Points of Light

Four Small Campaign Settings
When Wizards of the Coast released 4th Edition they introduced an implied setting for that edition of small outposts of civilization surrounded by a hostile world in which to adventure. Robert Conley (Bat in the Attic) and Goodman Games has taken this "points of light" idea and with Mr. Conley's talent for maps and hex-style adventure, have created four uniquely themed mini settings that are system generic and therefore can be used with any FRPG.
One of the four settings is called Southlands and is suitable for linking to the  south of Mr. Conley's Majestic Wilderlands campaign setting. In the spirit of Dave Arneson, who according to gamer legend once used the Avalon Hill Outdoor Survival hex map as a place located south of his First Fantasy Campaign for PCs to carve themselves out a power base, Mr Conley offers this south land. Of course Southlands isn't uninhabited and any adventurer intent on making a homestead may need to deal with the locals, both beast and intelligent races. As with any good hex-crawl/sandbox, there are many opportunities for varied adventure, enough to suit most anyone's taste. Monsters to kill, treasure to loot, dungeons to explore, rumors to follow, urban mysteries with plenty of opportunity for role-play and factions abound.  
The other three one-map settings are loosely linked together using the same Bright Empire and deity/pantheon references. One, called The Swamps of Acheron, is a mini/pocket dimension and home to a demon god, one which appears in both Wildland and Borderland as well. It may be a place PCs end up in (for a time?) as a result of activity in another setting. The Swamps challenge PCs to find a way home while dealing with a God on his own turf.
Wildland is set just after the fall of the Bright Empire and gives the PCs a look at the world as the lights go out and a dark age begins. Hostile forces are moving in to fill the gaps. Obviously there are a host of possibilities for enterprising PCs here. All these "Points of Light" are "sandbox" style hex map settings where the PCs are free to explore and make what mischief they will. Of course, a referee using this play aid may devise a story-line using the play aid and added material if that is the groups' preference.
Borderlands presents the PCs with a setting where two warring factions are splitting a once unified area, thus weakening it. Mr. Conley once again provides an opportunity rich environment for PCs and any number of strategies may result in an almost infinite number of possible stories using any of the four settings. How the PCs react to the situation and setting IS the story that comes out of play in such an environment.
The mini settings can stand alone and as such offer many months of play or are designed so they could be dropped into an existing campaign as a sub-area. All offer something different in terms of PC challenge. All are in keeping with the "points of light" theme and include a few civilized areas and a lot of hostile territory.
Each of the four mini settings also follows the general pattern established by Gary Gygax in B2 Keep on the Borderlands and what Clint Krause (Winterwood) calls "Damn Good D&D" in his youtube video of that title. A hex map, keyed with several interesting locations and a few places of mystery/dungeons. A town or city (or castle) and some locals, many of which are factions in conflict. Tables for wandering critters and rumors that are likely to be heard. Do this well and you have the makin's of a "damn good game campaign"!

The Wilderness

Adventure above the Dungeon
It is so much easier to understand White Box after almost 40 years experience with it. Of my original three Little Brown Books, vol. III The Underground & Wilderness Adventures shows the least wear. That is unfortunate because in many ways this is the volume that explains how to play the game. Vol. III details the underground or dungeon and the wilderness, which is about everything above the underground. On page 14 it is described:

The so-called Wilderness really consists of unexplored land, cities and castles, not
to mention the area immediately surrounding the castle (ruined or otherwise) which
housed the dungeons.

In order to take the game outside the dungeon, the referee must create a map of the area above and around the underground entrance. A town or village needs to be positioned nearby and a map drawn of it showing buildings and walls, if any, etc. The town or village then becomes a "home base" for the adventurers. And as vol. III suggests on page 15, "...players can have town adventures roaming around the bazaars, inns, taverns, shops, temples, and so on."
Vol. III suggests that "off-hand" wilderness adventures can be handled using Avalon Hill's Outdoor Survival map and gives useful suggestions for converting terrain on the published map into castles and villages. The authors note that journeys to find a legendary treasure or locate an area for planting a new castle should be handled differently, presumably by the referee drawing an area map and populating it appropriately.
Page 16 of vol. III gives specific guidance:

REFEREE’S MAP is a wilderness map unknown to the players. It should be for the territory around the dungeon location. When players venture into this area they should have a blank hexagon map, and as they move over each hex the referee will inform them as to what kind of terrain is in that hex. This form of exploring will eventually enable players to know the lay of the land in their immediate area and thus be able to select a site upon which to build their castles. (Castle building and its attendant requirements will be covered hereafter.) Exploratory adventures are likely to be the most exciting, and their incorporation into the campaign is most desirable. 

