Created by Thawt and revealed to the priesthood by Amon, Sacred Signs constitute a pictographic script. Similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs, each sign or glyph represents a discreet thing, action, or idea or serves to clarify another sign. Sacred Signs are carved or painted on stone, painted on papyrus, and pressed into leathery clay tablets. Those pressed into tablets are often fired, as the information they convey is intended to endure. All religious texts are written in Sacred Signs.
Learning to read and write Sacred Signs was once reserved for the clergy. Through interpretation of the signs, the priesthood leveraged the power of the temple against that of the throne. Since the rise of the Sun King, who embodies the divine power of the Solar Goddess, non-clergy are permitted to learn Sacred Signs. The temple frowns on the practice, though, and only teaches Sacred Signs to its acolytes. Temple priests are fond of saying that anyone can learn what the glyphs represent, but only one endowed with the wisdom of the Solar Goddess may correctly interpret Sacred Signs.
Characters of other classes may learn to read Sacred Signs from a sage. Non-clerics who make it known they can read Sacred Signs suffer a -1 penalty to reaction checks when dealing with any temple priest.
Sacred Signs is a written language, not a spoken one. Like any other language, learning to read and write Sacred Signs takes an added language from high intelligence.
By neglecting some rules in “Rules the Pandemonium Society Doesn’t Use,” Phenster obliges us to clarify. He also adds a house rule for acting later in a melee round. To all that, I add multiple attacks per round, suggested by a L’avant garde reader in response to Phenster’s earlier article.
Each house rule is followed by a category designator in parenthesis. See “About the Reedition of Phenster’s” for category descriptions. Text under headers sans designator is just me talking.
A Word About Figurines
Holmes mentions the use of figurines, claiming, “The game is more exciting and spectacular using the lead miniature figures” (5). Many gaming groups of the ’70s and ’80s had and used figurines at the table. I suspect the majority did not employ them in combat in the meticulous manner assumed by some later D&D editions.
My experience with figurines in the ’80s and ’90s, other than admiring the paintwork, was limited to their use to designate order of march and the occasional table arrangement to show the more complicated battle arrays. Even in this later case, we didn’t often use figures to represent monsters. Too many monsters, not enough cash. We just said, “The [monster] is over here,” sometimes placing dice or a soda can.
Phenster never mentions figurines in relation to combat. In the reedition, I intend to keep the rules light enough that one is not forced to break out the miniatures.
For example, in the following rule for maneuver, I avoid delimiting a certain distance a character can move in combat and eschew terms like “square.” I prefer the Holmes term “space,” which leaves the theater free of any grid.
You may, of course, employ figurines, or not and to any degree, as you please.
Maneuver [E]
While engaged in melee, a combatant may move into any open space behind or beside. If the combatant turns their back on the opponent or is otherwise distracted, the opponent gets a free attack, as if the combatant were fleeing. (See Holmes, 21.) This movement occurs after the melee round with any other movement (see Holmes, 20).
Disengagement
When using the maneuver rule, ignore the suggestion, under Caveat in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority,” to use the parry rule (Holmes, 21) to disengage. With the maneuver rule, disengagement is simpler. If an engaged combatant steps away from the opponent, the opponent may follow at the same time. In this case, disengagement does not occur. If the opponent does not follow, disengagement occurs.
According to Attack Priority by Weapon Quality [E], without the necessity to parry, a character armed with a long weapon may step back from an opponent, and, assuming the opponent does not follow—to avoid being flanked by another enemy, for instance—the character may strike the first blow in the next round, while the opponent cannot return the blow, unless it is also armed with a long weapon. The character may remain in position on subsequent rounds, getting the first blow without the chance to be attacked. This is essentially what Phenster calls a “phalanx,” which he covers later.
“Withdraw” or Retreat
Holmes’s description of withdrawing from melee (21) implies the character’s back is to the enemy. Suffering a “free swing” at +2 and not counting shield seems more like a retreat. Using maneuver, if a combatant moves back a space, and the opponent does not follow, the combatant may, in the next round, turn tail and run without consequence.
Drop Items on Surprise [E]
Ignore the rule that says a surprised character drops any items in hand (Holmes, 10).
