Rose Colored Glasses OSR and 5E Musings

Well, finally got to run a game of Labyrinth Lord with a group of old gamers and some of their kids and cousins. 

I guess I look back at Old School gaming with rose colored glasses as the character creation compared to 5E was 

a drudgery.

Without some kind of very nice preset character creation help built in like 5E has, the game can really be taxing on 

your patience. Once everyone had their characters made we finally started to play.

Now mind you we were already a few hours late getting started. After playing the extremely smooth unified 

mechanics of 5E (and my Back to the Dungeon RPG), I quickly realized that much of the old school systems are quite

clunky in comparison. We just had gotten used to how they work and wrapping our head around another system 

can be hard. 

Having used both 5E is pretty much an old school game (because of the design advice from RPG pundit) mixed with 

some new school unified  mechanics which just simply flows better. It's not totally lethal like B/X games but it can be 

once you have ran out of dice for a short rest AND if you have used the exhaustion mechanics. After that, it becomes 

quite hard on the players once those buffers are gone.

The unified mechanic is pretty much Superior to any and all of the old school methods of task resolution. Why? 

Because system matters if it gets out of the way of the game! Roll a D20 instead of just pulling out the various dice 

for checking on sometimes the same thing. Some abilities use a D6 while as a thief they use a % so after coming 

from the B/X, 2E background from my early days of gaming, it seems 5E mechanics are a sweet spot. Very simply 

it just is way smoother than the old stuff.

I am pretty sure that I will be shelving pretty much all my old school games and for my fantasy fix will just be playing 

Using “0” Level Characters for LL/AEC

Using “0” Level Characters for LL/AEC

SO one feature of a certain other RPG is called “The Funnel”. It basically lets someone roll up a few weak 0 level characters to start adventuring with. If they survive they can choose to become 1st level characters. 

Choose any allowable race in your LL/AEC game. What is allowable?  It’s up to the Gm as he/she is the final rule.

Roll 3d6 in order. 6 times in three columns making three characters for Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha.

Once abilities have been determined, each player must roll for a skill. You are not picking out a class yet but think of the class you WANT. Each class desired will have a prime requisite, and some classes have a requirement of a minimum ability score. If the prime requisite ability is high enough, the character will receive a bonus to experience.

Sometimes, a player will choose a certain class and the character does not have a prime requisite high enough to receive the experience bonus. In these cases, 2 ability points may be sacrificed from one ability to raise one prime requisite ability 1 point. This may be done more than once, but no ability can be lowered below 9. There are certain restrictions on how to raise or lower abilities. No ability may be lowered if it is also a prime requisite for the class, even if there are a few points to spare above the minimum required score. Dexterity can only be raised, never lowered. Constitution and Charisma are the only abilities that may not be modified in any way.

Roll once d100 Skills.

1. Actor 2. Animal Trainer 3. Appraiser      4. Armorer              5. Baker 6. Banker 7. Barber 8. Bartender 9. Beggar $                10. Blacksmith  11. Boatman        12. Bookbinder             13. Bowyer/Fletcher %  14. Brewer             15. Butcher 16. Burglar $        17. Carpenter       18. Chandler 19. Clown   20. Cobbler    21. Cooper 22. Cook        23. Coppersmith 24. Crier 25. Cutler 26. Dairyman 27. Dancer  28. Drifter $ 29. Dyer 30. Explorer 31. Farmer           32. Fisher   33. Fortune Teller*

34. Friar <      35. Furrier 36. Gambler  37. Game Keeper % 38. Gem Cutter      39. Glassblower 40. Glazier  41. Goldsmith 42. Gravedigger 43. Hatter 44. Herald 45. Horse Trader   46. Huntsman % 47. Investigator 48. Jailer 49. Jeweler 50. Juggler 51. Laborer 52. Lapidary 53. Lens Maker 54. Lorimer 55. Mapmaker 56. Mason 57. Merchant 58. Mime 59. Miner 60. Minstrel 61. Mourner 62. Notary 63. Occultist* 64. Painter 65. Pawnbroker 66. Peasant

67. Perfumer 68. Pimp/Whore 69. Poet 70. Porter 71. Potter 72. Prisoner 73. Puppeteer 74. Rat Catcher 75. Reeve 76. Roper 77. Seafarer 78. Servant 79. Scribe 80. Shepard 81. Shipwright 82. Slater 83. Slave 84. Silversmith 85. Singer 86. Stevedore 87. Tailor 88. Tanner 89. Taxman 90. Thatcher/Roofer 91. Thug 92. Tinkerer 93. Torchbearer 94. Undertaker 95. Vintner 96. Wanderer 97. Weapon Smith 98. Weaver 99. Woodcutter + 100. Roll Twice

*- Has the Spell Read Magic only and can use Magic User scrolls.

