“MISCELLANEOUS WEAPONS: Those with bonuses of +1, +2 or +3 gain a bonus of equal merit on damage scored, except as noted below” (Monsters & Treasure, 31).
Like most of us, I have read the above line maybe a hundred times. Every time, I have interpreted “of equal merit” to mean equal to the hit bonus. Reading it today, though, I see no obvious reason to believe that to be the case. “Of equal merit” might refer rather to the aforementioned “bonuses of +1, +2 or +3.” The text “noted below” does not further elucidate the issue. Meaning that the magic bonus of miscellaneous weapons (except magic bows and arrows) is applied only to damage, not to the attack roll.
Am I missing something? I’m sure I’m missing something. What are your interpretations or other clarifying text in OD&D?
Back in 1980, a reporter who asked if D&D was only a passing fad learned that “Gygax and Blume think not. D&D, they say, will last fifty years or more.” As unlikely as it was in the 1970s that this esoteric offshoot of the wargaming hobby might become a pop-culture phenomenon, it is just as unlikely that in 2021 the game would be more popular than ever. As a new generation grows up playing the game, it may be that the true impact of Dungeons & Dragons has yet to be felt.
—Jon Peterson, Game Wizards
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS. In 1974, it was a new kind of game, created at the intersection of wargames and fantasy and science-fiction literature. It came to be called a role-playing game, enjoyed by millions over these five decades.
So this year, we celebrate the game and the millions of fellow players with whom we share the common experience: fantastic adventure in make-believe worlds. We celebrate friends found and friendships made firmer. We celebrate a simple connection to a diverse array of people from all around the world. A stranger is not so strange when we both know what it’s like to explore a dank dungeon, torch in hand, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and fighting monsters.
We also celebrate D&D’s several editions over the years as well as the hundreds—thousands—of other role-playing games that followed it. One of its strong points is that D&D is a toolbox. With it, we can have an adventure, make a string of adventures into a campaign, and create an imaginary world full of adventures. We are given license to change the rules as desired, and in so doing, perhaps, make a new game altogether. It is so malleable.
We celebrate the game’s cultural impact. From a niche 1970s game that broke out of its intended wargamer audience by the end of the first print run to a game played by thousands who hardly understood the rules and condemned by thousands more as devil worship in the ’80s, D&D in the 21st century has grown into a pop-culture phenomenon. As a teenager, when I said I played D&D, I had to follow with “It’s a game of imagination, without a board. Players take the roles of…” Today I just say I play D&D and know that most folks are familiar with it, even if some may still misunderstand the game. The curious ask, a conversation starts.
We also celebrate the use, in recent years, of D&D and other RPGs in education, psychotherapy, spiritual growth, and team-building and leadership development. Just playing an RPG for fun is good for us in countless ways. More than that though, the game’s innate means of personal growth applied, with intent, to overcome individual and collective challenges increases the game’s impact manifold.
It’s there, in applied RPGs, that in the next 50 years we may see an important impact of D&D in the world. Maybe its most important—its true impact.
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Lake Geneva, WI: Tactical Studies Rules, 1974. Box cover image from the Acaeum: Dungeons & Dragons Knowledge Compendium, Original D&D Set.
In his “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk” in L’avant garde #74 (August 1985), editor Dave writes: “From the Pandemonium Society, we get some new twists on old rules and an armored personnel carrier for your fantasy wargame campaigns!”
Dungeoneering
by Phenster
These are some rules we've been using for a long time, but we haven't bothered to write them down yet. Plus a couple monsters from Basel's campaign.
Seeing in the Dungeon
Hazard doesn't go in for infravision. He says dwarves and elves and most underground dwellers can just see 60 feet in the dark. I like the logic of heat-seeing vision and so does Basel. I think it's just too complicated though. Basel uses it in his campaign, but he usually isn't real strict about it.
Forcing Doors Open
We used to play it where, if you didn't force a door open on the first try, you had to roll again and again to get it open or just give up. That was boring and pointless. Now we play it where, if you fail with less than a 6, it means the door is still between you and whatever is in the room. You can get it open pretty easily (without having to roll again), but you can't see what's on the other side, and anything there, in fact anything within earshot, knows someone's at the door and trying to get through. If you get a 6 (after adjustment for high strength), then the door doesn't budge. It's still stuck and you just can't open it, but somebody stronger than you can try. Or you could use an axe.
Finding Traps
Anyone can search for signs of a trap. We have to be specific about where we're looking. But if there's a trap that isn't concealed somehow, we find it without rolling for it. We have to be careful not to set off the trap while we're looking for it. Some traps, like a poison needle in a lock, we just can't see. A thief can detect traps like that with the same chance as he can remove it.
Magic Items
Magic swords get a bonus to the ATTACK roll AND they do bonus magic DAMAGE, same as the attack bonus, just like other magic weapons. Some (20%) magic swords give off light in a 10-foot radius.
War hammers do d6 damage. You can throw one up to 30' (same ranges as a hand-hurled axe). A Dwarven War Hammer is a +3 magic weapon. Dwarves can throw one twice as far with no penalty for long range, and it will boomerang back to the dwarf if it misses. If it hits, it does an extra dice of damage. If a dwarf hits a giant with a thrown Dwarven War Hammer, it gets two extra dice, 3d6+3 damage.
