Of frog demons and space stations

A couple of recent purchases arrived in the mail this week, and I thought I would share them with you:

First in my mailbox was What Ho, Frog Demons!, an adventure for old-school D&D by my buddy Chris from the Hill Cantons (read more about this product on the blog). I don't think our tabletop group did much more than march past the pre-publication version of this dungeon, and the book itself has a lot more packed than even the campaign players saw, with some great art. My favorite is Preved!, the War Bear who likes to shout his own name.

I also received this Mace-class space station for the Terran fleet from Monday Knight Productions. This will make a nice objective for the next time I play a game of Starfleet Wars or Galactic Knights, and I'm looking forward to painting it up.

Anyone else get anything cool lately?

The FBI and TSR

In case you missed it, here is an FBI report mentioning TSR, Inc. from 1995. Long story short: Agents interviewed someone at the company about any connection between TSR and Fresno Gaming Association and Company--and that person slung some mud on Gary Gygax.

According to this blog post at Save Versus All Wands, the Feds were running down possible leads on the American terrorist known as the Unabomber. For some reason, they went to the Dungeons & Dragons publisher's headquarters, where they spoke to a company official (name redacted), who told the investigators "that the typical war gaming enthusiast is overweight and not neat in appearance." While there might be a grain of truth to that, the source provided a lot of inaccurate information regarding wargames.

There's more on TSR, wargamers in general, and D&D co-creator Gary Gygax in particular. All in all, the company honcho was dishing dirt on Gygax and expressing her disdain for gamers. As the Save Versus All Wands author states in this message board post, it sounds like the source was Lorraine Williams, the person infamous for ousting Gygax from the company he helped found.

Interesting tidbit from back in the day.

Where'd these figures come from?

I stumbled across a bag of miniatures (presumably for D&D) in a secondhand shop recently, and for three bucks I had to scoop them up.

All the castings exude an old-school vibe. There's this dwarf on a throne:

And a pair of halfling scouts, that looks familiar, but I just can't place it:

As well as another dwarf, with spear and shield:

Along with two more short guys, dwarves or gnomes:

Any idea as to manufacturer or range? I'm curious about where these guys originated.

Original D&D play report

So I got to play some old-school Dungeons & Dragons over the weekend--I'm talking the original three booklets version (with house rules, of course, as that's the Old School Way). One of the folks on the OD&D Discussion forums mentioned an ongoing game here in the Austin area, and when I inquired, he was kind enough to invite me. Turns out their sessions were so popular, they started a second game with another DM. It was his first time behind the DM's screen, and my first time as a player in a campaign since I left the Hill Cantons.

There was a good crowd for this session: Seven characters, including the son of the DM and the son of one the players, and the DM. Character generation was quick and simple: 3d6 in order. I was thrilled to roll three 15s in a row for my guy's Strength, Intelligence, and Wisdom, but then was brought back down to earth with scores of 7 and 8 in Constitution and Dexterity, respectively. I named this character Clumsy Carp and made him a cleric. We started off in the village of Meadsville, learning of a threat to caravans and a separate threat in the nearby woods, which we investigated.

Long story short: Having a cleric came in handy, since we ran into a lot of undead, as well as a minion of the witch who one of the magic-users charmed. We came out of the dungeon with enough of a haul to get nearly everyone up a level. It was a good time, and I look forward to playing some  more.

Friday night D&D

Last weekend, I ran a game of Dungeons & Dragons for my wife. While she's played D&D before, adventuring with me in the Hill Cantons, I had never DMed for her. Using the Labyrinth Lord Advanced rules, she rolled up her character--Casandra, an assassin recently downsized from the Guild due to the economy (that's her in the blue cloak).

In need of work, she started the game at the Green Dragon Inn, in Portown. There, Casandra encountered rumors of a nearby dungon complex that was attracting adventurers, opportunities at a distant keep located on the borderlands, some sort of trouble at the palace in a not-too-distant kingdom, an abandoned hideaway of two famous adventurers, the missing son of a local lord (who would pay handsomely for his child's return), and treasure in the cellars of an abandoned sorcerer's tower located next to the graveyard and not too far from the sea.

