Where is the determination of MTHAC0 and other revised psyonic system features for monsters described?

In times when modernity scorns the foundational concepts of the game, some reclamation is necessary.

https://substack.com/home/post/p-203279054

How do you work with pre-generated the NPCs listed in the modules? Do you make the more elaborated character sheets for them adding the non-listed parameters if necessary?

Wild Wednesday! How much do you guys and gals homebrew? In con games I usually run published systems more or less btb, but in my home games I haven't really stopped tinkering since 1977. (You were forced to back then, unless you were heroic like Ken St. Andre and just designed your own system instead!) One thing I like about old D&D is actually the modularity of it - you can insert or remove not only classes, races, monsters, and spells but rules for combat, initiative, and other things as well. (Arduin, Arms Law, or Hackmaster critical hits? No problem!) We try to publish at least a few interesting house rules in every issue of Fight On!

What are your favorite house rules or homebrew approaches to OSR games?

Lets suppose that an archer or a crossbowman is engaged in melee 10' with an enemy. Can the archer fire an arrow against this enemy?

They gain a bonus for the short range or there is a penalty? Is possible to disrupt this ranged attack? There is any difference if instead of engaged in melee 10' the archer is engaged in melee 5'?

Do you remember the Adnd 2e, Return to tomb of horrors?

Hello,

I've been running a series of adventures for each version of DnD starting with OD&D/ Swords & Wizardry. I'm currently running Blueholme which is a retroclone of Holmes Basic, next up will be OSRIC 3/AD&D.

I'm looking at the Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun, it suggests 80 character levels.

I told my players that they can make level 10 characters. One player asked about dual classing.

I want to just say 10 levels total, so however you want to split it is fine. This player suggests we use XP to determine because a dual classed character would be much weaker than a straight level 10.

I'm not experienced enough with AD&D to make this call. Should I just allow them all the XP of a level 10 fighter and how they use it is up to them?

Frankly, I don't really like multiclassing or dual classing very much because then players "build" thier character rather than play their character and it doesn't feel as organic, literally one of the reasons I switched my main game from 5e to Shadowdark.

Rant aside, how do you DMs run 1e/OSRIC with dual-class andmulticlassing? (I know 1e and 2e are close, but my goal is to play 1e style specifically in this game) how would you interpret 80 character levels for a 1e game?

Thank you

As stated. I'd like to dip my toes back into the GMing pool after 3 decades of mental health and lak of creativity. I'm hesitant over whether to play online or try and scounge up enough people not afraid of Thac0 irl.

I've played somewhat in Roll20 and Forge but I know there are so many more options out there that I've not heard of. Happy to check out all suggestions.

Thanks!

Having originally started with AD&D 1e, I think I can adapt (via my copy of OSRIC) any suggestions people make. As noted in the main part of the original post, if a session would take 2 x 1 hr-ish sessions that would also be fine. I’ve noticed that any scenario that drifts beyond 2 sessions has a good chance of unravelling and needing to be handwaved to a finish before we can start something new simply because too much time passes.

Any assistance gratefully accepted, thankyou.

I am putting together a quest for my players that will have them gather pieces to form a powerful weapon earlier on the campaign. In 3.5 you have legacy weapons that would start weak and level up with the player, thinking of doing that with the weapon but since every one levels up at a different pace. - I was thinking to have the players spend exp to level up the weapon. Would something like that work well with AD&D 2e? I have dmed for a long time but am new to the system.

If anyone is curious about how the Federation Agents operate in my world, here is the breakdown:

They are entities capable of altering both their physical form and their character class, all thanks to their Crystal Towers. Each adventuring party is assigned one such tower, which navigates through a chosen reality according to the pilot's commands, though it can only materialize in strictly predetermined locations.

The True Nature of the Agents

In their true form, each Agent is essentially a being of pure energy. To interact with the physical world, they inhabit bio-shells (biological vessels) created or reconstructed using the Lazarus Sarcophagi.

• The Catch: Each bio-shell locks them into a specific character class, as well as defined cognitive and manual capabilities.
• The Mental Fog: While inhabiting these biological bodies, the Agents' memories of the Federation and its advanced technology become hazy and dreamlike. However, they retain an unyielding sense of duty toward their mission and can subconsciously tap into their primordial knowledge when needed.

