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So far grodog has created 115 blog entries.

October in Greyhawk: Things that Go Bump in the Night

2025-10-16T19:03:02-04:00October 24th, 2022|

In October, thoughts naturally gravitate toward the undead and other things that go bump in the night, so I've compiled some of my house rules and other variant rules about undead for your Halloween-inspired gaming! Undead Variants - grodog's Standard House RulesAll undead gain a +3 hp bonus after their HD: i.e., ghouls are 2+3 HD, ghasts are 4+3 HD, groaning spirit is 7+3, etc. This is a natural extrapolation from the mid-tier undead like wight, wraith, mummy, specture, and vampire, and it does give them all a bit more staying power (and make them worth a bit more XP!).  In my campaigns, zombies are now the lowest form of undead at 1+3 HD undead, and skeletons are promoted to the 2+3 HD undead:  i.e., skeletons are tougher, faster (they get +1 on initiative!), and way cooler than zombies---as it should be, in the classic Harryhausen manner: Jason and the Argonauts (1963) - skeletons by Ray HarryhausenAll undead cause fear upon sight (with a range/radius of 1" per HD of the undead) in any creature with HD equal to or less than the undead's HD:  i.e., zombies (1+3 HD in my games) cause fear in up to 1+3 HD monsters, and 0- and 1st-level PCs and NPCs.A save vs. Spells negates the fear, with Wisdom bonuses/penalties applicable.  If the save is failed, duration of the fear is 1 round per HD of the undead minus the PC victim’s level (with a minimum duration of 1 round).For the past several years, I've used the DMG's Alternate Turning Matrix described in the table notes in the 1e DMG on page 76:The progression on the [clerical turning] table is ... read more!

grodog’s Virtual Greyhawk Con 3 Report!

2025-10-16T19:03:12-04:00October 15th, 2022|

Hola folks---As usual, I had a wonderful time at Virtual Greyhawk Con again this year, the convention's third annual installment of Flan-flinging fun!  I ran three games, played in two, and participated in the closing panel again, which made for a very fun, but also very full weekend (30 Sept to 2 Oct 2022). Friday Night Only, AlasI had registered to play in Jay Hafner's 5e version of the Dragon Magazine classic adventure "Citadel by the Sea" (designed by Sid Fisher, from issue #78):  "Citadel by the Sea"---artwork by Roger Raupp My thought had been that it would be cool to kick the tires on 5e for the first time in a scenario I knew pretty well, with a DM I kn0w from the days of Greytalk.  Unfortunately work conspired to keep me away from Jay's table on Friday morning, but my empty spot filled up quickly, so he still ran with a full table (which I'm thankful for!).  Perhaps next year, Jay!Friday night, I DM'd Carlos Lising's adventure, G2 The Witch Queen's Lament, and it was quite fun.  It's always a pleasure to get to play a high-level villain, and Iggwilv is certainly one of my favorites! :DWe ran through Carlos' adventure tourney-style, and while the players were not able to complete the mission, they did plumb the depths of the vile wizard's lair that Iggwilv set them upon: Your PCs are forcibly recruited by the Witch Queen of Perrenland and geased to perform a mission on her behalf. Will you succeed and find mercy as Iggwilv restores your freedom, or will you fail in your quest and and suffer eternal consequences beyond mere death? Set ... read more!

