Yearly Archives: 2024

Read more about the article Neuschwanstein Dungeons

Neuschwanstein Dungeons

“…the participants can then be allowed to make their first descent into the dungeons beneath the ‘huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses.’”—Gygax and Arneson, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: Men & Magic

Some say Ludwig II was a genius. For others, the king was mad. The vast castle he built is yet far from ruined. Though when the time comes, the pile will be huge.

“And the dungeons beneath?” a friend asked after I posted yet another photo like the one above on social media. Since I left the Isle of Myth a year and a half ago, base town is across the river from Bavaria’s most famous castle. In reply I recited a local legend:

An old man lives outside the village in the castle’s shadow. He is blind and frail, so doesn’t often leave his hovel. But if you bring him a bottle of single malt and tell him stories of daring adventures of youth, he’ll tell you to go, on a winter’s day, to the bridge behind the castle. Bouncing planks take you high above a gorge. Cool mist rises from a laughing cascade below. It brings an odor of pine and earth. The sun at its zenith reaches deep between two central towers. There, dazzling rays reveal to the keen observer a cavernous portal of unknown depth, into which few have ventured and from which none have returned.

Read more about the article Dweomercraeft

Dweomercraeft

Dweomercraeft

by Phenster

I love magic! The study and use of magic is called dweomercraeft. (I say dwOHmercrAft, but Cypher says it's supposed to be dwImercrAYft.) I started playing D&D one Christmas when I got a strange game that came in a box with a dragon on the top with 5 crazy dice. There was a guy in a pointy hat on the box too, and he was using a magic wand against the dragon. I wanted to be that guy!

I showed the game to Hazard and Beowulf. Beowulf said it looked real complicated, but Hazard had seen his cousins playing a game that looked a lot like it. We all read the rules together, and I have to admit it, it was complicated. It was a game for adults, and Beowulf and I were only in the 6th grade. (Hazard is two years ahead of us.) But when we got to the part about magic spells, the question was settled for me. We were going to play this game, and I was going to be a magic-user. Hazard volunteered to be the DM. Beowulf wanted to fight the monsters.

That was over four years ago, and I've been playing D&D ever since. Mostly magic-users. We've made a few changes about the workings of dweomercraeft. We'd probably change more stuff, but Hazard tries to keep us from making magic-users too powerful.

Magic-users

Human M-Us can write spell scrolls from the spells they have in their spell books, and they can copy scroll spells into their spell books. Or from where ever they find them: other spell books, ancient tomes, etc. Phenster Prime once copied a spell carved on a wall in the 6th level of the dungeon.

Elves

Elven magic-users are different. Elves are inherently magical. They don't use spell books. They just know the spells they know, and they can cast them once per day. They know one spell at 1st level, and they gain spells as they go up in level just like on the magic-user table. (Hazard rolls randomly for the spells known, but I let players choose in Avendyr.) Elves don't have to roll for the chance to know spells.

For a while we played it where all elves (even fighters and thieves) can cast READ MAGIC, DETECT MAGIC and PROTECTION FROM MAGIC without taking up a known spell. But it was too powerful. (Tombs still plays it like that, but he's the only DM in our group that allows it, least as far as I know.) Now elves only get READ MAGIC extra, so they can still use scrolls. But they have to cast it in the place of another 1st-level spell.

Chance to Know Spells

Hazard didn't like having to keep track of which spells Phenster Prime could learn or not, so when I find a scroll, I just roll for the chance to know it on the table, like you're supposed to. But if I fail the roll, it just means I can't learn it this time. If I find the same spell somewhere else later on, I get to roll again. Hazard says it takes liberty with the rules, but we don't have to remember which spells I can't know.

Counter-Spelling

Any magic-user can try to counter the spell of another magic-user. You have to have the initiative on the other magic-user and at least one spell left. You say you want to counter-spell if the other magic-user throws a spell before he does it, and you have to wait for it. Then you have to use up the power of a spell you have left. If the spell you use is at least as powerful as the other magic-user's spell being cast, then the counter-spell works. Of course, you can also interrupt the spell-casting with a successful attack. For that purpose, I use a Wand of Magic Missiles. I named it "Counterspell."

