Tom Moldvay, In Memoriam

Please forgive me, but I'm a day late with this post.  :(

Yesterday marked the 7th anniversary of the passing of Tom Moldvay.  He would have celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday, if he were still with us.

I (obviously) didn't know Tom personally, but I know his work.

My first introduction to Tom was (probably) the Secret of the Slaver's Stockade.  When I learned about D&D in the summer of '81, I became obsessed with learning more and more about the game.  Of course, there was no internet.  No "how to" manual.  The game was scattered and I knew few people who played.

The Mesa Public Library, however, did have modules for checkout in the Young Adult area.  Pretty awesome.  One of the first (if not the first) I checked out was A2.

I loved how the module was organized.  I stole ideas liberally from it (mummies!)  I begged my DM Alan to let me have a boggle as a pet for one of my characters.  (He let me!)

Later on, I bought X1 The Isle of Dread.  I recap here my exploration of this adventure.  I think I have about 10 copies of X1 now.  Various conditions.  I just can't help myself when I see them at the used book store.

Later on, as a DM, I purchased X2 Castle Amber.  I recall fondly the exploration of this adventure with my friends.  I seem to recall that there were some cool animated statues (or similar) with magical powers that gave them fits.  Good times.  :)

I own the Lost City (a creative masterpiece IMHO) and I'd love to kick of a sandbox campaign with this as the basis.  I'd tweak the final encounters with the zargon, but otherwise I think this thing has a lot of fertile ground.

I also have a copy of Lords of Creation.  A cross-genre game that I'd love to run someday.

Thank you Tom Moldvay for being so prolific and for bringing such wonderful adventures to us all.

PS: I found out recently about a product called the City of Dolmvay.  Check it out!

Dragons at Dawn

Look what just arrived at my house...

I'm looking forward to reading it.  It fits right in with my Moldvay, Cook and Holmes books.

Dungeons of Castle Greyhawk

Late in 2007, WOTC produced an adventure (for 3e or 3.5e I think) called "Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk".

Inside there's a cutaway map of the dungeon (or at least part of the dungeon).  I'm posting it here because I think it's pretty cool and I thought you all might like it. 

There seems to be a soft spot for cutaway pics of dungeons among the Old Schoolers.  There's a great one in the Moldvay Basic Book and there's another excellent one in his B4 "The Lost City".

Enjoy!

Moldvay Basic - Turn Sequence

I am embarrassed to admit that I have owned the B/X books (Moldvay/Cook) for all these years and *I have NEVER really read them!*  I am ashamed.  :(

I have an excuse though and I doubt that I'm the only one.

You see, shortly after buying the boxed sets, I bought the 1st Edition Players Handbook, DMG (from the Sears catalog!) and the Monster Manual.

I set these blue and red masterpieces aside and never looked back.  Until now.

The good news is that I have the pleasure of experiencing them for the first time through older, more experienced eyes.  Eyes that can find the hidden treasures within.  Eyes that matured during 2nd Ed. AD&D and turned away during 3rd Ed.  Eyes with discrimination.

So, I've pulled both of these books off my shelf and I will be reading and dissecting them for days to come.  I'll probably post some of my revelations and questions here on this blog.  I hope that those of you who read it will be willing to share your thoughts and reflections with me.

In the spirit of discovery, I post the "Combat Turn Sequence" chart from p. B24 of Moldvay.  There's a lot to digest here, such as the movement rules (Defensive Movement) and the order of the round (Missile - Magic - Melee).  Good stuff.

One thing caught my eye and I thought I'd ask all of you about it.

"DM rolls damage"

Do any of you do that?  My players always roll their damage.  I roll for NPCs/Monsters/Traps but they roll their character's damage dice.

What say you all?