One-sixth of ⅓ is about 5%. Before arguing about whether the chance is too high or too low, we drop the rule because an extra dice roll per character, including entourage, every time the party is surprised (2 out of 6) is too much for what it gives the game.
I put this one in the [E] Extra category. Holmes straight up, I use the rule as written. It’s unique to Bluebook D&D.
Initiative Order
The following rules assume the use of the initiative-by-Dexterity system in Holmes. In that system, a normal round starts at 18 and counts down to 3, where combatants act on the “count” equal to their Dexterity score.
Simultaneous Combat [E]
Ignore the instruction to dice for first blow when two opponents have similar Dexterity scores (Holmes, 21). If opponents act on the same count, the actions are simultaneous. The success or failure of all simultaneous actions are determined before results, usually damage, are applied.
Hold Action [E]
A character may wait to take their action on a later count in the initiative order. An action might be held so as to work in conjunction with another’s action or to interrupt it. Holding one’s action changes the character’s initiative count in subsequent rounds to that on which they act in the current round.
To hold an action, the player states their intention on their normal initiative count. The character then takes the action when the situation matches the intention. The player may, at any time, change their mind and take some other action. An action not used may be executed at the end of the round or held until the next round.
Multiple Attacks per Round [E]
Referring to weapon classes in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority,” a combatant wielding a weapon two classes lighter than that of the opponent gets two attacks per round. Three classes lighter, three attacks.
No matter the difference in weapon class, combatants are still limited to one attack per phase: beginning, middle, end. (See heading Go First, Go Last in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”) Usually, the last of two or three attacks is taken at the end of the round; the second of three is taken in the middle. The usual case may change, for instance, when the combatant holds an attack. If not using those phases, the DM may adjudicate whether the combatant can get in all attacks.
A combatant gets only one attack per round when closing to melee or in any round after moving, not including maneuvering.
With a weapon of a heavier, same, or one class lighter than the opponent’s weapon, a combatant gets just one attack per round.
This one taunts me. It crouches on one knee at the bottom of the “Ideas” drawer. When I open the drawer, it gawks at me. Its protuberant eyes—perfect circles, all whites—fix me with unmoving stare. Dark blue lips, segmented like two worms, rim the inky hole mouth. It has not teeth nor gums, only bare jawbones that gnash the air when it speaks.
Certain has it crept from far beneath the lighted world, through cramped passageways, mayhap along the very watercourse whose banks are lined on the water-stained pages it presses under a flabby arm.
Jaws gnashing, blue lips quaver in slow undulation, and in a voice, not a whisper but so quiet one must bend into the drawer to hear, it rasps, “The horror… the horror…”
It would be a huge project. To date, Dyson Logos’s Heart of Darkling comprises 28 maps for 17 adventure locations. On the Dodecahedron, Dyson states his intention: 20 locations on the subterranean river and the lake at its mouth, the number of maps for which could exceed 40.
The taunt: to stock the score of adventure locations of Heart of Darkling to complete the underworld campaign.
Not that I myself would ever undertake such an endeavor. Should one be so daring, a Heart of Darkling campaign might be inspired by Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella Heart of Darkness, augmented by Francis Ford Coppola’s film Apocalypse Now Redux (2001), and filled out with a study of critical analyses on both to include their themes and devices in the campaign.
As a major theme of the novella is criticism of colonialism and its exploitation of indigenous peoples, a campaign might take the opportunity to address issues with which DUNGEONS & DRAGONS now struggles. They are, generally, how the game portrays various fantastic races and how alignments are used in the game setting. This should be done well, with respect and empathy, or not at all.
Moreover, I’m not convinced that addressing such delicate issues within the game itself is a good idea. Our notions and attitudes about race and alignment in the game are ever-changing—one hopes toward the more inclusive. An attempt to portray better ways to handle these elements in a product would be only a snapshot of progress at the time of publication.
On the other hand, like Conrad’s novella, a work of art is often such a snapshot. A snapshot taken of a moving shoreline along a journey through our own hearts of darkness.
The Pillars.
In conversation with the map god, he might give away his intended location, obvious when we read the text, for the climactic scene as the Pillars, where abides the charismatic ur-priest and its flock of deep-dwelling humanoids.
