Lost World Island Life, Part 2 - Remodeling X1 The Isle of Dread

Our break from playing X1 The Isle of Dread has been extended by the holiday doldrums. That's my term for the part of the year where gaming plans are disrupted by late year holidays and associated family obligations. But there is a bright side - this extended break gives me more time to prepare for next year's games.

The first post in this series features commentary on converting the module to Old School Essentials Advanced Fantasy and an overview of the sessions we're played thus far: Lost World Island Life, Part 1 - Running (Some of) X1 The Isle of Dread in OSE.

This post covers the ongoing process of addressing the issues I found while running the module. Or, to put it another way, changing the stuff that didn't land well with me or our group.

Gaps in the Module

There aren't many ruins on the Isle. Given its long history and the lost world vibe of the module, I feel that there should be more signs of prior habitation littering the place.

The "Lair of the Lizard Men" (encounter key #11) seems small for a self-sustaining community. The lair in question has 14 inhabitants. This makes the number that can be encountered randomly (2-8) represents a significant portion of the Isle's lizardfolk population. I've decided to expand this encounter and place it within a set of overgrown ruins.

Black, green, and red dragons are all listed on the random encounter tables. No detailed information about their lairs is presented in the module. Any adventuring party encountering a dragon would take a keen interest in tracking down its lair to loot its hoard. I'm making a set of simple dragon lairs appropriate to each type's preferred terrain. Along with that, I'm also rolling up a treasure for each dragon encounter ahead of time.

Indigenous humans and zombies can be encountered randomly on the Isle. The southern villages are explicitly described as isolated from and unaware of happenings on the rest of the Isle. This suggests the existence of other tribes with their own zombie masters in the wild central and northern areas of the Isle.

Finally, the boss monsters of the module - the Kopru - come out of nowhere from the players perspective. In fact, the module instructs the GM: "the players should not be told who or what the Kopru were; this is part of the taboo - for more details, see page 20" (X1 The Isle of Dread, page 23). Page 20, by the way, is a map of the Phanaton Platforms. Not very useful for details on why the GM should keep the Kopru a secret from the players. This may result in the Kopru being nothing more than a weird monster encounter at the bottom of the Isle's one dungeon as published. I've decided to go against the module's advice and drop hints of the Kopru throughout the Isle's ruins.


Examining Other D&D Material for Inspiration

C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

I briefly pondered dropping The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan somewhere on the Isle, but decided that it would be overkill. Using the Shrine would certainly solve the whole lack of ruins issue. Unfortunately, it would also put an extensive dungeon complex in a hexcrawl that's already dragging for our group. This kind of adventure module inception is the kind of thing that kills off campaigns. Besides, we previously played through B4 The Lost City and I don't want to do another pyramid/ziggurat adventure so soon. Best to let The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan breathe on its own by running it some other time.

Manual of the Planes (2008, 4e)

This version of the Manual of the Planes presents the ideas that the Isle of Dread originates from the Feywild and moves across worlds and planes from time to time. Of particular interest is the stirring description of the place:

"The Isle of Dread is a vast tropical island of volcanic origin set amid stormy seas. Jagged reefs guard the approach to black sand beaches. If a boat does somehow make it to the shore in one piece, its passengers then face a solid, lush green wall of tropical vines and trees. Great knifelike peaks of obsidian rise beyond the treeline. Travelers venture into that jungle at their peril. Of all the savage and secret places of the Feywild, the Isle of Dread is the most mysterious."

So I'll be stealing bit of that description. Moving on:

"The entire Isle of Dread worldfalls constantly and unpredictably from the Feywild to the mortal realm - and it shifts to even stranger planes at times. Some sages argue it is everywhere at once, and some argue it is nowhere at all times. As a result of its constant travel, the Isle is populated by all manner of savage beasts.

This does explain where some of the weirder folks and critters came from.

"It also hosts several tiny camps of shipwrecked sentient beings."

Oh, I'll be making use of this.

"The Isle is steaming hot. Reptilian beings fare better at exploring its secrets due to the climate."

The one Dragonborn in the party: "I don't know why the rest of y'all keep complaining. I love the climate here."

The description varies from the module here:

"Those secrets appear to be endless. An ancient yuan-ti temple is at the center of the jungle. North of the temple, several primitive races live in splendid stone ziggurats of unknown origin. Eagle-eyed explorers can just barely make out a thin tower, a needle of phosphorescent crystal, rising from the peak of one of the central mountains. On the southern coast several bands of stranded mortals have found each other - and discovered, to their shock, they all originate from wildly different moments in history. Some have reported sighting giant, terrible lizards racing on two legs through the jungle."

As previously stated, our group ran through B4 The Lost City. I'm not eager to wander back into another ziggurat. I'm also not shoving yuan-ti onto the Isle. While they are thematic to the lost world jungle island theme, the Isle doesn't lack for monsters calling the place home.

The crystal tower has possibilities, though.


The Isle's History - A Working Model

Ancient Lore

The Isle is not a natural part of the Prime Material Plane, but a piece of the Feywild that has become detached from time and space. The Isle appears on multiple worlds and planes at once. It also returns to the Feywild on occasion. Any pattern to its movements and how it began its journeys is unknown to any but the gods.

Rise of Civilization on the Isle

An indigenous human culture came to dominate much of the Isle before falling into stasis. Much of their history is preserved only in carvings. They had a wide range of accomplishments, including advanced necromancy and the creation of living statues.

Conquest

The Kopru arrive and use mind control to take over the human leaders. Much of human civilization is altered or destroyed to suit the Kopru. Human come to worship the Kopru and follow dark practices at their command. The Kopru and their human slaves chronicle their achievements in stone. These statues and carvings also extend the range of Kopru mind control powers.

Revolution

Humans rebels use a combination of living statues and zombies - both immune to mind control - to destroy most of the Kopru statues and carvings. With Kopru mind control over most of the Isle broken, much of the human population rises up in revolt.

Most Kopru flee the Isle as the capitol - now transformed into something more suitable for the Kopru - burns. Some use portals to escape to alien realms. Others simply hurled themselves into the sea. The capitol on the central plateau is completely razed except for a hidden temple. The last of Kopru on the Isle shelter there with the last of their human worshippers and slaves.

Rebuilding and Retreat

Human civilization flowers again after a period of rebuilding, but much knowledge has been lost. Wildlife and intruders push the indigenous humans south. They leave their cities and towns behind. Their last great project is the construction of the wall separating the southern peninsula from the rest of the Isle. Protected by the wall, the surviving humans settle into a tribal existence sustained by the lands they still control.

Human settlements survive in the north and central areas of the Isle. Some are indigenous in origin. These are reliant on their zombie masters to maintain a defense against the dangers of the Isle. Others are shipwreck survivors or lost explorers.


Isle Politics

Aranea
A handful of explorers searching the Isle's ruins for arcane knowledge. Their current lair is directly over the remains of an indigenous human city once ruled by the Kopru.

Indigenous Humans - Northern and Central Isle
A few villages in defensible positions are scattered throughout the Isle. They have their own matriarchal governments and zombie masters, but each has diverged compared with the southern villages in various ways. Their reactions to outsiders range from wary to hostile.

Indigenous Humans - Seven Southern Villages
Long isolated by the great wall built by their ancestors, their only contact with the rest of the Isle are their forays to the tar pits. They seek trade with the mainland and are friendly to outsiders.

Indigenous Humans - Taboo Island
The last remaining worshippers of the Kopru on the Isle. Their main concerns are survival and expanding their numbers. They occasionally conduct raids on the Village of Mantru.

Indigenous Humans - Village of Mantru
Descended from survivors of the capitol's destruction. Long isolated from the rest of the Isle, their culture has diverged from the other indigenous humans. Their primary concern is defending themselves against the Kopru worshippers.