You can use a battle axe with only one hand and do d6+1 damage. If you use both hands, you get d6+2.
Rings of Armor: These rings (of plate mail, chain mail, and leather) give the wearer an armor class equal to their armor type with a magic bonus. So a ring of plate mail +1 gives AC 2, chain mail +2 gives AC 3. The magic bonus is also added to saving throws. If you're already wearing better armor, your AC isn't improved, but you still get the bonus to saves.
Equipment
Caltrops: You can throw caltrops on the floor of the dungeon to make monsters think twice about following you. One bag of caltrops will cover a 10-foot-square area. When a monster (or anyone really) walks through the caltrops, they have to slow down to half their exploring move rate or half combat speed (in combat). Any faster than that they might step on a caltrop (50% chance): take 1 point of damage and stop running immediately, moving at half speed until the damage is healed. You can toss caltrops up to 10', but the chance of stepping on one goes down to 30%. A bag of caltrops costs 1 g.p.
Salt: Throwing salt on zombies makes them dry up and wither. When we hit with a handful of salt, it does 1-8 damage. One bag of salt with a dozen handfuls costs 1 g.p.
Dungeon Boomtowns
We usually come out of the dungeon with some treasure. Sometimes we don't find anything, and sometimes we get a LOT of treasure! There are other adventurers bringing up treasure too, and all that money goes into the local economy and causes inflation, which means the price of stuff goes up.
The Boomtown rule says that the price of stuff goes up when a lot of treasure comes out of the dungeon and into the town. It's like a gold rush, but this is all kinds of treasure--not just gold--and it pours into base town like a river.
It sounds complicated, but Hazard makes it easy by tying inflation to the level of our PCs, because most of our XP comes from treasure. The price of everything doubles when the highest level PC gets to 4th level. It doubles again at 8th, 12th, etc. Everything means everything: from ale at the tavern to guild fees and hireling rates.
Monsters from KING OF WANDS
Cargolith: Move 60 feet/turn, Hit Dice 8-16, Armor Class 2, Treasure Type A (10%), Alignment Neutral, Attacks 1, Damage 3-36 (stomp). When resting, this creature looks like a small rocky hill, sometimes with a low natural wall surrounding the top. It can rest a long time, so grass or small trees might grow out of cracks. If disturbed, by walking on it, say, or taking a break inside the walls, the cargolith will stand on eight feet and start going in a random direction. There is a 50% chance that a ceiling of porous rock will form over the walls to close in whatever (and whoever) is within the walls.
Cargoliths have animal intelligence and can be trained to carry personnel, equipment and treasure. They can carry 1 man or 2,000 coins weight per HD. Enough air comes through the ceiling rock for breathing creatures.
Cargoliths consume small rocks and prefer river pebbles, so they are difficult to control within 100 yards of a river. They come from the elemental plane of earth. They are too big to go into most dungeons.
Enormous Spider: Move 90 feet/turn, Hit Dice 6+6, Armor Class 2, Treasure Type E, Alignment Lawful Evil, Attacks 1, Damage 4-16 (bite with strong poison, -1 to save vs. poison). These spiders are not web users, but they use sticky spider silk to build elaborate nests that look like fortresses from anything they can carry. Enormous spiders are intelligent. We know of at least one that can cast spells!
Another curiosity in Holmes is the player character move rates. The Movement Table (9) shows that an “unencumbered, unarmored man” explores the dungeon at 240 feet per ten-minute turn, a fully armored man at 120. This corresponds to OD&D, wherein “Two moves constitute a [ten-minute] turn” and, so, a fully armored character moves 120 feet in a turn (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8).
A discrepancy arises, though, when we consider monster move rates. Man-sized creatures move from 60 feet to 120 feet per turn. An orc, for example, has an armor class of 7 (leather armor) and moves at 90 feet per turn. Inserting a line between unarmored and fully armored characters for “half armor” on Holmes’s table (as does Phenster), a leather-armored character would move at 180 feet per turn or twice as fast as the orc.
As written, the rules leave no room for ambiguity. Each monster entry is explicit: “Move: 90 feet/turn,” to use the orc example.
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.
Here again is an opportunity to modify the rules with a light hand. Though it veers away from later editions, by doubling Holmes’s monster move rates, we align Bluebook Basic with OD&D.
In “Movement and Encumbrance” (L’avant garde #63), Phenster gives weight-allowance ranges then admits to estimating encumbrance. I give Movement Rates [H] to align character move rates with those of monsters, which includes estimated encumbrance, and Encumbrance [E] as the more detailed option. Further, I separate extra and super heavy loads into another rule in the [P] Pandemonium category. Phenster adds carrying capacities for haversacks and pouches, which I put in the [E] Extra category.
On resting, Holmes stipulates that “one turn every hour should be spent motionless” (9), as does OD&D (The Underworld and Wilderness Adventures, 8), without exacting any penalties should the players ignore the requirement, which we often did. Phenster adds consequences. Resting [E] is informed by Chainmail (11).
