Overreaction Wednesday - Empty Rooms, Styles, and Substances

There was some discussion on a megadungeon-in-development last week. I mostly missed it because I don't spend much time on OSR sites or blogs anymore (other than Grognardia and Jeff's place) because though I feel a kinship with most of the people who write about it, I don't feel like I'm really a part of it - so, no OSR logo on the blog, no reviews of OSR products - you get the picture. Anyway, I was a latecomer to the hubbub so I got to page thru the full discussion and it's a little funny. Now I don't know Joe or any of the other players in the discussion but I may quote some of them below. Some thoughts:

One, I don't think anyone should be surprised at the nature of an old-school megadungeon, especially one written by someone who has a very popular OSR-themed blog and especially especially one that has been written about on that blog pretty extensively. I haven't read it but it sounds exactly like the kind of thing discussed in the AD&D DMG - for those of us who were playing and reading Dragon back then I don't think there was anything described that sounded out of place. Maybe Joe wasn't playing back then, or maybe he's just not interested in playing the game as-it-was-back-then today. There's nothing wrong with that.

Two, the debate expanded into other megadungeons, DM creativity, and the role of published adventures. The OSR has a weird relationship with published adventures: so many of the people touting the old-school are big on the do-it-yourself nature of the early rules that I'm surprised there is so much interest in someone else's work (Gygax/Arneson excepted), especially at a price, when it could easily be done for free with random tables and some borrowed maps. The free exchange of adventures and rules ideas is clearly accepted but I'm still surprised that so many people were willing to pony up for it. Similarly, I often get a sense that there is a disdain for published adventures among much of the OSR, but for some reason megadungeons have escaped this - at least until now. It's a weird thing, as in my opinion the older adventures serve as a touchstone for a lot of us whether it's the Caves of Chaos or the Giants - you can bet if two old D&D players meet up sooner or later the mad hermit or the big green mouth or the giant crab in the bubble are going to come up. They are part of a big shared experience, but there's a weird thing there with some people who just don't like published adventure material and it makes me think that this would be the least profitable or popular kind of product among old-schoolers - but apparently not. Notably, Joe mentions that he was not a backer in the kickstarter - that sounds to me like the system worked as intended, so everyone should be happy.

Three, the conversation also went into styles of play, and I think that's the biggest thing I wanted to note. It's been assumed to some degree (and I know I have done it before) that there is a set style of play that is Old School - resource management, exploration, and somewhat fragile characters, often in a sandbox, and typically in a lower level or grittier style than in newer RPG's. That may not be the case as much anymore. There may be a fair number of people that have been introduced or re-introduced to D&D style gaming via the OSR that have not been playing truly old school adventures - it's hard for an experienced DM to completely wash away the last 20 years of game time if they've been playing a variety of games over the years. Maybe a by-the-book old school dungeon just is not their thing, even if they've been using old school rules. Here's a quote from Joe:

Here's the thing--as a player, I want my character to kick some ass, be awesome, and have a tale to tell back at the tavern so he can get some action with the serving wenches.  You know, Conan, or Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser style.  That to me is the motivation to play an adventurer.

See that sounds a lot like the kind of thing that people complained about with 4th edition - that it caters to the "I want action now" crowd etc. who don't get what old school adventuring is all about. Now I'm not making the complete jump that people who dislike Dwimmermount should go buy a 4th edition PHB, but I'm leaning towards the idea that style of play may be more important than the rules for most people. Maybe, just maybe, some people have tried old-school dungeoneering and decided that it wasn't their cup of tea, leading to new approaches in new editions of D&D and other D&D-like games. For a lot of players, they will have a lot of fun with the same DM and group of fellow players regardless of the rules system in use, and they will happily change games multiple times over the years while staying with the same group and enjoying almost all of it. The exceptions may largely be driven by when something tries to enforce a style of play that the group does not like - like an old-school megadungeon. It's hard to be awesome when there's not that much to react against, whether you're an ace-kicker or a talker. If you're an explorer-type though, I suspect it would be right up your alley.

