Book review: D&D Tales from the Table: A campaign Archive

 

A Target exclusive, this little book is chock full of good ideas.

Normally I don't do book reviews on this blog, but because I am away from home on vacation during the Christmas season, I have to pause my examination of the 1e DMG and my attempts to formalize my streamlined version of D&D and instead talk about this pleasant surprise I found while "after Christmas" shopping with my mom this year.

We took a drive to her local Target the other day and while it was sad that the place was woefully devoid of D&D game manuals, which was not the case in previous years, there were a fair amount of marketing materials promoting "Stranger Things" from T-shirts to novelty mugs to books, but I was lucky enough to get my hands on the only copy left of this book, at a discount even! Needless to say I was happy with the purchase.

Now I must preface this post by stating that I am not obsessed, or even a big fan of the show. I did attempt to watch the first season a few years back, but found myself unimpressed by it, the story was serviceable enough, for a sci-fi show and a period piece, but there were anachronisms that turned me off it, most of which have been well documented elsewhere in print and on the web, and thus, I won't rehash them here, but the show also had an "X-Files" vibe that I could not shake...for some reason I just could not get into it, even though I love the "X-Files" and watched all 10 seasons of that show from beginning to end when it originally aired on Fox back in the day.

But I digress, despite the connection to D&D, "Stranger Things" just wasn't doing it for me, but I may give it another chance now that Netflix is dropping the last season as this year comes to a close. 

This book is definitely dedicated to the fans, and seems to be a love letter to the show and its dedicated audience. It is full of references from the show, and from D&D, the latter of which I know and the former which I am only vaguely familiar with, having only seen the bulk of the first season. But boy do they pack a lot of bang for your buck for the $35 retail price ($48 Canadian)! The book comes with cutout stand up figures of the characters if you want to use them in a home brew game and play as those characters, it includes a myriad of stickers with references to the characters, locations, and 80's related memorabilia and nostalgic sensibilities, and even a mini fold out map to illustrate locations in a D&D game, and even a series of stock cards with stat blocks for a few iconic D&D monsters, in the style of the AD&D Monster Manual from 1978.

This last bit is what attracted me to the book the most, and what convinced me I had to make it a part of my seasonal gaming haul. It is written from the point of view of the main characters Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler and written in graph paper as though the kids themselves were documenting their game sessions in a campaign journal back in the halcyon days of 80s table-top gaming. 

As an aside, we sure have come a long way from those days when niche gaming and geek culture hobbies like this were the purview of shut-ins or reclusive, socially inept gamers living in their mom's basements. Pop culture elements such as "Stranger Thigs" or even the mega popular web series like "Critical Role" and "Dimension 20" have shattered these stereotypes and have made these type of games so mainstream, that the old categories have become trite and passe. That is only a good thing! 

Moreover, the book is an entertaining read for both fans of the show and for D&D gamers in general, cleverly written and illustrated with line art and the aesthetic evocative of the time period and the audience it is trying to capture and succeeds at summarizing the more esoteric rules of both the game's basic version and it's more advanced counterpart. 

For a game master, this little book can be a treasure trove of ideas to spark inspiration for home brewed games or entire campaigns embracing the older game systems, with great location maps drawn on graph paper, just like your daddy's D&D used to be in all its hexcrawling, dungeon exploring, monster bashing glory. If you are a D&D or TTRPG neophyte, this book actually teaches you the fundamentals of the game, as it was back in the 80s in all its glory, and if you already know the game, you can still be entertained flipping through its pages and admiring the crude, but charming maps, explanations of locations featured in the program such as the Upside Down, and even fully fleshed out character sheets for both B/X and Advanced D&D. The photo copied clipped images from the old Player's Handbooks and Monster Manuals are a nice artistic touch and a nostalgic inclusion in the material.

Flipping through its pages might make you want to play the OSR editions once again, like it did in my case, or transport you back to your boyhood or childhood if you are a Gen Xer or old enough to remember playing with these. 

I just need to know why the show's producers felt it necessary to radically alter Demogorgon's form for TV, but that is a topic for another day. The book is published by Random House Worlds and Wizards of the Coast. Stranger Things Season 5 is now available streaming on Netflix. 

