Last year I rolled 70 magical weapons as part of the RPG Blog Carnival: Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers. Since then several people asked me for a print-friendly PDF versions.

Here they are:

• Ten Magik Weapons for Original Dungeons & Dragons
• Ten Wondrous Weapons for Original Dungeons & Dragons
• Twenty Magical Swords for Swords & Wizardry
• Thirty Unique Magical Weapons for Labyrinth Lord

Enjoy!

Illustration by Grey Gnome Games.

#Resource #OSR #ODnD #SW #Arduin #LL

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Mythmere Games recently published Book of Options for Swords & Wizardry. The book, as you might have guessed from its name, includes a number of optional rules for extending your Swords & Wizardry game. Among other things it includes 12 new classes (barbarian, bard, chivalric knight, demon hunter, dwarven priest, elf blade, illusionist, necromancer, troubadour, warlock, wrath-chanter, and feycaster) and two new ancestries (gnomes and stygians).

With new Character Creation Challenge looming from around the corner (it's 2025 already?! where did 2024 go?!), one of the ideas I had is to create first level player characters for each class and ancestry combination, like I did earlier this year.

First step towards that is to map all the class and ancestry combinations in Book of Options:

Asterisk on Gnome and Stygian Bard: under class description bard is described as allowed to any ancestry, but neither of the new ancestries lists Bard as allowed class. Matt Finch confirmed to me that allowing bard class to either of those new ancestries should be considered as optional rule. Gnome would have the same level limitation as dwarf, elf, and halfling, while stygian would have no level limitation, like human and half-elf.

First thing I notice is that there is a whopping 42 combinations (44 if we include optional bard extension)! That is more than twice as much from Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, which has 19 combinations (20 if we include optional fighter-cleric dwarf):

Given that it took me several months to create 400 player characters (and their equipment packs), I think I'll have to chunk characters for Book of Options. I'll start with humans and work my way from there.

Since I already made all the tables, why not bring them together?

Below is a combined table of all class and ancestry combinations from Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised and Swords & Wizardry Book of Options:

As you can see, that is a massive 64—sixty-four—legal class and ancestry combinations. Throw that on a new player and see that cope with analysis paralysis. That's why it is so important that the Judge selects options most relevant to their game. But that is topic for another post.

#Resource #SW #OSR

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Through September I hosted the RPG Blog Carnival with the theme of Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers.

Here is the chronological round-up of all contributions:

• Two Magic Items from Hitherland by sleazy b.
• Swords & Wizardry: Twenty Magical Swords by Attronarch.
• The Elements of Magic Weapons, and Most Especially the Side Effects of Wielding Them by Elemental Reductions.
• Labyrinth Lord: Thirty Unique Magical Weapons by Attronarch.
• Tuesday Magic Item – Devious Duelist’s Blade by Sea of Stars.
• Nine Ranged Magical Weapons by Elemental Reductions.
• Arduin: Ten Magik Weapons by Attronarch.
• Corrupted Weapons of the Predator Queens by Seed of Worlds.
• The War of Blood and Rust by Goldy's Musings.
• Five Spears of Doom for RPG Blog Carnival by VDonnut Valley.
• Judges Guild: Ten Wondrous Weapons by Attronarch.
• Cursed Items in Roleplaying Games by Sea of Stars.

A lot of cool and gameable material (I especially like the d100 table by Elemental Reductions) that can be easily used.

Just comment if I missed your contribution and I'll add it to the list.

Since this was fun, I think I'll host the Carnival again next year.

Let me know if there is a topic you are yearning for! ;)

#RPGBlogCarnival #OSR #Resource

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JG1040 Wondrous Weapons was one of the late Judges Guild publications. It has four pages for random generation of magical weapons that are unlike anything else at that time (see bottom of the post for the tables). Although they are for The Judges Guild Universal System, they can easily be used with any TSR Dungeons & Dragons editions and their retroclones. I don't think they were playtested at all, but at the same time I think they can produce some cool and creative results.

Without further ado, here are ten wondrous weapons:

1. Almeh's Fury: short sword +1 to hit, double damage. An elegant single edged shortsword with elaborate hand guard (1 AC bonus). Three sapphires are embedded in the pommel; removing or destroying them will make the sword lose its powers.
2. Bearaxe: battle axe +2 damage. The blade is decorated with copper-filled engravings of bear motifs.
3. Grower: two-handed sword. Grower can shrink on command, up to 1/20th of original size.
4. Invisible Doom: arrow +1. A single arrow with chameleon power (colour changes to match surroundings). The arrow is difficult to spot (odds as for detecting secret doors). Three rock runes and three transparent opals (worth 6 000 gp intact) adorn its body.
5. Ironcarver: dagger. A medium sized dagger with a straight, single edge. It cuts and punctures through cold metal with great ease (target counts as if it is unarmoured). The
6. Ithixhul: two-handed sword +2. Very light sword (as dagger) made of pure mithril with electrum details on the pommel. Two blood-red rubies adorns its extensive handguard (2 AC bonus). The rubies can absorb 3 points of fire damage per day. Ithixhul can harm ethereal creatures.
7. Rock: rock. Rock is a sentient rock (INT 17, COM empathy, AL rock) with gold veins. Its only purpose is to kill all.
8. Silver Seeker: javelin +2. Can how two different targets on a single throw, and returns to the thrower every time but must be caught. Javelin is made of pure mithril and covered with adamantite runes of alien origin.
9. Stalwart's Blade: sword. This steel blade decorated with silver geometric patterns will adjust its length to match the wielder's height, ensuring perfect reach. Additionally it will bestow the wielder with +2 CON as long as it senses that wielder is acting as someone's defender.
10. Zontar: hand axe. This hand axe made from pure orichalcrum imbues the wielder with agility (2 AC bonus). Further, it does 3 points of cold and four points of electrical damage with each strike. Struck creature suffers this magical damage at the end of round.

