Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 6

Two months after our last session (thanks to things like 8th grade finals, a 4 year-old's birthday and party, Father's Day, etc.), we finally had our next SWL session. Session 6 of "The Castle Audubon Campaign" happened tonight, after our Independence Day dinner (I cooked burgers and dogs on the grill). My wife knew I have been wanting to game (especially since our Father's Day's game was postponed by our AC conking out). So, she asked the 4 year-old if he wanted to play Swords & Wizardry with Daddy tonight. It was nice digging out the S&W Legion folder once more and picking up right where we had last left off.

My wife was going to sit this one out as she was wiped out from the heat, but then decided to join in just before our boys returned to their player characters, still adventuring within the dungeons of Castle Audubon...

First, the group found a staircase leading downstairs but opted not to follow it, as they did not want to leave the level they were on -- just like when they had found a trap door leading down in a previous session.

So they took another passage further south from there. The first room the three adventurers entered was occupied by 10 humans, who wore necklaces similar to those worn by the rascals the dwarf and magic-user had turned into the local authorities previously: a runic K. In fact, one of them wore a silver brooch in the shape of a runic K! Vomport the fighter (our 14 year-old) tried to talk to the first brigand, only for the 10 of them to wield their swords. While the fighter and dwarf entered the brigands' chamber, Carvell the Magic-User (our 4 year-old) weaved a spell prepared that morning from the doorway. In moments, all 10 men were asleep upon the ground. Swordwork made corpses of them quickly before they could awaken. The 9 necklaces and silver brooch -- along with a sack of copper coins -- were soon in the party's possession. They figured the runic K's could be used to show the townsfolk in the village of Audubon that there was something bad brewing here under the ruined castle.

The fighter, slightly wounded in an earlier fight with fire beetles, decided to risk a sip from one of the two potions the group had found previously. Sniffing the two of them, he learned the clear one smelled of almonds while the pink hued one smelled of roses. He decided to sip the latter potion. Suddenly, Vomport and all of his possessions grew until he was 3' taller (to 9'7") and weighing about 350 pounds! His head was just 5" below the ceiling of the dungeons. Feeling confident that his growth would mean being harder to kill, Vomport exhorted his mates to press on.

After that, they followed a passage and Stormstone discovered a secret door. The dwarven thief (my wife) listened at the just-discovered portal and heard a shuffling walk from within. The fighter remarked that he thought it must be a zombie. His suspicion was confirmed after he kicked the door in and the party fell on a lone zombie. It was wounded by the dwarf and the fighter, but the wizard brought it low with his dagger expertise. If our 4 year-old was older (and more egotistical), he would have been bragging after tonight's session ended, as he felled all of "the bad guys" this session.

The session was ended just before 8:15 p.m. so that the little ones could enjoy a snack before we braved the drizzle to watch our town's fireworks from our front walk.

Until next time, Happy Gaming and Happy 4th of July!
Michael

Swords & Wizardry Light: Session # 5

I had been posting updates regarding my family's Swords & Wizardry Light (SWL) game and campaign on Google Plus and Facebook, forgetting to blog about them here. Argh.

Here's the origination story of the game, thanks to our 3 year-old. 

I shared our third and fourth sessions to Facebook via Instagram.

We have since played five times to date. The 14 year-old played in the first 3 sessions, then skipped the 4th one due to playing Destiny on the Xbox with his friends (Vomport, his fighter, was resting to heal wounds suffered during his last adventure). My wife joined the campaign in his stead, creating a dwarven thief, Anastasiya Stormstone. During their excursion, Stormstone (don't call her Anastasiya!) and my son's wizard, Carvell, captured a pair of ne'er-do-wells in the dungeons of Castle Audubon (set in The World of Greyhawk; its specific location as yet to be determined) and brought them to town. The fifth session occurred the following Saturday and -- for the first time, all three players danced into the dungeon together....

Swords & Wizardry Light Session # 5: Saturday Night Gaming Fever - Disco Zombies, 5/6/2017

With the two ruffians apprehended and turned over to the Audubon town authorities (to be fleshed out later), Carvell and Stormstone kicked Vomport out of bed and led him back to the dungeons of Castle Audubon. The trio headed straight for the remaining pair of zombies from two sessions ago.

Stormstone investigated the room as Carvell shuttered his lantern. He and Vomport waited in the darkness of the corridor nearby while Stormstone used her darkvision to peek at the zombies. One of them was lying motionless on the ground, two arrows sticking out of its body and a mark of some sort on its torso where the magic missile had hit. The other two zombies were milling about, walking in a circular pattern. One of them still had an arrow sticking from its body. Stormstone stumbled over a spent arrow as she went to leave the area. The zombies widened the perimeter of their walk but did not exit their area in pursuit.

The dwarf relayed her findings to the men and they readied to attack. She crept in the darkness past the patrol circle and readied her dagger for a backstab (not knowing undead are immune to such attacks). She yelled, "Now!" when she delivered her blow so that the men could unshutter the lantern and prepare attacks of their own. Her target soon lie motionless on the floor and the men brought down the last zombie soon after with sword and thrown dagger.

