House of the Worm Part 1

Hey ya, (faint echoes from an empty chamber...) ;-)

I had mentioned earlier that I had run a game of Microlite20 during a fest, and that I was going to post the recap of the session. Well here's part 1. Enjoy:

Players / PCs:

Ben - Human Rogue (Atadus "The Salesman")

Chris - 1/2 Elf Ranger (Duncan Sabastian McLoud..(NO that's not a misspelling of McLeod))

Ed - Lizardman Fighter (Sleeeestak)

Ray - Drow Paladin (Zenin)

DM: Jeff

A bright Fall day dawns clear and crisp upon the small town of Botkinburg. Located on the far eastern borders of the Great Kingdom, the town embraces some of the less savory citizens that the kingdom has to offer. It is as far as an individual might get from the law, and yet still be in "civilized" lands... For not far to the east, in fact just across the Hruesen river, lies the Wilderness. And everyone knows that the Wilderness holds only death and danger.

It is this fact that draws the four adventurers to the small town, for it is well known among that particular sect that danger usually equates to money and glory. The Bent Hook is the only tavern in town, better known as "Ortloff's House of Sludge" (for the thick beer brewed in the basement), it provides a warm place to sleep and incidentally, also some valuable information. Apparently many years ago there was another group of adventurers that had tested the Wilderness to the east, and it was here, the Bent Hook, that they utilized as their base between forays. Unfortunately about 10 years ago there was a fire that burnt The Bent Hook to the ground and killed a few of the adventurers. The catastrophe caused the group to disband...An adventuring party hasn't been seen in Botkinburg since.

A back room of the tavern was where they met, planned and drew what they new of the Wilderness on the wall with whatever was handy. Often as not it was a knife or some charcoal from the fireplace used to indelibly mark their progress. Over time a map emerged. It was not particularly accurate but it was a log of where the adventurers had been, the things they had seen and those area that had as yet to be conquered. This wall became famous amongst the patrons at the House of Sludge, it gave the common man a view into the danger that lies only a short distance beyond their dusty doorsteps.

Fast forward a decade and the only remaining part of the famous wall is a section that Ortloff found amongst the ashes after the fire that destroyed his establishment. This small surviving piece of wall seemed to detail an area called Pike Hollow, somewhere off to the north east of Botkinburg...Maybe a day or so of marching through tangled woods, sloping hills and sharp ravines. In the Hollow though lies a hill, and upon that hill lies the House of the Worm. According to the small section of map, it had never truly been explored, but only just "stumbled" upon. And engraved in the wood next to the map itself was a poem of sorts, some if it burnt and obscured by the fire:

"Below the ground, where pale worms crawl,

lies darkness vast, so cold, and deep.

Lord Ramm holds court at the end of the fall,

and there lies the tool, the treasure we seek.

His mind has sipped chaos at the edges of space,

appease his longing with artifice, lor... (burnt)

... (burnt)... of sanguine will slake."

Ortloff takes the group outside and points off into the hazy distance, "That's 'bout where Pike Holler lies...least ways, that's what them that's been there's told me. You git across that river by way of the Troll Bridge." Each of the adventurers look at one another, "Troll Bridge or Toll Bridge?" 

Ortloff scratches his head, nods and says, "Yeah, that's what I said." 

Meanwhile, Duncan takes careful note and memorizes the landscape as reference in preparation for the march through the dark trees.

A few preparations take all of an hour and the doughty band of explorers are off, heading down the bank of the mighty Hruesen river in search of this "Toll / Troll" bridge. Warm and crisp fall weather accompanies the group on their journey to the bridge, but the landscape changes quite drastically. It's more than obvious that the town's folk do not venture this way, for the banks are overgrown with thick vegetation and there's nary a trail to be seen.

Not long after their departure though the group happens across an old, weathered, stone bridge spanning the Hruesen. This must be it. Sitting in the middle of nowhere this obviously dwarven structure has no roads leading to it nor is anything evident upon the opposite shore. Old Spanish moss hangs under the bridge, slowly dragging it's hoary fingers idly in the water and lichens cover nearly every other weather worn surface. Nonetheless, it looks structurally sound.

