This is the 34th 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.

As written, Holmes allows magic-users to create spell scrolls at 1st level. The rules, being for only 1st- to 3rd-level player characters, don’t mention creating other magic items. They also don’t mention a cleric’s ability to make scrolls.

A magic-user of any level may also research new spells in Holmes. The cost is 2,000 g.p. and one week of time—both per spell level, after which the magic-user has only a 20% chance of success.

The same cost in time and gold for spell research is required in the original rules. But in OD&D a magic-user may invest more gold to increase the chance of success. The magic-user may spend the same money again and again to get an additional 20% chance of success for each additional spend, up to 100%.

“Wizards and above may manufacture for their own use (or for sale) such items as potions, scrolls, and just about anything else magical” (Men & Magic, 6).

In OD&D, only wizards—that is, magic-users of 11th level and higher—may create magic scrolls and other magic items. The cost is similar to that of spell research, as is the chance of success.

Without setting a hard level limit on magic item creation, the required spells set the lowest level at which a particular item might be created. The cost limits the number of items created. Rare components keep the DM in control.

In “Dweomercraeft” (L’avant garde #61, March 1984), Phenster outlines the Pandemonium Society’s rules for magic-use, crafting magic items, and researching spells. The Pandemonium Society allows spell-casters, whether magic-users or clerics, of any level to create magic items, provided they can acquire (by adventuring) any rare components, have the spell(s) required, and money for special components, plus money and time per spell level.

Without setting a hard level limit on magic item creation, the required spells set the lowest level at which a particular item might be created. The cost limits the number of items created. Rare components keep the DM in control.

The following house rules are extracted from Phenster’s article. Most of these rules expand on Holmes. Elven Magic and Lost Lore impact the premise behind a campaign, whereas Phenster admits Real Elven Magic is too powerful and Counter-Spell is less efficient than a well-placed projectile. I categorize these as [C] Campaign and [P] Pandemonium. Because Phenster only adds that we need a library, I put Spell Research in [H] Holmes.

Spell Acquisition

Spell Books [E]

Magic-users add spells to their spell books by copying them from other sources (scrolls, books, and dungeon walls, for example) and by spell research.

Elven Magic [C]

Elves are innately magical. Elven magic-users know a number of spells according to their level as noted in the magic-user’s Number of Spells per Day table. When they gain a new level, elves automatically know additional spells granted by their level. Elven magic-users know read magic, but they must cast it instead of another daily spell, whether 1st level or higher. Elven magic-users do not use spell books.

Real Elven Magic [P]

Elves of any class can cast read magic, detect magic, and protection from magic once per day. Casting these spells does not use the power of any daily spells the elf may or may not have.

Unknown Spells Not Recorded [E]

As in Holmes, to copy a new spell into their spell books, magic-users must roll on the Chance to Know Spell table (Holmes, 13). Success means the magic-user knows the spell. Failure means the magic-user cannot learn the spell from the given medium. Diverging from Holmes, when encountering the spell from a different source, the magic-user may make another attempt to know the same spell.

Counter-Spell [P]

A magic-user may use the power of any spell memorized to counter the effect of another magic-user’s spell. To throw a counter-spell, the magic-user must have the initiative on the opposed magic-user and must state, on his or her initiative count, the intention to counter-spell. (Here the magic-user Holds Action [E], if that rule is used.) The counter-speller cannot perform any other actions. When the opposed magic-user casts a spell, the counter-spell caster acts on the same initiative count. If the spell being used is of the same as or a higher level than the spell being cast, the counter-spell negates the spell’s effect. Successful or not, the spell used to throw a counter-spell is lost.

Lost Lore [C]

“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…”—Phenster, “Dweomercraeft”

To determine beginning spells for PCs, only spells from Holmes are allowed. Spells from other sources are “lost lore.” Magic-users discover lost lore on uncommon spell scrolls, spell books, and elsewhere, and through spell research. The DM favors spells from Holmes for NPC spell books and spell scrolls on upper dungeon levels. On deeper levels, more lost lore may be found.

