Signs & Portents

So by now you’ve all heard that WotC’s re-releasing the trio of core 1E books for D&D. There are of course caveats to the release (limited release, available in North America only, new covers, quality and quantity yet to be determined, etc.), but on the whole this seems to be a good thing. Maybe it’s merely a publicity stunt by WotC to try and generate some goodwill amongst older gamers or a test run to see if there’s a market for similar releases in the months ahead. Frankly, I’m not privy to any inside information, so this is speculation at best.

Others more versed is such matters have undoubtedly already addressed some of the issues I’m about to mull over, but I’ve been head-down trying to catch up on projects and haven’t had much time to wander the blogosphere and the forums to see so for myself. Please forgive me if you’ve seen this hashed to pieces already.

Having mulled over this news for most of the day, I’m wondering what this means in the long term for the OSR and the retro-clones. If this is indeed a limited run, never to be repeated again, the re-issue won’t have much of an effect other than generating more interest in the “obsolete” forms of gaming we’ve all been harping on for years now. That, I think we can all agree, would be a good thing.

However, what if this is a sign that WotC is dedicating themselves to finally getting their ducks in a row and cleaning up the mess they made for themselves with the release of 4E? I’m not edition bashing, but I think we can all agree that the release of 4E was a bit of a fustercluck whose long term effect was to fracture the consumer base. The wide differences between 3.5 and 4E systems made it difficult to use material across editions, thus impacting sales. And as much as we like to harp on the fact that Paizo is now at least equal to WotC in the market, can anyone dispute that Paizo’s success was not predicated by WotC fumbling the D&D ball?

Unless you’ve been marooned on a deserted island for the last few weeks (and if that’s the case, why are you reading this blog and not out drinking your bodyweight in booze and chasing people with lax moral standards?), you know that WotC’s plan for D&D Next is to end the edition wars once and for all and bring us all back under the D&D tent. Obviously, there’s been debate as to the feasibility of this goal. I’m not going to go on record to say that WotC can’t do it, but it’s going to be a hell of a task to do so.

Continuing in this vein (and remember this is mere speculation), what happens if the 1E books sell like hotcakes at a lumberjack competition? Wouldn’t the next logical step be to see if more out-of-print editions have a place in the market? Is the OD&D bookcase set we’ve been asking for, one to put in the game closet next to Monopoly and Trivia Pursuit, an inevitability? Again, this is a good thing.

Unfortunately, if this is indeed the future of things to come, it’s going to have an impact on the OSR publishers out there, especially those individuals currently responsible for the retro clones available. The success of Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, and OSRIC is based on the fact that the rules they are reproducing are out of print and increasingly difficult to acquire. There’s already a percentage of the player base that shuns the retro clones on the grounds of “Why play this when I already have the ‘real’ books?” Admittedly, the intent of the retro publishers is to keep these types of games available in a market that had no official support, to provide a means for amateur and not-so-amateur designers to create material for the games they love, and to keep this form of gaming alive. However, I think it’s going to be hard going for these same publishers if WotC steps back into the marketplace and re-introduces the real thing. Those of us active in the OSR might continue to support the old school retro clones, but when push comes to shove, the average gamer is going to pick up Basic D&D over Labyrinth Lord. It’ll be a shame if the OSR did win the war as some posts have claimed in recent months, only to succumb to its own victory.

Now assuming that WotC continues with an OGL with their releases, the 3^rd party market will survive. We must remember that the original plan for the OGL was so that 3^rd party publishers would take up the slack and produce adventure modules for D&D that are notoriously small sellers and don’t constitute a large part of the overall profit pie. WotC could continue to concentrate on the big sellers and let the little guys nibble on the crumbs. As we know, this isn’t the way things worked out, but this might still end up being the case for the publishers currently supporting the OSR. I’m not crying that the sky is falling, but I doubt anybody with a stake in the old school market isn’t at least considering this possibility today. I sure there’s been a few closed door conferences going on over at Paizo HQ in recent days as well.

I might be reading too much into this announcement entirely and completely outside the realm of reality. Nevertheless, I think there are interesting times ahead for us all in the months to come and I’ll be watching future developments very closely. The reprints of 1E have certainly lit a fire under my own ass in regard to getting Stonehell completed and out the door on the off-chance we’re in for a very severe sea change in the hobby and the industry that supports it.