Figuring that the zombies were guarding someone or something, due to their circuit in the room, the trio found a trap door under an inch or so of dirt in a corner. After each tried to open the door, Stormstone and Vomport pulled its handle together and raised it as Carvell shone his lantern on them. He refrained from shining it down the hole, though, at Stormstone's insistence -- and shuttered it when told to do so.

Stormstone looked down the hole which descended some 20' to a smooth stone floor much like the one of the first dungeon level. Hearing no noise -- and seeing no tracks in the dirt near the door on their level, they shut the trap door. The dwarf cut her 50' rope in half and attached one end of it to the handle of the trap door. Carvell drove an iron spike into the wall just south of the trap door. The other end of the rope was tied to that. Then, Stormstone removed some of her dwarven beard hair and made makeshift dangling noisemakers by tying some of her beard jewelry (no real value, as they are colored glass) to the length of rope between the trap door and the spike in the wall. They figure now they will know if someone arises from below.

Spying an unexplored area on the southwestern part of their map, the three adventurers head there. Stormstone uses her darkvision and sneakiness to scout ahead. Carvell and Vomport remain outside the large chamber they find, in darkness as before. Stormstone confirms that the glowing lights they saw from down the corridor was from two fire beetles. The trio moves inside, lights up, and vanquishes the insects quickly. After removing the glands from their prey, they look around the room and find some copper pieces in a deteriorated sack and a pair of phials: one containing clear light blue liquid and the other with clear greenish liquid.

Here, the game is stopped for the night, as our boys were up past their bedtime. We look forward to playing more Swords & Wizardry Light soon!

If you would like to check out Swords & Wizardry Light for yourself, you can follow the very first link of this blog, above. Tenkar's Tavern, the blog of the game's creator (Erik Tenkar), is the destination for the original files. They can also be found at his publisher's site, Frog God Games. Finally, should you so desire, tell people of your experience of SWL and/or join in the discussion of its Facebook page, The Swords & Wizardry Legion, and tell Mike B. that I sent you. SWL is being shipped in packet form to whomever would like one in order to spread its fun to gamers everywhere, thanks to Erik and the fine folks at Frog God Games.

Lendore Isle Series - Session 1

Several Sundays ago (1/15/2017), I was able to run the third session of my Greyhawk 576 CY Lendore campaign. This campaign's group of players features my friend from our last town of residence, my friend's son, my friend's brother, and my son. I had already run the two prior sessions before I decided to take a swing at blogging. So, I shall recap now:

*Obligatory Dramatis Personae*
Friend: Fallon von Schroeder, Human Bard (CG)
Friend's son: Garuk Wornfist, Dwur Barbarian (CN)
Friend's brother: Ulradune, Human Cleric of Norebo (CN) [joins the group in Session Two]

My son: Vithshond, Olven Magic-User/Thief (CG)
NPC: Pseudodragon, Vithshond's familiar

[Note: Being that this is a Greyhawk 576 CY campaign, I enjoy using the Flan language terms of the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio and 1983 The World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting box set for the various non-human races. I will try to remember to denote what they are, as I write. For now, olve is elf, olven is elven or elvish, olves is elves; dwur is dwarf, dwarven, or dwarves; and euroz is orc, orcish, or orcs.]

7 November, 2015

In the first session, the party had infiltrated a Haunted House (courtesy of U1: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, which in my campaign is being ported from the Keolandish coast to Lendore Island, east of Restenford, as suggested by +Stuart Marshall several times on the forums at Dragonsfoot.org). They decided to venture there based upon the word of Reginald the Poacher, whose own tales of traveling to the Haunted House perked up the ears of Fallon von Schroeder, a human bard; Garuk Wornfist, a dwur barbarian; and Vithshond, an olven magic-user/thief. Upon hearing of Reginald's visit to the ghostly locale, the trio decided to form an adventuring party to see what they could see -- and gain what treasure the house's former alchemist owner had inside before all went quiet over the last two decades.

As I was saying, the party infiltrated the house in the first session, only to be thwarted by the centipedes in the ground floor kitchen. Garuk makes quick work of several of the vermin. Fallon the bard nearly died, due to a venomous bite, so the party decided to immediately take him back to Restenford. Vithshond casts a spell just outside the Haunted House so the bard could be transported on a Floating Disk of Tenser's make. Since the clerics in Restenford could not neutralize the poison, only slow its progress, the party headed north for the Dweomer Forest, wherein could be found The Church of the Big Gamble. They were told the High Priest or one of his brethren there could probably heal the bard.

Soon after leaving, the trio was beset north of Restenford by a bandit group led by a pair of half-orcs. Vithshond responded with a sleep spell, which knocked out six orcs. The remaining bandits panicked into disarray at this and the three heroes fled north, continuing toward their destination. Upon reaching the Dweomer Forest, they were relieved that no other mishaps occurred on the way. They came to a large clearing inside the forest, where an egg-shaped building sat upon a domed hill. The trio were welcomed, after waiting inside for several minutes, by a cleric of Norebo. Vithshond and Garuk explain what has happened to Fallon. The clerics agree to heal him in return for magic items and/or gold within a year's time. They also state that they have rewards to give to anyone that rids the bridge of the bandits (the very same ones who had just accosted the group) and/or destroys the undead said to be haunting Bone Hill. The priests do not know what sort of undead are there, but they have news of nasty creatures haunting it at night.

