Zak Smith's VICE Article on D&D

Zak Smith, artist, adult film actor, award-winning DIY game designer, and fellow resident of Los Angeles County (Hollywood division), has written a thoughtful article on the persisting appeal and vitality of Dungeons & Dragons in an age of video games and Hollywood blockbusters.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but it feels as if some kind of giant open pop-cultural loop (or loops) have finally been closed with the publication of this article.

"Attempt no landing there. Use them together. Use them in peace."

The Wit and Wisdom of Lou Zocchi

In this video, taken at Gen Con 2015, legendary dice manufacturer, tabletop gaming impresario, and authentic American original Lou Zocchi gives the straight dope on the art and science of dice manufacturing, and explains why his plastic polyhedrals are superior to those of his many lesser competitors.

Via Delta's D&D Hotspot.

A New Force in the Field of Tabletop Gaming Awards Has Arrived!

Behold: the Ramanan Sivaranjan Awards for Excellence in Gaming, 2014 edition. These awards are nourishment for thoughtful old-school gamers of refined taste, such as yourself (I hope!), but are like poison for the mindless hordes of adolescent EN World gamers and their ilk.

(The sad thing is, this post came off as sarcasm, but it is actually sincere, despite the obvious hyperbolic puffery. Kudos to Sivaranjan for his initiative.)

Untimely Reviews: Forgotten Realms Boxed Set (AD&D 2nd Edition)

It's a bit of an ugly duckling, but don't judge a boxed set by its cover alone.

This post is based on some comments I left on YouTube after watching Abraham Zetina's detailed video review of the AD&D 2nd edition Forgotten Realms boxed set (of all things):

I found this review of Zetina's after reading Joseph Bloch of BRW games' blog post about a more recent review by Zetina of Bloch's own Adventures Dark & Deep series of books.

Watching Zetina's detailed video review got me thinking about this particular version of the Forgotten Realms campaign, and how it compared to a lot of other gaming products on the 1980s and 1990s put out by TSR. I am not really a fan of the Realms, for many of the reasons that are commonly cited (too generic, too many uber-powerful NPCs, too many intrusive and implausible meta-plots, etc.), but this Forgotten Realms campaign set is probably the best one TSR / Wizards has produced, in part because of the breadth and depth of the information presented, as noted by Zetina in his review.

In particular, this boxed set provides detailed information about Shadowdale and its surrounds, including descriptions of the buildings and NPCs of Shadowdale, and a nearby dungeon and associated "adventure". There is enough information in the boxed set to start a campaign set in Shadowdale, without requiring much additional work or design by the referee. This may not seem very impressive, especially in the light of the much earlier Judges Guild products which accomplished a similar feat with respect to the City State of the Invincible Overlord and the Wilderlands of High Fantasy, but in fact, as many in the OSR have pointed out over the years, hardly any of the old TSR campaign settings included the real nuts and bolts of a D&D campaign--one or more dungeons, a wilderness, and a home base. All of this work was generally left to the poor, put-upon referee. 

This is true, for example, of both the better-known "Grey Box" 1st edition AD&D Forgotten Realms boxed set, and for that matter of the 3rd edition D&D Forgotten Realms campaign book. It is also true of all of the old AD&D campaign settings that I can think of--Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Time of the Dragon, Dark Sun, Planescape, even Lankhmar to a certain extent--and of many or most of Wizards of the Coast's campaign settings for 3rd and 4th edition D&D. These all provided "big picture" guides to their respective setting, but giving barely any practical advice or info for actually starting a campaign--a local wilderness map with keyed encounters, a local dungeon or two with maps and keys, a local town or neighborhood with a detailed map and key, etc.  

Of course, there are many limitations to the AD&D 2nd edition Forgotten Realms campaign setting, including the often awkwardly execrable illustration (discussed, with examples, by Zetina), and the lack of coherence and distinctiveness of the Realms themselves as a campaign setting. But, pound for pound and dollar for dollar, I think this boxed set provides more actual game-able content than most of the other official TSR or WotC campaign settings, and it has many other nice details, such as: illustrations of the symbols and heraldry for gods, towns, kingdoms, adventuring groups, etc.; the old alphabets for the Espruar (Elvish) and Dethek (Dwarfish); illustrations of the various orders of priests in the Realms; and detailed maps of the major cities of the Realms. In some respects, then, it is an overlooked gem (or at least a semiprecious stone :) ) of old-school AD&D, and more useful as a campaign setting than its more famous and beloved 1st edition counterpart (which, admittedly, does have much better art, or perhaps I should say, much less awful art, and in general a whole lot of charm, as the Gentleman Gamer pointed out in his video review of the same). 

