Dungeon Doors on 3d8

TL;DR

For usability purposes, a summation of the beyond is provided here succinctly. For each door - roll three 8-sided dice, one for each column in the chart as follows, to randomly determine mechanical characteristics of the door, with something special happening on the extremes:

d8	State	Concealment	Protection
1	Locked	Hidden	Trapped
2	Stuck	Not Concealed	Unprotected
3-6	Closed
7	Stuck
8	Ajar!	Secret	Trick!

For a more detailed explanation of the above, read on!

Dungeon Doors on 3d8

Procedures exist in every edition of the game and every respectable clone or inspired system to assist in the placement of traps, treasure, and monsters - as well as intriguing room and map elements to both help in making dungeons come to life for the table and also to create in a randomized manner: allowing for unique and undreamed, unpremeditated adventures and ease of cognitive burden on the running referee. Among these tools are countless special room generators, special monster customization, and dressing tables to make the corridors and chambers breathe... but lacking among these tools - by comparative dearth to abundance - the exploration of the simple door. 

Doors are essential to the dungeon experience - providing barriers, choke points, intrigue, or entry and egress to and from dungeon rooms: but surprisingly little thought goes into them. Some generators will color them for you - tell you the make, model, and defining characteristics; some generators will tell you how many to place or what's on the other side - but generally, the system assumes that locks, traps, and so on will be at the discretion of the referee: peripheral to the story being told by the floor-plan rather than a driving factor herein.

So - in an effort to help contribute to that emergent dungeon building: to allow the doors to help explain the construction rather than to be tacked onto it - I wanted to share a mechanism to make doors interesting: dungeon doors on 3d8.

Procedure

For each door - placed or generated using other mapping mechanisms - roll 3d8: each to determine or inform a quality of the door, divided between the doors State, Concealment, and Protection.

State

The State of a door is a representation of how it will pose a challenge (or not) to the party based on its present nature. It's somewhat of an abstract term - but the meaning becomes clear, considering the options for results in the table:

• Locked: The door is locked and must be opened - either by the wiles of a Thief or with a key.
   
• Stuck: The door - swollen with moisture, hindered by rust, or perhaps possessed of an inanimate malevolence imbued by the mythic underworld, seeking to expel the party as an immune system for the dungeon - does not open easily and requires a Stuck Doors check to open.
  
  
• Closed: The default state of a door, the door is simply closed. Visibility is prevented and sound is muffled, but the party may pass through at their leisure.
  
  
• Ajar! The door has been left open (or at least partially so!) Visibility or audibility are not hindered: surprise is mitigated for (and by) potential inhabitants - and other implications might arise appropriate to the door having been left swinging on its hinges.
  

For games like 0e - where all doors are presumed "Stuck" and must be forced - the author suggests exchanging the two: that the party might be treated a quarter of the time or so by cooperative portals.

Concealment

The Concealment of a door is how (or if) the door is hidden from detection by those outside the know. The most effective way to prevent entry is to provide no entrance, is it not?

• A door Not Concealed will have no concealment whatsoever. A character walking into the space should be informed "there is a door in the wall at X point" as part of the exposition and mapping routine. These will represent the majority of doors.
  
  
• A Secret door is one which is hidden in plain sight. A book case which turns when a candle is removed; a false wall which will push back when a latch in the floor is pulled - these are Secret doors.
  
  
• Lastly, a Concealed door - one which is hidden, but hidden only. A door which is hidden behind a tapestry; a trapdoor hidden under a rug; a portal which has been obscured using illusion magic to seem like part of the wall - these are Concealed doors.

What is the difference between Secret and Concealed? In a pinch - a Secret door may require a roll or the expenditure of a locating resource to find: by comparison, a Concealed door generally would not: and is uncovered through clever player actions. 

Couldn't a skillful player who knows where to look figure out a secret door through clever application of player skill? Perhaps - and if the party, having done their homework, knows exactly where to look, a proud referee may allow it. However, consider that this is a brainstorming tool - not a rules-as-law prescribed process; consider what's in the room, what it's being used for by the dungeon denizens (or what it was used for by its builders) - and let the difference between a Concealed door and a Secret one fuel your imagination: not limit it to simply answer "Does the Elf get the free roll when passing it by or not?"

Protection

The Protection of the door is a second layer of security added by the dungeon architect or the denizens since having moved in and adapted the space to their purposes. Protection serves as a mean to discourage or prevent passage by those who are not in the know - or to confound the utility of the portal to those same interlopers.

• Trapped: a dangerous if not lethal trap has been placed on the door! Either apply your personal favorite, or for inspiration, potentially follow up on a 3d8 trap idea generator.
  
  
• An Unprotected door is much like the door to your home or to a normal room. It has no particular qualities about it to prevent ingress or egress - instead serving the simple purpose of separating the space.
  
  
• Trick! A Trick door has something clever about it - a ruse or an arbitrary quality, intentional or perhaps incidental to its use, which makes the door stand out. When a Trick is encountered, roll a follow-up d8 on the State table - applying both: or being creative when a duplicate or contradictory roll arises.

