First report of the Character Creation Worksheet being used in the wild!

First report of the Character Creation Worksheet being used in the wild!

Originally shared by Wayne Rossi

In which I provide an actual play report and a number of observations on Holmes D&D.

One of my favorite old school TSR supplements for use with Holmes is the good ole' Monster & Treasure Assortment...

One of my favorite old school TSR supplements for use with Holmes is the good ole' Monster & Treasure Assortment (the single volume, Lvl 1-9 version published in 1980 in particular).

Originally published in 3 volumes (Set One / Lvls 1-3; Set Two / Lvls 4-6; Set Three / Lvls 7-9) in 1977 and then reprinted as three volumes in 1978, the Monster & Treasure Assortments were the complementary volumes to the dungeon geomorphs; create a dungeon using the geomorphs, then stock that sucker with critters and treasure from the M&T Assortments.

For stocking dungeons you could get more creative, but if you just need  some encounters they're pretty darn useful. With one major caveat - between 1977 when they were first published and 1980 when the Lvl 1-9 single volume compendium was published, no less than 4 editions of D&D appeared - OD&D, Holmes, AD&D and Moldvay-Cook Basic/Expert (aka B/X). Printing history as always is available on the Acaeum: https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/miscpages/mt.html

So while I heartily recommend the M&T Assortments as a handy resource, as observed in linked Delta's D&D blog post you need to be flexible and adjust what's there. If you get the - easily found and cheap to buy - 1980 assortment, the encounters will be a mashup of OD&D, AD&D and B/X creature names, characteristics, and (for human/demihuman types) race-class combinations.

With that in mind, if you don't have one of these definitely grab one - very handy resource, and some great Dave Trampier and David C. Sutherland artwork not found elsewhere. Enjoy : )
(besides the usual online dealers like Noble Knight, there are a bunch of copies on Amazon right now starting at just $4.00 a copy  for used condition: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Treasure-Assortment/dp/0935696369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456550418&sr=8-1&keywords=monster+%26+treasure+assortment)

Not a Holmes-like set - it was the Holmes set. : )

Not a Holmes-like set - it was the Holmes set. : )

Originally shared by Claytonian JP

There was never a Holmes-like intro set for AD&D, was there?

Some Dungeon art of mine

Some Dungeon art of mine
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/175644/Fantasy-Stock-Art-Dungeon-Scenes?src=slider_view

OSR Castle Logo w/ Evil Eye

OSR Castle Logo w/ Evil Eye

The Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes pdf is available at dmsguild.com (formerly dndclassics.com).

The Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes pdf is available at dmsguild.com (formerly dndclassics.com). Note that the Hyborian and Melnibonean mythos found in the original have been removed.
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/17177/ODD-Supplement-IV-Gods-Demigods--Heroes-0e?it=1&filters=0_0_0_0_45344_0

From the DM David blog, 5 RPG products "that shaped how I play D&D 1977-1978". Holmes is the first.

From the DM David blog, 5 RPG products "that shaped how I play D&D 1977-1978". Holmes is the first.
http://dmdavid.com/tag/5-role-playing-products-that-shaped-how-i-play-dungeons-dragons-1977-1978

The Character Creation Worksheet pdf is now live.

The Character Creation Worksheet pdf is now live.
Download, print and create your character!
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/character-creation-worksheet-pdf.html

The heads of Tiamat mounted on a wall - a high level adventurer's trophy? Watch the video of its creation:

The heads of Tiamat mounted on a wall - a high level adventurer's trophy? Watch the video of its creation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fom4E9ix5GE&feature=youtu.be

Over on the Acaeum, misterspock noticed an obscure "TSR Toy" Logo on a set of Jan 1983 order sheets.

Over on the Acaeum, misterspock noticed an obscure "TSR Toy" Logo on a set of Jan 1983 order sheets. It uses the ordinary TSR Logo of the time, but with a castle tower silhouette above and a small "TOY" below. The Acaeum tracks TSR Logos but this one hadn't been noted before. It may not have appeared anywhere else. An OSR version of this logo would be fun to have.
https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=250452&c=1#p250452

Which printing of Holmes Basic would you like to see WOTC release on pdf for sale?

Which printing of Holmes Basic would you like to see WOTC release on pdf for sale? The 3rd edition is the most corrected. The 2nd/3rd edition have monsters and artwork not found in the 1st edition, although 1 monster and three pieces of art were deleted from the 1st edition.
The 1st edition, 1st printing is the least likely since it has "hobbit" throughout.

Eldritch Wizardry, OD&D Supplement III, was released on pdf today - 40 years after the original in 1976.

