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The Strategic Review, Summer 1975: The Ranger

To wrap up our study of The Strategic Review Summer 1975, we have "an exciting new class for Dungeons and Dragons…" The ranger! Yes, you heard that right. The ranger was not an original Dungeons and Dragon class. In the game as written, there were three classes- fighting man/fighter, magic-user, and cleric. And… even with the introduction of rangers, and the paladin before them, this was still the case. How, you might ask? Well, if we wanted to speak in technical terms, the ranger is a "sub-class" of fighter. In order to be a ranger, you had to be a fighter, and when the referee rolled your stats (yes, the referee rolled your stats for you), and your wisdom/intelligence scores were at least 12 each, and your Constitution was at least 15, you could take the ranger as your "sub-class" of fighter. It specified the kind of fighter you were, and thereafter you were a ranger… at least, as long as you maintained a Lawful character. If you slipped away from Lawful, you lost your ranger abilities, and went back to being a basic fighter. Something I love about Original D&D that we seem to have lost over the years are level-titles. They were terms you could use for your character interchangeably with level. Your character would likely use these terms in game to refer to themselves as well. So instead of being a 1st-level ranger, you were a Runner. At 5th-level, you were a Guide. From 9th-level and above, you were differing ranks of Ranger-Lord. There's just something so evocative in "I am a Ranger-Lord" that is lost by instead saying "I am a 9th-level ranger." Rangers, as originally written, were spellcasters after level 9, and they were able to cast spells accessible to both the cleric and the magic-user. At 13th-level, a ranger could cast 3rd-level cleric and 3rd-level magic-user spells, which gave them amazing versatility. However, there are also strict restrictions on the ranger, and the article straight up says that they are weak until 8th-level. These restrictions include the fact that "they may own only that which they can carry with them, and excess treasure or goods must be donated to a worthy cause." Ouch. That hurts, and is followed by "They may not hire any men-at-arms or other servants or aides of any kind whatsoever." Double-ouch, especially for Original D&D. Then, finally, "Only two of the class may operate together." So, no more than two in a party, which… seems fair. To make up for these somewhat punishing restrictions, low-level Rangers "gain 4 experience points for every 3 earned," which means they get experience much faster (though they get "no regular bonuses for advancement due to ability"). They also, and here is the classic ranger ability, "have the ability to track the path of most creatures when outdoors, and even in dungeons they are often able to follow." This statement is then followed by, you guessed it, tables showing the ranger's chance to track in a dungeon. In order to track in a dungeon as well, the ranger has had to observe the creature "no more than six turns previously," while outdoors they have a 90% chance to follow a fresh trail! This also makes them harder to surprise- an advantage in dungeoneering. Next, Rangers have a special advantage when fighting against Giant Class monsters… which includes Kobolds at this point in time. They get a +1 to their damage die per level, which is pretty strong. Finally, the text goes on to list the absolutely game-breaking advantages an high level ranger gets. "2-24 followers will join the character as soon as 9th level is attained… Ranger-Knights (8th-level rangers) are able to employ magic items which heal or cure disease… Ranger-Lords (9th-level and above) are able to employ all devices which deal with Clairvoyance, Clairaudience, ESP, Telepathy, Telekinesis, and Teleportation…" To balance these out, they lose the bonus to experience and they cannot replace their killed followers. But still! THIS IS A HUGE BENEFIT! Just imagine getting an AUTOMATIC 24 EXTRA DUDES IN YOUR PARTY. I mean, yes, the game was different back then… but then you take a look at the follower tables! You had to roll for each of the followers the Ranger gains, in order to determine what they were (followed by, yes, more dice rolls for type, class, level, etc.). To demonstrate how broken this could potentially be, if you rolled absolutely divinely, you had a chance to get multiple golden dragons as followers. I mean, the chances were absolutely slim, but, yes, there was STILL A CHANCE to get multiple golden dragons as your followers. Realistically, yes, you would probably get a motley array of low-level human fighters with a smattering of clerics and magic-users, BUT THERE WAS STILL A CHANCE to get multiple golden dragons. We have dwelt perhaps overmuch on the Original D&D ranger, so let's perform a quick comparison to the 5e ranger. Gone are the restrictions on owning possessions. Everyone can technically use magic devices now, so that special advantage is also gone. They no longer gain up to 24 followers upon reaching 9th-level, which alone is a let-down. They have a favored enemy, which they get to choose, which is a semi-obvious evolution of the "rangers get advantage when fighting Giant Class monsters" from Original D&D. The "advantage when fighting Giant Class monsters" also appears to have survived as one of the features a hunter-archetype ranger gets at 3rd level. They can select "Giant Killer," which lets them use a reaction when a "Large or larger creature" misses them with an attack. Rangers have access to some magics, and are probably good at tracking, as Wisdom is a good attribute. I’m not sure at this moment how to incorporate the Original D&D concepts to the modern ranger. Perhaps I’ll give thought to a subclass, but for the time being, I’ll settle on some cool ranger lore you could bring to the table. Is your freshfaced 1st-level ranger the daughter of a Ranger-Lord? Were her first memories of living in her father’s stronghold, raised among beasts and bold men and women who swore to protect the area from evil? Was the stronghold overrun by what is now her favored enemy? Is she questing to gain strength and gold to retake the stronghold and reclaim the title of Ranger-Lord? Or perhaps in your campaign you’ll have ranger strongholds in the wild, protecting small beacons of settlement in a sea of chaotic evil. Mayhap you’ll receive quests from a Ranger-Lord, to help protect his domain? Or maybe you’ll meet the wandering band of a Ranger-Knight, and have the chance at a long rest without the need for setting watches? Just a few ideas on ways to adapt some of the concepts from OD&D to your modern game! Maybe not as cool mechanically as some past ones, but still! Ranger-Lords are too awesome to leave in the aether. They deserve a place in the sun.

