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Post by Zenopus on Oct 20, 2021 6:52:12 GMT -6
Nice writeup- Dr. Holmes sure went all in when he decided to try out D&D.  Maybe better for another topic, but has Chris indicated whether his Dad adopted any/much of the Warlock rules to his games as they were starting out? Delayed reply, but I believe they used much of the Warlock rules when they started. Holmes mentions using the combat system in his book, and Chris has referenced the damage system (multiple d6s for variable damage). There are also references to specific spells from Warlock in Holmes' writing, and in some artifacts that have been preserved, like Murray the Magic-User's character sheet. Eric Frasier, who played Murray, still has his original Warlock rules (the Spartan magazine version) and Manual of Aurania; you can see a picture here. |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 19, 2021 12:20:56 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 18, 2021 8:04:50 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 16, 2021 12:21:53 GMT -6
One tidbit I don't recall hearing before (or have forgotten) is that "an area of the "Great Kingdom" campaign world" contained Barsoomian creatures - the ones that appeared in the U&WA tables. increment : was this an area shown on one of the maps? It survives in a piece of the 1973 correspondence between Gygax and Arneson - just a passing mention from Gygax that "Keoland has Martian beasts, so we'll ride thoats and fight banths + apts." Thanks! That is intriguing. Previously, I had the impression that the OD&D Vol 3 table "Optional Arid Plains" - the one with the Barsoomian critters - was inspired primarily by running games in Barsoom itself ( accesible via Castle Greyhawk) rather than in part of the lands of the Great Kingdom (which later developed into the World of Greyhawk). The idea of using Mars per se is reinforced in that booklet by the "Desert (Mars)" subtable for Men, and the mention of Mars in the section "Other Worlds" ("Some areas of land could be gates into other worlds, dimensions, times, or whatever. Mars is given in these rules, but...") And I wouldn't have guessed Keoland as a home to Barsoomian fauna based on its later description in the World of Greyhawk folio, but it does fit better with the description in Quag Keep, where the "plains of Koeland" [sic, spelled Keoland elsewhere] are a largely empty and dry place, broken only by tributaries of a great river (geography which generally matches the "Megarry" version of the Great Kingdom map). The party in the story crosses "long dry patches" between the rivers, which causes problems for the lizardman in the party. "Arid Plains" certainly fits how Keoland is described there. On the Great Kingdom map, Keoland also runs up to the mountains bordering the Sea of Dust, another obviously dry area. |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 15, 2021 17:12:08 GMT -6
I'm up to 1975 now! The first Origins approaches. I'm very much enjoying it. The amount of correspondence that survived to enable the telling of this story is jaw-dropping. One tidbit I don't recall hearing before (or have forgotten) is that "an area of the "Great Kingdom" campaign world" contained Barsoomian creatures - the ones that appeared in the U&WA tables. increment: was this an area shown on one of the maps? |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 12, 2021 20:01:19 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 12, 2021 19:50:28 GMT -6
My condolences! It's really great that you played RPGs with her and she was part of your group.
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 9, 2021 21:55:33 GMT -6
I looked at the Nature of Middle-Earth in person yesterday at B&N. It's nicely done, and I looked over some of the interesting bits. I'll put it on my Xmas list.
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 9, 2021 21:53:20 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 7, 2021 9:45:15 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 6, 2021 20:08:19 GMT -6
Congrats on an epic first blog post...!
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 6, 2021 20:04:31 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 5, 2021 7:15:47 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 2, 2021 18:53:21 GMT -6
FYI, Terry Amthor has passed away. He was one of the founders of ICE, and wrote Court of Ardor, and co-wrote Iron Wind, among many other later projects. I enjoyed A Spy In Isengard, his contribution to the Middle-Earth Quest Series, as a teen and still have a copy. |
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Post by Zenopus on Oct 1, 2021 15:35:40 GMT -6
Glad to hear you made it! Your post reminds me that I have another post to make with some close-ups of parts of the painting. Edit: I had almost finished this before, so I was able to get it posted quickly. Sutherland Dragon Details |
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Post by Zenopus on Sept 8, 2021 12:47:34 GMT -6
I've always understood Philotomy Jurament's article (the one jeffb linked above) to be a rationalization for the rules for dungeons in OD&D as written, not a separate setting from the rules. A mindset to help modern-era players appreciate the rules of OD&D. I don't know of any published dungeons that lean into the "Mythic Underworld", but there aren't too many published OD&D dungeons in general. It does seem like an opportunity for someone. The one thing I wrote that would expand the concept beyond the OD&D rules is my " Fearsome Monster" - monsters generated by the dungeon in response to the characters entering. This was inspired by Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood series (and named after some text by J. Eric Holmes), in which primordial forests recreate ancient, often-forgotten ancestral myths from the minds of intruders. |
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Post by Zenopus on Sept 6, 2021 18:41:15 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Sept 3, 2021 12:47:03 GMT -6
