Preview of forthcoming D&D art book.

Preview of forthcoming D&D art book. The Deluxe edition will include a reprint of the original tournament version of Tomb of Horrors - from 1975, so for OD&D.

Originally shared by Allan Grohe

Some new information about the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana book: https://io9.gizmodo.com/just-look-at-this-gorgeous-dungeons-dragons-art-book-1826457973

The special edition ($125 vs. $50 for the standard edition) will feature a reproduction of the 1975 Origins 1 Tomb of Horrors tournament, among other goodies.

Thanks to Jon Peterson for the pointer!
https://io9.gizmodo.com/just-look-at-this-gorgeous-dungeons-dragons-art-book-1826457973

#skullmountain ...IN...SPAAAAACE...!

#skullmountain ...IN...SPAAAAACE...!

Originally shared by trey causey
http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-sinister-skull-satellite-of-masters.html

I'm going to playtest the Return to the Tower of Zenopus with the Local Group tomorrow night.

I'm going to playtest the Return to the Tower of Zenopus with the Local Group tomorrow night. In anticipation of running it next Sat at NTX. For those who missed it at Gary Con, it should be much improved by the time I run it there next year. I had several good ideas for additions/tweaks in the time since then. Currently about six pages of text, I will eventually make it available publicly. #brazenheadofzenopus

Fez, the Angry Wizard, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth,treading the potato chips of the Earth beneath...

Fez, the Angry Wizard, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, treading the potato chips of the Earth beneath his sandaled feet

Originally shared by Mark Hunt

Have a Great Time today and enjoy life!

Here's the cover of the Japanese "Expert" set corresponding tothe "Basic" set I posted yesterday.

Here's the cover of the Japanese "Expert" set corresponding to the "Basic" set I posted yesterday. Hey, there's a #skullmountain ...!
Found at the TSR Archive: http://www.tsrarchive.com/in/jp/jp-misc.html

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's the sample dungeon from thatsame Japanese rulebook (again courtesy...

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here's the sample dungeon from that same Japanese rulebook (again courtesy Grubbiv on the Acaeum). The cartography looks fairly TSR-esque - with a few Japanese characters added - does anybody recognize it as recycled from a late-80s TSR product?

An outline of the key per Grubbiv:

入口 entrance
1. ホール hall
2. 拷問室 torture room
3. ガーズルーム guardroom
4. ゴブリンの部屋 goblin room
5. 放棄された部屋 abandoned room
6. 道をふさぐもの obstructing the way
6'. ピット pit
7. 書庫 library
8. 倉庫 store room
9. ドッペルガンガーの部屋 doppelgänger room
9'. 塞がれた回廊 blocked-off corridor
10'. 儀式の問 ceremonial question

Art from a 1988 Japanese D&D rulebook.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Art from a 1988 Japanese D&D rulebook. Note the mustachioed female dwarf. Per Grubbiv on the Acaeum, this book uses some of the material from Mentzer Basic, but is not a straight translation. See more here:
https://www.acaeum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16958&p=290186&c=1#p290186

Sur les boutiques anglophones de Lulu (US mais aussi plus proche de nous UK ou Irlande), le code FWD15 permet de...

Originally shared by Tiburce Guyard (Khelren)

Sur les boutiques anglophones de Lulu (US mais aussi plus proche de nous UK ou Irlande), le code FWD15 permet de bénéficier de 15% de réduction sur le prix d'achat des bouquins papier.
Et si vous renseignez ensuite le code BOOKSHIP18, vous aurez les frais de port tarif éco qui sont offerts ou les frais de port standards à moitié prix.

Tout ça serait valable jusqu'au 28 mai 23h59, donc dépêchez-vous d'en profiter! :)

Et absolument sans aucun rapport :
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/khelren
(The Sprawl, Réalité augmentée, Forged in the Dark)
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/khelren

Just spent an hour gushing about Holmes to DMs Liz, Mike, and Corbett over on Save for Half.

