Holmesian bits spotted on the internet.

Holmesian bits spotted on the internet.. good to see a couple of names from Mike Carr's module B1, which came with some of the Holmes sets, appear on the Hill Cantons blog - Kracki the Hooded One and Mohag the Wanderer, still going strong after all these years : )

http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-hill-cantons-wilderness-crawl.html

(see http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/07/characters-of-b1.html for handy scans of those sample character names from B1)


http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-hill-cantons-wilderness-crawl.html

Judges Guild module #80 review

Andy C wrote:

Ran across this review of the Judges Guild module "Of Skulls and Scrap***** Green" on Dragonsfoot; the adventure was originally run at Gen Con X.

Reading the review, it sounds like this would be a pretty good one to add to the arsenal of Holmes-friendly modules - even has a wilderness adventure you could probably use as a Holmesian sandbox : )

https://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=70763

This Hill Cantons post was intended as satire, and it's both funny and true in that respect - but it also double as...

This Hill Cantons post was intended as satire, and it's both funny and true in that respect - but it also double as a pretty awesome name generator for old school dungeons. Kinda reminded me of Zach H's awesome Holmesian name generator : )

http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-school-module-name-generator.html
http://hillcantons.blogspot.com/2011/09/old-school-module-name-generator.html

Hey, anyone from here planning to attend Gary Con X in March?

Hey, anyone from here planning to attend Gary Con X in March? Don't know if there are any Holmes Basic events on the schedule, but if not I'd be up for some pickup gaming (I ran Holmes games at a local sci fi con and at PAX Unplugged in November, could very easily dust those off).

http://garycon.com/
http://garycon.com/

Framed Holmes Basic cover print

If you are in Japan, here's a framed Holmes Basic cover print available for sale #dcsIII

Originally shared by Andy.C

I'm leaving Japan, anyone living here interested in my bootlegged 16"x20" framed David C. Sutherland III, Holmes Box Set poster print? You'll need to collect it from Takasaki station. 2,500 yen.

I was looking up something in an old Dragon magazine the other day and stumbled across one of those things that...

I was looking up something in an old Dragon magazine the other day and stumbled across one of those things that really takes you back - an ad for the computer RPG "Temple of Apshai".

When I was a kid, for some reason I thought that game was just about the coolest thing around (something about the name and cover art, most likely); but I never played it, since I didn't have a computer - having a go at Zork in the school library was about as close as I've got.

Vintage computer RPGs are oddly one area of old school gaming inspiration that seems to be mostly overlooked. While later iterations in the genre were more reliant on graphics, the early ones were written by D&D players and followed the tropes pretty closely.

As it turns out, Temple of Apshai would make perfect fodder for a Holmes dungeon. There's a local village, near which is a seacoast with bluffs beneath which lie caves. In times past, cultists of Apshai arrived, but were driven from the village by the local priests of Geb the earth god. The Apshai cultists retreated south, but could go no further due to an impassable swamp. A stroke of luck revealed the entrance to a cave complex, which was found to run out to the sea. The cult of Apshai built a temple, and eventually expanded the cave complex into living quarters, fungus farms and mines - but eventually calamity struck, and after an earthquake the Temple of Apshai and the caves below were buried.

Why does all this work for Holmes? You have a village for a home base, and a buried cave complex (dungeon) that stretches out to sea caves - the perfect site to locate near Portown with its own sea caves. The manual for the game includes simple room writeups that can be easily stocked (B1 style), and a monster roster that tracks well with D&D. Pair it with the Monsters & Treasure Assortment supplement, and stocking is easy as pie.

