Digressive Musings on Old-School D&D

Tag: OD&D Page 4 of 5

The Long Night Warrior Class

Here is the initial draft for the warrior class in the upcoming Long Night campaign that begins next month. The campaign will be using a modified version of original Dungeons & Dragons (chainmail & three original booklets). Those familiar with the OD&D retroclone Delving Deeper will notice obvious influences, although there are changes in how saving throws, hit dice, initiative, and attack bonuses are handled. There are other changes as well that will become obvious to those familiar with that system, or OD&D in general.

I’m still on the fence about including the option to choose from a short list of talents and exceptional traits for each class (see below). The purpose would be to add a small level of mechanical variation between characters playing the same class. However, I certainly do not want some bloated “feat” system, nor do I want such talents and traits baked into the leveling system. Again, the goal is to add a modest level of customization to a game with only three classes (warriors, magic-users, and priests). I may speak about this more later after I have given the idea some more thought. Now, onto the warrior class.

Infravision. No, Thank You.

Personally, I don’t like infravision as a demihuman ability, and I haven’t run a game with demihuman infravision (or “darkvision”!) for years. But hey, that’s just me. There is, of course, nothing wrong with running a game using infravision. I’ve run and played in games with infravision and had a blast. However, in the original Dungeon & Dragons three booklets, the classic demihuman choices (dwarves, elves, and halflings) did not have infravision. Men & Magic contains no mention of this ability in the demihuman descriptions. The ability exists, but it is a 3rd-level magic-user spell.

Infravision: This spell allows the recipient to see infra-red light waves, thus enabling him to see in total darkness. Duration: 1 day. Range of infravision: 40-60′.

Dungeon & Dragons, Men & magic Vol. 1

The Fortress of Zulma Kal & the Red Hands

Well, I was hoping to get another post out earlier this week about some sword & sorcery campaign ideas; however, other life stuff took precedence. Work at the hospital this week wasn’t too bad since I was not super overwhelmed like much of the past year. Instead, the week was steady, not overwhelming, and I had a lot of meaningful visits with patients and families. Still, I’m definitely glad to have the weekend off! I threw down with some chicken wings last night, and I was even able to enjoy some cocktails and beer on the porch. Feeling good. Anyway, I want to get some of my initial ideas out for this new campaign setting. Everything is preliminary, of course. For this post, I’m just going to include some basic writeups of notable areas and a little about the Red Hands.

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