Gary Con XVI

Gary Con XVI was held this past weekend in Lake Geneva.  By all accounts, the gathering was a success, although sadly tempered by the recent passing of Jim Ward.

Celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons

My friends and I remained in Lake Geneva between Founders & Legends and Gary Con, signing up for a game with Bill Webb on Tuesday, and playing Dragonchess in the Legends of Wargaming room on Wednesday.

Against the Legion of Doom!

The Bonecrushers, a unit of ettin skirmishers, attacks!

The first game I ran was a Battlesystem scenario from X10 "Red Arrow, Black Shield", a sequel to last year's "The Black Eagle Banner", drawn from the same module.

The event was great fun, and only possible through the support of Doug Behringer, who once again lent me the miniatures necessary to stage the event.

As I was photocopying some additional reference sheets in the GMs Lounge, who should I bump into but Douglas Niles, who kindly signed my copy of the Battlesystem rulebook!

The Best Laid Schemes:

Illustration by Jennell Jacquays

An hour after concluding my miniatures scenario, I ran "The Wererats of Relfren" using BECMI (including rules for unarmed combat and weapon mastery).

It was fun to watch the players solve the mystery, although we couldn't finish the entire scenario within the four-hour time slot (even playing for an extra hour).

The town and its inhabitants really came to life, and I highly recommend using this adventure, although one should plan for two sessions.

The Wish, Part 2:

The ground floor of the gnome wizard's tower.

The following morning, I was fortunate enough to be able to walk up to a seat at "The Wish, Part 2" run by none other than Harold Johnson.

This AD&D 1e scenario was highly entertaining, not only due to it's use of miniatures and dioramas, but also because it's a truly excellent adventure.

The event was dedicated to the memory of Keith Polster.

In Pursuit of the Slayer:

On Friday afternoon, I ran "In Pursuit of the Slayer" by Carl Sargent, another BECMI scenario from the pages of Dungeon magazine.

As with "The Wererats of Relfren" I used pregens from AC1 "The Shady Dragon Inn", modified by adding wrestling ratings and weapon mastery.

It's a fast-paced adventure, and the group fired through it, finishing well within the four-hour time slot.

Nexus of Elder Evil:

My high school friends and I participated in the 6th Annual Gary Con, Legends of Roleplaying Tournament, along with Zach Howard of Zenopus Archives and co.

The scenario represented a sequel of sorts to last year's "Ruins of Elder Evil" and was, as usual, deviously conceived.

Despite a great start, we became stymied by one of the puzzles, and failed to complete the scenario, tying for 11th place among 16 teams (a better showing than last year!)

Warriors of Mars:

A unit of tharks mounted upon thoats.

As a big ERB fan, I needed to participate in this event, using the "Warriors of Mars" rules by Gary Gygax and Brian Blume.

Our host owns a fantastic set of Barsoomian miniatures, and runs the scenario every year.

The event was a lot of fun, and I'm eager to share photographs with members of the ERB fan community, one of whom owns a complete set of Heritage miniatures.

The Voyage of the Theseus:

On Saturday afternoon, I signed up for a Call of Cthulhu game "The Voyage of the Theseus".

The scenario begins on the colony ship Theseus in the year 2100, when orders arrive to intercept a mysterious object that is approaching our solar system.

The game was a fitting blend of science fiction and Lovecraftian horror, and was quite memorable.

Orc's Drift:

A unit of orcs attacks the enemy

The final event at Gary Con for us this year, and quite literally the grand finale, was a game of "Orc's Drift" on Saturday night.

We took control of various contingents of orcs attempting to overrun a tiny but well-defended enemy supply depot, using the Chainmail rules.

Highly recommended, for anyone who hasn't yet participated in this Gary Con tradition.

Seminars:

Between all the time devoted to gaming, my friends and I were able to attend a couple of panels featuring Ed Greenwood.

As usual, another memorable Gary Con in Lake Geneva!

Founders & Legends

Founders & Legends was held this past weekend in Lake Geneva.  I was able to convince two of my high school buddies to make the pilgrimage, in honor of D&D's 50th.

