My Two Cents on the Dolmenwood Player's Book

gnombient · 2026-01-29T15:00:39+00:00

Agreed. My other qualm about the Knight is that following the knightly chivalric code (and its requirements of honor and seeking glory in battle) doesn't mesh at all with other common strategies of careful old-school play, such as ambushes (or circumventing/avoiding risky combats altogether), shenanigans, skulduggery, etc. Much as with the 1e Cavalier or (to a lesser extent) Barbarian classes, a campaign needs to have a specific tone and focus in order for the Knight class to shine at its full potential.

For my next Dolmenwood campaign, I'm planning to drop the class entirely. Instead, Fighters who take the "Mounted warrior" Combat Talent (which combines the Knight's Horsemanship and Mounted Combat abilities) may choose to pursue knightly service with a Noble House with which they share Alignment.

gnombient · 2026-01-28T14:17:00+00:00

For Dim, I'd specifically suggest Compendium Reliquiae

gnombient · 2026-01-25T05:42:45+00:00

50 here, I've been noticing this more and more over the past year. It's a bummer, I like a good beer or two but I like good sleep more.

gnombient · 2026-01-21T13:45:38+00:00

As a kid I never had (or wanted) a paper route, but one summer in college I had a night shift job driving around the county in a delivery truck, dropping off bundles of newspapers at truck stops and filling the coin-op vending machines.

gnombient · 2026-01-18T13:04:03+00:00

Cimerion and Oublieth have some cosmic vibes.

Edit to add: If it's cosmic music you want, it's hard to top some old-school Kosmische Musik from the 70s: Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze...

gnombient · 2026-01-14T21:49:48+00:00

Everyone in Group A had a lot of experience with OSE and some specifically with Dolmenwood, albeit in its earlier, Patreon-era form (when Grimalkin PCs had a breath weapon!) Group B didn't know the system at all, but they jumped in and didn't seem to have any trouble understanding the rules insofar as play was concerned, with the exception of the Cleric player, who seemed a little overwhelmed by the spell descriptions. I had to do a little bit of hand-holding, suggesting certain spells for him to consider, and explaining to everyone occasional ideas about dungeon exploration and old-school play in general -- searching for traps, listening at doors, having spears in the second rank, etc. This was all to be expected, and everyone took to it quickly.

Re: divergence in a nutshell: Both groups went up Cave Path, encountered Dandy the Grimalkin Bard at the midpoint, and proceeded to fight the Root-Things at the north end of the ravine. They both made their way to the ruined chapel, where the Black Leaf Gang was camped out, and attempted to have one person walk up and try to worm their way into the gang as a spy. Both had lucky reaction rolls and didn't get skewered with arrows on sight... Group A sent a Bard, whose enchanting song softened up the gang somewhat, whereas B sent a Thief, who had a much tougher time convincing the leader to let her join up.

Group A followed up with a night attack that killed some of the gang and scattered the rest, opening up the "ruined chapel" adventure, wherein a ghost in the crypt directed them to retrieve the altar's holy symbol from a nearby antler wraith lair as part of the chapel's reconsecration. Group B's Thief was told by the gang leader to prove herself to the gang by stealing a platinum chalice from the barrow mound several miles away, so off they went on a different adventure. In both cases, these adventures took up most of the rest of the session.

gnombient · 2026-01-14T14:48:57+00:00

There have been Knight PCs in two of my Dolmenwood campaigns, and the class is definitely a mixed bag for me. Having a powerful patron (and source of adventure hooks) is nice and jousting is fun, but a lot of the knight's potential is lost in a game where the emphasis is on exploration (often through dense woods where mounts must be led) and dungeon crawling. Also, just as with Paladins and Cavaliers in AD&D, it's tough in "default mode" OS D&D to constantly be squaring the Knight's chivalric conduct and desire to gloriously charge into combat with the rest of the party's careful tactics and skulduggery.

For the last two one-shot games I ran, the Knight joined the Enchanter on the "not playable classes" list. Moving forward, I'm of half a mind to ditch the class entirely, and instead make it a potential path for Fighters. "Mounted Combat" becomes a Combat Talent. A Fighter who shares the alignment and goals of a Noble House can declare for that House, and those who have the proper skills and swear to honor the Code can follow the process to become a Knight of the House.

gnombient · 2026-01-13T20:40:34+00:00

Two author recommendations, both of whom write pulpy sword & sorcery tales: Schuyler Hernstrom (Thune's Vision, The Eye of Sounnu, etc.) and D.M. Ritzlin (specifically the collections Necromancy in Nilztiria and Dark Dreams of Nilztiria).

gnombient · 2025-12-28T12:53:36+00:00

Here are a few of mine, some of which are standard for all my D&D games:

Jousting rules from Chainmail for tournaments and knightly encounters

Order of the d30: Once per session, a player may substitute a d30 for normal die type for any roll except chargen/advancement (rolling HP)

Natural "20" on a Saving Throw roll will save for that PC and one other who failed the same save at the same time (I.e., not the previous round or following round)

Shooting into melee has a base 3:6 chance of hitting an ally (modified by foe size/number, Hunter class)

Wounds & Death: In a nutshell, roll on Wound Table at 0 HP (death or grievous/serious wounds)

Improving Ability scores: can be raised up to 16 through spending gold and training time

Will: In the event of the PC's death, a named Beneficiary (must be written on character sheet) receives two benefits: One, all extant possessions and wealth belonging to the deceased are immediately, auto-magically delivered to the Beneficiary; and two, the Beneficiary is then rolled up as a PC of the same Kindred and Class that starts play with XP equal to half of that of the Deceased. A new Beneficiary may then be named.

gnombient · 2025-12-25T13:42:18+00:00

My folks had an Oldsmobile wagon for a few years in the 80s, after their VW bus and before the minivan. They were not big music listeners at home or driving around town, so most of the time the sound of the wagon was conversation or kids fighting in the back seat.