Change is Good

No, this isn’t a post about the just-announced and forthcoming version of Dungeon & Dragons (but we’ll get to that in a moment). This is about looking forward to 2012 and new directions in the year to come—which may be important on the off-chance the Mayans knew something we don’t.

Last year, I announced that this blog would be coming to an end. I felt that I had taken the Society as far as it could go based on my original purpose of chronicling my return to the gaming fold and wishing to contribute something to this nebulous thing we call the Old School Renaissance (or whatever OSR stands for this week). In some ways, I still believe that. I’ve done what I set out to do and succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

Since its inception, this blog and the material produced for it allowed me to establish a presence hitherto undreamt of—by me anyway— in the gaming community and the industry that supports us. I don’t think anyone can dispute that The Dungeon Alphabet and Stonehell Dungeon remain examples of some of the better works created by this movement. The Dungeon Alphabet was especially well-received and is one of the few works that achieved success outside of the OSR, drawing praise from not only grognards but folks who entered this hobby in more recent years. That continues to blow my mind.

Having done what I set out to do, my choices were to either start anew or shut down. My workload made me more inclined to the latter. But with the start of the New Year, my attitude has changed. I’m hacking away at the “To Be Done” list, and although I expect it will fill up again (at least I’m praying it will), I think I’ll be able to dedicate some more time to this blog o’ mine. The Society has been around for more than three years now and maintains a steady readership. And while it doesn’t have the number of fans some older and more prolific blogs have, SoTPR is still in the upper echelon of old school blogs. It seems as shame to throw away all that hard work now.

So what to do? First off, it’s high time this place got a revamp. In the weeks ahead I will be playing with the design a bit to come up with something new, but still legible. I’ll be editing and updating my links section and playing with ideas for a nifty new banner up top (I remain one of the few elder statesmen of blognards who has never gone beyond a text header). It’ll likely be a hack job since the visual arts is not my forte, but I’ll endeavor to keep it classy and discrete.

Secondly, I’m going to fold my side blog Secret Antiquities into this one. The premise of having a secondary blog for material not directly relating to fantasy gaming was sound, but the end result was two blogs I ignored and not much progress made on either. Seeing as we’re all gamers, I don’t think anyone will mind too much if I post the occasional design ideas for a system other than D&D and its various clones. Unless my readership starts abandoning the joint in droves, expect to see some reposting of things from Secret Antiquities here as I integrate both blogs into one.

Thirdly, and I know I’ve stated it before, 2012 will be the year the Stonehell sequel is finally released. The fact that it is so far behind tears me up more than I’d like to admit and since my name is synonymous with that dungeon, I feel its failure to see the light of day reflects poorly on me. To correct this, I’m committed to producing one new quadrant of Stonehell a week. While that might mean it takes all year to complete the manuscript, slow progress trumps no progress.

Lastly, although connected to the above, 2012 will see me at GaryCon IV. I intend to try and play as much as I can, but I will be bringing Stonehell with me to Lake Geneva, hopefully with brand new material to test drive. There are no official Stonehell sessions on the schedule, but if you corner me, I’ll gladly run it during the open gaming portions of the con. I’ll even allow your FLAILSNAILERS to bring your PCs for a visit if that’s cool with how things work in FLAILSNAIL-land. As always, Stonehell’s Save Your Ass T-shirts will be honored, so grab one now and edge out your competition for loot.

More projects and plans will be announced as they develop, but I think the above is going to keep me busy for awhile.

OK, with that out of the way, let me say my piece on the 5^th edition which isn’t the 5^th edition of D&D. In all honesty, I was completely indifferent about the announcement. That surprised me a little, but it’s the truth. There’s no gnashing of teeth or rending of raiment here. The game will come, I’ll check it out, and if it’s fun and captures my interest, I’ll play it from time to time. I’ve no expectations that it will heal the great edition rift or create the greatest version of the game ever. I might run it or I might not. I signed up to get a look at the beta version once it’s released, but I suspect that will be the extent of my involvement. I’m certainly not going to attempt to steer its direction. It will be whatever Mike and Monte design within the boundaries laid down by management. I wish them the best and hope Wizards comes out with an entertaining diversion that attracts more gamers to the fold. After all, more tabletop gamers are good in the grand scheme of things.

