Adept Play
Adept Play
Tag: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition
A fantasy game composed of the Monster Manual (1977), Player’s Handbook (1978), and Dungeon Master’s Guide (1979), It was written/compiled by Gary Gygax and published by TSR (TSR Hobbies).
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In memoriam: Helma Lindow
My best friend died Saturday, September 28. She was halfway between her 59th and 60th birthdays. She discovered role-playing in 2019 and swiftly became the center of many people’s experiences, for play itself and for learning what it actually is. She was the finest practitioner of this art, as an art, that I have ever…
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Lincon 2024
I prepared two scheduled games this year, without workshops. I’ve learned that Närcon is the best venue for those, and I wanted more time to socialize, promote the Happening, and play more casually. Advanced D&D, first edtion This was a focused, content-stuffed romp using the half-elf/half-orc fighter/thief/cleric/assassin construction similar to the ongoing game at Spelens…
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Situational questions
Twelve sessions in, I’m comfortable with the concept I’ve outlined earlier: any permissible combination of fighter, thief, cleric, and assassin; half-elves, half-orcs, humans; the mega-Law and mega-Chaos churches and the implied shadowy-city fantasy. To review, check out You had one job!, Goodness, and Shady deeds in shadowy places. At this point, again between-levels and between-adventures,…
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Shady deeds in shadowy places
We have begun our third adventure for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, including one half-orc cleric-assassin for the Church of the Eternal and Fundamental Ordination, one half-elf fighter-assassin for the Church of the Ineffable Disruption of All Being, one half-elf fighter-thief who moonlights for the Disruption, and two half-orc fighter-clerics for the, well, it doesn’t really…
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Goodness
We’ve continued to play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, first version, at Spelens Hus, for another whole adventure in three more sessions. It has included a big shift in focus due to adding two players, Yaroslav and Milo. [see the previous post You had one job!] Milo had been present in our initial preparatory session but…
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You had one job!
It begins at another post, Finding a game in there, which muses upon “fire-axing” Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, first version, published 1977-1979. Briefly: using the rules as best as possible or practical, but for a subset of the content, disallowing various classes or concepts from the start. I’ve already registered a session at Lincon, in…
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The Story Is A Thing That Happens On The Bus Ride Home.
(I’m in a maudlin mood) While rummaging through some old things in my cave, I came across some old artwork based on an AD&D game my friend Sam ran. This was back in the mid to late 80s, and I was firing on all pistons with art. My friend Sam ran a campaign with so…
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Practicing the dungeon game: Pickups
After I finished my stint as referee in a long game focusing on sailing, exploring the wilderness, and leading bands of warriors, I wanted to try something a little different. That game had risen to really great heights, with dramatic, difficult challenges for both myself and the other players, but also spent a lot of…
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Finding a game in there
One trend in role-playing game publications, from the beginning, is to stuff too much into the pages: design discovered and utilized in play, speculated design, padding, features or content provided by other people, consolidated content for IP purposes, content perceived as “needed” or “people want it,” and more. I find many game texts to be…