A Life Full of Adventure

This is a setting my friend used for our AD&D 2e game. I wanted to get it down to save it. History: All races were slaves to dragons at one point. The "lesser" races revolted and gained their freedom. The dragons still ruled a section of the continent. He modified/created dragon lords using the Council Of Wyrms boxed set. These dragons were nasty! Magic was very prevalent across all nations. There was one nation ruled by an oligarchy council. There was a religion of were-priests . They gained their transformation through their god. (I had a were-priestess named Shallya [stolen from WarHammer] who could change into a panther.) He created his own pantheons, basing a lot of skills and powers from the Skills & Powers book. (He let me co-create the were-priest religion.) There was a region ruled by a college of wizards. There were Ice Elves who lived in seclusion. Dwarves were strongly prevalent. He ran an entire Dwarven campaign across deserts to reclaim some...

We had a fun game on Saturday. The 3 character deaths all came from traps in the Haunted Halls. I'd decrease the power on at least two of the traps if was going to run the adventure for first level characters again. We didn't get a chance to try the combat system as the characters just happened to choose paths no where near any monsters. Even random encounter rolls came up with nothing. Lucky. I'll tweak this a bit before running it at SnowCon . I really want to see a party use the bomb I planted in the pile of metal stuff in the entry room. The weekend convention is over, so it's back to school and studying for me. Therefore I'm already excited for Dwimmermount next weekend. We should be able to finish level 1 in a sitting or two. I hope so, because I want to run a level or two at SnowCon in January. Finally, if I can get DodecaheDRONE in time, I'll run that at SnowCon, too. I want the game designers that are kind enough to interact with me on Google+ to ...

The skill Dodge Blow may be purchased multiple times if it is on the skill list for your current career. Each time you purchase it, you may attempt to dodge one more blow per round of combat. The total number of times you can purchase Dodge Blow may not exceed the number of attacks your have per round.

I’ve never really used retainers. Everything I hear about them makes them sound like a fun (and wise) idea, but I never remember to look into it at the game table. When I first started playing D&D it was with the red box. I ran through all the solo stuff in the book, and then I talked my cousin into playing with me. He ran a fighter, and I ran one of every other class. So right from the get-go I had multiple NPCs (or DMPCs) as well as all the creatures and enemies to run. When you have one of every class being run by the DM, you really don’t have a need for retainers.   This was likely the subconscious mentality I brought to the table when I started playing AD&D with people later on. The group I played with for many years was made up of anywhere from 6-8 players. We had all the classes represented and then some.   There was always someone in the party who could carry the torch/lantern or had room on them to carry the extra loot you found in the dungeon. I didn...

This stunning necklace was found by Gnome adventurer Jemma Bink while delving deep in the Haunted Halls of Eveningstar.  It was so enchanting that she put it on then and there in the middle of a dingy room.  Everyone in the party remarked at how beautiful the necklace was and how it made her face shine.  Even today, people that she meets comment on the necklace and the gorgeous little gnome wearing it. This necklace magically grants a +3 bonus to the wearer’s Charisma score (or a Looks or Appearance score/subscore if your system uses them). (Thank you to Debi of Lewellyn's Adventures  for the idea for today's magic item.)

Spade is a human fighter who dabbles around in archaeology when he's not putting food on the table. He is extremely interested in joining an adventuring party, especially if the party plans on going into a dungeon or an old city. He uses a light pick as his main weapon, as he usually has it in his hand anyway for digging purposes. His backup weapon is a mace. He also has a light crossbow for ranged attacks. Attached to his backpack is a spade, his namesake. He's tried adventuring without one before, but everyone razzed him for not having it. His interest in old stuff is often infectious. He has learned Dwarvish as a second language because it is useful to know when delving. STR 12 DEX 13 CON 11 INT 13 WIS 11 CHA 14 AC 4 (Studded Leather + Dex bonus) HP 8

This FREE game was pitched to me as an OSR retro-clone. That’s usually enough to get my attention.   What I was introduced to when given an early draft was a game that reminded me of Basic D&D with a few extra, very cool, options. I started to write a review, but I could quickly see that it was going to be too long. Here’s my like/dislike or pro/con list: Pro: Dungeon Throws . These are similar to some well-known thieving skills, but everyone has them. How good you are varies by race, class, and how you spend discretionary points character points at each level.   Sad Panda: When I first was exposed to Dungeon Throws, they were in percentiles. Greg has apparently changed them to a d20 roll instead. I know it’s 6 of one and half dozen of another, but I really preferred the percentile rolls. (I’m sure that’s the WarHammer Fantasy Roleplayer in me talking.) Pro: Races . There are a great variety of races to choose from. They are categorized as Civilized a...