Movement Rates [H]
A character’s movement rate is limited by armor worn and treasure carried according to the table below. The movement type depends on the situation, explained after the table. Units are feet per turn unless otherwise shown in the header. The max weight column is given for use with Encumbrance [E].
Note: “Normal” rate refers to the normal move speed in the dungeon (see table).
Dungeon
Outdoors
Category
Armor
Max Weight (cn)
Combat (round)
Exploring
Normal
Town* (yards)
Wilderness* (yards)
Journey (miles/day)
Unencumbered
None
300
20
120
240
400
240
24
Half armor
Leather
600
15
90
180
300
180
18
Full armor
Chain, plate
900
10
60
120
200
120
12
Heavy load**
1800
5
30
60
100
60
6
* Assumes good lighting; halve the rate in poor lighting. ** Cannot run.
Dungeon
Normal: Moving in cramped, dim spaces is hazardous even without the threat of monster attack or unseen pitfalls. Characters may move at normal rate over familiar terrain. Still, they are surprised on a 1 to 3 and may not notice any changes since their last passage. Other move rates are derived from the normal speed.
Exploring: Wary of lurking monsters and on the lookout for hidden treasure, a character moves at half normal rate while exploring.
Combat: In a 10-second combat round, a creature can move and normally defend itself while moving 1⁄6 the distance it can explore in one turn.
Faster Movement
Phenster shows a running rate of twice normal speed for dungeon environments and adds the option to run during combat outside melee. I add running outdoors up to three times the move rate. I also add forced march for long-distance overland travel.
At any movement rate, except exploring and journey, creatures can double or treble their speed within limits defined below. In the dungeon, running is twice or thrice normal move rate (not the exploring rate). Moving faster than the given rate, a creature is surprised on a roll of 1 to 4.
Double time: An unencumbered character can double-time for 3 turns. A half-armored character for 2 turns. Fully-armored 1 turn. A character burdened with a heavy load cannot run.
Sprint: Sprinting is three times the current rate. Flank attacks on a sprinting character are made as if to the rear (see Flank and Rear Attacks [E]), gaining a +2 bonus on the attack roll. After sprinting one round, fully-armored characters cannot run (sprint or double-time) the next round.
Forced march: Traveling overland, characters may move half again their journey rate for one day. They must rest the next day or be fatigued (see Resting [E], below).
Notes on Running
According to my reading, Phenster inflicts no penalty to a double-timing character in combat. Assuming one hustles in such a dire situation, we are aligned with combat move rates in B/X.
A charge is executed at sprint speed (see Charge [E]). Therefore, a charging character is likewise more vulnerable to flank attacks.
Outdoors
Wilderness and journey rates are considered the base move, which is further modified by terrain type. We’ll get to that later.
Town: Characters can move through non-threatening, well-lit, open spaces ten times faster than in dungeons, assuming they are not making a map either. In poor lighting conditions, the rate is halved.
Wilderness: Exploring a dangerous but open environment, characters move at three times the normal dungeon rate. The wilderness rate is expressed in yards per turn. Again, halve the rate in poor lighting conditions.
Journey: Overland travel is 11 times faster than the normal move rate in the dungeon. The journey rate can be derived from the normal dungeon move rate divided by 10 in miles per day.
Heavy Loads [P]
Phenster’s table breaks heavy loads into three weight ranges. Characters so encumbered cannot run, and those with extra and super heavy loads take penalties in combat and cannot travel long distances. All that adds a certain realism but is over complex for the Holmes spirit, so I separate this rule from Movement Rates [H].
Dungeon
Outdoors
Category
Armor
Max Weight (cn)
Combat (round)
Exploring
Normal
Town* (yards)
Wilderness* (yards)
Journey (miles/day)
Unencumbered
None
300
20
120
240
400
240
24
Half armor
Leather
600
15
90
180
300
180
18
Full armor
Chain, plate
900
10
60
120
200
120
12
Heavy load**
1200
5
30
60
100
60
6
Extra-heavy**†
1500
3
20
40
60
40
—
Super-heavy**‡
1800
1
10
20
30
20
—
* Assumes good lighting; halve the rate in poor lighting. ** Cannot run. † −2 penalty on attack rolls, +2 penalty to AC. ‡ −4 attack rolls, +4 AC.
Encumbrance [E]
Encumbrance is measured by an item’s category according to the following table. Only armor, weapons, and treasure are considered. All other items are counted in the standard allowance, which is 100 coins. Weapons by weight are given in the Damage Dice by Weapon Class Table in “Weapon Damage and Attack Priority.”
These are the carrying capacities of common containers.
Container
Capacity (in coins)
Large sack
600
Backpack
300
Small sack
300
Haversack
200
Pouch
100/50/25*
* Large/medium/small
Resting [E]
Characters must rest for one turn after exploring for five turns, running, or combat. The number of turns a character can run without resting depends on their encumbrance (above).
Characters who do not rest suffer a −1 penalty on attack and damage rolls and move at the next slower category. Hirelings check morale at −1 on the dice (see Morale [E]). For every five more turns exploring or any running or combat, the penalties increase by 1 and the move rate goes down another step. Unencumbered characters moving slower than their move rate don’t need to rest.
This is the 30th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
“Bluebook” D&D. The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.
The following article appeared in L’avant garde #63 (May 1984).
