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Sunday, August 31, 2025

G3 Prepare; and Corrections from G2

CORRECTIONS:

Javelins of Lightning in AD&D were consumed when used! No wonder they gave so many away. And they did  1d6 piercing +20 lightning dmg (or 1d6 plus 10 dmg if saved)  https://adnd2e.fandom.com/wiki/Javelin_of_Lightning_(Magic_Javelin)

From 2-5 javelins will be found. The javelin is consumed in the lightning discharge.  


PREPARING:

Lotsa hellhounds, some are smaller at about half HPs. 

Lotsa female giants and younglings... G3 says when they'll fight (usually they do). Mostly way lower HP than regular male firegiants. 

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Yt “no one of consequence” G2 the two white dragons, very cool.

 His dbl white dragon encounter is very useful… love every single idea that went down.  Feom the surprise attacks, to the demanding food animal, to no trickiery, to “i said no tricks” more breath weapons… then ghost sheet and carriage teleport get out of dodge. All super cool.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irooz1HfnuA

Friday, August 29, 2025

Frazetta influenced design for Darth Vader?

 The Maverick on yt videoed the “frank frazetta museum presented by Maverick’s rogues” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhYEdjl2-vg


Frazetta museum relative says Lucas said… Deathdealer in the standing pose all black was related to Darth Vader’s design. 

His blog has Great copies:

http://capnscomics.blogspot.com/2014/04/death-dealer-by-frank-frazetta.html

LotR - winged beast /fell beast

 They say Tolkein used "fell beast" to describe lots of random stuff. There is no real name for the winged beast, but this description is nice. It makes me think of DnD style Wyverns... they couldn't be true dragons because that'd have an obvious name, but maybe something close but not quite would work... like Wyverns. 


And behold! it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, fingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed.

Interesting pterodactyl version. 


And I still think the AD&D Foulwings are modeled after them. At least when the drow were riding them. 

Description
They were very large with black, leathery wings, toad-like bodies, and horse-like heads. Their skin was black and covered in "horn-shaped, wriggling skin growths." They were clumsy fliers. Their most distinctive feature was their three jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth and centered around a single snout. Their eyes glowed red in infravision.[2]


Thursday, August 28, 2025

Fighting Fantasy books (which have good art), and two yt guys

UPDATE- Lost Worlds,  books not by TSR? Actual gaming and less choose ur adv?! CaptCorajus reviews.  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Worlds_(gamebook)


 skeletoncrusader is still doing readings/play.  FF, Sorcery, etc.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrA9EIarA_A


And the other guy… Scottish accent, showed that any  Scholastic versions (2017) have the terrible art.  Most older (all?) have good art inside.  And Maybe new ones coming out in 2025 will have good art. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K82aofsOzc

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Dragonslayer rpg has great b&w art, based on 1e mm

 Checkmit out. 

See Black Belt Gaming… “dragonslayer rpg - Monsters Flip Through” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4vgh8okyc8

Best D&D Modules of all time (up to but not including 2014's 5e)

UPDATE CONCLUSION: After the DROW, probably should do this for our campaign:

  • The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb... either the original from Dungeon #37 or  the remake below. By Mike Shel. And he wrote some recent super good novels and many Pathfinder adventures, too. 
  • Dungeon Issue #138
     (based on 5 reviews)

    ...by Mike Shel ... Brave the notorious traps and harrowing monsters of the Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb! Fully updated, this classic Dungeon D&D adventure is for 14th-level characters. ... Challenge of Champions VI ... by Jonathan Richards ... The annual adventurers’ guild competition returns to the pages of Dungeon. A D&D adventure for all characer levels. ... Plus! ... An extensive Savage...


I need to play some of these, etc. 

https://www.enworld.org/threads/15-best-d-d-modules-of-all-time.662734/


BEFORE FIRST, don't forget 10footpole's rankings:


FIRST we'll do just the D&D brand.


