1974 Dungeon Variant, Now for Download

[kesher]

Well, Jon Peterson has done it again, working in collaboration with the creator, to make the 1974 Dungeon Variant (brewed right here in Minneapolis!) freely available to download.

Read the post for more history, but suffice it to say this document is hugely important in the history of this hobby. It's also a kick-ass little game.



(...and here's something about Spiderism.)

[mgtremaine]

VanGrasstek’s play report for September 22, 1974 includes a scene where “the party is attacked by giant rolling meatballs. The battle is fairly quick and slimy, ending with the party victorious and gravy-stained.”

Oh yeah!

-Mike

[Torreny]

Yeah, I'd seen this back when his post was fresh. Really glad some of those play reports were found. It's such a shame most people these days are too hung up about it, to play with quirky things like are found therein. Out of the many people I've played RPGs with in general, only three out of them could really appreciate Robbing Hood, Ragu-eating Italians, and Kodak camera loot, I think. Though I recall one of the dungeons I've played in had mudkips, Minecraft Steve, The Hamburgler, a 56" flat screen TV with "all the accessories vital for your entertainment system", and a dragon that hoarded VHS cassettes, that we'd found.

[Deleted]

This is absolutely fantastic! I'm going to have to spring this on my gaming group!

[jdjarvis]

I really enjoyed giving that a read. I've been jonesing to setup an oldschool campaign that is different and this offers a route to do that.
I like the specific hit chances by weapon and monster.
The non-vancian doodad related magicsystem serves several useful functions: it supports planning, provides a cash siphon, provides a limit to powerful spells, and lets a campaign have Ye Olde Magic Shoppe without screwing up the campaign.

[Deleted]

I've been looking over it. While there isn't much there, I have to say the combat system is a huge improvement over every other attempt to use Chainmail to play D&D. Add in a few values for magical effects (fire, ice, lightning, etc) and you are good to go.

[captainjapan]

This game feels so juvenile, but I can see hints of Blackmoor rules everywhere. The class names are Blackmoor. The magic system is Blackmoor. Rooms are protected by "baddies". I appreciate that pc's have family that accompany them. And, the trappings are just so goofy. It reminds me of how we played Advanced when we were twelve. A proper reading of the rules would have stymied us. This game of Dungeon comes much closer to my recollection. In fact, I know that my dungeonmaster tried to record our "improved" AD&D. He called it ND&D(for new). It was very random and anachronistic. 

[Deleted]

This is something I point people towards when people ask "What direction is left for the OSR to go when all the major systems have been perfectly cloned time and again?" The early years of "dungeon exploration" leading up to and shortly after OD&D was officially published. All these wacky variants that start with the basic premise but no known or written rules so people were making up their own interpretations and procedures. That's a direction that's only been dipped into, I feel. Things like Troika! and Into the ODD sort of toy with a similar concept, which is "imagine you've only heard of RPGs or played in one without seeing a rulebook. What would you create based on that?" I feel like that's a glossed over element of early D&D. It actually closely parallels the approach my brother and I took with D&D when we first discovered it. We didn't own a rule book for about 2 years after we began playing, so we did a lot of silly, juvenile things and "just winged it". Very few written notes from those days, sadly. I didn't know how special it was. I wish I could still fully embrace that kind of creative freedom of youth.