Atadus approaches from the side, under cover of the foliage, while using the susurrus of the Hruesen to mask the sound of his approach. The contrast between the shadows and the bright sun makes peering under the bridge difficult, and therefore the thief is taking his time. Zenin is not of the mind to "wait", and he proceeds to stomp across the bridge, throwing caution (and prudence?) to the wind. Sleeestack joins the dark elf, and the noise of metal clad boots on stone reverberates up and down the river.

A dark shape, detaches itself from under the bridge like a bloated bi-pedal spider and clambers up from the dark. "Who walks upon my bridge?" rumbles forth from the creature as it makes its way up. Zenin answers with a query of his own, "Who wants to know?". As the creature finally makes its way to the top of the bridge and stands up, it's full size can be seen. Standing between 7 to 8 feet tall, the hunched grey-skinned brute's hands swing below its knees and nearly drag on the stone of the bridge. Beetling eyes stare from beneath huge brow ridges set in a craggy face appearing to have been carved from primordial stone.

"I want to know....I am the keeper of this bridge. And to use it you must pay." rasps the monstrosity. Zenin asks what the toll might consist of. Goats, replies the guardian. "Well, we're fresh out. I think we'll just pass instead." quips the dark elf paladin as he attempts to nimbly step past the brute.

"No, you NOT pass!" roars the creature as it takes a double armed swipe. Battle is joined, and as hoary as this monstrosity seems, it is no match for the combined might of the adventurers. Sleeeestack's enchanted sword proves to come in handy, as part way into the combat the creature slams its palms down onto the stony surface of the bridge and quickly regenerates all of its wounds minus those made from the lizardman barbarian's blade.

Soon enough the wounds are too much to overcome, and the behemoth topples over. As it's massive body strikes the bridge a resounding "CRACK" splits the air and dust rises from the ancient structure as it starts to shake in its foundations. Seems that the guardian was connected to the bridge in more ways than one.

Atadus, ever the conscientious adventurer quickly grabs a rope from his pack, ties it about his waste and hand the bitter end to his Lizardman companion. With a shout he runs across the shaking bridge, plants a foot and swings over the side, using the rope as a lever...and up underneath near the large central pillar. Quickly surveying the situation through choking dust and falling stone, the thief spies a cleft in the pillar with a small black box firmly ensconced. He nabs it and swings back out. Just as the far end of the bridge on the Botkinburg side collapses with a groan and a splash.

The small worn box is dealt with quickly and opens to reveal 40 or so grey coins. They are obviously quite old, as the face of each is stamped with a frightful lizardlike countenance of a long forgotten king of the Lizard Empire. It is not recognizable by any of the adventurers so they divide them up and pocket their just rewards. Wounds are cleaned, a little food is broken out and thirsts slaked, and afterwards the journey towards the House of the Worm is continued.

The foliage becomes thicker and the travel that much more difficult. Duncan takes his bearings many times, and the party is thankful for that as they make their way through tangles of scrub oak and tight underbrush. As the day passes its zenith Duncan raises his hand as he hears a noise up ahead...

Again, Zenin seems to care naught for subterfuge nor the party's safety as he continues on his noisy way. Sleeeestack shrugs his massive shoulders, and again, follows the paladin's lead. Atadus and Duncan, on the other hand, figure that this is the perfect time for prudence as they disappear quietly into the surrounding brush.

Stepping out of the forest not far ahead comes a group of men...if they can be called that. Rumors and children's ryhmes have hinted at these proto-humans for decades. From the mist shrouded past, these creatures appear man-like but yet again, not like "modern" man. They have jutting brow ridges, thicker jaws and are stoutly built, not to mention the primitive skins they're clothed in and the stone tipped weapons they carry... These are most certainly "cave men".

A brutish character steps to the fore, he raises his hands in the air and stands still, appraising the newcomers. The only sound is the creak of Duncan's bowstring.

No one makes a move as each side sizes up the other. There seem to be nearly a dozen of these cave men and they are obviously on some type of hunting expedition, as small capons and birds hang from crude rawhide belts alongside leathern sacks and other stone trinkets of lesser known use.