Frankenstein AD&D: A more streamlined way to game

Holmes Basic was the first official Basic ruleset that simplified matters after the original game set dropped in 1974, but for our "Frankenstein" streamlined version of the game we aim to run, I will be using a combination of BECMI rules and the rules later introduced in 1e, for such things as combat, encounters and character creations. 

 

 Although I have neglected this blog in calendar year 2025, as we approach a new season and new year, I have decided to continue with more frequent updates but with two specific goals in mind:

1. Building a better, streamlined easier to run version of my favorite edition of D&D (Advanced 1st edition) 

2. A campaign diary for my D&D and RPG games which can serve for some guidance and DM advice and feedback from those of you who have played the game a lot longer, or DMed for a while now.

I should probably preface all this by saying that I am not a noob DM. 2026 will mark 4+ years of being behind the screen of a regular local campaign and I also run a roll20 game every other week, when I am not playing in one, but these have been primarily 5e games.

Frankenstein AD&D

The version of AD&D I want to run harkens back to the 1e days, those halcyon days of youth which for many Gen Xers such as myself, can be colored with nostalgic sensibilities but which undoubtedly has also helped define and shape what gamers, RPG gamers to be specific, call the OSR movement. 

I can't believe it's been several months (almost 10 to be exact!) sine I attempted an in-depth dive and look at the 1e DMG by Gary Gygax. This is the book I started playing with at age 13 in 1983, but have now come to appreciate with the benefit of a 50+ year filter, that I was looking at this book all wrong, as rather than adhere to all its esoteric contents and complexities, the book is meant as a guide and can be as malleable as you want it to be, tailored to each individual campaign or game table.

 So what follows then is a continuation of that initial post, but also a reconcentrated effort to take the best or most usable bits of that tome and apply that which I want to use in my games, while throwing out the rest. The same goes for the 1e PHB and the subsequent books like Unearthed Arcana and the survival and dungeoneer's guide, which I find provide us with a blueprint for proficiencies which in my opinion, are superior to the feats which arrived in later editions of the game.

But in order to arrive at a truly unique "Frankenstein" recreation of Dungeons and Dragons, I submit that additions must also be made, whenever they are of a beneficial nature. That's when BECMI enters the picture, the precursor to the AD&D game, but which in my mind does a superb job of introducing neophytes into the RPG and D&D action and mechanics. 

I realize that Holme's blue book basic was the first official basic ruleset, but I find BECMI to be more complete and easier to build a character and get a group going. So for our project, we are going to simplify the combat sequence found in AD&D 1e and utilize the much easier to run and digest combat sequence found in the BECMI player's book by Frank Mentzer, (starting on page 58).    

But let us return to the DMG and continue where we left off more than two seasons ago. Before anything else I will point out that I am absolutely using the secondary skills table on page 12 upon character creation, as this gives some structure and guidance to the budding character, not to mention wonderful role-playing opportunities, akin to backgrounds in 5e. I have discussed in that previous post the character age, aging and death mechanics and those will also be included. From there we skip to the brief section on the Paladin's warhorse, which is interesting (on page 18) but only if you allow paladins in your game, which were not a part of BECMI but are definitely a part of the advanced game. 

We will be skipping the section on followers for upper-level characters in favor of the rules for followers, mercenaries, NPC parties and hiring of specialists found on pages 24-27 of the Expert BECMI set, as I feel these are more clear and easier to digest than the convoluted guidelines for hiring these NPCs as presented in the DMG.

From here we jump back to page 19 of the DMG where Gygax outlines the thief abilities with greater detail than what can be found in the class description of the 1e PHB. 

The assassin subclass of the thief in 1e D&D

 

The last topic we will look at today to consider for possible inclusion to our game is the concept and rules for alignment. It is quite interesting to me that in Holmes, there was a system of five alignments: Good, Neutral, Chaos and Evil. This is in contrast to the nine-alignment system introduced in AD&D found on page 23 of the DMG. Alignment is more than a tool for role playing, it also dictates the creatures which can be found in the outer planes. (1e PHB p. 120) BECMI simplified it to three basic alignments: law, chaos and neutrality and also espoused the idea of a alignment language. I think alignment languages over complicate things, so I will not use them in our streamlined AD&D Frankenstein version. 

