A look at the 1975 Original Tomb of Horrors

A side by side comparison

of the original 1975 Tomb of Horrors Tournament Game

and the 1978 mass market S1 Tomb of Horrors Module

The deluxe version of the newly released D&D Art and Arcana by Ten Speed Press includes a bonus booklet with scans of the original Tomb of Horrors as run at Origins I. At long last we can now compare the 1978 published version of the Tomb of Horrors to the 1975 original. It is considered a classic of dungeoneering, so a couple of years back I dissected it piece by piece to see what I could learn. This seemed only fair since it was usually the one doing the dissecting.  Acereak’s final resting place has also gotten some new press lately because it plays a big part in the novel “Ready Player One”.

BTW, this article is final part of two articles I wrote on the TOH in 2015. At that time I never thought the original would ever see the light of day. Part one recounts my experience playing as a teen. Part two is essentially a review of the module. I also wrote a swell "choose your own flow chart summary" of playing through. Enjoy!

Tomb of Horrors an Analysis Part one: Introduction (November 2015)

Tomb of Horrors an Analysis Part Two: Classic or Unplayable Meat Grinder? (December 2015)

Let's compare and contrast. What you will find at the bottom of the post is a room by room description of where they are the same and where they diverge. Surprisingly, the mass market version that we all know and love is almost exactly the same as the tournament game run in 1975.

Except for two things:

The first major difference is that the “fake Lich” was added to the 1978 module. In the 1975 tournament version this ruse is not present. Keep in mind it was designed to be played by fifteen players in two hours. One hundred and twenty minutes divided by thirty three keyed areas equals 3.63 minutes of real time per area. The later addition of the “fake Lich” could only exist with the added luxury of having unlimited time to play through the tomb.

The second difference is that the revised version is even more cruel. This dungeon has a well earned reputation of being quite merciless and was specifically designed to spank players who had over large egos. In the 1975 version there are many places where a character could be instantly killed. The revised S1 brings torment to a whole new level by adding tweaks like the Chamber of Hopelessness. With this addition you are transported to a room just beyond the original Portal of Scintillating Violet (also known as the “killing room”) where this message in glowing letters reads:

“YOU WHO DARED TO VIOLATE MY TOMB NOW PAY THE PRICE. STAY HERE AND DIE SLOWLY OF STARVATION, OR OPEN AND ENTER THE DOOR TO YOUR SOUTH WHERE CERTAIN BUT QUICK DEATH AWAITS - WHICHEVER YOU CHOOSE, KNOW THAT I, ACERERAK THE ETERNAL, WATCH AND SCOFF AT YOUR PUNY EFFORTS AND ENJOY YOUR DEATH THROES”.

The chamber is thoughtfully provided with “a small fountain” so that there is always “plenty to drink”. There are “numerous skeletons, rotting equipment and 30-300 each of s.p., e.p., g.p. and p.p. hurled about. Crushed gems and broken magic items are littered about - the work of insane victims and attacking swords”. If players try to pass through the only exit to the south all the swords and shields from the walls will “swoop to attack”. There are 16 swords and 8 shields. The first pair of swords are +1 to hit and damage, the second pair +2 to hit and damage and so on, the last pair being +8 to hit and damage. I calculated a maximum damage of 202, it’s fair to say that each round a character will probably get whacked for an average of 80-100 points. The original 1974 text includes 15 pre-generated characters and the character with the most HP is an 8th level Paladin with 40.

Going through the module again opened a couple of strange doors. Characters who enter the Archway of Glowing Orange within the Evil Chapel have their sex and alignment diametrically switched. When I was playing back in the old days (i.e., before the turn of the century) it would be fair to say most D&D players were male and they played male characters. This would mean that as groups of these good male characters were systematically run through the tomb, that a sizable percentage of the survivors would return as groups of evil females. Maybe they would get together to form some sort of she-woman man haters cult. I think I might make the dungeon they would have made as a response to the Tomb of Horrors. Something to think about.

There is also this thing where you are teleported nude back to the beginning. It's supposed to be a punishment. But maybe it’s more like streaking. What if that was the thrill, not getting to the end and getting a magic widget or sticking to the Lich-man. Think about wearing armor constantly, the infrequent bathing, having itches that could never be reached, the chafing,  the constant sound of metal sliding across metal… And then you get sucked into this devil's mouth and suddenly that tiresome sweaty stinky scratchy burden has been lifted off your back! You can scratch anywhere you want. You feel like a floating bubble and understand now what it's like to be truly free.  Maybe that's the real goal of the Tomb of Horrors, to be able to scratch anywhere you want.

Enjoy!

(good luck with the part below. You're going to need it.)

Link to the document, below as a PDF

A comparison of the

Original 1975 Competitive Tournament Version of the Tomb of Horrors

and 1978 S1 Module Tomb of Horrors

O = the original 1975 competitive tournament version of the Tomb of Horrors

S1 = the 1978 TSR published S1 Special Module Tomb of Horrors

Number of pages in the key:

O: 10 pages and 33 areas

S1: 9 pages and 33 areas

Note the S1 pages contain 3 to 4 times number of words than the original version.

