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...

This is what peak dungeon design looks like. We made this dungeon on the fly using Appendix A of the greatest RPG book ever written, and it lasted for a solid three sessions of live play.  We had parties of ten, then six, then nine delve this one and...

Alexander Macris, in a recent video, set a whole bunch of really smart stuff and you should go watch that video even though some of it is wrong.  Let’s talk about it, and get it written down for posterity. For context, he is laying out one of the perceived...

The long form example of AD&D at play has been a fascinating experiment, and one that has taught me a new appreciation for both AD&D and the joys of solo RPGs. Discovering the hidden gem of solo gaming buried within Gygax’s masterpiece has led me to wonder what other...

The old man is yelling at clouds again. Fortunately for us, this provides an excellent opportunity to refresh our memories on how a “motte and bailey” con works. Here is the motte of an obvious and uncontroversial statement: And here is the bailey of his bold and controversial claim:...

We generally think about events in our games as straightforward cause and effect situations.  You call your shot, you roll your dice, you move your mice.  You swing the sword, you hit your guy, and roll for damage. Slow down a second, because there is a brief moment where...

These are some very good looking aircraft. After four decades of tinkering with weight, aerodynamics, engine power, and a host of other variables, the US produced what many consider to be the finest prop-driven fighter in the world.  These babies were designed for long range escort missions and still...