She chose to investigate the corridors beneath the tower, but not before gaining a few adventuring companions: the hobbit Banker Baggins (no relation), Nestor the cleric, and Abercrombie (Abe) the dwarf. Their first foray brought them into a room with smashed coffins and a couple of hungry ghouls. They ended up defeating the pair of undead creatures, but Banker had fallen, so they went back to town to recover (but not before finding some platinum coins and a handful of gems).

On their return, they walked through a room they thought was empty, but which contained animated skeletons hidden in alcoves. A word from the cleric Nestor sent the figures clattering away, and they continued until they found a room with a man in robes accompanied by a bodyguard behand a table with all sorts of wizardly implements. A good reaction roll meant that instead of ordering the fighter to attack, the man conversed with the explorers and even mentioned that he had seen some idiot kid wandering around the dungeon, heading to the west.

The adventurers continued on, discovering a room containing a statue, the facing of which controlled which door would open, and defeating a giant snake in a circular room with a staircase leading up. Before they could explore any further, a group of wandering dwarves entered from the south. Although Abe tried to talk with them, a very bad reaction roll had them on the verge of hostilities, so the explorers withdrew. At that point, we called it an evening.

My wife had a good time adventuring, and she played smart. She had never mapped before, and she did a good job charting their route through the dungeon. I hope she decides to play again soon--after all, that lord's idiot kid is still down there somewhere.

Marlinko, man

The latest installment in the Hill Cantons canon arrived in my mailbox this week: Fever-Dreaming Marlinko. I've had the PDF for awhile, but I like my games in print, not just pixels. This product, the result of a stretch goal from the Slumbering Ursine Dunes kickstarter, describes the city of Marlinko (nee Marlankh--you can still see a couple of serial numbers that didn't get filed off), which served as an adventuring base for our tabletop group of adventurers.

It's chock-full of adventure hooks, colorful nonplayer characters, numerous cultural references, and great art--including the front cover pictured up top and this city map on the back cover. So go check out Fever-Dreaming Marlinko, and tell 'em Mandamus sent you!

Hypothetical Pocket GEV counter mix

With the release of Pocket Ogre, Steve Jackson Games gave fans a classic version of the old sci-fi tank game, with retro counters, retro map, and retro price. And it comes with plenty of counters to play the scenarios in the rulebook or to create your own.

There's talk of releasing the sequel to that game, GEV, in a similar format, but with the price adjusted for inflation to around ten bucks. So what counters should they include in this edition?

Since Pocket GEV will cost about what it cost to make Pocket Ogre, the sequel probably will include the same type of components as the earlier game: two die-cut counter sheets, a map on non-glossy paper, and a rulebook. To further keep costs down, I'm going to assume that SJG will use the same die pattern they employed to cut the Ogre counters, giving us 70 chits per sheet.

So with 140 counters, the game needs to include enough of each unit type to play all the scenarios included in GEV. It also needs to include all the units introduced in the original rules: light tanks, mobile howitzers, and trains. I also want to bring in a couple of units introduced in later supplements that don't require any new rules: light GEVs and superheavy tanks.

Taking all that into account, here's my suggested counter manifest (per sheet) for the proposed Pocket GEV:

UNIT      BLACK     WHITE     OTHER              
OGRE MK IV  -         -         2*     
CMD POST    -         -         3**
TRAIN       -         -         2***
L TANK      2         4         -
H TANK      5         4         -
SH TANK     1         1         -
MSL TANK    3         3         -
LGEV        4         2         -
GEV         8         6         -
HWZ         1         2         -
MHWZ        2         1         -
INF (3/2)   2         3         -
INF (2/1)   4         5         -
*Black on one side, white on the other.
**CPs Alpha, Beta & Gamma; black on one side, white on the other.
***Gray; the first train counter has M0/1 on one side and M2/3 on the other; the second has M4/5 and M6/7.

