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So far grodog has created 115 blog entries.

Virtual GaryCon “Celebrating Greyhawk” Seminar — tonight 8-10pm CDT

2022-12-26T15:57:38-05:00March 27th, 2020|

Tonight I'm going to participate in our second annual "Celebrating Greyhawk: A Fandom Renaissance" seminar at GaryCon. You can review last year's seminar info---including a summary and recording details. Here's the 2020 event description:Seminar will Dual Live Stream on www.twitch.tv/lordgosumba and twitch.tv/garycon2. A personal Twitch ID is helpful, but not absolutely necessary. Also, there will be Prize Drawings at Seminar Completion for Giveaway Items related to Greyhawk & Old-School Gaming---for example, free copies of the print version of the Oerth Journal. Greyhawk fans have been creating and sharing content online for 25+ years, across many platforms. Join Bryan Blumklotz, Mike Bridges, Allan Grohe, Carlos Lising, Anna Meyer, and Kristoph Nolen as we celebrate and showcase Greyhawk resources created by the fans who champion one of D&D's oldest settings.Bryan “Saracenus” Blumklotz – Bryan is the lead administrator for the Greyhawk Resources Facebook group and is creator of the World of Greyhawk Heraldry site at WoG HeraldryMike "mortellan" Bridges – Mike publishes the Greyhawk blog Greyhawkery and co-hosts the weekly Legends & Lore show on the Lord Gosumba channel at TwitchAllan "grodog" Grohe – Allan publishes his Greyhawk fan site at Greyhawk, grodog Style and is co-founder of Black Blade Publishing (OSRIC, Rob Kuntz’s The Original Bottle City, etc.)Carlos "caslEntertainment" Lising – Carlos writes and publishes OSRIC adventures set in Oerth and in Avremier via the casl Entertainment PatreonAnna "GH Maps" Meyer – Anna publishes her Flanaess maps at www.ghmaps.net and founded the Flanaess Geographical Society and Patreon. She also co-hosts the Legends & Lore show with Mike Bridges on the Lord Gosumba Twitch channel Kristoph "Icarus" Nolen – Krisoph adminsiters Greyhawk Online, edits and publishes the Oerth ... read more!

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Renovating the Monastery – Recasting the Classic DMG Dungeon in Greyhawk – Part 1

2022-12-26T15:57:39-05:00February 16th, 2020|

Wichita Greyhawk CampaigningI ran the unnamed sample monastery dungeon from the Dungeon Masters Guide for my eldest son's after-school AD&D group a few years ago, and I've repurposed it as one of the starting points for the new Wichita Greyhawk campaign that kicked off last month. I've compiled the bits and pieces about it that I've discussed over at the Knights & Knaves Alehouse forum and Scott Gregg's Doomsday Games forum:BackgroundMaps - Wilderness Environs Maps - Dungeon LevelsKeysI'm detailing #1 and #2 in this post, with more info to follow on the updated, revised, and expanded dungeon maps and keys later. Below I dig into plenty of spoilers for the sample dungeon, so if you are currently playing through it, you should stop reading now. *** SPOILERS ****** *** *** SPOILERS ****** *** *** SPOILERS ****** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** *** SPOILERS *** Background I've decided to leverage my continued interest in the sects and cults of Wee Jas for my background to the DMG Monastery dungeon in the Wicihta campaign. This necessitates some changes to the original sketchy background from the DMG:The slain abbot becomes an abbess The fire opal becomes a holy relic of Wee Jas, perhaps in part reflecting her vanityThe lower level needs a new rationale from how I'd originally conceived it, and I'm thinking it may be tied to the Plane of Shadow now, but am still noodling on that: perhaps the shadow influences are what, in part, lead to the near-total destruction of the monastery, and if so, it seems likely that the destruction was meted out ... read more!