Surprisingly, the apparent leader steps forward, hands still raised in the air, and in halting common asks where the characters are bound to. They mention that they are going to slay evil. The leader of the cavemen shakes his head in confusion, but at the same time seems to take particular notice of the metal weapons that the dark elf and lizardman are wielding. He takes another few steps forward and slaps his hand on an obsidian axe, while still looking longingly at the metal weapons. "Strong...to kill. Good. Last long and long." he says, and he points to the weapons.

On a hunch Zenin pulls one of the platinum coins from the bridge out of his pouch and shows it to the leader. Looking over his shoulder at his wary men, the proto-man approaches and reaches out for the coin. He looks at it with amazement and then bites it, apparently satisfied he puts it in a sack at his waist and fishes around in it for a second. He draws forth 5 small, smooth, black stones. "Fire god live here", he says as he points to the stones, and then he drops them in Zenin's palm. They're immediately warm...warmer than they should be.

Looking closely, Zenin sees a dim red glow at the stone's heart. Their use is determined soon enough...

With a nod of his shaggy head, the leader turns and strides off into the thick woods. His hunters, following in a loose band, disappear with him, like wisps of smoke on the wind. After some dead reckoning by the ranger, the group decides that they're moving in generally the correct direction as they move off through trees.

Time passes and the terrain becomes more ruggedly hilled, with small gullies and ravines appearing, making travel that much more difficult. Eventually, towards evening, a hill is crested and off in the distance the ruins of a tumbled tower are sighted. At last, the House of the Worm.

A few thoughts on differences

"In many ways the steady march away from original D&D has been a sustained effort to remove the effects of a bad GM on the game." - Quote from SquareMans blog

I was reading a few of my "breakfast blogs" while partaking in my brisky mornin munchin (I don't really "like" Gungans btw), and noticed this quote on SquareMans blog. For some reason, maybe it was the right time in the right place, it resonated with me.

I've had the discussion with a buddy of mine about why Dungeons and Dragons has evolved in the way that it has. We're were both pretty sure that it has to do with a couple of things:

1. Remove the Bad GM (as per SquareMans) from the equation.
   
2. Something to do with Gary Gygax (RIP) and his view of how people were playing the game.
   
3. Allow people to gather at conventions and be able to play w/out sitting around a table for 3 hours trying to figure out a standardized set of "house rules".

Now I'm not claiming that I know it all. In fact, quite the opposite. I don't claim to know diddly really. I've got a fair amount of years under my belt in terms of playing the game.... but that hardly qualifies me as any sort of an expert. But, like everyone else, I've got an opinion and lordy lou...lookee here, we have a medium for me to espouse that opinion.

If I were to add to SquareMan's quote up above I'd say that in so doing, the game has actually deprecated the DM. What I mean is that the rules have become so encompassing in their attempt at standardization and the "fair" game, that they've relegated the DM to the role of adjudicator and story teller.

Some of you may say, hey, that doesn't sound so bad. But when I say "story teller" I'm also saying that if you laid out a module in front of the group and said "read the text box, nothing else", AND you had a rules lawyer in the group, you could do away with the DM completely. This is a strong statement... I know. But if you think about it, you'll see that there might be a kernel of truth in what I say.

Let's take a modern day game (4E for argument's sake) as an example, it runs very much like a war game. You have "figures" that move in squares. They have powers that they can utilize on a time-managed scale. (Sort of like you could "force march" your troops only so many times / game.) Now take a recent WotC released module. It has everything you need as a DM stated right there. You read out of the boxes (if you like, you're never forced of course) and utilize the monsters given.

A nice neat plot path dictates how things will play out in their entirety. Now obviously things don't always go as planned...but the skeleton, musculature and nervous system have been laid our for you. The players add the skin. Viola, you've got a game!

In the above scenario, given honest gamers, you could lay the module out in front of them and tell them to only read the boxed sections. When they need the monsters they could read all they need from either the core books or the module itself and play against them.

Example (most of this is made up...I don't have a 4e PHB in front of me):

• Player - "I shift one square and use my daily, 'Positioning Strike' power." clickety clickety roll... Success! Orc takes 2W+Dex and player can move adversary's mini 2 squares in any direction.
  
