Blackmoor Assassin

A Look at The Evil One
Supplement II: Blackmoor is influenced by Dave Arneson's original campaign of Blackmoor according to the words Gary Gygax writes in his forward to the White Box supplement published in 1975. As such, the supplement has a slightly different "feel" to it (as evidenced by the illustration above) than previous material which was more focused on Mr. Gygax's Greyhawk campaign in the case of Supplement I, or the more "generic" fantasy swords& sorcery as may be the case with the original three LBBs. Tim Kask is listed as editor of Supplement II and according to gamer legend, it was Mr. Kask who took a stack of campaign material submitted by Mr. Arneson and edited it into the Supplement we see published.
Blackmoor seems a bit "darker" to me and that has influenced my own "homebrew" campaign I fondly refer to as Dreadmoor. Supplement I: Greyhawk presents the Thief class and Paladin subclass as options for player characters. Both influence the milieu of a campaign in which they are used by becoming part of the "cast of players" in the story that develops through gaming. Supplement II introduces two new subclasses, the Monk and the Assassin and doing so makes a dramatic impact on the cast. Taken together with Temple of the Frog - the first TSR published adventure location - we have our major insights into the Blackmoor milieu.
This discourse is focused on the Assassin because I believe its inclusion among the player character classes marks a seminal event in the game. White Box and its supplements have three alignments, Law, Chaos and Neutrality. Assassins must be of Neutral alignment (in the Advanced game they must be of Evil alignment). Like many rules in the original game, this is left open to interpretation. Neutral alignment seems to me to place the assassin firmly in between the two major warring camps, serving either for pay - there is an assassin fee in Volume 3 of the LBBs and additional fee information in Supplement II. Player character assassins receive experience for paid assassinations, so presumably this is an expected part of the campaign in which Assassins appear as PCs.
Supplement II indicates that Assassins have thief skills and "may also serve as thieves". The Assassin must be a member of the assassin's guild which is headed by a guildmaster which is the highest level attainable by the assassin character. The assassin's guild seem ripe with possibilities for adventure and its mere existence in a campaign is telling. The original game leaves the moral dichotomy of "Good" and "Evil" out of alignment, but certainly supports the idea that such exists through Detect Evil and Protection from Evil spells. What is good or evil is however left up to the players to explore and discover as part of campaign play. The neutral alignment of the Blackmoor Assassin leaves this moral question unanswered. It is certainly possible to create a James Bond style organization of "agents" with license to kill in one's fantasy adventure game milieu.
If Dave Arneson ever talked about how he envisioned the Assassin class being played in his Blackmoor I am not aware of it. For me the Assassin brings a dark element to the campaign. I think of nefarious characters hiding in dark alleys, of persons in disguise slipping poison into the king's cup, of Hamlet, not 007. How the assassin is used in the game is of course up to the players - providing they can ever qualify for one. The three LBBs do not list any minimum ability scores to qualify for playing one of the three original character classes. High scores in the prime requisite grants a bonus to earned experience (low scores, a penalty), but no minimum requirement. The Greyhawk Paladin introduces the concept and requires a Charisma score of at least 17 and Lawful alignment. The Blackmoor Assassin has three prime requisites, Dexterity, Strength and Intelligence - all must be at a minimum score of 12. Rolling three d6 in order suggests the Assassin will be a rare occurrence as a PC.
Giving some thought to the Assassin and how to incorporate the class into my own campaign, my first thought is as a more deadly version of the Lankhmar Thieves guild. Then I recall that Dave Arneson is rumored to have been a fan of the Hammer Horror films which may have inspired the Cleric Turn Dead ability. The White Box Cleric I interpret as a combination of this film inspiration and the warrior monks of the crusading era that probably inspired Gary Gygax (the cover of Chainmail features what looks like a Knight Templar). The same crusader-era history includes a religious group called "al-Hashashin" who under the leadership of The Old Man of the Mountain had agents throughout the area who served as spys and killers operating from their hidden mountain fortress and who inspire the modern term assassin.
I understand Blackmoor's classification of the Assassin as a subclass of Thief. I also like the idea of the Assassin having a fantasy religious connection (possibly demonic?). The figure in the illustration taken from the Blackmoor supplement is most likely a monk, but what about recasting him as an assassin? Housed in a temple as a member of a secret order of religious fanatics who have agents across the campaign, perhaps the assassin has access to divine magic in the form of items or even spells? I hope this isn't stretching the original concept too far.

