Systems Saturday - (O)D&D

Over on blog.retroroleplaying.com, Randall let's us know "OD&D PDFS: What Do You Really Need to Play?"  Find out here.

Also, on edthebard.blogspot.com, Ed pens "GM Advice: Want To Try Something New? Try Something Old!"  Learn more here.

Finally, on kaskoid.blogspot.com, (there are those that call him ) Tim Kask tells us "How I helped to pull the rope that tolled the bell for OD&D" here.

Systems Saturday on MFWARS.com 

A look under the hood of various Games, Rules and Systems.

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Nostalgia Thursday - HPB Finds Cont.

Along with the wargames I mentioned yesterday here, I managed to pick up a few older items at Half Price Books on recent trips.  A couple of days ago, I was surprised to find a copy of Waterdeep and the North (1987) by Ed Greenwood from TSR.  This copy was in plastic, though not shrinkwrap, and had the original map in great shape.  From Wikipedia: "Waterdeep and the North describes the region of northwestern Faerûn, known as 'The North', particularly its leading city and port, Waterdeep. (. . .) The book describes Waterdeep in detail, including its history, neighborhoods, defenses, sewers, guilds, political factions, noble families, and important personalities. The book includes seven adventure scenario suggestions. (. . .)Waterdeep and the North comprises a 64-page book and a large color map of the city, wrapped in a removable six-paneled gatefold cover. The outside gatefold contains a map of Waterdeep, the inside front cover has a map of the city's known sewers, and the inside back cover has diagrams of basic floorplans that might be found throughout the city."

Also, on the same trip on Tuesday, I discovered a copy of the Celts Campaign Sourcebook (1992) from TSR.  It, too, came with the map and is in great shape.  A copy of Charlemagne's Paladins: Campaign Sourcebook was also on the shelf but didn't have the map so I passed it by.  Graeme Davis, who wrote the book, has a lot of neat freebies on his website that you can download in PDF format and utilize in your tabletop gaming here.

Finally, on a trip not so long ago, and because I hadn't found time to mention them in a blog previously, I also stumbled upon two of the supplements for Warhammer Historical wargaming system from Games Workshop: El Cid (2003) by James Morris and Spartacus (2004) by Simon Brown.  I'll need to find a copy of Warhammer Ancient Battles at some point to make full use of these supplements but I have enough on my plate right now to occupy me, I am sure.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Escape from New York (1981)

Wendy found a copy of the old Escape from New York (1981) boardgame published by TSR some 35 years ago.  Our friend Tom was a playtester on this back in the day and worked a bit on the game.  The components of this one are not up to the quality that TSR games would see in subsequent years.  They were really just starting to come into their own beyond the 1E AD&D core books and magazines, spreading their wings and becoming a real competitor in the game industry beyond just Dungeons & Dragons.

The description from Board Game Geek is as follows:

"Snake, I thought you were dead!" This modest board game, based on the John Carpenter movie, casts each player as Snake Plissken, an ex-con sent on a rescue mission into a giant prison once known as New York City. Players begin with weapons and equipment cards used to help fight enemies and find clues. Cards can be lost in fights or gained at landmark spaces. Turn in matching clue cards at the corresponding location to rescue the president or his important tape. To escape, you still need to find a glider or a map to the mine fields.

Fans of the movie will enjoy the chance to encounter Slag, Brain, Cabbie, Maggie, the Duke, and Romero with the opportunity to gain them as allies during the game. Players win by obtaining the Tape first and foremost, failing that - the President himself. The game is very faithful to the movie and players will find that they can mirror many scenes of the movie in the game.

We didn't play the game.  It's not highly rated and since it was unpunched, it would have been a shame to make it less collectible than it might be.  I recall playing this years ago and it is more like early parlor games than modern boardgames.  This is best kept as a curiosity and collector's item, I think.  It certainly is an interesting piece of history.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Divine Right (1979)

Divine Right (1979) is another one of those classic early games that I love to play every year, more than once if it can be arranged.  This year, in the warm up to Gary Con, I broke it out for my weekly group.  While I don't think it had as big an impact as Civilization, they seemed to be warming to it.  Of course, we only played the basic game and it was slow going even then.  Sometimes I forget that the complexity of some older games will put modern players on their heels right out of the gate and make getting into a game.  I don't want to have a "back in the day" moment but it is true that back then when we knew a particular game was going to be played we would spend time before that day learning what we could about it.  This, of course, was pre-Internet which makes it more amazing.  Imagine the number of phone calls and stop-overs the person who had the rule book had to handle?  They were the conduit to everyone getting a running start at the big day and maybe a leg up.  Nowadays, time spent between games for gaming won't be spent on those games but other games with an immediate gaming-fix.  Prep seems like a dirty word despite how much easier it is in these modern times.  And here we are in the same place where this game was first published by TSR roughly 37 years ago.  Whoops.  Looks like I had my moment anyway.  Anyway . . .

