Magic Item of the Week - the Ring of Warding

  This plain gold band has two different effects. When worn by most characters it simply gives a +1 on all saving throws vs. undead and their effects; +1 vs. Ghast stink; +1 to save vs. Vampire charm, etc.
  Its full powers are only seen when worn by a cleric or paladin. When such characters wear the Ring of Warding it has the following effects; the wearers acts as if one level higher when attempting to turn undead; if the wearer succeeds in turning undead an additional 1d4 undead are turned or destroyed and the undead are turned for maximum duration; the wearer has +1 A.C. vs undead and makes all saving throws vs magical or poison effects of the undead at +1; if an effect generated by an undead normally has no saving throw the Ring of Warding grants a save of 20 which can be modified by magic, etc.

  Example; Aurelius the Studious, a cleric, is 8th level and wears a Ring of Warding. He is traveling deep into a cavern system in hopes of destroying a hidden temple to the Ghoul God said to be hidden there when he and his companions are attacks by a horde of 17 wights! Gripping his crucifix firmly he raises it high and calls out,
  "Deus te Perdat!"
  He then rolls to turn undead but uses the chart for 9th level clerics, not 8th. This means that instead of automatically turning some of the wights he now destroys them! In addition to the normal 2d6 he adds 1d4 getting a lucky total of 13, meaning only 4 remain.
  The wights close so quickly he has to get his mace into his hands immediately as they fall upon the party. Doomsman the barbarian and the Amazon dealt with two of the fell creatures quickly and Jonas was holding his own but the one attacking Aurelius, perhaps by luck, perhaps by fierceness, lunged forward and touched him, trying to leech out his lifeforce.
  Normally level drain has no save, but the Ring of Warding gives Aurelius a based save of 20. He is also wearing a +3 Amulet of Protection and is under the effects of a Prayer spell he cast earlier, so he needs 16 or better to save. He rolls an 18 and handily avoids losing a level.

Misunderstood and Improperly Played - the 1e Monk

  Before I begin the actual article some confessions.
  First, I love the 1e monk. I have played three; Ti-Gun, who died at 13th level; Xing-Chao whi is 5th level; and Tamsen who is 3rd.
  Second, I am constantly messing with the monk class and often my campaign allows the Martial Artist created by Lew Pulsipher. Lew and I spoke about the Monk a fair amount and those discussions were the cause of a lot of the fiddling I mentioned earlier. As I remember we sorta' settled down to either using his Martial Artist or having 1e Monks with +1 h.p. per die.
  But the biggest conclusion was - most people didn't understand the role of the monk. I understand that some people don't like the idea that each class has a role within a party (some at all, some in particular ways) but I don't think it can be denied that originally 1e was all about having a good mix of various roles filled.
  The roles of the 'main four' is pretty understandable: fighters are physical offense; magic-users are magical offense; clerics are physical and magical defense; thieves are scouting. The other classes are interesting mixes: druids are magical offense and defense in the wilderness; rangers are physical offense and scouting; paladins are physical offense and magical defense; assassins are scouting and physical offense; bards are everything. But the monk? The monk is different.
  Let's look at what the monk is not. Do a quick google search for 'ad&d 1e monks' and you will find a lot of hate. The people who hate the monk tend to broadly fall into two different camps: one the one hand is the 'they are fighters who aren't good at fighting' camp and on the other is the 'they are wimps at low level and gods at high level' camp.
  "They don't have enough hit points for the front line"; "their armor class is too poor for front line combat"; "their special abilities are too situational to be effective in the front line" are all taken from the 'they aren't fighters' discussions.
  "A high level monk has more attacks than anyone, can't be hit, and can one-hit kill almost anything - if he survives to 7th level, which is almost impossible"; "while the Grand Master of Flowers is the most powerful fighter in the system the monk is the weakest class"; "at low levels all a monk can do is avoid combat and steal X.P. from the party as everyone hopes he lives long enough to turn into a killing machine at high level" are all taken from the 'wimp to god' discussions.
  It is very true a monk is not a front line fighter. And while the monk has thief abilities the thief is better at it. So if the monk isn't physical offense, magical offense, magical defense, physical defense, or scouting - what is he?!
  Simple; The role of the monk is to counter magical offense and magical defense.
  I support this is the monk's abilities both to begin and as they level up;
  1) hard to surprise
  2) multiple attacks
  3) bonus weapon damage
  4) good saving throws
  5) takes less damage from spells
  6) very high movement rate
  7) can deflect/dodge missile weapons
  8) stealth abilities
  9) immunity or resistance to disease, poison, charm,  ESP, mind blasts, quest and geas spells, etc.
  10) communication with plants and animals
  11) a one-hit kill ability
  12) the ability to heal himself (only)