Kopru
The last survivors of the fall of their civilization on the Isle. Currently hiding in their final redoubt with their few human worshippers. They dream of summoning more of their kind and reconquering the Isle, but that is far beyond their current capabilities. At present, they seek to expand the number of humans under their control. Once they command a significant human population, they plan to send them to recover lost Kopru artifacts and knowledge scatter around the Isle.

Lizardfolk
A small self-supporting population of hunter-gatherers. They are isolationist except for small parties that wander the Isle in search of prey. They are not inclined to provoke groups large or powerful enough to pose an existential threat.

Non-Indigenous Individuals and Parties
These range from shipwreck survivors to rival adventuring parties who are exploring the Isle for their own reasons.

Phanaton
Originally a small party sent to hunt the Aranea. Since expanded into a self-sufficient population due to mission creep. They have an interest in finding allies and trade partners.

Rakasta
A small party of warriors and their retinue seeking glory and trade opportunities. Sort of like a Viking expedition, but with more fur and a Middle Eastern flair. They raid weaker groups for loot while offering to trade with stronger or wealthier groups.


Gap Filling Plans and Customized Encounters

Base more encounters, including random encounters, in and around overgrown ruins with hints of the Isle's history. In some cases, this will simply be an effort maintain the module's lost world flavor. "You encounter (random monster) in some overgrown ruins."

To present hints about the Isle, the party can find the corpse (maybe zombified) of an explorer. Examination of the body reveals several documents protected from the elements. The explorer's journal chronicles the events of their expedition and records the locations of nearby ruins. The other documents are notes on the Isle's history from various scholarly sources.

Add a ruin infested by reptiles and dinosaurs for more a lost world vibe. This area hosts significant clues to the Isle's history. The ruins are partly overgrown by jungle and partly sinking into a swamp.

Expand the lizardfolk settlement and detail the randomly encountered dragon's lairs.

Place indigenous human villages in the northern and central Isle.

Add the tower described in the Manual of the Planes to a mountain on the northern-central part of the Isle. It can serve as an additional challenge after dealing with the Kopru.

Add a castaway camp near a shore location.

Add a group of Cynidiceans from the Lost City. They belong to the Cult of Zargon and were sent to prevent the destruction of his horn. Since they already failed that mission, they now seek the destruction of the player characters. They may end up running afoul of one of the many other groups on the Isle.

Add a rival adventuring party. They're led by a necromancer after the arcane secrets held by the zombie masters and in the Isle's ruins. This group was hired by the Cult of Zargon, but that agreement didn't survive the storm that swamped the ship they were all sailing on and resulting struggle to survive. The two groups split apart and are now hostile to each other.

Lost World Island Life, Part 1 - Running (Some of) X1 The Isle of Dread in OSE

I asked our group what D&D adventure module they wanted after B4 The Lost City. D&D module X1 The Isle of Dread was the strongest contender. We're about a quarter of the way through it. Seeing a long series of sessions between where we are and any possible end point, I put a pin in it. We'll be taking a break from the fantasy tropics for awhile and come back fresh later in the year.

My working folder, some notes, a previously owned copy of X1, and my copy of the OSE Referee's Tome. Note the price tag on the module. Remember when Half Price Books had TTRPG stuff for dirt cheap?

Conversion from D&D to OSE

The stats for most of what's in X1 The Isle of Dread are already in Old School Essentials. And converting between the two systems is as straightforward as it gets. I'm not sure it will continue to be this easy when I start adapting AD&D adventure modules.

My conversion was incomplete when I starting running the module. I concentrated on getting everything in the waters around the island done first. Next came everything in the southern half of the island. I left the northern areas, including the plateau, for later. This turned out to be a good thing, since I'll be adding a few things to the north and central areas in response to what the players are engaging with. More on that down below.


Preparing to Depart

I linked the two adventure modules together with the party's need for an active volcano. The party killed Zargon, B4 The Lost City's big bad boss monster, but needed to destroy his horn to keep him from regenerating a new form. Immersion in lava was the only known method, but I ruled that no sources were available in the area of The Lost City. (There is the option of placing an active volcano in B4 The Lost City as written. I choose not to for this campaign.) Fortunately, the party learned from their trusty Gnome contact Wigglewort that a newly discovered island to the south might have exactly what they needed. And he just happened to be organizing an expedition there, but sure could use the aid of an adventuring party to map the place and look for trading opportunities...


Sea Cruise

Roped in by Wigglewort's offer to help solve their problems in exchange for going on a hex crawl, the party boarded his ship for a more than three hour tour. The few small islands sighted along the way were ignored in favor making steady progress towards the mysterious isle. The couple of random encounters provided little challenge for the party of dungeon-hardened adventurers. The ship did sustain light damage from the weather, but nothing that the crew couldn't repair once they found a place a source of wood and a place to beach the hull.

The party choose to circle the isle rather than immediately making landfall. Wigglewort suggested making contact with the villages marked on his map. The indigenous people might make good trade partners and their villages would be a useful base to explore the isle. The party agreed and the ship sailed down the eastern side of the isle. This was uneventful, as the party cautiously avoided all the tempting opportunities to leave the ship and get into trouble.


Pirate Bay

The ship and party were welcomed by the indigenous people of the southern peninsula. Wigglewort found that they were already prepared for trade with the wider world. Bargains were struck between the Gnomes and villagers as the party collected rumors to guide their next moves.

The indigenous people told of pirates raiding their villages. The raiders came in canoes, wielded weapons of steel, and carried off many villagers to a fate unknown. "Sure would be nice," they didn't quite say, "if some adventurers would come along to track the pirates down to their island base, crush them, and save our fellow villagers."

Not being the types to ignore an obvious hook, the players began planning the operation. The villagers were able to supply the rough location of the pirate encampment. The plan was to have Wigglewort drop them off away from the pirate camp and scout the place out. The adventurers would then determine if a siege, infiltration, or assault would make the most sense.

The party was able to slip on the island, avoid pirate patrols, and approach the camp from the landward side. The first attempt to infiltrate the camp at night was successful in giving the adventurers a good idea of the layout and defenses. It also quickly escalated into full blown battle after they were discovered. The party gave much better than they got and pulled out before taking too much damage. They spent the next day resting, healing, and laying low from pirate attempts to locate them.

The next night saw the party launching a determined assault on the camp. The pirates, having failed to find the party during the day, were clearly making preparations to leave with their prisoners. The party wiped out the pirates and rescued the prisoners.

The party used a pre-arranged signal to summon Wigglewort and his ship. The rescued villagers and everything of value were packed up. A giant squid attack interrupted the trip back to the villages. The beast was driven off, but more damage was done to Wigglewort's ship. It would definitely need repairs before sailing back to the mainland.


In the Jungle (and Other Terrain)

It was at this point that we finally got to the meat of the adventure - a hex crawl. The Isle of Dread is one of the first hex crawl adventure modules. This makes it notable, but it suffers from not incorporating lessons from later decades of TTRPG development.

The party would have plenty of time to explore the isle while Wigglewort and his Gnomes repaired the ship. The indigenous villagers took the party as far as the tar pits they used as a resource. The players decided to focus on the south. It was closest to their effective base of operations. They'd also sighted some active volcanoes in the area while on their way back from dealing with the pirates. Just the thing for dealing with Zargon's horn!

I'm not going to offer a blow by blow account of the party's explorations of southern isle. The highlights included chucking Zargon's horn in an active volcano after the cleric had a nightmare about his followers heading to the isle in pursuit of it. They also encountered a Living Iron Statue guarding some ruins, a patrol of Lizard Men, and some Phanaton gathering fruit. Things were capped off when the party ran into some Rakasta. Things were amiable enough for the cat warriors to take them back to their camp and begin laying down the groundwork for a trade deal with Wigglewort.

