What is this Archive?

This archive preserves many of the posts made to the Holmes Basic D&D Community on the late G+. I created this Community in late 2012, not long after Communities were added, and it existed through April 2nd 2019, when G+ was shutdown for non-commercial users. By the end there were over 600 members. While most were not active, there was always a core group of commenters to keep things interesting.

There are over 2100 posts included, made by myself and various members of the community, each accompanied by its original comments. While a number of posts (~500?) are shares and thus duplicative of posts on the Zenopus Archives blog, these have been saved because they include different comments. The other ~1600 posts fall into two broad categories. I often used G+ for quick shares of images and links of interest to the community, material often not posted to the ZA blog. And then there are the many posts by other members of the community. A big thank you to everyone who participated!

Due to limitations of the application (Google+ Exporter) used to extract the posts from G+, every post here is labeled as "Posted by Zenopus Archives", whether or not I was the original poster. However, the identity of the original poster is preserved as one of the labels, and as time allows I have been slowly adding this information to each applicable post. All of an individual's posts can be found by clicking on the relevant name in the Label list in the right sidebar (only visible in desktop format). 

Most of the originally posted images are preserved. I went through the entire blog and manually downloaded and re-uploaded the images so they wouldn't be lost. The harvester preserved a link to each image in the relevant users Google+ "Album Archive", but Google may delete these at any time going forward. A few images seem to be missing; I don't know if the harvesting program failed to grab them or the original source had been removed. I've also noticed that a number of links are missing as well, and I will eventually re-add these.

All of the posts originally made to the Holmes Basic G+ Community are tagged with the label "Holmes Basic: Discussion".

I added a few other posts of interest that I made to other communities or to one of my G+ collections. I will try to note these here:

~50 posts from the OD&D Community. These are each labeled with "Original Dungeons Dragon (OD&D): Discussion" or "Original Dungeons Dragon (OD&D): Links & Resources" or "Original Dungeons Dragon (OD&D): Classified".

~70 posts from the OSR Community. These are each labeled with "OSR: Discussion" or "OSR: Free Stuff" or "OSR: News".

~150 Public Posts. These are labeled only with "Zenopus Archives" without a "Holmes Basic: Discussion" label.

For each of the above, click on the relevant post to bring up all posts with that label.

Places to find me after G+ vaporizes

This combines two somewhat duplicative posts I made on G+:

3/31/19 public post, which had no comments

Some places to find me after G+ vaporizes:

The Blog will continue of course: http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/

Facebook Profile (as Arch Zenopus): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009452211671 Facebook Holmes Basic Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/holmesbasic/

Click the three dots to the right to expand this and see more:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZenopusArchives
Tumblr: http://zenopusarchives.tumblr.com/

MeWe Profile: https://mewe.com/profile/5bbbd5042ee15f0a6cffff75
MeWe Holmes Basic Group: https://mewe.com/group/5bbbd60c2ee15f0a6c696d7b

OD&D Discussion Forum: http://odd74.proboards.com/ (must join to see all subforums including Holmes Basic, but I am a mod & can approve you. Email me at zenopusarchives at gmail.com)

Knights & Knaves Alehouse forum
Dragonsfoot forum
Acaeum forum


3/21/19 post to the Holmes Basic G+ group, the comments below were made to this post:

G+ vaporizes on Apr 2. Thank you all for joining and participating in this community. When I started it in 2012, not long after they created Communities, I had no idea if there would be enough interest to keep it alive. Happily it turned out there was. I'm going to miss it. I will be archiving many of the posts as a second blogger blog, and I will of course keep blogging, but I tend to save posts there for more extensive writings, versus here where feel more comfortable posting quick links to news or pics or ideas or discussion topics.

Options to continue our conversations include:

The Holmes Basic MeWe group:
https://mewe.com/group/5bbbd60c2ee15f0a6c696d7b
I don't entirely like MeWe, but it's most like G+ in format. I will probably start using it more once this group is completely gone.

The Holmes Basic Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/holmesbasic/?ref=bookmarks
When I post there, I get some likes but not too much conversation. It was started by someone other than myself, and while I was added me as a moderator, I don't feel as comfortable as I do here posting stuff that is of more general nature (like my Conan comics earlier today).

