Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 27, 2012 1:34:57 GMT -6
Dan Boggs, you are a treasure. Yesterday I noticed that, in OA, Gary Gygax states that the original Monk was “inspired by Brian Blume and the book series called The Destroyer.” Since he was Blume’s referee, would it be fair to say that Gary had a hand in this writeup? Or any other part of Sup. II? I seem to recall Tim giving Gary a lot of credit for Sup. II when he (Tim) first came on the OSR scene. Interesting. I also know at about the same time, Jim Ward had "Chaotic Kung Fu Fighters" in his dungeon. I assumed that that's where the Monk got started. Fancy that. And yes, when Jim rolled some in a random encounter, he started singing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhUkGIsKvn0Jim Ward is a stallion among colts.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 26, 2012 16:15:10 GMT -6
Any plan to do printable PDFs like the S&W Whitebox one you guys had for a brief time? That thing was awesome for printing up a few extra player copies of the character and spell books.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 23, 2012 1:02:11 GMT -6
I encounter a lot of AD&D players that don't even really know what OD&D is, so my man-on-the-street anecdotal guess is that there isn't enough demand to warrant doing anything with OD&D.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 20, 2012 23:39:51 GMT -6
For anyone that has the BB and wants more content without buying a bunch of stuff, check out d20pfsrd.com It has pretty much everything.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 19, 2012 11:13:25 GMT -6
I was a bit skeptical when I first saw this, but I confirmed with Jim Ward directly that this is in fact legit. Awesome news!
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 17, 2012 23:35:38 GMT -6
Yes its awesome. Anyone on the fence - just do it!
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 17, 2012 23:29:55 GMT -6
How did you recruit players for the Face 2 face Outland game? (The one in a game store.) I just told the store about it and made a blog post. The store did the heavy lifting. They have a few regulars that are always eager to play some out of print D&D.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 12, 2012 14:02:39 GMT -6
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 9, 2012 7:45:35 GMT -6
How are your players responding to Chainmail's abstraction? I haven't had anyone tell me they hate it yet. For my part, the challenge lies in remembering to do the blow-by-blow descriptions justice. Sometimes my brain gets to full, and I slip into the "you miss" or "you hit twice" syndrome.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 6, 2012 19:55:51 GMT -6
I thought it was a fun movie.
Not near as good as the Solomon Kane film, but a fun movie.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 6, 2012 19:51:21 GMT -6
Yes, I suppose if they are all weird creatures and not basically humanoid, then the attack and defense ratings wouldn't really make so much sense.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 6, 2012 19:28:42 GMT -6
I haven't been using it very long, but these are my observations so far:
Pros: * Most people aren't familiar with it at all, so it injects a sense of danger and mystery into combat. * At higher levels, or when players are controlling multiple PCs, you get to roll handfuls of dice, and there's something that's just really pleasing about that. * It is a very fast combat resolution system, especially for large groups of similar combatants. * Using this system gives a lot of insight into the original game. A +1 sword is an amazing boost using the Chainmail rules, and a lot of other things in the game that never made much sense become clearer when viewed in the context of using it in conjunction with chainmail. Having 5d6 followers or encountering 30-300 men suddenly begins to not only make sense, but to be a natural fit to the game.
Cons: * You have to be patient at the beginning when teaching people. Many veteran D&D players will get a WTF attitude since they know D&D in and out, yet this is new to them. * It seems complex on paper, but it really isn't once you get the hang of it. * It is often inexact, and rounding is necessary. * It's abstractness can make you scratch your head sometimes. You gotta learn to just roll with it. * It's very swingy, and winning initiative becomes a huge deal.
Another clarification, when I say Chainmail combat, I am generally talking about the mass combat rules. I rarely use the man-to-man tables (except for in the case of missile fire). I never use the fantasy combat table.
I think there is definite value in using the system in play, especially if you are into understanding D&D's roots, and where things came from, and why certain things are the way they are.
