One of the ways that we tended to collect NPC's was to keep all of the deceased PC's. Those became the templates for the NPC's.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That's a great idea!

@Penfold497

10 ай бұрын

What a great idea! How have I not heard of this before! Thank you.

@AaronSeigo

10 ай бұрын

Vice versa too: when PCs die and we need a quick replacement, the players will often pick up one of the nearby NPCs and play them. The circle of -life- adventuring. ;)

@Penfold497

10 ай бұрын

@@AaronSeigo this of course I am familiar with. When he can afford it, my figure will hire a man to fight with him. Sometimes that man matriculates to full Retainer status in time, but he is always there for me to use if necessary.

@the_beast_among_sheep

3 ай бұрын

If it isn't possible for a massive battle break out, or a war to break out between to kingdoms or Factions, then you aren't playing D&D

The random tables were absolute gold to create your own world. Once you crafted your own I think you felt truly the master!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I *love* random tables, as evidence from my recent review on the Monster Overhaul: kzread.info/dash/bejne/oqCM2dKpZayod6g.htmlsi=23ZAIK34sVweCMdY

@doctorlolchicken7478

10 ай бұрын

Yeah I spent a huge amount of time as a kid doing random tables for everything. My campaigns were mostly random, and the players liked how even I didn’t know what might happen next.

Christmas 1982 (the best Christmas of my childhood) - Santa brought me all of the hardback AD&D rule books. To add to my joy, a hobby store opens in my BFE Mississippi hometown. Tucked away in the back corner of the store is the role playing area. While my friends spent their weekends at the movies or skating rink, I spent every hour I could at that store reading and re-reading everything. One of my favorite pastimes was rolling up characters... I must have rolled up 1000s, much to the detriment of my grades in school and the ire of my parents. In my defense, I told my mom that if I had The Rogues Gallery, I wouldn't spend as much time rolling up characters (yeah, right!). Mom told me that Santa had brought me enough. Boo! Well, mom must have forgotten what I wanted (or confused it with something else on my wish list), because on my birthday, I got The Assassin's Knot (one of my personal favorites). Oh well, It's still a win in my book. Great video!! Thanks for the trip back to my childhood.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for watching and commenting, and for sharing your story! I really appreciate it. I love hearing about other folk's experiences with the game back in the day. I also used to "roll up" characters, although I did it in a very convoluted way. I memorized all the rules for the maximum and minimum attributes required for each class and race, and then at school any time I heard or saw a number between 3 and 18, I wrote them down in order until I had six in a row. So, someone might be wearing a shirt with a number on it (like a jersey) and then I might hear someone say "Time for 4th period..." so I'd take that as a "4." Once I had six in order, I'd remember my rules and begin writing down what kind of character would qualify based on those numbers. Then I'd give them a name that was usually a anagram of whoever I sitting nearby at the time, and I had an instant NPC. I made a TON of those in Junior High School!

I started playing at age 8 in 1981. I haven't seen a lot of those 1970's pieces of art for 40 years. Really cool trip back into my past thank you sir.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

And, thank you for watching and commenting! We started playing in the same year, but I was a few years older than you at the time. I still like looking back at these old products and finding ways to use them in the campaign I'm running for my daughter currently.

@epone3488

4 ай бұрын

Same mate only 79 for me! Got roped into a an older boys game as an extra body and feel hard for the imagination game.

Gotta love the deadpan "I left my wallet there".

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad you thought that was funny!

@CapnSnackbeard

10 ай бұрын

Shouldn't have been hitting on that waitress. So much for your jimmy hats. 😅

I remember grabbing and reading the Rogues Gallery while my brothers and I were still using redbox basic. When I finally got an orange spine PHB, I was thrilled when I recognized Tenser and Mordenkainen and Bigby in the spell names. The picture of Phoebus as a lizardman with his bracers was so cool. This channel brings back all the best memories.

@kuriboh635

10 ай бұрын

Ya I found out about the gallery just a few months ago, even though I've been playing 1e since 2014. But Phoebus was my favorite part in it.

@DMHightower

10 ай бұрын

This is my experience also. The images in the Rogues Gallery captured my imagination. I spent so many hours poring through it!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for the kind words! I really appreciate it, and appreciate your support. Also, I really enjoy when folks share their personal journey with D&D and TTRPGs. Thank you! I, too, loved that picture of Phoebus! I hope you're continuing to enjoy the channel. Cheers!

@JamesJoy-yc8vs

2 ай бұрын

I remember the Rogue's Gallery - and Phoebus - with great fondness; for me and my friends it heralded a significant turning point, of sorts, in our D&D journey. I say "of sorts" because it turned out to be based on faulty assumptions. But, hey, we were kids. So, between a half-dozen of us in the early '80s we'd amassed quite the eclectic library of early rulebooks; Moldvay (mine), Holmes, the LBBs, one of us even had a copy of Chainmail! But it didn't take long to realize that we didn't have a Complete Collection of the rules, we had a handful of related rulesets with seemingly as many contradictions as similarities. And determining whose book had the "right" rules inevitably broke down into shouting matches and adolescent fistfights. I was the one who bought Rogue's Gallery, because already I was the group's go-to DM, and thought a book with hundreds of NPCs - compiled by professionals! - would help us learn, by example, the "proper" way to play. The pages of 1-row statblocks weren't the Rosetta Stone, by any means, but the detailed write-ups at the end were our first glimpse of "Advanced" D&D, with unfamiliar classes, features, equipment, and magic items ("What's a MacFuirmidh Clittern?"). So, we reasoned, these are the "advanced" rules, bound in adult hardback books, not babyish paperback pamphlets. Naturally, this must be the final, complete ruleset, superceding the clumsy, confusing rules we'd been playing by. The culmination of all those haphazard initial releases, with all the bugs eliminated, mistakes fixed; in short, the perfected "true" rules! Heady from this revelation, suffused with determination and single-minded focus, we dedicated all our efforts to acquiring the Big Three AD&D (1st ed.) books, convinced it represented our first steps into adulthood! So, yeah, turns out we were mistaken on that. But our misplaced zeal had given us an aspirational vision, a goal to strive for, and the motivation to pursue it. (...and as the anthemic '80s hair metal builds to a blistering crescendo I bow my head, take a few deep breaths, and go in search of some old phone numbers I haven't called in years...) [edited for spelling and clarity, and also to say: the Caravan Tables were worth the cost of the book alone!]

I love the sort of "soft" look of Otus's art, it's very aesthetically pleasing and bizarre.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

"Bizarre" is a great way of putting it. I'm so glad he's still working in the industry. He recently did some work for Old School Essentials, which I use in combination with 1981 Moldvay Basic for the campaign I run for my daughter and her friends. Seeing his art on some of the rulebooks is so much fun!