$- Has the 0 Level Thief Skills of PL 11%, FRT 9%, PP 18% CW 44%, HIS 8%, HN 1-2

%- Starts out with a Long Bow OR Short Bow and 12 arrows.

+- Starts out with a Hand Axe or Battle Axe.

<- Can cast Clerical scrolls.

Roll 1d4 HPs modified by the Con score.

Roll 1d6 x 10 for gold.

Start out at -500 XP

My god this looks fun as hell!

Stepping Back....

😒My last few games I ran, I feel went like crap. I am so trying.

I used to be a fantastic Dungeon Master.

I have also had huge spans of time where I was working turnarounds so huge spans between games. The campaign, no matter how hard I have tried just does not go anywhere. You know when you have written a great adventure and knocked it out of the park. You know when you put obvious hints. The players also seem to have amazing abilities to roll 20s as well which would be exciting but they do it almost every combat. 

I am burnt the hell out. My rules don't excite me anymore. Still so much more to do but I don't feel like messing with them anymore. 

Going to go back to Basic, Delving Deeper, Basic Fantasy, or Labyrinth Lord. I want 3D6 in Order, save or die, "give the players nothing that they don't work for" gaming.  

The last session, nobody showed up at the dudes house. Some were sick and some just ignored the game time posting so screw it. People ought to know that one can tell if you look at their Facebook posting. I will let someone else run games. 

I am done as a game master for the time being.   💀

Back to the Dungeon Zine for LL/AEC Issue 5 released today!

BACK to the Dungeon ZINE

Issue 1.1

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUVkNUNTNjRUpGMTA/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 2

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUcWpVRDJNY3RXcUU/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 3

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpURWJVcVhOSTFfYkk/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 4

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUSE5WTHprSW5NUWs/edit?usp=sharing

Issue 5

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUTFNuRHhtQ2I0LW8/edit?usp=sharing

Hell Froze Over

Well it's just what the title said.

Hell froze over: Someone actually ran a Labyrinth Lord/ Advanced Edition Companion game in my area!

It happened last Saturday and it was fun. One of the local gamers had a game day at our FLGS. From 10 to 6 of gaming fun!

I already had quite a few LL/AEC characters ready to go so I helped everyone I could to get characters ready. For a group of 8 people it only took 30 minutes.  We played a small module and did not get done with it but many encounters were done.  We were also having a contest on who could miss in combat and roll more ones but it was still fun.

Possibly some time in February we shall finish the module but I don't know yet.

The best part I met some real nice people and everyone seemed to get along. Just a real good vibe all day.

What was funny was there was another game trying to get started of Rogue Trader. They sat there for around 5 to 6 hours and did not even finish characters. Very cool system but damn what happened to the old % WFRP rules that it was based on?

It was real quick to make a charter in the old 1st edition WFRP! After all that time building a character I hope they did something about the death rate!

SO I reconnected with some of my old gamer buddies and we are most likely going to get the old Pathfinder game back started but with NO megadungeons. There may be a dungeon that becomes one as time progresses but that will have to progress organically.

Back to the Dungeon ZINE for LL/AEC Issue 4

Back to the Dungeon ZINE for LL/AEC Issue 4

Well it appears that I have yet another issue of the Back to the Dungeon Zine for Labyrinth Lord/ Advance Edition Companion.

There is yet another level of The Black Stairs and a few articles of interest.

Hope your characters survive this dungeon.

If you play it then post your stories.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUSE5WTHprSW5NUWs/edit?usp=sharing

Labrinth Arcana for LL/AEC

What if there was a "Labyrinth Arcana" book with optional rules such as a few extra subclasses and subraces that allowed for a few more choices. Kinda what Unearthed Arcana did for AD&D.

What would you like to see in a book or file such as that?

One rule would to be not to mess with the LL + AEC rules as they are written but to give more options by additions.

