Crossbows & Catapults Update (and short pre-battle smack talk video)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I snagged a new copy of Crossbows & Catapults for myself...err...my son for Christmas this year. Here's a little (admittedly sucky quality - I'll blame it on the camera phone) video of the pre-battle smack talk from my precious little 4-1/2 y.o. son:



Well, we had our first battle the other night. It was loaded high with tons of AWESOME.

Of course we had some "issues", seeing how my son is only 4-1/2 y.o. Let's just say there were a few lessons in good-sportsmanship to be had that night.

The battle continued the next morning when his little sister joined the fight. She's 2-1/2, BTW. Ever hear a 2 y.o. little girl say the word "Orcs?" OMG!

After my boy overcame the learning curve of moderating/limiting the pull-back on the catapults (too much and they fling out of the room!), he did begin beating me to a pulp. Once my little girl got in them mix, she beat the smack outta him. So...the way I see it, if we could harness the power of a newborn, we'd have the supreme commander of our C&C army! MMUUHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

(Anyone have a newborn they could lend us for an afternoon? We'll give 'em right back...SWEAR!)

The Grinch (a belated, by request, D&D MM entry...sorta)

Ok, so Spike Page, creator of the cool blog Ubiquitous Orcs, asked in a comment to the Bumble's Monster Manual entry (sorta) for some stats on Mister Grinch. With the title of "Mister" and with his "legendary" status, I might actually look for him the Fiend Folio or even Deities & Demigods (Legends & Lore), but we'll just stick with the original theme here. I bet there's a pretty close approximation of him in some entry in one of the special sections in Dragon Magazine in which they had various Gods and heroes of various races or from different worlds or fantasy fiction series, etc. Ah well, I'll poke around for some when I get the chance.

Ok, so for now I'll just plop down what I found posted by Admiral Squish in a thread at GitP. Here's the Admiral's idea of Mister Grinch and his poor ol' pooch Max:

The three words that best describe you,
are, and I quote: "Stink. Stank. Stunk."

Mister Grinch

HP: 64
Chaotic Evil Male Grinch
Humanoid 2/ rogue 8

Str 15
Dex 15
Con 16
Int 16
Wis 12
Char 10

Appraise: 10 (13)
Balance: 10 (12)
Bluff: 12 (15)
Craft (engineering): 10 (13)
Disguise: 12 (14)
Escape Artist: 8 (10)
Hide: 0 (8)
Knowledge (dungeoneering): 5 (8)
Knowledge local: 10 (13)
Move silently: 12 (16)
Slight of hand: 12 (16)

BAB: +9/+4
AC: 22

Feats:
Deceitful
Mounted Archery
Exotic weapon proficiency: Repeating crossbow, great
Mounted combat

Weapons:
Repeating crossbow, great [2d8 18-20/x2 120ft. Piercing]
Rod of Lordly Might

Armor:
Chain shirt [+4 AC, Max Dex. +4, AC penalty -2]

Troglodyte:
* +4 constitution / -2 dexterity / -2 intelligence (already included)
* Monstrous humanoid type.
* +4 on hide (already included, +8 underground)
* May claw/claw 1d4+ strength bonus x2 (multiattack), plus bite at -5 to hit 1d4+half strength bonus
* Darkvision (see 90 feet in pitch-dark)
* +6 natural armor class
* Stench. Remember this affects friendly non-trogs also.
* Level adjustment +2

Rogue:
* Sneak Attack +4d6
* Trapfinding
* Improved Evasion
* Trap Sense + 3
* Uncanny Dodge
* Improved Uncanny Dodge


Max (mount)

Deep Hound
Large Magical Beast
HP: 51
Initiative: +5
Speed: 30 ft. (In armor, six squares)
Armor Class: 24 (–1 size, +1 Dex, +6 natural +8 barding), touch 10,
flat-footed 124
Base Attack/Grapple: +6/+16
Attack: Bite +11 melee (2d6+9)
Full Attack: Bite +11 melee (2d6+9)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks:—
Special Qualities: Darkvision 120 ft., Light Sensitivity, Low-light vision, scent, trainable
Saves: Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +3
Abilities: Str 23, Dex 13, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Jump +18, Listen +3, Spot +3, Survival +2
Feats: Alertness, Tunnel Fighting, Improved Initiative, Track
Tricks Known: All


There was much some debate in that forum thread regarding Mister Grinch being a troglodyte, a bugbear, or just his own new and unique race: Grinch. It's not as clean cut as the Bumble entry, but it's still fun.