For example, I know my current group of players would never go for the Goodman Games RPG. Sure, rolling up a bunch of nobodies and seeing who survives to make it to 1st level could be fun once or twice but pretty soon it's going to get tedious. Similarly, old school AD&D would not be a sustainable campaign (even if I think it would be fun) because they don't want to spend their fun time on that kind of resource management and with that level of character fragility. They want action and interaction and a little exploration along the way. Now you can focus on that in any game, really, but it's easier to manage a group when there is mechanical support for it within the game. For us, 3rd & 4th edition D&D, Savage Worlds, and the boatload of Supers games I talk about on this blog do it right. Despite that mechanical preference and that style preference, I still see a lot of good material in  old adventures so I do a lot of conversion work in my campaigns, especially my D&D campaigns, because it's the best of both worlds - I get atmospheric descriptions (in some cases), a setting I am familiar with (in most cases), decades of supplemental material (internet!) and I get the benefit of the mechanics that support the way my players like to play now. 

Maybe Dwimmermount just needs some conversion notes to multiple editions and several different games. I think both 4E and Hero system and even Savage Worlds could benefit from a mega-dungeon option for a campaign. Think of the Traveller conversion - "Endless Tunnels of the Ancients". For Warhammer it wouldn't matter because everyone would be dead, mutated, or insane by level 3, but that doesn't mean that it's a concept unworthy of exploration!

That's probably enough on the topic. I just thought it was noteworthy that in this case the substance is the style - and I expect that it will come up again. Discussions on D&D Next are touching on a lot of similar ground though mainly regarding rules mechanics and not setting - yet.

Old School Champions - Adventurers Club #4

Adventurers Club #4 - That's a strong cover, very much in the style of the era's Champions and comic book cover art. The artist is Mike Witherby, who I don't remember being a big player in Champions art but maybe I will discover that to be wrong as we continue with the series. He also did the cover to #2 but I like this piece a lot more.

The editorials and news mention that this issue is late, they've been finishing up Justice Inc. and Champions III, and they are working on Fantasy Hero - and still looking for another name for it, having just wrapped up a contest for fan suggestions on a name. Also, Aaron Allston is taking over as editor, so it will be interesting to see where things go after this issue. They're also working on Primus and Demon, the GM screen, and Enemies III,

I like that logo!

Other news includes the mention of the Superworld Companion, the release of Marvel Super Heroes, and the upcoming releases of Golden Heroes, Heroes Unlimited, and DC Heroes! You think we have a lot of Superhero games now? 1984 wasn't too bad either. Also: Maybe someone could have tried a name that didn't include "hero".

In the letters section, well, Foxbat was killed off in Champions III so there's a transition here, but no lack of trash talking him from before the news was out.

I thought this ad was interesting - I suppose this would be Cubicle 7 or Green Ronin now. Also, "Barbara Cartland"?  I don't think I've ever seen a copy of that one.

• The crook this month is Volcano - he's pretty routine as far as a volcano-themed blaster type of character
• Covert Action notes that Espionage is being changed to Danger International and has some notes on what happens when a mission fails and on enforcing disadvantages in play like distinctive looks and age - it's decent material even now
• Mr. Allston has an article on horror in Champions and he has some good notes though some of them boil down to  "don't use a lot of your regular characters".
• One very interesting article is "The Gilt Complex" which is a setup for overpowered combat monster characters with a villain team that looks tough but is easily killed by high powered attacks. Take a look:

Look, I've discovered 4th-edition-style minions in a 1984 Champions product! This is the best evidence for functional time travel yet! I suspect if something like this came out in a company publication today it would be quite controversial. In the example one of the players has a character with a 100 Strength and he does a haymaker on Goldmind - and pushes it. With 32 dice rolled for one good punch you can imagine the carnage. This team is a set-up designed to teach out-of-control characters a lesson, but it seems way too heavy-handed to me. There's a discussion on how players should show restraint and appropriate levels of power and damage, but I have to wonder about the kind of campaign that would have to be running to where this is an appropriate development. If a PC has been beating on super-bads with a 100 Str for a while with no consequences, why should they suddenly be punished for max-punching yet another costumed criminal? I'm not completely opposed to this kind of thing, I just think there are better ways to handle it.

Does anyone remember seeing this product? Did it exist? 

