7 Weird Drawings by Penny Davenport

Some recent drawings by U.K. illustrator Penny Davenport. Truly delicious!

Gary Gygax’s Whitebox OD&D House Rules

At the beginning of our World Oranj Whitebox OD&D game I started picking through various common house rulings in order to put together my own initial set of house rules. My personal list is based on rules I use in Classic D&D games (currently, Labyrinth Lord) and also on rules I've read about but never tried (see the excellent house rule lists by Philotomy and Delta). During this exercise I paid special attention to Gary Gygax’s house rules, which I attempt to compile here. The topic of Gygax’s OD&D house rules pops up on a regular basis in game forums, and some of what I summarize here will be old hat to many readers. My goal was to sift through the chit-chat and identify some of the specific rulings originating from Gygax himself. An important caveat is that Gygax was constantly tinkering with his house rules, meaning that any reported house rules should not be considered the final word.

I found two main sets of Gygaxian house rules. The one that is most frequently discussed in game forums appears to originate from Robert Fisher, who compiled the list after questioning Gygax about a game run in 2005 (someone please correct me if this citation is inaccurate). The rules were:

    * Only use the three little books - none of the supplements.

    * Ability scores rolled as best 3 out of 4d6. Arrange scores to taste.

    * All PCs get 1d6 hp/level. HP rolls are rerolled on a 1.

    * Fighters get +1 HP/die. All PCs get +1 HP/die if Con > 14.

    * Fighters do +1 damage if Str > 14.

    * Dex doesn't affect AC. (It does affect missile attack "to hit" rolls.)

    * PCs start at 3rd level.

    * PCs are unconscious at 0 hp. They can go as low as level +1 before death. (e.g. a 4th level fighter can be brought as low as -5 hp and just be unconscious.) A healing potion or cure spell restores them immediately.

    * 1d6 for surprise. 1=1 round. 2=2 rounds. 3 or more=no surprise.

    * PCs must declare actions before initiative. Casters must declare the specific spell being cast.

    * 1d6 for initiative. A tie means simultaneous combat.

    * A casting caster who loses initiative will lose his spell if hit.

    * No training necessary to gain a level.

    * To acquire new spells casters must find scrolls, spellbooks, or a friendly higher-level caster.

    * Clerics don't need spellbooks. (The original books can be read to imply that they do.)

    * Gary IDs most magic items immediately (charging large sums of money when they return to town to rest & recuperate for this service). (This is because the players are anxious to get back into the dungeon & don't want to bother with in-town adventures.) Potions must still be tasted to ID, though. Unusual items require a trip to the striped mage.

The second set of rules comes from a forum posting that Gygax himself made in 2007:

    * STR > 14: +1 to hit and +1 to damage if a Fighter

    * INT > 14: +1 1st level m-u spell

    * WIS > 14: +1 1st level cleric spell

    * DEX > 14: +1 to AC, and +1 to move silently

    * CON > 14: +1 HP per HD (same as a Fighter class gets, +2 if a Fighter)

    * CHA > 14: +1 (positive) on reaction checks

    * HPs: Characters are only unconscious at 0 HPs. For each level a character may have a minus HP total equal to the level, so a 1st level PC is dead at -2, a 2nd level at -3, etc.

    * When taking damage allow -1 HP per character level (from a GenCon XL report posted by Gygax)

Another quote directly from Gygax (ENWorld, September 2006), shows that he maintained the 1st level cleric spell house rule:

"I run three-booklet OD&D now and again myself, adding some house rules to make 1st level PCs a bit more viable and allowing Clerics a spell at 1st level if their Wis is 15 or higher."

Gygax's house rules are interesting because most of them make characters stronger: the ability modifiers are all directly or indirectly positive, it’s harder to die, clerics don’t need books, magic items are instantly identified, no training to level-up, etc. One of the big advantages for players is the -1HP damage reduction per character level (!). Overall, Gygax seemed to be fairly liberal in giving out little bonuses to player characters.

These bonus-oriented house rules strongly imply that Gygax felt that by-the-book Level 1 characters in OD&D were too vulnerable. The main reason to implement most of Gygax's house rules would be to decrease mortality and make the characters slightly more powerful. A small number of gamers – almost exclusively experienced retro-role-playing enthusiasts - enjoy high-mortality low-level D&D play because of the special kind of challenge and excitement it offers. I like this kind of gaming myself. In my experience, however, most casual role-players are bummed out by seemingly random or premature character death. Gygax seemed to be interested in accommodating this latter group.