This is what old-school charm looks like. (It is a very evocative painting, by the inimitable, late, lamented Keith Parkinson, who did a lot of great work for the 1st edition Realms.)

The Twilight Empire

Conspectus

The Twilight Empire is a large feudal kingdom in a demon-haunted world, full of infernal spirits, undead, monsters, witches, and sorcerers. In a former aeon, the world was peaceful and prosperous, united under the wise rule of the arch-magi and techno-wizards of the Pantarchy. A rogue arch-mage’s attempt to summon and bind gods of the primordial chaos led to the collapse of that peaceable civilization. Hordes of demons and monsters were released from magical captivity, and the few human survivors reverted to barbarism.

Centuries later, civilization has been re-established, but is plagued by evil men and creatures of darkness. Defending humanity are knights, Templars, wardens, and witch hunters, but these groups have their own rivalries, fighting one other as often as they do battle against demons and monsters. Everywhere men are divided by faction, class, sect, and kingdom, and moreover doomed to destruction by their insatiable lusts for wealth, pleasure, and power.

The Fall of the Pantarchy

In ancient times, the Pantarchy ruled the world of Telleth-Rumi, and worlds beyond. The Pantarchs followed the Cosmic Balance, worshipping an array of celestial, elemental, and infernal spirits. They summoned creatures from other worlds, built inter-dimensional gates, and grew etheric ships from living crystal, which they used to sail the black seas of space.

The Peace of the Pantarchs prevailed for thousands of years, until it was broken by the arch-mage Obduras. Obduras abandoned the Cosmic Balance, and sought to become sole ruler of the multiverse. He summoned elder gods from the great Abyss beyond space and time—Tiamat, Abzu, Mummu, and others—their names still echo as curses down through the many centuries. These gods of primeval chaos proved to be Obduras’ undoing, for they overpowered his mystic wards and sigils, sending waves of chaotic energy into the worlds of the Pantarchy. The gates of the Pantarchs collapsed, their bound spirits ran free, and the cities of men were engulfed in surges of formless energy.

The Pantarchy fell, but not before its remaining arch-magi performed the Great Panspace Banishing. This powerful enchantment hurled the elder gods back to their native realm. The few human survivors swiftly reverted to barbarism, and were preyed upon by rogue spirits and monstrous aberrations spawned from the chaotic wastelands.

After several centuries had passed, the survivors began to till the soil, build villages and towns, and rediscover the lost lore of their ancestors. Among them were the Val, nomads who wandered the Endless Plain with herds of horses and cattle. The Val were among the first to domesticate horses after the Fall of the Pantarchs, and they invented the chariot, which gave them an advantage in warfare. They spread to the east, west, and south, settling in much of the northern continent of Septentrion, including the land now known as the Twilight Empire.

The Val were never politically united; each of their kings ruled over a small domain, no larger than a duchy in size. The ancient kingdom of Greymouth was one such royal domain, which gradually grew in wealth and power, due to its control of the mouth of the great Grey River. The kings of Greymouth expanded their territory, conquering other small kingdoms and city states which lay along the Grey River and on the western coast of the continent. 

The Aeons of Man

Knowledge of human history is based primarily upon the Chronicle of Tetractys, which divides human history into seven aeons. Tetractys was the last Scholarch of the Pantarchs, and it is from his records that knowledge of the past has been preserved. The current, seventh aeon is dated from the Fall of Pantarchy, which occurred a little over two thousand years ago. The preceding six aeons are dated from other important events in the history of human civilization.