Zenopus Archives twitter account:
https://twitter.com/ZenopusArchives
I've been using this a bit more lately, but obviously it's not a centralized location where anyone can leave comments.

I've signed up for Reddit and Discord but I find the formats too alien.

Gronan's Guide to Gaming

Gronan's Guide to Gaming, advice he sent out to the players of his OD&D game at Gary Con beforehand.

https://wmusswtwbf.wordpress.com/2019/02/23/gronans-guide-to-gaming/

GRONAN'S GUIDE TO GAMING

Hell, I've been running D&D since before it was published. I'm not "old school," I'm PRESCHOOL! Anyway. Yes, Virginia, there are really very substantial differences between Original Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D) and later editions. There are also differences in the way I run D&D, no matter what the edition.

Marvel Conan $1 reprints

How come no one told me that Marvel reprinted ten (!) Conan comics this past January as part of its $1 True Believers series?!? Just found them all at a musty used bookstore that also sells comics.

Humble Pi in a dungeon

Herman Klang wrote:

This is the room I put Zenopus Archives Humble Pie in.

https://dungeonsofklang.blogspot.com/2019/03/map-key-of-plague-year-4-humble-pie.html

Map Key of the Plague Year 4: Humble Pie

A Throne raised up on a small dais, stone, covered in dust. Also a banquet table in the middle of the room, also stone and covered in dust. On the table are three pristine well decorated cakes. They look delicious, but don't say that. Let the players ask.

Scale model of the 1st level of Quasqueton

8 x 10' scale model of the 1st level of Quasqueton! By Douglas Waltman, posted on FB in the Gary Con group. May be coming to Gary Con next year.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/58339157369?view=permalink&id=10157195812027370

Larry DiTillio has passed away.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Larry DiTillio has passed away. He is best known in RPG circles for writing The Masks of Nyarlathotep, a multi-chapter world-spanning adventure for the Call of Cthulhu RPG. But he also co-created She-Ra while writing for He-Man. #callofcthulhu #shera
https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/larry-ditillio-she-ra-he-man-obituary-j-michael-straczynski

https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/larry-ditillio-she-ra-he-man-obituary-j-michael-straczynski

Gary Con XI report, Day One

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Gary Con XI report, Day One:

https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2019/03/return-to-gary-con-day-one.html

File under One-Hit Point Monsters: Humble Pi

File under One-Hit Point Monsters:

Humble Pi
DX 16, AC 7, HD 1 hp, AT 1 lash for 1 hp
The least of the mimic family, this small protean excels at impersonating irresistable desserts. Strikes quickly when about to be eaten, forcing the victim to admit that eating treats found in the dungeon is not such a great idea.

Welcome to Jakalla - EPT intro game at Gary Con

My last scheduled game of Gary Con XI: Welcome to Jakalla - an introduction to the Empire of the Petal Throne (Tekumel) run by Victor Raymond. We have chosen to enter the famous Jakallan Underworld (he is using Barker's own version).

Discos and Dragons at Gary Con

Fighting a Hill Giant in Carl Heyl 's all day drop-in Disco & Dragons Holmes Basic game at Gary Con. All game materials are from the '70s. The area map in the background is the Outdoor Survival board. Chits used for initiative!

The Key to Akbeth's Tower at Gary Con

Knife fight in the Bazaar! Looking for The Key to Akbeth's Tower in a Gary Con XI OD&D game run by Demos Sachlas. Part of a tournament scenario originally run at Gen Con in 1977, and later published by Judges Guild.

I made some monsters with dexterity...

Herman Klang wrote:

I made some monsters with dexterity scores.

https://dungeonsofklang.blogspot.com/2019/03/bestiary-of-plague-year-parasitic-brain.html

Day 3 of Gary Con begins!

Day 3 of Gary Con begins!

Intro for Discovery of the Unknown at Gary Con

Intro for Discovery of the Unknown tournament at #garycon XI. Sequel to In Search of the Unknown by Mike Carr and Paul Stormberg. Our team's DM is Steve Winter, formerly of TSR.

Zenopus sequel at Gary Con

Ran my Zenopus sequel this morning at Gary Con. The party successfully recovered the Brazen Head of Zenopus!