Ideas for necessarily creative Tricks, based on rolled results, might be as follow:

Locked + Locked • Penalty to pick locks • Requires key found in dungeon • Magic lock: opens only for the polite Locked + Ajar • Open, but will lock behind if closed • Deadbolt is out - preventing closure • Locked... but with a glass pane	Locked + Closed • Can only be unlocked from one side • Keyhole is concealed and must be located • Not pick-able: opened by a puzzle or dial Stuck + Closed • Opens partly, restricting who can use it • Opens partly, restricting how many can use it • Requires force one way, but not the other Stuck + Stuck • Requires force to close after opening • Requires force to close, but not to open • Barred: multiple Stuck Doors checks required Stuck + Ajar • Door stuck, but has a pet-door in it which isn't • Swollen or damaged, pops open on its own • Portcullis style - and off-kilter, won't close fully Closed + Ajar • Closed, but a hole has been cut in it • One-way door: will not open from one side • Has been spiked open Ajar + Ajar • Burst asunder: door on the floor! • Automatic door: opens as you approach • Re-opens after 1d4 Turns if closed
Closed + Closed
• False door: opens to blank wall • Double door: another door is directly behind	• Access panel: the door is hard to get to • Heavy: negates surprise or stops quick retreat

Not all combinations are provided with suggestions above - some, perhaps "locked & stuck" for example, simply speak for themselves - but more importantly: this is intended as a creative prompt, not a definitive list - something to spur your imagination, challenge your players, and reinforce the theme and tone of your dungeon. Alternatively, if nothing comes to mind - you're more than able to treat a Trick! result as a Trap - or simply apply all conditions to the same door at once.

Isn't Concealment a form of Protection - even by your definition as provided previously? Yes - but the rolls should be separate. This is intentional - not because of any arbitrary grouping of qualities, but to promote the possibility that multiple characteristics of a door may turn it into a more challenging (and thus more memorable) experience - one likewise more open to player ingenuity and exploit.

And stop being a pedant.

Let's Try It Out

5, 4, 2: Closed, Not Concealed, Unprotected.

Well, that's anti-climactic.

3, 2, 3: Closed, Not Concealed, Unprotected.

Again, anti-climactic. But that makes sense, I guess: as you're going to have a lot more doors in the dungeon than anything else - potentially only eclipsed by corridors - and as such, you would want to have a majority of them be pretty bog-standard.

7, 7, 8 (5): Stuck, Not Concealed, Trick! (Closed)

I will admit, this is my fourth outcome - I had a third which I discarded, as it was yet again a normal door - but I am pleased with having rolled an 8 for protection: as I was worried I was going to have to cheat to see how it feels.

The door is Stuck, firstly, but also Closed. Consulting our examples above - we have "opens partly" (restricting either some figures from using it or a number of figures from using it at one time) and "force one way, open the other." Keeping things fresh, say... this door is a Dutch door - with one atop the other. The bottom side (because 5 is odd, why not) is stuck: but the top side will open with normal effort. The party - in exploration - may simply find an annoyance climbing over and through: but in the chance that - on the other side of the door - they find some cave Ogres: they may find their retreat somewhat hampered (or - who knows? - if they can surprise them, maybe a vantage point for cover to make missile attacks!).

And Them's My Two Coppers

In short, the majority of doors will be quite mundane - mathematically, one in eight will be trapped (compared to one in six rooms, if using the B/X rules, which will contain a trap) and one in four doors will be concealed or secret - keeping the party on their toes and keeping the mystique of the dungeon fresh.

Delve on, readers!

 

Public domain artwork retrieved from the National Gallery of Art and from OldBookIllustrations.com and adapted for theme and tone. Attribution in alt text.

Ringmail: Medieval Battles

Presented for posterity and the benefit of the hobby - a love letter to 1971.

Ringmail
Rules for Fantasy and Medieval Engagements

While I had announced this project in 2021, it occurred to me in recent vintage that I have never given the Ringmail project its own post - it was always in a shared announcement and, whenever sharing the project, I would have to say, "Look down at the bottom" or "It's this Drive link directly." But from here, for those who are interested in a particular 1971 wargame which might have become a precursor for the world's first fantasy adventure role playing game, now it has a direct post, a specific link, and a life of its own: a retelling of the classic, with inputs from community and playtest to break through the jargon and difficult wording, and with inclusions from other games and from cultural conventions common to wargaming which would have been omitted by an author assuming a familiar audience.

Announcing it now, too, as it is complete - rules-wise. 

Still need to look for more artwork, still need to finish up the layout, and hey - wouldn't hurt to play a handful of games to make sure everything works together - but if you wanted to use this game in conjunction with old school role playing? If you wanted to play a quick, quirky yet elegant battle system? You can.

Delve on - readers... or maybe, generals?

Ode to '74

There has been a bit of hubbub - and thus, presumably, a bit of interest - in the social spheres through which I find myself floating in recent vintage regarding the original edition and its wargame roots. As such, I'm pressured a bit to share a pet project I'd been working on - one that I'd hoped would get me back to the table - that presents just that: an integration of 0e and Chainmail mechanics, presented together and seamless, as RAW as possible - allowing for clarifications that I'd run into at the table to date.

Player's Reference

Referee's Folio

The books are not finished. They are a jumble of rules, written legibly, but wrought with typos induced by the use of voice to text in the generation of descriptive paragraphs. However they are usable - and they present the spirit of the original rules in their entirety (including rules for griffon riders darting around dragons hundreds of feet in the air; including rules for catapult fire, mounted atop the aft-castle of naval war galleons; and for, of course, delving deeply into the mystic underneath below) as they would have been on original release.

But about WW&W? As returning readers will know, I had been working on my own twist of the original edition - Weapons, Wits, & Wizardry - which I had been working towards as an actual play last year. I will continue to work on WW&W - it is after all my own complete-genius heartbreaker - but in play, I found that my own preconceptions from future editions were polluting my judgements. I was integrating 1e elements, B/X elements, on the fly - I was instinctively incorporating mechanics from other games in the same genre to fit into niches while also experimenting with other resolution practices - e.g. "proficiency dice" - with wanton abandon.