15: Night Below - Underdark. Well we're about to do Underdark so I need to look at this! Quote: it was described as "bursting and the seams with nasty, slimy, ugly things" by Cliff Ramshaw.

14: Desert of Desolation - Egyptian themed. This one the Goodman Games guys like a lot. By Tracy & Laura Hickman.

13: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - by Gygax. "A monster filled labyrinth in the classic mode" said Lawrence Schick.

12: The Lost City - B4
By Tom Moldvay. A module designed by Moldvay to give new DMs experience fleshing out adventures and the inspiration for a 3rd-edition D&D adventure, Masque of Dreams.




11: The Whispering Cairn
By Erik Mona. From DUNGEON magazine, the first adventure in the Age of Worms adventure path. An adventure by Erik Mona for D&D 3rd Edition. [The Age of Worms AP began in Dungeon Magazine 124, July 2005.] It was in DUNGEON back when lots of people subscribed to DUNGEON. And Age of Worms as a whole was pretty high profile.

10: The Isle of Dread
By David Cook and Tom Moldvay. The first module to focus on wilderness exploration


#9: The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
By Dave J. Browne and Don Turnbull. The first D&D adventure from the UK. Published in 1981 for AD&D 1st Edition. The abandoned, dilapidated mansion of an evil alchemist. The introduction to an underwater campaign. Ken Denmead of Wired called it "the Scooby Doo episode of D&D modules".

8: Queen of the Spiders
By Gary Gygax. A compilation of 7 modules - G1-G3, plus ... Underdark plus Demonwebpits.


7: Against the Giants
By Gary Gygax. The "G" series ... Wired's Ken Denmead said that [the third is] "the end-all, be-all of hack-fests".

6: Castle Amber
By Tom Moldvay. A haunted mansion, the all-new brain collector, and demented members of the d'Amberville family. "A decidedly Edgar Allen Poe feel" said Game Examiner's Daniel Nations. Jim Bambra of White Dwarf described it as "an attempt to bring randomness back into D&D."

5: Red Hand of Doom (((??? which module has the cool Hobgoblin cover, was that not 2e????)))
By James Jacobs and Richard Baker. The second 3rd Edition [edit: 3.5e] adventure on this list. A hobgoblin hoard devoted to Tiamat. Released in 2006, WotC's first D&D adventure for four years since 2002. A massive 128-page adventure and the first D&D adventure to include Designer Notes.

4: Tomb of Horrors 
By Gary Gygax - super duper hard.

3: The Keep on the Borderlands
By Gary Gygax. Explore the Caves of Chaos

2: The Temple of Elemental Evil 
By Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer. An expansion of The Village of Hommlet and a 128-page classic which inspired a novel, a computer game, and a return 25-years later. "Of huge, classic dungeon crawls, this is probably the best" said Lawrence Schick. Even Dungeon Master for Dummies called it "the grandfather of all huge dungeon crawls".

1: Ravenloft
By Tracy & Laura Hickman.



  • S1 tomb horrors
  • S2 white plume mtn
  • B2 keep borderlands
  • X1 isle dread
  • B4 the lost city
  • C1 the hidden shrine of tamoachan - great b&w art. 
  • B1 search unknown
  • D1-2, descent depths earth (rem it comes after g1-3, mostly to lvl up before drow city in d3 )
  • Ravenloft, i6 i think
  • C2 the ghost tower of iverness
  • Sidenote - the forgotten temple of tharizdun, Gygax’s “most haunting and surreal adv” 


HARDEST 10 TSR DnD by AZmountaineer/OldSchoolRules yt, has a lot of overlap. And check these out for old module info- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIoXRWuA4lw

  • The Acaeum (enen knowledge compendium)
  • Heroric Worlds  by Lawrence Schick
  • RPGG
  •  (f@cebook@?)
  • Tome of Treasures

BEST OF DUNGEON MAGAZINE



NOW VOTES BY OTHERS - https://www.enworld.org/threads/15-best-d-d-modules-of-all-time.662734/page-2#posts

  • Dragon Mountain
  • Dwellers of the Forbidden City - huge module
  • Expedition to Undermountain'? It was perhaps a bit overwhelming as a module---but it provided a dearth of material that Forgotten Realms groups could return to again and again.
  • Expedition to the Barrier Peaks - but it's space lasers so I can't.
  • Village of Hommlet - even tho ties into Temple of Elemental Evil later
  • Lost Mine of Phandelver. It may be new, but I think it's 5E's Keep on the Borderlands.
  • A1 Slavepits of the Undercity - by a guy who likes 40 pg big modules, not 100+. 
  • In 1995 they voted here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...R-all-time-favourite-adventures-and-why/page3
    • 1 · G1-2-3 Against the Giants
      2 · B2 Keep on the Borderlands
      3 · T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil
      4 · I6 Ravenloft
      5 · D3 Vault of the Drow
      6 · T1 Village of Hommlet
      7 · S1 Tomb of Horrors
      8 · D1-2 Descent Into the Depths
      9 · X1 Isle of Dread
      10 · S2 White Plume Mountain
      11 · S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks
      12 · U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
      13 · I3 Pharaoh
      14 · Q1 Queen of the Demonweb Pits
      15 · X2 Castle Amber
      16 · S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
      17 · WotC: Sunless Citadel
      18 · WotC: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
      19 · I4 Oasis of the White Palm
      20 · WotC:Forge of Fury
      21 · Return to the Tomb of Horrors
      22 · GR: Death in Freeport
      23 · Ruins of Undermountain (Forgotten Realms)
      24 · NG: Rapan Athuk (all)
      25 · GR: Madness in Freeport
      26 · PZ: The Shackled City Adventure Path
      27 · Dead Gods (Planescape)
      28 · Night Below
      29 · GR: Terror in Freeport
      30 · MP:The Banewarrens
      31 · B4 Lost City
      32 · X4 Master of the Desert Nomads
      33 · WotC:City of the Spider Queen
      34 · B1 In Search of the Unknown
      35 · A Paladin in Hell
      36 · B10 Night's Dark Terror
      37 · Against the Giants: The Liberation of Geoff (Greyhawk)
      38 · Rod of Seven Parts
      39 · X5: Temple of Death
      40 · The Gates of Firestorm Peak
      41 · JG: Tegel Manor
      42 · Dragon Mountain
      43 · Axe of the Dwarvish Lords
      44 · JG: Lost Caverns of Thracia
  • Madness at Gardmore Abbey - wikiped says It was re-released as a PDF on August 4, 2015.[1] On July 4, 2018, Mike Mearls, co-lead designer for the 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons, said "Madness at Gardmore Abbey from 4e is a good adventure, well worth finding on the DMs Guild. You know this is an honest opinion because I woke up at 7:30 AM on a holiday to keep reading it"

OTHERS OTHER

  • 1) Red Hand of Doom - I did some modifications to beef it up, but we had a real blast. As good as anything I can remember.
  • 2) Edge of Anarchy (Curse of the Crimson Throne, Part 1) - sadly the group ended before we concluded the adventure path, but had a blast DMing this game.
  • 3) A1-4 scourge of the slave lords - had a lot of fun with this one as a kid and still remember it well. Again, as DM 
  • 4) G1-3 against the giants - lost several of my best characters to this adventure. Totally brutal!
  • 5) Burnt Offerings (Rise of the Runelords, Part 1, Pathfinder Edition) - absolutely cracking adventure with so much fun my sides still hurt from playing it!
  • 6) The Sunless Citadel - played it, Dm'd it, and Dm'd it again. A great adventure that I've enjoyed more than once.
  • 7) T1 the village of hommlet - village politics, a keep, and a fight with a giant frog. What more do you need?
  • 8) B2 Caves of Chaos - the first adventure I ever played in, way back when, and I can still remember it (just!)
  • 9) Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - okay, I'll admit I loved and loathed this in equal measure. The DM was relentless, and not always in a good way, but it was also where our self appointed hero rolled 1 after 1 after 1, which culminated in a final session against Strahd where he (the player, not Strahd) rolled over 15 1s in a single session. Never to be forgotten.
  • 10) The Forge of Fury - I played in a heavily modified game, so perhaps not a true reflection of the actual module . Nonetheless, I have to place it here as we had a great time.
OTHER MAN BELOW
  • H1: Keep on the Shadowfell - TPKed three or four times against Irontooth on this one, but it was still fun.
  • 8. Wrath of the Immortals - More a campaign than an adventure, the individual adventures in the boxed set weren't that great, but the framing events had a lot of hooks to play with. My group's most memorable moments actually came from the fleshed out framing events - like trying to divert a meteor from crashing into the capital city of Darokin, only to choose to let it hit because otherwise it would decimate the army defending the border.
  • 6. X6: Quagmire - The first published adventure I ever DMed. Hexcrawling for the win.
  • 5. Dark of the Moon - A 2nd Edition Ravenloft adventure. The PCs were created as Dragonlance characters and then the mists pulled them in to Vorostokov. A kender in Ravenloft is...interesting.
  • 4. Heart of Nightfang Spire - Gulthias infuriated the players with his hit and run tactics and continual taunting in this adventure. The half-ogre cleric/fighter spent the last 1/4 of the adventure stalking through the heart of the dungeon bellowing "Gulthias!" at the top of his lungs.
  • 3. Bastion of Broken Souls - Epic battle against a half-fiend great wyrm red dragon for the win. Pretty decent build up to that battle as well.
  • 2. The Red Box adventure - The solo adventure in the Red Box is my first D&D memory and still one of the best, in my opinion.
  • 1. The Sunless Citadel - I have DMed this a dozen times and still enjoy it every time. Meepo forever!

DUNGEON MAG LISTS   https://www.enworld.org/threads/best-dungeon-magazine-adventure-s.33708/


  • Kingdom of the Ghouls in Dungeon #70. Issue #84 was great all around, with "The Harrowing," "The Dying of the Light," and "Dungeon of the Fire Opal.")
  • #1: Deadly Treasure - in the 40s, I believe. It's a horribly hard dungeon crawl in the Tomb of Horrors style. The premise revolves around a wizard, whose tomb is protected by traps made of his own magic items. Nasty. I DMed it thrice and only one party completed it.
  • #2: Asflag's Unintentional Emporium: nice abandoned wizard's tower/house/whatever. I ran two rival parties into it and they ended up killing each other. Great fun.
  • Deadly Treasure, and 
  • Mud Sorcerers Tomb. ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487 . The Mud Sorcerers Tomb, is by far one of the best. It's well written, it flows nicely, and requires a GOOD balance of combat, and brain. Its set in a desert atmosphere.
    • Pig and Camel bring thee woe. Hippo shows the way to go...
  • There was another, the name of which escapes me at present: it involved a pair of imps, one of which drops a cube of force over a PC/PC's while a floor fastened Decanter of Eldless Water is examined. Can we say Dispel Magic ?? !!
    • The other imp attempts to flatten the PC's with a Daern's Instant Fortress, a DFA attack. Pesky Imps
  • The Mud Sorcerer’s Tomb ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487 
    Mike Shel
    AD&D
    Levels 10-14

    Widely regarded as one of the best Dungeon published. This is a Tomb of Horrors style adventure without some of the arbitrary nature of ToH and with some of the “hidden depth” that makes exploration worthwhile. There’s something like three pages of introduction and background before the 36 room dungeon is launched in to--- KEEP READIN HIS REVIEW, FUN READ> 

  • Mud Sorceror’s Tomb is better than Tomb of Horrors, there I said it. Better backstory, cooler tricks and traps, more imaginative ways to kill you than “You failed your save, you die”. Tomb of Horrors is a classic but MST is a modern classic, possibly the best 2E adventure to come out in all of Dungeon Magazine (until you get to Kingdom of the Ghouls in issue #70, so far away you’ll go mad before then). I’ve used Wizard’s Fate a couple of times as a one-session one off on wilderness crawls, and it’s been favorable received.

  • Their Master’s Voice ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487  actually plays quite well. It’s a good and memorable encounter really utilizing the leucrotta’s abilities.
  • Serpents of the sands. ISSUE #37 https://tenfootpole.org/ironspike/?p=2487  I’ve been looking at this recently for a desert-themed campaign I’m preparing, and Serpents of the Sands has an interesting set-up. An NPC kills a bunch of yuan-ti and takes an important amulet off the bodies. After 7 years of searching, the yuan-ti track him down, kill him and a few other people and take the amulet back. Enter the PCs, who (if all goes well) wipe out a settlement’s worth of yuan-ti to recover the amulet again. Better hope these were the only yuan-ti interested in the amulet; otherwise they’ll presumably wipe out the entire town to get it back …
    • (((I like that some Yuan-Ti cast 15' radius darkness. Sticks to Snakes. Etc. )))
  • I like “A Wizard’s Fate” a lot. I’d consider it for a first adventure in a campaign  ISSUE #37. 
  • Depths of Rage (#83) and
  • Eye for an Eye (#82)
New[er] 3E goodies include (by level)....
  • 1)The Raiders Of Galath's Roost (1st level/Dungeon #87) - Skip Williams
  • 2)Gorgoldand's Gauntlet (1st level/Dungeon Magazine CD) - Johnathan Richards
  • 3)Dungeon Of The Fire Opal (3rd level/Dungeon #84) - Johnathan Tweet
  • 4)Tears For Twilight Hollow (7th level/Dungeon #90) - Christopher Perkins/Angel McCoy
  • 5)The Elfwhisper (8th level/Dungeon #90) - J.C. Alvarez
  • 6)Interlopers Of Ruun-Khazai (13th level/Dungeon #92) - David Noonan (excellent Planar adventure)
  • 7)The Harrowing (15th level/Dungon #84) - Monte Cook
  • 8)Glacier Season (15th level/Dungeon #87) - David Eckelberry
  • 9)The Storm Lord's Keep (21st level/Dungeon #93) - James Wyatt (excellent Epic Level)
  • OTHER MAN BELOW
  • Tears For Twilight Hollow (7th level/Dungeon #90) --we spent about 4 months on this one, it was good overall. I removed the weird gizmos (you'll see when you read it) and had to beef it up significantly for a party that was just one level higher (and had 7 members) -- some of the encounters were rather underpowered. But very nice overall!
  • "through the night" and "shades of darkness". both create that creepy feeling and keep the players on their toes
  • "The Forgotten Man" in #75 has to be one of my favorites (to read)... I really need to run that one some time.
  • I really like everything by Ted James Thomas Zuvich. My all time favorite has to be The Siege of Kratyrs Freehold, with A Hot Day in L'trel a close second. In Siege, the characters have to defend an isolated manor house from a small orc army. They have a roster of the NPCs, equipment, and supplies in the house and must organize an effective defense over 2 or 3 days. I ran it as part of my campaign, and built the entire manor house and surrounding area using miniature buildings and terrain in my friend's basement where we gamed. I also bought and painted miniatures for every orc, warrior, and NPC in the manor. We played the siege over a 20 hour span and it has to be one of the best single D&D sessions I've ever run.

    I also like Chris Perkins'[s] work, and the 3e issues have been great. I ran Dungeon of the Fire Opal and had a lot of fun with it.
  • Kingdom of the Ghouls




Now the NON-DnD Brand


For fun: Alice in Chains Lyrics almost sound like a Lich's Thoughts

 Alice in Chains's: Grind

Our 2e AD&D lich again.

[Verse 1: Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell]

In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised
Not to plan my funeral 'fore the body dies, yeah
Come the morning light, it's a see-through show
What you may have heard and what you think you know, yeah

(((my comments on verse 1: sounds like a Lich warning his foes that... he will not die. The phylactery being unknown to them and all.)))

[Chorus: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell]
Let the sun never blind your eyes
Let me sleep so my teeth won't grind
Hear a sound from a voice inside

(((my comments on the chorus: sun never blind your eyes... sounds like the Lich is familiar with either being underground for long periods of time, or creatures which hate daylight. And let him sleep, or he'll be pissed off AKA grinding his teeth. )))

[Verse 2: Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell]
Sure to play a part, so you love the game
And in truth, your lies become one and same, yeah
I could set you free, rather hear the sound
Of your body breaking as I take you down, yeah

(((my comments: sounds like a Lich warning his foes that... it may be a game to them, lies or not... he could easily destroy them and take them down.)))

[Chorus: Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell]
Let the sun never blind your eyes
Let me sleep so my teeth won't grind
Hear a sound from a voice inside

[Guitar Solo]

[Verse 3: Layne Staley, Jerry Cantrell]
In the darkest hole, you'd be well advised
Not to plan my funeral 'fore the body dies, yeah

Recap - some of the other module makers, OSR types, & game systems folks to remember

STAR OF THE SHOW, Another fun Treasure, etc.  generator: https://www.basicfantasy.org/dungeoneerng.html

The List of makers


  • Goodman Games of course does Dungeon Crawl Classics, and had been making modules since around 3rd edition D&D it sounds like. Their website is funky and it's hard to find where to DL your PDFs sometimes, but if you send them a help question by email or TXT you get a super friendly answer. Love those ppl!





  • Basic Fantasy, I am a big fan of. It is mostly B/X style DnD I think, but has stats for both Ascending AC and Descending AC (thank you, I can play with my normal 3.5e brain here). Super ultra inexpensive and or free stuff all over. Love it, got the main book for like $5 on Amazon (it might be one version behind).  https://www.basicfantasy.org/tools.html
    • Free Tools that sound great, I'm going to use some today.



Here's a list to look at also: https://www.terryhercgames.com/2024/03/08/the-10-best-osr-rpg-systems/



Tuesday, August 26, 2025

D&D ideas around custom magic loot (weapons or armor mostly); dungeon room ideas

 So let's make them more tactical:

  1. The Ghast(?) Bow. A bow that shoots through the first enemy and hits another (the kid made this).
  2. Something that lets you levitate 3 times a day? How useful?
  3. Bonus dmg against... something. We did undead, we did giants. What about chaotic vs. law vs. ?
  4. A sword that magically gives 10 foot reach(?) against certain enemies or one fight a day or.... Maybe magic light or something extends out from it for another 5 feet. 
  5. Mace -> Bash it against the ground, once per day, summons 3 skeletons to fight for you. 
  6. The D&D Cartoon Energy Bow = WotC made this, and it is great. Make a ladder, came in super handy. Tie up bad guy, super handy. Bring friend to you (treat as teleport), super duper handy. 
    1. It does almost solve too many things, but man it is fun. 
  7. Sneak Attack Dagger - no rogues around our game right now, but like Elden Ring or something, just make it do even more dmg. 
  8. Dagger of flame eating - whatever we called it, the one that absorbs some heat dmg. 
  9. Speed item - armor or weapon... gives you 30 extra movement for 2 rounds once per day. 
  10. Jump high and long - maybe it's similar to boots of striding and springing and striding but... how about just jump over obstacles a couple times a day? 
  11. Amulet of Hacking - makes the Barbarian do a ton of dmg once a day. You get once a day, an Advantage attack, plus add half your level to dmg. 
  12. Axe of Swapping - swap places with enemy (activate) twice a day. To reposition. 
  13. Ring/Wand/Staff of Eldrich-MagicMissile (notEldrich Blast) + Moving - Once a day, Does a 5 shot MagicMissile (1d6 + 1 Dmg per missile), plus Move enemy 50 feet (each missile moves 10 ft), if would fall of ledge, give enemy reflex save??? Compare this to what Eldrich Blast does, so it has to be similar but better or it'd never get used. Ring not wand b/c, holding too many things. 
  14. Boots of the Earth Maw - get the 2e Earth Maw spell going. Twice a day (once per boot), stamp down hard with one boot, ... shockwave like Thunderwave(?) and also creates an EarthMaw to attack and try to swallow. 
  15. Another DCC spell scroll? How does it work with no spellburn and stuff tho, need to think on it. Maybe it just comes as a level Whatever version from DCC. 
  16. Robe of Snakeheads/Snakebites - for magic user types and warlocks. Wear the robe, and if someone attacks you with melee, some magical semi-snakeheads/semi-cloth-adornments bites the attacker for 1d6+2 acid or piercing or electric(think shocking grasp) type dmg, your choice. 


        1. The Warlock from Firetop Mountain is my inspiration (I don't know if those are snakes on his robes, but that gave me the idea b/c it looks like some can bite). 

  17. Boots of MuleKicking - bonus action attack, kick with boots (twice per day as in once per boot) kick an enemy 10 feet away from you, no enemy save (think eldrich blast). 1d6 dmg. 
  18. Robes of the Lizard/Blending - you sort of like an anole lizard/chameleon, blend into certain types of backgrounds. Gives you advantage on hide checks or something. 
  19. Something Lichy - inspiration from this old 2e lich drawing in a dnd art book:
    1. Bat vest. Or bird/dragonish foot on right knee/leg. Or Rod of Birdleg/dragonishLeg with eyeball. 


  20. Any non-wizard putting on the amulet will be feeble-minded (no saving throw). If a wizard puts on the amulet, it begins to glow with a soft blue-black light. The amulet confers the following powers to its wearer: 
    1. detect magic (at will), 
    2. read magic (at will),
    3. fireball (12 HD, once per day), 
    4. teleport without error (once per week), 
    5. and magic resistance (50%).
    6. Once the A m u l e t of Power has been safely obtained, a beautiful female voice will say ”Well done, beloved. Thydeeds find favor in My sight. Go now and spread my in-fluence on the world, that thou mayst grow to be worthy of My full favor.” The glow that fills the room slowly fades, and the character finds himself or herself backwith the rest of the party in the corridor
    7. (((comes from 2e module, Dungeon Crawl - The Lost Shrine of Bundushatus)))
  21. xxxxx

DUNGEON ROOM IDEAS (Many from The Lost Shrine of Bundushatus ... this at a glance feels VERY DCC-ish, with Lords of Chaos and stuff making you turn Chaotic-Neutral)
  • Also from AD&D 2e module, Dungeon Crawl - The Lost Shrine of Bundushatus, lotsa cool rooms. 
    • Pg 25, The Rotating Rm.
      • has a Chaos Key (that appeard in someone's pocket earlier)
      • has tentacles of Chaos
      • I would make turning the key less random to orient the room i think
  • Illusion rm from same 'Bundushatus
    • Looks like you can walk, 2 ft. narrow, super illusion tho. U will fall to 3d10 dmg. 






Dark Sun (sort of) returns to D&D 5.5e2024 in 2026

Explained at ENworld, Dark Sun (sort of) returns to D&D 5.5e2024:  https://www.enworld.org/threads/dungeons-dragons-releases-new-unearthed-arcana-subclasses-strongly-hinting-at-dark-sun.714936/

Summary: 

The Circle of Preservation Druid creates areas of preserved land that grants buffs to those who stand upon it. 

The Gladiator adds secondary Weapon Mastery properties to their attacks, with bonus abilities. Notably, the Gladiator uses Charisma as its secondary stat. 

The Defiled Sorcerer can expend its hit dice to amp up damage to its attacks and can also steal the life of its targets to deal additional damage. [[[sounds a lot like DCC SpellBurn, but stealing from enemy is nice]]]

The Sorcerer-King Patron gains a number of abilities tying into tyranny and oppression, with the ability to cast Command as a Bonus Action without expending a spell slot, causing targets to gain the Frightened Condition, and forcing those who attack them to re-roll successful attacks.

Brom's Dark Sun art is the best. 

Brom's Dark Sun art is the best. 

She's by Brom, but is she Dark Sun?


It sounds interesting. Do NOT look at the art, ... it's not Dark Sun art at all, it's the usual corporate soulless stuff. 

BTW https://x.com/ian_livingstone is one of the original Fighting Fantasy guys. 

Sunday, August 24, 2025

Why words have an o instead of a u; woman vs. women

I. See “minim“… medieval cursive made it hard to read words with those letters close together. So respelled them with an O. Even though pronounced with a u or whatnot.  Example: 

Lunden/Lundon turned into London.

    • London
    • Come
    • Love
    • Some
    • Won
    • Son
    • Tongue
    • Dove
    • Wonder
    • Money

See yt guy “humanteneleven” “  why is son spelled with an o”

Also see https://londonist.com/2014/01/how-london-got-its-name

See Quote from wikipedia -

Later examples are mostly Lundon- or London-, and all the Anglo-Saxon examples have Lunden- with various terminations. He observes that the modern spelling with <o> derives from a medieval writing habit of avoiding <u> between letters composed of minims. The earliest written mention of London
Minims to the extreme. 


II. Woman vs. Women

Wif + Mann = female + human in old language. 

Wif + Menn = female + plural human 

Eventually, it all changed to sound like (wimman), spelled wiman. B/c supposedly/maybe(maybe not b/c why would we still pronounce it "wimmen" for the plural) easier to say Woh or Wuh than Wih, ppl pronounced it "woh" and then it changed to be spelled woman. Then they retroactively changed the spelling of wimen (wimmen) plural to women to match the woman spelling.  

See https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2zhkmh/eli5_how_come_when_saying_woman_and_women_we/

Originally it was wifman (wife-man, though man in its original meaning was gender nuetral) the plural was wifmen. Over time the words became wiman and wimen. In the Middle English period vowels underwent a shift and wiman became woman under the rounding influence of the ''w,'' while the plural retained the original vowel. Wiman>> woman. Wimen>> wimen.

Spelling was regularized much later, with the advent of the printing press. The spelling of the word is based off of the sigular, with the rounded vowel. Thus woman and women.

More complex answer for you.

<(-'○'-)>

Edit: mmk so as sacundim pointed out the vowel shift is a questionalble explaination for wiman to woman. I may have overstepped. I know there was a vowel shift around that time so I added it in to the other stuff I gleaned from the webernet. Wiman did shift to woman in that period, and etymology online says this is because of the initial w. But yeah. I was stretching on the vowel shift. Sorry. I'm a hobbyist not an expert. 

See comment:

Well, I'm no historical linguist, but I do have a linguistics degree, and I'm suspicious of this explanation.

Basically, you're saying that the sound change that changed the vowel in woman did not apply to women because the latter is plural. But the problem is that sound change doesn't generally work like that (my boldface):

Sound change is usually assumed to be regular, which means that it is expected to apply mechanically whenever its structural conditions are met, irrespective of any non-phonological factors (such as the meaning of the words affected).

Singular vs. plural is a non-phonological factor, so if the vowel change is conditioned by the [w] sound, then it should apply in both cases. It would be exceptional if the singular vs. plural context truly did this, so at the very least it needs a more careful explanation.


But then comment to counter the counter:

Yeah no that's really not the state of the art anymore. These are the Neogrammarian principles of sound change. They describe an idealised form of sound change, but in reality it doesn't really work like that. Lexically or morphologically conditioned sound change is quite common.

Just a small example: Take the word-initial voicing of English /θ/. It only happened in a small group of words.

EDIT: You also left out the following sentence in your quote:

On the other hand, sound changes can sometimes be sporadic, affecting only one particular word or a few words, without any seeming regularity.