As promised, here are the tables:

Alas, despite my love for Judges Guild material, outputs from the above tables require a lot of work. For example, for previous posts I used all the outputs. This time I had to roll almost 100 results to get a selection that I was happy to work with...

#RPGBlogCarnival #Resource #ODnD #OSR

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Arduin Grimoires by Dave Hargrave were notorious supplements for OD&D published in 1977 and onwards. They were filled with crazy tables that definitely were not everyones cup of tea.

But I certainly love some of them—like his Special Ability Charts that we used in our game for years—and even when I didn't use them, I certainly was inspired to make something of my own.

This week I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume (scroll down for legend and explanation of the chart):

1. Alrika's Cleaver: Battleaxe +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful; INT 4; EGO 17; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. An elegant dwarven battleaxe made of finest dwarven steel. Forged for famed dwarven battle-priestess, Alrika Frigasniz. Although it lacks communicative abilities, it will become noticeably dull and darker if it isn't flattered and praised regularly. It will attempt to assert control over the owner whenever they take a swing against any dwarf.
2. Blackblade: Hand and a Half Broadsword +5 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 9; EGO 13; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Wicked looking bastard sword made of blackened mithril. It has an obsession with sheaths made of exotic leather. It will demand at least dozen of sheaths to be taken on every adventure. It will be very unhappy unless it is told a gory bed time story every night.
3. Deepthrust: Rapier +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Evil; INT 18; EGO 16; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW Clairvoyance, Detect Life, Flight, Frost Giant Strength. Diamond studded thin blade with gilded guard and exquisite sheath (worth 4 000 gp). Deepthrust enjoys duels and will refuse its powers to anyone whom it deems cowardly or unfit in any way. It will always demand a full share of treasure, which is to be spent on sheaths, oils, and bards. It hates clumsiness and will refuse to serve any such person (with DEX less than 12)—in fact it will viciously mock them, hoping to incite a duel. Deepthrust is not stupid, so it will see through insincere flattery and react accordingly. Deepthrust allows the wielder to fight with strength of a Frost Giant, meaning it attacks as 10+1 HD monster and hits for 2d6+1 damage.
4. Hellfire: Sling +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Chaotic Evil; INT 18; EGO 18; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks one language; MOT renown; POW +1 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks, Detect Life, Haste, Fire Giant Strength, Treat all armor classes hit as AC 9. This hateful weapon has been forged in the very core of the planet by Ammonuz, a fire giant cleric, to wage ware on Overlanders. It is a simple Y-shaped sling, with body made of black rock. The sling itself is of unknown material. Hellfire cares for nothing but destruction, and will instantly attempt to dominate anyone who dares touch it. And destructive it is: not only does the wielder strike with power of a fire giant (as 11+3 HD monster for 2d6+2 damage), but any living target counts as if it had AC of 9. That means that they are automatically struck, unless they have means of reducing the attacker's attack probability. Hellfire might be sufficiently impressed by new “owner” if the latter destroys everything and everyone, including its allies, upon picking it up. But its appetite for destruction is endless, and no owner has survived it.
5. Moonlight: Light Crossbow +1 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 9; EGO 17; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. Ultralight crossbow with mechanism that doesn't require any maintenance nor oiling. It is so perfect it can be fired and reloaded with a single hand. Used to be a favourite weapon of notorious assassin Mateis Fluoniope. Moonlight will refuse to shoot “shoddily” made quarrels, which it is very particular about (roll a d4, on 1 it refuses to shoot a bolt). It will happily spend hours inspecting bolts for use, and will occasionally demand special-made bolts.
6. Nedbryn: Shortbow +2 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Lawful Evil; INT 20; EGO 1; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks four languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Alignment (like cleric spell Detect Evil but at double range and can detect any alignment), Flight, Haste (Cursed). Made from hangman tree hardened in blood of one hundred demi-humans. Bowstring is enchanted spidersilk. Nedbryn possesses alien-like intelligence, and revels in causing prolonged suffering. She will introduce herself to any adventurer within range and seek help, playing to their ego. Although she can impeccably detect alignment, she will hide her own. Only clerics of name level and higher can correctly detect her alignment—and only if they spend number of months equal to the difference between her intelligence and their wisdom. Nedbryn will adjust to her wielder. Her patience is endless. She can tolerate abuse. She will learn everything there is to learn about her owner. She will give out genuinely helpful advice, but always in the service of her agenda. There is nothing she enjoys more than building up an aspiring adventurer into respected ruler and then slowly ruining them. If she gets bored she will malfunction at the most inappropriate time, e.g. when flying over a precipice or running away from a horde of monsters.
7. Princekiller: Lance +3 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 8; EGO 16; COM empathy; MOT renown; POW none. By all account a mundane lance, indistinguishable from others. Forged by vengeful wizard Cullen Leeper whom was slighted by a local king. He planted the lance for tournament organised by the king, in which king's son was participating as well. Leeper ensured the lance ended in a dull man's hands, and son was “accidentally” killed. Princekiller has a sizeable ego, and will demand tournaments organised in its favour at least bimonthly. It will also demand the best of horses and the best of challengers.
8. Red Sun: Two Handed Battleaxe +3 to hit, +3 to damage; AL Neutral Good; INT 5; EGO 16; COM none; MOT renown; POW none. Large two-handed double-bitted battleaxe with ironwood shaft and bright red blades. It hates prolonged exposure to darkness, and thoroughly enjoys sunbathing. When happy, the blades look as if sun rays are bouncing within them. When unhappy, the blades look like dimmed sun.
9. Sarioin: Halberd +3 to hit, +1 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 10; EGO 16; COM speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW none. A halberd with iron shaft and tempered steel blade. Sarioin will introduce himself as “warrior's finest weapon, but strategist's true weapon!” It is quite spendthrifty, and will always look for reasons why something else should be bought too, e.g. “quality costs!”, “buy thrice, cry once!”, “are you sure we don't need another one?” Sarioin will not demand anything be spent on it, but will greatly appreciate that. What it will demand every single time is to be consulted on battle plans and course of action. It will speak out of order and let anyone know if it disagrees with the approach, plans, or ideas. Sarioin is the prototypical armchair general, and will always have something to say.
10. Volmago the Vampire Vanquisher: Spear +4 to hit, +2 to damage; AL Neutral; INT 18; EGO 8; COM telepathy within 12”, speaks two languages; MOT renown; POW Detect Distance, Detect Undead, +2 versus Undead, Paralysis, and Life Drain attacks. A silver tipped spear with shaft of cold iron. Volmago is still grieving its former owner, great paladin Cladus Eacham, whom was betrayed by his party and slain by a mated pair of vampires. Volmago desires only to be left to grieve and will refuse cooperation. If the new to-be owner is able to get it to open up and avenge Cladus, then Volmago will serve that person with undying loyalty. Volmago knows a lot about undead and will share that information.