Just spent an hour gushing about Holmes to DMs Liz, Mike, and Corbett over on Save for Half. I think I talked about BLUEHOLME™ Journeymanne Rules, but I honestly have no idea. Too damn exciting by half. :-)

This is cool.

This is cool. Over on FB, a fellow spliced some of the Holmes Ref sheets into the rulebook, and put it all in sheet protectors in a notebook. You may need to join the Holmes Basic FB group to see this:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/holmesbasic/permalink/1312367498908031/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/holmesbasic/permalink/1312367498908031/

I don't think one was ever published, but does a Holmes edition DM screen exist?

I don't think one was ever published, but does a Holmes edition DM screen exist? I have DiY sheets and such (thanks Zach!) but was wondering if anything else was out there. Official or third party. Thanks!

Crazy or at least heretic idea: take 5e, remove everything that doesn't appear on Holmes, and see what can be done.

Crazy or at least heretic idea: take 5e, remove everything that doesn't appear on Holmes, and see what can be done.
Would be possible to create a Holmes inspired 5e?

I wrote a blog post with the useful bits from my alternate introduction to Tales of Peril---mostly about how I came...

I wrote a blog post with the useful bits from my alternate introduction to Tales of Peril---mostly about how I came to play D&D and to know the Holmes Basic Set: https://grodog.blogspot.com/2018/05/grodogs-start-in-gaming-1977.html

FYI, general registration is finally open again over at the OD&D Discussion boards.

FYI, general registration is finally open again over at the OD&D Discussion boards. I'm on the mod team there. You may be asked to provide more verification that you are a real person by pointing us to activity on other sites (blogs, other forums etc). We are mostly concerned about users creating duplicate accounts aka "sockpuppets". I can vouch for folks here that I am familiar with.

https://login.proboards.com/register/1771418
https://login.proboards.com/register/1771418

Adding Maximillian the Centaur to the bullpen of pre-gens for the Return to the Tower of Zenopus game at #ntrpgcon

Adding Maximillian the Centaur to the bullpen of pre-gens for the Return to the Tower of Zenopus game at #ntrpgcon . Line-up so far - Boinger, Zereth, Murray, Hortensa, Geoffrey, Ambrose, Bardan, Olaf, Maximillian. I was going to have Haldor also, essentially identical to Olaf, but Ajax might be more interesting. Other possibilities I'm considering are Sunna the barmaid (perhaps as a thief?) and Serjeant Lemnos of the Amazons. #brazenheadofzenopus

I got my very first Holmes Basic set for Christmas 1980.

I got my very first Holmes Basic set for Christmas 1980. This life-changing gem was stocked at the local K-Mart (only with Keep on the Borderlands). Years later, I find all the adverts I somehow missed back in my younger days. Thank you internet!

Finally saw Blade runner 2049.

Finally saw Blade runner 2049. Was a pleasure to watch. Loved how slowly some scenes moved. Interesting to watch at the same time as the second season of Westworld. I for one welcome our new Replicant overlords.

If the adventurers won't go to Skull Mountain, Skull Mountain will cometo the adventurers.

Michael Thomas wrote:

If the adventurers won't go to Skull Mountain, Skull Mountain will come to the adventurers.

Originally shared by Grand DM

"What do you mean they got away? I don't care if they had Advantage on their Stealth check. Get out there and find them!"

Anyone here acquire some of these?

Anyone here acquire some of these? What are your thoughts? I don't like pdfs much is part of my hesitation, but I'm sure these are pretty neat and it is good they are available.
http://www.conchord.org/xeno/aande.html

Finally, a new entry for the Tales of Peril read-through!

Finally, a new entry for the Tales of Peril read-through!

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/05/maze-of-peril-ch-1-scene-6-map-of.html
http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2018/05/maze-of-peril-ch-1-scene-6-map-of.html

Interesting perspective.

Originally shared by Roger Giner-Sorolla

Interesting perspective.
https://www.themarysue.com/women-in-dungeons-and-dragons/

Overheard today: 20-somethings talking about D&D in public!

