There were two great obsessions at the dawn of the Old School Renaissance: megadungeons and sandboxes. Each was a distinctive element of many of the foundational roleplaying game campaigns of the 1970s, like Blackmoor, Greyhawk, and Tékumel. Their rediscovery and promotion are among the lasting impacts of the OSR – so much so that both massive dungeons and open-ended hexcrawls are now permanent fixtures of the even wider RPG scene. 

More than a decade ago, Rob Conley wrote and published a supplement for use with Swords & Wizardry and other OD&D-descended fantasy roleplaying games which he entitled Supplement VI: The Majestic Wilderlands. I wrote a positive review of the book at that time and, having re-read it in preparation for doing this review, my opinion of it hasn't changed. If anything, I'd say my opinion has improved. A big reason for this is that it's very clear that it's the fruit of years of play, reflecting not just Conley's thoughts about what make good fantasy RPG rules but what has actually worked at his table over many years. As I said in my original review, I'm not wholly on board with every design decision Conley made but so what? There's scarcely a RPG product with which I have no reservations and I imagine that's the case for most people. In the end, though, The Majestic Wilderlands was a well presented rules supplement informed by years of both thought and play.

Consequently, I was pleased to hear that Conley had produced a new iteration of his supplement, this one called The Basic Rules for the Majesty Fantasy RPG (hereafter Basic Rules). Taking the form of a 204-page digest-sized book, Basic Rules contains everything needed to generate characters of levels 1–5 and referee their adventures – classes, races, spells, combat rules, monsters, treasures, and more. Though based on Swords & Wizardry, just like The Majestic Wilderlands, it's fully – and easily – adaptable to any fantasy roleplaying game derived from the original 1974 rules. 

That said, I think it important to point out the Basic Rules is not a clone as usually understood but rather a specific iteration of the 1974 rules modified, augmented, and otherwise altered to bring them in line with Conley's Majestic Fantasy Realms setting. This is reflected in two ways. First, many elements of the rules presentation explicitly connects to the setting. For example, the cleric class is not generic but instead represents a member of the militant arm of the church of Delaquain. goddess of war and justice. Second, scattered throughout the text are asides called "Rob's Notes," where Conley offers insights into why he adopted certain rules or rules modifications. I was particularly taken with these, not just because I enjoy reading about how other referees think but also because they drew my attention to deviations from the way things are generally done in OD&D-descended RPGs. For instance, Conley explains why he chose the spells included on a random table for scrolls – a small point perhaps but one I appreciated nonetheless.

Given all this, one might reasonably wonder, "What distinguishes Basic Rules for any of the literally dozens of other variations on the 1974 rules?" It's a fair question and one that Conley anticipates in his foreword, where he explains

A central feature of my campaigns is allowing the players to "trash" the setting by making their mark. Sometimes they only impact a single locale; other times they impact entire regions. Because of this, what characters do outside of adventuring is important. To support this, I created an ability system to handle some of the many things players may attempt to do outside of combat or magic. 

"Abilities" are a bit like broad-based skills, something I have, in the past, been suspicious of adding to old school D&D. Six years of refereeing Empire of the Petal Throne, which includes a rudimentary skill system, has softened my stance on the matter and I better appreciate what Conley has done here. There are only twenty abilities and members of any class can attempt them, though each class gets certain bonuses when attempting those most closely associated with their training. Though many of the abilities are what one would expect – climbing, perception, physician – others, such as haggling or herblore are not. These unexpected ones often relate to "what characters do outside of adventuring" and, I suspect, tie into systems like magic item creation that might get more fully fleshed out in a future Advanced Rules. Even without such a thing, I found them well chosen and their in-game uses well explained.

Even more interesting in my opinion are the combat options of Basic Rules. While still conforming to the overall texture of OD&D-style combat, Basic Rules introduces numerous simple but useful wrinkles. Most weapons, for example, have unique characteristics that set them apart from others, providing bonuses (e.g. the mace's effectiveness against chain armor or a crossbow's greater accuracy) that make them attractive in certain situations. There are also expanded rules for shields, combat stunts, and critical hits/misses, each of which is simple in itself but, when taken together, adds real options to play. More importantly, they've clearly been added with care and an eye toward ease of use, injecting some much needed flavor into the often-bland 1974 combat system. 

This same care and sensitivity to ease of use can be found throughout the book. Equipment, magic, NPCs, monsters, treasures, and more contain subtle differences that are flavorful and reflective of Conley's own tastes while not being so far removed from the baseline most of his readers already know from having played other OD&D descendants. Reading through Basic Rules, it quickly became clear to me what Conley's campaigns are like – open-ended, "sandboxy," and, above all, immersive in the setting itself – qualities very near and dear to my own heart. If you too have a fondness for campaigns of this sort and are looking for a supplement to inspire you, The Basic Rules for the Majestic Fantasy RPG might be exactly what you're looking for.

Since 2017, Monkeyblood Design has been detailing the Midderlands, "a twisted version of central England" as viewed "through grime-smeared spectacles." Though ostensibly written for use with Swords & Wizardry, all Midderlands products are easily adapted to your favorite OSR rules system. The latest release for the Midderlands is no different. 

Folk Magic of the Haven Isles (available in hardcover, softcover, and PDF) is a concise 60-page volume offering a collection of new options for magic-users, inspired by the folklore of the actual British Isles (called the Haven Isles in the Midderlands setting). Written by Richard Marpole and with full color illustrations by Glynn Seal, Folk Magic is delightful, filled with not only intriguing takes on magic but the same quirky charm found in all the Midderlands books – a twisted (semi)historical fantasy with bits of absurd, Pythonesque humor.

More importantly, this is a book suffused with a refreshing specificity. Nearly everything in Folk Magic is inspired by real world myths and legends while still being accessible to those unfamiliar with them. In this way, the book avoids being generic and deracinated like so much fantasy these days. There's a groundedness to it all that, for me anyway, is a huge part of its appeal.

The meat of Folk Magic is the eleven new magical sub-classes it introduces. Each one is tied to the traditions of the Haven Isles, providing unique abilities and drawbacks, including spell options and casting styles. Fortunately, each sub-class generally takes up only one or two pages of text, ensuring that any new rules associated with them are straightforward and simple to employ. In most cases, the descriptions focus as much on flavor as on rules, which I think offers a great model to referees looking for ways to customize the magic-users of their own settings. 