So multiply the above by two, and that's the counter mix for my hypothetical GEV. With this loadout, a single copy of the game gives you enough of the specified counters to play all the advanced scenarios that came in the original GEV rules. It also includes the same number of Ogre counters as the first edition. Since we can't change the shape or size of the counters (we're stuck with the template from Pocket Ogre), the train requires a slight workaround: use two counters with the same speed to represent the train taking up two hexes.

Granted, there are not a whole lot of the newer units, but there are enough to give players some options. And at $10 apiece, a second copy for more counters isn't unreasonable. I think this roster will work, but I might have missed something. What units do you think Pocket GEV needs more (or less) of?

More Ogre reinforcements

Some additions to my Ogre/GEV forces--on the miniatures front and in the way of counters. First, these die-cast vehicles from the old Kenner Mega Force line will serve as cruise missile crawlers. I already have some of these in use, and I think I will strip and repaint my newest models in a different color for use by opposing forces. Anyone else incorporate toys into their minis games?

Next, these old-school counters writ large. These classic-style pieces for the Ogre boardgame are one inch on a side and meant for use with the large hex maps from the new Designer's Edition. However, I have a couple of paper maps from the out-of-print Deluxe Ogre and Deluxe GEV minis sets, and the counters will fit with those maps as well. Just like the pocket edition of the game, but bigger!

So I will be able to play Ogre in a variety of formats. Now to line up an opponent for a game. ...

My old-school collection grows ...

Even though I'm a fan of early Dungeons & Dragons, my entry into the game was via the Holmes basic set, followed by the hardback Advanced D&D books. It wasn't till decades later that I found some of the original supplements (in good condition) in a used basic set purchased from a hobby store.

Now my collection is closer to completion. I was able to acquire a copy The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures, the third volume of the original edition of Dungeons and Dragons, as well as the second supplement, Blackmoor, both for a reasonable price.

I already have the other supplements--Greyhawk, Eldrich Wizardry, Gods Demigods & Heroes, and Swords & Spells. So to round out my colletion of original D&D books, I need to track down the first two volumes; Men & Magic and Monsters & Treasure.

OGRE Pocket Edition counter mix

For future reference and for creating scenarios, here's a list of the counters that you get for your three bucks in the ziplock-bagged OGRE Pocket Edition. There are 140 counters total--70 each on two identical sheets. Each sheet break down as follows:

White (PanEuropean/defenders)

• 5 HVY TANK
• 5 GEV
• 4 MSL TANK
• 4 HOWITZER
• 7 INFANTRY (3/2)
• 4 INFANTRY (2/1)
• 1 CP
• 3 MCP (D2, D1, D0)

Black (Combine/attackers)

• 5 HVY TANK
• 7 GEV
• 5 MSL TANK
• 2 HOWITZER
• 5 INFANTRY (3/2)
• 3 INFANTRY (2/1)

Light Gray (third force)

• 2 MCP (D1, D0)

Double-Sided

• 2 OGRE MARK III (white/dark gray)
• 1 OGRE MARK V (white/dark gray)
• 2 OGRE MARK III (black/light gray)
• 1 OGRE MARK V (black/light gray)
• 2 CP (D0) (black/white)

That's a lot of counters, more than enough for the standard kill-the-command-post games. So what scenarios come to mind with all these units, especially the conventional forces?

Gaining followers in Holmes D&D

In the early iterations of Dungeons & Dragons, characters gain followers of some type once they reach a certain level. The Holmes edition of the rules, of course, only takes characters to third level and doesn't mention obtaining followers at high level. Since I like to extrapolate from this version of the game, I want to discuss raising followers according to Holmes basic.