Astral Adventures in Greyhawk

2025-10-16T19:03:19-04:00September 25th, 2022|

The players in my Castle Greyhawk campaign have spent most of the past 11 months (since 23 October 2021) romping about in the Astral Plane, and, at long last, they're likely to return home to Oerth soon, I think.  Our next session (last night, on 24 September 2022) will tell! We have been playing through my (somewhat modified) version of Anthony Huso's excellent scenario, Zjelwyin Fall (also available in PDF if you prefer):  Zjelwyin Fall cover art by Daniele Valeriani As part of my work to deploy Anthony's adventure into my Greyhawk campaign, I also used this as an opportunity to define some more of the planar architecture for the setting.  Some of that design work went into adjusting the framework and background for the scenario to suit my current campaign situation, and some of it was general work expanding upon the options for how the Astral Planet works in my games.   I'll delve into the campaign context after we wrap up the adventure in our next session, so for now, I'll share some of the rules and design work that I used to augment Anthony's scenario.  The Astral Plane in AD&D The rules governing astral travel, astral encounters, and astral monsters are (perhaps unsurprisingly) scattered across a variety of sources in 1st edition AD&D.  They appear in chronological order in: Monster Manual (1977) - mostly in passing, not a lot of real planar substance Players Handbook (1978) - Astral Spell, Great Wheel planar appendix, etc. Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) - various notes, Appendix C p. 180 for one page of Astral and Ethereal wandering encounters, which notably include both the Ether Cyclone (ethereal) and ... read more!

More Mega-Dungeon Meanderings (and on a Monday!)

2025-10-16T19:03:24-04:00August 29th, 2022|

I've been hanging out in reddit a lot more over the past few years, among its OSR, AD&D, Greyhawk, mega-dungeon, miniatures, and related old-school (and Delta Green) communities.   In /osr/ the user livefreebugs posted a question at  https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/comments/wzugz6/what_elements_would_make_your_ideal_megadungeon/ asking (with my linebreak additions), I've been reading a lot of theory and perform advice on megadungeons and it seems like an area that there's a lot of room for awesome new adventures in. There's definitely a‍ risk some megadungeons run into of being repetitive or incoherent and having a huge quantity of locations over consistent quality. I think vibrant factions, multiple approaches, verticality, a sense of place/history that gives deep interconnections between areas of the dungeon, and a scale that allows for many sessions of return delves. I know it's not too controversial here but while not exactly "mega" depending on your definition I think the Caverns of Thracia is one of the better large dungeons ever made due to the integration of layout, history, occupants, into the whole and not feeling like a jumble of random rooms (though gonzo funhouses' can be sweet too). What would you look for in your perfect large/mega-dungeon that doesn't exist yet? My response follows. ==My favorite things to do in mega-dungeons, as a player or DM:Explore...:  lots of room to wander around, get lost, find cool things no one else has found, pass through empty rooms/chambers/halls on the way to fun encounters!  A mega-dungeon must also lead outward into the world(s), as well as pull the world into it's orbit from time-to-time....and Map!:  I love to map while playing and mega-dungeons provide wonderful opportunities to do so :DInteract with Interesting characters:  whether PCs ... read more!

Greyhawk Happenings in the News

2025-10-16T19:03:28-04:00August 20th, 2022|

New Settings from WotC Announced They include both Spelljammer and Dragonlance, but no Greyhawk---none of which are big surprises, really. Perhaps I'll have more to say on this front later, but for now, that's sufficient.  Virtual Greyhawk Con #3 - 30 Sept to 2 Oct 2022It's that time of year again, and Jay Scott has organized another Virtual Greyhawk Con!  Event registration began today at Noon CDT, and event submission closes on 26 September; see https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022 for details.My events this year will be: Carlos Lising's _G2 The Witch Queen's Lament_ on Fri Sep 30 at 8:00 pm (4 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/62Rob Kuntz's _Maure Castle and Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure_ on Sat Oct 1 at 7:00 pm (5 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/63Erik Mona's _COR1-03 River of Blood_ on Sun Oct 2 at 2:00 pm (4 hours) at https://tabletop.events/conventions/virtual-greyhawk-con-2022/schedule/64All are set in the World of Greyhawk (of course!) and will be run using AD&D 1st edition rules (of course!).   In addition to my events (all of which still have seats open as of this posting), numerous other Greyhawk fans are running events spanning OD&D to 5e, all set in Oerth.  I'm playing in three other events, and will take part in the closing Greyhawk panel discussion too:"Citadel by the Sea" from Dragon Magazine, and run by Jay Hafner in 5e; I've never played with Jay before, but am looking forward to testing out this classic adventure in my first 5e game (PC levels 1-3)"The Broken Stone Alliance" a 1e scenario for PC levels 7-9, DM'd by Michael Mossbarger.  Also my first time playing with Michael."The Ravages of the Mind" by Lenard Lakofka, his final adventure:  journey into Ratik's Timberway to root ... read more!