Gygax’s house rules are also interesting from a game evolution perspective. We can outline character strength in early D&D thusly:

    * Original OD&D: Low baseline, low positive modifiers.

    * Gygaxian OD&D: Low baseline, medium positive modifiers.

    * Classic D&D: Medium baseline, extreme negative and positive modifiers.

Having played Classic D&D since the early 80s, I now find myself increasingly preferring the Gygaxian OD&D model because it seems to be the most fun for my current players, and therefore for myself, the DM. It decreases low-level mortality to a manageable level where there's an exciting tension but players are not so cautious as to make the game tedious. It focuses on “+” modifiers, which are psychologically more fun for players (e.g. nobody likes having to take -1 or -2 to their to hit roll every single time). Also it's mechanically simpler and faster than Classic D&D because players don’t have to juggle multiple “-“ and “+” modifiers.

In general, I think it’s better to start with a lower baseline and add to it, as opposed to starting with a higher baseline and being forced to subtract. This goes for many things, including rules complexity itself. It’s just more fun that way…

Weird Masterpieces of Paul Lehr

Paul Lehr (1930-1998) is one of the greatest future-fantasist painters of the post-pulp era. He was very prolific and produced a large body of work of remarkable intensity and consistent high quality. Lehr did many mindbending paperback covers in the 1960s-80s before Michael Whelan and his wave of imitators moved science fiction and fantasy illustration towards photorealism. In the late-80s and 90s, after paperback publishers had lost interest in putting beautifully weird covers on their books, Lehr turned his attention to painting epic and highly detailed dream landscapes, a few of which are included below.

D&D Music Videos

I posted some of these before, but they are so charming I'll post them again...

World Oranj - Session 2

Player Characters:

A mostly chaotic collection of fringe personalities…

• Cookie – A large and unpredictable fighting creature with a lupine aspect and ambiguous gender.
• Franklin – Bearded young cleric with one short arm. Follows the Time Demon of Zymos.
• Sproutface – Cleric, affinity for love, plants, and the Dark Side Demon of Zymos.
• Monolaba – Pre-teen cleric, runaway from wealthy family after envisioning a demon’s face in the moon. A chaotic monster killer, this boy.
• Scunibro – Ex-musician turned student of magic. Unpredictable personality.
• Gorlark – Amnesiac fighting man. Another borderline personality. Has a large scar on his head of unknown origin (amnesia).

In a rural tavern in the hamlet of Fen the party chatted up a group locals. The party ended up hiring two local farming fellows, named Mess and Pipple, to accompany them back to explore Morton’s caverns. The party also gathered some rumors relating to Morton’s occasional travels in the area with two fighting men named Throx and Tinnix. None of the three - Morton, Throx, or Tinnix - had been seen for the last few months. Others rumors suggested another pair of travelers had been through in the last few days also asking about Morton.

The group returned to the caverns with Mess and Pipple tagging along. Extensive exploration, mapping, and adventure ensued. Another cavern with a blue skeleton tree was explored. A passage marked with the freshly decapitated head of a recent adventurer dissuaded the party from further exploration in the southeastern tunnels. At one point an illusory wall of vines was passed through and an underground lake was found. Undead toads with seeking purple tongues were vanquished. A cryptic passage among the limestone was revealed, leading the party to an area guarded by blue crystal skeletons. This turned out to be a more comfortable set of chambers where Morton apparently worked and resided. A few interesting rooms included:

The chamber of geometrized syllabic algorithmic poetry: This chamber hosted a series of stone obelisks with abstract inscriptions of recent syllabic algorithmic poetry, as favored by the current pharmaco-literati of city-state Bryll. Apparently these were very recently composed. Most unusual was a 10’ diameter orb of ochre gelatin floating in the middle of the room. The party pulled a naked human out of the gel who slowly came to consciousness. Scunibro instantly recognized the man to be Shiply Mently Portly Kymus – a renowned algorithmic composer from Bryll who had gone missing almost a year ago. Shiply described how he was shanghaied by poetry-loving Morton and compelled to engage in syllabic compositions and social intercourse with the magician.