I don’t expect to give much coverage to the game here so this may very well be the last words I say on the game until it is released. Others will certainly be following its development with close scrutiny. I’ll say this though: “5E” looks really, really strange when seen written out to my eyes. I must be getting older.

School’s Out Week: 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

We’re a day late and a dollar short on this post. Please excuse us; it’s been that sort of week.

I can think of no better way to close out the School’s Out Week than by turning our attentions towards what many consider the poster boy for “what went wrong”: 4th Edition D&D. I’ve had time to weigh the pros and cons of the latest incarnation of the venerable roleplaying title due to my recent (and highly unforeseen) involvement with the title.

A few weeks ago, one of my Labyrinth Lord players announced that he’d be orchestrating the D&D Encounters program at our FLGS and he kindly invited me to attend. He was well aware of the fact that I’m firmly in the school of “less is more” and that 4E is really not my “go to” edition for D&D (he said, understating the subject), but left the offer open. When the next Wednesday rolled around, I stopped by to make sure he had enough players to go through with the matter. Having experienced what it takes to get a group of gamers going, I wanted him to succeed and if that meant having to sit in so he’d have enough guys to run, I was willing to do so. And that’s exactly what happened due to some miscommunication with the store about scheduled start times and dates. Thus, Mike took up the role of Brandis the human paladin and set forth to defeat the darkness (literally).

My previous experience with 4th edition was the singular playtest my group ran of D&D Gamma World some months ago. This time, I’d be on the other side of the DM’s screen. Out of respect, I kept my mouth shut and my mind open and did my best to treat it as a roleplaying game and not a miniatures battle game. The results were mixed.

First off, let me say I’m not here today to tear down 4E. I realize that I have no axe to grind anymore, if ever, with WotC. I’ve developed a lot of sympathy for the guys down in the design trenches and have the sneaking suspicion that they’re not really happy with the direction things have taken and would much rather be paid to take the game in another direction. Since a steady RPG design gig is a rare bird, I don’t blame them and might do the same thing in their position.

Also, any criticism that follows is not directed to Dave, who has taken up the challenge of running the Encounters sessions (which is a really bad choice for a name because it sounds too much like the swingers’ group that meets weekly at the A-Frame). He’s running the program they sent him and is inhibited by the material. I also respect anyone who is out there running a game rather than sitting at home bitching about the fact they’re not.

After sitting through two Encounters sessions, I’m ready to speak openly about my experience with 4E. It isn’t much different from the impression I got when running D&D Gamma World and is one I’ve seen repeated in several places. Ultimately, when the books are put away and the chip bowl has been emptied, 4th Edition D&D is a decent skirmish miniatures game. When paired with the weekly, two-hour long Encounters program, it becomes even more engaging. The players have a set goal and know that they’ll be headed home once it’s finished, not unlike putting aside two hours to watch a movie. I can honestly say that I’ve enjoyed the past two weeks.

The Encounters program is obviously geared toward a specific type of gamer, one with limited time and perhaps lacking the means or social skills to cultivate a group on their own. Each session starts with a little light roleplaying that is essentially a guise to determine what this week’s goal is. Are we to defend the orphanage? Kill the bandit chief? Maybe pursue the sinister gnome who ran down the alley into the obvious ambush? Once that’s out of the way, the tactical map is put down, the counters are placed, and the dice start rolling. When the last body hits the ground, you pack up and head on home.

This isn’t a bad way to approach 4E and it is much more enjoyable to me than I suspect participating in an ongoing 4E campaign would be. There is no investment needed other than a small block of time each week. My character is pre-generated and all his powers are neatly written on the back of the laminated character card, so I don’t have to drop a dime on confusing rulebooks (which one is official this week?) or power cards (I’m not spending another $10 because I want to play a warlock this time). I sit down, chuck some dice, and go home. Of course, the downfall to this is that I’m not invested in my character any more than I’d be with my race car piece in a game of Monopoly. This takes me to my real difficulty with 4E.

