D&D Next Play-test

On our last game session night, Corey ran the  D&D Next playtest.

Corey's been interesting in it and we've all followed the general developments and we all looked forward to giving it a try.  Our gaming group's specific interest in rule-sets fills the spectrum.  As you may know I'm strictly a rules-lite  follower, too many rules makes my brain fart and then explode.  Clay likes more fleshed out rules that lets you fiddle with the character.  Corey is open and tries the new versions of D&D.  The rest of the players fall in-between these realms.

I haven't 'signed' WOTC's official non-disclose agreement on the game.  Not because I didn't want to give my feedback to them on the game, I just didn't want to get on their mailing list because I'm really not interested in their wares. but I will respect  their request to not talk about the mechanics. 

As you all know, The Caves of Chaos is the adventure of choice to run the play-test.  Good choice for that 'old school' feel and it ran quite well in the play-test.  We ended up in the Goblin caves and killed about 20 goblins and the ogre nearly dying in the process.  The play-test rules did have a very 'old school' feel, that I do have to say.  The combat was fast and deadly and three our of the four of us were down to just one or two hit points by the time we barely finished off the infamous ogre.  So high marks for the general feel of a session.

Now the nitty-gritty of things is where we can begin a discussion.  Remember that this is the very first iteration of the rules and plenty of things will be tweaked, but initially I was surprisingly happy with what I saw.  The first level characters felt more like third level characters with  more hit points but the monsters had more hit points as well so in my mind you still had about the same chance of getting killed by the Ogre (88hp) as you would have in the old days, the difference being, one hit wouldn't kill you here.

The damage the characters inflict is much higher (my sling did 1d8 damage +3 for Dex).  The MU was able to cast a LOT more spells at '1st level'.  My wife, who played a dwarf fighter, even noticed how the power balance of the MU and the fighter were too similar.  A note about the wife's RPG experience - those following know it's pretty minimal but she's stuck with it all this time and has played Icons as well as our Swords and Wizardry campaign.  For her to notice the issue with the balance between the Fighter and the MU becomes a pretty obvious issue.  Obviously, it's fun to have a MU that doesn't shoot his load than have to hide the rest of the session but the MU becomes pretty much a mini-nuke at 1st level.  I remember 4th ed being like that too.  Not a terrible idea but needs to be reeled in quite a bit.

The cleric also had more spells to cast though these seemed to need a to-hit roll.  That changed the role of the cleric from that of a front-lined fighter to a spellcaster in the back row.  The front line consisted of the Fighter Dwarf and my Halfling thief El Borko.

The healing rules are a bit 4th ed style as they mimic a video game feel.  During the exploration, healing kits aid the healing but a good nights rest heals all hit points.  WTF is that?  It's like freakin' Neverwinter Nights.  Healing 1 HP a night of complete rest is harsh but complete healing with a good night's sleep is the complete opposite.  Hungover and wounded characters are part of the fun.  I'm sure you can work around that a bit, sleeping in dungeons is never a walk in the park.

The character stats themselves are pretty interesting. The abilities are now used a LOT more which is a nice addition.  In fact, it sounds a lot like ICONS.  Imagine that.  Character themes and backgrounds are a nice addition as well to help flesh out a character - kind of like character packages, ie; slayer.

The one mechanic that we all liked was the advantage/disadvantage dual d20 rolls. A very nice smooth feature.

Overall, the session felt very old school; quick paced somewhat deadly combat and loose fun at the table without a lot of charts or unnecessary dice rolling.  We're going to give it another shot next session.  In summary you can say that it had the feel of Holmes'/Moldvay basic D&D with a bunch of house rules; most good, some bad.  Not a bad start considering WOTC's track record with the D&D brand

I think WOTC's grand plan to make a modular rule-set that can be built upon is ambitious and challenging with plenty of pitfalls.  But they're giving it a shot and like I said, it's not a bad start.  Will folks jump back to Dungeons & Dragons?  There's plenty of compitition out there with the Retro-clones, Pathfinder and the still played original versions (0 through 4).  Pleasing everyone may be an impossible task but I have to at least give them kudos for trying.  I'm curious to see what the next version of the play-test rules have in store.