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Things are rough right now, search out stuff that being your joy! There is nothing wrong with distracting yourself right now!

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Creature Feature: The Roper

The roper! Like the Mind Flayer, this is another monster that has survived into 5e, albeit one with less pop-culture prominence.

In Original D&D, the roper had the appearance of a "mass of foul, festering corruption" that, while cigar-shaped, could alternatively "stand upright in order to resemble a pillar or stalagmite or flatten itself at full length long the floor so as to look like nothing more than a hump." It attacked by using its "six strands of strong, sticky rope-like excretion" to grab prey, afflicting them with "weakness" (defined as 50% of strength, so I'm guessing it would make strength checks harder) in 1-3 turns, then drawing them to their mouth for consumption. It could hit with its "strands" from 2-5" away, and the chance to break a strand was the same as "opening a door." Which is a strange metric, but I think it's kind of funny. It was also considered highly intelligent, was immune to being charmed, immune to lightning, and resistant to cold, but vulnerable to fire. Weirdly enough, there is a note here that, the way I read it, says roper stomachs cannot process metal, and "has a gizzard-like organ which can contain gems…"

In 5e, the roper "has the appearance of a stalagmite or stalactite, which often allows it to attack with surprise." It's also considered "an evolved, mature form" of another monster from 5e, the piercer. While it can't flatten itself anymore, the roper can still basically make itself look like a pillar of rock by closing its eye and holding "still for long hours." And the gizzard still gets a mention! While it can eat metal now (except for platinum and magical items), it still has a gizzard where a player can find valuables… and extracting the digestive juices is also encouraged, since alchemists value them as a solvent. The tendrils STILL have the weakening ability too! "Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained and has disadvantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws." So it's main method of attack ("roping" victims and pulling them to the mouth) still seems to hold true, as the only damaging attack a roper can make is with its beak. The creature has also lost its immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. It is also no longer "highly intelligent," having an Intelligence score of 7 (a -2 modifier).

So at first reading, not much seems to have changed between Original D&D's roper and the modern version. However, we can still find some places to make "tweaks," in the rare case you need to make a roper more flavorful. I guess in an Underdark campaign?

While this may seem very similar to the roper as is in 5e, I feel that this fulfills a different niche- that of a threat from the shadows. The way I imagine using the roper chameleon is a recurring presence whenever the party tries to have a long rest. Lurking in the shadows, it creeps slowly towards the party before striking and attempting to bring one of them to its maw. It is intelligent enough to attempt to retreat if confronted by overwhelming force; it is also intelligent enough to follow the party, tracking its prey and observing its movement for the right moment to strike.

The fact it is amorphous also makes it terrifying as an ambush predator; while that trait means it can slip away through fissures in the rock, a more generous reading also implies that it can strike from them and be in cover. Think about it; your players are picking their way through a normal-enough cavern. The frontline party members, likely the heavily armored tanks, walk through without noticing anything. But then, your sorcerer in the back is suddenly seized by tentacles. Imagine the horror on the players faces as he is drawn inexorably towards a small hole, in which a beak clicks, waiting to consume its prey… or simply scuttling away, attempting to drag the unfortunate sorcerer through the hole behind them.

Otherwise boring "travel-time" can become a game of stress inducing cat-and-mouse, as your players watch the walls and remain on their toes; also imagine the relief and excitement on their faces when they finally manage to bring the thing down, cornering it before it can escape and destroying it once and for all. Travelling in deep caverns should be a dangerous experience for your players, and I feel that the roper chameleon helps reinforce this.

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Q&A from Summer 1975

TLDR: 

- In moments of dramatic tension or in the case of duels, initiative can be rerolled each round of combat to make it more cinematic. Advantage on this reroll can be given based on combat performance.

- If you have a war or combat-focused campaign, giving your players (and your monsters) advantage when attacking from the rear can help encourage better tactical positioning. 

- If "intelligent" monsters hit a casualty threshold, they should have a check for morale. If they fail their check, they should break and run. This can also be applied to NPC followers.

- In Original D&D, gold and magic items gave experience as well as defeating monsters. This has been somewhat subsumed into "Milestone Leveling."

- If you want to give XP for magic items/finding gold, adapt "Milestone Leveling" into "Milestone XP."