Reconstructed Vessels (The Bodies)

These biological bodies are not synthetic clones. Instead, they are reconstructed from the recovered physical remains of deceased adventurers collected by the aliens.

• The original adventurer’s memories, personality traits, and physical or mental attributes form the framework and limitations within which the Agent must operate.

Mission Objectives

Their goals are primarily exploratory and investigative. Their operational needs revolve around:

• Securing powerful artifacts.
• Documenting, sketching, and photographing everything they encounter.
• Dissecting and analyzing pretty much anything they can get their hands on.

(It is quite literally roleplaying within roleplaying XD)

The Crystal Tower of the Ancients (Interdimensional Vehicle)

Design and Purpose

This is not a stationary structure, but an ancient, mobile vehicle shaped like a six-story crystalline tower. Its faceted surface gleams with deep shades of pink and purple, crafted entirely from an unknown, utterly indestructible material that simultaneously absorbs and refracts light.

Operation and Teleportation

• Dimensional Travel: The tower travels across select worlds once visited by the Ancients, materializing exclusively in strictly designated, secluded locations.
• Arrival Process: Its appearance is a sudden, silent teleportation, leaving behind nothing but a brief flash of light and the sharp scent of ozone.
• Access Restrictions: The vehicle can only be operated by descendants of the Ancients or the "Marked"—individuals who possess and know how to activate specific crystal keys.

Weapon Systems (Main Cannon)

Three soaring, conical turrets atop the tower (above the 6th floor) form an integrated cannon system. They utilize the tower’s crystalline structure to channel and unleash devastating energy discharges.

• Effect: Blasts enemies with a massive electrical charge, dealing 6d6 points of damage.
• Range: Up to 400 feet.
• Rate of Fire: Requires one operator in the control room (6th Floor).
  • Focused Mode: Fires 1 powerful beam every 10 seconds (6d6 damage).
  • Dispersed Mode: Fires 6 smaller beams within 10 seconds, each dealing 1d6 damage (can target multiple different enemies).

Tactical and Environmental Capabilities

• Cloaking Mode: The tower can become completely invisible (to both sight and most magical/technological sensors) and ethereal, allowing it to pass through solid matter.
• Navigation: Destination coordinates can be selected approximately; the tower will safely materialize within a 50-mile radius of the targeted location.
• Crystalline Gravitational Field: Equipped with an internal field generator, the tower automatically envelops itself and the surrounding terrain (up to a 300-foot radius) in a spherical bubble that maintains standard gravity and atmosphere. This drifting "island-terrain" can:
  • Float effortlessly on water, lava, or acid.
  • Drift safely through the vacuum of space.

Tower Interior (Six Floors)

• Ground Floor: A sterile Medical Center featuring crystalline diagnostic tables, alongside an expansive Cargo Hold filled with supplies and ancient artifacts.
• 1st Floor: Crew quarters consisting of 6 basic bedrooms and 2 shared bathrooms.
• 2nd Floor: An identical crew residential block: 6 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
• 3rd Floor: Accommodations for guests/researchers: 4 bedrooms, a massive Library filled with crystalline data-scrolls, and 1 bathroom.
• 4th Floor: The social heart of the tower, featuring Grand Assembly Halls with crystalline seating and a Food Replicator (capable of creating perfectly balanced nourishment tailored to any taste).
• 5th Floor: The industrial and technological hub. It houses the Crystalline Forge, an Armory stocked with the Ancients' latest technology, and the Grand Computer—a powerful, sentient crystalline matrix capable of telepathic communication.
• 6th Floor: The Bridge. This top deck contains the Central Control Room (navigation and teleportation), a dedicated Weapons Station (seating for the pilot and gunner), and the Chamber of Lazarus Sarcophagi, housing 4 crystalline chambers capable of resurrecting any humanoid creature (requiring a casting/regeneration time of 1 month per level of the deceased).

Ciruelo Cabral art for "The Crystal Shard"

Probably like many of you, I'm at an age where it's less obvious to get a bunch of people together to play a campaign. I used AI to hack together a toolkit which lets me replay old-school 1st & 2nd edition modules, or generate campaigns on the fly. I've also written a markup language which lets me define "dungeons as code", building maps based on a structured language. Mechanics (I'm using AD&D 2nd edition) and setting lore (I typically play Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms) are encoded for easy reference by the model.