Following Phenster’s first house-rules article “Pandemonium Society House Rules,” two letters in L’avant garde #33 (September 1980) show a mixed reception.
Giving his home address, Keith Menard of Garden City, KS, admonishes, “Munchkins should not play with rules. They might hurt themselves.” Menard then offers to send his old copy of Greyhawk to the Pandemonium Society, “as I don’t use it since I started playing Advanced.”
Middleton reader Todd F. G. Nils writes that he introduced the concept of “first-and-last-attacking weapons” into his AD&D game. “It’s more intuitive than speed factor, but it doesn’t account for multiple attacks per round for faster weapons.” To rectify the deficiency, Nils adds an additional rule:
I use the idea of heavier and lighter weapons to give weapons two classes lighter (which is like faster) 2 attacks per round, and weapons three classes lighter get 3 attacks.
Phenster makes no reference to either critique in his next contribution, printed in L’avant garde #35 (December 1980).
Rules the Pandemonium Society Doesn't Use
by Phenster
Some rules we don't like, so we don't use them. Like the rule that says you can't move while you're in melee. After a while, combat got kind of boring. It seemed like we all just took turns hacking at a thing until we killed it or it killed us, if we didn't run away first. We want to be able to maneuver while we fight, like Sinbad. Whenever Sinbad was fighting a monster, he was always moving around a lot, jumping up on things and pushing things over and falling back before the monster's onslaught. It's more exciting that way.
So, in our game, even when you're fighting hand-to-hand, you can still move, just not very far. And you can't turn your back on the monster, or it can attack you and you don't get to fight back. It's still hard to get out of combat, because the monster can move same as you, so it'll just follow you unless someone else is fighting it too.
We don't use the drop-your-weapon rule either. You never see Sinbad drop his weapon just because he got surprised because a monster showed up. One kid dropped what he was carrying so much, we made him carry the 10' pole. When we saw a monster, he had to drop the pole anyway. We started calling him Jinx, and we didn't let him hold the lantern either.
There's another rule that says you have to roll to see who goes first when your dex score is close to the monster's. We do simultaneous combat instead. Whenever your dexterity is the same, you both go at the same time. That way, you might kill the monster, but it could kill you too.
A thing we allow that isn't in the rules is that you can wait to take your turn until someone does something or something else happens. Like when you know the evil wizard will probably throw a spell, instead of shooting him right away, you can wait till he starts moving his hands and chanting, then shoot. If you hit him right then, the spell fails. You can also wait for someone if you want to do something together. Whenever you wait like that, your initiative count changes for the rest of the combat. One time, we were fighting a mummy, and I had a torch, and Jinx was going to throw a flask of oil at it. But Jinx had a lower dex than me, so I had to wait for him to go. He missed, of course. I threw the torch anyway and set the oil on fire behind the mummy. Beowulf had to charge with his shield to push it into the fire, and then we all threw oil at it until it stopped chasing us through the dungeon!
Herein is described a sublevel of the Deep Halls, the site of our dungeon exploration in Dreaming Amon-Gorloth. Numbered encounter areas refer to the keyed map in “Keys to the Deep Halls.”
During the war, Menturoc, Ardent Champion1 of the Solar Goddess, and the Nine Companions led an assault on 132. Gate of the Inner Redoubt (5G). The assault succeeded, and the dreaming priests were vanquished. But Menturoc and the Nine Companions fell in battle, all slain except the ardent champion, who was in a state of profound unconsciousness.
Though his wounds were slight, Menturoc appeared dead. The Radiant Host entombed the comatose body in 6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb and interred the Nine Companions in sarcophagi in 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions.
α2 A sour odor of offal pervades the corridor between areas 4, 5, and 6.
4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess
The odor in this room smacks the face. The opposite wall is painted with symbols around a blank central area. The symbols are pitted and cracked, as if by blunt instruments, and smeared with offal. The blank area is marked by two stonework protrusions. Before it, an open pit is filled with refuse and crawling with giant beetles, mandibles sawing.