- Original D&D's magic system rested on the idea a magic-user memorized a spell and then immediately forgot how to do it after casting it.

Coming from the Summer 1975 issue of The Strategic Review, we get answers to what, I suppose, were the most commonly asked questions about D&D rules. It's an article from a bygone era- they got letters with questions, and had to respond with a magazine article. This compared to today, when questions about D&D on Twitter are answered by the chief rules designer within days, sometimes within hours. I also love how they say they are going to add a loose sheet of paper with corrections to future printings of the rule booklets (yes, booklets, not manuals yet), and that if you don't have that correction, you can send for it and get it for free.

Anyway, what does this article tell us about the game as it was played in 1975, and what can we bring to the game in 2020?

First, there are questions on combat rules. D&D at this time was heavily reliant on the rules for Chainmail, a miniature wargame that D&D emerged from. Unfortunately, this created some confusion with regards to combat rules. As I do not have a background of being a wargamer in the 1970s, a lot of the "clarifications" read Greek to me. There is also the fun fact that weapons did not do different damage. So a sword did the same as an ax did the same as a bow. This would change in Supplement I, Greyhawk. Strange to think that this took so long to switch out. Maybe because of the heritage from wargaming, where it's on a larger scale?

But! There are still some interesting statements we can pull from to spice up our Fifth Edition games. First, according to this article, initiative is checked every turn. Of course, initiative in this game is rolling a d6 and adding a modifier if you have high dexterity (or subtracting, if you have a low dexterity). While I understand the reasons for not rerolling initiative every turn, since that can take a long time and breaks up the flow of combat, I still like it as an option role (or roll, haha) for moments of dramatic tension. 

Say you are a paladin, and you are in a duel with the Death Knight Zerakuul. Zerakuul was responsible for the deaths of your brothers and the destruction of your order. Rolling initiative each round can add a new element of intensity, and make it much more cinematic for everyone involved. The DM could even add modifiers to the rolls, based on the outcome from the previous round of combat; if Zerakuul hit you hard with her sword, and you missed, she'll get a advantage on her roll.

The combat example given in The Strategic Review is also interesting. 10 Orcs gang up on one lost Hero and rush him. It's VERY unfair, but doesn't seem too far from a scenario one could encounter in old Dungeons and Dragons.  We have rules presented here about attacking from behind, which isn't a thing in 5e. Attacking from behind gives the Orcs a +2 to their hit dice, or I suppose in our modern terms "advantage." Granting advantage to flanking maneuvers in 5e can encourage more tactical combat, but it can also bog things down… which I guess is a recurring theme when bringing mechanical aspects of old D&D to 5e. 5e is very streamlined, especially compared to the multitudinous tables of Original D&D. Still, I think if you have a campaign with an especial focus on combat, having flanking rules could help "sell" to your players the need to use advantageous positioning and protect their rear.

We also get a mention of a balrog as a monster. This is before the Tolkein Estate got wind of TSR's usage of J.R.R.'s terminology. The balrog survived to present day D&D in a very bad disguise. Look up the 5e Balor, and you'll see it's essentially a balrog with the numbers filed off.

Next, we get a discussion on morale. The article says that morale isn't a real concern for players, since they "have their own personal morale in reality." So, your character in game has your same level of morale; they can't be forced to retreat due to broken morale. It also states that unintelligent monsters fight until they die. The really interesting part, however, is when it talks about morale checks for "troops serving with a party… or the morale of intelligent monsters." While stating that it is up to the "referee," the text says that it may occasionally be "necessary." The system for determining morale is entirely left up to the "referee." 

Let us discuss how we can implement morale into D&D 5e. Intelligent monsters are just that- intelligent. They are smart enough to realize that things are going against them, and so shouldn't just sit there and get cut down one by one. In the adventure I presented in the previous post, if goblins suffer 50% casualties, a d20 is rolled and if the number is within a certain range, they flee. This is, incidentally, similar to the Chainmail wargame morale system recommended by the text. If intelligent monsters hit a certain casualty threshold, why shouldn't they think about running? I may finagle this and try to come up with a table… if I do wind up with something good, I'll post it.

The article then moves on to discuss "experience." It seems as if acquiring magical items gave you experience in the game at this point. On further search, it also seems gold gave you experience. This explains why the article clarifies that magical items have a low value of experience, because they help you get more treasure, and therefore more experience. I completely understand why this has vanished from the game- D&D is now more high fantasy than sword and sorcery, so "killing monsters and collecting gold" is less of a drive.

Then there is a weird thing about experience- XP is reduced for high-level characters when fighting low-level monsters, unless "the circumstances of the combat were such as to seriously challenge… and actually jeopardize [the players'] life." Well… I can kind of see that, but at the same time, I feel CR and XP tied to that has helped even this out a bit. In fact, this is what I feel this correction is trying to do, since they state that certain monsters are "wroth" certain level factors… interesting. Additionally, the rise of Milestone leveling entirely counteracts this. I prefer to run my games using Milestone, something that would be completely alien to players back in 1975.