At last, the party asks to stay the night and makes an offering. The priests share a small evening meal with the travelers before sending them on their way at first light in the morning. A stag is sent with them as a guide, so that they can avoid the bridge until they have greater numbers or are more capable of taking on the half-orcs' band. They leave the Dweomer Forest and their stag guide behind and make their way back to the coast, to once again enter the Haunted House.

This time, the trio enters the basement through the stairs near the kitchen and scullery -- in spite of the awful sounds emanating from the bottom of the stairs. Fallon and his fellows see a body in the middle of this wine cellar, but nothing else that would have caused such horrendous screams as were previously heard. He investigates the corpse of the armored man, only to have seven rot grubs infest his arm. Thankfully, he knows what they are -- being a well-traveled bard from the Flanaess mainland -- and quickly burns them off with his torch. Better a burnt arm than a dead heart! The bard then follows tracks he had noticed from the stairs as they go past the corpse to the wall of the wine cellar.

Vithshond the olve discerns that there is a secret door and discovers it after searching. On the other side is a large, brightly-lit, and well-furnished hall of sorts. Although there are 10 beds (each merely a thin mattress over a board), a giant table with a dozen or so stools, and plenty of meat, drink, and other foodstuffs; there is just a single occupant at the moment. His back is to the secret door as he whittles away at a model boat he is carving from wood. The bard and olve fell the man with unsuspecting missile fire. The bard checks him and then the footlockers located at the foot of each beds.

The three  examine a connecting room and loot it. They find a map of sorts that appears to contain some sort of code, but are unable to decipher its meaning. Frustrated, they then foolhardily ignore a barred and nailed-shut door that is clearly marked, "DANGER." They remove the wooden beams from across the door and open it to find a room that is cloaked in darkness.  Within moments, they are attacked by six skeletons, spotted by Garuk in the dark. Vithshond brings light to the room via casting a spell. The trio prevail but get scratched up in the process.

Beyond the skeletons' room, the olve finds another secret door. Upon entering this room, the group sees what must be the alchemist's laboratory. The olve fires an arrow at the alchemist, who is seated facing away from the door. He appears to be lost in thought, as he does not move. The arrow takes the head off of body of the deceased alchemist, who must have died years prior, judging by the state of his body. Fallon, the dwarf Garuk, and Vithshond thoroughly search the laboratory and pile their findings into their sacks and pouches. Several books are taken, as they figure they can be sold -- even if they have to find specialists that would buy the tomes. Now they want to further investigate just what is going on here at the Haunted House.

Here ends the first session of The Haunted House near Restenford...

Thanks for reading. Happy gaming!

Greyhawk, Rejoice Over Spouse's Selection

Greetings! Real life became incredibly busy in September, as it does every year due to school starting, hockey season starting, and a number of family birthdays. That led to a busy October (more birthdays, Halloween preparation), an even busier November (more birthdays, Thanksgiving preparation), and we-all-know-how-busy-December-is. Thus, blogging took a back seat to all of that and the busyness of being a parent of a 14 year-old son, a 3 year-old son, and a 1 year-old daughter brings. Now, though, I get to report on an awesome event!

"It" took me awhile to recover from the shock: "It" has finally happened. After six plus years as a married couple, my wife told me before the weekend of July 23-24 that she wanted to roll up a character and try her hand at Tabletop Roleplaying Games (TRPGs). I was so surprised and happy that I froze, in reaction. She made it known by asking if we could travel to a couple of gaming stores so that she could purchase her own dice.

After selecting two sets of dice containing the usual 7 dice needed to play, we rolled up a character later that week. (Did I mention free time is scarce?) It was, indeed, the same week that Gary Gygax Day occurs. My wife had rolled up a PC in Method I fashion (via the Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's Dungeon Master's Guide). She said she wanted to run two PCs, all by herself, so she could get accustomed to the rules and the game before trying to play with anyone else.

We have since played some form of AD&D either by ourselves in my wife's "solo campaign" and in a larger campaign with my son and my brother-in-law (now over two years old) a LOT since August 1st. It may have slowed down because of school, hockey, and the holidays, but I am so thrilled!

It is refreshing playing with someone brand new to Tabletop Role-playing Games (TRPGs). My wife knows of fantasy tropes because of her experience watching many sci-fi and fantasy movies & TV shows (like Legend, The Last Unicorn, Willow), reading MANY books, watching me host and run TRPGs over the last several years, our occasional watching of Critical Role on Geek & Sundry together, and through watching other people's tabletop games online. She is well-read in Mercedes Lackey's works, especially.

