Attronarch's Athenaeum

Resource

Will Mistreta continues collecting OSRIC errata.

Newest additions include notes for:

  • Know Alignment
  • Water Breathing
  • Lurker Above
  • Phoenix
  • Naga, Spirit
  • Spider, Huge
  • Squealer

I've added them to the A4 and letter versions available here.

#Resource #OSRIC #ADnD #OSR

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.


Comments

For the last month and a half I've been scouring the web for peoples' favourite and most useful Dragon Magazine articles.

Once I've noted all the recommendations, I went through each magazine and skimmed it. This step was to mark the articles I'm curious about and would like to read closer, potentially implementing them in my game or simply reading them to become a better player and judge.

So, without any further ado, the 143 articles that made my reading list are:

  • Dragon Magazine 13 – Demon generation
  • Dragon Magazine 13 – How heavy is my giant
  • Dragon Magazine 13 – Notes From a Semi-Successful D&D Player
  • Dragon Magazine 20 – It's a good day to die
  • Dragon Magazine 23 – Random generation of creatures from the lower planes
  • Dragon Magazine 28 – The Politics of Hell
  • Dragon Magazine 39 – Good Hits & Bad Misses
  • Dragon Magazine 49 – Historical Names make for Better Games
  • Dragon Magazine 52 – Basic DnD points of view from the editors old and new
  • Dragon Magazine 52 – Knock, knock – The history of siege warfare
  • Dragon Magazine 53 – How to give disease a fighting chance
  • Dragon Magazine 53 – Some Universal Rules Making Your Own Campaign And Making It Work
  • Dragon Magazine 53 – Understanding Armory
  • Dragon Magazine 54 – Ruins Rotted & Risky, But Rewarding
  • Dragon Magazine 58 – Swords Slicing into a Sharp Topic
  • Dragon Magazine 59 – Gypsies A curse or a blessing or both
  • Dragon Magazine 59 – Make monsters, not monstrosities
  • Dragon Magazine 59 – Poison The toxins of cerilon
  • Dragon Magazine 63 – For the sake of change
  • Dragon Magazine 63 – Plan before you play
  • Dragon Magazine 63 – The humanoids – Goals and gods of the kobolds, golbins, hobgoblins, and gnolls
  • Dragon Magazine 68 – Weather in the World of Greyhawk – A climate for realistic AD&D adventuring adaptable for use in your world
  • Dragon Magazine 68 – You've always got a chance
  • Dragon Magazine 69 – Runes
  • Dragon Magazine 72 – Gems galore
  • Dragon Magazine 72 – The real barbarians
  • Dragon Magazine 73 – Non-violent Magic Items
  • Dragon Magazine 73 – The solo scenario
  • Dragon Magazine 74 – A player character and his money
  • Dragon Magazine 75 – All games need names
  • Dragon Magazine 75 – Beyond the rule book
  • Dragon Magazine 75 – The Nine Hells Part I
  • Dragon Magazine 76 – For NPCs Only – The Death Master
  • Dragon Magazine 76 – The Nine Hells Part II
  • Dragon Magazine 77 – Curses – Twenty good ideas for bad tidings
  • Dragon Magazine 77 – Tarot of many things
  • Dragon Magazine 78 – Mind Games
  • Dragon Magazine 78 – Spells can be psionic, too
  • Dragon Magazine 78 – The ecology of the mind flayer
  • Dragon Magazine 79 – Be aware and take care
  • Dragon Magazine 79 – Blame it on the gremlins
  • Dragon Magazine 79 – Magic resistance – What it is, how it works
  • Dragon Magazine 79 – The fights of fantasy
  • Dragon Magazine 80 – Five keys to DMing success
  • Dragon Magazine 80 – New charts, using the 5% principle
  • Dragon Magazine 80 – Who lives in that castle
  • Dragon Magazine 81 – Taking the sting out of poison
  • Dragon Magazine 82 – Rings that do weird things
  • Dragon Magazine 82 – Spells between the covers
  • Dragon Magazine 82 – Wounds and weeds
  • Dragon Magazine 87+88 – Beyond the Dungeon
  • Dragon Magazine 91 – Realistic vital statistics – A new system for figuring heights & weights
  • Dragon Magazine 91 – The Nine Hells Revisited
  • Dragon Magazine 93 – Short hops and big drops
  • Dragon Magazine 93 – The making of a milieu
  • Dragon Magazine 94 – An army travels on its stomach
  • Dragon Magazine 94 – Same dice, different odds
  • Dragon Magazine 95 – Credit where credit is due
  • Dragon Magazine 96 – What good PCs are made of – Play characters with more substance than statistics
  • Dragon Magazine 98 – Dragon Damage revised
  • Dragon Magazine 98 – Tailor-made treasure
  • Dragon Magazine 99 – A sharp system for swords
  • Dragon Magazine 99 – History of a game that failed
  • Dragon Magazine 99 – Tables and tables of troops