The Isle of Dread relies on random encounter tables. There are relatively few keyed encounters on the overland map. This does insure that every group's experience with the module is unique. However, results from the random encounter tables require some finesse. Since the tables cover huge areas of the isle, many creatures will end up in the wrong biome. It doesn't make sense to me for Lizard Men to be wandering around an open plain, for example. This could be addressed with more fixed encounters or tables for each biome, but either would add page count to what is a slim product by modern standards.

Sometimes the dice are cooperative and the results are underwhelming. I don't assume that any random encounter will automatically be hostile. I use the reaction tables to set the mood of whoever is encountered. Since our group doesn't simply charge everything they run across, this makes some encounters non-events.

Example #1:
"You see some animals in the distance."
"We avoid them."
"Cool. Next hex."

Example #2:
"You encounter somebody capable of talking."
"We talk to them."
*Rolls neutral or friendly reaction.* "They engage in conversation."
*Have a role playing encounter.*

There aren't necessarily bad results, but might not be what the module designers intended.

Worse, from the players' perspectives, non-event encounters don't really earn gold. Which means little XP from such encounters in Old School Essentials. I do give out some XP for RP, but the gold value of treasure is the main source of XP income in the game.


Putting a Pin In It

At this point, we were roughly a quarter of the way through the module. Things seemed to be running long and we decided to take a break. I wonder how many groups have made it all the way though this module? Is it a campaign killer? Do groups get part way through the isle and lose interest?

The lack of keyed encounters make the isle feel sparsely populated in a way that random encounters don't address. The place could easily support two or three times the number that are in the module. I'm using our break to add some fixed encounters to fill in some details that seem lacking.

The first are signs of the civilizations previously inhabiting the isle. There are hints in the module as written. Who built the stone wall separating the indigenous villages in the southern peninsula from the rest of the island? The Kopru are stated to have ruled a kingdom in the past, but the only remanent of it is on the "Taboo Island" at the end of the module. Adding ruins of defunct human and Kopru civilizations would add a sense of history to the place. Some of them could be mini-dungeons suitable for a single session.

Second are clues to foreshadow the final encounter with the Kopru. As written, they are just kind of hanging out in their lair at the bottom of the dungeon they are in. Without more context, players may not realize that they are more than random monsters. A few statues - defaced so the Kopru's appearance comes as a surprise - and some inscriptions telling their tale would build up suspense. These would be found to the north of the isle, closest to the Kopru encounter.

Finally, indications of prior visitors. Not all of the current inhabitants appear to be indigenous to the isle. The populations of Aranea and Phanaton seem too small to be self-sustaining. And the Rakasta camp is explicitly stated to be temporary. These folks and others had to come from elsewhere. Over the seas is the most plausible explanation, but a more fantastic one is suggested in the Manual of the Planes (2008, 4E). I'm still playing with the idea.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 28: Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin

It's day twenty-eight and we're in the home stretch of the challenge! Let's circle back to Old School Essentials to give my brain a breather. Today I'm making a sneaky goblin who is really into stabbing and poisons.

All Old School Essentials characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. Rules for goblins as player characters were published in Carrion Crawler #1. A list of optional and house rules I use are provided in my day two post.


A Comparison Between AD&D and OSE Assassins

AD&D assassins are AD&D thieves, but with more murder. AD&D assassins can do all the lockpicking that thieves do, but not quite as well. It says something that the AD&D assassin got slapped with the evil label. Gary Gygax wrote "the killing of humans and other intelligent life forms for the purposes of profit is basically held to be the antithesis of weal" in the AD&D Player's Handbook. Which is a curious choice in a game that rewards invading the homes of intelligent life forms, killing them, and looting their possessions for profit.

OSE assassins have certain thief abilities, but pared back to make room for the additional murder abilities. For example, OSE assassins have no lockpicking ability. This is likely to preserve the utility of the thief class. OSE also takes a more nuanced approach to the moral questions by allowing assassins to be neutral or chaotic. However, OSE assassins cannot be lawful.

Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin, 1 of 2

Back to Character Generation

On one hand, all my rolls for ability scores were in the double dights. On other hand, half the results were twelves. Which, of course, is a point too low to generate any bonuses. But having no penalties to deal with is nice.

Goblin characters in OSE get +1 DEX and -1 STR. Which is fine for an assassin or thief. I used the Adjust Ability Scores rule to lower his WIS by 2 to bump up his DEX to an 18. This won't directly help him be a better assassin, but would speed up his progression.

Being a goblin and an assassin offers up a long and varied list of abilities. The affinity with wolves goblins get is interesting, but depends on the campaign. Otherwise, goblins share many features with gnomes. As mentioned above, OSE assassins don't get the full range of thief features. This may mean a closer relationship between assassins and thieves in OSE settings. A thief's abilities to pick locks and counter traps might be necessary to carry out an assassination. This might lead an assassins' guild and a thieves' guild to work out a partnership to the detriment of folks who are important enough to be assassination targets and wealthy enough to rob.

I rolled the maximum for hit points. With is a whopping 4. His CON bonus pushed that up to 5. OSE assassins and thieves have underwhelming durability for characters who are expected to get anywhere near combat. Sure, a successful assassination or backstab could drop an opponent, but then there's a character with d4 hit dice within easy reach of that opponent's buddies. There's the DEX bonus to AC, but that only goes so far with leather armor. I can see why later D&D bumped the hit dice of roguish types to d6.

Snik-Snak, Goblin Assassin, 2 of 2

Background

Snik-Snak started life as an apprentice blacksmith in a community of goblins large enough for such specialization, but too small to attract the wrong kind of attention. The goblins conducted the occasional raid, but found hiring out their services as mercenaries and cheap labor to be more lucrative. A nearby drow enclave found the goblins to be useful.

Snik-Snak's agility and fairly sturdy frame led to an invitation from a drow organization to learn certain skills. That training came with a price, but working as an assassin wasn't too different from raiding or mercenary work. Except for working alone, being much quieter, and coming with better pay.

Times were good until the drow launched a wave of assassinations in a nearby city-state using goblins to do the work. Snik-Snak got out before the drow disavowed the goblin assassins and left the goblin community holding the bag. They scattered into the mountains. Snik-Snak looked for a place to market his skills.

He eventually fell in with a band of adventurers. Doing quests and delving dungeons isn't much different from what he did before. He does miss working alone, though.


Resources

The rules for goblin player characters on OSE were published by Necrotic Gnome in issue #3 of Carrion Crawler.

The character sheet is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It only supports ascending AC when it wants to and there's no place for spells. It's fine other than those things.

2025 Character Creation Challenge, Day 2: Sara Rosewood, Human Fighter

Day two and the second of my characters for the 2025 Character Creation Challenge. This time, I'm harkening back to a simpler time and a slightly less complicated TTRPG - Old School Essentials by Necrotic Gnome. Specifically, I'm using the Advanced Fantasy version with options inspired by Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Let's begin with that quintessential starting player character - a human fighter. I'll only be covering significant decision points rather than offering a step by step description of the process.

Sara Rosewood, Human Fighter, page one of two

All OSE characters generated for this challenge use the Advanced Fantasy rules and the Advanced Method of character creation. "Expanded Equipment" by Gavin Norman, presented in Carcass Crawler Issue #3 is also used.

Optional rules include:

• Separate races and classes.
• Ascending Armor Class.
• Demihuman class and level restrictions are lifted.
• Humans are granted Racial Abilities.
• Weapon Proficiencies and Specializations.
• Rerolling 1s and 2s while rolling hit points.
• Secondary Skills.
• Individual initiative.

