I’ll confess right up front… I was one of them. It was when I actually sat down and strived to comprehend what EGG was laying out for us in those massive walls of text that the OSR tries mightily to avoid these days, that the subtle currents of what was happening at his table started forming springs to the surface.

I’ve maintained for decades now that the railroady nature of AD&D from about 1986 on started with the Hickmans and Weis through Dragonlance. I never made it beyond the first module of the series, so great was my loathing of “choo-choo” play style ; being told that the actions I took with PCs who were not my creation had to be negated in order to fit with the storyline of the next module genuinely hacked me off.

This weekend I learned of some obscure reference from even earlier than Dragonlance that actually set the ball rolling… no really, I had never heard of this until today, and I’m quite the student of TSR history… the so-called “Hickman Manifesto”. I looked it up during lunch. I have opinions about this.

The manifesto outlines four core principles:

1. A player objective more worthwhile than simply pillaging and killing.

2. An intriguing story that is intricately woven into the play itself.

3. Dungeons with some sort of architectural sense.

4. An attainable and honorable end within one or two sessions of playing time.

Now, I don’t have any problem with any of these per se… in fact, I strongly uphold the first three. But off the top of my head, I suspect these were written in response to the stereotypical “fun house dungeon” of Greyhawk style and the gaming mindset that came from that sort of play. The problem is that Hickman’s solutions completely misunderstood the very AD&D mechanics he was trying to use.

Take that first point: “A player objective more worthwhile than simply pillaging and killing.” I’m hard-pressed to name a TSR module released before 1982 with pillaging and killing as its main objectives. Perhaps Keep On The Borderlands... maybe?… but that was designed by EGG as an intro to the B/X game system for new players. One could say In Search of the Unknown, but that has the same design principle. So I’m guessing Hickman was indeed talking about fun house mega-dungeons. What he missed is that the core mechanic of gold-as-XP wasn’t about mindless killing; it was a mechanical incentive for stealth, reconnaissance, and survival.

Then there’s: “An intriguing story that is intricately woven into the play itself.” I think this is where the conductor shouts “all aboard!” One of the common themes of early TSR modules was dealing with a local threat… hill giants, bandits, strange monsters coming out of a metal door, etc. Hickman seems to state that there should be a story that actually dictates PC action during the course of play. Now, that’s a slippery slope… have a sequence of events unfold regardless of PC actions but can be changed is one thing… corralling the PCs in order to keep the storyline intact is another thing entirely. That’s where Dragonlance comes from…

As for “Dungeons with some sort of architectural sense…” Yeah, I have no problem with that other than it’s a deliberate jab at people who just sit around drawing mega-dungeon maps and then put them on Facebook like a Kindergartner showing his family his latest art work. I know some of those people.

But the real kicker is the fourth principle: “An attainable and honorable end within one or two sessions of playing time.” Well, what do you call a session, Tracy? I come from a background of playing 6-10 hours at a time multiple times a week. EGG ran long games every night. These days, people often limit gaming time to 3-4 hours one night a week. So, that time window sort of varies depending on the players and the DM.

All four of these principles lean toward gaming that wraps up quick and neat, and AD&D doesn’t do that. AD&D is built for campaign continuity, logistics, and long-term survival.

The core mechanics do not promote any of his four points. They simply don’t. They were developed by EGG, RJK and others through “fun house” dungeons. Off shoot adventures like Expedition to the Barrier Peaks don’t wander too far off the main course. It’s Hickman’s works like the Desert series, Ravenloft, and lastly Dragonlance that change players’ perceptions of what the game is truly about. They forced a narrative structure onto a rule set explicitly designed for open sandbox exploration.

When you try to force AD&D to be something it isn’t, the mechanics become a hindrance. Look at the 1990s, when TSR had a boxed set titled Masque of the Red Death. It was a branch off of Ravenloft. Great stuff… basically AD&D set in Victorian London with vampires, golems, Kabbalists, witches, all that stuff… and the AD&D rules were a hindrance to the setting rather than supporting of it. I played it a lot and constantly thought this setting needed its own rules that advanced the detective-like play it demanded.

This is what I do on purpose to your choo-choo modules.

I’d like to go on record here as stating I have never, nor will I ever, develop a fantasy franchise anywhere close to the impact that Dragonlance has had on the fantasy RPG genre. There are modules, books, novels, posters, comics, you name it. There are probably Dragonlance tampons, for all I know. I can’t touch that nor can I impugn it… but I can say that as a player I’ve never given a single damn about Dragonlance. They never made a dime off of me.

If you really want a damned near perfect blend of AD&D hack-n-slash with story telling, something Hickman was describing, then the closest thing would have been the Forgotten Realms. Why?… because the Realms left the core AD&D mechanisms completely intact. It gave you an intricate world to explore without forcing the DM to pull out the conductor’s whistle.

If you don’t actually read the DMG and understand why the mechanics are there, you fall into the trap of thinking the rules are just a clunky vehicle for a pre-written story. They aren’t. They are the engine of the game itself.

Created by a sect of illusionists within the Lodge Obscure under the direction of their lodge master Arbiddance, these three rings have wrought great deception and destruction through the centuries. Each of the three rings are master deceivers that grant their wearers the ability to fool others in regards to true alignment.

Of the three rings, only one has a confirmed master: The Flattering Mirror is possessed by the Lord Khesser of Ristriax as a family relic. Of the other two, The Brother of Zeal is rumored to be held by some evil priest on the isle of Da’ath, while the location of The Shadow of Balance is unknown (perhaps owned by some thieves guild master or an master assassin).

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By any measure of statecraft, the High Kingdom of Great Staraya is the dominant jewel of the western shores. With a population exceeding 235,000 souls, a disciplined army capable of fielding 45,000 levying troops, and the ability to summon one hundred paladins of the Iron Choir within three days’ time supported by about 230 cavaliers, its security appears absolute.

From High Vigil Castle, Her Serene Royal Majesty, Queen Daentrella (herself a 15^th level paladin) rules with an unyielding commitment to fairness and justice. Rich ironwork, timber from the Gwynnald Forest, and gemstones from the eastern slopes of the Kyrenic Mountains pour into the capital, while the Duke of Talons secures the southern coast from heathen incursions.

Yet, for all its majesty, the kingdom’s foundation has cracks. It is an open secret that the court wizard, Maddonlynks, directs much of the kingdom’s governance through closed channels…a reality that breeds deep distrust among an aristocracy that suspects his true ambitions lie outside the interest of the crown.

But the deepest, most agonizing wound in Great Staraya sits right on its northern border, entirely untouched by Law and Good.

It is the dark hold of Ristriax.

The Fraudulent Vow: How Ristriax Became Untouchable

To understand why the Iron Choir has never marched north to cleanse the accursed barony on the banks of the Ghen, one must look back three generations to the reign of King Alistair Staray.