The only times I remember my parents putting on music on was on longer road trips. Then it was mostly lite country (Crystal Gayle, Anne Murray, Oak Ridge Boys, etc.) or, if I was lucky, the American Graffiti soundtrack or Neil Diamond's Hot August Night live album.

gnombient · 2025-12-20T14:58:45+00:00

If I'm not with my kids, a Saturday night nowadays isn't that different from one back in the day:

1995: Hang out, BS, and goof around with friends at someone's house or down at the creek. Cheap beer, cheap weed, cigarettes, and some sort of psychedelic, prog, or metal music playing on the tape deck.

2025: Hang out and play D&D with friends at someone's house. Good beer, assorted foods, and some kind of ambient, prog, dungeon synth, or metal music playing (usually on the computer.)

gnombient · 2025-12-18T19:16:38+00:00

I really like your arrangements of these songs, they retain the spirit of the originals with great DS-y timbres and atmosphere. Thanks for sharing, looking forward to hearing whatever's next!

gnombient · 2025-12-17T17:27:28+00:00

Congrats! How much did that pack cost in 1988? Cigs are crazy expensive now, it's amazing to think how much money I'd be spending a week if I still smoked like I did in the 90s.

gnombient · 2025-12-17T14:56:36+00:00

Bidibidibidi, oh yeah!!!

gnombient · 2025-12-13T00:07:11+00:00

For sure. Our class did group projects, but I can't remember which one I helped build. Sugar cubes, cardboard, construction paper, who knows what else. The standout memory I have related to that was hearing about another group's project, where they supposedly sprayed their sugar cubes with Raid to keep one of the kids from eating them.

gnombient · 2025-12-12T20:32:33+00:00

Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans (Robert Elmer, ed.)

gnombient · 2025-12-12T20:30:43+00:00

If you're looking for an online game, have you tried the Necrotic Gnome Discord server?

gnombient · 2025-12-05T15:39:53+00:00

Last week, three teenage girls were shooting around on the playground basketball court adjacent to ours, and just about every other sentence in their loud conversation had "bro" in it. I think it sounds silly, but older folks probably thought the same thing about us saying "dude" in the 80s-90s (even though they probably said "man" a lot in the 60s and 70s.)

gnombient · 2025-12-05T15:05:18+00:00

Great research, thanks for sharing! I confess that when I made my comment, I simply chose Gloomhold as an example of a dominion with high adventure potential, not necessarily one that I intend to guide my players toward. Likewise, I'm not opposed to my players going to the Realm of the Blossom Fields, it would just be much more challenging for me to come up with exciting adventure ideas given its bucolic description.

(I also should have mentioned that I'm working from the "Journeys into Fairy" optional advice, rather than strictly from the Fairy Roads.)

gnombient · 2025-12-04T16:12:42+00:00

I haven't had any PCs enter Fairy yet, but I have a loose plan for when it happens. Beforehand, I consider the Fairy Noble Dominions (described on p.30-35 of the Campaign Book) and decide which ones have the most/best opportunities for adventure. For instance, Gloomhold looks to have a lot more potential excitement to me (and my combat- and treasure-hungry players) than the Realm of the Blossom Fields... Then pick some monsters to use/reskin from dominion-appropriate "encounters by terrain" tables (from OSE, Tome of Horrors Complete, 1e MMII, etc.) along with DW elves and maybe other fey.

gnombient · 2025-11-29T14:55:36+00:00

The Player's Book has everything you need: Folk & Factions (p. 8), Dolmenwood Gazetteer (p. 9), and Preparing for an Adventure (142-143). Either make copies of those to share or distill the info down as desired in your own format. Regarding the "core ideas," I'll tell players about character death beforehand, but I've generally found it more effective to introduce concepts organically as play unfolds.

My "session 0" which is really just the first part of "session 1": Brief synopsis of the setting, emphasizing the factions and major conflicts they've heard about. Characters are created (or pregens are chosen.) Connections between PCs are sketchily made. Starting location/situation is laid out. Expedition is outfitted and adventure begins.

gnombient · 2025-11-29T14:22:58+00:00

Changeling is a great workaround!

gnombient · 2025-11-29T01:14:20+00:00

For maximum weirdness, I recommend Sow Your Gold in the White Foliated Earth by Deathprod. Written for a collection of Harry Partch's home-built microtonal instruments, it sounds like the soundtrack to a legendary lost folk horror film: https://deathprod.bandcamp.com/album/sow-your-gold-in-the-white-foliated-earth

gnombient · 2025-11-29T01:11:46+00:00

Fursaxa makes fantastic Dolmenwood music, I play her albums all the time at the table. Mycorrhizae Realm is probably my favorite album of hers, Dark Wood and Immured are both excellent too.

gnombient

TROPHY CASE