The Fiend Folio. Ugh.

March 4, 2010 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, Design Theory, Legacy D&D, RPG, RPG Hub 
Ugh. Just ugh.I've had cause, as part of the design of Emprise!™, to go through the 1981 Fiend Folio in some detail. Sure, it's been a constant companion on my desk for months now, as I use it liberally in stocking the[...]
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D&D Trivia: Why do Trolls have 6+3 HD ?

February 28, 2010 from GM Glenno
Filed under: 1E, 3e, Old School, RPG Hub 
Ever wondered why certain monsters had X number of hit dice? And in the case of the troll why 6+3 ? Where did this come from?Well the best place to start looking is in the roots of D&D - Chainmail. There is a combina[...]
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Brief Dreamation Update

February 20, 2010 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, Legacy D&D, RPG, RPG Hub 
Last night I had the chance to DM the Castle of the Mad Archmage at Dreamation, and there's a second session scheduled for tonight. I'll give a full report on both in a day or two, but just wanted to drop a quick note th[...]
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The Way

February 9, 2010 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, Legacy D&D, RPG, RPG Hub 
"Novices to the Way, I see," the little gnome squeaked. "Well, your worships have certainly come to the right place!" he added with enthusiasm. "Unlike some of our competitors, the Pavilion serves the main parallels -- a[...]
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Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion Now Available!

February 4, 2010 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, Labyrinth Lord, Legacy D&D, Old School, RPG, RPG Hub 
And if you order TONIGHT (Feb 3), you can get the softcover at Lulu for under US$20 (plus tax and shipping) if you put in the coupon code "shadow". Hurry-- that code only lasts for another few hours (it's a Groundhog Day[...]
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Dungeons of the Slave Lords 4e

December 20, 2009 from Theo Dudek, Ultimate Game Master
Filed under: 1E, 4e, RPG Hub, dungeons & dragons 
The other night some of my players couldn’t make it to the “Keep on the Shadowfell” campaign, so I did something new and ran a one-shot for the players who *could* make it. ^^ Specifically, I ran an ol[...]
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Love in the time of clerics

November 27, 2009 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, Legacy D&D, RPG, RPG Hub 
The possibility of death by disease was very real in history. I've often wondered how the presence of D&D-type healing magic might impact the course of an outbreak of some plague or other. Having a little bit of time[...]
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Unearthed: In The Dungeons of the Slave Lords

October 31, 2009 from Theo Dudek, Ultimate Game Master
Filed under: 1E, RPG Hub, Review, dungeons & dragons 
This old adventure is the fourth in a series of “Slave Lords” adventures, originally intended for tournament play. I haven’t read the others, but this one is really interesting (and potentially annoying[...]
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Neo-Pegana: Beyond the Crystal Cave

October 16, 2009 from Theo Dudek, Ultimate Game Master
Filed under: 1E, 4e, RPG Hub, dungeons & dragons 
It’s been ages since I posted; I have been incredibly busy with school and I was out of town last weekend. Please forgive me! On the other hand, I got to run some good adventures which I will be posting about soon.[...]
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Parrying Rules for (A)D&D

September 2, 2009 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, RPG, RPG Hub 
Okay...I think I've come up with an elegant solution to the whole "how the heck do I actively defend against an enemy?" question. And it works so well with (A)D&D, I thought I would share. How about this:Anyone engag[...]
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Fixing AD&D

September 1, 2009 from Greyhawk Grognard
Filed under: 1E, RPG, RPG Hub 
Nobody actually played AD&D the way it was written, including Gygax himself. We all had (or have) house-rules, sections we ignore, other sections we embellish, etc. All my musings on this blog thusfar have been geare[...]
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A Role-Playing Game Resurgence is on the Horizon

April 29, 2009 from Inkwell Ideas
Filed under: 1E, GURPS, HERO, RPG Hub, Retro Clone, advice 
The popularity of the "retro-clone" RPG games (those that attempt to emulate the orginal D&D game or the Basic/Expert/Master/etc. D&D boxed sets or even 1st edition AD&D) makes me think that the RPG hobby isn[...]
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Remember Wormy?

April 15, 2009 from Gaming Brouhaha
Filed under: 1E, RPG, RPG Hub 
This weekend I was looking at a couple of very old issues of Dragon magazine that I found last summer in my basement and I got to re-read a couple of the Wormy  comic strips by David Trampier. Having nothing better to[...]
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Edge of Empire wrap-up

February 6, 2009 from The Seven-Sided Die
Filed under: 1E, AD&D, Actual Play, RPG Hub, RPG theory 
The final session of Edge of Empire was excellent, and I had some take-away conclusions about AD&D once we'd finished.[...]
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From Chainmail to ODD – Counterspells!

December 27, 2008 from Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG Blog
Filed under: 1E, Legacy D&D, RPG Hub 
Remember 1984's Conan the Destroyer? Aside from the cute blonde (hey, I was 18, give me a break...) and Grace Jones, the one thing that really stood out in my head was Akiro the mage getting into a spell battle with the [...]
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Addendum to “How to DM the Identification of Magic”

December 27, 2008 from Chgowiz's Old Guy RPG Blog
Filed under: 1E, Legacy D&D, Old School, RPG Hub 
I have really enjoyed the ongoing discussion of magic identification and some of the associated blogs and readings from around the web. A couple of key resources that will help me: - Norman Harman wrote a blog entry choc[...]
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The 1e Monk

November 23, 2008 from The Keep on the Gaming Lands
Filed under: 1E, RPG Hub, design 
A while back I posted some ideas for my 1e house rules. Of all the classes in the game, the monk needs by far the most work. The other classes range from fine as-is to "needing" a few tweaks just because that's what I fe[...]
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Bookkeeping-free provisions and torches in AD&D

November 10, 2008 from The Seven-Sided Die
Filed under: 1E, AD&D, RPG Hub, Savage Worlds 
In Savage Bookkeeping Joshua extends the minimalist bookkeeping Savage Worlds uses for allies' ammo reserves to group provisions and torches. Here's my adaptation of that system to 1e AD&D.[...]
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Advanced Dungeons & Savages review

November 7, 2008 from The Seven-Sided Die
Filed under: 1E, AD&D, RPG Hub, Reviews, Savage Worlds 
Advanced Dungeons & Savages is a good add-on for playing the implied setting of classic AD&D, but it would be better off putting more trust in Savage Worlds' mechanics.[...]
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My Old Flame, 1st Edition

November 7, 2008 from The Keep on the Gaming Lands
Filed under: 1E, RPG Hub 
I have to admit, I still love 1st edition ADamp;D. Sure, the rules are whacky and labyrinthine, but there's an undeniable core of fun that beats at the heart of the game. Sure, I love 4e (duh!), but there's something nif[...]
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James Wyatt is Hardcore

October 25, 2008 from The Keep on the Gaming Lands
Filed under: 1E, RPG Hub 
I've acquired the habit of carrying a 1e span style="font-style: italic;"Dungeon Master's Guide /spanto meetings at work. James calls it the Gygaxian Bible, and I think there's something to that.br /br /Anyway, while wai[...]
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