Alignment Language

What Does That Mean?
I know a lot of referees choose to dismiss alignment language as an anachronism with little relevance for their game, but for me interpretation matters. The Little Brown Books are often so brief in their text that each reader can interpret the meaning differently. This is one of the great appeals of White Box for me - how a few lines of text can lead to so much creative thinking on the part of those who imagine what it could mean in their game.
In Volume I: Men & Magic it is written that: "Law, Chaos and Neutrality also have common languages spoken by each respectively." In context this follows that there is a "common tongue" language spoken by most humans and the other creatures and "monsters" have their own language although some 20% also know the common tongue. The alignment languages are spoken so we know they are not some form of (secret) sign language.
Rather than dismiss alignment language as unnecessary, I think the concept has some usefulness as demonstrated by the statement: "While not understanding the language, creatures who speak a divisional tongue will recognize a hostile one and attack." and as referee, I prefer to make use of this tool. I do not think a full blown language complete with grammar and syntax is necessary to achieve the desired effect. A unique vocabulary should be sufficient. Anyone who has listened to various professionals "talk trade" quickly realizes the existence of a shared vocabulary which facilitates understanding among those "in the know".
Alignment and religion can readily be connected in the game, and I think there is some precedent and logic in doing so. Sources of inspiration frequently paint one god as "good" or "lawful" or "neutral" or "evil", etc. Often those labels change with who is speaking, but vilifying those who practice  competing religion has been a common enough occurrence. Many of the world's religions are rife with certain words which hold specific meaning in a religious context. It is certainly conceivable that overhearing a curse, or prayer uttered could instantly identify someone as a believer of a certain faith.
This is how I choose to interpret alignment language. For me it is a set of specific words, the meaning of which is known by those of a shared alignment and are generally unknown by those outside that alignment. Those not sharing a specific alignment may recognize the use of certain key words as belonging to those of another alignment even though they are spoken in the common tongue. I believe this furthers the cause implied in alignments, that of determining teams of friendly and hostile creatures. A few spoken words overheard allows this feature to function while also allowing for some ambiguity when the referee desires, such as when no "key" alignment words are overheard.
Of course there are other interpretations of this alignment language passage in Volume I. It is certainly possible that the authors were referring to a full blown language such as "Black Speech" as found in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and spoken by all those servants of evil. Such an interpretation would lend itself equally well to helping players distinguish friend from foe. Interpreting alignment language in this manner could allow it to be linked with certain divine and non-divine magical effects. The famous incantation inscribed on The One Ring is in Black Speech which presumably is part of the magic. Reading a tome of black magic written in the Chaos language evokes a certain flavor as does ruling that the reversed spells of evil clerics are spoken in the Chaos tongue.