 Here we have an excellent description of the "hex-crawl" method of play and the end-game of castle building. For anyone with experience in wargames with miniature figures the idea that players would establish a strong hold or castle and begin to build an army of followers with which to "wargame" almost needs no explanation. It is with this "end game" in mind that vol. I page 6 refers to top level fighting men (Lords and above) building castles and becoming barons and clerics building castles and controlling territory similar to the "Barony" of fighters.
The securing of mercenaries and other hirelings, strongly implies role-playing. and regarding monsters taken into service, "Some reward must be offered to a monster in order to induce it into service" implies negotiation while players are in-character. I may be "implying" more than the authors originally intended, but it is the way I read the text these days. 

Dungeon Module B1

In Search of the Unknown
"How do we play this new game anyway?" "This isn't like anything else we have ever done." "How do I know I am doing it correctly?" B1 was written by Mike Carr (who designed Fight for the Skies when he was just 16), as an instructional module to help players figure out this revolutionary game and answer questions like these. The module is pure dungeon crawl and players will have to wait until B2 Keep on the Borderlands for their next lesson involving wilderness and a bit of urban adventure. B1 has a unique design approach where-in the referee must populate the dungeon with monsters and treasure drawn from a list of possibles. I suppose this technique gives the adventure some improved replayability as the monster and treasure locations can be switched around.
The map is designed to give players experience in mapping both easy tunnels and more difficult caverns. The Mr. Carr states the monsters are somewhat easier in B1 than would normally be encountered in a dungeon for levels 1-3, but should be challenging for novice players learning the system. A variety of challenges are presented within the dungeon so that more than combat ability is tested. Advice and suggestions for both referee and players are included in the module and I find the player advice particularly noteworthy.
The Tips for Players section includes advice to the player to be organized regarding the character sheet. Mr. Carr points out that in the game the referee makes the final decision and should be respected, and that cooperation is the way to fun and success. Further advice is given to pay attention to pace within the session, progressing neither too slowly, nor hastily through the dungeon and suggests avoid arguing - it attracts wandering monsters who carry little treasure and deplete party resources. Included is some advice on role-playing, to be on your guard as not everyone encountered is what they appear to be, to treat your hirelings and henchmen fairly as it pays off in their loyalty, and to have fun playing your character's role, immersing yourself in the game. Final advice is given to know your limits and when to run away. Mr. Carr adds, that many goals can be accomplished without resorting to combat; shrewd judgement and logical deduction are as much a part of the game as strength of arms and magic.
If I have played B1 as a player I don't recall it. I'm pretty sure I have not run it, but the module looks fun. I think it's real value is as a teaching tool and although I have been at this hobby some time, I find the player and referee advice good reminders. For a first-time player and referee, a product such as this would be very helpful. B1 was for a time packaged with the Basic Set and that seems a good choice. I believe it was replaced in that role by B2, which of course adds elements outside the dungeon and is effectively a starter campaign.

Michael Moorcock

ELRIC!
A hero bigger than life, yet flawed and doomed. His story is a bit backwards in some ways. A weakling who starts out as a king and with the girl and loses it all. Yet Elric is a hero in the pulp sense in many ways. His prowess seems to compare with Conan and Kane, yet he is also an anti-hero, and instrument of chaos who destroys his own kingdom and civilization and finally his world. I couldn't venture to guess the number of White Box PCs that have been inspired by thoughts of Elric.
The world of Elric termed "The Young Kingdoms" by Mr. Moorcock is a dark setting on the verge of annihilation. In one of the best stories of the genre, Elric leads an armada against his home and cousin resulting in the destruction of Elric's kingdom, his bride-to-be and the armada he leads. In other stories, Elric adventures across The Young Kingdom sowing sorrow with his demon-blade and visits the "multiverse" (a series of connected universes) through which Elric travels at times. At the end of it all is impending destruction, an inescapable fate in which Elric is doomed to usher in a new existence leaning more towards Law (our own world?) by destroying himself and his Chaotic world.
White Box was almost certainly inspired by books like Michael Moorcock's Elric series. The above compilation includes the stories written from 1961 to 1965, stories I am guessing which were read by White Box creators Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. Elric and his countrymen, the Melniboneans, serve a chaos lord named Arioch from whom they derive certain sorcerous power. In the Elric novels Mr. Moorcock describes a world hanging in the balance between the forces of Law and Chaos. Various beasts and men serve Law and others serve Chaos in a manner not unlike the default alignment system described in White Box. Elric's magic sword, Stormbringer, is perhaps the iconic "magic sword" inspiring the intelligent, ego driven magic swords found (by lucky PCs) in White Box play.
Elric, as sorcerer and warrior, would be both a magic user and fighting man in terms of defining him as a White Box player character. This fits the elf race nicely. White Box allows the elf character to be played as a magic user or fighting man, freely switching class back and forth from adventure to adventure. The elf PC gains the benefits of both classes and may use both spells and weaponry. It certainly sounds like Elric, the Melnibonean, is an elf.
The ability to draw inspiration from literature and other sources and apply it to the game is I believe one of the lasting appeals to the role-playing game. The RPG is an extension of those tropes, drawn from popular culture, into a game environment where the players can imagine themselves in the roles of such heroes performing daring deeds in a fantastic setting. The "live out your dreams" appeal has probably motivated many to pursue the RPG hobby. In turn the RPG has inspired a number of game related novels, short stories, comics, etc. Imagination is much like a muscle, the more one uses it, the stronger it becomes.