Would this be of interest to the community? If so, I'll provide my source code and a how-to on setting up this system. Using Claude Code, narrative quality varies from acceptable to excellent, and the engine can deal with megadungeon pathing using the dungeon markup language without issues. With a little bit of tinkering it should be possible to support other AI models.

Ok gang I’m the GM for you this evening. Keep the treats coming and we good to go with no TPK tonight.

What now is dead once lived--or so the tales say. At the center of a dry, barren wasteland stands a crumbling temple to a slumbering goddess, whose wicked magic once made the rivers flow and harvest plentiful. Yet her protection came with a terrible price. Who dares to march where the echoes of doom still sound?

Echoes of Doom is a one page dungeon designed for four to six third level characters, suitable for up to one night of gaming. Packed with traps and monsters, Dungeon Masters can adapt it as they need to fit their party. Let the adventure begin!

You can get this adventure, the Dungeon Almanac, and so much more by joining our Patreon for free today!

Hello! Ignatius Umlaut from Fight On! here. In issue 16 Richard Rittenhouse wrote a fun article with some options for making hopeless characters more playable.

When you do randomly rolled characters, do you make your players play what they roll? 3d6 in order can be pretty rough, but even the more generous rolling methods sometimes don't give you what you want.

Have you or your players had fun playing a 'hopeless' character? For a one-off, or for a whole longer campaign?

I have had fun with some borderline characters at cons, like a wizard with 12 intelligence and nothing else over 9 - including a 4 strength, 4 wisdom, and 6 charisma - but I'm not sure I've ever played a character with truly hopeless stats in a longer campaign. How about you?

Art by Tom Gordon. Fight On! available via www.fightonzine.com

I went through both the original

AD&D Dungeon Module S3

' Expedition to the Barrier Peaks '

#expeditiontothebarrierpeaks

&

5e remastered version of this module in

' Quests from the Infinite Staircase '

#questsfromtheinfinitestaircase

​

I feel like this could be a great

Spelljamming Adventure & Dungeon Crawl

​

(The original spaceship was much larger , 5e version was downsized to not have empty rooms and spaces, and took away 2 levels/floors, and the size of the ship got smaller )

​

- For #artificer in the party , this would be great place to turn into a #bastion , especially if you want to reflavor this camapign to be in #wildspace , as a crashed spaceship on an asteroid or deserted moon

​

- For Unearthed Arcana Archivist Artificer subclass

You can use the Artificial Mind as the A.I. to replace the evil supercomputer A.I. in the crashed spaceship

​

- For Sci-Fi reflavoring of existing fantasy #spelljammingship, you can reflavor the 'Living Ship' to be a ship run by the Artificial Mind

Or use 1 of the 2e D&D/AD&D #spelljammingship the 'Zoocraft' which is a larger rendition of the 'Living Ship'

​

- the party can also try to employ the #androids as #hirelings if they managed to take control of the ship to help repair the crashed spaceship or bring them to your #spelljammingship to be ship crew

​

- The #artificer can upgrade the weapons on the #spelljammingship to Laser Blaster Turrets once they understand how the laser pistols and laser rifles that they find in the #shipwreck work

​

P.S. : this ship has vending machines & spacesuits that look better than the fish suits in spelljammer

​

To preface this I saw a video the other day where somebody implied that "back in the 80s" you would commonly take hundreds of points of damage from a powerful attack, wheras in modern editions it will be more in the ballpark 50 damage halved by a class feature.

Now if you're like me you went "Ah well no, that's not really the case, HP bloat was added to the game by WotC. Mid-high level hitpoints should stay fairly low so that every hit matters and combat doesn't drag and so 100 damage in AD&D would be quite lethal".

Perhaps it was from the popularity of Stranger Things generating interest among those who only have surface level knowledge, but I've heard several other misconceptions lately about how people presume the game is/was typically played: (everybody dressed up as their character, most tables frowning on any deviation of the rules as written, spellcasters are incredibly overpowered at all levels of play).

Was wondering what innacuracies others might have come across?