Lankhmar

City of the Black Toga
Hobbits, elves and dwarves populate the White Box milieu because of the popularity of the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien, but in his Appendix N of the Dungeon Master's Guide, Gary Gygax lists Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series as one of the "most immediate influences" on his fantasy work. The series Mr. Gygax refers to includes five books published in 1968 (and one each in 1977 and 1988 which were published afterwards). The stories are set in the fictitious Lankhmar, City of the Black Toga and surrounding areas. The population is primarily human, although various aliens and original races do make appearances. Nehwon, the world setting, which at times is described as a bubble floating through space, is a magical place where sorcerers cast electrical bolts and visitors from far away dimensions and other worlds frequently intrude.
Lankhmar itself is described as a smokey (City of Ten Thousand Smokes), misty (Swords in the Mist!) place ruled by a pampered overlord who abhors human hair and demands all his servants (and concubines) be completely shaved - even their eye lashes. Various guilds exercise power over the many trades, markets and professions, including a prominent thieves guild. Religion in Lankhmar is reflected in the various temples along the Street of the Gods. As religions prosper they move up the street and as they decline they move down the street, presumably occupying various ancient temple structures along the journey.
The Swords... tales follow the antics and adventures of two heroic rogues of dubious ethics, Fafhrd, a tall northern barbarian warrior and (the) Gray Mouser, a short southern swordsman and amateur magician. Both characters are complex in their personality, relationships, motivations and interests. The two are usually fast friends, but do experience occasional falling outs that result in heated rivalry. The stories contain much humor and many turns of plot and are stylishly written. I consider them among the best in the genre.
Both Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are frequently in the service of their respective magical patrons - Ningauble of the Seven Eyes and Sheelba of the Eyeless Face - who are themselves sometime allies and sometime rivals each pulling their cohort in opposite directions. Two Sought Adventure, the first published story to feature the duo, was written in 1939 and appeared in Unknown, a magazine which published pulp fiction with a bit more emphasis on humor than Weird Tales and Astonishing Stories (which also published Conan stories by Robert E. Howard - another major influence on Mr. Gygax).
Besides serving as inspiration for White Box, Greyhawk and the Advanced Game, the Swords... stories of Fritz Leiber have been the basis of several Lankhmar settings for various rules including White Box (Supplement IV), Advanced (TSR), RuneQuest (Mongoose), Savage Worlds (Pinnacle Entertainment Group) and Dungeon Crawl Classics (Goodman Games). Two of these are still in print (Savage Worlds & DCCRPG). Lankhmar has unofficially served as a model for many other hobby products (for example - Judges Guild's City State of the Invincible Overlord which includes locations such as the Silver Eel tavern, Cheap Street and the Park of  Pleasure).
White Box is a conglomeration of a number of influences affecting each of its two principle authors (and probably several early players as well). Chief among them is the city of Lankhmar as can be seen in the adventure stories of Fafhrd and (the) Gray Mouser and played out in campaigns bearing the official name "Lankhmar" and those which merely borrow from the memory of those who have read the Swords...
Bored and penniless, adventurers everywhere seek profit and glory just like Fafhrd and Gray Mouser. They consult their wise and powerful patrons, vie with their rivals and frequently cause much collateral mischief in pursuit of wealth and fame, often with the best of intentions, but occasionally only for the most selfish of motives and we, the witnesses to these tabletop adventures, marvel at the surprises, humor and excitement found along the way...with no little thanks to Lankhmar.

GW Basic

Basic in the UK
In 1978 Games Workshop (GW) was a relatively new company still run by two of the co-founders, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson (third co-founder, John Peake, had left the partnership). Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) published the Original Fantasy Role-playing Game in the United States and had been distributing copies in the United Kingdom through Mr. Livingstone and Mr. Jackson's London based company since 1975. GW opened its first brick and mortar store in 1978 and started printing and marketing several of TSR's popular roleplaying products including the new Basic (Holmes Bluebook). I recently acquired a second hand GW printed copy of the Basic Set (pictured above). The box cover is the same red dragon art as the American TSR  printings, but the GW box is considerably thicker - a little over 2" deep and the cover illustration does not wrap around the box sides. The early TSR lizard man logo in red appears at the bottom left of the cover illustration.

GW is using a fairy logo in 1978 and it is visible at the bottom of the title page to the Basic rulebook along with TSR's wizard logo (which replaced lizard man) and the explanation that the product is published by GW under license from TSR. This copy indicates it is a 2nd Edition printing. The 48 page book seems other wise identical to other copies I have which were printed in the United States. I noted that American spelling persists in the text (armor not armour).

The GW Basic Box Set includes introductory module B1 In Search of the Unknown written by Mike Carr. B1 is the same instructional module that is boxed with later printings of Basic in the United States (early ones having Dungeon Geomorphs Set 1 and Monster & Treasure Assortment Set 1 included). The same GW fairy logo can be readily seen on the bottom of the monochrome module cover. I note that the dungeon maps on the inside of the unattached cover are printed in black not blue ink. American copies use a light blue ink on the maps in an effort to make it more difficult to make electronic copies (I understand this to be true).

An add sheet for White Dwarf magazine is probably original to the UK box set. White Dwarf (WD) is still published by GW as a promotional tool for their current product, but in 1978 WD included a range of articles covering a variety of games from different manufacturers and was arguably the best professionally published hobby magazine of its day.  TSR's The Dragon had the advantage of being "official" and contained the writings of such notables as Gary Gygax himself, but I can recall feeling a unique joy when I acquired a copy of the early WD. The creative writing style, with a slightly "foreign" take on the hobby together with the great art illustrations made each issue a treasured artifact from an exotic world - just the kind of thing to add magic to a hobby steeped in such.