***WARNING -- CAMPAIGN LOG TO ENSUE (skip below for TL; DR version)***

Before long, Morna Raenar en Eryn (Olven, translates to "Storm Walker of the Woods"), olven magic-user of the Welkwood was created along with Zharina Török, human fighter of Sterich. My wife had no issue with placing her characters in my World of Greyhawk campaign. It did not take long to start playing. She came up with their meeting somewhere between Sterich and the Kingdom of Celene.

Zharina had previously stumbled upon an owlbear cub and named him Ozbert. Her family was put out by her adopted pet (figuring it would be dangerous), so Zharina took to the road. After meeting Morna, the olvenwoman invites Zharina to return with her to the Welkwood, where her father is Captain of the Guard of the Northern Welkwood, a Celene post, along the border with the Gnarley Forest. Morna suggests someone in Celene might be able to help Zharina with Ozbert's future (because owlbears are believed to become feral by the time they mature to adulthood).

At the start of the campaign, Zharina, Morna, Ozbert, and the pretentious red-tailed hawk, Captain Sable Diamond (Morna's familiar) reach The Gnarly Oak Coaching Inn & Tavern (thanks to +Steve C for sharing this cool locale!). It sits on the road between Verbobonc, an independent town to the west, and Narwell, member city of The Wild Coast to the east. Morna is greeted by Lamurne, the proprietor and family friend, and the traveling pair are seated while their animal companions rest outside. After the wench receives their orders, a group of four (one woman and three men) enters the Inn and sits at a nearby table. Morna and Zharina overhear their talking about missing children. The eldest male, Hagar, father to the other two men, seems to be trying to dismiss the woman's obvious worries while his son, the woman's husband, tries to console her. He scolds his father for taking the matter so lightly. It is revealed four of the missing children are the woman's. Nine kids are missing, 5 boys and 4 girls, in total. They range in age from 8 to 12.

While this conversation is happening, one of the dwurfolk enters the Inn and sits at another nearby table, his own empty mug already in hand. He has an empty scabbard (his sword being checked in upon entering, like everyone else) and a runic tattoo on his right shoulder. The dwur catches some of the conversation at the other table and tells of a band of goblins he had seen earlier this very day west of the Inn -- near the pond where the children were said to be fishing the day before, it turns out. Zharina asks the dwur for more details. She finds out that the kids' fishing equipment was gone when he had passed by, but their towels and blankets were still near the water's edge. Morna takes the woman outside to console her, as she cries at this news.

Zharina offers the dwur to join her in forming a search party with her olvenfolk friend, but he declines, as he is newly-retired from adventuring because he wants to open his own tavern. In fact, the dwur is here to see this very tavern, as its fame is widespread. He is thinking about building one like it, but with dwarven influence in its design, decor, and fare. "How does 'Tenkar's Gnarly Tavern' sound?" he asks out loud. He then introduces himself as Tenkar, one of the dwurfolk of the Lortmil Mountains. (The dwarven NPC is a nod to +Erik Tenkar and his wonderfully informative site and its encouragement of community within the ranks of the Old School Renaissance.) Tenkar suggests his friend, Arkzud, join them instead. Arkzud is Tenkar's contact here and former adventuring associate, he says. He then calls to Lamurne, asking her to fetch Arkzud. He follows Lamurne upstairs to Arkzud's guest room, when she replies that Arkzud is likely still in bed.

Zharina soon asks Hagar for provisions for the search and he dispatches his younger son, Gargan, back to their homestead to get supplies (torches, lanterns, oil, foodstuffs). Gargan gazes longingly at the warrior woman as he leaves, a smitten man.

A dwarf at another nearby table stands and addresses Zharina. A cleric of Fortubo, he holds his hammer aloft and says he will take Tenkar's place as "dwur substitute" in the search party. Zharina agrees to this.

Tenkar soon returns down the stairs, boxing the ears of a halfling, "Ye'd best make some money soon -- my coin was to pay for your travel here and find out if the rumors of the Gnarly Oak's grand design were true. That was weeks ago! ...You!" he says to Zharina, "You and your elven friend. Please take this miserable excuse for a hobbit and make him earn his keep. His sneaky ways may prove useful. Maybe he can help you find the children -- and goblins." At this, Arkzud bows and his feather promptly falls into Zharina's held mug of honey mead. "Charmed," she musters, probably wanting to sock the uncharismatic prat.

***END OF CAMPAIGN LOG PORTION***

Rather than bore with more of what was a typical Tavern party formation, suffice to say my wife enjoyed the role-playing elements of the game and slid into it without thinking about it. Earlier in the week, she balked at talking "in character" but once it happened that a NPC was talking with her, she just used her normal voice to "be" both Zharina and Morna.

Since that first week of August (when we first began actual play), we have played quite a bit -- even if for no more than 30 minutes. My wife has put together ideas of a "stable" of characters like my brother and I used to do in the 1980s. Both PCs were discovered to be the youngest of 5 (per her using the other sourcebooks to help flesh out the characters' family backgrounds) and she later fleshed out all 5 elves and 3 of the 5 humans (deciding 2 of those are merchants in Sterich).