@jonothanthrace1530

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1I just looked him up and discovered he did the cover for the Hackmaster Basic book I bought at a con many years ago, *and* his art graces a couple of cards in the Magic The Gathering D&D sets, which is wonderful.

@williampalmer8052

10 ай бұрын

He, and others like him, really made the game seem fantastical and otherworldly, which I personally prefer to the pseudo historical realism that seems to dominate everything now.

@shawn7336

10 ай бұрын

Yeah he really is stylish. Somehow I think without Otis and a couple of the other ‘classic’ artists the draw to gaming may have been lessened. If a little.

I loved the nostalgia trip of going through the Rogues Gallery. I used the table of random characters often when players would rescue a prisoner or find a survivor and they wanted to keep them with the party. Once I randomly rolled that ridiculous super-Paladin with the 18/00 Strength and 18 in every other stat but one, which was a 16 (Wisdom, I think), and of course he had a +5 Holy Avenger. Once they realized who it was (everyone knew about that entry) they stuck him out front in every fight. Eventually, after a half-dozen fights, I threw a Beholder at them and proceeded to hit this guy with the disintegration ray every round until I finally rolled a 1 on the Save - I was never so happy to kill any character as that one. Yes, I could have re-rolled or had him object to their using him but I was a 15 year old DM and felt obliged to respect the random roll and did not want to fight with my players.

@kuriboh635

10 ай бұрын

Definitely a great idea actually. I'll definitely use that in my next 1e game for sure. It's always fun to see what our fellow games think of and share, alway great ideas to mix in to games. I personally only thought of using it for important npcs that never helped the party or fought them. But this will change there next rescue mission for sure

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I totally get it! I was always in awe back then of kids who were smart and creative enough to be the DM! I didn't have the confidence to try it for an on-going campaign until I was 30! Thanks for sharing, and for your support of the channel. Cheers!

When we first began playing, we followed the name too closely. So we created underground adventures. (8th, 9th graders, Dungeons & Dragons, so we made dungeons, although not necessarily with dragons of course). So we got graph paper from school and had all sorts of fun creating maps. We filled up the rooms with all sorts of creatures who, for whatever reason, decided that living underground was preferable to living above ground. We would even have levels of the underground (often trying to keep the levels of the underground commensurate to the levels of challenge). After about 3rd level, the level of the underground could no longer be kept the same as the level of the characters--so we needed to change what the characters were doing. I did created underground levels (from the basic D&D book!) that could challenge very high-level characters. It went all the way up to having ancient dragons (8-hp per die), fire giants against frost giants in a war of chaos vs law (both evil of course), and various other things going on.

I was just this afternoon thinking about the city state of the invincible overlord Was probably my favorite play aid

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

And it holds the distinction of being the first campaign setting specifically developed for D&D (kind of... I often make the argument that the World of Greyhawk takes that prize, since it was developed by Gary to playtest the ideas that eventually became D&D so it was technically "first" although it was published after City State).

Another early aid that made a huge difference for my group was the Judge's Shield published by Judges Guild in 1977. Composed of three sheets of yellow card stock, it summarized the game mechanics in a way that made everything clear to us, in a way the little brown books hadn't.

Love that party on the cover of Rogues Gallery. Even by 80s standards (when I got playing), I feel the halfling's a little small, the dwarf's a little slim, and the elf's a bit lanky (rather than svelte). Other interesting things are, magic-users sometimes wore few clothes, because all they needed is magic, and that same character is amusingly friendly with both the elf and the half-orc.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I really like this breakdown! Very fun! That magic-user, to me, is *so* 80's in aesthetic. Cracks me up every time. Thank you for watching and commenting!

@JamesJoy-yc8vs

2 ай бұрын

For me, Errol Otis' illustrations are *the* definitive look for D&D magic-users. I mean, what's the point of wielding arcane power, of sculpting the very fabric of reality, if you can't wear the most dangerously impractical garments? A wizard eschews armor, scoffs at shields. Why endure a heavy steel breastplate, when instead you can rock a sweet-ass cape (that matches your bell-bottom boots)? A billowing mantle with scalloped edges, worn affixed by twin bandoliers crossing over your bare chest, and boasting a high collar so tall and stiff it mimics the function of horse blinders! Who needs peripheral vision, or full range of motion, when you can call forth explosive gouts of flame at will? And to complete the look, of course, your head must be adorned with an enormous headpiece of overwrought extravagance, so gratuitously elaborate and garish it mocks the very concept of useful functionality. And requires uninterrupted concentration - as well as a supple torso and exquisite balance - to safely pass through most doorways! Indeed, none but the most powerful wizards would be so bold as to be seen in public dressed so ridiculously!

Love getting to see stuff from your 70s/80s D&D collection, and how you tie a number of threads together from the characters in The Rogues Gallery, really highlighting the people who were making the game and designing content for it were also fans and players of the game. I think this is easily seen reflected in the form and quality of the content that was being produced at the time, and continues today in the indie scene where there are still strange and wonderful things being made by people who are as much fans of the games they write for as they are writers, artists, and publishers. I'd love to see a (shorter :) video covering some of the early proto-adventures and the journey they show people were on in learning how to make things for the game. Temple of the Frog has some of that narrative structure that we'd come to see in (and expected from) the later D&D published modules from TSR, but it's clear from things like Temple of the Vampire Queen that a lot of people were making explorable dungeons without much narrative. This is, famously, how we get Ravenloft: as a reaction to that game style .. and those authors would go on to take D&D in a pretty new direction in the 90s, to much discussion and even controversy then and now. Anyways, it'd be fun to see some leafing through of these adventures and highlighting the features and idiosyncrasies the hobby moved through from TotF to TofVQ to the landmark Caverns of Thracia ... 5 years of creative evolution that arrive at the current concept of a location-based adventure. About A&E: it wasn't really a fanzine itself, but a monthly anthology of individual fanzines. People would send their 'zine in to Lee and she would (and as you noted, still does) compile them. In that sense, A&E is more of a fanzine anthology. As a result, nobody really wrote "for" A&E as much as A&E was a means of distributing their own 'zines in an age where that sort of thing was really hard. This is why every 'zine in A&E has a title, often with an issue # for that 'zine that differs from A&E's issue number. What's also really interesting is that people would include comments to other people's zines in their own zine ... making for a sort of pre-internet blogosphere. In fact, that's how I usually describe A&E to people: it was blogs before the Internet. Unsurprisingly, many of the authors were early adopters of digital publication, and would become active on usenet and later blogs ... Also, Gary Gygax did not publish in A&E. He wrote Lee a letter, with his usual mix of salesman-like promotion, community outreach, and self-defensiveness, and Lee included his letter as it was addressed to writers of various A&E zines and because, of course, Gygax was an important figure in the nascent hobby. But he never wrote a zine for A&E, and wasn't to appear in it directly again, from my knowledge. From that letter, it is clear he didn't understand what A&E was or how it worked, which definitely caused him some confusion; this is understandable as he came from a different background than A&E's early community: wargaming, rather than A&E's roots in fandom. The two groups had really different approaches to and motivations for publishing, and the letter he sent Regarding the Egg of Coot: According to Jon Peterson's research, the Egg of Coot is a reference to Greg Scott, a local wargamer that Arneson feuded with over various topics. His lieutenant is Ran of Ah Foo, which is another local gamer: Randy Hoffa. Both predate D&D and Arneson's fueding with Gygax. Arneson seems to have been a fairly complicated fellow who managed to rub a lot of people the wrong way during his career in gaming, and wasn't shy about making his spats public.

