As it happens, nine first level PCs are no match for nineteen orcs, even if those orcs are dressed in fancy pants and poofy shirts. Particularly when those orcs are armed with polearms, backed by an effective leader, and on high alert. Yesterday’s delve (check the date on this...

I’m sorry, what’s that, Gary? Don’t I tried this at home kids. In the Wolflands, while delving the local megadungeon, our intrepid heroes ran into three encounters with orc patrols. Those kinds of numbers indicate something interesting is going on. To explain the streaky nature of things, we decided...

Understanding and utilizing the principles of solo RPG play can have enormous positive impacts on your face-to-face (digital or meatspace) team-oriented RPG experiences. For one of the best examples that I have read on the subject, turn your browser to BDubs and Dragons.  The man has a gift for...

A new Challenger enters the lists! A Prince of Parma, who I’m pretty sure comments on my vidjas has taken up the solo wargaming gauntlet with the devil of his own, this time into ACKs.  Even better, he is documenting his Campaign on Cosoricalta in long form blog posts!...

It turns out I’m not the only one playing AD&D solo these days. I’m not even the only one with a blog discussing the results of my solo play. Today I present to you “Fort Cranium“, a newish quick recommendation today.  He started with a 5×5 map of 30...

So you are playing AD&D and your 1st level thief is scouting solo when he shanks a goblin, rifles his pockets, and finds a gem worth 10,000 gold pieces.  That means 10,006 xp and you are on your way to 5th level. “Not so fast,” your DM chortles at...

Rangers, by design, are loners. Take a look at the special rules for Rangers in AD&D’s Player’s Handbook: No henchlings and no hired troops until 8th level. You only own what you can carry.  Everything else gets donated to Fantasy Ducks Unlimited or maybe some broke druids or a...

Dateline: October 2, 20223, The Ligmatic Cloister of the Bofahearts With Ronnie Dio recovering from a nasty fall and Meh the archerman down ith a bad case of the deviltape parasite, our party consists of just seven heroes this time out. The expedition started well enough, with a quick...

The rules for diseases in AD&D are great, but you probably rarely use them because they are such a niche subgame and hard to track.  Let’s cover the basics, then clear that first hurdle first, then go back and look at the disease rules in a more detail. Generally speaking,...

On September 29th, ten brave heroes entered the Ligmatic Cloister, nestled in the cleft between two towering peaks of the Bofaheart Mountains. Only nine returned. The expedition started out well.  While searching the front range of the Bofahearts, the party spied a long train of wagons – heavily guarded...