The videogamification of Dungeons and Dragons

Proficiencies were optional in the 2nd edition of Dungeons & Dragons

 I hate the way virtual sessions of D&D go nowadays.

You may hear me express this sentiment and automatically brand me as an old Gronard, with the usual contempt for 5e and modern versions of our favorite tabletop role playing game, but you would be mistaken.

As a matter of fact, I have been running a successful 5e campaign for over three years now, utilizing 2014 rules and only recently transitioning to the 2024 ruleset. 

When I state that I am not a fan of modern game sessions, at least the way they operate in VTTs such as Roll20 and Foundry, it is an overall complain of a player and game master mindset which I think has become prevalent in the table top gaming scene, but it is far from a holistic condemnation of this type of gaming mode.

So I will clarify through the filter of my favorite version of the game, AD&D, specifically utilizing the information found in 1989's second edition Player's Handbook by David "Zeb" Cook et al. 

To be more specific, I have been reading chapter 5 of that great book which deals with weapons and non weapons proficiencies and weapon specializations. I think this is a far more elegant and pleasing system than feats, which made their way into the game in 3rd edition a decade later, and which have become the defacto way for player characters to become more fleshed out ever since.

And to be clear, this video game mentality which permeates the modern scene isn't even a new thing, one could make the argument that it has been there for a long time. The problem (as I see it) is the way the game has morphed as a result of the proliferation of VTTs since around 2014 and the limiting way in which some players want to gain every edge in combat and other aspects of the game, sometimes to the exclusion of common sense in a blind allegiance to RAW (rules as written.)

 Simply put, I am a tad annoyed by the modern player's propensity to faithfully adhere to RAW when it benefits their character, sometimes ignoring common sense in the attempt to gain every little advantage. 

One recent example I can think of at the top of my head is a game session in which a player tried to use the command spell while in the process of interrogating an imprisoned NPC. The problem is that the prisoner at the time was unconscious or asleep, can't recall which. The player kept repeating and at first did not seem to comprehend, that using such a spell would probably not work because the prisoner was not conscious, therefore unable fall under the influence of the spell, or to realize what the PC was even attempting to do at the moment.

Sometime, a lot of time, logic has to prevail over RAW. 

I will go on the record here to state that I don't like feats. I don't like mechanics which give the PCs insane ways to become more OP or to gain advantages simply because WotC or whomever, has decided that it's more fun for players to be uber powerful beings, starting from level 1! 

As far as fleshing out a character beyond what he or she receives by virtue of their chosen race/class combo, I think proficiencies are far more pleasing to me than feats. 

For those who don't know, the way proficiencies work in AD&D 2e is depending on the PC's class, they earn slots while they level which give them the opportunity to add weapons proficiencies and non-weapons like carpentry, seamanship, and even stuff like swimming and stonemasonry. There are no bonuses as in 5e, at least not right off the bat, instead, a character can specialize in a weapon by filling in their slots and improving their mastery over time as they level up.

In terms of non-weapon proficiencies like tumbling, animal lore and tracking, when a character uses a proficiency, either the attempt is automatically successful (for simple tasks) or the character must roll a proficiency check. Each proficiency is tied to a relevant ability, (strenght, charisma etc) and this is what a character must roll.

I like this system over feats because the sheer amount of feats skewed towards making the character OP and superhero like in the modern game is not an option, instead this system allows for progression over time and allows for a more realistic and effective way of character optimization in my opinion.

As an aside, I will be making more game related posts as we head into the second half of the year and beyond. I always try to not let RL issues get in the way of fun discussions, but more often than not I fail to provide regular updates on this blog. That's something I will try to rectify in the coming days and weeks. 