Celebrating 50 years of Dungeons & Dragons

Tomb of Ra-Hotep:

The first game I ran was Alan Lucien's "Tomb of Ra-Hotep", which famously served as the inspiration for Gary Gygax's "Tomb of Horrors".

The players did a great job navigating the hazards of the tomb, and through a combination of luck and skill, were able to defeat the lich!

I plan to post a more detailed writeup, in the days to come.

The Chapel of Silence:

The Chapel of Silence, illustration by Rager Raupp, from Dragon #50 (June, 1981)

I've run "The Chapel of Silence" a couple of times, before.  It's a well-conceived mini-scenario, with some original bits, and a tough boss encounter.

We used pre-generated 3rd level characters from the Holmes Ref 2.0 compilation, available at the Zenopus Archives website, with the addition of a 2nd level witch.

The players came close to disaster in the penultimate encounter, although thanks to good karma, were able to succeed in their quest.

Midnight at Bomour:

Our DM originally ran this adventure at Gen Con XVII in 1984, marking its 40th anniversary at Founders & Legends.

We used the pregens from S4 "The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth", so I got a chance to play Hockerbrecht, the half-elf fighter/magic-user/thief.

We had a great time, and encouraged our DM to consider publishing the scenario.

Caverns of Draconis:

This event was based on the "Caverns of Draconis" adventure, mentioned in Season 2, Episode 14 of NBC's "Community" TV series.

There is an actual "Caverns of Draconis" parody module, published by the Bugbear Brothers in 2021, on which our adventure was based.

I got a chance to play the paladin Duquesne of Clan Duquesne, (and was voted MVP!)

The Tower of Gygax:

Luke Gygax running "The Tower of Gygax"

One of my friends and I were pleasantly surprised to have Luke Gygax run our cohort of eight players through "The Tower of Gygax".

We survived an ambush of gnolls, only to be set upon by four giant spiders (my dwarf made five successful saves vs. poison).

Luke passed the baton to Curtis Cable, who did his best to seal our doom, although we managed to survive!

Seminars

One of the great things about old-school cons are the seminars.  We attended "The Next Wave: From Players to Creators" with Allan Hammack, Ed Greenwood, Erol Otus, and Mike Mearls, and "Ask Elminster Anything" with Ed Greenwood.

Siege of Bodenburg:

A view from the ramparts of the castle.

The highlight of our last day was a chance to play "Seige of Bodenburg", the game that inspired Jeff Perren and Gary Gygax to collaborate on the Chainmail rules.

Given out lack of familiarity with the rules, we were only able to play a few turns, but had lots of fun, nonetheless.

We'll also be attending Gary Con, this weekend, so stay tuned for another update!

Companion Set: Epilogue

The Companion Set concludes with a stirring epilogue:

A whole fantasy world is unfolding through these boxed D&D rules sets and adventures; you may use it with confidence. You can be sure that an exciting and challenging fantasy epic is unfolding, piece by piece; the early adventures in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos (of the D&D Expert Set) were just the beginning—the “Threshold” of fantastic adventure.

That setting is greatly affected by the fall of Black Eagle Barony described in this set (Scenario 3, pages 61-62). The Grand Duchy becomes united, peaceful, and therefore—from the adventurers’ point of view—boring! This sets the stage for expansion; your adventurers are ready to widen their horizons, to move on and explore (and possibly rule) the continent.

A map of a larger area, including most of the lands stretching north and west from the Duchy, is given on page 32 of the Players Book. You can use the map to develop your own campaign—or you can wait and see what develops through the continuing series of adventures. For this is the setting for the entire line of D&D game adventures from TSR!

The first Companion-level game adventure, “Test of the Warlords” (CM1) details the exploration and development of the lands of Norwold, the area directly north of the Expert Set map. Two great empires are in conflict, and this is the beginning of an epic tale of men and magic...but let us not say too much at this point. Continue with the series, and discover the mystery, the answers, and what lies beyond....

Take up your new weapons. Explore your added options of unarmed combat. Take command of the armies of the realm; you must confront and defeat the powers of evil! Fortify your strongholds, develop your lands; broaden your horizons. Plan your future, and achieve your goals. But most important of all —have fun!

