The Curious History of Philidor the Blue Wizard

A wizard casting spells from his magic circle by the light of his cauldron surrounded by creatures. by J. Wood 1763 Carl Sargent introduced a treasure trove of curiosities to the World of Greyhawk during the early 1990s as he helped reshape the setting, but perhaps none was more tantalizing than Philidor the Blue Wizard,…

Character Origins with One DnD

This past week, Wizards of the Coast, announced One D&D - which largely sounds like a revision of the current edition similar to the Player Options for AD&D 2e and Dungeons & Dragons 3.5. It's clear that they're looking to create a version of the game that they can sustainably use for another decade or…

I’m proud of you, Kid

I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about pretending and today I'd like to take a moment to say something real. I'm proud of you. I know what it's like to get up at 3 am to go to a job you hate; to get yelled at by people who couldn't give…

Enjoy the Things You Enjoy, without Apologizing for It.

One of the things that I've noticed recently, online, is that there are some people who want you to feel bad about enjoying the game the way you want to play it. They will loudly, and incessantly, berate you about liking D&D 5e. They'll demand that you play other games instead of doing what you…

Gods of the New Sun: Shaw

The next god of the New Sun is Shaw. Shaw is a god that kind of fills a big void for me that's often missing when you look at the brief lists of gods that often appear in the Player's Handbook. He's there not so much to pick one side or the other, but for…

The Curious Evolution of Morgan Ironwolf

Morgan Ironwolf first appeared as line in the 1980 Dungeon Masters Adventure Log as seen below: Character Log example from Dungeon Master's Log Here Morgan Ironwolf appears, alongside other player characters, as an example for the Dungeon Master in how to accurately record an adventure using the log system that TSR was attempting to get…

Making Clerics Distinct

One of the great problems I find with clerics is that they're largely all the same. A lot of the sameness comes from the way that Dungeons and Dragons presents the class. Little wonder too, as they're trying to provide a class that will be appealing to the greatest number of people across the largest…

The Beauty of Saying, “I Don’t Know.”

One of the things that I love about reading older role-playing game materials - whether they're old books, magazines, or zines - is that so often you can tell that the authors have no pretense at being "right." More often than not, they're likely to begin talking about any topic by hedging what they say…

How Many Cows Are There, Really?

Changing Pasture by Anton Mauve Occasionally I find myself slipping off into a bit of minutia when it comes to the worlds I'm playing with in my home games. This morning was just such an occasion. I had been working on a scene my players would be encountering in the countryside when I noted that…

A Desert of Glass

Recently I ran across an article, An ancient exploding comet may explain why glass litters part of Chile, by Freda Kreier and it kind of captured my imagination. The article is a fascinating look at this twisted glass that covers about a 75 kilometer long corridor within the Atacama Desert in Chile. I find myself…

Backgrounds, or, Who Even Are You?

You've rolled your character, arranged their ability scores to your heart's desire, and picked out their class. You've filled their inventories; picked out their spells, feats, and powers. You even managed to pick out a name before the game began. But who are they, really? Idylls of the King by Gustave Doré What made Boethius…

Let’s Talk about Al’Akbar of the World of Greyhawk

Unless you're really into the world of Greyhawk it's unlikely that you've encountered the demi-god Al'Akbar and the True Faith that surrounds his worship. So let's talk a little bit about that. The Palace Guard by Ludwig Deutsch The first mention of Al'Akbar came in the Strategic Review Volume 2, No. 2 from April 1976…

Dungeons, and Walmart, and LJN? Part 3, The Shady Dragon Inn

The world of LJN would have been an interesting footnote in the history of Dungeons and Dragons were it not for TSR attempting to make something more from the line. In 1983 TSR published AC 1: The Shady Dragon Inn. Ostensibly the Shady Dragon Inn was nothing more than a collection of non-player characters (NPCs)…

Dungeons, and Walmart, and LJN? part 2

The world that LJN helped create had its roots in the standard world of Dungeons and Dragons, but it was its own distinctive thing as well. This world had its own unique world building; so let's take a look at what we know so far: Dwarves build castles inside huge caverns carved into the side…

Dungeons, and Walmart, and LJN? Part 1, Series 1

The other day I was walking through my local Walmart when I saw this: It's been a long time since we saw Dungeons & Dragons books inside a store like Walmart. Which reminds me of the old LJN Toys that came out in the early 80s. In 1983 LJN Toys, Ltd came out with series…