But, would I buy the rules? Dunno. Would I buy supplements or modules that I can port into my current campaign? Perhaps but I still don't like giving my $$$$ to Hasbro.  I'd rather give that money to indies or just come up with my own stuff.  One page dungeons go a long way.

From Supers Back To Swords

So we're shifting gears a bit.

Our group has finished the Golden Age part of our Icons Supers campaign (You can read abou the dazzling exploits here).  The next time we dive into Icons we'll be exploring the Silver Age, you know, intelligent apes, commies, alien invasions and cosmic encounters.

Right now, everyone is anxious to get back to the characters they love and our Swords and Wizardry campaign.  So the adventures around The Ruined Tower of Zenopus will be continuing in the next couple of weeks. I have no idea what's gonna happen.

However, tonight we delve into D&D Next.  Corey (who ran a number of the Icons adventures) will be running the Caves of Chaos play-test.  I took a quick peek at the rules this morning and at first glance I have to say it doesn't look too bad.  We'll see how it plays out and I'll have a full report on my impressions of the game soon after.

D&D Evolutions

At last, the 5th edition displacer beast is outta the bag. By these initial accounts, WOTC is foregoing designing a FRPG by committee and instead going with designing a FRPG by community.

Now, one might initially feel that by going with an 'open forum' style of design you might get the best of the best ideas, the creme de la creme. Well, I'm more of the belief of "too many cooks..."

Lets take a walk down the evolution of Dungeons & Dragons with the 1st level Wizard:

OD&D
Creators: Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson
1st level wizard was lucky to survive leaving the tavern. Hell, most characters were lucky to survive leaving the tavern.

1st ed D&D
Mostly Gygax (one man vision)
Wizards still started out quite weak but, if surviving initial adventures, became quite powerful. Big If. What?
I can only cast one spell!?!

2nd ed D&D
Zeb Cook
1st level wizards were still pretty wimpy, no doubt influenced by the earlier editions, but had much room to grow. Looks cool but still only 4 hp.

3rd and 3.5 ed.
WOTC (Okay, I don't know who really put this one together but it's not just a single vision).
The 1st level wizard begins to break away from the wizard tradition into something more super-heroic and super-profitable for WOTC.

4th ed D&D
Designed by focus groups and in committee meetings and directed by suits who know nothing about gamers, games or gaming but only how to produce the maximum profit.
Enter the indestructible Super-wizard.
"I can fuck you up with Magic Missile every round, sucka!"

5th ed D&D
Designed by a fickle community

Or in other words...

Being a graphic designer, there are many times when I have to please a committee and I can tell you from experience that you end up with a product and I would be ashamed to put in my portfolio. Sure, everyone is somewhat happy and was able to put in their two cents worth of their inflated ego onto paper or on the computer screen but they ended up with crap.

So, now WOTC is going to pass the buck and let the game be designed by a bunch of fickle gamers. WOTC can say don't bitch at us, we gave the community exactly what they wanted. Nice to show some real cajones.

So how much coin do you want to bet that 5th ed D&D will be a collectible card based board game?

But I don't really care one way or the other as I haven't bought any of their products.

Oh well, on to games that are actually fun created by people who love them.

Tales Of High Adventure Original D&D Pod-Play

So for all of you that have returned from your journeys at GenCon, for all of you getting ready for the OSRCon, for all of you Grognards out there old and young, for all you classic role-players, fantasy bloggers and all other fans of pulp fantasy drama The Warlock's Home Brew presents the first chapter in it's original Pod-Play drama Beneath The Ruined Tower Of Zenopus! An original scripted performance about a group of adventurers exploring the labyrinth beneath a magicians ruined tower! Dedicated to and influenced by John Eric Holmes' sample dungeon in the original blue book.

