First Edition Spirit; No Saving Throw

You need to be playing 1E NOW...

Long ago, back when Devo was actually a thing, I got introduced to the latest variation of the game known as Dungeons & Dragons.

I had heard of it. I had seen the reprints of all the little brown books boxed up and for sale in Waldenbooks. I had seen advertisements for it in OMNI magazine, and the advertisements made no sense but OMNI was cool so this had to be cool too, I was guessing.

My first introduction was... less than climactic. The referee knew the ideas behind Basic D&D, but had no real understanding of what was supposed to be happening. It was deep in the Caves of Chaos and my first PC was a 1st level Magic User.

Guess how this turned out.

I thought it was stupid, and in a way it was. I refused to play any more.

One day I was at his house, and I idly picked up the Basic rule book. I opened to the equipment page, and there was that Erol Otus drawing of a weapon rack. I gazed at it for a little while. Like most geeky junior high boys, I had social issues. But there was a rack of weapons that I could use on my “enemies” and not get into legal trouble.

There was Morgan Ironwolf… well-endowed and wielding a sword with deadly intent. My adventures into fantasy were well underway; I was a fan of the Conan comics cranked out every month by Marvel. I understood that you can’t have a decent fantasy adventure without some hot babes somewhere in the mix, and I didn’t care if they were helpless damsels or ass-kicking heroines. After all, I spent a lot of the 1970s watching Wonder Woman, Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica. If you were there, then you know.

Hit fast forward just a little… stop. We fell into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, which was a glorified mess of hardback books with walls of text written by a guy who was driving me to the dictionary on practically every page. This Gygax fellow… he seemed like that slightly crazy, cool Merchant Marine uncle you wish you had as a kid… the kind who would make you think outside your sad parameters of small town… and I mean small town... life.

Since then, AD&D first edition never stopped being my go-to game. I’ve played several others, and enjoyed most of them. I’ve played most iterations of D&D, but from my perspective, 1E was the one with the most potential for creativity, suspenseful play, and player involvement. It provides the sweet spot for referee and player innovation and game world expansion. All later versions of the game tighten the rules down (and I have opinions about that which you’ll probably learn later), but they all lack that near-perfect matrix of detail-vs-ambiguity… the X-Y axes that any halfway creative person could study and see the amount of sheer possibility.

Now, why am I boring you with all of this, and what does all this have to do with this blog? All right, okay, I’m getting there…

This blog is about 1E and what it can do. To demonstrate this, I’ll be introducing you to the place named Fayn.

Like most true lore and fantastic things, Fayn doesn’t exist until it does. How long it’s been around is up for debate. Those who have gamed with me will recognize bits and pieces like fragments of a dream. What I will present to you over time comes from The Imp of Sodh, that enigmatic archmage who rules from the Seven Towers, and to whom even the paladin Queen Daentrella and her Iron Choir show quiet respect.

Take what he says as gospel; The Imp knows more about Fayn than any score of its denizens... even perhaps Lilith herself.

(Told ya there would be ass-kicking babes involved. Herr Doktor never lies.)

Here’s how we’ll do it: your first step is to gaze into the smoky mirror by visiting this blog (which you’ve already done). That’s a good first step. Thank you. That’s Tier 1.

Later, as deemed fit by The Imp and myself, and if the stars are right, I’ll reveal stories and lore about Fayn on a semi-regular basis right here. That’s Tier 2; it’s a subscription and it gets sent to your inbox upon completion.

Then there will be a second and deeper level of knowledge emerging… hard game information, deeper lore, maps, NPCs, secret societies and organizations such as the aforementioned Iron Choir, the Lodge Obscure, and the Zareth Coil.

Maybe you’ll learn why the entrance to the tunnels of Lilith sits so far south… past the spires of Ak’Kor and into the dark and dusty lands where packs of ghouls have ripped apart caravans and only the most evil of dragons dwell.

You will see bits and pieces of the myriad tombs scattered on the shores of the Sepulchral Seas… structures placed there in the distant past by the Archons, who entombed their royal dead on this demi-plane which they created… and how the contents of some of those tombs turned adventurers into gods.

But you’ll never find out why the Archons fled their creation, and why they sealed Fayn off from the rest of reality. Mostly.

You and I may find out together why the Archons left the Faynarchs, the Nine Unknown, to watch over Fayn… why the fourth Unknown, Baht-Zhol, stands as sentinel over the deep dungeons of Doomwatch… allowing some to delve at will while denying entry to others.

This will all come in time on Tier 2, at $5.99 per month ($59.99 for a yearly subscription).

Later, if readership demands, there will be yet another circle of lore: trips into Fayn itself. Adventures, campaign areas, and printed items for those who make it that deep are what can be found on the third level.

I might even take you on an expedition or two myself… and then you’ll have to start discovering things for yourself because like all visitors to Fayn, once you stay too long, you’ll be as trapped as I am.

If this sounds like your kind of adventure—old school grit, deep lore, dangerous magic, and worlds built the hard way—then subscribe now and follow along as Fayn takes shape.

First Edition Spirit; No Saving Throw.