The big adventure this month is pictured on the cover and deals with a mysterious meteorite that falls to earth in Iceland. It's a pretty open scenario with some nice maps, some new stats for a few NPC's and a new organization. It's the best one since the first one and I think it would make for a good evening's play. Like all the best adventures it's easily modified and there is plenty of room for consequences for the future. One other note: If you're a DC fan it looks a lot like the DC Heroes adventure Fire and Ice. That one was published two years later but they do have similar themes. Some conversion work could lead to a nice campaign arc involving stuff from space crashing into arctic environments.

Next week: Number 5!

Better-Late-Than_Never Motivational Monday

40K Friday - The Big Yellow Hammer Drops!

Over the holiday weekend we played a big game of 40K Sixth edition where I took on Apprentice Red and Apprentice Blaster. There's a bit of a story to it, so bear with me for a paragraph or two.

First, it's difficult to surprise boys who live in the same house when it comes to gaming stuff as they are all over anything that comes into the house. It's also difficult to prep without them knowing that something is up, especially when it comes to a miniatures game where there's painting and gluing and just a lot of activity to get something new ready to go. So I did something new - I bought someone else's painted army. I've picked up a few painted vehicles and things for the boys to help them get farther along in their army construction, but I haven't done it for any of my armies thus far. Also, I don't always play with a fully painted army but it is my preference when possible. Finally, scanning the electrons of ebay and the local scene, "painted" is often the same or less cost as "new on sprue" which means it doesn't cost anything extra and it saves a great deal of time - as long as it fits in with what you already have. So, I found an army I liked, one I had contemplated running in the past, and I bought it.

Next, having acquired the weapon, I set a time for the match roughly two weeks out - then I started trash talking them.If you have teenage boys you probably know how it is, but listening to the kids opine on everything under the sun, and 40K in particular, given their limited experience (in everything) can get a little old. I normally try to stay out of their expert discussions and declarations - or at most try to point out that they may not have considered all of the information -  but this time was different. This time I told them when, how many points, and that I was going to crush them both. I also told them they'd be facing space marines, but I didn't get into specifics. They immediately responded with counter-talk, asking what they would get if they won. The game was on.

So the army came and I worked up my list in secret. It's a Deathwing terminator army painted up as Imperial Fists. I think of it as pre-heresy Fists for those of you into 40K lore, since they were the hammer unit during the great crusade, I think it's reasonable to assume that would look something like a Deathwing army. Even though it's "more marines" it's different from the armies I already have so it should be fun. Also, technically it's  a "Doublewing" army as the rest of it is Ravenwing bikes and speeders but the Termies are the focus of the army.

There were some trash-talk flare-ups as the days went by so when the day came everyone was fired up and ready to go. Lady Blacksteel and Apprentice Twilight were out for most of the day so it was just the boys and our dice. As I pulled terminator after terminator out of the box there was some discussion on the opposing sideline but if anything the trash talk increased - "Those don't scare me" was uttered at least twice. Heh.

One thing I am not really liking about 6th edition is the terrain setup section of the rules. We've done it a few times now and this kind of table is the result - lots of stuff clustered near one edge with a big no-man's land in the middle. We're probably going to go with a narrative approach or a "both setup then roll for side choice" approach to avoid this. It didn't matter a ton to me because my bikes and speeders are pretty fast and most of my army is going to deep strike in anyway, but it looks bad.

On the near end Red's Necrons are all clustered up, while Blaster's Space Wolves are at the other end. There are roughly two objectives on the Apprentice half, two on my half, and one towards the middle.

Those Borg cubes are the objective markers. I plan to park and shoot the two Predators, one bike squadron will destroy the monolith (melta-melta-multi-melta) the other will head for the Land Raider (full of Wolfguard BTW) and the speeders (Typhoons & Multi-meltas) will go wherever they can do the most good.

Waiting aboard the battle-barge...

End of Turn 1 - they have blown up the near Predator but I've landed 3 squads near objectives and I have a plan.

End of Apprentice Turn 2 - they have shot up a few termies but one of the Necron wraiths (center, near the monolith) ate a Krak missile when they charged and croaked before he could get into melee.