Another race of Elves called Wood Elves that can be Rangers 10 or another class like a Warder.
A race of Dwarves called Silver Dwarves that can be MUs 8. Very rare and optional. Dwarven weapons that can be used two handed with a short frame.Such as the ones put in Issue 3 of the Back to the Dungeon Zine for LL/AEC.

So if we were to make a "Labyrinth Arcana" what would the book contain?

Barbarians and Bards?

What do you want to add?

Here is a Drow for the AEC

Requirements: INT 9
Ability Modifiers: DEX +1, CON -1
Ability Min/Max: STR 3/18 (16), DEX 7/19, CON 6/18
INT 8/18, WIS 3/18, CHA 3/18

Also known as dark elves, drow are a depraved and evil demonworshipping subterranean offshoot. White is the most common hair color among drow, with ebony skin and eyes a vivid red. Like other elves, they tend to be 5' tall and slight of build.

A Player Character is most likely going to be a Drow outcast. Never allowed to go home and never accepted in the civilized world.

They have 120" infravision, and if abruptly exposed to light are blinded for 1 rounds. In addition, when in bright light including sunlight they suffer -2 to hit and -2 to DEX.

Drow have keen hearing and are surprised only on 1 on 1d8; they move silently with 90% efficiency in leather armor or the special Drow armor and in a group made up of all Drow. If not then it is only a +20% to Move Silently.

Drow typically attack with short swords or afar with darts which are coated with poison. Victims must save versus poison at -4 or fall unconscious for 1d4 turns. Player character Drow start out with 1d6 darts but cannot replace them.

Drow can use the following spell-like abilities once per day: dancing lights, darkness, and faerie fire.

May use two light weapons without penalty

All drow save versus magical effects with a +2.

In addition, drow of 4th level or higher of any class have the following spell-like abilities once per day: detect magic, know alignment, and levitate.

Finally, female drow are more powerful than males, and once per day have the abilities of clairvoyance, detect lie, dispel magic, and suggestion.

Adjustment
Pick Locks -5%
Pick Pockets +5%
Move Silently +20%
Hide in Shadows +10%
Hear Noise +1*
*Elves receive a better dice range for hearing noises. For example,
1st level elven thieves hear noises on a 1-3, and at 9th level it is 1-5.
Hear noise may never be better than 1-5.

Dark Males
Assassin 10
Cleric 7
Fighter 10
Magic User 12
Ranger 6

Dark Females
Assassin 10
Cleric U
Fighter 12
Magic User 5
Ranger 6

Half-Drow only retain the Drow weaknesses and none of the strengths. Yeah I know some of you crybaby min-maxers are bitching right now.

Back to the Dungeon Zine V1 Issue 3 is OUT!

BACK to the Dungeon ZINE

Oh my gods! There are Drow down there! Lot's of them! Hide! Do you know what they do to prisoners?


Issue 1.1


Issue 2


Issue 3

A repost of a cool gaming session.

Expedition to the Black Stairs 

Written in very rough draft form.

PCs
Eachern M The Cleric
Dalkon M The Dwarven Warrior
Aowen F The Elf Thief
Eva F The Thief

NPCs
Marts MF With Plate and 2H Sword
Melenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Dagger
Belenad FF With Ring Spear and Bow plus Hand Ax
Melenad and Belenad are two attractive foreigner twins.

NPCs not hired
Raph MF With Chain, Shield, and Sword plus Crossbow
Tran MF With Plate, Battle Ax, and Spear

The Black Stairs Servant's quarters.
Dalkon get's let down on rope and he gets shot at by 2 goblins. Aowen goes down below to help. As well as Eva, Belenard, and Marts. Eachern and Melenard tie rope to bush and go down. Belenard proves to be a great shot! Killing one of the goblins and the Dwarf kills the other but not until Melenard is horribly injured! Two goblins are dispatched. Three more goblins come out. The party quickly dispatches them all but poor Marts is killed. The adventurer's explore the rest of the servant's quarters and find much gold and an amulet of protection.

They find door on the western end on the main hallway with a warning written in goblin”No go in here” The Cleric feels unholiness in the area and decides to go to the door to the south instead that opens up into a three way hallway.

