I'm currently reading "El Borak and Other Desert Stories" by Robert E.

I'm currently reading "El Borak and Other Desert Stories" by Robert E. Howard (IIRC Wayne Rossi recommended this a few years ago). It's a great collection; Howard's prose is just a joy to read. Anyway, I just realized that Holmes named the caravan master El Borak in the Boinger and Zereth tale The Adventure of the Lost City (originally in Alarums & Excursions, now reprinted in Tales of Peril). The two characters are not really similar beyond the name and the desert locations, however.

Some sample pages from early 80s UK RPG zines. h/Scott Mob​​

Some sample pages from early 80s UK RPG zines. h/Scott Mob​​

Originally shared by Chris Hart (Dirk the Dice)

Giant Badgers and Chaosium news from '81

The thing about these zines is that I don’t have anything to do withthem. They came from the archives of the Cambridge University Roleplaying and Tabletop Society, formerly the Cambridge University Roleplaying Society, formerly the Cambridge University…
http://armchairadventurerblog.com/2017/08/31/fanzine-scrap-book-cambridge-university-zines/

This illustration looks a lot like the Night King from Game of Thrones.

This illustration looks a lot like the Night King from Game of Thrones...! It's actually a "Nazgul" from the title page of Monster & Treasures, Volume 2 of the original 1974 D&D rules.

Homemade preview "trailer" for a D3 Hall of the Fire Giant King game

Homemade preview "trailer" for a D3 Hall of the Fire Giant King game
Posted by Demos Sachlas here on Dragonsfoot:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=77926
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzfjXksRNAk

Thoughts from the blogger who has played every text adventure game from the 70s.

Thoughts from the blogger who has played every text adventure game from the 70s.

https://bluerenga.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/having-played-every-adventure-from-the-1970s-some-thoughts/
https://bluerenga.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/having-played-every-adventure-from-the-1970s-some-thoughts/

Today's used bookstore gamebook haul: FF #20 Sword of the Samurai,LW #5 Shadow on the Sand, EQ #16 The Dragon's...

Today's used bookstore gamebook haul: FF #20 Sword of the Samurai, LW #5 Shadow on the Sand, EQ #16 The Dragon's Ransom, The Bytes Brothers #6. Plus related fiction: The Lost City of Zork

Jason Zavoda on his blog shares a scan of an early TLG ad for Castle Zagyg that uses a painting by on my favorite...

Jason Zavoda on his blog shares a scan of an early TLG ad for Castle Zagyg that uses a painting by on my favorite 19th century American painters, Thomas Cole: Expulsion. Moon and Firelight (1828). The ad touts an early presentation for Castle Zagyg where Yggsburgh is CZI, the Castle Ruins are CZII and the Dungeons are CZIII. Yggsburgh was published early on as CZI, and later the Upper Works (including the castle ruins and the first dungeon level) as CZII, but the rest of the dungeon remains unpublished. Read more about Cole's painting here: https://www.museothyssen.org/en/collection/artists/cole-thomas/expulsion-moon-and-firelight (h/t to Allan Grohe)

Print copies of Black Pudding Issue 3 are now available from the Squarehex site and the Oubliette blog.

Print copies of Black Pudding Issue 3 are now available from the Squarehex site and the Oubliette blog. Issues 1 and 2 are also still available in case you missed them.

Just got done visiting with Billy Galaxy in Portland and seeing his massive collection of Holmes manuscripts and...

Just got done visiting with Billy Galaxy in Portland and seeing his massive collection of Holmes manuscripts and correspondence! Holmes saved it all.

Built this monster with the Monster Reference Table (from the Zenopus Archives, natch!), so I included "Basic Stats".

Built this monster with the Monster Reference Table (from the Zenopus Archives, natch!), so I included "Basic Stats"...

Originally shared by Jon Wilson (bygrinstow)

ROT-PIXIE
Init +0 Melee Atk  • spike +4 (1d6+) AC 15 HD 4d8+2 (20 hp) MV 10, fly 45 Act 1d24 + 1d16 SP blitzkrieg, light-absorbing Fort +4 Ref +7 Will +2 AL C Some forests are strong with Fae magic. When this magic is corrupted, the Fae creatures this magic produces ...

Beginning art for Zenopus Tower - 40 years later at NTRPGCon 2018.

Steven Muchow wrote:

Beginning art for Zenopus Tower - 40 years later at NTRPGCon 2018. Now why is the statue 9-10 ft tall when it used to be 6? 40 years brings many changes...

Hey now!

Hey now!

Originally shared by Tim Knight

Holmes playing Holmes

Gerald Williams wrote:

Thanks to Save or Die Podcast (edit - corrected source)

Sealed Holmes Basic set at the Gen Con 50 museum.

Sealed Holmes Basic set at the Gen Con 50 museum. From an Enworld article here http://www.enworld.org/forum/content.php?4399-Take-A-Look-At-The-Gen-Con-50-Museum-First-Draft-of-D-D-First-Traveller-More!#.WZcxwyh97IU

Great interview with Robert MacNaughton who played the older brother in ET.