• Orc - (stats and powers listed for player to look at.) Takes a "move action" to reposition and uses its "Octopus from Above" encounter power...clickety clicket...die is rolled. Success! Player takes 2w and is now considered grappled.
  
• Player 2 - Rinse Repeat

This is obviously a very "dry" example. But the current game doesn't scream for colorful descriptions...It's all about powers, combinations and tactical movement. This honestly  doesn't require a DM IMHO.

When I was young I used to play Squad Leader a LOT. I often played it solo though... I couldn't find many people interested in playing a game with me. This was a wonderful way to learn strategy and how you could use the rules to win.... Hint, hint.

What ever happened to, "I kick the table over, put a shoulder to it and push it into the orcs coming through the door"? These types of things take a DM to adjudicate. It's a free form style that can't be defined by rules. In 4E I'm consumed with staring at my sheet and powers and trying to figure out what might be the best tactical solution to the current situation. D R Y.

I'm not complaining really. I like 4E for what it is. But it is NOT in any way related to Dungeons and Dragons of yesteryear. Not one bit.

Reminiscing

This is a game blog. Mostly about RPGs, fantasy role playing in particular. Dungeons and Dragons, Microlite20, and Castles and Crusades are all my flavors of the day. I like all of them for different reasons.

Dungeons and Dragons 4e: I like it because that's what the group plays. In my experience, it's a good game for a few short sessions. It's fun in a miniatures, wargamey kind of way.

Microlite20: Is tons of fun for an old school, rules (very) lite style game. I've only played it for a short while, so my perspective might be a bit skewed. But man, I had an assload of fun running it!

Castles and Crusades: This was the game that I stumbled upon, and eventually chose, after my disassociation with Dungeons and Dragons when WotC announced the release of 4e. It's a great game, but you know what? I almost think that microlite20 could conceivably take its place. I'm weighing the options.

I digress. This isn't about what system I'm into playing at the moment, but rather this post was spurred by a dragon's foot post about the "first game" you played in. I think I've written about how I started, about Jim and his Napoleonics games and his love affair with everything Tolkein.

But my first game... What was that like? I remember the guys: Fish (our DM), Dave, Wayne, Shawn and myself had all gathered around Fish's kitchen table. I had been introduced to the rules (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook) by way of Fish handing it to me in the Jr. High (I was 13) gymnasium and saying "Here are the rules. Read em."

Now pause for a moment and imagine that. Someone handing you a book like the old PHB with the only explanation being that it's a game about Elves, Dwarfs and Orcs. He told me that the first few chapters were all I needed to read. First few CHAPTERS?!?

I'd been a war game buff for quite a few years at this point, and therefore was no stranger to rule sets that needed a few readings for clarity's sake. I dug into the PHB with relish when I got home that night. I loved parts...and I hated others. I was stunned at the difficulty. The book was pages upon pages of small print. Yeah there were really cool pictures in there too, and that helped motivate me somewhat.

I spent a few days with that book and read the first few chapters, as I was told, and then skimmed the rest. Confusion reigned. I was so completely lost that I thought I'd never ever understand the game. But I went to the first session anyway.

And had an absolute blast. I rolled up a magic user. We used the old 3d6 in order method and I apparently had a high intelligence. I don't remember his name. I don't remember much about him at all, other than he had magic missile and a dagger.

Fish (if I remember correctly) was either using Quasquetron, or that dungeon out of the back of the Holmes rules. He'd expanded upon it quite a bit using graph paper and I think he had numerous levels. The structure was totally cool, it was a maze of rooms and passages, some worked, some natural.

And at the end of one of the levels? A room with a hydra and a secret door, behind which was a staircase leading down to the next level! Oh man...that was seriously the coolest thing in the world to me at that time. I mean, a hydra! Whoa. And it was quite obviously guarding something REALLY amazing.

One thing I'd forgot to mention, I was late to the party. What I mean is, the other guys had been playing for a little while before I joined, they had a few sessions (at least) under their belts and had a slight inkling of what was to go on. I on the other hand, was clueless.

I remember that the most confusing thing for me was initiative. When Fish told us to roll for initiative Shawn picked up a d6 and rolled. I remember being completely baffled at the outcome. We rolled high, we won. But what did we win? It took me some time to come to grips with that concept.