The western hallway has a smell (Now as a house rule Dwarves will be able to tell the different kinds of humanoids by their smell!) of some kind of humanoid but the dwarf can't tell what it was.
The southern hallway opens up into a green house.
The eastern hallway goes down to a room with a lit fire.
The players go south into the greenhouse and find two knotted ropes coming down. The cleric decides to cut the ropes ten foot up as the Elf decides to climb up the rope. She finds a mulemaster and a pack mule. The mulemaster is heavily question by the elf as the dwarf climbs up. The dwarf finds out that two of the NPCs that were not hired Raph and Tran have decided to come to the Black Stairs themselves. The Dwarf pays the mulemaster 3 gold and tells him to cut the rope when they get back down. The elf and dwarf climb back down and the rope begins to get pulled back up with the mulemaster explaining that he did not have a knife to cut the rope so he would just pull it up. The Dwarf runs and leaps grabbing the rope. The mulemaster surprised by this does not let go of the rope and accidentally gets pulled down headfirst to his death 20 feet below. The party rolls in laughter with this strange turn of events.
The party then decides to go down the eastern hallway and the elf scouts down the hall and sees three goblins completely distracted by something farther down the hallway. The elf decides to sneak up and gives a battle cry too early allowing the goblins a chance to attack but somehow they all miss. The party quickly dispatches the goblins and find an old mine, 6 slaves and a freshly dug gold mine with many nuggets of gold.

The party decides to get the heck back to Raven's Keep and right in the servant's quarters they are ambushed by Raph and Tran. Raph and Tran attack with crossbow and Spear and miss! They close in and the Dwarf is killed (CRIT!) by Tran as well as Melenad and Beledad. The cleric is taken out as well as the elf but she does manage to kill Raph. Only Eva the thief is left standing as she fires her arrows at Tran hitting him but he still is up. She drops her bow and draws her sword as the battle axe barely misses. They both make a last strike his axe cutting her nearly to death and her blade hitting the mark killing Tran. She tires to heal the cleric and fails and succeeds on the elf who quickly pours a potion of healing that they found earlier in the cleric's mouth.



They limp back to town.







I use the Dave Arneson method of spend the gold in order to get the Experience Points for it.

The cleric is a worshiper of Bobber the god of fishing. He find the temple of Bobber in great disrepair and their acolytes lax. The local priest of Bobber is an old man who claims to be 115 years old. Much gold is spent getting the temple in repair.

The Thief spends her money on much partying.

The Elf Thief spends her money of a fully armored warhorse. A new set of armor, some caltrops, a couple of tattoos, new fancy sets of clothing, and the rest is wasted on partying.

The brother of the Dwarf comes to the city looking for his brother. He is saddened to find that he is dead and is gladdened to find he died in battle with honor.

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready for Part 1.5 which I will tell later...

The party hires the following NPCs
Mark the Fighter M Chain and Shield with Sword.
The Band of Dwarves M, Dully, Martrus, Dontar, Dunkin, and Brannoc. All had Ring and Shield with Battle Axes!
There was Stryder the Elf Warrior and Mage with Longbow ready to fire.

They all headed back to the Black Stairs ready!

The party went back in and found the slaughter house. An animal pen, a blood pit that scraps and blood was drained to the unused 3rd level and the actual kitchen.

The party and their retainers bumbled around until they attracted the attention of some zombies. The cleric turned all of one of the dead but the party foolishly pursued the zombies and lost two dwarfs. The zombies were dispatched though.

The fighter Mark kept talking smack about the superiority of humans as the party explored the slaughterhouse area of the dungeon. The Player Dwarf pushed him down the bloodhole. He survived the fall but the party discovered he met a gang of ghouls who quickly dispatched foolish Mark but not before he beheaded one of them. A quick application of oil dispatched another ghoul but the party knows going deeper they will have to face them.

They explored a bit more and found a horde of dishes and silverware. The best find was a huge set of gold candle holders. The headed back to Raven's Fort where they cashed in the items for gold.

A party of legend has happened for the last three weeks as the Adventurers have unleashed a time of drunken debauchery right during The Summer Festival of the Lottery. With the huge amount of gold the party has shut down much of the city for the last three weeks. Crops have not been tended, cows not milked, jobs not done, the city has put in a virtual standstill. Drunken citizens lay all about the street for the last three weeks! The party is out of money and the Baron is now displeased. Time to leave town!

