Magic Missile

Magic Missile
I'm taking this version of the iconic spell for a spin:

Once memorised, the magic-user can deploy the spell in one of two ways:

1. Spell hits automatically for 2 - 7 points of damage.

2. Spell requires a throw "to hit" its target but if successful scores 1 - 12 damage.

So far, our mage is opting for #2 but sadly he's wishing he didn't half the time but when it works... big smiles.

I initially started with the d10 for option #2 but the payoff didn't match the risk, sure you can still throw a one on a d12 but the chance to score up to five extra damage over option #1 is tempting.

Wayne has the pdf for issue 3 of his zine Dungeon Crawl on sale.

Wayne has the pdf for issue 3 of his zine Dungeon Crawl on sale. I contributed an article to this issue, "Lesser Magic Items": "twenty weak magic items for 1st level characters" as I wrote in a blog post when it first came out in summer 2013:
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2013/08/dungeon-crawl-3.html

Originally shared by Wayne Rossi

I'm putting the Dungeon Crawl #3 PDF on sale for $2. Check it out if you haven't gotten it. (Use the link for the discount.) Also check out my Pay What You Want PDFs:

Dungeon Crawl #2
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/115366/Dungeon-Crawl-2?manufacturers_id=5328&src=OldSchoolRPGs

Secret of Cykranosh
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/163302/The-Secret-of-Cykranosh?manufacturers_id=5328&src=OldSchoolRPGs
http://www.rpgnow.com/browse.php?discount=9b71661ea4

Here's a draft of new reference sheet for Holmes Ref: a Character Creation Worksheet, which can also double as a...

Here's a draft of new reference sheet for Holmes Ref: a Character Creation Worksheet, which can also double as a character sheet.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/character-creation-worksheet.html

A look at some recently auctioned TSR ephemera related to their Founders Day celebrations in 1980 and 1981.

A look at some recently auctioned TSR ephemera related to their Founders Day celebrations in 1980 and 1981. Includes some sales info on the Basic Set.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/tsr-founders-day-memo-1980.html

Demon!

Demon!

I posted this to the blog on Friday, if you haven't seen it.

I posted this to the blog on Friday, if you haven't seen it. It's a cross-section of levels that I drew in the vein of Skull Mountain, but constructed of monster faces. #skullmountain #cross-section
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/monster-face-mountain.html

Wizard with Psychic Tentacles

Alien

Fearsome Monster

Monster Face Mountain awaits!

Monster Face Mountain awaits!
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/monster-face-mountain.html

This DF thread is asking for advice on a problem for the original poster but I thought I'd share it because it...

This DF thread is asking for advice on a problem for the original poster but I thought I'd share it because it involves a long-running campaign world that started out using Holmes Basic as the core of the rules.
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4080

Great logo design by Cameron.

Great logo design by Cameron.

Originally shared by Piper

I recently mocked up a "compatible with" logo for another game system and thought it might be fun to do one for OD&D, too. Here it is. I was trying for something easily recognizable from beyond arm's length as opposed to something artistically amazing. It's free for your use. I'm hoping this may inspire someone with a bit more talent than I to give it a shot. Or ... does a logo already exist?

Look what surfaced on the Acaeum last week. A 1st print Holmes Basic rulebook signed by the man himself.

Look what surfaced on the Acaeum last week. A 1st print Holmes Basic rulebook signed by the man himself.
https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=246350#p246350

Interesting observation on Delta's blog:

Ebay auction of two "header modules"

An Ebay auction of two "header modules". See for more info:
https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/header.html

Originally shared by Wayne's Books

Here's an interesting eBay auction (http://www.ebay.com/itm/121814957049) of D&D/AD&D modules still on their hangcards. Pretty rare these days as the hangers were always discarded after opening.

Dungeons & Dragons Expert Module X5 - Temple of Death - and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Module L2 - The Assassin's Knot - which still has the Toys R Us sticker for $3.97 I believe.

A nice blast from the past. Really takes me back. I remember seeing these in the store.

I've been thinking about tavern prices, and this got me thinking aboutthe value of money.