Jasmine Card Game at Gary Con

From yesterday:

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

At Gary Con! Playing Jasmine card game with its creator, Darlene. I'm playing Jasmine faction, but only a few rounds in and I've already lost my leader Jasmine to the Dark Faeries of Devastation!

PC tokens for my Zenopus games at GaryCon

One of two sets of "minis" for my Zenopus games later this week at Gary Con. I plan to use these for marching order & bigger battles, and will give them to the players at the end. The discs are real wood, 1" diameter (so fit standard battle mats/dungeon tiles) & 1/16" thick, bought online from a woodcraft company. In the center are Boinger & Zereth. Clockwise from the left of Boinger are Lady Hortensa, Sir Geoffrey (with Prince Valiant hairdo), Brother Ambrose, Murray the Mage, Olaf & Haldor, Maximillian the Centaur (who I gave a weird human-horse hybrid face), Bardan the Dwarf and Sunna. I started off putting a letter on each but dropped that part way through since I decided it wasn't really needed. Each back has the PC name + "Gary Con XI".

Drop-in Discos & Dragons to be run at Gary Con

Carl Heyl informs me that he will be running a drop-in Holmes Basic game all day on Saturday at Gary Con! Carl is a great DM, I played in his "Disco & Dragons" game last year at North Texas RPG Con.

Holmesiana from this year's Gary Con program:

Holmesiana from this year's Gary Con program:
*Holmes is listed on page 5 among the "Pioneers Who Have Passed"
*Page 7 has a quote from Gary's Preface to Holmes Basic, along with a thumbnail of the Basic Rulebook cover, Lizard Logo
*Pat Kilbane ("Bizarro Kramer" on Seinfeld"), one of the guests of honor, started with Holmes Basic in 1979.
*Page 44 notes that this year is the 40th anniversary of B1 In Search of the Unknown, and the Legends Tournament on Friday night is a sequel to this by Mike Carr and Paul Stormberg (I'm signed up for this!)

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Luke Gygax has made the Gary Con XI program available in PDF in advance of the con. Download link below. 124 pages...!

https://garycon.com/gc-xi-event-guide/
https://garycon.com/gc-xi-event-guide/

Black Blade & Tales of Peril mentioned by Luke Gygax

Black Blade Publishing & Tales of Peril were featured in a post by Luke Gygax to Gary Con FB group today! Black Blade is one of the Gary Con sponsors.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/58339157369/permalink/10157151110452370/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/58339157369/permalink/10157151110452370/

Want a real sense of what Scrum Con was like?

Want a real sense of what Scrum Con was like? Check out the unexpurgated blog at Scrum in Miniature. It's the next best thing to having attended!

https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2019/02/scrumtacular-scrum-con-success-story.html
https://miniaturescrum.blogspot.com/2019/02/scrumtacular-scrum-con-success-story.html

Epic Game of Dungeon

Played an epic game of Dungeon with the kids tonight to celebrate J. Eric Holmes' 89th birthday anniversary.

http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2012/02/holmes-basic-testimonials.html?m=1

Tegel Manor at DunDraCon

Thom Hall wrote:

I had a great time running Tegel Manor yesterday at DunDraCon. Thanks to Jon Wilson, Keith Johnson, and the other participants for making the game memorable.

Finally submitted my game for NTRPG

Chris Holmes wrote:

Finally submitted my game for NTRPG
It's Saturday afternoon, look for 80's if you want to buy a ticket. I couldn't find Zach's game. I hope there isn't a conflict.

Who here goes to Gary Con? I'm thinking there may need to be some discos & dragons there this year.

Fold-up "table tents" for my Zenopus con game, so I and the otherplayers can quickly tell who everybody is.

Fold-up "table tents" for my Zenopus con game, so I and the other players can quickly tell who everybody is. At North Texas I wrote these out beforehand, but since I'm running this repeatedly I decided to make a printable sheet. Eventually I will re-design these to include portraits by Chris Holmes which will also be on the character sheets. The font is a faux medieval font I found call Blackwood Castle, more readable than actual Olde English fonts. Futura is of course even more readable but has less flavor. #brazenheadofzenopus

Games Workshop Holmes Set, later version when they reverted to the US art

Games Workshop Holmes Set, later version when they reverted to the US art
https://twitter.com/DailyDwarf/status/1088375842797948928?s=19

B4!

