Search results

I agree. I tend to consider official monster stats as an example, but don't feel at all bound to them (and consider monsters like dragons to be individuals, much like powerful NPC humans are individuals). Even with more generic and common monsters, players in my game shouldn't assume they know...

In my game, dragons have a breath weapon and also an abstract melee attack (probably mainly its bite, but since it's abstract, it could include claws/wings/tail/etc) that normally does 1d6 damage. For a very large dragon I might bump that up to 2 or more dice). And, of course, some dragons may...

You need a blog.

I suggest serving wine and playing lots of Barry White just before your sessions.

If you don't go with a "roll up a pool of multiple 1st level PCs per player," this is probably what I'd do, too. I still like the pool of PCs thing, though; I think it sets the right kind of tone and expectation for this kind of play. Who will survive? Can you handle it? Et cetera

For a one-shot, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Like many modules, B1 is a pretty small dungeon, but since you're running this is a one-time thing, not a campaign, I don't think having a high amount of treasure is a down-side. I'd assume some attrition. (In fact, you might prime your players...

Well, I found myself house-ruling my C&C game to be more and more like TSR D&D (I changed saves, surprise, modified the spell lists, started using D&D turn undead tables, the way movement and time are tracked, found myself liking and using the SIEGE engine less-and-less, et cetera). Eventually...

I have nothing to add, except to say that I think monsters like giant crayfish, giant frogs, giant spiders, and giant crabs would be some seriously scary stuff. When I was 12, I didn't think too much of these monsters, but my opinion has changed; these days, I love stuff like that.

Yeah, I agree, too. I like a make the game your own approach (but I still like to honor the traditions and approaches that help define D&D). That's probably why I find the idea of using stuff like known facts about Castle Greyhawk (e.g. grodog's research) and then making my own version that...

What do the colors on the undermountain format indicate?

Everyone and their mother has a personal interpretation of "old school," and I've lost pretty much all interest in discussing what it is or is not. However, I do agree with rogueattorney about products from the late 80s. They don't ring my "old school D&D" bell at all. I prefer the products...

Both OD&D and AD&D had useful sections on wilderness adventuring (in OD&D's The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures and AD&D's 1e Dungeon Masters Guide). OSRIC does have a section on exploring the wilderness, but I don't think it's quite as detailed as the originals. I'd try to get a 1e DMG...

Here's Gygax's take on typical thorps and villages (from his Yggsburgh book): I agree that a village of 300 or so will only have a couple of commercial establishments: probably a "locals" type of tavern and maybe a smithy or a dry-goods store.

I think the map looks great, too.

In original D&D, Gary talks about a "referee's map" of the wilderness that uses 5 mile hexes (in fact, the movement rate table uses number of 5 mile hexes, rather than miles or leagues). In the 1e DMG, he talks about a world or continent map using hexes of 20 to 40 miles per hex (the Greyhawk...

In the past, I have run Greyhawk Ruins, although I wasn't very happy with it. Today, I'd simply roll my own version of Castle Greyhawk. In my opinion, the closest are Rob Kuntz's material from the Lake Geneva campaign. Those were actual sections of Castle Greyhawk dungeons, and Pied Piper is...

Hmm. Innovation really just means something new, without necessarily meaning an improvement. So you could break this down all sorts of ways: major rules innovations (e.g. from class/level to skill), approach innovations (e.g. game-oriented to story-oriented), social innovations (e.g. the...

When I ran C&C, I replaced the SIEGE-engine saving throws with AD&D saving throws.

Yeah, for Mythos elements in D&D, I'd go for a Howard approach instead of a Lovecraft approach.

Yeah, that's definitely the trickiest part. Once you've got that down, the rest is easy. If I remember correctly, the odd corner cases come up if you use the rule regardless of who won initiative (there were some threads on Dragonsfoot about that), but those were eliminated if the rule was...