If you want to test it out, have a big test combat with a couple PCs between levels 4 and 10, and a bunch of mundane men-types or humanoids.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 6, 2012 13:31:44 GMT -6
Awesome. Will these guys have Chainmail attack/defense ratings as well? If not, consider this my formal fan request for including them.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 6, 2012 13:28:07 GMT -6
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 5, 2012 14:48:36 GMT -6
* All the Fight Ons (just completed my set) * The Land of NOD * Knockspell
Any of Matt Finch's stuff
Labyrinth Lord Mutant Future Stonehell Realms of Crawling Chaos
... to name a few
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 5, 2012 14:45:17 GMT -6
I'd go with straight Stonehell. The only thing you need to do different, assuming you are using the 3 original books only, is use d6's for monsters' hit dice.
Even if a few PCs die, no biggy. It just makes the dungeon more interesting if you find their stuff or undead corpse on a later expedition.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 5, 2012 14:03:13 GMT -6
A few things:
1. Will we get PDF copies early, so we can start killing our friends under these rules ASAP? 2. This is just an off thought, but have you spoken to JimFirePrincess about selling it in Europe? I mention this simply because there was a bunch of traffic to my site from a French forum of some sort, and I don't know French, but they seemed pretty excited about it.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 3, 2012 14:11:04 GMT -6
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 2, 2012 12:36:16 GMT -6
Awesome, though due to my own history, I'd prefer the Moldvay cover. What I don't understand is how it's not completely illegal to sell that... Think Geek is a legit company, so I would imagine it's licensed. That is the cover they used for the 4E starter set. That would also explain the stupid-high price tag.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Jan 1, 2012 2:16:33 GMT -6
I took Fight On #4, since it was the biggest one I had at 98MB. I have the full version of Adobe Acrobat 8, so I just ran the little thing called PDF optimizer, and it reduced it to 38MB.
I think a lot of this depends on the software used to put the document together. Take MS Word, for example. I'm pretty sure if you take a big-ass image and paste into into word, then drag the corners to shrink it down, it still gets stored as the original, large size (presumably so the data is still there in case you want to make it bigger again later).
I would assume that there is some free software out there somewhere that could perform this same optimization function on your PDF files, so you could make slimmer versions of the files to keep on your tablet.
Personally, I prefer having it the way it is, so I can export the images from the PDF for use in my personal stuff, and get them at the full size.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 31, 2011 14:34:55 GMT -6
This is the conversation thread, where you can talk about anything.
Example: "I found my box of Star Wars guys in the attic and I think that awesome and just wanted to tell you guys!"
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 30, 2011 18:27:47 GMT -6
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 30, 2011 18:05:46 GMT -6
I have these:
* GaryCon III long-sleeve * LotFP Fighter * Zak's Flailceratops one
I would like more though. I started designing one that was plain black-on-white, says "Dungeons & Dragons" in Quentin at the top, and has the Fight On Guy from the end of the lbbs. Maybe someday I'll get it made up.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 30, 2011 14:43:38 GMT -6
Here I will field any questions you may have about the game. I'll start off with a few questions that I think may be asked, or if not, they should be asked and answered. 1. Is it possible for me to find a lightsaber in a dungeon?Yes! 2. I don't really like any of those races you have on the race list. Can I play something else?Absolutely! I only have a few guidelines: A) the race should have two legs, two arms, and a head. B) It needs to be able to fit in a dungeon corridor, or you won't have much fun. C) nothing reptilian. no dragon-men or snake-men. (I gotta have something left to use as monsters, right?) 3. How about other classes besides fighter/cleric/magic-user/thief?Sure, just send it to me for approval (and tweaking if necessary). There are a lot of interesting classes in the Land of NOD magazines. Old White Dwarf magazines have a few good ones. There's tons of stuff out there if you look. Or, just make up your own! 4. The spell list for my class is pretty lame. What can I do about that?The basic spell list is just whatever is in the LBBs. If you want another spell, I think that's awesome, and I encourage you to make up your own spells. Write up your new spell and send it to me. I will approve and/or edit it. 100gp per spell level in research costs, and a successful INT check later (or WIS for clerics)... Bam! you have access to your new spell. If you have an awesome idea for a magic item you'd like to craft, let me know and let's work it out. 5. How does Chainmail combat work?Um, that's a tough one to answer, but if you are curious about it, I recommend checking out these great resources: Using Chainmail to Resolve OD&D Combats by D.H. BoggsForbidden Lore by Jason VeyPlease feel free to ask any other questions you may have here, and I will add them to the FAQ. Thanks!
