Monthly Archives: March 2023

Alternative Method to Increase Prime Requisite for XP Bonus

In “Three Paradigms: Evolution of Ability Score Adjustments and the Prime Requisite Bonus in Old-School D&D,” I stated my preference for the complimentary paradigm from OD&D over the later practice paradigm to determine experience-point bonuses. The Pandemonium Society had another idea. They used both.

This is the 20th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

Another Way to Adjust Ability Scores for XP

by Phenster

Ivanhoe tells me he doesn't use the rules for bonus XP in his AD&D campaign because it's too much math. In the Pandemonium Society, we use bonus XP for high prime requisites. Cypher helps us with the math. It's really pretty easy the way she explains it. But we didn't much use the rule that says you can change your ability scores when you roll up a character.

Like, if you want to be a fighter, you can subtract 2 from your INT and add 1 to STR, and a cleric or magic-user can subtract 3 from STR and add 1 to WIS or INT (for M-U). The higher your prime requisite the more XP you get.

That system worked for Beowulf because he didn't care about being intelligent. He just wanted to be a burly brute. But Tombs wanted to play the cleric. They have to be wise and be able to fight pretty good, so he didn't want to lower his strength.

I rolled a 13 for INT, a 15 WIS, and 12 STR. I could've been a cleric or an elf, but I really wanted to be a magic-user of the wise-old-wizard kind. A wise old wizard is usually frail so I lowered my STR to raise my INT to 14. Not enough to get 10% extra XP, but I got another language. I could have lowered my WIS 2 to get another INT, but a 13 WIS is barely above average, so I didn't want to do it.

Tombs and I talked it over with Hazard, and we came to a compromise. Hazard let us use the points to raise our prime requisite score, just like in the rulebook, except we didn't really change the scores. For example, I used 6 WIS points to make a 17 in my prime requisite without lowering WIS or raising INT. I’m still wise (15) and not any more intelligent (14), but I get a 10% bonus on XP. Tombs used 3 points of STR, without lowering it, to raise his prime requisite to 15, but his WIS is still 14.

Of course, everyone wanted to do it that way then. Except for Beowulf. He still wanted to be a brute. Hazard said we could do it either way: changing the scores or just using the points toward our prime requisites, or both. But just not using the same points twice.

—from L’avant garde #59 (January 1984)

Alternative Method to Increase Prime Requisite [E]

After generating ability scores, instead of raising and lowering scores (as described in Holmes: Adjusting Ability Scores, 6), the player uses points from certain above average scores to increase the prime requisite score only as it applies to the experience-point bonus. All constraints—used abilities by class, number of points used, minimum scores, etc.—are according to Holmes. The only difference is that no ability scores are raised or lowered.

Using this method, it helps to think of the prime requisite as a separate score, initially equal to the class’s primary ability score.

I put the alternative method in the [E] Extra category because it’s quick and easy: Count points above 9 in one or two abilities and add one or more points to another score. Furthermore, as no sacrifice is made, players have no barrier—only the prospect of earning more XP.

Strength Not Complimentary for Magic-Users [E]

When using the Alternative Method to Increase Prime Requisite [E], magic-users cannot use points of Strength to increase Intelligence.

As in OD&D’s Men & Magic, high Intelligence makes a more clever fighter, but a strong magic-user is no more adept in the profession. The Pandemonium Society seems to ignore this point.

Combined Methods to Increase Prime Requisite [P]

The alternative method may be used together with that described in Holmes, though points may only be used for one method.

In Phenster’s example, he reduced his Strength score to raise Intelligence, but when using Wisdom, he adjusted neither score.

For simplicity during character creation, I suggest using Holmes’s raise-and-lower method first to get the desired ability score bonuses, Then use the alternative method to figure the final prime requisite score for the XP bonus.

Because it effectively adds a second step to character creation while at the same reintroducing the time-consuming min/max decisions, this one goes in [P] Pandemonium.

Simplifying the Exchange Rate

We might simplify both methods by setting the exchange rate at 2 for 1 in all cases. I don’t propose it here for three reasons.

  1. I try—though not always successfully—to avoid B/X-isms in Phenster’s.
  2. While the Holmes spirit is simplicity in one sense, it also embraces a certain complexity, most often where it fails to modify rules from OD&D.
  3. The difference in the exchange rate, 2 or 3 for 1 depending on ability and class, implies a difference in the importance of each ability to each class. Consider that the more intelligent fighter improves faster than the wiser one (exchanging 2 INT or 3 WIS for 1). Likewise, the smarter cleric improves faster than the more brawny (2 INT or 3 STR for 1). And the more successful thief must be not only intelligent but also wise (2 INT and 1 WIS for 1). I appreciate this nuance.

Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables Now on DriveThruRPG

Random Determination of Room Contents for Dungeons from the Late 1970s. Like Moldvay’s dungeon room contents tables for earlier editions. Available at DriveThruRPG in PDF for print and phone.

Roll on one of three d% tables to determine a room’s general contents: monster, treasure, trap, interesting variation, or empty. The tables are derived from guidelines given in three late-1970s’ publications of the world’s most superlative role-playing game.

For a one-third chance of monsters throughout the underworld, use the BLUEBOOK table. To differentiate between built dungeon areas and natural caves and caverns, switch between the DUNGEONS and CAVES tables.

You get 2 PDFs:

  1. Print PDF (6 pp., 5½" x 8½") displays well on tablets and e-readers.
  2. Phone PDF (8 pp., 2¼" x 4") fits on the smallest screens.

Both contain the tables and brief instruction. A footer contains links to each table for quick navigation on screen. Or print the tables on a single double-sided letter-size or A4 sheet; fold in half short-wise to expose the desired table.

Monsters and Treasures Not Included: After determining general contents, you’ll need to decide on specific monsters, treasures, and interesting variations according to your dungeon plan and preferred rule system.

Get yours on DriveThruRPG.

Read more about the article Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables Coming Soon

Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables Coming Soon

Release is set for early in the week. Previously called “Flying Dungeon Stocking Tables,” we used these a couple years ago to help stock a certain twisted and nightmarish dungeon. Lately, they serve in Deep Dungeon Doom when inspiration is short for the daily #Dungeon23.

I put the trio of tables, with instructions for use, behind a nice cover and made one PDF for printing and viewing on mid- to large-size screens and another for use on your smartphone.

Random Determination of Room Contents for Dungeons from the Late 1970s. By Stephen Wendell

Like Moldvay’s dungeon room contents tables for earlier editions.

Roll on one of three d% tables to determine a room’s general contents: monster, treasure, trap, interesting variation, or empty. The tables are derived from guidelines given in three late-1970s’ publications of the world’s most superlative role-playing game.

For a one-third chance of monsters throughout the underworld, use the BLUEBOOK table. To differentiate between built dungeon areas and natural caves and caverns, switch between the DUNGEONS and CAVES tables.

For details on how the tables are derived, see “Flying Dungeon Stocking Table by the Bluebook” and “Flying Table by Dungeon Geomorphs Sets.”

Read more about the article Doom’s Door: Death Trap Design

Doom’s Door: Death Trap Design

“Zap! You’re dead!” J. Eric Holmes warns against these sorts of traps in the 1977 Basic D&D (40). I tend to comply. Sometimes, though… sometimes!

During the daily cartography exercise that is #Dungeon23, I noticed an auspicious alignment. Let us go to Deep Dungeon Doom’s Level 2 (image above). From room 37 in Kubra Kowthar’s domain, a corridor runs northwest to an apparent dead end. Stopping to search for secret doors—as adventurers do—we stand above Level 3’s Laughing Rift.

I am doomed to put a pitfall there. The floor opens beneath our feet. We fall 110 feet to the rocky floor below—Zap!

Holmes lets us get away with such a trap, though, if “a character might avoid or overcome [it] with some quick thinking and a little luck.” With that in mind, we set about to give ourselves a chance.

Warning

Beyond the secret door—for one there is—room 23 lies at the bottom of the Bastion of Law. Carved into the stone block wall that disguises the secret door is the following warning:

YOUR DOOM LIES BEYOND
FOR BEYOND YOU LIE BELOW

On our side of the door, we read a similar inscription:

YOUR DOOM IS UPON YOU
FOR YOU ARE UPON YOUR DOOM

Ignoring the warning—we’re adventurers after all—we find the secret door, whose presence we think obvious. The trap is armed when the opening mechanism is engaged. From room 23, we would walk through, into the space beyond. From this side, the floor opens beneath us.

Chance to Spring the Trap

If the DM is a little soft, we might say the trap is not maintained. It engages when weight is upon it only one-third of the time, to use a B/X-ism (B22).