The Aeons of Man Table

Aeon	Designation	Description	Duration
1st	Genesis	Origin of humanity	c. 200,000y
2nd	Exodus	Space exploration	c. 50,000y
3rd	Judges	Galactic republic	c. 100,000y
4th	Kings	Galactic empire; contact with demons	c. 100,000y
5th	Diaspora	Dark age after chaos invasions	c. 50,000y
6th	Pax Pantarchiana	Peace of the Pantarchs	c. 100,000y
7th	Post Pantarchiam	After the fall of the Pantarchs	2,279y

Fighters in the Twilight Empire

Designer's Notes

The fighter abilities are inspired by the "warrior skills" in Empire of the Petal Throne (p. 18). These are a little more potent than weapon proficiencies from 1st and 2nd edition AD&D, but a little less potent than feats from the 3rd and later editions of D&D. Enough to provide some background and flavor to individual fighters, but not enough to change the underlying power dynamics of the game (or so I hope--these have yet to be playtested in their current version). The fighter abilities also help provide differentiation to fighters wielding different weapons, since weapons in OD&D are mechanically similar. This is especially true if using only the original 3 LBB's and not the Greyhawk supplement, since all attacks inflict 1d6 damage regardless of weapon type. 

The barbarian and cavalier training packages are inspired by the fighter sub-classes of the same names from the 1st edition AD&D Unearthed Arcana. However, the barbarian training package is intended to reflect the various "primitive" agriculturalists and pastoralists on the fringes of Europe in antiquity and after (Huns, ancient Germans, Avars, Bulgars, Magyars, Saami, Prus, etc.), rather than pulp fantasy barbarians such as Conan or his many lesser successors. (Although in truth Conan was closer in skills and equipage to his ancient forebears than were the many forgettable sword and sorcery barbarians who followed him.) Barbarians who can afford it are happy to wear mail and other forms of heavy armor; what makes them distinctive is their stereotypical "toughness" and their non-combat skill set. Currently, the barbarian "toughness" is represented by a +2 to the character's constitution ability score; this could change if I think of something better.

Cavaliers receive a bonus when making attacks while mounted and charging. This replaces all of the fiddly abilities and chivalric who-ha from the Unearthed Arcana cavalier. However, cavaliers are required to have the noble background if they're human, and their skills include courtesy (how to behave at court or when among the aristocracy). Cavaliers also have the tracking skill, because of all of the time they spend hunting (their chief sport when not killing people).

Scouts are intended to include both mounted and non-mounted skirmishers of various kinds. What unites them is their maneuverability and their skill in harassing slower-moving troops with missile attacks. The latter is represented by the split-move and fire power, the name for which is of course cribbed from OD&D's miniature wargame precursor Chainmail, where it is a special ability of elvish troops. Speaking of not-so subtle OD&D references, scouts also have "outdoor survival" as a bonus skill, a nod to the Avalon Hill board game which was recommended for use with OD&D, since its game board could be used for wilderness adventures.

Soldiers are the most generic of the fighter training packages, covering the various sorts of mercenaries and regular troops that could be found in the armies of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. Their power is weapon specialization, similar to its incarnation in the 1st and later editions of D&D, but here giving a simple +1 on attack and damage rolls with the weapon of choice.

Fighters

Prime Requisite:           strength

Hit Dice:                      1d8

Base Attack Bonus:     +1 per level

Armor Proficiency:      all

Weapon Proficiency:   all

Class Powers:               fighter abilities

Fighter Experience Table

XP Level	HD	BAB	Fighter Abilities
1	1d8	+1	1
2	2d8	+2	1
3	3d8	+3	1
4	4d8	+4	1
5	5d8	+5	2
6	6d8	+6	2
7	7d8	+7	2
8	8d8	+8	2
9	9d8	+9	3

Fighter Description

Fighters are experts in the art of war. Examples include bandits, knights, mercenaries, marines, pirates, and woodsmen.

Fighter Powers

Fighter Abilities

A 1st level fighter has one fighter ability of the player’s choice. Additional abilities are gained at the rate of one every four levels (second skill at 5th level, third skill at 9th level, etc.).

#	Fighter Ability
1	Artillery
2	Boxing
3	Dual Wielding
4	Fencing
5	Grappling
6	Jousting
7	Mounted Archery
8	Pike Drill
9	Quick Draw
10	Two Handed Sword

Artillery: The fighter can operate and make basic repairs on fixed artillery pieces, such as ballistae, catapults, and cannon.

Boxing: The fighter gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when fighting unarmed.

Dual Wielding: The fighter may use a second weapon in place of a shield, which provides a +1 bonus to his attack rolls. If an attack hits, there is a 10% chance it is with the off-hand weapon.

