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IIRC a lot of sample NPCs in AD&D had monstrous stats. I don't remember the module specifying for sure that he dual-wields, though some people infer it. The original cover art seems to depict him doing so.

I tend to keep backgrounds relatively short & sketchy nowadays, to root the character lightly in the world (and allow for flexibility if the DM needs something to be different) and inform how I play the character. 1-3 paragraphs if that, most of the time. I can come up with more if the...

That is basically the origin of alignment in 1974 OD&D. You get a list of creature types under each alignment (Law, Neutrality, Chaos) on page 9 of Men & Magic, which describes alignment as a "stance". Interestly, some creatures appear in multiple columns, like Orcs under both Neutrality and...

Colville had a nice video on backstories last week.

Eh. I agree that there's some work required. "A ton" here feels pretty subjective. Changing up some to most of the "always attack" encounters to regular reaction rolls goes a long way with pretty light effort.

Still suffering through the vertigo and resting. It's not very noticeable while I'm sitting still, so I'm able to work ok, though the meds make me a bit fuzzy. :/ I've got a friend's birthday gathering and a party invite this evening which I will be sad to miss if this crap doesn't improve today.

Pretty sure that's just the mechanism to register a trademark, similar to what we saw in the nuTSR case. I'm sure the car dealership is still a legally-incorporated company with a tax ID from the IRS, which is what establishes them as existing. Otherwise they wouldn't be able to sign contracts.

I don't think that dog will hunt. A) We're talking about jealous and powerful archmages, who typically have rivals or archenemies (a la Jack Vance's Dying Earth) and don't want to spend any more time helpless than they can possibly avoid. Gary's writings about the Greyhawk archmages imply a...

Absolutely. Gary's instructions in this adventure do go directly against the best-practice wisdom of using reaction rolls and letting players negotiate and not get immediately betrayed (at least some of the time). Where do you get that "inherently, irredeemably, monstrously evil" business? Can...

There seems to be a.... teensy-tiny earseeker-sized excluded middle here. :LOL: If increasing a single ability score from 16 to 18 requires twenty Wishes, that certainly says something about the availability of Wishes in that campaign. I think I saw one Wish used in all the years I played...

And at 6' 11" tall, he's 2" short of crossing over into taking damage as a Large-sized creature, per the size rules in the Monster Manual (and as affirmed by Gygax's and Moore's write-ups on Half Ogres in Dragon #29 and #73). ;) :LOL:

Castle Amber and The Lost City are much-loved examples with great ideas that couldn't really fit into the 28-32 page format. Still eminently playable, but they practically yell at the DM to flesh them out, which is why they were so suitable for OAR expansion.

Darrold Daniel Wagner (or just Darrold Wagner is how he goes on FB).

Yes. That's exactly the point. He's agreeing. In accordance with one of the classic sides in the Great Thief Debate.

Two years ago. :LOL:

Drow had the ability going back to the G series, and it was included in their Fiend Folio entry (1981), although that only lists a few typical weapons. Primarily short sword and dagger, but sometimes light crossbow, mace, or javelin (FF p34). Expanded options for TWF in 1E were usually based...

I think it's a combination of emulating source fiction (The Grey Mouser and Fafhrd both famously used a dagger in their off hands, see their entries in Deities & Demigods or Legends & Lore*) and an editorial judgement that other weapons are too long and unwieldy to be used the same way. The Jo...

One of the knights in our current Pendragon game went to Merlin for tutelage in magic, and learned a spell to help his estate's crops. Of course, he took a big Honor hit for studying magic.

Back when I was playing AD&D regularly we established it as best practice to record HP rolls each level, just in case of level drain.