RetroRoleplaying: The Blog

Progress Report: Microlite74, RetroRoleplaying Forum, Real Life. etc.

2012-05-23T13:57:00.002-05:00

I'm sorry to say that this blog hasn't been very active recently. That's because May seems to be "real life kicking me in the teeth" month. It started out with my wife getting threatened with a lawsuit (along with all the other unpaid volunteers) at an animal shelter she does volunteer work for. this threat from another volunteer who did not like what the shelter was doing. This stresses out my wife and causes all sorts of sores to appear on her month and tongue. At least that's what we hoped was the cause of it. However, with her tongue cancer history we had to get her in to see her doctor. We finally got in to see her doctor Monday and thankfully he does not think that these month sores are connected with her cancer. Three weeks of stress and a couple of hundred in doctor bills because some lawyer goes overboard and fires off a cease-and-desist or I'll sue letter to everyone connected to a shelter. There are times that killing all the lawyers -- even ones I consider friends -- really does sound like an excellent idea that would improve the world tremendously. Second week of May, my mother-in-law ends up in the hospital with a severe bladder infection that is spreading to other organs in her body. This stresses out my wife even more. My mother-in-law is finally out of the hospital and into a rehab facility to get her strength back. She's in her 70s and has Medicare so she can get treatment -- unlike my wife who can't get insurance unless she could pay more than we make a month for it because of all her pre-existing conditions. As for the shelter, my wife is no longer volunteering there. They seem to have lots a number of their volunteers. What a surprise.

Needless to say, I haven't had a lot of interest in gaming or anything else this month. My apologies as I had several interesting (well, hopefully interesting) blog posts planned and wanted to get a lot more work on Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery done. I few blog posts did appear, but none of the ones I was really excited about and I have made no real progress on M74 this month. I've been exhausted by worry to care. Our cancer fund drive ended yesterday. However, because I wasn't posting to keep it front and center in people's minds, we did not raise the full $1000. However, I'm trying to talk Alexi into giving both items away anyway as we did come fairly close -- and I just want it over and done with. I'm happy to say that we raised almost $600 for Karen's house fund -- a huge success that has really helped her. Combined with other fundraisers, I believe Karen is within a few hundred dollars of the $2500 goal. I'd like to thank everyone who donated to these causes.

On another front, I've closed the RetroRoleplaying forum for non-use. It was open for nine months, had 21 non-spammer members (and over 3000 spammers attempting to register -- a few managed to do so despite registration checks on spammer databases) and a whopping 112 posts -- 52 of them from me. Keeping the software up to date just did not seem worth the effort. Fighting the spammers certainly wasn't worth the effort. If Microlite74 really needs a message area (and given the response I'm not really convinced it does) we might be better off with a "Microlite74 forum" on some larger board.

I hope to be back with some actually interesting blog posts in the next few days -- and perhaps even a new beta of Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery in a week or two. That will probably be the last beta before I start doing "release candidates". Egads, I hope I did not jinx anything by saying that. June can't get here soon enough for me.

Update: Help a Former TSR Editor Keep Her House!

2012-05-13T21:20:00.001-05:00

If you saw my post yesterday (Help a Former TSR Editor Keep Her House!) you know we are trying trying to raise money to help former TSR designer, developer and editor Karen Boomgarden keep her house. A non-gaming board Karen and I are on has raised over $1200 of the $2500 or so needed thus far. With the permission of item donor Alexi Debois, I'm sharing 50% of the money donated to the current RetroRoleplaying Cancer Drive for about 48 hours (through 9pm CDT Monday evening) to Karen while giving donors full credit for their donation (for drawings and high donor items) just as if all the money went to the Cancer Fund Drive. You can read yesterday's post for all the details.

I'm happy to say that donors have been very generous. This morning, I totaled up donations so far and sent Karen $328.50 via Paypal. Betwen then and then another $160 (minus Paypal fees which I haven't figured yet) has been earmarked for Karen -- although some of this is in echecks which will not clear until later in the week (which isn't a problem). So about 475-480 has been raised for Karen in the first 24 hours of this "Save Karen's House" drive. This puts the total raised between this blog (480) and the non-gaming forum ($1200+) at about $1700. There are still 24 hours left on the RetroRoleplaying Blog end of the drive, so if you can help, please make a donation now and help two decent causes with one stone, err donation. If you can spare a ten or a twenty, or even more, it will help so much. Karen and family might be able to avoid foreclosure and my wife and I will pay off more cancer bills. To donate and help Karen, send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- via Paypal before 9pm CDT Monday evening (May 14th). If you can't donate, good thoughts and prayers for Karen and her family (and that Citi not live down to their reputation) are more than welcome. And don't forget to check my post from yesterday for more info.

Special Note: Because of real life issues (my mother-in-law is in the hospital with a bladder infection and e. coili -- she is recovering but will be in a physical therapy center for 30 days to rebuild her strength starting tomorrow), I am not getting replies/thank you messages out for these donations nearly as fast as I usually do. It may be Tuesday or Wednesday for some, I'm sorry to say. My humble apologies.

The FEZ: I and Quest for the Fazzlewood Giveaway (Mini Cancer Fund Drive) is on (through May 21, 2012). Every $10 donated gives you one chance to win (details/rules described in the above-linked post): either FEZ 1 (the 1982 Valley of Trees version), the Quest for the Fazzlewood from Metro Detroit Gamers. Multiple drawings will be held as described in the above linked post. The two highest donors (in amount donated) will receive TSR's Warriors of Mars, TSR's Metamorphosis Alpha and/or FGU's Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age. These items are in addition to the usual PDF downloads and other benefits of a donation to the RetrpoRoleplaying Cancer Fund. To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Thank you!

Help a Former TSR Editor Keep Her House!

2012-05-12T15:47:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine who long time D&D players may know from her days as an editor (and occasional designer/developer) at TSR is having a very bad year and is about to loose her house unless she gets some funds. Karen Boomgarden did a lot of editing work at TSR back in the day and was co-designer of my favorite Amazing Engine game, For Faerie, Queen, and Country. Since her TSR days, she's remarried and was doing well until the economy collapsed. She's been out of work for two years and her husband has been out of work for a year. Their daughter fell off a balcony and was injured pretty badly (although remarkably not as badly as she could have been) earlier this year.

