Night Howlers

Review:  Night Howlers.  (PC4) By Ann Dupuis.  Published in 1992.

Night Howlers is the fourth and final installment in the Creature Crucible series.  It is about playing were-creatures in the Mystara (Known D&D World) setting.  It provides a location for the adventures (part of a principality in Glantri) but has suggestions for adventures in other locations.

From a construction standpoint.  It is a very solid, well-written product.  It provides rules mechanics and story ideas.  It has suggestions for different kinds of were-creature campaigns from ones that are like Ravenloft to ones that are far sillier.

I am not sure how sustainable a were-creature campaign is but it probably would make for interesting change of pace.  If you are looking to run a D&D werewolves-as-players campaign, this would be an excellent resource.

4 out of 5 stars

Dragonlance alignments

The other night, one of my gaming groups got into a brief discussion of evil in Krynn.  Here is a look at some of the evil alignments of main evil characters in Krynn.

 

LAWFUL EVIL

 

Toede

Gildentongue

Kitiara

Verminaard

Ariakus

 

CHAOTIC EVIL

 

Lord Soth (how he became evil is clearly not a lawful act- but for most of the Chronicles trilogy, he seems fairly obedient- I think he is a little more chaotic in the Legends trilogy.  Chaotic Evil obey those stronger than them if it is expedient to do so.)

Fistandantilus

Raistlin (listed as Neutral as a player character- obviously he was neutral at one point)

Dalamar

 

 

Continuity is surprisingly difficult for settings that are published in such piecemeal fashion.  There are lots of opportunities for errors.  Sure enough-

 

Tales of the Lance lists Fistandantilus as Neutral Evil.  I think perpetually trying to steal the souls of young male apprentices is more a Chaotic Evil act than a Neutral Evil one.  Although Neutral Evil's description is not contrary to Fistandantilus's behavior ("greed").  Chaotic Evil is a better description "the strong have the right to take what they want, and the weak are there to be exploited".  (In fairness it should be noted that Tales of the Lance does claim to be authoritative and overruling previous works.)

D&D related music

One of the best composers for D&D and D&D-like computer games is Jeremy Soule.  If you are looking for a good soundtrack to listen to while preparing for a D&D session.  I recommend listening to Jeremy Soule.  He composed the Oblivion and Icewind Dale soundtracks just to name two of his works.  See his website "DirectSong" for some of his work.  (Some of his compositions are available on iTunes)

https://www.directsong.com/mobile/index.php?pageNum_menuRS=0&totalRows_menuRS=15&menuid=4

Green slime

Another nasty monster frequently found in classic high level modules is green slime.  Green slime is tough because it is a rule-breaking monster.  It has an attack that bypasses hit points.  After too much exposure to green slime, the character is dead- turned into slime.  There is no saving throw involved.  This makes a 20th level character as vulnerable to a slime as a 1st level character.  Depending n your philosophy of how difficulty should or should not scale in Dungeons and Dragons, this is either a really good thing or a really bad thing.  Obviously this transmutation is a powerful attack, coupled with the fact that green slime is easy to conceal, a character could stumble onto it with little warning.  Green slime are also difficult to kill given the high risk of fighting them.

I suppose that the difficulty of green slime is mitigated somewhat by the use of intelligent tactics in areas where slime is thought to exist.  One tactic would be to blast suspected areas with heat or cold before venturing too close to them.  Another would be to summon a monster or animal and send the summoned creature into the space and see if it gets slimed.  There are alignment issues with this cannon fodder tactic.

Green slime are dangerous monsters and explorers should tread carefully...

The Power of Efreet

One thing I have noticed is that many old modules with only access to the original Monster Manual as an official source of monsters, use efreet as high-level monsters.  I took a look at efreet to see what makes them so powerful:

They can basically give themselves the ability to do potentially close to 50 hp of damage per round and take their armor class down by 6 points and make themselves difficult to target by spells.  These abilities give a single efreet the potential to eliminate multiple characters in a matter of rounds.  Efreet probably have at least 50 hp and are going to be tough foes in combat.