I fell in absolute love with the game though. I was an instant convert. I adored JRR's works and I voraciously played war games when I could. You might say that I was the perfect target market. A 13 yr old boy, from a small cow town, surrounded by brainiacs of like mind, who all LOVED the genre and had VERY fertile imaginations. (Fish ended up getting a doctorate in lasers. Dave an engineering degree then an MBA...and the list goes on. Very very smart folks taught me the game.)

So what happened? I don't remember the specifics. I think we fought some orcs. I zapped one and fought off a few with my dagger. Shawn played a 1/2 orc fighter with an 18/00 strength, he was the rock star of the party, dealing out killing blows left and right. I was back row fodder. I honestly don't remember what Dave and Wayne played.

In the end though I got munched by a giant ant. It must have been either the first or second session. I know it was early on. But holy hannah, what a blast. I rolled up a ranger for my next character and named him Sparrow Hawk. (Can you guess what I was reading at the time?) I kept that character alive somehow and played him all the way through Jr. High school, through High School and on into University. I eventually retired him at 16th level,  but did I ever get some serious mileage out of that guy. I still have that character downstairs in a folder.

It all started way back in '77. To think, I've been playing this game for 31 years, and I don't see any sign of stopping anywhere in the near future...I'm now teaching my daughters. ;-)

Game on.

Fest report

Well, the fest happened last weekend and even though we were missing a few folks, it went off without a hitch. I think that I had mentioned in my previous post that our regular DM had to bail at the last moment due to work conflicts. Bummer...

So we had to make due. And make due we did. ;-)

We ended up playing a game of Settlers of Catan on Friday night. It was good fun and Ben won, apropos since it was his "going away" party in the first place. Lots of beer was consumed and we all had a great time. I'd never played the game actually, and I have to say that it was really a cool experience. There's a LOT more strategy involved than I had initially thought.

Saturday dawned bright and early...and we started gaming around noon. Chris ended up sleeping late, as was his due.

We started in on a game of Microlite20 that I had prepared for. I had created a small folder for each of the players that contained rules and a couple of character sheets. The aim was to let the guys experience a rules-lite old school-type game. I don't think that there was anyone in that room that had ever played an edition of Dungeons and Dragons earlier than 2nd edition. This was their introduction to a type of gaming that has sadly gone the way of the dodo.

Rolling up characters took us all of about 20 to 30 minutes, including explaining some of the quirkier parts of the rules. After we had finished with that I placed them in a tavern (of course) and told them about a place called 'The House of the Worm" that was located to the northeast, in a place called "Pike Hollow". (Yes, I borrowed freely from a few sources...to be sure.)

The game played quite smoothly and there were very very few pauses for rules adjudication. I was pleased. Most of the game-play revolved around a more free-form style which was new to most of the guys. They are all experienced role players though and picked up on the spirit of the game and had a bunch of fun.

I won't go into detail about the game itself other than to say that I had a complete BLAST running the game. It was so ad-lib and free flowing that I was ecstatic. I tried very hard for a swords and sorcery appeal, something that just dripped old school flavor. I think I succeeded, the guys all raved about the game when we broke for dinner.

Unfortunately we didn't continue, but instead decided to give one of the other guys a chance at running Star Wars. Which was fun.... But a little more "involved" than the microlite20 game.

It was funny, as I started rolling up and creating my Star Wars character I was immediately lamenting the heavy-handed approach to running a game. And Star Wars isn't all that rules intensive compared to other systems. Still, it was a HUGE difference from microlite20.

The guy running the game, while good at making stuff up on the fly, was definitely into the rules and a little less into the "game" and flavor. I'm not complaining, I had fun, I'm just making an observation.

I'd like to run another game of microlite20. I'm not sure that it will ever happen though...sadly the guys I play with are REALLY into the WotC thing right now. "Sigh", what's a guy to do? The upside though is that I finally got to play a rules-lite, old school session with some grown ups AND one of the guys playing totally dug the game and setting and was talking about trying to run a sandbox game with me sometime in the future. Yeah!

A short one shot

So it's "fest" time. A buddy of mine that I regularly game with is heading to Japan in November and we're trying to give him a send off. Truth be told, he's a great guy and it's a shame to see him leave. But hey, real life. We all know something about that.