Karen and family have been told they will lose their house this summer unless that can raise about $2500 to get current on their mortgage so they can possibility qualify for an unemployment adjustment before their mortgage is sold yet again and they have to start all over trying to negotiate with yet another mortgage company (yet again). They are currently working with Citi (which makes things even harder, I know). On a non-gaming message board I co-admin where Karen has been a long time member, we've managed to raise about 50% of this in donations over the last ten days. After discussing this with Alexi Debois (who is donating the copies of FEZ I and Quest for the Fazzlewood for our cancer fund raiser), we've come up with a way to you can help both our cancer fund and Karen's mortgage problems. For the next 48 hours (say until 9pm CDT Monday evening) any money donated to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund will be split 50/50 (after Paypal fees, if any) between Karen and the cancer fund. Donors will still get full credit for their total donation in chances to win the prizes that Alex is donating and the full dollar amount given will count toward the largest donations for the "high donor" items (TSR's Warriors of Mars, FGU's Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age, and TSR's Metamorphosis Alpha). To make this clear, let's say you donate $50 and there are no Paypal fees (as you donated from your Paypal balance), $25 would go to Karen and $25 to the Retroroleplaying Cancer Fund. You'd get 5 chances in the drawings and the full $50 would count toward being one of the highest donors in our current Retroroleplaying Cancer Fund drive.

So here's a chance to help two decent causes with one stone, err donation. If you can spare a ten or a twenty, or even more, it will help so much. Karen and family might be able to avoid foreclosure and my wife and I will pay off more cancer bills. To donate and help Karen, send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- via Paypal before 9pm CDT Monday evening (May 14th). If you can't donate, good thoughts and prayers for Karen and her family (and that Citi not live down to their reputation) are more than welcome.

Caltech's Warlock D&D Variant

2012-05-11T14:51:00.002-05:00

Shortly after D&D was published in 1974, players at Caltech started working on their own "improved" variant. The initial version was published in The Spartan Simulation Gaming Journal #9 in August 1975. A latter version (The Complete Warlock) was published by Balboa Games in 1978. What many people do not know is Warlock continued to be played and developed in the Caltech area for many years. Long ago, PDFs of 9 rules sections of Warlock circa 1999-2000 were made available for free by the designers on a Fortune City web site (http://www.fortunecity.com/rivendell/highwayman/783/). Unfortunately, Fortune City hosting, like Geocities disappeared from the web some time ago taking these files with it. I discovered my copies of these files on a backup DVD from 7 years ago and decided to combine the files into one PDF in a form that could be duplex printed (this involved adding blank pages to several sections so that each section had an even number of pages). My printed copy in just over 200 pages. I've uploaded this PDF to Mediafire where it is available for free download:

Caltech Warlock Rules circa 2000 (200+ page PDF, about 1.4 megs)

The rules are fairly complete including character classes, magic spells/items, special thief abilities and a very detailed combat system. No monsters, however standard TSR era D&D monsters work fine. The basics of the game from 2000 are still very similar to my copy in The Spartan Simulation Gaming Journal #9 -- just greatly expanded. The combat system is a bit more complex than I remember for the 1970s, but it was fairly complex then. If you aren't lucky enough to have access to a copy of The Spartan Simulation Gaming Journal #9 or The Complete Warlock, this version will give you an idea of what these games were like.

There is a lot of material here that can be added to old school games, including Microlite74. I know I used some of the spells from Warlock in my D&D games in the 1970s. A word of warning: The "Caltech" (aka California) style of D&D was one of the high-powered D&D variants that Gygax ranted about at times in early issues of The Dragon magazine. While such high-powered D&D variants work fine, regardless of what Gary thought of them, you will have to be selective about any material you borrow if you do not want a high-powered California style game on your hands.

Magic Item: Bowl of Distraction

2012-05-08T20:06:00.003-05:00

Here's a new magic item for just about any version of D&D -- however, it may not be very useful outside of old school campaigns (simply because situations where it might be useful seem to be more common in old school play).

Bowl of Distraction: This bowl resembles other magic bowls. When activated, it creates a full sensory illusion of whatever those who see it want most (generally wonderful food for unintelligent monsters or treasure for more intelligent monsters). It appears to be slowly oozing forth the item in question. This item will automatically distract unintelligent pursuing beings and will distract intelligent pursuing beings unless they save vs magic at -4. 1d3 turns after activating, the bowl will teleport to the person who activated it with 99% accuracy.

My wife suggested this magic item. We have a 16 year old standard dachshund who has gone blind in her old age. After dinner, we put a bowl of leftovers scraped from our plates into a small bowl and put on on the floor in the kitchen to keep her occupied (and not under foot) while we get the other dogs out, clear the table, etc. Donna started calling this the "bowl of distraction." After a week or so of calling it the "bowl of distraction" she laughed at said it sounded like something out of one of my roleplaying games. She's right -- so it is.

Unwelcome Side Effects -- or Why Do Old School Players Reject So Many "Obvious" Improvements to D&D?

2012-05-06T10:48:00.003-05:00

Old school D&D players are often accused of being against even "obvious improvements" to D&D rules like unified experience tables and ascending armor class. Often the reason they are against a "obvious improvement" change is assumed to be something like blind stubbornness, nostalgia, or some other equally "irrational" reason.

While it is true that some old school players reject all such changes out of hand because they are "different", many player reject some such changes because they end up changing game play in ways they do not like. These unintended effects that come with some of the rules changes that modern players often think are irrationally rejected are what actually cause many old school players to reject them. What appears at first glance to be a minor or even cosmetic change actually ends up having effects that make old school style play harder -- which is the real reason many old school players end up rejecting the change -- even if they are not good at articulating those reasons.

For example, more than descending/ascending numbers actually changed with the switch from descending AC to ascending AC in WOTC D&D. With descending AC, the game rules greatly limited the bonus applied to the to-hit rolls -- modifiers more than +20 or -20 were generally confined to the worst of Monty Haul campaigns. Once the switch to ascending AC was made, all limit on bonuses seemed to disappear which tended to make playing real "old school play" hard. While this is a separate issue from ascending AC (as games like my Microlite74 show one can have ascending AC and limit bonuses to TSR era levels), it is not immediately obvious that it is.

The change to 3.x style saving throws had a similar side-effect. While the three saving throw classes might have been accepted by many old school players if the saves otherwise worked like TSR D&D, the changes that went with the new saving throws made things like saves versus magic harder if one was saving vs a high level caster broke many old school assumptions (e.g. that a high level character -- especially a fighter -- had the same great save vs spells whether the opposing caster was a first level magic or Elminster himself). Those side effects had major effects on play -- helping to create the godlike high level casters.

One of the things that would make using one unified XP advancement table unacceptable to many old school D&D players is the expectation that all characters in the party need to be the same level all the time which seems to come with it. This silly (to the old school mind) meme seems to have become the common expectation with 3e -- when the single unified experience table appeared. If you can't have the single XP table without many players -- and lazy module designers -- expecting the party to therefore always level up together/always be the same level, then many (perhaps even most) old school players will reject the single XP table idea because it ends up changing the game in ways they find unacceptable.

