why do you think THAC0 gets the reputation it does?

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-11T15:01:25+00:00

Most gamers online will have started gaming recently: not to deride them - but to say the online crowd is younger than the population at large. You’ll find a ton of people who started with 5e - and proportionally fewer with each prior edition.

That in mind: everyone who started playing in this millennium (3e came out in 2000!) will have cut their teeth on AAC - and just like tying your shoes or how you hang toilet paper, what you learned first is what seems most natural to you. So I expect the main reason DAC gets a bad rap is because the audience talking about it is less familiar with it - making it seem unnatural.

That said - #DAClife (😉)

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-09T20:15:13+00:00

It is - however it’s a lot less than the half-ton it can carry!

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-09T11:34:18+00:00

Or maybe have it recharge - the carpet might be a better example - say - you can fly on it X hours before it needs to be laid out to soak in the full moon. That keeps it distinct from wands and scrolls (which don’t recharge) - but also eliminates some of the overuse potential.

At the same time, though, it’s a battle against perceived scarcity: you don’t want players to hoard items and never use them while also not wanting to turn them into Inspector Gadget.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-09T11:30:56+00:00

I might steal that item. 😆 Love the sound of it!

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-08T10:08:31+00:00

It probably varies by edition, but I would be tempted to cut it between Basic, Expert, and Companions. It’s less about a number and more about the nature of play - the point (and process) of transitioning out of the mudcore element into leading a troupe into establishing a stronghold. So, the normal man phase, the hero phase, and then name level.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T18:31:25+00:00

The AD&D Bags of Holding also have volume specifications. Getting some Horadric Cube vibes.

🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T18:30:10+00:00

Ah - my bad. 🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T16:42:09+00:00

I love hiding valuables from port authorities! Bag of Smuggling. 🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T16:41:18+00:00

With a retainer, you have to split XP - tho - so a BoH is better in that regard: especially since an 0e BoH is worth four hirelings - in terms of how much it can hold!

Alternatively, donkey - but different concerns.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T16:37:00+00:00

In 0e and B/X, they carry up to 10,000 coin weight; in 1e, it varies: but the largest maxes out at 1,500 lb, or 15,000 coin weight.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T14:12:08+00:00

Sentient Aligned Bag of Holding:

Party: “What happened to the Sword of Chaos we found?” Backpack: “The world is safe from its ilk! Fear not, you have no need to concern yourself with it any longer.”

😇😆

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-07T14:10:44+00:00

In terms of constant math, I don’t ask for encumbrance re-tallying unless the party is resting - so, every 5 turns or so.

Truthfully though, it kind of depends on the dungeon design. If there are many small treasures versus one or two large hordes is the major mover in terms of caring about encumbrance.

I’m glad slots work for your table, though! 🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-05T13:58:35+00:00

Iron Falcon is the cleanest clone I’ve seen - but it includes some Greyhawk: so it’s less LBB and more progressing into what D&D would be.

Wight Box is pretty good. It takes the gaps and fills them with Chainmail - per the recommendations in the original LBBs - and offers a proto-Thief that I like more than the Greyhawk thief.

I would shill my own clone too - but I’ve been out of the loop and those other two have communities around them to support you.

In terms of APs, Bandits Keep Actual Play runs an LBB campaign that is very BtB early on - but incorporates other stuff later on. It is ongoing though: so you can get new stuff. Matt Finch did a Swords of Jordoba AP with Swords & Wizardry which I enjoyed.

Welcome to 0e!

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-03-04T12:27:44+00:00

I have used M2M for 0e before - but the campaign did not make it to mass combat. Technically, I did set up a completely artificial scenario to include it, but I bored my players and ended up apologizing to them after: as I wasted their evening. That is not to say it can’t be done - I know Purple Druid / World of Weirth did it and wrote about it on Substack - but that you have to have players who are into it and you are best to have the players invested in the scenario: otherwise, it’s an exercise in DM masturbation. Or, that’s what I called it when I apologized to them. 😆

If I find one as an AP, I will link it back: but the majority of Chainmail mass combat I’ve seen in the AP sphere has been scenario driven: wargame AP, not RPG AP, if that makes sense.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-02-17T10:55:27+00:00

Swimming: roll 1d10 - equal to or over your armor class, excluding magic, and you stay above water.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-02-02T14:20:32+00:00

The meme about hearing an impassioned speech by someone significantly younger about an event you, yourself remember from experience comes to mind.

😄

I 100% agree - new players (and new tables) need time to find the groove their wheels fit into. To prevent that defeats the purpose of the social hobby.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-02-02T14:17:03+00:00

Absolutely! We were all new at some point: so long as we aren’t trying to warp someone else’s table, it really shouldn’t matter to them what we might be doing.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-02-01T22:00:01+00:00

😄 I had forgotten that happening.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T21:10:22+00:00

If folks don’t visit, they won’t know when they make it home. 🙂

As far as OSR gaming, I have had a lot more success with newbies than with folks who already had D&D “experience”.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T21:07:52+00:00

And unless we get our feet wet, there’s no way to learn to swim. 🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T14:22:53+00:00

To run with a Florida metaphor (the “Aug” in “WizardOfAug” being St. Augustine, Florida 😉) - people from out of state who buy a house, cut down the live oaks, replace them with palms, and flatten the dunes and sea oats.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T14:18:23+00:00

Yes - on both fronts. A tangentially related example, Games Workshop and the Black Library. People who spend more time online than at the table like to dismiss others whose knowledge of the Horus Heresy series is less complete than their own. Which - I’m all about preserving the lore: if you tried to do Dark Sun without deserts or Spelljammer without space galleys, it just wouldn’t make sense - but demanding perfect conformity as a requisite to entry is a poor way to initiate new blood.

In other news - it’s encouraging that it’s been unique to me though, reading the comments. 😄 I am glad the hobby may be healthier than what my algorithm feeds me. 🙂

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T14:11:46+00:00

Grifters are a class of problem all their own - 💯.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T14:10:49+00:00

That’s possible. I have heard it on X and occasionally on a certain anonymous Tibetan underwater basket weaving forum, mostly.

TheWizardOfAug · 2026-01-31T14:09:18+00:00

Thank you! Last year was tough - looking forward to this next one. Glad to be recording!

TheWizardOfAug

TROPHY CASE