Artwork:

O: 24 full page illustrations (by Tracy Lesch).

S1: 8 full page, 29 half page and 2 smaller illustrations (by Jeff Dee, David C. Sutherland III, and David A. Trampier).

Map:

They are both essentially identical. The 1978 S1 map includes the addition of room 27a and hallway #20 extends a further 20’ to the east.

Legend:

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Introduction:

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Locale:

Both list out six “random” locations, about half the list on each are the same.

Notes for the Dungeon Master:

Included in the 1978 S1 only. For the original 1975 tournament this was probably verbal.

False Entrance Tunnel (west):

O: #1 / S1: #1

O: 4d10 damage

S1: 5d10 damage

False Entrance Tunnel (east):

O: #2 / S1: #2

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Entrance to the Tomb of Horrors:

O: #3 / S1: #3

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Pits:

In the original 1975 text pit traps are described as “All pits except the green one open if stepped on or pressed heavily. Spikes are poison”. In the 1978 S1 they warrant a separate detailed description which describes how they function and inflict damage.

Door covered by plaster:

O: #3a / S1: #3a

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Message in Mosaic Floor:

O: #4b/ S1: #3b

The 1975 original text reads simply “GO BACK TO THE WALLS OR THRU THE ARCH. SHUN GREEN. FIND BLACK. RED COULD MEAN DEAD. TWO PITS FOR THE WAY WILL LEAD. UPON THE THRONE THE KEY, AND LOOK CLOSELY FOR THE STATUES OF IRON”. The S1 version is much longer.

Two Jackal Figures Holding a Box:

O: #4 / S1: #4

Both same, S1 much more descriptive. 

The Arch of Mist:

O: #5 / S1: #5

In the original 1975 text if you press the glowing stones correctly you go to Great Hall of Spheres. Otherwise you sustain 1d6 damage and teleported to the Lair of the Gargoyle. In the 1978 S1 if you press the glowing stones correctly you go to the room of The Three Armed Statue. Press them incorrectly or stray off the path and you are teleported to The Forsaken Prison or back to Entrance to the Tomb of Horrors.

The Face of the Green Devil:

O: #6 / S1: #6

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

The Forsaken Prison:

O: #7 / S1: #7

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Gargoyle Lair:

O: #8 / S1: #8

In the original 1975 text there can be 1,  2 or even 3 Gargoyles, depending on how big the party is. In the 1978 S1 text there is only one Gargoyle but has additional clues about the tomb on a slip of parchment.

Complex of Secret Doors:

O: #9 / S1: #9

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Great Hall of Spheres:

O: #10  / S1: #10

The red and black spheres lead to the same locations in both versions (red to Chamber of Three Chests and black to Chapel of Evil). The 1978 S1 adds the gold sphere which leads to the room of the Three Armed Statue (an area which is not in the 1975 original version).

Magic Archway:

O: #11 / S1: #10a

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Three Armed Statue:

O: - / S1: #11

Added to the 1978 S1. If you complete a number of complex tasks you will earn an invisible Gem of Seeing.

Trapped False Door:

O: #12 / S1: #12

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Chamber of Three Chests:

O: #13 / S1: #13

In the gold chest the original 1975 version has 10 asps, the newer has 12. In the silver chest the 1975 original has a lift ring covered with a fatal poison, while the newer S1 version does not.

Chapel of Evil:

O: #14 / S1: #14

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Opalescent Blue Alter:

O: #14a / S1: #14a

In the original 1975 text players sustain a base 26 HP damage from the Lightning Bolt and if the altar is only struck by a magic weapon it then explodes for 30 HP more. In the 1978 S1 the Lightning Bolt inflicts 40 HP damage and any object that touches the alter causes it to explode for 60 HP in a 30 foot radius.

Archway of Glowing Orange:

O: #14b / S1: #14b

In the original 1975 text this area reverses players sex and alignment the first time in. The second time in it switches them back and inflicts 1d6 HP. The 1978 S1 has the same effect upon the first entry. However, on the second time in only alignment (not sex) is restored and 1d6 damage is suffered. Entering a third time restores their sex, however they are teleported to area 3, the Entrance to the Tomb of Horrors.

Stone Gate:

O: #15 / S1: #15

In the original 1975 text the stone gate is a one way door, in the later 1978 S1 a stone block sinks into the floor revealing the opening. This area of the tomb is one of the most critical areas because one of the pits in the hallway has a secret door at its bottom which is the only way into the rest of the tomb. In the original 1975 version this is a tiny notation on the map, while in the 1978 S1 this secret doors importance is described in detail.

Locked Oaken Door:

O: #16 / S1: #16

Both same, S1 much more descriptive. In the 1978 S1 can be found the infamous words “snuff them out”. 

Magical Secret Door:

O: - / S1: #17

In the original 1975 version this is noted on the map as “Detect Magic to Locate”. This secret door is the only way into the rest of the tomb, much like the Stone Gate, above. You can find the secret door normally, but must use a Gem of Seeing or Detect Magic to “locate” the magic. Once located a Dispel Magic or Remove Curse must be cast to open the secret door. 