A single XP table also changes the way designers tend to construct classes. Old school class construction tends to be "organic" in that one writes up a list of things the class should be able to do in the campaign world and designs the class around those abilities with little regard for level by level balance with other classes. When the class is designed one then looks at it in comparison to the other classes and creates an XP advancement table (and -- if needed -- some class limitations) so that is is somewhat balanced vsrsus other classes across the campaign. When there is a single XP advancement table, class design tends to change as a level by level comparison of the new class to other classes as people tend to feel that classes should be about as powerful at the same number of XP points. While some people think the new school style of level by level balance is better than the old school "across the campaign" balance, there can be no doubt that classes are designed differently old school vs new school an that the way XP advancement tables are handled in the rules contributes to this difference.

So next time you think people who prefer older and less intuitive rules to newer and supposedly "better" rules are simply being blind or stubborn, look beyond the actual rule to possible side effects of the rule. It's possible that there are less than obvious side effects to the new rule which result in changes to game play that make the style of play the objectors enjoy harder to do with the newer and "better" rule. The new rule may indeed be better by itself, but its side effects may simply be unacceptable to the "old school" style of play.

FEZ: I and Quest for the Fazzlewood Giveaway (Mini Cancer Fund Drive)

2012-05-02T20:39:00.000-05:00

As regular readers probably know the Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund Drive and Giveaway ended without giving away all of the old school items Alexi Debois donated for the project. (See Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive: The Final Report.) Three of the five items he donated were given away: the Daystar West Media edition of Pharaoh (1980), the Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set, and the complete set of issues of The Strategic Review (and the first ten issues of The Dragon Magazine). However, the real stars of the show were the 1982 original version of the FEZ 1: Valley of Trees module and the Quest for the Fazzlewood module. These remain in Alexi's hands as the last goal for the drive was not reached.

At the close of the Leap Month Drive, Alexi mentioned something about maybe trying again after tax season. I did not think he was serious, but it turns out that he is. Tax day in the US was the 17th this and Alexi informs me it was April 30th in Canada. So at Alexis request, we are having a very short "make-up fund drive" to try one more time to give these to items away. This drive runs from now through Monday, May 21st. This deadline will not be extended.

The major items on offer to donors are:

FEZ 1: Valley of Trees: This is the original 1982 version of FEZ I. It is 40 pages long and in a green folder. The more common 1987 version of FEZ I, Wizard's Vale, was only 32 pages long and had somewhat different content. The folder is not in the best of shape. the module booklet is in very good shape. It has pencil marks.

Quest for the Fazzlewood: This was used as a tournament module at Wintercon VII in 1978 and published in low numbers by Metro Detroit Gamers. It was later expanded and modified by TSR and published as O1: Gem and the Staff in the early 1980s. It is 12 loose pages of adventure and a "Player Evaluation Sheet" used to score the player for the tournament, all in a light cardstock folder/cover. The module was designed for one player. It's in good shape but has DM notes/marks in pencil, apparently from when Alexi's cousin DMed the game at Wintercon VII.

These two items will be given away by drawing. Donors get one chance in this drawing for every $10 they donate. Anyone who has donated $10 or more since the start of the Leap Month RetroRoleplaying at the end of January has chances to win. In other words, if you have already donated in the original Leap Month Cancer Drive (or donated between the time it ended in March and now) you do not need to donate again for a chance to win -- however, if you do donate again you will get additional chances based on the total of your donations. For example, if you donated $25 in February Leap Month Drive and donate another $25 during this mini-drive, you'll have a total of five chances to win (instead f the two you started with).

The goal for this drive is $1000. This will allow us to pay off all the bills originally aimed for in the Leap Month Drive plus one laboratory bill that came in months after the fact. If we reach $500, there will be a drawing for FEZ I at the end of the drive. If we reach the $1000 goal, we'll have drawings for both FEZ I and Quest for the Fazzlewood.

I've acquired a few minor old school items for our highest donors thanks to a trip to a hole-in-the-wall used bookstore in Killeen a couple of weeks ago. First, a copy of TSR's Warriors of Mars - minis rules for a John Carter of Mars game (published without permission from the Burroughs estate). It was written by Gary Gygax and Brain Blume. It's fairly rare but this copy is a "playing copy" not a "collector's copy." Second, a copy of Royal Armies of the Hyborean Age, FGU's minis rules for Conan's Hyboria, published in 1975 and written by Lin Carter and Scott Bizar. The condition here will not please the true collector, but it is in good shape -- better than Warriors of Mars. Finally, a copy of the original 1976 edition of Metamorphosis Alpha. This copy is in very good shape, while it might nor please the die hard collector, it has definitely been well cared for. The person donating the highest amount during this mini-drive will have his choice of one of these three items. The person donating the second highest amount will have his choice of the two remaining items. The third item will also go to the high donor.

As before, everyone who donates at least $25 during this drive will be listed as a sponsor in the Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery rulebook (except those who wish to remain anonymous, of course) in classifications based the Adventurer class level titles from the game determined by the amount donated. Anyone donating $50 or more may place a tabletop roleplaying ad in the free public version of the game if they wish. This is a great way to plug your blog, product, campaign, convention, etc. Ad Sizes: business card size (donation $50-99), quarter page (donation $100-249), half page (donation $250 or more). These will be scattered through the booklet (instead of using public domain art).

Everyone who donates anything at all (even a dollar) to the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund gets access to a few special downloads (like pdfs of two 1970s D&D fanzines, a special edition of Microlite74 Extended, and more) as described on the RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund web page. This will also give you access to draft copies of Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery (which are released in between the public betas).

If you'd like to donate, you don't need to wait for the official announcement as any donations made now will count. We are trying to raise about $900 which will finish paying off the various bills the original Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive was aiming to pay. So if you want to jump start things, send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Remember, if you donated during the Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive, your drawing chances will carry over -- no need to donate any more to qualify (unless you just want to).

Summary/Call for Donations

To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned giveawy items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Remember, if you donated during the Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive, your drawing chances will carry over -- no need to donate any more to qualify (unless you just want to).

If you would like to help but cannot make a donation, please help spread the word around the blogsphere (and other places). In fact, if you make a post to your blog talking about this fundraising drive and post a link to your post in a comment to this post, we'll give you one entry in the raffle. Note: Your blog will have to have some way for us to email you if you get lucky or we will not be able to get your prize to you. I'm afraid I failed Mind Reading in school. Thank you very much in advance. ()

New Project: Microlite74 Supplement Darkmoor

2012-04-25T20:39:00.000-05:00

I'd like to announce I've started a new Microlite74 project (in addition to Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery), a campaign setting supplement I'm tentatively calling Darkmoor. This will be a reworking of Robert Conley's entirely OGL open game content Blackmarsh setting. It's an interesting setting, but I have some different ideas for its history and wish to expand it a bit to make it something a new Microlite74 GM can pick up and run with. I'll talk more about this as I work on it. Naturally, Darkmoor will be free like everything else M74 related I publish.

