This episode includes odds n’ sods, Old Scroates and Points of View about AD&D.
Introduction 00.15
Dirk muses over the ridiculous, complicated numbering strategy adopted by the podcast and introduces Ric and Tim, the stars of this part of the episode.
Old Scroates (Part 1) 04.15
It’s not a proper theGROGNARDfiles episode without a cheeky mention of Runequest. Tim tells the story of playing with John Quaife, contributor to White Dwarf, back in the day.
Potted History (Part 1) 15.17
The original story of D&D.
Old Scroates (Part 2) D&D Tales 25.04
Tim and Ric share their experiences of playing D&D with reports of games they have played.
Potted History (Part 2) 36.29
What happened to D&D during our deep freeze.
Old Scroates (Part 3) 40.31
Tim and Ric address some of the issues that have been raised in our AD&D episode.
Post Bag 01.02
Blythy joins Dirk as we rifle through the bag of holding to pick out some interesting points of view. Please be aware that your head may rattle when the Demon Overlord appears.
Outro 01.28
Updates on the latest news from the Patreon projects. Please note that contrary to what is said in this bit, GROGMEET is not taking place 10 years ago.
Thank you to all of our supporters and listeners. If you get chance, please pop a review on iTunes. Thanks Dirk.
Two quick comments, re getting a dead companion out of the dungeon, given a dead body counts as an item I have seen Shrink Item used to make the body more portable 😀
Also Yetis in Dr Who are found on the London Underground which must make them chaotic…
Fun episode, I enjoyed listening to tales from The Old Scroates. Hope we’ll hear more from Tim and Ric soon.
Just one point on the random dungeon generation tables from the 1st edition Dungeon Masters Guide that I think you skipped over. They can be used for solo play, I’ve never tried it myself, but I’ve heard that some players had fun with them. A bit like a choose your own adventure I guess. Have a look at Ruins Of The Undercity from Kabuki Kaiser, he’s based a whole solo game on similar random dungeon tables for B/X D&D or Labyrinth Lord, it looks really interesting.
So have now listened to all episodes to date…….finishing with the Stormbringer eps last as though it was a game I did play once or twice, it was by a fair distance the least played out of all the other games covered.
What can I say ? Just as we were all getting along so well, what with me nodding along fervently in recognition for just about all of your RQ, Traveller, Call of Cthulhu and AD&D chat……… imagine my dismay – what with Middle Earth being my gateway drug to fantasy, rpgs etc – to hear such calumnies as ‘a bit boring’ and ‘not my cup of tea’ used in conjunction with a discussion about ‘Lord of the Rings’. Worse, the heresies of Michael Moorcock were repeated near verbatim with nary a Health Warning for the elfin of ear or the delicate of disposition….
Well, to quote a particular episode of ‘Thud the Barbarian’: ‘By the Sacred Toe-Nail clippings of JRR Tolkien ! – such blasphemy must not stand’ thought I – fully intending to dash off a sternly worded letter of complaint, just as soon as I had finished Second Breakfast……….. However, listening on, you just about redeemed yourselves with references to Hawkwind (I was never quite a fervent fan, but enough of my gaming companions of yesteryere were for that to trigger quite a few memories, not all of them traumatic) and to Mike Oldfield’s ‘Incantations’ which we all seemed to be listening to at one stage ‘back then’ as well.
So I’ve decided to be magnanimous, taking all your previous good works into account, and will hold off on unleashing a Balrog on you both for what was plainly an instance of just plain old crazy talk….. 🙂
Other random thoughts / musings / memories brought on by the podcast.
Traveller:
Running a particularly nasty mini-campaign for ‘Traveller’ using the ‘Prison Planet’ Adventure. My players rose to the occasion of course, by sinking to the level of the very worst examples of criminal scummery – you know, shivving fellow prisoners, attacking guards and formenting riots.
Buying ‘Mayday’ in the forlorn hope that I’d be better able to run space-combat, only for my maths and vector calculations averse brain to be sent whimpering into the relative safety of a New Dark Age….
Call of Cthulhu
Feeling delighted as a Call of Cthulhu Keeper when one of my players reported nightmares the next morning after our first session – and feeling equally chuffed when a player’s character decided to blow his own brains out rather than be chewed upon by a shoggoth in a later game. Golden, heartwarming memories 🙂
AD&D
Playing the ‘Irilian’ campaign in White Dwarf – you guys definitely missed a trick there. Perhaps it was bit intimidating – we had two of our group co-DM the game, allowing a ‘good cop / bad cop’ dynamic to emerge – but it did turn out to be a classic. D&D goodness coupled with a story / plot about an Epic fight against the Forces of Darkness. And in a very ‘real’ seeming medieval fantasy city to boot.
Creative spell use: Being trapped by a heavily barred gate (clearly ones we were unable to Bend !) in a section, iirc, of the White Plume Mountain dungeon / module, I cast the ‘Stone to Flesh’ spell on the floor under the gate – and we hacked our way through quivering gobs of flesh to allow us to burrow under 🙂 Not pretty – but job done 🙂
Random titles that excited the imagination: City State of the Invincible Overlord ; Expedition to the Barrier Peaks ; Castle Amber ; the City of Brass ; Tomb of Horrors.
Fun times 🙂
Well – I have gibbered on quite enough. Thanks again for the podcast and looking forward to the next episode.
Graham K / kinnygraham