As threatened, here's my follow-up post on Hobbit Rangers, looking at Tolkien's Wild Hobbits.

As threatened, here's my follow-up post on Hobbit Rangers, looking at Tolkien's Wild Hobbits.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/08/tolkiens-wild-hobbits.html

Courtesy of Jon Peterson, download a pdf of the 1974 (!) D&D variant, "Rules to the Game of Dungeon" by Craig...

Courtesy of Jon Peterson, download a pdf of the 1974 (!) D&D variant, "Rules to the Game of Dungeon" by Craig VanGrasstek.

Edit: Forgot the link -
http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2014/08/1974-dungeon-variant-now-for-download.html

My favorite game fiction - The Maze of Peril by Dr. John Eric Holmes

My favorite game fiction - The Maze of Peril by Dr. John Eric Holmes

Read my take on Boinger and Zereth, Holmes' home campaign and why paying the rent is better than saving the world. Also, I nitpick Ian Livingstone and discuss two of the earliest published game fiction novels.

Was on the archives and ran across this great post on the halfling.

Was on the archives and ran across this great post on the halfling. Never thought of the halfling as a short ranger, but the characterization is spot on - a light fighter, stealthy outdoors (good scout when combined with infravision, depending on edition), good with missile weapons. Not many folks played halfling as other than thieves back in the day since they were weak fighters, but I'll have to give this some further thought..
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/06/hobbits-as-rangers-of-basic.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/06/hobbits-as-rangers-of-basic.html

The next installment, covering Potions.

The next installment, covering Potions. No changes to Holmes' selections here, and just one major change to a potion's effect.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/08/part-36-they-may-dare-tiny-sip.html

A detailed look at the fonts & layout of several eras of TSR products.

A detailed look at the fonts & layout of several eras of TSR products.

Originally shared by Kevin Crawford

For those with an interest in classic TSR typography and book design, I've finished the first draft of a small study of the topic. I touch on OD&D, 1e AD&D, B/X, and BECMI core book and module styles and give examples of the major table styles and page designs.

Fellow publishers can grab the InDesign source document or other useful files in my publisher resources folder at https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4qCWY8UnLrcVVVNWG5qUTUySjg&usp=sharing

There's an .indd file for those with Adobe Creative Cloud and an .indl file for those with earlier versions of the software. Others are welcome to use the table, paragraph, and object styles for their own projects, whether free or commercial.

Thief skills.

Thief skills. Ever since back in the day, I was not a fan of how they were implemented. The selection was good, but the % mechanic didn't seem to hang together with the rest of the mechanics, the starting percentages seemed arbitrary, and all thieves advanced at the same rate. AD&D 2e introduced thieves being able to allot their % gains from leveling as they wished, which helped, but it still kind of annoyed me (despite my being otherwise a fan of % systems, like Star Frontiers).
In recent years I've become a big fan of D&D's 2d6 mechanic for morale and reaction rolls and I think it could be applied to thief skills as a better replacement for the default percentile mechanic. Thoughts?
----------------------
- Selection of thief skills stay the same.
- All thief skills start at +0 to the 2d6 roll.
- At 1st level, the thief gets 2 points to add to skills (either add +2 to a single skill, or +1 to two skills).
- Each additional level, the thief gets 2 more points to add to their thief skills.
- Skill checks are made against the difficulty of the task (roll equal to or higher than the difficulty level assigned):
2 / impossible to fail (no roll required)
3-5 / Easy
6-8 / Average
9-11 / Hard
12+ / Very hard
- Example: Mungo the 1st level thief finds a chest with the lock broken off. Since the lock is broken off, it effective level is 2 - Mungo can simply open it.
- Example: Later in his career, Mungo the 3rd level thief has Pick Pockets at +4. He attempts to pick the pocket of a high level elf in the market (difficulty 10). He rolls a 7 for a total of 11 and cuts the elf's purse from the target's belt when someone else bumps into the elf. Getting greedy, a few rounds later Mungo tries again - removing a scroll tube protruding from the elf's robes - but rolls a 3 for a total of 7. Mungo is detected, and after a scuffle is captured and imprisoned by the city guard.
- Released sometime later, Mungo reaches 5th level and has his skills tested when he tries to join a guild in a new city. They assign him the task of picking the pocket of a senior thief of the guild at a random time. Mungo has put more points into picking pockets and now has a +7. The task is near impossible as the target is one of the guild's best (difficulty 14); Mungo rolls an 8, for a total of 15 - success! The guild admits him, world spreading quickly of Mungo's legendary pickpocket skills.
----------------------
Why I like the idea.. it gets rid of the seemingly arbitrary starting skill percentages and identical advancement rates of the classic system; it expands use of the 2d6 mechanic used elsewhere; it gives even low level thieves the chance to make an epic score by rolling a pair of 6's; and it puts the power in the DMs hands to assign difficulty levels to checks rather than a flat percentile rating.
Feedback welcome!

