Share a few minutes and let's take a nostalgic look at some of the favorite things we enjoyed when we were younger ... this channel celebrates the best of my old school years (the 1970s/1980s era). Our videos are a place to enjoy a nostalgic look at fantasy and sci-fi role playing (RPGs) with an emphasis on B/X Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) products from TSR, Judges Guild, Flying Buffalo and others: we'll talk about adventure modules, miniatures (Ral Partha, Grenadier and more), tabletop wargames, computer games, movies, novels and books about all of the above. I plan to have product overviews, cover some history, maybe discover a few forgotten treasures, discuss recommendations from like-mined community members, and we'll even run through some top 10 lists. These things always brought a smile to my face when I was younger, and I guess they still do. Hopefully you'll stop by this channel every week and enjoy what we are doing.
I like the Quaggle. Seems like it wouldn't kill off a low level party, but would cause a lot of fun chaos. Its bits would be good for concocting teleport spells and items. Nice edition overall!
Thank you for this blast to the past. There is a 2019 documentary video you would like : eye of the beholder: the art of dungeons and dragons. Its on tubi. Really enjoyed seeing the artists especially jeff dee ( thought he would have more powerful eyebrows lol)
Pretty good for a base character sheet. But definitely not useful for long term play. You could barely write a few things in the way of equipment on there. What it would be really good for is that sheet you use when you are not adventuring but just at your base or walking around your town.
Another cool video. Those JG folks were definitely thinking of bettering the game, making it easier for us to play & keep track of what we needed to. Cheers!
The Dragon is Coming! What a great advertisement to get everybody talking. The suspense was, well confusing since they gave no clue as to what they were talking about. I wish that you could have elaborated more on the Illusionist Class. It is one of the classes that I have never played but always wanted to play.
AZ, another cool zine review! I remember playing an Illusionist back in '82....worst class/experience I ever had. Tried it again when I was stationed in Italy/'92.... still hated it. I bought the Dungeon game when I was stationed in Japan/'89... would play it in the common area dayroom. Everyone who played enjoyed it & those watching soon wanted to play. I wound up turning more than a few people on to actual D&D... & the rest was history. Dungeon was the gateway game to D&D. It worked like a charm during future assignments as well... Keep digging up/pulling out every 'zine' you have/can find!! Great information & history revisited. Cheers!
Really? I always loved my Illusionists, although I admit they are difficult to play and DM! Never really understood the crazy high Dexterity requirement, though.
@@teeznyarlathotep8700 Yeah... but later in life (when in my 40's) my group had (tried to) come up w/why the high DEX & what types of illusionist-specific missions/adventures would compliment them... we had some decent thoughts/ideas... but just couldn't (or wouldn't) come up w/ideas that were too class different than a typical magic-user (mage/wizard). I've played alongside a few in 45+ years.. but nothing noteworthy (adventure-wise) comes to mind. I know... probably too narrow minded or indifferent, but maybe someday, teez... will revisit again.... Cheers!
AZ... cover monster looks like an early... or off-shoot version of a Cockatrice. Probably not, but that's what came to mind. Cool content & interesting information. I'm not sure I'm sold on the spell point system, but it was pretty well thought out. Mages, Clerics, etc. (at lower levels), all could have used more spells, or ability to cast, memorize than what Basic or the PHB in AD&D regulated. Those fanzines provide what seems like high-brow, or well researched ideas back then... but I do have to remember that I was 10 back in 1979... so, just about everything D&D related was semi-sophisticated to my group. We didn't think to add, subtract, or modify anything from the game. Kudos again to you for putting forth the effort to share all this great stuff with us. Cheers!
The cover art struck me as something like a medieval woodcut. I really like the spell point system as it seems to make the magic users more helpful in the beginning. No help in being stuck with a sleep spell when all your torches are out and you really need some light. Nice episode.
I'm a fan of Guy Duke's art on these covers. And the spell point system is an interesting idea. The thing I like the most is freeing the magic user up to use the spells he knows in a way that is helpful rather than making him/her guess what spell to memorize -- when you have to pick ahead of time, almost everyone will choose a combat spell.
I know the Kelpie shows up in the Fiend Folio with similar description but not exactly how it is shown here. Not sure if it is one that had appeared in a module before it showed up there or not.
Still another very cool video... funny to see how.. naive we all were back in the day (ref; the dungeon/adventure contest). Looking forward to more great content from your channel.
