Switching classes in the Majestic Wilderlands, a questions.

I like to get your opinion on an interesting question that Dwayne of Gamer's Closet asked me.Many of you with the Majestic Wilderlands know that the additional classes I created originated in what my players did througho[...]
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The Last Map of the Cartomancer (Part 1 of 5)

“The Last Map of the Cartomancer” presents a series of magical maps introduced through the escapades of Lan Su’Vavock and Kai Geyser, two sages on the trail of interconnected clues left behind by an ancient cartogr[...]
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Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 1

I'll admit it.  I have a soft spot in my heart for Succubi.    Those little trollops from Hell, tempting men with there wild demonic ways.  There are the fangs, the wings and the whole draining y[...]
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Gaming in The Hollow

I remember these Disney shorts from when I was a kid, and they would show them on Wonderful World of Disney. I had the opportunity to show this to my own daughter tonight in lieu of a bedtime story (we're between books a[...]
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Who you gonna call?

Similar to jatori, I gave pb’s post on Nevermet Press some thought. Be brave and tell us what you think! Open Soul [Host] For reasons unknown, your soul is not fully fused with your body. Prerequisites: No Ghos[...]
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Courier Prestige Class

This prestige class was designed to go with the Through the Lens of History article on mail and messengers but I broke it out to keep that post from being too long.  This prestige class is designed as a framework to be [...]
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One of these things is not like the other.

Here's some info from Labyrinth Lord.  With the exception of the Thief's Find Traps number, these numbers are good for B/X D&D as well.  I need to put a chart like this on my screen or include fields for th[...]
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Pictures from my Computer: Shadows of the Last War

As previously mentioned, I’m finding images I had forgotten about from my computer and posting them here, giving a little bit of backstory on how these images came to be. Today’s: This is another one that did[...]
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Mapping Methodology Update – A party of lazy mappers

Time for an update on how well GM Glenno is handling his 3.5 group in the classic B2-Keep on the Borderlands module.Ok, last night's gaming session was not the best session we have ever had. My players are basically not[...]
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Swords & Wizardry Combat Notes

The basic combat procedure in Sword & Wizardry is pretty straight forward but a bit vague on specific. This is not an issues as it gives each referee some latitude to customize the combat portion of the game to his t[...]
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Video Wednesdays: Oh You Pretty Grognards

We now take a break from our ongoing multi-part look at Player’s Handbook 3 for Video Wednesdays. “Daddy, what’s a THAC0?” Tagged: d&d, dming, video [...]
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Kobolds at NorWesCon 33

Wolfgang Baur has been invited as a panelist and speaker at NorWesCon 33, this April 1 to 4 in Seattle. The convention panels will include a number of RPG luminaries from the local game industry whose brilliance rivals t[...]
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Ranged versus Melee Cover in 3.5

Today's post is in the style of an in-depth rules clarification.Its these kind of situations that have me and the players accusing each other of "cheating" (tic), followed by frantic diving into the rulebooks or impassio[...]
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Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 3

For an introduction to this Mythic Game Master Emulator Sandbox adventure, see this post. Setting details and links to characters are posted here.Previous scene: Scene 2SCENE 3In which the party does battle with a b[...]
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Can you take 20 on searches?

It depends…. · For a Rogue on point duty; Not a good idea. Why? – well the blurb on take 20 says that the result (say you had +11 giving you a result of 31) assumes that you would fail many times before achieving th[...]
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Tuesday Magic Items – A Pair of Saddles

To give something to the messengers, we have a courier’s saddle, and to support this month’s martial theme, we have a knight’s saddle.  And with out further ado, the items: Courier’s Saddle These pla[...]
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Pictures from my Computer: War of the Lance

While on deployment in 2007, I would get really bored sometimes. The mere mention of the idea of a new campaign would get my mind racing. So naturally, I would put together images in photoshop of the upcoming game. Wheth[...]
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Invasion of the Grognards! at Dexcon 2010