If you wished to adapt some of that "gold gives XP" or "magic items give XP" to 5e, I would suggest adapting Milestone leveling into Milestone XP. Finding a hidden magic item, for example, might be worth some bonus XP at the end of the session. 

Finally, there is a statement about spells that is intriguing. Magic in Original Dungeons and Dragons worked "in-universe" like this:

A magic-user memorized a spell at night, so that she could use it the next day. As soon as she cast that spell, she forgot how to do it. That is the justification for a magic-user not being able to repeatedly use spells over and over again. Spells inscribed on scrolls worked a similar way; as soon as they were read from the scroll, they disappeared, so that they couldn't be used again. 

It also states here that a magic-user could only "use a given spell but once during any given day, even if he is carrying his books with him." However, it goes on to clarify that a magic-user can "equip himself with a multiplicity of the same spell." So you would have to prepare three sleep spells, as the example goes, in order to use the sleep spell three times.

Spellbooks, as always, are key to a magic-user's abilities. This has been inherited by the wizard in 5e.  "If he had no books with him," the article says, "there would be no renewal of spells on the next day." 

All in all, this article demonstrates that, even this early in the game, there were questions regarding the rules as written. We can also see several concepts that have survived to this day, while also several (such as gold giving XP) that have fallen by the wayside. D&D has always been evolving, and will likely continue to evolve with time. 

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Monster art from the Summer 1975 issue of The Strategic Review

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Can’t wait to get to more monsters!

Mastodon doesn’t mind the weather (AD&D Monster Manual, TSR, 1977)

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Queen Sabran and Ead, from the Priory of the Orange Tree 🍊🐲🔥

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Adventure: The Caverns of Orcus

This adventure is intended for a party of 3rd-Level Adventurers

At a local meeting place (be it a tavern, town square, etc.), the party encounters Selene Claral, a Life Cleric. Selene is trying to gather adventurers to help her clear out a series of caverns, but no local is stepping up to assist. She will ask the party if they would be willing to help.

It turns out the locals don’t want to help because the caverns were once home to a fledgling branch of the Cult of Orcus, and old men still shudder at the memory of cultists descending from the mountains at night to kidnap victims for sacrifice. If asked, Selene will freely declare that it was once occupied by the Cult, and states that she must go there to cleanse them of residual evil magic. Various creatures have been drawn to the caverns due to this influence, and if left unchecked it will threaten the citizens in the area. If that’s not enough for players, she admits she has taken a vow of poverty. Therefore, all the treasures in the caverns are the party’s to claim.

Selene will be more than willing to fight alongside the party. It is the DM’s decision to decide if they or the players control her during combat. Outside of combat, Selene will always be against the use of persuasion or stealth, as she is a Cleric on a mission, but she will go with what the party decides to do.

If the players search Selene’s bag, they will find a bowl for collecting alms, ten days worth of rations, incense, and the Rite of Purification, instructions on how to carry out the ceremony to cleanse the caverns of latent evil magic. This is here just in case Selene dies unexpectedly, allowing the players to complete the adventure.

It will take three days of travel to arrive at the caverns. It is at the DM’s discretion whether or not to roll for random encounters. If they wish to, they may consult the following table:

D20        Result 1-10       No encounter 11-13     2d4 CR 1/4 monsters 14-16     1d4 CR 1/2 monsters 17-19     1d4 CR 1 monsters 20          1 CR 2 monster and 1d4 CR 1/2 monsters

As this adventure is created with the ability to drop into any campaign setting, we leave it up to the DM’s choice of what type of monsters appear that will make the most sense in their game.

An optional choice for random encounters is to add a +2 modifier to the roll each day as the party grows closer to the caverns. This is to give the players the feeling that these caverns serve as a focal point for evil, reinforcing the need for them to be cleared out.

The Caverns of Orcus (see map) are accessed by a large, low-slung cave opening on the side of a mountain. A few small hide lean-tos are set up around pitiful fires, providing shelter to the 1d4 goblin lookouts. They are presently not doing their job very well, and can be snuck up on with a DC 12 Stealth check. If surprised, the first goblin on the initiative order will disengage and attempt to flee back into the caverns to sound the alarm.

1: The entrance cavern is home to a band of 10 goblins. If a lookout was able to make it inside the cavern, they will be ready for battle. Otherwise, they will be lazily lounging about, sharpening weapons, cooking over smokey fires, and doing other everyday activities. After half of their number is down, roll a d20. On an 15-20, the remaining goblins will attempt to flee into Room 2 through the broken door. Each subsequent turn, reroll the check for retreat. The Western edge of the cavern is blocked off by an imposing iron door, decorated with motifs of skulls and wicked curved knives. It requires a key to open; or a DC 20 Dexterity check with thieves' tools.

2: This room is a goblin store room. There are 2d6 scimitars, 1d6 shortbows, and 3d8 GP worth of various kitchen utensils, sacks, string, and other small items. A DC 15 Investigation check will reveal an ancient chest wedged beneath a broken table. The lock can be broken with a DC 14 Strength check, or the lock can be picked with a DC 12 Dexterity check using thieves' tools. Inside is a silver handbell with glowing blue runes worth 4d8 GP.