Tune in to the theater of your mind with Tales of High Adventure!

THE RUINED TOWER OF ZENOPUS
Chapter 1: Into the Dark

Written and Produced by Paul Fini

Music by Kevin MacLeod

Performed by the Warlock's Home Brewed Role-players:

Corey Bishop…..Arvin Ardmore, priest of Mithra
Brain Dunkle…..Tibag Backstabber, rogue
Paul Fini…..Announcer, Father Halford, Sorcerer
Zachariah Hoffman…..Skwanky Furrytoe, halfling
Clay Lewis…..Gedleesmote Hammersend the Dwarf
Max Liberman…..Vincent the Wizard
Mike Moran…..Wolf the Viking
Christy Cameron Smith…..Narrator, Harlot

Also featuring
Richard Gabriel…..Mithra pirest
Sara Gabriel…..Jesse the bar wench, goblin
Brendan & Adam Gabriel…..Goblins
Michael Griffith.....Morak

This Pod-play is dedicated to John Eric Holmes

Listen Now (17 minutes)...



Listen to Chapter 2: An Unexpected Alliance

Listen to Chapter 3: Dark Sorcery!

Sequentially D&D 1982

I dug these up the other day - one of my first attempts at doing some comic pages back in 1982 (freshman in high-school if I recall). Being, at the time, an 'aspiring' comic illustrator and avid role-player, I thought I'd blend my two passions together and came up with my Dungeons & Dragons comic pages (without a doubt inspired by TSR's comic book ads of the same era). I drew these two pages and began a third which was never finished it. I remember that in Dwarf falls down a pit and is separated from the party.



I find it fun that I used the Caves of Chaos as the setting with the typical fighter, dwarf, magic-user party. I actually copied these and handed them out to friends in my class who seemed to actually like it. It was at a time when the Moldvay basic set was just coming out and many kids (many of whom wouldn't normally even think about something like a FRPG) were curious about the game that is causing all the rage.

I'm happy to say that over the years my illustration skills have improved (at least I hope they have!).

I Don't Play Dungeons & Dragons Anymore

No I don't.

Let's face it. The stewards of the IP are hammering the final nails into the coffin of what the original game use to be. With their lack of focus on what the heck 4E is (is it Essentials, is the PHB(s) is it the "Red Box"), their total disconnection of all previous versions of the game, to their final 'Fortune Cards' (Hasbro/WotC call it the Pokemon Effect), the official game of Dungeons and Dragons is now something completely different and stand alone.

But that is not all. It has been talked about the blogosphere that Pathfinder is now outselling D&D 4E (see here, here and here).

Dungeons & Dragons is now just a couple of words that are loosing all meaning. Maybe not yet monetarily for some but the title Dungeons & Dragons is fast becoming a relic of the past. It use to be the best quick descriptor of what an RPG is. Many people have heard what D&D is having lived through the 80's even though they may not have played the game. The name Dungeons & Dragons has become a part of our pop-culture, a term used more as part of the background foundation of the history of RPGs than as a game - and that's it's only value right now.

And that's fine. I really don't care. I haven't bought an official D&D product in over 20 years so no money lost on my part.

So I don't play D&D anymore.

That doesn't mean that I don't roll my dice in my fantasy realms. The spirit of Dungeons & Dragons and it's creators has given us a game that can be what we want it to be and right now for me that game is Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord, or any of these other spin-offs and branches of the original game. Maybe for me it can even be Pathfinder.

WotC's D&D has too evolved and that's okay. The game was meant to evolve. Perhaps it will evolve itself into oblivion. But from this deep rooted tree has branched off an entire industry, sub-industry, hobby-craft, culture.

Besides, isin't everything just a house rule anyway?

So I don't play D&D anymore.

Again, to reward those of you who have read through this little rant I present to you yet another obligatory contribution to my fellow bloggers & loyal readers.