Lost Lore

Dweomercraeft in the Heptarchy reached a pinnacle a long, long time ago, before the Old Empire, even before the Age of Myth. Now only spells from the rulebook are commonly known among Esoterics in the Heptarchy. (Esoterics are magic-users and sages and such like.) Other spells (from AD&D and spell levels over 3rd) we have to find on our adventures. Or we can do research to make a new spell.

Holy Water

Clerics can create holy water with a BLESS spell in a ritual. It takes one turn and you need an expensive font (500 g.p. min.), but there's no other cost.

Crafting Magic Items

Sometimes you want a magic item that you haven't found in the dungeon. It takes time and money, but a spell-caster can make magic items. Like the time we heard about the Demon Slayer. It's a magical two-handed sword that we could use against the demons in Pandemonium. The trouble was that it was hidden deep in the Heart-of-Dragon Mountain. The Heart-of-Dragon is weeks away, and it's full of dragons! So I thought it would be easier for Phenster Prime to make a Demon Slayer. Beowulf said, if it was a two-handed sword, he would pay for it.

Making magic items depends a lot on how the DM wants to do it. The way we do it, basically, is that magic-users and clerics can craft magic items if they can cast the spells required. Some items require special components that usually require an adventure. Everything has a cost in time and g.p., which is multiplied by the spell level. Then, when the item (except scrolls) is complete, there's a chance it doesn't work.

Initial Research

In order to make a magic item, you have to do some initial research into how to do it. By "how to do it" I mean what kind of tools or components you need and if you'll need any help. All that's up to the DM, who decides what all you need based on the magic item description in the rulebook, if there is one.

For example, there's no Demon Slayer in the rulebook, so Hazard had to make it up. For the sword, Phenster Prime learned that we needed ichor of demon. Beowulf and I talked it over with the group. Hazard said we'd have to either summon a demon or go down the Pit to Hell and find one. Tombs thought it would be risky to go after a demon without a demon slaying sword. I thought that's probably why there's no Demon Slayer in the rulebook. Jinx said maybe Beowulf would settle for a Kobold Slayer. Beowulf wouldn't go for that, but I talked him into a Giant Slayer instead. All we needed was some giant's blood. In the excitement about making a sword, we forgot that what we really needed in Pandemonium was a Demon Slayer.

Assistants and Special Components

Before you can put magic into an item, first you have to make it or have it made by somebody else. Wands and staffs are usually made out of metal or wood, rings from precious metal, weapons and armor from a strong metal, like steel, and sometimes mithral or adamantine. You'll need a master woodcarver, metalsmith or weaponsmith for that. The DM decides how much a component costs in time and money.

You can usually get it cheaper if you take more time. But sometimes it isn't worth the time. Friar Tombs carved his own Staff of Healing from the trunk of a young spruce tree. Took him a whole winter, then he had to take a month out of the campaign season for the dweomercraefting. (While we're out of the campaign, we just play another character. Tombs played his thief, Arnaquer Tombs). Carving the staff saved him 500 g.p., and he's real proud of it. But we got more than that out of the dungeon in the first week, and he could have saved Jinx another character with that staff.

Once you have the component, you can put the dweomer on it. That costs some gold and a week or month of time out per spell level.

Scrolls: Cost 100 g.p. and take one week per spell level. You can put up to 7 spells on one scroll. Writing a scroll has no chance for failure. You need parchment/vellum, a quill and ink, which don't cost much.

Potions: Potions cost 300 g.p. and one week per spell level. Not every spell can be put in a potion, and some potions need more than one spell and maybe other special ingredients, which also cost money. You need a laboratory too. Phenster Prime made friends with Jaeger, our local alchemist. We have a deal: I bring him "souvenirs" from our fights with rare monsters, and he lets me use his laboratory from time to time.

