A blog about sewing machine repairs,but mainly my hobbies which include old school role playing games, science fiction,films, horror, and general geekery. Sit down and stay a spell.
"They are the children of the atom, the next step in human evolution. They are mutants, hated and feared by mere humans. Some, like the X-Men and the New Mutants, are protectors of humanity. Others, such as the Hellfire Club and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, want to be the masters of humanity."
"Now, the major marvcom mutants, well-meaning and malign, are collected in one book. More than 50 heroes, villains, and interested parties... are described inside, along with notes on the X-Men's mansion, important non-mutants, and the fearsome Sentinels -- mutant-hunting robots created by the United States government to deal with the mutant menace."
So the year is 1987 & we're in the middle of our Marvel Super Heroes rpg campaign & this add appeared in several Marvel comicbooks. Because mutants were such a big deal in certain circles of comic book readers. A year earlier Jeff Grubb had written Marvel Super Heroes Rpg Project Wideawake & it was the start of the Fall of the Mutants adventure line for our group. According to the Project Wideawake wiki entry;"MHAC5 Project: Wideawake was written by Jeff Grubb, with a cover by Kerry Gammill, and was published by TSR, Inc., in 1985 as a 32-page book"
For us this was the supplement that launched our group of heroes into the Days of Future Past comicbook world when we stumbled through an alternative Earth gateway created by a mutant kid with reality warping powers called Second Guess. This mutant kid not even ten years old could create doorways into alternative universes.Given my uncle proclivity for using the Marvel comics as reference & we soon found ourselves saving Second Guess from a group of Friends of Humanity supporters. And then we found ourselves on an Earth so very much unlike our own. And it was not an easy slog back to save Second Guess from the Sentinels. Most if not all of the stats for the mutants that we met along the way came from Project Wideawake. For me Project Wideawake is a great little supplement and Jeff Grubb's writing and design is tight. Not everyone feels this way however; "Pete Tamlyn reviewed the supplement in Imagine magazine.[2] He comments, "OK, X-Fans, this is the one you've been waiting for [...] if you have any interest at all in the X-Men and related groups then this product is essential."[2] He found that the floor plans "are not really clear enough for any serious use without considerable work on the GM's part."[2] Tamlyn added: "The coverage of Marvel mutant-kind is reasonably comprehensive. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have been left out as they were in the Avengers booklet; Beast was as well, of course, but they could hardly miss one of the original X-Men. Phoenix is in and, as might have been expected, is tough enough to take on everyone else in the booklet put together and win easily—the booklet sensibly recommends that she only enter games as an NPC. There are, however, some surprising omissions, including the Starjammers, Shi'Ar Imperial Guard and Alpha Flight. There are not many mutants in that lot, but they're all part of the X-Men circle. Another book, perhaps?"[2] He continued, "I have got a few gripes as well. One or two boobs seem to have slipped past the proofreaders; for example we are told that Magma regains health points each round as long as she is in contact with the ground, but we are not told how many points per round. However, if you want to run MSH as it is designed to be run, some things are essential, and this is one of them."[2] Tamlyn concludes the review by saying, "Final point: the booklet introduces a new rule to MSH. Supervillains now have negative popularity which is a measure of how easy they find it to cow hapless civilians. A nice idea."" Do I personally agree with Mr. Tamlyn's review?! No,because it seems unduly harsh and Dragon magazine would later have it's Ares section cover Alpha Flight and the Shi'Ar Imperial Guard. What Project Wideawake does is introduce the Xmen and thier enemies into the Marvel Superheroes rpg and it could easily be used with the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced rpg. Project Wideawake was a product of it's time and as such easily introduced the Xmen. I was later on replaced by the superior Children of the Atom supplement but for it's time Project Wideawake did it's job easily and with bells on.