False Crypt Protected by Fear Gas:

O: - / S1: #18

Added to the 1978 S1. The original 1975 does not include the false pseudo-lich. Instead, there is faint notation on the map written here indicating “12 Skeletons”. Keep in mind the original was designed to be played by 15 players in two hours. One hundred and twenty minutes divided by thirty three keyed areas equals 3.63 minutes of real time per area.

Laboratory and Mummy Preparation Room:

O: #17 / S1: #19

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Huge Pit Filled With 200 Spikes:

O: #18 / S1: #20

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

The Agitated Chamber:

O: #19 / S1: #21

Both same, except in the 1978 S1 if the tapestries are burned they turn into Brown Mold.

The Cavern of the Gold and Silver Mists:

O: #20 / S1: #22

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

False/True Door:

O: - / S1: #23

In the original 1975 text what happens is simply noted on the map. Both areas work the same, however in the 1978 S1 original the Shambling Mound is replaced by a Juggernaut.

Adamantite Door:

O: #21 / S1: #24

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

The Pillared Throne Room:

O: #22 / S1: #25

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Devil Face (Green Mosaic):

O: #23 / S1: #25a

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Devil Face (Blue Mosaic):

O: - / S1: #25b

Added to the 1978 S1. It teleports you to The Portal of Scintillating Violet (see below).

Charred Remains:

O: #26 / S1: #25c

Both same, S1 much more descriptive. On the S1 map the “c” is missing from the key.

Ebony Dias and Silver Throne:

O: #27 / S1: #25d

Both the same except that the effects of touching the silver/gold ball to the crown in the 1978 S1 are reversed.  On the S1 map the “d” is missing from the key.

The Portal of Scintillating Violet:

O: #25 / S1: #27

Both the same except that the 1978 S1 is more deadly than the original.

The Chamber of Hopelessness:

O: - / S1: #27a

Added to the 1978 S1. Victims are teleported here from the Devil Face (Blue Mosaic) noted in the 1978 S1, above.

The Wondrous Foyer:

O: #28 / S1: #28

Both the same except that the 1978 S1 key has an Antipathy spell on it.

The Valves of Mithril:

O: #29 / S1: #29

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

The False Treasure Room:

O: #30 / S1: #30

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Bronze Urn:

O: #30a / S1: #30a

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Granite Sarcophagus:

O: #30b / S1: #30b

In the original 1975 text it contains unidentified scraps.  In the 1978 S1 the sarcophagus reads “Acererak” as a ruse. A broken and useless Staff of the Magi is also present.

Iron Chests:

O: #31 / S1: #30c

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Iron Statues:

O: #30 / S1: #30d

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

Two One Way Doors:

O: - / S1: #31

In the 1975 original the words “one way” are written on the map. In the 1978 S1 these are Phase Doors and described in detail.

Secret Door:

O: #32 / S1: #32

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

The Crypt of Acererak the Demi-Lich:

O: #33 / S1: #33

Both same, except in the 1978 S1 if you insert the wrong key (gold) there is an explosion that causes 5d6 damage.

The Demi-Lich:

O: #33 / S1: #33

Both same, S1 much more descriptive.

How to play RPGs Real Good Part 2: Referees, Basement Leaders and Crypt Lords

Your role is multitudinous and profound. It’s tedious and dull. It’s cosmic and mundane. You are the killer of pencils, mangler of accents, appropriator of ideas, nerd wrangler and setter of the final percentage. These are my thoughts on how to be a better Basement Leader:

1) The rules should ooze from your pores. No one should be able to discern where you end and the rules begin. You are the one behind the curtain who pulls the right lever at the right time. Imagine the great and powerful Oz saying “...wait a moment while I check...page 43….hang on, illness….idiocy...ah, here it is illusion”. This is the sort of rampant sloppiness of lesser beings! Slogging through game mechanics during play makes the game run like a glitchy Tom & Jerry cartoon streaming through an old dial up modem. A referee who waits to learn the mundane workings of the rules while running the adventure is shameful indeed! They are not worthy of the term "master". Learn the rules beforehand!

2) Know your adventure. Imprint the logic of the adventure way down into your reptilian brain. This is key, because it’s impossible to document for every action the players may take in advance. Even so, creating such a vast archive would be tedious and wasteful. Record only the data you need to keep things flowing. This deep understanding will free you from the tyranny of the written key. I am completely against those prepackaged text boxes that appeared in so many TSR modules. You embrace the dullest of dooms by reading these. Sure, they are convenient, but they encourage you to understand nothing. Any creative thoughts you may have had will be whitewashed. By understanding the logic you can describe what players are seeing in a much more fluid and interesting way. This is one of the reasons why I use drawings and bullet points as my key. The images are rich with detail and have be described, bullet points let me know what is really important upon first contact with that area or event. Players will pick up on whether you are engaged or reading pre-written descriptions. Because they know you have a deep understanding of what’s going on, players will exercise their agency. Just be sure to jot down anything you create of consequence for future reference. 