I also found these couple blurbs in a Wiki entry for the Grinch that are kinda interesting when looking at him stat-wise:

• He is also a skilled engineer, having built his sleigh and many of the contraptions within his cave himself.
• On at least two occasions, the Grinch has demonstrated above-average (even superhuman) strength. Whether this is a trait commonly found in his species or simply examples of adrenaline rush is never stated outright. Although in the cartoon movie when he lifts the sleigh the narrator states, "At that moment, the Grinch found the strength of ten grinchs, plus two" so the argument could be made that it was adrenaline.
  

Ah well, sorry for the tardiness, but heck! if we still have the Christmas decorations up, then it's still Christmas...sorta.

Crossbows & Catapults (80 pieces for $10...yes!)

Sa-weet! I've been wanting to get this for myself..err...I mean for my son (he's 4-1/2 y.o. BTW). Well, the good folks at Toys-R-Us plopped a big Clearance sticker on them so from $35 down to $10, I just couldn't look past it any longer.

80 pieces! 80 freakin' pieces!!! 12 or 13 cents a piece...tough to beat that. Of course 25-30 of those will most certainly be lost all throughout our house in a week or two. Ah well.

It became a late add to the Christmas gift pile for him (and me). This late add naturally meant that I had to snag something cool for my little girl too (2-1/2 y.o. little princess that she is). I took a gander in the DVD section there and they had some nice $4 and $5 beauties like episode sets (4-6 eps each) of My Little Pony, Super Mario Bros. Super Show, and Legend of Zelda cartoons from the '80s. Yep, those did just fine. I just mixed 'em up for both of them, she'll dig the MLP, he'll dig the Mario and Zelda (he already has some Zelda toons...so do I...ha!):
I'm an '80s kid who's now a Daddy...like many, many others. What can we say?

At any rate, I haven't played C&C in a looooooooooooooooong time (1983 or so?). It looked like this back then:

Those were badass back then, and these new(er) sets look awesome too (IMO). Here's a comparison pic of a few of the dudes:

They (Toys-R-Us) had the expansion sets on sale a month or so back, but now they are all gone from the shelves...bummer.

Here's a few pics I snagged from BoardGameGeek's review (most of these pics in this post are from that article, BTW) on this modern version:
an Orc:

the Orc Hero (check out that severed head in his hand!):

a Knight:

the Knight Hero:

an Orc manning (err...orcing) a catapult:

a Knight readying a crossbow:

These War Chests will probably be $5 tomorrow, but I don't care. This cool-ass game for $10 is and will always be a sweet deal in my mind.

BTW, my son is gonna beat the crap outta me at this, isn't he? Just like this kid here getting ready to PWN his pops (GameBoardGeek pic again):

Man, I can't wait for tomorrow morning!!!!!! Life is good - very, very good.

Bumbles Bounce! (a D&D Monster Manual entry...sorta)

Ran across this in some old Wizards forum post (posted by The Vorpal Tribble):


The Bumble

Huge Monsterous Humanoid (cold)
Hit Dice: 16d8+80 (152 HP)
Initiative: -2
Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)
Armor Class: 15 (-2 dex, +9 natural, -2 size)
Base Attack/Grapple: +16/+33
Attack: Bite +13 melee (2d6+10)
Full attack: Bite +13 melee (2d6+9) and 2 slams +11 melee (1d6+9)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./15 ft.
Special Attacks: Killjoy, roar, swallow whole
Special Qualities: Bumble's bounce, immunity to cold, low-light vision, scent
Saves: Fort +12, Ref +8, Will +9
Abilities: Str 29, Dex 6, Con 21, Int 3, Wis 8, Cha 17
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +9
Feats: Diehard, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Multi-Attack, Power Attack, Snatch
Environment: Any cold land
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 11
Treasure: None
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Advancement: 17-23 HD (Huge), 24-36 HD (Gargantuan)
Level Adjustment: --