Fencing: The fighter is skilled at defending when wielding a rapier, and receives a -1 bonus to his armor class.

Grappling: The fighter gains a +2 bonus on grappling attack rolls.

Jousting: The fighter can attack with a lance while mounted and charging, in order to receive the lance’s double damage bonus.

Mounted Archery: The fighter can fire a short bow while mounted and moving.

Pike Drill: The fighter can attack with a pike while in formation, and can train others to do the same (given sufficient time). The fighter can also set a pike against a charging combatant. A set pike scores double damage on a successful attack.

A unit of combatants with the pike drill ability can fight in formation, which enables multiple ranks of combatants to attack the same target simultaneously. A group of pikemen in formation can also force charging combatants to make a morale roll in order to continue the charge.

Quick Draw: The fighter can draw or ready a weapon without having to spend an action or receive a penalty to his initiative score.

Two Handed Sword: The fighter can disable an opponent’s polearm (halberd or pike), spear, or lance with a successful attack roll.

Fighter Training Packages

Fighter Training Packages Table

#	Training Package	Skills	Powers	Races	BP	AL
1	Barbarian	hide in wilderness outdoor survival tracking	constitution bonus	any	any but scholar	any
2	Cavalier	courtesy riding tracking	mounted charge bonus	cambion elfborn human	noble	any
3	Scout	outdoor survival riding tracking	split-move and fire	any	any but scholar	any
4	Soldier	appraisal riding teamster	weapon specialist	any	any but scholar	any

Barbarian

Items:               chainmail armor; hand axe; helmet; shield; spear

Skills:               hide in wilderness; outdoor survival; tracking

Powers:             constitution bonus

Races:              any

Backgrounds:   any except scholar

Alignment:       any

Description: A barbarian is a warrior from an uncivilized society. Uncivilized societies include hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, fishermen, and farmers. They are “uncivilized” in that they don’t build cities or towns. The political structures of barbarian societies tend to be smaller in scale than those of civilized societies, but can include short-lived empires created by the conquests of a charismatic leader.

Constitution Bonus: A barbarian receives a +2 bonus to his constitution score. A barbarian character can have a constitution score higher than 18.

Cavalier

Items:               chainmail armor; helmet; lance; sword; shield; warhorse, charger

Skills:               courtesy; riding; tracking

Powers:            mounted charge bonus

Races:              cambion; elfborn; human

Backgrounds:   noble

Alignment:       any

Description: A cavalier is a fighter of noble birth trained to fight while mounted. Their favored tactic is attacking with a lance while mounted and charging. As such, a cavalier is required to take jousting as his first fighter skill.

Cavaliers generally also have considerable experience hunting various kinds of game, which is the basis for their skill in tracking.

A cavalier must take jousting as his first fighter ability.

Mounted Charge Bonus: When a cavalier makes a melee attack at the end of a mounted charge, he receives a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls. If attacking with a lance, this bonus is in addition to the lance’s double damage bonus.

Scout

Items:               helmet; 6 javelins or short bow, 20 arrows, and quiver; sword; quilted armor; shield;

warhorse, charger

Skills:               outdoor survival; riding; tracking

Powers:            split-move and fire

Races:              any

Backgrounds:   all except scholar

Alignment:       any

Description: A scout is a warrior who specializes in tracking enemy movements, harassing enemy units with ranged or hit-and-run attacks, and out-maneuvering enemy formations.

Split-Move and Fire: A scout is able to make a half-move, then make a missile attack, and then make another half-move, all in the same combat round.

Soldier

Items:               brigandine; helmet; quilted armor; shield; weapon of specialization (varies)

Skills:               appraisal; riding; teamster

Powers:            weapon specialist

Races:              any

Backgrounds:   all except scholar

Alignment:       any

Description: A soldier is a professional warrior who fights with a regular army or mercenary band. Soldiers are generally of common birth, but can otherwise come from a variety of backgrounds.

Weapon Specialist: A soldier specializes in a particular kind of weapon. The character receives a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when making an attack with a weapon of the relevant kind. The character also receives the weapon as a bonus item, together with any associated ammunition or pertinences, such as a scabbard, quiver, bolt case, or powder horn.