The new sub-classes are:

• Appel Queen or King: Supernaturally inspired brewers (an option for beer making is provided)
• Bog Chanter: Knowers of the secrets of bogs and marshes.
• Braag: Magical tricksters who can change into donkeys
• Demon Slaves: Sorcerers who have aligned themselves with devilry in exchange for great power
• Faerie Bride or Bridegroom: Individuals who spent time in the realm of the Faeries
• Green Child: Children raised in the subterranean Middergloom and make their way to the surface
• Hermetic Magician: Learned scholars of the occult
• Masked Dancer: Magicians who draw power from the masks and costumes they don
• Peller: Cunning-folk steeped in the lore of their rural homes
• Sin Eater: Religious folk who acquire magical abilities by atoning for the sins of magicians
• Spae Wife: Prophets and weather diviners
• Stitch Witch: Magicians who demonstrate their powers through magical attire
• Toadman: Poisoners, gamblers, and con men with batrachian powers
• Wizard of the Cage: Sorcerers who tend to the sleeping knights fated to help the Haven Isles in its hour of greatest need

Knowledge Illuminates is the first adventure in the "One-Shot Adventure Series" by Tim Shorts. As its introduction explains, this means that it's intended to be completed in a single session of play. Written for Swords & Wizardry characters of 1st or 2nd level, the adventure describes a small wilderness and a one-level structure located within it, along with a new monster, magic item, spell, and medicinal plant. Despite this brevity -- the entire PDF is only 15 pages long, with a page devoted to both the cover and the Open Game License -- there's a surprising amount of suggested depth. This is due in no small part to little touches Shorts has placed throughout the text to aid the referee both in running the adventure and in fleshing out its environments and inhabitants. For example, a bandit hideout includes the following note at the end of its entry:

One bandit, James, a scrawny fellow, cannot keep his mouth shut. When the players talk he will call them names under his breath then deny he said anything.

It's a small thing, admittedly, but, in just two brief sentences, Shorts gives the referee the hook he needs to turn another ho-hum encounter with bandits into something more memorable. Touches like that can be found throughout Knowledge Illuminates and the adventure is the better for them.

As noted earlier, the adventure takes place in a small wilderness area, which consists of seven keyed areas, one of which is described in detail with a map of its own. This detailed area, Tergul's Workshop, was once home to a devout and secretly wealthy alchemist. A tragedy occurred in the Workshop, resulting in the unleashing of an evil force, as well as the deaths of Tergul and others. The aftermath of that tragedy is still apparent when the PCs stumble across the ruined Workshop and it provides the framing device for this location-based module.

Given its explicit purpose as a single-session adventure, Knowledge Illuminates is necessarily limited in its scope. Tergul's Workshop has only eleven rooms, the bulk of which are uninhabited. However, many of these rooms contain mysteries, or at least hidden elements, pertaining to the tragedy that led to the destruction of the Workshop and those within it. Indeed, these mysteries provide ready-made hooks for spin-off adventures that, depending on the wishes of the referee, could conceivably occupy the characters for some time. Likewise, the implied setting of Knowledge Illuminates, which incorporates elements from Rob Conley's Blackmarsh OGL setting, was actually of interest to me, which is unusual in adventures designed to be easily transportable to a referee's home campaign with a minimum of fuss.

The 15-page PDF is no frills. The two-column layout is nothing fancy and the artwork consists entirely of clipart. The maps are all excellent, though, being the work of Rob Conley, whose clean and straightforward style I find both easy on my aging eyes and useful in play. Of course, it's the text of Knowledge Illuminates that is the main attraction here and I'm happy to say it does not disappoint. Shorts's writing is spare and unornamented but that's no criticism. In an adventure this short, there's no room for purple prose. Yet, as I commented earlier, there's nevertheless a lot of detail and inspiration to be found in this brief module, making it one of the more evocative short adventures I've read in some time.

Presentation: 5 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 7 out of 10

Buy This If: You're looking for a well-made and intriguing short adventure for low-level characters to drop into your campaign.
Don't Buy This If: You prefer adventures to be longer or have no need for a beginning-level adventure of any length.

Looks like the long-awaited updating of Necromancer Games's The Tome of Horrors is almost upon us -- this time with a version converted to Swords & Wizardry. As its title suggests, this update includes material not just from the original The Tome of Horrors, but also from volumes II and III. The whole thing is apparently 1,000 pages long and is available for pre-order for $89.99 until June 1, 2011, after which the price will increase by $10.

I consider The Tome of Horrors one of the best books produced during the 3e era and an invaluable resource to the old school community, since it opens up a large number of classic monsters that weren't included in the D20 SRD. So, it's great that Frog God Games is again going to make these monsters available to gamers who didn't buy it the first time around.

On the other hand, by combining it with the second and third volumes, both of which were good but nowhere near as essential, they've boosted the pagecount -- and sticker price -- to ridiculous heights. I honestly cannot imagine using a 1000-page book, even as a reference. Likewise, paying nearly $100 (more, once shipping is factored in) isn't something I could countenance for almost any RPG-related product, so I'll be giving this one a pass. With luck, there will be a PDF version of The Tome of Horrors available at some point and, if it's priced reasonably, I may pick it up.

I get a lot of requests for reviews, often of products I've never heard of or likely wouldn't have purchased even if I had heard of them. That's by no means an indictment of any -- well, most -- of these products. I mention it only because there is a happy side effect: I can be surprised. Such was the case with Scott Casper's Hideouts & Hoodlums, an old school superhero RPG based on Swords & Wizardry. I had some dim recollection of the game, based on having read a post on the OD&D Discussion forum (I believe) about it, but I hadn't given it much thought until I received copies of the three PDFs that make up the game.

In the interests of honesty, I'll admit that I initially wasn't very enthusiastic about reading, let alone reviewing, H&H. I'm not a huge superheroes gamer, I don't use Swords & Wizardry, and the PDFs are decidedly hobbyist products, being just a step above word processor outputs with some simple sketches and grainy comic panels inserted to break up the text. But, as I read the text itself, I found my initial, superficial reaction quickly melting away. It's true that Hideouts & Hoodlums could never pass muster as a "professional" product. Of course, neither could the LBBs and those amateurish staple-bound booklets remain among the most imaginative products of this hobby of ours. Hideouts & Hoodlums likely won't set the world on fire the way the LBBs did, but they contain enough of interest to old school gamers at a very low price -- $6 for all three PDFs -- that they shouldn't be dismissed simply based on their appearance.

Like OD&D, Hideouts & Hoodlums consists of three volumes, the first of which, entitled Men and Supermen, is 60 pages long. The first volume presents character generation, whose broad outlines should be familiar to anyone who's played any old school version of D&D. While the six randomly generated ability scores are identical to those of D&D, the class and race options are different. There are three classes: fighters, magic-users, and superheroes. Fighters are more or less as in OD&D and are intended to represent soldiers, police officers, and similar physically-oriented but otherwise normal characters. Magic-users, again, are similar to their OD&D counterparts, though the spells available are different and that affects the flavor of the class, which has more in common with stage magicians and "occult investigators" than with Merlin or Mazirian. Superheroes are a new class entirely, though they're clearly based on OD&D clerics, acquiring powers from a list as they advance in level (and starting with 0 powers at 1st level). Race options include humans, aliens (think Superman), androids (think the original Human Torch), and Mermen (think the Sub-Mariner).

