Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: Role Aids Dragons By Cory Glaberson For Your Old School Campaigns

Way back in the mists of the Eighties about Eighty Six on a Thursday afternoon right about two o'clock or so I was running my ass off to escape the daily pounding at the hands of a bully trying to make it to the bookshop in downtown Torrington. What was waiting for me was a prize beyond measure for first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons from Mayfair games Dragons by Cory Glaberson. Dragonlance was on the horizon but not for me at all, the series never resonated but instead Dragonriders of Pern by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey had a far greater impact. Mayfair games Dragons takes a number of pieces of inspiration from that classic series which began in Sixty Seven.


The blurb from the back of the book via Wayne's Books pretty much gives the tone & feel of the book;""LIKE TINY DAGGERS, particles of ice cut into your face and hands as you dive through the clouds. You feel the muscles along the back of the massive ruby dragon tighten and bunch as it strains to turn for an attack.

A scream of defiance echoes upward from the rapidly growing form of the riderless black dragon below. In moments, the once distant beast looms to fill the sky. Still breathless from the battering sharp turn, you loose two barbed javelins into the dark leather wing, to little effect. Muttering a prayer to an elder god, you couch your bulky lance, as the two great dragons plunge directly toward each other ...
THIS REFERENCE WORK contains the lives, histories and cultures of the dragon races and introduces a new character class: the DRAGONLORDS. Included are three independent, but related adventures for characters to assist the Dragonlords In a war of epic proportions. The adventures are for six to eight characters from sixth to ninth skill level."

These dragons were the ones from the Monster Manual sort of mixed with a whole plethora of other D&D & independent world mythology to add into your games. This was because dragons were children of the gods and therefore heirs to the linage of the legendary and divine. So way before the Draconomicon for 2nd edition came out this book was dealing slices of dragon culture, lineage, magic, culture and more all build around the character class of the Dragon rid ermm Dragon lords. With really awesome cut away pieces of artwork like this one!



All of the usual suspects are there including age charts, spell usage, variations of standard dragons, mutations, sports, & much more. There's lots of information on several of the established dragon's species, from stats to ecology to their 'aging process and molting' and clan information. All of this was completely independent from any of the 'official' material that was coming out of classic era TSR at the time.  Everything was well laid out and columned from the usual Mayfair specifics when it came to their Eighty six era books.


The material here was centered around the dragons & the dragon lords (riders) where they could build villages, etc. around them completely so that campaigns had a PC anchor to hold all of it together in a cohesive whole. This also made the prospect for domain play practical & in some cases welcome. This was a part of making the dragon vital to the well being of the world setting that they were used in. For fans of this sort of a campaign it was very nicely handled. This made the dragon more then a mere loot point & experience tick but a living fire breathing entity capable of driving adventure & play within a campaign.


The adventures within Dragons centers around the ecology and setting of the dragon as a campaign element. They're very well done for what they do which is to put the dragons center stage & create play around them with additional companions, monsters, and more all central to the dragon a player on the stage of the setting. The PC are going to have to deal with all of the material that surrounds them. The experience is weird for PC's used to simply slaying or running away from these intelligent beasts.

And yes I've actually played in, DMed, & ran several mini campaigns from this book. Well that was until Dragonlance created the official world setting of AD&D! Then the suddenly friends and players no longer were interested in the 'old' dragons. Yeah, but there were diehards who continued to play in & use this volume until Dragonlance had moved on. That's another blog post my friends.
I have nothing against Dragonlance or its books, if their your cup of tea then more power to you!



But does Dragons do what it advertises on the tin? In a word yes! Dragons takes the traditional AD&D dragon species & adds an entirely different dimension to these hazards, horrors, monsters, and dynamic part of the AD&D game. The book is now long forgotten by many players & DM's. It goes for about six dollars to ten dollars on Amazon and other outlets. Its one of those books that let my imagination take flight!

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: Role Aids Fantastic Treasures: Hundreds of Enchanted Weapons and Items From Myth & Folklore By Allen Hammack For Your Old School Campaigns

The train of Mayfair games material continues with Fantastic Treasures: Hundreds of Enchanted Weapons and Items From Myth & Folklore because of an email request from someone who has very fond memories of their older brother who was their dungeon master owning this book. Apparently he pulled out Fantastic Treasures set his players on an epic quest with this title plus the AD&D Deities and Demi Gods book from AD&D first edition.Be advised that it has items from A to L. You'll want to pick up the next book if you're looking for items M to Z , Fantastic Treasures II. 