This project was an attempt to, realizing the accidental inclusions (specifically stocking: stocking dungeon treasure is totally different in B/X than 0e!), understand the rules of their own accord, to enter into them with a clean slate, and to assimilate the spirit of the game - as it was in its first incarnation. Once I understood the foundation - only then would I be safe to build upon it and recapture the zeitgeist.

So here it is.

These are the rules I'm going to spin the Ash Coast game back up with - tweak, as needed - and ideally, re-release with art, readable layout, and a fancy license. I hope they help - if nothing else, showing off exactly how much was packed into those four booklets - three brown, one blue and spiral bound. 

And now the only question is... what do I call it?

Delve on, readers!

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

It is 1991 - 2 AM on a warm summer night.

Flipping through channels - refusing to go to sleep - suddenly the infomercials and the offline messages part as AMC is playing its discount back catalog. Claymation monsters leap from the screen, heroic adventurers sail the sea and do battle with evil sorcerers! 2 AM is the time for adventure - high adventure! - and classics of folklore and literature are told half-truthfully to form through the aging celluloid broadcast over the airwaves.

Many such films have been made - many such films have engrossed the imaginations of young boys, going on to write and run campaigns and voyages of the mind about them - with the added enhancements of polyhedral dice. One such film - one which holds its value, speaking both to the target reader of the Basic and the Advanced sets - is Gordon Hessler's The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

N-Spiration:
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad

About the Film

Released in the United States on April 5, 1974 - following a December release the prior year in the United Kingdom - putting its development and release in parallel to if not just barely before the original publication of the Dungeons & Dragons game. It has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 75%, accompanied by an audience score of 64%, and was a commercial success at the time: starring John Phillip Law in the title role of Sinbad: whom discerning viewers may or may not immediately recognize from his more shaven role as Pygar in the 1968 classic Barbarella. The film pits Law against the wiles of Doctor Who Tom Baker in the role of Prince Koura: an evil sorcerer in pursuit of power, wealth, and youth. 

However - the most magical name that appears in the credits of The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is that of producer and stop-motion special effects legend, Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen was a staple in the world of cinematic special effects for decades: one whose signature films - The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., ... have formed staples of the imagination of countless young watchers - this watcher included. The hallmark of a Harryhausen is stop motion animation, which per his biography, he fell in love with after seeing King Kong in theaters. Stop motion, thus, is expected and delivered in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: with monsters and minions large and small being nimbly manipulated and meshed in shot with live action sequences - forming the final product on the screen. These - combined with practical effects and on-location sets produce an immersive experience (albeit dated, tinted with nostalgia) which is consistent unto itself.

Fleshing out the film's surprisingly all-star cast are Hammer Horror veteran Caroline Munro, who would go on to star opposite Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved Me, and Douglas Wilmer: who would likewise appear with Roger Moore in a Bond project - Octopussy - but whose face might be more familiar to the reader in present context by his appearance in Harrythausen's 1963 Jason and the Argonauts: in which he played Pelias.

What's to Like

First and foremost, while the claymation effects provide - for me - a modicum of nostalgia above their presentation of verisimilitude, they provide an opportunity for the film to present multiple mythical or magical beings - great or small - in a manner interactive with the characters directly. That is, unlike - say - Godzilla - where the prop interacts with other props of the city and cut-aways to actors and military scenes imply their interaction, in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, the effect creatures are injected into the scene, interacting with the actors directly, in a manner consistent with how the magical creatures of a fantasy adventure game might interact: a first in film, if the American Film Institute is to be believed. You don't see the wood golem - you fight the wood golem. The wizard's familiar moves and thinks and does - and can be killed if the wizard isn't careful with it. The action in the movie proceeds like that of a fantasy adventure game - your workaday OSR expedition: dungeon and wilderness exploration, both included in the bargain. 

To build on the above - the practical effects being limited (there are no scenes where nothing but clay puppets and props take the stage) means that they tend to be in use only in a few places: the things that they represent are truly fantastic - and they tend to present unique challenges to the protagonists. Herein, we see player skill - demonstrated in the form of character ingenuity. When battling with a magical creation made from wood, Sinbad calls his men to attack it with fire. When fighting against a construct of bronze, Sinbad and his men have to figure out how to use the environment against it, as swords are largely useless - as well as flame, it would seem! So you see both successful ideas and unsuccessful ideas being attempted by various members of the group as the environment challenges them with enemies and foes alien to their expectations.

Which leads into the last main point that can be drawn from this film - it's a fantasy adventure film.

It does not linger on elements that don't advance the adventure; it does not put on airs about its literary references; and it allows the characters to build themselves through action rather than through exposition or implication. The protagonists do battle with evil wizards; the party treks through foreign lands, mapping as they go; and Sinbad has to think on his feet to figure out how to deal with the different challenges that stand between him and their goal. 

How do you fight a man, invisible? Stand in the water where his footfalls will be visible!

There are even puzzles to be had - verbal riddles provided by ancient beings to guide the party's next steps or visual clues hidden in treasure (treasure maps require Read Languages to decipher, maybe? Or perhaps a high level Thief to figure out?) to figure out the way to reach new and forgotten soils. In short - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad has all of the elements of an OSR D&D game: packaged and presented through the lens of the classic Arabian Nights ensemble.

Where to Watch

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad - in addition to being available on DVD and Blu-Ray - is available to stream on your streaming service of choice - including Google Play Movies, Amazon Prime Video, and Apple TV - as well as on YouTube.

