I wanted to use the wilderness travel rules from the B/X D&D Expert Set (paid link) in my DCC RPG (paid link) hexcrawl, but character’s movement speeds don’t translate 1:1 across the two games. I compared species (races) in both editions, crunched the numbers, and turned the results into a one-page PDF reference for DCC […]
DCC RPG wilderness travel speeds Read More »
I needed wilderness encounter tables for the DCC RPG (paid link) hexcrawl I’m running, but there aren’t any in the book. Jeff Rients created some excellent tables for wandering monsters by dungeon level (which also appear in Crawl! #5), but after searching high and low I couldn’t find any wilderness encounter tables online. So I
DCC RPG wilderness encounter tables Read More »
While running DCC RPG (paid link) the other night, there was a good-sized chunk of time when I had my DCC core book, Expert D&D (paid link; for wilderness and reaction rules), and Crawl! #5 (paid link; for the wandering monster tables) open at the same time, along with scratch paper for hit points .
DCC RPG in 18 pages Read More »
My copy of Delving Deeper just came in the mail, and after a thorough skim I quite like it. I was after a retroclone that hews as closely as possible to OD&D[1] (paid link), and at first blush DD seems to fit the bill. But when I got to the section on dungeon stocking, it
Dungeon stocking in OD&D vs. Delving Deeper, plus The Strategic Review Read More »
I love hit points. They’re a brilliant abstraction, though often misunderstood, and they work beautifully in play. I double-super-love that in OD&D (paid link), how you roll them for your character is completely open to interpretation. I don’t think that’s been true since the late 1970s, as each edition since has spelled things out much more
Rerolling hit points, OD&D, and Empire of the Petal Throne Read More »
It’s 1977. D&D is wild and wonderful and everyone’s doing their own thing. So much so, in fact, that in that same year two people published alternate versions of one of the core mechanics of old-school D&D: earning XP for treasure. In 1977, Dave Arneson, co-creator of D&D, and Jon Pickens, who later became an
Debauchery & Dragons: Carousing for XP, 1977 to 2015 Read More »
While reading Chris Kutalik’s excellent blog, Hill Cantons, I found myself thinking, “Why the hell don’t I own any of his books?” So I ordered three of them in print: Slumbering Ursine Dunes (paid link), Fever-Dreaming Marlinko (paid link), and the Hill Cantons Compendium (paid link). (While I was waiting for them to arrive, I also blogged about
Slumbering Ursine Dunes and Fever-Dreaming Marlinko Read More »
I love weird gaming zines, and Wizards Mutants Laser Pistols[1] is one of my favorites. I bought the compilation of issues 1-6 on Lulu ($17), and it’s a delight. If you like Castle Amber (paid link), Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (paid link), or Anomalous Subsurface Environment, you’ll dig WMLP. It’s got gonzo, it’s got science-fantasy, and
Zine roundup: Wizards Mutants Laser Pistols, issues 1-6 Read More »
While I was comparing dungeon treasure stocking in B/X D&D and Labyrinth Lord, I noticed something in OD&D that surprised me: The way OD&D handles wandering monsters is delightfully unforgiving. At a glance, B/X looked pretty different in this regard, so I thought I’d compare the two. Let’s just look at level 1 in both
Wandering monsters: OD&D vs. B/X D&D Read More »
My head’s full of Labyrinth Lord at the moment (I’m working on a megadungeon), so I’m prodding the areas where divergence from B/X D&D (paid link) interest me in some way. So far I’ve looked at dungeon stocking, which is basically the same with a minor flavor difference, and dungeon doors, which aren’t the same
B/X D&D vs. Labyrinth Lord treasure stocking Read More »
