Anyone interested in a 1st ed. forum game?

[burke]

I recently purchased the 1st edition of the rules from "that company" and was intrigued to discover how mature the rules were right from the beginning in 1975. I would like to run a forum game using the original rules, would anyone be interested in playing in it?

It would be a "sandbox campaign", beginning with the arrival of the PC's to the Wild Lands. A land (or continent) which is used by the Old World as a place to banish all its dissenters and law breakers. No one is allowed to come back from the Wild Lands and thus all the people sent there and their descendants have developed their own weird societies.

Of course the Wild Lands were not empty when the first humans arrived there, the fearsome elves have long lived in its dark woods and the secretive dwarfs have delved deep beneath its mountains and other, far elder, races have also left their mark upon the lands. The Wild Lands is country of savage people and savage creatures, but also incredible magic.

I am currently reading The Dying Earth by Jack Vance and so there will probably be a lot of influences from it. I will also use a lot of different material published on the web or in old-school renaissance books and magazines.

The game would be run by-the-book, except for this house rule: No rogue class. Instead warriors can also learn and use magic provided they are taught their spells by a magic-user (wizard) and have the necessary IQ and DX. Also there would be no Wizard's Guild, so magic-users would either need to discover the more advanced spells in books or scrolls, or purchase them from another magic-user.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

That sounds pretty neat, but I'm afraid that I don't have a copy of the 1st edition rules.

How hard would it be for those of us who don't have access to the 1st edition to follow along?

[Hogscape]

I'm pretty sure I have a copy of ed. 1.0 it's very similar to my much revered ed. 4.0 (liked it so much, I stole it to build my own campaign with)! From those in the know (which would not include me), there is little difference between 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th editions.

I'd love to join if I may Burke. I read the Dying Earth anthology last year and loved every page. Even the early pieces - which I'd been told 'weren't as good as the latter stuff', in fact I probably preferred them. Certainly a big fan of Cudgel.

Actually Burke are you referring to the UK first ed with the spiral on the cover? Because I think that is 4th ed.

If you've got a moment, check out my 4th ed. reboot right here: sites.google.com/site/thedarkisles/pdf-files it might even suit your needs?

[burke]

You are both welcome to join the game TKD and Hogscape (as is anyone else)! As for your questions:

No, AFAIK these are the original rules of OT&T "perpetrated on an unsuspecting world by Ken St. Andre, et al" in 1975. www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/1st-edition-tunnels-trolls/1042666

1st ed. is very similar to 4th ed. The largest differences seem to be that in 1st ed. warriors have no specialties to differentiate them from rogues. Rogues are just as capable as warriors and can cast spells to boot. Rogues can however only rise to 7th level and must then choose between becoming warriors or magic-users.

Also the missile rules are nothing like the later rules, experience is achieved from combat, treasure, daring, using magic, found magic and saving rolls and the MR/dice scale is different.

Perhaps I should write a brief Players Handbook for those who do not have access to the 1st ed. rules? I've seen your Dark Isle rules Hogscape and I could certainly use parts of them (thanks!).

[apeloverage]

I'd like to sign up for this.

[ragnorakk]

As would I, assuming that possession of 1st edition rules were not a prerequisite.

[burke]

Nice to see so much interest for this. I'm working on a Players Handbook, It'll probably be a couple of days (at least) before we can get started.

[mahrundl]

Interested, but totally lacking in time to participate for another month or so.

I look forward to seeing how it goes though!

[Hogscape]

Burke, that is the copy of the rules I have - I shall be rolling the bones any moment now... ;D

*edit*
I read through some of the booklet on the train this morning. I'm sure it must have been put together with an Optical Character Recognition prog and not edited for context and meaning afterwards. Every now and then the OCR will get a word totally wrong. It can handle curse for a while then turns it into cures which is quite funny.

There is one classic spelling error that survived through to 4th edition though... Warriors cannot spell cat. Presumably because they really are that dumb. I suppose it should read cannot spell cast but I like it just the way it is!

*edit 2*
Hey, if warriors can cast spells too aren't wizards horribly disadvantaged given the lack of Guild access. Sure they get all of the level 1 spells but can't fight for heck.

