Stocking The Dungeon

Magical Mystara - How Spellcasting Works in the Five Spheres Cosmology

2012-01-27T20:53:00.000-05:00

Referring back to my post about adjusting clerics and in game religion to the five spheres cosmology (FSC) Frank introduced in the Master and Immortal rules, I was thinking over some general ideas about how the different magic using classes approach their spellcraft, and how it fits into the FSC. None of this has any real impact on game play, it's just a little in character flavor to make the

Some of my favorite Mystara products

2012-01-17T02:45:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased the Mystara Dungeon Master's Survival Kit and Player's Survival Kit. I absolutely love these! While they aren't in any way required to get a complete view of the setting, the collection of props, "hand drawn" style maps, blank journal pages and other goodies they included are wonderful for setting the mood of the gaming session. I don't know if they were ever released as

Classic D&D variant: Firearms

2012-01-16T13:55:00.000-05:00

I've been talking a lot about Portown and the Sea of Dread lately, and to many people, that means pirates. The Hin of the Five Shires, as well as many of their human neighbors, are responsible for a lot of piracy on the waters of the Sea of Dread, and an entire culture has sprung up around the setting's less than scrupulous sailors. To a lot of people, pirates means guns. Cannons and muskets are

Culinary Magic!

2012-01-16T01:14:00.000-05:00

I always like fun and interesting new magic for the game, things the players least expect. I had some notes on magical food concoctions in my notes, and remembered them while reading about the Chef class in an old issue of Polyhedron magazine. I decided to type up my notes, and convert some of the Chef magic stuff from AD&D to Classic D&D, here's what i came up with. Miija's Gingersnaps (75 gp

Let me make this clear,

2012-01-14T16:25:00.001-05:00

I will not be discussing D&DNext/5th edition D&D here. I will not be entertaining ridiculous notions that "osr" products that have sales in the low 4 digits forced Wizards of the Coast into changing their business plan. I will not be entertaining unsubstantiated claims that the Pathfinder RPG outsells D&D in any way, shape or form. The two games have vastly different business models, and

People and places of Portown: The Green Dragon Inn

2012-01-13T15:37:00.000-05:00

Before discussing the Green Dragon Inn, let me remind everyone that I have been using Green Ronin's Freeport to develop Portown. There are links on that post to some information to get started in Freeport, most importantly, there is this free map. I like this map because it is an unlabeled "player's" map. This has two benefits, first, if you're using Freeport sourcebooks, like I am, it shows the

Doing away with Alignment? The horror of it all!

2012-01-13T01:04:00.000-05:00

My recent post about using the spheres of power as the "religions" of Mystara has led me to thinking about the role of the three alignments (or 5 if you use Holmes rules, or 9 if you've adapted the AD&D/D20 model) in play. They only really come into play in a couple situations: The Druid, Paladin and Avenger "name level classes" Spells and Magic Items that determine a creature's alignment Spells

A Portown Extra: Lemunda the Lovely!

2012-01-12T03:22:00.003-05:00

As many readers may know, in the dungeons of Zenopus scenario in the Holmes Basic rules, if the party is lucky, they will discover and rescue Lemunda, who claims to be a daughter of a "powerful lord" of Portown. In keeping with the previous post about adapting Portown to Freeport and Mystara, here's a character write up for Lemunda. Lemunda "the Lovely" Mirren Class/Level: Fighter 2 Alignment:

Portown, Mystara and Freeport?