The master of Ristriax at the time was Sir Gareth Khesser, a celebrated paladin of the Iron Choir who had secretly fallen to corruption. Gareth had begun trafficking with the dark things of the Sistermoors, but before his treason was discovered by the crown, he orchestrated a masterstroke of legalistic deception. Claiming that Ristriax was a necessary, secret bulwark against a massive humanoid incursion from the deep moors, Gareth approached King Alistair on his deathbed while using dark magics to mask the taint of evil on his soul. He begged for a royal decree that would grant Ristriax absolute administrative autonomy and safety from royal interference, ensuring his “vital defense work” could never be disrupted by political rivals in the court.

Alistair, weakened by illness and trusting a brother of the Choir, swore a binding, holy oath upon the realm’s sacred relics: The crown, the state, and the Iron Choir shall never commit an act of aggression, nor cross with martial intent, into the boundaries of Ristriax, so long as the line of Khesser holds its gates.

Only after the old king died did the horrifying truth emerge. Gareth hadn’t been defending the realm; he had been carving out a sovereign sanctuary for his own black designs. Because the oath was sworn upon holy relics by a rightful king, any violation of it by the forces of Great Staraya would instantly shatter the divine mandate of the Staray Throne and strip that clan of their right to rule.

Today, Gareth’s descendant...Lord Jaod Khesser, a brutal and ruthless 10th-level fighter… sits in sits in the cold, slate-roofed keep of Blackspire Hall. He is bolstered by small bands of evil men and humanoids who raid into the anarchic Sistermoors with absolute impunity. So long as his forces remain north of the Ghen, the Crown cannot touch him.

In the last year, matters have taken a turn for the worse. Persistent rumors throughout the northern part of the realm suggest that dark emissaries from the undead Kingdom of Waerda have been crossing the Kyrenic Mountains into Ristriax. Some speculate Lord Khesser has made, or is about to make, a pact with Vladek the Deathless in order to swarm into Great Staray and unseat Daentrella and the Staray line forever. With High Vigil Castle and its forces swept aside, there is very little to stop the deathless march of Vladek’s vile touch south into the Naej… and Lord Khesser is just power mad and insane enough to aid him.

The Cold War on the River Ghen

Because of this ancient loophole, the borderland along the Ghen, a minor tributary leading into the Sistermoors, has become a pressure cooker of passive-aggressive surveillance and absolute paranoia.

• The Iron Choir’s Watch: The Queen has stationed heavy concentrations of forces along the edge of the moors. Watchtowers line the southern bank of the Ghen. Rangers track every shadow that moves out of Ristriax, their fingers constantly on their bowstrings. They are looking for the slightest excuse…a single foot stepped across the official border…to justify a lethal response.

• Khesser’s Defiance: On the northern bank, Khesser’s guards and humanoid mercenaries openly mock the royal sentries. They march up to the very edge of the water, knowing they are entirely safe behind a dead king’s word. Khesser is careful; he never directs his raids into Staraya proper. Instead, he bleeds the unaligned settlements of the Sistermoors dry, knowing Queen Daentrella can only watch from across the river with righteous, restricted fury.

Angles for PC Involvement

In a High Gygaxian sandbox, a political stalemate locked by rigid law is an open invitation for a group of desperate, heavily armed mercenaries who don’t wear the Queen’s livery. Here are three ways to drop a party into the middle of this boiling pot:

• The Wizard’s Deniable Assets: Maddonlynks, the ambitious court wizard, is entirely unbothered by the paladins’ moral qualms regarding the oath. He approaches the party through a proxy with a cold proposition: cross the Ghen under the cover of night, infiltrate Ristriax, and retrieve a specific arcane artifact Khesser is unearthing. If the party is caught, the crown will disavow them, and the Iron Choir will execute them as border-breakers to maintain the oath...but if they succeed, the rewards are astronomical.

• The Border Gamble: A desperate border commander of Great Staraya knows that a caravan of humanoids carrying stolen wealth is about to enter Ristriax from the moors. The commander cannot cross the river to stop them, but he can look the other way if a band of independent adventurers “coincidentally” ambushes the caravan right in the no-man’s-land of the river shallows.

• The Legal Loophole: A scholar in Wydyr believes there is a flaw in the original wording of King Alistair’s vow—specifically regarding what constitutes “the line of Khesser holding its gates.” The scholar hires the party to venture into the dangerous territory near Ristriax to unearth genealogical or historical proof that Lord Khesser is not actually Gareth’s blood descendant, which would instantly break the cosmic protection holding the Iron Choir back.

The Major Adventure Hook: The Corpse-Run Covenant

The Setup: Maddonlynks, the court wizard, contacts the party through his usual deniable channels. His network of spies along the River Ghen has intercepted a specific piece of intelligence: an emissary from Waerda...a powerful wight or perhaps even a Grave King bearing a heavy, lead-lined iron casket… has successfully slipped past the Kyrenic Mountain watches. The emissary is currently holed up in a ruined, abandoned monastery in the no-man’s-land just west of the Ghen, waiting for Lord Khesser’s personal guard to escort them safely across the river into Ristriax tomorrow night.

Inside that casket is the Covenant of Bone: a dark treaty signed by Vladek the Deathless. If the treaty reaches Lord Khesser and he carves his name onto it, the ancient oath protecting Ristriax will be expanded by Waerda’s necromantic magic, effectively turning the accursed barony into a permanent, unassailable beachhead for an undead invasion force right on Great Staraya’s flank.

The Mission: The party must intercept the Waerdan emissary before they reach the River Ghen and cross into Khesser’s territory. Once the emissary crosses the water into Ristriax, the Queen’s royal decree binds the Iron Choir, and they will be legally forced to execute the party if they follow the undead across the border.

The Complications:

• The Guard Post: A local, zealous commander of the Iron Choir patrols the south bank. He doesn’t know about Maddonlynks’ deniable mission. If he catches the party skulking around the ruined monastery at night, he will assume they are tomb-robbers or Waerdan cultists and act accordingly with unyielding force.

• The Envoy’s Arsenal: The Waerdan emissary isn’t traveling alone. They are accompanied by a small, elite cadre of shadow-wights whose level-draining touch makes any frontline combat a terrifying gamble.

• The Ring Factor: If the party manages to intercept the meeting, they might discover that Khesser’s captain is carrying Lord Khesser’s ancestral Band of False Witness (q.v.) specifically to smuggle the undead envoy through any passive paladin detection nets near the river. If the PCs can secure that ring, they gain a tool of immense value… and perhaps put a massive target on their backs.

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If you can’t immediately recall off the top of your head where that is, don’t feel bad about it.

(The late, great Ace Frehley once asked me where I was from. I told him Little Rock because I was 99.999% sure Ace Frehley didn’t have a fucking clue where New Edinburg was.)

That’s the most rural Southern of rural Southern towns, and I grew up attending the most rural of Baptist churches which was even further out in the sticks than the town itself.

If this town had a soundtrack, it would be made by Dead Can Dance.

Now that you can admire the picture I’ve painted, let me tell you why I’m painting it.

I was one of the few there who had even heard of Dungeons & Dragons. Me and another guy. He tried to recruit a couple of others, but it didn’t stick.