Creating Holy Water [E]

To create one vial of holy water, a cleric casts bless on pure water in a font of at least 500 g.p. value. The ritual takes one turn and produces one vial of holy water.

Craefting Magic Items [E]

Magic-users and clerics of any level may create magic items provided they have time, money, access to a laboratory, and can cast the requisite spells. Given below are the cost in time and money to create each item type. Component materials are shown with any additional notes. Component costs are usually included in the base cost. The DM determines spells required, any special components necessary, and their cost.

Scrolls

Cost: 100 g.p. and 1 week per spell level.
Materials: parchment or vellum, quill, and ink.
Note: up to 7 spells may be written on one scroll. No chance of failure.

Potions

Cost: 300 g.p. and 1 week per spell level.
Materials: special ingredients.

Wands and Staffs

For wands and staffs without charges, see Miscellaneous Magic hereunder.

Cost: 500 g.p. per spell level per charge and 1 week per spell level plus 1 day per charge.
Materials: wand or staff.
Note: 100 charges maximum.

Miscellaneous Magic

Cost: 10,000 g.p. and 1 month per spell level.
Materials: varies according to item.

Weapons and Armor

Cost: 10,000 g.p. and 1 month per +1 bonus.
Materials: weapon or armor.

Rings

Cost: 20,000 g.p. and 2 months per spell level.
Materials: finely crafted ring of precious metal.

Non-Player Craefters

An NPC magic-user or cleric might be induced to create a magic item. The time required is the same, but the cost is at least double. An alchemist may create potions in half the time at twice the cost.

Spell Research [H]

Magic-users can add new spells to their spell book through research. Researching a new spell costs 2,000 g.p. and 1 week per spell level. Access to a library is required. The chance of failure applies.

Chance of Failure [E]

When creating magic items (except scrolls) and researching new spells, the chance of failure is 1 out of 12. After spending the gold and time required, the craefter tests the item. A 1 result on a d12 indicates failure. Testing charged items consumes one charge.

The Boomtown Rule

“The Boomtown rule says that the price of stuff goes up when a lot of treasure comes out of the dungeon and into the town. … The price of everything doubles when the highest level PC gets to 4th level. It doubles again at 8th, 12th, etc. Everything means everything: from ale at the tavern to guild fees and hireling rates.”—Phenster, “Dungeoneering”

Phenster does not explicitly mention it in “the Boomtown rule,” but if “everything means everything,” the rule applies also to magic item creation, and craefting becomes an expensive hobby.

Comparative Examples

I show Phenster’s examples to compare cost and power. I convert weeks and months to days, using 4 weeks or 28 days for one month.

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.

In his “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk” in L’avant garde #74 (August 1985), editor Dave writes: “From the Pandemonium Society, we get some new twists on old rules and an armored personnel carrier for your fantasy wargame campaigns!”

Another curiosity in Holmes is the player character move rates. The Movement Table (9) shows that an “unencumbered, unarmored man” explores the dungeon at 240 feet per ten-minute turn, a fully armored man at 120. This corresponds to OD&D, wherein “Two moves constitute a [ten-minute] turn” and, so, a fully armored character moves 120 feet in a turn (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8).

A discrepancy arises, though, when we consider monster move rates. Man-sized creatures move from 60 feet to 120 feet per turn. An orc, for example, has an armor class of 7 (leather armor) and moves at 90 feet per turn. Inserting a line between unarmored and fully armored characters for “half armor” on Holmes’s table (as does Phenster), a leather-armored character would move at 180 feet per turn or twice as fast as the orc.

As written, the rules leave no room for ambiguity. Each monster entry is explicit: “Move: 90 feet/turn,” to use the orc example.

In “Movement and Encumbrance” (L’avant garde #63), Phenster gives weight-allowance ranges then admits to estimating encumbrance. I give Movement Rates [H] to align character move rates with those of monsters, which includes estimated encumbrance, and Encumbrance [E] as the more detailed option. Further, I separate extra and super heavy loads into another rule in the [P] Pandemonium category. Phenster adds carrying capacities for haversacks and pouches, which I put in the [E] Extra category.