Overheard today: 20-somethings talking about D&D in public! I was at the playground today when I heard a woman telling her coworker (they were watching students) something about a campaign from the '80s that was published. I thought "did I hear that right?". But then she went on to mention "her players", so I knew I had. It's part of the zeitgeist again.

Be sure to check out Chris Holmes on the latest Save for Half!

Be sure to check out Chris Holmes on the latest Save for Half!
http://saveforhalf.com/2018/05/07/episode-10-5-son-of-holmes/

Some new informations about the first Holmes translation in French. The mystery is solved !

Some new informations about the first Holmes translation in French. The mystery is solved !
http://www.donjondudragon.fr/forum/zone-publique/la-gazette-du-donjon/traduction-en-francais-de-la-boite-holmes-6790.html

The Swordof Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett

After a few false starts, this week I finished the fantastic The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett (an Appendix N author). I highly recommend it to everyone here. It's in the Sword & Planet genre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_planet), but is close to being straight fantasy due to a plot twist I won't reveal. It's set on a pre-Space Age conception of Mars - influenced by Burroughs, but she owns her version. Thanks to Chris Holmes for giving me a copy of the Ace Double with this story at #ntrpgcon a few years ago. This was the first Brackett I've read, but I also have a copy of her best short stories so I'll continue with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Rhiannon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sword_of_Rhiannon

Into the Borderlands with Mike Carr

Originally shared by Stephen Newton

Into the Borderlands with MIke Carr
I just noticed that included in Goodman Games's glorious new Into the Borderlands collection is a picture I took at GaryCon 2017.

This is an exciting discovery on several levels.

1. Playing "In Search of the Unknown" was the first RPG experience I'd ever had. Everyone has that one experience that got them hooked - well this was mine.

2. Meeting Mike Carr at GaryCon 2017 was an enormous Fanboy Nerd-Out moment for me. I'd met the guy whose writing literally changed how I grew up and influenced who I would become.

3. By somehow being associated with a later incarnation of "In the Search of the Unknown" - even if it's just a photo - makes me feel like my RPG life has come full circle somehow.

Good times.

Which TSR artist of the 'golden age' is most prolific?

Which TSR artist of the 'golden age' is most prolific? For these purposes I shall define the 'golden age' as 74'-86'. The more i read over old TSR modules, Dungeon magazines, Dragon magazines etc the more Jim Holloway art I see lately.

Here's a shot by Eric Nieudan of one page by the French version ofMoldvay Basic.

Here's a shot by Eric Nieudan of one page by the French version of Moldvay Basic. On the page, there's a small picture by Jim Holloway of three adventurers, I believe showing a thief, elf and dwarf. I know this pic is not in the US Moldvay Basic, and I don't think it is in the Mentzer version either. So it may be unique to the French rulebook. Some of the French modules from the time (B2, B3) also have unique art as reported by Demos Sachlas

Originally shared by Eric Nieudan

Did you know that the TSR produced French rulebook of Moldvay Basic called halflings, tinigens? I've always wondered where this word came from, with its weirdly made up English roots.

On the photo below you can see that 13 year-old me put two and two together after reading The Fellowship of the Ring (my copy has a lot of little notes to 'correct' the information in it).

But for a couple years before that, we only had these paragraphs to figure out what a tinigen was. A fierce hunter? A tiny ghost of the woods? A builder of beautiful manses full of treasure? I remember how puzzling that illustration was: the archer in the middle clearly looks like an elf, but they're much shorter than the hooded figure on the left (and the book tells us elves are taller). Could that be the tinigen?

I think Tinigens need a proper write-up.

My entry in the One Page Dungeon Contest this year is indirectly aHolmes Basic adventure, (generically) referencing...

Jon Wilson wrote:

My entry in the One Page Dungeon Contest this year is indirectly a Holmes Basic adventure, (generically) referencing only "monsters" that appear in the Blue Book, such as Bandits and Carrion Crawlers...