End of Deathwing Turn 2 - The wraiths are dead from Thunderhammer disease, one bike squadron has been shot up good but the other has destroyed the monolith! There is a pretty hairy firefight going on around that lower objective so I dropped two more squads in near it. There are Long Fangs sitting in that bunker in the upper right, happily blasting away with missile launchers, while a squad of Grey Hunters sits on an objective at the far top right as the Land Raider and the Dreadnought advance.

There are a lot of Necrons in that ruin but I believe we can handle it.

Death of a monolith

End of Apprentice Turn 3 - The Deathwing Command Squad led by Belial, Master of the Deathwing, meets the Wolf Guard, led by Logan Grimnar! Shots are fired and the fight is on!

End of Deathwing Turn 3 - Belial is down! That'll teach me to challenge a Chapter Master with a mere Company Master! In the meantime the other termies smack each other around, the Necron Scarabs bog the bikes down, and ferocious Necron shooting has thinned out another termie squad (Rapid Fire - it's New and Improved!). They blew up the other predator too, so this hasn't been a great turn for Yellow but I'm not in a terrible position.

End of game - On turn 4 the speeders blow up the Land Raider and the Dreadnought, Deathwing reinforcements charge into the Command Squad fight and kill every Wolf Guard but Logan. One battered termie squad charges into the scarab fight, kills them all, and free the bikes. The long fangs die to massed Cyclone Missile fire. Then on Turn 5 the last unit of Necron warriors at the bottom there breaks and runs leaving the Imperial Fists in control of the two middle objectives and the Apprentices concede.

Observations:

• A 2500 point games takes some time, especially when you're still new to the rules. This was about a 6-hour event though it must be said we took a lot of breaks between turns.
• I was always an Assault Cannon guy before when it came to Terminator armament choices - no longer! Having 6 Cyclone launchers on the board was nasty, especially when it was backed up with 3 Typhoons - that's 18 missile shots a turn - lots of frag templates were piled on those Necron warriors and they had a hard time with it.
• I was worried about having too much melta (both bike squadrons including both attack bikes and all 3 speeders) but with a monolith and a land raider on the table it was a game-changer. 
• There is definitely a momentum thing with this army - teleporting in and not being able to assault means that you get to spend a turn weathering the storm, but when you do hit you hit hard. They boys were very cocky on turns 1-2 then 3 calmed them down then on 4 as I was smashing space wolves they got very quiet. I think this is a win-it-in-the-later-turns-army though more games will give me more insight into this.
• Speeders can last quite a while when there are tanks and terminators on the board to worry about.

The boys eventually recovered from their morale failure and talked about the next game. Blaster thinks he might want some bikes for his wolves, and that he needs to get his Thunderwolf Cavalry finished up. Red wants some more Necron vehicles and to roll better. I'm thinking we will probably try some smaller point games next.

Back to D&D: Noble Houses of Impiltur

With the D&D game firing back up this weekend I thought I would share something I emailed to my players a few months back in an attempt to hook them into the world a little bit more- after all, it's hard to reclaim a legacy if you don't know what that legacy is! Please note that all of this is (to use some good English phrasing) Dreadfully Non-Canon when it comes to the published Realms material...

Some of you have asked for some background on the situation or the noble houses in Impiltur to tie your characters into the setting a little more tightly. I had a rough sketch worked out but it was pretty bare bones and was a little too warhammer/game of thrones than I would like, so I've gone with another inspiration this time and I'm just going to pretend that earlier version didn't happen. If you're interested, take a look below and see what you like and we can retcon any decisions made previously. There aren't any numbers here and no hard rules - I just want each one to have its own flavor. Every house has some fighters and paladins and clerics and wizards, but the stuff below is what they are known for.

Noble Houses of Impiltur

House Orlanth: Leaders & Adventurers – In D&D terms, most sons of Orlanth are Fighters, Paladins, or Warlords with a fair number of Bards. Favored gods are Torm and the Red Knight with occasional bows to Akadi the air god. The best at warfare, strategy, and tactics and have the most men under arms of any house of the realm. Big on questing, with small bands of knights and retainers heading off on new quests every season, many of them to reclaim or restore the lost areas within Impiltur itself with a goal of strengthening the realm. They have interests all over the realm and tend to be most aware of the realm as a whole. Willing to work with every house but Lhankor is very different to them and the house they understand the least. Also known for the best tournaments in the land.
Favors Martial and Divine.
Signature Skills: Athletics, Diplomacy