For further gaming, a referee intrigued by this and similar films may be wise to consider the system Seven Voyages of Zylarthen, as well. Although not a direct reference to the seven voyages of Sinbad, it draws intentionally from some of the same folklore as would have inspired The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and similar media.

In Conclusion

While The Golden Voyage of Sinbad was produced too late to be a true influence within Appendix N - the people involved in it were certainly known to the creators of the game: and without doubt, it fits into the genre as well as if not better than most of the Appendix N literature - presenting a protagonist getting by on skill and cunning, presenting evil sorcerers and wild locations, and featuring dungeons, caverns, mythical beings, puzzles, and hex-crawling. Not literal hex-crawling, of course, but voyages into the unknown: sailing to new and rumored places following what is effectively a treasure map and then trekking through unknown and rugged territory. For that reason, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, it is fair to say, is 1: Entirely OSR.

This film - and others like it - are kindling for the flame of the imagination. Though they have no connection to the game, as written, that gives them the distinct advantage of having been developed in its absence: The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, like other material truly Appendix N that predates the release and rise of D&D as a game, is unshackled by the conventions of the role-playing genre: liberated to tell a story and for that story to take you across to the ends of the earth.

May your campaigns have half the breadth of the journeys of Sinbad - because even halfway, you'll have years of sessions to spare. Thank you for reading - delve on!

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, distributed by Columbia Pictures, produced by Moningside Productions, and written by Brian Clemens. All imagery related thereto is property of the owning studio. Portrait of Ray Harryhausen with several of his creations retrieved from and presumably owned by bloody-disgusting.com. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons, and D&D and all imagery or references thereto related are property of Wizards of the Coast.

Clerics Wear Ringmail makes no claim of ownership of any sort to any of the aforementioned media, texts, or images and includes references to them for review purposes under Fair Use: US Code Title 17, Chapter 107. 

The slide-in of Gary... I got from a meme.

Cult Catacomb

Scale: 10 ft.
Click HERE for a PDF version of this adventure!

Suitable for 2nd to 3rd level.

•		A little keyhole icon in a door means the door is locked.
•		A little "S" through a door means the door is secret.
•		A little "J" through a door means the door is jammed (stuck) and must be forced open.

Art generated on Craiyon.com; for expedience.

Wandering Monsters

Wandering monsters, if encountered, should be rolled on the following table.

Note, if a 6 is rolled, the Evil Acolytes thus encountered will have with them a key: roll 1d4 to determine the number of the lock on the map which their key will open.

Cult Catacomb

R1 - Dark Altar

Five men - four Acolytes (B30) and 1 chaotic Vicar (4th level) burn incense before the statue of a man - part bird - standing on a pedestal in the western half of a room. One of the statue's hand is aloft, the other by its side: both hold a potion. One of these is a potion of Growth - the other, poison (Save vs Death) which resembles the first. Apportioned about the feet of the statue are 6,000 copper coins as well as 2,000 electrum pieces. Sitting atop this hoard is a shield - magic, +1 - turned upside down, like a saucer, in which gemstones have been piled:

• 6 carnelians (10 Gold Pieces each)
• 5 jasper (50 Gold Pieces each)
• 2 tourmalines (100 Gold Pieces each)
• 1 sizable peach moonstone (500 Gold Pieces)
• 1 teardrop-cut ruby (1,000 Gold Pieces)

The Vicar knows which potion is which; but the acolytes do not. He will use the shield and/or the potion if attacked and pressed.

R2 - Control Room

Wicker barrels - 40 gallon sized - line the rear wall. Between the two doors (which are obvious from inside the room) is a panel with two prominent knobs and a lever. When the party enters the room, a buzzing sound can be heard emanating from the panel.

• One of the knobs and one of the levers are straight-forward: the first knob - which is "off" to start - will lock in place the tree marked at H3 (although two concurrent "stuck door" checks will break the lock and re-engage the swivel). 
• The lever, currently "up", enables or disables the magnet trap in marked at H1. 
• The second knob, however, is a timer. It slowly turns downward and - after 1 turn, if allowed to persist - will touch the bottom: setting off a loud alarm: alerting the Clerics in R1 to the presence of an intruder.

The whicker barrels are largely empty - except one: which has a lockbox with 1,100 silver in it. In addition, underneath this lockbox is hidden a key: rolling randomly on 1+1d3 to determine which lock in the dungeon it will open.

R3 - West Tomb

Four pits carved into the floor house three Ghouls (B35) - held in this room after having been enthralled by the Vicar in R1. The effect has since worn off - but a successful Turn check on his part will re-establish it.

In the fourth, unoccupied hole is a corpse - strangely preserved. Under this corpse can be found a hollow in which 400 gold pieces and two prize garnets (200 gold pieces each) are hidden.

R4 - East Tomb

Four graves mark the space - three of which are covered by stone slabs. The room is entirely covered in spider webs. Hidden overhead are two Black Widow (B43).

Inside the last grave is a fresh corpse wearing the garb of a cultist. He carries 200 silver pieces and a decorated skull-dagger worth 40 gold pieces to a jeweler or other collector.

R5 - Old Armory

Three racks designed for holding armor are positioned around this room. Further, a wooden table and stool - decayed to the point of being unusable - are propped near the secret door.

The locked door marked with #3 can be unlocked from inside the room without a key.

R6 - Master's Grave

A single sarcophagus - stone - is raised in the northern portion of this room. The floor around it is tiled with black marble. The sarcophagus is remarkably difficult to open - but could be, by a determined party. Inside is a skeletal corpse wearing a necklace (400 gold pieces) and carrying a mirror and pouch with 200 silver pieces in it.

