RPGs

Role Playing Games, old and new

In Support of the Silver Prince

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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Galicia; ARTIST Name: Rocault, Jules; BOOK Title: Les merveilles de l’industrie, vol. 1; Author(s): Figuier, Louis; Publisher: Paris: Furne, Jouvet et Cie, 1873

I’ve been running a bi-weekly game for a group of regular players for the past 5 years. This year we’ve been engaged in a historians’ exercise of AD&D 1e “rules as written”. Anthony Huso has been our librarian who has introduced us to this Herculean effort, though our own study of the text has been rewarding as well. In fact, i have been publishing my own AD&D 1e learnings here on this blog when I have something worthwhile to share.

We are playing Huso’s epic “Castle of the Silver Prince”. This campaign begins at level 0 and includes all the nuisanced AD&D stuff: training, weapon speed, combat segments, percent based reaction rolls and more.

The campaign does refer to an abandoned ruby mine as an adventure location, but is unkeyed. As our play moved closer and closer to the ruby mine I experimented with actually keying an AD&D 1e dungeon.

You can find that key along with some notes on how I approached the work here.

You can find a summary of our campaign events here, recorded an managed by Archivist AI.

Vancian Stacks

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Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland
britannica.com w/ Prisma Gothic filter

In March ‘26 I read Matt Schumer’s “Something Big Is Happening”, which encouraged me to explore AI more than scratching I had been doing at the corners. Copilot, Notebook LM, Gemini Gems are all things that I had experimented with; most as search without ads, research primers, and custom agents to help shape complex messages.

Schumer fired my imagination in his descriptions of software development through natural language and the concept of machines building machines. Here was an opportunity (for $20 a month) to try my hand at building software applications that I dreamed of as a washed up CS undergrad who happily cut over to history. Like many of my technology adventures I apply them to my hobbies first to help me learn their practical and professional applications.

I started big, I mean really big. Why not build a tool that could be used to play Holmes & Clark solo. I wrestled with context preservation, establishing design principals, project instructions, false declarations, and genuine hallucinations. It was great!

I scaled back in some areas, established a framework that is improving results, and in support of my regular AD&D 1 Eeeeeee game tinkered with some Claude.ai skills to serve my immediate needs and produced:

  • DMG Appendix A – Random Dungeon Generator – in progress
  • DMG Appendix C – Random Dungeon Stocking – done
  • DMG Appendix C – Random Party Generator – done
  • DMG pg xx – Random Gems & Jewelry – done
  • Custom Magic-User Spellbook Generator – supporting PHB, UA, and Wizards Spell Compendium via data sourced from What’s In Your Spellbook (thank you Delta) – done

The spellbook generator is based on principals I’m using to define higher level characters, where spell and magic item selection are significant blocking points in my preparing for play quickly.

Here’s a sample library of spellbooks & user guide, both prepared in just a few minutes by the Claude.ai skill that could produce trillions more in whatever combination might be of interest.

Please let me know if there is any interest in reading more about how I’ve been experimenting with AI or if the above skills might be useful to you too.

Urmalk the Boundless

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Prisma Gothic filter of the Echoes From Fomalhaut No. 12 players map

Open Tables

Packing for DunDraCon 49 last weekend I grabbed a few copies of Holmes & Clark in the off chance of organizing a pickup game. Leafing through a few adventures eventually settled on Urmalk the Boundless as I had run it a few months earlier at North Texas RPG con.

This is a fine little adventure for levels 3 to 5 offering an outdoor sandbox location and an underground dungeon. The outdoor area has some very interesting keyed locations though much of the exploration here is done though a series of random table roles.

I had such a fantastic time running this adventure at DunDraCon I was committed to doing so again as soon as possible.

Random Tables

The exploration in Urmalk the Boundless is driven by random tables, a series of d10 rolls with some conditional modifiers applied to these rolls. A little fiddly at the table and a prepared list would likely help streamline the play experience. In support of that effort I prepared a Google Sheet to generate these results quickly and consistently, available here.

Real Tables

Some thoughts on running Urmalk the Boundless:

  • Provide the PC with the highest Wis some rumors
  • PCs approach the Necropolis from a random (1d4) direction
  • The Necropolis is 1d6 hours form the nearby town
  • Provide the players a token to show there position on the map
  • Mark off explored locations with more tokens on the map
  • Mark the DM map with location of keyed monsters so that it can be understood if they will be draw by a nearby commotion
  • At North Texas RPG Con ‘25 we had as few as 2 players all the way up to 12 at one point, this was an epic session easily over 10 hour, Jeff Dee joined us in the final hours and that was a real highlight
  • At DunDraCon 49 my badge read “Can’t we just play D&D?” A buddy gathered a group and we explored the Necropolis for about 3h
  • Have at least 6 pre-generated characters so players can jump in quickly
The Google Sheet in action
Example table produced w/ afore mentioned Google Sheet
The player map in action
North Texas – Aron Clark, Tim, Glenn, and Jeff Dee
DunDraCon – Aron Clark, Jerry, Dave, Mike, Dan, Peter (who I’ve been gaming w/ for 40+ years)
The plays the thing…

…and now for the news from Lake Geneva

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There is a fundraiser going on for a Gygax memorial in Lake Geneva. Here’s your chance to be part of history.

I’m backing in for a paver but a worthy cause whatever you can contribute. The organizer, Paul Stormburg ran a game for me at Lake Geneva in the old Gygax house. Pretty special for me. Encourage you all to make the pilgrimage if and when you can.

Kickstarter link follows: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/617053430/gary-gygax-memorial-game-table-for-dungeons-and-dragons-fans

Some snaps of my 2024 GaryCon visit for the 50th Anniversary.

I’d also encourage you to check out the “When We Were Wizards” podcast. A great oral history of the dawn of D&D, link follows: https://pods.to/whenwewerewizards

County Road Z1ed

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Still from “Return of the Living Dead” – Prisma Gothic filter

…2022

I stumbled on miniature game County Road Z being played in 15mm at Pacificon. I quickly sourced the rules and set them aside for a someday project.

…2023

Again at Pacificon, flea market delivered a large zombie wargaming collection in 15mm and I committed to hosting a game soonest.

…2024

I studied the rules, prepared a quick reference, and hosted a game for friends at Kublacon.

…today

The following are on offer in a workbook that collects:

  • a quick reference
  • an X / Y sheet
  • a random survivor generator
  • a 3×5 character card

Some thoughts

County Road Z (CRZ) is a fine little game from a first time indie publisher, Jordan Heckman – Earthbound Games. Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

CRZ at its heart is a solo or co-op miniatures wargame; but I can see room here for multiple players participating in something closer to an RPG.

Game play is nicely segmented into a tactical game of fighting off the living dead and a strategic game of resource management.

There is a virtual tabletop version! No miniatures, no space, no time – no problem – play online when you can.

My copy of the rules and supporting assets are based on v1 and should be compatible with the latest Modipus version, v2.

v2 is described as being a new layout for the same core rules, but with new settings – equipment – monsters – and so on.

I’m unlikely to pick-up the latest version of CRZ, but feel free to get in touch and request any edits that are linked to v2.