I'll also be using a house rule. OSE uses the "roll 3d6 for each ability score, in order" method. Gary Gygax comments that this method can result in marginal characters on page 11 of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. He describes various alternatives on the same page. I'm using Method I: "All scores are recorded and arranged in the order the player desires. 4d6 are rolled, and the lowest die (or one of the lowest) is discarded." This is purely a matter of personal taste.

Sara Rosewood, Human Fighter, page two of two

My dice rolls were okay. Using one of the 14s for STR was obvious. Putting the other 14 in CON is debatable - there's an argument to be made for sticking it in DEX. All of the other numbers result in no modifiers at this point, so I dumped an 11 into INT, the 12 in WIS, and DEX got a 10.

As humans +1 CHA and +1 CON with their optional Racial Abilities, CHA raises to 13 and CON to 15.

The OSE rules allow for raising a character's prime requisite by 1 point for every 2 points that another ability score is lowered. I lowered INT from 11 to 9 and WIS from 12 to 10. This improved STR from 14 to 16, increasing the modifier from +1 to +2 without lowering other modifiers.

I choose to specialize in the sword and take proficiencies in the short bow and dagger.

The entire 100 gold pieces I rolled up were spent on weapons, armor, and equipment. I wasn't able to afford a shield, so that will have to wait.

And then I came up with a name and backstory...

Sara Rosewood wasn't raised to be a murder hobo, but found herself with little choice after her village was raided by an adventuring party of chaotic NPCs. Filled with resolve to avenge her lost home, she spent years of her life doing anything but that. Instead, she trained in the sword and spent her life savings on a weapon, armor, and equipment. She recently joined a motley party of fresh-faced adventurers and will soon brave her first delve into the underground. If she meets with a grim fate, she will be quickly replaced by her hitherto unmentioned identical twin sister - Lara Rosewood. If she survives, hopefully the gamemaster will remember to include her backstory in an adventure so she can confront the destroyers of her quaint village.

The character sheet I used is by William Braidis Lee and is available on itch.io. It has some quirks, but I like it so far.

My Favorite Stuff 2024

This is a list of stuff that's been working well for me over the past year or two. Handy if you're doing some last minute holiday shopping for a tabletop gamer. Or if you are a tabletop gamer looking to spend some cash or gift cards received over the holidays. Or if you just want to indulge in some retail therapy. I'm not in a position to judge.

I skipped a "My Favorite" post last year due to my tabletop gaming interregnum. Links to past posts along these lines:

My Favorite Things 2018

My Favorite Stuff 2020 and 2019

My Favorite Stuff 2022

My New Dropper Bottle Case



Old School Essentials

I didn't realize that I never stated my opinions about this game until I sat down to write this post.

It's exactly what I wanted.

A question I sometimes see is: "Why not use the classic D&D and AD&D materials directly?" Well, that would mean spending time and money on the following to get what I was looking for:

• Cook Basic D&D down to its heart and soul. Which means purchasing the Dragons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia and throwing out huge chunks of it.
• Take what I most enjoyed about AD&D and convert it to be fully compatible with the chopped down version of Basic D&D from the first step. Which means taking the three AD&D core books and not using most of them.
• Hand our group the resulting document sometime in the 2030s.

Or I could do what I actually did:

• Shop around for a product that already did all that work for me.
• Wait for a sale on the Exulted Funeral site.
• Purchase a pair of books from Necrotic Gnome.
• Be impressed by the clear writing and organization of the Old School Essentials books.
• Download a bunch of free content from Necrotic Gnome, including a checklist of options to bring to our group.

I'm happy with the choice I made.


D&D Module B4 The Lost City

I previously published a couple of posts about this module:

Preparing a Classic D&D Module for OSE

Remodeling B4 The Lost City

This may end up replacing B2 The Keep on the Borderlands as my go-to for starting a nostalgic old school campaign. It's not without flaws. It does need preparation before putting it in front of players. And it does not in any way benefit from modern concepts of layout and organization. But the swords and sorcery flavored dungeon delve at its core? An experience not to be missed.


Mothership Boxed Set

I've posted my thoughts and experiences about this game before:

Countdown to Mothership

Mothership Debrief - Another Bug Hunt

It's a delight to open a tabletop RPG boxed set in the halcyon year of 2024. Good rules. Good presentation. The starter adventure is...

...a tad undercooked.


The Middle Ages: A Graphic History by Eleanor Janega and Neil Max Emmanuel

This book is my new recommendation for "an introduction and/or overview of the Middle Ages" to anybody who asks. Which comes up both more and less often than folks might believe. If everything you know on the topic comes from Gary Gygax and YouTube, you should read this book.


Army Painter Wet Palette

I used to slap my paint on a ceramic plate or cheap plastic artist's palette. Like a savage or something. Now I carefully add water to the absorbent pad, lay on a sheet of parchment paper, and mix my paints like a professional. Has it improved my brushwork? Not one darn bit. But it does keep my paints fresh and perky while I break down sobbing at my inadequate skills while base coating a miniature.


That's my favorite stuff some this year (and last year). Let's see if I remember the next post in this series in 2025.

Suspension of Disbelief

There was a moment when suspension of disbelief failed for our group while running through D&D module B4 The Lost City. The party reached the level below the undead infested tombs and found some ogres milling around in a storage room. The players questioned how the ogres - as living creatures - came from and how they survived in a ziggurat in the middle of a desert.

It was a reasonable question.

"I don't know. I didn't write the module." I replied.

Maybe throwing Tom Moldvay under the bus wasn't the most gracious move, but he should have provided an answer in the module if he didn't want to catch the blame. D&D adventure design when B4 The Lost City came out was centered around the dungeon as a series of entertaining challenges for the players. Notions of how these spaces might exist as plausible environments within the game setting weren't a consideration.

Yet.

The pendulum swung the other way later. Games emphasized the unchallenged assumptions of their designers. The word "realism" got waved around like a banner. Things that made the artificial nature of games and their settings caught unkind criticisms.

But the truth of it is: Game mechanics are always as obvious as the books and dice sitting on the table. And fictional settings only hold up to so much scrutiny.

That said...

There really should be a reason why ogres are hanging around a storage room in a ziggurat in the middle of desert.

Fantasy Foods - Tacos Exist in the Forgotten Realms, Learn to Deal With It

This is an opinion piece. I have opinions. This should not come as a surprise.

I believe this is a cropped depiction of the spell "Hero's Feast" for the 2024 version of D&D 5e. I'm not sure because I couldn't care less about that game.

Last week, divorced dude @osgamer74 saw the image above and lost his damn mind. Unable to contain his boundless outrage, he took to X/Twitter and made it everybody else's problem.

This is not a cool, measured response.

Getting this worked up about a halfling eating a taco and sushi existing in a TTRPG fantasy setting is just sad. @osgamer74 wasn't alone in his sad outburst. He also wasn't alone in getting roasted on X/Twitter for it.

In the Bearded Halfling's defense, he wasn't the one who came out swinging.

I have mixed feelings about social media in general and X/Twitter specifically. Still, the post by @osgamer74 is like putting chum in the water. Somebody is gonna smell blood and show up looking to sink their teeth into something fishy. He could have been less emotional and typed out something like: "I don't feel that tacos and sushi fit the vibe in my game, but others are welcome to do whatever they want at their tables." Unfortunately, @osgamer74 posted what he posted and the result was something called engagement.