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Mega-Dungeon Mondays – Hitting the Monsters Hard and Book-Keeping in the Dada Dungeon

2022-12-26T15:57:40-05:00February 3rd, 2020|

Henry and I played in his "Dada Dungeon" again on Saturday. We explored less, and hit two big targets after our previous mapping rereconnoiters: a young white dragon (blissfully asleep on its treasures) and two ogres. The dragon we had discovered in the previous session, but we found the ogres only after exploring further in the vicinity of the dragon's lair. The updated map; our play focused in the NE and E zones of the level:Henry's Dada-Dungeon - Level 2 Player Map by Allan Grohe Based on our previous session activities, we had befriended the (normal-sized) badger family in the dungeon (they're located in the top-center in the oddly shaped room with the sloping northern wall), and the druid PC was a bit concerned that the dragon might decide that they'd make a good meal one day, given their relative proximity. So after some prep and consulting among the characters (which didn't take too long, since Henry and I are playing this game just the two of us ;) ), and warning the badgers about our plans (in case we TPK'd...), we attacked the sleeping white dragon and killed it in the first first round of surprise attacks. Even level 1 PCs attacking with the benefits of bless, faerie fire, and a charge bonus against a sleeping dragon is no guarantee for victory, since two of the four attacking PCs missed (one with a natural "1" which didn't result in losing his weapon). The dragon's hoard included:1200 cp684 gp5 potions: animal control (reptiles, fish, and amphibeans), extra healing (2 doses), fire resistance (2 doses), polymorph self (2 doses), and speedand a ring of invisibility that we ... read more!

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Greyhawk – Setting the Wichita Campaign in Motion

2022-12-26T15:57:41-05:00February 2nd, 2020|

Last Sunday, 26 January 2020, we created characters (some both of two, some just one of two since they had create PCs at TsunamiCon in October) and began to adventure in our local Wichita Greyhawk campaign. The players created the following first-level characters---two each, since I wanted them to have backups in case PCs are turned to stone, killed, or otherwise out-of-action for awhile:Brad - one new PC: Verdure, a female half-elf druid; 2nd PC TBDBrian - one new PC: Varis, a half-elf mercenary for hire (assassin), who is being played in preference to Melisor, a human magic-user (who delved my Castle Greyhawk at TsunamiCon)Henry - one PC: Vilador, male human magic-user, who also delved Castle Greyhawk at TsunamiCon; 2nd PC TBD after I figure out if we're doing children in the game or not (I'm leaning toward yes)Jeff - one new PC: Hagrid, male dwarf fighter/thief; 2nd PC is Oberon Canorbe, human cleric of St. Cuthbert; Hagrid and Verdure split the costs for Fang, a wardogJon - two new PCs: Danger Ranger II, male human ranger; 2nd PC is Slim Bandicoot, human thiefVince - one new PC: Lugh, male human ranger; 2nd PC is Seriat, human cleric of Obah-HaiSeveral other players participated in the TsunamiCon events, but weren't able to attend on Sunday's kickoff, so I'm still waiting to see where the mix of regular and semi-players settles out. After creating PCs, the players opted to explore through the ruined monastery dungeons from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide, which I've set on the southern verge of the western side of the Gnarley Forest:Darlene's Greyhawk mapfrom the 1980 Greyhawk FolioThe PCs began in Ellorn, a small ... read more!

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The Dada Dungeon and Wichita Greyhawk