Combat is much as you'd expect in an OD&D-derived game, with a few alterations here and there to accommodate modern weaponry. More interesting are the additions of simple morale and fatigue systems, along with a very clever saving throw system. Rather than using the traditional categories, Hideouts & Hoodlums uses five of its own: save vs. poison, save vs. missiles, save vs. science, save vs. spells, and save vs. plot, the latter of which is used whenever a player wishes his character to break a genre convention, such as giving away his secret identity or attempting to engage the villain before first attacking his henchmen. I'll admit to mixed feelings about genre emulation mechanics, but, at the same time, the plot saving throw is so elegantly done that I'm more willing to forgo my usual concerns. I should note, though, that H&H uses the single saving throw number from standard Swords & Wizardry and the categories I mentioned are merely conceptual ones rather than separate target numbers. Even more clever is the system for "wrecking things," which is available only to superheroes. The system consists of a table -- derived on the cleric's turning table -- that divides objects into categories of increasing difficulty, with doors at one end and dams at the other. To successfully wreck an object, a 1D20 roll is made and the table consulted. It's an elegant way to handle a common element of superhero comics.

Rounding out the first book are descriptions of a superhero's powers and a magic-user's spells. Many of these are based on OD&D spells, but many are original (like the 2nd-level power raise elephant, which allows the character to lift an object up to 8 tons above his head and has as a side effect convincing any drunks who witness the feat to swear off booze forever). Both powers and abilities are fairly low-key, or at least lower-key than one might expect if one comes to Hideouts & Hoodlums expecting a game of modern superheroics. H&H clearly aims to emulate the Golden Age of comics, with its masked mystery men and a Superman who could only "leap tall buildings in a single bound" rather than fly over them. In that context, I think the powers and spells succeed admirably and many contain lots of nice little bits of flavor, such as the one I mentioned earlier. My only real complaint is that superheroes must select powers beforehand like spells and, once used, cannot use that power again until the next day. I fully understand why this was done and can even see some justification for it within the source material, but it still feels off to me on some level, but perhaps this is just an area where I've too fully internalized modern interpretations of superheroes.

The second volume, Mobsters and Trophies is 70 pages long and describes a wide variety of opponents for use against the PCs, many of them familiar D&D monsters reworked comic book-style and others wholly derived from the source material, such as Fu Manchus, Half-Pints, and Ultra-Mad Scientists. "Trophies" are treasures of various sorts, from ordinary, if impressive, pieces of equipment to super-tech to outright magic items. I found trophies to be more of a mixed bag overall than the opponents, perhaps because I tend not to think of "loot" as important in a superhero game. On the other hand, a "trophy" is more than that, encompassing lots of objects and devices that do show up in superhero games. Regardless, the second volume really demonstrates the author's command of the source material, not to mention his ability to translate it into interesting game mechanics. It was, by far, my favorite of H&H's three volumes.

Volume three is Underworld and Metropolis Adventures and is, in my opinion, the weakest of the three. A good portion of the PDF's 42 pages is devoted to the creation and stocking of "underworlds" where criminals congregate and hoard their trophies. As you can see, underworlds are built on an analogy with D&D's dungeons -- an analogy that, for me anyway, just doesn't work. Certainly one can imagine a handful of such hidden lairs, where the PCs must fight their way through its mazes and traps to reach the villain, but how often can such a setup be used? Granted, a lot of people probably feel the same way about dungeons, but the point remains that the locales of superhero tales, even those of the Golden Age, don't really fit the model of a D&D-style dungeon, but perhaps I'm simply being too literalist. Fortunately, the volume also includes rules for creating and stocking a "metropolis," including a terrific list of "non-heroes" and locales to use for inspiration.

Taken as a whole, I found myself completely won over by Hideouts & Hoodlums, my initial apprehension about reading, let alone reviewing it, having evaporated. As I noted above, it's a very much a hobbyist game -- amateurish and rough around the edges in terms of its presentation and organization. No one is going to be wowed by its appearance, but its content is another thing entirely. What H&H does is show that the basic structure of OD&D can quite easily be used to emulate more than swords-and-sorcery dungeon adventuring. Indeed, what most impressed me was how little OD&D's rules really needed to be altered, let alone replaced, in order to present an excellent emulation of Golden Age superheroics. True, as with the underworlds, there was in my opinion to slavish a devotion to OD&D's conventions, but, even so, I don't think that devotion does the overall game much harm. If anything, it only serves to highlight how wonderfully flexible OD&D's superstructure is if you're willing to use a little imagination, which Hideouts & Hoodlums possesses in abundance.

Presentation: 4 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 7 out of 10

Buy This If: You're looking for a cleverly-presented and simple ruleset for Golden Age superheroes.
Don't Buy This If: You have no interest in either Golden Age superheroes or a superhero RPG that uses OD&D as its model.

S&W White Box Contents

The third printing of the highly-regarded Swords & Wizardry: White Box is available for order -- and just in time for Christmas! Though I don't play Swords & Wizardry myself, White Box is by far my favorite iteration of the rules and Brave Halfling's edition is one of the best intro products for anyone curious about old school gaming.

This boxed set sells for just $25 (plus shipping) and literally contains everything you need to play:

• 6″ x 9″ Game Box (This is an actual game box manufactured for just this purpose)
• Four Rule Booklets (Characters, Spells, Monsters, & Treasures)
• A digest-sized copy of Matt Finch’s “Quick Primer for Old-School Gaming”
• Ten digest-sized Character Sheets
• Set of Polyhedral Dice
• Pencil

In the midst of my work on the Dwimmermount book I'm trying to finish up for publication early next year, I often find myself idly flipping through the books and games I have close at hand. Recently, I've found myself spending a lot of time re-reading the Brave Halfling edition of Swords & Wizardry: White Box. Over the last few weeks, I've come to think that it's probably the most under-appreciated product of the old school renaissance, which is why it's a pity that it wasn't released more widely.

Marv Breig's redaction of Matt Finch's original rules was well done to begin with, but Jesse Rothacher's layout for the BHP edition makes it shine in a way that the initial Lulu.com version did not. Likewise, the artwork, from Mark Allen's covers to the interior pieces by Matt Finch, Edward M. Kann, Jeff Preston, and Chad Thorson, add to what's already a terrific (and reasonably priced) introduction to old school gaming -- probably the best one there is.

I'm often critical of the ways that Swords & Wizardry deviates from OD&D and I won't deny that they still bug me a lot, particularly given the way the game is advertised as "0e," but the fact remains that White Box is an amazing piece of work nonetheless. It's a wonderful, unpretentious, and accessible little game and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to someone who's never roleplayed before. So, my hat's off to everyone involved in its creation. Here's hoping Brave Halfling is successful enough to get it back into print again soon. It'd make a great Christmas gift for friends and family interested in finding out more about this crazy hobby we all love.

