For many years now, I’ve been covering books and other items related to the history of wargaming and RPGs. I never get tired of finding new resources that expand my knowledge of gaming, so below I’d like to share with you some new sources of information and history.
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My memory is a bit fuzzy when it comes to ‘D&D’ adventures I played at a young age, but I’m 90% certain that one of the adventures I played came from a company called Judges Guild. It was famous for being the first to create adventure “modules” that were basically pre-generated adventures for the DM to run, providing maps, visual aids, and, of course, traps, loot, and new monsters. It would be a while before TSR (owner of ‘D&D’) would release its own modules, starting with the pastel cover versions, so Judges Guild gets the full credit for developing the idea of pre-packaged adventures.
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I was recently chatting with a fellow ‘D&D’ 5e player (Hey, Tyler!), and he was asking me all sorts of questions about DMing–time demands (in terms of preparation), the need to improvise, coming up with new material, etc. He wants to be a DM, but he was understandably hesitant to jump in. I told him that he could always go with the pre-generated content books that have been released for 5e–‘Hoard of the Dragon Queen,’ ‘Elemental Evil,’ and the most recent book, ‘Out of the Abyss.’ He told me he was looking for shorter adventures similar to the old ‘D&D’/’AD&D’ modules that were so popular in the ’80s and ’90s but they seemed to be in short supply. WHAT?! Short supply? Not true!
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If you missed David Ewalt’s interview with Nathan Stewart, Wizards of the Coast’s brand director for ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ one of the big takeaways from that article was that ‘D&D’ 5e is very much alive… and doing quite well. Steward shared that ‘D&D’ 5e was “the best launch we’ve ever had” and stated that “everything exceeded our forecast,” two statements that are sure to bring smiles to ‘D&D’ fans everywhere.
Here’s something else that will bring a smile to D&D fans (especially DMs) — Goodman Games has a new Kickstarter to raise funds to get two more Fifth Edition Fantasy adventures published and added to the two current adventures, FEF #1 Glitterdoom and FEF #2 The Fey Sisters’ Fate.
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Over thirty years ago, I was dropped off at the Sears in Pensacola along with a friend — we’d been invited by some older kids we knew who were playing some unique games we’d not seen before. Tucked into a back room on the second floor of the department store, there were (if memory serves) maybe 20-30 people divided up over three or four tables. We were spotted, invited to a few open chairs, and handed some paper. One of the people at that table told us we’d had good timing and proceeded to help us create what he called a character. I rolled some dice (all six-sided) and came up with a name, but had no real idea what was going on. The referee provided my character with some mutant abilities and some defects. The game was Metamorphosis Alpha.
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The D&D Starter Set has been out now for about a month, and maybe you’re one of those DMs who has already run and finished parts (or all) of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure with your players who are now playing at level 2 or 3 (or higher). Or maybe you haven’t run it yet and are looking for something a little shorter… something that your Level 1 players can handle and won’t take multiple sessions to complete. If so, you’re in luck… because Goodman Games will be releasing two new adventures for the new 5th edition of D&D.
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