At first, you could get Moldvay/Cook sets in the nearby Wal-Mart (that’s Fordyce on the above map), but the “harder stuff” could only be found in the larger cities. For us that was a 45 minute trip to nearby Pine Bluff and a Mom-n-Pop bookstore on the edge of the city limits named Pickwick’s Books.

Pickwick’s is long gone now and if you spend more than 30 minutes in Pine Bluff these days you can totally understand why.

Thank God for Little Rock.

But very soon, the church psychos bullied Wal-Mart, along with Sears and JC Penney, into removing all D&D products from their game sections, and therein lies the story for this post.

(Jack Chick at his most ludicrous. Anyone remember anything like this bullshit happening at your table? I certainly don’t.)

Being a teenager in the early 1980s, arguably the Golden Age for AD&D, I never really saw the Satanic Panic.

I’ve heard stories, horrible stories of mother hen bullying of bookstores, groups like BADD being formed and funded (note the last word) and weird episodes of 60 Minutes. There was that sad and atrocious novel Mazes & Monsters which got made into a TV movie with Tom Hanks.

(Tom Hanks peering into the entrance tunnel of a long and brilliant acting career, but checking for traps first. Image copyright to someone somewhere who isn’t me.)

But anyone in Dirty Burg breathing down my neck telling me I’m going to Hell for playing AD&D?

Didn’t happen. Not once. My own Mom was fundamentalist as hell and a devotee of Jerry Falwell, and she liked me playing D&D. She thought it was great. My Mom also loved vampire movies too, so there’s that...

Two chicks in my high school class (who, in retrospect, were way over-rated) were curious about me reading the Player’s Handbook in study hall. They totally... got the wrong impression about the title... and I had to set them straight. That was probably the first time they had heard of D&D.

Over time, I’ve concluded the “D&D is Satanic” was more of an urban phenomenon.

How urban? A few years later I attended college at nearby UA-Monticello. Quaint town that’s now overrun with burger joints. In about three years, I fell in with the campus Methodist Student Center… mainly because a guy there had a running D&D (2E) game going along with a Star Frontiers game which was rampant with hilarious stories. He and I formed a fourteen year friendship that ended because I became a serious liability to him (as many, many others did). Whole other story...

There was a rumor floating around that there was a coven of witches on campus, and he speculated it was because he was running a D&D game. In fact, he was sure of it. I never really saw anything to make the connection, but the rumor did ebb and flow over the years depending on how involved he was with the place. I suspect it’s still going on there.

I wasn’t there for this one, but I was told that one night a couple of the players were sitting there inside rolling up some new PCs… when in walked two very strange cats who were apparently unknown to anyone.

One was a chick with spiked blue hair and a ton of metal in her face framing her Manson lamps… accompanied by a Sting lookalike in a trench coat repeatedly flicking and closing a Zippo.

“We hear there’s gaming here,” they intoned. “Is it true? We want to get in on the gaming.”

The two players replied “Uh, no… nope. No gaming here. No idea what you’re talking about” while quickly shoving their books into a book bag.

I suspect that’s as weird as it got.

Make no mistake, I’m not belittling the experiences of others. I’ve heard stories over the years of family fights, book burning, bookstores being constantly harassed and so forth by busy bodies across the nation. Some geek asses getting kicked on the school bus. You name it.

The D&D subset of the Satanic Panic, which was definitely a thing, was definitely there and definitely caused problems for too many people.

I often think the tragic and highly inflated story of James Egbert Dallas III (Google it) did for AD&D sales what the “Paul is dead” rumor did for Beatles record sales. I’m pretty sure I’m right.

So much in fact that the 1989 sugar-free version of AD&D known as 2^nd edition removed almost all controversial elements of the game in order to give TSR a better public image… to include, but not limited to: demons, devils, half-orcs (and the implication of interracial SA), assassins, whores, and drug use. The giant Molech idol on the cover of the PHB. Satan walking off with Miss America on the cover of the DMG. And so on.

Yeah, good bye to the ‘70s, huh? Meddling old bitties…

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The Wydyr, Duchy of

Her Sovereign Grace, Mauraeda Enjkiess, The 21^st Duchess of Wydyr (Cavalier level 10)

Capital: Gaunt Wydyr
Population: ~150,000
Demi-humans: some (mostly elves and halflings)
Humanoids: rare (more common near mountain regions)
Resources: foodstuffs such as cattle, grain and fruit, some ores, gold, gems

A former satrapy of one of the distant clans to the west (the Poxnos clan), Wydyr enjoys autonomy guaranteed by the Starays after the wars of unification. The Paladin Daentrella protects this far region by providing arms for its soldiers and occasional naval patrols near its coast.

The region itself is framed by the Duskspire Mountains to the west, the Bitter Reaches to the north, the lofty Gray Walls to the east, and the Sallowflow River to the south. The dominant waterway, the River Wyd, flows directly into the fog-shrouded Sepulchral Seas in the southwest corner of Wydyr. The region is subject to biting winds from the Bitter Reaches and, from the River Wyd south keeps a persistent early Spring damp in the air no matter the season. Despite the cold reaches to the north, it rarely snows here.

The realm is ruled from Gaunt Wydyr by the Duchess Mauraeda. She rarely ventures from this great keep, and instead holds court in extreme luxury while the rest of her realm is largely left to fend for itself. Rumors are she is overly fond of a particular vintage of wine brought in from Rath Talorr.

The three other decently sized population centers are Kilvarna, Roscrana, and Rath Mor, with the first two taking prominent positions on the River Wyd and the latter sitting south on the Sallowflow.

The Duchess maintains a personal household guard of 250 fighters (no less than 2^nd level) along with 200 heavy cavalry. The three other large settlements can provide up to 750 mounted archers and 3,500 well trained infantry proficient with the hookbill and the light crossbow. A peasant draft can fatten the defending forces by another 1,500 soldiers.

Gaunt Wydyr itself is a large and baffling complex. Built originally as a forward outpost to the east by the Poxnos, it was steadily expanded over the centuries into a labyrinthine structure that few understand. Poxnos architecture still dominates the keep, and there is a Poxnos quarter in the surrounding city serving as a hotbed of intrigue for those still loyal to the clans in the west. Rumors abound concerning deeper sections of the dungeon under the keep containing chambers and corridors that have not been seen by human eyes in untold years yet are haunted by ghosts of past nobility who wandered in there never to return.

Dominating the landscape of Wydyr is the massive Shrouded Weald… an immense and deep forest ruled by the Great Druid Yarro. When Yarro is not advising Mauraeda (advice she rarely heeds), he is here in his Great Grove somewhere at the center of the Weald. In the northern part of the Weald are several large lakes fed by streams which flow away from the great River Wyd on the north. One of these lakes served as the bastion of the now vanished Ravenwake dynasty… an aristocratic family who left Gaunt Wydyr under cloudy circumstances and moved to this isolated region only to vanish decades later. Whispers tell that the Ravenwakes brought with them an unknown Archonic artifact that had been resting in the dungeons of Gaunt Wydyr.

In the eastern reaches of Wydyr, near the Gray Walls, stands the Tower Nythros… home of the great Wizard Sabanorak. This reclusive Magus holds practical rule over this region extending as far west as the Weald and as far south as the Sallowflow, and collects taxes from the farmers in that region as well as a tribute of strange herbs, especially the fabled ghost-willow bark, from the Weald.