Movement and Encumbrance
by Phenster
It's true that our first adventures weren't very sophisticated. It was just Hazard and me and Beowulf back then. Jinx joined us early on. I remember that we carried a ton of equipment and fought a slew of monsters. I don't remember how many times we died. Whenever we all got killed, we erased the treasure we found before that and kept going. There didn't seem to be any point to rolling up a new character.
We didn't pay much attention to how much gold we had to start either. We just picked stuff from the equipment list. I think I had about everything in my backpack: rations, water skins, 100s of feet of rope, torches, oil, iron spikes, a silver mirror. . . . I even took a holy symbol and wooden stakes w/mallet, garlic, and a few holy waters. Somehow I was sure we would run into a vampire, even if we were only second level. All that went in the backpack, and I strapped a bandoleer of daggers across my chest. With the lantern and a 10' pole in my hands and a scroll with three spells up my sleeve, I was ready for adventure!
Beowulf wore plate mail armor, a shield, and the whole armory of weapons. We didn't even know what half of them were, but Beowulf wanted one of each. Jinx stuck 10 daggers and a bunch of other equipment on a bandoleer. He could draw a flint-and-steel and a torch as quick as a throwing dagger and still have time to light the torch and throw it at a monster while I threw oil on it. But then we read the rules and figured out there's no way in Pandemonium we could have afforded all that stuff, much less carry it all around with us.
Encumbrance
Hazard made up this simple list of the encumbrance for armor, weapons, and treasure. A helmet counts as part of whatever armor you're wearing. For all the other equipment, like rope and spikes and stuff, he gives us the standard allowance, as long as we don't go overboard.
Equipment
Encumbrance (in coins)
---------
-----------
Leather armor
300
Chain, plate armor
600
Helmet
---
Shield
100
Light weapons
20
Normal weapons
50
Heavy weapons
100
Extra-heavy weapons
150
Coin, gem, scroll, ring
1
Jewelry, potion, scroll w/case
10
Wand, staff, rod
30
Standard allowance
100
Move Rates
You find your move rate by the kind of armor you're wearing. You can wear armor and carry up to 300 coins without going over into the next slower category, but every 300 coins after that slows you down more and more.
Exploring speed is half your normal rate. Going at normal rate in the dungeon, you're more likely to walk into a monster nest or not notice a trap or some important clue. Running (double time) is twice the normal rate. Combat speed is 1/12th normal rate, but it's per round. (You can also run while combat is going on but not while fighting in melee.) Outdoors, with good light and no mapping (mostly in towns), you move 5 times faster than normal rate. Half that in bad light. For long-distance travel, we use journey rates. You move at normal speed divided by 10 in mi./day.
You can't run with a heavy load. Full armor can only run for 1 turn. Half armor can run 2 turns, and unencumbered can run 3 turns. Extra heavy and super heavy loads can't run or move long distances, and you can hardly take a step. Fighting isn't a good idea either, because you take a -2 on attacks and a +2 AC with an extra heavy load, and super heavy takes double the penalties.
Category
Armor type
Max coins
Comb.
Expl.
Norm.
Run
Jour.
--------
-----
-----
-----
-----
-----
---
-----
Unencumbered
NONE
300
20
120
240
480
24
Half armor
Leather
600
15
90
180
360
18
Full armor
Chain, plate
900
10
60
120
240
12
Heavy load
1200
5
30
60
0
6
Extra heavy
1500
3
20
40
0
0
Super heavy
1800
1
10
20
0
0
Every +1 bonus for strength gives you 200 extra coins you can carry without going over to the next category. (-1 for strength gives you 100 less coins.)
It's kind of hard to keep track of it all, and we usually forget to add up all the treasure we're carrying after a while. Even Cypher says it's too tedious. But basically, your weapons and equipment usually turn out to be within the 300 additional coins you can carry at the start of the adventure. So, just go with your armor category. Then, when you get a good treasure haul, you'll probably go down to the next slower category, unless you've got a high strength.
Coin Carrying Capacities
Large sack
600
Backpack
300
Small sack
300
Haversack
200
Pouch
100/50/25*
* Large/medium/small
A haversack is like a small sack with a strap so you can carry it over a shoulder. It's called a haversack because it's just big enough to put everything in it. I like to say "I either HAVE it ER I don't!" And I can get stuff out of it easy. Even during combat, it only takes one round. I can't be under attack, of course, but when the melee is going on all around me, I can still reach in and grab a potion or a bag of caltrops. If it's in a backpack, you have to take it off and rummage. Rummaging during melee is a good way to get yourself a new character.
Resting
Exploring the dungeon is exhausting. We have to rest for 1 turn after 5 turns exploring or after running or after combat. Combat happens so fast that we say we just rest for the rest of that turn. If we don't (or can't) rest, then we take a -1 penalty on attack and damage rolls, and we move at the next slower category. Plus, hirelings take a -1 penalty on their morale rolls. If we still don't rest after 5 more turns (or running or another combat), the penalty is -2 and we go down another move category. It goes on like that until we can't move at all. When we rest for 1 turn, we're good as new after. If you're unencumbered and moving at a slower rate, you don't need to rest at all.