This was a Swords and Wizardyr game but I converted the world to LL/AEC.

Sadly some of the players claimed they did not enjoy the game. IF we would have been using 4E then the same game would have taken MANY sessions.  They only wanted to play 4E. 

The Funnel for LL/AEC

Choose a race

Roll 3d6 in order. 6 times in four columns  for Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, and Cha making four characters.

Once abilities have been determined, each player must roll for a skill. You are not picking out a class yet but think of the class you WANT. Each class desired will have a prime requisite, and some classes have a requirement of a minimum ability score. If the prime requisite ability is high enough, the character will receive a bonus to experience. Sometimes, a player will choose a certain class and the character does not have a prime requisite high enough to receive the experience bonus. In these cases, 2 ability points may be sacrificed from one ability to raise one prime requisite ability 1 point. This may be done more than once, but no ability can be lowered below 9. There are certain restrictions on how to raise or lower abilities. No ability may be lowered if it is also a prime requisite for the class, even if there are a few points to spare above the minimum required score. Dexterity can only be raised, never lowered. Constitution and Charisma are the only abilities that may not be modified in any way.

Roll once d100 Skills.

1. Actor 2. Animal Trainer 3. Appraiser 4. Armorer 5. Baker 6. Banker 7. Barber 8. Bartender 9. Beggar $ 10. Blacksmith 11. Boatman 12. Bookbinder 13. Bowyer/Fletcher % 14. Brewer 15. Butcher 16. Burglar $ 17. Carpenter 18. Chandler 19. Clown 20. Cobbler 21. Cooper 22. Cook 23. Coppersmith 24. Crier 25. Cutler 26. Dairyman 27. Dancer 28. Drifter $ 29. Dyer 30. Explorer 31. Farmer 32. Fisher 33. Fortune Teller* 34. Friar < 35. Furrier 36. Gambler 37. Game Keeper % 38. Gem Cutter 39. Glassblower 40. Glazier 41. Goldsmith 42. Gravedigger 43. Hatter 44. Herald 45. Horse Trader 46. Huntsman % 47. Investigator 48. Jailer 49. Jeweler 50. Juggler

51. Laborer 52. Lapidary 53. Lens Maker 54. Lorimer 55. Mapmaker 56. Mason 57. Merchant 58. Mime 59. Miner 60. Minstrel 61. Mourner 62. Notary 63. Occultist* 64. Painter 65. Pawnbroker 66. Peasant 67. Perfumer 68. Pimp/Whore 69. Poet 70. Porter 71. Potter 72. Prisoner 73. Puppeteer 74. Rat Catcher 75. Reeve 76. Roper 77. Seafarer 78. Servant 79. Scribe 80. Shepard 81. Shipwright 82. Slater 83. Slave 84. Silversmith 85. Singer 86. Stevedore 87. Tailor 88. Tanner 89. Taxman 90. Thatcher/Roofer 91. Thug 92. Tinkerer 93. Torchbearer 94. Undertaker 95. Vintner 96. Wanderer 97. Weapon Smith 98. Weaver 99. Woodcutter + 100. Roll Twice on the chart.

*- Has the Spell Read Magic only and can use Magic User scrolls.

$- Has the 0 Level Thief Skills of PL 11%, FRT 9%, PP 18% CW 44%, HIS 8%, HN 1-2

%- Starts out with a Long Bow OR Short Bow and 12 arrows.

+- Starts out with a Hand Axe or Battle Axe.

<- Can cast Clerical scrolls.

Roll 1d4 HPs modified by the Con score.

Roll 1d6 x 10 for gold for each character.

Start out at -500 XP

Start Playing!

My god this looks fun as hell!

The Gangs of Raven's Keep

"In a little Barony far far in the Western Frontier"

Gangs are a problem in any kingdom or empire. Here are a few that have moved into or formed in The Little Barony.

Bonstas - A really vicious and tough gang that is empire wide.
They believe in blood and fear.
They are know for killing every person in an area to send a message.
They also know how to disappear when the law comes to take them out.

The Foreigners - They are criminals from foreign lands that have no loyalty or ties.
They commonly take on any gangs in their way.
They also have many spys and assassins and can and will do espionage for any other foreign power.

