Review: Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue by Anne Brown. (with input from several others) Published in 1992.
An equipment buying supplement. The catalog features food, clothing, and lots of miscellaneous adventuring gear that adventurers would choose to buy. Categories include Ranger's Field, Thieve's Corner, Bard's Emporium, Priest's Alcove, Wizards' Laboratory, Laborers' List, Inn and Tavern, Scribes' Desk, Storage Items, General Hardware, Tailors' Corner, Clothes and Shoes, Boom's Garden, Jewelry, Household Accoutrements, Personal Supplies, Illuminations, Diversions, Aurora's Larder, Breads, Cheese Shop, Wines and Ales, Exotics, Wilderness Gear, Priest in a Poke, and Daroni's Workshop.
The descriptions, prices, and items are all very good. Most items have footnotes for any game effects such as healing, improvements to AC, just to name a few. It is a great resource for players and DMs and it greatly expands the equipment list for a first or second edition campaign. Some of these items are found in Complete ___ Handbooks such as instruments in Bard's or thief tools in Thief's, or lab items in Wizard's. It is a good complement to Arms and Equipment Guide (DMGR3)
5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended for any AD&D campaign. It is for sale at dndclassics.com
Looking at breaking out of the conventional mold of fighters in the front row, wizards in the back row. Here are some alternatives:
Under the conventional rules, the best bet is probably a human wizard with a staff and bonuses to AC and to hp. (hp 6, AC 6, 1-6 damage) (Probably not realistic, this "warrior" will not last long)
Militant Wizards: Kit from Complete Wizard's that allows wielding weapons like battle axes and swords. So this kit would yield at best a 6 hp, AC 6 wizard wielding a long sword (d8 damage). A little better.
Saurials: Some saurials (a race of dinosaur-people from the Forgotten Realms. The most famous being Dragonbait, a Saurial paladin. His adventures are described in the Finder's Stone Trilogy) are able to get a low AC and others are able to get higher hp. It would be possible to have a 10 hp, AC 5, hornhead saurial wizard- capable of wielding a special staff that does 2-12 hp of damage. It is also possible to have a hp 6, AC 1 bladeback saurial (also wielding the staff for 2-12). Both of these take damage as size large creatures.
Review: I just finished reading "Of Dice and Men: the story of Dungeons and Dragons and the people who play it" by David M. Ewalt. (2013). Mr. Ewalt is a games columnist/reporter for Forbes magazine.
I would give the book a mixed review.
Positives: It is a fairly easy read. It does a better job of being neutral towards the Gygax/Blume/Williams management disputes. Most other sources of TSR history that I have seen, take a pro-Gygax stance and do not discuss his culpability in the situation where executives were perhaps overpaid to the detriment of TSR. It also details the origins of D&D with a clarity that I have not seen elsewhere. Particularly the details about the Gygax/Arneson collaboration and how that went sour. The book is hopeful about the future of D&D, with 5th edition- D&D Next on the horizon.
Neutral: The book repeated touches on the nerd-factor and the negative stigma attached to D&D. At times the author raises interesting points and at times it is a bit too personal and subjective.
Negatives: It seems like about 20% of a 276 page book is devoted the author's personal experiences playing D&D. Some of it is very interesting others of it is not. (Stories of gaming with legendary figures Frank Mentzer and Ernie Gygax are interesting. The author's personal campaign, much less so). I would rather the book avoided the personal as much as possible and focused on the history of TSR/WOTC. The objectivity of the book slips a bit when detailing the post-Gygax era.
Overall: Definitely worth reading for the history and it is fairly easy to skim or skip over the personal campaign details. 3 out of 5 stars.
The conventional role for fighters is to spend most of the time in melee combat with the biggest opponent and the conventional role for thieves is to hang back and maybe do some missile combat or try to get a backstab. It does not need to be this way. (Rogue THAC0 is better than Priest THAC0 to start with but slowly fades and is definitely worse than Priest THAC0 after 9th level)
Back row fighter: A back row fighter hangs back in combat using missile weapons to his (or her) advantage. Such a fighter has a high dexterity (for a missile weapon bonus), is a specialist and is probably an elf to take advantage of long bow sheaf arrow damage. (Other races such as a Halfling with a sling are also possible). A high strength is always good for a fighter. This backrow fighter may be further augmented with a kit such as the archer kit from the Complete Book of Elves. The point blank range rules (for specialists) should not be overlooked should the backrow fighter find himself (herself) in close proximity to hostile forces. Another option would be to have a staff-sling specialist. The ROF is 5/2. The weapon would get a strength bonus to damage. With sling bullets doing 2-5 plus strength bonus, the damage from 5 attacks every 2 rounds would start to add up fairly quickly. While the backrow fighter is providing a withering fire from his longbow or sling...