Monte Cook leaves WOTC/5e Public Playtest to start May 24th

2012-04-25T20:09:00.001-05:00

Monte Cook has left WOTC. Posted on his Livejournal today (April 25th):

Last week I decided that I would leave my contract position with Wizards of the Coast. I am no longer working on Dungeons & Dragons, although I may provide occasional consultation in the future. My decision is one based on differences of opinion with the company. However, I want to take this time to stress that my differences were not with my fellow designers, Rob Schwalb and Bruce Cordell. I enjoyed every moment of working with them over the past year. I have faith that they'll create a fun game. I'm rooting for them.

Mike Mearls gives gives a sentence or two to this news here while announcing the public 5e playtest will start on May 24th.

I'll be honest, the news that Monte Cook has left WOTC and the 5e design team changes my opinion of 5e from "skeptical but interested" to "extremely skeptical." While I have a number of issues with Monte's Cook's D&D 3.x design work, he was pretty much out of the 4e design loop which I consider very important for my interest in 5e. Given I consider 4e the worst edition of D&D ever published for the way I like to play (and have played since 1975), having one of the lead 5e designers be someone so out of the 4e design loop that many "4vengers" loathed him was a good thing in my book.

M74 S&S PCs versus a Dragon, Dinosaurs, and Cancer Fund Drive News

2012-04-24T16:03:00.002-05:00

Microlite75 Swords & Sorcery Playtest: My Sunday game was very small, only 4 of my 9 players could make it. What to do? Turn the session into a special playtest. All four players created 4th level characters (3 Adventurers and 1 Sorcerer), I handed out a few magic items to represent prior adventuring, and sicced the PCs on an adult dragon that had been terrorizing a frontier area. Naturally, the PCs had a pack of hirelings and a unit of town militia to aid them. The object was to find out just how much a mid-level S&S party could successfully take on.

A frontal assault would have been suicide, of course, and these players knew that. But with the limited resources available to M74 S&S characters, they had to be very inventive. They spend a lot of time scouting. Too much time as the dragon attacked another village while they scouting and planning and the local authorities began to pressure them to DO something. They decided to set up an ambush at the entrance to the dragon's cave and attack it as it exited. A good plan, but they were not awake that the dragon had a second way out nor that the dragon has just decided to take a long nap.

Two days go by and no dragon. Needless to say, the hirelings and militia are relieved but are also starting to be less effective due to the long wait. One of the PCs, the Sorcerer of all people, decides to sneak down and spy on the dragon. He sees the dragon is asleep and decides to retreat and get the rest of the group. They abandon their ambush plan and head down to attack the dragon. Some of the hirelings and militia types fail morale checks and run away when they first see the sleeping dragon. One of the player's must have failed his (the player's) IQ roll as he tries to sneak up on the dragon and attack his partially exposed underbelly -- which will require crawling under the dragon via a hollow in the rock behind him. When he strikes his blow, everyone else will attack.

Amazingly, he manages to crawl under the dragon and attacks. I rule the attack an autosuccess as all the PC has to do is thrust upward with his sword +2 (the best melee weapon in the group). This hurts and annoys the dragon making him move -- which squashes the PC under him, failed save and dead. Opps. The militia under the leadership of one of the PCs fire arrows at the dragon with minor success. The annoyed dragon breathes fire roasting the militia and toasting the PC badly (but he would survive). Most of the rest of the hirelings fail morale checks and run or hide. One of the two remaining PCs manages to hit the dragon in the eye and it heads for the second exit the PCs were not aware of and escapes -- mainly because we had run out of play time.

Lessons learned, mid-level M74 S&S characters can take on a dragon, but it will take very good planning and some good luck to actually beat that dragon in combat. And there will be a lot of death and destruction before that dragon dies. All four players had a good time and found this situation far more exciting than a dragon encounter in my regular M74 (non-S&S) campaign. Perhaps the best lesson learned, however, was that proper prior planning can only prevent piss poor performance if you stay with the plan.

Dinosaurs are coming to the Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery monster list. I've had several requests for dinosaurs, so I'll add them to the monster list. Although after seeing 4 PCs against a dragon, I'm not sure I'd want to see anyone take on a T. Rex.

Cancer Fund Drive News: When the Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive ended without giving away the FEZ 1: Valley of Trees: and the Quest for the Fazzlewood: modules Alexi donated, he mentioned something about trying again after tax season. I did not think he was serious, but he is. Tax day in the US was the 17th this and Alexi informs me it is April 30th in Canada. So at Alexis request, we will have a very short "make-up fund drive" to try one more time to give these to items away. The official announcement will be later this week (as I have to write it up) but everyone who donated in the Leap Month drive (or who donated this month just to help move M74 S&S along) will be eligible for the drawings for these last two modules provided the goals for this mini-drive are met from new donations. Here are descriptions of the two items Alexi is offering for this "make-up drive", both are relatively rare items:

FEZ 1: Valley of Trees: This is the original 1982 version of FEZ I. It is 40 pages long and in a green folder. The more common 1987 version of FEZ I, Wizard's Vale, was only 32 pages long and had somewhat different content. The folder is not in the best of shape. the module booklet is in very good shape. It has pencil marks.

Quest for the Fazzlewood: This was used as a tournament module at Wintercon VII in 1978 and published in low numbers by Metro Detroit Gamers. It was later expanded and modified by TSR and published as O1: Gem and the Staff in the early 1980s. It is 12 loose pages of adventure and a "Player Evaluation Sheet" used to score the player for the tournament, all in a light cardstock folder/cover. The module was designed for one player. It's in good shape but has DM notes/marks in pencil, apparently from when Alexi's cousin DMed the game at Wintercon VII.

If you'd like to donate, you don't need to wait for the official announcement as any donations made now will count. We are trying to raise about $900 which will finish paying off the various bills the original Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive was aiming to pay. So if you want to jump start things, send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Remember, if you donated during the Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive, your drawing chances will carry over -- no need to donate any more to qualify (unless you just want to).

Who really needs D&D 5e?

2012-04-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

In a comment to my Why D&D 4e "Failed" -- My Theory post a few days ago, Argent said:

I fear for 5e. Many of the people who loved 4e, me included, are concerned right now. I think it may just further fracture the base. The 3.5 and legacy players have got on fine without 4e so why do they need 5e? Us 4e players have tons of material and a game we broadly enjoy so why do we need 5e?

In my opinion, the only people who really need 5e are WOTC. Every D&D player I know or know of is happy playing the version of D&D that they enjoy the most now. They really do not need a new edition, especially another new edition that is likely to be fairly incompatible with everything that has been published before. WOTC's D&D "division" seems to exist by selling new editions of D&D to more or less the same set of players every few years. They mine their player base for all the money than can get selling core rules and supplements and then when sales wane too much, they redesign the game in a way that is incompatible-enough with previous editions so they can basically sell the same books rewritten for the new rules to their player base again.