Artic terrors of the deep north, bumbles are a menace to those who wander far from Christmastown. Attracted to the home of Santa by the collective hatred of Christmas, bumbles would like nothing less than to tear it asunder. They are held in fear of the Fat Man himself however, and instead make raids and bring fear to those nearby.

A bumble appears almost as a giant, but is covered in a thick pelt of snow-white fur everywhere but its feet and hands. The skin beneath is an icy blue and as cold to the touch. Its face is beastial with huge round eyes above a sensitive nose, and below a gaping maw of sharp teeth complete with a long, rough tongue.

Combat
A bumble is a mixture of stealth and brazen boldness. It hides behind glaciers and large stones and leaps out upon its foes with its terrifying roar. It then boldy charges its prey, grabbing with its thick-skinned hands to shove them down its maw.

Bumble's Bounce (Ex):
Bumbles ignore the first fifty feet of a fall and takes only subdual damage from greater heights.

Killjoy (Ex):
When witnessing anything to do with Christmas and other winter-time festivities the Bumble goes into an uproar similar to the barbarian’s rage (+4 Strength, +4 Constitution, +2 morale bonus on Will saves, –2 AC penalty). The furor lasts until the cause of its wrath is vanquished or removed from view, and the Bumble suffers no ill effects afterward.

Quicksink (Ex):
A Bumble is unable to swim, sinking within 1 round when immersed.

Roar (Ex):
As a free action every 1d4 rounds a bumble can unsettle those within 60 feet with a horrifying roar. A potentially affected creature that succeeds on a DC 21 Will save remains immune to the Bumble's roar for 24 hours. On a failure, creatures with 4 or less HD become panicked for 4d6 rounds and those with 5 or more HD become shaken for 4d6 rounds. The save DC is charisma based.

Swallow Whole (Ex):
A Bumble can try to swallow a snatched Medium or smaller opponent by making a successful grapple check.

A swallowed creature takes 2d8+8 points of bludgeoning damage and 8 points of acid damage per round from the bumble's stomach. A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using a light slashing or piercing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the stomach (AC 14). Once the creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent must cut its own way out.

A bumble’s stomach can hold 2 Medium, 8 Small, 32 Tiny, or 128 Diminutive or smaller opponents.

It's my Lizardman!

Found him in the pages of an old issue of White Dwarf I found in my stacks of old cool stuff.


Issue #26 to be exact, from...you guessed it..."back in '81" (Aug/Sep 1981), had a nice little writeup I could have used "back in..." Ok, I'll stop doing that (for now).

Here's a shot of the 1-pager "Lizardmen as Player Characters" by Roger E. Moore and Michael Brown, from that issue:


The article mentions two novels as inspiration for such a beast as a PC: "The Doomfarers of Coramonde" by Brian Daley and "Quag Keep" by Andre Norton. "Doomfarers" I have no recollection of, but "Quag Keep" is an old favorite of mine, and maybe I unknowingly used Gulth, the lizardman in that story, as inspiration for my guy...dunno.


I haven't read "Return to Quag Keep" yet, but I do linger on it, every once in a while, at good ol' Barnes&Noble.

In summary, I guess my messed-up 8th grade mind wasn't too nutty, rolling up a Lizardman as my first PC in Moldvay's Basic D&D. So there!

"Great stars! They're unaffected by my Sword of Astral Light!"

I'd have to say that my fave magazine from back in '81 (-ish) was probably "Famous Monsters of Filmland." I still recall several exact times when, and places where, I flipped through the pages of some amazing issues of that mag. Of course the label "back in '81" needs to be relaxed a tad here and there, but it's the general idea that counts.