Is 5th Edition Old School?

My Perspective
Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro have done an excellent job listening to "old school" gamers and 5e is much closer to older editions of the game than 4th Edition was. From a marketing stand-point, 5e maybe hits the sweet spot between appealing to as many hobbyists, old and new school, as possible. Prompted by Mike Mearls' Greyhawk Variant and recent release of Unearthed Arcana: Greyhawk Initiative, I am once again comparing 5e to my concepts of an "old school" game. I now have enough experience with 5e that I feel comfortable commenting on that from my personal old school perspective.
Over the decades since the beginning of the hobby initiated by White Box, gamers have come to expect new and different things from their rule system. PC individualization and ability to survive have increased over time when comparisons are made between older and newer editions of the game. The White Box PC level progression can be stated as "zero-to-hero-to-superhero". In contrast, WizBro era editions tend to start PCs at higher levels of relative power and then progress more quickly to super power status and beyond. A combination of the ascending Armor Class mechanic introduced in 3e, Ability score bonuses and Feats can drastically increase the damage output of PCs. The result is that today's "super hero" PC has dramatically changed the "feel" of the game for many older referees (myself included).
The relative power level of a 1st level character is dramatically higher in 5e than White Box as evidenced by the chances to hit an enemy in melee. Using the Alternative Combat System found in Volume 1: Men & Magic, the 1st level PC (of any class) has to roll a 12 or higher on a d20 to hit Armor Class 7 (Leather Armor), a common AC for many "monsters". Rolling a 12 or higher on the twenty-sided dice gives a 45% chance of success (high Strength does not increase chance to hit in White Box). So a little less than one-half the time the PC hits the monster.
In 5e To-Hit numbers are determined quite different from using the matrix of White Box (and early AD&D). The 1st level PC has a base AC target number to hit rolling a d20. Leather Armor gives an AC of 11. To make an attack, the player rolls a twenty-sided die and adds any Ability Bonus (usually Strength bonus for melee) and Proficiency Bonus (+2) for a 1st level character. Creating an "average" PC by-the-book in 5e likely results in a Strength Ability bonus of  +3 (for a Fighter), so the total adds to the d20 roll is +5. In order to hit an AC of 11, the fighter needs a score of 6 or better (11 minus 5 equals 6). This is a 75% chance of success - much higher than that of the White Box Fighting Man.
Player Character power level is only one aspect of play affecting how one feels about the game. "rulings not rules" is another commonly held believe regarding "old school" play and in this 5e is a return to a more rules lite, loose system allowing referee fiat to a greater degree than other WizBro era editions. The 5e books are written with a number of options in place which can be accessed or ignored by the referee allowing customization of the game while staying technically within the rules as written. Whether this goes far enough to satisfy the individual referee is a question each must answer for themselves.
The 5e system currently comes in two flavors: the full system found in the three core hardbacks and a "Basic" system found online as free downloads. The Basic 5e is a simplified and cut-down version of the full game and it includes no art. In effect the material it does contain seems more consistent with an "old school" approach to the game than the full version. The Basic game limits character class selection to the basic four - cleric, fighter, rogue and wizard; it limits races to the traditional human, elf, dwarf and halfling. There are no warlocks or sorcerers, no dragonborn or tiefling, and no feats. Rogue Comet has taken the Basic 5e material and re-imagined it as Dungeonesque which is marketed as 5e optimized for "old school" play.
I have not used the Greyhawk Initiative variant rules, but reading them I am reminded of how the Perrin Conventions (1976) were used together with White Box to give more structure and tactical focus to combat using the LBBs. The Greyhawk Initiative system uses a count-down mechanic that likely results in ranged attacks going off first followed by movement, melee and spell casting. Each player must declare at the beginning of each round what they intend to do. According to Mr. Mearls, it may also make healing a bit more difficult to use in combat (and thereby give a more deadly game?).
Ease of character generation and the ability to handle frequent character death go hand-in-hand in my opinion and I find 5e restrictive in this regard. Healing is frequent and readily available in 5e reflecting more recent popular trends in game design. PCs, and NPCs using similar rules, are difficult to kill using all the "get out of death" options available. PC death, when it happens, is often the result of a "perfect storm" of everything going wrong rather than a calculated gamble on the part of a player. The incremental reduction of White Box PC hit points allows the player to calculate how long their PC is "likely" to last in a fight. The player can quickly "do the odds" in their head and make decisions based on known probabilities. The "save or die" mechanics of some traps and poisons is an obvious exception to this "predictability" in White Box and while perhaps feeling "unfair" to some, maintains an element of "fear" in the game. A dead PC can result in a period "out of game" for the player forced to generate a new character that is directly proportional to how much time needs to be spent in chargen. Thus I think quicker is better in a game likely to have high PC mortality rates.
All these aspects combine in a game system to create a "feel" at the game table. If the referee desires an "old school" feel and has players who also buy into this style of gaming, can 5e deliver? I am still debating this, but also finding myself leaning ever further away from saying, "yes, it can". I like that older modules can be played with 5e (more easily than with 4e or 3e) and that WizBro is publishing new material inspired by the old modules. I like Backgrounds and the fact that Feats are optional. I like Advantages and Disadvantages as a mechanic and the general looseness and brevity of the rules (and the fact that there are ONLY three books). I am less happy with healing, PC mortality and "power level".
The 5e rules give a nice game, an enjoyable tabletop adventure game experience and the published play-aids are entertaining and well written for the most part. WizBro is doing a very good job with the 5e product in my opinion and I am quite pleased over-all. Perhaps it is inconsequential whether 5e is "old school" or not.  Maybe all that matters is that it has appeal to a self-styled "old school" referee.