I cannot lose myself in the game the way I can with older editions. This is not the fault of the DM or the adventure, but the rules themselves. The rules in 4E, especially their dependency on creating unambiguous rulings, never disappear into the background for me. I can occasionally erect a thin veneer of roleplaying, but this comes crumbling down the first time I’ve got to start counting adjacent adversaries to see how big of a bonus I get to attack. The most recent WTF moment that threw me completely out of the moment came when I suggested that, rather than expend some out our limited healing surges to recoup after a fight, we return to the chapel we had just come from and ask the priests there if they could drop some of their heavenly mojo on us. That was when I was told that magical healing in 4E is tied to your character’s healing surges and even potions deduct from them. Huh?

For me, 4E simply misses the boat when it comes divorcing oneself from reality and reveling in the shared delusion of roleplaying. I’ve always been a fan of “fluff” over “crunch,” so 4E is like eating a cotton candy cone filled with nails, screws, and broken glass for me; just when I’m trying to enjoy the sweetness, I bite into something that ruins the experience. But also like cotton candy, it’s best when sampled infrequently and in small portions.

The Latest Gamma Go-Around

If you’ve been reading this blog over the past few weeks, you undoubtedly know that I a) intend to run a Gamma World campaign next year once my current Labyrinth Lord game needs some rest, and b) own every edition of Gamma World ever produced. And, as of today, I mean EVERY version. I picked up the latest attempt to bring post-apocalyptic mayhem to the gaming mainstream, which is a struggle for reasons I fail to understand.

This marks the first time that I’ve added any of my filthy lucre to WotC’s coffers since they decided to pull the older edition PDFs from the commercial market. I hemmed and hawed about whether or not to make the exception for this version of Gamma World, but ultimately came to the conclusion that they’d get my money for this sooner or later. I didn’t drop a single dollar on 4E D&D, so this will also serve as my first “in my hand” exposure to the 4th edition rules, which Gamma World utilizes in some manner. I couldn’t tell you how true they are to their fantasy sister for obvious reasons.

I’m going to try and be open-minded about this version of GW. I’ll admit that I might not be successful, but I’m going to try. I’m also not going to review it based on how it reads. If and when I do talk about this version of Gamma World (I’m not even sure what to call it. Some have called it 4th edition Gamma World or D&D Gamma World, but neither quite work for me. I’ll just stick with New Gamma World for now.), it will only be after I’ve had a chance to play it. I think that’s only fair. Maybe I can convince some of the Labyrinth Lord guys to stay late one Sunday and give it a shot.

I will address one thing because it seems to be the direction WotC’s packaging is headed since the D&D Starter Set came out: There is a heck of a lot more box than stuff here, and dice aren’t amongst that stuff. Here’s what you’re getting:




I understand there will be two Gamma World Expansions released (Famine at Far-Go and The Legion of Gold) and this packaging choice might be meant to accommodate that material. However, if you’re expecting a Fantasy Flight Games-level of stuff inside that boxed set (which really does look like it’s a board game box), you’ll be disappointed. That’s all I’m saying for now.

Working Around the Purge

EDIT: I've been informed that the below are no longer hosted on WotC's servers, but I will leave the links in place as a record of what old school products were once available for free courtesy of Wizards. A moment of silence please for their passing.

This is probably too late to make this week’s Underdark Gazette’s list of free stuff, but here it is: Nevermind.

Thanks to reader mark.argent’s suggestion of using the Wayback Machine to track down the proper urls, below you’ll find links to all the available free and legal PDF (and other format) products that Wizard’s used to host in the Older Edition Downloads section before it went away. These are still on their server, but who knows for how long. This might be the last chance to see, people, so grab what you might find useful before they go away for good!

NOTE: While the files I’ve tested worked, I’ve not had the chance to check all of the links. If you find a bummer, leave a comment and I’ll either check to link’s HTML or make a note of it as inactive.