First, of course, in the section on creating characters, Holmes points out that the number of followers is limited by a character's charisma:

A character of charisma below 13 can not hire more than 5 followers, and their loyalty will be luke-warm at best -- that is, if the fighting gets hot there is a good probability they will run away. On the other had, someone with a charisma of 18 can win over a large number of followers (men or monsters) who will probably stand by him to the death.

Next, in the section on nonplayer characters, Holmes mentions letting characters hire "a band of mercenaries" to take part in (and share the loot from) an adventure. He also acknowledges that players may want "a regular entourage of various character types, monsters, or an army of some form." The author then goes on to discuss luring "monsters" (including higher-level men) into service via charisma or charm spell. He adds that surrender may result in service according to the results of the Hostile/Friendly Reaction Table and subdual means an opponent will serve without need of the reaction table.

But what about followers of characters past third level? The monster entries can help.

Take, for example, the bandit. One fourth-level fighting man for every 30 bandits; one fifth- or sixth-level for every 50. Over 200, a one-quarter chance of a tenth- or eleventh-level magic user and the same probability of an eighth-level cleric. If there are 300 bandits, there is a M-U and a 50% chance of a cleric.

And the dwarf: a second- to seventh-level leader for every 40 dwarves.

As well as the elf: one leader (fighter/magic-user, 2-4/2-7 level) for every 50 elves.

Back to bandits: Holmes doesn't explicitly define bandits as fighters, but he gives regular bandit troops shields and possibly chain mail. Since thieves can't use either of those protective devices, we can say bandits are fighters. Further support for this argument can be found in the description of the bandit camp in one of the modules included with the Holmes basic rules, B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. In that adventure, Gary Gygax lists the bandits as fighters or zero-level normal men.

So you've got scores of fighters hanging around with some higher-level type. Why? Charisma. Those upper-level folks must have pretty good charismas scores, and they're therefore able to amass large numbers of followers.

So based on the above, here's one way to go about determining followers when playing with the Blue Book rules:

FOLLOWERS 

In addition to hiring non-player characters through advertising, characters with a charisma score of 13 or more can attract followers as they gain levels, since stories of their adventures will draw others to their service. A character that gains such followers cannot add any more to the ranks until reaching the next level, and any followers lost cannot be replaced until the next level.

Beginning at fourth level, fighting men roll percentile dice each month to determine if they attract 30 first-level fighters into service. A roll of 10 or less succeeds, and the character may not roll again for troops until gaining a new level. At fifth level, a fighting man has the same chance of gaining 50 troops. At sixth level and above, the fighter can obtain up to another 50 soldiers (so a total of 130 troops at sixth level, 180 troops at seventh level, and so on).

Starting at tenth level, magic-users have a 5 percent chance per month of gaining 200 troops, increasing by another 100 troops for each level thereafter on a successful percentile roll.

Clerics have the same chance of attracting followers as magic-users, but can start rolling at eighth level.

At second level and higher, dwarves have a 5 percent chance per month of having 10 dwarves (as described in the Monster List) join their cause, increasing by 10 dwarves per level after that.

Likewise, elves who have reached both the second level of fighting ability and the second level of magic-use have a 5 percent chance to gain 10 elves (from the Monster List). This number increases by 5 elves each time the character gains a level as either a fighter or a magic-user.

Well, that's what I came up with as far as mass followers for the old basic game. It hasn't been playtested, as none of the characters in my short-lived Holmes campaign from last year ever made it past first level (and I didn't come up with it till just now). Also, I didn't include any followers for thieves, since I couldn't find anything in the blue book to draw upon for that class. Any suggestions?

Dunes is here!

At long last, Slumbering Ursine Dunes, an old-school sandbox setting that Chris Kutalik, our creative DM, created as part of his Hill Cantons campaign and turned into a full-fledged adventure module via Kickstarter.  It has a distinct Eastern European/Slavic flavor to it, filtered through a sardonic Austin viewpoint that predates hipsters by a generation. And there's a whole lotta stuff in there that we tabletop players never saw during our games.  There are some great ideas in this adventure, so check it out.

