Listen, children to a story That was written long ago About a kingdom on a mountain And the valley folk below On the mountain was a treasure Buried deep beneath the stone And the valley people swore They'd have it for their very own So go ahead and hate your neighbor Go ahead and cheat a friend Do it in the name of Heaven You can justify it in the end There won't be any trumpets blowing Come the Judgment Day On the bloody morning after One tin soldier rides away So the people of the valley Sent a message up the hill Asking for the buried treasure Tons of gold for which they'd kill Came an answer from the kingdom "With our brothers we will share All the secrets of our mountain All the riches buried there." Now the valley cried with anger "Mount your horses, draw your swords!" And they killed the mountain people So they won their just reward Now they stood beside the treasure On the mountain dark and red Turned the stone ...

Here's a recipe I put together for Lembas bread. Didn't know I could bake, did you? Well, I can, and I'm pretty durned good at it when I want to be. Note: Okay, this isn't exactly directly related to OD&D, but we all know that there is a relationship between OD&D and Middle Earth, and this makes for a good holiday treat, or a nice, filling and fairly healthy snack at the gaming table. Here's how it came about: we were doing a Lord of the Rings marathon at my buddy Mike's house when the RotK extended edition came out. Mike has a 42" widescreen and a really kick ass surround sound system, so we got together at 9:00 AM on Saturday and watched all twelve-plus hours of the epic trilogy back to back. It was awesome. Anyway, I wanted to contribute something so I started searching for recipes for Lembas bread. My efforts that year were futile, but flash forward to last Christmas. I got the hankering to try again, so I looked up some recipes onli...

Posted stats for Red Sonja using Spellcraft & Swordplay. The Other Side blog: Red Sonja Enjoy!

Now in production: Masters of the Mind, an original edition psionics supplement which will be compatible with Labyrinth Lord, Advanced Labyrinth Lord, and OSRIC, but should work with any old-school simulacra game. As with Spellcraft & Swordplay, this particular supplement came about "by accident," as I was writing an exegesis on the original psionics rules in Supplement III. I discovered, upon reading, that the only thing difficult to grasp on the original rules was the presentation. Once I had read them through several times, they seemed quite easy and it struck me that it's rather a shame that a good presentation wasn't ever put out there; they may have been adopted into many more games. That's my goal here, to put forth an easy-to-grasp version of these rules that will enhance and expand your old edition fantasy games. The work will include a restatement and reorganization of the original rules for psychic powers for the game, in as cle...

In case some of my followers here are unaware, part of the reason I don't post here more frequently is that I maintain another blog, a personal blog, and I split time between that one and this one, which is dedicated solely to gaming. If you are interested in following that one as well (and I'd love to have more followers over there) check it out: http://grey-elf.blogspot.com/ Also, spread the word about this one! 64 followers (not counting facebook followers) just isn't enough!

So I'm thinking about psionics in OD&D. I just read over the rules again recently, and it strikes me that just as with their AD&D counterparts, these are less arcane and complicated than people think they are. What the rules are, is poorly stated and very poorly organized--but that's par for the course for much of OD&D. I think I'm going to try a re-wording of these rules. Maybe I'll use the OGL and put it out for use with Swords & Wizardry / Labyrinth Lord. As with much of the later OD&D additions, the system is very similar to that which eventually appeared in AD&D first edition, though simpler in execution and more arcane in explanation. In any case, the basic system is pretty easy: at char gen, roll % dice if you're human to see if you have psionic potential. 91-00 means you do. Thereafter, you have a 10% cumulative chance each level to get a new psychic power. A second roll on a psychic potential chart at char gen modifies thi...

I'm horrible at actually finishing campaign records, a fact that I admit most ashamedly and with all apologies to those who were following along with my Age of Conan OD&D game. To give you at least some sense of closure, let me reassure you that the group did finish the adventure successfully, and quite surprisingly without drawing a single blade. Well, that's not entirely true. They ambushed a couple of guards and took them out in a round, but that doesn't really count. Their "final" (for now) exploits were rather impressive and consisted of them using charm, wits and brains to gather evidence to expose the conspirators in the Cult of Mitra who sought to drive all other religions out of Aquilonia by framing the Asurans as murderers and demon worshippers. The mystery cult within the Mitraeum was called the Brotherhood of the Bull and was led by none other than the High Priest of Mitra, and funded by a corrupt noble who was secretly a servant of the Styg...