Over the weekend my player's had scheduling difficulties and rather then dwell on it. I brought out the Marvel Super Heroes Adanced rpg by Jeff Grubb. I stopped on the Marvel Super Heroes Judge's book by Jeff Grubb. If there's a heart and soul to the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set besides the Player's Handbook that stands out it's the Judge's Book by Jeff Grubb. For me it's a solid sixty eight page DM's book that stands out. Not only is there advice but there's a ton of material for setting up a campaign for extended play. Rpg advice , adventure guidelines, villains, and more are all found within the Judge's Book. This is written from the DM's perspective because I'm frankly the DM. What I love about the Judge's Book is it's simplicity and ultility. Jeff Grub's writing is on point and the presentation is pure classic era TSR.
According to JEREMY E STEIGERWALD's 2015 Amazon review; "Marvel is a simple d100 system that allows the Judge (this system's term for a Game Master) the flexibility to run his/her kind of superhero game. Be aware that this was written in the late eighties, and as such it was a simpler time in comics. Many online resources exist to help new Judges." And it's the simplicity that has made FASERIP one of the best classic superhero rpg's ever written. This is backed up by an unknown reviewer from 2010;"This is one of the best pen and paper rpg's ever made. It does a great job of capturing the feel of the Marvel Universe and this set contains everything you need to get a game up and going fairly quickly. The books read fast and easy. If your a Marvel or super hero fan than you will love this game! TSR really did a good job on this.'
I think that this is also reflected in the Judge's Book which gives DM's just enough to get thier campaigns off the ground and to keep them flying. According to the Rpg Museum entry on the Advanced Set; "This is the rare “Advanced” set of rules that expands rather than complicates. All the stuff in here remains fairly straightforward and function more as guidelines than rules, but it feels crunchier and more versatile. A number of systems have been overhauled, the character creation is more robust (but still, I think, down to the randomness of the system, produces characters that are under-powered compared to the existing Marvel ones) and there are neat rules for building a headquarters.
This is the system I ran and played back in the day. It is fun. It is a bit more comfortable if you’re coming off D&D. But weirdly, I think if I were to run a Marvel game now, I’d probably do the yellow box"
Personally I'd go with the Advanced FASERIP system at this point.
"This set consists of a 96-page Player's Book, a 64-page Judge 's Book, a 22-1/2 by 33-inch full color, two-sided map, over 40 Character Cards, 80 Stand-Up Adventure Counters and two 10-sided dice. The MARVEL SUPER HEROES ADVANCED SET may be played by itself, but is designed to expand the existing MARVEL SUPER HEROES Game. The MARVEL SUPER HEROES Game is for two or more players, ages 12 and up."
Rear view vision is a fun thing & when it comes too FASRIP, I've got a very special place in my heart for it especially the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set! The Advanced Marvel Super Heroes set came out in 1986 & for our group it was the breath of fresh air we needed. According to the MSH Advanced Wiki page there were several changes; "It contains a more elaborate "Universal Table" which enables a wider variety of results to happen. Character creation involves detailed superhuman powers now in 10 categories (such as Movement, Mental Powers, or Energy Control), and combat is more complex as well and has rules for magic. This set presents statistics for many weapons and vehicles, more information on campaigns, game statistics for 45 heroes, 28 villains, and 9 special entities, as well as character cards and cardstock miniatures" This set was no joke and was very much responsible for an ongoing Marvel Super Hereoes campaign that lasted deeply into '91! This set was designed for sustained campaign play & even Andrew Pearson of the Space Gamer fame agreed:" Andrew Pearson reviewed Marvel Super Heroes: Advanced in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 78.[2] He rated the complexity as low, and the rules clarity and graphics quality as excellent.[2] Pearson commented that "As other reviewers have said of the original, the advanced set has realism. The realism of this set is of the intensity one would have if he or she were actually living out a Marvel Comic. A more comprehensive listing of powers and talents is given in the new Player's Book. More exacting explanations of these features are given that can be compared to the realistic spell explanations in TSR's Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook. Contacts are now the replacement of Neighbors, Friends, etc. Of course this does not mean you cannot have neighbors or friends, it just means that you can have a larger amount of each. Contacts are those who can aid you in a gainful way during a campaign (i.e. support, information, equipment)."