Wands and Staffs: 500 g.p. per spell level per charge plus 1 week per spell level and 1 extra day per charge. You can put 100 charges maximum. You can recharge an empty wand or staff (without paying for the component). Items that don't have charges cost 10,000 g.p. and 1 month per spell level. Tombs's Staff of Healing cost 10,000 g.p. and took one month to dweomer. I recharged "Counterspell" with 20 magic missiles for 10,000 g.p. in a week plus 20 days.

Miscellaneous Magic: These are the most difficult, because a lot of them do things there's no spell for. The best way is to decide on what level a spell might be that does that thing. Just like items that don't have charges, miscellaneous magic costs 10,000 g.p. plus 1 month per spell level.

Weapons and Armor: No matter if it's a weapon bonus or armor bonus, the cost is 10,000 g.p. and 6 months per +1. Ammunition costs 500 g.p. and 1 day per +1. When I found out Beowulf's Giant Slayer was going to take me a year and a half to dwoemer, I had the idea that we could ask Angharad Called the Fane[1] to make one. Hazard said it would take just as long and cost twice as much gold to have somebody else make it. Beowulf couldn't afford 60,000 g.p. Then we remembered that what we really needed was a Demon Slayer anyway. Without demon ichor, we had to go to the Heart-of-Dragon. No time to make a Dragon Slayer either.

Rings: Rings are "on" all the time, so they cost more: 20,000 g.p. and 2 months per spell level. They are always made of precious metals and finely crafted, which means expensive! A Ring of Wishes is NOT a charged item. You have to take the time (per spell level) to put every WISH into the ring.

Spell Research

Researching a new spell (one you invent or one from the rulebook you can't find in the dungeon) costs 1,000 g.p. plus 1 week per spell level. You just need a good library where you can study.

Chance of Failure

After spending all the time and money, your magic item or new spell is ready to be tested. Roll a d12. A 1 means failure. Testing charged items uses a charge. You can test in safety or take a chance and wait till you need the item to roll the d12. Good luck!

—L’avant garde #61 (March 1984)

1 Angharad Called the Fane is mentioned in Paradigm Lost #2 (November 1980). Early in their adventures, the PCs hear a rumor about this mysterious, swamp-dwelling hermit who can answer questions about infernal beings. In an encounter, they discover she is from a native tribe and a powerful magic-user and cleric.

A Curious Assortment of Rules

This is the 32nd 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.

Phenster’s “Dungeoneering” article (L’avant garde #74, August 1985) begins with typical subterranean obstacles before diverging into magic items, other equipment, and monsters, in addition to “the Boomtown Rule.” The ring of plate mail, salt’s effect on zombies, and the (non-intelligent) enormous spider come from the first edition (1st through 3rd printings) of Basic D&D (1977), as does the dwarven war hammer.1 This diverse collection of rules is all over the book. I arrange them in Bluebook order.

I find no improvements to make in Phenster’s text describing the monsters. I, therefore, leave the descriptions of the cargolith and the enormous spider as is. I add only a category to each: Cargolith [C] and Enormous Spider [E].

Seeing in the Dark

Phenster doesn’t go into details about Dark Sight [E]. I add that light interferes, as in Holmes, and that a dark-sighted character cannot read in the dark.

Holmes doesn’t specify the later. If we wanted to allow it, we could justify reading in the dark by a different physical process or some innate magic. The advantages of an all dwarf/elf party who could read and see clues in frescoes and wall markings without light, however, might be too tempting and, so, upset any balance of character choices.

With that in mind, many intelligent dungeon dwellers, though they can see in the dark, may still have want of light.

Dark Sight [E]

Monsters, including dwarves and elves but not humans or halflings, can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Any light source interferes with this dark sight. Dark-sighted creatures cannot read without light.

Finding Traps

Regarding traps, Holmes only states that a character springs a trap on a d6 roll of 1 or 2 (10), and a table gives a thief’s chance to remove it beforehand (12). Phenster describes how the Pandemonium Society finds traps without tripping over them.