  • Dragon Magazine 99 – That's life in the big city
  • Dragon Magazine 101 – Charging isn't cheap How to make and fix rods, staves, and wands
  • Dragon Magazine 101 – For king and country An alignment system based on cause and effect
  • Dragon Magazine 101 – Plain it by the numbers A system for tailoring challenges to characters
  • Dragon Magazine 104 – Assessing, not guessing
  • Dragon Magazine 106 – The way we really play
  • Dragon Magazine 107 – A new loyalty base
  • Dragon Magazine 107 – Economics made easy
  • Dragon Magazine 107 – Revised reaction, loyalty, and morale tables
  • Dragon Magazine 107 – The six main skills
  • Dragon Magazine 107 – When the rations run out
  • Dragon Magazine 109 – Blades with personality
  • Dragon Magazine 109 – Fighters for a price
  • Dragon Magazine 109 – Giant-sized weapons
  • Dragon Magazine 109 – Locals aren't all yokels
  • Dragon Magazine 110 – Dragon Damage revisited
  • Dragon Magazine 110 – The Cult of the Dragon – Dracolich
  • Dragon Magazine 111 – Good stuff, for a spell
  • Dragon Magazine 111 – No campaign ever fails
  • Dragon Magazine 112 – Revenge of the Nobodies
  • Dragon Magazine 115 – Elven Armies and Dwarves-At-Arms
  • Dragon Magazine 116 – By Tooth and Claw
  • Dragon Magazine 116 – Hello Your Majesty Communication in history and fantasy
  • Dragon Magazine 116 – High Seas
  • Dragon Magazine 118 – A Hero's Reward
  • Dragon Magazine 118 – Gladiatorial combat in the AD&D game
  • Dragon Magazine 123 – The Mystic College
  • Dragon Magazine 125 – Armies From the Ground Up
  • Dragon Magazine 127 – In Defense of the Shield
  • Dragon Magazine 127 – Two Hands Are Better Than One
  • Dragon Magazine 133 – The Wild Warriors
  • Dragon Magazine 136 – A Room for the knight
  • Dragon Magazine 136 – Building Blocks, City Style – A city-generation system for fantasy campaigns
  • Dragon Magazine 136 – Fifty Ways to Foil Your Players
  • Dragon Magazine 136 – The Long Arm of the Law
  • Dragon Magazine 137 – Weathering the Storms – A new weather system for fantasy game campaigns
  • Dragon Magazine 137 – What's for lunch – A detailed hunting system
  • Dragon Magazine 143 – The Highs and Lows of Fantasy
  • Dragon Magazine 145 – A Castle Here, A Castle There
  • Dragon Magazine 145 – Bazaar of the Bizarre
  • Dragon Magazine 145 – Holding Down the Fort
  • Dragon Magazine 145 – Strongholds Three
  • Dragon Magazine 145 – Your Home Is Your Castle
  • Dragon Magazine 148 – Always Wear Your Best Suit
  • Dragon Magazine 150 – The Dragon's Bestiary – All life crawls where mind flayers rule
  • Dragon Magazine 150 – The Sunset World – In the realm of the mind flayers
  • Dragon Magazine 150 – Unspeakable Secrets Made Easy
  • Dragon Magazine 154 – All in the Family – Heraldry, politics, and feudalism in fantasy campaigns
  • Dragon Magazine 161 – It's sort of like a wand...
  • Dragon Magazine 163 – Magic Gone Haywire
  • Dragon Magazine 163 – Oops! Sorry!
  • Dragon Magazine 167 – Curses Are Divine
  • Dragon Magazine 167 – Just Give Me The Money
  • Dragon Magazine 174 – Bugged About Something
  • Dragon Magazine 179 – Something Completely Different
  • Dragon Magazine 184 – The 7 sentence NPC
  • Dragon Magazine 184 – The Referee's Code of Honor
  • Dragon Magazine 187 – The Wild, Wild Wilderness
  • Dragon Magazine 191 – Different Totes for Different Folks
  • Dragon Magazine 199 – Crude but effective – Simple tactics for humanoids
  • Dragon Magazine 200 – The Color of Magic
  • Dragon Magazine 201 – Seven Steps to a Successful Castle
  • Dragon Magazine 202 – Even Wilder Mages
  • Dragon Magazine 211 – Sight in the Darkness
  • Dragon Magazine 211 – The Ecology of the Dungeon
  • Dragon Magazine 216 – Paths of Power
  • Dragon Magazine 228 – Real Jungles
  • Dragon Magazine 234 – The Draconomicon – The lesser evils of the draconian undead
  • Dragon Magazine 239 – 101 Dirty Orc Tricks
  • Dragon Magazine 241 – Al-Quadim The Roof of the Wolrd – Yak-Man Homeland
  • Dragon Magazine 242 – Mage Construction
  • Dragon Magazine 242 – The Laws of Spell Design
  • Dragon Magazine 243 – Enchanting Weapons
  • Dragon Magazine 252 – 101 Hauntings
  • Dragon Magazine 271 – Creating Word Puzzles for Your AD&D Game
  • Dragon Magazine 271 – Riddles of the Rhyming Sphinx
  • Dragon Magazine 282 – Logic Missiles
  • Dragon Magazine 284 – Run For Your Lives How To DM A Dragon
  • Dragon Magazine 330 – Enter the Far Realm