You did a really good job going through this material and making the timeline and significance understandable. Even though I know 90% of this stuff, I could never present it in such a clear way. This feels like a college lecture series. It’s important for younger people to remember the way that information was spread before the internet. It was all word of mouth, or based on what the game store had in stock. We didn’t necessarily differentiate between rules written by TSR and variant rules published by a third party. If it looked legitimate, then it was legitimate to us. For years I had both BX basic and the red box. There were rules that were different. The prose style was different. It was a mystery to me: why were these two books so similar and yet a little different? I also had a few third party supplements, which were obviously somehow different, but hey, they got rules and we used them if we liked them. One of the amazing things about the hobby is that during a human lifetime, so much of the genesis was almost lost, and then recovered decades later. Even the way the game was originally played was almost gone by 2005. I feel lucky to enjoy a hobby in common with some super smart neurodivergents that have carefully preserved that which was, so we can show it to those who will come.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for watching and commenting, and a very special thank you to you for subscribing. I really appreciate your compliments and I'm so happy you enjoyed the video. As a kid, I was really confused between Basic-Expert-Advanced, and it took quite a bit of reading in Dragon magazine and also reading introductions and forewords to understand the differences. Thanks again!

@4:31 Daddy rolls A Tribe Called Quest reference? I am shooketh.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Ha! I was a bit afraid folks might miss it because my delivery was so nonchalant. Glad you caught it!

It’s wild that Lawrence Shick is still on the go, working on Baldur’s Gate 3. He did start really young though, so he’s barely retirement age. Heck, if that was my job I doubt I would retire.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Not being a video-gamer myself, I was aware of Baldur's Gate III coming out but had no idea about his involvement in the writing of it until I was researching to make this video! So cool! Thank you for watching and commenting.

My favorite thing about this video is that youtube put a context box under the video about AIDS. ...wait, Jenell Jaquays? From id? Wife of Burger Becky? Worked on D&D stuff? No way dude, that's awesome, I had no idea. So they had a CoC designer AND a D&D designer, that's wild. Kinda makes me wonder what a Wolf, Doom, or Quake warga- soary, """"""rpg"""""", would be like.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Oh my goodness, did they really? Yikes! And yes, that's the same Jennell Jaquays! Not being a computer/video gamer, I actually had no idea she worked there until you mentioned it and I just looked her up. So, thanks for sharing that knowledge with me!

@TheGreenKnight500

10 ай бұрын

​@@daddyrolleda1KZread's algorithm must work on some very simple word matches that don't take capitalization or context into account. Hopefully they don't mess with your video's visive for this. I'd keep an eye on how well this video does compared to your other ones.

The Rogue's Gallery was a favorite supplement for me just due to the Personalities section. Getting to see what the OG gamers were playing was so cool. It was "interesting" to see the really high stats for the PCs in that section. I assume they were using the alternate rules for character stat generation shown in the DMG.

@Clem68W

10 ай бұрын

It might have been selective breeding. Or powergaming was always a thing. Doesn't much matter at this point but neat to ponder.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and commenting! I had meant to mention this during the video, but I forgot. Gary Gygax was "interviewed" in the forums on either EN World or Dragonsfoot, and he mentioned that the status for most of the PCs in that section were "fallacious," because none of the players wanted to share them with Brian Blume (the author of the book), because they were still active characters being played in campaigns. It was such a different time back then, that players would worry about that kind of thing. So... I don't think those stats are accurate, but I also do think it points to (for the players who did share them) the idea that people were cheating on their stat rolls from the very beginnings of the game!

Love the KZread context explanation. Poor early D&D players, playing while so sick. 😢

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yeah, I've petitioned them to review it, but I'm guessing the YT folks will get to that around the time we discover how to bring back dinosaurs. Thanks for watching and commenting!

You left your wallet in El Segundo? Ya gotta get it man, got got to get it

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad folks got that reference. I wasn't sure if maybe I was aging myself by saying that.

39:52 You're talking about players trying to get one-up on other players reminds me of playing in another person's world. I came in a bit later (in college at the time, DM was married, commuter asked if I wanted to play, drove to to the sessions). I created a Wizard, Chaotic Neutral. Well, those guys were all 2nd level, had cleaned out all the early (really nice) stuff. So I was struggling to get anything of value. I came up with a really cool plan. We had a NPC half-elf cleric. She was the only one who could resist Sleep Spell. I asked the DM that, if and only if, the cleric went down, then I wanted to put the party to sleep, keep my ride alive, but kill the others and take their stuff. I wanted the DM to declare that everyone had to have a saving throw (that he would roll, of course). That my ride and I were the only ones to survive. We would, of course, complain along with the others, but they would be stuck with making new characters while we took the loot. Unfortunately, the DM decided that he was just not that chaotic enough that night. Boom! The perfect time came up! Aurgh! However, my MU did prove his worth. when I came in after having missed a session. We had gotten captured and had bottles that could hold "One of anything." We had our hands tied. I was too weak to get free, but could get to the bottles. I asked the capacity limit of the bottle. No limit. "impossible." I insisted. "What if I pointed down and said, 'Planet'?" DM asks me what I intend to do. I tell him that I intend to point bottle towards the army coming at us and say, "Ground." I ended up scooping up the battlefield. Then, as it turns out, if you do not stopper the bottle immediately, the stuff starts coming out. So, naturally, I don't stopper it immediately and bury the army. Lots and lots of experience points for killing an entire army by myself.

I love these videos. Like making my wife watch so she can understand how more complex the game is

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I hope your wife enjoys watching them!

@Penfold497

10 ай бұрын

We should all force our wives to do things we like. It’s good for them. Builds character.

19:33 Wizard: "Oh no! A paper cut!!" (*dies*)

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Ha! They were quite fragile!

1977's First Fantasy Campaign by Dave Arneson from Judges Guild has the first real set of iconic characters, with lengthy descriptions of the major characters of the original Blackmoor game.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yes, for sure. I talk about that quite a bit in my video on "Forgotten Classes": kzread.info/dash/bejne/h6SCy8epedHQmdY.htmlsi=Evhgcz9vduPqbHCS

Kinda funny talking about Ernie's character and how it was often the DM that made them evil but if you read he made a pact with Beelzebub to become a Devil after he dies. 😆 Good stuff!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Those early players all had a different way of playing, that's for sure!