Find Traps [E]

Players may find a trap by describing how and where the character searches. No dice roll is required. Concealed traps may be discovered only by thieves, who have the same chance to find a trap as they have to remove it.

Force Doors [E]

With a roll of 1 or 2 on a d6, a character may force a stuck or locked door on the first attempt. Strength modifiers are subtracted from the dice roll. A 6 result indicates the door remains intact. Only a character with a higher strength score can open it on a successful roll. On any other result, the door still blocks sight but may be opened without any further dice roll.

Using this rule, we avoid the tedious series of dice rolls and get more impact out of a single throw. Keeping the 6-result failure in combination with the strength modifier allows for more serious consequences for characters of average strength and below.

Normal Weapons

War Hammer [E]

A war hammer does d6 damage (as an ordinary weapon in the Damage Dice by Weapon Class Table) and may be thrown up to 30 feet (as a hand-hurled axe [Holmes, 20]).

Hand-and-a-Half Battle Axe [E]

A battle axe may be wielded in one or two hands. With one hand, it deals d6+1 damage and is treated as a normal weapon with regards to initiative order.2 Two-handed, a battle axe deals d6+2 damage and is treated as a two-handed weapon, that is, it goes last in the round.3 (See the Attack Priority by Weapon Quality Table in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”)

Caltrops [E]

A creature moving through strewn caltrops must slow to half speed to avoid stepping on one. Moving at normal speed, a creature has a 50% chance of taking 1 point of damage. A creature who steps on a caltrop moves at half speed until the damage is healed. One bag of caltrops, costing 1 gp, covers a 100-square-foot area, e.g. 10' × 10'.

Salt [P]

A handful of salt does d8 damage to zombies. To hit, treat the missile weapon as an oil flask (Holmes, 19) with a maximum range of 10 feet. One bag of salt containing 12 handfuls costs 1 gp.

Magic Items

Magic Swords

“Weapons with a plus after them are magical and the user adds the plus to his die roll for a hit… Magical weapons other than swords always add their bonus to both hit probability and to the points of damage scored” (emphasis mine, Holmes, 37).

Holmes carries the magic sword rule forward from OD&D, which states:

“The swords all receive bonuses as far as the probability of hitting an opponent is concerned, but some also gain a damage bonus when they do hit. These swords are those with a +2 or +3 against specific creatures, but not those with a general bonus of +2 or +3” (Monsters & Treasure, 30).

The Pandemonium Society, like most of us at the time, gives swords the same bonus to damage as to hit. The society also uses the glowing sword rule, possibly borrowed from AD&D, wherein “Most swords (and all daggers) of magical nature shed light when drawn from their scabbard” (DMG, 165; see also PHB, 102). Wondering why only 20% of swords would have this property, I add that these swords are made in a certain era or perhaps in a certain land. Thus the [C] Campaign designation.

Magic Sword Bonus Damage [E]

A magic sword gives its magic bonus to the damage roll as well as the attack roll.

Glowing Magic Swords [C]

One out of five magic swords sheds light in a 10-foot diameter when drawn. With rare exceptions, glowing swords were enchanted during the time of the Old Empire.

Dwarven War Hammer [E]

For any character, this is a +3 magic weapon. A dwarf can throw it up to double normal range (60 feet) without a range penalty. If it misses its target, the hammer comes back into the dwarf’s hand. A hit scores an additional d6 damage or 2d6+3. If the target is a giant, the damage is 3d6+3.

Rings of Armor [E]

These magic rings of plate mail, chain mail, and leather armor confer the respective armor’s AC to the wearer with an additional bonus equal to the ring’s magic bonus, +1, +2, or +3. The magic bonus is also applied to saving throws. A character wearing equal or better armor gets only the bonus to saves.

The Boomtown Rule [P]

As adventuring parties haul wealth out of the dungeon and into base town, the local economy suffers from inflation. To model the situation in a simple way, double prices for all goods and services when the player party reaches 4th level of experience. Double all prices again at 8th and 12th levels, and so forth.