This was no joke of an Advanced set, we played the Hell out of it and wound up buying two more Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set By Author Jeff Grubb. Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set By Author Jeff Grubb came with a map of New York City and to this day it's where we continue to set game campaigns. Our own '87 game was set up with our own mercenary super heroes doing 'mop up' for most of the other super heroes groups such as the Fantastic Four, the Avengers,and even the Xmen. Man, did we get ourselves into some major scraps back then. Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set has pretty much everything one needs to start and drop a MSH's game from the ground up. The character generation is simple, easy to get into and perfect for campaign play. Marvel Super Heroes, Advanced Set By Author Jeff Grubb is available through the Classic Marvel Forver website under downloads advanced tab.
Photo stolen from Wayne's books who has an excellent Marvels Super Heroes section here.
The Dwarven gods that appear within Dieties and Demigods might actually predate the Elven gods of our Greyhawk campaign that we've been talking about last time on the blog.
So let's pick it up with the Fall, September is around the corner and already the chill of Autumn is in the air of August. If you've been following our posts we dive back into both classic Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition Dieties & Demigods & Castles and Crusades with Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing. Last time we spoke about a multiplicity of Greyhawks. And let's assume for a moment using the Great Wheel cosmology that someplace among the Prime material plans that there's a Greyhawk that follows the Celtic mythology put forth within Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing. The rebellions & battles of the Celtic gods might actually line up with the Elven gods of Chaos that appeared in Adventurer,Conqueror, King's King's By This Axe. Giving the Dwarves a rather dim view of the Elves while enhancing the human's postion within this world.
This is a world of Celtic tribes and peoples, the Fey have full reign here, and the word of Druids might be law. The Dwarves are actually older then the Fey, the Elves, and most certainly the humans. The abandoned Dwarven city dimensional gates of Stains upon the Green lead into Dark Wizard's #4 Vault of the Dwarven King.
And the Fey would not be happy at all with the release of a Chaos elemental Earth elemental in the hands of the Dark Fairy, Elves, and others forces of Chaos.This world of Greyhawk may be far more raw, primative, and highly dangerous. Perhaps this version of Greyhawk might even be pre Iron Age. The PC's gate into a very different Dwarven city from Stains on the Green. The Dwarven halls are full, the city is fully staffed, and even the Dwarven gods walk the fields of battle.
This version of Greyhawk is within the grip of the time of legendsClangeddin Silverbeard walks upon the field of battle himself. The Dwarven race here is in thier prime. Even here Chaos rears it's head and the races of humanoids are on the uptick. If the party is captured and questioned by the Dwarves they are going to have to do some fancy foot work and talking to escape.
Clangeddin Silverbeard, the Father of Battle, as depicted in Dragon #58 (1982).
This is a Greyhawk that reeks of legends & lore in the full of itself. Castle Greyhawk may still stand or have fallen to the forces of Chaos long ago. Something is amiss and off even as the PC's are beguiled by the forces of the Fey. But why?! Tales of the Outer Planes may contain the answers as the PC's try to deal with thier position within the Dwarven fortress city. Jeff Grub's Manual of the Outer Planes might be of some use when moving into another alternative Prime Material plane. And then there's the facts that the Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum 2nd Printing may contain alternative forces of Evil that the players will not be expecting. My advice for the forces of Chaos is to use the Random Esoteric Creature Generator for Classic Fantasy Role-Playing Games and Their Modern Simulacra. The monsters will be the stuff of nightmares quite literally.
One of the reasons why Kuntz and Ward's Dieties & Demigods is useful is because of the fact that the gods and mythologies protrayed in this Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition book sorta conform to our world. When I say sorta of some of the entries are not quite in line with the 'real world' mythology. And we're gonn pick it right up from here on the blog. And this is just fine. Why?! Because it conforms to TSR classic era Greyhawk.
What do you mean fine?! Well this is because classic first edition Dieties & Demigods plugged into classic era Greyhawk and according to the Forgotten Realms wiki;"Deities & Demigods was the first print appearance of various fictional non-human deities, such as Corellon, Moradin, Gruumsh, and others, many of which have become standard features of Dungeons & Dragons and its derivatives. These deities were the creation of James Ward." And all of these non human dieties end up referenced in the original Greyhawk box set. So Dieties and Demigods ties in with Greyhawk exceedly strongly.