Great interview with Robert MacNaughton who played the older brother in ET. The movie will be back in theatres on September 17 and 20.

Originally shared by Piper

D&D in the media.

We all knew they were playing D&D in "ET: The Extra-Terrestrial" but here is some interesting trivia about D&D at Harrison "Han Solo" Ford's house.
https://www.yahoo.com/movies/e-t-35-older-bro-robert-macnaughton-tells-d-harrison-fords-weird-al-elvis-costello-202826034.html

More info on the authorship of the mysterious Beyond this Point Be Dragons manuscript from Daniel Boggs​ Scott Mob​

More info on the authorship of the mysterious Beyond this Point Be Dragons manuscript from Daniel Boggs​ Scott Mob​
https://boggswood.blogspot.com/2017/08/beyond-this-point-be-dragons-mystery.html?m=1

WEG d6 Star Wars will be back in print! Most impressive.

WEG d6 Star Wars will be back in print! Most impressive.
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2017/08/star-wars-roleplaying-game-30th.html?m=1

I thought I'd show off James V West's sterling work here, I hope you don't mind.

I thought I'd show off James V West's sterling work here, I hope you don't mind. Thanks to people like him, Dyson Logos (when are you finishing that Monster Manual?) and a certain Zach H, I'm really getting into this OSR take on illuminated pages. Expect to see more of this sort of thing in the upcoming Referee Repository, Explorer Encounters, and Blueholme Brochure. :-)
https://dreamscapedesign.net/2017/08/15/blueholme-character-records/

Old notes expanding the Holmes sample dungeon.

I stumbled upon some old notes expanding the Holmes sample dungeon. I believe my intention was to add a stairway at the end of the hall heading west from room N. I was inspired to post it cause of all the cool sample dungeon stuff I've seen recently on Zenopus archives. I do not think this is as well thought out as that stuff.

Originally shared by Herman Klang

This is my addition to the Holmes sample dungeon.
http://dungeonsofklang.blogspot.com/2017/08/while-preparing-for-game-yesterday-i.html

Chris Holmes sent me a scan of a great artifact: a player sign-up sheet for a D&D on Barsoom game run at Gen Con in...

Chris Holmes sent me a scan of a great artifact: a player sign-up sheet for a D&D on Barsoom game run at Gen Con in 1980, with fantastic art by Chris!

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/08/d-on-barsoom-art-by-chris-holmes.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/08/d-on-barsoom-art-by-chris-holmes.html

The Olitiau, giant riding bats for Basic-era games (with a new spell!)

The Olitiau, giant riding bats for Basic-era games (with a new spell!)
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2017/08/monstrous-monday-olitiau.html

Some thoughts on using the encounters in the Sample Dungeon as "factions" vying for control of the dungeon.

Some thoughts on using the encounters in the Sample Dungeon as "factions" vying for control of the dungeon. Meant to post this in the morning but it needed a little more editing.

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/08/zenopus-dungeon-factions.html

Framed Holmes Basic cover print

If you are in Japan, here's a framed Holmes Basic cover print available for sale #dcsIII

Originally shared by Andy.C

I'm leaving Japan, anyone living here interested in my bootlegged 16"x20" framed David C. Sutherland III, Holmes Box Set poster print? You'll need to collect it from Takasaki station. 2,500 yen.

Day 9: Awesome Media That Would Make An Awesome RPG

Originally posted by Unknown:

Day 9: Awesome Media That Would Make An Awesome RPG

My answer to today's official prompt is a brief roll of the eyes, so I'll glance back to the 2015 prompt, which is an endless source of easy answers.

Spinning the media-wheel and landing on "computer games," I still crave a tabletop RPG set in the Zork universe, taking its strongest cues from Beyond Zork but drawing on the whole library (including the Effinger novel, the Activision stuff, and the retroattached Enchanter material). Parts of heaven's grave are shamelessly Zorkian, of course, but gaming-in-the-style-of and actually-adapted-from are very different animals. I envision a very distinct style of adventuring in this world, distinct from both the usual fantasy tabletop model and from the inventory-puzzle source material ... an ensemble-oriented style built upward from the chorus of satiric voices that shaped where Zork has gone so far, paving new roads for its future.

#RPGaDay #RPGaDay2017 My approach: https://goo.gl/fHnbFU

The Renga in Blue blog has just finished the first decade of an "All the Adventures" series...

The Renga in Blue blog has just finished the first decade of an "All the Adventures" series (https://bluerenga.wordpress.com/all-the-adventures/), playing through every text adventure game in chronological order. This is all pre-Infocom stuff; way more games than I ever realized existed at that point.

