My game group just started up a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It’s been almost a year since we last played D&D. Over the past many months, we’ve played some board games, Star Wars role playing game, and Marvel Super Heroes role playing game. As fun as those games are, I still like D&D best.

A while back, my wife and I were watching our boys play and we talked about how fun it would be to play like we did when we were kids. I commented that is pretty much what I do every Friday night, with my role playing games. I still play the games I started playing when I was 13, and those games are basically expansions of the core “let’s pretend” of an even younger age. So I sort of get to revisit my childhood play even as a full grown adult.

Of course the games have evolved, and I’ve matured, but the heart and soul and spirit of playing D&D and other such games is pretty much still the same as it was when I was 13 and 6 years old.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Classic D&D adventure module review

In Search of the Unknown, by Mike Carr – Basic D&D, 1979, 1981

Introductory module for character levels 1-3

32 pages plus the separate cover with maps on the inside faces. This adventure has 56 numbered areas.

Generally, this adventure is a basic dungeon crawl; there is no plot beyond general exploration and fighting and looting. The unique feature of this module is that all the room and area descriptions leave the choice of monsters and treasure placement completely up to the Dungeon Master (DM).

The first five and a half pages of the book cover lots of notes and guidance for new DMs: Notes for the Dungeon Master, Preparation for the Use of the Module, Time [how to keep track of], Computing Experience, How to be an Effective Dungeon Master. The next two pages cover the adventure location background, random legends (true and false) the PCs may know about the dungeon, and the general description of the dungeon environs.

The adventure background explains that the dungeon, named the Caverns of Quasqueton, was built by two adventurers named Rogahn and Zelligar, “a fighter of renown” and “a magic-user of mystery and power.” The two used the location as a base of operations for a while, but then they disappeared on their last foray. Their dungeon base has been essentially vacant for a time.

If only one had the knowledge and wherewithal to find their hideaway, there would be great things to explore! And who knows what riches of wealth and magic might be there for the taking???

The actual dungeon area descriptions start on page 8, after the wandering monster chart. To give you a feel for the dungeon inhabitants, here are the wandering monsters:

1-4 orcs
1-2 giant centipedes
1-6 kobolds
1-2 troglodytes
2-5 giant rats
1-2 berserkers

All the monsters are listed in the “old school” stat block style: AC 6, HD 1, hp 6, 4, 3, 1, #AT 1, D 1-6 or by weapon, MV 90’ (30’), Save F1, ML 8.

There is no boxed text for the DM to read aloud to the Players—the boxed text concept was still a few years from being conceived when this module was written and published. There is no real organization to the room description and information text, so to run the adventure smoothly, the DM would need to either memorize all the text or go through making notes and highlighting information he thinks he’ll need. Most of the rooms have lots of text in many paragraphs, so this lack of organization in the room keys is a weakness of the design. But it is also a standard style in most adventure modules of the time.

Each area description ends with “Monster:” and “Treasure & Location:” lines. This is where the DM is supposed to write in his own choice for monster and treasure. The list of monsters and treasures to place is near the end of the book.

In the monster list, there are 25 choices but a few are repeated with only the number appearing and hit points differing. There’s probably 15 to 20 different monsters listed. There are 34 treasures listed—no repeats—including coins, gems, jewelry, and magic items. The author says this, in bold, for the monster list:

Important: although there are 25 listings, the Dungeon Master should only use 16-20 of them in the dungeon, placing some on each of the two levels in the rooms and chambers desired. The remainder are unused.

And he says this, also in bold, for the treasure list:

Special note: Even though 34 treasures are listed here, only between 15 to 25 of them should actually be placed in the dungeon by the Dungeon Master. The remainder should go unused. When treasures are chosen and placed, a good assortment of items should be represented: some very valuable, some worthless, most in between.

The dungeon itself is large: two levels, each covering over 400 by 300 feet. There are 56 numbered areas, and almost every one has something interesting about it to give PCs something to look at, mess with, figure out, or just be confused by. There are numerous tricks and traps, secret doors, pools of liquids, statues, a maze of doors, a spiral corridor, and at least one of all the other standard dungeon gimmicks.

Pages 26 to 30 contain lists and information on pre-generated characters to be used as PC adventurers or NPC henchmen and hirelings. The only things really pre-generated are the character ability scores. Everything else, including personalities, equipment (including some magic items), spells, and levels is given in lists for random determination. It would probably be as easy to just create a character normally as to use the information in this section to determine and finish one of the pre-generated characters.

The last two pages is one full page of information for players including setting info, “Here is the standard background setting for all players to read prior to their first adventure,” and play tips. These play tips are great, and can be very useful even for today’s players: Be organized, cooperate, be on your guard, know your limits, etc. All good stuff.

