17 April, 2009
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
A New Leaf
APR 17, 2009 12:29A.M.
I’m still a bit swamped with various things besides the blog, but I’ve also
been cogitating about a big post I plan to make over the next few days,
sparked in part by Dave Arneson’s death and by a number of interactions
I’ve had with various people in the hobby over the last couple of weeks.
The post is about a change in perspective I’ve had about OD&D and the
constitution of old school play generally, a change nicely summed up by
the wise words of Calithena in issue #4 of Fight On! when he calls the
late Dave Hargrave “Gary’s greatest disciple.”
Anyone who comes to this hobby authentically and finds a
way to make it their own is really continuing the original
spirit of those three little brown books. And at a time when
that spirit was most up grabs, Dave Hargrave unleashed the
Arduin Grimoires, three more little brown books, on the
world like a shydra with twenty-four vorpal battleaxes, and
said: take a troll to lunch. It’s whatever you want it to be.
The genie is out of the bottle. So in the end the reason that I
call Dave Hargrave Gary’s greatest disciple is that you and I
are Gary’s greatest disciples, at least to whatever degree we’re
really playing these games the way we want to play them and
letting our imagination and desire drive the action on the
table. As long as we keep creating something that we
ourselves love, we’re playing it right. Now go thou and do
likewise.
I think this is just awesome, inspired stuff and I can’t help but think the
more widely this attitude is held, not just in the old school community,
but throughout the entirety of this hobby, the better it’ll be for all of us,
regardless of our particular commitments and interests. I have a lot to
say on this topic and will do so in the near future, but I thought it
important to offer up a taste of what’s to come.
1
ROGUE FEED
Things I Would Change
APR 16, 2009 03:00P.M.
With Dwimmermount heading into its tenth session this weekend, I’ve
been having some minor thoughts of regret about not having
implemented a couple of mechanical changes I’d considered before the
campaign began. Both concern magic and are fairly minor in the grand
scheme of things, certainly not significant enough that I’d bother to
retcon them into the game, but I think their inclusion would have added
some nice color to the game. I may have to add them to any future
campaigns in the world of Dwimmermount.
First, I wish I’d combined the magic-user and cleric spell lists into a
single list and eliminated both the cleric class and the weapon
restrictions for magic-users. I’d tag certain spells as “white” or “black”
and players would need to choose between the two paths. White
magicians would gain the ability to turn undead and black magicians
could command them. With lower hit points and a lack of heavy armor,
white magicians would be weaker than standard clerics but more
flexible. This suits the generally sword-and-sorcery tone I favor.
Second, I’d give the elf a separate list of spells that borrowed from
several sources. I like the notion that elvish magic is an expression of
their innate magical nature rather than an artifice. Their available spells
should reflect that. Likewise, unlike magic-users, they wouldn’t need to
seek out new spells for their spellbooks, since they wouldn’t need them.
Like AD&D clerics, they have full access to all spells available to their
level and do not need to learn new ones. If I chose the spell list carefully,
I’d probably also eliminate restrictions about casting while in armor,
even non-magical armor, and simply make elves a natural multiclass in
the general vein adopted by Moldvay except with a spell list that’s
slightly less potent than that of a straight magic-user.
Neither change is a momentous one. I’ve already house ruled bits of
Swords & Wizardry to produce similar effects, but they’re on the fly fixes
rather than the result of careful deliberation beforehand. Perhaps that’s
for the best. I want this campaign to be a crucible for organic rules
evolution, after all, and that’s certainly what’s happening. Still, I’m a
systematizer and it’s hard to resist the urge go back and rationalize
things after the fact. I’m slowly learning to just let it ride, but it takes
effort and runs counter to my normal tendencies — one of many lessons I
have not yet mastered.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
Retrospective: The Rogues
Gallery
APR 16, 2009 01:25P.M.
First released in 1980, The Rogues Gallery remains one of my most
beloved AD&D products. I got a heck of a lot of use of it back in the day,
which, on reflection, is an odd thing. One of the many ways in which I
feel older editions of D&D are superior to their putative descendants is
the ease with which characters, even high-level ones, can be created.
Only spellcasters require any time at all and even they don’t take more
than a few minutes to stat up. So why did I find The Rogues Gallery,
which is primarily just a collection of pre-generated characters so useful?
Thinking about it now, there are two answers that spring immediately to
mind. The first is that, in 1980, no one I knew had their own personal
computer. Creating NPCs had to be done by hand and, even if each
individual character didn’t take very long to generate, generating dozens
of them could still take up some time. The second answer is a sub-set of
the first: when generating PCs by hand I often found it all too easy to
fudge the results. For whatever reason, I tend to be easier on NPCs than I
am on the PCs in my campaigns when it comes to rolling ability scores.
Having a pregenerated list took this unfortunate tendency of mine out of
the equation and ensured that there were clerics with 10 Wisdom and
2
17 April, 2009
fighters with 6 Dexterity kicking around, often as hirelings or henchmen.