  So the monk can avoid detection with stealth or with magic-like abilities while being very hard to surprise; avoid arrows and bolts; stay out of the reach of fighters; cover tremendous distances; shrug off a wide range of spells; take less damage from spells; and have a large number of attacks.
  The monk is a commando that waits for the right moment to assault and neutralize key targets, especially spell casters. He is, in the end, a wizard slayer and cleric killer. His job is to close the distance rapidly, dodge spells, and disrupt spell casting as he takes down magic-users and clerics.

  Now for a totally self-indulgent scenario!

  The party crept down the middle of the room, alert for danger on all sides. The hobgoblin mercenaries had been bad and the fanatical cultists with no fear of death had been worse but they were close, now. The map from the archbishop said that the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Evil was past the massive double doors at the other end of this hall.
  The hall itself was huge; wide enough for a battalion of pikemen, longer than the king's parade ground, and with pillars stretching high above. The sound of their boots on the basalt floor echoed loudly in the silent space.
  With a shout a group of men dressed in the black and white of the cult stepped from behind a pillar over 100 feet ahead. Tolmar the guardian, a paladin, in front, sized them up - a huge man, almost certainly a half-ogre, in plate mail with a maul that must weight 20 pounds; another man in plate with the facial tattoos of a full priest of the cult; a beautiful woman with cruel eyes, no armor, and a wand in her hand; three more hobgoblins with shields as a wall in front of them.
  "There," hissed Korbok the dwarven swashbuckler/filcher, "a rat-faced little man in the shadows to our left who thinks he is hidden"
  Tolmar knew the fight would be tough; these followers of the cult were the ones who wiped out the last band sent by the archbishop.
  "Dalbok, prepare to hit them with that foul-smelling vapour as soon as they attack"
  The magician grunted to let his friend knew he was ready.
  "Brother Saric, yon devil worshiper will want your heart - be prepared to counter his foul curses"
  The canon muttered an 'aye' under his breath.
  "Korbok, go take care of our little friend as soon as you can slip away."
  "I will, lad."
  "Firewalker, you and I will deal with the rest"
  The huge myrmidon just grinned from beneath his troll-skull helmet. 
  Tolmar looked over his shoulder at Firewalker's cousin (a warrior), Dalbok's apprentice (an evoker), and his own squire (a keeper),
  "And you three do as you've been trained - guard Dalbok and Brother Saric first, help us second, aye?"
  A chorus of 'eyes' returned.
  The band started forward, the cultists pausing just a second before also beginning the strangely slow approach of imminent combat. Both groups spread out, the cultists sidewise, the band circular with the henchmen guarding the rear. Tolmar did one last mental check of his own gear and glanced around his friends as he prepared to give the order to begin when he saw a flicker of movement - a lone man dressed in the robes of the cult was coming from the band's right flank, and fast - as fast a a warhorse in charge,
  "Ware the right!" he called but neither his own squire nor Firewalker's cousin could move fast enough to prevent the bald, barefoot attack from closing with Dalbok and striking the grey-bearded mage with a kick. Tolmar had to turn his gaze back to the front  as the enemy began to charge.
  Tomar was worried immediately. Without the spell from Dalbok the enemy not only kept formation but their spellcasters had free reign - Some sort of magic crossbow bolt sped from the witch and struck Tolmar while the evil priest spoke a word to Firewalker that made him freeze in pace for long enough that the hobgoblins wounded him.Then the rhythm and needs of battle took over.
  Korbok was dueling the rat-faced man in the shadows; Brother Saric was able to paralyze the three hobgoblins but at the cost of being hit with more mystic bolts from the witch; he saw a spell from Dalbok's apprentice strike the enemy priest, ruining another spell but when Tolmar looked over his shoulder to check on the man he assumed was another suicidal cultist.
  So far Firewalker's cousin and his own squire hadn't even been able to wound the odd man, who was now approaching Brother Saric from behind. But where was Dalbok? Puzzled, he took the chance to look more closely and what he saw made his blood run cold. 