R7 - Room of Bowing

This room is richly carpeted - with tapestries of dark-clad men hanging on the wall: none of which have faces except that on the south wall - which looks down towards the door menacingly. If the party enters the space, there is a chance they will activate a poison gas trap (Save vs Death): spraying from behind the hanging pieces and begin disseminated around them: affecting all persons in the room.

The gas is lighter than air - and as such, clears somewhat rapidly - and any character which crawls on hands and knees can avoid it entirely. Halflings and Dwarves may be granted a bonus on their saving throws by a generous referee as a result of their stature.

R8 - Mess

Two heavy wooden tables flanked by three heavy wooden benches run north to south, occupying most of the room. Torch sconces on the wall are present, but empty.

R9 - Pantry

A party of Mediums (B39) - four in number: apprentices led by a Conjuror (3rd level), who is seeking alchemical secrets. They are resting among some discarded iron implements in the hidden hall: having by chance discovered the secret way in from the hall. There is a 50% chance they have a key in their possession: rolling 1+1d3 to determine which door in the dungeon it will open.

The locked door to this room leading to R8 can be un-locked without a key from inside the room.

R10 - Laboratory

Tapestries hang on the north and south wall of the space - on the north side, obscuring the secret door. In the center of the room is an alchemical lab - antique, but looking used in the somewhat recent past. There is a 25% chance that a key has been left on the table: rolling 1+1d3 to determine which lock in the dungeon it will open.

Hall Hazards

H1 - Magnet Trap 

The floor and walls of this space harbor wide metallic strips. A character which passes through and wears ferrous armor or which carries a fair amount of ferrous gear - say, 100 coin weight worth - may activate a mechanism. A loud humming is heard and a powerful magnetic field causes the affected character to stick to the walls or ceiling. Doffing the gear or armor which has been attracted by the magnet is necessary to escape - and the effect will persist until the hazard is disarmed via the lever in room R2.

H2 - Foreshadowed Blade

The corpse of an adventurer - Dwarfish - is hunched against the wall in a pool of blood. He carries some basic equipment alongside 800 silver pieces. He had fallen victim to a hidden swinging pendulum trap - which any character moving through the space at this point (or interacting with his corpse) may likewise trigger. The trap rolls to hit with a THAC0 of 18 and deals 1d8 damage on hit.

H3 - Tree on the Dais

A circular pedestal - 15 feet across - takes up most of the space of this junction. In the center is the likeness of a dead tree, sculpted from shale, with branches disappearing into a circle inlaid in the ceiling, mirroring the dais on the floor. There is a hollow in the tree, inside which a red gemstone can be seen. If one grasps the gemstone, it cannot be removed, but will rotate: which will cause the platform on which the tree sits. Based on the direction the gem is oriented - north, south, east, west, and the non-cardinal directions between - stone walls rise and fall, changing access points in the dungeon. These are labeled A, B, C, and D and marked by dotted lines on the map.

Walls are retracted and thus passable or closed and thus impassable as follows, based on the tree-gem's orientation.

The referee is encouraged to roll 1d8 randomly to determine the initial angle of the tree.

H4 - Pit Trap

Here can be found a pit trap with spikes. A character which falls into the pit suffers 1d6 damage from the fall plus a further 1d6 damage from the spikes.

Disappointment in Lankhmar

Fog rolls in from the marshlands, up the river, and into the city - mixing with the smoke and soot from innumerable houses and forges: spread across the sprawling city. Block after block forming a veritable dungeon - rooftops, a maze over which the adept might bound and leap - the color of the town being gray out of necessity as much as decision. Thieves, cut-purses, and sell-swords lurk in the murk: and a thousand eyes watch from a thousand faces, looking away as necessary... or looking on, as it suits them.

This half-ruin, half-metropolis is Lankhmar: and the birthplace of Sword & Sorcery.

N-Spiration: Swords and Deviltry

About Swords and Deviltry

Swords and Deviltry is a collection of stories - three stories, plus an introductory piece titled Induction - authored by Appendix N great Fritz Leiber and originally published in 1970. The stories within, Induction included, were written between 1957 and 1970 and some published in Fantastic magazine prior to their inclusion in the compellation. As such, while it is not the first story to have been authored about its main protagonists, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, it is the first chronologically, in universe: providing an origin story for each of the characters and also an origin story to explain their collaboration. The characters, themselves, first appeared in print in a 1947 issue of Unknown magazine in another tale, Adept's Gambit, which would go on to be included in the published collection Swords in the Mist in 1968. More to the point, however, is the author of the collection - the esteemed Fritz Leiber: the father of Sword & Sorcery.

Literally.

In 1961, Leiber would describe his work and the work of like authors Michael Moorcock and Robert E. Howard as "sword & sorcery" in a letter to Ancalagon - coining the term, inventing the label, and giving us, if Wikipedia is to be believed, a term which "accurately describes the points of culture-level and supernatural element and also immediately distinguishes it from the cloak-and-sword (historical adventure) story."

Born in Illinois in 1910 to a married couple of Shakespearean actors, Leiber was active in authorship until his death in 1992. He is one of the last of the original pulp writers - post-dating the Weird Tales period, but being encouraged by H. P. Lovecraft in pursuit of his art - and among the most prolific: though among those tales, none are known better among the OSR and RPG community than those he authored of Fafhrd the Barbarian and the Gray Mouser.

The Snow Women

The Snow Women, the first true story presented in this collection, is awful.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest - The Snow Women is an origin story for Fafhrd: a tall, red-haired barbarian swordsman from the north. Fafhrd fills a warrior-outsider archetype and presents a classic Fighting Man in the context of OSR gaming: both in the presentation of his skills and also in the depictions of his characteristics.  