I always enjoy these kinds of posts on introducing D&D to kids, as I've gone through the same myself.

I always enjoy these kinds of posts on introducing D&D to kids, as I've gone through the same myself.

Originally shared by Erik Westmarch

As part of my project to create an Ultra-Basic D&D for my son (age 4), I have spent some time thinking about what the most important rules of D&D really art. It's not stats, class, race. That's optional.
http://redboxofwestmarch.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-most-important-rules.html?m=1

Sample Dungeon Map by Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas wrote:

Andy C was asking about maps of the Holmes sample dungeon - I thought I remembered creating one, and I was right. However, as usual I seem to have tweaked the layout quite a bit to make it fit better on an A4 page ...

Anyway, here it is for anyone who's interested.

My first RPG purchased - the Holmes Basic D&D rules.

My first RPG purchased - the Holmes Basic D&D rules... for cheap! Plus, an obligatory shout out to the Zenopus Archives. #RPGaDAY

Question for the hive mind..

Question for the hive mind..
Has anyone done (or know of) a full-page version of the classic Zenopus Dungeon map from Holmes Basic? If yes, can you post a link to it?

Hey -- I did an OSR/LL Thing.

Originally shared by Paul Wolfe

Hey -- I did an OSR/LL Thing. It's pay what you want over at RPGNow and DriveThru RPG. More info on the blog post... Feedback is always welcome. 

And I swear Daniel Bishop and I didn't plan this.

20 Backgrounds for OD&D or Holmes Basic characters, drawn from the source material. #holmesref

20 Backgrounds for OD&D or Holmes Basic characters, drawn from the source material. #holmesref
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/08/20-backgrounds-for-od.html

Fight On #15 will be dedicated to J.

Fight On #15 will be dedicated to J. Eric Holmes. The editor is looking for more submissions, in particular: "1. An article with new races, or some critical race theory" and "2. MONSTERS!" and "in general other than the monsters and races subs I mentioned above what we're looking for this issue is Holmes stuff".
http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/10237/soliciting-articles-fight-on-15

Found this via the D&D Documentary facebook page.

Found this via the D&D Documentary facebook page. Otus black & white illo depicting the Keep on the Borderlands. It’s very similar in overall layout to the final back cover of B2, but with a village outside and a sea or lake behind the keep.  Frank Mentzer pulled this unused art out of a file and used it in RPGA News #1 (soon renamed Polyhedron), summer 1981.
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=59966&sid=62190603d083fb1eafc14dbdc29ee7f3
Dragonsfoot thread the goes into speculation that it could be the precursor to B2 Keep and/or B3 Palace.
http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/post/93311693103/otusshrine-otus-black-white-illo-depicting

B1 review at Dungeon of Signs

Gus writes: "The cover I remember promised Fungal Caverns"

Long, thoughtful review of B1 on the Dungeon of Signs.

In Search of the Unknown - B1 Review

How does one review an adventure that is designed to be different each time it's played?B1 - In Search of the Unknown, written in 1979 by Mike Carr for inclusion in the D&D basic set, is exactly such a module, with partially keyed areas on a large dungeon map meant

Great photo by Brett Elliott

Where I add up the cost of Malchor's equipment.

Where I add up the cost of Malchor's equipment.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/08/malchors-starting-gold.html

#firstrpg #rpgaday As you may have known, my first RPG was Holmes Basic.

#firstrpg #rpgaday As you may have known, my first RPG was Holmes Basic. What's surprising is that this was in 1982, well after the next Basic Set (Moldvay) had been released in early '81. My neighbors who I first played with had the same set, with B2 and chits (ad for this version below, scan by Allan Grohe). So its influence lasted longer than just the publishing dates would suggest. As late as 1986 you could still buy the Holmes set from the TSR mail order hobby catalog.