3) I hate the term NPC. Non player character is not unlike a government acronym where by definition something is defined by naming it what it is not. It’s an artifact from the original D&D, in which non player “henchmen” were created to be used as pack animals and fodder to test a situation deemed too dangerous for your real character. Applying this worn out term devalues your participation in the game. Since when is a persona you are playing a “non” character? Your personas, whether selling a bauble, ordering an execution or hiding in a shadow are equally important to the narrative. They are your voice, your hand, your thoughts. Commonly accepted ideas should always be held suspect until tested as useful. There are so many lame “rules of thumb” and “common sense” notions hidden in plain sight. Change the language and you change the game. How about “In-Game Persona”? Anything is better than NPC.

4) Talk like a fool.  Elocution is the quickest way to bring your creations to life. Try out the high pitched whine of the effete warlock or the giggling cuteness of a twitching psychopath. Ever wanted to talk like Peter Lorre on an opium kick? Now is your chance! As I  create In-Game Persona’s I always note how they will sound: “Jessica Rabbit” or “Sam the Eagle” or “Paul Lynde”. This becomes a starting point when I start to talk like that character for the first time. I am always surprised how entertaining it is.

5) Be impartial. You simply must be as fair as possible. Strangely, RPG games illicit the old “Dungeon Master versus the Players” paradigm, as if every creature under the referee’s control should act as one mind to hunt down and expunge the players. I have experienced a few of these and while charming in their own way, the blood lust hollows pretty quickly. The game setting should be experienced as neutral and react to player inputs thusly. Otherwise players will feel they have no agency and will stick to solving problems using the dull solutions already built into the game. Impartiality rewards clever players because they know “the game is not out to get them”. Being impartial also means to let random things happen, things that  don’t seem to fit what you thought the story was. You need these external inputs to shake up the your thinking. If everything is always coming out of your head the game will start becoming predictable. Random mutations is a mechanism that forces you to evolve. This is one reason why a good game system has lots of tables to generate random characters, events and so on. They give you a starting point for something that you would not have created. Using these things exposes you to a new ideas. 

6) Players should have an idea what they are getting into: This gets at the heart of a couple of things, game balance and player agency. Consider: If you subscribe to the concept of “game balance” your players will know that for every situation they find themselves in, they have been matched up evenly to whatever the challenge is. Where is the agency in that? Discerning the danger level of a situation and then making choices on what to do is where all the excitement is. If they know everything is balanced, it really makes no difference what they choose. Think how Lord of the Rings would be with balanced encounters. Once the players realize that a decision could lead to a truly deadly encounter, they will definitely be more engaged because they know their decisions matter. This means they need to be able to figure out what the risk level is. As referee you will need to describe the game state in such a way so as to not hand them too much information on a silver platter. You should be unbiased, so if they ask smart questions they can figure it out. This kind of play creates a lot of excitement and you will marvel at the solutions they come up with. Sounds scary, but wait until you see the glee on their faces as they willingly choose to embrace doom!

7) No exit signs: Do not figure out the solution to an adventure in advance. If the thing you have made has one specific solution, then you have to make sure they stay on that track in order to solve it. If they have to follow that particular track, then where is the surprise? A game that is predestined, is not interesting. The excitement of a narrative unfolding is the uncertainty. Coming up with solutions is their job anyway. This does not mean the adventure should be unsolvable or that there are not useful things in it for them to exploit, it just means that you haven’t connected the dots for them.

8) A game session is made up of little bits.  These bits are sometimes called “atoms” and are a short sequence of actions that make up an event within the gaming session. They should not be treated as throw away things. RPG’s are by their nature made up of details and often they don’t always seem to fit neatly together. This is actually desirable, because if everything is meshing too well, that means the agency of the game has probably been compromised. The narrative is constructed from all these little bits. Seemingly unrelated bits become connected with one another simply by being together. For this to happen they all need to be treated the same. Think about how some random detail in a Sherlock case suddenly becomes important. Or how a strange coincidence suddenly changes the story. These seeds are here in the details whether they are contrived or random.

9) Serve up equal slices of pie. Sweep from one end of the table to the other continuously and make sure everyone gets an equal chance to do something. Don’t let loudest people suck up more than their fair share of your attention. By constantly sweeping back and forth from one player to the next you can make sure everyone gets to do something. During combat this is easy as game mechanics pretty much resemble a turn based game at this point. But also get in the habit of doing it all thru the game. There is always a quiet one in the back...the crazy one who is going to take a bite of that unidentified mushroom, jump up on the creepazoids back and get this party started!

10) Own your weakness: I suck at making things up on the fly. And I get flustered sometimes. So I prepare beforehand by creating a bunch random junk that I might need. It’s not much, a few lines, but it seems to be enough. The flustered thing, when I feel it coming I’ll excuse myself for a minute or two and think about bowling or something. Weakness is a reminder to not take your eye off the ball. Weakness is strength. I think that’s carved on a ministry somewhere. 

11) Keep up the pace. As basement leader it’s up to you to manage the time flow. You are the director making sure the production is moving along at the right speed. Watch just about any action movie from the 70’s and you will know what I mean. Do we really have to watch someone get into their car and drive for 8 minutes? Time is plastic, so the unimportant stuff can be summarized in a quick sentence or two. Keep things moving at a rate that is consistent with the players actions and the what is going on. This doesn’t mean that everything should be moving real fast all the time, sometimes things deserve to be stretched out to fully enjoy their impact. Like the oozing of nearly coagulated blood down the pitted face of a giant skull right before it...you get the idea.