Many of first wave of responses pointed out that there were many foods and other items pictured along with the "nonsense" that @osgamer74 choose to rant about. Here's a partial list since I'm sure I missed something:

• A pumpkin
• Potatoes
• Peppers
• Tomatoes
• A tea pot
• Samosas
• A paper cocktail umbrella in a drinking glass

The pattern here is that none of these fit into a TTRPG campaign themed around medieval Europe. Most of the foods are native to the Americas. Tea was first recorded as existing in China. And the samosa originated from the Middle East and India. I don't know when paper cocktail umbrellas came into being, but I'm pretty sure they are a modern invention. So - the counterargument went - why single out tacos and sushi given all the things foreign to medieval Europe in the image?

Well...

Open mouth, insert foot.

@osgamer74 makes it clear that historical accuracy wasn't his issue. It's the presence of food that's not "normal" to him. Never mind that a hard shelled taco is about as gringo as a food can get. And that sushi is available in American supermarkets these days.

Having clarified his views, @osgamer74 employed tactics that never fail when one finds their mouth full of their own foot. Personal attacks. Doubling down. And playing the victim. Arguments that make it obvious who has the stronger position.

Playing the victim.

Note that he's gone from the food in question being not "normal" to what "you'd see in the local mall" and I'm sure it'll keep changing to whatever @osgamer74 thinks he needs to win. It also will be everybody else's fault for not understanding his poorly articulated position. And I'm certain that whatever engagement that @osgamer74 was looking for on X/Twitter was not what he ended up receiving.

This is not the first time that anachronisms and other out of place elements have appeared in Dungeons and Dragons. Weapons, armor, and gear from a vast geographic area and ranging from the Bronze Age to the Renaissance have been part of the game for decades. The Monk class was introduced in the 1975 Blackmoor supplement when somebody wanted to emulate martial arts action. More crossing genres date back to 1976, when Expedition to the Barrier Peaks was first played at Origins II. (It was published in 1980 as part of the "S" series of adventure modules.) And people complained back then as well. It's just that it used to be confined to the letters in Dragon Magazine's "Out on a Limb" feature, fanzines, and grumblings in the local hobby store. Frankly, it was narrow minded then and its no better now that it's amplified by social media and the internet.

On the other hand, social media and the internet can spread new ideas, even about established settings. No less than Ed Greenwood used Twitter to answer questions and offer up new lore about the Forgotten Realms. Back in 2020, he responded to an inquiry about the existence of tacos in the setting he created.

Here is a link to Ed Greenwood's post on X/Twitter.

For those unable to access X/Twitter or can't see the thread in its entirety because Elon Musk broke the thing he bought, the whole thing is archived here.

Finally, here is a copy/paste of the thread:

From @LeslieCourtne14:

Dear Ed, are there tacos in Faerun, or something like them at least? If so, where would someone find them and what culture would they be in? Asking for my taco loving players.

Reply from @TheEdVerse, edited for this format:

“Taco” is not a name known on Toril, but fried hardcrust roundbreads (what some real-worlders might call pitas, but fried crispy-hard) that have been stuffed with a hot cooked mix of minced-meat, spices, vegetables (diced and fried onions and/or potatoes, and/or Brussels sprouts, and/or asparagus, and/or leeks, and/or artichoke hearts, and/or radishes, and/or mushrooms) and sauces ARE known and devoured eagerly in many eateries, especially in the Vilhon, the lands south of there to the Shaar and beyond (so, places like Innarlith and south to include Luiren and Var the Golden), and are slowly spreading along the trade routes in all directions, to Chessenta and eastern Tethyr and Amn, to Calimshan and the Lake of Steam cities, and to Scornubel. You can even order them in some inns and taverns (yes, they’re becoming “the new thing” in tavern fare) in Secomber.

The meat tends to be whatever’s plentiful and cheap locally, from lamb to rabbit and all manner of small scurrying things, from “tree-cats” [squirrels] to rats, and the flavor profile varies from merely savory to hot-spiced; most establishments will ask “hot” or “warming” (= fiery or mild) when you order.

So, a folded-over, exposed-spilling-edge taco is a rare thing indeed, and cheese-drenched tacos are a special variant version anywhere they can be had, but the same sort of ingredients in essentially the same combination (so, a flat, closed taco, which varies from a “handpie” in that it was never full of gravy, and its outer pastry is thin and fried crispy-hard) can now be had in many places.

What it’s called varies from place to place; along the Sword Coast it tends to be called a “fryhard,” in the Vilhon, a “crunchtart,” in the South, a “hotbite,” and along the trade-routes, any of these three or even something else.

Elminster and the Seven all like “handfry pies” made with six or seven sorts of mushrooms, parsnips, leeks or spring onions (all diced), and strong cheeses (no meat).

The shell of a Torilian taco, whatever it’s called, is often rather like cornbread in its composition. Or a crisp naan (and is sometimes made by “gluing” two round-tortilla-like discs together with cheese).

- Ed Greenwood, November 13 2020

So what we have here is something not called a taco, but is totally a taco. And it exists in a published Dungeons and Dragons setting. Of course, all we have is Ed Greenwood's word for it, but that's good enough for me.

I've found these matters are ultimately a matter of taste. Take pizza toppings, for example. I enjoy certain ingredients and I don't enjoy others. There is a temptation to label disliked toppings as "bad" or "nonsense" or worse. And to take offense when others push back against those terms. Rather than escalate, it's best to use such misunderstandings as an opportunity for growth. Learn what others like and why they like those things. Even if it's not to my taste, there's no reason to waste time and energy fighting about it. If I'm sharing a pizza, I'm happy to order the toppings everybody can agree on. It might turn out to be a cheese pizza, but that tastes better than a bitter fight and a spoiled time with friends. If we're all ordering for ourselves, they can do whatever they want with their pizzas and I can get a proper pizza with the correct toppings.

And now I'm craving pizza, tacos, sushi, samosas, and a drink with a cocktail umbrella in it. Not all in one sitting, though. But certainly all in one setting.

Remodeling B4 The Lost City

In a previous post, I went over the preparations I made for running D&D module B4 The Lost City in Old School Essentials. In this post, I'm detailing the changes I made to the module during those preparations. My motivations behind those changes varied. Some things about The Lost City as written wouldn't land well with our group. Other don't fit with how I like to run things. Still others needed alteration to better suit the Nostalgia Tour campaign concept I was planning. So I had some work to do.

The Layout

Before getting into the meat of this topic, I'll provide some basic information about The Lost City. This is necessary to provide context for the changes I made. This information will spoil the module for anybody who has not played through it yet.

The dungeon in The Lost City is within a step-pyramid (although it could be called a ziggurat) at the center of a ruined city partly buried in the sands of the surrounding desert. The module presents each chunk of the dungeon in tiers. Tiers 1 and 2 are considered dungeon level 1. Tiers 3 and 4 are dungeon level 2. Tier 5 is dungeon level 3. Tiers 6 - 10 are optional areas that take the adventure beyond Basic D&D and serves as sort of an ad for Expert D&D. The optional areas are mapped, but only superficially presented. Work or skilled improvisation is needed to run them at the table. The Lost City's iconic monster - Zargon - is the last encounter of Tier 10, in room #100. Finally, an underground city in a vast cavern below the pyramid is presented with an isometric map and basic information covering critical areas.

The most significant change I made was opting not to run Tiers 6 - 10. As part of the Nostalgia Tour, The Lost City serves to kick things off and get the player characters to third level. Then the campaign could move to another classic D&D module like X1 The Isle of Dread or X2 Castle Amber. Tiers 1 - 5 would accomplish this nicely. The Lost City, as written, suggests collapsing the only set of stairs connecting Tier 5 to Tier 6 as a way of supporting this choice.


"Borrowing" Ideas

I'm not too proud to "borrow" other people's ideas, so I went looking for some. The Lost City is decades old. There are plenty of essays, blog posts, and YouTube videos out there about the module. Many of them describe the experiences of other gamemasters - how they ran it, the issues they had, and the solutions they implemented.