Wormskin

A Place of Mystery
Wormskin is a print-on-demand fanzine for use with B/X, Labyrinth Lord and other old school type FRPGs. It is the work of Gavin Norman and Greg Gorgonmilk and friends and describes various aspects of the author's Dolmenwood campaign setting. Pictured above is issue 3 in which the surface ruins of the Abbey of St. Clewd are featured. I think of Dolmenwood much as I do my own Dreadmoor, as a place, a campaign and an idea. Dolmenwood has a map (issue 1), so it's a place. It is a unique creation of inspired imagination, a campaign playground for exploring various aspects of old school, fantasy role play and the setting of many tales yet to be told. Dolmenwood uses a variant to an existing ruleset with it's own unique races, classes, flora and fauna and traditions of magic to bring to life the vision of it's creators.
One of my pleasures in this hobby is to read about the wondrous worlds created by imaginative authors as settings for their game stories. Some settings are best suited to develop certain kinds of stories during gameplay, suggesting by their peculiar qualities certain themes and possibilities. I enjoy the imaginings such a setting description suggests to me and that it inspires my day-dreaming mind to elaborate upon.
Dolmen wood is small enough to be dropped into any existing campaign as an enchanted forest location. It is large enough for it to be it's own small setting as well. The map has a numbered hex overlay system and can be used for hex crawling or other types of exploration.  Issues 2 and 3 detail small areas of Dolmenwood in more detail, including detailed maps on the back cover of each issue. The art throughout is quite good and gives the reader a definite feel for the Dolmenwood.
Born of fairy and steeped in occult mysteries, myth and superstition, the Dolmenwood is home to the undead gloam, mogglewomps, intelligent scryke and a scrabey (all new monsters described in this issue). Alternate race-class options for PCs in Dolmenwood include the Moss Dwarf and Grimalkin (described in issue 1). Each issue gives more detail about the Dolmenwood, it's inhabitants and places of mystery, it's flora and fauna. A magical lake, the witching ring, and a ruined abbey (part 1) are all revealed in issue 3. Issue 2 contains information on Lankshorn and the evil goatmen. Other articles describe fungi found in Dolmenwood, psychedelic compounds, common tavern fare, languages and a brief history of the wood. A novel approach to the spooky wood containing some very real threats, the Dolmenwood as revealed in the pages of Wormskin is among my favorite places of mystery.