Southwest of Tower Nythros lies the enigmatic Caeldghul… an eldritch phenomenon rarely explored. Appearing as a large lake, the Caeldghul has no sources flowing into it, no movement on its surface, and no apparent depth. The ground within a bow-shot of the water is unnaturally smooth and devoid of all life; moonless nights give way to a reflection on the surface which doesn’t show the stars above, but unknown stars and constellations from some other place. Anyone traveling within a half-mile near the lake’s edges can feel a subtle hum that lightly vibrates the teeth. What examination that has taken place of the Caeldghul usually is fruitless and results in death, though Sabanorak himself is said to have compiled extensive arcane knowledge of the lake through his investigations.

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To quote Rodney Carrington: “if you go to Disney World, you don’t wanna see Chucky Cheese…you want the real thing!”

You remember the early ‘80s, right? When this stuff was cool, and you could put a sexy red head on the cover of something without it being a topic on CNN and some fish-faced harpy going off about it for 10 minutes?

Many of us started on these books, and they’re back in print.

Moldvay Basic:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/110274/d-d-basic-set-rulebook-b-x-ed-basic

Cook Expert:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/110792/d-d-expert-set-rulebook-b-x-ed-basic?src=also_purchased

You can also get The Keep on the Borderlands:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17158/b2-the-keep-on-the-borderlands-basic?src=also_purchased

And, the Isle of Dread:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/17083/x1-the-isle-of-dread-basic?src=also_purchased

All we need now are those cheap dice and that crayon…

Enjoy.

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https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/555490/into-the-majestic-fantasy-realms-the-northern-marches

His Into The Majestic Fantasy Realms: The Northern Marches dropped yesterday on DTRPG, and it’s a pretty good deal. Conley has oriented this toward OD&D… basically Swords & Wizardry if you need that sort of thing.

I just ordered the softback copy, and got the PDFs. We’ll wait on the softback before I give a good review.

The discerning buyer will notice the PDFs alone are $39.99, but if you order the softback… for $39.99, then the PDFs are free to download.

So, even if you don’t need another D&D setting, give Robert some OSR support and love.

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I touched on this subject in a previous Substack note (you do read my notes, don’t you?), but for those of you too cool to do the homework, I’ll expand on the topic here.

Old school saving throws are a totally different animal from what you get in 3E onward. The latter systems make saving throws rely on the PC’s abilities. 3E devolves the ST system into three categories: Fortitude, Will, and Reflex. Each reflects not a situation for which you must save, but the ability that can affect the save… FORT is affected by CON, WILL is affected by WIS, and REF is affected by DEX.

Okay, mechanics economy. I can dig that.

Here’s the question: if I’m a new player and rolling up my very first PC, if I look at that system… what can I learn from it?

What does this simplistic ST scheme tell me about the dangers I might face later at the table?

Furthermore, since I really don’t know what I’m rolling against, only the bonus I have… how can I gauge my chances of success when my butt is on the line?

The vagueness of the system information here is concerning.

Then we move to 5E (I’m not counting 4E because I don’t know it and apparently few others do either). 5E moves the ST to the abilities themselves; each ability has a ST bonus based on the ability score… so you have STR saves, WIS saves, CHA saves, and so on.

The same vague viewpoint happens again… how can I learn from this system in order to predict what might be coming down the chute at me later on? And how can I gauge my chances of success when I can’t see the goalpost?

So now we go back and look at 1E (or 2E, if you’re into that candy-assed waste of ink and paper): saving throws get broken into five categories, and those categories tell you exactly what dangers your PC can come across in the process of play. Let’s look at each one in turn:

Paralyzation/Poison/Death Magic: These are effects that act like an off-switch. Fail this and you’re out of action… perhaps permanently.

Petrification/Polymorph: These are effects that fundamentally change your body structure. You’re turned into stone or you suddenly become a snail. Add to that a System Shock roll to see if you can handle being a snail; this is a horrible way to go.

Rod/Staff/Wand: This is your ability to withstand the effects of the spellcaster’s greatest weapons… his personal hand cannon.

Breath Weapon: Generic area attack. Did you dodge just enough to avoid taking the full brunt of that red dragon’s breath, or are you now Mongolian BBQ?

And finally… and perhaps most importantly… Spells: The broad catch-all for resisting the effects of an enemy spellcaster’s spell attack.

Now, I’m that newbie player rolling up my very first PC… I can look at those categories, understand what they mean, and I have a pretty good idea what can happen to Randicore the Thief down in the Dungeons of Doom or wherever I’m heading.

But wait… there’s more:

Each saving throw is defined by a number based on class group and level. For example: a 1st level Fighter has a saving throw against spells of 17. Not good.

A 1st level Cleric or Thief saves vs spells at 15… better but still not great.

A 1st level Magic-user, however, saves vs spells at 12. That’s a lot better.

Why? The fighter doesn’t understand magic; he’s a fighter. The Cleric knows magic when he sees it, while the Thief is naturally cautious about everything; those two have a fighting chance to resist the spell effects. But a magic-user knows magic, even at a beginner level… he can withstand the effects because he can subtly alter them upon contact. Maybe.

These categories of dangers, in tandem with solid numbers to roll against, provide the player with much more information to use tactically when in combat or general play.

I’ve often debated with people about why the save tables aren’t in the Player’s Handbook. My general reply is that they are a game mechanic and so fall under the purview of the DM. In retrospect, I don’t think that argument is solid enough… though it can be mitigated by the knowledge that the player will record the saves, as given by the DM, on his character sheet.

Eh… no system is perfect.

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In the northeast Kingdom of Wydyr, lies the expansive forest called The Shrouded Weald. Some fifteen leagues southwest of Gaunt Wydyr, the massive hardwoods of this area grow more entangled the further one goes toward its center, and at its center is the holy grove of the Great Druid Yarro.

One enters at one’s own risk.

(I love Wonderdraft, but better maps will be made in the future.)

In the north stretch of the Weald lie a series of lakes dotting the landscape almost to the southern banks of the River Wyd. In one area, all the streams bend away from the Wyd and pour into the misty lake called Glasstongue by the local population.

Near Lake Glasstongue sits the village of Oakhaven. Once a prosperous village, Oakhaven has fallen on hard times after the disappearance of the local Baron and his family. The Baron Ravenwake held a manor on one of the larger islands of the lake, but some 35 years ago all the lights in the great House suddenly went out one night never to be seen again. Supply boats that paddled to the island later that week returned reporting the entire island to be abandoned, the front doors left open, and a cold and oppressive smell wafting through the halls.

On another island of Glasstongue sits a magician’s tower. The mysterious owner left some 12 years ago on a great journey to never return. None of the locals dare approach the tower for fear of what the magician may have left behind in his absence.

Three additional islands spread out across the lake besides those mentioned above, and it is known one is dominated by a large statue with its right arm pointing toward Ravenwake Manor, while the other two are possibly infested with horrid creatures which sometimes prey upon those who travel too deep toward the lake’s center.