This room was originally a shrine to the Scarab God. Before the redoubt’s storming, when victory was close at hand, Menturoc converted it to the worship of the Solar Goddess. He modified existing symbols to fit the chief divinity and mounted a lion’s head, carved from stone and gold-plated, on the northeast wall. Menturoc fixed a decanter of endless water within the lion’s head to make a fountain. Digging through the floor, he built a bath, where the faithful might cleanse themselves.
Returning after the war, the dreaming priests desecrated the shrine and removed the lion’s head fountain. Not taking the time to reconsecrate the shrine to the Scarab God, they now use this room to keep bombardier beetles3. Adepts dump the priests’ organic waste into the former bath. They sometimes lead a few beetles out of the level. The beetles then roam the Deep Halls until they find their way back to the feed trough.
Inspection of the mural reveals many scarab symbols showing through fading over-painted areas.
Bombardier Beetles (3-12)
The beetles stay in the pit unless lured out. If they are disturbed in any way, or if a light source remains for more than two turns without a feeding, they release a defensive cloud of noxious gas with an explosive noise.
Common Knowledge:
The scarab is a heretical symbol, for it was thought to push up the sun each morning—a task reserved for the Solar Goddess.
Research:
The scarab is the symbol of a god who represented the rising sun and the daily renewal of life in the Amwan Culture (religion).
5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions
Stinking offal is piled high just inside the door. Beyond, nine open sarcophagi line the walls of the room. The lids are on the floor, some broken.
After removing the heads from their corpses, the dreaming priests animated the Nine Companions, who now roam the Deep Halls in search of their skulls. (See 2. Reliquary, 2A.) Now, adepts use this room to store refuse that will be fed to the beetles in 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess.
Other than refuse in the near sarcophagi, all are empty.
Refuse Heap: Searching through the offal may reveal the following items (50% chance per turn).
Treasure (d6)
1-3
Pouch containing 50 c.p.
4-5
Gem (10 g.p.)
6
Scarab, faience (25 g.p.)
6. Hall of Menturoc’s Tomb
Murals on the north and south walls, stretching into darkness, depict ibises, papyrus plants, tablets and styluses, apes, and moon discs. In the middle of the hall, a stairway descends.
On the other side of the stair well, an anthropoid sarcophagus rests on a 10' × 6' dais, 1' high. The sarcophagus is 8' × 5' and 5' high. Carved from limestone, its cover depicts a male figure in armor and headdress, a sword upon its breast.
Each door in this room is framed by a carved motif of repeated symbols.
East Door: Ibises.
North Door: Tablets.
South Door: Styluses.
The murals continue on the walls of the west corridors, wrapping around the ends and coming back, to meet at the wall behind the sarcophagus, which hides the painting’s lower portion. On that wall, just above where the sarcophagus meets it, is the symbol of a tablet and stylus above an inscription in Sacred Signs [described later].
A TOOL TO REMEMBER A TOOL TO FORGET
Menturoc’s Tomb
The sarcophagus rests against the far wall between the west corridors. It’s three exposed sides bare the following decoration.
East
An inscription:
ARDENT CHAMPION OF THE SOLAR GODDESS MENTUROC
North
Another inscription:
MENTUROC
VANQUISHER OF THOSE WHO DREAM BUILDER OF THE FOUNTAIN SHRINE
FELL IN THE STORMING OF THE INNER REDOUBT
THE SOLAR GODDESS SHINES FOREVER ON THE SUN KING
South
Representation of a door, 5' × 3', carved and painted with images of a warrior wielding a sword, confronting enemies. Vanquished foes lay beneath his feet. The door is framed by a series of ram-headed humanoids with long, curling tongues extended.
Formerly a shrine to Thawt, god of wisdom, writing, and magic, this hall now houses Menturoc’s tomb, constructed by the Radiant Host.
Some time after the Radiant Host’s departure, a dreaming mage known as “the Renegade” reentered the Deep Halls. Discovering Menturoc’s comatose state, the Renegade spoke to the ardent champion in dream. The two agreed that Menturoc should remain entombed until the time is advantageous to take on the dreaming priests again.
Door to Dreams: The Renegade set a dweomer upon the tomb. Touching the false door triggers a sleep spell. In that way, Menturoc may speak with any visitors. See Menturoc’s Quest, below. The spell effects all creatures within the hall.