B4!

Originally shared by Eric Nieudan

Who wants a two-page sandbox for running the lost city below the pyramid in The Lost City?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tqc6y5ptmn4o1e1/B4_Lost%20city_sandbox.pdf?dl=0

Play Report - Karel Hynek Macha

Follow-up to previous post by Karel Hynek Macha. Actual Play report of his Holmes game.

http://zrzavy.blogspot.com/2019/02/play-report-holmes-basic-intro-to_6.html

Beta preview of what the "Holmes Basic G+ Community Archive" will look like.

Beta preview of what the "Holmes Basic G+ Community Archive" will look like. This is a post from 2015 when Ernie Gygax was briefly active here:

https://holmesbasicgpluscommunity.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-oldest-tsr-shirt-that-i-seen.html (updated 2/9)

There are still two issues keeping this from going live:
1) Original posts are missing the poster's name, so it makes it look like I wrote everything. Comments have the name, but not the posts. The G+ Exporter developers have stated this will be addressed in a future release.
2) Some posts are missing hyperlinks. I am discussing this with the developers currently.

Thanks to Larry Hamilton for helping get the exported XML files for this, although I am planning to get the license myself since the developers are so responsive

Blog post by Karel Hynek Macha

http://zrzavy.blogspot.com/2019/02/running-holmes-basic-game-for-my.html

Faux AD&D covers for True Detective Season 3 by artist Juan Moore

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Faux AD&D covers for True Detective Season 3 by artist Juan Moore

Striking image!

Striking image!

Originally shared by Christopher Mennell

@mattsav.concept on Instagram shared this...dystopian image of an astromech from the Solo film. Don’t recall seeing it in the film but I’ll have to rewatch it for details like this I’m sure.

I've added the Zenopus Archives blog to this site.

I've added the Zenopus Archives blog to this site. If you have a blog with a feed you may want to consider doing so as well.



Originally shared by Alex Schroeder

Blogosphere unite!
(Again‽)

It’s been some days since my last reminder. 😅 I know that the constant repetition is tiresome but there seems to be no other way to reach lots of people. Here’s the gist of it: I cannot ask each and every one of you fine bloggers whether I may add you to one of the RPG Blog Planets. If you are reading this and have an OSR RPG blog, a DIY RPG blog, a Story Game blog, an Indie RPG blog, please contact me and tell me it’s ok to add your blog to one of the RPG Planets. And I will do it! And share the message: invite other bloggers to join.

Please join!
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/Planet/Please_join!

What is this?
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/Planet/What_is_this%3f

And here's the result:
https://campaignwiki.org/indie
https://campaignwiki.org/osr
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/Planet/What_is_this%3f

Anybody use G+ Exporter (third party program) to successfully export a community here to a new Blogger blog?

Anybody use G+ Exporter (third party program) to successfully export a community here to a new Blogger blog? I'm working on making an archive of the Holmes Basic community. I tested out the free version ast night and harvested ~1700 posts going back to the beginning (late 2012), despite it saying the free version would only get 800 posts. It created an XML file I was able to import into a new Blogger blog, creating one blog post for each G+ post including images! There are a few problems: 1. It's not showing the name of who made the original post. 2. It is showing names for comments, but it is not showing all comments for every post, most are only showing the last two or three. This may be due to using the free version of the program. I may try the $20 version after more research.

I'm working on making an archive of this community using the G+ Exporter (a third party program).

I'm working on making an archive of this community using the G+ Exporter (a third party program). I tested it out last night and harvested ~1700 posts going back to the beginning (late 2012). It created an XML file I was able to import into a new Blogger blog, creating one post for each post here, including pictures! There are a few problems: 1. It's not showing the name of who made the original post. 2. It is showing names for comments, but it is not showing all comments for every post, most are only showing the last two or three. This may be due to using the free version of the program. I may try the $20 version after more research.

This year's Gary Con beer/soda cup designs.

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

This year's Gary Con beer/soda cup designs. (Not sure if the black one is just the back or a different design). The monster is an Aboleth.

Today, raise a glass to honor the 45th anniversary of Dungeons &Dragons!