Also in the package I received, Original Edition Delta: Book of War, from the author of Delta's D&D Blog--it's a medieval/fantasy miniatures wargame rules based directly on old-school D&D.  One figure represents 10 men, and combat is resolved by rolling d6s, allowing DMs to fight out those large battles without taking forever.  I like the simplicity of this ruleset, and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I'm back! (What do you mean, you didn't notice I was gone?)

Sorry about the lack of posts; my laptop was mostly dead for the past month.  I haven't done much gaming, or even worked on game stuff lately, because of travel and for various other reasons, but I'm still a gamer at heart. 

I did get a chance to play some OGRE every now and then, but I still haven't been able to keep the eponymous cybertank from destroying the command post.  I hope to report some progress soon.

I do want to mention that the Slumbering Ursine Dunes adventure kickstarter (which is a part of the Hill Cantons campaign) has just a few days left.  It's fully funded and well into the project's stretch goals.  Go check it out and pledge while it's still open.

Get a piece of the Dunes

The Kickstarter for Slumbering Ursine Dunes has gone live.  This is a wilderness adventure with a couple of dungeon sites that adventures in the Hill Cantons trekked through on several occasions.  Now it's being offered for sale.

So if you're interested in old-school adventures, go check it out.  I've already pledged, I encourage you to do the same.

The Dunes ...

Coming soon from my buddy Chris!

Starting an Oldhammer army

Now that I have my Warhammer Fantasy Battle third edition rulebook, I need to think about the miniatures I will use.  To me, the Oldhammer ethos doesn't necessarily involve vintage figures, but instead revolves around using minis to build the army you want.  That said, I still have a ton of old GW plastics from their Skeleton Army boxed set.  I can use these to build two or three units with the minimum number of figures.  (I still have plenty of metal castings as well, but most of those are destined to expand my Nightmare Legion army for Hordes of the Things.)

Besides, I think it will be fun to build an army using all these plastics.  In addition to the foot soldiers, I have enough skeletal riders for a cavalry unit, as well as a chariot or two.  My plan is to keep this army as simple as possible, attaching banners to indicate leaders, unless I want to include a metal mini as champion or general.  Since they're skeletons, they're pretty easy to paint, and detailing should be simple as well.

This will be a long-term project, however.  I have a move to get through next week, and then I'm concentrating on finishing the terrain and miniatures for an Ogre scenario I'm running at MillenniumCon this November. But after that, I plan to start on this army and find me some opponents for some third edition Warhammer.  Who wants to join me?

Oldhammer in the house!

After several months, I finally scored a copy of Third Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle.  I've been reading about the Oldhammer movement, and it's philosophy is similar to that of the Old School Renaissance: a do-it-yourself vibe, with heavy reliance on a referee instead of a rulebook.  The book has some wear, but it isn't falling apart.

This is the edition that got me started in fantasy gaming back in the late 1980s.  Although I'd been playing D&D for  quite awhile, when it came to wargaming I was sci-fi only--Ogre, Battletech, and Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, which eventually led me around to Warhammer Fantasy Battle. 

Since I worked in a game store around this time, my employee discount resulted in the acquisition of  a whole bunch of undead miniatures (that being my favorite army).  However, I never really got to use them on the battlefield until I started playing Hordes of the Things.  However, the idea of quickly painting up a couple of units and a champion or two for a quick battle has me excited.  And now I have the rules, so I can get those skellies on the table for some Oldhammer!

OGRE--Old School!

Had a chance to break in my Ogre Pocket Edition game this weekend.  It was a retro blast playing with the same old-school counters and hex mat that came out more than three decades ago.  It gave me flashbacks to the 1970s.

I have memories of playing this game as a kid on vacations with my brother.  So when we got together for a family gathering, he and I squeezed in a couple of matches (the Mark III attacking scenario).

I was the defender in the first game.  I took two howitzers, two heavies, two missile tanks, and four GEVs.  My brother came in down one side, and used both missiles to take out GEVs (although one hovercraft got disabled twice, it did survive for three or four turns).  However, I wasn't able to reduce his speed in time, and he took out the first howitzer, then the command post, then the last howitzer.