Legend: AL: alignment; INT: sword's intelligence; EGO: sword's ego; COM: sword's means of communication; POW sword's power(s).

As I wrote, for this article I decided to use the “Random Chance Chart For Magik Weapons” from The Arduin Grimoire Volume 1 (1977):

Even if you are familiar with OD&D some of the table entries might leave you a bit puzzled. There are no explanations or details beyond above table. Spell that don't appear in OD&D are also not detailed in the grimoires. For example Detect Alignment. I just assume it works the same as Detect Evil/Good in OD&D.

Weapon “character and alignment” is interesting as well. In the grimoires Dave explicated his views on alignment, which are kind of summarised in the following table:

Weapon intelligence and ego scores can be much higher than in OD&D, meaning much higher probability a player character might have really bad time. In fact, imagine rolling a chaotic evil weapon with high intelligence and ego. Yes, it might end up with many special powers, but since it would easily dominate even the strongest characters, it almost acts as a cursed weapon.

How many powers gets assigned is a bit ambiguous, especially regarding special powers. Number of “normal powers” depends on the weapon's intelligence:

Number of “special attributes” depends on the weapon's intelligence and ego:

Finally, I interpret Dave's table as supplemental to procedures in the OD&D. I used those to determine weapon's purpose (1:10 for it to be special), communication abilities, and number of languages spoken. All three original Arduin Grimoires have been reprinted in the Arduin Trilogy.

#RPGBlogCarnival #Resource #Arduin #ODnD #SW #OSR

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This July we celebrated the 100th session of Conquering the Barbarian Altanis campaign. Our first session was on March 8, 2022. Time flies! Below are my reflections and answers to some questions I have received about running the campaign.

Background

Our campaign is located in the Wilderlands Barbarian Altanis. We play weekly (Tuesdays evening) for three hours, online, using Discord and Owlbear Rodeo. Between the sessions we sometimes engage in play-by-post, especially for downtime activities. That way we can really focus on action in every session.

Each player makes three characters when they join the game. They pick one they begin with and start playing. They can activate another character in case the first one dies, or gets stuck somewhere (e.g. in another dungeon delve we are not continuing because more than half of the players aren't present).

I've allowed anyone interested to join us and try out our game. Since we've begun there have been dozens of players that came and went, with around twenty sticking around. Roughly a quarter of those are active non-stop, another quarter is active but joins live sessions a bit rarer, and remainder joins whenever life allows.

Our campaign is very open ended, with a lot of freedom for the players. This also puts onus on them to decide what to do, what do prioritise, and how to organise themselves. Over time this has led to players controlling multiple characters, embarking on concurrent expeditions, racing against time, causing and fixing trouble in the land, and so on.

In other words—we are playing an open ended sandbox where the world is alive and is actively shaping and being shaped by the players.

