Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery: A First Try at Classes
Here is a very early draft of the Character Classes for Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery. Everything is Open Game Content under the OGL. Everything is also very "First Draft." Changes are extremely likely. Comments are w[...]Read on >>
Caves of Myrddin update
Gaze into the eyes of the dragon and despair.Philip the Bloody, Blixa the Thief and Abe the Talking Dog beam into the Dungeons of Dundagel Star Trek style. How did they get here? Where did they come from?&nbs[...]Read on >>
Why "The Math" Should Not Be the Primary Focus of RPG Design
Some people tell me that "The Math" is broken in games I like, play, or design. The thing is, I don't consider "The Math" to be the be all and end all of good game design. "The Math" for a game might be as close to "perf[...]Read on >>
Let me tell you about my favorite band
It was summer 1982 when I picked up my first album. I was a dumb kid and I didn't know what hard rock or heavy metal were, I just knew I liked the cover art. Back to Basics, the fourth album from Wisconsin ba[...]Read on >>
Thinking in the old school – a philosophy of role playing
Not too long ago TC’s tech visionary Scott turned me on to this wonderful document – A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matthew J. Finch. I’d highly recommend you read this, whether you gamed in the golden[...]Read on >>
R.I.P. Jean Wells
I've just found out that Jean Wells, TSR artist and the original voice of the "Sage Advice" column in The Dragon, passed away on January 25th. You can find more information here. While I never met Jean, I spoke to her on[...]Read on >>
3 abreast in a 10′ Corridor: Photographic Evidence from J E Holmes
Jeff Rients recent post jogged my memories of playing with old school 25mm minis and this plate from Dr Holmes' book "Fantasy Role Playing Games" seems to support it. Citadel and their 1 inch plastic bases have a l[...]Read on >>
Dang it. Who blogged about 10′ corridors?
I'm pretty sure someone this weekend blogged about how in the 1st edition DMG section on minis Gygax makes it clear that 3 figures should be able to fit abreast in a 10' corridor. I have been considering using[...]Read on >>
Did World of Warcraft Corrupt Tabletop Game Design?
You've probably heard people who do not like D&D 4e say that it feels like playing World of Warcraft more than a tabletop RPG. How true you feel this is probably depends on how much you like or dislike 4e. There is a[...]Read on >>
Vithujin reports
Caves of Myrddin con session #2 report here.[...]Read on >>
Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund Drive and Giveaway
Canadian Alexi Debois contacted me a couple of weeks again to see if I would be interested in designing a special Swords & Sorcery edition of Microlite74 and about donating some early D&D items for a Retrorolepla[...]Read on >>
Beyond the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming
What is “Old School” Play? If you are interested in old school gaming, you may have read the Quick Primer for Old School Gaming by Matt Finch. It's "a quick introduction to playing Original D&D or Swords & Wi[...]Read on >>
Caves of Myrddin con session 1
Man, going to night class, then running an online game at 4:30 am, then working a full day and then running a 7pm to 11pm con game was a stupid, stupid plan. Maybe if I was ten years younger I wouldn't feel it so h[...]Read on >>
Microlite74: Swords & Sorcery Edition Design Begins
The reaction to my recent post on a Microlite74 Edition designed for "Swords & Sorcery" genre play has been very positive. I'm happy to announce that I have started to work on it. So far, work consists on taking a co[...]Read on >>
today’s experiment
I want to talk a little about today's game outside of the usual "here's what the drunken henchman tells you" context. As you may have heard one of the claims being made about the new edition of D&D is that it w[...]Read on >>
Game of the Month: Dungeon World
For December’s game-of-the-month, I played in a session of Dungeon World run by Brent Newhall. The game started as a hack of Apocalypse World inspired by old school dungeon delving... Read more »[...]Read on >>
Caves of Myrddin update
So the Dragon of Dundagel seems to be in a bit of a mood today. He's been seen flying around the countryside, plucking up peasants and dropping them from great heights, panicing herds and flocks, and he even set fi[...]Read on >>
Pledge Allegiance
This morning on the bus, I tested my son’s knowledge of Tarzan to check Charlie Jane Anders’ assertion that the character is unknown to people under 30. It turns out that nine-year-olds have enough familiarit[...]Read on >>
Old School Actual Play podcast to return soon(ish)!