Nowadays I like to travel unencumbered. I carry a haversack with all my gear in it, including scrolls and potions. I wear a girdle around my waist to hold a pouch with 20 g.p. and a dagger to protect my skin. Beowulf wears plate mail, a helmet, and carries his two-handed sword. He has a backpack for gear and a short sword for fighting in tight spots. Because he's so strong, he can still carry a sack full of gold without slowing down. Jinx wears leather armor with a skullcap, a backpack, a sword, only 5 daggers on a bandoleer, and he carries the lantern and the 10' pole.
We did eventually encounter a vampire. We were 3rd level. We had just found a good haul of treasure and decided to do one more room before we quit for the day. We thought it was just a giant bat at first, so I threw a web spell on it. It turned into a cloud of gas, and my web fell on the ground. Then it became a vampire! I presented the symbol with verve and threw holy water at it, while Beowulf and Jinx fought it. But we all died anyway.
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
Interviewed for the Raised on DnD podcast, I talk with Nick Cardarelli about old-school editions of D&D, a little about how they differ from newer editions, but mostly about how I love all the editions and how D&D is good for us.
Click the image to listen on Spotify.
Raised on DnD podcast helps enrich your family’s gaming experience by bringing you interviews with parents, educators, game designers, and influencers. Join us as we delve into the many ways tabletop role-playing games inspire creativity, develop communication skills, and create lasting bonds among players.
FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION (Basic D&D, 1977).
From the map of the “land” of the “Great Kingdom” and environs — the territory of the C & C Society — Dave located a nice bog wherein to nest the weird enclave of “Blackmoor”, a spot between the “Giant Kingdom” and the fearsome “Egg of Coot”.
—Gary Gygax, from the FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION, Basic D&D, 1977.
The Giant Kingdom
The words conjure a rugged land. Humans traverse with difficulty. Its inhabitants live in clan groups, each giant kind—stone, frost, storm, etc.—in its proper niche. Clans are led by chieftains. Several clans are ruled by jarls, whose power may reach far along mountain ranges. From floating castles high above, cloud and storm giants vie for the Giant Crown.
Another Holmes Uniquity
Compare the original “Forward” to D&D in Men & Magic (below) to the FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION in Holmes Basic D&D (above). In the original, the Great Kingdom serves as the territory of the C&C Society as well as a border of Blackmoor, opposite the Egg of Coot. In Holmes, it is the Giant Kingdom that borders Blackmoor.
The “Forward” to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS by E. Gary Gygax (Men & Magic, 1974).
The “Forward” to DUNGEONS & DRAGONS by E. Gary Gygax, dated November 1, 1973 (Men & Magic, 1974).
In the FOREWORD FROM THE ORIGINAL EDITION, I read a mysterious fairy tale. It began with “ONCE UPON A TIME, long, long ago . . .” and turned quickly esoteric. There were castles, crusades, and societies. There was a character named Dave Arneson and a map of a “Great Kingdom” and its “environs.” There was a bog and, in it, a “weird enclave” called “Blackmoor” in “a spot between the ‘Giant Kingdom’ and the fearsome ‘Egg of Coot.’” There were medieval fantasy “campaigns,” which were more than just a game. Blackmoor was one, another was Greyhawk.
The place names were unfamiliar, as were many of the words. They all came together in my mind like pieces of an insolvable jigsaw puzzle. . . .
The last Sunday in January. That’s when D&D historian Jon Peterson marks the anniversary of the game’s release: January, from a 1975 fanzine article by Gary Gygax; late in the month, from the co-creator’s recollection in the 1999 Silver Anniversary edition, and Sunday, because that’s the day “Gary invited the world to drop by his house, at 1:30 PM, to have a first experience of Dungeons & Dragons.” According to Peterson’s reckoning, on January 28, 2024, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D.
Another date must have been an important milestone to Gary Gygax. The foreword is often written last. When it’s done, the author’s work is complete. The manuscript now goes to typesetting, layout, proofreading, and, finally, to the printer. As he punched out “1 November 1973” on typewriter keys, Gygax must have felt, at the same time, great satisfaction in having completed the game and hopeful trepidation about its reception by the wargaming community. These emotions may have clouded his vision such that he didn’t catch an error in the title.
The milestone is also important to many fans, who, like myself, found so much wonder in that single half-size page. In the opening citation, I describe my fascination when I first encountered the text in the 1977 Holmes Basic edition. By now I’ve read it countless times. It is with the same fascination, the same wonder, that I read it again today—and maybe once more.
If the last Sunday in January is the anniversary of its birth, November 1 marks the advent of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.
In the years since, I learned all the place names from the mysterious fairy tale and all the words, too. I learned about the Castle & Crusade Society and their Chainmail fantasy wargame rules. I learned that Dave Arneson and the FOREWORD’s author, Gary Gygax, invented the game, of which the “original edition” was published in the previous decade. I have adventured in Greyhawk and Blackmoor and set scenarios for my own medieval fantasy campaigns in those worlds. And although now I know its origin and character, in my mind, the Egg of Coot remains fearsome.
Languages reveal culture. Their use in an RPG campaign adds verisimilitude. Riffing off Phenster’s examples, we can introduce languages to a simple D&D campaign without much effort. Or we can use the examples as a starting point and, with some effort, develop the ideas further.