The B4 The Lost City Sourcebook

This is a collection of essays about the module. Much of it is from a real world perspective or expands the adventure's fictional background. The main value for me were the suggestions throughout for refining the adventure.

It was while reading through "Notes on the Underground City" by Jason Cone that I realized what was bothering me about Tier 5 of the dungeon. Tier 5 features a supernatural possession, Wererats, Doppelgangers, and mind controlling Werefoxes. That's three different kinds of shapechangers waiting in ambush and two examples of taking control of characters away from their players on the same dungeon level. I realize that OSR is supposed to be more challenging on players, but I also didn't want to go full Dark Souls on them. The possession stayed since it is linked to another encounter. The Werefoxes and Doppelgangers were changed to Wererats to tie things together more to my taste.

Dungeon Craft Ultimate D&D Adventures: The Lost City (Ep. #346)

Seeing how another gamemaster runs an adventure is always insightful. Even if the only insight is that different styles are different. This video's emphasis on OSR play was a needed reminder for me. The party's focus must be on finding food and water at the beginning of the adventure - they are lost in the desert and have been out of supplies for awhile. The players also have to keep in mind that encounters aren't balanced, most XP is earned from treasure recovered, and player characters start with hit points in the single digits.

I also "borrowed" the idea of setting up Zargon like a boss monster to wrap up the adventure. Zargon packed up his slime pool and relocated from room #100 to his temple in the underground city. The climax was an assault by every faction against Zargon's worshipers and their hobgoblin allies. The party's role was to kill off Zargon while his cult was dealt with off-screen.


Small Changes

A minor tweak I made was increasing the amount of support available in the dungeon. There is no town nearby as a place of rest and resupply. Allying with one of the three human factions in the dungeon provides a source of food, water, and rest. However, there is no equivalent of a shop for equipment. I ruled that any of the factions could provide standard adventuring gear at standard prices once friendly relations were established.

The final change was the result of a random encounter. The wandering encounter table for Tiers 1 - 2 features a group of gnomes exploring the dungeon. I expanded the encounter by providing the gnome leader with a name - Wigglewort. I also explained the presence of the gnomes to the party with a short speech by Wigglewort:

"We were sent out from our town on a simple mission: explore the underworld. To seek out new markets and trade partners. To boldly go where no gnome has gone before!"

Wigglewort and his gnomes stuck around for the rest of the adventure. They made contact with the three human factions and provided gear to the party at reasonable prices. In the aftermath of the adventure, they are setting up trade agreements with the underground city now that the cult of Zargon and the hobgoblins are no longer around.


Looking Back

I had a variety of reasons for the changes I made to The Lost City. The major one - cutting out Tiers 6 - 10 - was to fit the adventure into the campaign I'm running. Others - such as not having multiple similarly themed encounters on the same dungeon level - were a matter of taste. Still others - making sure that there was the equivalent of a "town" for the party and creating a "boss" fight as the climax - reflect a more modern approach to adventure design.

Preparing a Classic D&D Module for OSE

Running D&D module B4 The Lost City in Old School Essentials was a success. Our group enjoyed a slightly revamped version of a classic adventure. And only a couple of player characters died! I can't say that Zargon and his cult were happy with the outcome, but they got what was coming to them. I credit the experience to a good group, my ability to improvise whenever players do the unexpected (which is all the time), and the efforts I made beforehand.

A gamemaster's homework is never done.

Step 1: Read the Darn Thing

It doesn't matter if it's the first time or the hundredth time. No notes. No highlighting. Just go through the whole thing and get familiar with the contents. What are all the pieces and how do they fit together? What stands out? What works and what won't land with this particular group of players? What doesn't fit with how I like to run things at our table? What is so iconic that any alterations would only lead to bitterness and despair? None of these questions can be answered without knowing what's in the adventure.


Step 2: What Changes?

Outside of the occasional one shot, adventure modules aren't played in isolation. They have to fit into existing campaigns. In this case, the Nostalgia Tour concept. The Lost City couldn't overstay its welcome or it would push out another classic module. I needed to wrap it up by the time the player characters reached third level and were ready for the next module.

I originally wrote a bunch of details on the changes I made, but that turned into a whole thing. The changes and the thinking behind them will be presented in that mythical time we call later.

(EDIT: Later turned out to be a week and half down the road. Here's a post about all the changes I made: Remodeling B4 The Lost City.)


Step 3: Attack the Module with a Highlighter

Classic adventure modules weren't exactly masterworks of organization. The need to present information to the GM by embracing the tools to technical writing - bolded text, bullet points, and otherwise separating out critical statements from a body of text - wasn't fully identified until more recently. Since there's no way to add these features to an existing module with rewriting it, I used a highlighter to make key information stand out.

I'd be squeamish about marking up a vintage module this way. Even a damaged copy is still a decades old document at this point. Fortunately, I was able to avoid the issue with a print on demand copy from DTRPG.

Here are examples of the kind of information I highlighted:

• How the traps are supposed to work. What does a player character do to trigger the trap? What happens when the trap is triggered?
• Reactions for monster encounters. What do they do when they encounter the party? Otherwise, I rolled on the reaction table.
• Motivations for NPC encounters. What does this NPC want from the party? How do they respond based on the reaction roll?
• Treasures and other loot. This information was sometimes buried in the room descriptions.
• Key historical facts. The Lost City has a backstory relevant to the adventure. I wanted to keep the critical details handy.

Step 4: List Making

Although a highlighter makes critical information easier to find, I wanted to have some things at my fingertips. Lists make it possible to reference certain things without having to flip back and forth through the module.

Examples of my lists:

• Static monster encounters. The rooms and the bags of XP dwelling within them organized by room number. It worked as a checklist of what the party ran into as they moved through the dungeon. I included each monster's page number in the OSE Referee's Tome for easy reference. This made it handy during combat and for calculating XP in between sessions. Easily the list I used the most.
• Wandering monster encounters. Includes the page numbers of each wandering monster table from the module. As with the static monster encounter list, I also included each monster's page number in the OSE Referee's Tome. Not as useful as I expected. The dice were not cooperating and I didn't roll as many wandering monsters as I expected.
• Trap encounters. Room numbers and a description of the traps within them. Having the information in one place wasn't as useful as I expected. The work I put in with the highlighter was enough for me to find the information when I needed it.
• NPC encounters. Statistics, descriptions, significant items, and spell lists for encounters that might result in talking, fighting, or some combination of both. The descriptions of some groups are spread throughout the module. Compiling them in one place saved some time during play. It also helped me keep the names straight.
• Cynidicean encounters. The inhabitants of the titular lost city have their own sub-table in this module's wandering monster tables. Since I needed to convert them to OSE anyway, I retyped the (converted) statistics and descriptions on a handy reference document.

Step 5: Old School Essentials Conversion

Although OSE is based on Basic D&D, certain things required adaptation. Most of the monsters have statistics in OSE, but the ones unique to B4 The Lost City needed work. The biggest issue involved our group's decision to go with ascending armor class as an option. All things considered, the conversion process was easy. Converting an AD&D module to OSE might involve more time and effort. I'll be burning that bridge later in the Nostalgia Tour campaign.

Nostalgia Tour - Planning an OSE Campaign

The good news is that my idea of using Old School Essentials to revisit classic D&D and AD&D adventure modules is lurching forward. The bad news is I actually have to execute the idea. That all starts with a plan. I'm an experienced enough gamemaster to know that any plan I come up with is unlikely to survive contact with my players. Still, whatever bits of it I can salvage from the burning wreckage may provide a handy guideline.

Lost the originals in a move, but POD from DTRPG will do the job.