A "fest"? you ask... Yes, this is an extended gaming experience. We started it in University. Actually that's not completely true. When I was playing way back in Jr. high and High school we used to have sleep overs and play nearly all night, wake up the next day and play some more.

In University though we'd officially named it "fest". We'd gather a great big group of guys together (sometimes up to a dozen) and play all Friday night into Saturday, take a small break and play into Sunday. Then we'd pass out. Ohmanohmanohman...It was BIG fun. I was young, had the time and energy and we ALL had the passion. This was back in the 80's.

Now I'm older, have a family, commitments and all sorts of other things. Truth be told, my old group (most of the guys I'd gamed with in University) continued on with this crazy tradition for quite some time. But it's been years since that group has done this. It's a shame really.

But I have been gaming with another group of guys in the last few years and we've actually revived the tradition. So I'm back in the saddle per-se. 

The coming weekend is a fest. It's Ben's send off party. We'll be converging on a friend's house up in the mountains (neutral ground works well for these events, no interruptions.) and bringing lots of food, beer, games and just general good will. Our game of choice is going to be the current campaign we're playing in; A 4E game. We're all having fun in it even though it wouldn't be my rule set of choice. (But that's fodder for another post.)

Years ago we used to set up the fest as either an introduction or finale to a campaign. OR we'd create power monger characters for a one-shot. Big fun... But not this time, we'll be continuing in a campaign we've been playing in for the last few months. It's all good. It's a send-off so it'll be fun no matter what we do.

On to the title of this blog, "A short one shot". As mentioned above, we have a fairly large group of guys descending on a remote location in the mountains in order to play a game over a weekend. We'll be gaming from Friday night through Sunday afternoon. One of the logistical issues with something like this is getting everyone to the same place at roughly the same time. And to be honest, I think our DM might be having issues with his car.

So, in lieu, I've decided (all by my lonesome...i.e. no input from my comrades.) to throw something "old school" together, just in case. The question is "What do I throw together"?

I mentioned "old school" for a reason. That type of rule set is conducive to quick character generation and a light hearted romp through some kind of encounter. It's what OD&D was created to do. Am I going to use OD&D? In all honesty, I doubt it. I'm just not familiar enough with it to run a smooth, fast, enjoyable scenario. I'll quite likely be using my Castles and Crusades rules. They're fast. Not quite as fast as OD&D, but I know them better.

This type of game (very short, maybe a couple of hours max) lends itself well to the swords and sorcery pastiche. And that's what I'm going to try and leverage for this particular game. Now, I don't even know if this is going to come about, like I said, I've entered into this w/ no one else's knowledge. It's all my own doing. But it's fun. I'm enjoying the little exercise and I can re-purpose whatever I create for my sandbox game I plan on running one of these days.

Here's where we get to the gist of the post, what do I run? I've been looking at a few things, and here are some of the ideas:

1. Gabor Lux's fantastic "The Tomb-Complex of Ymmu M’Kursa" in issue one of FightOn magazine.
   
2. Thulsa's rendition of the timeless Conan classic "Tower of the Elephant" (from Footprints magazine number 13)
   
3. Gabor Lux's "Isle of the Water Sprites" for the JG Wilderlands setting.
   
4. Davis Chenault's "The Slag Heap"
   
5. And truly any number of older things from my JG collection. (I've even thought that maybe I'd use a small portion of "Caverns of Thracia")

Anyway, I'd have to do a bit of converting on most of those things listed but I could honestly do much of it on the fly. I'd like to have something that's very focused and short to run the guys through. I'd have a set of characters premade for them and a list of magic items from which to choose. I think that I'm going to run something anywhere from 3rd level through maybe 9th or so. I'll have to see.

As an aside, I had my daughters rolling up pregen characters last night. The old 3d6 in order method of course! LOL

Why NOT 4e?

I'm a self professed fan of what many have come to call "old school" gaming. I LOVE the older versions of some games. They were amazingly well suited for the type of gaming that I fell in love with.

