Mob of Morons Kill Low Level Necromancer, Save Village; Hurt Selves, Sheep and Dog

ONE OF THE BEST CON RPG RUNS EVAR.







above cover illustration stolen and vandalized without permission.  click on it to get to the publisher website







So, in an unusual move, I actually played in an RPG at a con, pre-gens and all.  Usually, I don't due to what I sensitively call the "spastic kamakazi moron" effect that selects the players in such games.

Well, to be fair, it was also run by one of my oldest and dearest DM (and friend), and he had talked it up beforehand.   And yes, it was the poison coolaide of DCC (Dungeon crawl classics) , and DAMN...that is some tasty coolaid.

See, I had pretty much decided not to have anything to do with a massive tome  "old school" $50.00 game for a variety of reasons - not least was the fact that it was a massive thick tomb, with a huge proportion of pages dedicated to MAJIK THAT IS WILD AND KAOSEY AND RELLY ZAPZAP! (more about this later. Looking at it in the context of the game, it works well, go figure)

Still, the starting premise of the game pulled me in.....balance the characters by random chance and darwinian winnowing rather than elaborate tradeoffs, advantages and limitations. In short, start four characters as a level zero clodhoppers, and go into the dungeon. See who comes out, pick a class. NOTE:  these are NOT 0 level adventurers -you know, 0 level clerics, magic users, etc.  They are zero level humans (or elves or halflings, whatever; but still zero level.  They have a career background (randomly determined) which MAY be (say) an apprentice mage or cleric, but you really really have none of the skills and benefits of that class.  You pick a class when you get to first level - or you've died, and it is moot.

Interesting !  And, low level play has always been a love of mine.  And BOY are you low level.  No class (in every sense of the word) almost no equipment, no skills, no spells no special abilities, little hope; however, you might have a hammer or pitchfork, so roll on !.  And boy was it fun. 

 Sort of played like what would AD&D be like if say, maybe Gygax AND Arneson and Hargrave played Arduin with George Romero and a bunch of 1980's games workshop metal punks while cranking Hawkwind and chewing on a mouthful of berserker mushrooms.  Well, maybe not Hawkwind. I'd hate to discourage anyone simply becuase they hate Hawkwind.  Maybe BOC.  But the rest ?  Yes.

More to come. As a teaser, the Eeeeevil necromancer had his epic kill em all spell disrupted by being hit by a thrown dog..

Yeee-Ha !

Interlude: Adventurer. new introduction.

 Yeah, a job that I like, keeps me busy and is interesting, plus a minecraft addiction (but with the whole family, so its semi justifiable) have been major time priorities; the retrorockets campaign material is going along at a poky rate, but nothing worth posting yet.  So, while looking around, I pulled up Adventurer, and started giving it another look, and, naturally, fiddling with it.  A gratifyingly large number of y'all have downloaded it -probably over a thousand in all versions, and even if feedback has been infrequent, I like what I see.  So, I figured I'd post some of the revised bits as I do them -mainly simplifications of experience and combat, plus edit edit edit. Here then is the new introduction.

________________________________________              

In Principio

It’s a simple premise that started this: what if G & A had different inspirations than the one(s) that became The Big RPG . From it (so far) has come at least two variants I really like: Mazes and Minotaurs and Xplorers ; these ask “what if the font of inspiration was Greek myths, or Science fiction. Really well done, check em out.



This, then, is that, but spun thusly: what if the first RPG was Traveller? I’m not even going to get into the possibility that this might have happened (I hasten to add), but rather just follow it up . What if Fantasy was the red-headed stepchild of the RPG industry, which is seven-tenths dominated by endless SciFi worlds adventures and rules sets. Specifically…. recovered from the detreitus of a quantum chronoinfindibulum experiment at CERN, which turned out to contain this manuscript and some very, very odd dice.



In 1974, a garage-based game failed to get off of the ground due to lack of financing, and the efforts of two well known miniature and board game designers (an odd miniatures supplement called “the fantasy game” ) languished unpublished in a box in a garage. Eventually the designers ended up at GDW, best known nowadays for the breakthrough and innovative game Traveller which caught and rode the wave of star wars popularity, and created a whole new genre and audience for games. Adventure Simulations Games (as they are called) cater to an endless variety of SF settings and adventures, all ultimately derived from Traveler and an infinite variety of SF settings. Looking to expand the boundaries of the new hobby to other genres, G & A convince GDW to try a new approach to travelling: “howzabout something like that Robert E. Howard/Lovecraft genre , but the swords and sorcery version more than the pulp horror of Investigator; you know, like in Fritz Leiber's stuff ? …or, heck, Anderson's fantasy stuff...... Low tech, ya' know ? C'mon Marc, pleeeeeeze ?”