Adventures in Middle Earth

5E Tolkien
White Box seems influenced by the fantasy work of J.R.R. Tolkien despite Mr. Gygax's supposed dislike for Middle Earth. Hobbits, Ents, Balrogs, straight out of Middle Earth appear in early printings of White Box. According to gamer legend, the Tolkien estate lawyers thought White Box was infringing and forced the removal of those names, but the Middle Earth beings remained in the game with slightly changed names. Mr. Gygax was a fan of R.E. Howard's Conan from boyhood (according to biographer Michael Witwer) and his game may lend itself more to a play style similar to Howard and other favorite authors than Tolkien in many ways. Making White Box or the later Editions feel like Middle Earth has always been a challenge.
Cubicle 7 has had a pretty faithful Middle Earth game out for some time now titled The One Ring (TOR). It is more of a story-telling game than The World's Most Famous RPG, but seems to capture the flavor and feel of Tolkien quite well. The folks at Cubicle 7 have released a digital version of Adventures in Middle Earth, a player's sourcebook for gaming 5E (using the OGL) in Tolkien's Third Age. I have not played AiME, but have read the Players Guide and will share some of my thoughts about the book and how 5E can be adapted to a specific setting quite different from it's implied default (The Realms).
Adventures in Middle Earth (AiME) replaces the traditional game races with a classification termed cultures. Dwarves, hobbits and elves each have a culture and humans have several from which to choose. Each culture is associated with a virtue - virtues are either open and anyone can take them or cultural and limited. Virtues function similar to 5E feats except they are exclusive to some PCs. This is one way AiME maintains variety and niche protection.
The standard classes are replaced in AiME with Scholar, Slayer, Treasure Hunter, Wanderer, Warden and Warrior. Note: there are no 5E style spellcasters. The classes each have subclasses and give a nice mix of abilities and skill sets. Some classes have special abilities that trigger off Inspiration and not all classes are competent at combat. AiME is a campaign setting/game that balances combat with other challenges so all the classes contribute. Each class has a shadow weakness which can lead to corruption.
AiME presents the PCs with several Middle Earth backgrounds and I think this helps meld 5E to the setting. New traits include Hope and Despair which are carry-overs from TOR and seem full of Tolkien flavor. The alignment system is dropped and replaced with corruption. Shadow weakness, which is tied to class, can lead to madness and degeneration as can exposure to, or contact with, shadow forces. Simply fighting the bad guys can lead PCs into shadow effects making for a dangerous world.
Weapons, armor and equipment are customized to give a more Dark Ages/ Middle Earth flavor and the addition of a few new skills associated with the literature helps this felling along. AiME is about more than killing monsters and taking their stuff. Journeys play a large part in the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien and journeying is significant in AiME. During the journey phase of play each PC assumes a task such as guide, scout, hunter or lookout. AiME includes additional rules for perils, challenges, encounters, events and arrivals that make the journey feel like an important aspect of play (something like in the RPG Ryuutama). At the end of a journey players may have arrived at the residence of an important person and seek an Audience. The Audiences are an important part of AiME as forming relationships plays a significant part in the campaign. Rules for the Audience involve cultural attitudes and skills which favor some PCs who might be weaker in combat. It also allows for player to meet the movers and shakers (favorite characters from the fiction) of Middle Earth and do some role-playing.
The Fellowship Phase (again borrowed from The One Ring) covers rest and recovery from injuries and corruption and whatever else PCs do when not adventuring on the road. The time may be spent training, to gain a new talent, to meet a patron, to open a sanctuary, receive a title, or research lore.
At the time of this post only the Players Guide for AiME is available and it does not include any monsters or much information on the setting of Middle Earth. A Loremasters Guide is promised and will presumably cover the rest of the game rules and setting information. As it stands I believe AiME's Player Guide illustrates many of the aspects of customizing 5E for a specific setting and highlights 5E's ability to be modified for a setting quite different from The Realms.

Me & 5E

Referee Empowerment
It's been out for a while and I have been playing and running 5E enough now to say there is a lot to like about it. Wizards (WotC) listened to gamers who still find joy in the old game and 5E can be played much like an old school game. It also lends itself to a more 4E style of play, if that is your preference. No game can be all things to all players, but the folks at WotC have made a good attempt with 5E.
What I like about 5E the most can be summed-up as referee empowerment. The 5E books are set-up to give the referee choices - there is wide latitude in how 5E can be played from campaign to campaign. It supports different styles of combat, experience awards, leveling and magic. Chargen can be point-buy or rolled randomly. Combat can use the grid or not. Experience can vary greatly in how the referee awards it and therefore what PC behavior is reinforced. Leveling can include feats and multi-classing, or not.
Support is there for role-playing, but there are no real mechanics tied to role-playing as such (except Inspiration, maybe). Playing the role of one's PC is expected as part of the experience during the game rather than mechanically a part of the game system itself. This facet helps separate 5E from more story-telling games and was the way role-playing happened in older Editions.
Magic is one place where the referee has to be thinking about the specifics of the desired campaign feel. Who has magic? What energizes magic? How common is it's use? How are spells acquired? What is the common reaction to witnessing magic use? The default in 5E seems similar to the default in White Box and other Editions of the World's First RPG. But there is nothing that says one must play default.
Customizing magic, monsters, PC classes and races, deities, tech level, alignment, the balance of "good" and "evil", within the game are all classic ways to make a setting feel unique. The modular nature of 5E lends itself to modification and the referee is not likely to break the game by modification.
I will end this post near where I began, with referee empowerment. Some may wonder why I would be concerned with referee empowerment, after all don't referees have all the power? In White Box play when a referee creates a unique dungeon, world, etc. of their own it probably is obvious. In a hobby like today where games are likely to have more extensive rules and require few referee rulings; where published settings and organized play are the norm, it may not seem so obvious that referees have power. All too often the role of the referee is to read the box text and roll dice for the monsters. I have read many blogs about players and roll playing verses role playing. The roll playing referee is a less often discussed topic. Personally, I appreciate 5E's invitation to get the referee back into the game.

