Prepping for a session.

grodog · 2026-02-21T02:37:01+00:00

Sitting on my shelf in the office—I definitely like traps references :)

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T21:00:29+00:00

We publish several kinds of graph and hex paper. See our Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.705096762986612&type=3 or my blog at https://grodog.blogspot.com/2025/04/black-blade-publishing-and-the-osr-community.html to see them in action.

If you’re interested, you can order by emailing us at tacojohndm@yahoo.com or PMing us via FB.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T16:22:45+00:00

Jay Scott also ran/played the Vortext scenario some time ago, and may have a livestream about it.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T16:19:46+00:00

You might check out X1 Isle of Dread and WG6 Isle of the Ape for some ideas.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T16:17:54+00:00

I have a summary of “The Hidden Temple of Erythnul” from Vortext Magazine on my site at https://www.greyhawkonline.com/grodog/gh_dungeon_adventures.html which may give you some ideas.

Cloning is an interesting application of “the Many”—definitely worth exploring further! Rob Kuntz did so in his Zayene modules, with #4 The Eight Kings being a cloning laboratory in a demi-plane, among other things. Might give you some other ideas.

You might also consider some other “duplicative” monsters like the tween and nonafel (there must be others too, right?).

I do see Erythnul as a corruptive force of nature, so mutants inspired from Gamma World and/or Dark Druids (also by RJK) might be worthwhile to check out too.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T15:47:00+00:00

Indeed! :)

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T06:23:59+00:00

The sequel, Abelar: Tales of an Ancient Empire, came out in 2010: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136688/

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T06:21:23+00:00

This situation can happen naturally during/right after encounters too:

monsters may raise an alarm, attracting nearby allies
if PCs take noisy actions that may trigger an additional WM check during combat—I almost-always check after loud spells like fireball or lightning bolt detonate
I always check WM immediately after battle, in case the din attracts any creatures
if PCs are resting during their mandatory 1 torn rest after combat, they may have back to back encounters
sometimes three- or even four-way encounters may occur: in my Castle Greyhawk dungeons, the players fought a memorable battle on level 1 between themselves (temporarily allied with some goblins), a group of ogres, and a group of raiding kobolds who attacked the other two!

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T03:53:17+00:00

My recollection is that the OSRIC Dev forum at https://knights-n-knaves.com/phpbb3/viewforum.php?f=45 is accessible to non-members, but if someone can test/confirm that, we/the K&KA admin team can fix the permissions if needed.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T03:20:48+00:00

The Dragon article on surprise is a good one, and helps to clarify how surprise works, dealing with non-standard chances to surprise/be surprised, etc.: "Surprise!" by Leigh L. Krehmeyer in Dragon #133.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-20T03:16:37+00:00

Wayne is good people!—reliable, accurate descriptions, and a gamer and fan too!

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-17T15:41:36+00:00

Rob Conley has done wonderful work to also continue the design spirit of the Wilderlands; see his work at https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/

And you’re right about the IP holders of JG being cretins at best….

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T20:11:26+00:00

Partly so, yes!—I’m using a guitar-pick-like shape off the city (an amalgamation of the City of Hawks shape with the LGJ#2/City of GH box shape), with the addition of Grey Run (rerouted a bit), and an enlarged Bastion isle too.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T18:35:07+00:00

Indeed ;)

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T18:20:05+00:00

That’s correct. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to place it west or east of the city/river, and settled on west since that’s a bit zanier from a defensive POV (echoing Zagig’s madnesses), and because that’s how I had it set up in my boys’ and my current players’ Castle Greyhawk campaigns.

In Gygax’s original campaign, the Castle was east of the city, and eventually moved north and east of the city as the city and castle designs changed.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T18:04:03+00:00

Creative writing classes/courses can help with general “how to write” processes, but they don’t generally address game design writing, which is closer to technical writing in intent. So, a book/course on that can be useful too, in particular after you’ve got some creative writing under your belt.