2012-01-12T00:48:00.002-05:00

I was recently reading the sample dungeon in the Holmes edition Basic rulebook, and became intrigued by the idea of placing Portown and its associated dungeons in Mystara. Although the background text states that the city exists to link land trade routes with shipping lanes, I decided to place it on an island, justifying the existence of the pirates found in and around the ruins. The Five Shires

A Quick Update

2012-01-10T02:52:00.000-05:00

Things are a little crazy at work with the kids starting a new semester, but I haven't abandoned the Dungeon. New posts very soon. Thanks for visiting! Besides, I'm sure there's probably bigger news in the D&D community this week than my updates here :)

Clerics and Religion in a Classic D&D Mystara campaign

2012-01-04T13:17:00.001-05:00

The Classic D&D game never delved much into the details of a cleric's faith. The basic rules even state the following. In D&D games, as in real life, people have ethical and theological beliefs. This game does not deal with those beliefs. All characters are assumed to have them, and they do not affect the game. They can be assumed, just as eating, resting and other activities are assumed, and

Additional thoughts on Non Human Spellcasters (and 1st Level Druids too!)

2012-01-04T02:30:00.000-05:00

Additional Thoughts on Non-Human Spellcasters The original Non Human Spellcasters Post is Here! It occurs to me that this system, as I presented it before, undermines the Cleric and Magic User (and Elf) classes a little bit, so here's an amendment to it: If you have access to the books in question: Set 4: Master Rules Gazetteer 10, The Orcs of Thar Gazetteer 11, The Republic of Darokin

Re-Stocking the Dungeon; Last of the updates & comments

2012-01-03T15:30:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned last time in regard to the NPC Profile articles, I may at some point update and convert the material in old posts that is specific to the Greyhawk setting, but not today. This also includes the spells and magic items articles. Ability Scores and Spellcasting I really like this bit of house ruling. Game balance is not a precise science, and in actual play, I have never seen

Re-Stocking the Dungeon; More updates & comments

2012-01-03T03:30:00.001-05:00

Toying With An Overhaul Of The Cleric's Cure Wounds Spells One of my first new content projects for the new year, coming in the next week or so, deals with critical hits, poison/disease and how healing works. I ignore this old material in favor of that. Borrowing From The Retro-Clones 1: Caverns & Cavaliers I really love these Borrowing from the Retro Clones articles, and this one is really

Re-Stocking the Dungeon; Comments and Updates on Old Material

2012-01-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

Since you have a new hostess here, I mentioned that I wanted to comment on a few of the old articles, pointing out anything I don't use or think needs updating. I'll cover a couple posts at a time, so as to quickly get through them and move on with some new material. Death's Door House Rules While I like the idea, in theory at least, that a PC can take a couple points of damage after hitting 0

Blog Maintenance and Immediate Plans

2011-12-29T18:37:00.001-05:00

Hey guys, I've got some more new material to post soon, but here's an update on what's been going on, and what to expect in the next couple days: I went back and added the links to the incredibly useful Dragon and Dungeon magazine adventure indices posts to the side bar, where they'll stay visible and easy to reference along with the "what is Classic D&D" articles. Thanks again to chatdemon for

(New Magic Item) Saudamard's Club

2011-12-29T16:18:00.001-05:00

Saudamard was a strange and unique hero, an orphaned Hin (the name halflings use for themselves in the Mystara setting) raised by animals in the wilderness. Saudamard himself claimed that he was raised in a nest of rust monsters in the Cruth mountains, but for the majority of his life, this was not taken seriously. Even his name, bestowed upon him by other Hin local to the region around Longflask

Happy New Year!

2011-12-26T00:26:00.002-05:00

Posting may be sporadic over the next week or so, but I'll be back after the new year! Have fun & be safe.

Spellcasting for non humans

2011-12-26T00:25:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, in order to represent the presence of cleric or magic user type individuals within nonhuman society, a player may want to add some spellcasting ability to his character. This is done fairly easily, but requires a little sacrifice from the character. The armor restriction for the magic user class, meaning no armor is allowed, now applies to any character who adds magic user

Class Options in BECMI

2011-12-25T05:52:00.001-05:00

Over the years, one of the common topics of discussion among BECMI, and those of the other Classic D&D editions, players has been the "limited" class options in the game. It's always tempting to write up a bunch of homebrew classes, or try and split up the races and classes like AD&D did, but it occurs to me that if we take a look at what's really there for the game, some of that temptation.