  Dalbok was lying on the ground, his neck obviously broken. This strange man had killed the wizard in a matter of moments with his bare hands!
  Tolmar focused on the battle in front of him again, but called out,
  "Protect Brother Saric!"
  Tolmar and Firewalker traded blows with the mighty maul-wielder. While each took some damage the half-ogre was obviously badly wounded. The witch shot a spear of fire at Tolmar, but he was able to get his shield up in time. But the enemy priest, his face a rictus of hate, was able to dart out and touch Firewalker the exposed skin above his arm bracer. Firewalker's cry of despair rang out immediately,
  "I cannot see! The foul creature has taken my sight!"
  Tolmar glanced back to see how long it would take Brother Saric to heal his friend and was horrified; Saric was busy fighting the stranger. Far from being overwhelmed the unarmed man seemed completely unconcerned to be surrounded by 3 enemies as he ducked, weaved, and dodged the attacks of the priest and the henchmen.
  Tolmar had to return his attention to the half-ogre and protect his blinded comrade. The enemy priest had pulled out a staff and was cackling with gleeful laughter ad he struck at Firewalker. Firewalker simply growled defiance and did his best to ward off the blows and strike back. Dalbok's apprentice boldly strode forward and touched the evil priest and the priest screamed as the smell of ozone filled the air. The witch appeared to cast a spell but Tolmar saw no effect.
  Tolmar glanced around again; Saric and the two henchmen still struggled to fight the bald man, who at least appeared to have been hurt. The odd man had produced an oddly-decorated hand axe from somewhere and was trading blows with Saric.
  Korbok, however, was frozen in mid- attack, as paralyzed as the hobgoblins! The rat-faced man was grinning in delight and preparing to kill the helpless dwarf.
  "You two!," he shouted, gesturing to the henchmen, "save Korbok!"
  The henchmen looked to where he was pointing and sped toward the rat-faced man. The man himself hesitated for a moment before squaring off to face the two men coming at him.
  Tolmar and the half-ogre squared off while Dalbok's apprentice tried to both hide behind Firewalker and tell him where to strike at the tormenting cultist. The witch cast a spell and vanished in a shimmer of air and the cultist had taken a step back and was chanting over his staff.
  Tolmar assessed the situation; while the half-ogre was badly hurt, so was he; Firewalker was blind and barely able to hold off the attacks of the cultist priest even with help; the henchmen were in a fight that was almost separate; Saric was engaged and unable to cast spells;Korbok was paralyzed and Dalbok was dead; the witch was almost certainly plotting a surprise attack while invisible. The smart thing to do was retreat, but how to get Firewalker and Korbok out? And retrieve Dalbok's body? He would have to trust in his team mates and in God. He turned back to his fight.
  Although he took another blow Tolmar killed his opponent. At about the same time the cultist lashed out with his staff and struck Firewalker - with a shuddering gasp, Firewalker collapsed. Dalbok's apprentice gasped,
  "His staff! It has a cobra's head!"
  Indeed, the cultist's staff was now tipped with the head of a cobra, one that had just bitten and killed Firewalker.
  Behind him he heard a cry. Spinning around he aw the witch drawing back from Saric with an evil grin. Talbok smelled ozone and realized whatever Dalbok's apprentice had done she had just done to Saric. Before Tolmar could do anything the bald man struck with his hand axe and killed Saric.
  Glancing over he saw that his squire and Firewalker's cousin had killed the rat-faced man. 
  "Both of you! Get out! Tell the archbishop what happened here!"
  The two young men hesitated. Tolmar eyed the evil priest,
  "That is an order! Go!"
  They turned and ran back through the hall. The bald man calmly put his tasseled hand axe back beneath his robe and sprinted after the henchmen. Tolmar turned to face the cultist and his snake staff. From down the hall he heard his apprentice tell Firewalker's cousin,
  "I will try to hold him at the door, you keep going"
  "He would have been a fine paladin," 
  Tolmar thought.
  As the priest closed in Tolmar saw the witch turn and began to walk toward helpless Korbok....
  

