Short vs. Long Form Adventures

One of the great things about the market today is that there is no shortage of material for your favorite D&Dish game. Whether you're playing D&D 5E, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, Labyrinth Lord, Swords &Wizardry, Old School Essentials or literally dozens of other variants, retroclones and heartbreakers there's both a system to suit your needs and a mess of scenarios to make prep easier.

While perusing a variety of recent finds I have been enjoying, for their own purposes, a range of modules....but these modules are not all created equal. For example, Trilemma Adventures is arguably a huge bang for its buck, with dozens of scenarios wrapped in a setting and bestiary suitable for adaptation to your preferred system. Age of Extinction, by contrast, is a pricey six book series for Pathfinder 2nd which will get you close to level 20 albeit through a process of reading an elaborate campaign in Golarian which is exceedingly difficult to adapt to your own setting (and likely not worth adapting to other rules systems).

Still...taken as a whole the typical Pathfinder adventure path may look huge, but they are designed to be digested in six discreet pieces. Not so with most WotC modules, which are monstrous incarnations of mega campaigns. When you buy one of these you are getting everything including the kitchen sink in one gigantic purchase.

In many ways it seems like the conventional wisdom for D&D and Pathfinder in their contemporary editions, the pinnacle of achievement over the last two decades, has been the extensive long form adventure campaign. Most of 5th edition's published modules amount to lengthy campaigns, designed to provide structured frameworks for leveling up to 10th level or greater. Only a few adaptations of older works such as Tales from the Yawning Portal focus on smaller scenarios (and even then providing a framework to interconnect it all together). The only one of these I've run was the early release of Siege at Dragonspear, a level 1-10 romp in four parts.

I don't really understand this style of long-form adventure design. I am much better with (and can appreciate) a good setting book such as the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica (well, as long as the book is engaging and fun to read, which most sourcebooks are not). I get more out of the content in Volo's Guide to Monsters than I do out of the latest 300 page super module. I suspect I am not alone in this; for many who GM, the creative process is more rewarding and may be the key reason to play; but there are many who enjoy reading and puzzling out these giant modules to provide much needed direction to their group and games.

Products like Trilemma Adventures, of which there are lots and lots of examples (from Dungeon Full of Monsters which flirts with being both mini and mega to AAW's Mini-Dungeons series on down to Dyson Logos' amazing collections) are designed to provide tools to a different kind of GM, the kind who likes improv and needs only a seed to grow a mountain. Plus, if you like campaigns that are deliberately less structured or more focused on hexcrawling then mini dungeons and short-form scenarios provide plenty of content for populating your wilderness without also committing to memorizing hundreds of pages of content.

The fact that the market is so well served on all fronts right now is a good sign. Most short-form and mini adventures are coming from the indie, OSR and small press side of the equation, but an argument can be made that even Paizo and WotC know there's a market (just not one worth chasing beyond a limited set), and their respective Pathfinder Society and Adventurer's League modules may actually cater to some degree to this market (and not just organized play).

That said....once again I'll toot the horn for Goodman Games, which has built an entire business structure on short-form modules (with an occasional long-form gem like The Chained Coffin) and of course putting an emphasis on making them eminently readable and fun. Like with my prior article, the notion of readability and the even more important factor of being Fun to Read is extremely important to modules, and if someone were able to collect more than anecdotal evidence I sincerely believe we would find that the modules most played are, on average, going to correspond the modules that were the most fun to read (and well-designed too, no doubt).

Ironically, Goodman Games is also responsible for one of the most interesting cases of short to long form design you can find: the Original Adventures Reincarnated Series literally take the classic modules of yore and, under license, adapt these short form gems into modern long form designs. Yes, they can take a 32 page module like The Isle of Dread and turned it into a 200+ page adaptation (while somehow still being the original module, a feat in and of itself). If ever there was a better example of how the short form module contrasts with the long form, this is it.

Here at last: The Advanced Labyrinth Lord Kickstarter is Live (and Funded)

It's here!



I've been eager to get a combined edition of Labyrinth Lord for some time, since the OSR experience I uniquely enjoyed back in the 80's when it was New School was a mix of B/X D&D and AD&D, and Advanced Labyrinth Lord handles that quite nicely.

UPDATE I've tentatively backed this....I love that Orcus cover (#2).....but still debating. I just eliminated close to 85% of my game collection, not sure I want to start down that road again. On the plus side, the newer covers for the Advanced LL look more "sellable" to contemporary groups; I've never been a fan of covers #3 and #4....I lack the deep nostalgic love of the crappy game art from the seventies and eighties necessary to properly appreciate those two covers. Erol Otus's art style is a huge exception, as he had a unique style and quality that went beyond the usual "I want to draw fantasy but never took an antomy class and perspective is haaaaard" style of most art from the time. But seeing as Otus is not doing any of these covers, I'll opt for #2 and #1 in that order.