2022-12-26T15:57:41-05:00January 20th, 2020|

Henry has been DMing me through his "Dada Dungeon" since mid-August 2019, and we picked up our game again yesterday afternoon over the long weekend. (Well, a long weekend for Henry and his older brother, anyway ;) ). Since August I've spent a lot campaign time dealing with machinations, assassins, and attacks on the town of Scortop (located in South Province hex #N2-87 on the Darlene Greyhawk map, which is 3 1/2 hexes up from the D in Rieuwood), which were only "resolved" recently. I still don't know the identity of the mysterious and seemingly-ancient Octarius---of the long-lost Archbarony of Ilgelgoron, east of Blackmoor (mentioned in a letter dated 319 CY, over 257 years ago!)---or of his possible agent Frengier and his long-distance-writing magical quills (they seem to act like longhand telegraphs). That has allowed a return to the abandoned dwarven gem mine dungeon, which we hadn't revisited since the start of the school year:Henry's Dada Mega-Dungeon - Level 1Player Map by Allan GroheHenry completely improvised the upper caves level, as well as most of the resulting escapades in town. I had previously only discovered a well (visible in the upper left of the above map in the "dog with pointy ears" cave") as a possible lower entrance. I think that the surface plottings had grown a bit beyond what Henry originally intended, and he was happy to return to the dungeon itself today.We played for about 4-5 hours, from before and through lunch, until about 4pm. The PCs spent time exploring the level rather than engaging everything encountered---we didn't open any doors, and were really just trying to get the lay of the land. ... read more!

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Mega-Dungeon Monday links – New Castle Greyhawk Analysis (and more!)

2020-01-14T01:15:00-05:00January 14th, 2020|

While I'm still getting back on the post-holiday track for blog writing, I thought I'd mention some interesting mega-dungeon and adventure design discussions going on within the old-school folks I follow:Daniel "delta" Collins has performed some new analysis of the first level map and key of Gary Gygax's Castle Greyhawk @ https://deltasdnd.blogspot.com/2020/01/subterrane-surveys-gygaxs-castle.html, with some interesting results---well-worth the read! Some excellent discussion about adventure module book design and usability in the comments of Bryce Lynch's recent review of the The Anthropophagi of Xambaala for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, one of my favorite creations from the OSRIllusions are in the air! Anthony Huso has continued his examination of house rules and interpretations to make sense of of illusions at his AD&D table, while over on Dragonsfoot a timely discussion arose in response to how mixed saving throws are adjudicated for a group of PCs facing down illusionsTrent Foster has outlined the scope of the ongoing revisions to his AD&D Companion, now entitled The Heroic Legendarium!---an exciting new expansion to the core of AD&D's rules that I'm planning to introduce into my new Greyhawk Campaign :DYour regularly-scheduled Mega-Dungeon Mondays will reappear next week =)Allan.

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New local Greyhawk Campaign in Wichita – 26 Jan 2020 Kickoff!

2022-12-26T15:57:42-05:00January 13th, 2020|

New in-person Greyhawk campaign to begin on Sunday, 26 January 2020 at Hero Complex in Wichita, Kansas, at 1pm CST! Estimated stop time 5-6pm. In honor of the upcoming 46th anniversary of the first publication of Dungeons & Dragons, I'm kicking off a new AD&D 1st edition campaign set in my version of the World of Greyhawk. Previously discussed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/111904705646730/permalink/958413074329218/ and with some introductory steps taken at TsunamiCon in October 2019, this session will mark the campaign's official start. No previous experience with AD&D 1st edition or the World of Greyhawk required: newcomers welcome! :DAllan.

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Review – Castle Xyntillan by Gabor “Melan” Lux (Part 2)

2022-12-26T15:57:42-05:00January 12th, 2020|

Castle Xyntillan by Gabor Lux (E.M.D.T. release #60) - Maps by Rob Conley Review - Castle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux (Part 2) This review continues from Part 1, and focuses in detail on the adventuring content of Castle Xyntillan. Unlike in the first part of the review, it is impossible for me to discuss details about Gabor's maps and encounters without spoilers: so, if you plan to play this adventure, read no further. *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** *** *** SPOILERS *** Castle Xyntillan - The Maps The map packet is important to not lose track of, since referencing the maps' broader context and the map key is much easier using the poster maps. I mention this specifically since I hadn't noticed the map packet envelope in my cardboard shipping sleeve and thought it was packing/padding; I should have known better since Gabor includes separate maps in most of his publications. That said, reading through the entire book without the map key was a bit confusing at times until I eventually ran into it on page 128, so please learn from my mistake! In addition to the map booklet, the endpapers of the hardcover display Gabor's original hand-drawn maps for the castle (front endpapers) and the upper levels (back endpapers). The hand-drawn and -written notes are rendered in sepia ink, with the hand-written notes replaced with typed labels for easier reading. In addition, Gabor adds locations details for where many of the playtesting PCs and their companions met their ... read more!