Front row thief: Front row thieves are also useful as scouts in that the thief can be checking for traps in the lead and not instantly be in dire peril if monsters jump out. A front row thief needs a high strength, dexterity, and constitution. Dwarves are good candidates due to the giant class bonus. If kits are used, one of the more brawling-intensive kits that gets to use any weapon should be selected. Per the Complete Fighters Handbook (PHBR1) the character could take two-weapon style, and long sword proficiency. This would let the character dual wield two long swords with a -0/-2 to his attacks (instead of -2/-4). If the character was an elf he would receive a bonus to using the long sword that would make the attack +1/-1
There a lots of possibilities for atypical characters in 1e/2e. More ideas in another post.
Review: The Castle Guide (DMGR2) Published in 1990. Written by Grant Boucher, Troy Christiansen, Arthur Collins, Nigel Findley, Timothy Brown, and William Connors.
D&D is generally set in a fantasy medieval world full of castles. Generally the rules describe higher level characters eventually owning castles. DMGR2 is the 2nd edition look at castles and player ownership of them.
Meshing a historical concept with a fantasy world has not proven to be an easy task. Given the availability of magic, there are several real world logistical problems and weaknesses of a castle that can be solved with low level spells (magical aid to construction and creation of food and water to protect against starvation in a siege, to give just two examples). Intelligent use of spellcasters in construction would greatly reduce costs and vulnerabilities of the castle. DMGR2 gives a cursory treatment to magic but generally does not adequately cover the subject of the application of magic to castles.
DMGR2 provides a historical overview of castles that is a bit lacking. It compresses too many details. As a work of history, it is not very good. The material could have been better presented. As a starter to get the DM thinking about the legalities of owning a castle, the material is probably adequate for most campaigns.
Missing from the book is a whole chapter on the application of magic and fantasy to castles. There are hints and acknowledgements here and there in DMGR2 but more comprehensive coverage is needed.
Conclusion: A good starting point for campaigns that are serious about castle building and siege warfare but the lack of discussion of the impact of magic/fantasy on a castle is a major drawback. 2 out of 5 stars.
I have added some pages to this website with some commentary about some of the different published campaign worlds (Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Dragonlance, etc.) Right now the commentary is fairly brief. I will be adding commentary and pages over time.
Generally speaking, what makes a D&D supplement not very useful is when it is too vague. This vagueness comes in a lack of detail or an amount of detail that leaves the player or DM saying: "I could have made that up, why did I spend my money on this"
If good and useful supplements deliver (1) adventure ideas (2) roleplaying ideas (3) new rules (4) get your imagination going
Not so useful supplements are missing some or all of these elements.
Another dimension of usefulness is how specialized the supplement is. Obviously if you always play rogue characters, a book about paladins will be less useful. Similarly if the campaign involves mostly standard dungeon crawls and the supplement is about a place lacking in dungeons to crawl in, that supplement will also be less useful. In this regard, the gazetteers are mixed. The following are fairly conventional and will accommodate a standard adventuring party with little difficulty:
Karameikos, Ierendi, Northern Reaches, Minrothrad, Darokin
The following are written for culture or race specific adventuring but can still accommodate outsiders who are visiting fairly easily:
Ylaruam, Alfheim, Rockhome, Five Shires
The following are written for culture or race specific adventuring and some or all members of a standard party will run into difficulty:
Glantri, Thar, Ethengar, Shadow Elves, Atruaghin
The biggest problem that hurts a supplement (any edition) is vagueness. The language fills up space but does not really convey any information.
The website dndclassics.com has the Temple of Elemental Evil (1e) available as a free pdf download until the 28th of September.
ToEE is a highly recommended superdungeon that takes the characters from 1st through 8th level.
The most useful information that is found in some but not all gazetteers are the following:
1. Adventure ideas
2. Campaign ideas
3. Interesting character variations
4. Workable background information
5. Politics and Rivalries
Adventure ideas: Many DMs can come up with fairly good adventure ideas on his or her own. When purchasing a product like a gazetteer most DMs are interested in time-saving opportunities. Solid adventure ideas with a workable framework are very useful. These adventures should also be distinct as to setting. Adventures that are too generic are not as good.
Campaign ideas: Similarly ideas for how a gazetteer can be used for an extended series of adventures is very useful. It saves time and makes it easier to build a storyline. Again these campaigns should be distinct to the particular gazetteer. A campaign in "The Five Shires" should be different than one in "The Emirates of Ylaruam".
Interesting Character Variations: Optional rules for the players are almost always interesting. This most often is variations on character classes or new abilities or new spells.
Workable background information: Background information about the economy, history, and culture (etc) of the gazetteer should be broad enough to allow some tinkering. It should not be too broad so as to be too generic. In other words there should be good "out-of-the-box" functionality but it also should be options for "customization".
Politics and Rivalries: Well-done political intrigue always makes for better reading. Good politics and rivalries also make for interesting adventures as the characters work with or against various factions.
The best gazetteers offer adventures and campaigns based on both political intrigue and interesting locations within the gazetteer.
Review: The Dwarves of Rockhome by Aaron Allston published in 1988.