World Building

Referee as Creator
On page 5, of Vol. I the White Box sets the stage for the referee to begin the task of creating a fantastic world of imagination in the guise of the game milieu.

PREPARATION FOR THE CAMPAIGN:
The referee bears the entire burden here, but if care and thought are used, the
reward will more than repay him. First, the referee must draw out a minimum of
half a dozen maps of the levels of his “underworld,” people them with monsters of
various horrid aspect, distribute treasures accordingly, and note the location of the
latter two on keys, each corresponding to the appropriate level.

Advice is given in Vol. III regarding construction of dungeon levels, dungeon traps, puzzles and other challenges and the distribution of dungeon monsters and treasures.  Reading this material today I find it fairly comprehensive and I wonder at why it seemed so puzzling to my college freshman eyes when I first encountered White Box. I ask myself if many of the concepts that seemed so novel and mysterious in 1977 have become part of general knowledge or whether they would remain enigmatic to a fresh gamer reading them for the first time today? How much has the hobby changed our culture in 40 years?
According to gamer legend, Mr. Gygax believed this creation process would be something each referee would desire to do for themselves and that such creative activity would constitute a significant portion of the "fun" to be had with his new game. We all tend to assume others enjoy what we do and I am pretty sure he and Mr. Arneson derived a great deal of pleasure from imagining their respective dungeons and campaign worlds and sharing their creations through play. I get it.
White Box is much more than a dungeon crawler, however well it supports that style of play. Taking the role of an imaginary game persona in a fantastic setting has so much more potential than the dungeon offers. It doesn't take long to start to wonder what lies outside the caverns and tunnels? What does my PC do when not delving? Where do I spend found treasure? A referee might well jump at the opportunity these questions provide and get down to the business of creating even more fantastic settings to share with players. Turning now to Vol. III, page 14:

THE WILDERNESS:
The so-called Wilderness really consists of unexplored land, cities and castles, not
to mention the area immediately surrounding the castle (ruined or otherwise) which
housed the dungeons. The referee must do several things in order to conduct wilderness
adventure games. First, he must have a ground level map of his dungeons,
a map of the terrain immediately surrounding this, and finally a map of the town
or village closest to the dungeons (where adventurers will be most likely to base
themselves).

Maps are then followed by a detailed description of the locations depicted and an entire imaginary world starts taking shape. I imagine the authors envisioned each referee creating their own unique setting, drawing freely upon all their own experiences for inspiration. It is no wonder Mr. Gygax was so excited about sharing this new type of game/hobby with others. Many of the imaginary worlds so created make good reading entertainment as well as provide a setting for game play. Each imaginary world presents its author with the opportunity to express their preferences and favorite themes, bringing something of their own to share with others in the spirit of cooperative enjoyment. For those of us who have always enjoyed maps, the bits of unexplored territory beckon to our imagination. Here be dragons!

The Same Game

RPG Smash Up
A teacher once told a class that our history shapes our future, or something similar to that. My life in this hobby begins with White Box, which in some ways is a tool-kit for fantasy role-playing rather than a full-on game. Its popularity, or maybe the popularity of the idea it introduced, quickly led to un-official published alternative sub-systems which could be used with White Box, or conceivably any other RPG. Within six months of my introduction, my friends and I are experimenting with some alternative systems (Metagaming's Melee for combat) in our White Box play. As the Advanced volumes and Basic Set are released we incorporate them into our game. It's not uncommon for us to have the three Little Brown Books, the Blue Basic rules and one or two of the Advanced hardbacks all at our game table and to pick and choose among them during play. Any conflicts between the versions are settled by a referee ruling and we quickly move along.
That's my history. How it affects my future is a matter of continuity. Some say the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and when it comes to my approach to role-playing rules I suppose this is true. I tend to play my games in the same way as I started out, combining a little of this and a little of that and mashing it all together. This is rather easy when it comes to class based d20-type fantasy games. Whether one adds in a skills system or not, prefers descending or ascending AC, uses three alignments or nine, it is all the same game in my world. In the early days there was some necessary practicality to this approach. The group I gamed with didn't all have the same game product. I had White Box, another had Blue Basic and yet another the Advanced Hardback. We all liked to draw from the material we had been studying at home and use our own books at the table. Each of the separate products has its own strengths and all seem incomplete without the others. Basic only takes a PC to third level and Advanced would appear one book a year over three years starting with the monsters. The PHB came next, but included rules we didn't really understand, so we ignored parts of it. The Advanced combat tables would be part of the final release, so until it came along we used the White Box combat tables and were quite happy with our game.
In the early days this was quite easy and caused us little trouble. Fortunately the basic system has remained very similar across all the early versions of Our Favorite Game. Published play aids labeled for one version of the game work quite well with any of the others. Eventually the group I most frequently gamed with in the '80s started to search for a better game system. One that would seem more realistic. We tried several because the hobby had by this time produced several good games, many with dissimilar, non d20 mechanics. My approach to RPG rules, is based on my experience with White Box, and continues to be one of borrowing and combining. I still think this way. It is very hard for me as referee to stick strictly to the rules as written. I much prefer to bring in a fun way of doing something from another game rather than struggle at the table figuring out the correct way according to the current rules. (This I believe at times frustrates some of my players.) Generally I find this approach works for me and seems acceptable to the folks I game with. Maybe they just know it is my style and tolerate me. Tolerance can be a good thing!
As a result I still refer to any class-based FRPG as playing D&D.