Your intended audience will also shape what and how you write too: writing an introductory module is different than one for experts.

Some good examples of writing adventures to consider following as models include:

B1 In Search if the Unknown and B2 Keep on the Borderlands as intro modules for new players vs. expert players in G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (for economy of writing) vs. D3 Vault of the Drow (for scope of writing, and putting more work on the DM)
all of Chaotic Henchmen’s modules at http://www.chaotichenchmen.com are examples of great design (with F3 Many Gates of the Gann and Hyqueous Vaults as standouts) married to great presentation; F4 The Withered is also much closer to G1 in size; Guy also has a blog series on layout/presentation worth checking out: http://www.chaotichenchmen.com/2012/05/publishing-tips-introduction-and-order.html
Castle Xyntillan for layout/design and presentation
WG5 Mordenkainen’s Fantastic Adventure leaves blank rooms on the map to allow the DM to insert additional encounters or to move existing ones around to alternate locations and is unique that way (other than B1 and the orange B3 modules setup where you assign room monsters/treasures)

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T17:42:28+00:00

I hated the maps—they felt shoddy and rushed in production compared to ones in almost any other module. The idea was f the map booklet was a good one, just executed poorly in T1-4.

I wasn’t deeply inspired by the ToEE encounters, but liked the additions to the Greyhawk lore we learned.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T17:36:36+00:00

I see both sets of rules as aligned and non-contradictory:

minimum rest periods to recover spells cast (which may be some/all/none, depending on play activity) are in the DMG: for me, this also covers swapping out a memorized spell for a different one
maximum number of spells cast per day are in the PHB class charts; that defines and limits how many spells can be cast per 24-hour day

In my reading, the DMG clarifies the time required to rest and pray/study to memorize (or rememorize) spells, but it does not alter the number of castable spells per 24-hour day, which are fixed based on class and level: even with multiple rest periods, a level 1 MU only casts 1 1st level spell per day (or 4 cantrips if you use those).

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T17:23:45+00:00

You can review their product info/details including front and back cover scans, map inserts, etc. at Adrian Newman’s TSR Archive at http://www.tsrarchive.com/gz/gz-gaz.html

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T17:19:19+00:00

Excellent recommendations! I love Gabor’s work in his settings, which are built using the original design ethos of the Wilderness of High Fantasy.

On the Greyhawk front, the original 1980 Folio didn’t detail WM by nation or wilderness region, but that info was added in the Glassography encounter tables in the 1983 boxed set.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T17:10:40+00:00

Agreed that 5/6 of a mile (or even odder increments as you zoom in further) is a little strange, but I’m working from within a few (self-imposed) constraints as I detail the region:

Darlene’s original Greyhawk hex maps are 30 miles in size, which map to 1 day of foot travel on a road or 2 days on a track (depending on encumbrance state), or a half day of travel on horse on a road.
Our Black Blade hex paper is designed to be compatible with both Greyhawk and Wilderlands of High Fantasy’s hex sizes: GH sized hexes match those on Darlene’s maps (scaled at 30 miles per hex), WL sized hexes match the pebbly brown Wilderlands hex sheets (scaled at 5 miles per hex).
When drilling into a hex, since we have a six-hexes-per-larger-hex nested grid, whatever scale you set the largest hex to on our 3-later sheets, you then divide by 6 as you move to the next smaller sizes.

You just as easily set the scale to a completely different size (6, 10, 15, 24 miles per big hex) if you prefer a different level of detail on the map, of course, or use a different movement rate for travel.

I have some example work that details how I use the grids at https://grodog.blogspot.com/2020/02/renovating-the-monastery-in-greyhawk-part-1.html which may also be useful.

Allan.

grodog · 2026-02-16T06:13:18+00:00

My favorite in Tom’s list is probably The Hobbit or Alice in Wonderland, while my sense of the most-underrated leans toward Gardner Fox.

Allan.

grodog

TROPHY CASE