50th Anniversary of D&D

[William]

It's called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. It comprises the body's immune system attacking the nervous system by mistake, and it's super rare. My mother is a retired medical professional and she never encountered it once throughout her whole career, and being a medical professional is all that she ever did.

I'd heard that she had something seriously wrong with her kidneys, so that goes to show how much gossip passes around the internet.

I never knew that she wrote adventures for D&D, I only knew of her being an artist. Her cover for TSR's Dragon Mountain was awesome. What a sh*t thing to happen on D&D's 50th birthday . I guess that we are going to have to try to be positive and soldier on with our gaming in respect of her memory .

Bill

[badams30]

It's called Guillain-Barre Syndrome. It comprises of the body's immune system attacking the nervous system by mistake, and it's super rare. My mother is a retired medical professional and she never encountered it once throughout her whole career, and being a medical professional is all that she ever did.

I'd heard that she had something seriously wrong with her kidneys, so that goes to show how much gossip passes around the internet.

I never knew that she wrote adventures for D&D, I only knew of her being an artist. Her cover for TSR's Dragon Mountain was awesome. What a sh*t thing to happen on D&D's 50th birthday . I guess that we are going to have to try to be positive and soldier on with our gaming in respect of her memory .

Bill

It is a downer, for sure.
Her sister Jolene was my Junior high and high school English teacher, and one day I asked if she was any relation, and she said she was her sister. Still friends with her and she was a bit shocked at the outpouring of support and kind words about Jennell.

I had a few of the modules she wrote, including the Judges Guild stuff, and from D&D the Shattered Statue, and my favorite AD&D mega module, Egg of the Phoenix. She teamed up with Frank Mentzer to combine the 3 tournament modules and make it a big one. I don't think it was ever her or Frank's favorite project, but lots of people liked it.

Sad to see such a big force of gaming pass. She was a heck of a nice person.

[William]

I had a few of the modules she wrote, including the Judges Guild stuff, and from D&D the Shattered Statue, and my favorite AD&D mega module, Egg of the Phoenix. She teamed up with Frank Mentzer to combine the 3 tournament modules and make it a big one. I don't think it was ever her or Frank's favorite project, but lots of people liked it.

I'm going to check this stuff out. The D&D and AD&D stuff must belong to campaign settings that I have no experience with as it's not material that I know (beyond the stuff listed on my signature I also know Mystara, but I've progressed beyond that into material that isn't quite so incongruous). I don't really have any experience with Judges Guild material in any way shape or form. There's print on demand, PDF, and the second hand market, at least for TSR stuff.

Bill

[Persimmon]

Some of the Judges Guild stuff has already been reprinted by Goodman Games in addition to the upcoming new version of Dark Tower. Noble Knight usually has JG material as well.

[William]

Some of the Judges Guild stuff has already been reprinted by Goodman Games in addition to the upcoming new version of Dark Tower. Noble Knight usually has JG material as well.

Thanks for letting me know. It's more likely that I will go to Noble Knight and buy some Judges Guild material second hand as I don't currently have plans to play Dungeon Crawl Classics (I haven't got anything against it, I just haven't got time to add something else into my gaming schedule), and I don't want multiple stats in my gaming books/ sets.

"The Dark Tower" looks good from what research I've done about it online. Another highly rated one by her is "The Caverns of Thracia" which has a Greek Minotaur theme, though it doesn't seem to be quite as highly rated as "The Dark Tower" which is regarded as one of the greatest AD&D adventures of all time.

Apparently the White Box was released on the 30th of January 1974, so if you haven't done it already pencil the date into your diaries.

Bill

[Persimmon]

Some of the Judges Guild stuff has already been reprinted by Goodman Games in addition to the upcoming new version of Dark Tower. Noble Knight usually has JG material as well.

Thanks for letting me know. It's more likely that I will go to Noble Knight and buy some Judges Guild material second hand as I don't currently have plans to play Dungeon Crawl Classics (I haven't got anything against it, I just haven't got time to add something else into my gaming schedule), and I don't want multiple stats in my gaming books/ sets.

"The Dark Tower" looks good from what research I've done about it online. Another highly rated one by her is "The Caverns of Thracia" which has a Greek Minotaur theme, though it doesn't seem to be quite as highly rated as "The Dark Tower" which is regarded as one of the greatest AD&D adventures of all time.

Apparently the White Box was released on the 30th of January 1974, so if you haven't done it already pencil the date into your diaries.

Bill

I got Thracia for free online several years ago, but I can't recall where. But this is what I was talking about from Goodman. These are collected scans of the originals in a nice hardcover, not DCC conversions: https://goodman-games.com/blog/2022/04/ ... ion-vol-2/

Update: It's out of print; maybe check the secondary market.