Fight On!

Old School Fanzine
With a title inspired by the illustration on the last page of White Box vol. III The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures and a cover subscript that says "for Fantasy Role Playing Campaigns played with Pencil, Paper and Your Imagination" it is evident who the target audience for this publication is. Aimed clearly at those gamers who appreciate the Original Role Playing Game and its simulacrums, each issue includes a selection of creative articles, dungeon designs, rule suggestions, cartoons and art, all reminiscent of the early days of gaming and authored by some of the best talent in the hobby.

No other hobby provides as many creative outlets. You are a performer, designer, illustrator, tactician, and philosopher, while socializing with friends. - taken from "What is a Role-Playing Game, Anyway?" via FO!

Pictured above is issue #2 of Fight On! In this issue we have three nice dungeon style adventures including the well regarded The Darkness Beneath: The Upper Caves and a non-canonical Empire of the Petal Thrones adventure, a wilderness adventure/hexcrawl and two nice maps, one urban, one regional, for the referee to work their own imagination on. Several names appearing in this issue are familiar to me including an interview with Dave Arneson, co-author of my favorite rules, a Random Inn Generator by James Edward Raggi IV, author of Lamentations of the Flame Princess, a generic wilderness map by Robert Conley (Bat in the Attic) with setting and hex descriptions by James Maliszewski (Grognardia), a monster generator by Vincent Baker (Dogs in the Vineyard), a selection of fresh magic items and monsters from the imagination of Jeff Reints (Jeffs Gameblog), some new combat spells from the book of Steve Marsh and some insight into the First Dungeon Adventure penned by Greg "The Great Svenny" Svenson.
In the earliest days of the hobby, back when "The Great Svenny" was making his mark around Castle Blackmoor, amateur publications, including fanzines, were a great way to network with other like-minded hobbyists, share creative ideas and gain recognition in the fledgling hobby by writing a good article or submitting some good art. In those days the fanzine was a paper product mailed to you. Today the internet serves a lot of that same purpose, but I still like holding a paper product in my hands. Fortunately others do also, and it is still possible to order printed copies of such publications through online print-on-demand publishers.  

Deadly Dice

...then cast Raise Dead
The dice bag pictured above expresses a sentiment often adhered to by older gamers (like me). Those of us who first wargamed and then discovered role-play and finally story games may have a different view of dice than say someone with a different background. I started wargaming with Avalon Hill's Waterloo, a campaign game about Napoleon's last campaign during the so-called Hundred Days which culminated in defeat at Waterloo. One player took the French forces of Napoleon and the other the allied forces under the Duke of Wellington. As a campaign game, there was no guarantee that the battlefield of Waterloo would be the decisive point, but it often worked out that way when I played. One thing that was a constant in every game, whether it was Waterloo or Risk or Monopoly, was how we treated dice rolls. They were final and often decisive. More than once the outcome of the game would hang on a single roll of the die, always rolled in the open for all to see, and we all accepted that there was no re-roll, no "fudging". One dropped or rolled the dice and the result was final. The outcome was accepted as the "rule of fate". There was no appeal, no do-over, no raise dead.
So we came to White Box play with much the same assumptions about dice. I still roll the dice in the open, for all to see. There are no do overs, but there is raise dead. Dice rolls can be dramatic when rolled in the open with known consequences at stake. The suspense of such die rolls is why I still prefer Save or Die saving throws. The campaign has to be set up to accommodate such play, however, and frequently this is overlooked. A dead PC should not end a player's time at the table. White Box and other systems that allow for quick chargen can usually solve the problem with a few minutes aside while a new PC is generated. Other solutions include raise dead magic, or allowing players to run more than one PC at a time, or to promote a hireling or henchmen to PC status. Once the campaign reaches maturity and higher level PCs are partying, there must be a way for the player who loses a high level PC to continue gaming. This can be handled by having each player control a number of PCs ranging in level from highest on down, which admittedly requires pretty frequent play to keep such a campaign going, or balancing things so that a 1st level PC can run with a high level party and feel like they can contribute. I've seen it done, but it is tricky. Personally, I prefer raise dead.
The above dice bag is by The Gallant's Hand Gamers Gear.