The Ladorians- A thievery's guild specialized in robbing nobles.
They are ran by a sect of evil clerics who worship a god called "The Ladder".

The Daggers - A lowlife guild of thieves and thugs.
They don't know when to back off and are not very careful.
They also take anyone who wants to join if they survive the beat in.

The Martins - A very large and organized group much like the Bonstas but with seemingly more class.
They are in league with devils though.

BACK to the DUNGEON ZINE for LL/AEC V1 I2

BACK to the DUNGEON ZINE for LL/AEC



https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUcWpVRDJNY3RXcUU/edit?usp=sharing

Here it is issue 2! 100 rooms on second level!

See if your players can survive!



HERE also is an UPDATED V1 Issue 1.1. which has 110 room on first level!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUVkNUNTNjRUpGMTA/edit?usp=sharing

To the shelf with BttDRPG!

Well I am shelving BttDRPG. You can still download it from links previous until I decide to take it down all the way one day when I am bored. Either way no one will notice. ;)

I am still going to make Back to the Dungeon Zines/Modules/Houserules for LL/AEC though. I thoroughly enjoy putting those together and my megadungoen "The Black Stairs" and Ravenkeep have tales that MUST be told. Deep roleplay hack and slash story dungeons.

I am going to reedit V1 I1 to a 1.1 because I found numerous crap mistakes.

V1 I2 is chugging along nicely.

Here is an excerpt from I2

The University of Raven's Keep
University: There are various mage orders at odds with
each other. They will take it to the streets after dark.
There are other non university mage orders but the
University Mages believe themselves the authority over all mages. They are trying to get the authority to have a Mage
License. Professor Martinus is one famous professor who collects all kinds of monsters and artifacts.

Replenishing DEAD characters.
Remember that any room with a P in it's description may have additional NPCs or is another area for new PCs. Or it is Prisoners of low morale that can be used as cannon fodder.


Ranger Reports
Men of Bordermarch have been seen by Rangers within our borders. They are from the Western Kingdom beyond the Western Desert. The Men of the West are know for their purple clothing dyed from a hardy desert berry. Bordermarch is a fortress that guards the main East West Road that comes out of the Great Eastern Empire into their lands. They are a race of men with dark hair and tan skin and their eyes the color of metallic purple or violet. They worship a harsh god called the Provider (LN) Malsalla. These men frequently come to our lands to raid our dungeons.



Additional Hooks, Quest, Descriptions, and Stories

Early Weekend Morning, Entering Town, East Gate, Black Haired Thief 1 Gras-zi Girl about to be hug on the wall. A few other bodies (1d10)hang on the wall in various states of decomposition. Players could be just arriving to the town.

There are 1d6 victims at the stake tied up and waiting to be burnt.

There are ten stocks filled with 1d10 people.

Ravens, Crows, and Buzzards are feasting on the dead.

There are four swill pots with 1d4 victims. A swill pot is filled with water and only your head sticks out. You are left there to die in your own filth.

The guards at the gate don't really check anybody except for attractive females.

The city smells of incense, cow and horse manure, dog and cat waste, human feces and sweat, and the smells of mud and mold BUT not as bad as most cities!

Clear running water flows in small and large canals all over the town.

Running water from the Wellspring gives unique features such as water clocks, water powered doors, fountains, bathes, water wheels, and aqueducts running everywhere.

The place is lit up by oil lamps and continual light spells.

The Illuminations are a group of mages that light the lamps.

Thom Cankers is the Corporal. F2

Ratskin the Beggar T2 offers to be a guide to the town for a small meager price. He will lead the weak to get mugged.

In the tavern a troublemaker Hans and his friends start fights with weak “0” level humans. He loves to “beat the weak” and humiliate them afterwords by making them degrade themselves and he really loves to abuse girlfriends of the weaker men right in front of them.

A huge street fight erupts between two rival guilds or gangs.

A runaway cart! It might kill somebody!
Foreign Traders selling Slave Wear!

Shop selling Smoked Meats

A cart selling Bread Soup Bowls full of warm soup.


Various Postings Around Raven's Keep
Any poster with a U next to it is not available at this time.


Poster for Arena. Want to make som gold? GO fight in the arena!

Old Sage hiring adventurers for The Black Stairs

Adventurers for Hire Bloodrock Castle The Baron U

Quest for the Dwarven Citadel contact Lord Stonus U

Explore the South Western Swamps U

Escaped Slave in revolt! He must be captured or killed! Calcutus!

