Adventurer Magazine #1 Review

 

So

My current rpg collecting is now in its final form, which is as follows;

1 - D&D stuff (mainly Forgotten Realms but a little bit fluid).

2 - Traveller stuff - as much as I want.

3 - OD&D - good luck with that on my budget!

4 - UK RPG magazines.

So (4) is where we are at here. UK magazines are generally cheapish and readily available, in fact  generally can be more than the item itself.

I will subsequently list what I have and where I'm at but for now here is a new acquisition, Adventurer #1.

Brief review, it's ok.

90p in 1986 seems about right and it has a reasonable amount of content.

The fantasy adventurer, of which this is part one of 2 is formulaic but solid, nothing new in heaven and earth but ok.

The CoC adventure is actually quite decent but again, nothing much is new. The maps though are quite decent , but seem a bit overproduced for what is required (1986 was a bit like this though).

Miniatures stuff is again of its time, standard issue figures by decentish painters.

The reviews shine, seem well balanced and well thought out, good stuff.

Adverts if course are a joy, we can never get back to the halcyon years where all these products were on, and remained on, shelves in the high street. I know that times have changed but......

Little snippet on the news page, true that but whatever.

Great advice

See what I mean, a bit overdone.

You should go to this, and maybe try and buy some D&D stuff.

Time flies, but got some stuff

 

Slow yesr but got some time on my hands. 

The Chainmail and Holmes basic book are both shot to pieces but doesnt stop me loving them, and they definitely fill a gap in the collection. 

I remember Hellgate Keep being a great later Forgotten Realms midule and its near the top of my to read pile. 

The double adventures are a mysteey to me, I dont even think I ever owned one back in the day and I certainly have no recollection of ever reading them.

Nore to come, maybe

Carl

2021 collecting goals

 So, a new year has dawned, with more of the same to look forward to it seems.

Nothing huge to say really, just continuing on my  quest to buy back all the stuff I sold a few years ago. 

10 years ago my goal was - every standard Forgotten Realms RPG item, every Traveller LBB era item and a complete OD&D collection.

I gave it a good go and was almost there but for 'reasons' it all had to go.

So now I'm back to it, and of course the price of most of this stuff has increased pretty much exponentially. Never mind, I'm in no hurry and don't really have a plan of any kind except hoping for the best. 

The OD&D is an issue- I have had 3 white boxes over the years and all the supplements but the prices on these are now ridiculous. I have 3 of the supplements that cost me around 25-30 quid each but I fear the box set may be my white whale. Hey ho, the rules are a bit crap anyway! I have just read a little of my Gods Demigods and Heroes book and it is truly awful. Layout and formatting are a joke and the foreword concerning Monty Hall games has to be read to be believed, truly a book of its time.

Anyway that's it for now, 

Later

D is for Dragon - though not really

I’ve gotten round to reading about dragons in my old MM.  A couple of things have come up and given me cause for thought though the main one is I am NOT going to do an in depth review of dragons. I’m beginning to think the alphabet thing was a poor idea.
But that being said I have read the section and need to make a few comments. Firstly it is completely clear in the monster limit that dragon breath always causes damage totally the beasts total hit point value and not it’s current value. I seem to recall we had loads of arguments back in the day about this, players stating that once injured it’s potential to cause harm lessens. And who knew, it’s all here in the MM, plain as dad and incontrovertible - my god but we were idiots back then. I sometimes think that we weren’t mature enough to play games and enjoy them without it becoming a festival of bickering, bitching and point scoring - teenage boys in the 80s, what a bunch of twats!!

Secondly, read the section on dragon sundial. Easy peasy to do and very worthwhile financially. Why everyone wasn’t doing it is a mystery to me now - the rules and restrictions were right there in black and white High Gygaxian. That been said it’s a bloody nonsense of course, dragons are highly intelligent apex predators, particularly at the higher age categories and should be treated as such. Any DM worth his salt should be playing them as the greatest of bad guys, always ready to flee to fight another day if needs be. If I ever start playing again I will hold the dragon in high respect.

On the subject I can highly recommend the series “Dragons of the North” by Ed Greenwood. It was serialised in the Dragon and later appeared on the WOTC website statted up for third edition. This is how dragons should be. A great look at Firgotten Realms lore as well as insights into the machinations and desires of the Uber-monster, great stuff and well worth rooting out.

Anyway that’s it for now, stay safe in these strange times.

Carl

D is not, oddly, for Dragon (or Demon or Devil)

Onward through the alphabet, and I have not been looking forward to this one. So I’ve decided to wimp out and leave the above creatures to their own posts (or maybe I might just ignore them - are Demons and Devils still problematic in 2020?)