The New Big Dragon GM Screen for B/X D&D is Here

Actually, I've had it for at least a week, but just realized I haven't mentioned that bit.

The Screen is in two parts, with gorgeous artwork. They're durable, tough screens....not quite like the Savage Worlds style heavy board screens, but still very sturdy. Two spell books, character sheets and a collection of tables in book form round out the package. It's designed for B/X D&D but I think you could pull off a Labyrinth Lord game with this easily enough.

Either way, with this in I now realize I have a LOT of new stuff for B/X D&D, enough to run a fairly robust game, especially with all the B/X NBD books I have now (check out Richard LeBlanc's site here to see what is available and coming soon). I can guarantee you I would never have thought this to be a "thing" ten, fifteen...even twenty years ago. Ever, really.

Unfortunately I don't see a retail page for this one yet, but hopefully the funding was enough to make plenty of copies for sale post-Kickstarter.

OSR Problems; on finding a way to run OSR games, and settling on a system...

...and one day I looked up and realized three sections of my shelf were entirely OSR. The biggest chunk by far was for Swords & Wizardry Complete, which is of course supported by the Frog Gods with gigantic tomes of various and sundry....but there's a lot more:

Swords & Wizardry Complete
Dungeon Crawl Classics
Labyrinth Lord
For Gold & Glory
Beyond the wall and Other Tales (my new favorite darling of the moment)
Spears of the Dawn
Castles & Crusades
Iron Falcon
...other stuff I have no doubt forgotten about. Let's not even bother mentioning the actual original B/X D&D, 1E AD&D or 2E AD&D tomes.

And for each of those I have a big fat mess of modules and support, and some of the support is ephemeral and easily transits from one system to the next, such as Yoon-Suin, Deep Carbon Observatory and the D30 Sandbox Companion which are all easily utilized with any of the above titles.

I have a real desire to actually run one of these, not merely convert content over to D&D 5E like I've been doing lately. My thought is that my local gang of players might put up with a couple nights of one, but it's not going to have legs for the long haul....and I do love D&D 5E, so not interested in forcing that system into competition, anyway.

My Saturday group is pretty much dedicated to Pathfinder and I know them well enough to know that that boat must not be rocked any longer; delving into 13th Age and D&D 5E was enough for them. My Wednsesday group is more flexible, but I have some players who, when I break from established D&D, will simply vanish in a puff of smoke and I'd rather not make that happen just because I happen to want to play some OSR stuff.

My thought then is to delve into online gaming again...Roll20 or Fantasy Grounds. I ran Fantasy Grounds for my old players in Seattle a lllloooong time ago when I first moved to Albuquerque....surely it's gotten even easier to work with since those hallowed days of yore. Plus, Roll20 seems pretty cool. Maybe what I need to do is find some games to get in to as a player first, see how it works....I'm thinking Mondays and Sunday nights are good for me. Hmmmm.

But when I run...it's definitely going to be one of the above titles. Probably DCC or S&WC but For Gold & Glory is damned tempting. Labyrinth Lord would be more tempting, but to try it out only begs the question of why I don't just run the original.....and ironically, I know I will find the race-as-class element distasteful once I'm actually dealing with it. This doesn't bother me with DCC strangely, because my sense is that the Tolkienesque races have no real place in DCC anyway and can be ignored.

But then there's Beyond the Wall....have you seen this book? It's pretty amazing. I'll have to talk more about it and its supplement later.

There's other stuff, too: Perils of the Purple Planet. The Chained Coffin. The Haunted Highlands. Tranzar's Redoubt. A Red and Pleasant Land. Razor Coast.....these are all begging me to run them. And yet I'll probably ignore them all and do my own thing anyway. I always do.

Class Compendium Random Setting-by-Class Generator

Using Class Compendium as a Setting Generator

You could actually pull a random selection of classes from the Class Compendium and core rules to make thematic campaigns pretty easily....try it! Here's a random generator to get you started....roll 3D6+3 times on the chart to get a selection of classes, then imagine what sort of weird campaign would result in an adventurer selection like that. I've added the LL Advanced Edition class options as well for extra fun:

Campaign by Class Generator:
Roll 3D6+3 for # of classes available (or roll 2D6+3 or even 1D6+3 to limit total choices). Then roll D100 that many times and determine class options from the following; re-roll duplicates.

Special Option: Default Core--if you roll a class under one of these cores (marked in bold) then you include the core class in your list (i.e a knight option will de facto include fighter).