Remember Dieties & Demigods introduced the 'Great Wheel' concept into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Even further back it came into focus in Dragon issue#8 with a commentary by Gary Gygax. 'The Great Wheel' model of the planes includes multiple Oearths as a matter of course. And so we have a multiplicity of Oreaths out there in the various Prime Material universes. So this means that there are multiple Greyhawks that are still in the multiverse. And to tie this in with Our Stains Upon the Green campaign.
The Dwarves know of this multiplicity of planar material reflections through thier divinities. And so took full advantage of this fact within the lead from Stains upon the Green's abandoned Dwarven city straight into Dark Wizard's #4 Vault of the Dwarven King.
If we build on Adventurer,Conqueror, King's By This Axe. The Dwarves know of this multiplicity of planar material reflections through thier divinities. And so took full advantage of this fact something that we see within Adventurer,Conqueror, King's By This Axe with Dieties & Demigods then the Dwarves place becomes clearer.
"Cyclopedia of Gods and Heroes from Myth and Legend
Provides the Dungeon Master with gods, heroes and monsters from myth, fiction and legend for use in rounding out an Advanced D&D campaign. Within this book are seventeen pantheons of divinities, each profusely illustrated. Also included are new material on clerics' conduct and their relationships with their deities, information on character mortality and immortality, and more!"
The original Deities & Demigods includes a 9-page chart for clerics, as well as an entire chapter about the various planes of existence.["
Now I'm not going over any of the controversy that surrounds the Dieties & Demigods book. You can read about that on the Dieties & Demigods wiki entry here. What no one really talks about in thier various reviews, commentaries, etc. is the nine page clerical chart & Great Wheel Cosmology section within the Dieties and Demigods Gods book. Sure you'll see Amazon reviews like Patrick Payne's from October 2007; "This is a good addition to any 1st Edition AD&D library, particularly any one that is going to be set on a fantasy Earth. The book presents a number of well-known real mythoi (even if they are somewhat changed from their historical underpinnings for ease of gameplay -- but Schick and Kuntz do provide an extensive bibliography for the source material) including lesser-known pantheons such as the Native American and Finnish gods. There is even a section for King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table (following Mallory's Morte d'Arthur, and not the post-Roman noble he probably was, but that's just a nitpick). Monsters and other heroes conected with the deities are also included.
But the most legendary point of the book is, of course, official AD&D stats for Cthulhu and others in the Lovecraft mythos -- and they are bruisers.
Don't let the deities' stat blocks fool you into thinking the gods are there like other monsters -- for the purpose of "kill it and take its stuff." These gods are GODS -- they have stats only to be used "if absolutely necessary." Any of these deities could reasonably be expected to kill a PC of almost any level within a round or two (and some, like Cthulhu, could even make short work of some of the toughest critters from the Monster Manual such as Demogorgon or Orcus). Use them sparingly as direct combat opponents (although sending Cthulhu [400 HP, 30 attacks (you read that right) of a damage level I don't recall, but obscenely high] against a "full of itself, 'let's rip the moustache off the king and raid his treasury'" party might just knock some sense into them <evil laugh>), instead trying to use them as either patrons or prime movers -- The PCs probably would never face Loki or Izumo, but might be fighting fire giants or Ogre Magi/Oni that the gods are directing.
One thing -- make sure to look carefully at the product description. If you want just any copy, any edition of this book (or the identical-but-for-a-different-cover-and-title Legends and Lore) are extremely serviciable. But if you're a collector, or are looking to use the 1st Edition stats for the Cthulhu or Melinebone (sp?) mythoi, be sure the product description states that it is the first edition -- after that (and perhaps a second printing), TSR decided to take the stats out rather than have to give a "thank you" credit to Chaosium. However, some later printings have the "thank you" note without the stats (they hadn't gotten around to changing the plates) -- therefore get the first printing and you're assured of Lovecraftian goodness."