Thanks to the diligent and hard work of Scott, our technical vizier and GM, we’ll have three new episodes of the OSAP podcast coming to you in the somewhat near future. Scott is diligently editing Episode 6 at th[...]Read on >>
he paid, he can call it whatever he wants
Vithujin the Elf, occasional survivor of the dangers under Dundagel, has returned once more to the guesthouse at the Abbey of St. Emmet. Once there, he immediately begins making arrangements for a celebration he calls th[...]Read on >>
G2 Squared: Homemade D&D Module From 1981
A homemade D&D module from 1981 called G2 Squared: Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord is available for free download at PlaGMaDA. It's typewritten, illustrated, has hand-drawn maps on graph paper, and full of typos ([...]Read on >>
Microlite74: How about a Swords and Sorcery Edition?
I've been asked if I could make a "Swords ansd Sorcery Edition" of Microlite74 by someone who would be willing to donate a few very nice AD&D items for a Cancer Fund drive. He's asked that a Microlite74: Swords and S[...]Read on >>
Labyrinth Lord – Die Larm Chroniken: Zeitleiste
January 26, 2012 from Der ewige Held
Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, Old School, RPG Hub
Einer meiner Spieler hat diese geniale Zeitleiste unserer aktuellen laufenden „Larm Chroniken“ geschaffen, um einfach mal zu sehen wann welcher Charakter bei welchen Ereignissen dabei war bzw. welcher Recke w[...] Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, Old School, RPG Hub
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medieval Flemish names
One of the more common types of mercenary for hire in Wessex are Flemish crossbowmen. King Stephen's chief lieutenant, William of Ypres, is Pretender of Flanders and imports boatloads of these guys. A few of [...]Read on >>
Player Contribution
If somebody at the table says wouldn’t it be cool if… and I think that yes, it would be cool if… Why not? Some players like to introduce characters from their backstory. Me, not so much.[...]Read on >>
now with labels!
[...]Read on >>
The Real DIY Deal: Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord
This “recent and amazing donation to the Play Generated Map and Document Archive (PlaGMaDA) project: A beautiful, hand-made homebrew addition to the classic TSR Against the Giants series” is not news to Boing[...]Read on >>
Weapon Mastery for Microlite74?
We started to try the "Weapon Feats" from Dark Dungeons (don't let the word "feat" throw you, they are similar to the "Weapon Mastery" rules from The Rules Cycopledia and have little in common with the "feats" of 3.x or [...]Read on >>
Does this map make sense to anyone?
I wanted an easy way to explain the umpteen ways into my dungeon. So I made this.[...]Read on >>
Levelling up
In his latest Legends and Lore article Monte Cook posits that:"levels serve as a means to incentivize people to keep playing the game"Whilst this may be true for the majority of MMORPGs and those time wasting level machi[...]Read on >>
random medieval Welsh names
d100 MALE WELSH NAME01-02 Adaf, Ada, Adam03-04 Blethin, Blethint05-06 Cadugan07-08 Candalo, Candalou09-10 David, Deykin11-12 Dehewint13-14 Edenevet15-16 Edenowen, Edenewen, Edeneweyn17-18 Ener19-20 Eynon21-22 Gogan23-24 [...]Read on >>
My friends! The bargains I have for you!
Merwik the Merchant, chief supplier of miscellaneous equipment in and around the Abbey of St. Emmet, now offers pre-selected dungeoneering packages.[...]Read on >>
custom screen inserts
As I've mentioned before, I use one of those customizable GM screens that came out a few years back. Its got six landscape-oriented pockets, three facing the players and three for my super secret charts. My n[...]Read on >>
4 things cool FLAILSNAILS PCs should have
Strange Titles and Alternate NamesI try to do this in my Wessex reports. Òengus isn't just some magic-user, now he's Òengus the Somnomancer. Philip of Luxembourg is also Philip the Black also Philip the Bloody. &[...]Read on >>
Wanted: Dead or… well, just dead actually.