A murder stalks the streets! Beware Elf girls!

Wanted: Retrivial of Zombie Slayer Sword of great worth to my family. 600 gp reward. See Stratton

RESCUE! Three Merchants lost and believed captured near the ruins “The Black Stairs”! Reward 1000 gp each. See the Merchant's Guild

WANTED: Drow artifacts of any kind. Drow dead or alive. Reward for female Drow alive. Extra GOLD. Martinus RKU

Raven's Keep Adventuring Society: Government Sanctioned Adventuring! See Shushima the monk

WATED: Monster corpses: Will pay gold for each corpse. Stuffers Taxidermy End of Row

WANTED: Deep Elf Female wanted alive and restrained for study. Martinus RKU

RKAS This is the Wolf Wounded! I have an official claim on the Black Stairs. That ought to keep and claim jumpers away.

Maps of the Black Stairs needed! Will pay GOLD! Needed for RKAS. See Shushima “Na seto no homi seah no go mato”

CAUTION: Zeuzalonyian Slave Tartus has escaped with 20 men! Reward from the Baron.

This is Storm, Van Von I think I love you!

WANTED: Adarian Elves! Any caught in the city to be turned into the Guard! They are traitors to the Baron!

Needed: Orc Tooth, Goblin Spleen, Kobold Brain, Stirge Body, Tentacle Worm Brain Juice, Troglodyte Stink Glands, Centepiede Poison, and Morlock Eyes. Kulu the Alchemist.

Back to the Dungeon V1 I1

In a little barony far far out in the frontier...


It is a ZINE, it is an adventure for LL/AEC.

It was written many years ago.

It is the first level to the Megadungeon called The Black Stairs.

It would be really fun to run it using LL/AEC but people around here look at the OSR stuff like herpes.

Only in times of great boredom will it ever get any deeper or will another issue come out for it though the next four levels are all on paper.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzYaSvmA-OpUaEsycmlnNnBmNEU/edit?usp=sharing

Is there going to be a New Age of Gaming? (LONG POST!)

If I were a gaming company with a stylish and rather well written Fantasy RPG I would be putting full steam ahead! The "stars are right" IMHO for many games to get spotlighted that would never have had the chance to do so.

There still is the void out there for many in gaming that is not filled by the Old School Renaissance and is not filled by Modern Fantasy Gaming. Many are out there and want to play but either can't find a group with their style or rules they like.

The Old School Renaissance still holds onto their "preferences" of what drives New School Gamers away. Race Classes, Race/Class Restrictions, or to sum it up not getting to play what you want to play. Some Grognards say tough! Suck it up and like it but many times as I have tried to run an old school game people that have never played Old School before are mystified and then appalled by the restrictions. They simply don't even give it a chance. My biggest killer is Elves that cannot be Rangers. I had both of my daughters about to play 3d6 in order and they just as they read through it said "Dad this game and those other games suck. You can't be what you want to be in those old games." Yes I know I know I could house rule it but why stick to these old outworn restrictions? My largely ignored RPG addresses these problems while staying old school simple but this is about people trying to make it in the RPG business world not my hobbyist approach.

The New School Gaming is somewhat doing fine but it is currently waning. Oh it is alive and well in it's current form but it is no longer in it's heyday like it was in the 80s and the 80s didn't even have the internet and all the conventions crazes that this modern world has.

You see tabletop gaming is at a very unique place at this time and I will get to that.

The D20 system came out in the early 2000s and reinvigorated the dying gaming industry. The 90s did have it's heyday as Vampire did make it's huge mark on the gaming world but by the end of the 90s it was dying as waves and peaks of popularity of things do. Many D&D gamers kept chugging along even though TSR was doing an Atari type glut failure. I must admit I quit playing D&D because of 2nd Edition as I found it really sterile and somewhat boring until the huge glut of Forgotten Realms stiff cam out and other people were running it. We gathered a group and played for years until people being assholes destroyed the group as well as people moving away, divorces, gossip. It's amazing how someone can be an admitted asshole then get their feeling hurt when people start calling him an asshole.