Referees - how many barbarian northmen have you seen in your games who are excessively tall (Fafhrd is said to be almost if not 7 feet in height; compared by this reviewer to Conan's 6 feet), who hail from places cold and remote, and who have at least one dead parent? Fafhrd and this origin story present these tropes to a T. 

In basic synopsis - Fafhrd travels south with his clan to an annual trading meet - after having gone a-viking with a crew of pirates a season before. He rescues a damsel in distress - twice - before fleeing south with her to the city: while at the same time (in a show of humanity: of conflicting desires and ambiguity both in morals and fidelity) abandoning several responsibilities: some he has inherited as a result of lineage and cultural expectation, some he has earned through his own actions, and some he has accepted and championed as his own prerogative. But in so painting the Fafhrd character - where the expression might be that an artist paints with a wide brush, Leiber paints with a roller. The dialog is very clunky, with exchanges feeling more like shower arguments than believable conversation. 

In particular, the presentation of dialog in a fade-to-black (or, fade-to-white, in this case) scene elicits more cringing than excitement.

Similarly, the action is stilted: as though the author is trying to subvert not the expectations of a classic hero, but the physical realities of what the hero might entail. Fafhrd is excessively tall - 7 feet, as mentioned above - and thin: "but he's super strong. This traveling merchant pushes him? And he Doesn't. Budge." - while paradoxically speaks in the voice of a tenor ("Because he practiced it that way! It's intentional as part of his tribal customs!"). Frankly, it reads like the fiction of an adolescent bluffing through his insecurities - cracking voice, gangly growth, romantic frustration... - billing them as intentional, virtuous, or covert strengths.

A great deal of world-building is accomplished in this tale. We learn a great deal about the people of the north, about their customs and their interactions, information which will explain behaviors and consequences in other places in the Leiber lexographies, in a manner consistent with the story: it does not constitute a long lore-dump: instead, providing information appropriate to the narrative at the moment and moving the story forward. While it does, however, provide these elements of background expertly, the lore is ... dumb. The women rule in the Cold Wastes - and the mechanism they use to implement their violent control is.... snowballs. (But they're more made of ice than snow so it really hurts, guys!) I could go on - but the point is made. It's known that the characters - Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser - are a nod to (if not a character model of) the author, Leiber, and his friend Harry Fischer: a fellow writer of science fiction. Perhaps these are inside jokes between them? They certainly carry the air of humor - such as in film when a scene of particular intensity is offset with a joke; or when a moment of gravity, with intent to transition to the next scene, is broken with a laugh. Perhaps. But in my lonely opinion, the joke fell on the deaf.

As such - if you read this book, skip The Snow Women.

The Unholy Grail

The Unholy Grail is much more enjoyable.

The reader may correctly surmise from The Snow Women playing origin story to Fafhrd that The Unholy Grail serves as an origin story for the Gray Mouser. It is an older story - published originally in October of 1962 - and displays more skill in terms of nabbing the imagination of the reader. The tone is much darker (which I personally tend to attribute to the more down-to-earth nature of sword and sorcery in comparison to high fantasy literature), the first paragraph grips the reader and doesn't let go - and the yarn contains swordplay, sorcery - both foul and fair - and embraces the same gray morality - painting its characters as flawed: neither good nor evil in totality. 

This is a theme through Leiber's work - that no one individual is wholly good - and at the same time, while some characters do appear to be wholly bad, the possibility is left open that this is in appearance only, in some cases, or in other cases, is the result of circumstances outside the view of the protagonists in the spotlight. 

The character Duke Janarrl, father to our female lead Ivrian, comes to mind:

...who is unwholesome in all regards presented until it becomes evident at the end that it's a coping mechanism for the repression of other experiences, other memories: thereby exploring the concept of generational abuse.

Further, regarding the technical execution of the story - Ivrian, responsible for both death of the white wizard, Glavas Rho, and for the capture of the Mouser - benefits from both a redemption arc in the role she plays in the story's climax against the Duke, to the quality of depth to her character, but also is included earlier in a foreshadowing event during a scene hunting a boar: wherein initial failure is, under duress, overturned by necessity of action.

Despite these indicators of technical talent and of thematic depth, however, the work is not without flaws. The dialog is somewhat stilted and many characters - the Mouser included - feeling one dimensional. In brief synopsis - the Gray Mouser (at this point in his career called, simply, Mouse) is an apprentice to a white wizard: one who falls victim to the prejudices Duke Janarrl against all magic. The Mouser takes his vengeance on the Duke through dark magic - initially, a voodoo doll; and then after, through an unexplained black magic poured out abstractly through the Duke's own fears and vulnerabilities. The Mouser presents the most one dimensional character of the lot - despite being a primary protagonist of the series to which this story belongs: his character is consumed with anger and with revenge: his words, his emotions, and his actions are entirely centered around that one goal.

All in all - The Unholy Grail inspired me to keep reading where The Snow Women made me want to put the book down: that said, it contains swords, sorcery, dungeons, and damsels: what more could you ask for in an Appendix N novella?

Ill Met in Lankhmar

Lastly among the tales within Swords and Deviltry one finds Ill Met in Lankhmar. 

The story opens with a heist:

...two thieves we have never met before have broken into and konked a jeweler: the lesser of whose wares they purloin, so as to "encourage him" to do better business for them to steal next time. On their return to the guild with their gains, they are ambushed by our heroes, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: who have inadvertently chosen to ambush the thieves for fun and profit on their return trip at the same time.

