Eldritch Wizardry

Supplement III Eldritch Wizardry
I believe we are back to the world of Greyhawk with Eldritch Wizardry, at least it has always felt more in tune with Greyhawk than Blackmoor to me. Blackmoor seems more sinister, more dark and maybe a bit depressing. Greyhawk seems a little less so, but all the old White Box campaigns seem a little more serious and dangerous than what came later. With Supplement III we see the 1st full color cover in the series and are reminded both of the fact that this game is not aimed at children and that the game's roots are (at least partially) in pulp literature as the "sacrifice" on the cover of Supplement III could just as easily have been gracing the cover of Weird Tales or another pulp magazine.  My copy, seen above, was purchased new along with the rest of my White Box kit for Christmas 1977 and now shows considerable wear. The 58 page booklet is organized into the now familiar three sections titled Men & Magic, Monsters & Treasure and Underworld & Wilderness Adventure.  The Druid class is introduced here in Supplement III as a subclass of cleric. Rules for psionics are introduced to the game as a new kind of mind magic available to all the player character classes, except monks and druids, and to certain monsters. New magic spells are introduced for the existing cleric and magic user as well as for the new druid class. Several new monsters including a number of demons are described and illustrated and available for the referee or DM (Dungeon Master) as he/she is now referred to as to challenge the heroes with. There are a number of artifacts or unique and powerful magic items listed under the heading The Treasures, many of them requiring the referee to roll for their magical powers randomly on tables, thereby individualizing the Artifact for each campaign. The names of many have become closely associated with the Dungeons & Dragons intellectual property, such as Vecna and Orcus. The Underworld & Wilderness Adventure section includes several new creature tables including one for astral and ethereal encounters and one for psionic encounters. The nature of the supplements gives me the impression it is permissible or even preferable for each referee to add to or change the game rules as they prefer, each producing their own creative version of the dungeon adventure game. This is a great strength of the White Box version of D&D and the main reason it remains my favorite version of the game. The rules are such that the referee can easily modify one aspect of the game without breaking anything else. Adding new classes, spells, monsters, and rule mechanics is essentially encouraged. The standardization later sought by TSR executives definitely has it's place in the hobby as is explained by the authors elsewhere, but White Box D&D has its own unique place as well. I personally think that place is as relevant today as it was back in 1977.