Roll/Class
1-3 Magic-User
4-5 Illusionist
6 Alienist
7 Familiar
8 Thopian Gnome
9 Wild Wizard
10-13 Dwarf
14 Raging Slayer
15 Rune-Smith
16 Warchanter
17-20 Elf
21 Dark Elf
22 Greensinger
23-24 Half-Elf
25-26 Sylvan Elf
27-30 Halfling
31 Burglar
32 Feast Master
33 Huckster
34 Lucky Fool
35 Tavern Singer
36-39 Cleric
40-41 Paladin
42-43 Druid
44 Angel
45 Friar
46 Inquisitor
47 Undead Slayer
48-52 Fighter
53-54 Ranger
55 Commander
56 Dragon Slayer
57 Knight
58 Barbarian
59 Berserker
60 Gladiator
61 Samurai
62 Sword Master
63 Dragon
64 Goblin
65 Half-Ogre
66-67 Half-Orc
68 Treant
69 Fairy
70 Lost Boy
71 Pirate
72-76 Thief
77-78 Assassin
79 Acrobat
80 Explorer
81 Fortune Teller
82 Wanderer
83-85 Bandit
86-88 Bard
89 Bounty Hunter
90 Watchman
91 Cultists
92 Damphir
93 Death Knight
94 Eidolon
95 Automaton
96 Investigator
97 Metaphysician
98 Shootist
99-00 Monk

Example:

I roll 3D6+3 and get 11. For my 11 classes I roll for each and get:

Raging Slayer, Druid, Monk, Elf, Angel, Undead Slayer, Knight, Feast Master, Alienist, Thief, Samurai. I'll use the core class option, which means magic-user, cleric, dwarf and halfling are de facto included.

So...what does our class selection tell us about our new setting?

Core classes allowed are all there (fighter, magic-user, cleric, thief, elf, dwarf, halfling) so that's good. But some clerics can in fact be angels, druids and undead slayers. Fighters could also be monks, knights or samurai, and magic-users could also be alienists. Halflings could be feast masters, while dwarves have a special group of raging slayers in their midst. This world has some interesting implications!

1. There's a war between law and chaos that's more pronounced...with alienists, angels, and undead slayers wandering about.

2. There's probably an east-Asian setting or something comparable, which is where the monks and samurai come from.

3. maybe the dwarves use their raging slayers to stem the tide of evil that the alienists also seek to harness?

With this idea, I envision a setting where magic is generally accepted, but the world is threatened by alien forces..the Old Ones, perhaps...and some mages have learned to harness their magic as alienists. This threat is pervasive; the forces of good have even called upon angels of their gods to defend the world from this evil encroachment beyond the stars.

Amongst elves, they stand resolute and quiet in their woodland kingdoms, while dwarves have an entire culture of raging slayers dedicated to fighting the monstrous evil which is most likely to manifest in subterranean realms. Haflings remain an innocent and prideful folk known for their food, especially with their trade as feast masters.

The human kingdoms of the west (sure, why not) are dominated by a feudal society of knights. clerics and fighters; an entire special order of undead slayers has worked long and hard to stop the encroaching undead that are a byproduct of the Old Ones' manifestation. To the east is an island kingdom of isolated but powerful warrior samurai and their enclaves of militant monks. Thieves are everywhere, of course, that there is civlization. Lastly there is an old way, the pagan beliefs the druids vehemently adhere to with their elven allies.

Campaign by Class Example #2:

For this one I go limited (1D6+3) and exclude core classes except if it makes sense. I roll and get 8. For the classes I roll D100 and get:

Alienist, Half-Elf, Shootist, Ranger, Watchman, Fighter, Illusionist, Commander.

Nice list!

This is a world without demihumans...except for half-elves. I'm excluding regular elves (so no core classes that aren't rolled), which means in this world elves are an aloof mystery race of fey who are unsuitable for mortal minds to play as characters....but the idea of half-elves being viable is cool, so they are the product of baby-swapping unions with elven fey and humans; half-elves in this world are changeling, essentially.

Mages are limited to illusionists and alienists....this is a world where magic is either insubstantial and limited to the trickery of illusion and enchantment, but real mages go for broke and contact alien entities to secure their powers.

For fighter types we have the shootist, ranger, watchman, fighter and commander....this is suggestive of a magic-light world, one in which swordsmanship and a brace of pistols make right over magic. I'm inclined to allow thieves in to the mix as well, but for now, they can sit this one out (thieves exist, just not as honorable adventurers unless a player convinces me otherwise). There are no noble classes, either: this world is a rough place, and it is likely that skill and determination make a man rather than bloodline inheritance.

The shootist suggests a higher level of technology, which could play into the weak magic idea; magic is no longer a force in this world, or never was, but alchemy has turned in to chemistry and engineering for many, leading to a renaissance period and the development of more efficient and deadly weapons. Watchmen are another interesting idea: in this world they may be the ordinary men and women who not only look out for thieves and cut-throats but also keep a vigilant eye for the evils of alienist magic or the ever-dangerous fey which steal children and bring them back "touched."

