OSR Dr. J. Eric Holmes dungeon being printed by Pacesetter Games.

[darjr]

Dr. John Eric Holmes wrote the first basic set commonly referred to as the Holmes Basic Set. It started life as an internal reference within TSR and later was produced as the famous box set that started the whole Basic branch of D&D. And also in a twist of irony AD&D! Dr. Holmes was also an author and wrote stories based upon his home game including characters of his children.

We are on the precipice of announcing the availability of something very special. In conjunction with the Dr. John Eric Holmes estate, Pacesetter has produced a massive, 76-page adventure module based on Holmes' home campaign adventure from the mid-1970s. This dungeon was also featured in The Maze of Peril novel by Holmes. We were provided with his original hand-drawn maps and notes to create this amazing adventure. It truly is a window into the early days of Dungeons & Dragons.
Dr. Holmes is the author of the first Dungeons & Dragons basic set; the first mass-marketed version of D&D. We used those rules (which include rules for 1st to 3rd level characters) to create a new set of rule books that allow play through 10th level. These rules are not required to play the adventure module (which is set for 4th-6th level characters), but are available as well. The adventure module is compatible with any classic version of D&D (BX D&D, BECMI, AD&D). But if you would like to play using original the Holmes system, we have the books.
The module and rule books have a limited print run and will be available during and at the North Texas RPG Convention and at pacesettergames.com. If you want to be among the first to be notified, please join our mailing list at pacesetttergames.com.

See the facebook link.

 

[darjr]

 

[MGibster]

I seriously thought this was a dungeon based on serial killer H.H. Holmes who is infamous for his murder castle which operated during the World's Fair in Chicago in 1992.

 

[jdrakeh]

Man, I hope they hire an editor for this one. I love the enthusiasm and DIY ethic that the Pacesetter products ooze, but I've never encountered products with more egregious editing gaffes. The bad editing of the Pacesetter products makes the somewhat legendarily bad editing of Catalyst Game Labs products and Troll Lord Games products look like minor offenses by comparison.

 

[jdrakeh]

I seriously thought this was a dungeon based on serial killer H.H. Holmes who is infamous for his murder castle which operated during the World's Fair in Chicago in 1992.

You're off by a few years there.

 

[MGibster]

You're off by a few years there.

Geologically speaking, it's a rounding error!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The bad editing of the Pacesetter products makes the somewhat legendarily bad editing of Catalyst Game Labs products and Troll Lord Games products look like minor offenses by comparison.

Holy crap.

In any case, I am definitely interested in hearing more about this dungeon.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I’ve read Maze of Peril. Decent for what it was. One funny thing I noticed was how when a lot of OSR fans are sharing memes blasting newer players about how they want to play non-standard races, Holmes had a centaur PC. So yeah, exotic PCs existed since day one.

 

[darjr]

I’ve read Maze of Peril. Decent for what it was. One funny thing I noticed was how when a lot of OSR fans are sharing memes blasting newer players about how they want to play non-standard races, Holmes had a centaur PC. So yeah, exotic PCs existed since day one.

Wasn't one of Gary's players PCs a lizard man, right?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Wasn't one of Gary's players PCs a lizard man, right?

Jeff Leason. But he was a human before dying and being reincarnated into a lizard man. Which is another point often forgotten by the old school crowd on this topic. It was not unusual for a PC to come back as something completly different since death as pretty common, and if you didn't have a cleric around...

I remember one of my PCs being reincarnated into an orc, and another into an ogre. Both of whom I kept playing. So sure, the AD&D rules were very much human-centric in their design, but to claim that the WoTC crowd suddenly wants to bring in all the unusual races to play simply isn't true (ignoring how in 2e, there was a complete handbook on playing monstrous demi-humans). It was there from the start.