Menturoc’s Quest
Any characters who sleep or otherwise fall unconscious in this room slip into a dream. As the dream begins, the characters are lying on the floor in the same position as when they went to sleep. Looking around, they can see everything in the chamber, except any waking characters—that is, any creature not dreaming. Though there is no light, they can see anything within line of sight, as if physical objects are illuminated from within. They hear a hissing noise and a slither as a giant snake enters from the southern west corridor.
Dreaming characters have all equipment and resources, including hit points and spells, as at the moment of sleep. They can perform any action, as normal, but may interact only with other dreaming creatures.
Waking characters do not see into the dream. In the waking world, their dreaming companions are sound asleep. They may of course rouse their companions in the usual way. But events in dream happen quickly; play out the full encounter before the characters wake.
Upon waking, any character who took damage or cast spells in the dream must make a save vs. Death Ray. Success indicates any damage is ephemeral and any spells cast are remembered. Failure means any damage manifests in the physical body as the character wakes, and any spells cast in the dream are forgotten.
Any other resources expended in the dream, such as ammunition or oil, are present.
The states waking and dreaming are fully explained later.
Snake, Rock Python (1)
The dreaming priests discovered the sleeping trap and put a dream guard in the hall. The giant snake attacks any dreaming characters. In the first round of combat, the ardent champion exits the tomb, ducking through the door. He is armored and fights with a sword, attacking the snake in the second round.
Dreaming Ardent Champion, Menturoc
After the combat, Menturoc addresses any dreaming characters:
“If you will defeat the dreaming priests, cleanse the defiled shrine and reconsecrate it to the Solar Goddess. For it will then serve as a haven for those worthy of its protection.”
After delivering the quest, Menturoc dispells the sleep spell with his sword, a holy sword +5, and the characters wake only moments after having fallen asleep.
To complete Menturoc’s quest, the PCs must rid 4. Shrine to the Solar Goddess of the beetles and remove all refuse. A cleric of the Solar Goddess must then perform a consecration ritual. But first, the PCs must restore the lion’s head fountain, which is in 17. Pit of Heavy Hearts.
Opening the Tomb
The sarcophagus cover and its seam bare no marks or any other indication that the tomb has ever been opened. The 8' × 5' lid with the anthropoid relief, is 1' thick. It weighs three tonnes. To the DM to adjudicate attempts to remove the cover or break through it. The dreaming priests used a passwall spell (cast by a dreaming mage) to enter and remove all grave goods, including Menturoc’s armor and sword.
Common Knowledge:
Demons are commonly depicted as humanoids with animal heads and out-stuck tongues.
Often depicted on tombs, a false door is the means by which the soul departs on its journey to the underworld.
Research:
Demons guard a series of gates through which a soul must travel to the underworld (religion).
Thawt, inventor of the tablet and stylus, presented them to Amon, who said, “Thawt, with the stylus, man writes memories on the tablet and forgets them” (religion).
7. Forgotten Archive
Threadbare rags and broken pottery litter the floor.
Here, the dreaming priests discard useless items that cannot be fed to the beetles. The clay is shards of tablets and a broken cup. The few visible glyphs on the shards are too fragmented to be deciphered. The inside of the cup is stained dark green.
8. Workshop
Three large bowls on the floor are filled with water and clay. Hanging from a wooden rack, a couple of filled linen sacks drip water. Two small mallets lay next to several damp clay tablets on a wooden table.
In the west end, carved into the wall, a human male figure with an ibis head stands eight feet high. He holds a tablet in one hand. The other hand rests on the mounting frame of a lever, which resembles a stylus and protrudes from the wall at an upright angle.
The dreaming priests recycle unfired clay tablets in this room.
Thawt’s Lever: Pulling the lever has two effects: One, the character who pulls the lever forgets everything that happened in the last 24 hours. No memories remain, including all spells, clerical or magical, acquired during that time. Two, any objects or creatures in 7. Forgotten Archive are teleported to 143. Labyrinth of Forgotten Dreams.
Sometimes, in their interpretation of the channeled dreams of Amon-Gorloth, its priests make errors. To rid themselves of any unfortunate manifestations as well as purge their memory of the error, a priest places the artifacts in 7. Forgotten Archive then pulls this lever.