As my TRPG preferences are 1e AD&D (AKA OAD&D, but also includes the very nicely put together +OSRIC game book) and Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert D&D (AKA B/X D&D), I am trying to keep the game more in tune with them than with the games played since 2000. I am trying to come up with more ideas on how to find a middle ground, though. I re-read a Facebook discussion I have had over the years with Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (AS&SH) creator, +Jeff Talanian, and he hit on things I want to avoid. Where I prefer AD&D most is in terms of class abilities. Thief skills, for instance, are given a flat percentage chance in AD&D and increase over time, as the thief increases in level. In more modern games (3e D&D, C&C, etc.), the thief's rogue's bonuses to his abilities increase, but so do the "Difficulty" or "Challenge" of the things he is trying to accomplish. As Jeff put it, locks are locks in AD&D but in the newer games the increase is countered by more difficult locks. It is unnecessary sliding of both ability and challenge. In video game terms, the world levels with you -- one of the characteristics of Oblivion (of The Elder Scrolls series from Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks) that I loathed when I first tried playing it. I am keeping an eye on +Chris Gonnerman's +Basic Fantasy Role-Playing Game to inform my game. The whole reason for switching to AD&D back in 1982 was because that's what kids in our new town were playing when we moved there. My brother and I liked the idea of separating race and class. BFRPG keeps that separation while still feeling like Moldvay Basic/Cook Expert. Some of the tools in the aforementioned AS&SH and +Joseph Bloch's +Adventures Dark and Deep are getting consideration, too, as I have mentioned before.

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Happy gaming,
Michael

P.S. I'll probably abandon the shtick of naming each blog via the G.R.O.S.S. formula soon. Hopefully, sticking to it this time did not prevent folks from reading.

G.R.O.S.S. - Gamer Resolves Ossification from Saturday and Sunday

Last week, I said I was planning on writing weekly. That appears to be more of a goal than a plan, at this time, but hopefully writing more will mean being able to write more frequently, in time.

This past week, I read the AD&D Monster Manual, taking notes in an old notebook that I had unearthed on one of my gaming shelves. I was pleased to find inside my old brainstorming notes and clarifications from my time writing on the Yggsburgh Rivergate district project. (That project being what was supposed be one of several districts fleshed out for The Free Town of Yggsburgh book from Troll Lord Games, leading up to the eventual release of “Castle Zagyg,” which is E. Gary Gygax’s Castle Greyhawk in everything but name.)

Anyway, on Friday night, I became drowsy after making it about halfway through my article, so I hit the hay in mid-stream. I told myself I would finish the article on Saturday before our planned family day-trip out to Lancaster County, PA. That did not happen, as I found myself stuck. So, I told myself I would plug away at it when we got home Saturday night. Instead, I found myself in the same spot as Saturday morning. Sunday became my new target date to finish, either before or after my brother-in-law and his wife came over for some tabletop gaming. More mental paralysis visited instead. Perhaps reeling off a Monster Manual glossary explaining statistics and characteristics was a mistake? So, I set it aside and decided to start afresh today.

Saturday was our first summer Saturday where we had nothing planned for several weeks in advance, so we decided at the end of June that July 16th would be “the day” we take a trip somewhere. The destination would depend upon where the weather was nice. Our first choice was Lancaster County and it worked out nicely. Not only have I enjoyed visiting many sites in the area over my 40+ years, there is an awesome gaming store nearby in New Holland, PA. More on that soon….

My wife and I picked The Amish House and Farm to visit, as it would be both educational and fun for all of us. Our daughter, 1, is too young to fully appreciate the tour, but we knew she would like seeing the animals and hearing the sounds they make. Our younger son, 3, is right in the wheelhouse of enjoying the farm portion as well as the playground. Our older son, 13, would get an educational presentation in the Amish House as well as the fun of sharing in his siblings’ fun outside. My wife, a history teacher by trade, and I have long enjoyed visiting places like this together. Our 11:45 AM tour of the house featured a lesson on the daily life of the Amish people, their history, their adapting to America, their own tradition keeping, and their future in the US, Canada, and portions of South America. The farm followed and we did what we could to beat the 95º heat. We kept the youngsters well-watered, coated with sunblock, and in the shade as often as possible. They enjoyed seeing the horse-drawn carriage, the plastic cow you could “milk” for picture opportunities, and the turkeys, pea fowl, sheep, donkeys, alpacas, and (especially) goats with their youngster bounding around energetically.

We left the farm just before 2 and headed to the car for a late lunch trek. We settled on Kitchen Kettle Village and dined at the Cafe there. The air conditioning felt so delightful as the heat had been quite palpable once again as we exited the car. After eating lunch, the two youngest were ready for naps, so we decided not to shop further but instead head to the aforementioned gaming store in New Holland.