Egg of Coot predates the split between Gary & Dave. According to Jon Petersen in Playing at the World, it first appears in the original Blackmoor campaign (~Christmas 1971). If you read the foreward to Men & Magic, you can see Gary reference it positively. The reference to Nosrnra in G1, however, is Gary being a jerk. I ran across the original artwork of the Erol Otus' cover for Deities & Demigods: it's on display at Noble Knight Games in Fitchburg, WI.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation. I've seen various descriptions about this and had read some of Jon Petersen's comments with regard to the way Arneson might have been using the character of the Egg of Coot in 1977's First Fantasy Campaign as a way to take a snipe at Gary even though the character predated his introduction to Gary and its name "Egg" was just a complete coincidence. I really appreciate how you explained this in a kind way and didn't attack me, as some others have done, for me bringing this up in the video. And how cool that you saw the original artwork! I honestly had no idea that Noble Knight Games had a physical store! I thought it was online only. I'll have to try to make a visit some day. Thanks again!

The depth of your knowledge is deep. It’s like you were there on the journey with GG and crew. You even know the little details, like who got a job and by what means. Subbed

@KabukiKid

10 ай бұрын

Agreed... his research is really solid. :-) I always learn something new, and I feel I know quite a lot about old D&D history.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That's a really nice compliment. I appreciate that so much, and I especially appreciate your support in subscribing to the channel. Thank you!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

@KabukiKid Thank you so much for saying that!

@shawn7336

10 ай бұрын

What’s remarkable is you keep saying it’s just a skim over but it feels like a deep dive. I don’t know your background of course, but if you haven’t rubbed shoulders with GG, Otis and the crew, I’d be shocked. And if you really haven’t they should be aware of this series you’ve made, I’m sure they would be really pleased. Probably bring back a lot of good memories for them. Does for me

I love this top-down assessment of play aids. Thanks so much for making them

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

You are very welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed the video! And thank you for watching and commenting.

That was a fun video to watch; it really took me down multiple "memory lanes." I see why getting the video all composited and uploaded from your phone was causing issues...definitely worth it though. I especially enjoyed the deeper dives on some of the lesser known players/employees from the early days at TSR. There's a funny article in Oerth Journal #6 about Robilar's and Mordenkainen's adventures in Blackmoor, with Dave Arneson as DM (Dave was pretty polite about it, but had obviously expected a better effort from EGG and Rob Kuntz). It's funny how everyone mentions that Gary really "couldn't understand wanting to play the wizard," but some of his best known/remembered characters were the magic users. It's always funny to see how many people uses reversed letters or anagrams for their real names for their characters. One of my earliest characters was T'tam, which was both a nod to that practice, and an homage to Cutter from ElfQuest (whose "soul name" is Tam). Jennell Jaquays, probably more than anyone, really showed everyone that a pre-written adventure was something that could be important in its own right, and would sell. I have a copy of the pastel cover D1, although mine is in pretty rough shape; the best part is the inside cover is a large version of two devilishly grinning, well-equipped bugbears from the interior art. The first module I bought with my own money was D3 (blue cover). As usual good selections on music and beverage. I actually always liked Graceland; but, like you, I was mostly into punk and ska at the time, so I didn't let that secret get out much. Still..."I know what I know. I'll sing what I have said. We come and we go; that's a thing that I keep in the back of my head." Cheers!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for this great comment! And yes, it is so funny that despite Gary saying he preferred playing warrior types, none of his "famous" characters are Fighters, but rather Magic-Users and a Cleric! I have a folder full of maps that are based on shuffling the letters of my friend's (and non-friends!) names. How those people got along in real life then impacted how their nations interacted in the game world. My own "World of Samoth" game is based on re-arranging my last name! So cool you have a monochrome/pastel D1. I have a few of those, all that I got from friends who no longer wanted them. B1, C1, D2, G1, and G2. I think that's it. It'd be nice to have the others to round out my collection, but it's not necessary, and there are of course more important things to spend money on! Also, thank you so much for watching through to the bonus content at the end. I've been having fun making that section for the folks, like you, who like it. In fact, I think I'm going to spin Graceland again right now...

@Archaeo_Matt

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 That's sort of how I acquired both by monochrome D1 and my first edition, second printing of Deities & Demigods. I had loaned some stuff to a friend before he left for the Navy, then got it back four years later when I was in his wedding party; at the time we both thought of it as six of one and a half-dozen of the other, but I think I ended getting the better end of it. If nothing else, that drawing from D1, that I usually just call "Tramp's bugbears" is one of my favorite pieces of art from the old books.

If I remember correctly, Rob Kuntz was with the "War Gaming" group that Gary Gygax was part of. (The miniatures were about knee height and they were used to run historic battles.) Chainmail, Blackmoor, and Greyhawk all came from that background. Also, Rob was supposedly the guy who inspired "Chert" from the "Gord the Rogue" series when Gary Gyax was having trouble keeping his thief alive.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

"The miniatures were about knee height..." - cracked me up! Yeah, they were war-gaming together from 1968. And that's some cool trivia on Chert. Thanks for sharing!

Great content you kept my interest to the entire video. Great walk down memory Lane!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I appreciate that! Thank you very much for letting me know, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the video.

I love these types of videos a lot. The wee warriors stuff, rogues gallery, and all of these extra products are absolutely amazing to me. It gets my creativity flowing, and I have all of wee warriors adventure reprints and a scanned copy of their character sheet. I've been working on learning about and grabbing at least pdfs of products like this.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That's great you have all those PDFs! And I'm glad you found my channel. Thank you very much for watching and commenting!

@kuriboh635

10 ай бұрын

@daddyrolleda1 Thank you very much. It's a super great chanel and has broadened my knowledge of the game as well.

I really enjoyed your time on the Rogues Gallery. Now I finally know about this character from the 3.5 feat Robilar's Gambit ( Player's Handbook II, p. 82)! I am tempted to make a character with boots that fold over to bell bottoms like that 1980 art.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'd love to see a drawing of your character if you do! Thank you so much for watching and commenting!

I loved the longer video! I’d love to see a closer look at some of those older D&D zines. Especially the one still being published.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Good to hear! Thanks for the feedback, and I will add that to the (ever growing...) queue!

I'll watched tomorrow after work. It's 23:00 here.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

So sorry about that! I took forever on my super old and slow laptop to upload the videos from my phone, import them into my editing program, edit them, and then export them, then upload them again into KZread. I was up at 4am last night working on it and then a huge portion of today as well. Thanks for your patience!

@nosotrosloslobosestamosreg4115

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 After going to school walking 40Km uphill both ways, knee deep in snow while you got sunbrns and having to raise your 100 younger sibling while having three full time jobs but still were in the honour class every year, right?