Empire of Imagination

E. Gary Gygax's Story
I just finished Empire of Imagination (EoI) and found it an easy and enjoyable read. It is a biography in the traditional sense of the man who co-authored the White Box and founded TSR Hobbies. The Jeff Easley cover illustration fits the narrative very nicely and really tells much of the story in a single picture. Mr. Gygax was a guy who worked long hours at the typewriter, who was part hippie rebel, part conservative nerd, who fueled his marathon bouts of creativity with buttermilk, beer, wine, coffee and cigarettes, and who gave the world new light in the guise of a game.
In EoI we follow Mr. Gygax from boyhood to death, sharing in his joys and his heartbreaks and there were many of each. Author Michael Witwer reminds us often that Mr. Gygax's inner child was strong and to some extent Gary never grew up entirely, never stopped having fun. We are also shown the weight of responsibility he must have felt as father of five, eventually six, children who often struggled to pay bills, and as the president of an often stressful company, TSR Hobbies. He was subject to early and frequent loss of people close to him, and much like Shakespeare's Hamlet, he was haunted by his relationship at the end with his father. He was demonized by some as a so-called corrupter of youth and inventor of a game they feared and worshiped by others as the father of the hobby they loved.
Through-out the story imagination plays a central theme in the life of Mr. Gygax and the hobby he helped create. Gary's imagination and ability to organize his thoughts and get them on paper and into the hands of others is a central theme in this book. It is full of factual information about a man who has become legendary. Over the years there have been many gamers who have told me their Gary Gygax story, how they sat at Gary's table, or met him once and what he supposedly said to them. EoI gives us a glimpse into the life of the real man with all his gifts and faults.

Dungeon Fantasy GURPS

Dungeon Crawling with GURPS
The Dungeon Fantasy (DF) line of digital downloads from Steve Jackson Games and published 2008 has been around for a while. The first four products in the line are subtitled, Adventurers, Dungeons, The Next Level, and Sages. At one point they were all available as print books, but are currently digital only. The goal of the Dungeon Fantasy line is to enter a cave complex or other "dungeon" - type environment "- and seeing lots of monsters, killing them, and taking their treasure." Sound familiar?
Dungeon Fantasy supports players who are interested in playing the classic type of game White Box introduced the world to, but using the GURPS rules. DF1 Adventurers contains guidelines for creating the kind of class - based iconic adventurers White Box called fighting men, magic users and clerics, as well as thieves and other later classes, using the point-buy system of GURPS. DF1 does this using templates which describe the iconic character and list suggested attributes, skills, advantages, disadvantages and spells. The resulting characters are described as "two dimensional 'heroes' from a non-culture", but with the necessary abilities to survive in a dungeon environment where combat and deadly traps are common.

Once players have characters ready to adventure the referee using Dungeon Fantasy 2 Dungeons can introduce them to the "dungeon". DF2 is a game aid to help referees design a suitable environment and choose GURPS rules that facilitate a "fast and loose dungeon crawl". The emphasis in DF2 is tailoring GURPS to give a game similar to the classic dungeon experience. Suggestions include handling traps and environmental challenges frequently associated with the dungeon environment and for hack-n-slash combat with monsters, looting and recovering, all in keeping with the GURPS design philosophy of making the game one's own. The DF products are not a stand alone system, but rather tools to help the referee use GURPS Basic Set in a very specific way.
Although I have had the Dungeon Fantasy books 1-4 for some time, they are not something I consider essential to running a dungeon-style fantasy campaign with GURPS. I was already running GURPS as a fantasy RPG before I read DF. I have borrowed ideas from DF and find there are many good suggestions contained therein for the style of game I like to referee. For players who didn't progress to GURPS play by starting with The Fantasy Trip then Man-To-Man, DF might be more essential.
Steve Jackson Games recently started a Kickstarter campaign to fund a Dungeon Fantasy stand alone boxed game powered by GURPS. I am going out-on-a-limb thinking this will not be vapor-ware because Steve Jackson Games has a good history with past Kickstarters. How much this new product will make use of the DF play aids is only a guess. The new product promises five new books, cardboard figures, combat maps and dice. It looks like a beginner box to me, an entry point for the system that is manageable, something GURPS has needed for a while. With new artwork dedicated to the fantasy genre and a streamlined system easier for beginning players, I am looking forward to the Dungeon Fantasy box.