And so, in 1977, following the phenomenal success of book 8 (Droidbots), The Adventure game is dragged out and dusted off. Months later, Book 9 Adventurer is released. Always enjoying a small but devoted player base, Fantasy has remained a constant niche in Adventure simulation gaming. Adventurer has been the touchstone of the genre, and despite revisions and imitations, has always remained in print for the entire run of all editions of traveler, through Advance, 2nd and 3rd edition. With the contentious release of Traveller 4.0 considerable interest in older editions of the original ASG has developed, and GDW (now owned by Conhugebro) has now rereleased the original edition and supplements for a new generation. Whether you are a revered elder gamer from the first days, or a recent entry to the hobby, we are delighted to present the most unusual supplement Traveller ever produced.




“Scouts may come and go, and core rules change from space opera to gritty apocalyptic SF(and back), but swinging a sword and looting evil ruins always remains a comforting constant. Plus, there are no frikkin’ stellar spectra charts to constantly bicker and obsess about updating, right Marc ? "
– G, asked about the constant popularity of Adventurer at AdventuCon 22.






“Two words: Pole Arms.”
-Marc’s response

Dungeons for Adventurer: Traveller style !

In fact, developing a UDP  (universal dungeon profile) was one of the first things I did for adventurer.

Towers, Temples and Terrors

What is the point of realms and cities if there is no room for profitable adventure free from city guards and the king’s army? What hero of worth in a sword and sorcery yarn has failed to delve into a wizards tower for forbidden gold ortreasure ?  Labyrinthine hallways, locked portals, magical constructs, terrible monsters of myth and legend, all await within.  And, as ever, the nemesis!  The mage at the center of his construct, the spider in the web!  But that's not all!  When the wizards tower is missing, or looted, there are the ruined cities, hidden lairs (of thieves, pirates and  bandits), lost dungeons deep beneath the earth along with  caves caverns and the underworld all draw the hero like a magnet.  Glory, gold and artifacts of unspeakable power all await amidst terrible guardians, and cunning traps.  Evil cults and pretenders to thrones must be ferreted out and overthrown –or contacted and joined! 

The cunning GM must always consider that a well stocked ruin is a far better investment of time than a detailed exposition of a ruler’s family in a distant realm.

In general, one cannot go far wrong with a wizards tower or ancient ruin (subterranean or not).  The Tower may have an active plotting inhabitant, with organized patrols, reset traps, and well hidden treasures, or the master may be gone, and the keep simply a convenient lair for his surviving minions and lesser evils.  Ruins will be inhabited by survivors or squatters, and make excellent lairs for fantastical creatures (which may well be the cause of the ruin).  Tombs too should abound in plenty, stocked with the grave goods of dead kings wizards and conquerors; protected by fiendish traps, hidden areas and terrible spirits.

Several such sites should be premapped, generally at least one each of tower, ruin and tomb.  Practically, it is recommended each level or specific area be limited to a single piece of paper, with maps and encounter keys all upon one side. 

Generally, such adventure havens come in two types: organized and haphazard.  Organized sites generally have a well defined overall purpose, and inhabitants and contents that support this mission.  The inhabitants and contents (traps, treasures, and access) tend to cooperate towards a specific goal –although factions may exist!  Traps are often complex and well maintained, and generally make allowance for safe passage for those who have the authority. 

Haphazard sites tend to be abandoned and generally anarchic, with random inhabitants that may or may not cooperate, compete or ignore each others.  Much is simply the detritus of absent inhabitants, or loot from deeper in.  The stronger monsters will tend to have the best and most isolated lairs, seeing the lesser as cheap protection.  Traps will tend to be very long lasting and self resetting, or simple and crude, set by the new inhabitants. 

Challenge

Code	A	B	C	D	E	X
Theme	Epic Foe	Tribal; unified	Tribal, balkanized	Horde	Undead	Beasts
x/36	3	7	11	5	4	6
2d6 Roll	2-3	4-5	6-7	8	9	10-12

Adventurer: Traveller ODD cloneish mashup hack. New uploads. Film at eleven.

Hello all !  With the beginning of the lunch hour upon me, I post two more sections of the New and Updated Version of Adventurer for your entertainment and critical oversight !

Enjoy !

Part 3: Flashing blades and fearsome creatures

Part 4: Perilous Inhabitants    

Bummed by the OSR kafuffle. Plus, busy.

Sigh.  Nothing today, too damn busy.  [deleting previous post about the details of the recent OSR kafuffle; its done (mostly), and who needs more griefing in the form of someone flying off the handle about people flying off the handle about who was a punk before who.]
Tomorrow,  probably some spells.  may indulge myself with Statting up the Dramavore -an insidious creature that sits in a small pond and sucks the life out of the hapless inhabitants....

Its been a busy, annoying week.  Glad to see the ass-end of it.