A character can learn languages in addition to languages known at character creation (see “Ability Score Modifiers in the Great Halls of Pandemonium”). A teacher must be found, and the fee negotiated. The suggested minimum is 100 g.p. per month.
The time required to learn a language is 6 + d6 months. Complex languages take 6 + 3d6 months. Reduce the number of months by one month per language already known, not counting Common and the alignment language. Dialects of known languages require half the number of months.
Learning may be interrupted for up to one month without consequence. An interruption of more than a month adds an additional month to the learning time, i.e. after a month or more without learning, one month of previous study is lost.
Reducing Monster Languages
“All other creatures and monsters which can speak have their own language” (Men & Magic, 12).
In OD&D, the monster list doubles for the language list. Holmes reproduces the text (9), adding that all languages are selected at character creation. Moldvay suggests human dialects and 19 languages spoken by monsters from the Basic (1981) rulebook. Cook and Marsh give no further guidance concerning which Expert monsters might speak their own language. The AD&D Dungeon Master’s Guide (1979) lists more than 50 languages (102), including one for each color and metal of dragon plus six giant types.
If language selection is to be meaningful, the player should have a certain assurance to encounter speakers or script written in the language. Choosing the language of bronze dragons would be a rare gamble. Of course, when a player selects the language, the clever DM finds a way to include the speech of a bronze dragon in the game. Clever DMs aside, a language not chosen by players is of little use in the campaign.
Instead of a language for every monster, Hazard groups monsters by themes, loosely cultural. For example, gnomes and kobolds speak dialects of dwarvish.1 All fairy creatures speak the same language, as do goblinoids and wargs.
Hazard also groups mythical creatures, who speak one of an undefined number of unnamed ancient human, or “Mythic,” languages. As a good many monsters from contemporary sources (OD&D, Holmes, AD&D Monster Manual, B/X) are drawn from mythology, this greatly reduces the language list. Furthermore, because the Mythics are from ancient (presumably human) cultures, they are doubly useful.
Monster Languages by Culture [C]
These are monster languages according to Hazard’s system. The DM is free to modify and invent. Alternative names are in parentheses. See Phenster’s description of each monster language.
Monster Languages
Dwarvish/Gnomish/Kobold+
Elvish (Fairy)*
Goblinish
Orcish+
Gnoll*
Ogrish++
Draconic (Wyrm Utterances, Wyrmspeak)*
Entish**
Doppleganger*
+ Dialects of the same language. ++ Dialect of Common. * Complex language. ** Complex language, requires years, not months, to learn.
Surrogate Languages
“[Hazard] uses other real languages (usually old ones) for other old languages in the Heptarchy.”
The first I encountered the idea was in Ray Winninger’s Dungeoncraft, where the author applies foreign languages to character names (Dragon #259, 18-20). Hazard goes further. He uses real-world languages as stand-ins for any representation of imaginary languages in the campaign. In “MYSTERIORUM LIBRI,” Phenster notes Hazard’s choice of surrogate language for each human language in parentheses at the end of the description.
Human Language Categories [C]
Like the “Common” language, used throughout D&D editions and ubiquitous in D&D campaigns for going on five decades, Hazard’s “Old Common” is not otherwise named. Phenster’s DM doesn’t go out of his way to name the language used throughout the dominant culture of the ancient world, either, calling it “O.E.,” which must stand for Old Empire.
Though perhaps obvious, I outline these categories and subcategories as a simple way for the DM to consider languages in the campaign setting.
The Common Languages
In addition to the Common language currently in use throughout the campaign setting, a number of other languages once served a similar purpose. These, if not still spoken, have extant written samples. Phenster’s examples are old and ancient common and numerous mythic languages.
Old: This was the common language hundreds of years before the contemporary Common, which may or may not be an offshoot of the older. If English is our real-world Common, Old English or French are examples of Old Common.
Ancient: At least one step removed from Common, this language was in widespread use a thousand years or more before the present. In the real-world example, the Romans spread Latin throughout the known world.
Mythic: The many and diverse mythic languages were first used in times long past and places near and far. Greek, Old Norse, Egyptian, Ugarit, and Mayan are a few examples from our world.
Uncommon Languages
Phenster mentions Caerlon, an indigenous language. I add the local and foreign categories.
Indigenous: Spoken by people native to the area, indigenous languages are spoken and may be written, depending on the culture’s technological level.
Local: In some areas, usually outside the setting’s cultural center, the Common language may be foreign. The locals speak Common as a second language. Player characters from the region would speak the local language as well as Common.
Foreign: Merchants, immigrants, and invaders bring their languages to the campaign area.
Linguae Francae
Phenster tells us O.E. is “the lingua franca of the Church,” as is Ecclesiastical Latin in our world. The historical Lingua Franca is a mix of a few languages, including French, once used in trading ports around the Mediterranean. In D&D worlds, Common is usually considered the mercantile language, but a setting might use another (or others). Other possibilities for linguae francae are a court language, a language used between sages (possibly secret) or a multi-cultural military group, druidic, and the cant of thieves.