Problem with post comments is now fixed.

2011-12-24T16:35:00.000-05:00

It was brought to my attention that the ability to add comments to post was somehow disabled. Although the page would not say that posts were disabled, clicking on the "add comment" link resulted in absolutely nothing happening. Anyway, it appears to be fixed now, so comment away! Thanks to ADD Grognard for the heads up on the issue. And to all readers, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and

The Dungeon is under new ownership!

2011-12-24T05:48:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Just posting to let you guys know that I, Darva, have assumed "ownership" of the Dungeon, since its creator, chatdemon, has moved on to new projects and left this one abandoned. As a friend, and player in some of his games, I have a pretty good grasp of what the intent of this blog was, and hope to keep it going as a source of ideas for BECMI D&D and the Known World/Mystara campaign

Classic DnD Dragon Magazine Adventure Index

2011-05-30T10:00:00.005-04:00

As you can see, I've made these indices a bit more helpful than those usually found online, including notes on the intended setting, party make up & levels, and a brief description of the premise of the adventure to help you pick an adventure that's right for your group and campaign. Additionally, since a lot of folks have a favorite author or two whose work they value above others, I've listed

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 7

2011-05-29T10:04:00.002-04:00

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 6

2011-05-28T10:01:00.002-04:00

Flash Fun Friday - Crush The Castle by Armor Games

2011-05-27T16:00:00.001-04:00

Kicking off a new feature here on StheD, each friday I'll share one of the fun, pointless time wasting online flash games I've found, most of which have a fantasy/medieval genre theme that goes along with the spirit of Classic D&D just fine.First up is Armor Games' Crush the Castle. You're the chief siege engineer, and the King has ordered all resistance to his rule crushed. Can you defeat all

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 5

2011-05-27T10:00:00.004-04:00

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 4

2011-05-26T10:00:00.005-04:00

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 3

2011-05-25T10:00:00.003-04:00

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 2

2011-05-24T10:06:00.005-04:00

Classic DnD Dungeon Magazine Adventure Index - part 1

2011-05-23T10:00:00.003-04:00

I've combed through my collection of Dungeon magazines, and documented all the published adventures for BX, BECMI and RC D&D.As you can see, I've made these indices a bit more helpful than those usually found online, including notes on the intended setting, party make up & levels, and a brief description of the premise of the adventure to help you pick an adventure that's right for your group

A couple options for Magic Users

2011-05-22T16:22:00.009-04:00

The Classic D&D game grants a lot of abilities to magic users through their spells, including a few I think should be learned skills, not requiring the casting of a spell to perform. Among these are the abilities to read magic, detect magic and identify magic items.Hold up though, I'm not just going to give every 1st level magic user the power to perform these activities any time they wish with a

Ability Scores and Spellcasting

2011-02-23T23:18:00.010-05:00

The following table sums up my house rules for how a spellcaster's prime requisite ability score (Int for Magic Users, Wis for Clerics) impacts his spellcasting:.nobrtable br { display: none }Ability ScoreMax. Spell LevelBonus1-8NACan't Cast Spells91None102None113None124None135114611571168217921893Maximum Spell Level is quite simply the highest level spell a character with that ability score can

A quick review of Dodecahedron - Issue 2

2011-02-17T00:41:00.010-05:00

Dyson's Dodecahedron is a new ezine for Classic D&D type games from Dyson over at the A character for every game blog. Each issue contains 12 pages of interesting content for old school style games, and issue two is out this month, here's my thumbnail review:Overview:At just under 2mb in file size, the pdf is a quick download, and with the exception of the cover page, the whole thing is fairly

Old School Greyhawk: Castle of the Mad Archmage

2010-07-15T01:20:00.006-04:00

Greyhawk Grognard: Castle of the Mad Archmage Final Release Now Available! Joe "Greyhawk Grognard" Bloch presents his vision of the ruins of Zagyg's castle. His version of the dungeon is unofficial, but if you've made use of one of the published versions of the dungeon, you can easily tweak some things and place this elsewhere in the campaign as an alternate megadungeon. An epic