Rangers meanwhile remain a "wilderness" version of the watchmen.....looking for the monsters in the wilderness that might rise up to destroy remote settlements on the edge of civilization.

Best of all, this is a world with no religion or gods of any import: there is no clerical magic at all! With no PC clerics or healers, the world really is a grim land, a universe where whatever gods are worshipped are uncaring and bequeath no power to followers. The alien minds the alienists reach out to for power may be as closes as it gets....and even they may find little interest in this universe. Or...maybe they have already destroyed the benevolent gods of this realm, and quietly bide their time for when the world is ripe for their cosmic arrival at the end times.

I kind of want to run this campaign now.....hmmmm.....!

Capsule Review: Class Compendium for Labyrinth Lord and B/X D&D

The Class Compendium from Barrel Rider Games is at last available in a print format. As I understand it this is a compendium of prior classes which were sold individually, although it looks to me like there's a whole lot more in here....235 pages' worth, in fact. It's available in print and PDF for $29.99 or PDF only for $9.99. If you do a lot of OSR gaming, I suggest a print copy for the table.

The Class Compendium is aimed directly at Labyrinth Lord but as with most OSR content you can adapt it with minimal fuss to your preferred brand of retroclone (or just use it straight up with B/X D&D). Here's a quick run-down on the book's contents:

4 new wizard classes (alienist, familiar, thopian gnome, wild wizard)
3 new dwarf classes (ragins layer, runesmith, warchanter)
4 new elf classes (dark elf, greensinger, half-elf, sylvan elf)
5 new halfling classes (burglar, feast master, huckster, lucky fool, tavern singer)
4 new clerical classes (angel, friar, inquisitor, undead slayer)
3 new knight/fighter classes (commander, dragon slayer, knight)
5 new barbarian warrior type classes (barbarian, berserker, gladiator, samurai, sword master)
5 new monstrous classes (dragon, goblin, half-ogre, half-orc, treant)
3 classes based on the Lost Boys/Peter Pan (fairy, lost boy, pirate)
4 new thief type classes (acrobat, explorer, fortune teller, wanderer)
4 evil classes (cultist, damphir, death knight, eidolon)
4 urban adventurer classes (bandit, bard, bounty hunter, watchman)
4 victorian steampunk classes (automaton, investigator, metaphysician, shootist)
a page of new equipment (elf-shot bows and bullseye lanterns)
a page on mastery points and other classes (using some sword master class rules to enhance core classes)
three pages on firearms rules (and 8 weapons in detail) 
over 60 pages of spells (includes core LL spells and new spells; basically a spell compendium to support the classes in this tome)

That's a lot of stuff --52 new classes in total. What you get here is sufficient to provide a lot of flavor and thematic focus for any LL or B/X style campaign, and most of these classes (barring the racial classes) can be used as-is with Swords & Wizardry or OSRIC. The fact is....you could provide this book at your table, and baring specific setting limits (i.e. no monster or evil classes) you could readily end up with an entire table that does not contain a single one of the core classes in your campaign.

Without actually playtesting each class it's hard to comment on their mechanical viability, but each class I've read has distinct features and qualities to make them stand out from just playing "core." Nothing in particular looks overbearing....although I imagine you might not want to let someone roll up a death knight in your otherwise vanilla dungeon crawl, unless they plan on being the villain.

You could pick and choose classes from this book as well to flesh out a campaign idea: steampunk games, monster-centric games, urban adventures and even a setting focused entirely on non-magic users could be well supported with this book. The idea of a Lost Boys style Peter Pan adventure in Neverland is intriguing, too (sorry in an earlier blog I suggested you could to Alice in Wonderland due to a momentary brain lapse, I meant Peter Pan!)

Class Compendium also wisely avoids vampiric classes (which suffer in every iteration of D&D I've seen), although the damphir is done quite well.

Oddly there's only one east-Asian class here: the samurai. Perhaps a future tome will add the shukenja, wu-jen or kensai types that would let one flesh out a proper Asian fantasy campaign. Elves are another exception in this book: you get four new classes, but only one is a themed class (greensinger), whereas halflings get five unique classes and dwarves another three. So we now have "dark elf" for example, but no "dark elf ranger" or "dark elf matron" or even something like a bladesinger.

There are also a lot of spells....a huge number in fact, but many are reprinted from LL, adding the additional details necessary to support the classes in this tome. As such, if you have a spell casting character from this book, you can also use the Class Compendium to manage his spell lists.

In terms of style and art, the book is utilitarian in design, easy to print out if you choose not to go with a POD option, and the art is a mix of creative commons, royalty free and commissioned art....all of it looks good, nothing offensive or tonally off.