It seems to me that many of these fanzines were started by young entrepreneurs. Kids that wanted to just be a part of this growing phenomenon. It was very harsh of Gary Gygax to stomp on them the way he did.
Ah yes, the TRS 80. That's what my DM had in the computer shop he worked at. Although he was an IBM guy and had a 286 I believe. State of the art stuff there!
It's hard to explain to someone younger what early computers were like and why/how we were so excited by something that has less power than their watch today.
Radio Shack ... it was a sad day when they went out of business. Those early computers were almost mystical. This reminds me of the programs I wrote back in middle school and high school (in Basic)... lol those were good days.
My first experience with D&D was the Moldvay box set, and more than anything else, it was the art in it that captured my attention and imagination and has stuck with me for all these years, even tho I had to throw away that set not long after I got it, when my Mom, and therefore my new discovery, fell victim to the Panic. But the art remained a constant later, when I got into AD&D and BECMI. And it's all burned into my brain forever.
Just found your channel - really great stuff. This is exactly the sort of thing I love to see. And you do a fantastic job presenting everything. I really appreciate all your effort.
As a DM, it would be quite fun to have a few of these magic items and spells/scrolls pop up here and there in your campaign. And as a player, it would be great to be the only mage with one of these spells that you could write into your spell book.
I think new spells and new magic items are a key part to keeping the excitement of the unknown alive in the game -- there is always something new to learn or try out.
That's really cool. I don't imagine -- between having no allies and not being designed to be used when you had friends wanting to play -- that it was really designed to be your main character.
Wow, quite an issue! Not sure I'd ever want to play a Loner character, but I really like the fuse and locate spells. Sometimes the utilitarian type spells can come in very handy and result in some unexpected creativity, although I'm sure they get chosen less often compared to the offensive spells. Love the snake arrows! Adding that to my miscellaneous magic items table. Nice job on this content!
These are pretty dense with interesting articles. It's odd that someone wrote in complaining that they had TOO MUCH of that content. And I agree - snake arrows are definitely a great little item to add in, even better if an opponent has some to surprise the party and that's how they get a few for themselves.
AZ.... love the video, content, information as always.... crazy question... do you use any of these... things (moaf??), spells, modified rules, NPC classes, monsters, treasures (either in original or modified form) from these fanzines in your current game?
@@robunish9233 I’d say the most common thing I use are ideas-how to DM, thinking about rules etc. I just incorporate those ideas right into my games immediately. And sometimes I use the concept but not the writer’s suggestion. Like a few articles have provided charts for weather. I don’t use any of those charts but I did start making a point to describe the weather to the players and I think that influences the mood of a session. I also use particularly good encounter ideas from dungeons, and I have taken players through some of my favorite fanzine adventures.
This seems like a pretty good fanzine. A few thoughts on this issue: Darkness spell. It wouldn't be easy to cast spells in total darkness. Somatic actions might not be perfect. Components would be hard to get correct. So maybe a chance to botch the spell. Treasure chests: Why would they be there unopened? Because the last guy who tried to open it died. So why take chances. Or perhaps there is a key around there somewhere? Hidden under the bedding or in the boot of the BBEG. The trap being deactivated with the key or a stud pushed when the key is turned. Just some thoughts on a couple of things.
This is a good fanzine for sure. And the best part about these articles is that they make you think even if you have a different conclusion... why are there so many chests sitting around in dungeons? Who the heck carried these chests down there and why?
Just watched this video... sorry it took me roughly 24 hours to do so. I listened to all of it... but am stuck(?) on the "Why We Do What We Do" article that you read/summarized by Mr. Blume. It amounted to, "We can't do this without you.... we want your suggestions, feedback, etc.".... It's nice to see WoTC carrying on that mantra written so many years ago... & yes, I'm kidding. How haven't those guys (WoTC Nazis) just taken a step back & punched themselves in the face (repeatedly)? Anyway.... what sort of charmed life have you lived that you have all those periodicals in rather good shape? Last pondering... that SR came out in 1975.... without giving it away... I'm 55... are you older/younger than that? Keep this stuff coming... it's... amazing, makes me & my D&D crew wistful & depressed... & wonder how we got here from there. Again, amazing vidoes, content, information, nostalgia. Thank you.
Thanks for the comment. I love all these items from that era. Takes me back a bit to when I was younger and hopefully helps us remember how much fun we had back when we were first playing the game. I'm just a couple years behind you. I was lucky to still have everything from when I was younger and I've been able to add some things in more recent years. I'm still picking up some fanzines and 3rd party products from the 70/80 ear whenever I see them.
