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Gary’s Appendix 4 [Print + PDF]

Gary wrote and collected a vast amount of information, rules, and guidance. Its haphazard nature and perplexing subjects makes it as fresh today as when he penned the work almost fifty years ago.

Indeed, Gary’s Appendix draws inspiration from the past works of the gaming giants.

Gary’s Appendix is about our love for the past and our excitement for the future. We do not have the audacity to believe that we can produce a work that matches the magic of the AD&D DMG. Instead, we seek the spirt of that evergreen work by presenting an array of articles that are enjoyable to read, informative to the GM, and useful at the gaming table.

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1) Creating Sword-and–Sorcery Adventures, by Travis Miller Your scheduled game session is canceled. But two members of the group still want to play. So do you, but running the normal session will not work. You want to run something but have little time to prepare, and don’t have time to read through a published adventure. You could pull out a one-page dungeon or make one with a random generator, but you want to try something different. A fun option is a short session using a classic sword-and-sorcery, short-story framework. 2) The Forge of the Weaponmaster, by David Semark Weaponmaster Akanthu’s travels are over, and he has settled within the palace of the Sultan to stoke his forge and create weapons. For what Weaponmaster Akanthu doesn’t know about weapons of war is not worth knowing. He is a man now at peace with the world, and with himself, as he accepts the passage of time and the arrival of the twilight of life. He welcomes students with promise, and former enemies with honor, to sit at his feet and learn, so the ancient arts, the beauty in archaic and arcane weapons of war, will not die with him. Here are some of his favorites.
3) Welcome to the Pleasuredome, by David Semark The Pleasuredome is the one place in the realm where any person can find any entertainment and enjoy it at the Sultan’s expense. The place isn’t really a dome—it’s a city of domes, towers, amphitheaters, gambling halls, recreation complexes, stadia and open fields where every entertainment imaginable is available. But a word of caution—the tastes of some people, from some times in history, can be pretty grim. You have been warned. 4) Encountering Weather, by Zac Goins In the Referee’s Tome (OSE) and the Dungeon Masters Guide (AD&D 1e), there are virtually no mentions of weather. The only exceptions are details about waterborne adventures and how wind can affect the length of your voyage. And while I don’t think storms, blizzards, flooding, and other natural phenomena should be the backbone of your adventuring career, I do believe they put the so-called meat on the bone. 5) Adding Ingredients to Your Game, by Oliver Brakenbury This article presents easy elements to add to your campaign to give it a sword–and–sorcery feel. It provides various mechanics that work with any game system. These will add swagger to sword–wielding fighters and unpredictability to magic. We don’t stop there; we provide a system that gives characters access to supernatural patrons. 6) That Distinct Flavor, by Oliver Brakenbury You’ll find several definitions online and in print for Sword & Sorcery. A favorite is an excellent book on the history of the genre, Flame & Crimson: A History of Sword & Sorcery, by Brian Murphy. Murphy lists seven commonly encountered elements of the genre then, without giving a specific threshold, basically says that if there’s enough of these present for it to feel like Sword & Sorcery to you, then it’s Sword & Sorcery. Here are those common elements. 7) D&D and the Sword–and–Sorcery Genre, by Oliver Brakenbury S&S and Dungeons & Dragons have had a round-about influence on each other, starting with the very creation of D&D. Though that happened in 1974, it wasn’t until 1979 that the Appendix N Reading List would be published in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Many similar lists have been published in the backs of later editions of D&D, as well as other TTRPG rulebooks, but only the Appendix N Reading List is Gary Gygax’s personal list of reading which influenced him during his co-creation, with Dave Arneson, of the world’s first TTRPG.
The Bestiary, by Jeff Jones Each issue, Jeff works his way through another section of the OSE bestiary and expands the information and GM toolkit for each entry. For this issue, he covers the following creatures: * Cave Locust * Chimera * Giant Crab * Cyclops * Dervish * Doppelgänger * Dragon Turtle * Dryad

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