We all know the amazing story of WotC buying D&D and Hasbro acquiring it. They then got it back in order and came out with the 3rd edition. I have to say I had not been so excited about an edition or an RPG like that in a long time. I was blown away by all the detail. You could so many things with a character! Sadly that was replaced by questions on the game design that has plagued modern games for the most part ever since. TOO much damn detail which means too much work for the DM as everyone else sucked as DMs or was too lazy to run the game.

Well 3.5 put a band aid on it a few years after I bought a shit ton of books again and although I tried to resist I found the 3.5 books on Amazon for half price shipped and then I bought another 3.5 library. We played for many years until we gathered a quite large gaming group. Oh then once again the group grew and shrunk. We had gained a particularly brilliant rules lawyer that actually was so brilliant (if not "too brilliant") who actually memorized every rulebook in the 3.5 library. Without ever cheating he tweaked his characters into gods unlike anyone I had ever seen. Like I said he never cheated and used the rules to break the game and did he ever show how completely broken the 3.5 D&D game was. Well there was one alternate DM who did give too much gold when he was running but the Rules Lawyer never mentioned that rules break. I could put a challenge for his character but the rest of the party would die. He ended up killing the party a few months before the release of 4th Edition. He fireballed a villain amongst his own party who he well knew had a necklace of Fireballs and blew up the entire party. Of course he saves and too no damage though the combination of feats and magic items. He tried to say he made a mistake but he just knew the rules too well. Anyway the adventure was a save the world type adventure and he allowed the world to go into a cataclysm!

With my world destroyed and all of my group disliking and really pissed at the the rules lawyer things looked grim. The 3.5 rules had been shown so very broken or at least breakable by a rules lawyer. The rest of my players were story gamers for the most part.

The release of 4th edition things were really going well. The rules lawyer HATED 4th edition because despite all it's faults rules lawyers have a hell of a time breaking the game. He left after a bit of time and my table grew under the 4th edition. A bit of stupid drama and the table shook but the 4th edition game went on for at least a few years. During that time and since 3.5 I had been yearning to play some of the old school stuff. Unfortunately my group outright refused my request save for two game of Swords and Wizardry most of the players would only play 4th.

I kept telling them I needed variations in my games but no one would budge.

The 4th edition games began to slightly bore me and some of the players just did not get or like the rules and left and my wife is a story gamer and on medication and some of the players and DMs were rude when she did not get the rules. Battles that lasted four hours? Tables full of cards as in so many that we almost had no room for maps. The lies and deceit of WotC and their "Online Tool". The Essentials or 4.5 D&D. I began to get sick of 4th edition and one day I just wrote everyone and said not playing 4th for an undetermined time. They were appalled and I was cold. I never said they had to stop playing but the group died out.

I got a Pathfinder game started up using my Labyrinth Lord dungeon. It converted very well with far more options than LL/AEC and I must say Pathfinder is 3.5 perfected and is perfect in every way but it was too much damn work and some of the players were careful (if not boring) players and others story (if not foolish) gamers and there was snippy rude comments that pissed off the story players. When I stated I had no time to prep (as I was working out of town five days a week) the game and finally was going to convert it to Labyrinth Lord/Advance Edition Companion for ease of prep time and I had already written it in LL/AEC already, the players got pissed and threw a fit. The only were going to play Pathfinder. I guess they don't know rule #1 so I said fuck I won't game at all.

I looked round online and find there are many like me gameless. I will play Pathfinder again but life has not given me gaming groups that play on weekends. I have looked for Old Schoolers but they are far and few between and play on weekdays.

So here is how I see it. Pathfinder is successful because 4th Edition D&D did not do very well and is currently NOT doing very well and this time WotC is actually listening to the fan base this time concerning D&D Next. No matter what the reason there was a 4th edition is because of the flaws of 3.5 and after awhile Pathfinder will suffer the same fate when D&D Next comes out IF it is what they claim "a damn good game". The problem is they are FAR from coming out with D&D Next so this leaves an interesting gaming void that IF games like Numenera and The 13th Age do it right MIGHT be able to find a place in gaming BEFORE D&D Next comes out.

You see there are some apparently kick ass games coming out right now. Some have already came out and are chugging along like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Adventurer Conquer, King, Swords and Wizardry Complete, and others.

IF you take this little time in this void you will do well. People are kind of wary of it all and are looking for a gaming fix.

OR am I wrong? How do you see it? What say you?