Over at the Swords & Wizardry forums, Matt Finch has provided a list of some of the most important additions to the upcoming "Complete Rules" version of the game:

Here's the basic scoop, though I may have forgotten something:
Siege rules
Aerial combat
Mass combat (already there)
Naval combat

Order of combat - splits movement and attacks, but very close to Core Rules
Holmes Basic order of combat as an option
Eldritch Wizardry order of battle method (revised) as an option (rotating initiative based on what characters are wearing and doing)
Core Rules order of combat as option

More descriptions of things like wolfsbane
Wilderness adventuring, including getting lost, and monster encounter tables
Dungeon encounter charts now have specific monsters instead of just a CL listing
Dungeon encounter charts can also be used to generate mixes of different monsters (the orcs have a pet gelatinous cube! Run!)

No more wild boards in the monster listing

Building strongholds - prices for walls and keeps and such

Original saving throw numbers are listed as a chart in a side-box in case people want to use those.

I'm glad to see a lot of these changes, particularly the addition of the multiple saving throws. Taken together, many of these things bring S&W much closer to OD&D than any of its existing versions. Just how close I can't say without seeing the additional text, which I hope will be made available as a free text file as was done in the past. Looks like some interesting times ahead for Swords & Wizardry fans.

I suppose it will come as no surprise that I've gotten a lot of emails asking me my opinion about the somewhat unexpected controversy -- unexpected by me anyway -- surrounding the recent announcement of the merger between Mythmere Games and Frog God Games. Experience has taught me to be grateful when this blog is not at the center of one of these periodic outbreaks of grumbling, but I can't deny that, having read my fair share of blog and forum posts over the last couple of days, I do have a few words to say on the subject. I don't really have the energy to compose a coherent essay, so instead I'm simply going to present some random bullet points, in no particular order.

• This is one of those times where it's difficult to take sides, because, truthfully, I really can see the merits of each position. I know that sounds like a cop-out (and I'm frequently accused of being too pacific -- except by those who think I'm an intemperate Puritan, but that's a topic for another day), but I really mean that.
• I don't believe for a second that the now-removed section of Frog God's "About Us" was intended as a slam against anyone in the OSR, let alone the entire hobbyist movement. That said, I do think it was a foolish thing to include on a game company's website, both because of the possibility of its causing inadvertent offense (which it did) and because it comes across as petty and, frankly, unprofessional, the latter quality being ironically the very thing Frog God was claiming to possess in distinction to their competition.
• I also perfectly understand why the move caused some anxiety in various quarters. The way it was rolled out, right down to the talk of a "merger," made it seem as if Frog God was coming in and "poaching" Swords & Wizardry after lots of amateurs poured their hearts and souls into supporting and promoting it, all the while getting the cold shoulder from larger companies, including Frog God's predecessor, Necromancer Games. Again, I don't think Frog God meant to give this impression, but the fact is they did and it could've been avoided if the roll-out of this announcement had been better handled all around.
• One of the things people often overlook is that, for many old schoolers, not being noticed by larger companies is a feature not a bug of the OSR. They prefer to exist on the margins, outside the notice of the Big Boys (not that Frog God can reasonably be called a "Big Boy," but that's not the point). They've seen how "old school" is slowly morphing into a nebulous bit of marketing speak designed to feed consumerism amongst nostalgia-besotted gamers (witness WotC's upcoming "Red Box" release of D&D IV) and they rightly, I think, worry that this move is another manifestation of that. And given that Frog God is not only changing S&W in terms of content -- the "Complete Rules" vs. the "Core Rules" -- but esthetics, I can't say I blame them.
• Equally overlooked is the fact that there are other old schoolers who've never really gotten over the fall of tabletop RPGs out of the mainstream. They're as committed to the Old Ways as any of us, but they also long for the days when you could go into Toys 'R Us or a major department store and see a boxed version of D&D on the shelves. For these old schoolers, attracting the notice of a better funded, connected, and "professional" company is an unequivocally good thing, because if it leads to even a fraction of an increase in the popularity of the hobby in the world beyond our little echo chamber, there's hope for the future.
  
• Also overlooked is the reality of what Frog God is doing. According to this page, the initial printing of S&W will consist of only 300 copies -- 100 limited edition hardcovers and 200 softcover ones. That's less than half the number of products that Jim Raggi published in the first print run of his Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing boxed set and about the same for most "small press" companies, probably even less. So, while S&W has a new publisher, it's not as if the game is suddenly going to be much more available than it was before or than other retro-clones are, such as Labyrinth Lord. This shift seems to me to be more about workloads for those involved and not so much about S&W "going mainstream."
• That said, I don't like or approve of the change in the look of the game. The new cover, posted above, while technically very proficient, lacks the quirky brilliance of Peter Mullen's original. It's just another run-of-the-mill D20 era cover slapped on to a game that really deserves its own unique graphical look. I can understand why, for "branding" purposes, Frog God wanted a new cover, but why something so indistinguishable from hundreds of other early 2000s D20 products? Brave Halfling altered the look of White Box for their version and did a good job of it, I think. I am, as I say again and again, not a fan of aping the graphic design of TSR circa 1978 and I've taken a lot of flak for that position. By the same token, why should Swords & Wizardry's "Complete Rules" look like a generic high-end D20 product from 2005?
  

And that's about all I can think to say about the matter right now. I think, ultimately, this merger isn't going to amount to much, except that we might start to see more regular releases of S&W products and that's a good thing. The real test will be whether those releases are good ones and in keeping what we've already seen. In the end, that's all that matters.

[A Potentially More Controversial Postscript: I will never cease to be amazed by others' amazement that someone should become emotional and even irrational about news like this. We're dealing with fandom, after all, and all of us are, to varying degrees, strongly emotionally invested in this hobby. If we weren't, we wouldn't spend so much of our free time discussing it with one another. I'm not a very emotional person myself, but I have my moments of enthusiasm, even mania, and they occasionally lead me astray, but so what? I'd frankly be more concerned by a lack of such a response, because it's then that I'll know the flame has finally gone out of this hobby.]

According to a post here, Mythmere Games will be "merging" with Frog God Games.

August 24, 2010 - Poulsbo WA

Frog God Games, the successor to Necromancer Games, is pleased to announce that effective immediately, Mythmere Games, headed by award-winning author Matt Finch, will be joining up with the Frog God Publishing team to produce even more of the true old-school gaming resources that Necromancer Games and Frog God Games have always been known for.

Matt explained one of the reasons for the agreement as “"There is a large and active community of gamers playing various out-of-print editions of fantasy role-playing games. This alliance is going to be a big leap forward in terms of providing new resources and adventures to those of us who prefer an older-school type of game. It doesn't matter if you're an old-school grognard, a brand-new player, or an experienced gamer trying out this whole 'old-school' thing the internet keeps talking about. You're going to like this".

As a result of this merger, Frog God Games will be publishing the Complete version of the old school, ENnie Award-winning Swords & Wizardry™ fantasy role-playing game, which will be released in November.