3: This smaller room is crammed haphazardly with goblin bedrolls. It is presently home to 4 wolves. These vicious guard animals will aggressively assault the party. Defeating the wolves will allow the party to sift through the detritus of the goblin squatters, finding a few trinkets worth 2d8 GP.

4: This makeshift throne room holds one bugbear, two hobgoblins, and five goblins (in addition to any goblins that managed to escape from the entrance cavern). The bugbear, Vurgork will demand to know why the party has decided to assault his domain. He wears a massive dark key on a chain around his neck. He will not be willing to abandon a ready-made fortress, and will demand the players pay blood-money for the goblins they killed, to the tune of 5 GP per head, and then depart from his territory.

If the players seek to negotiate and state that there are there to cleanse the evil magics left over from the Cult of Orcus, the hobgoblins, sensing an opportunity, will whisper to Vurgork and he will change his tune. His goblins have not been able to utilize the other half of the caverns for some time, due to what he describes as six-legged reptiles he calls chattering horrors. Based on his description, a DC 12 Nature check will confirm that these are kruthiks. If the party goes and defeats the kruthiks, he will waive the blood-money, and allow them to carry on their ceremony. He does not care for Orcus, as he is a faithful worshipper of Maglubiyet, and wishes for any stain of the death-god to be removed from his territory. Selene will oppose this action, but she will grudgingly go along with the course of action selected by the party.

Of course, the players can always draw swords and fight Vurgork and his minions. During the fight, if they manage to kill Vurgork and both hobgoblins are alive, roll a d20. On an 11-20, the hobgoblins will throw down their weapons and order the remaining goblins to do the same. Surrendering, the hobgoblins (Shegnek and Merkuk) will seek to negotiate safe passage for the broken warband, yielding Vurgok's key to the party. This will allow them to progress to the next stage of the dungeon. If one of the hobgoblins fell before Vurgork did, however, the survivor will be enraged and continue to fight on. If both the hobgoblins and Vurgork are dead, any surviving goblins will rout and attempt to flee the caverns.

Defeating Vurgork's Warband, either by forcing their surrender or destroying their leadership, will allow the party to "loot the room." A sort of slapdash trunk in the side of the room contains 1d6 gems worth 50 GP each, as well as 3d8 GP, 2d6 SP, and 1d12 CP. There is also a Dagger of Warning stuck in a pile of meat, which can be located with a DC 16 Perception check.

5: This room is dominated by an imposing statue of a cultist in a dark robe in the Northwest corner. Presently, there are two young kruthiks squabbling over a bloated goblin corpse; seeing fresh meat, they will gladly charge the party, jaws open. After defeating the kruthiks, the party can search the room. Before the goblins were driven out of here by the kruthiks, they had thoroughly trashed the area. Nevertheless, a DC 15 Perception check will reveal a bag of 5d6 gold a retreating Goblin had stuck underneath a stone.

6: This room has strange, almost crypt like slots carved into the walls. A pile of humanoid bones are messily stacked in the northeast corner, alongside a stack of threadbare black robes. It seems as if the goblins cleaned up after the cultists. A large, ancient stone cauldron lies in the center of the room. Investigating the cauldron with a successful DC 14 Perception check reveals it still maintains a faint, acrid scent of poison, long-since rendered inert. One can infer that the cultists had killed themselves in one final ceremony to honor their god.

7: Five hatched kruthik eggs are deposited in a sticky ichor on the right wall, and narrow kruthik tunnels can be seen leading off to the west. This was the kruthik broodchamber, and likely where the beasts entered the caverns. A DC 12 Nature check will let players know that, given they just killed two kruthiks, there are five remaining- three other young kruthiks, and two adult kruthiks.

8: Several strange and grotesque mosaics line the walls, depicting cultists leading chained prisoners towards their doom. The mosaics wrap around, leading to a large iron wall. Jutting from this wall is the head of a ferocious dragon, its jaws open wide. Even from this distance, it seems to radiate evil. Two adult kruthiks and three young kruthiks are feasting on the body of an unfortunate ogre. They are distracted, allowing the party a chance to get a drop on them, if they make a DC 12 Stealth check.

After defeating the kruthiks, the party is free to turn their attention to the mysterious iron wall. A DC 16 Arcana check or DC 15 Religion check will reveal that this is a Sanguinary Door. To enter a Sanguinary Door requires the blood of a humanoid, placed in the dragon's mouth. Doing so will cause the wall to retract and the Pool of Souls to be revealed.

9: This dark room is illuminated by strange shining crystals, though almost no light is reflected in the pitch-black waters of the Pool of Souls. Selene, if she survived the past encounters, will begin to prepare for the Rite of Purification; if she fell, it will be up to the party to carry it out. The Rite will require one day of prayer and meditation, accompanied by the burning of incense. Selene will carry this task on her shoulders, while the party will be able to divide that responsibility amongst themselves by praying in shifts.