d100 Clones

Adventure Gaming with Percentile Dice
My recent exploration of Zweihander has me thinking about the trend in our hobby to re-imagine older game systems, add new material and create something both old and new. In the better examples an idea that has been around for a while is improved on, either through better organization and layout, better game mechanics in one or more areas, additional material which builds on and takes the original concept to bigger and better things, or in some other way brings something new and worthwhile to the hobby. The flexibility and popularity of White Box and mechanics based on the use of a twenty-sided die has produced the majority of these clones, simulacrum, pseudo-clones, what-ifs and love letters to... But there are also a few of the re-imaginings which focus on games using other mechanical systems involving either six-sided dice or percentiles. Zweihander is one such product which takes its inspiration from a percentile or d100 roll-under system. There are others.

OpenQuest has a new "refreshed" edition out. It takes its inspiration from the d100 games originally produced by Chaosium in the 1970's and re-tooled by Mongoose around 2006. OpenQuest makes use of the Mongoose Open Game License (OGL) System Reference Document (SRD) and is therefore an open game license product itself. It is this OGL concept spearheaded by Ryan Dancey at Wizards of the Coast and widely adopted that has made the re-imaginings (and a host of creative products) possible. No small thanks is due Mr. Dancey and WotC for this "gift" to our hobby. OpenQuest is generic in the sense that it is not directly connected to a specific world, but like many of the d100 clones it clings closely to the original bronze age myth-based heroic age feel that RuneQuest has. Battle magic, spirit magic, divine magic, cults, and sorcery will feel familiar to anyone conversant with the old Glorantha based products, but each section of the OpenQuest rules also bears the unique stamp of Mr. Newport's vision of his preferred game style.
Percentile dice have been rolling around the game table for a long time. Basing game mechanics on a roll-under percentile is about the simplest and easiest to understand mechanic yet invented for introducing chance into data driven game play. I recall rolling the two polyhedrons used for generating percentiles as part of wargaming long before I heard of White Box, role-playing or fantasy gaming. Several early fantasy role-play games made use of percentile dice in one way or another, probably because they were being used in historical wargaming from which the hobby emerged.