Unfortunately, the number of people making the switch to the latest (and supposedly greatest, at least to people doing the marketing for WOTC) seems to decline with each new edition. When TSR published the D&D, this did not really matter much as all of their (many) editions were pretty much compatible enough with each other that adventures and campaign settings published for their current edition could easily be used with any of the other editions TSR had published. Conversion was generally simple enough that most DMs could convert say, a D&D Basic game adventure to AD&D 2e rules (or vice versa) in their heads as they were using the module in play. There was no need for hours of conversion work before the "foreign edition" module could be used, they could just run the module. Therefore, even players not using the current edition often would still buy setting and adventures published for the current edition. WOTC, however, seems to do their best to make each edition very different from all previous editions, so they really need almost every D&D player to adopt the new edition the instant it comes out as people playing older editions are unlikely to buy any of the adventures and settings from the new edition to use with their older editions -- so they cease to make any money at all from those playing older editions.

The WOTC edition treadmill is not helping the hobby and probably isn't doing anything for WOTC's long-term bottom line, either. Unfortunately, American businesses seem unable to do anything that will help them long-term unless it also boosts their stock value right now, so I don't see WOTC getting off this spiral of diminishing sales the edition treadmill creates as it does boost sales short term every time they release a new edition.

In summary, who do I think needs D&D 5e? Outside of WOTC, practically no one really needs it. Heck, outside of WOTC, practically no one really needed 4e or 3.5 either.

Why D&D 4e "Failed" -- My Theory

2012-04-20T14:24:00.002-05:00

There are many theories as to why the 4th edition of WOTC failed to interest many D&D players and apparently failed to meet the sales goals WOTC set for the game. My theory is simple, 4e's lead designer Rob Heinsoo wasn't really designing a new edition of D&D, but a game that played the way he thought D&D was going to work back in 1974 when he was ten years old and had read about the game in Military Modeler magazine, but had not yet seen -- let alone understood -- the rules to D&D. Rob starts off a "Spotlight Interview" on the WOTC web site (March 13, 2009) clearly stating that in response the first question of the interview about that changes he wanted to make to the D&D system when he designed 4e:

My goal designing 4th Edition was to make a game that played the way I thought D&D was going to play, back before I understood the rules.

I read about D&D in 1974 in Military Modeler magazine and bought the game by mail order. I'd read The Lord of the Rings, but not The Hobbit. I was ten years old and I didn't fully understand the D&D rules for another year or two, but I loved the feel of the game and its fantastic open-ended universe. I wanted epic battles and characters who could fight like Aragorn or Legolas or Gimli or Gandalf using powers that suited those characters. I wanted my 'fighting man' to be as tough and heroic as John Carter of Mars.

Given Heinsoo's stated design goal for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, I don't see why so many people have trouble understanding why many D&D players found that 4e just did not feel like "D&D" to them. Heinsoo admits he wasn't trying to design a new version of D&D, but a set of rules that played the way he thought D&D should be played before he understood how it really was intended to be played. This would be like someone who expected soccer when he first heard of American football revising the rules of American football to be the game he always thought it should be. While many people might like the new rules, there would likely be a large number of people who did not think the new game felt much like American football regardless of the fact that it still used the American football name.

Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery Edition Beta 2 Available

2012-04-12T21:34:00.001-05:00

The second beta version of Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery is available for free public download. Draft copies of "between betas" work will still be available to RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund donors. This beta incorporates feedback from donors and from members of my Sunday group of players. However, the rules are still "very beta" and will be subject to many changes based on further thought on my part and feedback from those who download the betas and choose to give me comments and ideas.

New material for this beta version is mainly in the monsters and magic items area, although some new/modified rules material is included. For example, as bound spirits are expected to the main form of "common" magic items in the average campaign, the spirit rules have been expanded somewhat. In the average campaign, most normal 0e-type magic items are expected to be rare items from ancient and/or lost civilizations that no one in the current campaign era knows how to create (except for potions and scrolls).

As with all beta versions, suggestions on anything and everything are welcome.

Download your copy of Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery Beta 2 from the Mediafire link below. It's 444K PDF file.

Download Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery Beta 2

Updating the RetroRoleplaying Web Site Today

2012-04-11T10:34:00.003-05:00

I'm about to start a major backend upgrade on the RetroRoleplaying web site. I'm moving from a Drupal 6 backend to a Drupal 7 backend. With luck, this will go smoothly and everything will just work. On other web sites I've updated from 6 to 7, this is sometimes true and sometimes not. I'm keeping my finger crossed. The main site will be in maintenance mode shortly and will remain that way until I have it at least semi-usable. Fortunately, this blog runs on Blogger and will not be affected. I'll update this post if I have major issues and/or when the RetroRoleplaying web site returns. Thank you for your patience as I try to make my Drupal update saving throw yet one more time.

Noon Update: The Drupal 7 Update appears to have gone well. The RetroRoleplaying web site is available again. The Google Custom Search box broke and is hidden until I can get it working again. Everything else appears to be working okay, at least from doing some semi-random page checks.

Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery Beta 2 Coming Soon

2012-04-07T20:14:00.000-05:00

Real life has made progress on Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery much slower than I liked the past few weeks. However, I have just uploaded a new draft to the Donor's File Area (Draft 8) and I hope to have a Beta 2 release available in a few days. Major work is still being done in magic items, both the ancient lost civilization type (that is, "standard" 0e items) and the more type of magic items made by binding spirits. More detailed rules for poisons and disease are also in the works given that poison and disease are often more important in S&S settings than in more standard 0e/1e settings. Spirit rules have also been slightly expanded.

Download a Free Old School Gothic Fantasy Compendium

2012-04-02T08:56:00.000-05:00

Jack W. Shear of the Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque blog just released a free 100+ page PDF entitled Tales of the Grotesque and
Dungeonesque: A Gothic Fantasy Compendium for Old-School Fantasy Role-Playing Games. Jack says:

Here's what you get in the compendium: an introduction to Gothic Fantasy, my home campaign setting, three new classes compatible with old-school fantasy games, my house rules, 44 monsters, 26 spells, 7 magic items, and more random tables that I cared to count. Much of this has yet to see the light of day on my blog.

Believe it or not, there was actually publisher interest in some of this material. However, I've decided to release this into the wilds for free under a Creative Commons license in the spirit of DIY gaming. The best gaming material I've seen since I started blogging has been freely available on OSR blogs; consider this my way of saying "thank you" for all the inspiration and good gaming you've all given me.