I agree that I heard that TSR didn't think people would buy modules because they thought everyone would want to make their own worlds and advenetures using their own creativity. It is true that adventures have far less circulation than the core books, thus make less $$$, regardless of edition.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

For sure. In theory, every player should own a Player's Handbook, but only the DM needs the adventure/module, so you're cutting your audience by a significant percentage. It was the same argument they made in the early 3rd Edition days and part of the reason for developing the OGL. The original thought, as I understand it, was that other companies would publish adventures so that WotC wouldn't have to, since, as you point out, adventures make less money. Of course, it didn't quite work out that way.

@SuperFunkmachine

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 But you only need 1 Player's Handbook but can have a dozen modules.

@jhutt8002

10 ай бұрын

Yea, in the beginning. But once market is saturated well enough demand for rules will dry up as gamers have their reference libraries. As a whole there's larger market for new adventures. TSR's fall was from company really not being structured to sell stories. Even though they tried, they couldn't make the change hard or quickly enough

It's such a pleasure to watch this content. Loved the stories and getting to know the people.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I appreciate that so much! Thank you!

I think the 'DIY' mentality was also very common among the early micro computer manufacturers [?] who felt no one would buy software when they could 'just write their own.'

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That's a great point!

@ebrim5013

10 ай бұрын

That’s excellent context.

Well I finally got to watch this video. Took me forever to get through it because I kept pausing it so I could read the characters and check out their story and what magic items they had. Most weren't as high level as I had thought. And they didn't have as much or as powerful magic items as I imagined they would have. Some though did have some unusual items that were pretty nice. Most of our DM's made their own adventures. Even if they used a module it was tailored to their campaign. It wasn't until later when we seemed to be using more "purchased materials", mostly because we were all getting into relationships or married or had jobs that kept us really busy. Early gaming seemed a lot more fun to me. We really roleplayed and everyone's campaign was a little different with some focusing on power while others focused on the game world. I loved to create some drama in campaigns which made for interesting play. My campaign used the Judges Guild Campaign settings with some TSR stuff thrown in. Few of us had actual maps of our campaign worlds that weren't hand drawn as we had little material to draw from in those days. And we all shared stuff that we bought like magazines and such. Thank god for copiers back then. Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing you do something on the Arduin Grimoire campaign books.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Oh my goodness, I *still* have some many photocopied articles from Dragon magazine and some photocopied modules. In fact, it was a photocopied version of S4: Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth that my dad photocopied for me at his office back in the mid-80's that I used when I ran that adventure for my Friday Night Game Group around 2012! I'm glad you enjoyed the video! The way you talk about gaming as a kid is how we used to do it, too. I'm trying to recapture some of those feelings in the game I run for my daughter and her friends. Cheers!

Rogues Gallery was amazing, wish I had a copy when I was a kid.

@ricodetroit

10 ай бұрын

Same here! Somehow I missed this one. Funny how slap-dash everything was back in those days... we kind of just got whatever we could find and made up the rest!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yes, exactly! There are gaps in my collection and a lot of the early products I have, like this one, were because a friend had them and didn't want them any more. That's where at least 1/3 of my modules came from, but also explains why I have gaps in my collections. Until very recently, I had I2 and I6, but not I1 (finally got it), and U2 and U3, but not U1 (acquired earlier this year). I still only have A2-4 but not A1, and I sadly never got T1.

Was there a " tribe called quest" reference I detected? Left my wallet in el Segundo. Great video.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

There was indeed! I'm glad people caught that. I wasn't sure if it was too subtle or deadpan to register. I'm so glad you enjoyed the video! And I really appreciate you watching and commenting!

ive been really diving into dnd white box, and all the varients of it and how the history of the classes came to be so i love this stuff. one thing ive been doing is looking at how the hobbit and LOTR character have inspired the dnd classes over the years. one thing i love is how Eowyn is a wonderful description of a paliden. where if you played white box the growth of the character could be described as an arrogant lusting for war and combat at level 1, level 2 realizing that war and death is not something to glorify as you see players die, level 3 as realizing war is not good but a valiant warrior defending the people they care about is and wanting to protect there friends. then at level 4 they get there paliden powers. Return of the King (1980) - Eowyn vs Witchking kzread.info/dash/bejne/a6xqpsdse8q7f5c.html Eowyn was raised in a culture that was totally war-obsessed. The most glorified and praised members of her society were the warriors and soldiers. Eowyn resented herself because she could not participate in the war-culture as a woman and it drove her half-mad. Instead of seeing her person and her womanhood as a beautiful thing which lends itself to creating life, she saw it as “hutch to trammel some wild thing in”. It was not until Eowyn met Faramir in the Houses of Healing (appropriate since it was there she was healed not only in body but in mind) that she learned there is more than war, more than glorified killing, and more to honor than before she knew. Faramir put war into its true context for Eowyn-not something to be praised in and of itself. Warriors and soldiers should be honored in the measure that they defend their people with their sacrifice. But killing should never be seen as a wholly good thing and no one should aspire to be a warrior for the sake of war. Faramir sums this up by saying: “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” After her encounter with Faramir, Eowyn realizes that the killing and death of war is not the end, but is sometimes a necessary means in order to preserve life. Ultimately, Eowyn has been focused on death and war, but she has missed the bigger picture; namely that life is more important than death, even death in honor. Then Eowyn says: “I want to be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.” This is the mark that she has accepted life rather than death. In realizing this, Eowyn also learns to appreciate her status as a woman. She no longer regards her body as a cage or a hindrance, but understands that it is ordered to create life and to sustain it; she understands that those goals are noble in and of themselves, and that nurturing life is an invaluable and honorable ability. In summary, throughout Eowyn’s conversion and in her meeting with Faramir, Eowyn trades her idealism of death and her culture of war for an acceptance of herself and a love of life. The maiden who once sought death now looks forward to nurturing life. As Faramir says, “Here is the Lady Éowyn of Rohan, and now she is healed.”

I had played starting in 79 as an 11 year old. I was an avid fan of first edition and we used some chainmail stuff as suppliments. And dragon magazine. We home brewed. I read modules, they're great, but i always DM'd off my own hand drawn dungeons. World building. Im amazed at your grasp of the history of the early game. Im mostly interested in Chainmail rules now.

@daddyrolleda1

4 ай бұрын

I am so glad you found the channel, and I'm very happy you are enjoying my videos on the history of the game. Thank you so much for the compliment. We are roughly the same age - I also started playing at age 11, but in 1981 with Moldvay Basic (which I still have and am currently using to run a campaign for my 14yo daughter and her friends). I was aware of the existence of Chainmail but never saw it until the late 90's when my mom gave me a White Box as a Birthday Gift. She got it at our local game store after asking them what a good gift would be for me. Unfortunately it was missing Book II: Monsters & Treasure, so the shop had replaced it with a copy of Chainmail. It is a fascinating read and I'm so glad I have it, although I've never played it. (I did finally get a copy of Monsters & Treasure, but a different printing than my other two books). Thank you so much for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it.

