Thursday, March 04, 2010

Gary's weirdest rule?

From page 182 of the first edition Dungeon Masters Guide (click to embiggen):

Seriously, WTF?
I can't help but wonder if back in the day some nascent campaign was utterly ruined because some 1st level spellcaster threw a cure light wounds or detect magic and Orcus showed up.

21 comments:

  1. I don't know. Would it really be ruined? I want to be in a campaign where Orcus does show up. :) Good posts today, Jeff!

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  2. I'm not saying the situation lacks potential, but imagine that happening to a group of rowdy junior high punks.

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  3. That wouldn't ruin the campaign---it'd make it the best campaign ever!

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  4. I'm more confused by the idea of being on dry land, casting charm on somebody, then being accosted by a bunch of tritons (presumably wearing fishbowls).

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  5. Oh man, then you grab the reaction chart and see what goodies you can come up with!

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  6. "Worse... or better." :D

    You'd have to roll on that reaction table. Maybe Orcus takes a liking to the party. Which probably isn't a good thing.

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  7. blizack: In my opinion that the reason for the note at the end.

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  8. The thought of someone casting feign death only to be attacked by spontaneously appearing yellow mold strikes my fancy.

    Take heed people: don't try to con the universe into thinking your dead. It has ways of balancing the natural order...

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  9. I know, I know, I just like riffing on Gary's seeming AD&D obsession with underwater stuff.

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  10. "but imagine that happening to a group of rowdy junior high punks"

    Most groups I played in as a junior high punk would have opened a can of whoop-ass on Orcus.

    I am waiting for the day when the party comes face-to-face with a Demon Lord and rolls boxcars on the reaction roll - the campaign takes a new direction.

    word verification: mudint... a dirty mutant

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  11. I get the jist, but would probably ignore the rule for psionic-like spells (just psionics proper).

    That said, what if your shapechange into a minor demon attracted a minor demon? Of you feather falled into a nest of cerebral parasites? Most important - has *anyone* ever used a su-monster?

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  12. I love that chart. I think about a low-leveled psionic player zapping around the dungeon with his uber-cool powers only to have a Type V demon Gate in and play with him and the party for a few rounds before getting bored and moving on.

    How much fun would that be to play out!!! Teach that little psionic punk the meaning of the word "moderation."

    Verification word: Tiarb - the truename of the Type V demon in the above hypothetical.

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  13. " Most important - has *anyone* ever used a su-monster?"

    Yes, I love me some hateful grey mind blasting monkeys.

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  14. Hmm...I missed this one in the past.

    However we ALWAYS rolled randomly the chance a demon prince would show up for speaking his name in vain...

    ; )

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  15. Anonymous4:02 PM

    @JB hahahah that's amazing. I'm going to try that next time one of my PC's curses Belial. It seems to be a popular thing.

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  16. Anonymous6:01 PM

    Ha ha! I never noticed that.

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  17. I have no choice but to use that chart in my current AD&D campaign. Have fun with those cure light wounds, Mr. Fighter/Cleric!

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  18. Oddly enough, Orcus did show up in the second or third session of one of our games. That was a bit frightening for a bunch of first levellers!

    It was fine though, because he was just there to abduct one of the player-characters and take him into the GM's other campaign.

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  19. Chris Tregenza3:56 AM

    Gods showing up wasn't that uncommon back-in-the-day. There were several deities where mentioning there name had a 1% chance of summoning the god.

    Calling out for your god was a common tactic among characters about to die.

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  20. I wonder, though, if that's really a Gygax-written table? Most of the psionic rules in AD&D were lifted wholesale from the ones Brian Blume wrote for Eldritch Wizardry.

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  21. That's actually totally hilarious. I could see adapting a table like this for skill challenges, nowadays. "Ok, you totally complete the ritual, because we need to for plot, but... *roll* oh you've attracted Orcus' attention. And he thinks you'd look FABULOUS in pink taffeta."

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