I've made a quick pass through this volume and am impressed by what I see. It many ways it reminds me of the first Arduin Grimoire. It's an interesting eclectic collection of material on a homebrew fantasy world. In this case, the "World Between" which is heavily influenced by early gothic literature. If you aren't familiar with gothic literature, Jack talks quite a bit about it in the introduction. Perhaps the most interesting part of it from a "do I want to download this" point of view is this paragraph as it explains the feel of a gothic world:

Gothic literature is filthy with the following generic conventions: an imperiled heroine whose life and/or virginity is often at stake, a Catholic setting (generally either Spain or Italy in the early Gothic novels); a focus on terror (psychological fear) or horror (disgust) or both as affect; a long-buried secret from the past that can no longer be repressed; monstrosity (whether human or inhuman) or villainy (often a patriarchal figure of power); violence and sexuality that passes beyond the border of the socially acceptable; incest; doubling (doppelgangers, mistaken identities, etc.); a decrepit castle, monastery, fortress, dungeon, or other medieval structure as part of the setting; the Inquisition and the misuse of religious authority; specters, ghosts, or phantasmal visions (remnants of the past that cannot be repressed); mysterious veiled women; fragmentary narratives (framed narrative, missing text, etc.); enclosure, premature burial, and imprisonment.

Jack has taken this and translated it to a polytheistic (and definitely "old school") fantasy setting: the World Between. I find it fascinating and well worth the download. The rules are based on Labyrinth Lord, but could easily be adapted to any set of old school rules. You can download a free copy from Google Docs.

Microlite78 and Microlite89?

2012-03-31T09:14:00.001-05:00

Several people have asked me to do a Microlite78 (1e) and a Microlite89 (2e) edition of "Microlite74". I'm afraid that I lack the time to do so. However, if you have access to the spells, monsters, and weapons lists from 1e (or 2e), you can easily roll your own. Use Microlite74 Standard (or Microlite74 Extended if you like my house rules) and just use the monster lists and spell lists from 1e or 2e instead of the 0e-based lists included in Microlite74. You'll probably want to use the weapon lists from the edition you are emulating as well. You may also want to tweak the classes a bit to better match the edition you want to emulate

What Will It Take to Get Old School Players to Convert to 5e?

2012-03-30T20:17:00.002-05:00

WOTC seems to be trying to attract old school players as well as 3.x players to D&D 5e. I think it would take most of the following -- at a minimum -- to attract large numbers of old school players and GMs to 5e.

1) Little to no 4e in the 5e core rules. The more they put 4e-like stuff in the core to satisfy the 4e fans, the less likely I suspect pre-4e players/GMs are to switch. This includes "abstract" things like too much stress on "by the numbers balance", the weird 4e "we need our own IP" monsters, or designing the game around the needs of organized play (with the needs of "home play" seemingly an afterthought).

2) The 5e core rules need to be usable with all 0e-2e era settings and adventures with little to no advance conversion by the GM needed. With TSR D&D most GMs could use any adventure/setting with any TSR edition of D&D, performing whatever conversions were needed in his head. As a lot of old school players still use these settings and adventures, I believe this is pretty much "a must" to have any chance of wide adoption from old school players. However, old school players and GMs generally do not object to doing basic math in their heads (like converting between ascending and descending AC) which might make this easier to achieve. To get 3.x folks, 5e will need to be able to do this with 3.x materials as well. Although, as 3.x requires more GM prep to begin with, 5e can probably get by with some minor in-advance-of-play conversion from 3.x work needed. If 3e folks can't use Paizo adventure paths and the like easily, I doubt many are likely to convert to 5e.

3) There must be an easy upgrade path to 5e. Old School groups will want to probably want to be able to easily convert their current campaigns and characters. As their current rules work, they are unlikely to be willing to end their current campaigns and start over just to use a new edition of D&D. Personally, I suspect 4e lost a number of players by simply being too different from what had gone before for a nearly seamless conversion of 3.x campaigns to be possible. 5e must not repeat this mistake.

4) The GM must "own the game rules". The game must be complete in published rulebooks (purchasable -- without a subscription -- PDFs count as game books). The game must not be constantly changing via online errata/updates which are added without GM permission to an online character generators or other tools. Most old school players and GMs I know do not want their characters, settings, and/or adventures in constant flux because of reams of errata (or worse, retroactive rules changes needed to support new splatbooks or the like) are being added to the rules/tools they need to access at the whim of the publisher. Errata is great, but the choice to use it or not -- on an item by item basis -- needs to be up to the GM and the players in a given group.

5) The 5e system must be very friendly to both house rules and third party material. This would include any WOTC character generators and similar tools -- players need to be able to easily add their house rules and third party rules. 5e must also have a third party license that, if not the OGL, is at least much closer to the OGL than to the 4e GSL. This license must be available to third party publishers no later than the day the first 5e book goes on sale.

However, to be blunt I think WOTC is going to have a very hard time getting a majority of old school players (and probably Pathfinder players as well) to drop their current system and use 5e. To do this, 5e will have to offer a much better game for their campaign, group, and style of play before they will actually switch -- just "as good as" or "just a little better than" the rules they currently use will probably not get a large number of people to convert. Unfortunately, I have real doubts that WOTC can pull this off. 5e sounds like it may be a pretty good game, but I doubt it will be considerably better than what old school or Pathfinder players are playing now. If it isn't, there will not be much reason to spend the money and time to convert to 5e.

However, all is not lost for WOTC even if I'm correct. If 5e can manage at least the first two items above, most of the adventures and settings WOTC might publish for 5e would be usable by players of other editions, which would mean WOTC would at least get some sales from some of the people playing older editions even if they don't play 5e. This is something they did not get much of with 4e.

WOTC Delays AD&D 1e Reprints to mid-July

2012-03-29T09:24:00.002-05:00

Judging by this page on the WOTC site, the AD&D 1e core books reprint promised for mid-April (with much hype earlier this year) have been delayed until mid-July. I have no idea why, but this continues to erode what little confidence I have in WOTC to do what they say they will do.

Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive: The Final Report

2012-03-27T21:15:00.003-05:00

As all the giveaway items have finally been mailed out, I can finally give a final report on The Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Fund Drive. My apologies for the delay, but one of our giveaway item recipients had long-term email issues that delayed getting in touch with him and another had a full email box. The Internet is truly wonderful, except when it just fails its saving throw and just doesn't work.

As reported last week, the third trigger point was reached -- although just barely -- and the the collection of magazines (all issues of the Strategic Review and the first 10 issues of The Dragon) went to a donor in Washington state who requested his name not be listed. Our two high donors were M. Loernz from the Los Angeles area (who selected the four Bloodstone Pass modules) and Sergeant R.J. who is currently stationed in Germany (who will receive the set of Traveller books). Our Washington state donor reports he's already received his box of magazines, the other items were mailed today.

The trigger point for the last two giveaway items wasn't reached, so Alexi will be keeping the copy of FEZ I: Valley of Trees and the Quest for the Fazzlewood module. I'd like to thank Alexi again for donating the trigger point giveaway items and "Jimbo" for donating the early Traveller items that made this Drive possible. However, most of all I'd like to thank all the people who donated. There weren't any truly huge donations (the high donor was under $250), but there were heck of a lot of smaller donations -- and they all add up. Thank you very much one and all.