Sure there's a ton of great information there but what the reviewer isn't telling you and what makes Kuntz & Ward's Dieties & Demigods the fourth core AD&D first edition book is that nine page chart for clerics. Why? Because it gives all of the information about whom the cleric's god is opposition too, what is required of the cleric, and more. Its the combination of the chart and the stat blocks of the gods that makes Dieties & Demigods an invaluable book. In point of fact Dieties and Demigods 1st edition is invaluable for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons clerics. Because it continues the material from Kuntz & Ward's Gods, Demigods, and Heroes from original Dungeons & Dragons.
Comparing and contrasting the two supplements is day and night. The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons version expands on the entries of Gods. Demi Gods, and Heroes. This isn't to say that it's superior but simply that it's a different edition of the same material spun & edited for a different edition. But if your PC's somehow
do end up on a god's home plane, boy are they going to be in trouble. And for the 'Great Wheel Cosmology' Dieties & Demigods collected all of the information about the planes and then spun it with the gods. And this is also the first appearance of the Demi Human & Humanoid races which were James Ward's creation according to the Forgotten Realms Dieties & Demigods Wiki entry; "Deities & Demigodswas the first print appearance of various fictional non-human deities, such asCorellon,Moradin,Gruumsh, and others, many of which have become standard features ofDungeons & Dragonsand its derivatives. These deities were the creation ofJames Ward.
"...from Arcadia to Pandemonium, from the plane of elemental Fire to the Astral plane, vast new worlds of adventure are now open to players."
A vital source book for players and DMs of all levels of experience, the Manual of the Planes details the manifold worlds of the known planes of existence. This book describes the inhabitants, rulers, and environments of these worlds, as well as rules for movement, survival, combat, and spell use in these alien surroundings. A different style of AD&D adventures awaits!
The Manul of the Planes By Jeff Grubb remains one of my all time favorite of the orange spine Advanced Dungeons & Dragons books. The Manual of the Planes follows in the footsteps of Roger E. Moore's Plane Dragon magazine articles. And the Manual exclusively follows; "The Great Wheel of Planes first appeared in The Dragon #8 (July 1977). It was refined in the Player's Handbook (1978) and Deities & Demigods (1980)." And then allows the adventurers to adventure onto the very planes where only high level adventurers once tread. The Manual of the Planes have everything from the effects of magic and planes, the effects on equipment, gravity, reality, and more all within the atmosphere of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition According to the Wiki entry on 'The Manual of the Planes' here we get a bit of everything; "The book also details how to survive in the planes, and how combat and magic differ under each plane's special conditions. The Ethereal Plane, The Inner Planes—including the Plane of Elemental Air, the Plane of Elemental Fire, the Plane of Elemental Earth, and the Plane of Elemental Water, the Para-Elemental Planes (Smoke, Magma, Ooze, and Ice), the Energy Planes (Positive
Now it goes without saying that The Manual of the Planes could easily be moved into the field of the OSR especially for a retroclone such as OSRIC. That it wouldn't be hard to use 'The Manual of The Planes' with most of the major OSR retroclones. At the vary least 'The Manual of the Planes' is easily usable with "OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988). This is one of the pivotal old school Eighties planar adventure anthologies that brought the things talked about within The Manual of the Planes onto the table top!
"OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988) brings everything that was used in the 'Manual of the Planes' home into the adventures putting the PC's into the middle of the action at every level of play. According to the Forgotten Realms wiki entry here's what we got:
How to Use Tales of the Outer Planes
Prime: A Simple Deed, Well Rewarded
Ethereal: Castle at the Edge of Time
Air: The Brewing Storm
Water: The Voyage of the Nereid
Fire: Through the Fire
Earth: The Missing Kristal
Astral Into the Astral Plane
Seven Heavens: An Element of Chaos
Olympus: A Friendly Wager
The Abyss: The Sea of Screams
Nine Hells: To Hell and Back
Lairs
We got a little bit of everything from the simple to the Abyss and back again in one very handy adventure anthology. Enough to keep a party of adventurers going for years! The Manual of the Planes & OP1: Tales of the Outer Planes" (1988) is perfect for use with another set of OSR rules and that's Castles & Crusades rpg. This is exactly the sort of gaming adventuring solution that Castles & Crusades were designed for. The DM wants to bring his or her adventurers onto the planes but wants a modern OSR style of play.