Eldritch Wizardry, OD&D Supplement III, was released on pdf today - 40 years after the original in 1976.
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/17176/ODD-Supplement-III-Eldritch-Wizardry-0e

WOTC is requesting scans of classic material that they are not yet offering for sale.

WOTC is requesting scans of classic material that they are not yet offering for sale. Holmes Basic appears to be on the list (as "1001 Basic Set"). The process seems off, however, as there doesn't seem to be a way to ensure that someone else is not also making a scan of the same item.
http://support.dmsguild.com/hc/en-us/articles/216504408

Happy Birthday, Dr Holmes! :-)

Wandering Monster d12s

Eric Harshbarger has created Wandering Monster d12s based on the WM table in the 3rd print Holmes Rulebook. See here for more:
http://www.ericharshbarger.org/dice/#wandering_monsters

T.Foster reviews the TSR AD&D PC/NPC character sheets.

T.Foster reviews the TSR AD&D PC/NPC character sheets.
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1721895#p1721895

On the "cool new stuff you could use with Holmes", here are a couple I've run across recently (both written for...

On the "cool new stuff you could use with Holmes", here are a couple I've run across recently (both written for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but old edition compatible):

Tower of the Stargazer
- Exploration of a wizard's tower, with a good Swords & Sorcery / Clark Ashton Smith feel; could make a good tie-in to the Zenopus dungeon, if you had this tower out in the wilderness a few days' ride from Portown and the wizard a colleague or rival of Zenopus. The exploration and weirdness factors make it a good thematic match to B1 (with it's room of pools and wizard's laboratory). Also, like the early TSR modules of yesteryear it clocks in at a tidy 16 pages.  
Reviews:
- http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-tower-of-stargazer.html
- http://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=1000
- http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-tower-of-stargazer.html

Scenic Dunnsmouth
- A decayed town with dark secrets (a la Dunwich and Innsmouth of HPL fame). Could actually be used to design your Portown (if your Portown as a small seaside town rather than a larger city) or to create the town of Saltmarsh if you ran U1 in a Homes campaign (the investigative aspects would match U1's tone perfectly). Best part: it is set up to be randomly generated, which means uniqueness and good replay value; and you can also use it to design multiple towns (just changing the NPCs around). The random generation element meshes well with the design approach of B1, and the town-with-intrigues setup will feel familiar from T1.  
Reviews:
- http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2014/05/rpgpundit-reviews-scenic-dunnsmouth.html
- http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-of-scenic-dunnsmouth.html
- http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/review/scenic-dunsmouth/
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-tower-of-stargazer.html

Holmes as a complete campaign game has been discussed for a while now - either as a standalone capped at Lvl 3, or...

Holmes as a complete campaign game has been discussed for a while now - either as a standalone capped at Lvl 3, or expanded (taking various approaches, from 3+1 capping fighters at "hero" level to ending at lvl 9 / "name level" to going out as far as Moldvay-Cook Expert did). Going complete homebrew, you'd have few problems with writing adventures for a Holmes-only campaign; but if you're short on time or just prefer modifying adventures rather than starting from scratch, you might wonder how much is really out there to use. 

Taking Holmes as a complete game with a level 3 cap, my list of adventure resources from the classic TSR era would include the following:
- the included modules B1 and B2
- T1, which although an AD&D adventure is easily converted and has a good swords & sorcery theme (small farm town threatened by evil)
- N1 (again AD&D, and like T1 a farm town threatened by evil but with a distinctly different approach)
- L1 (AD&D, but easily modded; includes a mini-sandbox wilderness area a la B1 and the Bone Hill dungeon has a different feel from the others in the list)
- B4 (B/X, again easily modified and playable as a mini-sandbox by fleshing out the underground city and caverns)
- U1 (AD&D haunted house/investigative dungeon, easily converted)
- "Temple of the Frog", from Supplement II: Blackmoor (though you'd have to depower it to avoid overwhelming TPK probability)

The old White Dwarf adventures offer some good options as well:
- "The Lichway", an ancient burial complex.
- "The Halls of Tizun Thane", investigation of a lost wizard's manse.
- "The Pool of Standing Stones", a cult of druids gone bad needs to be cleaned out from a dungeon (mid level AD&D adventure, but modifiable)
- "Grakt's Crag", a tomb complex infested with monsters and thieves (mid-level AD&D, again modifiable)
These were all collected in Best of White Dwarf Scenarios.

And Judges Guild of course had some good stuff, though much of it would need to be depowered / scaled down to fit a Holmes-only campaign; City State of the World Overlord (as an urban campaign setting), The Caverns of Thracia (large dungeon, could be expanded to a mini-sandbox and/or linked to B4) and the Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor (large dungeon) come to mind.