Julian Levallon originally posted:

I've been thinking about tavern prices, and this got me thinking about the value of money. In RL, a gold piece was what the Romans paid soldiers for a year of service. Yet in B1, a mug of honey mead is listed at 1gp. A whole year's pay? (There's also something called Roast Joint for 2 gp, but I don't allow characters to smoke weed in my campaign...ha ha). Clearly there's a different currency valuing system at play. So how much does a gold piece buy in your campaign? What do you base your prices on?

She held aloft Excalibur: concerning magic weapons in sword and sorcery games.

Originally shared by Peter Foxhoven

She held aloft Excalibur: concerning magic weapons in sword and sorcery games.
A few posts back I discussed how to make an anthropomorphic,low-fantasy campaign . I touched in a very minor way about magic items, but at
the time I felt like this is a subject that could be dealt with in greater
detail. It I in this spirit that I turn tow...

A pic of Holmes from an ERB zine

Scott Mob wrote:

A pic of John Eric Holmes from an old ERB zine

Nice photo of the entire Pellucidar series in paperbacks includingHolmes' contribution.

Nice photo of the entire Pellucidar series in paperbacks including Holmes' contribution.

Originally shared by Brandon Goeringer (RPG Overviews)

Found these Edgar Rice Burroughs Pellucidar books today. Not sure how they are but they look cool with great art. The prehistoric creatures reminds me of AS&SH a bit so I'll give em a shot.

Fantasy Wargaming article Battle magazine April 78

Chris found an article, from the April 1978 issue of Battle magazine, by Charles Grant describing pre-D&D fantasy wargaming convention events organized by Tony Bath. The article is, strangely enough, illustrated with pictures from Holmes Basic (UK and US versions) with permission from Games Workshop, who was distributing/printing TSR material in the UK at the time.

Originally shared by Chris Kutalik

I came across an interesting artifact in researching old Battle magazines from the 1970s (a British wargaming magazine that got folded into Military Modelling). Here's an April 1978 report from Charles Grant relaying an early fantasy miniatures event from 1972 (set up by other UK wargaming great Tony Bath no less) that clearly has many, if not all, the elements of what people say are RPGs. It does make me question (again) the Great Man theory of how RPGs developed.

In itself the event sounds off the chain. A quest where a gonzo literary range of 20 player-heroes (John Carter, Beowulf, Cuchlain, Boromir, Gandalf, Robin Hood etc) move over a series of four by four tables with firecrackers and kookie poetry.

The next installment is up, covering the first part of the thaumaturgist's lair - Rooms S and S1.

The next installment is up, covering the first part of the thaumaturgist's lair - Rooms S and S1.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/part-53-room-contains-giant-snake.html

I wrote another thing about movement rates.

I wrote another thing about movement rates. Feedback welcome! http://nilisnotnull.blogspot.com/2015/11/justifying-exploration-movement.html

Visual representations of Portown?

For many Homes Basic fans, Portown looms large in the imagination. Holmes' short, evocative description of the place provided both a handy home base for launching the sample Zenopus dungeon adventure and had enough meat in it to provide the seed for a long term base for a campaign.

Portown, like many early D&D locations, was never visually depicted so fans were free to let their imagination roam; I've read interpretations ranging from small fishing ports to bustling cities. Personally, I've always envisioned it as a small trading city of around 10,000 - big enough to support merchants, temples and assorted factions but small enough for low level PCs to make a difference; a Lankhmar writ small as it were.

From a purely visual perspective though, I've never really nailed down a look for Portown in my mind's eye. Recently, I ran across Mike Mignolas illustrations for a 4 part comic series which illustrated a set of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories. Have loved his work for years, and I think I may have just found my mind's eye look for Portown.

Besides the main link below, here are a few more of his pieces depicting Lankhmar:
- http://photos1.blogger.com/img/198/4480/640/fafhrd%201.jpg
- http://photos1.blogger.com/img/198/4480/640/fafhrd%202.jpg

That said, what does your Portown look like?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLelXRGWwAA8RZT.jpg

Don't know if this has been posted before, but JB of the always solid B/X Blackrazor has put together some AD&D...

Don't know if this has been posted before, but JB of the always solid B/X Blackrazor has put together some AD&D style subclasses for Holmes Basic.