Temple of Apshai box cover image:
http://www.lemon64.com/covers/full/t/temple_of_apshai.jpg

Temple of Apshai game manual, in PDF format:
https://openretro.org/file/7c68b152f5e392fe71bea30fc79f529013e50953

Temple of Apshai maps as well as background text (pulled from the manuals) by an Atari gamer:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/183584-temple-of-apshai-trilogy-maps/#entry2320821

Best of all, the Temple of Apshai was known for stocking its dungeons with giant insects - perfect for the Holmesian trope of giant animal encounters (the spider and octopus of the Zenopus Dungeon). Also of note is a giant ant creature with a centaur-like body and manipulative arms - a perfect fit for the Formian insect folk in the AD&D Monster Manual II. That aside, for D&D use I'd probably replace the giant mosquitos with stirges.

Funny the things you find when buying old box sets..

Funny the things you find when buying old box sets..

I picked up a Holmes Basic box set so I don't have to abuse my prized original that started me on gaming as a hobby. The replacement was a Lizard Man cover box, oddly with a wizard logo rulebook and B1 inside.

The funny part about the contents.. also inside was someone's custom photocopied (out of Dragon Magazine) of Snit Smashing, with a photocopy map for Snit Smashing itself plus one of the spaceship Znutar; and a plethora of handmade counters (photocopies glued to chipboard); all with the photocopies being glorious poor-color, sticky ink 70s work.

The snits were entertaining enough, but the real kicker was the yellow credit card receipt (the carbon kind you used to run over that mechanical thing) for the princely sum of $9.95 for "Basic D&D".. from the famous California hobby shop Aero Hobbies. A little piece of gaming history right thar..

Want to own a piece of Holmes history?

Want to own a piece of Holmes history?

Was bidding on several lots of old Minifigs miniatures, when I noticed this in the auction details:

"From the estate of J. Eric Holmes, who was the editor of the original TSR Basic Dungeons & Dragons game as well as a noted Science Fiction author who published "Mahars of Pellucidar" (a sequel to At the Earth's Core). We will be selling off a large portion of his astounding collection of comics, books, magazines, games, fanzines and other memorabilia from a lifetime of sci-fi and fantasy fandom. "

Pretty cool! Hopefully some of the proceeds are going to the Holmes estate..

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Games/233/m.html?item=381960586393&hash=item58eea00499%3Ag%3AyoQAAOSw4CFYnkrF&_ssn=www.billygalaxy.com&_sop=15
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Games/233/m.html?item=381960586393&hash=item58eea00499:g:yoQAAOSw4CFYnkrF&_ssn=www.billygalaxy.com&_sop=15

That funny moment when you wonder if David Trampier's cover illustration of a party wandering through a fungus...

That funny moment when you wonder if David Trampier's cover illustration of a party wandering through a fungus garden (with characters later added by DCS) was visually inspired by this sequence in the 1959 film "Journey to the Center of the Earth".
http://athenacinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/1.jpg

Hey Zach, the Homes Ref Sheets you released for Free RPG Day got a shout out on the Swords & Stitchery blog.

Hey Zach, the Homes Ref Sheets you released for Free RPG Day got a shout out on the Swords & Stitchery blog.. the Holmes virus continues to spread!

You can never have too many maps handy..

You can never have too many maps handy..

Well worth checking out are group member Tim Hartin's maps over at his Paratime Design website, with a bunch of them (including a number of old school blue dungeon maps) available for free download under the Creative Commons License:
http://www.paratime.ca/cartography/index.html

One of my favorite old school TSR supplements for use with Holmes is the good ole' Monster & Treasure Assortment...

One of my favorite old school TSR supplements for use with Holmes is the good ole' Monster & Treasure Assortment (the single volume, Lvl 1-9 version published in 1980 in particular).

Originally published in 3 volumes (Set One / Lvls 1-3; Set Two / Lvls 4-6; Set Three / Lvls 7-9) in 1977 and then reprinted as three volumes in 1978, the Monster & Treasure Assortments were the complementary volumes to the dungeon geomorphs; create a dungeon using the geomorphs, then stock that sucker with critters and treasure from the M&T Assortments.