Any party member who touches the water of the Pool of Souls will find themselves connected to the spirits of all the victims sacrificed by the Cult. It seems as if this was the sacrificial chamber; after the dark deed was done, their bodies were thrown into the Pool, trapping their souls in the water. They can be asked a question, which they will answer truthfully to the best of their ability. However, after the first response, the party member communicating with them must made a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, they are afflicted with short term madness for 1d8 hours. Each subsequent inquiry made by this party member of the spirits in the pool will require an additional Wisdom saving throw, with the DC raised by two each time. There are consequences with communing with the tortured spirits of sacrifices, after all.

At the end of the Rite, if Selene carried it out, she will faint. If the party carried it out in shifts, they face no ill effects. However, instead of the feeling of evil departing, it will intensify. Crawling out of the water is a Jailer of Souls. It is the guardian of this Pool, and seeks to fight a last-ditch effort to protect the souls offered to its master. The Jailer may choose to attack the unconscious Selene if the party does not think to move her from the field of battle. It is also worth noting here that skeletons are not humanoid creatures. Therefore, the effects Sword of Soul Stealing do not apply when they die.

With the Jailer of Souls defeated, there is a pained howl, and a wave of cold energy washes over the party. After it passes, a feeling of calm pervades. The taint from the Cult of Orcus has been removed, and these caverns will no longer draw creatures of evil. Selene, if alive, warmly thanks the players for their assistance. If they accepted the deal offered by Vurgork, on the other hand, she will be more tepid in her gratitude.

The Sword of Soul Stealing may be looted by the party.  It is a +1 longsword, and since the party isn’t playing home to terrifying beings from another plane, it’s soul trapping effect can be utilized only once per short rest.

If the party chose to deal with Vurgork, Selene will leave the cavern with a chilled goodbye. Vurgork will be glad that his domain is once again freed from monsters and chaotic evil spirits both, and reward the party with 1d6 gems worth 50 GP each. Their service more than paid for the slain goblins, so he’s making sure he’s not in their debt now.

If the party did not deal with Vurgork, and she survived, Selene will stay behind in the cave. Giving the party a letter to send back to her superiors, she states her intention to transform the caverns into a monastery. Indeed, the next time the party is  in the area, there will be a monastery headed by Selene. It can serve as a temporary base of operations, or a place to be healed and replenish rations for free.

If the party did not deal with Vurgork, and Selene fell in battle, perhaps they will wish to take over the caverns and turn them into their own stronghold? Or mayhaps they’ll move on? The decision is theirs.

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Solo Dungeon Adventures/Unique Traps

Solo Dungeons and Dragons gets a shout out in the first edition of The Strategic Review, in a unique manner. Gary Gygax himself wrote this article, with a bit of help from others, in which he outlines a system whereby you, yes you, can play Dungeons and Dragons without… a referee. Yeesh, that just sounds weird. I much prefer Dungeon Master. It’s a much more evocative term than referee. Plus, everyone argues with a referee, but who would dare argue with THE DUNGEON MASTER?!

Well, a lot of people, but I digress. Gygax gives us tables by which we can endlessly generate our own dungeon, if we don’t have any friends to do it for us. It is a… bit clunky, like most things in early Dungeons and Dragons. There are a lot of sub-tables to refer too, monster behavior to keep track of, loot, magic pools of water…

Honestly, there are much better ways to play Dungeons and Dragons these days, with  Roll20 and other sites making it possible for even lonely nerds to find a group, and purpose-written solo adventures that avoid the complexity of Gygax’s system. Even if we want a random dungeon, we can simply Google “random dungeon generator” and get computer programs that will do all of this for us. It’s a lot easier, but it does lack some of that charm.

I can almost picture myself, if I had been a teen in those days, huddled under a blanket, flash light in hand, rolling dice and painstakingly tracing out the Caverns of Zurkrasheim (made it up as I wrote this, and I love it already), wondering with bated breath what I will encounter next. It’s raining outside, with that warm, pleasant smell of long-dry dirt finally getting a drink. A train horn sounds in the distance…

Sorry, got a bit carried away there. Anyway, there is quite a bit of stuff we can steal for 5e. While the game seems to have moved away from dungeon crawls, there are several traps worth a look at. I like the idea of hidden doors that are difficult to find (humans, unaided, had a 1 in 6 chance according to the chart), with some great reward behind them. But secret doors are easy. No, the trap I love the best is the gas trap. You step on a pressure plate, and gas fills the hallway! A great dramatic beat. Not only that, but the gas sub-table illustrates different kinds of gas your players could encounter. One literally made your Fighters stronger, while another would just straight up kill you if you failed a saving throw. With that in mind, here are my handy, uh, “gas traps?” That just sounds wrong…

Gas Trap: DC 16 to detect the pressure plate. If the players step on the trap, there is a hiss as a mysterious gas fills the corridor around them.

