M1 Blizzard Pass: Basic D&D solo mod'n without the cool invisible ink pen

So recently I've been blessed to have a regular local weekly game of D&D (4e in this particular case) for the past 4 months or so. It began as the WotC/RPGA sanctioned Delve Night series, in which I played an 8th level Elf Ranger (Archery Style) sniper... errr ... "striker." That then morphed into a custom campaign where I played a level 4 Bastard Sword wielding human Cleric of Kord (let's just say he liked to get up in there, ok?). This campaign was created and DM'd by the DM of the Delve Nights at my friendly local game store, Blue Dragon Games.

Now I'd usually link the store's website to that last phrase there, but ya see that's when "teh suck" struck.

"Uhm...ouch."

Out of the blue, the store closed. Boom. Blam. Done. No warning. In fact I got an email stating from the site's fourms stating that as of right then, they were closed for good. Wow.

I was stunned. Not only was this store a great source of gaming items, which I purchased quite frequently, but this was the place that got me back into playing real tabletop PnP D&D, no matter what version it might be. It just so happened to be about 5 miles from my home, which was the freakin' icing on the cake.

Now look, the economy blows... understood. We are especially feeling it in the metro Detroit area (ugh), so I won't comment on the store owner's reasons. I'm sure it has been tough making money, so my best wishes go out to the store owner in whatever direction he decides to go next.

The part that leads us to this blog entry is that even though I played every Sunday night with the same crew for 4 months, I have no idea on how to reach them, now that the common ground has been removed. Sadly, I never got their cell numbers, or even their last names...jeesh! I guess I just got spoiled on just calling up the store if need be to chat with the DM (he was an employee/manager/etc of the place) if there was ever a question of game on/off.

At any rate, until I either reconnect with the members of that group, or find a new local one, I am in severe need of some adventuring!


This past weekend I got a little fix from the Worldwide D&D Gameday - Monster Manual 2 event, but I had to drive about an hour and a half to the next closest gaming store that was running it. I did have a blast with the gameday, playing the part of the bravura tiefling warlord "Chance" and I think I'll post a little about my xp with that gutsy general. Additionally, I have been to that particular store before (Heroquest Comics), purchasing a fair amount of stuff, and they would be a great replacement for the other (now defunct) store, if they weren't so far away.

So...

Time to bust out the old solo/solitaire modules again. The terms solo and solitaire get a bit tricky with some of these old modules. Sometimes solo means a single player and a DM. Other times solo means solitaire, just you the player, no DM required. I'm talking here about those solitaire mods (even if they call them solo mods...ha!).

Looking back to last fall, I had some fun playing through the Basic D&D solitaire module BSOLO - Ghost of Lion Castle:

I never actually finished that one, so I could hit that again and see if my sucky Elf can get past a Giant Fire Beetle or a Rock Baboon before dying (twice) this time.

I also have tons of Tunnels & Trolls solitaire adventures, and those are all kinds of quick and easy fun, so maybe I'll run a couple of them.

However, first I think I wanna take a shot at the M1 - Blizzard Pass, the invisible ink Basic D&D mod by David Cook:

Now, as the blog post title states, I will be taking on this quest sans magic pen. Ugh! Some folks have said that a yellow highlighter can work, and my kids have some more modern invisible ink pens that they use to reveal sections and words in little Spider-man books etc, but I don't think those are gonna work. We'll see.

I do have 2, maybe 3, copies of this thing, but they are all in varying degrees of "revealed ink" status. So I need to kinda watch how I progress thru it, and try not to accidentally reveal a choice too soon. Wouldn't wanna spoil all the fun, right?

On that note, one very cool project that I found online is this one here, where some folks have put some serious effort into compiling (most of) the invisible entries into one big entity. That just might be the route I will have to take, at least for Blizzard Pass. Thanks to all of those who helped compile those notes. Very, very cool.

After MI I may have to keep the solo mode going for a bit, unless I find a good local group. If so, these beauties are all waiting in the wings:

M2 - Maze of the Riddling Minotaur:

XS2 - Thunderdelve Mountain (At least I think I have this one...man, I need to get organized!):

XSOLO - Lathan's Gold (Similar in style to Ghost of Lion Castle, IIRC):

CM5 - Mystery of the Snow Pearls (Ooooooo, a Companion Level mod...nice! - utilizing the Magic Viewer thingie too.):

MV1 - Midnight on Dagger Alley (1st ed AD&D here - using the viewer again to reveal parts of the map.):

Rage of the Rakasta (An early '90s D&D Game Box module, which is mostly spent exploring a palace. It can be played with or without a DM. In pure solitaire mode I don't think it's much more than "enter this room, fight this baddie, rinse repeat" but I could be totally wrong...never played it. I'm not sure if I have the stand-up figs with my copy...hhmnnn. Again the need to get organized.):**EDIT**: When I first posted this, I had this mod mixed up with another in the same series, In the Phantom's Wake. That mod takes place mostly on a boat. See below. **END EDIT**

In the Phantom's Wake (Another in that same early '90s D&D Game Box series. This is the one that features a boat floor plan. It's recommended for 4-6 players, (so not a solitaire mod...kinda), butit can be played with or without a DM....weird. So I guess a person could play solitaire, playing all 4-6 characters, with no DM. So that's like playing in accompanied solitary? Regardless, I'll still include it here because of that possibility. Both of these '90s D&D Game Box mods reportedly can be played with those Game Box rules, the Rules Cyclopedia, the Dragon Quest game, or even 2nd ed AD&D witha little fudging, I presume.):**EDIT**: Added this one here late, after checking them at home and realizing I mixed it up a bit with Rage of the Rakasta. See above. **END EDIT**

Wshew! Well that's quite a little bit of solo-play (man, that just sounds wrong) to be had, if need be. I've only messed with one or two of these mods listed above, and that was a loooooong time ago. I recall buying some of these, but never really needing to play them, as we always seemed to have the old kitchen table group back in '81 (and '82-'85 too). Even if sometimes the "group" meant a whopping two of us. A few others I aquired later in life, and just never really got around to playing them.