For stocking dungeons you could get more creative, but if you just need  some encounters they're pretty darn useful. With one major caveat - between 1977 when they were first published and 1980 when the Lvl 1-9 single volume compendium was published, no less than 4 editions of D&D appeared - OD&D, Holmes, AD&D and Moldvay-Cook Basic/Expert (aka B/X). Printing history as always is available on the Acaeum: https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/miscpages/mt.html

So while I heartily recommend the M&T Assortments as a handy resource, as observed in linked Delta's D&D blog post you need to be flexible and adjust what's there. If you get the - easily found and cheap to buy - 1980 assortment, the encounters will be a mashup of OD&D, AD&D and B/X creature names, characteristics, and (for human/demihuman types) race-class combinations.

With that in mind, if you don't have one of these definitely grab one - very handy resource, and some great Dave Trampier and David C. Sutherland artwork not found elsewhere. Enjoy : )
(besides the usual online dealers like Noble Knight, there are a bunch of copies on Amazon right now starting at just $4.00 a copy  for used condition: http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Monster-Treasure-Assortment/dp/0935696369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456550418&sr=8-1&keywords=monster+%26+treasure+assortment)

On the "cool new stuff you could use with Holmes", here are a couple I've run across recently (both written for...

On the "cool new stuff you could use with Holmes", here are a couple I've run across recently (both written for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but old edition compatible):

Tower of the Stargazer
- Exploration of a wizard's tower, with a good Swords & Sorcery / Clark Ashton Smith feel; could make a good tie-in to the Zenopus dungeon, if you had this tower out in the wilderness a few days' ride from Portown and the wizard a colleague or rival of Zenopus. The exploration and weirdness factors make it a good thematic match to B1 (with it's room of pools and wizard's laboratory). Also, like the early TSR modules of yesteryear it clocks in at a tidy 16 pages.  
Reviews:
- http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-tower-of-stargazer.html
- http://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=1000
- http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-tower-of-stargazer.html

Scenic Dunnsmouth
- A decayed town with dark secrets (a la Dunwich and Innsmouth of HPL fame). Could actually be used to design your Portown (if your Portown as a small seaside town rather than a larger city) or to create the town of Saltmarsh if you ran U1 in a Homes campaign (the investigative aspects would match U1's tone perfectly). Best part: it is set up to be randomly generated, which means uniqueness and good replay value; and you can also use it to design multiple towns (just changing the NPCs around). The random generation element meshes well with the design approach of B1, and the town-with-intrigues setup will feel familiar from T1.  
Reviews:
- http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/2014/05/rpgpundit-reviews-scenic-dunnsmouth.html
- http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2014/04/review-of-scenic-dunnsmouth.html
- http://save.vs.totalpartykill.ca/review/scenic-dunsmouth/
http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/08/review-tower-of-stargazer.html

Holmes as a complete campaign game has been discussed for a while now - either as a standalone capped at Lvl 3, or...

Holmes as a complete campaign game has been discussed for a while now - either as a standalone capped at Lvl 3, or expanded (taking various approaches, from 3+1 capping fighters at "hero" level to ending at lvl 9 / "name level" to going out as far as Moldvay-Cook Expert did). Going complete homebrew, you'd have few problems with writing adventures for a Holmes-only campaign; but if you're short on time or just prefer modifying adventures rather than starting from scratch, you might wonder how much is really out there to use. 

Taking Holmes as a complete game with a level 3 cap, my list of adventure resources from the classic TSR era would include the following:
- the included modules B1 and B2
- T1, which although an AD&D adventure is easily converted and has a good swords & sorcery theme (small farm town threatened by evil)
- N1 (again AD&D, and like T1 a farm town threatened by evil but with a distinctly different approach)
- L1 (AD&D, but easily modded; includes a mini-sandbox wilderness area a la B1 and the Bone Hill dungeon has a different feel from the others in the list)
- B4 (B/X, again easily modified and playable as a mini-sandbox by fleshing out the underground city and caverns)
- U1 (AD&D haunted house/investigative dungeon, easily converted)
- "Temple of the Frog", from Supplement II: Blackmoor (though you'd have to depower it to avoid overwhelming TPK probability)