Cool video! You keep saying "resurrected" I can't help but think you meant "reincarnated" which would explain why they were different races. Incidentally, my interface with that spell was in 2e, but I always thought it was strange and nonsensical for a spirit to come back as a fully grown creature that, ostensibly, was arround while the deceased character was still alive. I guess deep thought wasn't required on that, but I see it was a roundabout way to play non traditional races early on.

@CaptCook999

10 ай бұрын

We had a character with a Rod of Reincarnation. Whenever somebody died that character of course wanted to use the Rod but players were like heck no, find me a cleric and I'll pay for a raise dead or resurrection. Nobody wanted to come back as some odd creature.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yes, thank you so much. I did mean "reincarnated" and thanks for catching that, but also for being cool about it instead of pretending like I don't know what I'm talking about. I have yet to have a character "benefit" (?) from a reincarnation spell, so I'm not sure how I would play it! Thank you very much for watching and commenting.

Magnificent video! Thanks for carrying the torch for AD&D history 😊😊😊

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I really appreciate that! Thank you for watching and commenting!

That quick Tribe Called Quest reference. I snorted my coffee :D

@daddyrolleda1

Ай бұрын

Glad you caught it! It was so quick and I was afraid a lot of folks would either miss it or not understand it. Glad it gave you a chuckle!

Nice Tribe Called Quest reference!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you! I wasn't 100% sure if people would pick up on it, as I was pretty nonchalant about it!

All this content AND an "A Tribe Called Quest" reference? 👏

Ive been loving this videos man.

Dude, just caught your channel I'm an old D&D groknard from '78 as well. Lve the channel I seriously watch to the end because I, like many other lve the wrap up on your drinking and musical tastes. Your the boss. Keep on keeping on 😎🍻🤘

@daddyrolleda1

8 ай бұрын

I am so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for letting me know. I'm really glad you found my channel and I really appreciate your support. Cheers!

Arduin was a good one

Always great to see your take on D&D history! I appreciate this content so much.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you! I really appreciate you watching and commenting, and I'm very glad to be able to create content that you enjoy. Cheers!

I absolutely love Rogues Gallery!!! Back in the day it gave us valuable insight into what high level characters should be like through the staffer characters in the back (although I did have to wonder why so many of them were evil :-). And I totally stole Jean Wells idea of keeping wands in a quiver. I never had much use for the class tables. Although I must have used them because I did circle the line numbers of various characters in my copy. One thing which I only thought of now while watching your video - and wish I had thought of back in the day because it would have been so cool - is that when your character dies, instead of rolling up a completely new character and starting over from scratch, you pick the class in the Rogues Gallery and roll for the row. This gives you all of your stats in one shot and there is no telling what level you will start at. It could be 1st, it could be 14th or anywhere in between. Okay, well, maybe it would be best to keep the character levels confined to the recommended character levels of the adventure. There's no point in playing Keep on the Borderlands with a 14th level magic user in tow, but it definitely would change people's opinions towards character death. It might even make it hard to keep characters alive. Great video!!! And it wasn't too long.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That would be a fun way to pick a new character! Thank you for watching and commenting. I'm glad you didn't think the video was too long!

This was great!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm so glad you liked it! I was a little nervous because it's about twice as long as most of my recent videos. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Fun walk down memory lane. I used alot of Judges Guild stuff. Also remember running Verbosh which was a regional sandbox with lotsa play on names. Also the convention game Dragon Crown. Lotsa fun...

Great collection man! Nice!

@daddyrolleda1

3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Very informative video. Thanks for posting

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for watching and commenting! I appreciate it!

At the end of the video, you mentioned that it’s one of your longer videos, but I am actually really enjoying putting on your videos while I am working on my homework so for me the longer the better. Keep up the good work.

Fascinating history. Thank you!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for letting me know, and for watching and commenting!

I think I still have the 'Rogues Gallery' somewhere buried in a box

A very interesting product to mantion is the tournament module for the Tomb of Horrors from 1975. I think it's realy crazy how long this iconic beast of a dungeon was actually around.

Tribe Called Quest reference? Nice!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad you caught that! I was worried it might have been a bit too subtle as I glossed over it so quickly. Thanks for watching and commenting!

Great video! I am letting it run as I spend a few hours prepping for a game. I have some of the later supplements, including the Rogues Gallery! I had a lot of the Dragons but they were flailed into the void with my minis sometime in the 90s. I am enjoying your retrospectives. :)

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and commenting, and have a great time at your game today! I have been fortunate to still have all my old stuff, although all my Dragon magazines are out in the garage and not easily accessible.

Love this, as always!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your ongoing support.

I really enjoy the video. And i love that album. And his first solo album.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you very much for watching and commenting, and especially for watching all the way to the end! It was this album of Simon's that caused me to explore his back catalog and realize how many songs/albums he has that I really like.

I loved the look into the Rogue’s Gallery characters. That could be a video itself.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thanks for this feedback, and for watching and commenting. I really appreciate it. And, I'll add this to my list of ideas for future videos!

One interesting thing (at least to me) that I noticed is that Erac's Cousin breaks the rules in the PHB for dual-class characters. According to his bio, he started as an MU and switched to Fighter but his strength is 13. According to the PHB, a dual-class character must have at least a 17 in the prime requisite for his new class, so he needed a 17 or higher in strength by the book.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Good catch! A few of those characters "break the rules" with stuff like that. Gary was quoted in an interview on ENWorld about this product that Brian Blume made up a lot of the stats, equipment, levels and powers, because Gary and the other players did not want to share their PC stats with him. In fact, Gary quotes some of the character stats as being "fallacious." So, it's possible Brian got it wrong, but I also think it's entirely possible the original character "broke the rules" for "reasons."

first, f- tomb of horrors, i lost 3 characters to that module. i will never play it again. and even as a gm, I refuse to use it unless its a dream type adventure. i never realized that all those famous NPC/Character were in rogue gallery. that is awesome. thank you. Ill see if i have it in my digital library, and if not ill see if i can hunt it down. third video of yours i have seen. subscribed, keep it up, i love old school D&D, oh I'm drinking water as i watch your video. giving up the sugar drinks finally.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for subscribing! I really appreciate the support and hope you continue to enjoy the channel. I sometimes feel my best "history" videos are behind me, then something like this one strikes a chord with folks, for which I'm very grateful. And thank you for watching all the way through to the end, even though you're not imbibing alcohol. I appreciate it and I will feature non-alcoholic drinks from time-to-time (although many will be mocktails, such as a Cold Brew Coffee "Old Fashioned" I made a few videos ago, so they still have sugar in them).