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Drums of Heroism—for Neil Peart (1952-2020)

2020-01-11T00:45:00-05:00January 11th, 2020|

Enter the Champion, Prince By-Tor appears to battle for freedom from chains of long years.The spell has been broken... the Dark Lands are bright,the Wraith of the Necromancer soars away... in the night--- "Return Of The Prince", Caress of Steel (1975)The Master Bard Aerdile Oowln-lept wroughtwith staccato might,a Rensonant Unbinding---and reclaimed that Night.The Master Bard Aerdile Oowln-lept wrought---The Balefires sputtered,Away they fled. To hear his song:The drums, the drums. Long, long.---The Fables of BurdockDrums of Heroism (Artifact) Borne into battle by warriors of renown since the Night of the Invoked Devastation, the Drums of Heroism appear as a well-made but nondescript musical instrument---sometimes as a single drum, sometimes as a pair or a trio of drums as an attached set (making them particularly difficult to identify among magical artifacts, for they do not radiate a magical aura to any save a bard's divinations). Usable by any class of character, the Drums of Heroism provide a potent boost to the prowess of allies in battle: after being played uninterrupted for a full turn, they grant a bonus of +2 to hit to all allies within a 40-foot radius (in dungeons or outdoors), as well as a +10% bonus to morale. These effects last for as long as playing continues, and for one hour (six turns) after playing has ceased. While playing the Drums of Heroism, a character cannot engage in melee combat or spell casting, although they can speak normally to any listener within a 2" radius (outside of which their words are inaudible due to the volume of the drums). If played for longer than one turn and one hour, a non-bard character playing the Drums of ... read more!

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Review – Castle Xyntillan by Gabor “Melan” Lux (Part 1)

2022-12-26T15:57:43-05:00December 31st, 2019|

Castle Xyntillan by Gabor Lux (E.M.D.T. release #60) - Cover art by Peter MullenCastle Xyntillan by Gabor "Melan" Lux - Part 1Castle Xyntillan is Gabor Lux's tenth English-language publication since he launched Echoes from Fomalhaut in March 2018, and is also the sixtieth---yes 60th!---title released from E.M.D.T., the First Hungarian d20 Society since 2003 (and 18 of the pre-2018 E.M.D.T. titles are available in English, too). Unlike the many gems that appear in Gabor's regular zine, Castle Xyntillan is a self-contained adventure that falls into several simultaneous categories of interest:Castle Xyntillan is a large campaign dungeon in scope, although not a traditional mega-dungeon in design or presentationCastle Xyntillan is an homage to the classic Judges Guild haunted mansion adventure, Tegel ManorCastle Xyntillan is also an homage to Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne pulp fictions, and perhaps by way of inspirational osmosis, Tom Moldvay's X2 Castle AmberNone of these individual influences speak to Castle Xyntillan's perhaps-primary intent, in that it also serves as the first English-language release and publication for the upcoming Helvéczia RPG. From the penultimate page:[The Helvéczia RPG is a] lightweight, light-hearted historical fantasy game for playing scoundrels and low-lives in an alternate-reality magical Switzerland (and beyond) ca. 1698, [that] gives you everything you need for fast-paced picaresque adventures featuring stagecoaches, robbers, daring escapes and dark deviltry. Using a greatly streamlined, six-level ("E6") version of the renowned d20 System, Helvéczia has been thoroughly reworked and customized to capture the spirit of swashbuckling movies, adventure novels, penny dreadfuls and colourful historical legends. Match your wits against the lackeys of robber barons and faerie realms; waste your winnings in merchant towns ruled by avarice and eccentric custom; ... read more!