If you're like me and always felt that the racial classes of B/X D&D were the major stumbling block to properly enjoying the game, then Class Compendium definitely helps fix that. If you like diversity in class options, this book is for you. My advice is: get this, you will find it well worth your investment. A+

The OSR Resource Page

This page will serve as the permanent index for the OSR content that has appeared on the Realms of Chirak Blog. Throughout my blog there are more general discussions, rants and raves about these systems, but this link list is specifically aimed at gathering up crunchy resources for your ease of reference and use.



Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons and Labyrinth Lord Resources

The Basic/Expert project is a recent thing I decided to do, as I have grown a new appreciation for the books that got me into D&D in the first place:

Part VI: The Minotaur Racial Class

I love minotaurs as optional PCs, and here's how Id' do it in B/X.

Part V: Grave Knights

The Grave Knight makes the leap from Pathfinder to B/X D&D

Part IV: Valgos, Slayer of Elves

An orcish NPC villain for B/X D&D

Part III: Orc Racial Classes

Orcs get a PC/NPC treatment with actual racial classes

Part II: Multiclassing

Multiclassing ideas and rules for B/X D&D

Part I: The Start, Sample PCs, and more

A general discussion of what I'm up to and some characters I rolled up



Swords & WIzardry Complete Resources:

S&W Rules for the Ages of Lingusia

I published all of my custom house rules here, derived from my original 1e and 2E house rules and updated for S&W Complete.

Combat Maneuvers in S&W

Some new combat rules I employ with S&W COmplete

Lawful Kinded of Lingusia

First of three S&W Complete updates for races in my campaign

Neutral Kindred of Lingusia

The second such update.

Chaotic Kindred of Lingusia

The third such update.


Stats for the Legendary Rogue Wormi Vellsoth in Lingusia

A famous character turned NPC in my Lingusia campaign. Alas he's the only one I took time to stat out in S&W.




Castles & Crusades Resources:

The Lair of Gug and the Lost Shrine of Degalthor

A module built using Engineering Dungeons for C&C

The Hexblade

A sword-wielding mage for C&C

Malfeus Thorne

An NPC hexblade for C&C




Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and OSRIC Resources:

The Hexblade Class for AD&D

Hexblades revisited once more

The Fearsome Four

NPCS in Lingusia for AD&D

The Basic/Expert D&D Project IV: Valgos, Slayer of Elves

And now, an orc villain using the orc racial class rules from yesterday!




Valgos, Slayer of Elves
Orc Level 4; Alignment: Chaotic
STR  18    +3 to hit, damage and opening doors; 10% XP bonus
DEX  12
CON  16    +2 HP/HD
INT   14     Languages: orcish, common (middle tongue), abyssal (chaotic), elvish
WIS   10
CHA   15   +1 reaction (with monsters; -1 humans)
HPs     30   AC 2 (plate mail)
Orc Traits: infravision 120', light blindness (-1 attacks in daylight), -2 reaction modifier in human lands
Weapons: battle axe +1 (1D8+4; THAC0 11), crossbow (1D6; THAC0 15) with 20 bolts
Wealth: bag of 150 gp, 10 rubies worth 50 GP each, and a helm of telepathy

Valgos is a brutal assassin for hire and mercenary dedicate to Baragnagor, the primal creator god worshipped by the orcs of Mitra's Forest. He seeks to slay one thousand elves with his bloody axe, a commitment made to his dark god in his youth in exchange for the enchanted weapon. So far he has worked hard to keep at it, with three hundred kills to date. He collects the ears of elves and strings them on long braids made from the hair of Volgra, the hill giant witch woman who lives in the foothills of the Chaos Mountains, whom he has been courting for better than a year now since she bested him in combat and let him live. He also uses his helm of telepathy, which he acquired from an elf he slew when he snuck into the lake town of Daggerlan during the infamous Hallow's Raid two years back. He has figured out how the helm works and uses it to his advantage to avoid ambushes and in tracking foes.

The Basic/Expert D&D Project III: The Orc Class

Who doesn't love playing an orc on occasion? In B/X D&D they're the second tier cannon fodder in low level adventures, one step up from goblins and kobolds. A chaotic race of barbaric beast men, orcs may or may not be the byproduct of genetic tampering from an alien wizard, or a long-mutated faction of brutal elves who succumbed to their dark magics. They may or may not be simple neanderthal off-shoots struggling against humanity and the rest of the world. They might even be potent invaders from another dimension, soldiers in an army of darkness that long ago were trapped in the human realm when bold heroes slew their demonic overlords and closed the abyssal gates. Orcs can be (and have been)  all of this and more.

In settings where being an orc is not inherently a sign of evil, or where orcish blood is not an immediate indication you must be attacked, then they might be permissable as player characters. In other realms where orcs are clearly the undisputed foes of civlization, humans, elves and dwarves then a DM might like a nice way to make some exceptionally skilled evil orc NPCs with a few levels under their belts. This class serves both purposes.