Out Of Dungeon Living Expenses

During a campaign, time outside of the dungeon tends to go by quickly. Below are charts to keep track of some general expenses based on the PC's chosen standard of living. These are very loose guidelines to help the GM deplete the financial resources of his party of adventurers. The GM should feel free to ad-lib these charts as he/she sees fit. Some daily expenses have been added for convenience.

Are Playing FRPG's An Expensive Hobby?

No, it's not.

We'll, it doesn't have to be.

When I first got into fantasy gaming back in, oh '79 or so, the business model (if there was one) for the D&D game was quite simple. Here are the rules, get some graph paper, dice and some friends and imagination and have at it. You really didn't have to buy anything more than a $10 set of rules. Sure there were modules and Minis but when your allowance was a dollar a week, that didn't get you much (okay $5 for mowing a lawn - still!) but you really didn't need any of that stuff. It didn't stop us at all from playing any of the RPGs that came out back then, Top Secret, Gamma World, Traveller. We all just made everything up. That was the simplicity and fun of the game.

It was one hell of a hobby but it really wasn't a good business model which is probably why many small game companies back then vanished and TSR slowly evolved and got eaten up.

So an RPG, (d)evolving from a hobby into a business has to constantly feed the 'consumer' with product they think they need or are forced to need. Case in point: one certain Wizard's 4th edition of everyone's favorite game. Book upon book (expensive hard cover no less) of crap that is wound ever so tightly into their official version of the game, The Box(!), Essentials, online subscriptions and now a bunch of 'optional' power cards. Sure, maybe you don't need it all but then you're really left out if you start playing in other groups or in stores, etc. So the entry into this game is a considerable investment of ever scarcer dough. And then there's this online service to gain access to updates to their rules. More money. Official campaigns - more money. Minis and battlements - more money. If you don't play it the right way, you suck - more money.

So, can an RPG game actually be a viable business? Sure if you think of yourself as a 10 HD Vampire sucking 2 levels of cash out of your loyal customer base. 'Cause once the rules for the game are out there the publisher is kinda out of the loop. The bottom line doesn't look so good at that point.

The game as a hobby, however, is something to talk about.

As a hobby the game can be whatever you want it to be. And that's just what it is; a hobby. Get yourself some rules, many of which you can download for free, some graph paper, some friends and imagination and have at it.

And the hobbyists of the OSR and pre-OSR have produced a ton of material, most of which is free or modestly priced from print on demand versions. There's also a great community of bloggers and forums here on the interwebs that can supply you with endless resources which didn't exist 30+ years ago. But don't let that stop you from picking up some of the many items put out by the DIY publishers, 'cause they're awesome!

For me the game will always be a hobby. A fun and inexpensive hobby.


Okay, since I ranted a bit, here's my obligatory contribution to my fellow bloggers & loyal readers.

Not all wilderness encounters need to be NPC's or monsters. I like to throw in something odd to throw the players off or make them think. So here's 10 wilderness encounters to toss around.

1. A hollow whistling call can be heard off to the left that is soon answered by another from the right. The source cannot be found.
2. The breeze stops blowing and no animal movement or call is heard. Complete silence. After a few moments, the breeze begins to blow and birds start singing once again.
3. A large black raven is seen perched on a branch or rock and appears to be watching the party. Miles later, the same raven again appears.
4. A colorfully painted abandoned gypsy wagon or tent lies just off the path. It is empty but for a small shiny black spherical stone.
5. An incredibly large fresh pile of dung fills the path. There are no signs of tracks.
6. A large rock or tree with a magic mouth spell cast upon it says to the party as they pass, “I wouldn’t go that way if I were you!”
7. An impaled body is hanging from a large spike in the ground. Vultures are picking at it’s flesh and bones.
8. A child’s laughter can be heard. If searched for, the source cannot be found but the laughing moves deeper into the wilderness.
9. Along the side of the path is a wooden table. On the table are two flagons filled with red wine.
10. A large smiley face with devil horns has been drawn into the dirt. A stick is on the ground nearby.