The first game I recall playing that used a straight-up, intuitive, roll-under, percentile based skill system as the central mechanic was RuneQuest from which Basic RolePlaying (BRP) is developed. The BRP engine powers most of Chaosium's many RPGs including personal favorites Call of Cthulhu, Stormbringer and Magic World. Basic RolePlaying has been included in many of Chaosium's RPGs as a slim, generic, "introductory" or basic rules book and as such may have been the hobby's first "generic" rules. Currently Basic RolePlaying takes the form of the big "Gold Book" which assembles most (if not all) the various rules from the many systems Chaosium has published in a generic toolbox format aimed at the referee who wishes to design their own custom version using the d100 engine.

Mongoose Publishing acquired the rights to the name RuneQuest and its brand of d100 after WotC had opened the Pandora's Box of the OGL and therefore their versions of d100 were also released as Open License products. OpenQuest is Newt Newport's interpretation of the Mongoose OGL rules. Mr. Newport has built OpenQuest as his vision of d100 and refined it for his preferred style of play. I find it a tightly written and slightly more accessible combination of some of my favorite elements of older editions of RuneQuest and Stormbringer.

Before it lost use of the Glorantha and RuneQuest intellectual properties, Mongoose released a major redesign of the d100 system under the title RuneQuest II. Written by Pete Nash and Lawrence Whitaker, RuneQuest II (as Legend) is one of my favorite iterations of d100. It is still in print, with references to the Glorantha setting removed, as Legend by Mongoose. Mr. Nash and Mr. Whitaker subsequently formed their own company, The Design Mechanism, and continue to refine their vision for d100 with RuneQuest 6 (while they had rights to the RQ name) and Mythras. I have the highest praise for the work of Mr. Nash and Mr. Whitaker both as authors of rules and setting books.

While d100 arguably holds second place behind d20 in popularity as a system mechanic it definitely fits my definition of "old school" with roots in the pre 1990s RPGs. Many of the games that use the d100 mechanic are among my all-time favorites. Many I still enjoy playing. 

Zweihander

Two Fisted Fun
Zweihander (with an umlaut) is a recent re-imagining of Games Workshop's (GW) Warhammer FRPG. It doesn't come right out and say this, but the DNA signature is strong. Grim and Perilous is the goal - or as the author describes his intent to - "make it dark and gritty; make it perilous and challenging; make it a system that carries uncertain outcomes in an unforgiving world; and make it world-agnostic, so it can be used with any low fantasy campaign world." The current game began life as the author's (Daniel Fox) houserules version he called "Corehammer". As such, Zweihander has much in common with products who claim descent from older editions of other games and collectively make up much of the old school catalog.
This is not a "subtle" game. Zweihander describes itself as a Grim and Perilous RPG, "a pastiche of many familiar themes found throughout low fantasy literature: the gritty portrayal of a society replete with clandestine conflict, political intrigues, vicious reprisals and terrifying supernatural elements." The author tells us right up front that this system is not designed for "the traditional dungeon romp." Rather it is a story about "truth" and "consequences". The author asks, will the characters "rise above the brutal truths of the world or root around in its filth, becoming akin to their enemies?"
Zweihander adheres to the White Box philosophy of rulings over rules even though the tome weighs in at an impressive 692 pages! It aims for humans to be the most numerous among PCs even though rules are given for making an elf, dwarf, ogre, gnome or halfling character. Each member of each race may demonstrate different traits - not all elves have darksight. Randomness is emphasized during PC creation and the player can roll randomly (or choose from the table) for profession (think class and subclass system similar to that GW game) and alignment (and a lot of other random stuff). As old schoolers know, playing what the dice gives you can be fun.
The actual game mechanics are a blend of old and new. As mentioned, Zweihander draws on the WFRPG for inspiration. Like that game, Zweihander uses a percentile based - d100 mechanic, skill system and professions/careers. While the author claims Zweihander does not have an implied setting, I think he means it doesn't have a default setting. There is no world map, yet the game has a definite feel to it and there seems to be a correct way to play as one would expect in an implied setting game.