There are local rumors about the surrounding area to the south and east of the lake including a tangled area hiding the lair of a reclusive witch, and the ruins of an abandoned garrison...

These cryptic notes from the Imp form the basis for a campaign area I’m developing for Fayn World. Through successive weeks, I’ll detail the town of Oakhaven, the area surrounding Lake Glasstongue and finally the challenges for adventurers which can be found on the lake islands. Successive posts containing vital game information will be confined behind Fayn World’s paywall, but rest assured the casual reader will be intrigued enough from the free posts to feel he needs to delve deeper.

Eventually, this scenario will form a living adventure scenario for starting adventurers to strike out from and explore Fayn, or can be modified to fit your own existing campaign world if you see fit. Once finalized, it will be available for free to paying subscribers for one month and then will be released on DriveThruRPG.

I hope you will enjoy what you find here and keep coming back for more!

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That’s a LinkedIn advertisement from WOTC. I looked, and apparently it’s been filled so that dashes my dreams I guess.

However, I did find two other interesting job posts:

Game Design Manager, and:

Game Editor. Now, I’m no expert on publishing management, but these coupled with a new Publishing Lead smells like a totally different team developing something big.

You know, like I said a couple of weeks ago?

Joe Bloch is experienced in this field, and he thinks the advert for a new Publishing Lead means WOTC will be outsourcing all the design work for… what ever is coming. I don’t think he saw the other two job adverts… and the other two require the applicant to be in the Renton offices at least three days a week.

Let’s see how this develops.

You can watch Joseph Bloch’s take on this at his Greyhawk Grognard Youtube channel here:

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Page 121 Tabletop Roleplay... he covers a lot of things, but my favorite vids from him are the ones which cover some aspect of AD&D... a monster, a magic item, a spell... you name it. He actually shows the entry, reads it aloud, comments on it, and always gives you something new to think about. I’ve played AD&D since the early 1980s, but this commentator repeatedly gives me new angles on this stuff that I never considered. Keep an eye on his channel... you’ll learn something every time.

https://www.youtube.com/@page121tabletoproleplaying4

No One of Consequence: just an average Joe like me who really likes the old, better written stuff from days of yore. He concentrates on play throughs for old modules like The Keep On The Borderlands, etc. He also talks a lot about industry figures and any news revolving around them. Give this guy some love, subscribe and watch his vids.

https://www.youtube.com/@nooneofconsequence1759

Daddy Rolled a 1 apparently has a lot of time on his hands. He makes vids reaching up to about 2 hours in length. He’s my guru, or one of, for how AD&D mechanics actually work. Much like Page 121 above, Daddy Rolled a 1 really breaks open the reference books and dissects rules to explain how a rule works and why it matters. A lot of food for thought in his vids. Load one up one evening, kick back and learn what Gary was thinking when he wrote the DMG.

https://www.youtube.com/@daddyrolleda1

Not exclusively AD&D, Diversity & Dragons is one of us though. He’s old school, sarcastic, and doesn’t like the way things are going in the hobby. He’s a late night talk show host on some UHF channel with a small budget but a lot of opinions. You’ll find yourself agreeing with him more than you disagree.

https://www.youtube.com/@DiversityDragons

There are other channels I hit now and then, but these are the ones who deserve pimping. Go visit them, comment, and be sure to tell them Doktor Rotwang sent you.

In my last post, I mentioned the sudden appearance of WOTC head Dan Ayoub at GaryCon sitting right next to Luke Gygax and openly stating “WOTC has lost its way.”

Well, no kidding, Dan.

The fountain of information that came from that press conference has set a lot of brains abuzz. The announcement that Luke himself is working with WOTC on a new book about his old PC Melf which will act as a guide to the Greyhawk campaign setting is the doorway to a lot of speculation.

Let’s take a step back for a minute and look at Luke: son of D&D creator/designer Gary Gygax, Luke was one of the original players in the game. His PC names, Melf and Otis the Ranger, are all over Greyhawk lore… Melf’s Acid Arrow and Melf’s Minute Meteor spring to mind… and if you’ve been to Hommlet then you had to deal with Otis. Luke knows Greyhawk like the back of his hand, and with his brother Ernie gone, he’s the go-to guy on what that campaign was like (Rob Kuntz excluded since he effectively removed himself from the industry).

So, yeah… this is the guy to give us some Greyhawk goodness.

This leads to the question: how far will this relationship with WOTC… the company that went out of its way to slander his father just a short time ago… actually go?

I think it will go far.

Read more

As you may have heard by now, the new head of the D&D franchise at WOTC is Dan Ayoub, a former GM at Microsoft and one of the people who brought us HALO.

Dan’s one of us.

An avowed fan of old school gaming, Dan reached out to Luke Gygax, son of Gary Gygax, and apologized for how WOTC crapped on Gary in the past.

Really apologized. Like… twice.

WOTC’s viewpoint on Old School and Grognards has, in the past, been contemptuous by branding EGG and the others who brought you D&D as: racist, bigoted, and basically Midwest white trash who should be derided and shoved out of the light.

Dan fixed that. I suspect Dan did it because a) he’s an Old Schooler and b) coming from a successful brand like HALO, he understands that alienating a huge segment of your customers who have disposable income isn’t the best business model out for there.

Unlike others at WOTC… or who were at WOTC.

Dan appeared at GaryCon 2026 and held a joint press conference with Luke announcing the new direction WOTC would be taking with D&D as a franchise. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about 50 minutes long and can be found here courtesy of Crit Hit the Giant:

Luke and Dan

It’s well worth the watch. Luke talks a lot about his involvement in the game as a kid and what he contributed to it. There are several points made in the conference I want to stress here:

1. Luke is working with WOTC to produce new Greyhawk oriented products… the first apparently being based on his PC Melf as a guide to that campaign world.

2. WOTC is answering fan desire to release more “modules” as opposed to adventure paths; these would resemble the past marketing product of a compact and contained adventure that can be dropped into your own campaign… you know, what the OSR has been doing for 20 years now? And TSR did for 20 years?

3. D&D Beyond is shifting to being more player focused and less about digital toolsets.

4. Physical books are here to stay… which I assume means a shift away from so much digital content.

Now, I have a lot of opinions about all of this, mostly good… and I’ll detail that out in my next post. I’ll sum it up by saying a couple of things here:

1. There’s been a rumor floating around for the past few months that WOTC realizes D&D 2024 wasn’t all they hoped… surprise, surprise… and they’re quickly working on a 6^th edition… an edition that reaches back to Old School play styles or even… gasp… 1E. I’m beginning to think that’s actually happening.

2. I’m delighted WOTC has gotten someone sensible in charge of the franchise and realized how badly they screwed up in an effort to chase an audience that barely exists and rarely spends good money on quality products. I’m hoping this signals an overall cultural shift in the RPG industry that’s long overdue.

In my next post, I’ll expand on these two points, talk about what I think this means for the OSR industry, and speculate on what a new edition would look like with Luke Gygax getting in the mix.

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(A Gothic ivory carving from 13th-15th century Europe. Held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art)

You’ll find them. Dead adventurers.