“This merger is very much in line with my philosophy on game design, I play an old school game at my table, and have always written and produced books of that genre”, said Bill Webb, CEO of Frog God Games. Frog God Games and its predecessor, Necromancer Games both are known for producing d20 and Pathfinder adventures and sourcebooks with a distinctive “old school” feel. Necromancer, where Bill was partnered with Clark Peterson, produced over 50 books between 1999 and 2007, including Wilderlands of High Fantasy™ (under license to Judges Guild), Gary Gygax’s Necropolis™ and Rappan Athuk, Dungeon of Graves™.

Frog God Games is currently producing adventures to support the Pathfinder™ role-playing system. According to Bill, “This brings together the best of both worlds for me; our material is distinctly old school feel, regardless of the game system. By supporting both formats, I see an opportunity to provide high quality and exciting material to a larger audience. It’s a win for the gaming community.”

Frog God Games will now produce game supplements for both the Swords and Wizardry™ game and for the Pathfinder Game™ (published by Paizo Publishing of Bellevue WA).Swords & Wizardry builds and supports free-form role-playing games.That is to say, games where “light” rules create a framework instead of trying to cover every detail, every rule, and every situation. Over 30 books are currently in production for release in 2010 and 2011.

Matt explained , “There are a lot of gamers out there who are using out-of-print rules quite happily, or who have a vague feeling that they lost some of the game's spirit over the years and don't know how it happened. And then there's the thriving community of old-school gamers on the internet, who have been powering forward for years. I think this new development is going to take us to critical mass. With an old-school game like Swords & Wizardry breaking into the mainstream, with all the power of Frog God Games behind it, I believe that all these three gamer-communities are about to connect. This is when the thunder starts to roll.”.

The Swords & Wizardry game “clones” the original rules of the fantasy role-playing game that started it all back in 1974, when it was published by Gary Gygax and DaveArneson. Part of the reason for the merger was to expand distribution and enhance production quality by involvement of a larger company. Matt described this as, “a step that has been developing for years, as the old-school community has grown larger and larger, supported by more and more gamers, and, increasingly, even by publishers. And this is the point where it all reaches critical mass, I think. Frog God Games has the resources and the high profile to introduce this particular style of gaming back into the mainstream."

This is certainly big news, although I'll admit to not knowing just what this will mean in the final analysis beyond the appearance of yet another version of Swords & Wizardry by yet another publisher. Even so, I can hardly complain about this and hope it means great things for both S&W and the old school renaissance.

From now through August 15, the hardcover and perfect-bound versions of Swords & Wizardry: WhiteBox are on sale at Lulu.com for 30% off! (John Adams of Brave Halfling lowered the price 15% and Lulu is offering a special code for these items for an additional 15%).

Remember, too, that Lulu is offering free shipping on purchases totaling $19.95 or more, so this is a good time to order other old school gaming products sold through Lulu. (I should note that this offer unfortunately does not apply to addresses outside the US).

Add these coupons codes when checking out: BEACHREAD305 (WhiteBox) & FREESHIP (free shipping) to take full advantage of this great sale of a terrific old school product.

Most gamers, I hope, know that Tom Moldvay was the editor of the 1981 Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rulebook, as well as the writer (co-writer) of two of the greatest D&D modules of all time, The Isle of Dread and Castle Amber. Some of them may also know that he wrote a RPG about world-hopping called Lords of Creation (which I hope to discuss in this space sometime soon). But how many realize that he wrote an 8-page restatement of AD&D in 1986 under the name The Challenges Game System? I was dimly aware of the existence of this game, although I can't say for certain how I was made aware of it or precisely when. Regardless, I'd never actually seen a copy until this week, thanks to a reader of this blog.

Challenges appears to have been self-published by Moldvay through a company called "Challenges International Inc." It's a thin booklet consisting of 8 pages of rules and charts, some endpapers, and a cover. In its brief introduction, Moldvay explains that Challenges

offers an easy-to-play alternative to fantasy game systems which are becoming increasingly complex. All of the basic information needed for play is organized into 8 pages instead of scattered among hundreds of pages of several expensive books.

The Challenges Game System is intended to be a foundation. Game Masters and players can add whatever they like to the system. They can change any rules they want. But the 8 page guide will still remain a basic reference aid, a place where essential information can be quickly found.

I liked the cut of Moldvay's jib to begin with, but this introduction only increased my affection for him. Succinct and without pretense, the introduction is unambiguous on the side of those who see published rules as guidelines for the creation of a roleplaying game fashioned to one's own taste.

Of course, reading through Challenges, it's also unambiguous that Moldvay is taking aim at late era AD&D 1e. The system presented in its 8 pages is largely identical to that of AD&D (with a few interesting wrinkles), stripped down to its essentials and presented far more coherently. Characters have six ability scores: Muscle, Dexterity, Stamina, Willpower, Wisdom, and Charisma. These are generated by rolling 2D6+6 nine times and choosing the best six rolls, arranging them as desired ("Player characters are heroes, not average individuals," Moldvay notes to my disappointment). Scores of 18 -- which would be more likely under the suggested method of random generation -- get a further percentile roll to distinguish them, much like exceptional Strength in AD&D, except that it applies to all ability scores. Ability modifiers are not rationalized -- they vary by ability -- but, outside of the highest percentile scores, they're fairly small, generally +1 or +2.

Challenges presents five classes (warrior, sorcerer, cleric, thief, and mirager -- an illusionist) and five races (humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and hobbits, the latter of which Moldvay claims is based on "British folklore" and makes no reference to Tolkien whatsoever). Races are mostly cosmetic in their differences, with a few gaining special level-dependent detection abilities, infravision -- yes, that term is used -- and, in the case of dwarves, a penalty to Luck rolls, which is the Challenges equivalent to saving throws and is a single score, as in Swords & Wizardry. Classes are simple and straightforward in their presentation, with individualized XP charts. Characters start with maximum hit points (+ Stamina bonuses, if any). Thief abilities are generalized into "Thief Skills" and "Stealth," each governed by a level-based percentile score. Spells are highly simplified -- a line or two description reminiscent of OD&D's presentation.

Combat is where Challenges differs intriguingly from AD&D. All classes have a base attack number, which is what they must roll on 1D20 to score a hit, thus eliminating the need for combat charts. This number is modified on the attacker's side by Muscle or Dexterity, as appropriate. On the defender's side, it's modified by Dexterity and armor. Initiative, however, is a simple 1D6 affair, modified by Dexterity. As optional rules, the amount by which a character exceeds or misses his target number can have additional effects, from bonus damage to dropping one's weapon. Bonus damage also introduces the concept of "wounds," which are persistent combat penalties until healed in order to simulate injury without overly complicating the system.

Challenges also includes rules for turning undead, monster attacks, and multi-classing. It lacks any rules for equipment beyond armor and some basic weapons and includes no example monsters or treasures, the implication being that most of these would be described in adventure published for the game. So far as I know, there was at least one, possibly two, such adventures published, but I have never seen them, so I cannot comment on their contents. As presented, Challenges is not quite a complete system, but, if one has other D&D materials handy, it'd be easy to fill in the gaps.