Troublesome Deities

What to do with White Box gods?
Games like T&T and The Fantasy Trip leave gods and religion aside. You can add them as "flavor" and evil priests and cultists make good bad guys, but there is no encouragement to create a pantheon and no character class devoted to divine agency. White Box gives us the Cleric class and in doing so sets the stage for religion to be a central part of the game milieu. In staying true to its spirit of do-it-yourself, there are no specific deities mentioned in White Box (at least until Supplement IV is added in). So one of the questions each referee must answer when planning a campaign is what to do about the gods?
It appears the earliest campaigns, Blackmoor and Greyhawk, had a quasi-Christian religious assumption - note the item list in Vol. I: Men & Magic includes "wooden cross" and "silver cross" and the class titles include traditional Christian offices. A Cleric presenting the cross could conceivably turn a vampire (or other undead monsters) by divine power. I don't want to carry this argument too far because many early campaigns certainly included fantastic pantheons of gods borrowed from mythology, literature or entirely made-up.
In my own campaigns I have always avoided handing the players a list of deities preferring to allow each player to invent their own religion and share as much about their deity as they care to. As a result many gods and godlings, demons and spirits are worshiped in my "homeworld" and new ones are invented almost daily. Some will catch-on and be referred to by the referee (me) and other players, sometimes for years, others are quickly forgotten. When a player introduces a Cleric character as referee I ask, "Do you worship a deity? Tell me about them." Sometimes I ask players of other character classes if they worship or follow the teachingsof some religion? As referee I try to personalize the milieu based on input from the players so I may add in some history about their religion or invent a spell for a Cleric based on something they tell me about their deity. I see religion and the deities as a natural outflow of human existence, so I include it in my campaign, just not as an absolute truth. My players frequently encounter worshipers of various deities, some heard of, some unheard of. I leave the true nature of religious truth "up in the air". It seems to work for the players and I like it.

What, No Cleric?

Playing the Game without the Cleric Class
White Box offers the player a choice of three character classes, Fighting Men, Magic Users and Clerics. This intimately connects the game to a religious assumption, however one defines the Cleric's faith. Healing wounds, curing disease and raising the dead are the purview of the Cleric and divine magic. Magic Users seem more elemental with their fire balls and lightning bolts. The Cleric and his/her associated religion are not to everyone's taste, however and many competing game systems (Tunnels & Trolls, The Fantasy Trip) do not include the Cleric class. Clerics are not usually found in Sword & Sorcery fiction except as evil magic using priests. The quasi-Christian "holy warrior" template seemingly used for White Box's Cleric finds no precedent except in crusader-era history (and some Hammer horror films?).
So what happens if we take the Cleric out of our game milieu as a player class? I think it changes the tone of the campaign. Without player Clerics the gods seem more remote and somehow less real which removes some of the "magic" from the game. White Box and all its subsequent Editions relies heavily on players managing the resource of hit points. Healing hit point damage gives a character resilience and allows for recovery from misjudgments or plain bad luck. There are other sources of magical healing, but relying on potions and healing surges changes the nature of the game, perhaps making it more to the liking of some, but less for others. Healing spells can be made available to Magic Users which is how Tunnels & Trolls, The Fantasy Trip and some other games without the Cleric class addresses this need. A non-religion based dedicated healer class (herbalist, alchemist, etc.) is another option.
Given the role religion has played throughout human history the Cleric class seems a natural fit in gaming to me, even though the cleric/priest is rarely a central character (except as an occasional protagonist) in the fantastic literature from which Fantasy RPGs draw inspiration. Therefore there is some understandable creative tension regarding the class. The originators of White Box, and therefore of the hobby, obviously used fantasy religion as a central theme in their campaigns. Gary Gygax not only includes the Cleric in his campaign, but in Supplement I: Greyhawk adds the Paladin subclass of Fighters. Paladins are in many ways just another version of the "holy warrior" ideal which serves the basis of the Cleric class. Dave Arneson gives us The Temple of the Frog in Supplement II: Blackmoor which being the first published adventure from an original campaign centers on a religious monastic (Keepers of the Frogs) temple complex and evil high priest/Cleric (Stephen the Rock).
In my experience the game works perfectly well without the Cleric. I have refereed many a table at which there was no Cleric PC (undead are more powerful in the absence of a Cleric). I have played various systems without the Cleric class and they all work. Removing the Cleric class from White Box (and later Editions) does alter the game, however. As creator of your milieu, perhaps the stories you wish to support and inspire do not involve Clerics or religious warriors. Part of the creative process involves shaping the milieu by deciding what character classes (and races) will be available to play. I see this as "casting" as for a movie or play. Who are likely to be the central figures in the cooperative story that develops during play? You get to decide!