Anyway, along the same lines of "Famous Monsters" are the very cool spinoff graphic mags "Eerie", "Creepy", and even "Vampirella" (a tad racy for a 7th grader, but we won't tell anyone, right?).

I would include others here too, like "Savage Sword of Conan" and "Tales of the Zombie" as I have a bunch of those still too, and they were very, very cool. Heck, I even have some old "Doc Savage" and "Planet of the Apes" graphic (comic) mags. Speaking of those last two, check out this DocSavage/PotApes combo story from a copy of the French mag...very cool! Jeesh, I'm getting a bit off topic here...better save some of that for another entry, another day. In fact I will, someday soon.

So, to the matter at hand: "...my Sword of Astral Light!"


That sweet frame is from Eerie #121, from none other than (officially) "back in '81!"


The story is "Hunter and Darklon" and is full of Mutant coolness and "lords of light"-ness, ala Thundarr. Here's a couple other frames (excuse the sucky photography...I REALLY need to work on that):

First the "funny how?!?!?" scene from "Goodfellas":


And then a little fun with a (supposedly) "+5 Hockey Stick of Greater Mutant Bane":


Fun! Well, I guess I just like diggin' through these old issues and finding these gems. I've been on a bit of a Gamma World/Mutant Future kick as of late, so these really jump off of the pages at me, when I thumb through them.

Now, off to design that +5 Hockey Stick for my Mutated Alligator character that I'm rollin' with these days. I wonder if I can make it a "Hockey Stick of Astral Light"...hhmnnn.

fun MEGO "Planet of the Apes" clips

These are great! The beloved MEGO action figures from the Planet of the Apes in various dramatizations.



The whole PotA phenomenon has received much love as of late, be it on the numerous excellent blogs I love to read (Greyhawk Grognard, for example), cable TV replays, talks of another Ape movie in the possible works, etc.

This one just had me mesmerized. Man, I loved those dolls...err...figures. My mom used to call them "dolls"...of course they were actually "action figures". I mean, no self-respecting 1st grade boy would play with dolls?!?!?!? Right?!?!?! Right?

I recall having most of the main players (Cornelius, Zira, Dr.Zaius, a few Soldier Apes, and the Astronaut) from the first series, and at least one (General Urko) from the next round. I also recall playing with the Treehouse and the Village. I think my friends had some more of it, or maybe they had a mix of what I think I had...dunno. But we all had some of the figures.

At any rate, here's a few more links to some of these "dolls":

Mego Museum

Mego Central

Meeting Rick Loomis at U-Con (and the Tunnels & Trolls goodies I snagged)

Still reminiscing, another cool part of my U-Con visit: Tunnels & Trolls

I saw vendor selling some T&T modules, sets, fiction, dice, etc. Having a moderate pile of this stuff in my "collection of nerdliness," I decided to have a look and see if there was a mod or so that I don't have. There were several.

If you've never played T&T, it's a simpler version of D&D (well OD&D really), and actually originated back in '75. Anyway, it really works out nice for solitaire play, even though group play is supported and popular too. The Solitaire mods just kept pumping out from Flying Buffalo (the pub), kinda like the old "Lone Wolf" book series, and all the others like that (the "choose your own adventure" thing, but with rules and dice and characters).

So, I swagger up to the vendor booth and take a look thru some stacks of mods, etc..finding some goodies that I don't have in my set. I mumble something like:

"ah yes...the old Tunnels & Trolls" as I peruse the goods.

The dude behind the counter says, "you play a lot of T&T?"

I say "Some, mostly solitaire, as I don't really have a consistent group near me. Have you played it much?"

He says, "Well, yes....I'm the publisher."

So Rick Loomis is selling me T&T stuff, and I don't even know it....nice.

Anyway, we chatted for a while and he was a very, very cool guy. I asked him to sign one of the 3-mod books that I bought, as he had authored one of the mods in that set. He did and much rejoicing followed.