Anyway that decision really cuts down the content from 20 pages of my Monster Manual.
So we start at The Isle  of Dread staple, the dinosaur. Five wasted pages. As a father living within a 45 minute drive of the Natural History Museum many of my Sunday afternoons were taken up with dinosaurs and I genuinely have a soft spot for these Terrible Lizards, however the entry for them in the MM was utterly pointless, looking at them it should have said  “dinosaurs, you know dinosaurs, make up the stats as you see fit, big ones have big teeth and lots of hit points, plant eater  ones have lots of hit points and run away a lot. Basically xp factories that any party can easily avoid or defeat, especially if the player has ever watched a Jurassic Park film and shouted at the screen!!

Displacer Beast. A constant in AD&D. Quite a nasty chap with 6HD and good saves. Quite a neat beastie for an imaginative DM to role play.

Djinni (pronounced der-gin by my teenage self). Good aligned and another pretty much unkillable fellow if played correctly - turn invisible, move away at 24”, a quick Wind Walk and hey presto.
Probably one to use as an NPC, giving a bit of semi-Arabic flavour to the right adventure. Capturing one is left to the referee, but I guess a summoning circle and a bit of luck should do the trick, if you can be bothered.

Dog, War and Wild. Okay, every party at first level took it as a plan to buy a war dog at some stage. A good idea as it’s a nasty beast against first level type opponents. Unfortunately Fido quickly gets forgotten and by third level has most certainly gone to the great kennel in the sky - dull.

Dolphin..............,.......................,...yep dolphin.

Doppelgänger- best beast eva!! Should only be played in city adventures, a doppelgänger in the dungeon is basically pointless. Your group has to be able to accept a doppelgänger and your DM should basically be not a vindictive dick otherwise this creature does not go well. However to a mature group they can be great fun - they feature very heavily in the Forgotren Realms and it genuinely works.

Dragonne- vicious beast, nasty attacks and no real reason to be as far as I can tell. The picture suggests it’s a bit “orientally” but I’ve got nothing - sorry.

Dragon Turtle - maritime adventure always struck me as quite deadly if played realistically. Meeting a dragon turtle while aboard ship out of sight of land is a death sentence. Low armour class, massive hit points and huge attacks - the hull of your ship is holed, you’re sinking and you’re in metal armour - good night sweet prince.

Dryad - another creature for the role player. Not worth fighting but quite interesting to the right group. A recent Grogtalk podcast (worth a listen, it’s the Valentine’s Day one) talks about having a PC background involving being kidnapped by a Dryad for 1-4 years - potential fun.

Dwarf - ignore this as a monster, dwarves are PCs and should be treated as such.

That’s it for now, more to follow, perhaps even the rest of the Ds.

SURPRISE!!

Fresh start - with added monsters

After a long hiatus I am going to try and reboot this blog again - I need to get some kind of proper hobby in my life even if it is just posting about the nonsense I like.

In an attempt to force myself to post regular content I have decided to go through the AD&D first edition Monster Manual from a-z; I haven’t really decided on a format yet but imagine it will be kind of a mini review/let’s read - nothing new but the world needs to hear a 49 year old sad sacks take on a book that is 41 years old and in no way relevant.

Just to tease you here is the book - it’s definitely not my original but it is a GW soft back version and thus a collectors piece. (If you are a collector like me that is - I’m sure more of my views on game collecting will come out as time goes on)

I

It’s not pretty but it’s mine!

Next post, the Letter A - to include the axe beak, and why not

All the best

Carl

Art for Arts Sake - Not a review of Art & Arcana

I have recently been considering posting pictures of my favourite rpg related pictures over on Twitter (@got_your_games) as a kind of ongoing thread to show some of the things I love. To be fair I have never really been that interested in the art side of things - yes there are things I like but I have never really followed particular artists or art-styles. (This is not because I don't see the talent involved here - it's just never been my bag).

So as I was ruminating the possibility of this the above book came to my notice. I investigated it pre publication and did a bit of research and decided I had to have one - after all what true D&D fan wouldn't want this artifact?

And then, out of the blue, I was gifted the item above! (I don't think I can ever thank the kind donor enough - safe to say I am VERY grateful).

I won't do a review - I can't do it justice with my poor artistic knowledge but will simply say that I strongly encourage you to go out and buy one. I honestly stroked the cover of the special edition box and muttered "My Preciousssss" under my breath when I first opened the parcel.

Buy it now, and follow me on twitter because I'm going to start posting pictures regularly now - I'm empowered by this book - plus it will give me quite a lot of the pictures.