Overall, this adventure is a good idea for new DMs and Players. The guidance at the beginning for DMs and the end for Players is solid and wise. Letting the DM place monsters and treasure is a good way to introduce a DM to creating his own dungeons. But the lack of organization for the extensive text makes this adventure very difficult to run without very thoroughly reading and rereading and making notes before the game. All adventures require, or at least need, the DM to read and understand it beforehand, but every room in this adventure is pretty detailed, with lots of information.

The gimmicks (tricks, traps, neat stuff, etc.) in this adventure is great for new Players to experience. Just determining what is in the glass and earthen jars of the wizard’s workroom can fill an hour of first timer fun. Experimenting with the various pools in the room of pools can entertain new Players for another hour. New Players and DMs can get a whole lot of fun and good times exploring this dungeon, but anyone experienced with the base gimmicks of a D&D dungeon may find this old hat. And anyone looking for a plot or story will find little in this adventure to entertain them. Some areas and gimmicks of the dungeon just don’t make sense; anyone expecting or preferring a dungeon layout to make sense for its purpose (current or previous) will find this dungeon frustrating.

Bullgrit

Back in early 2003, I started up a new D&D campaign with all new (to each other) group. I had left my previous game group because of play style differences, and decided to get a new group together. (My separation from the previous group was amiable. I didn’t tell them how badly their style was driving me up the wall — that story is for another post.) I found four players and gave them the ground rules for creating characters for my campaign.

I had in mind an epic campaign to cover levels 1 to 20, and possibly beyond. They were allowed any race and class in the Player’s Handbook. After the first game session, they would be allowed access to any material (feats, classes, items, etc.) from any of the basic expansions. This was the time of D&D “3.0”, so the basic expansions included the five core class books (Sword & Fist, etc.). They could create their characters using the point buy method, with 28 points. I also asked that everyone create a heroic character — no neutral or evil alignments, no anti-heroes, no borderline personalities. Their characters were to be true heroes. (They would be saving the world, essentially, but I hadn’t told them that yet.)

Three of the players took this just fine, and made their characters accordingly, with no fuss. But one player couldn’t be bound by such rules. First he said that 28 points was just too few to make a heroic character. He suggested 40 points. Forty points! I had never even heard such a number for the point buy method. I turned down the suggestion.

Then he wanted to know if he could make a character out of the Psionic’s Handbook. “No. Please stick to the core Player’s Handbook.”

Then he wanted to know if he could work his character toward a particular prestige class he found on the Web. I immediately said no to the class, and redirected him to the core books and the five expansion books. Then, out of curiosity, I went on the Web and looked at that prestige class he asked about. It was based around service to a “dark queen” of the forest. A definite non-hero type character class.

Then he finally settled on the cleric class. Thank goodness, something right out of the core book. He asked if he could be a priest of a specific god not in the core books. I wanted to immediately shout “No!” But I decided to take a look at the god he wanted. It was a thieving, back stabbing god of Chaotic Evil alignment. What part of “heroic character” was he not understanding. I told him no because the god was Chaotic Evil. He said, “Oh, I thought he was Chaotic Neutral.” I responded with, “And that would still be outside the guidelines I gave everyone.” But through more conversation, I did end up letting him have Fharlanghn, a Neutral god, as his character’s patron.

I should have realized this player was just going to be a continuous problem for my game. He felt his creativity and his character was restricted and gimped by my guidelines. I didn’t think my guidelines were restrictive; in fact, I was allowing 5 extra books into the game beyond the core rules. 28 points for point buy was 3 points over the baseline, and was the general rule for RPGA organized play. My only actual restriction was asking for only characters of Good alignment. None of the other players had any problems with my guidelines, so I didn’t think it was me that was causing a problem.

Eventually, we all got together for the first game session. I thought this player had finally come around to understanding and accepting my character creation rules, but I came to learn that my troubles were only starting.

I had decided to start this campaign off in media res. I figured it would help get this new group working together quickly. So I opened the first game session with a small battle. Once we rolled initiative, the cleric player (the troublesome player) announced that he didn’t have his spells ready. I’ve never seen a player with a spell-casting character that didn’t at least have something written down for his spell list; at the very least they had an idea of what they would commonly use.

Well, we waited ten minutes for the player to go through the book and find the spells he wanted to have prepared. The character was only first level, he only had five or six spells to choose, but he took his time. And I gave him time; I didn’t want to antagonize him and possibly make things worse. At last, he had his spell list ready.

We picked up the fight again. The cleric player made his first attack (ironic that he didn’t use a spell we just wasted ten minutes for him to pick out) with a whip-dagger. Whoa! A whip-dagger is not in the Player’s Handbook. It’s in one of the expansion books that I said they could use stuff out of after the game starts. “But the standard whip is weak,” was his explanation. So for this he decided to not bother me with asking for permission before breaking the guidelines. I made him lose the whip-dagger, and he chose to take the standard whip.