"How Did Your Character Know That?!", or, the Wondrously Informative Lectures and how to explain player knowledge affecting character knowledge

  Once upon a time I played in and helped DM for a rather large, sprawling campaign that used Jazz Band Adventuring. By its nature the campaign had a large number of PCs and NPCs of a variety of levels - this week might be 7 5th level characters assaulting the Black Chapel in the ruined quarter of the city, next week might be 6 9th level characters following that up with an attack on the Cathedral of Death in the Northlands, the week after might be 8 2nd level characters in street battles with the Thieves' Guild. 

  But this led to troubles - player knowledge versus character knowledge was a huge issue. Let's look at experienced player John to see why. John has a 2nd level thief, a 2/2 fighter/magic-user, a 5th level cleric, a 7th level paladin, and a 9th level fighter. On a long delve deep beneath Mount Doom John's 7th level paladin rescues a svirfneblin from a group of gnolls. The svirfneblin, named Sven, agrees to guide them to the tunnels that lead to the Temple of the Unholy Flame. On the way an executioner's hood drops onto the thief and almost kills her before Sven ships out a flask of brandy, douses the foul creature, and saves the life of the thief. Sven explains to the party that executioner's hoods are stunned by brandy and fall off almost immediately when drenched in the liquid.

  Nine months later John's 5th level cleric is part of a group scouting Skystone Castle when - an executioner's hood drops on the fighter! John calls out,

  "Quick! Drench it in brandy!"

  ... Of course, John's cleric wouldn't know that, would he? After all, it was the paladin who learned that, not the cleric.

  Yes, that was (in broad strokes) something that really happened. I played both adventures and got to thinking about it.I spoke to a fellow player or two and then we kicked off The Wondrously Informative Lectures and Seminars for the Education and Gratification of Travellers, Adventurers, and Naturalists. Basically, we started keeping track of what monsters we encountered, what we learned from them, and then in character our characters started charging other characters to teach them what we knew.

  Yes, we did keep track of campaign time. Don't you?

  Here is how it worked. The characters Aurelius (5th level cleric), Jonas (5th level magic-user), Eric (4th/4th fighter.magic-user) and Firewalker (6th level fighter) had a Roman villa-style home in the campaign city. Each week they would announce what monster, item, etc. they would be discussing the next week. Other characters would pay the 50 g.p. fee to attend and then note that they had attended. The money was split between the host characters.

  After the first 2 times this was done the players of the lecturers would actually write up little cards of what the lecturing characters taught in the classes and handed those out to the players of the characters who attended. Since many of the monsters were unique, renamed, misidentified, etc.,  they even passed on their own mistakes and errors - many characters (and players) thought that one monster took extra damage from fire when it didn't, for example.

  After about a yer they also started having 'guest speakers' - other PCs and even NPCs who would come in, lecture, take a cut of the fees, and move on. 

  This soon became much more than just a justification for character knowledge or even background color, it became a campaign point. The Wondrous Seminars (as they were called) drove exploration and adventures (to learn more about monsters) and even prompted some characters to collect feathers, hides, even capture creatures alive to use as props in lectures (you made more with props). It was also a factor in jazz band adventuring, as in,

  "You might bring your 6th level wizard, has he fought the huntsmen before?"

  "No, but he went to the seminar"

  "Good enough"

  Adding such a group to a campaign is pretty simple, too. It could be a university, a magic academy, a scholars group, even a lone NPC with a gypsy wagon. With just a little prompting you can have the lecturers handing out not just notes but hiring the party to learn more about (and bring back a specimen) of rare or unique monsters all while vacuuming money our of characters' pouches.

  So think about adding a class or two to you campaign!