The wizard known only as the Spaniard has disappeared from the dungeon of Bottreaux Castle while awaiting trial for black magic, arson and frightening sheep. William of Crevan, castellan of the castle, offers 1,000gp for[...]Read on >>
Labyrinth Lord – Die Larm Chroniken (Teil 6): Die Festung des Bergkönigs
January 21, 2012 from Der ewige Held
Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, Old School, RPG Hub
Nun war es endlich soweit! Der vorläufige Höhepunkt der „Larm Chroniken“ stand an. Zum einen, weil es sich die Helden von Larm nicht mehr bieten lassen wollten vom Bergkönig immerzu gegängelt zu werden un[...] Filed under: dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, Old School, RPG Hub
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For sale: unknown spellbook
Skeree the Bonewoman, Father Jack, Òengus the Somnomancer and Finn the Thief managed to wrest a large tome of spells from the clutches of an evil sorcerer. Òengus would love to use these spells, but the book is i[...]Read on >>
Q&A with the 2nd Dungeon Master in Champaign-Urbana, 1974
Folks whose memories span several ages of creation may recall that my friend Nat Sims was a co-founder of Behemoth3, my first venture into RPG publishing. Nat went on to found the successful iPhone app developer Night &#[...]Read on >>
Caves of Myrddin: meet Skeree the Bonewoman!
In her own words:Me and Angus and Girl and Jackfather and Robert Butler and Dane-he-give-me-20-gold go out in cold country. Sky is wet and foggy and ground wet. Many black flyers. We look for beast (500-gold-worth! Seems[...]Read on >>
MY HEAD A SPLODE
In case you haven't heard Wizards of the Coast is doing a short reprint of the original three 1st edition core rulebooks. They're due in U.S. and Canadian hobby stores (and nowhere else) in April. New cover a[...]Read on >>
WotC to do Old School
Woke up this morning from a crappy night's sleep to find this."Wizards of the Coast to produce First Edition Premium AD&D books"http://www.wizards.com/ContentResources/Wizards/Sales/Solicitations/2012_04_17_dd_1stED_[...]Read on >>
Blackmoor is everywhere.
I knew I had these images somewhere, but today I finally dug them up to share.Blackmoor has its own world, which got a hardbound late in the 3.x era. It also appears on the Greyhawk map. And if you go back in[...]Read on >>
23 answers for Zak
1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?My carousing house rules.2. When was the last time you GMed?Last Friday.3. When was the last time you played?About a week ago.4. [...]Read on >>
FLAILSNAILS: Conan = You.
[FYI: This post is not official FLAILSNAILS doctrine. Beyond the simple agreement to be cool to each other, which I consider to be the spirit of the original conventions, there is no official FLAILSNAILS doctrine. Nor is[...]Read on >>
Bifrost: Anyone Own or Have Played this old UK Fantasy RPG?
One of the topics discussed during breaks in my Sunday game was WOTC's 5e announcement. Most conversation revolved around what people liked about the various editions of D&D and D&D-like games that they would lik[...]Read on >>
Caves of Myrddin and Environs
Here's a quickie close-up of the hex on my Wessex map where all the current action is taking place.The Abbey of St. Emmet - The guesthouse of this religious institution serves as the headquarters for most of the adventur[...]Read on >>
Blessed Saint Serpentor preserve me!
These local Cornish saints are weird, man.So yesterday Philip the Bloody, Gilgamesh the Macho, Sufflebrot the Elf, Brother Cafael (and the brother's unfortunate nephew) visited the dungeons of Dundagel. They b[...]Read on >>
It Feels Different
How did my play experience change when I switched from D&D 3.5 to Pathfinder? How did it change when I switched to Labyrinth Lord?[...]Read on >>
brief Caves of Myrddin update: dragon at large
Yesterday the lazy bastards lounging around the Abbey guesthouse received a report that the dragon had been spotted ten miles north of the dungeon. Grabbing their gear as quickly as possible, they high-tailed it to[...]Read on >>
latest Caves of Myrddin cast member
Spotted wandering the nearby moors...Reputedly a sorcerer in league with the Devil...No one knows his name...They simply call him the Spaniard.[...]Read on >>