Setting the Campaign Mood - Mundane "Monsters"

2010-06-16T11:24:00.002-04:00

Another trick I like to use to establish a better sense of fantasy and wonder in the campaign is to start things out very mundane and down to earth. Bandits will be humans rather than orcs. The owlbear stealing chickens from the local farm turns out to be a rival farmer in a makeshift costume. Magic is rare at first, and the real monsters wait quietly for the party to come to them, a bit

Setting the Campaign Mood - First in a series

2010-04-29T15:31:00.007-04:00

Being a fan of fantasy literature, folklore and mythology, I get tired of the default assumptions that have crept into the game over the years. Monsters everywhere, magic everywhere, and it's more than that, everyone recognizes and accepts them. Joe the farmer knows not only that those were goblins raiding his farm, but that the shaman was casting cause disease on his cows? Not in my world.I'd

[Magic Item] Ebon Mask of the Eagle Talon

2010-04-15T09:22:00.003-04:00

Ebon Mask of the Eagle TalonThe Eagle's Talons are an old, well established thieving guild based in Specularum, though the exact location of their guildhouse is a closely kept secret. Despite many attempts, including recent ones by Duke Stefan, the secrets of the guild, and the identity of its headquarters remains unknown to most of Gorna's residents.Since most of the guild's activities take

[Artifact] Lightbringer

2010-04-15T09:10:00.003-04:00

Lightbringer Background information In the days of the Suloise Empire, the clergy of Lydia were generally a peaceful bunch, tutoring children in their letters and numbers, instructing young bards in the arts of music, and undertaking other such peaceful and pleasant tasks. But like every thing from the Empire, even the peace loving clergy of Lydia had a grim, unpleasant aspect. In service of

[Magic Item] Druid's Honey Mead

2010-04-15T08:53:00.002-04:00

Druid's Honey MeadThe druids long ago mastered the techniques of fermenting honey from beehives into a potent and tasty beverage that is popular across the known world even today. Though the meads vary a little from region to region, the general theme is the same. Honey is harvested and prepared in the autumn and allowed to ferment over the winter, reaching maturity in early spring and brought

[Magic Item] Springfest Biscuits

2010-04-15T08:47:00.002-04:00

Springfest Biscuits (Also known as druid's cakes)These small, somewhat flavorless biscuits, made from a base of ground oats and whatever local grains are available, are the primary fare during many of the celebrations during Springfest, since they are easy to make in large quantities and require no expensive or uncommon ingredients. The taste is somewhat akin to an unsweetened oatmeal cookie

["New" Spell] Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter

2010-04-15T07:59:00.002-04:00

Tasha's Uncontrollable Hideous Laughter3rd Level Magic-User spellRange: 180 feetDuration: 1 round per levelArea of Effect: 1 creature per 3 levelsThe victim of this spell perceives everything as extremely funny. On the round the spell is cast, the target begins smiling, then giggling, and finally collapsing into gales of uncontrollable, hideous laughter. The target is entitled to a save vs.

[Magic Item] Avrine's Lockpicks

2010-04-15T04:14:00.001-04:00

Avrine's LockpicksNew Magic ItemAvrine Nimblefoot is a legendary figure among the folk of the Five Shires and western Karameikos, especially the Hin. She lived about 50 years ago, and was a daring swashbuckler of a lass, living a life of wild adventures and daring deeds. Among the stories told about her are the tale of how she retrieved the jeweled crown of Black Eagle Barony from a bugbear

Borrowing from the retro clones 3: Swords & Wizardry

2009-12-19T12:01:00.002-05:00

Mythmere Games' Swords & Wizardry (Free PDF download and modestly priced hardcopy versions. Link: http://www.swordsandwizardry.com/) is an OGL clone of the original D&D game, and while slightly different in rules mechanics than BECMI, it's close enough to be immediately useful. While, in my not-so-expert opinion, S&W collects, organizes and clarifies the rules for an OD&D style game, the core