Six Feet Under Games has a vast selection for tabletop games, whether role-playing, card, board, dice, or anything else. The games were fairly priced in most cases -- but I was pleasantly surprised at the price of the older RPG works in stock. I mean, I found games and accessories for games that I had never seen except in Dragon advertisements growing up: GURPS, Runequest, Mayfair Role Aids for AD&D, Paranoia, and more that escape me 24+ hours later. I found a copy of Goodman Games’ Dungeon Crawl Classic RPG, TSR’s AD&D adventure module OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes, and Palladium’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness (Revised Edition)” -- all for less than what I had seen when I had priced each of them online(!).

The grognard in me was happy with these findings and purchased them. The dad in me was pleased when my older son picked out a set of Runic dice he wanted from Q Workshop. My wife and I were able to purchase a cool kids’ game, “My First Orchard” from Haba Games, for our younger son to play -- and our daughter could play it, in time. With the knowledge that my recently-received copy of “Hero Kids RPG” sat at home awaiting my younger son to get a little older, I saw in the future “The Plan” to get our younger two into RPGs like our oldest son already is. This would hopefully be followed by “The Other and Best Plan” where my wife caves and decides to try role-playing games with the rest of us, at long last.

Anyway, the staff at the store were friendly and helpful, as they had been the two prior times I visited -- especially (this time) to those who were running Magic: The Gathering and other games at the tables. I would guess there were about 40 players inside, most playing Magic, but I was surprised to see a GURPS game going on. I say surprised only because I do not have much experience with it and have never seen it played. I wanted to watch it, but I am actually quite shy when first meeting folks and I had my daughter in my arms so as to prevent her from causing havoc or getting hurt because of her halfling-like size. She was excited to see the foam dice like what we have at home and was pleasantly noisy pointing them out. Each time we visit Lancaster County, I now make it a point to stop at Six Feet Under Games.

When we arrived home, my wife played some “My First Orchard” with our son before he went to bed while our older son and I went over the rules to the new but not-yet-played card game, The Red Dragon Inn. I bought the original set and set 5: The Character Trove because I loved the idea of one set being a storage case as well as an add-on. We also needed more than the 4 original characters to play because we would have 5 players on Sunday. After the youngest two were in bed, the three of us remaining played one hilarious and fun game of The Red Dragon Inn. This just might be my new favorite game (aside from role-playing games, of course). My older son won the game. It was so delightful to play and see him win.

On Sunday, my brother-in-law and his wife came over for some gaming. We started off with a 5-player game of Red Dragon Inn (I won -- through sheer luck!). Our guests concurred that the game is awesome. Next, we all played a game of Castle Panic (with two add-ons, apparently). This game, *we* had never played before, so our guests showed us how to play. It was a cooperative loss as the monsters defeated us despite our wise counsel and resolute cooperation against the evil tide. Heh. The gaming day wrapped up with my sister-in-law playing “My First Orchard” with our younger son upon his waking from his nap while the rest of us played “Alien Dice.” This was a neat game where the object is to collect cows, humans, and chickens for points, avoiding tanks from the defending human race. It was easy to learn and quite enjoyable. My brother-in-law won that one while my younger son and sister-in-law were successful in beating the raven to the fruit to win the game of "My First Orchard.”

So, my weekly blog changed course, but I think that the Lancaster County visit will help inspire my RPGs in future with different examples of interaction and culture that I can use in my own DM writing. The gaming material I purchased will prove a fun read (as RPG books always do for me). Finally, an FLGS (“Friendly Local Gaming Store”) that is just too far away for us to be considered regular customers or to dive into games there shows it is still the wonderful and friendly store it was during my two earlier stops in. Lastly, I scored some great gaming reads that I plan on consuming soon!

Happy gaming,
Michael 

P.S. For those interested, here I am providing links to the places we visited, should you have opportunity to visit yourselves:

1. Six Feet Under Games: http://www.sixfeetundergames.com/
2. Kitchen Kettle Village: http://www.kitchenkettle.com/index.asp
3. The Amish Farm and House: http://www.amishfarmandhouse.com

Further Introduction - Gross' Recall Of Something Serious

Welcome back, readers!

As my Original School gaming is remembered, I have been reaching out to my fellow gamers, "old" and new alike, in the hopes of recording their characters' names so that I might add them to my World of Greyhawk campaigns. As much fun as having the likes of Mordenkainen, Tenser, Melf, and Robilar showing up in my Greyhawk games could be, being the sentimental guy I am, I like giving a nod to those who shaped my gaming persona. Thus, I privately asked some friends with whom I have gamed or talked gaming to lend me their old PCs' names or a substitute of they preferred not to share. I am contacting folks little by little, so I don't overwhelm myself trying to remember whom I have sent requests. If you are interested in allowing your PCs of old to be added to my game, feel free to say so in the comments below! If I know you but you have not yet been asked, be assured I plan to do that in the future.

I have two eras of gaming history. I hope to only ever have two. The first was that to which I alluded in my last blog, which lasted from 1980 - 1990, when I went off to college. After a 10-year gaming hiatus from summer 1990 through summer 2000 , my brother and I resumed gaming with the advent of the Third Edition of Dungeons and Dragons (AKA 3e). That coincided with my brother's return to civilian life after 8 years of service in the US Marine Corps. He called and asked me about the new game. I had heard about it and checked it out at the (now-defunct) gaming store at the Deptford Mall. I purchased a pair of Players Handbooks and we were gaming again. Instead of his adventuring solo, my brother and I brought our sister and my first wife into the hobby.