This book got me into the school library more times then I can to remember back in  Eighty Eight, I was checking out literally a stack of books on mythology and comparative religion when these came out. So why is Fantastic Treasures important? Well besides being mostly forgotten today this book features some amazing relics from mythology and world legends from around the globe.  There are numerous items described in this volume that are associated in name if not actual legend and such to mythical gods, heroes,& monsters. These are not your typical treasures, no these are objects that are adventures unto themselves. From Aladdin's Ring, Siegfried's Sword, Athena's Shield, Enchanted Carpets, Devious Cloaks, Devilish Crowns & Damned Swords, they're all here in this volume.Every item in this volume has its own entry & accompanying piece of artwork to go with it. The focus here is on the mythological background & with powers and abilities built right into each entry. What makes this series special is that every entry is ready to go out of the box.
There are a few reasons to use Fantastic Treasures: Hundreds of Enchanted Weapons and Items From Myth & Folklore:

• They can provide fodder for OSR games where the focus is on the gods & the players are actually movers & upcoming adventurers on the stage of the gods, heroes, & monsters. These items aren't simply throw away treasures for XP, they're adventure plot points with stats. 
• Power attracts power, & myth attracts legend, fate, and a host of problems for heroes. A good solid example from the Nineties is the Disney kids show Gargoyles. In that show   the legendary creatures of the past along with the relics of legend often intersected. Its of this type often transcend time & place twisting the lives of those they touch for decades this gives a DM plenty of campaign fodder. An example of this type of campaign for AD&D 1st edition is 'the Keep' where players take on the role of ancient adventurers & then their descendants as the events of the adventure come down through history.
•  There is the potential for long spanning game campaigns where the role of a relic can become one of the corner stones of a campaign setting ala Game of Thrones. The relic or item becomes one more piece of set dressing of a player character or important NPC. 

These types of items should never be used lightly they can wrench a campaign in one direction or another.



When a DM chooses to use these items as the focus or adventure background item, it moves the campaign into the realm of the legendary & makes it a part of mythology. The PC's level doesn't so much matter as the play characters are now a different adventure term & level because of the very forces they dally with. They're messing in the realm of the gods as well as playing with some fundamental items of legend. This means the kid gloves are off, many times these items are unique & can play a vital role in the lives, nations, & fate  of others. This volume along with its sister play a vital role with many items of legend following the whole cloth of the mythology very closely. This means that DM's can use this fact to their advantage to get players motivated in the field. Things can get pretty hairy when items of legends attract the attention of monsters, gods, or worse.

This makes adventure construction a snap when you've got items that follow in the wake of the gods. There is also the fact that the gods might be looking for many of the objects listed for their own hidden agendas. This makes the field open for some very dangerous encounters as the gods employ mercenaries. The skies are the limits as some of the monsters featured in Deities and Demi gods come to reclaim these treasures. It could be open season as Native American items are featured & weirdness in adventures could ensue.Of course Fantastic Treasures follows the usual Mayfair conceits. For its stats here's a handy conversion chart I found on Dragon's foot: 
Conversions of Mayfair stats to 1E (just in case):

STR (Strength) -> same
INT (Intellect) -> Intelligence
INS (Insight) -> Wisdom
DEX (Dexterity) -> same
STA (Stamina) -> Constitution
APL (Appeal) -> Charisma

HTK -> Hit points
AT -> Attacks
DM -> Damage

All of the entries in Fantastic Treasures have style and personality, the book is quite smart in the depth and breath of the items allowing the DM to cherry pick the best items they want in their own campaign. So all of the items plug and play taking everything down a dangerous road for PC's.


Is Role Aids Fantastic Treasures: Hundreds of Enchanted Weapons and Items From Myth & Folklore a classic? Well taken on its own merits and the fact that the two volume set of books is nearly forgotten these books sell used for around eight dollars for each volume. This makes the set a very attractive prospect for a DM whose looking for that one unusual item as the center piece as well as focus for their old school campaign.

So if you get a chance then grab this one folks and don't let it pass you bye at all.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition: Role Aids Undead Source Book by Laurel Nicholson , & John Keefe For Your Old School Campaigns

I got an email request for Undead this source book/adventure from Mayfair Games came out about 1986 & its another one that I've got an infamous history with! Weirdly, I acquired the Mayfair Undead source book around December of Eighty Six on a Saturday & poured over it all weekend. The plot was like something out of a horror film;"THE LICHLORDS ROSE TO POWER AS THE LAND FELL TO THEIR ARMIES. As molten fire spewed forth from the fissures in the earth, the Lichlords leader Nightbay sent hordes of his skeletal, legions over the blasted lands. He would claim this place and the dwarves that inhabit it for his own evil rule. Travel through these vast lands and battle Nightbay's armies! Undead is a reference work that includes an adventure for 4-6 Player Characters of Skill levels 6-9."