The description on Board Game Geek is as follows:

Classic game of fantasy empires clashing. Each player controls a unique realm and attempts to use diplomacy and might to ascend to rulership. A colorful map and a host of fantastic creatures bring out a fleshed out fantasy world.

You expected more?  Maybe it does need some additions . . . such as:

The mechanics of this game are fine if you like wargames. If you're more of a modern-era boardgamer, it might be too fiddly. The base game is fairly simple once you know how movement, sieges, and combat work. The Advanced game adds tons of additional factions, powers, magic, that all are basically sub-systems and work in their own peculiar ways. A sentence or two explains each one but with dozens of them, it requires keeping the rule book to hand.

As I said, we stuck with the basic game and played about 10 of the possible 20 turn game before the time on our evening ran out.  At that stage, one player was far enough in the lead to call it a decisive victory.  I did mention at the time about the changing fortunes in Divine Right, how a few bold moves while certain allies were controlled, could change that lead in a turn, and how a player could get knocked out of the game but still win if in possession of enough points.  Nevertheless, I didn't push for making this a two-week affair.  We did that with Civilization but the circumstances of that game are different.  And, since with Divine Right we were only playing the basic game, stretching it out further was less incentivized.  We have played some older wargames in the past but I'm not sure this group feels the pay off on most of them is worth the effort.  Some loved Civ and enjoyed parts of Divine Right, but some of the other historical games left them cold.  Even wargamey boardgames don't make it to the table very often.  That's okay though.  There are plenty of more straightforward modern games to play.  They also seem to enjoy some minis wargaming so perhaps next week I will have some tales of that to blog.

We played a basic game and did not include either "Magic" kingdom.  Muetar was neutral and was the last of the non-player kingdoms to be controlled by a player.  The Dwarves managed to snag Mivior early but struggled to get Pon, then lost them, but gained them again later.  Hothior brought the Trolls on his side early and pulled the loyal card for them, which made the a very good ally to help defend their homeland.  Rombune sat on his hands most of the game thinking somehow an opportunity would arise where there was no risk and easy pickings but also had no like with mercs.  Shucassam picked up the Elves (at half strength), the Goblins, and a very unstable Immer and swept south, forcing Muetar into play but making the most of his allies in taking a stronghold in north Immer and knocking off their leadership. All the Dwarves could do, as they kept losing population to events, was harry Hothior with Mivior and sit on The Gathering so they couldn't do an end-around with their Troll allies.  In the end, Shucassam was the only one able to get much traction of VP by turn ten when we ran out of time for the evening.  Still a good game but Hothior and the Dwarves needed Rombune to be threatening Shucassam to tie up some of their forces so we could do something in the north about Shucassam's allies without worrying about them in the south as well.

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Greyhawk, Warhammer, & Rare Boardgames

Over on greyhawkgrognard.blogspot.com, recently posted a familiar essay "On Settings" here.

Also, on abc.net.au, they explain "Fantasy role-playing game Warhammer offers kids a challenge not found online" here.

Finally, on geekandsundry.com, they suggest "Ten Rare Board Games to Snap Up the Second You Can" here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Gygaxian Armor, Elmore Art, & The Ringbearer

Over on Playing at the World, Jon Peterson looks at "The Legacy of Gygax's Armor" here.

Also, on Art of the Genre, R. Scott Taylor discusses "10 Pieces of Larry Elmore Art that Changed Gaming" here.

Finally, on freewebs.com, on the Tolkien Boardgames section, they expound on The Ringbearer, a miniatures wargame published by Little Soldiers Games in 1975.  Learn more here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - A Crit, a Snit, & a Bit More

Over on failsquadgames.com, Lloyd Metcalf looks at Death in Old School D&D here.

Also, on digitalbraindump.com, a gamer tells us how "A snit changed the world" here.

Finally, on ultanya.com, for Throwback Thursday, the Grand DM takes us back "Into the Caves" here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Knights of Camelot (1980) from TSR

I love looking at some of the old TSR games, especially the ones that were not first stringers.  Recently, I stumbled across Knights of Camelot (1980) and it got me digging a little deeper.  I studied Arthurian legends a bit in college, from a literary perspective, and am a fan of most of the pop culture examples that have come down the pike in my lifetime.  It sparks my imagination and most representations strike the right balance between chivalry and questing that influence my tabletop RPG sensibilities.

Another game from the same era, Divine Right, I've enjoyed playing it and try to get in a couple of games every year: one to warm up for Gary Con and one at the convention.  If Knight of Camelot is half as fun, I am sure I will love it.  And, the BGG listing for Knights says it only take an hour to play!