Well, it was just another cool thing (IMO) for my U-Con XP. If you ever want to roll some dice, and can't get the group together, then I'd recommend some T&T Solitaire Play....that sounds kinda diiiiirty, but it's fun too.

I shall call this die (UK:dice)...."Mini-d20"

I snagged this little die (or "this little dice" if you're a Brit) at U-Con last week. I shall call it "Mini-d20." Here it is next to it's normal-sized low-impact (read: sucky, yet nostalgic) d20:



The Mini-d20 is numbered 0-9 twice...a configuration that some old-schoolers prefer. I like having some in my pile, but I would just as soon grab a 1-20 numbered d20 when I need one. It's all personal vibe, though.

I'm not sure what game these mini versions are from. I don't think I've ever seen them before. Maybe some googling is in order...hmmnnnn.

Anyway, I filtered thru a fishbowl of dice at one vendor's booth, and a box-o-dice at another booth, and ended up with several to add to my collection. Here's the gang:



Several of those mini-d20s, an old (I'm presuming) Basic or Expert D&D Box Set light blue d6 (probably Moldvay or Mentzer set), that normal-sized sucky d20 referenced above in the 1st pic, and three Gamescience d4s of various colors Again I'm presuming these d4s are Gamescience, cuz I have a full purple set and these are identical to the d4 that Colonel Lou Zocchi made in that set (those dice rock, BTW):



Ah well, kinda boring I guess, but I like finding these treats in a mound of modern/regular dice. These folks probably think I'm nuts for wanting the crappy ones, but I dig 'em, and that counts too!

so I went to U-Con the other day...

U-Con is a gamers convention in Ann Arbor (MI), focusing on RPGs, board games, etc. I got a chance to stop by for a quickie there (whoah!). I didn't get to play anything. I was really hoping to get back there to try to get in the OD&D game DM'd by Ignatius Umlaut of "Fight On!", the very cool oldschool RPG fanzine. I was, and still am, severely bummed that I missed that session. However, I did have time to snag a few goodies while I was there.

Top find for the day (IMO): Module GW2: "Famine In Far-Go", a Gamma World module from TSR.


Now, I did play *some* Gamma World in High School, just not nearly as much as we played D&D/AD&D, but I still have the 2nd Edition Box Set books/maps (form "Back in..." well, not '81, but close...'83) and the 1st Edition B/W book (this was '78, but that was 1st ed:1st printing, my 1st ed:2nd printing is actually is from '81), and I would love to play a pickup game of this very cool setting, sometime soon.

Anyway...here's the best part of this particular find (the mod): Upon pulling it out of the sleeve to take a peek inside, I find on the title page this nice little diddy:





Very, very cool! Signed by the legend himself. Now who the hell would get rid of such a thing? Jeesh. Ah well, their loss, my gain.

Now, if this would have been on GW1 "Legion of Gold" (by Gary himself) and signed at GenCon XIV, it would have been perfect for "Back in '81." For now, this will have to do.

Anyway, I got tons more cool stuff, but that's enough geekability for one post, eh?

a lesson in when *not* to be Lawful Good (Gamma World - Endless Quest)

From page 1 of "Light on Quests Mountain", a Gamma World Endless Quest Adventure Book:

1) If you think that it is too late to do anything to help Chark and you choose to run for your life, turn to page 93.

2) If you choose to charge the ferocious dog-men in hope that, by some miracle you can save your monkey friend, turn to page 140.



*** SPOILER ALERT!!! ***

Well. if you do the right thing and help your friend...let's just say that you should *not* be LG in this situation.

And to think this is on the first page of the freakin' book! Nice lesson there for our youth....ha!

Now, let me state that the book really starts a few pages later, and that first page is a teaser of sorts, to make you want to buy the book, I guess. At any rate, I recall flipping this one open, reading that passage and immediately turning to page 140, to save my "monkey friend." Hey, my favorite AD&D character *was* a Paladin, for Pete's sake.