Interesting to see Scruby miniatures on the back page order form for TSR. Wonder how exclusive that relationship was between the 2 companies at that time?
@@stevenkennedy4130 hey hey… you’re really going through the archives if you found your way to this one. Those Monster cards are pretty cool old items.
Very thorough list! Never heard of a couple that were mentioned in your Honourable Mentions, so I’ll have to try to track them down. Can’t think of any others that you’ve missed.
I was surprised I couldn't find many older books I hadn't already picked up. I think there must have been some but it looks like there was a period there where writing about the game just wasn't happening. Recent success of some of these books makes me think we will continue to get books in a slow but steady stream for a while.
Well measured selection and recommendations. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts about the various titles and was pleased to discover one or two that I was unaware about! Thanks again for doing this.
Glad to hear it. I hope there are some fun reads in there for you. They're not all 5-stars but they are all interesting especially if you can appreciate the time and audience when they were being written.
If I wanted to run an urban sandbox here, would I need to know The Guide inside and out? It's quite a beast, but I'd still like really like to use this, especially if there doesn't need to be a huge time commitment for its' prep.
@@GrinningAries great question. If I were running it, I’d probably read through the guide sort of quickly. That would get you familiar with the different sections of the map and the sort of buildings to be encountered. Many of the buildings don’t have info. Those are either private (not open to the players - unless they are brazenly trespassing) or a place you can choose to design as you see fit (just remember to make a note for when folks return there later). Then I think the prep depends on how comfortable you are, or how much you enjoy, sort of being extemporaneous with encounters. Bledsaw gives you the core-you just read off the names of signs along the street, the players pick a place to go in and you can flip to that building and he’ll have brief stats about the proprietor or whomever else is typically in that establishment. Then you have to take it from there with personality, possible rumors or adventure hooks etc.
A few of suggestions for your reading list: 'Dice Men: The Origin Story of Games Workshop', by Sir Ian Livingstone, with Steve Jackson. If you played D&D in the UK in its early days, the chances are that you bought it from Games Workshop, or from an independent shop who bought it from Games Workshop. 'Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground - A Guide to Roleplaying Games from D&D to Mothership', by Stu Horvath. (We've got this in stock, but I must admit I haven't read it yet.) 'The Elfish Gene', by Mark Barrowcliffe. An autobiographical work by a 70s D&D player. "Coventry, 1976. For a brief, blazing summer, a young Mark Barrowcliffe had the chance to be normal. He blew it." Funny and nostalgic. Recommended. 'Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons', by Jeffro Johnson. The author is a somewhat abrasive personality online (self-appointed leader of the BrOSR cult it seems), but this is an excellent work. Better than the Berbeghal work, IMO.
Thank you for the list! I have Dice Men -- for some reason I guess I think of that as a history of Games Workshop more than D&D but on reflection that is a pretty random line to draw. I did really enjoy it. I have copies of your other suggestions on the way. I had seen the other Appendix N when I got the book I mentioned...it seemed more like a review of all the books in the list. I was on the fence but I'll give it read.
Ouch! It's not horribly hard to find, but it really is a book for someone who is collecting and so I can see not needing to replace it if you aren't actively trying to grow your collection. Still, it is fun to read about the different products from all the different companies.
@@simonwashbourne1574 thanks for the note. I’ll be looking for your stuff when we get there. I’ve got the DragonLords on the shelf so I’ll get to them pretty soon (well The Beholder will take several weeks, but after that …)
@@AZMountaineer Issue #6 is my cover art. The executioner in issue #15. Some other bits and pieces maybe, I can't remember. I probably submitted most to DragonLords.
Along with Art of Dragon Magazine, there was also one for Dragonlance and I think one just listed as being the Art of Dungeons & Dragons. All of those older art books are great... because they are from the era of fantasy art I liked the most. :-)
Agreed. I have thought about getting those other art books -- not sure how much overlap there is, but you're right the art is always something that is easy to enjoy.
@@AZMountaineer I own them all, so I should revisit them to verify... but I don't think there is a lot of overlap... other than some of the same artists in all of the books. heh I don't believe you see much in the way of repeat art pieces, though.
Yeah, that Art & Arcana book is one of the best books Wizards has put out in years. I bought the special edition and another copy of the regular edition, just to have sitting out to read and browse through. :-) Definitely a favorite of mine.