So he chose to not make a whip attack. Instead he chose to cast a spell: summon monster I. Oh no. This problem was completely my creation and my fault.

The campaign concept I came up with was:
Several years ago, giant gates to Hell and the Abyss had been opened known evil realms in the World of Greyhawk campaign setting. These gates had manifested a “Hell on earth” environment in the world, and the boundaries were expanding. I was starting the campaign within the boundary of the Abyssal “gatelands”. This had several effects on the world, but the only effects that would affect magic spells was that summon monster spells could only summon fiendish creatures. This was a flavor thing that seemed to flow naturally from the setting arrangement — the influence of the evil planes restricted/cut off the good planes.

I had not told the Players the set up or plot of the campaign beforehand. I wanted to reveal it in the first game session. I had this hope that everyone would go, “Whoa! Very cool plot,” when they learned it. I didn’t think they would need to know the details or minor changes, like summon monster spells, for making their 1st-level characters. I had never, in my 20+ years of D&D, ever seen anyone take summon monster spell at 1st level — the spell only lasts one round at that level. It’s almost useless with such a short duration.

Oh well, I thought the Player could just change that one spell choice to something else and we could continue with the game. But no, it couldn’t be that easy. First, the Player tried to convince me that he should be able to summon a fiendish creature. Of course, by the rules (not to mention common sense) a Good cleric cannot use Evil spells. “But if I’m using the creature for a Good purpose. . .” Eventually, he gave in.

But, it turns out that the Player had created this character as an “animal tamer.” He wanted to summon creatures and use his whip to attack enemies. Of course he never told me any of this until this moment. We’d had two weeks between our introductions and the first game session. He sent me several mails asking about other stuff, but he never mentioned his actual, finalized character idea. So, here, at last, he could point to a problem with his character that was my fault for not telling him about a campaign effect ahead of time.

We eventually got past this problem, but the self-destruct button had been pressed. All that was left till the death of this campaign was the silent countdown. And I was too stupid to recognize it.

At the time we were playing the game, I was writing the game up as a story, exactly as it happened. The campaign lasted two game sessions. You can read the story here:
The Fiendish Oerth – a D&D campaign story

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

One thing that has amazed me from the discussions on various Internet message forums about older Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D1, especially) is how two people can have such totally different experiences with the game even though they both played extensively and with numerous groups.

For instance, no group I ever played with (long enough to gain a level) ever used the training rules in AD&D1 campaigns. I never enforced the training rules, no DM I ever played under enforced the training rules, and no Player in any of my campaigns ever mentioned them.

Also, the concept of declaring actions before rolling initiative, as stated in the DMG, was completely unknown to me until this year — after 27 years of gaming. I played AD&D1 for about 15 years, with a few dozen people, and never, ever, not once, did anyone ever so much as mention that rule. And I’m not just counting groups I played with long enough to gain a level. Even the groups that I played with only one time didn’t mention or use this rule.

But I’ve met people on discussion forums who always used the training rules and declare actions rule, in every group they played with. They never knew anyone who didn’t use them.

There are some people who never saw the xp for gp rule ever used, and there are some people who always saw it used. This is a rule that can seriously alter the game experience in a major way, so someone who never saw the rule used will have a completely different memory of the game than someone who always saw the rule used.

And then there’s the difference of experience with regard to magic item availability, power levels, etc.

Yes, a lot (all?) of this stuff comes from how the individual groups and DMs ruled, house ruled, and styled their games. But how did one person encounter only DMs of a particular style, and another encounter only DMs of a completely opposite style? I know AD&D1 was often heavily house ruled, and there are some book rules that were almost universally house ruled by most groups. But how is it Player A’s experience is that everyone always used the training rules, but Player B’s experience is that no one ever used the training rules (to use just one rule as an example)?

These pervasive, diametrically different experiences just amaze me. How does it happen? Whenever someone talks about “old school gaming” different people often give contradictory descriptions:

“It was about kicking in the door, attacking the monster with wild abandon, and thoroughly looting the premises.”

“It was about approaching every door with caution, using intelligent tactics against monsters (running when the monster was too tough), and knowing what treasure to leave alone.”

Some people say that “in the old days” magic items were rare and wondrous. Others say that “in the old days” magic items were loaded in dungeons by the metric ton.

Some folks say that a DM’s word was inarguable and always accepted by Players back in the day. And others say that there was plenty of bickering, whining, and arguing back in the day.

These can’t both be true, can they?

AD&D1 had many, many styles — just look at the varied official TSR adventure modules. Compare Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh to The Village of Hommlet, or the Dragonlance series to the Elemental Evil series — each a very different style than the other. But how could a player go through 10+ years of AD&D1 only experiencing one style of the game, even after relocating, going to college, etc.?

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com