Narrowing Down the Options

Using classic modules greatly simplifies planning. I just have to pick out the ones I want to run. The criteria I'm using are: my group's interest in a particular module, compatibility with OSE, and the level of effort involved with running it.

My group includes veteran players who made it clear that they have no interest in another go at B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. I completely understand not wanting to return to it after playing or running it half a dozen times. The goal of the campaign is to indulge in nostalgia, not endure tedium. Tt is the only module vetoed outright by the group.

Old School Essentials is designed to be compatible with the Basic/Expert D&D rules. This makes B- and X-series modules ideal. AD&D modules require some conversion depending on content. The stats of certain monsters are similar, but not identical. Other monsters - like demons and devils - are not presented in OSE Advanced Fantasy at the time of this posting.

Running a module rarely means just giving it a skim and winging it from there. I've posted about this before - I found that studying a module and running it from my notes is best practice. It's even worse if I feel the need to rewrite aspects of a module to better fit my style or the tone of a campaign. This suggests that Jaquays-style dungeons and open world hexcrawls would work better than something relying on a baked in plot.


The List

B4 The Lost City
A classic Moldvay dungeon crawl that I never actually got to play or run back in the day. There's a strong swords and sorcery vibe that my group should appreciate. Also, it avoids an issue with early B-series modules - large areas being left blank. A key point of this campaign is me avoiding work.

X1 The Isle of Dread
Another Moldvay classic. This one is a hexcrawl inspired by the kind of "lost world" stories featuring dinosaurs and steamy jungles. It may or may not turn into fantasy 'Nam for our group due to those dinosaurs and jungles. The only issue that I have with it is the paradox of the black pearl that supposed to kick off the adventure.

G1-3 Against the Giants
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
D3 Vault of the Drow
Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
This is the ironic series of adventures that starts with dungeon crawling through the centers of evil giant power, drops into what would later be called the Underdark, passes through the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is a Drow city, and ends up in the extraplanar lair of a demon goddess. Nevermind all the set up about the Elder Elemental God, the real bad guy is Lolth and the real treasures are the literal treasures that the party loots along the way.


Alternates

X2 Castle Amber
The Moldvay classic dungeon crawl that I'll be running if the Moldvay classic hexcrawl that is The Isle of Dread doesn't appeal for whatever reason. Otherwise, I'll save this personal favorite for a later OSE campaign I have in mind.

C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan
The recommended levels between The Isle of Dread and Against the Giants leaves a gap. I have a few modules that I could slot in to cover it. This one is the front runner due to fond memories I have of running it in grade school. I am hopeful that my older and mature current group makes it through encounter #13 much better than my group back then.

A Game I'll Never Run - Working for a Dragon

A deep dive into my own notes is a key step as I prepare a new RPG campaign. I frequently rediscover little gems that I jotted down months or years ago and promptly forgot. Something else I find are fantastic concepts for campaigns that I have absolutely no time to run. After all, I'll hopefully be busy with my current campaign for awhile.

Rather than let them lie unused, I'll be presenting them here as they turn up. Feel free to borrow anything that looks handy. Just let me know how it turned out.


The Quest Giver is a Dragon

Our adventuring party works for a great wyrm of considerable age and wide experience. The beast isn't interested in acquiring more wealth. This particular dragon's hoard is already big enough to be comfortable to lounge upon. This dragon has moved on to other things. But what are the dragon's motivations and how can the adventurers help to achieve them?

Meet the new boss?

Collecting Scholarly Knowledge

Knowledge was a means to an end in the dragon's youth. Genuine curiosity eventually overcame ambition as the dragon grew old and strong. However, a dragon showing up to ask questions is usually counterproductive. Many interactions between dragons and others involve raided livestock, looted gold, and things on fire. Employing adventurers as agents tends to work better. At least, until those adventurers start getting ideas.

Before that, our adventurers can find employment by:

• Tracking down and acquiring the last copy of an ancient tome before anybody else gets it.
• Convincing an elderly sage to part with their particular brand of wisdom. The sage is done with life and can't be bribed or threatened, even by a dragon or band of cutthroats. What would convince such a sage?
• Trading books with various libraries. The dragon has extra copies to spare, but wants to avoid the complications of letting others know who they are dealing with. It's best to send the adventurers as representatives.
• Swapping knowledge over networks of scholars who may not be keen on giving their secrets to a dragon.
• Establishing relations with key scholars. The dragon foresees the need to consult with them repeatedly.
• Prying a scroll of lost lore out of the cold, undead hands holding it.

Collecting Arcane Knowledge

Knowledge can be power, but magical knowledge gets to the point quicker. There is some overlap between this and acquiring scholarly knowledge. Some of the ideas presented above can be used with this motivation. In both cases, the dragon is using the adventuring party as agents to gain access to sources that would be denied otherwise.

• Meeting with a jinn or devil on their own plane and figuring out what it would take to persuade them to part with what they know. The first challenge is the logistics of arranging and traveling to the meeting.
• The dragon has learned of a tome called the Necronomicon. The knowledge it contain is both valuable and dangerous. One doesn't survive to become a great wyrm by taking unnecessary risks - best to have someone else read the book and transcribe its contents in a form safer to peruse. There is a troublesome mage who has beat the dragon's prior agents to various prizes over the decades. Perhaps the adventuring party can convince the mage to take on this task? Of course, a copy of the Necronomicon must be obtained in the first place.
• Raiding the library of a demi-lich. It is located a trapped-infested crypt, but the demi-lich should be distracted with whatever such undead do down there.
• Rumors suggest that another adventuring party has looted a rare magical item from some dungeon. How to get it without showing the dragon's hand?
• Trading magical secrets with an organization of wizards with a dodgy reputation. Both sides know that betrayal is coming, just not exactly when. The assassination attempts against the dragon's prior agents don't really count. That's just common practice.

Supporting the Imperial Dynasty

Centuries ago, the dragon took another form and founded a ruling family. Affairs of state grew boring, so the dragon left the polity in the hands of later generations. But the dragon takes family obligations seriously enough to intervene from time to time.

The dragon doesn't want to operate openly and uses agents when possible. The dynasty has to appear to be strong enough to stand on its own. Besides, the dragon isn't a pet that comes when called just because there's a handsome representation on the imperial crest. This is a situation where each side gets things it wants because both parties compliment each other nicely. The player characters could be adventurers acting as the dragon's agents, part of the imperial court, or members of the imperial government with a mysterious boss.

• The dragon and the dynasty are family, but that doesn't rule out backstabbing. There's always upstarts who think that they have what it takes to further their ambitions by getting rid their mysterious "great uncle" from out of town. Keeping an eye out for trouble is one option. Finding a place to hide the charred corpse and cooking up a cover story is another.
• The dragon is the center of a spy network. The dragon makes for a pretty good spy with superior senses, the ability to fly, and maybe even shape changing. The dynasty has used its connections and wealth to build a wider net for gathering information. Of course, such networks have vulnerable nodes that enemies can attack or co-opt. That's what the internal security and assassination branches are for. The adventurers are handy as deniable assets with no obvious connections to either the dragon or the royal family.
• A lack of money isn't a problem for either the dragon or the dynasty, but there are some problems wealth can't solve. Some folks just can't be bribed. The player characters need to find a way to persuade the source of the issue or otherwise make it go away.
• The dragon can solve some issues indirectly. Sometimes that ambitious lord making moves in the imperial court can't just be killed off. On the other hand, that lord might get called back home to deal with a crisis at precisely the right time. A dragon attack on the lord's holding might be the source of that boon. But somebody has to make sure that word get through to the lord at precisely the right time.
• The dragon and dynasty view their relationship from an interpersonal perspective rather than a political one. The dragon's long life and unusual viewpoint make it a valuable source of advice. The dragon prefers to quietly guide the dynasty along and providing indirect support while juggling more draconic interests at the same time. Besides, the player characters are around to handle any dirty work.
• There was those times when everything was going smoothly until the current ruler and most of the heirs were assassinated. The dragon was busy guiding someone never expected to take on the role of ruler while investigating the assassinations. One such incident is the source of the imperial decree forbidding multiple members of the dynasty from riding in the same airship.