Throwback Thursday comics: DC's Dragonlance

 

Dragonlance No.1, DC Comics, December 1988

In the fall of 1988, specifically December of '88 DC comics had in its stable of titles classics such as the Legion of Superheroes, Batman (where the iconic "Death in the Family" story arc was in full bloom), Green Arrow and Superman, but also adaptations and retrospectives like "The Prisoner" mini-series, "The Shadow" and of course, Dragonlance No. 1, based on the iconic novels and TSR game modules. 

Besides being a pretty innovative adaptation and start to the DL series when DC had the D&D I.P. (Barbara Kesel wrote in the letters page of the comic that in addition to the Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman classic, DC would also start to publish other D&D titles and adventures.) Dragonlance No. 1 for me personally is a bit of a time capsule of a great time in life, when I was a freshman in college going through the transition from H.S. to the quarter system as an undergraduate student at the UCLA campus.

What's fun and unique about the DL comics from that era is that editorial intended them to be more than a fun series based on D&D, they also had stat blocks and a map of the world of Krynn every fourth issue. Full disclosure, I only own the first two, so I am not really sure if this goal was achieved, to blend the series with a sort of gamemasters' supplemental tool, but through the exploration of this series over 30 years later, I aim to find out.

The first issue features background information on the Clerical Order of Majere with their mostly pacifist monks, lists the comic's protagonist Sturm Brightblade as a lawful good 8th level fighter with a THACO of 14 and with 47 hit points! At the time of the story told in the debut comic, Sturm is coming back from a five-year-long journey to discover his legacy. It also goes into describing why the Solamnic Knights like Sturm have fallen into disfavor in the world of Krynn, which is known by any fan of the novels or modules, but not necessarily well-known information to comic book readers not familiar with D&D in general and Dragonlance specifically. 

There are sidebars also included which describe two magic items presented in the comic: A Medallion of Majere and a footman's Dragonlance, different from the more powerful ones used by dragon-mounted riders. Issue 2 has stats for Lord Soth (with 59 hit points and a THACO of 12) 

The story found within the covers of issues 1 and 2 is a good introduction to the series and features appearances by Lord Soth and an old wizard who should be familiar to any Dragonlance fan. Plenty of action and "Gamerese" as well with the reveal of a High lord's blue dragon mount and a column by the late Jim Ward on the RPGA Network. 

These comics are fantastic and every fan of RPGS, D&D and comics in general should get their hands on them, they are easy to come by in back issue bins and on the web. 

Excited over running a few games using C&C game system.

 

I have given my current players at my table a heads up that the next campaign, series of games or one shots at my gaming table will be played using Castles and Crusades from Troll Lord Games. 

I am actually excited to run some games using this system. I purchased their PHB several years ago and it wasn't until recently that I pulled it out of the shelves and decided to really give it an in depth look.

Immediately I remembered what attracted me to it in the store that fateful day I purchased it on a whim: The old school aesthetics, the call backs to AD&D mechanics and OSR sensibilities with a modern coat of paint.

For those of you unaware, C&C has the distinction of being the last gaming project of the late, great Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons. You can really tell what would have attracted Gary to this game not that long ago. (I do believe that it dates back to at least 2004 if not a few years before that.) The best way to describe this game is as an amalgamation of familiar AD&D mechanics and the D20 system which was popularized starting in the year 2000 with D&D 3rd edition and games like Pathfinder 1e.

Not to go too deep into it but here are some things that make this game reminiscent of AD&D (1st edition with some 2e for good measure):

• Racial and class combos including the traditional races such as half-elves and half-orcs which are now missing from modern  D&D
• casting times for magic and spells
• Saving throws, more than those tied to skills in 5e and more than the three associated with 3.5 or D&D 3rd edition
• Situational modifiers in combat like back in the day and in 3.5 

The third edition elements are there with the movement rates which also make their way into 5e and stuff like an expanded alignment system, but the OSR elements are what intrigued me in the first place such as the use of individual experience progression, like in AD&D, the familiar abilities like Clerics turning the undead based on dice rolls and hit dice of the monsters and the limitation on the weapons they are allowed to use. Thieves (called Rogues like in 3rd) don't have a percentage dice roll on skills, but they do use the same attributes and abilities associated with that class like thieve's cant, sneak attacks, hide in shadows, etc.