Borrowing from the retro clones 2: Iron Sword

2009-12-16T19:01:00.004-05:00

Iron Sword is another retro clone game from WeaselFierce's website (Free PDF download. Link: http://weaselfierce.webs.com/roleplaying.htm). Though similar in some ways to Caverns & Cavaliers, which we discussed last time, IS adds its own new twists and ideas, the most noteworthy of which is the lack of spellcasting classes! This is intended to recreate a sort of viking/visigoth type setting,

Borrowing from the retro clones 1: Caverns & Cavaliers

2009-12-16T16:22:00.006-05:00

While I've unfortunately gained a reputation in some circles as being "anti-retroclone", I fully support the efforts of those who are producing OGL based games that expand and support BECMI and other out of print editions of D&D. I'm not a fan of those who (in my pig-headed opinion, I fully admit) try and replace OOP D&D. Anyway...In the spirit of supporting the retroclone publishers, and adding

Toying with an overhaul of the Cleric's cure wounds spells

2009-12-16T15:24:00.009-05:00

Here's a breakdown of the Cleric's "cure" spells, by level he can cast them and amount of damage healed:LevelSpellHP Restored2Cure Light Wounds1d6+18Cure Serious Wounds2d6+210Cure Critical Wounds3d6+312CureallAll but 1d6The main question I have about this is the disparity in time between CLW and CSW compared to then acquiring CCW and CA. Six experience levels pass while the Cleric can only heal

Prime Requisite Games - Free Classic D&D compatible adventures

2009-10-20T17:39:00.002-04:00

Prime Requisite Games produces adventure modules and mini-adventures for the Labyrinth Lord system, making them pretty much ready to use for BX or BECMI gaming as well.They currently have 3 freebie pdfs on their Lulu storefront, 2 of which can also be ordered as hardcopies for about $6.Great quality adventures, and you can't beat the price, no matter which option you choose.

(Labyrinth Lord) Character Generator

2009-10-20T17:21:00.002-04:00

This is freakin awesome:Labyrinth Lord Character GeneratorSelect a few drop down options at the top and hit "create character" to view the fully statted out PC or NPC. Or hit "show pdf" to download the character, on a fully rendered character record sheet!Very handy for rolling up a batch of npcs, or creating a PC party on the quick for a pick up game.For those who don't know, Labyrinth Lord is

Three horrors of the jungle (new monsters)

2009-10-18T02:30:00.004-04:00

These three new monsters from the Jungle are presented in D&D Rules Cyclopedia format.Kananicte (Sleep Flower)Small Lowlife (Uncommon)Armor Class: 9Hit Dice: 1/2 (1d4 hp)Move: 0Attacks: 1Damage: SpecialNo Appearing: 1d6Save As: Normal ManMorale: -NA-Treasure Type: NilIntelligence: 0Alignment: NuetralXP Value: 8Kananicte are small, brightly colored flowers with thick stems and delicate leaves,

Variant Non-Magical Arrows

2009-10-18T02:24:00.003-04:00

In the standard rules all attacks with a bow do 1d6 points of damage. I wanted to add a little variety for characters who use bows heavily, as well as give the DM some options to use with NPCs and monsters who make use of archery in combat, so here's a collection of new arrows I devised to give your archers a little more flexibility. Enjoy.Note: Damage statistics are given in the following format

Lock and Trap qualities

2009-10-18T02:23:00.003-04:00

I like to give some variety to locks and traps, to make things a little more interesting than the old "ok, roll to unlock/disarm it". While intricate detail of the workings of the device is overkill in most cases, I found that a simple system to differentiate the quality of various devices doesn't slow things down too much. Here's what I came up with.Lock/Trap Quality