Saving Throw Conditions

Further, the aperture is 3 feet square. The tight fit allows us a save vs Turn to Stone to catch ourselves with outstretched arms, feet kicking in the void, fingertips gripping a floor stone’s edge. Quick comrades have a chance to snatch us from fate. Otherwise, we might be able to haul ourselves out on our own. DM’s call. This DM would ask how we intend to do it.

Failing that, we have time to feel heart rise to throat, as we plummet into darkness.

Map showing area 78, Sludge Pit (03/19), of the Laughing Rift (Level 3), Deep Dungeon Doom.
Running through the trash heap in the Central Rift Floor (77, below center), the stream turns to a thick sludge of decayed organic waste. It fills a 20-foot-deep pit (78) in front of rough-carved stairs. Runoff flows south and west through a grate to who-knows-where. Endowed with an adventurer’s presence of mind, we make a quick check for treasure at the bottom of the pit while we’re down there.

Unexpected Deliverance

One last chance. Directly below, the Sludge Pit (78) awaits. We save vs Dragon Breath to take half 11d6 damage.

We still have to wrestle off any armor before drowning and swim to the surface through viscous muck. Then we find ourselves all alone and sans armure at the nethermost point of the Laughing Rift—Zap! Welcome to Deep Dungeon Doom!

Read more about the article Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium

Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium

“Saving Throw VS. Death,” the previous article in the series, wrapped up the Pandemonium Society’s house rules for combat, as published in various issues of the newsletters L’avant garde and Paradigm Lost. We jumped around issue numbers to talk about the combat rules in a coherent manner. Now, it makes sense to take the remaining house rules by book-order, that is, in the order as the rules they modify appear in Holmes.

So, we start here with ability scores, and we’ll end with treasure, which seems appropriate for such an adventure. For, an adventure it is. It may be of the there-and-back-again sort, but Phenster’s contributions to the newsletters from 1980 to 87 are numerous. Between here and there, we have some monsters to fight before we can take the treasure.

This is the 19th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].

For rules category descriptions and more about the newsletters, see “About the Reedition of Phenster’s.” For an index of articles, see Coming Up in “Pandemonium Society House Rules.”

Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.

Additions to Ability Scores

by Phenster

The guys at the Game Hoard talk a lot about the ability adjustments[1] they have from high scores in their A(dvanced) D&D games. They get pluses to lots of stuff, like +3 to saving throws for WIS, −4 on AC for an 18 DEX, and bonuses to hit AND damage for STR. They even get "extra strength" (fighters only) that can give them as high as +6!!

We think it's more fun to have bonuses for more high scores besides CON and DEX like in the rules, but according to Hazard we have to be careful of "power creep," or it makes the game too easy. So, Mandykin and Tombs worked out some extra bonuses that Hazard said was OK for his "Great Halls" campaign.

—from Paradigm Lost: the Newsletter of the Pandemonium Society of Neighborhood Dungeons and Dragons Players, #2 (November 1980)

Following this introduction, Phenster provides a table showing modifiers for Strength, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Charisma. I reproduce the table below, adding Constitution and the full Dexterity entry from Basic D&D (1977, 6) plus a couple rows for Intelligence (9) for completeness. Note that rule-smiths Mandykin and Tombs in some cases add bonuses without corresponding penalties.

Power creep aside, while I don’t agree that they make the game too easy, I do think AD&D’s bonuses—similar to those introduced in OD&D’s Greyhawk supplement (1976)—are over-complicated for Holmes. Conversely, Moldvay’s Basic (1981) bonuses and penalties for ability scores are too elegant. Neither has the Holmes spirit we wish to preserve.

Ability Score Bonuses and Penalties [E]

AbilityScoreBonus/Penalty
Strength18+3 attack, damage, force doors
17+2
15-16+1
7-14None
6 or less−1
Intelligence11-181-8 additional languages
10 or lessNone
Wisdom15 or more+1 magic saves
14 or lessNone
Constitution18+3 hit points per hit dice
17+2
15-16+1
7-14None
6 or less−1
Dexterity15 or more−1 armor class
13 or more+1 missile fire
9-12None
8 or less−1 missile fire
Charisma18Up to 12 hirelings; +3 loyalty2
1710; +2
13-166-9; +1
7-125
6 or less4; −1

1 From the context, I assume Phenster intends “ability score modifiers.”
2 Phenster covers loyalty in an article about henchmen, which we’ll get to. For now, we note that loyalty, for the Pandemonium Society, is not the same as morale.