Types of Gas: 1. Smoke Screen. The gas is ashen gray and thick. The area covered by the gas is heavily obscured, blocking vision entirely. 2. Poison Gas. The gas is a sickly yellow and carried a vague scent of sulfur. Whenever a creature enters or starts their turn within the cloud, a DC 14 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, take 3d6 poison damage. On a success, take half as much damage. 3. Blinding Gas. This light green gas has a strange texture, as if it is made of shards of finely woven glass. Roll a DC 14 Constitution saving throw whenever a creature enters the cloud or starts their turn within it. On a failure, the creature  is blinded for 1d8 turns. On a success, the creature is able to resist the gas, but will have to roll again next turn if they are still within the cloud. 4. Fear Gas. The gas is darkly colored, with strange flashes reminiscent of lightning rippling throughout. Roll a DC 14 Constitution(or Wisdom, depending on DM choice) saving throw whenever a creature enters the cloud or starts their turn within it. On a failure, the creature is frightened for 1d8 turns and cannot press further into the gas. On a success, the creature is able to resist the gas, but will have to roll again next turn if they are still within the cloud. 5. Sleeping Gas. This blue gas carries with it a sense of calm and the smell of cinnamon. Roll a DC 14 Constitution saving throw whenever a creature enters the cloud or starts their turn within it. On a failure, the creature falls asleep for 1d6 turns. On a success, the creature is able to resist the gas, but will have to roll again next turn if they are still within the cloud. This is also not “magical sleep”, so elves and half-elves beware! 6. Vapor of Valor. The gas is the shade of a summer rose and smells vaguely of rain. Your characters are suddenly reinvigorated, receiving almost all of the effects of a long rest; prepared spells, however, are unable to be changed.  

Why would you want a “Vapor of Valor” in your otherwise dank and dangerous dungeon? I can actually think of two scenarios. The first, “meta-scenario,” is that your players are slogging through a dungeon full of monsters slowly picking away at their health, and they’re unclear if they’re lost or going the right way. Triggering something like this might serve as a signal that, yes, you’re doing it right and reignite their adventuring spirit.

The other, “game-scenario,” is that back when the Caverns of Zurkrasheim (or whatever dungeon) was a Dwarven stronghold (or whatever ancient group ruled there), this corridor led to the arena. Gladiators would walk down this hallway in between fights, and the Vapor would replenish their health and make them ready for another brutal fight. And, thusly, your players walk through the Vapor of Valor, feel good about themselves, and then there’s a click, the floor they are on suddenly raises, and they find themselves in a long abandoned arena facing down a Purple Worm. Much like the stereotypical “ammo and health packs at the boss door,” this ensures your players won’t get absolutely bodied, adds a feeling of expectation, and also gives your world a reason to have the Vapor.

Another thing I think we should pull from Gary’s auto-dungeon tables are magic pools. We must, of course, differentiate these from magic lakes which act as portals to another dimension. Magic pools, on the other hand, have a variety of options on the table. Some pools add to your stats, others subtract. Some pools talk and grant wishes! But since Wish is, ah, dangerous, we should stay away from that…

Magic Pools: A still pool, surrounded by stones. DC 14 Arcana check will identify this pool as magical. Rolling an 18 or above on that check will also identify what kind of pool it is.

1. Pool of Polymorph: This pool seems to be surrounded with a strange array of feathers and tufts of fur. Any creature that enters the pool must make a DC 16 Wisdom save or be polymorphed into a random creature (1d8. 1, rat; 2, eagle; 3, giant crab; 4, wolf; 5, brown bear; 6, giant bat; 7, giant spider; 8, giant hyena). The effect lasts for one hour, when it wears off and restores the creature to their original form. 2. Pool of Teleportation. A strange blue-green gem gives off a faint glow  from the base of this 12-foot deep pool. Any creature that submerges in the pool will appear in a different Pool of Teleportation when they surface. This effect can be disabled by making a DC 14 Arcana check to deactivate the gem at the bottom of the pool. It can be reactivated with an additional DC 14 Arcana check. 3. Pool of Midas Touch. A few gold statues of goblins (or other creatures, depending on what’s in your dungeon) stand by the pool, which appears to be full of gold. Any creature that touches the pool must immediately make a DC 14 Wisdom save. On a failure, that creature begins to turn to gold and is Restrained. The Restrained creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming Petrified as a golden statue. The Petrification lasts until the creature is freed by the Greater Restoration spell or other magic. 4. Pool of Souls. The water in this pool is nearly black, with strange runes carved into the stones surrounding it. Any creature that touches this pool will be able to communicate with the souls of ancient sacrificial victims who were slain here. They will answer questions truthfully and to the best of their ability. It is at the DM’s discretion how much they know. Optionally, roll a DC 10 Wisdom save after the first question, increasing the DC by two with each subsequent inquiry. On a failed save, the creature is affected by short-term madness for 1d8 hours. Communing with tortured souls may have consequences, after all. 5. Pool of Strength. The water in this pool is light green and seems almost gelatinous. Any creature that submerges in this pool will receive the effects of a Potion of Hill Giant Strength (Strength Score of 21 for an hour). 6. Djinn’s Pool. This pool radiates a sky blue light. Touching the water summons a extremely self-centered Marid,  who congratulates the party on entering his presence and asks for fitting tribute. It is up to the DM’s discretion on what the Marid will consider fitting tribute. If they comply, the Marid will give them a magical item of the DM’s choice. If they fail to present fitting tribute, the Marid will become bored, summon a water elemental to chase them off, and “close the door” by shutting off the connection between the Pool and the Elemental Plane of Water. If players bring up Wish, the Marid will calmly explain he was once “indisposed” and forced to grant Wishes, so he’d rather not. If players bring up Wish again, the Marid will become enraged and fight the party himself.