[feldrik]

I will keep it in mind. When I go back to work next month it will cut down on my computer time (they really monitor the work computers closely and with the economy being tight I won't take a risk).

I will check back to give the rules a look. It may give me a chance to get some game time in.

[burke]

Jun 15, 2009 17:51:11 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

Burke, that is the copy of the rules I have - I shall be rolling the bones any moment now... ;D

Nice to see such enthusiasm. Humans from the Old World have normal, middle age, earth names, so you might want to check out this site (link) for inspiration. The other kindred, who are native to the Wild Lands, have fantasy names.

The idea is that the Old World is basically a late medieval Europe, where all the other kindreds have been exterminated by the humans so long ago, that many believe they are just a myth. Magic is also rare and weak in the old world (perhaps because of the passing of the elves and fairies).

Most NPC humans are prejudiced against any non-humans and might even attack them. Most elves hate humans, because they feel that the humans are stealing their land (which is true of course). The dwarves are more pragmatic and like to trade with the humans and even live among them, but many humans see the dwarves as greedy and the source of all evil. (The well is poisoned... It must have been the dwarves!)

Jun 15, 2009 17:51:11 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

I read through some of the booklet on the train this morning. I'm sure it must have been put together with an Optical Character Recognition prog and not edited for context and meaning afterwards.

Yeah, it's a really shoddy work. You'd think "that guy" could have read through it even once before publishing it. It's only 40 pages after all...

Jun 15, 2009 17:51:11 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

Hey, if warriors can cast spells too aren't wizards horribly disadvantaged given the lack of Guild access. Sure they get all of the level 1 spells but can't fight for heck.

I made that change because I felt that warriors would otherwise have been at a disadvantage to rogues (IMHO in 1st ed there really is no reason not to choose a rogue over a warrior), also it feels more Vancian to me.

Warriors can only learn spells from wizards during play. They do not get to reduce the ST cost by their level and they cannot use a magic staff, wand or ring as a focus to reduce spell cost.

I won't make it too hard for wizards to find new spells or purchase them, I just feel that having a wizards guild would not be appropriate for a setting as a chaotic and anarchistic as the Wild Lands.

[Hogscape]

It sounds excellent Burke. I plan on playing a warrior but we'll see what the dice give me. Have all the human inhabitants of the wild lands there because they were convicted of a crime or could some have made it there under their own steam or even been born there?

I plan on being human - are all PCs human or no restrictions?

Anything I need to know before creating my PC?

Phew, that's enough questions for now I think.

*edit*
Oh yes, excited about playing - I'm always the GM!

[burke]

Jun 16, 2009 2:46:10 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

Have all the human inhabitants of the wild lands there because they were convicted of a crime or could some have made it there under their own steam or even been born there?

Everyone who comes to the Wild Lands from the Old World has been convicted of some crime (many are basically innocent, who just oppose the monarchy of the Old World fore some reason).

This has been going on for hundred of years, so of course there are many humans who have been born in the Wild Lands. I would however prefer that everyone's first character in the Wild Lands would be a recent arrival.

Jun 16, 2009 2:46:10 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

I plan on being human - are all PCs human or no restrictions?

Basically no restriction. But it might be difficult to play non-humans. I would prefer it if the first characters were humans, if someone's adamant on playing some of the other kindred I'm sure we can work something out.

Jun 16, 2009 2:46:10 GMT -5 Hogscape said:

Anything I need to know before creating my PC?

We'll be using an online dice roller. Please register your email address here:

dicelog.com/register

After that PM me the email address and I'll add you to the dice log.

If you're a human you may switch two prime attributes. If you're playing any of the other kindred you're basically stuck with what you roll. If the character is totally unsuitable for adventuring, I'll let you roll a new one.

I'm changing all the spell names (just the names), but this is of course easily fixed later.

If you do not mind waiting I will have the PHB ready in a couple of days I think.

[Toad-Killer-Dog]

I'll be looking forward to seeing the PHB. ;D

[burke]

Jun 16, 2009 9:18:43 GMT -5 Toad-Killer-Dog said:

I'll be looking forward to seeing the PHB. ;D

Well don't get your hopes up too much, it isn't going to be anything spectacular.