The reception of the Castle of the Mad Archmage at this year's Dreamation convention was so good that I am enthused to try something a bit more ambitious at this year's Dexcon. Dexcon will be held at the gorgeous Hyatt h[...]
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Game Mechanics for Personality (for any edition of D&D)

This is a set of mechanics to represent personality and its change over time in terms of some abstract game mechanics.  As it is presented it will function with all editions of D&D, but could easily be modified to f[...]
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The Human Question

In this thread Iamtim asks about what benefits to give humans if he removes level limits. As I am not a fan of level limits myself I am interested in the answer.Later in the thread timmyd comes up with an idea to give Hu[...]
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Bait & Switch: Trap or Monster?

At first glance, it looks to be nothing more than a sword rack, masterfully carved from a single piece of dark wood, holding weapons in stylized arms. However, approaching the sword rack, it comes to life as its arms unf[...]
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old lead

A while my wife's brother-in-law Rod gave me a slew of old D&D figures. He and his wife Anne (my sister-in-law) played OD&D and 1st edition AD&D but hadn't done anything with the figures in a couple decades.[...]
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Rob Pardo of Blizzard Explains Why I’d Hate WoW

So my wife and several of our friends are huge World of Warcraft players, and dutifully plunk down their $14.95 a month to add to Blizzard Entertainment's coffers (which I can only even remotely justify by my fantasy tha[...]
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Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 2

For an introduction to this Mythic Game Master Emulator Sandbox adventure, see this post. Setting details and links to characters are posted here.Previous scene: Scene 1SCENE 2In which the party makes contact with a[...]
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Order of the D30: Saints for your Cleric to Invoke

Another article in my Order of the D30 series.  Rescued from the draft heap. Inspired by Jeff Rients’ Book Miscellaneum of Cinder and this article from Grognardia. In our AD&D game on Sunday afternoons I pla[...]
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Black Rose, Replies

It's reader participation day at The Other Side.  Here are some replies to my "Black Rose" posts.Rhonin84 said...The land that the Queen rules over is the last bastion of light besieged on all sides by the encr[...]
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A preview of the Scourge of the Demon Wolf

I am hard at work on my next product an adventure titled the Scourge of the Demon Wolf. It is representative of how most of the adventure I run in the Majestic Wilderland work. Most are highly situational and results fro[...]
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Beyond Sanctuary: Scene 1

For an introduction to this Mythic Game Master Emulator Sandbox adventure, see this post. Setting details and links to characters are posted here. OBLIGATORY DISCLAIMER: This is an actual log of my Mythic session. I[...]
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Photo of Fantasy Wargaming by Bruce Galloway

Here is a picture of my copy of Fantasy Wargaming, The Highest Level of All, which I wrote about a week or so ago. [...]
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P is for Pi-finder

To celebrate Pi Day, let’s add some tasty pastry goodness to your Pathfinder game: Delicious and nutritious, the humble pie becomes a deadly weapon in the hands of the skilled piemancer. Mundane pies are treated as[...]
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Making the Most of Mythic Structure – GamesU 2009

In this session from GamesU 2009, accomplished game designer and screenwriter Matthew Grau discusses the monomyth and how to use it to create epic and enduring stories in your games. Popularized by Joseph Campbell in hi[...]
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On Game Masters Guides

The "classic three" division that began with AD&D-- Player's Guide, Game Master's Guide, Monster Book-- has been taken as a sort of gospel by a number of other games (although certainly not all). I've explored this s[...]
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inns & taverns – the taproot of all evil

The Taproot Of All Evil sits at the intersection of two narrow alleys. Blood Alley runs down a steep hill from a marketplace and is named as runaway market carts crush anyone in their path, leaving... Click the title if[...]
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Veles (Javelin Skirmisher) Prestige Class

In my never ending quest to make the historically well used weapons useful in games, I present a javelin-using ‘prestige’ class.  Prestige is in quotes as the barrier to entry to this class is very low. Vele[...]
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Beyond Sanctuary: Setting the Scene