Paladins & Rangers:
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-bonus-classes.html
- Paladins were introduced along with Thieves in the GReyhawk supplement for OD&D (first print March 1975, 2nd print July 1975). Jeff Rients does a pretty good overview on the OD&D Paladin here: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2007/05/paladin-problem-part-1.html
- The Ranger was originally created for OD&D by Joe Fischer and appeared in Strategic Review #2 (Summer 1975), extract available in this DF thread: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1503

Illusionists (2 parter - class in first link, Illusion magic in second link):
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-illusionist-part-1.html
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/
- Note that the OD&D Illusionist first appeared in Strategic Review #4 (Winter 1975), created by Peter Aronson. The original pre-AD&D version of the class is in this DF thread: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1615

Holmes Basic, of course, arrived broadly on store shelves in late 1977, with the AD&D Monster Manual arriving in December of that year (just for general reference as to when these now-classic subclasses arrived in D&D with respect to Holmes Basic).

Speaking of the OD&D subclasses, if you use 3d6 ability generation they are pretty rare given the minimum ability score requirements. Worth a look at this old blog post on Grognardia if you consider using these in your Holmes Basic: http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/03/ability-scores-and-sub-classes.html
http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-bonus-classes.html

Fighting Men

Mike Hill wrote:

Fighting Men
Nearly forgot this one. I allow fighters to attack using the monster's combat table starting on the 1+2 to 2 row. As the fighter's level increases he moves down the table observing the number in the left-hand column.

So a level 4 fighter (darn heroic!) would fight on the 4+ to 6+ row. He wouldn't advance to the next row until he was level 7.

You might be thinking this makes the fighter pretty tough? Well, I hope so, he needs all the help he can get. :-)

Edit
One more thing... All fighters score one more point of damage in hand-to-hand combat by virtue of their class training.. Any character with a strength of 15+ scores one extra hit. So a fighter with strength 17, for example, would get a whopping +2 bonus to hits scored in a toe-to-toe rumble.

Thanks
Mike

Alternative Thief Skills

Alternative Thief Skills
I know it's been done to death but I hate percentile skills so here's the thief skill variant that I use. Apologies to the person I lifted it from but I'm sure it's not original.

It is, however, dead simple: at first level all but one thief skill is successful on a throw of 1 or 2 on one six-sided die. The player chooses one special skill for his character and that succeeds on a 1, 2 or 3.

Each time the thief gains a level, the player increases the success range of one skill by one point. One caveat, the character must have at least 2 skills rated at just one point lower than his or her highest skill level.

If a thief is in danger of becoming so skilled that success seems assured there are  a few options.

1. Success is assured. When the character has perfected a skill (to the point where it's successful on a throw of 1 to 6), a die throw is no longer required, success is automatic. In theory this is the option I would use but I haven't had to yet. Your thief will be level 4 before he has a singe skill rated at 1 - 4 if the player chooses to specialise.

2. Capped skills. The maximum success range any skill can have is 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. A throw of 6 always fails.

3. Fate conspires against even the mightiest. With a skill range of 1 to 6, the player throws two dice and is successful as long as double sixes don't come along.

I allow thieves to buy thieves' tools for 25 gold pieces. Tools may be used 3 times before their supplies are exhausted. Each use adds 1 to the success range of any one skill. So aside from lock picks, tools include black face paint (hiding); crampons (climbing); tiny listening trumpet (hear noise) and so on.

Thanks
Mike

Compleat Strategist ad from the July 18th 1977 issue of New York magazine

Ad for the Compleat Strategist from the July 18th 1977 issue of New York magazine, page 20. This is very close to the time that Holmes Basic was first released; the earliest recorded public availability is Origins III starting on July 22nd, 1977, also in NYC (Staten Island). Amazingly the store is still in the same location with the same phone number: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-compleat-strategist-new-york

D&D Family Tree by Mr Reaper on DF.

D&D Family Tree by Mr Reaper on DF. What I like is that he listened to our feedback and has Holmes at the nexus between OD&D, AD&D and B/X. Bonus points for using pale blue for the 'bluebook'.
Read the entire thread starting here: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=72062

Interesting summary by Peter V. Dell'Orto of the pro/cons of "visual aid" combat vs "theatre of the mind" combat.