Mega-Dungeon Map Design Sprints with Henry

2025-10-16T19:03:31-04:00June 14th, 2022|

Update - 13 June 2022 at 7:18pm:  Well, just like my lost big posts during Kellri's Module Challenge, blogger crapped out and I lost this huge post detailing the fun mapping work Henry and I were doing.  I was uploading pictures from my phone, and perhaps it got too be too much.  Who knows.  Here's what I'm able to recover by manually retyping it from the preview window on my phone.  *sigh* Lesson re-learned:  a) type the blog post in Word, and b) eventually move to another platform if I’m going to keep the blog ;) == We drove six hours (one-way!) to Dallas for the NTRPGCon and all we got was this Lousy Coronavirus.... Somewhere along the way to/from, or while attending the North Texas RPGCon (NTX as I affectionately dub it) over the end of last week/weekend, my 14-year-old son Henry and I caught COVID. This is not that story (or convention report, for that matter; that will follow soon-after!). Neither is this the story of Henry’s excellent learners-permit drive through the Oklahoma City leg of our return journey on Sunday later afternoon for about 90 minutes (this will also be included in the convention report!---sneak peek:  he did great :D ). This is, however, the story of some of the fun we had while passing the time in our post-infection bubblehuts. Playing Games in COVID-land While Henry and I have been isolating from Heather and Ethan (who have tested thankfully negative since our return), we’ve been playing games and hanging out together in general.  Our symptoms haven’t been too bad, all-in-all; I’ve continued to work all week long, although Henry had to ... read more!

Happy Needfest and Merry New Year!

2025-10-16T19:03:43-04:00January 3rd, 2022|

While life has continued to wear me out (in particular my day job*), with the new year's turn, there's always a fresh bout of hope that seeps into my fingers and toes, so I'm dusting off the ol' blog once again.This post will summarize some news and updates, and help to kickstart the rest of the month's writing! News and UpdatesJason Zavoda - Greyhawk Fan and Friend - 1965-2021I have sad news to share that Jason Zavoda died on 22 December 2021.  Jason was a long-time Greyhawk fan and member of its online communities dating back to AOL's late-2e heyday.  Jason published his Hall of the Mountain King blog, wrote Greyhawk fan fiction, contributed articles to the Oerth Journal (and edited some issues during its Turmoil Between Editors phase), and, perhaps most importantly to Greyhawk fans, spearheaded his wondrous index of Greyhawk references in all published products.  The index is an indispensable research tool, and began as a humble .TXT file that grew over the years, and was recently updated by Eric Johnson in the Greyhawk Resources Files on Facebook as a Microsoft Excel format to allow more filtering and sorting.Carlos Lising of casl Entertainment wrote a very nice Greyhawk-themed tribute to Jason in the Facebook Sages of Greyhawk group (you'll need to be a member of the group to access his story).Paul Stormberg (of The Collectors Trove and Legends of RolePlaying) and I have discussed putting together a compilation of Jason's many contributions to the Greyhawk fan community, to help ensure that they're preserved and available to the fans for years to come, and I've reached out to the GreyhawkOnline admin team on that front too. ... read more!