The book includes a campaign setting of Verdaise (a volcanic land populated largely by various undead creatures) & several other rather useful tidbits like undead combat tactics, several variant species, as well as the deeper details on the Lichlords leader Nightbay. This book was on the top end of the Mayfair games product line & its undead content got me suspended from middle school during the height of the 'Satanic Panic'. Years later this cover would get me into trouble again in the Evangelical Christian high school I was attending in '88 resulting in another suspension.
This book is also one of the first sources for the stats of a dracolich leap frogging Dragon magazine by a month or two. Undead comes with a colorful back story, a variety of encounters, and some seriously challenging creatures. It also features a nice pullout map, & great artwork.

 Like many of the Mayfair games adventure source books Undead has its own weird aberrations  for its stats here's a handy conversion chart I found on Dragon's foot: 
Conversions of Mayfair stats to 1E (just in case):

STR (Strength) -> same
INT (Intellect) -> Intelligence
INS (Insight) -> Wisdom
DEX (Dexterity) -> same
STA (Stamina) -> Constitution
APL (Appeal) -> Charisma

HTK -> Hit points
AT -> Attacks
DM -> Damage

Is the Undead book really any good? Well in a word yes, even though its a relic from another time, the book takes its own view point on the Undead exploits on this for its adventure which actually lives up to its promise of  for 4-6 Player Characters of Skill levels 6-9. There are some serious challenges & some dangerous foes in this adventure that draw heavily from the dark sword & sorcery Appendix N fiction of the time. The material isn't over the top some of the encounters can catch players off guard if their not careful.
There is even more controversy that goes with this title because of the lawsuit that happened between classic era TSR & Mayfair games.
According to Wiki;"Gary Gygax had advocated arranging a licensing agreement between TSR, Inc. and Mayfair Games for their Role Aids line of game supplements, but was outvoted in the board meeting considering the question. In 1993, Mayfair was sued by TSR, who argued that Role Aids,advertised as compatible with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,violated their 1984 trademark agreement. While the court found that some of the line violated their trademark, the line as a whole did not violate the agreement, and Mayfair continued publishing the line until the rights were bought by TSR."


This one introduces such things as lichlords, a complete undead army, undead war mammoths, and a boat load of other creatures to kick the hell out of a party of adventurers. The adventure locations are well done, the descriptions are spot on & the authors keep things moving without bogging down in too much detail. This is a source book/ adventure that does everything it says on the tin while offering a bunch of adventure settings that can be dragged and dropped right into your own 'home' campaign. Today this adventure sells for less then six dollars and change for not that well now among its own circle of old schoolers.

So is the Undead book worth getting for your own campaigns? In a word yes, not only is this a great reference but because its not known outside certain circles there's plenty between the pages that can be mined for your own home games. Players hardly even know that book exists let alone some of the old school content that few know about. So grab this one and let the forces of Nightbay was over the landscape of your own home town. There is so much potential to keep the players guessing and avoid some of the more passionate mistakes that occur with old school undead.

Dark Folk Role Aids By by Paul Karczag , Steve Morrison, & Robert Lynn Asprin From Mayfair Games For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons & Your Old School Campaigns

Sunday was always a weird day when it came to table top rpg's, first of all it was a double weekend dose of Hanna Barabara with Space Ghost reruns out of New York Channel Eleven here in Connecticut. But it was also a time to catch up on weekly reading because in the afternoon kids would get together to play Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition. Because in the afternoon all bets were off, & the tribes of the evil humanoid races -- orcs, trolls, goblins, gnolls, and kobolds all came out to play.


Mayfair really pulled out the stops for Dark Races book; "Meet the dark races, the foul races, the evil races; the Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins, Gnolls and Trolls. Learn how they live, hate, and terrorize. Each dark race is described in detail with complete towns, villages, fortresses, dungeons and featuring Orcish Culture a special article written by Robert Lynn Aspirin. Also included are adventures involving each of the dark folk that are suitable for use with all popular role playing systems including Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Bring depth to the villains in your world."
There were important reasons why the The Dark Folk worked as a supplement to the world's most popular fantasy role playing game;each race was got its own chapter, complete with overviews of history, culture, physiology, religion, magic items, & more. What Dark Folk did was to flesh out the background parts & pieces of each monster race & do it in such a way to add substance & style so that each adventure at the end of the chapter could be dragged & dropped into the dungeon master's campaign world. 



Basically one of the things that Role- Aids Dark Folk does is allow the DM to drag and drop the various monsters into their campaign world where and when they want them in the hex crawl or a wilderness style adventure. But there are ways to insert them in a campaign setting to A. Deal with the entry on each humanoid race on its own terms as the DM sees fit and to B. take the machinery as well as adventure mechanism as a whole or use it as piece meal as they need it. This is very important because you can use slices of Dark  Races for what you need in your campaigns its very modular in this regard.