The final game of the 1970s was "Adventure 501", one of the many Adventure variants:
https://bluerenga.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/adventure-501-finished/
https://bluerenga.wordpress.com/2017/08/09/adventure-501-finished/

Grodog's blog: The Many Levels of Castle Greyhawk

The second post by Allan Grohe in his new series, this time with a transcription of a letter from Gygax outlining the Castle Zagyg project and naming the castle levels to be included:

https://grodog.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-many-levels-of-castle-greyhawk-part-2.html

"Goblin Tower" (1935), an evocative poem by Frank Belknap Long, a friend of HPL:

"Goblin Tower" (1935), an evocative poem by Frank Belknap Long, a friend of HPL:
The Goblin Tower stood and stood
And stood for years and years:
And it was haunted splendidly
By twenty thousand Fears.
The Fears were tall and very old,
With scars upon their faces;
And there were Greek and Hindoo Fears,
And Fears of Saxon races.
The Tower’s window looked upon
A moat of thunderous green;
And red lights shone behind the panes
Where gallant ghosts had been.
The ghosts were shyer than the rats
That lived in Roland´s hall;
And they reposed upon the chairs
Or walked upon the wall.
Until the Fears took up the lance
And chased them screaming hence;
And now they wander in the moat
Or climb the castle fence.
I dreamed the Goblin Castle fell
And vanished in the night:
And yet for years and years and years
It was a gorgeous sight.

The Astrologer by Albrecht Durer

Here's a public domain image picture suitable for use as Zenopus: The Astrologer by Albrecht Durer from "the title page of the De scientia motus orbis" (1504), per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashallah_ibn_Athari
I believe the classic blue wizard's robe with stars and planets such as seen on the Holmes Basic box cover comes from astrologer/astronomer wear.
(Gerald Williams who got me looking at Durer again)

Part of the haunting of Zenopus tower is "goblin figures" dancing on the roof in the moonlight.

Part of the haunting of Zenopus tower is "goblin figures" dancing on the roof in the moonlight. Do you think these were literally goblins (the dungeon has goblins in Room A) or something supernatural? To me it always evoked the Night on Bald Mountain part of Fantasia, or perhaps he animated version of Saint-Saens' Danse Macabre. I just found some moonlight dancing figures in Lovecraft's The Moon Bog & am wondering if they could be an influence. http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mb.aspx
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/mb.aspx

In a post here last month I brainstormed a brief history of Portown, with some ideas for adventures that could be...

In a post here last month I brainstormed a brief history of Portown, with some ideas for adventures that could be set at different times (basically different adaptations of the Sample Dungeon). Today I revised this material and posted it on the blog:

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/08/portown-adventuring-eras.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2017/08/portown-adventuring-eras.html

demihumans and level limits.

I am once again harping on demihumans and level limits. This is my explanation for why dwarfs have level limits. Holmes is of course silent on level limits, but the rules suggest switching to OD&D or AD&D, both have level limits. I have learned from Chris Holmes that Holmes himself probably did not enforce level limits in his campaign. So, I dunno .. please don't ban me for posting this garbage.

Originally shared by Herman Klang

I wanted to add dwarfs to the list of demihumans that have in world reasons for level limits.
http://dungeonsofklang.blogspot.com/2017/08/dwarf-level-limits-and-why-dungeons-are.html

Holy smokes, guys, David Wesley is running a game of Braunstein at GenCon!

Originally shared by Brent Newhall

Holy smokes, guys, David Wesley is running a game of Braunstein at GenCon!

https://www.gencon.com/events/122494

For those not familiar, David Wesley ran a wargaming club in the 1960's, where he both introduced the idea of the referee, and for a change from all the wargaming ran a one-shot where the players controlled specific characters in a small town with explosive politics. That game was Braunstein, and it quickly turned into a full-scale role-playing scenario. When Wesley was called up to serve in Vietnam, he left the control of the group to another member, a young Dave Arneson, who started using Gary Gygax's "Chainmail" rules to run games in Arneson's sprawling castle and dungeon of Blackmoor, setting the stage for the invention of D&D.

It's always hard to pin down who was the original inventor of many things, but you can strongly argue that David Wesley invented tabletop role-playing as we know it today, and you can play in his game in two weeks!

Here's a (lengthy!) interview with Wesley that explains all this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1SZJjZ-U9I&t=6027s
https://www.gencon.com/events/122494

Ugnaughts: Half-dwarf, half-orc, with Frasier Crane hair. (if pic looksbad it's because of something G+ does when...

Ugnaughts: Half-dwarf, half-orc, with Frasier Crane hair. (if pic looks bad it's because of something G+ does when I upload a photo from my phone. Clicking the photo may give better resolution)

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Finally got an Ugnaught after all these years. The shadow behind looks a bit like Vader using the force.

One of these pins in nice shape up for sale. I like it, but don't know what I would do with it ..

One of these pins in nice shape up for sale. I like it, but don't know what I would do with it ..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TSR-The-Game-Wizards-Button-from-1980-D-D-RARE-/382181178798?hash=item58fbc5fdae:g:EZIAAOSw9fNZfkES

Threadless.com has $12 t-shirt sale for 24 hr. Here's a #wereshark tee,of sorts:

Threadless.com has $12 t-shirt sale for 24 hr. Here's a #wereshark tee, of sorts:
https://www.threadless.com/product/6259/Sharkbro/tab,guys/style,shirt
https://www.threadless.com/product/6259/Sharkbro/tab,guys/style,shirt