Now to print 'em, punch 'em, and then scribble into the margins... When I'm done I'll share which I've kept and which I've discarded, with a few sentences about each.

Got a recommendation of your own? Write to me to let me know.

#Resource #DragonMagazine

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.


Comments

I've been toying with a unified save throw mechanic for B/X. Nothing against the one proposed in Swords & Wizardry, I simply wanted something a bit closer to the source material.

Here is the table with unified save throw for each class:

Level Fighter Magic-User Cleric Thief Dwarf Elf Halfling
1 14 14 14 14 10 10 10
2 14 14 14 14 10 10 10
3 14 14 14 14 10 10 10
4 12 14 14 14 8 8 8
5 12 14 11 13 8 8 8
6 12 12 11 13 8 8 8
7 10 12 11 13 6 6 6
8 10 12 11 13 6 6 6
9 10 12 8 10 6 6
10 8 12 8 10 4 4
11 8 8 8 10 4
12 8 8 8 10 4
13 6 8 6 8
14 6 8 6 8

Unified B/X Saving Throws by Attronarch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Based on a work at https://attronarch.com/classic-dnd-unified-b-x-saving-throws.

I suggest the following two house rules:

  • Wisdom modifier is added to the saving throw.
  • Prime requisite modifier is added to the saving throw as well. Classes with dual prime requisites use the better modifier.

Example 1: Fighter with STR 13 and WIS 13 would add 2 to all their saving throws.

Example 2: Elf with STR 13, INT 9 and WIS 10 would add 1 to all their saving throws.

This is a minor buff to offset the loss for the Death Ray or Poison saves, the latter being quite present in old-school modules.

Commentary

Above saving throws were based on calculating both the mean and median for each level, and then choosing what felt in the spirit of the edition. For example, Fighters and Clerics progress the most with their saving throws, followed by Magic-Users, Thieves, Dwarves, and Elves. Halflings have the poorest progression, but such is life...

By unifying the savings throws, spells lose some of their power (easier to make save against them), while poison and instant-death-inducing effects gain power (more difficult to make the save). For that reason I proposed two house rules above.

Why not simply use attribute checks more often? Because they do not scale with character experience. This is of critical importance for games that use 3d6 in order to roll character abilities. Characters get better at avoiding danger (i.e., making a saving throw), because they get more skilful as their experience grows.

On the other hand, ability scores are mostly static. They can usually be changed by either powerful artefacts (e.g. Gauntlets of Ogre Power) or magic (e.g. Wish). For that reason, I consider them to be a poor alternative to a saving throw.

What would work though, is combining unified saving throw with attribute modifier. Save versus dragon breath? Unified saving throw + dexterity modifier. But if one goes that route, why bother unifying throws at all?

One of my assumptions is that using unified saving throws might make for a faster, smoother, and more universal adjudication. I plan on testing it with my players. Once I do, I'll update this post.

Should you wish to come up with your own unified saving throws, I've included the class calculations below. Classic saving throws are from the D&D Expert Rulebook, page X24.