Greyhawk (and grodog) News Miscellany

2025-10-16T19:03:50-04:00August 7th, 2021|

Some updates from or of interest to World of Greyhawk fans:Virtual Greyhawk Con 2 to be held from 1 to 3 October 2021 was announced by Jay Scott, and event submissions are already live and being accepted through 29 September 2021; Event Registration begins in one week, on 15 August 2021; badges are $5 so come check it out!:Trent Foster posted his AD&D conversion notes for Gary Gygax's magnum-opus adventure, Necropolis, and he also recounts (in the links in his blog post) playing it with Gary back in the late '80sDan Boggs recently posted a map by the Dutch cartographer Daniel Hasenbos that blends the original Blackmoor campaign setting with Darlene's classic Greyhawk map (as well as with Anna Meyer's too):Zach "Zenopus Archives" Howard recently rediscovered that the published text of Lenard Lakofka's L3 Deep Dwarven Delve adventure (the last official AD&D adventure published, in the 1999 Silver Anniversary Boxed Set) was in fact much-more accurate than he had originally thoughtAnthony Huso recently posted about a cool site that allows you to build heraldry at the elements level, and I thought it might catch folks' eye, particularly Greyhawk fans:  https://worldspinner.com/heraldry/device_editor/Carlos "casl Entertainment" Lising will be a Guest of Honor at GrogCon 2 in central Florida from 15-17 October 2021; Carlos will be running a new Greyhawk scenario entitled "The Witch Queen's Lament" (a title which I suggested, in fact!---and I really need to place my catch-up order on his newer titles, too)The Oerth Journal issue numbers #35, #34, and #33 are all now available to download (for free, as always) since I last plugged the zine ;)Black Blade Publishing (which I co-founded with Jon Hershberger ... read more!

North Texas RPGCon 2021 – grodog’s games recap

2025-10-16T19:03:55-04:00August 6th, 2021|

As usual, I had a wonderful time at the North Texas RPG Con this year (3-6 June 2021)---in particular since this was the first in-person convention that I attended since NTX in 2019!Some quick NTX info, for those who are unfamiliar with the convention:Website @ https://www.ntrpgcon.com/Facebook Group @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/310434204630TableTop Events @ https://tabletop.events/conventions/ntrpgcon-2021  Black Blade BoothThese pictures showcase our Black Blade Publishing booth this year:While it was a transitional and rebuilding year, we did well at the con, and it was great to be able to showcase so many new and cool products to the attending gamers!grodog's EventsKnights & Knaves Alehouse SocialI played in the K&KA Social on Thursday night, and had a wonderful time.  It's always fun to play with a very large group (15-25 players) each year and to see what mayhem erupts!  This year we were slated to play OD&D (we alternate between OD&D and AD&D each year), and Nathan "tetramorph" Jennings DM'd again.  We picked up from where we left off two years ago.  Here are my player maps from the 2019  session: and alas, my hapless PC---who used efreeti-granted wishes to become the Lord of the Manor last time---was laid low by those meddling kids!  Rest in pieces, Lord Merrak the Perspicacious, and know that you will be avenged!  (In the meanwhile, he and his efreet did kill the dragon and go down in a blaze of glory! =)  Nathan posted his DM-POV event summary at K&KA at https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?p=281522#p281522, with some follow-up comments in the next page too.  General discussion of the social begins on the page at https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16739&start=135 Here are a few pics of the K&KA crew in the boardroom where we ... read more!

grodog’s post-GaryCon-XIII Repose – Part 2

2025-10-16T19:04:02-04:00May 31st, 2021|

Being as I'm about to head out to the North Texas RPG Con in a couple of days, I'd better get my GaryCon Report Part 2 concluded! ;) Continuing from my now-too-long-in-the-tooth Part 1 summary, after running my games on Thursday and Friday of GaryCon XIII, I spent most of the rest of the connvention playing in games (Sunday afternoon excepted).Saturday, 27 March 1-6pm:  I played in Les "OblivionSeeker" Reno's "Death Master's Gambit:  Dead Men Tell No Tales" AD&D 1e adventure---although they do blackmail with some regularity, it seems.  Our PCs will seek to eliminate the blackmail at the source, somewhere in the Wild Coast....Les crafted a supremely-cool scenario in which our PCs were pulled into a rather Machiavellian plot:Your recent adventures began in Safeton. Slanarus Zaal, a prosperous merchant, gathered you together. He felt he could trust you. You’d done work for him in the past, and each of you had proven yourselves to be honorable, in your own fashion, and discreet. Almost a year ago, letters began to arrive at the man’s office under mysterious circumstances. They seemed to *materialize* on the desk or between a ledger’s pages when the man turned his back for a moment or left and locked the room. To the casual reader, the contents would seem banal—details of a journey, as recorded by a business associate; a jesting but flirtatious inquiry from one of the widower’s former lovers; requests for forbearance from some debtor or other. At first, Zaal was irritated by the intrusion and gave little thought to the texts. Then he realized that the letters were all written in the same hand. He studied them and ... read more!