Any other suggestions out there?
(note that for this post, I'm intentionally limiting the range to stuff written in the AD&D 1e era and before).

Holmes as a COMPLETE game...

Simian Conquest

Review on DF by extildepo of a 1978 RPG that I'd never heard of before:

SIMIAN CONQUEST
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=73069

Another Tuesday, another OD&D pdf release: Blackmoor, Supplement II.

Another Tuesday, another OD&D pdf release: Blackmoor, Supplement II.
http://www.dmsguild.com/product/17172/ODD-Supplement-II-Blackmoor-0e?src=hottest_filtered&it=1&filters=0_0_0_0_45344_0

If you missed it, I posted this look at a 1970s OD&D spell point system yesterday.

If you missed it, I posted this look at a 1970s OD&D spell point system yesterday. Includes discussion of potential OSR usage at the end.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

In 1975 a group of Caltech students published Warlock, one of the first supplements for OD&D. Holmes used this system for his personal OD&D games prior to editing the Basic Set. He was a fan of the Warlock spell point system and mentioned in Dragon #52 that he tried to get Gary to include a spell point system in the Basic Set. I've written up a summary of these rules if you are interested in trying them out, either in your OD&D game (particularly now the pdfs are publicly available) or in your OSR game.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-warlock-od-spell-point-system.html

Discussion of some confusing notation in the Maps table on page 27 of OD&D Vol 2 - "#1 Magic (already there)"

Discussion of some confusing notation in the Maps table on page 27 of OD&D Vol 2 - "#1 Magic (already there)"
http://odd74.proboards.com/thread/11584

Originally shared by Chuck Thorin

 
I was reading thru Greyhawk this weekend and little ides hit me. In a nutshell, use chance to “Open Door" as s simple x in d6 roll for any ability check.
http://theymightbegazebos.com/greyhawk-inspired-attribute-checks/

In 1975 a group of Caltech students published Warlock, one of the first supplements for OD&D.

In 1975 a group of Caltech students published Warlock, one of the first supplements for OD&D. Holmes used this system for his personal OD&D games prior to editing the Basic Set. He was a fan of the Warlock spell point system and mentioned in Dragon #52 that he tried to get Gary to include a spell point system in the Basic Set. I've written up a summary of these rules if you are interested in trying them out, either in your OD&D game (particularly now the pdfs are publicly available) or in your OSR game.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-warlock-od-spell-point-system.html

A look at the 1975 Warlock Spell Point system for OD&D. #completewarlock

A look at the 1975 Warlock Spell Point system for OD&D. #completewarlock
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-warlock-od-spell-point-system.html

The perennial topic, which I read with renewed interest after evaluating the original 1974 thief (see my most recent...

The perennial topic, which I read with renewed interest after evaluating the original 1974 thief (see my most recent blog post).
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73029&p=1720294#p1720294

Mike Mornard on M.A.R. Barker's immense Tekumel/Empire of the Petal Throne megadungeon:

Mike Mornard on M.A.R. Barker's immense Tekumel/Empire of the Petal Throne megadungeon:
"One of the tools placed at our disposal was the underworld that [Barker] had placed under his starting city, Jakalla. I had explored parts of this, but had never seen the entire map until now. Phil used a 17 x 22 sheet of TEN SQUARE TO THE INCH graph paper, with each square equaling ten feet (just like in original D&D). Think about it… that is enormous. Over a quarter mile on the short side, and nearly half a mile on the long side, and all of it full to the brim with interesting stuff and horrible doom. For instance, in the southwest sector is a maze. And when I say a maze, I mean a TRUE maze; one way in, one way out, false turnings, dead ends, the whole nine yards. It’s about 900 by 900 feet. That’s three football fields."
https://wmusswtwbf.wordpress.com/2016/02/07/garycon-2015-part-3

An interview with Leonard Patt, who wrote the "Rules for Middle-Earth" that influenced the Fantasy Supplement of...

An interview with Leonard Patt, who wrote the "Rules for Middle-Earth" that influenced the Fantasy Supplement of Chainmail.

Here's another bit of inspirational art for Dr Holmes' wereshark.

Piper wrote:

Here's another bit of inspirational art for Dr Holmes' wereshark.

I wrote a little about the original version of Gygax's Thief class and how it differs from the Greyhawk version.

I wrote a little about the original version of Gygax's Thief class and how it differs from the Greyhawk version. Bonus: a Thieves Reference Sheet collating the info from the original article into a one-page sheet.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-d6-hd-od-thief.html