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Merry Needfest, Happy Christmas, Joyous Yule, and Happy 2020!

2022-12-26T15:57:44-05:00December 31st, 2019|

Merry 2020For those who celebrate holidays at this time of year, I hope you've all had a relaxing break from work filled with good times with friends and family, creative recharging, and fun shenanigans in general, and that 2020 brings your dreams to fruition! :DWe gave my 8-month-old niece some large dice for Christmas, which she took to right away!:My niece, The Notorious RKG Whither grodog?It's been a busy month+ since Thanksgiving, filled with travel and travail, fun family time and busy holiday gatherings, as well as getting over a cold one of our sons gave me (which lasted for a few weeks). Work was exacerbated by bad planning (by other groups within Ruckus) and the bad timing of some security vulnerabilities being announced that kept me busy up through and including Christmas Eve, with some follow-up the two days following too, but things have thankfully slowed down since then. We've all also remained healthy between the holidays, and the boys have enjoyed a fun break thus far. We took all of our local extended family to see The Rise of Skywalker on Saturday as our Christmas gifts (we switched over to "experiences" vs. gifts several years ago, usually doing fun Broadway shows like Wicked, Phantom of the Opera, Finding Neverland, etc.). So, other than whining, what have I been up to?: I wrote a 3000 word article on creating and defining factions for campaign play in Greyhawk, for the new Oerth Journal #31, which should debut later today---a fine Needfest issue that wraps up the Folks, Feuds, and Factions themes for 2019:OJ#31 PreviewPlayed several games of Dominion with my father-in-law, which is always fun---he played it ... read more!

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From the Vaults – World of Greyhawk Rarities for Your Games

2022-12-26T15:57:44-05:00November 29th, 2019|

In this "From the Vaults" series of articles, I'm going to present and summarize information about obscure, rare, and less-well-known World of Greyhawk content. There are many Greyhawk rarities well-worth digging into. Some add significant lore to the setting, while others are simply solid Greyhawk adventures that are fun to run and play. Some are old, rare, obscure, and very difficult to find, while others are hot-off-the-presses and being actively published by fans today!What Greyhawk Rarities? The first question* to ask about this topic may be, "How does Allan (or anyone else) know what constitutes a rare item in the world of Greyhawk publishing?" Well, Ant "Echohawk" Brooks maintains a Greyhawk Collector's Guide on ENWorld, and it's amazingly comprehensive. I link to it on my Greyhawk Links page, and while there are still bits and pieces of info that trickle in with new discoveries, new versions or editions of books, additional Living Greyhawk tourney scenarios catalogued, and new titles written by and for Greyhawk fans being published each year, Echohawk's work is my go-to guide whenever I want to dig into the history of Greyhawk publishing over the decades.I've written about some of these curios here and there in my web site, and in some previous blog articles, and some of these items are somewhat better-known or are already well-documented, but I may still touch on some of them, either in passing, or directly:"The Lost Caverns of Tsojconth" is Gygax's 1976 tourney from Wintercon V and the precursor to TSR's 1982 S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth:Gary Gyga's 1976 WinterCon V tournament,The Lost Caverns of TsojconthI've written extensively about both versions---see http://greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_s4.html and http://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_s4_encounters.html in particular and ... read more!

