why’d it have to be snakes?
Best. Cleric. Evar. What’s up with the Cleric spell list in the Marsh/Cook (and Mentzer) Expert rules? Were there a whole bunch of snake-themed dudes in the early games way back when? Two or three...
View Articleas it was in Grand Motholam
A partial list of game design consequences which arise from Vancian casting: Refers to Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth, never a bad thing. Introduces a pacing mechanic: oops, time to retreat I’m out of...
View ArticleIn AD&D You’re Always Stepping on 1d100 Woefully Encysted Creatures
cr0m’s recent comment to James’ post about Grand Motholam reminded me of a Gygaxism that I find utterly mind-blowing. He notes, justly, that: In Vance’s stories, the spells available are much more...
View ArticleCurse You!
Loke was angry as the dwarf had been, because he had perforce to part with the magic ring, and ere he went his way he spoke fiercely to Hreidmar, saying: “Thou hast received gold enough now, and my...
View ArticleWhite Box Archaeology: More Lakofka Goodies!
Greyharp over at ODD74 has taken Len Lakofka’s Pyrologist and compiled it into a booklet along with additional Lakofka class material from Liaisons Dangereuses—the Hobbit Druid, the Hobbit/Dwarf...
View ArticleZolobachai’s Omnipotent Laxative
Arnold Littleworth, known far and wide as “Zolobachai of the Nine Visions,” has spent his time in the Nameless City gathering up spells which might be useful to the party in its explorations. Naturally...
View Articlespells for the after school class
Explanation: Tavis and I are running an after school Dungeons & Dragons program for some elementary school kids. Most of our prep consists of wishing we’d done more prep while on the subway to...
View ArticleWeird Tables: Your Weird Wish is Granted
Your wish is my commHAHA I DEVOUR YOUR SOUL After eleven dedicated sessions and five months of game time, a group of PCs in my game successfully petitioned a goddess of Chaos for her favor. Everyone...
View ArticleMemorizing Spells with Assistance
'Conjure Maitz', 30" x 30", Oil on Masonite, ©1987 Don Maitz Untested house rule for the White Sandbox: If you can cast spells, you can prepare extra spells when you have assistance throughout the...
View ArticleNot-so-Weird Tables: Starting Magic User Spells
Would you trust this guy to give your apprentice magic-user a proper education? (PS: I hear the movie is terrible)This post on Planet Algol reminded me that my own game’s house rules for starting...
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