Frank Mentzer, 1984 

Dungeon Masters Companion: Treasures

The treasure types tables in the Companion Set differ slightly from the versions given in the Basic Set, having been modified for the purposes of higher level play.

All magic items previously described in the Basic and Expert Sets are included, in addition to several new items, also usable in Basic and Expert level games.

Gems and Jewelry:

More valuable types of gems, including starstones (gems with star-like formations in the center) and tristals (rare forms of corundum) are included.

Descriptions for common, uncommon, and rare types of jewelry are given.

Rules for damaged gems and jewelry are provided.

Descriptions of special treasures (such as fur pelts) are also given.

Potions:

If a character drinks a potion while another is still in effect, immediate sickness results (no Saving Throw).  The sickness lasts for 3 turns, and neither potion has any further effect.

New types of potions include potions of agility, antidote, blending, bug repellent, climbing, defense, dreamspeech, elasticity, elemental form, ethereality, fortitude, freedom, luck, merging, sight, speech, strength, super-healing,* swimming,** water breathing.**

*listed in table, but description missing (appears in CM2 "Death's Ride")

**described in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron"

New rules for potions of dragon control (X), giant control (X), and longevity (B) are also given.

Scrolls: 

New types of scrolls include scrolls of communication, creation, delay, equipment, illumination, mages, mapping, portals, questioning, repetition, seeing, shelter, spell catching, trapping, truth

Wands, Staves, and Rods:

Rods are permanent items, and unlike wands or staves, do not have nor use any charges.

New types of staves include staves of dispelling, the druids, an element, harming.

New rules for staves of healing (B) and snake staves (B) are included.

New types of rods include rods of ruling, health, inertia, parrying, victory, weaponry.

New rules for rods of cancellation (B) are also given.

Rings:

New types of rings include ear ring, and rings of elemental adaptation,* holiness, life protection, memory, quickness, remedies, safety, seeing, spell eating, survival, truth, truthfulness, truthlessness.

*a ring of elemental adaption for water is described in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron"

New rules for rings of protection (B) and wishes (X) are also given.

Miscellaneous Items:

New miscellaneous magic items include undersea boat* (magical boats which travel only on ice, sand, in the air, and so forth are also suggested), chime of time, eggs of wonder, lamp of long burning, hurricane lamp, muzzle of training, finger nail, nail of pointing, ointment (6 types), pouch of security, quill of copying, slate of identification, talisman of elemental travel, wheel of floating, wheel of fortune,** square wheel

*described in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron"

**clearly inspired by the "Wheel of Fortune" game show

Armor and Shields:

New types of magic armor and shields include armor and shields of absorption, charm, cure wounds, electricity, energy drain, ethereality, fly, gaseous form, haste, invisibility, reflection, remove curse.

Encumbrance values for magic armor and shields by race are provided.

Missiles and Devices:

New types of magic missile weapons include missiles of biting, blinking, charming, climbing, curing, disarming, dispelling, flying, lighting, penetrating, refilling, screaming, seeking, sinking, slaying, spealing, stunning, teleporting, transporting, wounding.

Swords:

New talents include breathing, charming, deceiving, defending, deflecting, draining, extinguishing, finding, flaming, flying, healing, hiding, holding, lighting, silencing, slicing, slowing, speeding, translating, watching, wishing.

Miscellaneous Weapons:

Returning weapons are described,* as well as intelligent miscellaneous weapons.**

*a returning spear is described in X7 "The War Rafts of Kron"

**such as the Hammer of Vitroin in XS2 "Thunderdelve Mountain"

AC4 "The Book of Marvelous Magic"

Many people contributed ideas for miscellaneous magic items.  So many good ones arose that they couldn't possibly have fit in the COMPANION Set.  One much needed and included item is the slate of identification, for determining the names and effects of magic items.  The chime of time, eggs of wonder and a few others were also included; guess what a square wheel does!  With Gary's help, I wrote over 600 others for the Dungeon Master's Book of Marvelous Magic, a separate product coming next spring.

Frank Mentzer, Imagine #18 (September, 1984)