And of course, products such as this are a godsend if your players are
keen to employ hired help, as mine almost always did.
The Rogues Gallery was also interesting for its collection of
“Personalities,” the characters of the TSR staff and their friends and
family. This is where we first get to see the stats of Mordenkainen and
Tenser, Robilar and Bibgy. This is cool in its own right — who didn’t
want to know what Gary Gygax’s characters were like? — but also
because it gave us a glimpse into D&D as it was played by the people who
knew it best. What’s obvious is that Neutral and Evil characters were
much more common than I’d assumed at the time (though that makes
perfect sense to me now). Likewise, there was quite a diversity of
character types, though fighters and magic-users predominated, as one
would reasonably expect. Magic items were comparatively rare, with only
the most potent of the characters included in the book having more than
a handful of them. I know that there are direct statements from Gary and
others that the depictions in The Rogues Gallery are fanciful and under-
powered compared to the real characters, but, as an example of what
TSR in 1980 wanted to present to players, it’s instructive nonetheless. I’ll
also note that many of the characters included here have stats that
suggest either egregious fudging or many increases through the use of
magic and magic items.
The Rogues Gallery is notable for being a rare example of a product
released under the name of Brian Blume. As I’ve stated before, I think
Blume gets unfairly singled out as the source of everything that was
rotten in TSR, a view that simultaneously gives the man too much and
too little credit for his role in the history of the early hobby. I find it odd
that he’s the author of both this supplement I loved and my favorite
OD&D supplement. I have no idea what that says about him or me, but
it’s noteworthy nonetheless.
There are a couple of free products out there that fill a similar niche to
The Rogues Gallery. The first is Kellri’s Old School Encounters
Reference, which is, quite simply, one of the best D&D resources ever
compiled. The other is Garish’s 140 Henchmen for Hire, which I’ve used
extensively for my Dwimmermount campaign. I recommend both highly.
Finally, The Rogues Gallery contains some terrific pieces of old school
D&D art. I’m usually no great fan of Jeff Dee, whose art I find too “comic
book-y” for my tastes, but there’s no question that his paladin
illustrations remains one of my favorites.
Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED
Space Ranger
APR 16, 2009 01:12P.M.
A combination of law enforcer, interstellar troubleshooter and
impromptu diplomat, the space ranger is charged by the State with
keeping the peace and apprehending lawbreakers.
Novice: Acrobatics 2, Bureaucracy 2, Dodge 2, Empathy 2, Intimidation
1, Investigation 2, Observe 2, Piloting 2, Profession (Space Ranger) 2,
Shoot 2, Streetwise 2, Unarmed Combat 2, Vehicle Operations 1, 2 Ranks
in any skills of you choice.
Rank: Ranger
Experienced: Acrobatics 3, Bureaucracy 3, Culture 2, Dodge 4,
Empathy 4, Intimidation 3, Investigation 4, Observe 3, Piloting 3,
Profession (Space Ranger) 4, Shoot 4, Streetwise 4, Unarmed Combat 4,
Vehicle Operations 2, 3 Ranks in any skills of you choice.
Rank: Corporal, Sergeant
Veteran: Acrobatics 4, Bureaucracy 4, Culture 3, Dodge 5, Empathy 5,
Intimidation 5, Investigation 6, Observe 5, Piloting 4, Profession (Space
Ranger) 6, Shoot 6, Streetwise 4, Unarmed Combat 6, Vehicle
Operations 3, 4 Ranks in any skills of you choice.
Rank: Lieutenant, Captain
Created by: Greg Videll
17 April, 2009
ROGUE FEED
Career Packages
APR 16, 2009 01:10P.M.
Provided here are a number of new and altered Career Packages for use
with Thousand Suns. Those that are wholly new are listed as such,
while that are altered versions of existing Career Packages are listed as
variants.
• Belter (New)
• Law Enforcer (Variant)
• Missionary (New)
• Space Ranger
ROGUE FEED
Knuckle Punch
APR 16, 2009 01:10P.M.
The knuckle punch was originally developed as a tool, a ring mounted
force blade used to punch holes in metal or stone. By creating a wearable
tool, the hands could be left free for other uses. Of course it was only a
matter of time before it was put to use as a weapon and then rapidly
outlawed, or at least heavily regulated, as such.
The knuckle punch looks like an outsized piece of jewelry with a
distinctive concave depression on one side and a number of small
contact points on the other. When the contacts are touched in the proper
sequence, the punch is armed. Touching the trigger contact causes a one
centimeter long, 300 millimeter wide force field “blade” to be
momentarily projected. The blade is capable of punching through an
Armor Value of 8 and has a base damage of 4. The power cell in a
knuckle punch commonly contains enough energy for three to five uses.
Some can be modified to enable the blade to remain on but this drains
the punch of energy in less than half a second. The price of a punch tends
to vary, with the average cost being around 1000$.
Inspiration for the knuckle punch came from Fred Saberhagen’s book,
Rogue Berserker.
Created by: Greg Videll