[William]

I got Thracia for free online several years ago, but I can't recall where. But this is what I was talking about from Goodman. These are collected scans of the originals in a nice hardcover, not DCC conversions: https://goodman-games.com/blog/2022/04/ ... ion-vol-2/

Yeah this looks good. "Citadel of Fire" seems promising from the item description, but I know someone who has got a copy of "Tegel Manor" and it's nothing more than a silly funhouse dungeon (although in all fairness I think that's what it's supposed to be).
I'm definitely putting "The Dark Tower" on my shopping list, and I'm going to do some research on "Citadel of Fire". I'm not sure if "Caverns of Thracia really fits in with what I am currently doing though.

I wonder if they are going to reprint Dave Arneson's "First Fantasy Campaign"? It's the only Judges Guild product that I have ever had any experience with (I forgot about "The First Fantasy Campaign earlier in this thread, as I've never really associated Dave Arneson with Judges Guild due to his super short tenure there).
Now that would be a good one for the 50th anniversary of D&D, but I don't know what the situation is with the copyright for Blackmoor stuff. I do know that WOTC hold the copyright for TSR's DA1-4 (as I have reprints of them from drivethrurpg.com), but I couldn't tell you about the Judges Guild release (I also have a copy that too, but I bought it second hand for £60 in a private sale).

Bill

[Persimmon]

I got Thracia for free online several years ago, but I can't recall where. But this is what I was talking about from Goodman. These are collected scans of the originals in a nice hardcover, not DCC conversions: https://goodman-games.com/blog/2022/04/ ... ion-vol-2/

Yeah this looks good. "Citadel of Fire" seems promising from the item description, but I know someone who has got a copy of "Tegel Manor" and it's nothing more than a silly funhouse dungeon (although in all fairness I think that's what it's supposed to be).
I'm definitely putting "The Dark Tower" on my shopping list, and I'm going to do some research on "Citadel of Fire". I'm not sure if "Caverns of Thracia really fits in with what I am currently doing though.

I wonder if they are going to reprint Dave Arneson's "First Fantasy Campaign"? It's the only Judges Guild product that I have ever had any experience with (I forgot about "The First Fantasy Campaign earlier in this thread, as I've never really associated Dave Arneson with Judges Guild due to his super short tenure there).
Now that would be a good one for the 50th anniversary of D&D, but I don't know what the situation is with the copyright for Blackmoor stuff. I do know that WOTC hold the copyright for TSR's DA1-4 (as I have reprints of them from drivethrurpg.com), but I couldn't tell you about the Judges Guild release (I also have a copy that too, but I bought it second hand for £60 in a private sale).

Bill

I rather like Tegel Manor and Frog God did an expanded update of it a couple years ago for Swords & Wizardry that I found pretty good and my players really enjoyed. Yes, it's a crazy haunted house. Think Disney's "Haunted Mansion" for D&D, but far deadlier. The expansion adds a couple outside dungeons that could be run on their own.

As for Blackmoor, I'd love an omnibus reprint of DA 1-4. I've got my originals, but they're pretty worn out from use. And reportedly there was a fifth module that got written, but wasn't published. And if someone would convert the 3.5 Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor to an OSR system, I'd truly be in Heaven.

[William]

As for Blackmoor, I'd love an omnibus reprint of DA 1-4. I've got my originals, but they're pretty worn out from use. And reportedly there was a fifth module that got written, but wasn't published. And if someone would convert the 3.5 Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor to an OSR system, I'd truly be in Heaven.

Yeah an omnibus would be nice. The unfortunate thing with the reprints is the fact that the world map appear as pages within the books, so you can't take it out and unfold it as each segment of the map takes up one page. I've managed to overcome this problem by downloading a (legal) map of Blackmoor and getting it printed out at my local printers, complete with a tube to keep it in. "The First Fantasy Campaign" comes with a map, but like the rest of that publication it's very evocative and atmospheric but a bit rough around the edges. It's almost just a sketch, just like the text is pretty much just a collection of notes.

Apparently DA5 would have been called "City of Blackmoor". I've read conflicting reports about it being written but not published, and also about it being just an idea that never got off the ground due to interference. Possibly due to Lorraine Williams?

You'd really think that WOTC would do something with Blackmoor or Greyhawk again, or allow someone else to publish something for "Swords & Wizardry" or some other retroclone. Instead they just plunder both settings (especially Greyhawk) for ideas to use elsewhere. Both settings have a strong following, and doing (or allowing) something with Blackmoor or Greyhawk would make far more sense than that OD&D collector's box they're releasing instead. The last one they released didn't sell that well, as the OSR crowd would rather have a retroclone than the OD&D books due to them being hard to navigate and find specific rules within. It's obvious that the OD&D books are like that due to the game being pulled pretty much out of a vacuum so they were writing it as they invented it, but that still doesn't make the game appealing to younger gamers who want a better organised product.

I don't know if anyone on here has seen it or not ( ), but as previously mentioned WOTC are releasing a collector's box with the OD&D books in it, plus some stuff providing a history lesson on the early days of the game. It's for D&D's 50th anniversary.

Bill

[Persimmon]

Yeah, whatever. I'm pretty much beyond purchasing anything WOTC publishes. I dislike every version of the game after 1e anyhow and I still have all my old stuff from the 80s, plus lots of retroclone material.