Orc Racial Class Requirements: Orcs have some minimums and maximums. No orc may have less than 9 constitution or strength. No orc may have greater than a 15 intelligence or wisdom. Orcs can have whatever charisma they like (but see below), and high-charisma orcs tend to manipulate and control henchmen through force of personality, fear and terror. An orc with a strength and constitution of 13 or better gains a 5% XP bonus for prime requisites. An orc with a further 16 in either stat gains a 10% bonus.

Optional Rolling Conventions: If you want to guarantee an orc, roll 2D6+1D3 for wisdom and intelligence. Roll 8+1D10 for strength and constitution.

Class Traits: Orc adventurers have a D8 hit die. They advance as fighters for purposes of level advancement, saving throws and XP requirements, but refer to the monster attack chart for attack rolls (use level in place of hit dice). Like fighters orcs can use any weapons or armor, although they most prefer the conventional swords, spears, axes and clubs. Orcs are not keen on the use of more sophisticated weaponry such as siege weapons and will avoid using such artillery unless their intelligence is 13 or better.

Orcs have infravision to 120 feet and can see exceptionally well in total darkness. They are nocturnal by nature and intensely dislike direct sunlight. An orc fighting in direct sunlight suffers a -1 modifier to attack rolls.

Orcs suffer from violent, surly and combative natures. As orcs are largely a pariah in human lands, they never gain a positive modifier to reaction rolls due to high charisma against non-monstrous creature encounters. They use the normal reaction modifier when interacting with other orcs and monstrous humanoids, however. Additionally, most orcs are at least chaotic, and a few might be neutral. A lawful orc is a true rarity in most cases.

Orcs start with two languages: common and orcish. Alignment languages, if used, allow the orc to start with chaotic as well. A surprising number of smart orcs will also learn elvish, if only to taunt their enemies.

Orcs may advance to 8th level in most circumstances, but the DM can rule that an orc with 16 or better strength and constitution can reach level 12.



Sample Orc PC:

Spraggus Gazpatch'nor, exile of the Wolfgut Clan
Orc adventurer Level 1; Alignment: Neutral
STR  16    +2 to hit, damage and opening doors; 10% XP bonus
DEX  10
CON  13    +1 HP/HD
INT   12    Languages: orcish, common (middle tongue), abyssal (chaotic)
WIS    7    -1 saves vs. Magic
CHA   9
HPs     9   AC 5 (chain)
Orc Traits: infravision 120', light blindness (-1 attacks in daylight), -2 reaction modifier in human lands
Weapons: Sword (1D8+2; THAC0 16), bandolier of 6 throwing daggers (1D6+2; THAC0 18 thrown or 16 melee)

Spraggus Gazpatch'nor (loosely translated as "eater of goblins," an old family name) was exiled after a thew war party he belonged to found out he had spared a basement of human and elvish women and children in a raid on a nearby settlement. When he found the basment of cowering fairfolk something in him snapped, and he could no longer find himself believing in the ways of his people or their dedication to the Necromancer of the Caves. He confessed his shaken confidence to the tribal witch doctor Grome, who cast him out in exile rather than sentence him to death in the arenas, possibly because the witch doctor knew Spraggus was secretly his son from illicit affair, and wished to save him instead. Spraggus now wanders human lands, swathed in thick robes and working as a nameless mercenary for hire.



Variant Orc Racial Classes:

Orc Magus: There are occasional orcs with some sorcerous talent. Such an orc must have an intelligence of 13 or better. He loses all fighter traits and gains all magic user class traits instead, retaining infravision, daylight sensitivity and reaction adjustments from the base class. His advancement is as a wizard, and he can reach level 6 as a mage. The orc magus gains the saves and attack tables of a magic user.

Orc Thug: the thieves of orcish culture are feared by most. The orc loses his fighter traits, replacing them with thief traits instead. An orcish thug has the hit dice, advancement, skills and back stabbing features of the thief in place of the fighting talents he gave up. Such orcs are able to advance to 14th level as thieves. They still advance as monsters for purposes of attack tables, but gain the thief saving throws.

Orcish Witch Doctor: The clerics of orc civilization replace the fighter traits of the base orc, replacing those traits with the cleric. The orc gains the hit dice, attack tables, spell advancement and turning of a cleric, but orcish witch doctors can use any weapon and armor in accordance with the brutal gods of the orcs. Any chaotic witch doctor may use the reverse form of turn undead, control undead, in which a successful turn means that the witch doctor instead gains control of the undead for 1D6 turns, after which they will regain self-control and on a poor reaction roll may attack the witch doctor. On a "D" attempt the control lasts one or more days, and the undead rolls save vs. spells once per day to see if the effect ends.