@danielrowan4716

10 ай бұрын

I run a 1/2e campaign and I told my players that if we do ToH, it’ll be with the pregenerated characters as the module is simply a mind f and death trap.

The KZread censor bots are ridiculous, you might want to change the title on this one, they slapped a link to the wiki on HIV up top. Anyhow love your channel, it's one of the few roleplaying ones with substance.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for letting me know! I have submitted a request to have the content warning removed, which I assume will be reviewed at some point before the *next* Super Bluemoon.

@CaptCook999

10 ай бұрын

​@@daddyrolleda1yep, can't use the word aids in anything. Just use aid, singular, and it should be ok.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

@@CaptCook999 I was thinking of changing it to "Accessories" instead. I'm wondering how much of a negative it is having the content warning.

The AC calculations in the stat lines of the 'prime runner' NPCs is all over the map.

I can't get enough of this kind of ephemera.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching and commenting!

Should out for White Plume Mountain. My favorite 5e module to run for anyone. Enjoying your channel!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thanks! I actually didn't know they made a 5E version of that one! I'm really glad to hear you're enjoying the channel! I just posted a new video today on an overview of the RPG Boxed Sets produced by TSR between 1974 and 1988. It took a ton of research. I hope you like it when you get a chance to watch!

I'm amazed that Bigby made it all the way to level 13 with an AC of 10. lol.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I suspect he spent a ton of time *avoiding* combat, like so many characters did back then! A magic-user in particular was best at hanging back, letting the Fighters handle the monsters, maybe lob a few spells from a distance, and take a share of the treasure afterward to gain XP!

Love this vid for subtly digging at the raw crowd

Nice El Segundo ref. Bonita Applebaum, y'know she's got it goin on...

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm glad people caught it! After I recorded the video, I began thinking maybe it was too subtle!

Your wallet that you left in El Segundo, you got to go back to get it.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Well... it's three days coming and three more going.

Holy crap! You got a context warning about AIDS because you used the word aides in your title LOL

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yeah, I have petitioned them to review it, but I suspect that they'll get to it at some point before human colonies are built on Mars. Maybe. I've thought about changing the title to "Early Accessories..." but also I've noticed that the content warning doesn't seem to be affected the viewership and performance of the video. Other than my one outlier video on "Forgotten Classes" (which exploded for whatever reason due to the KZread algorithm), it's my best performing video in quite a long time.

Nice Tribe Called Quest reference

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you! I was hoping people would catch that!

🤦‍♂️ It somehow took me until 9:30 to get the Tribe Called Quest reference...

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

That's hilarious!

Graceland happens to be my favorite album ever.

@ricodetroit

10 ай бұрын

I have to admit, I kind knew it was "old people music" at the time -- but I loved it even as a 16 year old in 1986!!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

It is a great album, and sometimes I regret not having come around to it sooner.

@AngelusNielson

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 Better late than never.

I mean, I had already Liked the video from minute/second zero... but I'd have *definitely* plus-one'd this video for the Tribe Called Quest reference!

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I really appreciate that! I was a little afraid that maybe I glossed over it too quickly. Thank you for "Liking" the video! I hope you enjoyed the rest of it as well.

Cthulhu Mythos!! dang! my copy doesn't have that 🙁 same cover but apparently a later imprint .. I never knew that it used to be in there. When was that excised? Why was that excised? .. Ah hell, and it wasn't just the Cthulhu Mythos was it .. just found the mention in credits and acknowledgements .. they excised the sections and changed the contents list on p3 but forgot to edit out a mention in credits at the bottom of p4 😁 "Special thanks are also given to Chaosium. Inc. for permission to use the material found in the Cthulhu Mythos and the Melnibonean Mythos" So there was a Melnibonean Mythos as well?

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yes, there was indeed! Based on your comments, you have a 3rd Printing. Check the back of your book - does it reference 17 Mythos? I suspect it does, but if you count, yours only have 15 because they took out Cthulhu and Melnibonéan. The printings go like this: 1st: Cthulhu and Melnibonéan, no Chaosium acknowledgement 2nd: Cthulhu and Melnibonéan, with Chaosium acknowledgement 3rd: No Cthulhu and Melnibonéan, but still including Chaosium acknowledgement and reference to 17 Mythos 4th and later: No Cthulhu and Melnibonéan, no Chaosium acknowledgement, reference to 15 Mythos The short version: James Ward, who wrote the book, got permission to include the Cthulhu Mythos (which were technically in the public domain at that point, I believe) from Arkham House, and also for the Melnibonéan Mythos directly from Michael Moocock (the author of the Melnibonéan books). However, separately, Chaosium had struck deals with both Arkham House and MIchael Moocock around the same time to create games based on those properties. The confusion came because, up until this point, most people didn't think of a "game" being published as "book." So the TSR deals didn't appear to conflict with the Chaosium deals, because TSR was publishing a "book" while Chaosium was publishing a "game." However, Chaosium didn't see it that way, and threatened legal action. A compromise was reached, leading to the acknowledgement to Chaosium in the 2nd Printing. However, TSR ultimately decided it was bad business to call out one of their competitors in the book, so starting with the 3rd Printing on, they removed those two sections from the book, reducing the page count but not reducing the price. You can learn more in my History of Advanced D&D Hardbacks video here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/f2etybx8mq_Xcc4.htmlsi=qzVAFdpl5wU84Wyq

@pelinoregeryon6593

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 LoL yes it does "seventeen pantheons of divinities" 😁 .. I would have thought anything originating from Lovecraft should have fallen out of copyright long ago though? that only extends 70 years after the authors death doesn't it? and he died in 1937 .. 🤔 Hmm, OK, so it will have only fallen out of copyright in 2007, still in copyright when they published this but not now?

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

@@pelinoregeryon6593 Yeah, exactly - that's why I was mentioning that despite getting permission, there was also an argument to be made that the mythos was part of the public domain. While we now think of TSR, WotC, and Hasbro as being these huge corporations, back in 1981 when Deities & Demigods was first published, TSR was still relatively small and the thought of incurring legal troubles was something they didn't want to deal with. Most people look back on this situation and have said that TSR definitely would've won any lawsuits as they had documentation from both Arkham House and Michael Moorcok to use the creations in their book. But, they weren't sure and they didn't want to risk it. In any event, you do have a fun "artifact" of that situation with your 3rd printing that have the mistakes as far as thanking Chaosium and also the incorrect number of pantheons!

@SusCalvin

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 People at Chaosium have talked later on about the Cthulhu mythos and taken some claim in making it more known. For a long time t was one of many half-forgotten pulp works a handful of enthusiasts knew about. The way the Chaosium dudes seem to recall it, there wasn't a lot of Cthulhu mythos media at the time 1st ed Call of Cthulhu came out.