The Valorous Vagrants of Vihmy or some other band of enterprising young adventurers descend into the dungeons beneath Tower Tenebrous... but don’t come out.

Maybe the DM shouldn’t have put those two ogres armed with mauls on that level, but hey… this is AD&D and he’s not going to hold the players’ hands. You choose your fights.

So now, your party… the self-styled Knights of Alondra, fresh young paladin in the lead, decide to take their shot at Tower Tenebrous.

The place looks damned empty at first. Has someone else been here? The barkeep back in town said nothing about another adventuring party in the area.

The Knights make their way through a pretty ransacked first level... dead goblins all over the place… and find the stairs leading to the second level. This is where… rumors have it… all the cool stuff was supposed to be stored.

You turn a bend in the passage… and there they are… looking like a 3D Salvador Dali painting… certain areas of their bodies flattened more than usual. The Valorous Vagrants met their end right here. Right… here…

Time to loot the bodies.

Now, of course the DM has already determined their personal treasure… which isn’t much and the goblins upstairs certainly didn’t have shit… but what else would these unfortunate souls have to their names?

That’s where you get creative.

I’ve been there… having to come up with stuff off the top of my head to give things a little flavor… to make the players wonder and possibly waste time.

I’ll do it so you don’t have to. So, let’s give that dodecahedron you never use a little more love.

Here’s a nice little table of 12 unusual things found on the body of a dead adventurer. Some might be useful. Some might be mysterious. Some might make the player wonder what this guy got up to in his spare time. All are designed to make the player stop and think...

Roll 1d12:

1. A bundle of twelve iron spikes wrapped in cloth so they won’t rattle. This will make the party rethink their OPSEC.

2. A weighted throwing line made of unusually strong silk with a small lead hook on the end. Useful for snagging objects. About 150 feet in length.

3. A small, empty collapsible cage with possible bird crap on the bottom of it.

4. A map fragment sealed in a small tube waxed shut on both ends. The map shows a partial dungeon level or maybe a wilderness route. One important chamber or landmark is circled in red ink with exclamation or question marks. The rest of the map is missing. Of course, the place detailed has nothing to do with this one.

5. A stoppered clay jar of lampblack. This stuff can be smeared on armor or skin to reduce shine and help hide in darkness. This brings a lively OPSEC discussion since it sounds like a good idea, but obviously didn’t help this party.

6. A bone whistle carved with strange symbols. It makes a sharp, extremely annoying tone that carries over a great distance. Adventurers use them to signal underground or across wilderness distances.

7. A small cloth pouch containing six perfectly identical human incisors.

8. A scrap of parchment listing 25 names. Six have been crossed out. The DM can introduce future NPCs this way.

9. A small brass mirror mounted on a hinged wooden handle. Useful for peering around corners.

10. A pouch containing dried apple slices and honeyed nuts. Enough for two good meals.

11. A stoppered flask of extremely strong spirits. Good for drinking if you’re a lush, as a disinfectant, or as a fire starter when mixed with oil.

12. A letter from a bar wench in the nearby town to the now deceased owner. Damned saucy and badly written, she details her love for him and states their mutual treasure is buried 10 strides due east of “their tree.”

Weird things like this happen in Fayn. Fayn is my AD&D 1E campaign world under development. Occasionally I’ll throw tidbits and lore out here in the freebie section, but the good stuff is reserved for the paid tier subscribers. $5.99 per month gives you access to the information being spoonfed to me by the enigmatic Imp of Sodh from his tower. Step inside with us and see what’s afoot...

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There’s a trend in modern RPGs to get away from alignment as a game function. Pathfinder 2E Remastered does away with it entirely by assuming a moral compass is relative.

I don’t disagree in principle; a lot of viewpoints are relative, but that’s not how the concept of alignment functions… further cementing my theory that most game designers today don’t understand how D&D in its early form actually worked.

We’ll talk about that over time.

Observe Anthony’s diagram above.

The word alignment implies the PC is pointed toward a certain philosophy, and that begins with the center of his moral universe.

The PC either believes that the laws of civilization should be the guiding principle or that his personal desires and beliefs should be his motivator in life. The neutral PC, or as Anthony calls him… “The Idealist”… realizes that laws are an important replacement for perfect wisdom but can be superseded by an individual’s personal insight, while having no laws to govern personal behavior is being little better than a beast.

That’s the first axis of alignment: is the final authority on life external or internal or a fine balance of both approaches?

Once that’s determined, the PC then decides how he will apply that moral compass in life. The good person wants what’s best for everyone; he might use the laws of civilization to make that happen, or he might believe that individuals can decide for themselves what brings the greatest good.

The evil PC uses his moral compass to enforce his own interests even at the expense of others. He might manipulate and ride civilization’s laws toward his own ends and thus subjugate the weak, or he might believe that “might is right” and prey upon them with impunity.

The neutral or Idealist walks a weird rope; he is pragmatic in his methods to either help others or help himself.

The True Neutral believes that the final answer comes from all angles… the law and the individual’s interpretation of it must be paramount, and the concepts of altruism vs selfishness are just paths one could follow in the pursuit of balance.

Game Application: so how does alignment factor into game play? First, several magic items are oriented toward alignment. The paladin’s Holy Avenger sword is an item with its own LG orientation; it was forged to uphold the laws of civilization and to be used only to help improve the lives of people. That usually means helping the paladin achieve his quests and to destroy evil… especially CE.

Various magical tomes are written with symbolism meaningful only to those of identical alignment; attempting to read those works if one isn’t of that philosophy causes psychological distress and ruptures one’s world view… so they lose experience points.

Interactions around the table and with NPCs hugely depend on alignment. If a paladin tells a group of bandits to either flee the area or they will be killed, they know he’ll keep his word. Spell use often depends on alignment; a LG cleric would loathe to use Cause Critical Wounds because it would be a perversion of his religious beliefs and an affront to his god. Only in the combat and destruction of an evil enemy would he dare use such a spell. Other spells such as Detect Evil and Dispel Evil are tooled specifically to isolate and destroy evil NPCs. They are avenues for the PCs to achieve their in game goals.

Gary Gygax emphasized the DM habit of keeping track of PC alignments… he even provided a cool chart in the PHB to facilitate that. Once a PC drifts too far from his stated world view, he can and will begin to lose powers and experience unless he somehow atones.

I think many modern designers often discard alignment because they see it as restrictive of player’s style… but it was never meant to be a psychological test. Alignment is a philosophical game mechanic that shapes how the world reacts to PC actions.

In future posts I’ll dig deeper into how the 1E system actually worked at the table and why so many modern designers seem to have forgotten it.

Until then please subscribe for these free posts and join us on the paid tier for $5.99 a month where we delve into the lore and mechanics of the occulted demi-plane known as Fayn.

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Here’s a quick table for rumors concerning the Doomwatch dungeon in Fayn. Oddly enough, you can use this table for your own dungeon to entice players into deeper exploration. No veracity check needed; it’s totally up to the DM as to whether or not these things actually happen…

Roll 1d12:

1. Some say there’s a stone door in the lower halls that breathes. No one’s opened it yet, but many think something terrible sleeps on the other side.