Forgotten Realms
Maztica
FMA1, Fires of Zatal
FMA2, Endless Armies
FMQ1, City of Gold
OA5, Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claws
OA6, Ronin Challenge
OA7, Test of the Samurai
The Horde
Lands of Intrigue
Cormanthyr
Savage Frontier
Gold and Glory
Elminster's Ecologies, Appendix 1
Elminster's Ecologies, Appendix 2
Four From Cormyr
Castle Spulzeer
Cult of the Dragon
For Duty and Deity
City of Ravens Bluff
Calimport
Arcane Age: Netheril--Empire of Magic
Volo's Guide to the North
Marco Volo: Departure
Marco Volo: Journey
Marco Volo: Arrival
Volo's Guide to Cormyr
Dungeon Crawl: Undermountain--The Lost Level
Vilhon Reach
Volo's Guide to the Dalelands
Dungeon Crawl: Undermountain--Maddgoth's Castle
Volo's Guide to All Things Magical
Dungeon Crawl: Undermountain--Stardock
How the Mighty Are Fallen
Villain's Lorebook
The Fall of Myth Drannor
The North

Classic Modules
I10 Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill
Palace of the Silver Princess (B3)
Dungeonland and The Land Beyond the Magic Mirror (EX1 & EX2)

The Secret of Bone Hill
Module Text
Inside & Outside Cover
4 pages of Interior Maps
Interior Art

Touch Of Death

Night Of The Walking Dead
Adventure
Maps
Covers

Needle
Module Text
Outside & Inside Covers
Images of Provided PCs
Interior Art part 1
Interior Art part 2

Feast of Goblyns
Ship Of Horror
From The Shadows
Roots Of Evil

Al-Qadim
Corsairs of the Great Sea
Caravans

Birthright
Wizards Celebrates Birthright's Anniversary

Player's Secrets of Muden
Map of the Muden Domain

An Introduction to Birthright
The Birthright Online City Project
Birthright Campaign: The Official Playtest Notes
Domain Sourcebooks: An Insider's View
A Timeline of the Birthright World
Birthright Pronunciation Guide

Dark Sun
King's Age Calendar/Timeline of Athas
Psionic Abilities and Powers Update
Athasian Templar Class

Dragonlance
DLR1, Otherlands
DLA1, Dragon Dawn
Gnomes--100, Dragons--0

Greyhawk
Ivid the Undying
Map #1 for Ivid the Undying
Map #2 for Ivid the Undying
Map #3 for Ivid the Undying
Composite Map

Mystara
Alien Devices
Mystaran Nosferatu Vampire
Shadow Elves - the DM's Guide
Shadow Elves - the Player's Guide
Shadow Elves
Schattenalfen - An Elvish Race

Savage Coast
Savage Coast (RTF)
Savage Coast (TXT)

Book One: The Orc's Head Peninsula Sourcebook.
Orc's Head Accessory (RTF)
Orc's Head Accessory (TXT)
Orc's Head Adventure Maps #1
Orc's Head Adventure Maps #2
Orc's Head Adventure Maps #3

Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix (RTF)
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix (TXT)
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix images #1
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix images #2
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix images #3
Savage Coast Monstrous Compendium Appendix images #4

Coats of Arms of the Savage Coast

Spelljammer
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 1 (477k ZIP of GIFs)
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 2 (285k ZIP of GIFs)
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 3 (291k ZIP of GIFs)
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 4 (180k ZIP of GIFs)
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 5 (267k ZIP of GIFs)
To-scale Spelljamming ship deckplans # 6 (257k ZIP of GIFs)

Character Sheets
NPC Character Sheet
Player's Option Character Sheet
Player's Option Character Sheet

Classic Errata
The Rjurik Highlands Errata
The Complete Psionics Handbook (first printing)
The Sha'ir's Handbook

"Road to Danger" Missing Maps
Dagger Rock and Underground

"Wild Magic" Table
Labyrinth of Madness (Module) Errata
2nd edition Dungeon Master Guide (revised) Errata
2nd edition Player's Handbook (revised) Errata
Player's Option Rulebook: Combat & Tactics FAQ
Player's Option: Skills & Powers FAQ
Player's Option: Skills & Powers FAQ (second printing)
More Errata for Player's Option: Skills & Powers (both printings)
Rod Of Seven Parts Card Errata
Rary the Traitor
Border Watch

Rules
Chronomancy and the Multiverse
Half-Dragons
Infravision Explained
Psionicists
DMGR2: Castle Guide
Legends & Lore 2nd edition

Maps
Treasure Maps
Section 1 - GR3-1
Section 2 – GR3-2
Section 3 – GR3-3
Section 4 – GR3-4