Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), the original Fantasy Roleplaying Game, is in the midst of releasing material for its 4th Edition (4E). You might have seen the books for it in various bookstores, with hardcovers and colorful artwork. And with $30+ pricetags per book.
I haven't played, or even really read much of 4E. I do know it is getting very mixed reviews online from gamers who have used it. Many people my age (I'll be 39 this year) are starting to have kids old enough to play D&D with, and they are daunted by the idea of spending $100 on new rule books, and then having to learn hundreds of pages of rules. They just want some quick, relatively cheaper fun.
For this reason, many old timers ("grognards" is the polite term) are rediscovering Original D&D (OD&D) and Classic D&D. OD&D is the game as it was first released in 1974, and in five supplemental booklets in the two years that followed. Classic D&D is the revision of OD&D into Holmes-edited Basic Set, the Moldvay-edited Basic Set (followed by the Cook/Marsh Expert Set), and the Mentzer-edited Basic Set (followed by 4 expansion sets also edited by Mentzer). Most of these products are available cheaply as legal pdf downloads from sites such as Paizo.com and can also be had in hardcopy format from auction sites such as ebay (where prices vary greatly depending on the condition and scarcity of a particular product). What these versions have in common is a much smaller body of rules, and the implicit acknowlegdement that those rules are merely guidelines, with the players free to adapt their own "house rules" as they see fit.
A related popular choice, both as a used book and as a download, is the Rules Cyclopedia (RC). It was an edited compendium of the rules Mentzer presented in his Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master D&D Sets, with a hint of his final Immortal Set. This gives a very playable and comprehensive game within the bounds of one book, and in the back, it has a chapter on what had evolved into the default campaign setting for the D&D, the world of Mystara.
Mystara began years earlier as a small sample campaign area presented in the Cook/Marsh version of the Expert Set. David Cook and Tom Moldvay mixed together a variety of cultures in a relatively small area, and gave just a few paragraphs of description to give players a head start in customizing the area portrayed. Frank Mentzer then expanded that world a bit, and it was further expanded through the course of several adventure modules.
Finally, Bruce Heard oversaw the release of a line of "Gazetteers" that examined in detail each of the lands of the "small area" mentioned above. A backstory was created, which explained how this situation, of unrelated cultures being shoehorned in next each other, came about. The Gazetteers were full of the trade and diplomacy of the lands they covered, and this encouraged the players to spend years of game time in visiting new lands and exploring the wilderness in between. This was a much more cerebral way of playing than the usual "hack and slash" mode of dungeon crawling, and these Gazetteers have since been hailed as some of the best gaming materials ever made.
Most of the Gazetteers are now available as pdfs. Also available in that format is the inside of Mystara. Following pulp fiction tradition, the Hollow World Setting explains in detail the various cultures found within the planet. These are mostly unknown to surface dwellers, and add yet more areas for players to explore and find adventure. An additional boxed set, still not legally available as a pdf, concerned a "war of the gods" on Mystara. This Wrath of the Immortals set had rules for playing immortal characters, somewhat revised from Mentzer's Immortal Set, and a massive, world-shaking campaign, which changed the map of Mystara by its conclusion. An on-going storyline of the war's aftermath was covered in a series of supplements (most available as pdfs), but eventually, Mystara was discontinued as an active D&D "world."
When Wizards of the Coast became the owners of D&D around the year 1999, they announced that fans were now free to publish not-for-profit online Mystara material however they saw fit. A site for Mystara fans was already running at pandius.com, and it 2009 it remains the center of an active fan community. Between the published materials and fan additions, one can lose themselves for countless hours in Mystara, either by reading the descriptions of the lands simply for fun, or by actively gaming through them.
I've never played D&D in the lands of Mystara, I've only dreamed my way through them via the many available materials. However, I do hope at some point to Dungeon Master some players in that world, using a version of Classic D&D modified by my own house rules. All of the online resources give me a sense of relief and pleasure in knowing i'm not alone in my interest. Happy reading and gaming to all Mystara explorers!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
The Return of the Black Company
The first six of Glen Cook's Black Company novels are available in two omnibus editions, released in November of 2007 and June of 2008. Three of the remaining four books are out of print, and command exorbitant prices from online auctions and sellers. Water Sleeps is the exception, it is still in print for the moment, but I doubt Tor is printing any more copies anytime soon.
People who read the first two collections have been chomping at the bit to get the next one, and today I noticed on Amazon that there is a listing for The Return of the Black Company, due to released on September 15, 2009. At 672 pages and $15.99, this is almost certainly the omnibus of Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness, the two books that continue the story of the Black Company after Dreams of Steel.
I freely admit that I consider Bleak Seasons the weakest of all the Black Company novels, but I still enjoyed it. Many other reviewers are not so kind. They seem to dislike Murgen, who serves as the narrator of it, and of She is the Darkness. I thought he was a great way of showing that the prior narrators were not always completely candid in telling us their story. But he does lack Croaker's very particular voice, and this upsets some readers. It will be interesting, come September, to read the reviews of those encountering these stories for the first time. And then, the wait will be on for the final omnibus, for those not lucky enough to own copies of Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, the final Black Company novels to date (though Cook is working on another one).
Thoughts of the Day: Hilbert remained as CSU Volleyball Coach, and I've lately been spending a lot of time in Mystara. More on that latter point soon!
People who read the first two collections have been chomping at the bit to get the next one, and today I noticed on Amazon that there is a listing for The Return of the Black Company, due to released on September 15, 2009. At 672 pages and $15.99, this is almost certainly the omnibus of Bleak Seasons and She is the Darkness, the two books that continue the story of the Black Company after Dreams of Steel.
I freely admit that I consider Bleak Seasons the weakest of all the Black Company novels, but I still enjoyed it. Many other reviewers are not so kind. They seem to dislike Murgen, who serves as the narrator of it, and of She is the Darkness. I thought he was a great way of showing that the prior narrators were not always completely candid in telling us their story. But he does lack Croaker's very particular voice, and this upsets some readers. It will be interesting, come September, to read the reviews of those encountering these stories for the first time. And then, the wait will be on for the final omnibus, for those not lucky enough to own copies of Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live, the final Black Company novels to date (though Cook is working on another one).
Thoughts of the Day: Hilbert remained as CSU Volleyball Coach, and I've lately been spending a lot of time in Mystara. More on that latter point soon!
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