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grodog’s Castle Greyhawk – Levels Inventory and Updates

2022-12-26T15:57:45-05:00November 25th, 2019|

I've been working on the design and redesign of my version of the Castle Greyhawk mega-dungeon for nearly as along as I've been playing D&D: I began construction of it in the early 1980s, when I designed the schema below for my vision of the castle dungeons' depth and breadth of levels---it's "footprint" in the Oerth of the Cairn Hills. grodog's Castle Greyhawk - levels 1-10 elevationandgrodog's Castle Greyhawk - levels 10-17 elevationI conceived the plan for my castle to fit within this elevation footprint of the levels, which would allow me sufficient depth and distance between the levels that I could flexibly add to overall structure with new levels, sub-levels, side levels, and such, easily as needed. Or so I thought at the time.... The redesign work began again around 2006-2008, in response to the many discussions over at the Knights & Knaves Alehouse and Dragonsfoot on mega-dungeon design, and I eventually began to codify my new vision for both the castle and the levels beneath it:grodog's Castle Greyhawk - new sketch mapfor ruins and wilderness environsThe environs map above replaced my original castle ruins level, which was much more prosaic, was designed with little regard for actual castle construction techniques, and was drawn before I'd even visited a real castle, all of which informed the newer design. The image below is my first pass at a comprehensive inventory of my Castle Greyhawk dungeon levels: A partial inventory of the dungeon levels in my version of Castle GreyhawkI've gone through my Castle folders and binders to compile the levels that weren't already listed in my web site, on my blog, online in FB, or ... read more!

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grodog’s Mega-Dungeon Maps – The Heretical Temple of Wee Jas

2022-12-26T15:57:46-05:00November 18th, 2019|

So, today's my first new Mega-Dungeon Mondays post, and I thought I'd share a bit about my mapping design process. "The Heretical Temple of Wee Jas" level was the map that I began to design immediately after The (First) Landings Level, and its original name was The Second Landings Level (original, eh? ;) ). Like "The Landings Level", I playtested this dungeon at GaryCon, the North Texas RPG Con, and KantCon, among other events. I completed the first iteration of the map over several nights, noodling through a few different options on how best to design the lower half of the map, particularly the large temple in the SW corner:Draft 1: grodog's Heretical Temple of Wee Jas---draft 1 dungeon level mapWhen I'm unsure how I want to work out a particular section, or when I'm working on keying for a level with a completed map draft (I almost always draw my maps first then work on keying), I'll make photocopies of the level to play with variations until I'm happy with how the design turns out.I did that several times with the temple in the SW corner, as you can see in the various second drafts:Draft 2a:grodog's Heretical Temple of Wee Jas---draft 2a dungeon level mapDraft 2b:grodog's Heretical Temple of Wee Jas---draft 2b dungeon level mapIn the end, the completed first draft 3 of the level looked like this, but you'll note that I still hadn't decided on how to trick out the temple area:grodog's Heretical Temple of Wee Jas--- completed draft 3 dungeon level mapI was also still drawing non-narrowing stairs as stairs up at this point in my design process, but I eventually ... read more!

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grodog talking 1e Undead and Greyhawk on Twitch tonight @ 8pm EDT

2022-12-26T15:57:46-05:00November 13th, 2019|

Just a quick announcement: I'll return to talk Greyhawk and undead on Twitch again tonight, with Jay Scott, Anna Meyer, and Mike Bridges on Wednesday, 13 November 2019 at 8pm EST, livestreaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lordgosumbaHere's Jay's full announcement:Legends & Lore - Season 4 Premiere on TwitchWednesday Evening on the Lord Gosumba Channel Hello Friends and Greyhawkers! Legends & Lore has moved to the Lord Gosumba Channel starting this Wednesday, Nov 13, 8pm EST. To Kickoff their 4th season, the discussion will be about Undead of the Flanaess; this will include the various types of the non-living, and specific names of renown that put a shiver down the heartiest of adventurers! Join Anna Meyer, Mike Bridges, and me, as we welcome, Allan T. Grohe Jr., "The Grodog", to this weeks discussion!Thank you all for the wonderful support and stream participation! See you Live Stream! www.twitch.tv/lordgosumbaIt feels like I've been doing quite a few more of these live/streaming discussions lately, and I guess I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of it! I've also done some others in the more-distant past too, and I should put together a compilation of all of them, I suppose---my son Henry at least is interested in going back to watch (or listen) to some of them ;) See you later tonight! :DAllan.

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