It was 1976 (I was 12 or 13 at the time) and I had been painting Napoleonic miniatures for a guy named Jim, a work-mate of my mom's. This guy played wargames...and I was entranced. He knew I was a big fantasy fan, we had spoken many times of the Hobbit and how I adored that book. One day he lent me his Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I returned it soon afterwards and just gushed about it to him. He laughed, knowing that I'd be drawn in. About a week or so later he delivered my next box of minis to paint via my mother. I opened it and "What?!?"... I was staring at 4 lizard men. I had NO idea what they were at the time, and I couldn't for the life of me, imagine what they could be for.

But man, they were soooooo cool! I can remember them as if they were lying in front of me today: Each was carrying a round shield and curved scimitar, standing splayed-legged with their swords over their heads, long tails trailing out behind. I immediately phoned Jim to ask what they were. He told me that they were miniatures to a new game he was trying out with his buddies called Chainmail. He invited me to come over and check it out the next weekend.

Well I don't remember exactly what happened after that, but I do remember that I started playing after being introduced to a super brainy group of guys in 7th grade; Fish, Dave and Wayne. We hit it off immediately.

Now, this all took place in a pretty small cow-town, I knew Wayne via his father, who was a basketball referee and baseball coach. I had played against Wayne in baseball for years. You have to remember that back in the 70's there wasn't really a stigma attached to Dungeons and Dragons yet. EVERYONE played...Or at least wanted to play. It was a "cool" thing to do.

We four (Fish, Dave, Wayne and I) played every chance we could get. We even played in the stairwell at school once during a fire drill. We were very much entranced by the game.

Initially we played with the Holmes set with a bunch of rules thrown in out of the LBB's, which Fish owned. In fact, the game was introduced to Fish via a girl he was infatuated with who had family in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. She had heard of this game during her summer break and she brought it home, to Loveland. Where she showed Fish. And then viola! Viral marketing at its best.

So anyway, we played and played and played. Most of my Jr. High and Highschool experiences were with AD&D, we had left Holmes behind because of the level restrictions. On into university we played this crazy game.

It's now the 80's and our group of friends in Boulder is ALL about Dungeons and Dragons. We often had 10 to 12 people at the table. It is with great fondness that I remember those insane nights and weekends, playing AD&D until we couldn't keep our eyes open any longer. We even went so far as to take the game with us on Spring Break.

So there you have a brief history. I started with an amalgamation of Holmes and the LBB version of the game and very soon afterwards moved naturally into AD&D. We completely skipped the Mentzer editions...and I sometimes regret that. I'd be willing to bet that we would have loved that version. But in all honesty, Fish, our DM, was a very detail and rules oriented kind of guy. Not that he was a rules lawyer, what he said was law. And we all knew that sometimes you couldn't find those "laws" in the book. That's just the way it went.

Flash foward to modern times. I've played nearly every version of the game (Not Mentzer), and have had fun with each and every one. But one of the things that I noticed over the years is that the game had somehow changed. Now of course the long tread of years have also left their indellible mark on me as well. I've changed too.

But the game, it seemed to bog. And the DM just wasn't a DM any longer. How can I explain this? The rules had been codified to the point where there was an entry in the books for nearly anything you could think of doing. And unfortunately I wasn't playing with my best friends anymore. I had moved on to play with different people. And some of them were REALLY into the rules as written.

Turns out that since there was a rule for nearly everything, the DM wasn't really needed. He / she was there strictly to read out of the module and roll for the monsters. And even then, the players dictated nearly everything. That fine balance that was responsible for so much of the experience of yesteryear was completely missing.  It was all player driven now.

Don't get me wrong, I undersand what part the players take in a game. But the game was now all "plot" driven, rules spelled out, souless muckery. 3.0 and 3.5, while initially shiny and pretty, soon lost their lustre. I played them the entire time, I didn't really have much choice in the matter due to my compatriots, but the game grew boring. This was a first.

I had played the game for over 20 years and I don't ever recall growing bored with the game. What was going on? Had I just grown jaded? Enter my daughters.

My two little girls were just getting to the age that they were asking to play "Dungeons and Dragons". My eldest had read nearly all of the fantasy (appropriate for her age of 9) that she could get her hands on, and the youngest always wanted to play as long as it was a game.