Fighting an efreet is a risky proposition.

Superdungeon: Tomb of Horrors

Review:  Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax published in 1981.

The Tomb of Horrors is a killer-dungeon that is far more likely to kill the whole party than for the party to be successful.  There are more traps than locations in the dungeon.  Probably about a third of these traps are lethal if not dealt with correctly.

On the one hand, some of the traps are a bit mean/cruel/borderline unfair on the other hand, what do you expect searching the tomb of a demi-lich?

It will probably take several hours and multiple sessions for a group to get through the Tomb successfully because of how much careful, cautious, and thoughtful exploration is needed.

Ranked as the 3rd best module of all time by Dungeon magazine in 2004, it is an adventure that every first edition D&D group should attempt at least once.

5 out of 5 stars.

I need healing! Cleric! (Not really)

I recently failed my dexterity check, and my saving throw, and got critically hit by a door.  The result has been a concussion.  It has slowed me down and has slowed down my posts.  I hope to get more up soon.

-Fantasy World Explorer

Review: Birthright Campaign Setting

Published in 1995.  Written by Colin McComb and Rich Baker with help from several other TSR employees.  Birthright is one of my favorite settings.  It has a lot of good ideas but the execution of those ideas does not always work well.

Birthright includes the rules and a setting for running characters as rulers of the realm.  There are four types of holdings that correspond to each of the four major classes.  One party can control one realm or each character can control his or her own realm.  Also included are rules for warfare and the economic simulation to run such realms.

Rather than starting with rules such as BECMI's Companion Set or the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, new rules are made from scratch.  The economics of running a realm are complicated and the rules are faced with avoiding the problems that the characters have too much or not enough money.

I wish that TSR had released a generic supplement first that had the core rules really solid with one sample realm with a only 2 or 3 neighbors.  Then in the first supplement the sample realm and neighbors are located on the setting world which focuses on atmosphere.  By combining the setting and rules into one boxed set, the end result is not enough detail for either one. 

If a separate rulebook had been released first, the rules could have had the rules option for rich, average and stingy economies.  This would have been nice because many of the sample realms in the TSR-designed world of Cerelia have hopelessly flawed economies that do not work the way that they are described.  These countries lose money every turn and have no way to prevent such loss until bankruptcy and anarchy occur.

Conclusion:  Birthright has lots of potential and I am sure that the market is still there for a successful kingdom simulator in D&D.  Get Birthright but be prepared to have to adjust the rules to make it work.

2 out of 5 stars.  Lots of great ideas hurt by terrible game mechanics that do not work.

Real World Inspiration for Dungeons

From time to time, Dragon magazine would feature articles about real world locations as inspirations for dungeons.  See for example issue #201 which included an article by Allen Varney ("Turkey's Underground Cities") about his trip to the cave cities of Turkey and some ideas for gleaning inspiration from that sort of setting.

I think that real world dungeons can be a good source of inspiration.  I would recommend visiting cave tours or historic mines in your area (or similar sites).  These trips can provide insight into how underground environments work.

Similarly if you have the chance to tour a historic castle or two, these can also provide insight and inspiration for dungeons in these cornerstone fantasy structures.

Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue

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

Front row wizards in 1e/2e it can be done

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.

Of Dice and Men

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.

Back row fighters and front row thieves for 1e/2e

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.

Castle Guide lacks discussion of the impact of magic on castles

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.

World pages

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. 

What makes a supplement not very useful

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.

Free ToEE at dndclassics.com

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. 

Most useful information found in Mystara/Known D&D World Gazetteers

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.

Gaz. 6 The Dwarves of Rockhome. An excellent example of a dwarven kingdom

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.

Gaz 8. The Five Shires. Gateway to the Halflings

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.