2. A band of treasure hunters came out of there without their shadows. They didn’t last long after, and the treasure they found turned to gray powder…

3. There’s a well on the second level. If you listen long enough, it whispers names of other adventurers who have passed by. If you hear your own name, you won’t be returning this way.

4. A brass golem in a shrine room weeps black tears that dissolve iron.

5. Old dwarves and other miners claim the place wasn’t dug downward, but that the earth swallowed it whole.

6. In one corridor, torches burn blue and cold, and you can hear footsteps slowly following you. Elves will feel very sleepy here.

7. There’s a throne in a sealed chamber. Sit in it and you’ll remember myths and stories from the Fallen Kingdom to the south… including where some great treasures are buried.

8. Some swear the deepest walls in the dungeon quietly beat like a predator’s heart when the dungeon goes quiet.

9. At the end of a long stair lies a ossuary crypt, and the bones won’t stay where they’re put.

10. A completely mirrored chamber shows someone tall and emaciated standing behind you, even though the room is empty.

11. A bronze bell hangs in the gloom of the fourth level. Ring it and one major undead will leave the dungeon never to return… but will be waiting for you when you return to the surface.

12. An isolated chamber was never finished. Something lurks in there and still waits for the builders to return.

Use what you like, ignore the rest. Perhaps one of these rumors will send a party somewhere they shouldn’t go…

Want more material like this for your table? Tier I subscribers get additional tables and playable content each month.

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The seller calls himself Nix and Nox Locker (IYKYK…).

The corners are a little dinged and edges slightly worn, which can be expected, but the book is otherwise in excellent condition. The previous owner artistically colored in a few monster illustrations, but not many. Hell, I did the same thing in my books.

(Ken Wood, if you’re reading this… I have your book.)

The cost was $27.99; with shipping it came to $38.34. Let’s run with the latter amount. This book was published in 1983 with a cover price of $12.00. The BLS inflation calculator says that $12 then is about $39.76 today… so this purchase comes in at just a dollar under.

Not bad.

As I stated in a previous post, I have these books already; I’m illustrating how easy it is to get AD&D 1E books.

Fayn World is dedicated to AD&D 1E; it is not an OSR site. The good stuff remains behind a pay wall that is easily affordable. A subscription of $5.99 a month will give you access to the creation of Fayn plus unique material that can be adapted to your campaign world. Occasionally, PDFs of game material and adventures will be given to subscribers. Join today and take part in the journey with a die hard AD&Der…

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Those who bought the AD&D books as they came out remember they were filled with errors which were a) noted in Dragon magazine, and b) mostly corrected in later printings. Such is printing.

It was pointed out to me today by a follower that the new printings which you can get through DriveThruRPG came from image scans and thus have errors in them as well.

I was given a list, I checked them, and they are certainly there.

Fortunately, the list is small, and you can copy/paste from here and correct them in your print copy:

NB: Using PDF page numbers (one greater than number at bottom of page) for easy location.

MONSTER MANUAL

Page 11:

Blink Dog should have 1 attack

Page 16:

Cockatrice should have 1 attack

Page 19:

Succubus should have 70% magic resistance

Page 20:

Type V demon should have AC -7/-5

Page 28:

Plesiosaurus missing move speed. Should be 15”

Page 33:

Chromatic Dragon (Tiamat) should have chance of Sleeping: 10%

Page 36:

Dryad % in lair should be 10%
Dwarf Hit Dice should be 1

Page 37:

Electric Eel should have No. Appearing 1-3, Move 12”

Page 40:

Elf % in lair should be 10%

Page 42:

Frog, Giant size is: S to M 6’ the 6’ is missing in the new pdf - could be a bug fix

Page 46:

Storm Giant number of attacks is 1

Page 51:

Groaning Spirit (Banshee) should have 10% in lair

Page 54:

Draft horse move should be 12”

Page 61:

Diff doesn’t change values, but Leucrotta % IN LAIR: 40% lost the percent sign on the 40 in the new PDF

Page 62:

Mountain Lion % IN LAIR should be 10%

Page 64:

Werewolf treasure type should be B

Page 94:

Looks like a possible error in the original text too. For Su-Monster “determine growth state by rolling a 20-sided die for maturity, using 10% increment, and treating 10% as 20% and 100% as 30%” - seems likely it should be a 10-sided die.

Page 102:

Wolf, Winter has treasure type “1” (one), rather than treasure type “I” (eye)

Page 106:

Index for Type I-Type V demons added name to match Type VI (Balor). Seems like improvement.

Page 108:

Removed duplicate entry for Giant. Seems like improvement

Page 109:

Removed “Merman (see M)” under the “Men” entry, leaving just the “Merman” entry directly below.

Page 110:

Reduced indent of “Giant” under “Wolverine” entry to make it “top level” entry under “W”. Looks like a formatting error.

Pages 112-113:

Replaced list of “Other Fantasy and Science Fiction Titles from TSR” with ad for Gygax Memorial Fund and a blank page.

PLAYERS HANDBOOK

Page 4:

Incorrect indentation of Spell Explanations: Clerics (should be indented to match other spell lists)

Page 18:

In Halflings section:

“so for every 3’/2 points of constitution” should be “so for every 3½ points of constitution”

“see heat radiation variation at up to 607 (normal infravision)” should be “ see heat radiation variation at up to 60’ (normal infravision)

In Half-Orcs section: “ADVANCED DUNGEONS ft DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL” should be “ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, MONSTER MANUAL”

Page 21:

In the first paragraph replaced E.P. with X.P. for “experience points”. Seems intentional

In the “Spells Usable By Class and Level - Clerics” table, the single asterisk marking “Usable only by clerics of 17 or greater wisdom” is incorrectly on the first level 5 spell, not the first level 6 spell (at cleric level 11)

Page 25:

Missing comma in “2750” in first row of “PALADINS (FIGHTERS) TABLE I.”

In “The Ranger” section, point 2. (“Rangers surprise…”, has 162/3% instead of 16⅔%

Page 27:

In “SPELLS USABLE BY CLASS AND LEVEL — ILLUSIONISTS (MAGIC-USERS)”, the first 5th level spell is given at Level 9 in the new pdf. This entry should be “-”, with the first 5th level spell the one given at level 10.

Page 29:

THIEF FUNCTION TAKE should be THIEF FUNCTION TABLE

Elf Hide in Shadows bonus of 10% should have “+” in front of it.

Page 30:

New PDF has commas to delineate the thousands places.

Page 37:

In Tack and Harness table, “Barding, plate” should be 500 g.p.

Page 38:

“Axe, Battle” should do 1-8 to Size L Opponents

Page 39:

“Axe, Battle” AC Adjustments should be -2 for AC 3 and -1 for AC 4

“Fork, Military” AC Adjustment should be -1 for AC 4

“Scimitar” AC Adjustment should be -1 for AC 5

“Staff, Quarter” AC Adjustment should be +1 for AC 10

Page 49:

“Detect Lie” updated to in new PDF to be Level: 4, which looks like a bug fix.