Thawt’s Lever of Forgetfulness
Wandering Monsters
Wandering monsters on this level are Dreaming Priests, adepts (1-3), from level 4D on an errand.
Wandering Monsters, Level 2B (2d4)
2
To dispose of an item in 7. Forgotten Archive
3-4
To haul refuse to 5. Mausoleum of the Nine Companions
5-6
To feed the beetles in 4. Shrine of the Solar Goddess
7-8
To fetch tablets in 8. Workshop
1 An “ardent” is a paladin; a champion is 7th-level.
2 I use lower-case Greek letters to denote details within a level but outside encounter areas. I’m not sure that I’ll put them on the keyed map.
3 Given the bombardier beetle’s description in Blackmoor (OD&D Supplement II, 18), I assume its appellation is an alias for dung beetle, a species in the subfamily Scarabaeinae. In Egyptian mythology, the Scarabaeus sacer, or sacred scarab, is associated with the rising sun.
I hesitate to put into words what I mean by “the Holmes spirit.” Certain qualities of the brief rules booklet set it apart from other D&D editions. Holmes’s simplicity is one. Keeping—or rather reinstating—d6 weapon damage from OD&D is an example. Another example, while some might use the term incomplete, I count the lower-level limitation within its simplicity.
The Dexterity-based initiative system, simpler and faster than rolling for it, is unique among editions. The Editor sourced it, not from OD&D but from a set of house rules that have come to be known as the “Perrin Conventions.” Revisited and revised 23 years later though it was, we hardly recognize its influence on 3rd Edition.
The Bluebook’s special demand for house rules lends, at the same time, to its simplicity as well as its uniquity. That it was intended only to introduce players to AD&D, and that we desire to—and do—play it as our own necessarily customized version of the game, also make it unique.
In that regard, the 48-page rulebook serves as the research question of a game designer’s thesis project: The goal is to turn these rules into a complete game. Each of us sets the criteria for a successful defense.
For, while simple and unique are the best adjectives to describe my own sense of it, more likely, the Holmes spirit means something different for each one of us who learned how to use those crazy dice reading text from eggshell pages in a pale blue book.
The original text of this article erroneously cited Warlock, a 1975 D&D supplement, as Holmes’s source for the Dexterity-based initiative system. In fact, the source is likely the “Perrin Conventions,” a reprint of which you can find on Christopher Helton’s Dorkland! blog (the Dexterity section). The text above has been corrected. [18:10 19 May 2022 GMT]
YouTuber Daniel Norton of Bandit’s Keep talks in his latest episode about how Dungeon Masters can use solo play to improve their games.
In his affable style, Daniel covers several topics that apply to any D&D edition and probably to most other role-playing games. I haven’t much to add to what Daniel says so well. I can only tease you with Daniel’s list of ways a DM might use solo play.
Play test adventures
Create adventure hooks
Plat test encounters
Map and stock a dungeon
Create interesting NPCs
Learn game mechanics
Rehearse published adventures
Build your world
The most ambitious projects on DONJON LANDS are solo endeavors. Not all use D&D, but they are all for one D&D campaign or another.
The Battle of Throrgardr is a 12th-level B/X scenario, which decides a pivotal moment in Wyrmwyrd’s history.
The Valormr Campaign uses rules for strategic-level wargames to play out events in a war that revealed major details about the history, including the origin and use of the Wyrmwyrd.
The latest project is Dreaming Amon-Gorloth, a Holmes campaign, in which I’m stocking a large dungeon as I explore it with an adventuring party.
I find solo play especially useful for large projects, because I can set my own pace and play the particular game that fits the purpose. While Valormr, for example, could have taken years with a group or even just one other player, I wrote the rules, prepared the scenario, and played it in a summer. Not to mention the prospects of finding another player as interested as I am in such a wargames campaign.
To close the video, Daniel invites us to let him know if we would like to hear more from him about solo play. Of course we would.
Dreaming Amon-Gorloth is a dungeon and wilderness adventure campaign for a party of six to ten characters, levels 1 to 9, intended for use with any old-school edition of the world’s most superlative role-playing game.
