Building a dungeon, and a bit of the Story So Far with our Avalorr game.

As I mentioned in my last post, I played in a game of Swords & Wizardry at ReaperCon that was a lot of fun. So that made me start thinking about the old days of D&D, with dungeon crawls and treasure and healing potions aplenty and lots of monsters to kill. Nowadays I prefer more role-playing than hack-and-slash, but after thinking about the old days I thought it might be fun to throw a bit of that in for the fun of it. So I'm working on a dungeon now, using maps from Oone Games Blueprints line. Those are cool stuff, ready made maps, all you have to do is stock it up with baddies and treasure. Pretty handy.

I'm almost done with the first level, and will be starting on the second pretty quick. There will probably be a third also, but it will most likely not be accessed intentionally.

So, The Story So Far, Part 1.

A rundown of the main characters-

Radec, a Volar. They are a winged race with human appearance overall, hailing from high in the Draketeeth Mountains. Radec is fairly young and impetuous, and tends to forget he's part of a team from time to time. Played by my step-son Anthony. He's 13 so that would explain the impetuous nature of his character.

Tarina, the half-Elven Ranger who hails from rural Anhur. Her father is a human farmer and former adventurer who wanted his daughter to have a "normal" upbringing rather than one with the flighty elves. Or so he sees them. Her mother is one of the elves of Tirithilia, and agreed to her living with her father so she would know both sides of her heritage. Tarina is cautious but brave and a fierce fighter. Played by my wife Karen.

Aturu Greykeld- an "urban survivalist" from the rough streets of Port Gangrel, the wretched hive of scum and villainy that every world seems to have one of. Aturu is quiet and practical, one who dwells in the shadows but has a good heart for taking care of his companions. Played by my friend Mike.

Thomas DeValier- a paladin of Anarion, the Goddess of Light and Truth, and a member of the Knights of the Temple like his father and grandfather before him. He is a very devout man with absolute faith in his Goddess and he will die for her cause if she wills it. He is more experienced than the others in the party and is the wise leader at times. Played by Mike until Aturu showed up in the game, now played as an NPC by me.

Steven Augustus- a young Knight of the Temple, under the tutelage of Thomas DeValier. Steven is a brave young soul with a youthful exuberance and sparkle in his eyes that has dulled a bit after being exposed to the toll of war. Also played by me.

May be joining the Old School thang.

At ReaperCon this year I played in a game of Swords & Wizardry that was GM'd by Steve Page, an old timer grognard kind of guy. Much simpler than my beloved Hero System, but that's not a bad thing. Pretty fun, especially when a combat comes up and it was "Who's doing what? Everybody start rolling!" 20-sided dice flying everywhere.

So I'd never really heard of the Old School thing, and started looking at some sites and forums, like the Original D&D discussion forum, Labyrinth Lord's forum and web site, and Mythmere Games, the makers of Swords & Wizardry. Lots of activity and effort put into the games by the fans, which is cool.

So after some deliberation I ordered the Labyrinth Lord hardcover and their Original Edition Characters book. (I forgot how much Lulu's shipping was. Choke!) I have some old modules from way back when, including B1- In Search of the Unkown and B2- The Keep on the Borderlands. I've seen a few modules for LL that look alright too so I might have to check them out.

Back when I played D&D it was first edition AD&D, but we used Basic and Expert modules and didn't know the difference. I'll use the Labyrinth Lord/Basic/Expert rules for this whenever we end up playing it. I looked at OSRIC but thought, nah, I played enough AD&D way back when. Let's try something a little different even though it's really the same. Huh?

I know I've done some D20 bashing in the past, but that was after being away from D&D for quite a while. I still like the freedom of Hero, and its' granularity and dramatic realism. There was something fun about that game with Steve though. Not too many options to explain to newcomers, just describe what you're trying to do and roll.The GM decides if you can do it. Different but fun.

So we'll hopefully have some fun with it. I have a bit more planned at the moment for our Avalorr campaign, which could be at a good stopping point in a bit if Mike wants to run a Turakian Age game for a while. We'll get to it.

I'm getting old, and I have the glasses to prove it.

Well, I have to admit I'm getting old. Over the last year or 2 I've had trouble with my eyes developing, namely that I can't focus as well as I used to on things that are a foot or so from my face. Like a miniature being painted. A while back I got new glasses and had the optometrist give me a second prescription for a pair of "hobby" glasses.

Last weekend my wife and I were doing some painting and I was alright for a while, but after I took a break for a bit my eyes were crap. Even with a magnifier I just couldn't see to finish painting a face. The eyes just would not focus on something that small. And the closer I get it to me the worse it gets.

So I gave in and got that other scrip put in my old glasses. Picked it up yesterday, and WOW, I can actually see the mini again. I might still have to use a magnifier for eyeballs but it's a hell of a lot better than it was.

Man, special glasses, grey hair. Gottta love it.