Solo Dungeon Crawler - Solo DnD Tutorials

In a game of Dungeons & Dragons it is never surprising if a group of Player Characters decide to visit an inn or a tavern in order to gain some local information pertaining to myths and legends. This is to be expected, so if you are playing solo (and like me you strive to achieve an authentic version of the game) then picking up a legend in this manner should be standard procedure! In Underworld & Wilderness Adventures (the 3rd Volume of Original D&D rulebooks), it says, "RUMORS, INFORMATION, AND LEGENDS: Such activity as advertising will certainly gain the notice of the locals and begin a chain of rumors. So will almost any other unusual activity. Even the departure of a party from a town is likely to be noticed. Obtaining such news is usually merely a matter of making the rounds of the local taverns and inns, buying a round of drinks (10–60 Gold Pieces), slipping the barman a few coins (1–10 Gold Pieces) and learning what is going on. Misinformation is up to the ref

I recently came across an interesting situation in my solo original Dungeons & Dragons campaign. My adventuring party forced open a door in the underworld beneath the "Castle of the Quest" and subsequently found themselves in a corridor filled with smoke! It therefore seemed appropriate to have some sort of rules to hand regarding vision as surely this vision would be obscured by the smoke and hinder the characters in some way. Obscured Vision in OD&D In order to discover which rules might apply (or point me in the right direction in terms of handling the situation) I decided to review all the original D&D rulebooks. In Men & Magic under the spell description for Insect Plague it tells us that this spell "obscures vision" indicating that some such mechanics should apply in the game. In Greyhawk the description of the Horn of Bubbles says it "completely" obscures the holders vision for 4–12 turns. This implies the obscurity has a spectrum fr

Continuing my delve through Len Lakofka's OD&D rule contributions that were printed in the "Liasons Dangereuses' Diplomacy zine in the mid-seventies. I uncovered an article he wrote regarding morale checks. The article was published in issue 73 of the aforementioned zine and directly followed his article of rules regarding dungeon doors (see my previous blog post). I've managed to transcribe this one without as much difficult as the other. The text is still relatively clear but unfortunately the title is incomprehensible. Len Lakofka's OD&D - Morale Checks Here is an image of the original scan: Here is my transcription (minus the title): The BLACKMOOR system (I wonder if Dave Arneson ever sent a copy to the producers of KUNG-FU) for damage is rather complex for rapid play. With a large number of figures it can bog down # some record keeping then it is easy to maintain. Damage should effect morale, physical strength, dexterity, constitution and hand-to-hand

The OD&D rulebooks and supplements never properly addressed the costs of magical enchantment nor how many experience points should be rewarded for finding magic items. There is some guidance given in Men & Magic and some further clarification in the FAQ printed in Strategic Review #2. These are useful for extrapolating some rules to cover the whole array of magical items and possible enchantments. After looking very closely at the examples of costs in Men & Magic regarding making magic items I managed to shed some light on the subject. At first glance it seems like a very incomplete list (and it may be the case that it still is), I was at a loss for ages but I had a slight epiphany eventually! If you look at the items Gary has chosen to give examples of you might break them down into the following categories: Scrolls Potions that create the effects of a spell Potions that create special abilities Enchanted arrows Enchanted armour w/out special abilities Wands Rings that cre

I previously shared a Len Lakofka article that I transcribed from an old Diplomacy Zine called “Liasons Dangereuses” discovered via the Diplomacy Zine archive. I've been doing some more digging through these scans of old zines since, and there are OD&D gems to be found therein. I’m hoping to transcribe some more bits and pieces in the coming months, but as some of these articles are badly faded away and the scans quite poor there are words lost unless of course I can find a better scan (which in many cases is difficult) or find the article republished much later in Dragon or some such more well preserved form. A recent discovery is an article written by Len Lakofka in regards to dungeon doors in Liasons Dangereuses #73. This article along with many others by the same author might be considered an authoritative take on supplemental OD&D rules given Lakofka had a close working relationship to Gary Gygax. Len Lakofka’s OD&D - Dungeon Doors The particular rules regarding d