D&D Beholder Miniature Rebasing

I was reminded of a problem with this Beholder miniature after using it on the thumbnail for the "The AD&D Monster Manual (1979) A - Z: Episode 3: "B - Baboon to Beholder"" video. Basically, the material used for the base is too soft for the job.

Replacing the base was a quick and fun project. This video provides an overview of the process.

The AD&D Monster Manual (1979) A - Z: Episode 3: "B - Baboon to Beholder"

Commentary and opinions on the "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual" by Gary Gygax. This video covers the first half of the "B" section.

The following is the original script. Changes were made during recording and editing the video. This version doesn't reflect those changes. It is provided for those who prefer a written version over video.

I was hoping to get section B done in one go. However, since it is twice as long as the previous section, I've decided to break it up into two episodes. This episode covers section B from the Baboon to the Beholder. Next episode will cover the rest of section B.

Baboon
Curiously, "Climbing" is listed as a Special Defense of the Baboon, but no details are given. Much like the Ape, Baboons are relatively non-threatening to an adventuring party. While they will defend their territory, half the group will be young who will not attack and there is a 90% chance that the Baboons will flee if pressed. This is another entry that I question. It doesn't seem to have much in the way of utility.

Badger
The Badger is described as "typically solitary" but their Number Appearing is listed as 2-5. Badgers were historically hunted or trapped for their fur and the entry gives the value of a Badger pelt as 10-30 gold pieces. This presents an adventuring party with an option for supplementing their income while moving through a wilderness area. The entry also describes the Giant Badger as being twice the size with scaled up combat stats. It does not state that Giant Badger pelts are any more valuable than the regular variety.

Baluchitherium
This was based the world's largest land mammal, which lived roughly 35 to 24 million years ago. Combat wise, it can deal a good amount of damage while tanking anything an adventuring party can throw at it with its 14 hit dice. In the end, it's another prehistoric animal converted into an AD&D monster. Given its lack of treasure, I'm not sure why an adventuring party would choose to take one of these on.

Barracuda
An adventuring party is unlikely to encounter these animals unless they were diving in the ocean or deep sea fishing. It's possible, given the existence of various magics, but is a situation that I've never personally encountered.

Basilisk
This slow-moving, eight-legged reptile is inspired by medieval European myth. It has a bite attack, but who cares because the only reason a DM would bring one in is its petrification attack. Any "fleshy creature" that meets its gaze gets turned to stone. Presumably a saving throw is allowed, but the entry doesn't specify. Reflecting its gaze back will cause the Basilisk to petrify itself, but it is noted that there needs to be enough light around to make this effective. Interestingly, the Basilisk can see into the Astral and Ethereal Planes. Its gaze is lethal in the Astral Plane while victims in the Ethereal Plane are turned into Ethereal Stone, which is invisible except on the Ethereal Plane. This makes it a threat for almost any adventuring party and no doubt inspired groans and thrown objects from generations of players. The Basilisk is a monster with a strong legacy, appearing in later editions and in other F20 games having lost none of its fearsome reputation.

Bear
This entry features the Black, Brown, and Cave Bears. Black and Brown are based on the real world animals of the same names. The Cave Bear could be described as a "Dire" Bear in more recent editions, being larger, more aggressive, and preferring a carnivorous diet. In the real world, most bear encounters involve bears detecting a food source controlled by humans and the resulting interactions. It is entirely plausible that a Black or Brown Bear might investigate an adventuring party's camp site and raid it for their rations or trash while they are away or asleep. The Special Attack of all Bear types - the Bear Hug - is described in detail. It is also noted that Brown and Cave Bears will continue to fight for a short period after reaching negative hit points, although damage pushing them below -9 hit points will kill them immediately.

Beaver, Giant
Giant Beavers are based on the real world animal, but are larger and intelligent enough to grasp abstract concepts. They are sometimes willing to use their skills in building structures out of natural materials - dams in particular - in exchange for "coins and other valuables". This explains their Treasure Type of C, which is presumably stored in their "castle-like" dens. Not all interactions with Giant Beavers are assumed to be equitable, since the value of their pelts and young are also given. This entry is much more interesting than I remember it being.

Beetle, Giant
This entry features the Bombardier, Boring, Fire, Rhinoceros, Stag, and Water varieties of Giant Beetle. All Giant Beetles are described as "basically unintelligent and always hungry". Gygax takes particular care to note how beetles tear their food apart while ingesting it and that "nothing actually eaten by giant beetles can be revived in any manner short of a wish". I'm guessing that the situation must have come up at least once in his campaigns.

Every type of Giant Beetle has a gimmick. The Bombardier Beetle can expel a cloud of acidic vapor a couple times of day. The sound made by releasing the vapor is loud enough to stun or deafen those nearby. The Boring Beetle is a little dull when it comes to social interactions and feeds on rotting wood. Large groups may develop a communal intelligence, but no game effects are noted. The Fire Beetle possesses a pair of glands that glow brightly enough to be a light source. This makes them a target for miners and player characters who don't want to bother with torches or lanterns. Unfortunately for all concerned, the glands only produce light for a few days. Rhinoceros and Stag Beetles are both characterized by their large horns, which they use to attack. Finally, the Water Beetle is found in deep bodies of fresh water.

Of all of these, only the Bombardier and Fire Beetles made any lasting impression on me. I vaguely remember using Bombardier Beetles in a game, where they thoroughly annoyed the players. Fire Beetles featured in many games, since players would seek them out as light sources until Continual Light spells became available to the party.

Beholder
The Beholder is an iconic D&D monster. This is a monster that can wipe whole armies of low level hirelings and the adventuring parties that employed them in one go. In many ways, the Beholder embodies the wild, anything goes nature of early D&D. The Beholder also shows some of the weaknesses of early D&D when compared to more modern RPG designs.

Nine of those ten eyes are on stalks that sprout off its top. The other is larger and located above the mouth. By the way, the Beholder has a bite attack, but who cares? Each of the Beholder's ten eyes can generate a magical attack. The entry goes into detail about how many eyes can attack a target depending on its position relative to the Beholder and how many eyes stop functioning depending on how much damage the Beholder suffers. The entry does not specify which eye possesses which magical attack. Do the listed attacks go clockwise starting from the front-most eye-stalk? Counterclockwise? Does the count start with the main eye on the body? Or is it randomly determined when the encounter is generated?

While the entry listed the magical attacks, it doesn't provide any details. Most of the attacks duplicate spells or the effects on magical items. However, the burden of knowing what these spells and magic items do is placed squarely on the DM. The DM would either have to possess a working knowledge of these spells and magic items or reference the books during play. The first demands an experienced DM, the second slows down the game. Now, it is true that, in an ideal world, the DM would study the rules beforehand and taking notes as necessary. However, this is not an ideal world. Later systems avoid this issue by providing the required information in the monster entry. This was likely an oversight on Gygax's part. This information was likely second nature to Gygax. Also, he may not have internalized the need to convey all of the necessary information on the page. There is also the issue of space. Including more information in this entry would have meant reducing the size of others. However, I have already pointed out monsters of questionable utility. One or more of them could have been omitted to free up space.

Next time, I'll be starting with the Black Pudding and finishing up the rest of section B.