The Half Orc Option: 

Byproducts of the unfortunate predilection for raping and pillaging among orcish war clans in human and elven territories, it is a rare creature that is born into the world a half orc. Half orcs are treated as humans for purposes of character generation, meaning they pick from the four base classes and go from there. However, half orcs gain the following traits due to their unfortunate heritage:

Half orcs must have at least 9 in strength and constitution. Half orcs may not have more than 16 in charisma, but their human heritage has improved their overall potential intelligence and wisdom.

Half orcs have partial night vision, infravision to 60 feet. They do not suffer from daylight blindness. Half orcs do suffer from the orcish -2 reaction modifier in both polite company and among true orcs, though any community which learns to respect the half orc will not apply the penalty any further. Pure orcish communities may accept a half-breed for his orcish heritage, but still disdains him as a lesser being.

Despite their human heritage, half orcs have trouble making it beyond 12th level as magic users and clerics, and may only do so if their intelligence or wisdom is greater than 16, respectively. They have no such limits when becoming fighters and thieves.

The Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons Project Part I

As a fun side project I've been messing around with some ideas about how to use the Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons sets in as purist a fashion as possible while still "doing it the way I used to" back in the early eighties. That is, by creating an unholy union between AD&D for "stuff" and B/X D&D for "rules." When I realized a few months back that the reason I remembered those game days so fondly was because I actually did tend to play this way, cherry-picking classes, races, monsters and some rules from AD&D, but leaning on B/X for the "final call" and all mechanical decisions.

Side Note: the clean PDF copies over at dndclassics.com are good enough to print. Which I have done. My printed and tape-bound copies of the Basic and Expert sets along with the much lauded Night's Dark Terror (which I have never previously owned) are in convenient physical form. They are very clean and easy to read, so the new PDFs are well worth it.

Anyway, I've been toying with the idea of blending B/X D&D with the Advanced Edition Companion for Labyrinth Lord. The other possibility was Swords & Wizardry Complete, but that sort of holds its own rather well, and all I actually want is to have B/X D&D presented as "core" with a set of additional rules that will allow for paladins, monks, assassins and rangers if people want to play those classes; and also a way for people to play an elf who can pick locks or a dwarf who prefers something less dramatic than a battle axe, should they so desire. The fact that LL assumes you can blend and mix both AD&D-style classes and classic B/X racial classes is just an extra perk.

Advanced Edition Companion also has all the creepy demons and devils that B/X D&D never got. It's pretty much got "all the extra stuff" that one could want to pilfer from AD&D and stick into B/X, which is pretty cool. and I can slap on Realms of Crawling Chaos as well if I see fit to do so.

Neat.

Now all I need to do is find some willing victims. I've got two nice groups right now...but my Tuesday night group has a few players who do not want to go back to the old days (and before you ask, they are all older gamers than I, who are pretty well set on exploring the Hot Newness over the Old Classics). My Wednesday regulars are all dedicated to Pathfinder. Well....maybe I can get something up on some late week night...or even take the plunge and try somehow to figure out the best way to run games online (Google Hangouts seems like a good place).

Here's a few B/X D&D starter pregens I worked up for this hypothetical game I'm bandying about. Note that they are built for the Warlords of Lingusia setting (the campaign which was born in Basic D&D back in 1980), and are pure B/X in design (barring some language issues; I am treating "chaotic" as Abyssal and "lawful" as Primordial, because I have never been able to accept alignment languages as anything that made even remote sense). I really enjoy remembering how quickly characters roll up in B/X.

Oh, they all got max HPs too. Just seemed right to grant this....poor B/X adventurers are pathetic enough at level 1 without some decent hit points!

Notarios

Elven adventurer, male                      Level 1                        Alignment lawful

STR      15        +1 (hit, damage, open doors)

DEX     14        +1 missile, -1 AC, +1 Init

CON    12       

INT      9          Languages: Middle Tongue, elvish, primordial (law), orcish, hobgoblin, gnollish

WIS     8          -1 save vs. magic

CHA     14        +1 reaction

HPs      6          AC       3

Elven Traits: infravision 60 feet, detect secret doors 2 in 6 chance, immune to paralysis

Spell Book: Sleep

Weapons: Sword (1D8+1; THAC0 19), Long Bow (1D6; THAC0 19), quiver w/40 arrows

Armor: Chainmail and shield

Gear: backpack, 50’ rope, 2 weeks rations, 2 large sacks, waterskin

Wealth: 49 gp

Notarios is a journeyman traveler from Yllmar, a high elf and practiced swordmage seeking to make a reputation for himself.