Lessons Learned

1. Don't take it personally. People come and go. Life happens. Miscommunication happen as well. When somebody leaves the game without notice or stops playing I don't dwell on it.
2. Be consistent and predictable. Game is on Tuesdays evening. Game happens as long as someone signs up. Game event is put up three days ahead, and player roll call is broadcast the day before. Game happens every week. If there is change of days, that is communicated a week before.
3. Clear boundaries. I have only two hard rules that would make me act immediately: no player-versus-player behaviour and no sexual violence. I repeat these two rules to each new player. I state them in a direct, no chance to misunderstand, manner.
4. Keep a furious pace. We are playing for 180 minutes. That isn't much time. There are no breaks. “What are you doing next?” is my most common question. For longer discussion I activate a ten-minute timer that is visible to all players.
5. Keep interferences to a minimum. I do my best to ensure players need as little as possible to play. Currently they only need internet browser with three open tabs: Discord for voice chat and dice rolling, Owlbear Rodeo for simple VTT map, and Google Slides for their character sheets. I don't want them to waste time wrestling with tools.
6. Keep the game running and review rules after. If I can't look something up within 180 seconds, and it is not a life or death situation, then I'll make a ruling and tell players that I'll look up the exact rule or numbers after the game.
7. Don't correct. If I make a mistake while running a module or something I've written down, I do not retcon it. The “mistake” becomes canon and I work it in. One such “mistake” led to fifty memorable game sessions.
8. Be generous. My default stance is to rule in players' favour when uncertain or if I made a procedural error. For example, if I forgot to ask for declarations and one of the PCs was supposed to cast a spell, I will allow it. After all, it is me who made the error. There will always be another chance for that PC to die, no matter how generous I am.
9. Don't be afraid of exceptional PCs. Scroll with powerful spells? Magic weapons with strong bonuses and abilities? Large treasure cache that would allow everyone to level up? Gasp! Who cares! Let them have it! The stronger they are, the more fun we can have! Players always find novel ways to kill their characters anyway.
10. Fun isn't always right. Long-running open-ended sandboxes require some logistics and politicking and serious intelligence gathering. Sometimes a winding down session is welcome after a series of mentally intensive sessions. A “boring” session every two dozen sessions is a welcome respite that also allows players to realign regarding their goals.
11. Take great notes. I have created three templates that I use every session: day tracker, combat tracker, and session tracker. I take notes on every character, combat, and in-game day. I maintain in-game calendar. At any moment I know where and when each and every character is. That is critical for running an open-world sandbox with multiple player characters adventuring at the same time.
12. Do the math. After every session I list recovered treasure, earned experience (in bulk, as not to reveal how much XP each individual treasure or monster is equal, which is sometimes useful), and distribution of experience (what character are eligible for experience and what is their share). I also write out how much XP is each share worth, including bonuses. Since I take great notes this takes me less than five minutes and preemptively solves many questions. Players just need to find their character, share, and update experience.
13. Don't overprepare. I have an inexpensive egg timer. My partner hates its ticking sound. So I use a watch instead. 30 minutes for a session. That's how much I give myself. If I do something more than ten times, then I either automate it with a spreadsheet or script, or create a reusable template.
14. Do the bare minimum. I prepare everything in iterations. Published material is organised so I can easily access it, while everything else has just the essential ready. For example, if players suddenly decide to take a turn into some settlement, then I'll play with nothing but one to two sentence description and procedural charts in my Judge binder. If they remain in the settlement for longer than one session, then I will sketch it. If they stay longer, I'll flesh it out a bit more. Same goes for dungeons and wilderness locales. First they are rumours, then they are entrances with areas around them, then they are fleshed out.
15. Everything beyond the bare minimum should be a reward in itself. If I decide to spend more time on something it is because I want to, and have no expectation players will do anything with it. Creating a dungeon or locale, researching rules and procedures, polishing house rules... I do them because I find them fun, and might use them in game, but without any plan or expectation to force them on the players.
16. Prune the Judge binder regularly. Every quarter I go through my Judge binder and move sheets around. Those that get used during the game go up front. Those that get used during prep go to the back, separated by a coloured divider. Those that don't get used get removed.
17. Convene community. Since we are all on the same Discord server, the discussion is always flowing. We have a generic “lobby” channel where we discuss many non-game related topics. There are players from all walks of life so there is always something new to learn from each other. Memes and jokes are shared, new products and crowdfunding campaigns recommended so we all get a bit poorer, ideas are traded and critiqued, and so on and so forth. Everyone participates, regardless of how often they play.
18. Create a space that encourages mutual support and reflection. Many players mean many different personalities and play styles. Of course, those that remains are relatively similar, but that doesn't mean there is no room for improvement. I often use plurals and ask players to think “we” and “our,” especially when discussing their next steps.
19. Facilitate players outside of the game. Love for specific type of gameplay is what brought us together. It is fair to assume there might be more mutual interests. If someone wants to run a one-shot with different rules or their own game, or recruit people for a game they are starting, or needs help with something they are working on, or anything else, I do my best to connect them together.
20. Public praise, private punishment. I do my best to congratulate and reward good play, thinking, and cooperation with a kind word and explicit praise in front of everyone. If somebody is misbehaving, then I have a one to one conversation with them. Public shaming is for military and prisons, not games.
21. Don't absolve responsibility. At the end of the day I am the person responsible for our game and community. That isn't something that can or should be delegated.

Questions & Answers

I've received some additional questions about our campaign and my style that aren't covered with above lessons. I'm including these questions and my answers below.

If you have a question of your own feel free to email me or share it in the comment below, and I'll reply when I have time.

Question

How to handle dropping players into a sandbox game without them feeling lost, overwhelmed with so much potential choice that it feels like no choice at all, or lacking direction; and about how to encourage them to seek out adventure hooks and pursue their own goals. I wasn't there for the first session of Barbarian Altanis, but I'd love to hear about how you set up that first session, and how you prepared prior to the beginning of the game. Did you begin by giving the players a clear quest to go on? Did you give them a limited number of hooks from which they could choose? Or something else entirely?

Answer

Preparation: I read the Wilderlands material and picked region I liked the most, Barbarian Altanis.

Session 0: I introduced Wilderlands, Barbarian Altanis, type of game I will run (open-ended, player driven, no PvP, no sexual violence). Then I asked players to pick a starting point. They choose Kestizar.

Session 1: we begun playing. I read hexes around Kestizar and placed some dungeons within 25 mile radius. I collated hooks and gave them out randomly during the sessions. I mixed that with random tables. There was no clear quest; purely player driven.

Reflection: in retrospect I think some of the players were a bit confused and/or lost. It took several sessions before they committed to a specific hook. Few of them led to very violent outcomes with few survivors. Our first year was a bit mudcore, to an extent because of player choices (since I never intended it to be as I placed plenty of treasure and magic items, but refused to railroad you to them). There were multiple (!) occasions where they'd give up right before hitting a big pile of treasure. But then the hydra lair changed everything. ;)

Question

Advice that worked or didn't work for you. Resources that you found useful—what books did you keep on hand during sessions and/or prep, sort of thing? Is there a book/resource that isn't made that you would have loved to have used?

