Category Archives: Dungeons And Dragons

Revisiting AD&D 1st Edition Players Handbook

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Shush I am reading AD&D 1st Edition Player’s Handbook Here is my impressions 

My copy (6th Printing 1980) for a 41-year-old book is in very good condition, as bombproof as I remember it from my teens, and smells kinda funny (sort of musky)

The text is very small and gets even smaller on tables. The book while epic in scope is a nice and tidy 128 pages long. It is sparsely illustrated, mainly filler pieces and a hand full of full pagers. The front page Gnome on the dice is my favourite with the fighter on p23

You can hire Assasins to kill people! There’s a table on p29. This one of the wacky almost stream of consciousness rulings made for character classes and their subclasses (remember them).

Talking of rules, subsystems rule the day. There’s a sort of consistent pattern that emerges from the text, but there’s a lot of noise and we are very very far from the unified rulings of D20 let alone 5th Ed. In fact, the book cuts out with a proper set of rules for combat.

I have an official AD&D Fighting Wheel (that has all the data for weapons) SO FIGHT ME ! 😀

Blood of the Dragon available until the end of November

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As part of our Dark November sale, I’ve re-released my long-unavailable adventure for Crypts and Things, Blood of the Dragon, for free in pdf format.

It’s available until the end of the month, then it won’t be available again until the adventure/setting book Under Dark Spires, of which it will be part,  is released in early 2021.

The first adventure module for Crypts and Things, intended as an introduction to the game. Compatible with other Old School Class/Level based games based on the Worlds Favourite Fantasy Role-Playing Game in its 70s/80s incarnation.

“Under a land shrouded in volcanic ash punctuated by rocky spires that tear at the sky they say the Great Dragon sleeps. Tyanos the Black, Trickster god of the long-dead Hu-Pi people stole their blood and bottled it for his insane delight. As the drink of the gods, it confers immortality to mortal man, but at what terrible price? The very quest for this elixir is insane. A trip into a harsh and unforgiving land of the Spires, a poor and bandit ridden weird land, inhabited by the likes of Black Joop, Nigus the Headless and the Mother of Hydra. Names that should send a shiver down your spine. So pick up your sword, down the last of your ale to steady any nerves and stride off towards a great adventure amongst the rocks that defy the sky.”

What this Module contains

Blood of the Dragon is a short introductory adventure set in the ancient and ruined lands of The Spires.

  • A Rough Guide to the Spires
  • Adventure: The Lair of the Battle Apes
  • New Monsters – The fearsome Battle Apes.

Dark November is Here!

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So I missed out on doing anything for Halloween because I was preoccupied with the end of my Gloranthan Fanzines, and before that, in Sept/Oct I was in full pimp mode for the OpenQuest Kickstarter which kind of blew up in my face.

So It occurred to me that my Dark Fantasy OSR/D&D stuff is not getting the love it deserves. So I’ve decided to run a month of promotions/competitions/new-releases for the Crypts and Things, the soon to be released Swords Against the Shroud as well as other OSR bits I do is in order.  This is what I call…

Oh, and It has a logo, that uses the most British Old School of fonts (Moria Citadel) 🙂

First Dark November competition is to get more minions…oops sorry followers over on D101 Twitter Account. When we reach 500 followers, I will do a prize draw for one of D101’s OSR/D&D titles in print.

 

Under Dark Spires coming soon

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It’s Fiendish Friday, so here’s some news on what’s coming on for Crypts and Things very soon…
The long-overdue adventure pack for Crypts and Things, Under Dark Spires,  after a series of writers blocks, and various production failures (both straightforward and arcane) is back on track for being completed.
Under Dark Spires is a collection of five adventures. Blood of the Dragon (C&T’s long out of print adventure), The Dark Path, Terror At Black Oak, Fort Boneguard and The City of the God-Emperor. There’s also setting information for the Dark Spires region that the adventures take place in. Its a low level, 1st – 3rd, sandpit of nasty wriggly things that rises up to the pcs exploring one of the big secrets of the Serpent Kings.
I’m not going to give a firm date, but I’m looking within the next couple of months.
To help fire me up and inspire me, I’ve commissioned Dan Barker who did the art for Tournaments of Madness and Death, to do the art for Under Dark Spires. Dan brings his own take to the Weird Fantasy Swords and Sorcery world of Crypts and Things.
Here’s his take on a Barbarian being taken by surprise by a carnivorous plant in the fetid swamps of Stink River.