Campaigns vs. One-Offs

Over at the Lands of Ara, Carter posted about hitting that sweet spot in his campaign. Here too, we seem to have hit that nice sweet spot for all of the same reasons. The PC' s are a bit tougher now and can survive some heavier battles, plots are thickening nicely, and through all their trials and tabulations, the PC's are beginning to leave their mark, however small and for good or evil, on the game world.

This got me thinking about campaigns compared to one-offs.

I'm a big fan of the campaign. I love the 'story' that evolves from the players and their characters actions, the ever present cause and affect. I love the slow moving 'story' arcs and the re-occurring NPCs. I love the fact that PC's deaths become more bitter and have weight. And I love the fact that once you hit that sweet spot the campaign begins to run itself which I feel is a sign of a successful ongoing adventure.

"...once the campaign is set in motion, you will become more of a recorder of events, while the milieu seemingly charts its own course!"

-Gary Gygax, DMG 1st ed. p. 87

I love that there's a history and that when new players come in the veterans retell their tales. Our group's character levels are between 1st and 5th and that adds a sense of realism (if you can have realism in a FRPG) to the campaign world and a sense of ongoing depth and a passage of time.

Campaigns are where the concept of Role-playing games come to life as characters and events are brought are colored, explored, live for a while and then die (sometimes horribly).

Now one-offs, on the other hand, don't do much for me. I've run a few and, granted they can be fun and a good way to introduce players into the concepts of the game but it just leaves things hanging.

Players that bring their characters to life during those few hours are gone - poof! vanished at end of game. It leaves myself (and hopefully the players) wanting more. I want to know what the consequences of these players actions are! I guess it's hard for me to let go of the long term cause and affect in game. In this sense, one-offs tend to be quick quests, hack-n-slash of careless adventurers who do not fear death. Though that, of course, can be fun is almost the antithesis of the game - my concept of the game anyway.

So while one-offs have their place, for me they don't compare to the struggling saga of some poor characters clawing their way to leave some mark in their world.

Backstab With +4 To Hit

D&D is not only about fighting monsters, sometimes you end up fighting your fellow race of baddies. No magic, no claws - claws - bite, no big bad boss, just shield, sword and axe with some fellow revelers that you somehow wronged in the tavern the night before. I hope this guys go more than one hit die!

John Eric Holmes 1930-2010

Word has been spreading throughout the fantasy role-playing blogosphere about the passing of John Eric Holmes. For those of you that don't know, he was the writer of the infamous 'blue book' rule set of 'Basic' Dungeons & Dragons. It was his rule book that captured my imagination as well as thousands of other youth int he late 1970's and first pulled me into this hobby of Role-playing games over 30 years ago.

I have always returned to his Blue Book over these thirty plus years. It was my opinion that his rules, though eventually amended with the term 'Basic', was a very gritty, adult version of the game before the it was filtered down to a more acceptable version marketed towards a larger mainstream audience of families and children. And it was all packed into just 48 pages. This was even before Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came out set the bar for hundreds of pages of detailed hard-bound rules.

And let's not forget his infamous Zenopus' Tower complete sample dungeon adventure which were part of his rules. It is truly a classic and still stands up after all these years as my players can attest to!

Though Gygax and Arneson will forever always be the pillars of the hobby, it was John Eric Holmes that was the gateway for many.

Dr. John Eric Holmes passed away on March 20, 2010.

The Warlock's 100th Post

And with that here we are. One Hundred Posts at the Warlock's Home Brew!



It's been a lot of words and I've really enjoyed throwing things out there into the inter-webs but have I really actually said anything? Have I contributed to this resurgence of classic fantasy role-playing game interest?

Well, I think so, I hope so. I think we all have.

All the comments, all the blogs, all the resources out there, which I would have slain a hundred dragons to have access to over 30 years ago when I was just a newbie gamer, have made this hobby an even better place.

Sure, some of these great blogs have come and gone and new ones have taken their place but isn't that just like the game we all love; ever changing, evolving, morphing and coming full circle like many of us have. All to meet back where we have started those many years ago, to tread on familiar paths and to blaze new trails.