In short, this game's aesthetic really gives me the nostalgic feels and does it twice: From the first time I picked up my AD&D books at Toys 'R Us prior to the start of the edition wars and again to the early aughts, I wasn't really playing 3.5 then, but I did play DDO and other video games which heavily borrowed or modified those mechanics from the pen and paper version of the game. Can't wait to try out a few games, the "Castle Keeper's Guide" (DM Guide as it is called in this game) is on its way! 

Character age and other game mechanics from 1st edition's DMG

My old 1E AD&D DMG by Gary Gygax.

 

The 1st edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide by Gary Gygax is a mess! This statement should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows or plays the game of AD&D, or even has some passing familiarity with the core rulebooks which make up the main portion of rules for this system.

I have been playing in a weekly first edition campaign for over a year now and in order to understand the system better, I have endeavored to slowly digest the contents of the core books one at a time, starting with the DMG and moving on to the PHB, for no particular reason in this order, except that I am familiar with the contents of the PHB, which is slightly less hefty that the DMG.

I will do this mostly in an attempt to become more familiar with this book's contents. 

Of course, I say that the guide book is a mess because everyone knows it seems to jump from one topic to the next, in seemingly an endeavor to be as comprehensive as possible. It does a poor job of organizing said content, but I will attempt to digest most if no all of it, skipping around sections and doing my analysis piecemeal, rather than in one fell swoop.

Today I am looking at character age, aging and outdoor movement rates, which is an interesting discussion given the fact this doesn't seem to come up a lot in the modern version of D&D. 

So character aging is a part of character creation detailed in pages 14-15 of the 1e DMG. At the onset of each and every character's creation it is necessary to establish his/her age. There is a table for PCs and Henchmen, both human and non human. They are divided by race and class, while the humans get a table organized by the various classes. For example, I rolled for a half-orc fighter and his age turned out to be 15! Then I did the same for a human cleric and he turned out to be older at 19. 

What are the effects of aging in the game? Well, in the book Gary says the DM must keep track of a character's age after one is established, from game year to game year. The age categories are: young adult (for a dwarf this ranges from 35-50) to venerable 450 max for a dwarf, about 120 at the long end for humans. Calculating these affect attributes with a mature character adding 1 point of strength and 1 point of wisdom every game year.   

Unnatural aging is also common and mostly caused by spell casing or magical mans: casting alter reality for example, will syphon 3 year's from the caster's life, which getting hit with a haste spell would shorten a person's or creature's life span by a year.

This section of the book is followed by disease, which I don't even find fun in real life, so why include it in my game? the Book does go into death due to age. Indeed, the read texts: "Once a character dies due to old age, then its all over." 

The following section expands upon the characters' abilities which were first introduced in the PHB. It starts on page 41 and starts with a discussion of the Cleric's spells. Detect evil, detect magic, light and protection from evil. Light is caused upon the visage or before the visual organs of a creature, it will tend to blind it (rather as if a strong light were placed before its eyes), and this causes a -4 penalty "to hit," saving throws, and even armor class. 

Spell description for each casting class are explained for the DM's benefit all the way up to 7th level. 

A rather lengthy section on adventuring outdoors ensues, beginning on page 47. It is at this point that I need to mention that surveying these game rules as written will allow me to cherry pick those I want to bring into my games and those which I do not wish to use either because they seem cumbersome, are a bit vague, or superfluous or all of the above.  

A map is recommended for use by adventures in the outdoors, the scale being 20 to 40 miles per hexagon, with the GM dividing each large hex into blocks of smaller hexes, 5 across the middle or 5 across each face as desired. This is primary done for determining chance of encounters and they reference the possibility and mechanics of pursuit. 

Outdoor movement rates are given on page 58 of the DMG and procedures for getting lost and exhaustion results from movement without proper rest are also detailed. We will return to other movement rules including aerial, waterborne and underwater adventure guidelines, but after our next post which will further detail PC abilities. 

Tribunal adventures: EQ