Stay tuned for regular updates.

Grogzilla now live on ZineQuest 2 on Kickstarter

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Now on ZineQuest 2: Grogzilla, briefly seen at Grogmeet 2019 now getting a proper printing. It’s full of fire-breathing three-headed skyscraper-sized giant lizards  (stats for D100, OSR, and Monkey!), articles for Mythras, and a mini-adventure sequel to the Road to Hell (for Swords and Wizardry) amongst other things. And It will grow in page count as we hit stretch goals.  

Also, our other zines for Glorantha and Crypts and Things/OSR games are available in print/pdf as add-ons at a significant discount. 

Beyond Dread Portals Art Preview

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Its been a while since I’ve posted anything about Paul Mitchener’s Beyond Dread Portals.

We are currently gearing up for a Kickstarter, tentatively scheduled for April.

As part of the preview art for that Kickstarter, and the Preview Edition that backers of the From the Shroud KS are getting,  I asked Peter Frain of 77 Studios (who did the art for Monkey, the cover for Hunters of Alexandria, and the art for 2nd Edition Barbarians of Lemuria) to do a picture of one of the iconic fashions of the Empire of Ys, the Dandy. Apart from my quick “think Lord Flasheart from Blackadder II” I gave him Paul’s text:

Dandies & High Culture Fashion
When outsiders consider Ysian fashions, the first thing which comes to mind is the Ysian Dandy, with his, or more recently her, brightly coloured trousers, shirt, and complimentary hat. Precisely which colours are “in” varies from season to season, and the truly fashion-conscious manage to subvert it. Others try and fail to go against the trends. One recent subversion is moving away from bright colours to dress entirely in black, which was deliciously shocking at first in fashion circles, but as it spreads is starting to be considered crass. In fact, the style of the dandy only belongs to the High Culture. More typically, both genders wear shirts and trousers. The shirts are still brightly coloured, though more typically just one colour rather than the gaudy combinations of the fashion-conscious. Rich women have another option to them on formal occasions, namely the ball gown, which can be a work of art- though even there, the dandyish fashions are replacing it. Jewellery, when worn, is usually simple, taking the form of brooches for both genders, and earrings for women.

And this is what he came up with (click on images for larger version)

Grogzilla

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Missed out on getting a copy of Grogzilla at Grogmeet 2019?

This 36 A5 page zine of D101 Mega Gaming Fun with skyscraper high three-headed firebreathing lizards is now available to preorder (with free pdf)

As well as articles for OpenQuest and Crypts and Things, it also has a sequel to the Road to Hell in the form of Wigan Pigs an adventure for OSR games. Also making their debut in Grogzilla are the Six Traveller culture for Mythras, which is a short taste of things to come in the new year.

 

 

Tales from the Sorcerer Under the Mountain now on Backerkit until Nov 1st

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Missed the Tales from Sorcerer Under Mountain Kickstarter in August because you were on holiday or having just too much fun outside away from the computer?

Well until 1st November its all back (pledge rewards inc stretches, and add-ons) on Backerkit

As a small reminder, the kickstarter funded six stretch goals!  These are availe to pre-order backers if you buy either Tales of the Sorcerer Under the Mountain (OSR Rulebook) or the 5th Edition adventure The Sorcerer Under the Mountain.  

1. Character Portfolio. In pdf form 6 playable characters in both OSR and 5th Edition format.

2. Confessions of an OSR DM, a quick article about moving from OSR editions of the game to 5th Edition.

3. The Castle of Howls, a one on one adventure for 1st level chracters for both OSR and 5th edtion in pdf.

4. Fires from the Deep by Paul Mitchener a full adventure for 3rd level characters for both OSR and 5th Edition in pdf/print.

5. Curse of the Emerald Swan by Neil Shaw  a full adventure for 2nd – 4th level characters  for both OSR and 5th Edition in pdf/print.

6..The Jungles of Ruin by Guy Milner  a full advenure .for 4th level characters

+ Monsters are People Too a pod/pdf of ten detailed npc monsters.in both 5th Edition/OSR versions

+ Sunday Dungeons Short one-page adventures, in both 5th Ed and OSR versions. Available as pdfs after the campaign ends to all backers who have backed the books.