I suspect that's what Moldvay assumed players would do, which does make one wonder why he bothered to produce this guide book at all. That's not a knock against Challenges, to which I am rather favorably disposed, but I wish I knew more about the circumstances under which this RPG was produced and what Moldvay's plans were for it. As it is, it's close enough to AD&D that I'm not sure it'd stand up to an assault by TSR's legal department, so what was he thinking? On the other hand, as a distillation of AD&D -- a kind of "AD&D Lite" -- it's quite well done and a reminder of how, in practice, many of us played 1e. Nowadays, I have Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion, so there's little need for something like Challenges, but Moldvay was doing this in 1986, years before anyone else. It's a fascinating historical artifact and a reminder to me, as if I needed one, that Tom Moldvay was a clever and imaginative guy and it's a pity he doesn't get lauded as often as he most assuredly deserves.

Look at what I just got in the mail today:



This is in addition to the latest installments in Paizo's Planet Stories line, which arrived on Monday. Looks like I have some reading ahead of me!

In an age when Dragon, the original RPG magazine, is no longer available in printed form, it's remarkable to note that the old school renaissance has not one but two regular print periodicals. Of the two, Knockspell, produced by Mythmere Games and published by Black Blade Publishing, is probably closest to Dragon in terms of its content and presentation -- and grows ever moreso with each new issue. Issue 4 was just released and I very impressed by just how professional it has become. Nearly everything, from the artwork to the layout to the editing is top notch and there's a unity to this issue, a sense of cohesiveness and planning that's undeniably appealing.

Issue 4 kicks off with another delightful installment of Allan Grohe's "From Kuroth's Quill" column, the second part of a piece on the use and theory of gates in campaign dungeons. In addition to providing thoughts (and random tables) on what happens when adventurers try to destroy a gate, the article also provides many magic-user spells pertaining to gates. As a referee who recently made a gate an important part of his ongoing megadungeon-based campaign, I found Grohe's column particularly useful.

Joshua Jervais's "Beneath the Crossroads" is the first adventure included in this issue and the first to include rats, an ongoing theme in this issue. Suitable for a party of 1st and 2nd level characters, the adventure presents a small dungeon connected to a cult of a rat god. It's a well-done and evocative little scenario that can easily be dropped into an ongoing campaign. Jeff Talanian also provides a rat-based adventure, entitled "Rats in the Walls." Also for low-level characters, it has a strong pulp fantasy feel to it without being unsuitable for inclusion in most fantasy campaigns. Slightly less immediately useful is the third installment of Gabor Lux's terrific series "Isles on an Emerald Sea," which describe locales from his science fantasy Fomalhaut campaign. As with its predecessors in the series, this article is inspiring but would take some work to adapt to more traditional fantasy campaigns, given its "weird" elements.

Matt Finch's "Megadungeon Tactics: Mission-Based Adventuring" is a useful discussion of how to approach a megadungeon as a player (and, by extension, as a referee). What's remarkable is that, while the article is clearly aimed at players whose experiences of dungeon adventuring are not of an old school variety, Finch nevertheless manages to pack quite a few nuggets of wisdom of interest even to old dungeoneering hands. Meanwhile, Marcelo Paschoalin provides a solid overview of the options and difficulties confronting online rolelpaying games. Michael Curtis (whose Dungeon Alphabet is reviewed later in this issue) shows us how to mine the Greek historian Herodotus for sandbox campaign ideas in "Stealing the Histories." Al Krombach offers up some excellent advice on how to use the mechanical looseness of old school games like Swords & Wizardry in "Free-Form Rules as a Referee's Toolbox," which I found quite engaging.

What old school magazine would be complete without articles filled with random tables? Issue 4 gives us Robert Lionheart's useful "Random Tavern Generator" and "Weird Weather and Other Unexplainable Phenomena" (by several authors). It also includes Scot Hoover's astounding "Artifact Types and Attributes," which is a system for creating artifacts and relics that clearly draws inspiration from Eldritch Wizardry and the Dungeon Masters Guide, while being wholly original (and Open Game Content). Rounding out the issue are new magic items, a reworking of the spell slot system, and an interview with artist Christopher Burdett.

In sum, it's an impressive issue, one with a lot to offer old school fantasy fans. As I noted, Knockspell is increasingly professional in every respect. To some, this is unreservedly a good thing, as it puts the lie to the notion that the old school renaissance cannot compare to the improvements in presentation made since the days of yore. To others, though, I have little doubt that Knockspell might feel a little too "polished" and lacking in the rough edges many old schoolers love. Personally, I think there's more than enough room for both approaches and the fact that Knockspell is now appearing on game store shelves pretty much demands that it put its best foot forward, which is unequivocally does. Knockspell Issue 4 is thus well worth a look, whether in print or PDF form.

Presentation: 8 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 7 out of 10

Buy This If: You're looking for a collection of ideas and resources for use in your old school fantasy campaign.
Don't Buy This If: You prefer to come up with your own ideas rather than using those of others.

Black Blade Publishing has just released issue 4 of Knockspell, which can be purchased in print or PDF format. As usual, there's a great selection of old school gaming goodness to be found within. I'm especially impressed with Jeff Talanian's "Rats in the Walls" adventure and Allan Grohe's discussion of portals, but I've only just begun to read my copy. I'll post a complete review next week once I've had the chance to absorb the whole thing.

JB from B/X Blackrazor asks in a comment to my recent Dwimmermount post, "Has your game now switched over to full-blown LL-play thanks to the AEC? Is this something that was purposefully adopted by your group or just your interpretation of where you now stand with 'gradual gaming evolution?'" JB isn't the first person to ask me this, either in comments to my Dwimmermount posts or in private emails. In fact, it's something I've been getting asked a lot lately. Given that, I figured I might as well make a post on the subject and explain myself a bit.

Let me begin by saying that I have been for some time reluctant to make a post like this. The reason is that, as it is, things I post here often get read in the worst possible light by some people and the last thing I want to do was become involved in a dispute about the merits of the various retro-clones, with my decision to switch to Labyrinth Lord being used as "evidence" that I "hate" this game or that one. Laugh if you will but I often worry about such things.

As some of you may remember, when I began the Dwimmermount campaign nearly eighteen months ago, I was using only the LBBs of OD&D. Indeed, that was part of the point in starting the campaign in the first place: to see what it would be like to play with only those three rulebooks. Since none of my players owned the LBBs as I did, I decided to use Swords & Wizardry, as I saw it as the most readily available alternative. This worked very well and I was largely happy with the result. My main frustration was S&W's use of a single saving throw mechanic, which somehow didn't "feel" right to me and that I decided I wanted to change to bring it more in line with OD&D.