Update: Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery/Cancer Fund Drive

2012-03-22T20:19:00.001-05:00

I've been hard at work on Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery this week. Draft 7 is available in the donor area. Draft 8 may be up as early as tomorrow or Saturday. No idea when the next public beta will be available, but I hope by the end of the month.

I've finished the initial pass through the monsters, adding sections on animals (including giant and dire animals) and humans, as they are the main "monsters" in many swords and sorcery settings. I'm now working on "ancient" magic items -- the standard type of D&D magic items. In most S&S campaigns, these will probably be the creations on long lost civilizations, perhaps even non-human civilizations. They will be very rare, many can even be unique items -- or items that only exist in legend -- if that's what the GM wants. Recently created magic items will mainly be potions and items with spirits bound to them (and providing the item's power).

Magic swords and armor can be made by any master weaponsmith or master armorer, provided he or she has enough meteoric iron and time. A +1 item will take a full year to create. A +2 item will take 4 more years (total of 5 years). A +3 item is a lifework, requiring first creating a +2 item and doing 20 years additional work on it -- for a total of 25 years. +4 and +5 items are possible in theory but would be the work of generations of craftsmen as a +4 item would require 125 years to create and a +5 item 600 years to create, with the original/current craftsman's specially trained apprentice taking over the task -- if the chain of master training replacement gets broken, the item can no longer be successfully improved. Magic weapons and armor are especially good for binding spirits so once you have the magic item, giving it intelligence and additional powers is relatively easy. Naturally, most +3 or better weapons and armor will be the stuff of legend.

The Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Fund Drive was fairly successful. The third trigger point was reached (barely), so the collection of magazines (all issues of the Strategic Review and the first 10 issues of The Dragon) has been mailed to a lucky donor in Washington state who requests that I do not print his name. I've emailed the two high donors, but haven't received replies yet. I think my email has finally gotten through to the first person (after a number of bounces do to weird mail server problems on the receiving end). I'm still getting "mailbox full" responses on the second, however. If you donated a good amount, you might want to check the mailbox associated with your Paypal email address -- if it is full, you might want to clean it out as you may be the person I'm trying to contact. I'll have a full post with more details once I hear from everyone. However, I'd like to thank everyone who donated for their help once again. I don't think I can do that enough. Thank you very much!

Last Chance: Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund Drive and Giveawy Ends Tonight!

2012-03-18T15:12:00.002-05:00

Today is the last day of the Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer fund drive. Donations arriving before I get up Monday morning (say 7am CDT on March 19th) will count as donated on the 18th of March. We are just a couple of hundred dollars shy of the third goal of $2250 which will trigger the drawing for the set of The Strategic Review and the first 10 issues of The Dragon magazine. We will probably reach that goal. We are less likely to reach the final goal of $3000 which would trigger the FEZ 1 and the Quest for the Fazzlewood giveaways. The highest two donors will get original Traveller material or the four Bloodstone Pass modules regardless of whether or not the last two goals are meet. See this post for more details: Leap Month RetroRoleplaying Cancer Fund Drive and Giveaway.

I'd like to thank everyone who has donated so far. Special thanks also go to Alexi Debois and "Jimbo" for donating many of the nifty items for the giveaway. If you haven't donated and wish to Donate Now!.

The Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive is on (through March 18, 2012). Every $10 donated gives you one chance to win a one of five items described in the above-linked post: Daystar West Media edition of Pharaoh (1980)(won by Melson Davis), FEZ 1 (the 1982 Valley of Trees version), the Quest for the Fazzlewood from Metro Detroit Gamers, Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set (won by Janice Allison), and a set of all of the issues of The Strategic Review and the first ten issues of Dragon Magazine. Multiple drawings will be held as described in the above linked post. The two highest donors (in amount donated) will receive Classic Traveller items or the four Bloodstone Pass modules. These items is in addition to the usual PDF downloads and other benefits of a donation to the RetrpoRoleplaying Cancer Fund. To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned Firecracker items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Thank you!

As of the time of this post $2080 dollars have been donated. That's 69% of our goal and over 92% of the way to the next drawing trigger point of $2250 dollars. The drive ends March 18th so please donate now!

TSR Era D&D vs WOTC Era D&D: Differences in Acceptable Play Style

2012-03-17T20:37:00.000-05:00

I've noticed a difference in common play style between D&D in the TSR era and D&D in the WOTC era. While it is tempting to call this another "old school"/"new school" issue, I'm not sure that it is. The difference is in the types of player behavior that groups seem to find acceptable.

More often than not in the TSR era, groups found the following player behaviors at least somewhat objectionable. Many groups I played with or knew about made players with one or more of the following behaviors unwelcome. In the WOTc era, I see these same behaviors have become fairly acceptable, even expected.

Min-Maxing/Munchkinism: In the TSR era, players who tried to optimize their characters mechanically (too much) through weird rules combinations and strange combinations of magic items and spells were often considered poor players and were unwelcome in many groups. Such players were often referred with derogatory term "munchkin". In the WOTC era, groups seem far more tolerant of min-maxing even where it breaks the game or causes huge differences in character power between players who min-max and other players at the table who aren't interested in doing so. Min-maxing seems to have become so accepted that the game rules are considered broken (in instead of the player's behavior considered broken) by many players if min-maxing players can break the game with outrageous combinations like "pun-pun".

Rules Lawyering In the TSR era, most GMs and player groups had little tolerance for players who had seemingly memorized the most trivial details of the rules from every rule book ever printed and were ready to waste lots of play time arguing with the GM over rules minutia. Oddly, they never seemed to argue with the GM if his rules interpretation may have been technically wrong but helped their character. Many TSR era GMs simply told rules lawyers to shut up so they and the rest of the players could enjoy the game. In the WOTC era, rules lawyers seem much more acceptable, at least to judge by the number of long rules discussions I've seen in many groups using WOTC editions of D&D. Part of this probably has something to do with the new school "cult of the RAW" where many players seem to see the rule books as some type of "holy writ" instead of as guidelines for the GM. However, I suspect much of it is just that the huge mass of rules in WOTC editions means that rules discussions in the middle of games have become more likely -- which gives rules lawyers more scope to do their thing without being as noticeable.

Rollplaying: While I don't really like this term, it's the only short way to label this behavior that I know of. In the TSR era, players usually described what their character was doing and allowed the GM to decide what roll - if any - was needed (especially in non-combat situations). Players who consistently tried to avoid describing what they were doing by simply saying something like "I'll make a X roll (usually a Non-Weapon Proficiency in AD&D or a Skill roll in BECMI) to do Y" were considered poor players. In the WOTC era, I see a larger number of groups where "I make a diplomacy roll to try to get the NPC to do X" is all that the GM or the group requires. The player never has to say what the character is actually offering the NPC, how he is approaching the NPC, or the like. The entire interaction is "I try to make a skill roll."