This post establishes the initial situation of my Beyond Sanctuary Mythic GME Old School Sandbox game. Before diving into actual play, I rolled "Clearing the Hex" on The Big List of RPG Plots. What follows is a[...]
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Dungeon Dramas: A Guest Spot from Bob @ The Dice Bag

Welcome back to Dungeon Dramas, my ongoing series of plot hooks as developed by the random roll of my Story Cubes. Today’s Dungeon Drama is guest written by Bob from The Dice Bag. Believe it or not, Bob and I conco[...]
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things I want to do better

Lighting - This post has gotten me thinking. Often someone playing a magic-user says "I'm carrying a torch" and then we forget about the whole thing. If you were really going into a dungeon would you trust the wimp in th[...]
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The underdark map from D (Drow) series

I seem to remember there was a project done by somebody in the OSR where they finished detailing the underdark map found in the D series. For the life of me I can remember where it is. Does anybody know what I am talking[...]
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Friday Funny: Krenshar-Pei

The shopkeeper looked at the leopard-spotted dog sitting outside his shop, and he found himself oddly compelled to leave his shop so he could pet the sad-looking animal. The dog sat there while he consoled it and asked i[...]
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Crafting Castle Black Star, part 1

In his article on town design in The Strategic Review #7, author Joe Fischer mentioned his home dungeon, Castle Black Star. In my ongoing mission to construct a sandbox campaign out of D&D's many disparate elements,[...]
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FYI bears are awesome

RUST BEAR# Encountered: 1 (1d4)Alignment: NeutralMovement: 120' (40')AC: 6HD: 5Attacks: 2 claws, biteDamage: d4/d4/d6Save as: Fighter 2Morale: 8Hoard Class: VIThese enchanted animals appear to be grizzly bears with a cop[...]
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Beyond Sanctuary: Getting Started

With my Old School Premise and a batch of freshly created characters, I am now almost ready to begin the adventure. All that remains is to add a few more setting details and gather my play materials. When playing a solo [...]
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How To Get The Best Of All Editions

This post came out of a journaling session on 750words.com.  If you’ve never used it, I recommend it highly.  Because of the uncensored nature of the journal, there may be some residual disorganization, but IR[...]
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Hit Locker

One of the big design changes between 3rd and 4e was the way they handled damage and hit points. First of all, 4e characters start with a lot more hit points: your average characters starts with roughly 24 HP. Compare th[...]
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The Concept of Level

Sometime it good to revisit the basics.The question asked over on the RPGSite was "Why do Fantasy Games use Levels".The short answer is "Because of D&D". That led naturally to the question where to do levels in D&[...]
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recession-proof gaming VII – mission to game

Is that light at the end of the financiapocalyptic tunnel?  Maybe.  Here's some more stuff anyway. Browser Tools hack/ has produced some neat RPG bookmarklets.  I've mentioned... Click the title if yo[...]
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Reavers on the Seas of Fate – Twelfth Session Summary

Twelfth Session (12 page pdf), “Mansion of Shadows, Part II” – The PCs hang out with a Chelish noble family for a while, and witness depths of degeneration that make even hardened criminals from Ridd[...]
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I Cast Cone of . . . Sonic?

You know one feat I’ve always disliked – Energy Substitution. Effectively it allows you to turn a fireball into a frostball for no penalty in level, unlike many metamagic feats.My issue with the feat is not its game [...]
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Microlite75 Suffers a Critical Hit: Split in Twain

I'm finally beginning serious work on Microlite75. After giving it a lot of thought and talking with the gamers playing in my OD&D game, I've decided that main version Microlite75 will be less an attempt to duplicate[...]
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Fiend Folio: Aarakocra

I was recently reminded that I had completely forgotten to mention an item of crucial importance: I've got a copy of the AD&D Fiend Folio. (Someone very nice--but still evil!--figured out that I like collecting the o[...]
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