House Humakt: Guardians of the Realm – Most are Slayers, Knights, or Avengers with a fair number of Warpriests. Favored gods are Kelemvor and Tempus. Most knowledgeable about Orcus and the undead and have been very active in the past in stopping those forces all over the Bloodstone Lands. Makeup is similar to Orlanth but grimmer and with less celebrating. Very suspicious of House Zoran, but not as antagonistic as might be expected. Many outposts set up as watchtowers over places of evil and their quests tend to be recovering and storing evil artifacts to keep them out of enemy hands. Tend to be most aware of rising threats to the realm. Often work with Yelmalio to team up against a threat.
Favors Martial and Divine. If you want a unit to hold a pass to the last man, a unit of House Humakt is your best bet.
Signature Skills: Intimidate, Dungeoneering

House Issaries: Explorers & Traders – Typical leaders of the house are Rogues, Bards, or Sorcerers. Favored gods are, Waukeen and Tymora with a nod to Istishia the water god. Mainly concentrated in the cities of the realm (especially New Sarshel) with connections in all of the ports of the Sea of Fallen Stars. Quests for this house tend to be trading expeditions and attempts to discover something new or rediscover something lost. Tend to be most aware of what's going on in other lands. Often work with Lhankor to research old legends, prophecies, or maps. They also have fought many pirates and creatures from beneath the sea and are quite knowledgeable about the undersea races. Dragons are also a familiar foe to them, on both land and sea. Also, they throw the best parties.
Favors Martial and Arcane.
Signature Skills: Bluff, Streetwise

House Lhankor: Sages & Mages – House leaders tend to be Wizards, Warlocks, Invokers, Swordmages, or Bladesingers. Favored gods are Oghma and Gond. This is a smaller house but one that is respected by all others for their knowledge and their magical might. Tend to be most aware of planar activities, prophecies, and legends. Quests are often undertaken to recover lost knowledge or to locate a rare magical item or artifact.
Favors Arcane and Divine with some Psionic.
Signature Skills: Arcana, History

House Yelmalio: Justice, Honor, and the Light - House leaders tend to be Clerics, Paladins, and Invokers. Favored gods are Amaunator and Bahamut. A widespread house that takes a very active role in the everyday running of the realm, sometimes to the annoyance of the other houses. Members are staunch foes of the undead, dragons, demons, and humanoids that threaten the realm – they will fight any evil. Very distrustful of House Zoran. Quests are typically to track down a wanted criminal or renegade, or to wipe out a den of evil. They have also been sending expeditions into Vaasa, the land of the old witch-king, to explore for new threats and to spread the worship of their gods. If you need someone to lead a glorious charge into battle against long odds then a unit from House Yelmalio is an excellent choice - and odds are that they would have volunteered anyway,
Favors Divine.
Signature Skills: Insight, Religion

House Chalanna: The Forest House – Sons of Chauntea tend to be Rangers and Druids. Favored gods include Chauntea and Mielikki. This is a more rural house that tends to view natural cycles and traditions as best. The authority on the forested areas of the realm and the creatures that live in them and the hunting of all types of creatures. They also have extensive knowledge of healing, both natural and magical. Tend to be most aware of the state of nature in the realm and the balance or anything that has disturbed it. Much like Orlanth their quests and their focus tend to be inside the realm, restoring damaged places and helping the natural recovery of things.
Favors Martial and Primal.
Signature Skills: Heal, Nature

House Zoran: House of Shadows – Fighters, Rogues, Rangers. this house is not afraid to use methods other than open conflict to preserve the realm. While somewhat disliked by the other houses, they have always done their duty when called upon. Their quests tend to be to eliminate hidden threats, capture and interrogate enemies, and to stop evil before it can take root. Most knowledgeable about the Underdark and the Shadowfell. Also tend to be aware of criminal activity and underground threats. Mainly concentrated in the coastal cities (mainly Lyrabar) but are rumored to have agents everywhere.
Favors Martial, Arcane, and Shadow.
Signature Skills: Stealth, Thievery

Bonus House:

Clan Stormbull (Dwarves): Berserkers against evil – this clan claims Clanggeddin Silverbeard as their patron and takes a special interest in the fight against evil chaos on the surface of the world. They tend to be closely associated with House Orlanth and have fought beside them many times. Dwelling in the Earthspur mountains they know that their fates are tied to that of Impiltur and see it as an obligation to help their neighbors whenever possible. With their natural skill, the aid of their war god, and the power of the spirits of the land they succeed more often than not.
Favors Martial, Divine, Primal
Signature Skills: Endurance, Intimidate

Interesting Superhero Concepts - Hexmaster

This is the Hexmaster M.A.D. Mk I from Adventurer's Club #3. I think he's supposed to be the Hero Games mascot from the early years. I don't think he's anything special to look at. In fact he looks kind of like the Nest Leader from Viper's Nest.

Even his stats aren't all that impressive - note that at full strength his Force Field won't stop an average roll from one of his own attack powers from stunning him on a halfway decent roll. Oh and yes, the hex on his chest gives him some of his powers and so does the one he is standing on.

What is interesting is the concept: M.A.D. stands for "Man Android Decoy". They are robots who don't know they are robots who are released into the world to carry out grand schemes to provide cover for what their creator is really planning. They monologue, recruit agents and supervillains, and generally carry on all of the classic master villain activities. Then when they are knocked unconscious or brought to zero body they explode! Knowing the background take a look at that statblock again - a wide variety of attacks, charges on everything, some odd weaknesses - he can blast away for a while and then BAM!

Of course with some gentle leading the players will probably assume it was a robotic decoy and the real villain somehow got away - which is partially true. Then he shows up again a few months or years later, they think "ah-ha we have him this time" and he explodes again - how does he keep doing that?

Then of course to double-fake them you spring the real villain on them, or maybe a non-robotic wannabe, who doesn't explode but who clearly has no firsthand knowledge of their earlier encounters - he read about them and was inspired. It's a work of such subversive genius that it deserves a home in every supers campaign, regardless of system!

Old School Champions - Adventurers Club #3

"Hi, I'm the Slug, and I'm called that because I wear a s50's space helmet and carry an ankh (Which makes about as much sense as a lot of actual comic book characters if you think about it)

Another Tuesday, another review of an Adventurer's Club - this time it's #3 from the spring of 1984.

• Up front we have some news type articles - Champions III and Justice Inc. are the main topics
• Foxbat's letters column is still somewhat entertaining even decades later
• First big article: The Art of the DNPC - this is a nice 4-page article on handling DNPC's in a campaign covering Types, Disadvantages, Skills, and Powers. There's an interesting point of view here that DNPC disads should be viewed from their impact on the player character, not the DNPC itself, and it did have some wheels turning in my head. Another funny thing is that nowadays this article is probably as long as a typical blog post, but 4 pages out of a 50 page magazine had to have been a pretty big deal back then. 
• Covert Action this month is about mission panning, DNPC's, and the Private Investigator package deal. 
• Teamwork is a 2-page article on how to get heroes to work more as a team than a collection of individuals and has notes on two approaches: the near-invincible supermenace that forces a team-up and the villain team that uses code words and coordinated attacks to beat down the heroes. This is another Aaron Allston article and some specific maneuvers and code words show up in the Strike Force supplement that came along a few years later.

I believe that's "The Monster" and a DNPC...

• The middle 12 pages of the book is "Terror in the Treasures" which is a lot like some of the Action Scenes adventures for ICONS by Vigilance Press in that it's an adventure situation rather than a full-blown adventure with clues and a plot. Basically a group of villains from the Enemies books is going to try and steal some artifacts from a museum and presumably the heroes will try to stop them. Where it shines is not so much in the plot (simple) or characters (off the shelf) but in the details on the museum itself. Freed of the need to describe the opposition the writer spends a couple of pages detailing the layout and the physical stats of the museum and the objects inside, and you get nice hexmaps of both the main building and the surrounding area. The other innovation here is that museum artifacts are not especially sturdy, and given the amount of collateral damage that super battles tend to inflict, there's is opportunity here to reign in some of the reckless abandon of combat, forcing the players to think a little more about what they are doing. The main object of the robbery could be interesting too, so there is enough difference from a generic "stop the robbery" evening here to keep it fun.

