Friday, February 28, 2014

Aaron Allston, former TSR employee, has passed away.

Aaron Allston, former TSR employee, has passed away. Allston edited 1991's Rules Cyclopedia, making him a heir to the editorial work started by Holmes and continued by Moldvay and Mentzer. Allston also wrote the innovative beginner's module N4 Treasure Hunt for 0-level characters, and a number of products for the Mystara setting, including the first Gazetter GAZ1 The Grand Duchy of Karameikos.
http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Author_Aaron_Allston_Has_Passed_Away_156868.asp

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Barker's copy of OD&D

"Men & Magic inside cover with Prof. Barker’s signature"

"As part of the process of cataloging Professor Barker’s vast collection of games and material related to Tekumel, we discovered Professor Barker’s copy of OD&D.  When we looked inside the covers, though, we discovered that Professor Barker not only signed the books but dated them as well."
http://blog.tekumelfoundation.org/2014/02/19/another-40th-anniversary-for-original-dd

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

In the Greyhawk Supplment, Men are listed as getting 1 or 2 attacks




Here's something I never noticed in Greyhawk before. Men are listed as getting 1 or 2 attacks, unlike humanoids. As far as I can tell this is not explained anywhere. It could be reference back to the Chainmail "Weapon class" rules for Man-to-Man Combat.  If so though it should really be "1 or 2 or 3" per Chainmail, page 26. Also, it should apply to the humanoids if they are using weapons.

What is more likely is that it is an early reference to a rule change for Berserker. In OD&D Vol 2, they just get a single attack at +2 against normal men. But in the Monster Manual this was changed to 2 attacks or one at +2 to hit; thus their attacks are listed as 1 (or 2). So possibly Gygax was using this rule change at the time of Greyhawk but forgot to explain it in the text.

Finishing up the "B" monsters in the Monster List.

Finishing up the "B" monsters in the Monster List. First big surprise: Holmes had an entry for "Buccaneers" in the manuscript.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/part-21-always-hungry-and-always.html
Clerics in Complete Warlock by Adam Muszkiewicz #completewarlock

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

Great overview.

Great overview. Intelligence does affect spell points - see the section on page 11. Int 13-15 = +1/2 per HD, 16+ = +1 per HD.

A spell point system similar to the one in Warlock is probably what Holmes was referring to in Dragon #52, when he...

A spell point system similar to the one in Warlock is probably what Holmes was referring to in Dragon #52, when he mentions that during the development of Basic D&D, "I had disagreements with Gary over some items (I wanted to use a spell point system, for instance), but we kept the rules as close as possible to the original intent." #completewarlock

Friday, February 14, 2014

Adam Muszkiewicz author of this post is a member here.

Adam Muszkiewicz author of this post is a member here. If you are wondering why I am re-posting these here, it is because J. Eric Holmes used the Warlock rules in the early days. #completewarlock

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Dispatches From Kickassistan begins a series looking at The Complete Warlock (1978). #completewarlock

Saturday, February 8, 2014

As with many 'modern' rules, an early version can be found in an old-school product...

As with many 'modern' rules, an early version can be found in an old-school product...
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/02/ascending-ac-in-holmes-basic.html

Unused concept art by Jim Roslof for the Moldvay Basic Set. Posted onthe Acaeum last month:



Unused concept art by Jim Roslof for the Moldvay Basic Set. Posted on the Acaeum last month:
http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?cache=1&p=219393#p219393

Old School FRP - Character creation in OD&D was nasty, brutish, and...



http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/post/76016608728/character-creation-in-od-d-was-nasty-brutish-and

Some fun TSR emphemera posted on the Acaeum by Frank Mentzer (exTSR).


Pic 1 (above):
TSR Inc. Silver Anniversary Button, 1999
TSR Hobbies "Face logo" Sutherland dragon button, c. 1980
Brian Blume in cowboy outfit (Boot Hill 2e promo), c. 1979
GenCon hotel cards (2), 2004, 2005
Pool of Radiance (SSI) promo, c. 1988-89
Lady of Pain (Planescape), c. 1994-95



Pic 2 (above):
GenCon East II DM (revised type), 1982
GenCon XV DM, 1982
RPGA, orange, c 1986
RPGA, yellow, c 1986
RPGA Charter member, 1981
D&D Players Association, 1982-83
RPGA Recruiter, 1982 Membership Drive (rather corroded)
GenCon East II DM (original/1st type), 1982


Pic 3 (above):
My RPGA membership card, 1987
Original RPGA membership card (unblemished), 1981
D&D Players Association membership card (unblemished), 1981-82
My D&D PA card, 1981-82
My RPGA membership card, 1992
My RPGA membership card, 1991


Pic 4 (above):
Souvenir d6 (red), GenCon25/Origins, 1992
Souvenir d6 (aqua), Origins 25, 1999
TSR Inc. Compass Keychain (with 'instructions' & original box), c 1983 (in-house only)
TSR Inc. Pen (red), MIBag, c 1983
GaryCon Pen (black), c 2011

Some fun TSR emphemera posted on the Acaeum by Frank Mentzer (exTSR). Lots of pins/badges, including the one with the Sutherland Dragon that I use as my avatar here. I wasn't sure it was an official TSR product but this shows it was.
http://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?cache=1&p=220462#p220462

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Monday, February 3, 2014

Rather Gamey has a sketch of the Zenopus ruins with Skull Mountain in the background.

Rather Gamey has a sketch of the Zenopus ruins with Skull Mountain in the background. For the 40th anniversary blog hop...  #skullmountain

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Sword +1 presents a Tolkien Ranger class (replacing Clerics) as well as High Elves in a previous post, all classes...

Sword +1 presents a Tolkien Ranger class (replacing Clerics) as well as High Elves in a previous post, all classes limited to 5th level. 5th level is a great cap if you are just using Holmes because you don't need any spells for Players beyond 3rd level.
http://swordplusone.blogspot.com/2014/01/rangers-for-holmes-d.html