Answer

Honestly, I did not seek advice beyond the rulebooks. First I spent a year or so reading B/X, then BECMI, and then Rules Cyclopedia. Then I read AD&D 1e DMG and PHB. In parallel, I spent a lot of time understanding TSR's catalogue, editions, publications, how they tie in together, what is their focus, and what are the differences. I don't remember why, but I decided to try out B/X and RC/BECMI, so I found a game of each and begun playing. I want to see the rules in action. From that experience I decided to run B/X first, so I master it and then in the future potentially upgrade into a more advanced system. After all, that was TSR's promise!

When I was exploring TSR's catalogue their main settings did not grab me. Mystara was fine, but not captivating. I liked Dark Sun, but wanted something closer to regular fantasy or sword & sorcery. Thunder Rift was cool, but felt too constrained. Then somehow, and I don't even remember when or how, I stumbled upon Wilderlands of High Fantasy. It blew my mind. It was fucking awesome.

CITY STATE OF THE INVINCIBLE OVERLORD.

BARBARIAN ALTANIS.

CITY STATE OF THE WORLD EMPEROR.

Hex one-liners with crazy hooks. Vast, but not too big. Populated, but not too dense. Ready for adventure as is, but easily expanded and filled out with anything. Setting that can take abuse. Setting that can be improvised with. I like the content, I liked the aesthetics, and I liked the ethos. That was the time I took a deep dive into Judges Guild and their catalogue.

Having picked the ruleset and setting, my next step was to get all the core books. By now I have acquired most of the TSR catalogue, so I begun hunting down Wilderlands publications. After studying the four booklets and Necromancer Games boxset, I felt like I was ready to run a life long campaign. My next step was to pick an area. I've selected because (1) I liked it so fucking much, and (2) it was in the middle of everything. My next step was to read up on adventures and shortlist a dozen or so I want to run.

I spent time making a list of best rated modules (usually starting with tenfootpole.org), and then I'd seek more reviews of publications I liked. If I was still hooked, then I'd buy and skim them. If I still liked them, on the list they would go. When the players selected their starting point on the map, I looked for few low level modules and placed them in the region.

Following all that, I made a binder with key notes on Barbarian Altanis, list of modules, empty papers for additional notes, and print outs of modules the players would be most likely to visit. Then I made another binder, the Judge binder, where I put all the procedures I use during play, including those for random procedural generation. I'm confident enough to improvise anything, but still like using good tables.

Bar none, my most references book is Ready Ref Sheets by Judges Guild. It is amazing. Some of the procedures are bad. Most are great. But the flavour is inimitable. Besides those, I frequently reference d30 DM Companion and d30 Sandbox Companion. Heck, I got d30s just because of them. I do have a collection of other tables as well, mostly from AD&D 1e and Arduin.

I don't feel like I need another book in life. With above two binders I could run a game until I die. That of course does not mean I am not acquiring more books... What can I say, I like reading stuff old and new.

Question

Did you find your preparation methods shifted, and how? and was that change from your own developing skill, or because of the length of the game? Is there anything you learned or did that you wish you'd known or done before you started, or that you wish you had done earlier in the campaign?

Answer

Over time I shortened my preparation even more, but the methods are still the same. Or at least I think they are.

Once I made a four-level tower with adjacent camp and underground dungeon with cave complex. I made it because players were dead-set on marching on it to fight barbarians there. Then, after mustering a mercenary army they decide to go somewhere else instead. I do not regret making it, but it was a good signal to maintain my usual iterative approach to developing points of interest.

Question

You've run a long open table. What are the stats on your player pool? Did trends emerge for how players played in an open table format? What sort of players should GMs of open tables look to recruit? What sort of “player stable management” did you do?

Answer

Yeah, it's been going more than two and half years now. I've been maintaining a public character roster that includes characters from all players that are still playing.

When a player leaves, I delete their character from the “Alive” list, but keep them in the other lists. In other words, I haven't been tracking exact number of how many people came and left. There was a good number that was curious to learn more about our play style, who would come play a few sessions and then leave. There were some that would join and then leave.

There are currently 21 players with 34 characters. There are more, but some of the are uncertain, so I don't want to spoil anything. Let's just say that at least two have been playing in a months long play-by-post session that still hasn't come to an end.

Regarding recruiting, I basically try to recruit more people that are like people I'm playing with right now. As I wrote elsewhere, I strongly believe that good games are to be had with good players, hence I care more about attitude than skill or years of gaming experience. The only foolproof way to test compatibility is to play a session together.

For player character “stables” I did not use anything special. Make a character sheet for each character and keep track of them. That's it.

Question

How was it putting session reports in A&E?

Answer

It is fun! It took me some time to get use to the format, and contributors publishing their reaction and comments to previous issue in the next issue. Like commenting on blogs, but with longer delay and more in depth commentary. Collating reports for A&E is another chance at proofreading, and I often cringe at mistakes I catch. Another thing I used to do much more, but haven't done a lot of it in my latest submission, is including art. Initially I'd hunt for stock images, play with Midjourney to generate something usable, and try to fill in the gaps with art. Now I just use a little bit of abstract art and maybe one or two stock illustrations. My plan is to keep publishing the reports in A&E as long as the game keeps on going and zine keeps coming out. A fun side bonus is getting fan mail from strangers.

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This week I decided to use Magical Weapons for Labyrinth Lord by Djeryv / Wizardawn as the starting point.

Spell effects are from Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Edition Companion (no-art versions of Labyrinth Lord and Advanced Edition Companion are free).

(For those new to OSR, Labyrinth Lord is a B/X retroclone, meaning its supplements are easy to use with Old-School Essentials and Swords & Wizardry.)