So what is different from WFRPG? Alignment for starters.  Zweihander uses an alignment system that seems unique to me (although I am reminded a bit of King Arthur Pendragon's opposed virtue system). Two random rolls on the alignment table produces an Order focus/trait and a Chaos focus/trait for each PC. Order might turn out to be Compassion, while Chaos could be Hypocrisy. The player is expected to role-play these traits when opportunity arises. How the PC is played moves the character's  alignment further towards Order or towards Chaos (which can result in corruption and various disorders). The author states that alignments themselves are not the same as "good" and "evil" and those moral behavior choices are left for the players to figure out in play. The author uses the example of Heroism which can be in service of nefarious ends or virtuous purpose.
In a manner seen in some "narrative" type Indie games, Zweihander provides extensive mechanical support for wilderness travel and social intrigue. During travel rolls are made based on the assigned roles of Guide, Survivalist and Scout which determine the outcome of the trip. Social intrigue mechanics cover "winning", argument, persuading and influencing social outcomes using "tactics" such as Bargain, Charm, Guile, Interrogation, Intimidation, Leadership and Rumor.
A substantial Bestiary of known critters is included. The many-eyed, tentacled, fanged monstrosities abound in these pages alongside some familiar fiends from myth and legend. (Many of the standard monster fantasy and horror tropes are present as well as some new ones and one could easily dip into that GW figure collection for use with Zweihander.) Like the Grim & Perilous GW system, the threats are not limited to physical injury (although combat seems on the deadly side) and includes the psychology of stress, fear and terror are addressed and Zweihander expects PCs to navigate the troubled waters of corruption, disease, addictions, insanity and other disorders and the ever present taint of Chaos mutations during their adventures in the grim and perilous.
The Grim & Perilous theme seems to take center stage with Zweihander and although the author tries hard to not dictate "world" to the referee, I think campaigns using Zweihander will tend to center on the setting rather than the characters (who are likely to succumb in a world where "life is pain and death") and because there are a number of guidelines for world creation and campaign structure (The Enemy Within, The Enemy Without and The Enemy Beyond) and also a ton of Grim & Perilous flavor in the rules, it is entirely possible that a superstitious, low-magic, European renaissance setting similar to GW's intellectual property will be re-created (or borrowed) by each referee for Zweihander play.
I personally find there is quite a lot to like (and be inspired by) in Zweihander. I also find quite a bit to like in the game that inspires it. I have played and refereed WHFRP at times over the years and although it isn't my preferred system (or world setting), I like the "Grim World of Perilous Adventure" theme. These days I just prefer my own modified version of White Box rules and a homebrew setting I call Dreadmoor for my (slightly less) grim and perilous adventures. Would I consider running Zweihander if asked...definitely "yes" (evil grin!).