Read more about the article Periphron’s Tower and Excavation: Adventure in the Making

Periphron’s Tower and Excavation: Adventure in the Making

The wizard Periphron seeks a powerful artifact called “the Seventh.” His research, which includes use of a crystal ball and multiple castings of contact other plane, aided by a library of esoteric tomes, indicates the Seventh is located within the ruins of an ancient town, purportedly buried under a rocky hill in an arid plain.

After charming the blue dragon that laired within, Periphron rebuilt a ruined tower on the hillside. Beneath the tower, he excavated several tunnels in search of the ancient town. Exploratory tunnels broke into a series of natural caverns, which leads to the ancient town’s underground ruins.

Periphron uses the charmed blue dragon to guard the tower entrance. The excavation is accomplished by move earth spells and stone giants. Periphron’s apprentices handle the excavation’s day-to-day management.

Meanwhile, the wizard continues research. For, with the Seventh, Periphron intends to begin the prophesied Age of Dragons. How he will achieve this is unknown, even to the wizard himself.

But lawful factions want to prevent Periphron’s finding the artifact. Chaotic factions want to steal it. After so many uses of contact other plane, Periphron might be fairly nuts.

Imagining a cover for Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables, I hit upon the idea to draw a dungeon map with stocking notes, examples from the tables. One thing led to another…

Cover in the Making

To create the adventure locale, I string together a series of five-room dungeons. Among Neagley’s nine forms, a “Moose” makes the tower; a “Cross,” the exploratory tunnels; an “Evil Mule” for the cave network, and a “Paw” looks like the excavation site. For this purpose, I use the forms without necessarily incorporating Johnn Four’s five-room-dungeon story framework.

Wire-frame model of a dungeon consists of four sets of five circles connected by lines. Accompanied by notes and symbols. Notes reproduced in article text.
Periphron’s Tower and Excavation, Draft with Notes.
Symbol meanings are given in parenthetical notations within the text below.

On my draft, circles are rooms or encounter areas; lines are corridors, tunnels, and stairway connections between. I note the entrance (E) to each as well as its exit (X), which joins the next entrance. This makes a wire frame model. Later, while drawing the thing, other connections between rooms within and without each five-room section—much desired according to Jaquays’ Techniques—may become apparent.

See “Xandering the Dungeon” on the Alexandrian. In five parts and three addenda, Justin Alexander’s treatise exposes the techniques, philosophy, and multiple examples of the cartographic and dungeon design methods of Jennell Jaquays, whose early design credits include “F’Chelrak’s Tomb” (The Dungeoneer No. 1, 1976) and Judges Guild modules Caverns of Thracia (1979) and Dark Tower (1980). Alexander’s series is a must-read for fledgling cartographers and adventure-game designers. Jaquays’ work is a must-study.

Monsters and Treasures

As per guidelines in the 1977 supplements Monster and Treasure Assortments and Dungeon Geomorphs, I chose monsters and treasures according to the scenario in mind. “Specials” are the focus of the dungeon, in this case, the wizard and the object of his search. “Selecteds” are those monsters and treasures that round out the story. For example, apprentices and other monsters the wizard uses as tools—because he’s evil—and wealth and magic items they employ to achieve their goals.

Monsters

To accompany the wizard, I figure he must have apprentices, a charmed monster, and some manual laborers. Periphron is throwing high-level spells in the background story, and the sought artifact has world-changing potential. There happens to be a 13th-level wizard on M&T’s Level 9 monster list. In the same list, I find a blue dragon for the charmed-monster guardian and stone giants to do the heavy lifting.

Special: Periphron (13th-level wizard).

Selected: Apprentices (MU 10-ish), stone giants, blue dragon (charmed monster).

I note that stone giants are neutral in alignment. So, their relationship to the evil wizard is not a simple cooperation, and I’ve already used the charm monster spell. As the scenario develops, we might find an opportunity to embellish the story and explain why the giants do the wizard’s work.

Treasures

The object of Periphron’s search, the Seventh is the primordial wyrm’s last unhatched egg from the Wyrm Dawn campaign. Its discovery and successful use (far from obvious) might create competition for the pretender in Wyrm Dawn’s successor Wyrmwyrd.

See the Legends section of “Myths and Legends” for more on the story.

Special: the Seventh (artifact).

Selected: Periphron’s spellbook, crystal ball, wand of metal detection, helm of read languages and magic, reference books.