grodog’s post-GaryCon-XIII Repose – Part 1

2025-10-16T19:04:06-04:00April 2nd, 2021|

Yet-again, I had a wonderful time at GaryCon this year.   Here's the first part of my post-convention recap, working off of my schedule for GaryCon XIII! Wednesday, 24 MarchIn our usual fashion, members of the Legio V gathered on Wedsnesday night for our pre-con get-together, which was a fun time as always.  We didn't game this year, just hung out and caught up on life, the universe, and everything.If you're not familiar with the Legio V, here's some info:The Lake Geneva Legio V began as a handful of gamers who have attended Gary Con since its inception. We have grown over the past few years to include like-minded individuals united by a respect of Gary Gygax and his legacy. We are the dedicated attendees who love Gary Con for the camaraderie it establishes, the Game Masters who run games from across the decades, and the committed gamers who spend these four days in a fervor of dice rolling and old school good times.Although events run as LEGIO V Presents will use a variety of rule systems, our focus is on games authored by Gary and his contemporaries as well as those systems whose designers pay homage to these pioneers.Thursday and Friday mornings - grodog's Castle Greyhawk:  Escape from Level 14Over Thursday and Friday I ran two sets of players through levels from my version of Castle Greyhawk.  Both opted to attempt to get away from Level 14, which I first ran at the North Texas RPG Con #1 in 2009, and subsequently at GaryCons #2 (2010), with reprises at NTX and GaryCon #10 in 2018.  The scenario premise is:   Escape From Castle Greyhawk – Player ... read more!

grodog’s GaryCon XIII Schedule – 25-28 March 2021

2025-10-16T19:04:11-04:00March 25th, 2021|

I'll be scarce the next several days as I'm running and playing games at GaryCon Gaming Convention XIII.   It's going to be a great convention again!---good times to be discovered, dice to be rolled, monsters to be put to the sword, and treasures to be looted! =) My schedule is full of fun this year!:Thursday, 25 MarchNoon-5pm:  DM for grodog's Castle Greyhawk:  I'm running either my "Four Way Hub Level" or "Escape from Level 14" level, based on the players' selection.  My 13 year-old son Henry will be playing in this session, which is always fun =)7pm-Midnight:  Player in Rich Frank's "Lost Temple of Set" dungeon, where we seek to recover the fabled Eye of Horus:The party has traveled through a jungle to locate an ancient and forgotten Temple of the God, Set. Set has not been worshipped in any notable or public way in centuries, most of the old temples having been thrown down and replaced with temples to other Gods. However, Set, being a major God, has been able to maintain a cult of worshippers despite being forced out of the consciousness of most of the population in this world.The motivation for the characters is to find the fabled Eye of Horus, a large piece of jade in the shape of a pointed oval, with the symbol of the Eye of Horus carved into it, and inlaid with gold. Among the purported properties of the Eye is the ability to roll back time and view what happened in the area the Eye is currently placed. (More on this in the description of the Eye of Horus at the end of this document.) Indeed, the ... read more!

Canonfire! Postfest XIX – Greyhawk’s Drowic Underworld – deadline to submit 15 April 2021