I don't really know why these behaviors have apparently become more acceptable in the 21st century than they were in the 20th century, but they have. I believe these differences in what is likely to be considered acceptable play are one of the non-mechanical things that can make the play experience today seem so different to long time D&D players. Note that while I personally prefer the TSR era style, there is nothing intrinsically better or worse about either style. They are just very different and led to very different expectations about play.

The Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive is on (through March 18, 2012). Every $10 donated gives you one chance to win a one of five items described in the above-linked post: Daystar West Media edition of Pharaoh (1980)(won by Melson Davis), FEZ 1 (the 1982 Valley of Trees version), the Quest for the Fazzlewood from Metro Detroit Gamers, Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set (won by Janice Allison), and a set of all of the issues of The Strategic Review and the first ten issues of Dragon Magazine. Multiple drawings will be held as described in the above linked post. The two highest donors (in amount donated) will receive Classic Traveller items or the four Bloodstone Pass modules. These items is in addition to the usual PDF downloads and other benefits of a donation to the RetrpoRoleplaying Cancer Fund. To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned Firecracker items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Thank you!

As of the time of this post $2040 dollars have been donated. That's 67% of our goal and over 90% of the way to the next drawing trigger point of $2250 dollars. The drive ends March 18th so please donate now!

New Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery Draft Available to Donors

2012-03-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

A new draft (draft 6) of Microlite74 Swords & Sorcery is available to donors in the usual place with the usual password. There aren't a lot of rules changes this time around. Mainly I've been working on monsters. I hope to have the monsters section finished this weekend and start work on treasure. A new beta version (available to everyone) will be available after I do the treasure section -- or at least some initial work thereon.

The Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive is on (through March 18, 2012). Every $10 donated gives you one chance to win a one of five items described in the above-linked post: Daystar West Media edition of Pharaoh (1980)(won by Melson Davis), FEZ 1 (the 1982 Valley of Trees version), the Quest for the Fazzlewood from Metro Detroit Gamers, Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set (won by Janice Allison), and a set of all of the issues of The Strategic Review and the first ten issues of Dragon Magazine. Multiple drawings will be held as described in the above linked post. The two highest donors (in amount donated) will receive Classic Traveller items or the four Bloodstone Pass modules. These items is in addition to the usual PDF downloads and other benefits of a donation to the RetrpoRoleplaying Cancer Fund. To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned Firecracker items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Thank you!

As of the time of this post $2020 dollars have been donated. That's 67% of our goal and over 89% of the way to the next drawing trigger point of $2250 dollars. The drive ends March 18th so please donate now!

RIP M.A.R. Barker 1929-2012

2012-03-16T17:09:00.000-05:00

M.A.R. Barker, author of the the Empire of the Petal Throne novels and games passed away this morning in his home. I still remember the day I bought a copy of Empire of the Petal Throne -- the first one in town, I believe. The boxed set cost $25, one of the most expensive games i had ever purchased (at the time). I never regretted it. Phil, you will be missed by a lot of great people, least among them, myself.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, March 16, 2012: Professor Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman (MAR) Barker, known to his friends as “Phil,” died peacefully in home hospice on March 16, 2012 with his wife Ambereen Barker at his side.

A Fulbright Scholar (1951) of vast accomplishment, Professor Barker is probably best known for his creation of the world of Tékumel which he developed for over 70 years and which has been compared to Tolkein’s ‘Middle Earth’ in its scope, sophistication, and complexity. Barker was a Professor of Urdu and South Asian Studies at the University of Minnesota during the period when Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax were developing Tactical Studies Rules’ (TSR) first role-playing games in the Twin Cities and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In 1975 Barker’s game “Empire of the Petal Throne” was the first role playing game published by TSR, Inc following the release of “Dungeons and Dragons.”

Role playing games set in Tékumel, have been published every decade since the 1970’s, including the 1983 ‘Swords and Glory,’ 1994’s ‘Gardásiyal,’ and 2005’s ‘Tékumel: Empire of the Petal Throne.’ Beginning with “Man of Gold” in 1985 Barker published five novels, several game supplements, and a number of short stories set in Tékumel. In 2008 Barker established the Tékumel Foundation as his literary executor to protect and promote his intellectual property.

Born in 1929, Barker graduated Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington with a BA in Linguistics in 1951. He traveled on Fulbright Scholarship to India where he studied the Koraku, Korwa, Uraon and Jaunsauri languages of rural India and the Himalayas, and while on this trip converted to Islam. Upon his return to the United States, Barker was elected to the California chapter of the Sigma Xi Society for the promotion of research in science.

In 1959 he completed his Ph.D. by publishing the grammar and dictionary of the Klamath Indians of southwestern Oregon, which was used as reference material for Native American languages by the producers of the ‘Northern Exposure’ TV series during the 1990’s.

He traveled again to Pakistan in 1959 on a Ford Foundation grant where he studied the Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Baluchi, and Brahui languages. In 1961 he published an anthology of Urdu poetry. From 1961 until 1969 Professor Barker taught Arabic, Urdu-Hindi and linguistics at McGill University in Canada, and in 1970 spent a year sabbatical in Lucknow and Hyderabad where he worked on an advanced reader of classical Urdu poetry.

In 1972 the Barkers moved to Minneapolis, where Professor Barker chaired the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies. He continued to teach at the University of Minnesota until his retirement in 1992.

In addition to Tékumel, Professor Barker was an avid student of Meso-American cultures including the Inca, Maya, and Aztec peoples. His creation of Tékumel includes elements of Central American and southeast Asian cultures, including religious pantheons, ornate pyramidal temples, and elaborate costuming.

Professor Barker is survived by his wife of 53 years, Ambereen. Details on memorial services will follow. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the Tékumel Foundation are preferred, visit http://www.tekumelfoundation.org.

The Leap Month Cancer Fund Drive is on (through March 18, 2012). Every $10 donated gives you one chance to win a one of five items described in the above-linked post: Daystar West Media edition of Pharaoh (1980)(won by Melson Davis), FEZ 1 (the 1982 Valley of Trees version), the Quest for the Fazzlewood from Metro Detroit Gamers, Empire of the Petal Throne boxed set (won by Janice Allison), and a set of all of the issues of The Strategic Review and the first ten issues of Dragon Magazine. Multiple drawings will be held as described in the above linked post. The two highest donors (in amount donated) will receive Classic Traveller items or the four Bloodstone Pass modules. These items is in addition to the usual PDF downloads and other benefits of a donation to the RetrpoRoleplaying Cancer Fund. To get help us pay our cancer treatment related bills (and to get access to some special downloads and possibly the above mentioned Firecracker items), send a donation in any amount -- small or large -- to me via Paypal. Thank you!

As of the time of this post $1970 dollars have been donated. That's 66% of our goal and over 87% of the way to the next drawing trigger point of $2250 dollars. The drive ends March 18th so please donate now!