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 30, 2011 14:19:39 GMT -6
Greetings! Marv was nice enough to set up a board for us to use for my Adventures in Outland game. (Thanks Marv!) Outland is my home-brewed kitchen sink setting that aims to accomplish a few very specific goals: 1. Keep me from getting gamer ADD and wanting to do something else (very specific or focused settings get stale after a while). 2. Offer something to groups of players with a broad range of preferences. 3. Be awesome FUN! Here is a bit more info about the game... The Technical StuffThe rules system used is OD&D (the Little Brown Books) & Chainmail. Very little is used from the supplements. I also have a few house rules that have been added in, and I fully expect the rules of the game to evolve along with the campaign. That being said, rules mastery is not a part of the game. Players are not expected to know the rules, or even think about the rules much. Just show up with dice, pencil, and paper, and you are good to go. I encourage players to take up the role of their characters, and decide what actions they want to take without filtering their decisions through rules. If you need to roll some dice, I'll let you know. If you really like rules, you can find all the basic stuff here: Adventures in Outland OD&D GameThe SettingOutland is a newly-discovered region in the far northwest reaches of a boring, stereotypical Tolkienesque world. A recent earthquake has opened up a pass in the mountains, and an outpost has been built just on the other side. People wishing to leave their boring lives behind come to the outpost seeking adventure. It is assumed you are one of these people. A second sun hangs constantly on the western horizon. This sun is bloated and dying, and is a deep red color. It does not travel across the sky like the regular sun, but can always be seen to the west once you're through the mountains. At night, everything is bathed in a soft crimson light. Some say this second sun is the eye of a dormant demon-god, but no one really knows what the heck it is. The landscape is full of strange plants and beasts, and littered with the ruins of ancient unknown peoples. That is why you are here. To get rich! The GameThe game is about exploration and treasure-hunting. If these things, in and of themselves, do not interest you, then this may not be the game for you. Further, there is a strong emphasis on fun, and "realism" is pretty low on my list of priorities. You can expect dinosaurs, space aliens, and laser guns to exist right alongside dragons, fairies, and unicorns. A glance at the default player race list should give you some sense about what this game might be like. Anyways, I think that's enough rambling for now. Hopefully something looks interesting to you and you will come have some fun with us!
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 30, 2011 1:51:18 GMT -6
Hit my 10 player limit in my game store OD&D game. First session had 6 players, but the word is getting out and I could hit 10 in the next session or maybe the 3rd...
And DM my first con game at GaryCon.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 29, 2011 17:49:01 GMT -6
Good call, Falconer!
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 29, 2011 11:23:38 GMT -6
Here, I'll try putting it as an attachment... Attachments:
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 29, 2011 0:30:41 GMT -6
I don't know, it's easy for me to conceptualize that average strength for a human might be 9-12 while average strength for an orc would be 10-13 (i.e. +1 racial modifier).
Conceptualizing that a naga with 10 strength is stronger than a human with 10 strength is a bit muddier, but maybe that's just me.
What's wrong with giving racial bonuses, but still saying that the max is 18? Who's really gonna get a 19 anyways? If you're using 3d6 and just adding or subtracting modifiers, the bell curve is exactly the same, it's just shifting in one direction or the other.
Also, there's nothing wrong with just making a table and saying these races can carry this much. There's no requirement, especially in OD&D, that you have to be able to reverse-engineer some rule using math. Plus, it's easier to look up a table than to do complex calculations anyways, and it could speed up play.
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Aplus
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 353
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Post by Aplus on Dec 29, 2011 0:08:10 GMT -6
And I think if you are using Chainmail rules, the troop rules are the way to go in most cases (fighting multiple men-types or humanoids). I don't think the fantasy table really has any value considering you already have the "alternate" system you can use for fantastic creatures, and it works with way more creatures, like every D&D/AD&D monster book ever.
The only drawback to the troop rules is that they are really lame when a PC only gets to roll 1 six-sided die. But when they get higher level and get to roll bunches of d6's, well, that's awesome and a lot of fun!
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