@pelinoregeryon6593

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 Hmm, no I think it would still have been under the authors original copyright, which would have been owned by his heirs or whoever he or they had sold it to (if they had) for however long it had left to run. Was still a 50 years after death of the author duration then I think which runs it out to 1987 and they published this around 1980 right? The permissions they had seem like they should have been a sure win all on there own though. I may be confusing US and UK law on this though?

I love seeing these old soft cover play aids and modules. I had most of them.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Ah, cool! You were one lucky player then! Thank you for watching and commenting!

Lee Gold is a great lady! Tiny but so brainy, fun, and hospitable! (I have stayed at her house.)

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Oh, wow, how cool! That is awesome. Thank you for sharing, and for watching and commenting!

Bigby's got some damn good rolls for stats there Gygax. Did you roll those in front of your DM? hmmm....

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Ha! I had meant to include this in the video but forgot (since I don't script my videos but talk kind of off-the-cuff) but Gary was "interviewed" in an ENWorld thread in the early 2000's and he mentioned that the stats for many of the characters in Rogues Gallery, including Mordenkainen (but also presumably including Bigby and others) were "fallacious" as the players of these characters were still actively playing these characters and they didn't want to share their stats with Brian Blume, the book's author. Players back then were very protective and secretive about their PC's capabilities! So Brian had to guess in many cases based on having observed the characters in play. So, it's possible that the stats were incorrect, but in general, yes, many of these characters have inflated stats and a few also break rules regarding stats required to have two classes, etc. Thanks for watching and commenting!

I know that I'd want my PCs to take part in the going wars & massive battles taking place around them. At high levels, they're Commanders & Warlords

@daddyrolleda1

3 ай бұрын

I liked the thought of doing that when I first discovered the game, too. When I recently threw out the idea of running an old-school game for my veteran players, one of them was adamantly against it given that one of the goals of pre-3E characters was to reach "name level" and then found a keep, temple, guild, etc. This particular player had no interest in that because his focus was on system mastery and creating/optimizing a character to do what he wanted, and he specifically did not want to engage in political maneuverings and land management at higher levels. It was a bit surprising to me but just his style of play.

I've recently discovered your channel (all hail the almighty Algorithm!). I've subscribed and have begun watching various videos. AFAICT you haven't done one on Arduin Grimoire. Do you think you will?

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I'm so glad the algorithm connected you with my channel, and I look forward to chatting with you in the comments! Thank you for your support and for subscribing. I have not done a video yet on Arduin but I was considering doing so. You're I think the second or third person to ask. I've added it to the queue and will hopefully get to it soon-ish. Thanks again!

Lanolin was one of those classic old skool names… sheep oil!

@daddyrolleda1

4 ай бұрын

Totally! Cracked me up. Lots of goofy names back then.

That was really interesting I wonder when Tasha comes into play

Thank you interesting

@daddyrolleda1

9 ай бұрын

You're welcome - glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for watching and commenting!

The fact that the video got a context label for HIV is just- so indicative of the state of the platform

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Yes, I've asked KZread to please remove this content warning, but I suspect they'll get around to reviewing it right before Star Wars: Episode XX comes out. Thanks for watching and commenting.

I dearly love the old school artwork, warts and all. With that in mind: the illustration on the Bards page in Rogues Gallery is ROUGH.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I do have a lot for old school art but every once in a while I do see ones that I'm not super excited about. 😄

My main takeaway from Rogue's Gallery and from zines of the time, Arduin, etc. is that "weird" and "monster" race PCs have always had a big following. There's a lot of revisionist history that paints this as a much later development based on the WotC editions. But the record makes it pretty clear that hard line Gygaxian humanocentricism was never really as dominant as he would have liked it to be.

I've never seen "The Character Archaic" before

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

It's pretty rare these days but you still see them pop up for sale once in a while.

nice tribe called quest reference

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I am glad you caught it! It was something that just came to me off-the-cuff when I mentioned El Segundo in the video, and I was wondering if anybody would pick up on it! Thanks for watching and commenting!

The guy to ask about Aero hobbies and Wee Warriors interactions would be Jim Murphy (aka "Game Methuselah"). If I recall correctly (and I might not) he worked at Aero hobbies back then. He das his own YT channel and I think Matt Coleville did a youtube piece with him, where they discuss the early days if the hobby and his experience. I could be wrong, but it's worth checking out anyway. Here I found the link: kzread.info/dash/bejne/p655uKOGedmwd5s.htmlfeature=shared I like your channel. Thanks for this. I started in 1980/1981, but was not really aware of all that was goibg on in the "gaming scene" at the time.

I would enjoy an in depth review of the Arduin Grimoire.

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

You are the second person just today to mention that. I will add it to the queue, as it has also come up before. Thank you for watching and for sharing your interest in future videos.

@antondovydaitis2261

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 Dave Hargrave was an outstanding DM, both in terms of establishing mood, and managing parties of wildly different levels. Back then, every table played its own house variant of D&D, and going to a convention was an adventure in itself. No character was so powerful that they were immune to death, but if you were smart enough, even a low level character could survive.

@CaptCook999

10 ай бұрын

​@@daddyrolleda1I also would like to see an in depth look into the Arduin Grimoire. Our DM had the books and was nice enough to let me photocopy them. Sadly, those ancient Xerox machines didn't make very good copies of those books. We had several characters with magic items and spells from those books.

Wasn’t Cuthbert also one of Ernie’s characters? I wonder if the pretense of this being a “Rouges Gallery” informed some of the alignments in the book? Though even today it’s relatively easy to find your alignment shifting in game...

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

I can't find any documentation that St. Cuthbert was played by Ernie. The first published mention of him seems to be in a short story Gary wrote in Dragon Magazine #2 called "The Gnome Cache." In a Q-&-A thread on ENWorld, folks asked Gary about Cuthbert and whether he was related to the real-world St. Cuthbert, which Gary answered "no" but that he might be *inspired* by him. In that same answer, he discusses how Serten and Tenser were anagrams of his son's name, Ernest, and how his own first PC, a fighter, was named Yrag. But he never tied Cuthbert to Ernie.

I like a video on the adventure that got pulled before publication, about what was in it that they didn’t approve of that would be interesting

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Thank you for watching and commenting! I will add that to the queue!

@johnav8rflys

10 ай бұрын

Thanks

I actually played through that orange covered B3... it was completely brutal and we had a near TPK. lol My character was the only one to make it because I was playing an elf and managed to not be charmed by these blob/bubble creatures that charmed everyone and caused everyone to jump into a pool to be drowned. lol

@daddyrolleda1

10 ай бұрын

Oh wow, that sounds fascinating! How did you come to play the original version? That is awesome!

@KabukiKid

10 ай бұрын

@@daddyrolleda1 It wasn't an original copy... but from a printout made from a PDF of that version of the adventure. I still haven't played the green cover version, but I can testify that the orange one was fairly deadly. lol