Quickly coming to terms with each other as allies, the pair make quick work of the thieves and of some roughs from the guild of fighters, the Slayers' Brotherhood, hired as protection from just such an assault. After, the two slink into the night - celebrating their ill-gotten gains with their respective romantic counterparts.

Like The Snow Women, this yarn - Ill Met in Lankhmar was written in 1970: in the same year, it would go on to win the Nebula Award for "Best Novella" and, in the following, the Hugo Award for the same. It is very obvious that it was written after the fact - that is, after the characters and the work of the author was widely known: something that is evidenced best by a short exchange between the Gray Mouser and Farfhd when they initially meet regarding the pronunciation and spelling of Farfhd's name:

You know that from the opening of the Lankhmar saga in 1957 thirteen years prior to the publication of the story that readers had been incessantly writing to Leiber or to his publishers asking this exact question. After rolling ones eyes or eliciting a chuckle at this realization - the reader is obliged to note that this kind of humor perforates the text. Through their interactions - somewhat flippant despite the gravity of some of their actions - the sense of humor that the author seeks to imbue into the text makes recurrent intrusions onto the page: which leads us to the primary question the reader of this article may be asking to this point - isn't this supposed to be a review of the book's influence on my game table?

Yes, it is - and yes, it does!

While the story is on par (perhaps just a tad less) enjoyable than The Unholy Grail, regardless of that quality, the story IS a D&D game half a decade before the game came out.

The aforementioned tonal shifts between flippancy and seriousness? This occurs at the table as well as in the story. Scenes of mindless total bloodshed followed by childish jests and bar-hopping? Happens in the story. Similarly - world building: there is a place called Whore Street, where one of the thieves' guild representatives goes on vacation! This is straight out of an OSR campaign world and speaks monuments to the tone of the movement and the expectations of a referee to the game.

Swords and Deviltry, Slip-Cover
Centipede Press, 2017

Secondly, to speak to the rules itself - I mentioned in the above two guilds: one, a brotherhood of Fighting Men; the other, a brotherhood of Thieves. If you have ever played Advanced D&D and wondered at the origins of the Training rules - why do I have to seek out a mentor to get better at the thing I've been practicing on my delves - this is why. To focus on the Thieves' Guild specifically: there is a scene wherein the protagonists infiltrate the guild - seeing trainers working with apprentice thieves: showing them how to pick locks, instructing them (and testing them) on picking pockets. Without doubt - this is what Gary had in mind when he came up with the training rules: having these stories at hand, scribing down the various things that a Thief should be able to do. While - as Ringmail-enjoyers will know already - I have already made my opinions clear on what I think of guilds in your game: part of the implied setting - part of the world building of TSR D&D as produced by the rules, themselves - is evidenced in Lankhmar in the existence and the operations of the guilds referenced in this story. This, why thieves carry knives, hide in shadows, make abysmal fighters, and other influences on the D&D game - especially the AD&D game - become evident in this tale to the discerning reader.

The story takes a dark turn - ending on somewhat of a low note: reflecting the vulnerability of the protagonists that the author intended to set them (and these stories) apart from more larger-than-life characters like Howard's Conan or Moorcock's Elric - but it does end on a powerful note: and leaves the reader wanting more - whether that "more" could come from more Farfhd and the Gray Mouser or whether that "more" could come from the table is to be determined in said reader's own experience.

Further Reading

If the unique blend of low-adventure mixed with humor and horror that makes the hallmark of Fritz Leiber speaks to you - he was a prolific writer, with an extensive bibliography. His most known works are the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series - which, in omnibus form, comprises seven separate collections published between 1970 and 1988: all of which are available in print and electronically. Used copies abound - for those looking for an authentic experience - and for those without a Sword & Sorcery bent (I'm not sure, if you don't enjoy Sword & Sorcery, how you found this article: but welcome, without regard), his work is not limited to the genre whose name he coined, but also extends into the realms of science fiction and of horror.

Conclusion

Fritz Leiber - specifically, his creations Farfhd and the Gray Mouser - are called out, as Jack Vance and his Dying Earth - in the AD&D 1st Edition Appendix N. As such, I am legally required to say that they are entirely OSR. Swords and Deviltry is not art. The characters are not believably spoken; the stories do not contain a consistency of tone nor nod to particular verisimilitude; but they are stories of adventure. They are stories of passion and of desire. Of the three stories presented in Swords and Deviltry, one - I personally enjoyed; one - I was unable to force myself to finish; and one - I recognized the game I loved being played out from its pages. For that reason, I begrudgingly rate Swords and Deviltry 2: Mostly OSR.

What? How could you do Gary like that? I apologize - I apologize to Gary's ghost and to his legacy. However Leiber is no Howard; nor is Fafhrd a Skafloc nor the Gray Mouser a Cugel. The stories were - on the whole - enjoyable. I intend to give Leiber another go: potentially skipping ahead to Swords in the Mist: looking to some of the older works - written to tell the tale rather than later works, perhaps written with catering to the characters and a captive audience in mind. 

But it does no good to speculate.

I do recommend Swords and Deviltry - though I may find, looking further afield in the library of Leiber, that I recommend some of his works above it. In either case - keep gaming, thank you for reading, and delve on!

 

Swords and Deviltry, published by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc, of New York, NY, and all stories therein authored by Fritz Leiber and copyright to the Estate of Fritz Leiber. The Snow Women, cover art of Fantastic magazine, April 1970, illustrated by Jeff Jones. Cover of Fantastic magazine, October 1962, illustrated by Ed Emshwiller. Both images retrieved from Galactic Central Publications web, curated by Phil Stephensen-Payne. Slip cover for Swords and Deviltry, Centipede Press, by Tom Kidd - retrieved from Abe Books. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons, and D&D and all imagery or references thereto related are property of Wizards of the Coast.