Without further ado, here are thirty unique magical weapons, sorted alphabetically:

1. Abysmal Battle Axe +1 of Invisibility (as magic-user spell Invisibility, twice a week). Hooked axe with obsidian blade and lacquered shaft that causes bleeding blisters. Has two eyes, one on each side of the blade. Poking an eye causes the axe and wielder to turn invisible.
2. Bastard Sword +1, +2 of Exorcism (versus demons and devils). Blade of pure white light with handle and pommel of unknown alien material similar to polished steel.
3. Bastard Sword +1, +2 of Lycanthrope Hunting (versus lycanthropes). The blade has silver sheen to it, although it is made of steel.
4. Bastard Sword of the Cursed (-2, cursed). Bat-shaped iron sword-guard. The fuller (groove along the blade) is polished steel.
5. Divine Heavy Flail +1, +3 of Death Dealing (versus undead). Favourite weapon of Prophet Gardgal Verdier.
6. Dreadful Morningstar +1, +2 of Exorcism (versus demons and devils). Gnarly looking monringstar with bent spikes. Made entirely of pure holy iron.
7. Earthly Light Pick +1, +2 of Magical Vanquishing (versus magical monsters). Forged by long forgotten dwarf blacksmith during the Great Construct Uprising.
8. Fabulous Quarterstaff of the Cursed (-2, cursed). Wearer believes they are the most fabulous person on the planet and will make sure everybody else knows it as well.
9. Fallen Mace +1 of the Necromancer (as cleric spell Animate Dead, once a week). Made entirely of stainless steel. Cannot blemish, not matter how hard it hits. Wielded by infamous chaotic cleric Mavorla the Despoiler.
10. Fiendish Battle Axe +1. Danish battle axe with perennially bloodstained iron blade. Blood can't be washed off.
11. Fiendish Light Crossbow +1 of the Skunk (as magic-user spell Stinking Cloud, once a week). A slim transparent cylinder is attached to the underside of the crossbow. Cylinder slowly sucks in smells from the environment, which are then magically enriched with vile vapours. Once the chamber is full, as indicated by it being filled with sickly yellow gas, it can be discharged with a click (no arrow needed).
12. Foul Short Sword +3. The sword smells worse than a rotting troglodyte. Releases sticky ichor when gripped. Forged by Jaa'kewalimnit, a sludge demon.
13. Glorious Morningstar +2, +3 of Spellcaster Doom (versus spell casters). Magnificent morningstar with obsidian head, ironwood shaft, and steel grip. It is the morningstar that crushed the head of notorious wizard Amenotari Thutmok.
14. Hand Axe +1, +2 of Lizard Extinction (versus reptiles, excluding dragons & wyverns). A simple handaxe with wooden shaft and steel blade, easily mistaken for a mundane hand axe.
15. Heavenly Long Sword +3 of the Sage (as magic-user spell Read Magic, twice a week). Gold blade and grip, while sword-guard is a golden winged sun. It looks absolutely splendid, and is desired by rulers throughout the land. Last to wield it was legendary King Numedas “The Fair” Septigius.
16. Heavy Flail +1, +2 of Giant Conquering (versus giants). Although it looks like a mundane flail, it is so heavy it can be only lifted by characters that have at least 15 strength.
17. Incredible Dagger +2, +3 of Magical Vanquishing (versus magical monsters). Nicknamed after legendary assassin Levacia whom allegedly yelled “incredible, is it not?!” whenever she'd stab someone to death with it.
18. Light Crossbow +3 of the Eagle (as magic-user spell Fly, three times a week). Lightweight crossbow made of enchanted wood from elven forest. Three eagles are on the body; touching any of them grants the user ability to fly.
19. Lost Quarterstaff +3 of the Skunk (as magic-user spell Stinking Cloud, twice a day). Striking either side of the staff into the ground makes the other side release noxious gas.
20. Magical Light Crossbow +1 of Snake Charming (as cleric spell Snake Charm, twice a week). Gifted to prince Onurekri who liked to play with snakes. He died to suicide.
21. Sacred Hand Axe of Wounding (+1, wounding). Gilded blade with ironwood shaft and bronze pommel.
22. Sling +2, +3 of Deterioration (versus regenerating monsters). Y-shaped sling made from troll bones and thoul sinews.
23. Treasured Battle Axe +1 of Magic Missiles (as magic-user spell Magic Missile, twice a week). Double-bladed steel battle axe with ironwood shaft. Blades and shaft are studded with red and green jewels. Jewels pulsate gentle light, unless both Magic Missile charges have been used.
24. Trident +1 of Mind Reading (as magic-user spell ESP, once a day). Made of pure jade. Stolen from Sahuagin prince by a band of daring adventurers.
25. Trident +1, +3 of Exorcism (versus demons and devils). Gold trident of a long forgotten merfolk hero. Sparkles with electricity when within 30 feet of a devil.
26. Two-Handed Sword +2, +3 of Golem Banishment (versus golems and statues). Ten feet long slab of iron used to discipline golems. Forged by mad wizard Hjorth “The Ghastly” Pans.
27. Unholy Light Pick of Wounding (+1, wounding). Borderline erotic moans can be heard whenever it draws blood.
28. Villainous Dagger +3 of Seeing (as magic-user spell Detect Invisible, three times a week). Tri-edge dagger of polished steel. Belonged to notorious hunter Amargacht the Cruel.
29. War Hammer +2, +3 of Lizard Extinction (versus reptiles, excluding dragons & wyverns). Double-headed mithril war hammer with wrought iron shaft and diamond-shaped mithril pommel. Weapon of legendary dwarven hero Fimbur Gorazinsson whom used it during Woelands Saurian Crusades.
30. Wondrous Shortbow +1, +2 of Lizard Extinction (versus reptiles, excluding dragons & wyverns). Forged by Virthin Halrond, an elf who fancied lizardmens' flesh.