Originally shared by Jon Peterson

Today, raise a glass to honor the 45th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons! Here's what Gary said to Dave when the moment was nearing...

http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com/2019/01/d-45th-birthday.html

FYI, I'm running two sessions of my Zenopus game at Gary Con this March.

FYI, I'm running two sessions of my Zenopus game at Gary Con this March. Gold Registration opened yesterday, and my Saturday night game is unexpectedly already full! I recognize one name in the group, Stephen Newton

On the other hand, my Friday morning game only has one sign-up so far, Larry Hamilton. General (Silver) registration starts next Saturday.

https://tabletop.events/conventions/gary-con-xi/schedule/903

Pic from yesterday's 1e game.

Scott Mob wrote:

Pic from yesterday's 1e game. The Earth Elemental mini my buddy had acquired and painted up here is stamped 'Ral Partha 1977' on the bottom which makes the mini older than the ruleset we were using, Not sure off hand whether Earth Elementals were included in Holmes Basic, or if the Monster Manual had been published yet(?)

Yesterday's vintage paperback haul: Breakaway: a novelization of thefirst episode of SPACE:1999 by EC Tubb (who...

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Yesterday's vintage paperback haul: Breakaway: a novelization of the first episode of SPACE:1999 by EC Tubb (who also wrote the Dumarest of Terra series that inspired Traveller), Wishbringer: a novelization of the Infocom Text Adventure game by Craig Shaw Gardner, Quest for the Unicorn's Horn: a 1985 AD&D-compatible Swordquest gamebook by Bill Fawcett (of Mayfair games), and Vols 4, 6 and 8 from the famous Ace/Lancer Conan series.

I just finished registration for games and events for Gary Con.

Larry Hamilton wrote:

I just finished registration for games and events for Gary Con. Due to the placement of when my three games are & the special events I want to attend, I am signed up for one game.

I'll have to make a 2nd pass and see what I want to play that fits openings.

I may just leave that time open for anyone wanting to play my card game, or running or playing pick up games.

https://t.co/MyWcrcvHGD
https://t.co/MyWcrcvHGD

XQ1 The Castle that fell from the Sky

Chris Holmes wrote:

Just got my copy of Module XQ1 The Castle that fell from the Sky by Steve Robertson and Jimm Johnson. I have a couple drawings in this revised edition. It's a weird and fun dungeon /wilderness with some sci fi elements. Published by the Scibes of Sparn. Nice cover too.

Of likely interest to folks here: http://originaleditionfantasy.blogspot.com/2019/01/erb-update.html

Of likely interest to folks here: http://originaleditionfantasy.blogspot.com/2019/01/erb-update.html

Has anyone had experience running this module from dragon #41?

Thom Hall wrote:

Has anyone had experience running this module from dragon #41? There's a couple cool quirks; first there is a special saving throw mechanic introduced where the situation calls for a saving throw against the specified ability score (ala t&t,5e, etc) but the save is made by rolling a certain number of d6 as noted for the difficulty or complexity of the situation then the player subtracts one for every 2 levels of experience and if the resulting total is less than the ability score they are successful. The other bit nifty about this module is it includes dex scores for a bunch of the monsters for holmes style initiative.

Skirmishing on Ancient Mars right now

Originally shared by Zenopus Archives

Skirmishing on Ancient Mars right now

An adventure I wrote - STATUES - was run using BlueHolme rules and reviewed and analyzed in-depth on...

An adventure I wrote - STATUES - was run using BlueHolme rules and reviewed and analyzed in-depth on 2018-Silver-Ennie-Award-winning podcast Fear of a Black Dragon. The players and DM had a lot of fun, despite a TPK.

They coined a new genre term, "Urban Picaresque," for the tone of the adventure and made references and comparisons to Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Jack Vance, Robert Altman's Nashville, Walter Hill's The Warriors, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, among other texts.

https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/fear-of-a-black-dragon/statues
https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/fear-of-a-black-dragon/statues

FYI, I'll be running In Search of the Brazen Head of Zenopus at a new single day con in College Park Maryland on Feb...