A gallery of stimulating paintings: Large paintings of Morton and Shiply engaged in various reclining positions, etc. Shiply, now traveling with the party, refused to acknowledge it was himself in the artworks.

Morton's living quarters: Morton’s personal chambers. Some nice clothing was liberated but nothing of great value was found.

Normandy the Homunculon: The party found a basket in a cupboard. Inside the basket was a fatty greasy hairless head with a large foot where the neck should be. The giggly thing was alive and asked for wine and sausage. When wine was offered up he wet himself out of his little buttocks near his heel – he has a very small stomach you see. His name is Normandy, he is magical and seems to have an intense interest is reading magical inscriptions, however he is not much of a conversationalist. Shiply said he observed Morton working with Normandy in some way in the course of his magical research. Morton called Normandy a “Reminder”. Scunibro, being the only magician in the group, took Normandy along with him in his little basket.

The Myosenian Sofa: A stone bed bearing glowing inscriptions was found. Scunibro and Mess decided to lie on the bed and both immediately gained muscle mass through some magical means. Sadly, the magical charge was depleted upon this use. Scunibro allowed Normandy to read some of the inscriptions on the Myosenian Sofa.

After exploring Morton’s area, the party removed an interior wooden door and returned to the underground sea where they used the door as a float to ferry across to a small beach on the north side of the lake. Beyond an archway the party found a large dark chamber with a translucent half-globe 50’ in diameter. Peering into the half-globe revealed another level, 50’ below, where there was a 30’ long human head laying the darkness, peering up at the party through the glassy bubble. The party fought a bit with wood golems being sloughed off a golem-generating monolith before jumping down a feather-fall shaft that brought them into the room with a giant head.

SESSION 3… TONIGHT at 8pm!

It looks like we will have two more players tonight, bringing the number of PCs to 8, with 3 NPCs.

Map - Bisbee & Penelia

Here is the area map for Bisbee / Penelia. The old Outdoor Adventure map wasn't really doing the trick for me, so I made a new more detailed locality map using Hexographer.

The party in our Labyrinth Lord game has moved from the coastal town of Bisbee and is now based in Penelia. I'll aim to post a brief report on all the has happened over the last 10-15 sessions. Next game: Tuesday night.

World Oranj - Session 1

WORLD ORANJ - SESSION 1

The party heard rumors of a magician having recently lost his life. This magician, a minor but respected necroparamathematician called Morton, was rumored to have maintained a special compound not so far outside the players’ city-state. There is a strong possibility that this currently abandoned compound could provide some interesting opportunities for material and intellectual advancement for adventurous and amoral individuals…

An entrance was discovered: The party located the entrance to the compound and solved the puzzle of ingress through an illusory hillside.

A crystal tree and the words of Morton: Upon entering the party found itself in a large limestone cavern with a skeletal blue crystal tree. On one wall a magical speaking mouth welcomed the adventurers.

A large spider attacks and a secret passage is found: After exploring and mapping a variety of tunnels and examining some closed doors, the party was set upon by a vastly overgrown spider emerging from a large crevice in a tunnel wall. After dispatching the spider the party squeezed through the crevice into the spider’s lair – burning its eggs and looting the corpses of previous victims. At the rear of the spider’s lair was hidden passage leading to the…

Hall of ghosts: A huge limestone cavern was filled with hundreds of miniature wooden houses, each less than 8 inches tall. Above each house hovered an apparition of a human spirit. The houses were filled with miniature human bones. The party spent some time talking with some of the ghosts and mapping the cavern. The ghosts politely requested to be freed from the houses by the means of a “crystalline hand”. The party evntually located such a device across an underground river, but sadly it was guarded by three rotten humanoids with transparent skin and paralyzing touch. Difficult melee with these supernatural men liberated the crystalline hand from its small stone alter. Monolaba, the dark spirited boy cleric and super slayer, removed the scalp of one of the guardian creatures and placed it upon his own head. After gaining the quartzish hand, Young Cleric Franklin collected 100 souls into its fractal phalanges, whereupon the hand began to murmur low groans and dark statements not repeatable on this particular internet outlet…

Due to the late hour the party left the cavern and returned to a rural roadside inn to retire.