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Twenty magical swords for Swords & Wizardry, sorted alphabetically (see bottom of the post for explanation of sword attributes):

1. Blackblade: Two-handed Sword +1/+2 versus dragon types; AL Lawful; INT 7; EGO 6; COM telepathic with wielder; MOT kill dragon types (dragons, basilisks, hydras, etc.); POW control one animal at a time. Obsidian blade with bronze grip. Forged by dracophobes from the future.
2. Bloomrose: Long Sword +1; AL Lawful; INT 6; EGO 2; COM empathic; MOT renown. Steel blade with copper grip adorned with rose motifs. Forged by Gottra Bigkind to feel more feminine during Goblin Wars.
3. Bronseblad: Long Sword +1, AL Lawful. Bronze blade with bronze grip. Forged by technomancers of a lost continent.
4. Foolsblade: Cursed Short Sword -1, for traps with a chance to trigger or not (e.g. pit traps spring on 2 in 6), the wielder always triggers the trap. Flint blade with copper grip. Forged by Tsoozethld, an arauk demon.
5. Giantslayer: Long Sword +2/+3 versus giant types; AL Lawful; INT 10; EGO 8; COM telepathic with wielder and speaks three language out loud; MOT kill giant types (goblins, trolls, giants, etc.); POW (1) wielder immune from level/energy drain, (2) can project brief auditory illusions up to 60'. Steel blade with ruby grip. Forged by visitors from the future to fight undead giants.
6. Iron Spider: Long Sword +1; AL Neutral; INT 7; EGO 3; COM telepathic with wielder; MOT renown; POW 4 in 6 chance to chop down a missile in mid flight. Steel blade with bronze grip. Forged by ancient aliens who got annoyed by humans shooting them.
7. Lightsabre: Long Sword +1, AL Lawful. Energy blade with emerald grip. Forged by a mad wizard Attalostas Cloudpacer to serve as a showpiece (distraction) for adventurers of lesser intellect.
8. Logazor's Scorned: Long Sword +1, AL Chaotic. Steel blade with bone grip. Forged by Logazor Keenplate, a dwarf blacksmith of some renown, who discarded the blade in disgust.
9. Magedoom: Long Sword +1/+2 versus Magic-Users; AL Lawful; INT 8; EGO 4; COM telepathic with wielder; MOT kill Magic-Users; POW wielder need never rest. Steel blade with ruby grip. Forged by an envious wizard Tapis Sereem, who was promptly murdered by the henchman he commanded to test the sword.
10. My First Magic Sword: Long Sword +1; AL Lawful; INT 5; EGO 3; COM empathic; MOT renown. Steel blade with wood grip. Forged by wizard Dullinan for practice.
11. Ribtorch: Long Sword +1; AL Lawful; INT 6; EGO 3; COM empathic; MOT renown. Energy blade with bone grip (actually a bear's rib). Forged by technomancers of Atlantis as joke weapon for those to be executed by trial in the arena.
12. Rightway: Two-handed Sword +2; AL Neutral; INT 10; EGO 12; COM telepathic with wielder and speaks three languages out loud; MOT renown; POW (1) never get lost in the wilderness, (2) detect opposite alignment within 30'. Steel blade with ram horn grip. Forged for Marllana Terarel, an elf whou couldn't find her way out of a jungle.
13. Sawsword: Long Sword +1; AL Chaotic; INT 6; EGO 1; COM empathic; MOT renown. Steel serrated blade with bronze grip. Forged by Svkivzinilnaaki, a pathetic demon hoping to enslave a mighty warrior to do deeds in its name.
14. Sealseeker: Long Sword +1; AL Chaotic; INT 7; EGO 6; COM telepathic with wielder; MOT renown; POW place sword on the ground for 1 turn, and it will point in the direction of the nearest secret door. Steel blade with ruby grip. Forged by Anika Bacchus, hailing from the future.
15. Skag's Skål: Long Sword +1; AL Lawful; INT 5; EGO 1; COM empathic; MOT renown. Steel blade with horn grip. Forged by dwarf Skag Glumtower who wanted a sword that would allow him to kill and drink in rapid succession.
16. The Hound: Long Sword +1; AL Neutral; INT 9; EGO 1; COM telepathic with wielder and speaks one language out loud; MOT renown; POW detect invisibility within 30'. Steel blade with copper grip. Forged by Ragni Ragnisson, a dwarven hero who hated deep elves with great passion.
17. The Plank: Two-handed Sword +2/+3 versus flyer types; AL Lawful; INT 11; EGO 9; COM telepathic with wielder, speaks three languages out loud, and reads magic as per the spell; MOT kill flyer types (rocs, maticores, balrogs, etc.); POW (1) any living thing cut apart by this blade (beheading, limb lopped off, trunk bisected, etc.) will grow into an auto-homocidal clone/doppelganger of the original in d6 days, (2) 4 in 6 chance to chop down a missile in mid flight, (3) emits Light on command, as per magic-user spell. 2” x 2” seven feet long plank with bronze grip on one end. Forged by technomancers of a lost continent to fight a rust batmonster infestation.
18. Toothpick: Long Sword +1, AL Lawful. Wood blade with bone grip. Carved by a Titan in a time of need.
19. Unrequited Love: Long Sword +1; AL Neutral; INT 6; EGO 3; COM empathic; MOT renown. Steel blade with copper grip. Forged by mad wizard Inele as a gift for Fighter she was wooing.
20. Valindel: Short Sword +3; AL Lawful; INT 12; EGO 3; COM telepathic with anyone within 30', speaks three languages out loud, and reads magic as per the spell; MOT kill dragon types (dragons, basilisks, hydras, etc.); POW (1) wielder can “fly” (leap) up to 20', over the heads of up to two ranks of enemies, those enemies can't attack the leaping wielder, unless armed with missile weapons or long polearms, (2) sword bats out of the air any (non-magical) missiles aimed at the wielder, (3) never accidentally dropped (during surprise, for example), (4) warns against cursed magic items (for items already identified as magical by Detect Magic or similar means). Steel blade with copper grip. Forged for Ullialanel Valindel Yavarond, a famed elf dragon slayer.