Vacant Ritual Assembly

Fan Created Gaming Goodness
Vacant Ritual Assembly (VRA) is what I call a fanzine. Fanzines associated with the Role-Playing Game date back to the beginning of the hobby and really are an indication that what we do is a hobby and not just a game we play. The content of fanzines across the decades range from quite amateurish to quite professional. Fanzines have given the careers of various talents a boost (Paul Jaquays - Dungeoneer) and helped keep the creative spirit of the hobby fresh for over 40 years. Some of the early fanzine's such as Alarums & Excursions have become legends in the hobby.
VRA is from the mind of Clint Krause who has also authored a game or so (Don't Walk in Winter Wood) and has some very good Youtube videos devoted to gaming. The cover illustration is art from Ryan Sheffield (Ritual Abuse Tarot). Mr. Krause is self publishing under the name Red Moon Medicine Show. Mr. Krause indicates that VRA is an outlet for material he has created for his home Lamentations of the Flame Princess OSR campaign and each issue gives more material from that campaign as well as some inspirational references he calls "Evangelism" (lists of songs, books and other creative influences) and most issues contain an interesting interview.
I find most of the game aid material published by the big houses these days of good quality with excellent art, but also rather vanilla in flavor. I like vanilla and I buy what I consider a lot of these game aids. I also like fresh original flavors that don't seem like places I've been to before. The small press, independent and self publishers sometimes produce material as good as anything from the big guys and it's often unlike anything else in content.
Mr. Krause has described the Lost Wood (detailed in issue 3) and the setting around it as inspired by the woods he knew as a boy growing up and the stories he and his friends made-up about the wood. Inspiring us to draw on our own experiences and convert them into something fantastic for gaming through the use of our imagination is something he does particularly well. Each of us has stories to tell. Sometimes creating the fantastic for our game is just a matter of learning to draw on our experiences and stories in a way that fits into the shared fictional game world and adding a little imagination.
Vacant Ritual Abuse (issues 1-5) is available in .pdf from drivethrurpg.com.

PC Interactions

Group Dynamics in the Game
A role-playing or adventure game has an implied social contract. Really any game can. It is implied that everyone wishes to have fun together, that everyone will be respected and that each will have a part to play. Furthermore, it is implied that rules will fairly apply to everyone and that any disputes will be handled in a fair and friendly manner. Do games occasionally fall short of these expectations, of course they do. But I believe a usually unstated assumption of something similar to this social contract is a cornerstone of the hobby.
Hobby folks, as a group are welcoming and eager to share their interest with anyone who shows a similar interest in the hobby. The role-playing hobby from the start has been about showing others how to play the game and sharing in a fun experience. White Box and other game rule systems are set up with a subtle, but powerful group dynamic mechanic to ensure that group fun happens. The class system creates distinct player characters with a niche to fill during the game. No one PC has all the necessary skills and abilities for success and must depend on other PCs in some situations, other PCs have other specialties because they are of another class. This is a unifying mechanic. The game is set-up to be cooperative.
Conflicts are interesting and factions are also a part of the game. White Box allows for PCs to be one of four races roughly based off the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien (although Mr. Gygax would minimize this connection), humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits (later changed to halflings after the Tolkien Estate contacted TSR). Friction between elves and dwarves is the stuff of legend and frequently enters the game as good-natured banter.
The PC is assigned an alignment by the player, either Law, Chaos or Neutrality in the White Box. This is an idea drawn from literature (Poul Anderson and Michael Moorcock) and intended to be an artificial division of all creatures in the fantastic setting into "teams" or "forces" which oppose one another. The forces of Chaos naturally work against the forces of Law. Neutrality seems to be folks just out for themselves. Game conflict is inevitable and forms the basis of a good guys/bad guys paradigm. 
In reaction to the question, "What does my PC do when not adventuring?" game designers put forth rules for how the PC fits into the fictional society. Games including Chivalry & Sorcery and RuneQuest emphasize the PC's role in the fantasy society. In these games players are encouraged to role-play their PCs interacting with other PC and NPC members of  the shared fiction, forming relationships and progressing upward in society thereby playing a larger role in the setting. Role-playing the same sorts of situations which may occur in real life, such as asking a stranger in a position of power for assistance or confronting a person abusing their power, or just finding out what they know about a missing person is often the goal of a session of play.
From its earliest days the game, regardless of rules used, has been set up as a social interaction using a shared fiction with fun and excitement for all as the goal. Ultimately something more than that usually happens. Social skills are practiced, friendships are formed and stories are made. Stories which then become part of our shared history.