As much map as any DM really needs for this kind of thing

• There is an article on some different types of agents, from ninjas to zombies, along with stats - useful
• Rules Questions are answered - this was always a popular feature in gaming magazines and appears to be so here as well.
• The villain-of-the-quarter is the "Hexmaster M.A.D. Mk I" - it's interesting enough for a separate post, look for that later.
• Another multi-page article is the Combat Rating System, which attempts to measure offensive, defensive, and mobility powers with a series of calculations to help GM's better balance their combat encounters. Look it's CR and EL 16 years before 3rd Edition D&D! Part of me thinks this is either somewhat redundant in a point-based system or it's an indication that balance remains elusive, even in the most comprehensive point-based system of all. It' written by George Mac Donald so it probably works and at the time it might have been a big deal but looking back I think "It's Supers" and just want to move on.
• Finally there are reviews of Stormhaven for MS&PE (it's good!) and something called Supergame which sounds like an early attempt at a universal system (it's not!).

Speaking of Smurfs I have to say that Hank Azaria in that live action movie was just about the most spot-on translation of a cartoon character to live action that I can recall

 The big attraction here is clearly the adventure, and that seems to be the theme with each issue, but there is other worthwhile material here, at least for the time. Even now it's interesting to read the thinking of the designers and writers in these early years of the system as they explore the possibilities of the game.

Motivational Monday

Old School Champions - Adventurers Club #2

Back with a retro-review of AC#2! This time we get a full-color cover and the promise of a Champions adventure.

• Things start with an editorial and the Foxbat-answers-letters column, then news-and-upcoming-stuff column, a page of rules questions for CHampions, and then the first big article: Covert Action.
• Covert Action is the column on espionage gaming and it looks like a fairly solid 6 pages of material and ends with a military package deal.
• Then we get stats and background for Boa Constrictor, who seems to be built around a 60 STR and 3 levels with Grab - I can see some potential (the 4th Edition D&D Brawling fighter powers could be an inspiration here) but that's about all that's covered here mechanically.
• Aaron Allston has an article on mystery powers and disadvantages that is a nice read that seemed familiar and ... yep: it turns up in Champions III almost word for word, and a similar section turns up in the 4th edition Big Blue Book. Presumably this is its first appearance.

Then we get to 15 pages in the center of the magazine that cover "What Rough Beast", the promised Champions scenario. After the fun here's-a-plot-go-wild open structure of the adventure in AC1 this one is a little disappointing. It's very detailed with notes on what's written on papers in various laboratories and many ways for the players to figure out what's going on, but ... it's a dungeon. Sure it's drawn on a hexmap but it's an underground base where something has gone wrong and the player characters are sent in to find out what has happened. Also, it's about 100' across and the only active opponent is one big nasty badguy. He's a 500 point combat monster but even given that I just don't think the place is big enough to promote much mystery or much spookiness, and within 5 minutes of exiting the elevator I'm pretty sure my players would be pounding on the thing with few questions asked. If the place was bigger, maybe multi-leveled like Stronghold there would be more opportunity for some tension to build. Also, for an Agent-level campaign this could be  a good evening's worth of fun but for speedy, sense-ey, combat-capable heroes it's not going to take long. At best, I could see it as a prologue to a longer (better) adventure, like the pre-credit sequence of a James Bond movie. It's a Genocide base, so if you wanted to set up a series of appearances by them this would be a good place to begin. Another reference point: It feels a lot like DNA/DOA from Shadowrun 1st edition, and if you remember the mixed reviews that got for being out of place in the genre, well, this has a similar problem. So I wasn't thrilled with it.

• Champions Plus this month looks at power advantages, particularly area effects, so there are a fair number of diagrams and notes on defenses and how things work in practice, like autofire explosions - always a good choice!
• The last article is a reviews column and in this issue they review Cardboard Heroes (from Steve Jackson) and vinyl battlemats from the Berkely Game Company, which, based on the look of the ads, may be a precursor or affiliate of Chessex.

Wow that's a heckuva beating that Marksman took at the hands of ... someone throwing oranges?

That's it for the Winter 1983 Adventurer's Club. I enjoy doing these so I plan to keep going, but if you like them feel free to let me know.

Motivational Monday