In the selected treasure list, I have neglected wealth, which we might think would be necessary to accomplish Periphron’s plans. We’ll be generous with treasure-rolling opportunities in stocking—unless the wizard spent all his money and, so, is now desperate to find the artifact…

Placement and Distribution

I place the special monster (Msp) and treasure (Tsp): Periphron in the tower, the Seventh in the excavation site—yet undiscovered. For contents of other rooms, I roll on one of the tables from the Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables. The principle difference between the three tables is the chance for a monster encounter as noted below.

Dungeon SectionOld-School ’77 TableChance for Monsters
TowerBy the Bluebook33%
Exploratory tunnelsBasic and Lower Dungeons25%
CavesCaves and Caverns50%
Excavation siteBasic and Lower Dungeons25%

The results are noted on the wire-frame model: selected monsters and treasures (Mse, Tse), other monsters with treasures (MT), monsters without treasure (M—), unguarded treasures (uT), traps (an “X” with a half circle above—my rendition of a skull and crossbones), and interesting variations (star). I also note, with an asterisk (*), a few elements from which I might later derive adventure hooks.

In B/X, Moldvay separates OD&D’s “tricks and traps” into traps and “specials” for “anything not exactly a trap, but placed for special reasons” (B52). Meanwhile, in Holmes’s 1977 Basic D&D, the editor refers to these as “interesting variations.”

Now to draw the map and fill in details. I will of course share the finished adventure module.

In the meantime, with this draft document, you might develop your own version of “Periphron’s Tower and Excavation.” All the elements, the artifact for instance, are interchangeable. Should the cartography be an obstacle, you might browse Dyson Logos’s collection of five-room dungeons (tagged 5RD) or search the network for suitable maps to string together.

This 68-day #Dungeon23 veteran is confident that he can draw a 20-room map.

Justin Alexander changed the verb for using Jaquays’ techniques. See his “Historical Note.” Now we “Xander” the dungeon. I changed references and links accordingly. [13:43 27 November 2023 GMT]

I am an irregular tweeter, but follow me on Mastodon @stephenwendell@chirp.enworld.org for daily #Dungeon23 contributions.

“Flying” Dungeon Stocking Tables Become Old-School ’77

While preparing to stock Dyson Logos’s Deep Halls1 of Amon-Gorloth a couple years ago, we needed a simple way to determine general room contents: monsters, treasures, tricks, and traps. My adoration for Moldvay’s CONTENTS and TREASURE tables (B52) ends at the point I’m wanting to use earlier sources. This is the case for Amon-Gorloth, who speaks to me in Holmes.

So, using guidelines given in Holmes Basic D&D (TSR Hobbies, 1977) and the two supplements that came in early boxed sets: Treasure Assortment and Monster & Treasure Assortment, both Set One (1976, 1977), I devised a single d% table that serves the same function as the Moldvay tables.

The Dungeon Stocking Tables Formerly Known as “Flying” in PDF for Print and Phone

During development, we discovered a distinction between natural and built underworld areas. Dungeon Geomorphs Sets One and Three give a 25% chance to encounter monsters in dungeons, while Set Two: Caves & Caverns gives a 50% chance.2 Prompted by this revelation about OD&D’s implied setting, I made two more tables, adjusted from the first, to reflect this difference between caves and dungeons.

For details on how the tables are derived, see “Flying Dungeon Stocking Table by the Bluebook” and “Flying Table by Dungeon Geomorphs Sets.”

In the solo campaign Dreaming Amon-Gorloth, I use the tables, accompanied by the Monster and Treasure Assortments, to stock the Deep Halls as the adventuring party explores it. We used to call that “winging it” and “DMing on the fly,” hence the title “Flying Dungeon Stocking Tables.”

Since the beginning of this year, the tables serve now and again to fill in where I lack an idea for what’s in the daily room of my #Dungeon23. I’m running Deep Dungeon Doom for a group, though, and rolling for room contents while a pair of 12-year-olds waits to fight something and take its treasure is ill advised.

As they serve so well and might enjoy a wider audience, I am preparing the tables for distribution. “Flying” is a less apt description. I have therefore renamed the document.

Old-School ’77 Dungeon Stocking Tables are soon available in PDF for print and phone on DriveThruRPG.

1 The map god is spreading a rumor on social media that he is working on the Deep Halls II. I don’t find it yet on the Dodecahedron.

2 This difference is lost in the composite product Dungeon Geomorphs Sets One to Three (1980), which uses yet another distribution—a variation on 50% monsters.