FANTASTIC!

FANTASTIC! EXCITING! IMAGINATIVE! is wonderful! But will there be a second issue? I really didn't find out about issue one submissions until it was too late. however I'd love to contribute to a second issue! Any ideas about what it should be based on? Maybe a dungeon issue based on the same artwork in the book? The skull Mountain dungeon? Or our takes on the rooms in the Tower of Zenopus? Lots of stuff to work with.

Trent​ on making the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth harder to locate, with some great descriptions of rival parties also...

Trent​ on making the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth harder to locate, with some great descriptions of rival parties also on the hunt. #tsojcanth https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2017/04/d-losing-caverns-of-tsojcanth.html?m=1
https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2017/04/d-losing-caverns-of-tsojcanth.html?m=1

Grodog has a blog! Should be lots of great Greyhawk-related content here.

B1 TSR Editorial Dept copy

 It's a B1 day: here's a TSR "Editing Dept" copy of B1 - see the labels on the cover.
This is from a recently ended auction of a lot of similar modules: http://www.ebay.com/itm/142358665850?orig_cvip=true

Not sure if anybody's taken a look but the download of B1 In Search of the Unknown now includes the Holmes version...

Not sure if anybody's taken a look but the download of B1 In Search of the Unknown now includes the Holmes version of the module. Unfortunately the scan isn't great, and the pages look washed out a bit, but if you've been looking for a Holmes B1 this has it. (B2 Keep on the Borderlands also received an update but it's two different PDFs of the Moldvay version.)
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_info.php?products_id=17081&affiliate_id=375721

The Hermit Fortress

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-hermit-fortress.html

#Monsters_and_Marginalia
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-hermit-fortress.html

Wayne looks at patterns in the OD&D Saving Throw table

Wayne looks at patterns in the OD&D Saving Throw table

Originally shared by Wayne Rossi

In which I make a minor observation about the old saving throw tables.

Gygax on his original killer 20-sided die

Gygax on his original killer 20-sided die:
"As it happens I have quite a number of the old low-impact dice around here somewhere. The points on the d4 were very sharp but wore down quickly. Rob had a d20 that would stand on a worn point about one roll in 50 ;)

Somewhere I lost my d20 with half the faces colored gray. It was my "killer die" that rolled an inordinate number of 20s, and the players really hated it ;)

Cheers,
Gary"

Source: EnWorld Q&A, Part 5
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/temp/egg/part_05.txt

In the comments to today's blog post, T.Foster comments:
"When I played with EGG in 1988 he was still using one of these dice - a white d20 with one set of faces marked in gray. He claimed he'd been using that die to kill PCs since 1972 :)"

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/marked-20-sided-die.html
http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/temp/egg/part_05.txt

Update: Found a few more quotes about Gary's Killer Die, so I turned into a blog post.

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/gygaxs-killer-die.html?m=1

You may recognize the roots on this one...

Jon Wilson wrote:

You may recognize the roots on this one...

Originally shared by Christopher Mennell

Got something special in the works. Thanks to Jon Wilson for his work on this Ad.

So close now...

A new blog post on an RPG artifact of the '70s, the marked 20-sided die:

A new blog post on an RPG artifact of the '70s, the marked 20-sided die:
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/marked-20-sided-die.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/marked-20-sided-die.html

New Blog: The Mystical Trash Heap

T. Foster, who posts often at the Knights & Knaves Alehouse (a forum dedicated to AD&D 1E), has a new blog The Mystical Trash Heap which is dedicated to the '80s, D&D, Greyhawk & Gygax. Here's his most recent post, which concerns a Flint Dille memory of sandbox gaming with Gygax in L.A. in 1985.

https://mystical-trash-heap.blogspot.com/2017/04/flint-dille-and-pimms-cups.html

In addition to sharing any new Gygax/Greyhawk posts here going forward, I'll also re-post some material from my blog.

In addition to sharing any new Gygax/Greyhawk posts here going forward, I'll also re-post some material from my blog. I'll restrict it to one or two a day. Here's a good one to start with, from 2015 & one of the top 10 most popular posts from my blog: Visualizing Castle Greyhawk #greyhawk
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2015/03/visualizing-castle-greyhawk.html

Mr Yuk is mean, Mr Yuk is green! #rollforinitiative

Mr Yuk is mean, Mr Yuk is green! #rollforinitiative
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLsONa3gKIQ

Tales of Peril is almost here! #ntrpgcon

Tales of Peril is almost here! #ntrpgcon

Originally shared by Allan Grohe

A picture of the signatures sheet for the first edition printing of Tales of Peril: The Complete Boinger and Zereth Stories of John Eric Holmes, before we mailed the sheets off to the printer last month (which is why they're in plastic).

Chris Holmes, Zach H, and Allan Grohe signed the sheets at the 2016 North Texas RPG Con. The book is in layout now, and is Black Blade Publishing's first foray into fiction. It will premiere at the NTX RPG Con in June 2017.

More details soon!

Be honest: how many of you (uh, okay, besides me) have discovered/been inspired by/taken/stolen ideas for a dungeon...