12) Meta-Gaming: This whole idea that players can only act within their characters in-game knowledge is total BS. It is the most anal way to suck the fun out playing RPG’s. “Metagaming” is the fun real world social interaction that happens when players talk to one another. This is where the jokes are, the irony, begging/cajoling someone to do/not do  something. This is the reason why we are here. Limiting players to what their personas only know in the game will turn your social interaction party into a tedious tactical miniatures game. Somehow anti-metagamers believe RPG’s are quantifiable like a real game. That the player with the highest xp, money, power, is comparable to a basketball player. RPG’s are not games the same way basketball is. The rules of basketball do not arbitrarily change. Basketball players are not allowed to attempt any action to score points. Even the idea of what winning means are not in sync. “Metagaming” is equated with cheating, which is absurd. How can there be cheating in a game in which the referee can instantly change things, often times without the players even knowing it? I mean OMFG. I am out of breath. Phew. Idiots.

13) Anything may be attempted. This is the most unique thing that RPG’s have over any other game experience. Players have the freedom to attempt any action and you then decide what the chances of it working will be. This is the essence of RPG’s and why they are so  compelling. For some referees, when players try unusual stuff (which can push against the boundaries of the game system) they get a little nervous. This is OK, roll with it and work out a way to that allows the action to be attempted. A simple die roll is the easiest. The crux here is to let them try stuff. Otherwise the single most powerful aspect of role playing is lost.

14) You are not responsible for all the fun. It’s up to you to prepare the adventure beforehand. Dice have to polished. Chairs reinforced. Never mind all the complex referee stuff you need to attend to while play is in progress. Snacks must be arranged alphabetically. It’s a lot. It would seem logical then that you are also responsible for all the fun. You are not. Being part of an RPG game is a collaboration between everyone present. The players have things they need to do (see How to play RPGs Real Good Part I: Players), one of them is to get off their lazy behinds and play the game well.

Cheers!

Svelte Magnetic Referee Screen

Years of tinkering and I hit upon this design "by mistake". 

Gaming has changed. The way I play has also changed. Less is more. I have great minis and a whole modular resin dungeon terrain system. They look fantastic. However, they are hard to set up, transport and limit participants imaginations. These days my goal is to strip away the stuff that doesn't work. This thinking has led me to look at "DM*" screens and question what they are really for.

Here is where I have been. When I started in the 70's a record album was fine (1). I took some plywood and duct tape and made my own (2). It served as a barrier and I could stick charts and stuff on the back side. A few years back I bought this thing (3), four leaves and clear pockets for all sorts of gamy minutia. This is a good solution and compact. However, I was noticing that it would sometimes actually block my view of the players. If I am roasting their character over a spit I want to see the the expression on their face, not a random foot-gear matrix. This led to the last design (4). It's shorter, and has other useful features. I have used this one for a couple of years and my biggest frustration is that it is not as portable as I would like.

This led me to conduct experiments using foam core. These days all my adventure designs are done on quarter sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper. Each card is about one idea and because they are loose you can rearrange and pull stuff out at will. (I will talk about this in a later post). The designs above are testing the concept of having several mini-screens on the table instead of one big one. Big screens are like fortresses, they get in the way and act as a barrier to intercourse. I should not have to tell you that an RPG's essential characteristic is this interaction.

So, for this mock-up the idea is that the whole mini-screen fits in an 8.5 x 11 foot print and held together using clever folds and tabs. This led to:

Folds and joints are always tricky. I found some scrap painted sheet metal (old siding, I think), cut it and finished the edges with a file. Scrap wood (from an old dresser drawer) was cut into the triangular supports.

Here's the magic: magnets. Pretty straight forward, drill hole slightly smaller and press them in. I was like "hmmm, OK".

Easy to assemble and svelte.

Like so.

The bar thingies swaddle the stack of cards so I can leaf through them. These wood strips are magnetic, so they can be infinitely adjusted relative to any size stack of cards.

I cut two more matching triangular supports and two more sheets of metal. This is the players view. The height of the larger panel is about 7 inches. Now I had a bunch of supports with magnets and metal sheet.

Everything is completely modular and reconfigurable. Let that sink in.

Using smaller magnets, any information needed could simple be added or subtracted at will.

Here the triangular supports have been turned up to make the screen steeper.

So there you have it. I'm pretty excited about this.

The older post:

Coolest Gamemaster Screen EVER. (Now, untrue)

I'll add this to the Nuggets & Forbidden Knowledge Tab. Tell your friends. "DK", your off the hook for a few weeks, but going to post one of your dungeons...

* "DM" is Dungeon Master. I still like this term, I was going to use "Crypt Lord" instead, but no one knows whatdahail that is except me. Someday Crypt Lord and Nimbality will be part of the common lexicon. I have not typed Crypt Lord into Google...

Cheers!

The Amazing One Roll 01-100 Trick!

