Exordium and Terminus

Dang, I love this song.

Caves of Myrddin, online session #7

Today's party consisted of two fighters, Taurus the Psychotic Clown and Edgard du Lang, and two magic-users, Abbador the Mutator and Philip the Black.  Thanks to Taurus's carousing, he lets slip some information regarding the adventure, mostly in the form of improvised (drunken) songs about his own feats accompanied by some dubious accordion playing.   Since accordions haven't been invented yet some folks start referring to this strange wailing instrument as his Box of Devils.  Anyhoo, here's what you think happened based upon the slurred verses of a drunken Juggalo:

• The party entered the dungeons via the East Tower, the former gatehouse of Castle Dundagel.
• They encountered ravens that mocked there inability to open the door to the dungeon, but they got past this obstacle and several others thanks to Abbador's Cross-Dimensional Crowbar.
• The party spent most of the expedition in the first level of the dungeon, looking for some goblin-treasure hinted at by Abbador.
• No goblins were encountered.  Instead they befriended Herbie the Rust Monster and slew Skippy and Bobo (a pair of giant rats) and killed some Purple Raiders.
• They stole the Scepter of the White Queen and the mustache right off the face of a Purple Raider.
• No one knows what the mysterious lever in the kitchen does.

I thought it was a pretty dang good run.

check this out

from Subterranean Design

I wanted to share this picture of a circular wall built in a pond because a similar structure figures prominently in the Paul Jaquays classic module Realm of the Slime God, a.k.a. Night of the Walking Wet.  This adventure originally appeared in two parts in Dungeoneer #6 and #7 and was reprinted in the Dungeoneer Compendium.  In my opinion the Compendium is one of the best products released for OD&D, ranking right up there with the Arduin Grimoire and Judges Guilds' Ready Ref Sheets.

Anyway, it's neat to see a real version of the weird reservoir-built-in-a-lake structure from that adventure.

winners totally do this

Wizard's Mix

Called Pipeweed of Metamnemonic Inspiration or Smokeables of Arcanocogitation in certain sources, the Wizard's Mix combines a particular variety of the standard halfling smoking herb with other potent ingredients, perhaps henbane or mandrake or saints know what else.  When available for sale a pouch of Wizard's Mix will be good for d6 smokes and cost d6 x 100gp.

To employ the Wizard's Mix a pipe and source of fire is required and d6 turns must be spent smoking in quiet contemplation.  Others present may engage in light conversation or pleasant singing, but arguments or other loud noises have a 50% chance of ruining the beneficial effects of smoking the pipeweed.

Upon finishing the smoke, the user may roll 1d6 to attempt to refill a currently empty arcane spell slot.  If the roll is equal to or higher than the spell level of the empty slot, the spellcaster has received a magical insight whereby a randomly generated spell of the appropriate level appears in the caster's memory.  If slots of different levels are empty the die roll is used to decide which spell level is filled (e.g. a roll of 3 will fill a third level slot if available, otherwise it will fill a second level slot before it fills a first level slot).  The spell added to the magic-user's memory does not come from the list of spells known in their spellbook, but rather is generated from the total list in the rulebook appropriate for the class (or the DM's house list if such a list is kept), allowing the user access to spells they couldn't otherwise cast.

All attempts to transcribe spells learned under the effect of Wizard's Mix result in pages and pages of total gibberish.  In the reverie to put down these new insights the user runs a 50% chance of ruining d6 spells already in their spellbook; while high they don't realize they are scribbling over previous spells.

everybody else sucks too

So I guess while I've been hitting the books there's been another "1st level MU's suck" flare-up.  I find it very hard not to blame these attitudes on some combination of poor DMing and poor play.  (I.e. Either the player isn't playing as smart as they need to and/or the DM is too harsh.) But on the other hand, I currently use a specific ruleset that is pretty unfriendly to the other classes. To whit:

• Elves need 4000xp to reach 2nd level.  Sure, you rule the school at 1st level, but you still reign over first level when half the party is rocking out at third.
• Clerics don't get a spell at 1st level.  I don't even like clerics and I think that's harsh.
• Thieves only get d4 hit points.  Poor bastards.
• Fighters get only d8 for hit dice, no d10s like in AD&D and no d12 barbarians running around either.
• No weapon specialization.
• Two-handed weapons make you lose initiative, so most fighters only do d8 damage at best.

Also, with 3d6 in row, that d8 fighter may have a Con penalty.  And everybody always rolls hit points in my game, no max at first level, no wiggle room for a low roll.  A one hit point fighter is a distinct possibility.  Then add in that I don't use platemail in fake England circa 1140 AD and the ACs for clerics/fighter/etc are pretty poor as well.  But that's a campaign house rule and doesn't necessarily enter in here.

So DMs, before you agree that 1st level magic-users suck, ask yourself whether the 1st level versions of the other classes in your campaign suck hard enough.  How easy do you really want first level to be?  (That's not a rhetorical question.)

Been busy with school...

...but here, have a wizard.

Nicol Williamson as Merlin, from Excalibur (1981)

another Caves of Myrddin update

Durgar Ironfoot, Pavel the Great, Father Nicholas and Abbador the Mutator all made it back alive from the Dungeons of Dundagel this morning.  Durgar is wearing some shiny new dwarf-mail retrieved from the dungeons.  And he has trouble speaking clearly because he took a sip from a potion bottle that turned out to be a flask of acid.  Hopefully his tongue will heal by his next adventure.  Also, thanks to a charm person spell one of the two magic-users in the party has a new pet kobold named Torgo.  I can't remember which MU threw that spell though.

Rather than the stock dogfaced reptile guys, kobolds in the my current setting harken back a bit to the OD&D description of them, which suggests a relationship with dwarves.  Wessex kobolds are the backwards degenerate hill billy cousins of civilized dwarves.  They look like sickly dwarves with bad skin and filthy beards and their kobold language is actually dwarvish dumbed down.  If a dwarf limits his grammar to simple constructions and they both speak slowly, a dwarf and a kobold can communicate in their native tongues.  Not that they would necessarily have much to say to each other.

Torgo reveals that the local tribe of kobolds live on level 2 of Dundagel.  They would prefer to live on level 1, but two things prevent them from doing so: the whole tribe is enslaved by the dark lord Trevor, who force marched them to level 2 when he took over the upper levels of the dungeon, and those damn goblins now occupy all the good spots on level 1.  Torgo also lets slip that to get Durgar's new magic armor they had to burn down the ghost that haunted it.

One other thing: When not on duty Torgo wears a little pink evening gown with frills and lace.  You're not sure if kobold women have beards or if Torgo is a transvestite.  Maybe this secret will be revealed the next time someone fails a carousing roll.