As Melqart and the Company of the Blind Seer explore the Deep Halls, I make notes and stock the dungeon. The results are given by dungeon level and wilderness area. Information for each includes necessary background information, details of encounter areas, and wandering monster tables.
I play the campaign solo, running a main character and two companions, plus an entourage of hirelings and henchmen, using Holmes Basic with Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules.
Forbidden Knowledge
If you want to explore the Deep Halls as an adventurer, stop reading here. The tunnels beyond are twisted and nightmarish. Therein lurk creatures yet unimagined, neither living nor dead but dreaming—dreaming dreams of unknown ages, ages long past, ages that never were, ages that were never meant to be. The author of this work bears no responsibility for the perils that may befall the casual explorer in the Deep Halls.
With his first house-rules article (see “Pandemonium Society House Rules”), Phenster attacks the most salient problem in the Holmes edition. In a world where all weapons do the same damage and light weapons attack twice per round, daggers get a lot of use, and we wonder why swords—or indeed any other weapons—ever came under the blacksmith’s hammer.
Charming Solution
By far the simplest solution is to ignore Holmes’s varying number of attacks per round by weapon. Thus, every weapon strikes once per round and does d6 damage. Weapon choice then becomes purely aesthetic. This solution has its charm.
Using the following weapon damage and attack priority rules together disarms the dagger-wielding fighter and gives the adventurer meaningful choices when considering arms.
Damage Dice by Weapon Class [H]
Phenster notes a d6 modified by -1, +1, and +2 for three weapon classes. I assume he intends a fourth class for medium weapons—Holmes uses “ordinary”—which inflict damage equal to an unmodified dice.
In the table below, I note the weapons in each class. Where neither Phenster nor Holmes (20) specifies, I use the weapon damage versus man-sized opponents from Greyhawk (OD&D Supplement I, 15) as a guide.
Damage Dice by Weapon Class Table
Class
Weapons
Damage
Alternative
Light
Dagger, sling (stone)
d6-1
d4
Ordinary
Bow (arrow), hand axe, javelin, light crossbow (bolt), mace, spear
d6
d6
Heavy
Battle axe, flail, heavy crossbow (bolt), lance, morning star, pike, pole arms, sword
d6+1
d8
Extra-Heavy
Halberd, two-handed sword
d6+2
d10
I show an alternative method, not considered in Phenster’s article, that is more familiar to us from B/X. Comparing it to the d6 method, the average damage is the same or, in the case of d6-1, comes close: 2.5 for a d4 versus 2.67 for d6-1, but the ranges of possible results differ.
d-6 Based Damage vs. Alternative Method Comparison Table
d6-Based
Average
Range
Alternative
Average
Range
d6-1
2.67
1-5
d4
2.5
1-4
d6
3.5
1-6
d6
3.5
1-6
d6+1
4.5
2-7
d8
4.5
1-8
d6+2
5.5
3-8
d10
5.5
1-10
Heavy and extra-heavy weapons have a higher minimum and lower maximum possible result than the alternative method. Light weapons, while they have two chances in six to do 1 point of damage, might do up to 5.
I like the alternative method, because it makes use of more of the “crazy dice.” But it tilts the rules terrain toward B/X, and that’s a slippery slope. Moreover, it veers from the Holmes spirit. Rolling a d6 for damage feels more like Bluebook D&D.
Attack Priority by Weapon Quality [H]
To determine who gets the first blow, Phenster gives priority to certain weapons, which I separate by melee and missile and sort into three qualities each: (melee) Short, Long, and Two-Handed—if my interpretation of “Two-handed swords, et. al.” is correct—and (missile) Slow, Fast, and Loaded.
Engagement
From Phenster’s “when you’re fighting something” and from the example of Beowulf versus orcs, I derive the term “engagement.” An engagement occurs between individual combatants. A melee comprises one or more engagements.
Phenster’s example:
So, when Beowulf is charging into a horde of orcs with his two-handed sword, he gets the first blow against the first orc that's fighting with an axe. But after that he goes last, until he wins the fight and goes to fight another orc.
—L’avant garde #32 (August 1980)
Attack Priority by Weapon Quality Table
Melee Weapons
Quality
Weapons*
Attack Priority
Short
Dagger, hand axe
Last blow in first round of an engagement.