I have been obsessed with dice as of late.  I have been reverse engineering them to make a custom set.  More on that later. Looking closely at my various d20's has yielded this:

The indica on this Gamescience specimen are placed relative to each other, so that the following are true: 1) the two matching numerals (in this case 8's) are on exact opposite sides.  This means the other 8 is on the bottom.  2) If you look at all 9 faces which are up, they form a ring around the 8.  No matter what you roll, if you imagine the dice as having an equator parallel to the table surface, all ten values 0-9 will be showing "up". This is built into the design of the die, who ever at Gamescience came up with this was a F-genius. 

Koplow

This is a Koplow (which I use a lot), notice the indica arrangement is not uniform as the Gamescience d20, above.  Nice and hard, she is, but wacky.

Bleh.

This is what those kids are rolling these days when they are not playing their devil's music.  This is marked 1-20.  Bleh.

So here is the cool thing.  As a crypt Lord, often you want to make rolls quickly to just determine stuff during play.  With this method you can roll a % by making ONLY ONE ROLL.  Listen:

Roll the die and draw an imaginary site line from your eyeball to the center of the up face (red line).  The number it crosses MOST on this imaginary ring is the second number.

Like so.  Remember all the other 9 numbers are in a ring around the top number...

...EXCEPT the other matching number (which is on the bottom).  If you get a "liner", then double the number.

Another liner...this gives 100%.  This kind of liner is a tougher one, but remember, you will be using these as shorthand rolls for mundane stuff.  If it's life or death...make the a standard roll.

Does anyone remember how to roll-n-read a d20/0-9x2 any more?  Kids these days.

How to play RPGs Real Good Part I: Players

Much has been written on how to be a better Game Master (or Mistress). So much in fact, one might think it is his/her/it’s sole responsibility to insure that the collective game experience is perfect. And while sometimes the GM is the big toe that leads the foot, what the players bring to the table is no less important. Lets begin:

1) Know Your Abilities. I’m not referring to the role-play aspect here but exactly what it is that your persona can do. How many attacks do you have? What is your Nimbality bonus to hit? What are a Warf’s special abilities underground? How much information can a Sneak recall with photographic memory? What bonus does the skill Acrobatics give you in combat? How many smoke grenades can you chuck in a Na-nuta? Immerse yourself in the raw data that is your Persona. Ultimately, this is your single leg up in your efforts to thwart the machinations of the Crypt Lord’s minions. Think of it this way. The Crypt Lord must run the whole world. He/she/it never has the luxury of studying any single Non-player Persona or Creep much longer than a session or two. Conversely, as a Player Persona you are focused like a laser on one single character over dozens of play sessions. Use this to squeeze out every possible advantage from the rule book and cook up new combinations of crypt bashing and fray making.

2) Suck it Up and Take Some Risks. That’s right. Volunteer to be the guy in front. So what if it’s dark in there? Ooooo, could be Creepazoids hiding in there to attack. You have a Swordinga and a bunch of PHP. Do you think this game is going to play itself? Of course there are Creepies in there. That’s the whole point. If you want to stand in the back and endlessly check every freaking door for traps I suggest that you scurry back to your recliner and pull your snuggy over your head. Adventure is not for you!

3) Try, Try, Try and Try Again. Door stuck. You roll a d20 against your Muscle Power and fail. Remember what it is you are trying to do. Was the goal to smash the door or get past it? Most likely the latter, so try something else. Let someone else in the party make a feat roll. So it’s only 3%...it’s just another roll. 54...so that doesn’t work. What if we pick up this big table and all ram the door with it? 25% chance? Sure, why not? 67...darn again. Oh wait, I’ve got a pry bar...what if I loosen the hinges? What’s my percent? 10% Ok,...rat farts... rolled a 27. What if we tie a rope to the handle and another to this statue and push it down the steps? There is always a way to get another roll when you have “supposedly” failed at something.

4) Bring Snacks. I do not like Twizzlers. Go for the Red vines or even the generic. It’s funny, you can smell that Twizlers are “red” flavored, but once they are in your mouth they seem to have no taste whatsoever. Besides, the Vines are cheaper and chewier.

5) Don’t be a Game Hog. If you want to be the center of attention, I suggest running for president. Everyone deserves an equal portion of the session. It’s simple math, if six people are playing for 240 minutes each person gets 40 minutes. It is true that sometimes the party gets split, or one player needs to go off and do something to advance the game. When I am Crypt Lord I tell the players at that moment that this can mess with the communal time bank, but if everyone is cool with it, I let it happen. But I keep this excursion as short as possible. Playing RPG’s are at their heart about allowing each participant to be fully engaged, not sitting around, bored. This is really what we are talking about here. So as a player you should work so that everyone (including the Lord of the Crypts) is able to participate. There are always those players who want to go off to rob a bank or split from the party down in the crypt, just because they want to… If everyone is cool with this, then so be it! But, remember we are all sitting around playing a game together.