2025-10-16T19:04:12-04:00March 22nd, 2021|

As announced by Gary Holian (PSmedger) on Canonfire!: Drow by Bill Willingham, in TSR's D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth (1981)It's been a long time coming, but due to popular demand, Canonfire has decided to revive the Postfests!What is a Postfest? A Postfest is a shared design project where members of Canonfire (or anyone who wishes to participate) agree to write articles on the same topic.  They are turned in by a deadline, then shared all at once.  Reading and goodness ensues.For example, here was a Postfest on Villains from the early days of Canonfire: http://www.canonfire.com/cf/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=18Inspired by this weekend and Lord Gosumba’s fundraiser topic, “Underdark Uprising”, this Postfest will focus on Greyhawk’s Underdark. We’ll use a broad definition of the Underdark that includes hollows within mountains (i.e. Slerotin’s tunnel), caverns below the earth (i.e. Vault of the Drow), the Rift Canyon, and ancient underground ruins upon which new cities have been built (i.e. Narwell).  Topic ideas might include:New or Existing Entrances to the UnderdarkMysterious Places in the UnderdarkUnderdark Races and MonstersEcology of the Underdark and Wilderness SurvivalNPCs from the UnderdarkMagical Items or Artifacts that focus on the UnderdarkWe’ve made a few changes to the traditional Postfest:First, we won’t be voting on the submissions anymore. It's all in good fun, but if people want to give writers some feedback, I’m sure they’d love it.  Second, we’re going to post the submission to Canonfire as usual, but we also plan to compile all the submissions into a Greyhawk Underdark PDF that will be available for everyone to download.  We are considering compiling some of the old Postfests, likewise.Third, if you participate, we are thinking of giving ... read more!

grodog’s virtual GaryCon XIII events – March 2021

2025-10-16T19:04:13-04:00February 28th, 2021|

 I submitted two five-hour delves into my version of Castle Greyhawk to Virtual GaryCon XIII  this evening.   The events will hopefully be scheduled at these times I submitted: grodog's Castle Greyhawk - Thursday, 25 March from Noon to 5pmgrodog's Castle Greyhawk - Friday, 26 March from 9am to 2pm Legends of Roleplaying Tournament: Into the City of Brass - Sunday, 28 March from 1pm to 5pm  The two event descriptions are identical:  Explore grodog's Castle Greyhawk levels. Choose from: 1) seek to Escape from Level 14, or 2) battle the dreaded Holaki in the Four-Way Hub Level. Bring your graph paper, dice, and a healthy dose of paranoid courage! 6th-10th level pregen PCs will be provided. Virtual session will be run in Webex, details to be provided after registration. ---The Lake Geneva Legio V began as a handful of gamers who have attended Gary Con since its inception. We have grown over the past few years to include like-minded individuals united by a respect of Gary Gygax and his legacy. We are the dedicated attendees who love Gary Con for the camaraderie it establishes, the Game Masters who run games from across the decades, and the committed gamers who spend these four days in a fervor of dice rolling and old school good times.Although events run as LEGIO V Presents will use a variety of rule systems, our focus is on games authored by Gary and his contemporaries as well as those systems whose designers pay homage to these pioneers. I'll be helping Paul Stormberg to DM his Legends of Roleplaying tourney again this year, and plan to register to play in various Greyhawk- and old-school themed events, ... read more!

Prospects and Retrospects – 101 posts From Kuroth’s Quill

2025-10-16T19:04:21-04:00November 21st, 2020|

Due to the vagaries of real-life timing winning out over planning, my 100th post in From Kuroth's Quill arrived uncelebrated as my compiled (and still far-from-comprehensive) bibliography for Lenard Lakofka's D&D writings.  Given Lenard's recent death (about which I still have a memorial post in draft), it didn't seem the right time to crow about much of anything at all, and is another hash-mark against 2020 that began back in January with my post in tribute to Rush's drummer, Neil Peart.  So, this will be my semi-celebratory and semi-reflective piece about the ongoing writing of this blog.  'Tis a rainy, grey afternoon outside, which is more conducive to writing and reflection than most, so here we go!From Kuroth's Quill - grodog's Vision vs. RealityMy blog masthead proclaims,"From Kuroth’s Quill" is grodog's regular design column covering the elements of adventure design (and more-specifically dungeon design, given my interest in that topic). I will also wander through the design of spells and magic items; monsters, traps, tricks, and treasures; PC and NPC classes; planes and pantheons; and likely other topics as well. In the blog, I hope to provide practical examples that will be useful in campaign play, to show theory in action. While From Kuroth's Quill remains more sporadic than regular than I'd prefer, and while it's not always 100% focused on AD&D and/or Greyhawk, it's generally remained on-target, although I've certainly focused more overall on general dungeon design than on creating specific content for AD&D or Greyhawk.     Here's a breakdown of my posts by year, as well as some high-level topical analysis for them:2020 - 25 posts YTD = 2.08 per month (counting this ... read more!

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