As time went on, in response to needs, real or perceived, I also added other house rules and adopted material from the Supplements. This continued to push the campaign more and more into the "proto-AD&D" realm, which I didn't really mind, as, despite my frequent protestations to the contrary, Gygaxian AD&D is in fact what I instinctively think of when I hear the words "Dungeons & Dragons." At the same time, I still find AD&D in its fullness too complex for my liking, which is why I never switched the campaign to those rules (or to OSRIC).

Then, along came the Advanced Edition Companion and I felt like I finally had a way to bridge the gap between the mechanical simplicity of OD&D and the flavorful breadth of AD&D. At first, I didn't intend to adopt Labyrinth Lord in its entirety. I figured I'd just use the AEC as I had the Supplements with S&W. Over time, though, I found myself referring back to LL itself rather than either the LBBs or S&W. And given that I was already dissatisfied with the single saving throw, the shift toward LL was a natural one.

There were a couple of other factors that entered into my thinking too. First, my 10 year-old daughter is playing in my game. She loves reading my old AD&D books, particularly the Monster Manual, which she prefers to any of the later versions I also own. She showed no interest in reading either OD&D or Swords & Wizardry, but she likes Labyrinth Lord. (In a similar vein, Brother Candor's player has a young son and is thinking of one day introducing him to D&D and also finds LL much more congenial for this purpose).

Second, I plan on publishing old school products. My first such product, The Cursed Chateau, is selling very well and is written "generically," which is to say, it doesn't explicitly connect itself to any existing retro-clone, instead adopting a mechanical "Rosetta Stone" approach similar to what Fight On! and Jim Raggi use. I did this in order to make The Cursed Chateau as broadly usable as possible, but, ironically, it is, along with the cover, one of the most criticized elements of that product. Gamers seem to prefer specificity, even when it means having to do some conversion work on their end. Since I have no interest in making my own retro-clone, that means I need to choose an existing one to use for future products and Labyrinth Lord is the best fit. It's got the AEC, multiple saving throws, and descending AC, all of which are great boons in my opinion.

When you tally all these issues up, the arguments in favor of switching to Labyrinth Lord are powerful. My decision is simply that, though: my decision. It shouldn't be read as a rejection of any other retro-clone or of straight OD&D nor is it any kind of veiled condemnation of other preferences. For me and my players and the kind of game I've been running, LL is the best fit. Likewise, LL is the retro-clone with whom I can declare compatibility without any hassles or the inclusion of something I don't like, such as ascending AC. It's really as simple as that.

I got quite a few emails yesterday asking me my opinion of this blog post at Penny Arcade, where artist Mike Krahulik talks about introducing his group of D&D IV players to OD&D (or, more precisely, Swords & Wizardry) through the medium of in-game time travel:

You have been dragged back in time and placed in the bodies of new characters, each of them a key player in the story of the Eladrin in the Estwild. The world has been spun back hundreds of years. Your characters are in a much different time with much different rules. But they are not the only ones who will travel back in time for this adventure. Each of you has also been taken back to 1974 and Original Dungeons and Dragons.

Honestly, my opinion on the matter is a resounding shrug of disinterest. I simply can't get myself worked up about it, because, while I agree that Krahulik clearly doesn't understand the appeal of OD&D to those of us who play it, his lack of understanding arises out of ignorance rather than malice. The very fact that he's willing to give OD&D a look at all, even if it is a version he's purposefully de-fanged, speaks well of him and his curiosity about the past of the hobby. Likewise, his inclusion of a link to the S&W site is a very nice gesture and one that ought to give old school gaming a much wider exposure, even if I doubt that very many regular readers of Penny Arcade will be moved to throw off the yoke of modernity and embrace the Old Ways.

At the same time, I also think it's a bit silly to suggest that old schoolers need to "pretty themselves up" and start "behaving" for the benefit of the drive-by surfers who follow Krahulik's link into the wider world of the OSR. Grognards are, by definition, a cranky, disgruntled, and often irrational lot; this has always been so. The older guys who hung out at The Compleat Strategist in downtown Baltimore were a cantankerous bunch too, looking askance at snot-nosed kids like me who were violating the sanctity of their hidden fastnesses in the wake of roleplaying's faddish popularity. And while I thought many of them weird -- because, let's face it, they were weird -- I didn't expect them to change their grumpy ways on my account.

In time, we built up a rapport and I learned a lot from them and their experiences, but that rapport was achieved only by accepting and understanding them and their eccentricities, not by their catering to the tender sensibilities of tyros such as myself. This is as true in 2010 as it was in 1982. Anyone not currently plugged into the online old school scene who wants to see what it's all about is going to have to be prepared to wade through a lot of rancor, grouchiness, and occasionally vitriol; that's just the nature of the beast. Anyone who's so aggrieved by this that, upon first encountering it, flees for the hills probably ought to avoid the Internet in general, never mind its old school enclave.

I really don't think we do anyone any favors by being more "open" or "welcoming" -- in short being other than who and what we are. And what we are -- many of us anyway -- is a bunch of guys and gals who think old games are no less fun today than they were in the past. A lot of us get understandably miffed when it's implied, if not outright stated, that gaming has "evolved" since the games we play were first published and that somehow the fun we think we're having with these old games is either unreal or not as great as it could be, if we only cast aside the past and embraced Progress. The old school renaissance is, in part, a defiant rejection of that thesis and I for one make no bones about that. If that offends any newcomers, chances are good they were little more than tourists anyway and we lose nothing by simply being who we are, without apologies.

Does the old school community need new blood in order to prosper? You betcha. I love seeing new blogs and sites spring up, each one created by someone who somehow managed to see past all the "negativity" and "dogmatism" and has come to appreciate the Old Ways -- and old gamers -- on their own terms. Old school gaming will never prove popular with most people, but I don't see that as a bad thing. Consequently, there's little to gain by "putting on a good face" if that face isn't reflective of who we really are. We may not be pretty but we are sincere and it's that sincerity, however irritably it's often shown, that reveals our true face to those willing to take the time to look beneath the surface.

In the past week, there have been two very interesting bits of news about old school fantasy miniatures. The first came from Mythmere Games and Center Stage Miniatures. As you might recall, Center Stage holds a license to produce miniatures for Swords & Wizardry and had been planning on releasing a number of new miniatures (including boxed sets) to support the game and old school fantasy gaming in general. Well, that plan has changed. So, according to Matt Solarz of Center Stage,

instead of hiring sculptors and commissioning new production molds, we’re going to change focus and buy a bunch of old production molds from vintage minis that barely saw the light of day before they disappeared again. Right at the golden age of miniature sculpting, back in the 1980s, the market collapsed and several fantastic sculpting companies went under. As a result, a staggering number of production molds for excellent miniatures have been sitting in storage for decades, unseen and gathering dust or were released only in limited quantities. Since giant 30mm figures became the new “standard” when the market for miniatures re-emerged, these older 25mm figures weren’t ever re-cast. And because those figures are hidden out there, and can be produced at far less expense than new ones, we’ve decided to go back in time for the first several Swords & Wizardry miniatures, a time machine into the lost and unseen part of the 1970s and 1980s miniatures market. In fact, the time machine isn’t just about the miniature sculpts; it’s about the prices as well. Although it cuts the profit margin per figure, these miniatures are going to be offered at prices far, far below the going rate in today’s market. We can’t do anything about the price of the postage stamp, but it’s going to go on a package of miniatures that are incredibly inexpensive. In many cases, the price will be as low as the mini’s original price when it was originally offered in the old days.