The Rare Languages
The example is Runic, which is lost, magical, and secret. The Forty-Eight Keys are another possible example, but Phenster doesn’t make it clear whether the language is lost or magical or both. Though I break down the constituent categories, combining at least two of these makes the player’s choice less rare. In any case, player characters usually cannot learn a rare language at the beginning of their careers.
Lost: A lost language is unknown or heard of only in legends at campaign start. A lost language usually falls into another category or categories, e.g., a lost mythic language.
Magic: Assuming the usual D&D campaign setting where magic-users must cast a spell to read magic, any additional magical language should be, at least, difficult to use or limited, perhaps by rarity. It may also allow the use of a different kind of magic.
Secret: A secret language is used by a small group, widely dispersed. A missive may be intercepted, but its contents are indecipherable to outsiders without the proper magic.
Alignment Languages
A system of only two opposing alignment languages places a greater emphasis on the opposition between them. It suits a campaign that, like Hazard’s Great Halls of Pandemonium, embraces Law and Chaos as opposing sides, wherein scenarios focus on the ongoing battle between them. Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C] can be used whether using three, five, or nine alignments. These house rules assume five.
Alignment Languages: Law and Chaos [C]
Whether good or evil, lawful and chaotic characters know their respective alignment language, either Law or Chaos. Neutral characters know neither.
Written Alignment Languages [C]
Alignment languages are usually spoken. Individual words or short phrases (up to three words suggested) may be inscribed on a durable medium, e.g. stone, precious metals.
Four or Five Alignment Languages
Another idea is to break the alignment languages into four or five: Law, Chaos, Good, Evil, and maybe Neutral. Creatures speak two, one, or, if only four languages, none, depending on their alignment. Chaotic good characters speaking with like-aligned would use a mix of Chaos and Good, depending on the topic. Lawful good and chaotic good would use Good. Although such a system would create a certain ambiance, it might get a little nuts. I don’t propose it as a house rule.
1 In Holmes, “Gnomes are similar to dwarves,” and kobolds are “dwarf-like,” though they “behave much like goblins” (28, 29).
This is the 28th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
“Bluebook” D&D. The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.
In the September 1984 “Dispatch from the Campaign Desk,” Dave introduces Phenster’s contribution:
“Phenster tells us a story wrapped around ways the Pandemonium Society uses languages, and he throws us a few more crumbs about Hazard’s Heptarchy campaign setting” (L’avant garde #67).
MYSTERIORUM LIBRI
by Phenster
Hexalogy
We found a book in the dungeon. None of us could read it. It was written in "a strange script with an evil air about it." That's how Hazard described it. We found it in a green dragon's hoard with a lot of treasure from the Old Empire, vases, jewelry and scrolls and stuff.
Phenster Prime knows O.E., which is what we call the ancient common language of the Old Empire (he also knows Orcish, Elvish, Mythic and the Wyrm Utterances, q.v.), so we decided to go to the Lundgre Towers, a big city ruled by magic-users. There's a huge library there, where we could do some research and find out what the language was and decipher some of the script. I say "we" but it was mostly me and Cypher doing the research. Friar Tombs went off on a quest for the church with the rest of the party except Jinx and Beowulf. Highway Jinx made contact with the city Thieves' Guild, but he hasn't told us what mission he did yet, and Beowulf the Bully got into a brawl at the Pen Alembic on the first night and spent a whole month hanging by a chain from Tower Gaol.
It took us a while to find anything in the library. It's so big it has its own dungeon! It was an adventure, but eventually, we found the "MYSTERIORUM LIBRI QUINQUE" (The Five Books of Mystery). It's really just one big book, all written in O.E. Hazard uses Latin words for O.E. to make it sound different from English, which is the Common language of course. He uses other real languages (usually old ones) for other old languages in the Heptarchy.
The Five Books of Mystery tell all about how a special kind of magic works. The first book is a primer on a language called the Forty-Eight Keys. That's the language the book we found is written in. The Keys (for short) are used to communicate with creatures from other planes of existence. We translated the title of the book we found. It's called The Sixth and Sacred Book of Mystery. We still have to translate the whole book, but it's supposed to tell us how we can get to a place called the MYSTICAL HEPTARCHY. We think it's a parallel plane of existence, but we don't know why we'd want to go there.
We can learn extra languages during the campaign in addition to the ones we know at 1st level from our intelligence. That's how I learned the local Mythic. We have to find a teacher and work out the teaching fee (depends on the teacher but at least 100 g.p. per month), and it takes 6 plus 1d6 months to learn a normal language or 6+3d6 for complex languages, like the Utterances or Doppleganger. Subtract one month per extra language you already know (not counting Common or Alignment). You can usually study a language during off-time and still go on adventures. I wanted to learn the Forty-Eight Keys, but the only teacher I found in Lundgre was this weird, old guy that smelled like sulphur. His name was Enoch the Tower Hermit. He said I'd have to stay in his tower the whole time without ever going out. I didn't want to keep Phenster Prime out of the campaign for so long. I'd rather be adventuring. And that guy was just too weird.
Here's how Hazard worked out languages in the GREAT HALLS campaign. I use a similar system in games I run, and some other DMs in the Pandemonium Society use it too. Complex languages (q.v.) have an asterisk (*).