Grelfaine

Halfling adventurer, male      Level 1                        Alignment chaotic

STR      11                                                             Prime Requisite Bonus +5% xp

DEX     17        +3 missile, -2 AC (-4 vs.  large foes), +2 Init (these include halfling bonuses)

CON    10

INT      12        Languages: Middle Tongue (common), Halfling

WIS     14        +1 save vs. magic

CHA     6          -1 reaction

HPs      6          AC       2

Halfling traits: 10% chance of being spotted in the wilderness, only 2 in 6 indoors w/normal light

Weapons: Short sword (1D6; THAC0 20), Crossbow (1D6; THAC0 17), quiver w/30 bolts

Armor: Chainmail and shield

Gear: backpack, 2 flasks of oil, 24 iron spikes, hammer, lantern, 2 weeks rations, 50’ rope, waterskin,

Wealth: 68 gp

Grelfaine is a young Halfling adventurer from coastal Golmadras who ran afoul of the law. He’s now on a journey of discovery….to discover his fortune, that is!

Saddarus

Human Magic User, male      Level 1                        Alignment lawful

STR      8          -1 (hit, damage, open doors)            Prime Requisite Bonus +10% xp

DEX     14        +1 missile, -1 AC, +1 Init

CON    12

INT      17        Languages: Middle Tongue, Old Tongue, Abyssal (chaotic), Elvish, Primordial

WIS     14        +1 save vs. magic

CHA     16        +1 reaction

HPs      4          AC       8

Spell Book: Charm Person

Weapons: silver dagger (1D4-1, THAC0 21), 3 regular daggers

Armor: Clothing

Gear: backpack, 2 flasks of oil, lantern, 2 weeks rations,  waterskin, 10’ wooden pole

Wealth: 111 GP

Saddarus is a student of the magical arts from the mountain city of Senempar and a practiced traveler who has been to several major city ports working as an apprentice and courier for his old master. He now seeks his own way, having bought out his contract of indenturment.

Korleska Dann Terenos

Human Fighter, female                      Level 1                        Alignment chaotic

STR      16        +2 (hit, damage, open doors)                        Prime Requisite Bonus +10% xp

DEX     12       

CON    12

INT      9          Languages: Middle Tongue, Orcish

WIS     7          -1 save vs. magic

CHA     12       

HPs      8          AC       3

Weapons: 2-H Sword (1D10+2; THAC0 18), Crossbow (1D6; THAC0 20), quiver w/30 bolts

Armor: platemail

Gear: backpack, 2 flasks of oil, 24 iron spikes, hammer, lantern, 2 weeks rations, 50’ rope, waterskin,

Wealth: 30 gp

Korleska is a practiced Hyrkanian soldier of noble blood, hailing from the city of Kymir. She took a liking to Saddarus and his been acting as his bodyguard..for now.

Senespur

Human thief, male                  Level 1                        Alignment neutral

STR      11                                                                Prime Requisite Bonus +10% xp

DEX     17        +2 missile, -2 AC, +1 Init                    

CON    15        +1 HP/hit die

INT      15        Languages: Middle Tongue, Golmadran, Orcish

WIS     11

CHA     16        +1 reaction

HPs      5          AC       5

Thief Skills: Open Locks 15%; F/R Traps 10%; Pick Pockets 20%; Move silently 20%; Climb 87%; Hide/Shadows 10%; Hear Noise 1-2; Sneak Attack +4 to hit, double damage

Weapons: Short sword (1D6; THAC0 20), Crossbow (1D6; THAC0 18), quiver w/30 bolts, 4 daggers (1D4)

Armor: leather

Gear: backpack, 2 flasks of oil, 24 iron spikes, hammer, lantern, 2 weeks rations, 50’ rope, waterskin, thieves tools

Wealth: 41 gp

Senespur is a Kymiri Hyrkanian and notorious local second-story man who’s looking to make his fortune by any means possible. He will not admit it, but he is Saddarus’s older half-brother, and feels a measure of responsibility for his younger but wiser sibling.

Starships & Spacemen 2E

I grabbed this today, one of "Dad's Xmas gifts" to himself: Starships & Spacemen, 2nd edition from Daniel Proctor and co. at Goblinoid Games (PDF here). It's the official second edition to a game which came out back in...ah...1979? And which Goblinoid Games bought the rights to and rereleased in all its typewriter-font glory a little while back. The 2nd edition is a classy revision, with the rules heavily upgraded and made compatible with Labyrinth Lord, although it looks like the rules, while compatible, aren't sacrificing SF-flavor just to be easily meshed with LL.

Anyway, it's a rip off...um, homage to Star Trek, and even includes things like a random alien forehead bump generation table so you can find out what your alien of the week looks like. Great stuff, I feel like running a campaign with this By The Book already, set in the mysterious parallel universe of Space Fleet!

It's also gotten my mind off of the horrendous tragedies of late, so another big plus. Goblinoid Games continues to deliver fun stuff that prays on nostalgia but in a good way....Rotworld was my last purchase from them (also a great game), and I have been waiting to see what was next from them, and S&S 2E was well worth it.