Magic Item: The Woundrous Fruit Basket

  Created by my fourth son, who is 11 years old. He calls it 'cleric in a basket'!
  This a large wicker basket, much like an American picnic basket, about 16 inches long, 8 inches wide, and 8 inches deep with a large handle and flip up lids. It always weighs one pound. The basket makes all saves as wood.
  When a basket is first discovered it contains the following fruit:
1d4 kiwi
4d4 bunches of grapes
1d6 cantaloupes
1d6 apples
1d8 grapefruit
1d4 bananas
2d2 mangos
  These each have wide variety of magical effects that occur when eaten:
Each kiwi removes 1d4 years of age.
Each bunch of grapes heal 2d4 hit points.
Each Cantaloupe counts as an entire day of food and water.
Each apple acts as a Neutralize Poison spell.
Each grapefruit acts as a Cure Disease spell.
Each banana acts as a Remove Curse spell.
Each mango counts as Cure Blindness/Deafness spell.

  All fruit fits easily into the basket and the desired fruit is always on top if any is left; the fruit is always fresh and delicious. Eating a 'dose' of fruit takes one round. Nothing else may be placed into the basket.
  When all the fruit is eaten, The basket vanishes only to appear in a random location in the world full of the above fruit.

A Long Weekend with a Game Designer

 This last weekend my family hosted a dear friend, Lew Pulsipher. If you aren't familiar with Dr. Lew shame on you! He only created,
 [deep breath]
  The first published variant rules for Diplomacy; the board games Swords and Wizardry, Valley of the Four Winds, Britannia, Dragon Rage, and an upcoming slew of new ones; the Elemental Princes of Evil, Poltergeist, and Denzelian from the Fiend Folio; and Supernova, the very first science fiction and fantasy games magazine.

  [Note: as creator of Supernova he once received a letter from a guy named Dave Arneson describing a game he and this other guy from Wisconsin were working on. Yeah, that game; from before it really started and before it had a name. He still has that letter.]

  He was a prolific author of works for 1st edition with more than 150 paid gaming articles during the height of the game. He was a contributing editor or columnist for Dragon, White Dwarf, Imagine, Diplomacy World, Avalon Hill General, and Space Gamer.
  He has also written several excellent books on game design, like Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish. he teaches college-level game design both at university and online.

  The man is a legend. He is also a top-notch Dungeon Master whose campaign world is over 30 years old. I am lucky, very lucky, to have him as a friend.

  I met him shortly after I was assigned to Ft. Bragg in 1987. I was 19 and hoping to find a decent AD&D group. He and his wife let me join their ongoing group and within a year he and I were trading off with he and I DMing about 40% of the games each (he in his campaign, me in mine) with 'guest DMs' adding to the fun. The group was infamous for its marathon sessions of 10-14 hours of gaming a day on Saturdays and Sundays most weekends, its in-depth world building, and the great food!

  We hadn't seen Lew in person in far too long and were eager to see him. He was kind enough to run my entire family through an adventure (the very first time we all played together as players all). But the very best was  - he brought a ton of games for us to playtest!

  Since a lot of these are not yet at a publisher OR soon to be released all I can say is - keep your eyes open for some excellent games about to hit the shelves!

Back From Break - Magic Item of the Week - the Staff of Death

  This item is one I first saw in Lew Pulsipher's 1e campaign back in, oh, 1987.
  When a Staff of Death is found it invariably has 9-13 charges and many believe they cannot be recharged. The Staff of Death is made of black wood and bound with black iron bands. It has no bonuses to hit but can hit creatures only struck by +3 weapons and makes all saving throws at +3. It has the following powers;
    Cause Serious Wounds - 1 charge
    Cause Critical Wounds - 2 charges
    Harm - 5 charges

  When activated the Staff is wreathed with a terrifying, unholy black nimbus. Once activated the wielder has 3 rounds to attempt to strike a target - if a successful hit is scored the target suffers all of the effects of the appropriate spell with no saving throw and then takes normal quarterstaff damage. If the strike misses or no attempt is made within 3 rounds the magic fades and the charges are wasted.

Mage Guild is on Sale!

  My supplement for adding a guild of wizards to your campaign is on sale!
  Mage guild has 12 new spells, 8 NPCs, 5 magic items, and 2 monsters as well as notes for adding the concepts to you game, a series of adventure and plot hooks, rules on True Names and ideas like Mage Houses.