Be honest: how many of you (uh, okay, besides me) have discovered/been inspired by/taken/stolen ideas for a dungeon from American Ninja Warrior..?

Stacked skull dungeon.

Stacked skull dungeon. #Marginalia&Monsters #ballpointpenart #skullmountain

Skull Mountain. :-)

Michael Thomas wrote:

Skull Mountain. :-)

Originally shared by David Zenz

The place of the skull

A "new" Gygax interview from 1984, translated from the German version of Dragon magazine by a poster on the Acaeum.

A "new" Gygax interview from 1984, translated from the German version of Dragon magazine by a poster on the Acaeum.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/gygax-interview-in-drache-3-october-1984.html

Were-Orca!

Were-Orca! From latest Mini-fig series, which tie in to the Lego Batman movie. This one is the supervillainess Orca: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca_%28comics%29 #wereshark

Idea for a Holmes campaign: PCs are residents of Skull Mountain

Idea for a Holmes campaign: 1st level characters start as residents of the domed city under Skull Mountain, the last surviving civilization of a post apocalyptic fantasy land (think Logan's Run). The Pit is actually a ventilation shaft. Dungeon levels get more difficult as they go up, with the outside wilderness being the worst.

The last OD&D supplement, Swords & Spells from 1976, came out in pdf today.

The last OD&D supplement, Swords & Spells from 1976, came out in pdf today. It has some OD&D information not found elsewhere, such as the Area of Effect for many spells in the Spell Chart.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17175

Swords & Spells (1976) just slipped out in pdf today:

Swords & Spells (1976) just slipped out in pdf today:
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17175/Swords--Spells-0e?it=1

David Wesely himself weighs in on the debate about our hobby's origins and how his love of wargaming led to our...

David Wesely himself weighs in on the debate about our hobby's origins and how his love of wargaming led to our modern pastime...

New character sheet for Holmes Basic!

New character sheet for Holmes Basic! Also compatible with OD&D, S&W, Delving Deeper etc. See the blog post for the download link (note if you saw/grabbed this on Friday there's a slightly revised version that I uploaded today).

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-character-sheet-pdf-for-download.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-character-sheet-pdf-for-download.html

Waiting to pick up the pizzas for game night.

Waiting to pick up the pizzas for game night. Tonight we continue our 6+ year T1-4 campaign after playtesting some games our DM ran at Gary Con. When we last played our party had escaped to an Elemental Node after losing a battle to the Temple leadership on a deep level...

New Holmes convert on DF!

New Holmes convert on DF!
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=76830&sid=c74f824ca9abb1e6c6228bb5744fefc7

You guys get it first - the new Character Record sheet.

You guys get it first - the new Character Record sheet. Tweaked from the previous draft form. Now a single page pdf for downloading. Let me know if you spot any typos or errors.

4/9/17 Update: Link goes to blog post which has current download link.
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/04/new-character-sheet-pdf-for-download.html

Judges Guild OD&D products - fan or foe?

Andy Action wrote:

Judges Guild OD&D products - fan or foe?

Blueholme Journeymanne is Kickstarted! (Also Lovecraftian Stock Art coming soon)

https://gwythaintny.wordpress.com/2017/04/05/blueholme-journeymanne-is-kickstarted-also-lovecraftian-stock-art-coming-soon/

It's the birthday of the late David Sutherland, Holmes Basic cover artist. #dcsIII

It's the birthday of the late David Sutherland, Holmes Basic cover artist. #dcsIII
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2013/04/david-sutherland-day.html

The kickstarter is live! This goes to fund art by Russ Nicholson,chad Thorinson, me and others!

The kickstarter is live! This goes to fund art by Russ Nicholson,chad Thorinson, me and others!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/861386488/blueholmetm-journeymanne-rules?ref=discovery

Bird-Dragon peeking out of lair. Monsters & #Marginalia

Bird-Dragon peeking out of lair. Monsters & #Marginalia

If you missed my Circles post a few days ago, here's a link to my GaryCon photos.

If you missed my Circles post a few days ago, here's a link to my Gary Con photos.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Here are my annotated Gary Con IX photos, in a public FB album. Should be viewable via this link even if you don't have a FB account. Click on the first picture (ZA badge) to view the slideshow and read the notes for each picture. #garycon #gcix
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1837662533225469.1073741829.100009452211671&type=1&l=53cb4025e9

Holmes Basic & friends, from the collection of Bill Meinhardt(stratochamp on the Acaeum).

Holmes Basic & friends, from the collection of Bill Meinhardt (stratochamp on the Acaeum). Photo posted by Luke Gygax to the Gary Con group on FB. The Basic set is in shrink and there's a full shot of it in my Gary Con IX photos. #garycon #gcix

Write-up by E.T. Smith​ of Marc Miller's Traveller Q&A at Gary Con. #garycon #gcix

Write-up by E.T. Smith​ of Marc Miller's Traveller Q&A at Gary Con. #garycon #gcix

Originally shared by E.T. Smith

Some old origin stories directly from the creator of Traveller.

Three Caves dungeon entrance

#dungeonentrance #marginalia