That sounds very cool, both from an esthetic and financial perspective. Of course, I'm very curious to see what these miniatures look like, but I can't deny that I'm very intrigued by the concept behind this new direction.

The second bit of miniatures-related news comes from Goblinoid Games and Otherworld Miniatures. This one I knew about beforehand, as I'm involved in it in a small way.

This Summer, Otherworld Miniatures and Goblinoid Games will launch a partnership project. Starting in August 2010, a range of boxed sets of ‘Official Labyrinth Lord Miniatures’ will be available, featuring 28mm figures made by Otherworld Miniatures. Most of these models will come from Otherworld’s existing ranges, but some will be designed and sculpted specifically for the new Labyrinth Lord sets.

These boxed sets will be level specific, with the first sets featuring the weaker monsters found in the upper labyrinth levels. Later sets will contain progressively stronger monsters which dwell in the deeper levels. Some wilderness-themed sets will also feature woodland inhabitants and creatures found in a marshland habitat.

This range of boxed sets will be tied together by a set of mini-adventures which are included in the boxes. Individually, they’ll make an entertaining evening’s adventuring, but together they make up an exciting mini-campaign. Adventures will be written by some of the best writers of the old-school gaming scene, including Jeff Talanian, James Maliszewski, Rob Conley and Michael Curtis, and many others.

“I have been a role-player and miniatures enthusiast for over 30 years. Otherworld Miniatures now produce the figures that I wish I had been able to buy when I first started gaming. They are inspired by old-school imagery, but we use modern sculpting techniques and production standards to make miniatures that would never have been possible in the early years of our hobby. Goblinoid Games follow similar principles with their Labyrinth Lord game, and I think that we’re ideally suited to work as partners.”

Being a regular user of Otherworld minis in my Dwimmermount campaign, I'm pretty excited by this news, if only because it means even more new sculpts in the coming months, many of which I hope to use in my campaign.

In any case, it's a great time to be using miniatures in old school fantasy games!

James Boney has repeatedly distinguished himself as one of the most astute creators of dungeon modules in the old school renaissance. His low-level adventure, The Idol of the Orcs, for example, managed to inject some new life into the hoary old trope of humanoids raiding an isolated village -- no mean feat 31 years after The Keep on the Borderlands first appeared. Similar high praise could be said of his work for Expeditious Retreat Press, all of which displays the same ability to pay homage to the past without aping it. That's a rare talent in a segment of the hobby where slavish imitation is often lauded more than originality.

Ice Tower of the Salka is Boney's attempt at a high-level (8-12) module for Swords & Wizardry. Produced by Black Blade Publishing, it's a 22-page adventure available either as a saddle-stitched hardcopy for $11.00 or a PDF download for $5.00. I probably sound like a broken record on this score, but I'll say again that I think this pricing, while typical for old school products these days, is rather high. I understand well the costs involved in publishing old school materials, especially ones including original art and maps, as this one does. Still, I hold out hope that we might see more old school print products released with a better dollar per page ratio than we typically get nowadays.

As its title suggests, Ice Tower of the Salka concerns itself with a tower that was, until recently, completely buried beneath the ice. Formerly home to the mysterious sorceress known only as the Salka, it's now the subject of many unwholesome legends and the object of much greed by those who know of the wealth and magic reputed to lie within. The module helpfully includes a rumor table to represent some of the information, both true and false, the player characters might learn about the place before setting off to explore its four levels (three tower levels plus one dungeon level) and 54 rooms. Also included with the module are some new spells, magic items, and monsters (only one of which has never seen print before, the rest having appeared previously in the Swords & Wizardry Monster Book).

Each level of the Ice Tower has a "theme," which is to say, the majority of the inhabitants and challenges of any given level "belong" together. Thus, the third level, which is the first the characters will enter, since it's the topmost portion of the ice-encased tower, is the abode of demons. You can find lots of demons here, along with tricks and traps pertaining to other planes/dimensions. The second level, on the other hand, is home primarily to a wide variety of undead, themselves the victims of a peculiar device -- a magical chandelier -- whose baleful effects can be felt throughout the tower. The first level and dungeon are little less obviously thematic in presentation, but that may be because their explicit purposes, as an entrance area and a place of imprisonment respectively, are more naturally suggestive.

These "themes" provide some coherence to what might otherwise seem to be a random collection of rooms and encounters, because, if Ice Tower of the Salka has a weakness, it's that it's "just a dungeon." By that I mean that, without the context provided by the referee and the players, this module will probably feel somewhat "flat." There's a lot less implied background in this place than has been in previous efforts by Boney. That is, I didn't feel as if the Salka, whose tower this was and whose mysterious fate left the tower bereft of its mistress, had much of a presence here. Certainly there are rooms like the "Throne Room of the Salka" that include features or traps of genuine interest, but they don't do much to flesh out the whys and wherefores of what is going on here. There is, at the module's end, something of a pay-off in this regard, but I think it comes too late to lend much flavor to Ice Tower of the Salka, even if it does make excellent fodder for follow-up adventures.

This lack of background probably makes the module easier to drop into an existing campaign, either as a stand-alone adventure or as part of a dungeon or similar complex, which may actually increase its attractiveness to some referees. Others, though, may feel as I did that the adventure could have done with a bit more internal unity to make the whole as memorable as many of its individual parts. Simply as presented, Ice Tower of the Salka has a somewhat disjointed feel to it that may be off-putting to buyers looking for a wholly "ready-to-go" adventure module.

Ice Tower of the Salka is what I'd call a "fixer-upper" module -- great for referees looking for an outline for an adventure, along with already-keyed maps, from which they can craft their own adventure. Judged as such, it's very well done and shows many of the same elements I liked in Boney's previous work. Referees not of a do-it-yourself mindset will likely find the module less satisfying, particularly at this price point. It's unfortunate, because, as I said, Ice Tower of the Salka has a number of excellent elements, but not enough, I think, to appeal to gamers who crave highly polished modules nor enough at its cost (at least not in the print edition). I liked the module myself and appreciated its virtues, but then mine was a review copy rather than one I purchased with my own money and it's on this point that I think Ice Tower of the Salka stumbles in comparison to its competitors, both professional and amateur.

Presentation: 7 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 5 out of 10

Get This If: You're looking for a dungeon filled with high-level challenges from which to craft your own adventures.
Don't Get This If: You're looking for a high-level dungeon you can buy and run without having to ad a fair bit of your own elbow grease.