The Dwarves of Rockhome describes a land mostly inhabited by dwarves in the Known D&D World/Mystara setting. I think that if you are interested in playing a particular race, such as a dwarf in third edition, it is useful to have other supplements from earlier editions for inspiration. Similarly other supplements can provide inspiration for creating a kingdom of dwarves. Rockhome is highly recommended for players who like dwarven characters and DMs looking for ideas about dwarves. Of course it is also recommended for Mystara collectors.
Rockhome provides alternate rules for dwarven-clerics. These are very similar to the elven fighter/wizard model from BECMI except that it features clerical spells instead of wizard ones. There are also new rules for high level dwarves to craft magical armor and weapons.
Like the other excellent gazetteers, Rockhome provides a good outline of the history, geography, culture, politics, and general background for using Rockhome as an adventure setting. There is also a section on dwarven cities. It is similar to the treatment of dwarven cities in the Krynn modules based on the Chronicles trilogy. The section on cities is still a useful resource.
There is a discussion of dwarven technology and the DM is given the option of using it in a serious or comedic fashion.
Of course there are also sections on NPCs, monsters, campaigning in Rockhome, and adventure ideas.
All in all an excellent product. Highly recommended. 4 out of 5 stars.
Review. The Five Shires (Gaz 8) by Ed Greenwood. Published in 1988.
The Five Shires greatly expands on Halfling characters in Mystara. Normal D&D Halflings are a lot like hobbits from Tolkien's Middle Earth. Hobbits live in The Shire. (Not to be confused with The Five Shires)
BECMI Halflings are both a race and a class. Halflings are similar to thieves but have more hp (d6 instead of d4 per level) Halflings also have really good saving throws. Halflings have a favorable experience table. Halflings are level-limited to 8th level.
The player's booklet gives players an overview of life in the Five Shires. It provides new rules for a defensive special ability used only in the Five Shires to help others. It has a point system that rewards good deeds. Doing good deeds is necessary to advance in Five Shires society and government. It also expands on the story-telling rules from Gaz. 2 and provides rules for Halfling Masters who have druid spells starting at 8th level.
The DM's booklet details the history, geography, military, diplomacy, sacred relic, key NPCs, Halfling pirates, more about the geography, running adventures in the Five Shires, several adventure ideas, and new monsters.
The Five Shires greatly expands on the sacred relic rules for Halflings from the Companion Rules. The sacred Halfling relic is the "blackflame".
Ed Greenwood does a good job of making Halflings more interesting. The outline that he sketches of the Five Shires gives DMs looking to run a campaign in said location a lot to work with. Greenwood also does a good job of meshing the location with classic D&D plotlines and story ideas. He describes several interesting villages and works possible adventure ideas into the description. There are also several outlines of adventures for characters of various levels.
Places like Tolkien's Shire are a staple of many campaign settings. Those looking to create his or her own "shire" will find lots of inspiration and ideas in The Five Shires. Highly recommended for Halfling themed campaigns. 4 out of 5 stars.
Here are 10 dangerous monsters found in the 1983 version of Monster Manual 2. (not considering dragons, giants, undead, outer planar creatures)
Choke Creeper: (high hp, strangulation attack)
Death Watch Beetle: (high hp, save or die attack)
Executioner's Hood: (hard to hit, strangulation attack)
Froghemoth: (high hp, swallow attack)
Hangman Tree: (very high hp often over 500, swallow attack)
Stegocentipede: (high hp, much better AC, poison)
Tunnel Worm: (destroy armor, high hp, high damage)
Wolf-in-sheep's clothing: (high hp, hard-to-kill)
Zorbo: (armor absorbing cave bear)
A "killer" dungeon is one that is written with the goal in mind of being difficult for characters to survive. Characters that make bad decisions or do not cooperate well, are particularly vulnerable to such dungeons. Killer dungeons are often a combination of powerful monsters, dangerous obstacles and deadly traps. Killer dungeons can be published or unpublished. Better killer dungeons reward good decision-makers and do not rely too heavily on the "save or die" saving throw rules from earlier editions of Dungeons and Dragons.
How to survive (win) a "killer" dungeon:
- If the dungeon does not have a time limit, take your time and move cautiously
- If there is no time limit, resting after every fight if possible to make sure that your group is at full strength, can be very useful
- If there is a time limit, move quickly and decisively
- Beware of dead ends
- A little paranoia goes a long way
- 85% of the encounters are logical. 15% are surprises that even the best-prepared party will have trouble with
- As long as you pay attention and think clearly, logical encounters will not be extra difficult.
- High locations (particularly those without safety railings) and water locations are inherently dangerous
- Teamwork is important. Characters should work together well and protect each other.
- Have a strategy for retreating that can be employed when most characters are still standing. Most of the party is in big trouble in a disorganized retreat
- Having pre-determined strategies to use for particular kinds of battles can help with coordination and teamwork
- Scrolls with restorative spells and healing potions are a must
- Although First Edition modules in particular have a reputation for being the sort where everything in sight is to be killed, most intelligent monsters are willing to parley or are open to bribery in exchange for temporary safe passage. Sometimes paying off the bridge troll is the smart move rather than using up your strength and spells on a non-essential opponent.
More advice in a subsequent post...