 FYI, The Ruined Tower of Zenopus is currently on sale for $1.39 through September 7th, as part of DMsGuild's "September Starter Sale" of introductory adventures. The Ruined Tower of Zenopus on DMsGuildFor old-school enthusiasts, on the blog I also offer notes on retro-converting it (you can just use the original, but there is added material): Running It Retro, Part I Running It Retro, Part IIThe adventure went Platinum back in January (1,001 sales), and is now close to 1,500 sales. However, the next badge (Mithril) at DMs Guild doesn't come until 2,501 sales are hit. Click here to find links to reviews of the RTOZ on by various reviewers (bloggers, Youtubers etc) |
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Post by Zenopus on Aug 28, 2021 22:14:18 GMT -6
The Tekumel Foundation is reprinting all of these novels. I believe Man of God is already out, and badger2305 has shown the cover for Flamesong on FB and indicated the others will eventually follow. |
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Post by Zenopus on Aug 22, 2021 15:13:28 GMT -6
I've updated my blog post with some info on where the show will later travel to:
---May 20 to September 5, 2022: Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN
---September 23, 2022 to January 8, 2023: Flint Institute of Art in Flint, MI
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Post by Zenopus on Aug 20, 2021 8:48:12 GMT -6
This was post was in this thread, but I decided to move it to its own thread on the General Board, as the goal is to make people aware of the show in case they would like to visit while it is running. * * * * * David Sutherland's iconic painting for Holmes Basic is on exhibit for the first time at the Norman Rockwell Museum in MA! I visited two weeks ago, below is my best photo of it. I've also written a blog post for the Zenopus Archives about my visit: zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-holmes-basic-set-cover-art-exhibited.html |
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Post by Zenopus on Aug 7, 2021 7:16:41 GMT -6
I see the buttons on the bottom on mobile view (Chrome/Android), but not on desktop view on the same device.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 27, 2021 9:00:10 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 26, 2021 10:27:01 GMT -6
waysoftheearth, I think retrorob may be referring to what I posted upthread a few days ago about WoM having an explicit 1:1 scale with 10 sec turns comprising 2 rounds of combat: One item I'll post in support of the Donjon Lands argument is that Warriors of Mars, which includes systems clearly derived from Chainmail, has two separate scales that "are not mixed on the table": 1:50, in which "1 turn = 1 min" and "1" = 10 yards" 1:1, in which "1 turn = 10 sec" and "1" = 6 feet" The 1:1 scale is described on pages 16-17 and appears modified from Chainmail MTM, and "has two rounds of melee each turn", thus rounds are 5 sec each. Now, whether this type of split scale was ever used with Chainmail Mass Combat/MTM is up to interpretation, but it almost appears to be written in recognition of the ambiguity of Chainmail.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 25, 2021 16:04:03 GMT -6
The question is, why is it *more likely* that Gygax intended 6 second rounds in OD&D (10 rounds/per 1 minute "combat turn"), than one minute rounds, with 10 equaling a ten-minute turn?
*We've got Chainmail saying that "One turn of play is roughly equivalent to one minute of time in battle", and Gygax's 1975 letter upthread, indicating but a single melee round per turn in Chainmail.
*We've got OD&D adding "Two moves constitute a turn" and "There are ten rounds of combat per turn", with no other stated distinction between turns.
*We've got Gygax saying in 1978 that the 1 minute melee round in OD&D was what was intended:
(Dragon #15, June 1978, "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: D&D GROUND AND SPELL AREA SCALE")
*We've got Gygax keeping the 1-minute round in AD&D, and defending it.
It's pretty easy from the above to draw a straight line from the Chainmail 1-minute turn through OD&D to the AD&D 1-minute round. It's possible to argue that shorter rounds were intended in OD&D Vol 3, but I think it requires a heavier burden to overcome the above than has been put forth so far. And it's harder now that there's evidence indicating that the Chainmail turn was not, by default, meant to include multiple rounds of combat.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 14:52:06 GMT -6
~2 hours left. I was on the fence about it since I already have a nice copy of the hardcover 3rd edition, which includes the rulebook, 20s sourcebook and Companion all together. I mostly wanted the adventures, but wasn't sure about pdf or print. Then I read that the 2" size was chosen to replicate the size of the original 1981 box. Holmes reviewed the 1st edition back in 1983 for Gameplay magazine*, so the connection there was enough to put me over into the print column. * This review was reprinted in a zine in 2019, along with artwork by Chris Holmes: zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2019/09/holmes-1983-review-of-call-of-cthulhu.html |
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 14:08:50 GMT -6
ThrorIIThanks for your comment. Whether or not "Chainmail has an unlimited number of melee rounds in a 1-minute combat turn" is actually what this entire thread is about! I replied to you on Grognardia. Here's part of what I wrote: See the referenced article in my post upthread.
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 12:30:11 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 12:28:51 GMT -6
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Post by Zenopus on Jul 24, 2021 10:11:58 GMT -6
One item I'll post in support of the Donjon Lands argument is that Warriors of Mars, which includes systems clearly derived from Chainmail, has two separate scales that "are not mixed on the table":
1:50, in which "1 turn = 1 min" and "1" = 10 yards"
1:1, in which "1 turn = 10 sec" and "1" = 6 feet"
The 1:1 scale is described on pages 16-17 and appears modified from Chainmail MTM, and "has two rounds of melee each turn", thus rounds are 5 sec each.
Now, whether this type of split scale was ever used with Chainmail Mass Combat/MTM is up to interpretation, but it almost appears to be written in recognition of the ambiguity of Chainmail.
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