A Random Wilderness Generator

Robert Weber wrote:

A Random Wilderness Generator for y'all, especially Alan Bradley, who asked about the world outside the dungeon & the town.

http://primereq.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-random-wilderness-generator.html

Russ Nicholson reimagining of Sailors of the Starless Sea cover

Russ Nicholson did the many of illustrations for the Fiend Folio. Here's recent work of his for Goodman Games - a re-imagining of Doug Kovacs cover of Sailors on the Starless Sea.

Originally shared by russ nicholson

recently arrived my copy from Goodman Games showing my cover variant for 'Sailors of the Starless Sea'.

This is like something out of Alien or The Thing.

This is like something out of Alien or The Thing.
#rollforinitiative
http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/11/04/454066109/a-man-in-colombia-got-cancer-and-it-came-from-a-tapeworm

A dungeon.

A dungeon.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/11/monster-face-dungeon-map.html

For Dyson Logos in case he wants to add a version of this to his annotated Monster Manual.

For Dyson Logos in case he wants to add a version of this to his annotated Monster Manual. The short version is that at some point during his time at TSR, Erol Otus drew a Masher for the Monster Manual that was never included.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/02/obscure-art-friday-masher-by-erol-otus.html

The next step in my campaign design: the world beyond the dungeon.

Alan Bradley wrote:

The next step in my campaign design: the world beyond the dungeon.

Obviously there's the "town", but beyond that?

B1 has only vague geographical descriptions, and my copy has notes about locating it in Greyhawk.

B2 has its map, and a vague description/concept of a broader world.

The Sample Dungeon has a vague description of the world beyond Portown. There's also the interesting Stone Mountain cross section..

Unfortunately the feel in B1 and B2 doesn't really match the Sample Dungeon, IMHO. Since I'd rather keep the campaign area fairly small at first, I'd probably leave them out and expand from the Portown description.

That requires at least a vague sense of what is beyond the sea. Detailed maps wouldn't be required, but a medieval style map should be available to the PCs if they look hard enough. Failing that they can rely on rumours and legends. It would be interesting to see what kind of "map" they would put together from those...

Has anyone done anything with the Sample Dungeon "world"? (Aside from mapping Portown).

Who Plays Holmes?

Mike Hill wrote:

Who Plays Holmes?

Hi folks,

1) Who amongst us actually plays Holmes as their standard gaming rules set some or all of the time?

2) What, if any, house-rules do you have in place?


I'm hoping to run a game for my crowd sticking as close as possible to the rules as they are, but:

a) I'm going to pick one of the many options available here and elsewhere for light/heavy weapons

b) My players will baulk at the "no strength modifier" (it won't be an issue if everyone throws poorly for strength). If it is an issue I might run with a bonus equal to the constitution/hit points adjustment for fighting men only. Any thoughts on this and whether it should apply just to damage or strike throws too?

Many thanks

Mike

RIP TSR artist Will McLean

TSR artist Will McLean, best known for his delightful cartoons in the DMG, recently passed away: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151030_William_McLean_IV__philanthropist.html
See also this DF thread where I heard about it:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=72065

Marc Majcher Saw your Holmes Basic rulebook photo with a Newsweek article:...

Marc Majcher Saw your Holmes Basic rulebook photo with a Newsweek article: http://www.newsweek.com/explain-your-letter-388563

I saw a link to this column posted on DF.

I saw a link to this column posted on DF. Newsweek has used a pic of the Holmes rulebook and the low impact dice to illustrate it, even though it's about a letter from 1985 and focuses more on Top Secret.
http://www.newsweek.com/explain-your-letter-388563

Keep on Conjurin'

A bit of fun...

With apologies to Tom Wham and R. Crumb. : )

Gygax's description of Giant Rats in the Monster Manual includes: "Their burrows honeycomb many graveyards, where...

Gygax's description of Giant Rats in the Monster Manual includes: "Their burrows honeycomb many graveyards, where they seek to cheat ghouls of their prizes by tunneling to newly interred corpses". This might be influenced by Holmes' Giant Rat tunnels in the Sample Dungeon (Room RT), which are in the "soft earth of the cemetery" and near the Ghoul room (Room P). The Monster Manual came out after Gygax reviewed the manuscript for Holmes Basic, the first edition of which doesn't have a monster entry for Giant Rats.