And it's a wonderful place to be.

Yeah, I've slacked a bit here and there. My Fantasy Friday feature sort of fell by the wayside and I really enjoyed that too. But to present the type of artists and samples that I would have liked to would have taken too much time that I barely have now. And I've promised to come back to certain themes or topics that I brought up but never quite made it back to. Oh well, we'll have to see what the future holds. Like many of you I'm just letting this be what it is with hopes of contributing something back to this community.

So with one hundred posts under my belt I'll recap some of the highlights and the more popular posts.

Eleven campaign gaming sessions, seven regular dedicated players, one PC death, rules-lite fast-paced play and characters just having reached 2nd level. Really, that's what we're talking about here. Read the Campaign Tales.

We all have our own method and here is mine: Map making tutorials.

In Search Of The Unknown: The Illustrated Story of…

Why Play A Retro Clone

Can D&D Ever Be Played Wrong? - Answered!

The Cultural Stew That Birthed Dungeons & Dragons

My Dungeon Illustrations

Oh and I can't forget my players...

There's more but you'll have to explore on your own, it's in your nature after all, looking around that next corner, wondering whats around the next bend. Don't forget your lantern and your 10 foot pole.

So I hope you've all enjoyed something of what I've posted here at The Warlock's Home Brew. I appreciate everyone visiting and commenting if you felt moved to. Hope to see you all in my future posts!

Oh and a special thanks to Garry Gygax, David Arneson and John Eric Holmes, my wizards of Role-Playing Games!

And don't forget to visit The Warlock's Curiosities on your way out….

The Cultural Stew That Birthed Dungeons & Dragons

There has been much talk over the recent years about the early evolution from war-games to that fantasy game we all love with all those funny looking dice. But one must also keep in mind the mindset and culture of the times when the game was birthed. We're talking the late 60's and very early 70's. A time when fantasy and science fiction were being "rediscovered" so to speak.

Tolkien's high fantasy Lord of the Rings books achieved a popularity with it's peaceful hobbits and getting back to the land concepts very much in tune with the counter-culture philosophies and fantasy-trips of the day. There was a band called Gandalf, a London club called Middle Earth, and don't forget the infamous "Frodo Lives" T-shirts too. There was even talk of a Lord of the Rings movie to be directed by Stanley Kubrik and staring The Beatles.

The mid and late 60's also saw the publishing of the Robert E. Howard Conan stories in paperback by Lancer and ACE, albeit heavily edited. That, of course, lead to the Marvel Conan comics by Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith. Other paperback companies jumped on board as well featuring Moorecock, Lovecraft and others, sporting fantastic cover art from the likes of Frank Frazetta and Jeff Jones.

Science Fiction, too, was leaving it's impressions on the experienced minds of young people. This was Science Fiction driven by concept and story and not laser-blasts and action. Films like 2001: A Space Odyssey with it's cosmic rebirth of earth's star-child, and grim post-apocalyptic dramas such as (Beneath the) Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green and The Omega-Man (okay, maybe Chuck Heston had a monopoly on the apocalypse). Bakshi's Wizards and even Jack Kirby's DC comic Kamandi can be added to this fertile stew.



Fantasy and Science Fiction were seeping deep into the pores of our culture. It was all around and still in a pure-form. It had not been commercialized or sanitized or even sharply defined or divided. It was Science Fiction and Fantasy and it encompassed many things with the two very much blurring into each other.

It is no surprise then that some creative war-gamers took those games to another level; to attempt to bring one into these realms of fantasy and to experience for one's self the excitement and freedom and in some cases grim horror of these worlds, if only for a few hours. Thus were born Greyhawk, Blackmoore, Dragons, Dungeons, Metamorphosis Alpha, Tekumel, Traveller and many other 'Fantasy Role-Playing Games', the affects of which are still being felt to this day.

More to come....

The Grand Wizard

"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules. "

-Gary Gygax

more...