So I thought, I can't introduce them to Dungeons and Dragons in it's current incarnation. It's just not made for people of that age. So I went out and looked around. And I came up with Castles and Crusades, a game from Troll Lord Games. (Troll Lord) It was just what I was looking for. A game who's main guide included both player and DM rules, was hardbound and cost less than $20. Oh, and the serious selling point? It was compatible with ALL of my older stuff.

I sat down with the rules and had them basically down pat in the span of 2 hours. The girls and I rolled up characters and within an hour we were playing. It was honestly THAT simple. And guess what. That feeling of joy had returned. The game was fast, free-flowing, and simple. That was all it took.

Now, there was the problem of my regular group. We had invited a new guy into the fold (6 of us) and he was now DMing. He is in all honesty and EXCELLENT DM. Very creative and quick with rules adjucation. He was also a very big fan of WotC and the newest and greatest iteration of Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition.

We we tried it. And frankly, I liked it. Initially. It was, and continues to be (after roughly 10 or so sessions) a miniatures based tactical war game. There is a little bit of story and plot in there somewhere, but it's nearly all centered on encounters, powers and squad-based, coordinated combat.

I won't malign our DM. I think that he's still getting into the swing of things and the game has the potential of changing once we all have a decent grasp on the new rules. (They are NOT at all similar to the old rules. It's a different game completely.)

My enjoyment of the game now stems from playing with a group of contemporaries. But in all honesty, I really like the game with my daughters a little more....It's much more free-spirited and less "heavy". No huge plot lines. No constant battles that run on and on. I'm at a loss here, I don't know what to say. The game that I'm playing with my daughters seems to embody what "old school" means to me.

Why NOT 4E? Well, to be truthful, it's not nearly as fun as other systems out there. Mainly Castles and Crusades. I'd be willing to bet though that I could insert Mentzer or Holmes and we'd have just as much fun.

I wish I could get our group to try it out. But unfortunately I don't think that would be at all possible. Well, that's OK, my daughters are turning into fantastic little players...and their best years are still in front of them. ;-)

Top 30?!?

James Maliszewski over at Grognardia had a few interesting things to say regarding a list of the 30 all time greatest modules, published in Dungeon magazine issue 116 (http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/09/30-greatest-d-adventures-of-all-time.html). It got me to thinking.

There are an amazing number of ways in which to judge a body of written work. How does it make you feel? Is it well edited? Did it spark your imagination? Great cartography / illustrations? Fantasitc supporting material? Illuminating content on cannon? And on and on and on... 

How does one even begin on a task such as this? It's overwhelming. I sort of baited James and asked him for his list. Now that's cheating I suppose... In that James is very well entrenched in his niche and for a person like him to list "his" top 30 greatest modules would not be nearly the stretch that it would be for a guy like me. James has a well documented history of "what" he likes and why he likes it. His challenges are an excellent indicator of such.

Anyway, I suppose what I'm trying to say is that, if a guy like me were to construct such a list (and it wouldn't be all that difficult) it would be based on purely experiential credentials. It might start something like this:

1. Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth: Fantastic module based on the notion that a "dungeon" is other wordly. It is a "node" and to enter it is to enter a world unlike that which was left behind. That and the new material introduced in it set a gold standard for modules that followed; If you can't come up with a new adventure (i.e. Not a standard dungeon crawl), then you'd better surprise your players with some new material.
   
2. Hall of the Fire Giant King: Location, location, location! This place dripped scene and setting. It was the penultimate WWX knockdown, drag-out battle of the titans. The personalities in this module were stupendous: Obmi, Fruppe, King Snure Iron Belly and lest we forget, the DROW were introduced to us here, Eclavdra anyone? Great stuff...
3. Caverns of Thracia: When someone talks about a "dungeon" this is what springs to mind. Paul Jaquays was a master at constructing a whole out of apparently disparate parts. This place had it all, and for a piece put out in 1979, it did a pretty spectacular job of filling in the niches while still allowing the GM to freely improvise and create where he or she saw fit.

This could go on...but it would likely be an exercise in futility. You don't know me. I don't have a body of "work" out there that you can reliably base a response upon. James does. I'm eager to see his list. ;-)