We had a fun time,  at first, as we all learned the new iteration of D&D. My brother & I tried to align "how we played back then" with the new game. The original party consisted of a monk (my brother), wizard (my first wife), sorcerer (my sister), and an NPC barbarian. When the monk recklessly threw himself into battle against some ogres and perished before the remainder of the party could join the melee, the dynamics of the campaign changed. My brother was happy to have tried a monk but relieved to change tack. His new character choice was a dwarven fighter. It was decided by my sister that the wizard was a better spellcaster than the sorcerer and her PC was redundant. So, she said her PC's mother had turned ill and the sorcerer had to retire from adventuring. She was replaced by my sister's halfling thief ("rogue" in Third Edition, but too often spelled "rouge"). Finally, the NPC barbarian, good friend of the monk, took news of his friend's death back to their native lands in the West (Bissel). He was replaced by an NPC cleric. I provided the name for this worthy, Zudrak, and that has been my screen name on almost all gaming fora ever since. My first wife's wizard was joined by these three and adventuring resumed.

As the campaign went on and the PCs increased in level (much faster than I remembered in AD&D, but most of our books were packed away in our parents' attic). The adventures became less and less fun to prepare as the mechanics of the game compounded as the PCs leveled up. It was at this time 3.5 Edition came out and we all pitched in to buy the newer books, hoping it was the answer to fixing the DM's malaise. Instead, the game continued on as before, only I was getting burnt out.

I ended up visiting EN World and asking questions of Col_Pladoh there. Col_Pladoh was the screen name used by none other than E. Gary Gygax. I had emailed Gary several years prior about the Lejendary Adventure game. I mentioned that when I asked him about the current state of gaming and the issues I was having with the current version of D&D. Gary -- along with gideon_thorne, AKA Peter Bradley, artist for Troll Lord Games (TLG) -- steered me towards the Castles & Crusades game published by TLG. I ordered the Player's Handbook that day and soon was treated to a refreshing take on the d20 system, reconfigured for more of an "Old School" feel and a lot less number-crunching. It put  the rules and rulings back in the hands of the game referee (Castle Keeper/CK in C&C, Dungeon Master/DM in D&D, Game Master/GM just about everywhere else except for judge, administrator, and referee).

I did not get to play the new game for some time, though, as my first wife fell ill around the time the book arrived. She was diagnosed with CUP (Cancer of an Unknown Primary) in March 2005, after months of thinking she had something else. Eventually, after trying and then changing oncologists, she felt well enough to game again in summer 2006. She only made it to one game, felt that the game was enjoyable enough for her liking, but never was able to sit long enough to play again. Mary Gross passed away in May 2007.

(I am loathe to turn the blog this way, because my faith and her faith are/were such that we believe we will be reunited one day in Heaven as brother and sister in Christ, but I did not want to simply skim over the time in my blog, either.)

Our son, 4-1/2 when his mom died, needed some help learning his letters in time for his first school year, 2007-08. I ended up creating a game using C&C and wooden blocks to help him. In time, he would play, too, and soon my sister, her boyfriend, my brother- and sister-in-law, and my first wife's mom were playing C&C by 2008. It was a way to all get together and heal together. My brother found it difficult to play, but he chipped in as a sort of caterer. The man can cook!

My mom introduced me to my wife and I remarried in June 2010. Circumstances and availability have changed the gaming groups to those I mentioned in the last blog. As time has gone on, though, and as I have had time to reread the original Advanced D&D Monster Manual, Players Handbook, and Dungeon Masters Guide, my preferences have begun to regress to those I last had in 1990: a house-ruled Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game at my table. The difference being that it is totally influenced by my experience with 3e/3.5e (mostly in what I do not want to do) and Castles & Crusades (in what I want to do via the borrowed ascending Armor Class from 3e and the saving throws from C&C's "SIEGE Engine" [or "SEIGE Engine," as it is too often (mis)spelled]). My hope is that, one day, I will succeed in convincing my wife to try tabletop role-playing games with me. She has played console video games like Fallout (3, New Vegas, 4) and The Elder Scrolls (Oblivion, Skyrim) as well as the very cool Munchkin card game -- so that's a start!

Currently, I am reading my AD&D books in the order they were released while taking notes. I am doing this for two reasons. The first reason is to reacquaint myself with the rules, but this time in the way the original fans of AD&D had to learn them: Monster Manual first! The second reason is in honor of the 10th Anniversary of OSRIC (Old School Reference and Index Compilation). I want to go over the OSRIC book after the three AD&D books and suss out where they differ. It's an exercise in curiosity, mainly, but maybe it will help others, too.

I plan on writing blogs weekly, as that seems to be the frequency at which I am able to write, at the present. In the coming blogs, I hope to touch on my findings of reading the AD&D books, my thoughts on Groo the Wanderer and Snarfquest (from Dragon magazine and beyond), and my current gaming campaigns.