Monster Languages
Dwarvish/Gnomish/Kobold: Gnomish and Kobold are dialects of Dwarvish. If you know Dwarvish, you can learn Gnomish or Kobold in half the normal time. *Elvish/Fairy is the common language in Elfland. Most fairy creatures speak it. Goblinish: All the goblin types speak Goblinish: goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and wargs. Orcish: There are so many different dialects of Orcish that whenever you talk in Orcish, there's always a chance to misunderstand or be misunderstood. If that happens, there's usually a fight. It's better to speak Common with orcs if they speak Common or not talk at all and evade if possible. *Gnoll is difficult to learn and speak because the sounds aren't like what people usually can make. Ogrish: Ogres speak a dialect of Common. We can usually communicate with an ogre, if it wants to talk. *Wyrm Utterances or Wyrmspeak is a primordial language. The dragons call it "Mother's Tongue" because Tiamat taught it to the first dragons. She learned it by licking the stones on the Shores of Time, which split her tongue. That's why dragons and lizards have split tongues. *Entish uses words and chemical signals passed between treekfolk by their roots. It takes years (instead of months) to learn Entish, and even then you talk in a dialect because you don't have roots or the right chemicals. *Doppleganger is an alien language. It sounds different than all the other languages because it doesn't really have words like we think about them.
Other Languages Spoken by Humans
Old Common: Not many books are written in Old Common, but a lot of graffiti in the Great Halls is written in it. It's an earlier form of Common that's still used by folks in remote areas of the Heptarchy. Some monsters out there speak it, too, instead of Common. (Old English) O.E.: Lots of books are written in the language of the Old Empire. A lot of books from earlier times were translated to O.E. too, so sages usually know it. It's also the linga franca of the Church. Cleric scrolls are written in O.E. or Common. All clerics have to know O.E. by 3rd level or they have trouble advancing in the Church hierarchy. (Latin) Caerlon: Several native tribes inhabit wilderness areas in the Heptarchy. They are called the "First Peoples," and they speak Caerlon, which has a musical sing-song cadence. Caerlon has many dialects, but they're all similar, so different tribes mostly understand each other. They also write on scrolls and pottery and carve on stones and cave walls. (Celtic) The Mythics*: There were lots of other empires and civilizations way before the Old Empire. The Mythic languages were common tongues back then. Some of them are still spoken by people in the Faraway Lands (which is everywhere outside the Heptarchy) and mythical creatures, like medusas, minotaurs, centaurs, cyclopes and giants and such. That was before they had books, and any scrolls written in the Mythics turned to dust long ago, but some copies have been made, and there might be clay tablets. Or so Hazard says, we haven't found any yet. (Norse [for our local Mythic], Greek [far to the south], Egyptian) Runic is a lost magical language. It used symbols (or runes) to convey meaning and store magic power. We find the runes sometimes on small, flat stones and dungeon walls. Some powerful wizards and a few sages know the names of the runes. We can pay a sage to tell us a rune's name, but they won't teach Runic to anybody. (Futhark)
Alignment Languages
Alignment languages are a whole other thing. They aren't like normal languages, but they aren't magic either. Hazard says they are "integral" to the world, like if you change alignments you just don't know the old alignment language anymore and you do know the new one, just like that.
The Basic rulebook has 5 alignments. AD&D has 9 and every one has its own alignment language. I agree with Hazard when he says that's way too many. In the GREAT HALLS campaign, we have the 5 alignments, but there are only 2 alignment languages: the Words of Law and the Dark Speech of Chaos. They are spoken languages with gestures, usually not written. But sometimes we find words or short phrases engraved in stone or jewelry. They are often magicked in some way.
Lawful characters can speak Law Words. It's impossible to tell a lie with Words of Law. Chaotics know the Dark Speech. There are a million ways to tell lies and half truths in Dark Speech. Chaotic good characters usually don't use the Dark Speech, even though they can understand it. Lawful evil characters use Words of Law for their malevolent designs. Neutrals don't know either one of these languages.
More Mysteriorum
Tombs & co. were successful in their quest. They retrieved a religious relic, the Stormgod's Chalice, from an evil temple. That gives Tombs some clout with the Lundgre Matriarch. He wants to get his own bishopric.
While we were staying at the Pen Alembic, some shady characters started hanging around. They always sat at the table next to us, wearing hooded cloaks, and they seemed to be listening to what we said. Beowulf wanted to fight them, but we talked him out of it. We didn't want to wait around while he spent another month hanging from Tower Gaol. Jinx's contacts in the Thieves' Guild informed him that someone was asking around about us, where we were from and what we were doing in the city. When we finally left the Lundgre Towers, somebody was following us. We asked Jinx if all that could have something to do with his mission. He didn't give us a straight answer.
This is the 27th in a continuing series of articles, which reedits house rules for Holmes Basic D&D from 40-year-old game club newsletters. Mentions of house rules are in bold text and followed by a [bracketed category designator].
Phenster’s Pandemonium Society House Rules is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, events, incidents, and newsletters are either products of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is pure coincidence.
“Bluebook” D&D. The 1977 edition of Gygax and Arneson’s DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is also known as “Holmes Basic” after editor Dr. J. Eric Holmes.
