As a DM, sometimes I watch the encounters I set in motion with a bit of foreboding, like "this could go badly..."
Watching 2 carrion crawlers almost take out a party with 4th level fighters and clerics... was a tense moment for everyone! Fortunately, the first level halfling fighter saved the day!
My carrion crawlers are like facehuggers, but with 8 tentacles, a maw plus legs and a 9 ft long body.
"Tucker's Kobolds" from 1987 is about giving weak #dnd monsters (honestly) excessive tricks including traps. It's a meme now, picked up on YouTube.
Looking through editions, there are zero references to kobolds using traps before it. #odnd just says they are weaker than goblins, basically the crappest humanoid. #adnd1e has them just fighting. #bxdnd says they "ambush". All before 1987. But #adnd2e (1989) has heavy reference to traps for them. TSR eating their own memes.
https://media.wizards.com/2014/downloads/dnd/TuckersKobolds.pdf
I've been looking into more #ttrpg #odnd retroclones recently. I've been quite an #OSE fan but reading #whiteboxFMAG got me interested, and then I started going down the "differences between using some books but not others" rabbit hole.
The thing that I found interesting, apart from the massive difference in monster power before and after Greyhawk, is how extremely similar OD&D with all books is to #ADnD. The latter has expanded detail and some extra rules but the structure is almost identical.
Irgendwie brummt unser online #osr open Table gerade richtig - so zumindest mein Eindruck. 2025 gab es u.a. #Shadowdark #DCC #LiminalHorror #WolvesUponTheCoast #Warlock #Odnd #Deathbringer #Pirateborg und #OSE -Runden. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf Shadowdark, aber irgendwie verselbstständigt und differenziert sich das gerade alles aus. Wenn ihr mal reinschauen wollt, gerne bei @thorsten oder mir melden. Und so funktioniert der Table: 1/2 #pnpde
So back when I released "so long, rio" I talked a bit about a solo rpg I'd done that inspired the art I did for the album. That was an original edition D&D game I did for most of 2020 and 2021 (by way of retroclone Delving Deeper, but true to the spirit of the game I changed how I did things every few times I sat down to play.) Definitely my longest-lasting persistent world; if I remember right I was on the 15th iteration of the same fighter. I think my last one I managed to get up to level 5 or so, which was a pretty major accomplishment to me. I still only partially mapped the first couple floors of the megadungeon located conveniently under the starting village and part of one page of overworld map.
Which is what I want to show you. I used the map making rules in Delving Deeper, interpreted to try to build reasonable trails and rivers while maintaining surprise to anything more than one hex further than I'd travelled. Drawing the terrain in the corners like I did was very satisfying.
Highlights:
- two #osr Retreats with good friends: running an old #Adnd adventure, playing #odnd & #ClassicTraveler
- Attending the #LoFi osr Con.
- A couple of fanzines are approaching finalization.
Positive: After 2 years, our online osr open table is still active. Ran #ArdenVul got to play #Warlock
Not so great: less games than I was hoping for due to some nasty surprises the Real Life TM threw at me.
Nach dem Studium von #OSR -Magazin Blinzelhund Nr. 2 ( @systemmatters + @PenPaperDice ) musste der neue Hexer-Roman endlich her! 🐺⚔️✨
Letztes Jahr wurde #DungeonsAndDragons 50!
Ich habe mich in jenem vergangenen Jahr, insbesondere auf Instagram, mit #ODnD beschäftigt. Und nicht nur weil ich derzeit das #Megadungeon Stonehell solo mit #LabyrinthLord (einem Basic #DnD -Retroklon) spiele, möchte ich mich gegen Ende diesen Jahres doch noch mit der ersten Edition befassen, die ins Deutsche übersetzt wurde:
BECM(I) 📝🎲
Heute fange ich mit dem Basis Set an! 🤠
Solo-Spiel wird im zweiten Absatz des Vorworts erwähnt.
#PnPde , am kommenden Wochenende findet die #WinterCon des #Rubicon in #Osnabrück statt. Ich bin dort mit zwei Runden #ODnD und einer Runde #YggrasilBurns (basierend auf #MörkBorg ) am Start. Am Sonntag wären auch noch einige Slots für SLs frei. https://rubicon-osnabrueck.de/aktuelle-convention/ #OSR
Yesterday's links:
More monsters for DCC
http://ravencrowking.blogspot.com/2025/11/lets-convert-monster-manual-night-hag.html
Setting inspiration
https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2025/11/osr-beyond-western-desert-or-od-with.html
🥳 Wir werden es Anfang Dezember spielen, jetzt auch bei Fantasywelt bestellbar:
https://www.fantasywelt.de/Der-lange-Weg-aus-der-Dunkelheit-DE
#pnpde #osr #ttrpg #gazerverse
#SwordsAndWizardry #ODnD
@kritischlesen
Der #Halloween #PnPde Abend hat ja prima geklappt. An drei Tischen wurden phantastische Welte erkundet und ich habe zum ersten Mal #ODnD geleitet :) Heute geht’s dann mit der #DeathInSpace Crew in den #Heidepark , wo wir uns mal ein bisschen erschrecken lassen.
Ghoultunnel: Cauldron Con 2025 (battle report)
A new venue, an increased number of participants – the stakes were high for our third OSR Euro convention. Again, we were rewarded with a crowd of enthusiastic attendants from all over Europe and far beyond, who came to play a variety of games (nobody may claim we would single-mindedly play one system only): AD&D, […]https://ghoultunnel.wordpress.com/2025/10/23/cauldron-con-2025-battle-report/
I'm counting the days. Just three more sleeps, then it's off to an #osr retreat for a long weekend with some lovely people. Last time, we played #odnd, this time I will run The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh (with B/X #OSE) and play some #ClassicTraveller
Gameplay was smooth and I received valuable feedback. The hexes are nearly finished, but i still have to put some work into the procedures. The adventure will provide stats for #odnd (#WhiteboxFMAG) and is clearly inspired by Bjarne Braun‘s great #Moldbrook mini-setting for #SwordsAndWizardry but leans more into tragic horror and body horror. 2/2
Definitely worth backing this #ttrpg!
#BarrowsAndBorderlands #Arduin #osr #odnd
Arduin's Portal to Adventure, via @kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/921190015/arduins-portal-to-adventure?ref=android_project_share
Ghoultunnel: Nebulith (review)
What if a ritual goes wrong? Or rather: What if the timing of a huge ritual goes wrong, and misses the crucial moment for its culmination by a minute or two? This question drove one Alex Thompson, resident of the isle of Okinawa, to explore the fate of its twin island, Awa Nikko, which does […]https://ghoultunnel.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/nebulith-review/