Until next time...

Happy gaming,
Michael

G.R.O.S.S. - Gamers Realizing Original School Success

GAMERS REALIZING ORIGINAL SCHOOL SUCCESS

Hail and well met, Internet traveler!

My name is Michael Gross. Welcome to my G.R.O.S.S. blog. As a fan of both puns and acronyms, I am throwing my Gross hat into the blogosphere and hoping it catches wind. Or people's attention.

I have created this blog to talk about Original School Role-playing Gaming, both in general and specific to The World of Greyhawk, as written by E. Gary Gygax, in both its 1980 Folio and 1983 Boxed Set forms. Therefore most of my experience & enjoyment from these games fit squarely in the hole pegged as "OSR," what is known as Old School Role-playing. (Note that the R in OSR has been rendered to mean Renaissance, Reference, Retro(active), Role-playing, and many other R words.)

I prefer the term, "Original School" to "Old School," because some worthies playing role-playing games never stopped playing the games that were released prior to the year 2000. 2000 was the year that the company Wizards of the Coast, in its pre-Hasbro ownership days, released the Third Edition of the world's most popular role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D).

Many folks did not hop aboard the new iteration of the game, preferring to play Original D&D as created by Dave Arneson and E. Gary Gygax (1974), the 1977 D&D Basic Set with the rules revised by Dr. J. Eric Holmes, the 1977-1979 Advanced D&D rules by Gygax, the 1981 D&D Basic & Expert Sets revised by Tom Moldvay, Steve Marsh, & David 'Zeb' Cook; the 1983 D&D Sets revised by Frank Mentzer, the 1989 Second Edition of AD&D, the 1991 D&D "Black Box" and Rules Cyclopedia versions of the original game, and/or the revised Second Edition of AD&D released in 1995. All of these were released by the company, TSR, Inc. (Tactical Studies Rules).

I am also a fan of the Groo the Wanderer comics by Sergio Aragones (along with Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai, Tom Luth, and others). It is my hope to have fun and learn while discussing role-playing games, classic Greyhawk, and Groo. Like Groo, I expect to frequently err.

I have long enjoyed playing in and talking about The World of Greyhawk, whose planet is called Oerth. Oerth can be pronounced however one likes, to make it one's own. Gygax, its creator and co-creator of role-playing games with the production of the original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game in 1974, liked to pronounce it, "Oith." He felt that it annoys those who take fantasy worlds too seriously. I prefer the two-syllable pronunciation, "O-erth," myself (as it was pronounced in the Atari PC game, "The Temple of Elemental Evil"), but I appreciate Gary's humor.

I currently have several World of Greyhawk campaigns going (albeit sporadically, as time allows) and one on hiatus. The one on hiatus is the oldest and longest. It is taking place on the border of The Pomarj and The Principality of Ulek, where I have set The Keep on the Borderlands as well as the A series of modules from Troll Lord Games (TLG) -- namely, modules A1 - A4. Coincidentally, these are not all that far from the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) "A series" of modules from TSR since they occur in The Pomarj, as well. The next-oldest campaign takes place beyond the Flanaess, far to the west of The Sea of Dust, where I have attached The Haunted Highlands campaign setting authored by Casey Christofferson and produced by TLG. Oddly, the players wanted to have their PCs travel east to pick up where their other PCs left off, so the last session of this campaign featured a portal that led to the Pomarj/Ulek borderlands. Finally, the most recently-started group campaign began this past autumn, in November 2015. It is set on Lendore Isle of The Spindrift Isles. It features the classic "L series" of TSR modules for AD&D. The most recent solo campaign is set in Idee. I have this set up so my son and I can play at a moment's notice but also I am running it strictly in AD&D so I can brush up on the game I had to stop playing when life changed for me upon graduating high school in 1990.

I have set my fantasy RPG games in Greyhawk more than in any other setting. It is the setting that caught my eye when it was released in its box set form in 1983 and even prior to that as players & DMs were given glimpses of it in the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide and various AD&D adventure modules. (It still amuses me that I first saw it in a card store, of all places, as the store sold TSR modules and role-playing games from an end-cap display. They never carried a lot, but they had the newest modules out, without fail, until the mid-to-late 80s.)

Upon receiving the 1983 box set not long after its release, I dove into the Glossography and Guide books while keeping the map -- composed of two HUGE pieces -- unfolded and at the ready for my referencing on my bedroom floor. I became enamored of the Sheldomar Valley, Keoland, the Ulek states, and of course The Free City of Greyhawk. Together with the 1979 AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, the box set inspired me to run adventures and to long to be an adventurer on Oerth. I had already been doing both in our unnamed hodgepodge world of adventures since 1980 (as I did not know about the 1980 World of Greyhawk Folio until several years later), but giving the adventures of the past, present, and future a common ground with a storied past made them all the more entertaining.

I look forward to sharing more soon! If you are also an RPG, AD&D, and/or Greyhawk fan, I will see how we can interlink pages/blogs since I am quite new to blogging.

Happy gaming,

Michael