greyhawk gods (and so did I after running a campaign using Greek gods and goddesses.) To this day, I use Greyhawk mythology when DMing. That said, the inner cover has a little yellowing.

Now, TSR is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, which is a subsidiary of Hasbro. There are brand managers, focus groups and so on at Hasbro, maybe even for 5E D&D. But what I remember the most was the magic.

D&D was new then. We who played in the ’70s and ’80s felt like we were part of something, well, exclusive. You couldn’t find D&D just anywhere. You had to know where to look. Everything was chaotic, fresh, new… and fun! I got the impression everything was being run by the seat of their pants; an impression confirmed by my now friends who worked there at the time. Magic was not just part of the game, the game itself was the magic — transforming a small town socially awkward kid into a hero (I wasn’t out then) who performed legendary feats against horrible creatures!

Now, being all corporate, D&D may still have the ability to carry one away… but for me it just doesn’t have that magic.

Here is a gallery of my brown paper covered copy of Deities & Demigods:

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Front cover

Inside front cover

Credits page

Interior page

Info for this piece was sourced from BBC News, from Jim Ward’s Facebook posts, Wikipedia and my own noggin. No copyright infringement is intended.

D&D has been bringing holiday joy to this gamer for 40 years! Twas the week of Christmas/Hanukkah and all through the… Oh, Hell, I can’t think of a fun rhyme.

[tsrgames]

How about a Q &A with Greyhawk Grognard? -Chandra

Q&A with Joseph Bloch: Greyhawk Grognard Rolls A Natural 20

Q&A with Joseph Bloch: Greyhawk Grognard Rolls A Natural 20 It’s not every day that we get to enjoy seeing game designer Joseph Bloch (Greyhawk Grognard) chime in on megadungeon design theory and all things gaming, so …

[fortheking16]

Spells of the Elven Mages — Greyhawk Grognard

Spells of the Elven Mages — Greyhawk Grognard

This week, I’m pleased to present the second in the special section of Dragonne magazine dealing with demi-humans. Spells of the Elven Mages prsents a number of different spells that elven wizards have kept largely to themselves for centuries, now uncovered for use in your own campaigns. Spells of the Elven Mages

[oldschoolfrp]

I decided my Greyhawk module campaign should skip the Temple of Elemental Evil as published and transition from Hommlet and the moathouse (T1) to the Wild Coast to chase the slavers to the Pomarj (A1-4).  If players want to follow clues from the moathouse to the ToEE, they will find all of the exterior entrances are magically sealed by the spells that bind Zuggtmoy.  The exterior grounds would be a good place for a big encounter with cultists and their minions trying to force open the doors in the classic tradition of “rush to stop the ritual before the great evil is released.”

I do like the upper levels of ToEE, but the full megadungeon is a complete campaign by itself (plus old school Greyhawk had an empty promise where the temple was supposed to be, unless you played at Gary’s table, so a true old school campaign can keep the ToEE off-limits).

More notes below a cut where I can find them when I need them:

For converting T1 and T1-4 to 5th ed, I highly recommend Brian Rideout’s thorough conversion as a guide, (direct link here to free 125 page PDF).  He explains throughout why he made certain decisions, making the whole thing a master class in how to convert from 1e to 5e.  I’m only changing a few things for my use.

There are some errata for T1-4 on the Mage of the Striped Tower blog (the old free PDF link now redirects to the DMs Guild page for ToEE).

This discussion of the distance from Hommlet to Nulb gets to the heart of some of the impossible contradictions in T1-4.  This post by Scott matches my own decision about how to redraw the area map and reposition the temple and Nulb as out-of-the-way locales.  (Doomsday message boards)

This detail map shows the area from Verbobonc to the Wild Coast, including the Kron Hills, Hommlet, and Nulb, part of Anna Meyer’s amazing online Greyhawk maps project.

Some discussion of converting ToEE to 5e in this ENWorld thread.

There are 5e conversions for many older D&D and AD&D modules for sale on DMs Guild, with many published through “Classic Modules Today” (listed titles link to DMs Guild).

The upcoming Tales from the Yawning Portal will include a conversion of Against the Giants if you want to hold out for an official $49.95 hardcover.

William Patterson has some good 5e conversions of the aspis and the ants from A1 on the “Why, hello.” blog here and here.  These stats seem balanced and comparable to the original 1st ed versions, and appropriate for the party size and level I expect to explore the pits.

Greyhawk Grognard has many good posts about trying to make sense of the history of the ToEE and the links between other Greyhawk modules: “Thoughts on the Elder Elemental God”, “DMing into the Depths of the Oerth, Part III ½” (more on the EEG), “From Hommlet to Tharizdun, by way of Tsojcanth”, “An Iuzian Conundrum”, “More on the Temple of Elemental Evil”, “Thoughts on Q2″

Some expanded background on the Battle of Emridy Meadows, placing Rufus and Burne there, from the Canonfire! Greyhawk site.

A very nice Ballad of Emridy Meadows by Kylearanon from a 2003 post on Zansforcans, a site with some resources for Return to ToEE.

Domains of Verbobonc – Possible ruler names and political names from the Dark Days of Greyhawk campaign blog.

I like these notes on the city of Dyvers from the Greyhawk Destinies campaign blog.  I don’t feel obligated to include everything ever written for Greyhawk, but I can cherry pick between homebrew and later official materials.

(I can ignore the “Greyhawk Wars”, too.  I don’t like canon world-altering events in previously existing campaign settings.  Give us a starting point and if we choose to base our own campaigns there we can tell our own stories about what comes next and none of them should be exactly the same.)

In case new characters need to progress through early levels:

Smulroon’s good 5e conversion of N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God is a free PDF, linked from this Reddit thread.

And a different version of Explictica Defilus on GoogleDocs from N1, posted to Reddit by CalvinballAKA.

[fortheking16]

The first non-evil Drow — Greyhawk Grognard

The first non-evil Drow — Greyhawk Grognard

With Wizards of the Coast’s initiative to strip monsters and fantasy races of their default alignment preferences, I thought it would be interesting to talk about the first non-evil drow character. The first non-evil Drow

[fortheking16]

Mythic Americas Miniatures (and Olmans!) — Greyhawk Grognard

Mythic Americas Miniatures (and Olmans!) — Greyhawk Grognard

I’m always on the prowl for figures that I can use in my Greyhawk game. In particular, I keep an eye out for lesser-seen types of figures to represent Olman, Touv, and other non-European-based characters. So when I saw these miniatures for the Mythic Americas skirmish game at my local FLGS (Mythicos Studios), I took notice, and a few photos. As you can see, these figures paint up…

[fortheking16]

Greyhawk Grognard - Featured Vlogger of the Week - March 2, 2022

Greyhawk Grognard – Featured Vlogger of the Week – March 2, 2022

I chose Greyhawk Grognard: https://www.youtube.com/c/GreyhawkGrognard as this week’s Featured Vlogger of the Week. They were the Featured Blogger last year – Greyhawk Grognard – Featured Blogger of the Week July 16, 2021. The YouTube channel has 99 videos; 1.56K subscribers; Joined Aug 21, 2020; 67,473 views  About page:  http://1.52K Subscribers; 97 videos; Joined Aug 21, 2020; 67,473…