And so my first adventure thru this cool little book lasted exactly 2 pages....reroll!

Anyway, I still love all of these Endless Quest books, especially a few of the D&D ones and this Gamma World romp. I have tons of them, including a couple Top Secret themed ones and a Star Frontiers adventure too. They are mostly fun, even now 25 years later.

I prefer the choose your own adventure books that actually involve rolling some dice and generating some sort of character. The "Lone Wolf" series is great, and the "Fighting Fantasy" books and the "Sword Quest" ones are cool too. I have a one-shot of the "A Crossroads Adventure" series(?) that has the D&D stats and hp outlined pretty much exact.

I know a lot of folks in the RPG community have talked about these types of books in their blogs, etc, especially Reis O'brien over at http://geek-orthodox.blogspot.com/ ...very cool and fun blog.

So, back to my latest jump to Back in '81...err..'83 in this case. My Gamma World itch is needing a major scratch. I've been dorking around with my "pile of nerdliness" and have some fun stuff to go thru yet.

I've got a freakin sweet find from U-Con (Ann Arbor) that feeds the Gamma World geek in me a five course meal....or at least the dessert first. I'll have to babble about that pretty soon here.

Futurama: Bender's Game DVD...yes!!!!

Ok, snagged this at BestBuy last night, and can't wait to get a little time to sit down and watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgymjDq_UYY

Titanius Anglesmith, Frydo and Leegola, Hermaphrodite, Gynecaladriel (the Queen of the Water Nymphos)...sa-weeeeeet!


I just dig this crap. Yep, I'm a dork. ;^]

"Legend of the Seeker" (TV series)...will it suck or will it *not* suck?

So, I've been searching for this series for my DVR (my poor DVR, gets abused so badly), under the title "Wizard's First Rule" (yeah, the book series "The Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind).

See, back a few months, an issue of Sci-Fi magazine had a rundown of all the new TV series and such that were sci-fi/fantasy/etc based, and this one was in it.

However, I never could find the darn thing, and it turns out that they have decided to go with a different title for the show, some say to avoid any issues with the whole wizard/witchcraft thing...whatever....sounds like a weak excuse.

At any rate, I finally saw this name change today, so I searched the listings for it, and it's coming soon...Nov 1st and 2nd, I gather.

It's supposedly exec. produced by Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Darkman, Spiderman,...Xena?). Turns out both Sam and Bruce Campbell (childhood buds) were born and raised in Royal Oak, MI...just a skip and a jump down the road from me here....cool.

Here's a couple links to some previews of it, if you're interested and have not seen them yet:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1914861/legend_of_the_seeker_s_brutal_death_scene/

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1910152/legend_of_the_seeker_exclusive_trailer/


And here's a rundown of the upcoming eps (at least according to wiki...which of course is gospel, right?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Legend_of_the_Seeker_episodes


Oh heck, while I'm at it, here's the freakin main site for the darn thing...jeesh!:

http://www.legendoftheseeker.com/


Now, some people like the books, some people hate the books...per usual in most of these cases. I have not read them at all before, so I have no judgment on them....yet. I always stopped at the shelf and gave them a quick backcover read, but never pulled the trigger on them. I have so many books that I'm halfway thru or am wanting to start, that I had no room for them in my Barnes&Noble bag.

I look at it like this: "hey, it's *Sword and Sorcery* (D&D-ish) TV....so I'm gonna watch it no matter if it sucks or does not suck."


I have no idea if this will suck or not, but I'm gonna give it a whirl regardless. I've watched (and still do watch) plenty of shows that suck...cuz sometimes things that suck are cool....ha!

"Bad as in *good*? or bad as in *bad*?"

Those old Grenadier lead minis: Lizardman and Paladin...oh, and Umberhulk

Well, I recently babbled about my first D&D character, and then my favorite AD&D character, from "Back in '81" (or close to that..hehe). At any rate, I dug up my boxes of old lead minis (Grenadier and TSR varieties), and here's a couple shots of the ones that inspired those old characters of mine.