Speaking of books, I have just got a couple of gaming  related books that may get a review. Designers & Dragons by Shannon Appelcline - Looks great with the leather cover but may be tough to read straight through. Role Playing Mastery by Gary Gygax is the other one - wow, just wow. I'm going to try and read it but this looks like being hard work. (Am I alone in thinking Gary Gygax wasn't actually a god, and sometimes had issues with perhaps being a touch "wordy"?!)

Any way, cheerio for now, more to follow.

The same light reading - an update

Just a very quick update concerning Dice Men - the coffee table book that any gamer of a certain age should be buying.


https://unbound.com/books/games-workshop/

I have previously stated that I am in on this and it looks like we might be on the home stretch - 92% funded and still going strong. I actually think that I like this method of funding better than Kickstarter and its cohorts, it sort of feels a bit more serious and professional.

I have also boosted my own purchase to include the facsimile copy of Owl and Weasel number 1, which brings me to this fine fellow:--

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OWL-WEASEL-Issue-1-GAMES-WORKSHOP-Feb-1975-pre-White-Dwarf-RARE/232842435730

Now even though this little item is SIX HUNDRED QUID a part of me thinks that it wouldn't be a bad investment. Clearly the price of many gaming items, particualry vintage ones has been rising steadily for a couple of years and this chap will surely one day be one of the most sought after items - and the releasing of the Dice Men book will only widen the group  of people who will want this.

If I had the disposable income and a (very) understanding spouse I would be inclined to buy this and squirrel it away for a few years and double my money.

(As a little aside, the seller is an absolute legend so there is no risk whatsoever if you decide to buy this)

TTFN - review of WD40, and a bit of discussion about my collecting habits to follow soonish.

Carl

Up the Garden Path, once again

Following my recent post this chap popped up on Ebay.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DUNGEONS-DRAGONS-UP-THE-GARDEN-PATH-ST1-MORRIS-BRUNTON-VERY-RARE-1986/163047127475?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT


Went for a little more than my £200 ideal price (My bid was over 4 times that - I knew I wouldn't win but it gives me a cheap thrill to bid silly amounts on auctions now and then!!)
Note the condition - slight rodent damage may put some people off - I wonder how much this affected the value?


I can't work out the winner from the fragment of bidder name, though cougar_rinard was second.






As a side note, a few items from this seller come up as "items you might like" - I can wholeheartedly recommend this chap - buy with confidence!!


https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/harami2000/m.html?_ipg=48&_sop=1&_rdc=1


RPGA3 The Forgotten King - A little bit rare!

ST1 Up The Garden Path - A question of worth vs value

It's one of the holy grails of D&D collecting - ST1 Up the Garden Path. It is a matter of some debate how many survive, a few have been auctioned over the years and I'm pretty sure that the same ones have come up more than once. Photographs of them are common on t'internet and it's pretty easy to get hold of a "reading copy"(wink wink), if you can be bothered to look.


I did have a copy of this which I got in an auction for a Silver Anniversary box set along with a copy of R1 To the Aid of Falx as freebie extras. It was a bit of a heartstopping moment as I'm sure you can imagine. Sadly my heart restarted again as I quickly realised these were literal copies - presumably done on a colour photocopier at someone's place of work!


I remember seeing one of these advertised for £200 (iirc) in a second hand games flyer about 17 or 18 years ago and thinking that it was daylight robbery - hindsight is, of course, a wonderful thing.


When I first considered this blogpost I was going to do an in-depth comparative review between ST1 and X1 - rarest against the most common, but on reading ST1 I decided not to bother - to sum up just go and buy Isle of Dread and play that, your players will thank you.


The thing that strikes me most about Up the Garden Path is that it is remarkably "English" - it couldn't be more English if it was wearing a bowler hat, eating fish and chips in a queue while complaining about the weather.
The puns and in jokes abound, names and descriptions are often cringeworthy and the overall affect is all a bit self indulgent.

That been said it is reasonably written, has good layout and a very professional overall finish - If it was designed as a one off bit of nonsense it certainly fits the brief. It could be a companion piece to EX1 & 2 from the other side of the pond, though I didn't much like those either.

That's it really, no surprises or spoilers here, just a fan pointing out the obvious to those already in the know. (And if anyone does want to sell one I have £200 ready and waiting!!)

I would be interested in what the going rate for one of these is as the price for rares seems to be shooting up.

A few links for your delectation

A decent blog here.

https://ttgamingdiary.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/going-up-the-garden-path/

The Acaeum - you knew this already.

https://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modpages/st.html