So that being the case, do any of ya'll have any favorites in this list, or any advice on which one(s) I might enjoy more? Do you favor the invisible ink over the magic viewer? Or is the good ol' "choose you own adventure" style of Ghost of Lion Castle still the best way to go? I think I'll start with Blizzard Pass and see if I dig the invisible ink thing. But if you have a better choice, please let me hear it.

Until then I'll be kickin' back enjoying a little "solo time" (still sounds just as bad, dunnit'?):

"The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games": a book by Rick Swan

I found this tome in a local used bookshop, and figured I'd snag it just for some fun easy reading of some quick reviews of various RPGs thru the years. This book is dated 1990, so it covers tons of games up until that point.

The book is by Rick Swan, who has also written some 2nd edition AD&D supplements ("The Complete Barbarian's Handbook", among others) and various modules for Dragonlance, Spelljammer, Al-Qadim, Planescape, Forgotten Realms, and even some Marvel Super Heroes.

I have yet to get much into this book...just browsing a few entries covering games for which I have a particular fondness. At any rate, the format looks pretty nice, including for each game entry: a game title, a # of stars rating, complexity rating, publisher info, a game review/synopsis, buyers notes, and suggested supplements. The game order is A-Z, and there is a nice subject index grouping the games by genre.

Here's just a brief summary of a few reviews Swan has given for some of my faves:

AD&D
****
1st and 2nd editions
This is one of the more lengthy reviews in the book, from what I've seen. A good portion of the entry deals with 2nd edition, possibly due to the fact that Swan contributed to many of the settings in that edition. Regarding AD&D in general, he writes "A role-player who's never experienced AD&D is like a board-gamer who's never tried Monopoly or a kid who's never played baseball." - Now that's some solid marketing...I like it.

Boot Hill
***
1979 edition
Rick writes "fire order is crucial; slowpokes don't last long in Boot Hill." - Nice! He also recommends Lost Conquistador Mine as "not only the best of the Boot Hill supplements, it's also the best Western adventure ever published." - Now, I only have the original box set, so I can't comment, but he sure makes me want to track that one down.

D&D
***1/2
1974, 1977, 1983 editions
This one is kinda tough to cover fully, as the different revs (OD&D, Holmes, Moldvay/Cook/Marsh, Mentzer BECMI, RC) all have their unique coolness, and could warrant an entire book to that discussion alone. One biggie though: Swan skips right over my all-time fave 1981 Moldvay/Cook/Marsh B/X edition. Major points lost from me on that one, Rick...ha! However he makes up for it with this gem (discussing folks who claim that D&D is too simpleminded, illogical, meaningless, abstract, juvenile, etc): "These grouches completely miss the point. Complaining that Dungeons and Dragons is an unrealistic RPG is like saying that chess is an inaccurate wargame. We're not talking about delving into the social structure of medieval Europe here, we're talking about tossing fireballs at lizard men and swiping gold pieces from ogres." - Agreed...simple (and sometimes silly) counts too.

Gamma World
***
1st and 3rd ed
He says "the third edition is the one to buy." - I personally totally disagree. 1st, 2nd and even 4th are much better, IMO...leaning on 2nd as my fave, although 1st ed was my 1st copy back in school. I do like this line by Swan though: "It's a bang-up job by designers James Ward, David James Ritchie, and Gary Jaquet; that is, if you don't take your nuclear holocausts too seriously."

Top Secret
***
1980
Swan advises "Top Secret is good, but Top Secret/S.I. is better." - I personally have only played the original. However, I have heard this same opinion of the 1987 sequel from other gamers, so maybe I should give it a go someday. There is quite a bit of the S.I. source material, mods, and such floating around my local area game shops and used book stores, so it wouldn't be tough to snag some. Actually, I might even have a little bit of the S.I. stuff in piles of geekgoodies, but I know for sure I only have play experience in the original. And even that is pretty marginal XP.

Tunnels and Trolls
***
1975
In his Suggested Supplements section, Swan comments that "With its simple rules, Tunnels and Trolls is a natural for solo play, and the solitaire T&T supplements are among the best of their kind." - I personally love the fact that T&T has such a huge amount of Solo/Solitaire mods published. I have a pile of them, and they are very nice for a gamer who has limited resources as far as grouping goes. I just recently have been able to play some real PnP D&D (4e) with real people at a real table so I am literally (and figuratively) "geeked" about that. But, prior to my recent gaming, solo mods...true "solitaire" mods were all I really had with which to get my game on. So I applaud Flying Buffalo (notably Rick Loomis) for this portion of the fantasy RPG genre. I only wish more game systems and other genres would follow suit. Sure there are a few solo/solitaire TSR D&D/AD&D modules in the mix, but IMO not enough.


Well that's really all I've checked out so far. There are over 150 games reviewed by Swan in this book, some more lengthy than others. I don't have a real grasp on how I regard the author's reviews yet, and how much faith I'll put into his advice, so I will withhold that judgment until I give the book a fair shake.

Thus, I will be reading some more entries, to see his take on some more games that I have played, but more interestingly some that I have yet to try, or even yet to hear of. First in that list: Macho Women with Guns. Sounds hot!

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.