FYI, I'll be running In Search of the Brazen Head of Zenopus at a new single day con in College Park Maryland on Feb 16th. 2 open seats left...

https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2019/01/scrum-con-feb-2019.html
https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2019/01/scrum-con-feb-2019.html

The Sorcerer’s Jewel

The Sorcerer’s Jewel

A “Map Not Required” Dungeon World Adventure by Mark Tygart

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rpBaMGzmYVkrsbawdXapwiuClxscIydR

Inspired by the “Boinger and Zereth” short story The Sorcerer’s Jewel by Dr. Eric J. Holmes and the works of Edgar Allen Poe

Adventure Background
The young human had a map. Zereth had seen innumerable treasure maps, and he was not impressed with this one.

“Whoever sold you this, sire,” he said callously, tossing it down on the table between them, “did a poor job. The parchment isn’t even aged.”

“You wrong me, Sir Elf,” said the man, “for I never claimed this to be authentic. It was drawn yesterday; I saw it drawn myself.” The arched eyebrows of the black elf shot up on his forehead. “Drawn? By whom?”

“By Misteera the Medium.”

“At a séance?”

“Verily. The controlling spirit claimed to be one Yartoosh, a sorcerer dead these two thousand years.”

---The Sorcerer’s Jewel by John Eric Holmes (first published in Dragon #46, recently republished in Tales of Peril.)

To order Tales of Peril: https://grodog.blogspot.com/2017/06/how-to-order-tales-of-peril-and-other.html

The Dungeon Of Rak-Arnesh: Level 2

Tristan Tanner wrote:

More work on the dungeon, the third level will have dinosaurs!

http://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-dungeon-of-rak-arnesh-level-2.html

Since G+ is going away, Julian Levallon suggested we collect links to the blogs and other sites of members here in...

Since G+ is going away, Julian Levallon suggested we collect links to the blogs and other sites of members here in this group. Please leave a comment below with the name of your blog or other website and a brief (no more than one sentence) comment on what it covers and I will collect them and post it on the Zenopus Archives blog.

Short notice, but Paul Stormberg is running an AMA on the Gygax IP on Reddit today from 12-2 CST.

Short notice, but Paul Stormberg is running an AMA on the Gygax IP on Reddit today from 12-2 CST. Info via Erik Tenkar

Announcement link: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/adylvq/paul_stormberg_who_is_currently_cataloguing_all/

This is the actual link where he is responding: https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/ae9ef5/the_lost_treasures_of_gygax_ask_me_anything/

http://www.reddit.com/r/rpg/comments/adylvq/paul_stormberg_who_is_currently_cataloguing_all/

The Dungeon of Rak-Arnesh: Level 1

Tristan Tanner wrote:

I recently got my hands on an old copy of B1 and the 1977 Monster & treasure Assortment levels 1-3, and because of this I was inspired to start work on my own multi-level labyrinth in the vein of Blackmoor, Greyhawk, and, of course, the Tower of Zenopus.

http://bogeymanscave.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-dungeon-of-rak-arnesh-level-1.html

Just submitted two time periods for 'Zenopus - 40 Years Later' toNTRPGCon 2019.

Steve Muchow wrote:

Just submitted two time periods for 'Zenopus - 40 Years Later' to NTRPGCon 2019. Hopefully, Chris Holmes and Zach H will be able to visit the table!

Friday Night at 8pm and Saturday Day at 4pm.

After the crumbling demise of the plus, what is the plan for this community?

After the crumbling demise of the plus, what is the plan for this community? Has a Holmes Basic group been established on MeWe yet?
Thanks!

Gygax photo 12/77

This has circulated before, but I haven't posted it in this collection. This is Gary Gygax at work in his TSR office at 723 Williams St, Lake Geneva. Hand-dated by someone as December 1977, which is the same month the Monster Manual came out. An upside down lid of a Holmes Basic set is at the top of the pile of books behind his head. Perhaps he is working on the Players Handbook?

For those insane people interested in useless details.

For those insane people interested in useless details. https://crierofkemen.blogspot.com/2019/01/worldbuilding-part-one.html

2019 will be back to Basics for me.

2019 will be back to Basics for me.
Thanks to +Mark Craddock, +Dan Proctor, +Gavin Norman, +Michael Thomas, and +Jonathan Becker.
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2019/01/2019-back-to-basics.html