First blow in subsequent rounds of an engagement.
Long
Halberd, lance, pike, pole arms, spear, two-handed sword
First blow in first round of an engagement.
Last blow in subsequent rounds of an engagement.
Two-Handed
Battle axe, halberd, pike, pole arms, two-handed sword
Last blow in a round unless also Long.
Missile Weapons
Quality
Weapons*
Attack Priority
Slow
Heavy crossbow†
Shoot every other round.
Fast
All bows†, dagger
If otherwise inactive, make second attack at end of round.
Loaded‡
All bows†, all crossbows†
Shoot first in first round.
* Unless otherwise specified, a weapon’s priority is normal. That is, the wielder attacks in initiative order. † Though it does not effect attack priority, bows and crossbows require two hands. ‡ To gain the Loaded quality, a bow must be readied (arrow knocked) and a crossbow must be loaded before combat. During combat, if the bow- or crossbowman does not shoot in the normal initiative order, the weapon may gain the Loaded quality.
Go First, Go Last
Phenster gives no indication as to how we should integrate first and last strikes into the initiative order. Assuming the Pandemonium Society uses Holmes’s initiative-by-Dexterity system, we might do it the same way we integrate the Editor’s directions about magic spells and missile fire:
“When there is time, or when a magic-user says he is getting a spell ready, magic spells go off first. This is followed by any missile fire…” (Holmes, 21)
In play tests, I divide a round into beginning, middle, and end phases, handling all actions (missile, magic, melee) within each phase in Dexterity order.
I add the Loaded quality to bows, in the case where a bowman “knocks an arrow” just prior to impending combat. Note that, unlike a crossbowman, the bowman’s arm tires quickly, so the knocked state cannot last long.
Caveat to Short and Long Weapons
When an attacker with a short weapon gets inside a longer weapon’s reach before the defender can react, the DM might rule that the short weapon gets the first blow.
For examples, when striking from behind, of course, and when closing on an opponent already engaged in melee with another.
Similarly, a combatant with a longer weapon (e.g., normal vs. short or long vs. normal) may use the parry action (Holmes, 21) to step back, thus disengaging. If the parry is successful, i.e., the parrying combatant is not hit, and if the two opponents come together in the next round, it is considered a new engagement, where the longer weapon again gets the first blow.
Source
Though Phenster does not mention a source in the 1980 article, the attack priority system for melee weapons yields results similar to the man-to-man initiative system given in Chainmail (25-26), and the missile weapon attack priorities are not dissimilar to its mass combat rates of fire (11).
Example: Attack Priority
In this example, I ignore movement rates as well as hits and misses. I also ignore Holmes’s instruction to dice for first blow when “dexterities are within 1 or 2 points of each other” (21), as does Phenster [covered later]. The first two combat rounds are shown, divided into beginning, middle, and end phases. Any movement, which usually takes place after the melee round, is included with the character’s action.
The order of march gives the character class of each party member and their weapons with any notes, including weapon qualities (in parentheses). Dexterity scores are shown [in brackets].
Player Party Order of March:
Fighter [12], sword
Fighter [6], spear (Long)
Magic-User [11], dagger (Short)
Thief [15], bow (Fast) and dagger (Short)
Elf [10], light crossbow (Loaded) and sword
While the party traverses an intersection of two 20'-wide corridors, three gnolls, approaching from the corridor on their right, see the light and charge. The 1st and 2nd Gnolls [14, 9], armed with maces, lead the charge. The 3rd Gnoll [7], wielding a halberd (Long, Two-Handed), trails, so, closes to melee in the second round.
Neither side is surprised. During the gnolls’ charge, the two fighters (Swordsman and Spearman) step in front of the magic-user, who prepares to cast a spell. The thief could knock an arrow, thus adding the Loaded quality to the bow, but the gnolls’ charge catches the player flat-footed.
First Round
Beginning:
Magic-user [11] casts shield.
Elf [10] shoots crossbow (Loaded) at 1st Gnoll.
Spearman [6] (Long) attacks 2nd Gnoll.
Middle:
Thief [15] shoots at 1st Gnoll—who is not yet engaged in melee; see next.