6) Work to Advance the Plot. This is about pacing and understanding that things need to move along. Nobody wants to spend a whole session rolling up Personas and then wandering around on randomly generated streets wondering what to do. If you are wandering aimlessly, try listening to your friendly Crypt Lord. They will be telling you in some subtle (or not so subtle) way where adventure be. It’s ok to go off track, but again watch and listen to the other participants to see if you are advancing the plot. Plot does not mean playing A, B, C through pre-set encounters, it is often spontaneously generated as the group plays forward. Imagine, that you are all heading to Urkey, looking for Kroll’s magic (insert Swag item here). Suddenly you are ambushed by Urks. Gosh those heads on sticks meant something after all. The pitched battle ends when you are overrun, captured and sold to the Tree Spiders. They take all your stuff. Shave your heads. Prank call your parents and have pizzas sent to their castles. Everyone is on the edge of their seat and still half a play session still left.  Now that’s good pacing!

7) Talk in a Funny Voice. This is the flip side to “Know Your Abilities, above. Let’s not go over the edge and start LARPing, but it’s important to smash the walls of mediocrity and have a little fun and I dare say look a little foolish. “What are they doing down there?”  “I don’t know but it sounds like Darth Vader, Lawrence Welk and William Shatner are fighting over a chicken…”

8) Winner- Schlimmer. Some people think it’s important to win. By this I mean having the biggest Muscle Power, having the biggest Swordikjrom, or dragging around the biggest bag of coins.  So you have the blackest most magic swaddled +6 Swordikjrom. Whatever. That’s video game mentality. I define winning by doing all the things outlined here. This is not as tangible as a finely crafted Swordikjrom, but so much more fun. If all that is important to you is having the highest stat and biggest weapon modifier, then you are missing the whole point of playing a social interaction game.

9) Don’t Spoil Anyone's Fun. This is related to being a Game Hog, above. but I think it should also be said that it’s just plain rude to do things that basically shut down another participant's fun. Usually a player may be unaware that they are doing this. I suggest that you simply pay attention to what’s going on, people will broadcast clues that you are stepping on their fun. If you are it is a simple matter to just address it immediately and move on. No big deal. However, if you are shutting down another play’s fun on purpose, then this is another matter entirely. You may be engaged in what we call in the RPG biz “Party Strife” in which a number of players are being hostile to each other. The first thing that is important is whether the “Griefers” involved are playing out the actions of their Personas and having fun, or are they actually at each other’s throats. If it is the latter, then before things turn sour, somebody has to step up and defuse the issue. I have no solid advice for this one, one can only hope that the other participants can reason with them and get things back on track. Not all situations of “Party Strife” are played out in hostility. If everyone is Ok with 2 or more players having a showdown and all this is Advancing the Plot and the “Griefers” are not throwing things at each other, then it can work. I still frown on this, as it tends to put a wedge in the game and ultimately bog things down.

10) Do Not Stare at the GM’s Carbuncle. It takes a lot of time and energy to create adventures for you guys. So much in fact, that issues of personal hygiene are often put on the second or even third burner. So cut your Lord of the Crypt a little slack and try not to stare.

11) Be Creative. That’s right, this is your chance to ThINk OUtsiDe THe BoX. You are a fantastical Persona living within a fantastical world. There are more solutions than just carving a hole in it with your Swordinga. For example, in our last game Yaba Kashaba (a Yogi-Rabbi) figured out how to take out a 40 long two headed flying Creepy called a Vultron. This hellish beast was giving the group a pretty hard time. Yaba performed the Miracle Lulu-Thor’s Transcendental Force in which a large physical force is controlled remotely by the Miracle Worker and can attack. He then asked if the beast had shoulders (which I thought was an odd question at the time) to which I said yes. He then performed the Miracle Spohk Pinch using the already cast Lulu-Thor’s Transcendental Force to deliver the attack remotely. The Vultron was rendered unconscious 200 feet in the air...well you can figure out the rest.

12) Lastly, remember you are there to have fun, too! It’s not all tedium and hard work. Have a swig of Root Beer and a handful of Chex Mix and I salute you as you enter the gates of Walhalla!

*Nimbality, Warf, Sneak, Acrobatics, Na-nuta, Persona, Creep, Creepy, Creepazoid,  Crypt Lord, Lord of the Crypts, Basement Leader, Swordinga, Swordikjrom, PHP, Muscle Power, Urks, Urkey, Third-Urks, Swag, Vultron, Lulu-Thor’s Transcendental Force, Miracle, Miracle Worker and Spohk Pinch are all terms used in Crypts-N-Creepies a FRPG endorsed on this blog. If you are a user of one of the more popular games out there simply read Nimbality as “DEX”, Sneak as “Thief” and Crypt Lord as “dungeon master” and so on.

Hack & Slash Compendium Volume 1 Review

Recently I purchased Yoon-Suin and the three volume set of Hack & Slash from Lulu in print form.  I have just finished assimilation of  H&S volumes 1 and 2.  Here are my thoughts regarding the ideas presented by C. Campbell.   (I will talk about Y-S at a later date).   It may come as no surprise, if you have looked at anything on this site, that I am a big supporter of unique content that undermines the power mad game corporations.  Once those pesky stockholders are factored in,  the PMGC’s want you mainlining their officially approved rule books, adventure products and consuming other merchandise, such as novelties, soft goods and anything else an appropriate logo can be slapped on. Ahem, I digress.