This rule should only be used—if at all—in a campaign where most of the found treasure comes into a single town.

1 Zenopus Archives provides an exhaustive list of changes between Holmes’ first and third editions. Note that we have, within the “Holmes edition” of D&D, three editions of the blue booklet, each edition having a number of printings.

2 I take the idea for a one-handed battle axe from Paul Siegel, who suggests fixing a broken concept in B/X by removing the asterisk (which designates a two-handed weapon) from the battle axe. Siegel credits another for the idea in an episode of Wandering DMs. I regret that I can’t find the episode with the mention.

3 Retaining the two-handed battle axe and increasing the damage is my own idea.

Read more about the article OD&D’s Magic Bonus for Miscellaneous Weapons

OD&D’s Magic Bonus for Miscellaneous Weapons

“MISCELLANEOUS WEAPONS: Those with bonuses of +1, +2 or +3 gain a bonus of equal merit on damage scored, except as noted below” (Monsters & Treasure, 31).

Like most of us, I have read the above line maybe a hundred times. Every time, I have interpreted “of equal merit” to mean equal to the hit bonus. Reading it today, though, I see no obvious reason to believe that to be the case. “Of equal merit” might refer rather to the aforementioned “bonuses of +1, +2 or +3.” The text “noted below” does not further elucidate the issue. Meaning that the magic bonus of miscellaneous weapons (except magic bows and arrows) is applied only to damage, not to the attack roll.

Am I missing something? I’m sure I’m missing something. What are your interpretations or other clarifying text in OD&D?

Read more about the article Celebrating D&D

Celebrating D&D

Back in 1980, a reporter who asked if D&D was only a passing fad learned that “Gygax and Blume think not. D&D, they say, will last fifty years or more.” As unlikely as it was in the 1970s that this esoteric offshoot of the wargaming hobby might become a pop-culture phenomenon, it is just as unlikely that in 2021 the game would be more popular than ever. As a new generation grows up playing the game, it may be that the true impact of Dungeons & Dragons has yet to be felt.

—Jon Peterson, Game Wizards

This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. In 1974, it was a new kind of game, created at the intersection of wargames and fantasy and science-fiction literature. It came to be called a role-playing game, enjoyed by millions over these five decades.

So this year, we celebrate the game and the millions of fellow players with whom we share the common experience: fantastic adventure in make-believe worlds. We celebrate friends found and friendships made firmer. We celebrate a simple connection to a diverse array of people from all around the world. A stranger is not so strange when we both know what it’s like to explore a dank dungeon, torch in hand, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and fighting monsters.

We also celebrate D&D’s several editions over the years as well as the hundreds—thousands—of other role-playing games that followed it. One of its strong points is that D&D is a toolbox. With it, we can have an adventure, make a string of adventures into a campaign, and create an imaginary world full of adventures. We are given license to change the rules as desired, and in so doing, perhaps, make a new game altogether. It is so malleable.

We celebrate the game’s cultural impact. From a niche 1970s game that broke out of its intended wargamer audience by the end of the first print run to a game played by thousands who hardly understood the rules and condemned by thousands more as devil worship in the ’80s, D&D in the 21st century has grown into a pop-culture phenomenon. As a teenager, when I said I played D&D, I had to follow with “It’s a game of imagination, without a board. Players take the roles of…” Today I just say I play D&D and know that most folks are familiar with it, even if some may still misunderstand the game. The curious ask, a conversation starts.

We also celebrate the use, in recent years, of D&D and other RPGs in education, psychotherapy, spiritual growth, and team-building and leadership development. Just playing an RPG for fun is good for us in countless ways. More than that though, the game’s innate means of personal growth applied, with intent, to overcome individual and collective challenges increases the game’s impact manifold.

It’s there, in applied RPGs, that in the next 50 years we may see an important impact of D&D in the world. Maybe its most important—its true impact.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Lake Geneva, WI: Tactical Studies Rules, 1974. Box cover image from the Acaeum: Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium, Original D&D Set.