a 1977 game

[dwayanu]

"Expedition to Castle Fil" is from UK wargaming magazine The Phoenix, issue no. 7 (May/June 1977).

[Finarvyn]

An interesting read, and I had never heard of a magazine called The Phoenix. Just goes to show how much OD&D stuff was created back "in the day" and has been mostly lost due to the passage of time. I remeber that Strategic Review had some articles about fanzines back then and it's too bad that this kind of material never made it to the mainstream because there was some good material in many of them.

Thanks for the link!

[dwayanu]

I found that at Web-Grognards, which is a pretty awesome site. It hooked me up with a PDF (from boardgamegeeks.com) that lets me at last fill in the pages missing from the rulesbook in an AH Anzio game I bought years ago.

OT: One thing I miss about the old days is the quality of customer service from firms such as AH and GDW.

Back on topic: I think the article mentions a 1st- or 2nd- level MU using a "kill" spell to pot a "12th-level copper dragon." Maybe the spell was on a scroll? That's an exceptionally strong (vs. 7-9 HD) copper dragon ... and not the sort of thing one expects low-level characters to encounter except in the wilderness. That was a memorable session for the players, I'll bet!

[tank]

Wow. That is an awesome site. In a later issue, a reader writes in responding to that article. Here's the link: www.grognard.com/zines/ph/p0907.txt

For convenience, I'll copy and paste the letter:

"Dear Sir,

........It is unforunate that your first article on Dungeons & Dragons
should have contained so many glaring inaccuracies. I do not think this
is Mr Bolton's fault as I suspect he has not read the rules of the game
(strange as it may seem to regular gamers, in Dungeons & Dragons the
players are not required to know more rules than the referee sees fit to
tell them); rather his referee is at fault, may his face be red for
evermore. Admittedly, varying interpretations of rules are qiite
permissible, and one man's potion is another man's poison, but there is
a definite dividing line between a personal interpretation and a sheer
misunderstanding. So let me try to clear things up a bit

The word "level" has three distinctly different meanings in the game:
one refers to "levels" of the dungeon which are physically one below the
next, become progressively richer in treasure (and more dangerous) as
one delves deeper; then one refers to a character's "level" of
experience - as each new character learns the tricks of his trade he
achieves higher levels of experience and becomes progressively stronger
(but it takes a long time to go up levels); thirdly, there are different
"levels" of spells, progressively more powerful and harder to use. These
spell levels are an independent classification; a 2nd level magic user
does not have the ability to use 2nd level spells, he may use but two
first level spells per day. Only when he reaches the third level of
experience does he gain a 2nd level spell. The level of the dungeon the
fellow is on has no effect on this at all, so the magicians in Mr
Bolton's story would not have gained an extra spell when they were
whisked down to the second dungeon level. This also means that humble
first level magic-users do not kill copper dragons; the spell "power
word: kill" is a ninth level spell and quite unusable by all but the
most powerful wizards. And how a copper dragon manages to fit into a
small triangular room, I don't know.

Another point about the levels of experience attained by characters is
that increasing levels make one more resistant to magic. This applies to
beasties as well as to men, and since the spell "sleep" only affects
creatures of the fourth level or less, that eighth level orc would not
have dozed off quite so conveniently if the referee had been awake .

The secret of successful refereeing is to maintain balance, so that the
weak characters do not make mincemeat of copper dragons, but on the
other hand, large parties do not get completely obliterated unless they
are very stupid or extremely unlucky. If Mr Bolton finds 2 more
competent referee he may find he lives a bit longer.

Paul
Morphine"

Rules lawyers: you gotta love 'em...

[Deleted]

I have to admit that hearing that the magic well screamed "Jew!" at the magic user who only threw one coin in (I guess because of his apparent stinginess) made me cringe. Other than that, a great read.

[Stonegiant]

Here are a few issues up for sale in the UK LINK