This book fleshes out the evil humanoids of the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual  in such a way as to give them depth & over arching motives for their actions, attitudes, & monstrous characteristics. Dark Folk was a great read pulling from both original ideas & mythology. The chapter on trolls is gold. No longer were these merely an a monstrous aberration these were fleshed out NPC creatures with motives, drives, & hidden cultures. They were all of the more dangerous for their backgrounds. Each race had an adventure to go with the monsters presented and there were some infamous 'in house' jokes sewn into the background of Dark Folk. I loved this book and my own copy is very well worn from constant thumbing through for adventure design.  Dark Folk is another reasonable priced May Fair Role - Aids products that sells for a around eight dollars for a used copy on Amazon.

There are some solid reasons for using this book including an article featuring Orcish Culture many consider a classic written by Robert Lynn Aspirin of Thieves world fame. I don't think that there was any real prejudice or racial labeling using the title Dark Folk, this is a reference to the pseudo Tolkein background of the product.  All in all Dark Folk is an excellent product & worth getting for any DM whose interested setting up underworld adventures with a source other then the usual Under Dark material .These monsters have opportunity, motives, & solidly done adventures which is why Dark Folk is on so many people's lips as a by word in quality when Mayfair games was doing some very bold & daring product ideas. All in all I think that Dark Folk is a solid addition to the library  of any OSR dungeon master! Four out of five on this great blast from the past!

Retro Review Dwarves (1982 Mayfair Games edition) For Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition

So turn back the clock to about Eighty Two in my small home town of Connecticut. Its a Saturday, I've finished watching the slot of cartoons coming out of New York on cable & wrestling is long over. The trip down to the book shop takes less then ten minutes but its another day of out running bullies, dogs, & neighbors to get to my prize. A brand new copy of Mayfair games Dwarves with its great Dwarven miners cover. There wasn't a whole lot of background on Dwarves in the the Monster Manual or the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons canon. Sure there was plenty within Tolkein & mythology a source that I would later tap into. There were even some other other outside sources other then classic era  TSR products.


But this one cropped up in the pages of Dragon magazine & even back then I had players who were Dwarven fanatics. Yes even back then the players were often demanding more material & many in the war gaming & D&D community here considered Role Aids an upstart company. Mayfair games was an upstart community & their material was never given the official nod of TSR or Gygax. What's in Dwarves? Well according to the Rpgnet breakdown;"Dwarves is part of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons-compatible Role Aids product line, and includes a complete kingdom, two cities and three towns, new magic, and an adventure. From the back cover of the revised printing (with eccentric punctuation intact):

Dwarves: the stoutest warriors in the Age of Legend. Herein is recorded their history, gods, cultures, artifacts, wars, magics, mines, traps, and enemies. Includes a guide to the ancient cities of Ostohar and Amor, the village of Fin and featuring, Dwarven Rite, an epic adventure for 4 to 8 Dwarven characters of Skill Levels 5 to 10."

 It was written by Paul Karczag who would later on go to write the Dark Folk book. Dwarves has a funny flavor about it midway between Tolkien & some weird mythology. The Dwarves here feature female Dwarves with  beards. The line artwork & layout are primary Eight Two Mayfair. They lay everything out from society, magic, religion, gods, traditions, artifacts, new skills, factions, and a complete city called Oatohar which has a good solid dash of Wagner thrown into the mix of it.  My own original copy of Dwarves was lost to an apartment fire back in Ninety something in Boston. It was replaced by the second edition which has been with me ever since. 
 Dwarves clocks in at around ninety six pages half of which is taken up by an adventure Dwarven Rite, an epic adventure for 4 to 8 Dwarven characters of Skill Levels 5 to 10. Its a nasty little romp featuring some very weird encounters, solid adventure locations, & several dangling adventure plot hooks that can be exploited for enterprising dungeon masters. Its nothing to set the world on fire but its a good challenge for a band of Dwarven adventurers who are looking for a bit of a romp after dealing with the challenges of the 'D' series. This was the case with me with players who were looking for a domestic Dwarven challenge for the holidays.
The book seems to crop up all of the time on ebay and Amazon; Amazon has it cheap for around ten dollars. It fills a need for those DM's who want a quick drag & drop kingdom of Dwarves in their campaign world. Its not a bad little book at all & fills in the stop gaps for a solid little Dwarven kingdom. That being said, make sure that you check and modify the cultural mores, magic, & brick- a - brack to fit your own campaign world.