Clerics Wear Ringmail makes no claim of ownership of any sort to any of the aforementioned media, texts, or images and includes references to them for review purposes under Fair Use: US Code Title 17, Chapter 107. 

The slide-in of Gary... I got from a meme.

Shrew Excision Expedition

Scale: 10ft.
Click HERE for a PDF version of this adventure!

Suitable for 2nd level.

•		A little keyhole icon in a door means the door is locked.
•		A little "S" through a door means the door is secret.
•		A little "J" through a door means the door is jammed (stuck) and must be forced open.

Art generated on Craiyon.com; for expedience.

X - Entry

The circular room is walled by a slate geometric pattern – multiple tile shapes in use, each coming together in a larger picture, such that all space is bricked and mortared in a colorless mosaic. The floor is black tile – both motifs continue through the rest of the structure.

The room is empty – excepting natural cob webs hanging gently on the north-east portion of the stairwell.

N - North

N1) A statue of a stately gnome – six feet in height, four feet in width – dominates the center of this space. It is illusory, however, and characters may pass through it (or hide within, being able to see out as though within a cell of one-way glass) at leisure.

N2) Upon opening either door to this space, a thick smoke, knee to waist height, begins to billow out. It has a caustic aroma – but no harmful effects. Against the far wall are six periapts – empty, but worth 10 gp each as trinkets – hung at interval along the north wall. In addition, a pouch with 50 gold pieces and a garnet worth 100 gold pieces further can be found hidden beneath the opaque mist – lying discarded in the south-center of the room.

N3) Wedged into a nook in the wall is a shrine to the god of the gnomes. It has been neglected and no votives nor offerings sit nearby.

N4) One Giant Shrew (B42) sniffs about a pack, thrown to the ground. Inside can be found three days rations (which have drawn the shrew’s attention) in addition to 200 silver pieces. 

N5) A wayward Dwarf (B35) has locked himself in this space. Lightly wounded, he will react positively to adventurers – having been driven here by the shrew in N4. The pack is his – which he will remember after the exuberance of liberation (if the shrew has been dealt with) has worn off.

The purpose of the room is a crypt – two sealed sarcophagi, parallel to one another, taking up most of the space.

N6) Central to this room is a grave slab – running north to south and flush with the floor – on the other side of which is a small table, knee high. On the table is placed 100 silver coins and a skull coated in mother of pearl – itself worth 300 gold pieces.

The grave slab is unstable and, if party members walk across, there is a chance it will cave in – dumping the unfortunate into a 30 foot pit beneath.

N7) A single sarcophagus sits empty, broken into, with the lid smashed on the floor to the south. The small skeleton has been rummaged through unceremoniously.

W - West

W1) An octagonal rug of woven metal fibers is tethered to the floor in the center of this space. There is a slight charnel scent about it – and any character which steps into it may set off a trap wherein the rug winds up on itself, crushing whomever is inside before re-opening and resetting automatically after 1 turn has elapsed.

• If one character is caught in this mechanism, 1d3 damage is suffered.
• If two characters are caught, the damage inflicted increases to 1d6.

Characters of dwarf or halfling stature are counted as half a character for the purposes of the crushing rug. A Save may be granted to dodge the effect, eluding capture.

W2) At the far end of the north hall, two spectral hammers float facing the door, casting light as though torches, flanking the entrance to the larger space. They are magical, but have forgotten their purpose as guards. If left unmolested, they will do nothing but cast light – if a character attempts to disturb them, they will attack in unison, fighting each as 2 HD monsters, dealing 1d6 damage on a hit, which cannot be hit by normal weapons. The goal of any such attack is to drive the target from the room out the door to the north – after doing which, the hammers will resume their mindless vigil.

In the south of the room, a hoard has been secreted as follows:

• A locked chest containing 4,000ep
• A spell scroll containing five Magic User spells:
  

  Cloudkill Read Magic (x2)

  Fireball Protection from Evil (10' Radius)

• One Wand of Illusion (X49-50)

W3) Mining equipment has been stowed and neatly battened in the south and south-west of the room. It has gathered dust – having not been used for a time – but is in functioning condition.

W4) Eight gnomes argue amongst themselves in this space – two appearing to be the leaders: each who have maximum hit points for their hit die. They are following an antiquated map of the space and have entered through the secret door – of which they are aware – but seek the treasure room in W2: hoping to find artifacts therein to allow them to rid the area of shrews.

Between them, the gnomes carry 200 silver and 10 gold pieces.

E - East

E1) The eastern portion of the room is painted, small figures in robes surrounding a central figure with a golden hat. However, the space appears longer than it is and a party which seeks to walk towards the eastern wall from the west will inexplicably make very little headway. In fact, only a blind character – or one whose eyes are closed or covered – can make it to the far wall: where they will find the stone mundane.

A party seeking to return westward is not affected, departing as readily as they entered.

E2) Alcoves on each wall house the statue of a gnome-like figure; the features of the statues have been obscured with age.

E3) Three Giant Shrew (B42) are feeding upon two dead gnomes. On the gnomes’ persons can be found a potion of Cure Light Wounds.

A set of amphora adorn the west wall; in which 600 silver pieces can be found.

E4) The floor is patterned in a red and blue mosaic – depicting an abstract canvas. Along the walls are hung multiple tabards – each woven of metal fiber. They are serviceable – albeit uncomfortable – for small characters (those of dwarf or halfling size): but provide a base armor class of 6 when worn and encumber as chainmail.