Tomb of Annihilation

The Lich is Back
Tomb of Annihilation is Wizards of the Coast's latest adventure tome. I rather enjoy the 250+ page adventure book format that WizBros has been publishing since the advent of 5th Edition. More than mere adventure modules, they are really campaigns. Tomb of Annihilation (ToA), like Curse of Strahd and Storm King's Thunder, is a re-imagining of material first published for use with prior editions of the game. Tomb of annihilation draws upon he classic S1 Tomb of Horrors and X1 Isle of Dread for inspiration.
ToA is a referee play aid that takes adventurers from level 1 to level 11. The premise for the adventure is that Acererak, the lich from Tomb of Horrors, is now a multi-dimensional traveler who has devised a tomb in WizBros Realms setting with the express purpose of luring adventurers to their death and capturing their souls along with the souls of everyone else who dies on the planet in order to feed a developing god embryo he hopes to awaken (and turn loose on the world). The side effect of all this soul stealing is anyone who has been resurrected/raised from the dead is now also dying - slowly.
The player characters start their adventure by exploring an exotic trade city on a jungle coast that is heavy with "pulp" flavor. The setting of this adventure feels a lot like an Indiana Jones story (there are even two new backgrounds, anthropologist and archaeologist) complete with a cast of very interesting NPCs. The jungle itself is inhabited by frog-folk, dinosaurs and undead and constitutes a sandbox with a number of side quests and points of interest for the PCs to "cut their teeth on". The tomb proper is designed for higher level PCs (6+) and the original Tomb Of Horrors is called to mind in several encounters. Those who have played in S1 will recognize the big green devil face on a wall with open mouth, the four-armed gargoyle and magic mirror as well as other signature items from Acererak's arsenal of tricks and traps. Each of the "oldies" has a new twist (so be careful!) and there are also several new traps, puzzles and challenges to keep Tomb of Annihilation from being a simple rewrite. ToA seems to have a lot more critter inhabitants and therefore more combat than I recall being in S1, but perhaps that makes it a more balanced challenge? (gone are a lot of the "death traps" and "dead ends")
ToA can be played straight-up as written and I think it is the best WizBros play-aid to date, but as a referee I ask myself "what fun is that?" If I actually use this at the table, there are some inevitable tweaks I see myself making, however I found ToA is an entertaining read even if it is never played. The "hook" in the book is a (very interesting) dying patron who is suffering from the resurrection sickness who engages the PCs to stop the soul-stealing madness and once they agree, teleports them to the jungle city. I think a much more interesting twist would be the PC's deities are sending them visions, dreams, etc that souls are not reaching the afterlife. Instead the souls seem to head south to the jungle and disappear there. Sailing for the jungle port following this lead, they have a chance to meet the patron (she's too good not to use), but she just tells them about her wasting disease which represents a count-down to death (loss of a hit point a day) and gives them Acererak's name. Once they make landfall, the investigation heats up as the full nature of the "ticking time bomb" Acererak has devised is uncovered (remember that evil god he is creating!).
Physically all the 5th Edition books are very nice hardbacks with illustrations that inspire and help us visualize the game. ToA is no exception. Atmosphere is very well developed in ToA. The port city seems alive with intrigue, dinosaur races and well developed NPCs. ToA is loaded with memorable NPCs from the patron mage who is dying of resurrection fever to Nanny Pu'Pu, a hag who can raise dead PCs as intelligent zombies (normal raise dead doesn't work because of Acererak and his soul-sucking plot), the Sewn Sisters, more hags, and an undead T-Rex who vomits zombies. The jungle is pretty much an NPC  itself and plays a big part in the campaign. It has "personality", is threatening (can be deadly), holds secrets the PCs will need to discover and has a history that is fun to read (and possibly reveal during play). The tomb itself is "lost" and its location discovered on a blank hex map reminding me of the old hex-crawl adventures. Various local guides can be hired, but some of them have their own agenda and can be less than helpful. Welcome to the Jungle!