The Lizardman (still can't recall my character's name...ugh) has seen better days. Poor guy seems to have misplaced his sword (I'm sure it was a rockin' Sword+1...so not such a tragedy I guess) and seems to have decided on using a much more compact weapon...presumably just the hilt is all this guy needs.


The Paladin mini is my fave of all of the minis I've ever had. I really liked the paint job I did on this guy. We had some TSR paints (found that box, recently too), and some good silvery "metal" options for the chain and plate. Plus a little gloss seems to have been applied to this dude...quite a bit more sheen there than on the Lizardman.../shrug.


The 3rd mini thrown in here is an Umberhulk figure that I really thought was sweet back then. It was in a 2 or 3 monster pack, including this Umberhulk and a Xorn, and maybe one more...can't recall. The thing about this one is I spent so much time trying to level out the base of it, that I never got around to painting it....ha! It would always rock back and forth, and sometimes even topple over, until I got the base all straightened out nice and flat.


And finally a little encounter...good vs ugly.


Ah well memories of...you guessed it..."Back in '81."

Me = !(uber); //an oldskool Basic D&D solitaire adventure result

OK, so I have been dorking with my old box sets lately. I loves me some early 80's Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert box sets....of D&D...not AD&D...not OD&D...not 3.5...not 4.0...just good ol' oldskool easy yet fun D&D, from "back in '81."

So anyway, I don't have a group to play this old crap with...hehe...and my kids aren' t quite old enough yet. Is 4 years old and 2 years old too young?...ha! So, I decided to fire up one of the very few solo (solitaire) modules for these old D&D systems: "Ghost of Lion Castle."


Well, it just is easier if you roll with one of the 5 or 6 prerolled characters they have in the module, mainly due to spell choices, etc...they have to limit them to make the "choose your own path" thing work, ya'know? So I went with the best (IMO) choice they had, a 3rd level Elf (they were natural fighter/magic-users back then)...and yes, Elf was a class, not just a race...heheh...so was Dwarf and Halfling...nice, eh?

Anyway, this Elf blew.

He (notice I didn't say *I*) died twice before I even got into the freakin castle! First to a Giant Fire Beetle (7 hp, BTW), and next, following a quick "reroll", to a Rock Baboon (9 hp).

Now these 2 mobs were just random encounters, based on some die rolls and tables...just saying it could have been worse.

At any rate, my stud Elf finally made his way into the joint, after trashing a Gnoll (9 hp)....yay! Oh, it still took me down to 2 hp...so not so great an accomplishment...ah well.

So I rested...subtracting 1 ration from my pack (only 9 left!), rolling for more random encounters while I rested (none, wshew!), and then got to add a whopping 1 hp (OMG!) back to my total....so I'm ready to go with a massive 3 hp now (I have 14 normally, but that damn Gnoll beat the hell outta me before I smacked him good)...jeesh!

I decided to rest a few times. F@#$ those rations. I'll find something to eat inside...right?...right????

Anyway, I got hot lead poured on me (twice!) for a sweet 1d6 damage for failing my saving throw vs wands (twice!), got nailed by a glowing arrow trap for 1d6+1 damage - no save, got drunk by some aroma in a Brewery Room (lowering my attack rolls by 1 for the rest of the crawl), got a stone slab dropped on me (thankfully my 12 STR allowed me catch it...no damage), got blasted by some oven heat (huh?) in a Bakery Room for 1d4 damage - no save, and just missed getting my dork chopped off by a swing blade trap in another room, making that save vs wands.

All in all, I have only gained 20 XP so far, and am ready to rest again (need that 1 hp back), before I continue. Wish me luck!

Still it was fun, even if I did suck.

Check these stats out:

STR 12
INT 17
WIS 11
DEX 9
CON 10
CHA 15 (should have made a house rule/class...Pally)

Wearing Chainmail and a Shield. Oh and my "magical" items consist of a Sword +1 and a Rope of Climbing...nice, eh?