I talked my brother into a rematch, with me driving the Ogre.  He kept the two artillery units, but ditched the heavier armor for an all-GEV force.  He had some really good rolls attacking my treads, and got me down to a move of two hexes fairly quickly.  He didn't get his GEVs out of the way, though, and I was able to chew through them.  And since I still had all my weapons, I was able to dispatch his infantry fairly easily.  In the end, I had to make a run under his howitzer umbrella.  He got me down to one move, but I still managed to kill a howitzer, destroy his CP, then take out his final artillery piece.

So we each won a game with the Ogre, but he says he did better than I did, since his Ogre (down a main and a secondary, and reduced to a move of two) wasn't as chewed up as mine (still had all its weapons, but down to one move).  What do you think?

The Pathetic Aesthetic ...

... or Oldhammer and the OSR.

Because I don't have enough gaming projects, I'm thinking about getting into Oldhammer (using older versions of the Warhammer rules to play games for fun instead of with a tournament mindset).  I'd say it's the minis equivalent of the OSR.

This is from last year, but Andy Bartlett's post on The Pathetic Aesthetic from the blog Known World, Old World encapsulates a lot of great points about the OSR and the Oldhammer movement.  A very thoughtful article that I urge you to check out.  And see robotforaday's post with similar thoughts on Going Old School at Where the Sea Pours Out.

Another game of D&D

Another dungeon crawl this weekend, with three players: Rickey, who went solo last time; Coach' and Coach's son, who is back from college and is new to the old-school RPG scene but familiar with online roleplaying games.  I'm running this campaign using the Holmes basic D&D rules.

Before setting foot in the dungeon, the players talked about hiring henchmen.  They found the down-on-his-luck Halfling, Banker Baggins (no relation) willing to join them for a full share of the treasure, however.  They also found a quartet of mercenaries--Marko, Darko, Sharko, and Lonnie--willing to work security for a flat 100 gold piece fee.  So three player characters (Coach's fighter Fred II, his son's thief Mavvelwinna, named after his World of Warcraft character, and Rickey's thief Alric), the NPC Halfling, and four men-at-arms set out for the dungeon.

Entering the underground chambers, they came upon a pair of large spiders in a room where other adventurers had slain a similar creature.  This time, one of the arachnids landed a bite on Fred II, who failed his save and fell unconscious from the poison.  Coach then took over Banker, as two of the men-at-arms toted the feverish Fred II around the dungeon--but not before Mavvelwinna relieved Fred of his money.

Their explorations took them through a red room that turned hot, a blue room that became cold, and a yellow room that grew bright.  They found a black leather cloak in a cabinet.  The adventuring party also encountered a couple of packs of giant rats in different rooms, prompting Coach's son to remark that he couldn't wait to get back to the tavern to boast of all the vermin they killed.  After dispatching one such group of rodents, the treasure-seekers managed to find a secret door and the trap it was connected to.  

A search of the deactivated mechanism that shoots spikes out of the wall when the door is opened revealed an enchanted woodsman's tool known as The Ax of the Ranger and a thousand gold coins.  Heading through the secret door and down the corridor it revealed, they came into a room with six gnomes (soon joined by three more) who refused to let the adventurers pass without paying a toll.  The party refused and went the other direction, where they encountered a pair of berserkers.  The  adventurers managed to cut the berserkers down, but not before Mavvelwinna fell beneath one's sword. 

Banker was also knocked unconscious during the fight, so the group retraced their route and headed for the surface.  Of course, they managed to draw the attention of a pair of gnolls on the way out, but even though the adventurers and their mercenary bodyguards were all wounded, they managed to dispatch the hyena-men and make their way out of the dungeon.  The men-at-arms took their money and parted ways, and they were last heard muttering to one another that they needed to go someplace safe, like a war zone.