T&T Rogue

More than just a Thief
Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) is a class based fantasy role-playing game (RPG). Players of the first edition choose from a warrior or a wizard character class. Warriors are typical fighting men (or women) who excel at using weapons and armor. Wizards are the magic users who cast powerful magic spells, but are weak in weapon use. Warrior and wizard characters are the archetypes of sword & sorcery fiction which is an inspiration for the hobby. By applying a little imagination to the basic concept of warrior and wizard many if not all of the characters encountered in fantastic literature can be modeled.
The Rogue character class appears in the 4th Edition of Tunnels & Trolls (maybe earlier, I don't have access to editions 2 or 3) as an in-between character. Rogues are decently competent in combat, but not as efficient with armor as warriors. Rogues can cast a few magic spells, but lack the magic expertise of the wizard class. They are not the thief-like characters of Rogues in later editions of The World's Most Popular RPG. There is no provision in T&T for the Rogue to be any better at sneaking, picking pockets or opening locks than warriors or wizards. I like that.
One of my gripes about Supplement I: Greyhawk is that by including the Thief as a class based on the abilities of sneaking, hiding, backstabbing, opening locks, finding and removing traps, etc. the referee (and player) is left to wonder whether non-Thief PCs can attempt such actions? Does the absence of a Thief character mean a locked door stymies the party? Prior to Greyhawk, many referees, including myself, assumed that any adventurer possessed the basic adventurer skill set of sneaking, hiding, picking locks, etc. Of course it is possible to interpret Greyhawk as allowing for any character to attempt these tasks, only that Thieves are better at them. The starting Greyhawk Thief only has a 10% chance of success when removing traps or hiding in shadows, a 15% chance to open locks and a 20% chance to pick pocket or move silently. If Thieves are "expert" at these activities, how much worse are the other character classes?
The T&T Rogue is a "rogue" user of magic - one with the aptitude for magic, but perhaps with no formal training, or one with some early training in magic use, but no real aptitude. Regardless, Rogues are never members of the wizard's guild, cannot learn spells from the guild, do not benefit from a staff or wand and never gain the ability to reduce the strength cost of spells the way wizards do as they advance levels. It is interesting to note that both the Greyhawk Thief and T&T Rogue model aspects of the iconic Gray Mouser character of Fritz Leiber's "Swords..." fictions, though each seem to focus on different abilities.
In earlier editions, the T&T Rogue would eventually reach a point in his/her progression where the player must choose between continuing as a Warrior or as a Wizard and thus losing the abilities of the profession not chosen. In later editions the Rogue is a full class to the end and no choice is ever enforced. Also in later editions a skill mechanic is introduced and Rogues, like other classes, may take skills in thievery or other areas of expertise thereby further customizing each character.
I like the T&T Rogue character class. Of course I bring my own interpretation regarding the class into play when I think of the Rogue as a Jack-of-all-trades sort of character. Luck is an important attribute for the Rogue as I anticipate the Saving Throw mechanic coming into play often. Rogues live by their wits, not overly concerned with societies rules and expectations. Charm and possibly deceit are useful tools for the Rogue who definitely gets into many adventures of opportunity. Adding that bit of magic ability just makes the Rogue class that much more interesting.