I think that’s enough to draw out from this assortment of auto-dungeon tables. Six different gases for your gas trap, six different kinds of magic pools for players to encounter. Pretty neat, if I do say so myself.

[updatingthedragon]

Creature Feature: Mind Flayer

Making what I believe is their first appearance… the Mind Flayer!! Originally published in the Spring 1975 volume of The Strategic Review, the Mind Flayer has risen to prominence in public culture, thanks in part to it’s name drop in Stranger Things.

Appearance wise, not much seems to have changed since 1975; they are still humanoids with four tentacles by their mouths. But! How do our brain-eating friends compare between 1975 and 2020?

Well, they are a lot less terrifying. According to the original write-up, if a Mind Flayer hit you with its tentacle, it would extract your brain in four turns and eat it. Brain eating is still a feature of 5e’s Mind Flayer, but it requires an incapacitated opponent in a grapple and only works if the attack reduces your hit points to zero. So no ticking-time-bomb-of-brain-consumption, but still really creepy.

The Mind Flayer’s other defining feature from 1975, the dreaded Mind Blast, also survived to the present day, albeit in a heavily modified form. Nowadays, a Mind Blast does an average of 22 HP damage and stuns a target for a minute… if a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw is failed. In 1975, however, Mind Blast had a lot of moving parts. It’s range, like all other D&D measurements in those days, was in inches (a heritage from the then recent evolution from wargaming). So it had a directional range of 6” with a radius of 5”… which seems to be roughly equivalent t a 60-foot cone. Huh.

Anyway, here’s where Mind Blast gets weird. Depending on how far you were from the Mind Flayer, you had to make a different saving throw. Adding another layer to that was your Intelligence score. Higher Intelligence characters had a lower difficulty ceiling. If your character had, say, an Intelligence of 3 and was 2 inches away from the Mind Flayer, you had to make a whopping DC 19 save. However, if you had an Intelligence of 18 (the highest possible, since stats were determined by rolling three 6-sided die), you only had to make a save of 5 if you were in the same spot. If they were 6 inches away, on the other hand, they would have to make a DC 17 and DC 3 save, respectively.

And then, adding another layer of complexity, your intelligence also determined the effect of a failed save against Mind Blast. Our Intelligence 3 lad faced death if he failed to hit his 19, while our Intelligence 18 chad was threatened with insanity if he missed his 5. Those in between faced punishments that ranged from a three-day long coma to five turns of confusion.

On the one hand, I looove this added flavor element. I think having to make a different DC based on how close you are to the Mind Flayer (and how smart you are) is cool, but I totally understand why this went away as it does seem complicated to keep track of and remember. I also like the “bad things” that happen on a failed save, but I also get why those have been trimmed down to damage/one minute of stun. It helps create uniformity and helps the game move along.

That being said, if you wanted to make your Mind Flayers a bit more “spicy” in a 5e game, perhaps swap out the damage from a Mind Blast with another effect similar to those from 1975. This could gibe you the chance to break out the short-term madness rules. I mean, Cthulhu-head did just hit you with a big old wave of eldritch brain energy; being reduced to a gibbering lunatic doesn’t seem too far off the mark.

Mind Blast (Once per day): The mind flayer magically emits psychic energy in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 12 Intelligence saving throw or be afflicted with short-term madness for 1d10 minutes.

In a vain quest for balance, this modified Mind Blast is only usable once per day and has a reduced DC. While I can already hear the Mind Flayers raising their tentacles in protest, I feel this is balanced our by the fact that there is no chance to recover once insanity sets in; you have to ride it out for that 1d10 minutes, which is likely putting them out of commission for the entire encounter. Additionally, while DC12 is low, Intelligence is a dump stat for many front-line classes, from big dumb Paladins to Barbarians. It could provide the Rogues and Wizards in the group with a unique challenge if all the heavy hitters suddenly started ranting about the yellow wallpaper and eyes in the dark sky, leaving them to face the Mind Flayer with naught but their spells and wits.

[updatingthedragon]

Introduction

Welcome to Updating the Dragon! This page is focused on taking concepts and ideas originally expressed in the Dragon and The Strategic Review and converting them to a way that allows their use in 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. These magazines were created by TSR, the original publishers of D&D. The Strategic Review was originally published in 1975, with Dragon replacing it in 1976. While some of the ideas expressed in these magazines have survived to this day, others that were really cool have fallen by the wayside. 

This is where Updating the Dragon comes in. We’ll dive into the pages of these forty-five year old magazines and rescue long-abandoned ideas. The goal in doing so is that Dungeon Masters and players can find unique ideas and augment their campaigns. 

I hope that you find something that speaks to you! Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer.