Thieves: Expert Treasure Finder or Treasure Removal Service

Ever been on one of those adventures that just don't seem as profitable as you think they should have been, but the party thief comes out more bloated than when he went in?

Does the title "Thief" imply and influence a player too much? Just because he's called 'thief' doesn't necessarily mean that he has to steal everything that isn't nailed down, even from the party itself. Granted, the player is entitled to play his thief in any way he wishes and it is up to the party to deal justice if he is caught pilfering baubles from their pockets, but does it undermine the cohesion of the party of they are constantly suspicious of one of their own members?

Comic Strip Tuesday

First appearing in comic books in August of 1981

In our first issue, our valiant party is exploring the ruins of Zenofus Castle. The elf, Indel uses his infravision to inspect the corridor ahead before moving forward in front of the fighter, Valerius and the magic-user Grimslade. Look Out! A shambling mound attacks, but Grimslade quickly throws a Hold Monster charm on it which illuminates green slime attached to the ceiling.

Fighters: Armor Plated Battle-Turtle or Run n' Gun Stab-Monkey

Throughout my history with Dungeons & Dragons, I've always dreamed of making a fighter that wasn't reliant on layer upon layer of the thickest armor I could beg, borrow or steal just to survive, and in turn, help my party survive.

Flashback Thursday

Clerics: First Aid Kit or Second Line Fighter

Clerics: The old school bane of any party of players.

We've all experienced it in our younger days. It's the first night of the adventure and it's time for everyone to make characters. Everyone shouts out what they will be playing so everyone else knows what's been chosen. Suddenly, the door bell rings and Steve walks in, late as usual. Everyone in the room, including Steve knows what's just happened. Last man in gets stuck playing the cleric.

Wizards: Fire Power from Afar or Close Character Support

Wizards (and I'm talking about all wizards other than 4th Ed D&D) are both a boon and a bane. Anyone that has played a wizard from level 1 know how difficult it is to survive and be a productive part of an adventuring party with the limited number of spells he is allowed to begin with. With only 1 or 2 spells available early on, you pretty much get relegated to being a crossbowman for much of the adventure. A party of adventure hungry warriors and priests don't want to have to stop for the night after every encounter just so you can get your sleep and magic missile spells back. And I can't blame them, so it's back to using the crossbow.

Rot Grubs and Other Character Irritations

 

Its been a very long time since one of my character's has run across a good ol' fashioned rot grub. It seemed to me that back in the 1st edition days, rot grubs were always a concern.

Listen to an old rotted door? nope, could be rot grubs.

Search a decaying body for loot? are you kidding? could be rot grubs. 

Rummage through a pile a old clothes? Hell no! R-O-T G-R-U-B-S!!

Flashback Thursday

DM's Corner: Survey says...

It's always seemed to me that the hardest part about any campaign is the introduction.

Once the game is started and the party is in the groove, everything runs smoothly, or at least it's EASIER for it to run smooth. The difficult part for any DM is introducing a group of new characters to one another. Sure, there's the ol' "You all meet in a tavern" sorta thing, but how often can you pull that one off? This is obviously not a "realistic" game we play, but the quickest way to take players out of a game is to blow off the very first thing you show them. You need a realistic intro to any new campaign so the players feel there is some previous attachment to the other character's. Otherwise, it can quickly break down into selfish, individualistic agendas.

Video Game-a-rama

In the final chapter of the "Games People Play" trilogy, I'll be discussing some of the video games I used to play as an impressionable youth.

My first real computer gaming experience, other than the arcade, came by way of the Atari 2600.

It was the hip system at the time and cartridges flew off the shelves like shotguns in a zombie apocalypse. The graphics were weak and the sound was pretty horrendous compared to what was offered at the local Golfland or Timezone arcade, but it had the added convenience of being able to play at home. So you know, it had that going for it. I distinctly remember several decent games (and I say decent as it relates to the Atari only), like Adventure (the first game with an easter egg), Haunted House, Combat, Yars Revenge and Dragonfire. While these weren't exactly state of the arts games, they were entertaining to 9 year old.

Board Games I used to play

Continuing with my retrospective on games that I've played or wished I had played or even thought about playing...today's topic, boys and girls, is board games. Not your typical board games mind you, these are gamer-related board (and table top) games. I won't include Monopoly or Chutes & Ladders, but those that you would typically find in a hobby store or on the forgotten bottom shelves at Toys 'r Us in the 80's.

And speaking of Toys r' Us in the 80's...

Dungeon!

I remember buying this game with my own money when I was about 12 years old. I saved my allowance for a couple of weeks and (with a small advance on future earnings from my dad) was able to secure my copy of the only D&D related board game that I knew of at the time. This is back in the good ol' days when you could still but AD&D modules at Toys r' Us or other fine toy and game retailers. It was an enjoyable game of dungeon crawling for fun and profit. I would meticulously travel from one room to the next engaging in life or death combat and collecting loot.

RPGs I wish I had played...

Yesterday I listed some of the RPGs that I've had the pleasure of playing over my 30 year gaming career. Today I would like to talk about a few that I always wanted to play but never had the opportunity. The reasons were always sound (i.e. the group I was with just wasn't into at the time, no one was really sure how to run an effective game or they just didn't want to learn ANOTHER game system) but the fact remains, I wish I had the chance to play them.

Call of Cthulhu

RPG's I've played

Thought I would talk about some of the RPG's I've had the chance to play over the years. I've had a chance to experience quite a few, certainly not all, not even most, but a good array of what was out there in the 80's and early 90's. My group and I would experiment with a wide variety of game genres but we would always drift back to our old stand by...

The classic of all classics. The one game to rule them all. The Ayatollah of Rock n' Rolla

Dungeons & Dragons

And upon further review...

Well, that took me all of 2 minutes to refute my own findings...

Google's arch-nemesis, the evil Wikipedia, fired back and states:

A popular myth concerning d'Aviano says that he invented the Cappuccino after the Battle of Vienna.^[2] No mention of this occurs in any of d'Aviano's biographies or in any contemporary historical sources. Indeed, the story does not appear until the late 1980s, which indicates that it was possibly made up as a joke.

still, it's a cool name right?

And I don't even drink coffee...

So the name of my site, The Frothy Friar, came from a game I ran years ago with my regular group. It was about the party finding the deed to a Tavern on a dead adventurer and then going to claim it as their own only to find out that it might have been more trouble than it was worth.