Legend: AL: alignment; INT: sword's intelligence; EGO: sword's ego; COM: sword's means of communication; MOT sword's motivation; POW sword's power(s).

I made the above with the help of Paul Gorman's excellent free supplement Magic Swords for Swords & Wizardry. First I generated sword abilities using his tables, and then I refined them until I was satisfied.

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Friends and strangers!

Through September I am hosting the RPG Blog Carnival, and I would like to invite you to contribute!

The theme is Wondrous Weapons and Damning Dweomers, and your contributions can be anything related to it.

For example:

• fleshed out magical weapons,
• detailed cursed items,
• random tables related to magical weapons,
• random tables related to cursed items,
• procedures related to magical weapons,
• procedures related to cursed items,
• drawings of magical or cursed items,
• adventures or locales with magical weapons or cursed items.

There are no limits besides the overarching theme!

Simply share a link to your contribution (e.g. a blog post) in the comments below, and I will include it in the summary post at the end of the month.

P.S. If you don't have a blog, but would still like to participate then you can either send me your contribution via email or comment below.

P.P.S. Don't panic if you don't see your comment immediately after you submit it—I have to manually approve each comment.

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Given than the system has been around for some time (an euphemism for “it is one of the first OSR retro-clones and it shaped the whole movement”), I wondered how does it compare to previous Swords & Wizardry monsters books published by Frog God Games.

Hence I set out to compare monsters in the following five books:

• Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised
• Swords & Wizardry: Fiends & Foes
• Monstrosities (2023 OSR edition)
• Tome of Horrors Complete (Swords & Wizardry edition)
• Tome of Horrors IV (Swords & Wizardry edition)

Note on Monstrosities: in 2023 Frog God Games released an update scrubbing Swords & Wizardry brand and replacing it with generic OSR mark. The statblocks were unchanged. Approximately 25 monsters were added.

Summary

Too busy? Just want the conclusion?

If you are playing Swords & Wizardry, then getting the latest rulebook and Fiends & Foes is the way to go. Get Monstrosities and Tome of Horrors Complete on sale.

If you don't care about Swords & Wizardry, but want as many monsters as possible then get Monstrosities and Tome of Horrors Complete on sale.

Scroll to the bottom for analysis and slightly more elaborate verdict.

Method

In the analysis I included all the monster entries in each of the above books. Whenever a monster had a table with variants, I included those as well. First I made a large list with monster names as listed in the book; then I made a list of “normalised” names since naming conventions weren't consistent. Finally I compared the monsters based on normalised name and their description. There were few cases where same monster has different name, probably due to legal reasons. I left both names, but included pointers to relevant sources for both of them.

Qualitative differences

In Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised and Fiends & Foes layout is more compact , which does introduce some spread orphans. Monsters include morale and % in lair, two statistics that were not present in previous official Swords & Wizardry bestiaries.

In Monstrosities, Tome of Horrors Complete, and Tome of Horrors IV each monster gets a page, illustration, and a mini-adventure in paragraph form. All three are quite chunky, and there is some bad to mediocre art, which isn't so surprising given the volume.

Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, Fiends & Foes, and Monstrosities provide abbreviated monster stat blocks, which are quite handy for copy pasting. A random example from each:

Spectre: HD 6; AC 2[17]; Atk spectral weapon or touch (1d8 + level drain); Move 15 (fly 30); Save 11; Morale 11; AL C; CL/XP 9/1300; Special: +1 or better magic weapons to hit, level drain (2 levels with hit).

Dianemic Tree (awakened): HD 8; AC 5[14]; Atk 1 branch (1d6 + imprisonment); Move 12 (blink); Save 8; Morale 8; AL N; CL/XP 10/1800; Special: Dimensional imprisonment.

Giant Slug of P’Nahk: HD 8; AC 7[12]; Atk bite (2d8); Move 9; Save 8; AL C; CL/XP 11/1,700; Special: surprise (3-in-6 chance), blast of insanity, immune to blunt weapons.

So, how many monsters?

For comparison, AD&D Monster Manual has 377 monsters, Fiend Folio 186 monsters, and Monster Manual II has 366 monsters, for a total of 929 monsters.

Overlap analysis

Fiends & Foes 83% (285/343) monsters are present in Monstrosities (OSR 2023). Meaning 58 additional monsters.

Monstrosities (OSR 2023) 47% (285/613) monsters are present in Fiends & Foes, and 27% (163/613) are present in Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised. Meaning 165 additional monsters.

Tome of Horrors Complete (S&W) 2% (13/759) are present in Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, and 2% (16/759) are present in Fiends & Foes. Meaning 730 additional monsters.

Tome of Horrors IV (S&W) 0% (0/277) are present in Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, and 1% (2/277) are present in Fiends & Foes. Meaning 275 additional monsters.

Tome of Horrors IV (S&W) 1% (2/277) are present in Monstrosities (OSR 2023), and 1% (1/277) are present in Tome of Horrors Complete (S&W). Meaning 274 additional monsters.

Monstrosities (OSR 2023) 5% (30/613) monsters present in Tome of Horrors Complete (S&W). Meaning 583 additional monsters.

Special note: monsters that appear in both Monstrosities and Tome of Horrors Complete often have slightly different statblock.

Monster index

Legend:

• SWCR = Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised
• F&F = Swords & Wizardry: Fiends & Foes
• MOSR = Monstrosities (2023 OSR edition)
• TOHC = Tome of Horrors Complete (Swords & Wizardry edition)
• TOHIV = Tome of Horrors IV (Swords & Wizardry edition)
• Number = page or page range in the book