Classic B/X Saving Throws

Cleric

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 11 12 14 16 15 14 14
2 11 12 14 16 15 14 14
3 11 12 14 16 15 14 14
4 11 12 14 16 15 14 14
5 9 10 12 14 12 11 12
6 9 10 12 14 12 11 12
7 9 10 12 14 12 11 12
8 9 10 12 14 12 11 12
9 6 7 9 11 9 8 9
10 6 7 9 11 9 8 9
11 6 7 9 11 9 8 9
12 6 7 9 11 9 8 9
13 3 5 7 8 7 6 7
14 3 5 7 8 7 6 7
Improvement 8 7 7 8 8 8 7
8 8

Dwarf

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
2 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
3 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
4 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
5 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
6 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
7 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
8 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
9 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
10 2 3 4 4 6 4 4
11 2 3 4 4 6 4 4
12 2 3 4 4 6 4 4
Improvement 6 6 6 9 6 6 6
7 6

Elf

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
2 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
3 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
4 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
5 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
6 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
7 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
8 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
9 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
10 2 3 4 4 6 4 4
Improvement 6 6 6 9 6 6 6
7 6

Fighter

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
Normal Man 14 15 16 17 18 16 16
1 12 13 14 15 16 14 14
2 12 13 14 15 16 14 14
3 12 13 14 15 16 14 14
4 10 11 12 13 14 12 12
5 10 11 12 13 14 12 12
6 10 11 12 13 14 12 12
7 8 9 10 10 12 10 10
8 8 9 10 10 12 10 10
9 8 9 10 10 12 10 10
10 6 7 8 8 10 8 8
11 6 7 8 8 10 8 8
12 6 7 8 8 10 8 8
13 4 5 6 5 8 6 5
14 4 5 6 5 8 6 5
Improvement 10 10 10 12 10 10 11
10 10

Halfling

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
2 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
3 8 9 10 13 12 10 10
4 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
5 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
6 6 7 8 10 10 8 8
7 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
8 4 5 6 7 8 6 6
Improvement 4 4 4 6 4 4 4
4 4

Magic-User

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
2 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
3 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
4 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
5 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
6 11 12 11 14 12 12 12
7 11 12 11 14 12 12 12
8 11 12 11 14 12 12 12
9 11 12 11 14 12 12 12
10 11 12 11 14 12 12 12
11 8 9 8 11 8 9 8
12 8 9 8 11 8 9 8
13 8 9 8 11 8 9 8
14 8 9 8 11 8 9 8
Improvement 5 5 5 5 7 5 6
5 5

Thief

Level Death Ray or Poison Magic Wands Paralysis or Turn to Stone Dragon Breath Rods, Staves, or Spells Mean Median
1 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
2 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
3 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
4 13 14 13 16 15 14 14
5 12 13 11 14 13 13 13
6 12 13 11 14 13 13 13
7 12 13 11 14 13 13 13
8 12 13 11 14 13 13 13
9 10 11 9 12 10 10 10
10 10 11 9 12 10 10 10
11 10 11 9 12 10 10 10
12 10 11 9 12 10 10 10
13 8 9 7 10 8 8 8
14 8 9 7 10 8 8 8
Improvement 5 5 6 6 7 6 6
6 6

#Resource #BX #OSR

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.


Comments

Old School Reference and Index Compilation (OSRIC) is an OGL retroclone of the AD&D 1E. It restates PHB, DMG and MM in a single book, with minor modifications for legal reasons.

Version 2.2 was released in 2013, and is freely available on Lulu and DTRPG. Knights & Knaves Alehouse hosts a thread for tracking and cataloguing latest known errata.

Will Mistreta did an amazing job of compiling above thread into a single post:

Yes, it's another one of these. The longest one yet by a country mile, too. As per usual, I must emphasize that this document is 100% unofficial. It is not endorsed in any way by Stuart Marshall or the rest of the original OSRIC writing and editorial gang. That said, it's my hope that the long hours I and others have put in with this superb rulebook will one day be reflected in an even more superb updated version.

All page numbers reference the most up-to-date published edition available as of this writing.

Includes contributions from: Between3and20, Cobalt-60, EOTB, grodog, Guy Fullerton, Kellri, Kramer (RIP), Landifarne, PapersAndPaychecks, soner du, squeen, Steppenwolf.

Last updated: 5-26-2022.

I compiled Will's errata into a printable document:

Enjoy. Do share any errata in the above linked thread.

#Resource #OSRIC #ADnD #OSR

Subscribe to get the latest post in your inbox. No spam.


Comments