Hack & Slash Compendium 1 set me back $5.59 (I used a coupon.  In other currencies that would be 5 Copper pieces, 1.5 Starbux or .01 Talons). It measures 8 x 6 and is 62 pages.  Most, if not all of the content is compiled from Courtney Campbell’s blog: http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com.  Overall I found Mr. Campbell’s ideas to be exceptionally useful in focusing similar ideas of my own on making my game better.  For clarity I have broken up my review into three categories, Theoretical Junk, Inspiring and Specifically Useful:

Theoretical Junk: Gamers delight on the exposition of theoretical concepts that are the so-called essence of RPG gameplay.  Usually after the 3rd word I’m thinking about an itch on my back or wondering if forgot to close the garage door.   However, Courtney’s discourse on Pages 2 through 29 not only held my attention but were extremely useful in refining my own ideas on making my group’s collective RPG experience better.  There are many useful ideas here, the most important is Player Agency.  In its crudest form the GM presents situations that allow for the players to make meaningful choices.  This means they are able to short circuit the standard format in which most adventures are run. They could pull off circumventing a powerful boss and avoid that classic epic confrontation, looting a dungeon through a backdoor (thus avoiding your cleverly designed traps) or totally messing up your well planned story arc.  It can be frustrating to see work that you have done seemingly wasted, but I have learned the players will have the best time when the stakes of the game are real.  Knowing that players may (and hopefully) will do the unexpected means you can plan for it by altering the energy you put in up front.  I’m sure I have already done this subconsciously, having Campbell’s ideas on paper refines my strategy. Specifically for my design process what this means is: I will now consciously factor in the ability for players to make multiple informed decisions during the game. I'll let their choices compound to form its own organic “story”. Right now it sounds like more work for me, but I’m Ok with that.  The payoff of an exceptional game is worth it.  There are many other good ideas here as well, one that as a game designer that I liked in particular was “games are collections of interesting choices”.

Inspiring: On pages 30 - 60 are 17 new player backgrounds.  These are written for one of the many “e’s” of Deeandee.  Having written my own fantasy game as it’s nemesis, these plug and play mods are not instantly useful to me out of the box.  However, the content contained in these backgrounds can be appropriated and modified for my own use.  In a roundabout way this is good, it pretty much forces me to think about the game and come up with new content.  It just means I can't sit back in my stratolounger and have game mods fed directly into my veins.

Specifically Useful: As noted above, nothing in H&SV1 is specifically useful in that I can flip open the book and use it during one of my games.  This is not a criticism, it has to do with the nature of my particular game beast.  For those of you swine out there still playing Deeandee, there is much here that can be plugged right into your gaming experience.  I have found that having interesting matrixes to generate player information from is very useful.  H&SV2 is mostly about Treasure, so that tome is specifically useful to me, as I can practically use items right out of the book during the game.  But, more on that one next time.

All in all on a scale of 1 - 10 I would give H&SV1 a 10 for it’s usefulness to me.  It is more important for me to understand how to create better experiences than to have specific mods that I can plug directly into my game.  Cheers!

Crypt Lord Nugget #3: Look Into The Eyes Of Tom Baker........

Last night I watched the Golden Voyage of Sinbad.  It opens with them at sea.  A mysterious winged creature hovers above the ship.  One guy says it's a "seagull", even though it's black, leathery and has bat wings.  (There is one in every crew).   Somebody shoots an arrow and it drops a golden goodie onto the deck.  Another crewman says "it's cursed", but Sinbad quickly picks it up and beholds a vision of a sorceress and beautiful girl with (a badly) painted eye on her palm.  Sinbad immediately tells the crew they are going to solve the riddle of this mystery.  All this in the first 4 minutes!  Quickly enough they meet the evil Koura, a man in a golden mask, a lazy boy and slave girl. 

Oh yes!  Sinbad never thinks to check for traps, he just moves forward through the door...sword in hand.  He catches up to Koura in a temple lit by colored lights and challenges him.  Koura throws his sword to Shiva, who sprouts a sword in each hand and attacks in Koura's place.  There is no explanation....Sinbad hurls himself into the fight even though it is pretty clear he has no idea just how he will defeat such a formidable foe.  Bravo!  The hungry maw of doom widens!  GO!

Crypt lord Nugget #2: Rope Bridges

When creating an adventure, think rope bridge.  Sure, every setting needs a plethora of mundane junk, hallways, blood encrusted idols, caves, anterooms, doors and moldering tapestries.  This basic stuff is the spongie yellow material that is the cakey part of every Twinkie.  Does anyone care if the oak in your doors comes from the Zillbilly forest in upper Gretchenstien?  Nope.  They are here to ride the Swartzpunk double ferris wheel hanging from the bottom of cloud city.  Or ride on the back of the giant Shai Halood into battle against 12,000 Dhark Omens.  Or rocket line into the flaming battlements of the Iron Towering Inferno (of death).  I call these rope bridges.  They are areas of concentric wowmania.  They are fantastical and can be manipulated by the players for exponential excitement.  Like that rope bridge scene in that movie.  What idiot cuts the rope?  (Answer, the one across from you with their hand in the bowl of Funyuns).