Fun with Tunnels & Trolls

"Groovy" RPG Revisited
I spent a lot of time this weekend with an old friend - Tunnels & Trolls (T&T). Tunnels & Trolls describes itself as the second published role-playing game ever. It is designed by Ken St. Andre, a now retired Phoenix librarian and man of much humor and good cheer. Trollgod St. Andre claims he came up with the rules (1975) after reading a borrowed copy of The Original RPG (The Little Brown Books) which he thought were confusing and unnecessarily complex. So he wrote his own game he and his friends would enjoy. This game became quickly popular in his local area and he was encouraged to publish it for sale which he did coming up with the name Tunnels & Trolls (an obvious homage to The Original Game?). Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Inc. became his publisher and also wrote the first solo adventure for an RPG, Buffalo Castle.
I find it fascinating that shortly after the publication of the Wood-grain Box version of The Original RPG, creative folks around the country and abroad started to take the game in various directions, often heavily modifying the rules as they interpreted and re-invented system mechanics and developed their own unique styles of play. I assume this is what the creators of The Original Game had in mind. The Original Game, White Box as I usually refer to it because that was my first version, developed from the campaigns of authors Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and Twin Cities, Minnesota areas respectively. Both campaigns are reflected in official Supplements, Mr. Gygax's Greyhawk and Mr. Arneson's Blackmoor. Although it was not part of the designer's goals to have others play the exact adventures and try to recreate the original campaign experiences, they did provide enough content for us to glean a bit of insight into how they played the game.
The Original Game sparked imaginations in various hotspots around the country and abroad. Tunnels & Trolls was on the table in Arizona by 1975. Folks in northern California around the bay were playing an all-out "gonzo" style of the game in Dave Hargrave's Arduin campaign with lots of new races, classes, spells, monsters - lots of everything! Also in that hotbed of imagination, Greg Stafford was sharing his Glorantha with a number of creative minds who would design RuneQuest after some attempts at using the LBBs. Further south around Pasadena, a variant of The Original Game was developing called Warlock later published by Balboa Games. This version would be Dr. Eric Holmes introduction to the hobby and he would soon edit The Original Game material into the first Basic Game in 1977. In Austin, Texas a slightly different take on the hobby developed under the hand of Steve Jackson who worked for Metagaming Concepts and authored The Fantasy Trip starting with the Microgames Melee and Wizard. Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton and Kurt Fisher developed houserules to support their Middle Earth game at the University of Virginia which eventually saw print (Arms Law, Rolemaster, M.E.R.P.) under their corporate name Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.). Looking back on it now, this phenomenal burst of game creativity amazes me!
Being number two, and a major departure from the LBBs as written, T&T has been unique from the start. Weapons galore means that customization of each Warrior and later Rogue character is as aspect of the game when many other games lacked individualization of characters. Even Wizard characters have a host of 2-die weapons to choose from in the form of various daggers, dirks, stilettos and bodkins. Armor can be pieced out or worn in complete suits, stops hits taken and can even be worn by a Wizard, though that might not be the best idea. Saving throws generally rely on Luck score, but the mechanic can be used as a universal resolution system for just about anything a player attempts. Spells are magic point based and are therefore scalable and fatigue the caster, oh yes, and carry light-hearted names. T&T is built for fun and author Ken St. Andre doesn't let you forget that.
The unique rules of T&T have stood the test of time - the core rules remains the same through the various editions including the latest, Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls released in 2015. While many other systems which saw their beginnings in the 1970's have radically altered their mechanics, T&T stays true to its unique brand. Combat is still a group endeavor with each player adding their combat score together to form a group total which is compared to the monster(s) total and if the party loses the round, the group divides hits among characters. No other RPG I have come across emphasizes the "group" dynamic quite so obviously.
The Deluxe Edition is a book dedicated to "old school" games, and gamers. The crew that worked on the project are those who were originally involved in the creation of T&T...and it shows. There is a consistency in mechanics, style, writing and artwork that goes all the way back to 1975. There isn't really anything else in the hobby quite like T&T. Every time I open any edition of T&T I am reminded how much fun this game is and how many good memories I have connected to it. T&T is like that old pair of comfortable jeans that just feels so right...bell bottoms and all!