The Red Knight

Campaign Inspiration
Drawing from history and legend Miles Cameron has written one of the most engaging fantasy novels I have read this year. The Red Knight is a tale of a siege which at times reminds me of the history of medieval England, at times of the Legends of King Arthur, at times of classic fairy tales and the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and at times James Fenimore Cooper. The world of Alba includes a kingdom much like King Arthur's Camelot surrounded by The Wild, the areas beyond the wall, north and west of civilization, where elfin irks, bug-like boglins, winged fairies, stone trolls and demons lurk. The Christian abbey on "the rock" is an ancient place of magic and the demons want it back. The old abbess, a magic caster herself, hires a young captain, anonymously known as The Red Knight, and his mercenary band to defend the abbey. Thus the stage is set.
The Red Knight reminds me of so many books I have enjoyed over the years, yet provides a fresh tale that seems ready-made to use in an adventure game campaign. The author notes in his afterword that Alba started as a role-playing campaign world he and his college mates explored years ago. Whether the characters in the novel started as role-playing characters or not hardly matters. They come to life in the novel and are believable and interesting in a grim-dark way that appeals to me. Many of the most interesting are users of magic who draw upon either the sun or the wild (or both) for their source of power.
The interplay of Christian faith and sorcery, nobility, chivalry and roguish behavior, civilization and the wilderness, old scores to settle and new romance, Mr. Cameron combines it all seamlessly. The author's ability to effectively blend so many influences in The Red Knight is one of the things I admire in this first book of The Traitor Son Cycle (there are currently three more in print). Miles Cameron, whose real name I believe is Christian Cameron, also writes historical fiction as Christian Cameron and under the pen name Gordon Kent.
Some novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings for example, can seem to be written as novels to inspire the hobbyist (even though they obviously predate the hobby). The idea of a band of mercenaries who specialize in slaying monsters could easily be used as the basis for a White Box campaign. Even if I don't borrow a thing from The Red Knight, reading it got me thinking about gaming.

It's All D&D

Variations on a Theme
White Box is a creator's toolkit. The Little Brown Books are full of ideas, advice, rules and snippets which lead the reader to think about adding additional content. The Afterword at the end of Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures states:

There are unquestionably areas which have been glossed over. While we deeply regret the necessity, space requires that we put in the essentials only, and the trimming will often have to be added by the referee and his players.

The authors expect and encourage referees and players to add to the game. The entire game concept is one that demands creativity on the part of the players. Volume 1: Men & Magic tells us:

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.

This creation task must be done prior to the first moment of actual play may begin.  Where does this "underworld" come from?  It must be imagined and drawn out from thoughts the referee has. There are helpful hints in Volume 3, but the "underworld" must be something original and unique, the creation of each referee. It is assumed by the authors that this underworld "building should be both easy and fun." In fact it is assumed that making the game your own is part of the fun.
The LBBs inspired a hobby and players have applied their creative talents to more than designing underworlds. Rulings become houserules and get printed and shared among others. Settings become so unique they they involve new player character classes, new races and new monsters. Eventually the game is barely recognizable and it takes on a different name. Today hundreds of roleplaying adventure games exist in publication (with different names due to copywrite laws), but they all hearken back to the original idea of a referee creating an imaginary setting for players to take the role of an individual character and have shared adventures. In a way, all of them are variations on a theme.
One of the two White Box authors, Gary Gygax, would write the three volumes of the Advanced Game with the intent of creating a "one true way" to play the game in reaction to the widespread modifications being made to the Original Game. I believe Mr. Gygax wanted to take creative control back and standardize play in order to make tournaments where everyone played by the same rules viable. Certainly the Advanced Game continued to be modified during actual play, but perhaps Mr. Gygax was at least partially successful because tournaments thrived, at least while TSR existed as a company and organized play is now quite popular, both depend on the acceptance of standardized rules of play.
The Original Game is an idea generator bound (and intended) to inspire modification. Returning to the comments in the Afterword which asks, "why have us do any more of your imagining for you?" The Afterword continues with the following advice: "the best way [to play the game] is to decide how you would like it to be, and then make it just that way!" I wonder if the authors imagined at the time that doing just that would result in such variety of play as is evidenced now by the multitude of available games. At times I think Mr. Gygax must have known people would "imagine the hell out of it" as one publisher says. After all, it is what he himself did with Dave Arneson's Blackmoor game (and what Mr. Arneson had done with the Braunstein game) isn't it?