Page 53:

Earthquake: Added missing bullet and changed some formatting in terrain.

Page 54:

Holy (Unholy) Word - changed table formatting but entries are the same

Page 55:

Entangle - Saving throw changes from half to special. Meaning is the same, likely just for clarity since it’s half movement rate, not half damage.

Page 70:

Detect Evil: Area of Effect should be 1” path

Page 78:

Fire Trap: Removed “discharged” below “Saving throw”. Looks like deliberate clean up.

Page 85:

Geas: Range should be touch and casting time should be 4 segments

Page 86:

Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere: “cold damage upon all creatures with a 10, radius” should be “cold damage upon all creatures within a 10’ radius”

Page 100:

Projected Image adds Duration of 1 round/level, which matches the M-U spell it references, so looks like improvement.

Page 118:

Bard Experience Points: 2,001-4000 is missing the comma in 4000. Row 1,000,001-2,000,000 should be 1,800,001-2,000,000.

Page 119:

Bards Table II: Legend Lore and Item Knowledge Percentages for level 11 should be 40%, level 12 should be 45%, level 13 should be 50%

Page 112:

PSIONIC DISCIPLINES table, Minor (Devotions) entry 20 should be Reduction, not Seduction.

Page 125:

Missing * on the three Lances, and ** on the Spear. This could be deliberate because neither PDF explains their meaning (or that of italicization) on this page.

Hurled weapons and missiles table, Javelin Range M should be 4

Page 127:

Magic-Users 3rd Level spell 9 should be Fly

Illusionists second spell table (4th - 7th level spells): Extra period after Number 3, and column which should be 7th Level again says 5th Level

Page 128-129:

Replaced list of “Other Fantasy and Science Fiction Titles from TSR” with ad for Gygax Memorial Fund and a blank page.

DUNGEON MASTERS GUIDE

Page 3:

Missing description of image on the cover (which was changed): “Cover: The book cover painting shows an encounter between three adventurers and an efreet on the Elemental Plane of Fire. The fabled City of Brass can be seen floating over a flame-swept sea of oil.”

Page 6:

Changes indentation of 3 italicized entries under “Miscellaneous Magic”

Page 9:

Bolds initial paragraph of Credits & Acknowledgements

Page 18:

Race of Assassin Table missing entry: “26-50 half-orcish*”

Page 24:

Adds ** to 75% entry in 3 years/Full moon column.

Page 69:

In section “A. Food:”, the percentage sign is missing on the 100 in the first “from 10% to 100 likely”

Page 102:

In Morals (d12) table, changes “aesthetic” to “ascetic”. Seems like bug fix.

Page 105:

In “Cleric Spell Requested” restoration moved down a line, which seems like inferior formatting, but isn’t a rules change

Page 130:

“Djinni Summoning” renamed to “Ring of Djinni Summoning” in likely bug fix

Page 137:

Wand of Wonder entry for 66-69 switches the height from 1/12’ to 1”. This seems like a deliberate “clarification”, but given the variable meaning of inches in AD&D, this does not seem clarifying or an improvement.

Page 143:

In Deck of Many Thing, Donjon “imprisoned” should be italicized to make clear it is as the spell

Page 152:

End of Pearl of Power - “gotten rid of only be means of exorcism or a wish”, exorcism and wish should be italicized

Page 162:

Adds missing second blank for complete rod powers III, and IV

Adds second (duplicate) table of powers for quarter sets of Teeth of Dahlver-Nar and removes duplicate second “Tooth #” heading.

Page 172:

Asterisk after “Die” in table header for Table V. D. seems to be a tiny superscript dot instead of a clear asterisk.

Page 182:

Ethereal Encounter Table entry 53-57 seems like it should have ** after the “Human Subtable”, but my original doesn’t have it either.

Page 187:

Men subtable under Marsh Pilgrim/Tribesmen entries are inconsistent in new text and old. Pilgrim is 36-30, and tribesmen is 31-00. Perhaps should be 36-40 and 41-00?

Page 188:

Removes several * on “Rough” terrain roll ranges on the top table, which seems like a correction, as the header has the asterisk (as in other tables), not the individual entries.

Page 190:

For Men, dervish, hill should by 46-47, not 46-55, mountain should be 29-30 not 46-47, Marsh should be - not 29-30.

Page 195:

+1/+2/+3 rings of protection have “plusses” moved to end to match standard (e.g., +1 Ring of Protection became Ring of Protection +1). Seems deliberate.

Page 198:

Part of Demogorgon Special Defenses “resistance (95%)” is erroneously under the Intelligence column. Crayfish intelligence is blank but should be “non-”

Page 202:

Eel- eclectic switched to use 1-8/2-16/3-24 damage ranges for jolt instead of “1, 2 or 3D8”.

Page 203:

Ghost special attacks “touch” is italicized, while it shouldn’t be.

Page 206:

Ixitxachitl and vampire To Hit A.C. 0 - e should be a superscript (e.g. 18e -> 18^e)

Page 209:

Nightmare should have AC -4. The negative sign is largely invisible in my 6th printing hard copy DMG, but the 4 is offset as if there is a negative sign, and in the MM the nightmare has an AC -4.

Page 230:

Glossary entry q.q.v. changed to qq.v., which is correct and likely deliberate.

Page 238:

In Morals aesthetic changed to ascetic. Likely deliberate.

Page 239:

In the random language table, 65 Nixie is incorrectly indented under the Naga, Guardian superheading.

TSR Games copyright and perforation notice removed.

Page 240:

In Encumbrance table, under Bow, long is not indented under the Bow superheading.

TSR Games Dungeon Masters Guide and performance notice removed.

Page 241:

In Training Or Status Level, loyalty modifier for newly recruited regulars should be -5%, not 5%.

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In 1983, I paid $12.00 for the OG MM. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that $12 is $39.76. Let’s round down to $39 to be conservative.

The MM I received from DTRPG cost me $28.29… $11 or so cheaper.

The binding is great. The scan they used is clear and easy to read. I love it.

I’m going to order one more book from them… the Monster Manual II (I won’t do the Fiend Folio because their version is softback and I really don’t like the FF anyway). The reason for these reports I’ve done is to show: it’s cheaper to play AD&D now than then, and definitely cheaper than the constellation of OSR RPGs glutting the market right now.

That’s money I can invest in those expensive-assed WH40K minis.

The only drawback to getting this stuff through DTRPG is that they take their sweet time getting it printed; once it’s done, even flat rate mail is pretty quick. So, don’t be in a hurry for your product. Otherwise, have fun.

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Very good condition. A few character sheets were gone. One was filled out with a Neutral Evil 3rd level Magic User. One spell sheet used. All of that could be erased. The rest of the sheets are in great shape and, with today’s cheap photocopying tech, could be mass produced.

This product was released in 1986 and, in my personal opinion, is superior to the goldenrod sheets. It also encompasses the UA rules and spells. Its retail price was $8.00, which is $23.66 today. I paid $29.71 for this… so slightly higher but not bad at all.

AD&D material can be easily gained. Stop buying second rate OSR vanity press crap.

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