The old White Dwarf adventures offer some good options as well:
- "The Lichway", an ancient burial complex.
- "The Halls of Tizun Thane", investigation of a lost wizard's manse.
- "The Pool of Standing Stones", a cult of druids gone bad needs to be cleaned out from a dungeon (mid level AD&D adventure, but modifiable)
- "Grakt's Crag", a tomb complex infested with monsters and thieves (mid-level AD&D, again modifiable)
These were all collected in Best of White Dwarf Scenarios.

And Judges Guild of course had some good stuff, though much of it would need to be depowered / scaled down to fit a Holmes-only campaign; City State of the World Overlord (as an urban campaign setting), The Caverns of Thracia (large dungeon, could be expanded to a mini-sandbox and/or linked to B4) and the Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor (large dungeon) come to mind.

Any other suggestions out there?
(note that for this post, I'm intentionally limiting the range to stuff written in the AD&D 1e era and before).

Visual representations of Portown?

For many Homes Basic fans, Portown looms large in the imagination. Holmes' short, evocative description of the place provided both a handy home base for launching the sample Zenopus dungeon adventure and had enough meat in it to provide the seed for a long term base for a campaign.

Portown, like many early D&D locations, was never visually depicted so fans were free to let their imagination roam; I've read interpretations ranging from small fishing ports to bustling cities. Personally, I've always envisioned it as a small trading city of around 10,000 - big enough to support merchants, temples and assorted factions but small enough for low level PCs to make a difference; a Lankhmar writ small as it were.

From a purely visual perspective though, I've never really nailed down a look for Portown in my mind's eye. Recently, I ran across Mike Mignolas illustrations for a 4 part comic series which illustrated a set of Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories. Have loved his work for years, and I think I may have just found my mind's eye look for Portown.

Besides the main link below, here are a few more of his pieces depicting Lankhmar:
- http://photos1.blogger.com/img/198/4480/640/fafhrd%201.jpg
- http://photos1.blogger.com/img/198/4480/640/fafhrd%202.jpg

That said, what does your Portown look like?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLelXRGWwAA8RZT.jpg

Don't know if this has been posted before, but JB of the always solid B/X Blackrazor has put together some AD&D...

Don't know if this has been posted before, but JB of the always solid B/X Blackrazor has put together some AD&D style subclasses for Holmes Basic.

Paladins & Rangers:
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-bonus-classes.html
- Paladins were introduced along with Thieves in the GReyhawk supplement for OD&D (first print March 1975, 2nd print July 1975). Jeff Rients does a pretty good overview on the OD&D Paladin here: http://jrients.blogspot.com/2007/05/paladin-problem-part-1.html
- The Ranger was originally created for OD&D by Joe Fischer and appeared in Strategic Review #2 (Summer 1975), extract available in this DF thread: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1503

Illusionists (2 parter - class in first link, Illusion magic in second link):
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-illusionist-part-1.html
- http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/
- Note that the OD&D Illusionist first appeared in Strategic Review #4 (Winter 1975), created by Peter Aronson. The original pre-AD&D version of the class is in this DF thread: http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1615

Holmes Basic, of course, arrived broadly on store shelves in late 1977, with the AD&D Monster Manual arriving in December of that year (just for general reference as to when these now-classic subclasses arrived in D&D with respect to Holmes Basic).

Speaking of the OD&D subclasses, if you use 3d6 ability generation they are pretty rare given the minimum ability score requirements. Worth a look at this old blog post on Grognardia if you consider using these in your Holmes Basic: http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2011/03/ability-scores-and-sub-classes.html
http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2015/11/holmes-rules-bonus-classes.html

Random observation of the day.

Random observation of the day.. looks like Holmes Basic was the first appearance of Gnolls in their hyena man, Monster Manual form.