Of course, at the end of my searching, all I could find on eBay was one copy, across the pond, that would cost around $150.00 to procure.  Oh, well.  I'll set up a search to save and see if something cheaper and closer to home comes along.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Jim Ward, Gamer

Ever since Jim Ward went back into the hospital, I'd been thinking about some of the wonderful gaming products he has given our community.  He's hanging in there and hopes to be back home soon.  Of course his earliest game that I played, and one everyone will know since it has been revised and republished many times over the years, is Metamorphosis Alpha.  It's probably the second RPG I tried after (O)D&D, though that might have been Boot Hill.  1974 was a long time ago, it seems.  Either way, it and Gamma World that follow it were the go-to Sci-Fi RPG for me.  I've played in a few Traveller campaigns and messed around with games like Space Opera and others over the years.  However, earlier this year, I found myself playing Metamorphosis Alpha, this time with Jim Ward at the helm, twice.  The first was at the tail end of Gary Con and I had another chance to play in an MA game with him at the Nexus Game Fair.  Never got killed.  Not once.

Speaking of the Nexus Game Fair, I got a nice picture of Jim along with his colleagues Tim Kask and Frank Mentzer.  I was lucky to be able to grab a seat in a game scheduled with each of them.  Good fellas all and lots of great gaming has been had by me and many others because of their efforts.  Keep an eye on the Eldritch Enterprises materials because these guys aren't done yet.

A couple of years ago, I moved to Lake Geneva, WI, and since that time I have had quite a few chances to play with some long time gamers.  Tom Wham regularly holds court at Taco Bell on Tuesday and Culver's on Friday for lunchtime and into the afternoon, and that means gaming.  When his health and writing schedule has allowed for it, Jim Ward has joined in that fun as well.  I've also had great fun playing the board game he designed alongside Tom Wham called Dragon Lairds (2007).  It's a challenging card game that folks can grab at Lake Geneva Games and often at conventions like Gary Con, Nexus Game Fair, the Gaming Hoopla, and GameHole Con.  Wisconsin almost has too much gaming fun!

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - James Bond RPG, Dark Tower, & the Secrets of TSR

Over on battlegrip.com, Philip Reed takes a look back at a "1984 Ad for the James Bond Roleplaying Game" here.

Also, on the John Lehman YouTube channel, a video from last year shows us "How to Play Dark Tower - Vintage Board Game 1981 (Mini Review)."  Enjoy!

Finally, from a few years back, we can listen in on some of the "Secrets of TSR."  Oh, my!

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Wargaming Wednesday - Divine Right (1979) @ Gary Con VII

We managed, once again, to schedule a game of Divine Right (1979) at Gary Con VII this year for Friday, all day (10 am until 5/6 pm slot).  It's not a game to take lightly but we definitely could move a bit faster (all of us) if we played more than once a year.  As it is, it's a time consuming game that makes it difficult to get games in at other times, so we all brush up on the rules before Gary Con and do a bit of thumbing through the rules for the first couple hours of the slot then checking a thing or two for the remainder.  We don't mind, as it is a fun game and good company.  We enjoy the game and we all have fun playing.

Divine Right stands out as one of the earliest and most popular fantasy wargames, largely because it was produced by TSR during their early, first wave of success with AD&D's first edition.  Some definite tips for staying competitive in this game are to secure a couple of non-player allies early and then gain as many barbarian troops as possible, moving them against opponents swiftly to keep foes from gaining too much ground.

This game is a treat to play each year and I thank John Appel for running it, and Steve, Kiff, Leo, and Jason for also playing this year.  Great fun!

Wargaming Wednesday on MFWARS.com 

A closer examination of board and miniatures Wargaming.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Phil Gallagher, Bill Owen, & Gary Gygax

Over on the Realm of Chaos 80s blog, a posting from a couple years back was titled "D&D, WFRP and the birth of a fictional God: A (short) Interview with Phil Gallagher" here.

Also, on g-design.us, check out the info on Bill Owen regarding "Judges Guild's Bob & Bill: A Cautionary Tale" here.

Finally, take a gander back at a posting from Gary Gygax in the guise as Col_Pladoh on EN World about his recollections of the start of D&D here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Nor All Monsters, Space Gamer's Scanner, & Avalon Hill's Bestsellers

Over on OSR Today, they took a look at some early monsters and they tell us "Not All Monsters are Monsters" here.

Also, check out Scanner column from a 1985 issue of Space Gamer that was shared around Facebook recently.

Finally, have a look at this 1975 Avalon Hill "fiscal" best sellers list that was shared on Facebook as well.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - Old School Gaming, Modules, & Russell Gammage

Over on the Blog Site For Historian, Author and Novelist Blaine L. Pardoe, in case you haven't read it yet, he writes of "Old School Gaming" here.

Also, on tribality.com, Michael Long discusses his "Top 14 Old School D&D Modules" here.

Finally, on deartonyblair.blogspot.co.uk, a recent article looks at "The Works of Russell Gammage - Rose Miniatures" here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

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with an eye toward the last century and before.

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Nostalgia Thursday - The Tale of Quagmire

Jon Peterson, author of Playing at the World, recounts the tale of "Quagmire! The Making of a 1980's D&D Module" here.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

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Nostalgia Thursday - TSR Retrospective

A local Lake Geneva publication, At the Lake, recently published an article looking back at TSR during the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons.

Nostalgia Thursday on MFWARS.com 

Focusing on the roots of current tabletop gaming
with an eye toward the last century and before.

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