On resting, Holmes stipulates that “one turn every hour should be spent motionless” (9), as does OD&D (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8), without exacting any penalties should the players ignore the requirement, which we often did. Phenster adds consequences. Resting [E] is informed by Chainmail (11).

Movement Rates [H]

A character’s movement rate is limited by armor worn and treasure carried according to the table below. The movement type depends on the situation, explained after the table. Units are feet per turn unless otherwise shown in the header. The max weight column is given for use with Encumbrance [E].

Note: “Normal” rate refers to the normal move speed in the dungeon (see table).

Dungeon

Normal: Moving in cramped, dim spaces is hazardous even without the threat of monster attack or unseen pitfalls. Characters may move at normal rate over familiar terrain. Still, they are surprised on a 1 to 3 and may not notice any changes since their last passage. Other move rates are derived from the normal speed.

Exploring: Wary of lurking monsters and on the lookout for hidden treasure, a character moves at half normal rate while exploring.

Combat: In a 10-second combat round, a creature can move and normally defend itself while moving ¹⁄₆ the distance it can explore in one turn.

Faster Movement

Phenster shows a running rate of twice normal speed for dungeon environments and adds the option to run during combat outside melee. I add running outdoors up to three times the move rate. I also add forced march for long-distance overland travel.

At any movement rate, except exploring and journey, creatures can double or treble their speed within limits defined below. In the dungeon, running is twice or thrice normal move rate (not the exploring rate). Moving faster than the given rate, a creature is surprised on a roll of 1 to 4.

Double time: An unencumbered character can double-time for 3 turns. A half-armored character for 2 turns. Fully-armored 1 turn. A character burdened with a heavy load cannot run.

Sprint: Sprinting is three times the current rate. Flank attacks on a sprinting character are made as if to the rear (see Flank and Rear Attacks [E]), gaining a +2 bonus on the attack roll. After sprinting one round, fully-armored characters cannot run (sprint or double-time) the next round.

Forced march: Traveling overland, characters may move half again their journey rate for one day. They must rest the next day or be fatigued (see Resting [E], below).

Outdoors

Wilderness and journey rates are considered the base move, which is further modified by terrain type. We’ll get to that later.

Town: Characters can move through non-threatening, well-lit, open spaces ten times faster than in dungeons, assuming they are not making a map either. In poor lighting conditions, the rate is halved.

Wilderness: Exploring a dangerous but open environment, characters move at three times the normal dungeon rate. The wilderness rate is expressed in yards per turn. Again, halve the rate in poor lighting conditions.

Journey: Overland travel is 11 times faster than the normal move rate in the dungeon. The journey rate can be derived from the normal dungeon move rate divided by 10 in miles per day.

Heavy Loads [P]

Phenster’s table breaks heavy loads into three weight ranges. Characters so encumbered cannot run, and those with extra and super heavy loads take penalties in combat and cannot travel long distances. All that adds a certain realism but is over complex for the Holmes spirit, so I separate this rule from Movement Rates [H].

Encumbrance [E]

Encumbrance is measured by an item’s category according to the following table. Only armor, weapons, and treasure are considered. All other items are counted in the standard allowance, which is 100 coins. Weapons by weight are given in the Damage Dice by Weapon Class Table in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”

Strength adjustment: A character can carry 200 additional coins for every +1 bonus for strength or 100 fewer coins for every −1. (See “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium.”)

Carrying Capacities [E]

These are the carrying capacities of common containers.

Resting [E]

Characters must rest for one turn after exploring for five turns, running, or combat. The number of turns a character can run without resting depends on their encumbrance (above).

Characters who do not rest suffer a −1 penalty on attack and damage rolls and move at the next slower category. Hirelings check morale at −1 on the dice (see Morale [E]). For every five more turns exploring or any running or combat, the penalties increase by 1 and the move rate goes down another step. Unencumbered characters moving slower than their move rate don’t need to rest.

This is the 30th 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.