In OD&D's "Monster & Treasure" booklet, the description reads:
"GNOLLS: A cross between Gnomes and Trolls (. . . perhaps, Lord Dunsany did not really make it all that clear) with +2 morale. Otherwise they are similar to Hobgoblins, although the Gnoll king and his bodyguard of from 1 - 4 will fight as Trolls but lack regenerative power."

Nothing in Greyhawk, Blackmoor or Eldritch Wizardry alters or updates that description. By contrast, in Holmes, the entry for Gnolls reads:
"Gnolls are low-intelligence beings like hyena-men.."

Wonder what precipitated the change? Maybe worries about copyright challenges from the Dunsany estate after the legal issues TSR had with the Tolkien estate?

UPDATE: Checked Zach's blog entries on the original Holmes manuscript, and the Gnoll was not originally included by Holmes himself. The Gnoll was missing from the first edition of Holmes Basic but was added in the 2nd edition, so the changed description must have come from TSR if not Gygax himself. http://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2014/03/part-25-horrors-are-naturals-for.html

Well folks, just bought my pass to this year's Gary Con in Lake Geneva, WI (runs 26-29 March).

Well folks, just bought my pass to this year's Gary Con in Lake Geneva, WI (runs 26-29 March). I went three years ago, and it was a great time. Anyone else from the group going? Would be cool to meet some of y'all in person : )

PS. Posting this to several of the old school gaming groups I belong to on G+, so you may see this a few times..

Random thought on Holmes initiative.

Random thought on Holmes initiative.. DEX in D&D can be something of a dump stat, since the bonuses to missile attack and initiative aren't huge in earlier rules sets; if you use group initiative, it becomes even more of a dump stat if the players can use the PC with the highest initiative to roll.

The Holmes method of doing initiative in DEX score order makes DEX much more important - a 9 DEX guy has a substantially less chance of going before foes than even a 12 DEX guy. Similarly, items and spells which increase DEX would have a greater effect than when DEX just gives a bonus to initiative rolls; and on the flip side, items / spells / conditions that reduce DEX would have an outsized effect compared to versions where DEX just gives a bonus to init. 

Has anyone who's run the Holmes rules as written noticed any changes in how players look at DEX when it is used directly for initiative rolls?

Over the last few years, there have been periodic discussion on boards and blogs about using Holmes Basic as a...

Over the last few years, there have been periodic discussion on boards and blogs about using Holmes Basic as a complete RPG on its own - not with expansions to raise the level cap, but complete in itself as a gritty swords & sorcery system with a 3 level advancement cap.

Systemwise, you have a Traveller-esque approach where level advancement doesn't define the campaign. High HD monsters will always be epically dangerous (that 4 HD ogre won't get any easier to kill once you hit 3rd lvl), and low level (3rd level) PCs can found domains. The ongoing campaign will revolve around story goals (in the wider campaign world), exploration, acquisition of magic items, and the defeat of foes.

That said, a while back I ran across an interesting thread on Dragonsfoot (http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=33759) in which a poster described a campaign world where there were no deities in the classic sense. There were "gods", but all of them were powerful creatures that demanded worship and tribute from fearful low level types. In this sense, the "gods" were like the old Roman concept of genii locii ("local gods") worshipped by villages and tribes - gods of rocks and streams, hills and lakes. So.. a dragon might rule a city of goblins as their god, etc. The trope features in several classic D&D modules, most notable the naga cult in N1 and worship of the monstrous Zargon in B4.

From a published resource standpoint, those not wanting to go with worship of powerful monsters per se could go with some of the minor powers from the old JG "Unknown Gods" supplement: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ODDguild/conversations/messages/4147

For those not familiar with how such minor "gods" and their cults might play out, Lord Dunsany's short story "Chu-Bu and Sheemish" offers a good - and humorous - look at the idea: http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/d_chu-bu.htm

Anyone done this or played with the idea?