Word Search: LBB – Clerical Spells

A classic word search puzzle taken from the three little brown books (LBB) describing Original Dungeons and Dragons. This puzzle is the first of the series which will post on Wednesdays. Over the coming weeks, an additional 15 puzzles will be posted all derived from various tables, lists and text of the original volumes.

Download (PDF, 32KB)

Tweak and Tune: Labyrinth Lord Generators

As with all random generation systems, there are details which result that you just are not happy with. Tonight a few defective elements were tackled. #1 on the list was the Monster Stocker. Inline treasure generation was changed to be optional rather than assumed. Treasure should be a function of the situation not just implied by the default Hoard Class.

Next on the list was the over zealous approach to magical equipment for Non-Player Characters. The NPC code is utilized not only by the Monster Stocker but also by the NPC Generator. The original code used a fixed constant as a multiplier based on character level. The result was a lot of magic in far too many results. The replacement is an exponential function to significantly increase the odds high level NPCs have magic while eliminating many spurious results for lower levels. Additionally, the average magical bonus for equipment was changed to be more inline with charts.

Overall, the changes create far more useful results. The DM can always tweak up as desired but constant need for reduction was annoying. Erring on the low side is far more useful than being prolific.

If I were an academic…

Most projects I start, end quite quickly. Inspiration must be found immediately to translate into something worth doing. Otherwise its tossed in the mental bin. For several months, my intention was to read the LBB’s in detail and try to produce at least something of an opinion. The scribbled notes are as chaotic as the source material. Mostly the bits indicate, ‘ahh, that’s where that started’ followed shortly by a number of things marginally related to the original thought.

The realization nothing will come of the effort is not new. The notes sat patiently. Words on paper feel no rush to be consumed. They just are. Weeks later, I realized those words were lists. Annotations of tables and charts looking for an outlet. My pen wasn’t about to expose new knowledge. The words themselves were the discovery.

What to do with them? Hide them again under a pile of other paper? Nay, they were to be hidden amid other letters. I loved word search puzzles as a kid. The same era when the original tomes were scribed into lists. So I began something and while it can never be complete, thirty weeks of word search puzzles begin on Wednesday. The first 17 are derived directly from the LBB’s. Thirteen more were extracted from Greyhawk – Supplement I.

Do You Want to Play in Garbage?

I ripped off that intro to announce that Dylan Hartwell’s latest Labyrinth Lord™ module has been added to the ever expanding list of available modules. Dylan’s latest incarnation is completely different than what you would expect in a traditional setting and adventure. I’ll let it speak for itself.

The Horrendous Heap of Sixteen Cities!

Extending above a haze of reeking steam rise sixteen peaks of garbage magically transported from sixteen different cities. It spreads, like an ever-growing fungus, across the landscape, encompassing and corrupting nearly fifty square miles. Hideous flies, crows, and vultures circle the piles, perpetually avoiding garbage falling from magical portals thousands of feet in the air. Giant rats, skunks, maggots, and other manner of repugnant beasts scuttle about the surface, surviving off the offal. Underneath, giant worms crawl through the debris. Periodic explosions reform the horizon. Some cultures call it “Sheoal”, others “Kol Katta”. All, however, use the common vernacular “The Heap”. And everywhere its name is synonymous with “Hell”.

THE HORRENDOUS HEAP OF SIXTEEN CITIES! is a sandbox fantasy adventure. Contained within are original and terrifying monsters, maps of The Heap, and multiple adventures for months of play.

17 New Monsters
3 Maps
5 Detailed Non-Player Characters
More than 25 Original Illustrations
7 Plot Hooks

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The Horrendous Heap is available now on RPGNow.

Back to the Dungeon Zine

A couple of days ago, Eldrad of Back to the Dungeon released Volume I, Issue 1 of a zine of the same name. The free PDF is 42 pages of setting and writings from Eldrad’s The Little Barony Campaign. The layout borrows heavily from 1970-80’s documents. Welcome back, fixed sized fonts. Hello again, hand drawn maps, you’ve been missed.

I’ve only browsed thus far but love the look and feel. Reminds me of many coarse, rough documents I authored back in those days. Certainly, the document is on my to-read list.

Spell Scroll Generation and more on the to-do list…

Yesterday, I rolled out a spell scroll generator using the underlying 1E AD&D™ data handlers. Spell scrolls can be a pain to generate and I like a bit of randomness but in a constrained fashion. Thus, the spell scroll process garners a separate process from purely random generation of treasure.

On the treasure front, I requested and received permission to utilize the tables and information from the excellent Treasure supplement by Courtney Campbell of Hack & Slash fame. Courtney’s supplement uses alternatives to the standard categories of treasure. I do not plan to make a stand-alone generator but rather include the alternates in my AD&D™ 1E Treasure Generator (and perhaps the Labyrinth Lord™ one as well). The permission was granted with the condition I make no profit and appropriate credit is given. Not a problem. Mithril & Mages is 100% ad-free, 100% free to use, and has no intention of generating profit.

Finally, I received some feedback on the City Block Generator from Yendorma. The request was fairly simple: Add an ‘Everything’ style option to include all location types. I added that this evening. However, the entire process needs to be gutted and redone. The generator produces images, which was the purpose of a long dead collaborative project. Replacing images with a simpler output format should be easy…when I get the chance.

Remember the ‘Anything’ Items?

Ah, Unearthed Arcana, a bit of a mid-edition book. After the announcement that WoTC was reprinting the 1E books, I started flipping through the originals to see what I’d forgotten. Certainly, 1E UA isn’t going to be a part of the reprint from what I’ve seen.

Did anyone ever use any of the Anything Items — Anything Ring, Anything Miscellaneous Magic Item, Anything Armor, and Anything Sword? I cannot recall ever giving them out.

Skipping them was likely intentional. When you have players who know the list of items as well or better than you do, the anything rules allow an easy escape mechanism with a bit of thought.

I will not bash on the idea although I still find it strange. The items are reasonably constrained. The concept of characters (not players) having complete knowledge of the list of magic items is foreign to me. I suspect that’s why I never engaged the Anything item.