I am A.D.D.

You will never hear me say the previous phrase. I have never been diagnosed with A.D.D. but I do have many interests. Our 21st Century life style creates situations which resemble A.D.D. We have to; go to work, get the kids, cook dinner, do the laundry and we call this multitasking. That's my evidence that I do not have A.D.D., I have limited time to dedicate to my personal interests.

I should be working on issue five of Phasic but can't quit thinking about running an E.C. campaign, there are so many unexplored areas in E.C. The whole array of rules and the game mechanics are uncharted territory for gaming.

 For example:

The Warlock: There is no traditional, sprawling list of spells in E.C. and spells are not level specific.

Weapons of Power: With the hit bonuses provided in E.C. there's going to have to be an array of power weapons and armor to fight the increasingly powerful player characters.

My intention is to attempt to play E.C. as written. We all acknowledge that no one played AD&D "by the book." We were all playing Basic D&D with the AD&D elements plugged in where we liked. I am afraid I will bring the same approach to playing multiple secessions of E.C. I already have some preconceived ideas about how the game mechanics will progress. Combat saves will slow down progress but will provide a chance that n.p.c.s will survive the combat bonus happy player characters. I also can't agree with, "Attacks go in the same order, melee first, then missile." (p. 22) That ain't gonna happen, it's just illogical.

So, here's an updated list of elements I intend to use in Assignment: Outpost 6986:
1. Encounter Critical, Second Corrected Edition rule book
2. Time Echo by Lionel Fanthrope (very pulp Sci-Fi)
3. Epic Illustrated magazine
4. Adventure Time, season 1
5. A Trio of New Encounter Critical Races

As for the content from Time Echo, the antagonist in Time Echo is named Rajak the Magnificent. He's an evil dictator, like Darth Viraxis, I'll be using this name for the Warlock boss in the campaign plot.

So, enough of this nonsense for now. It has been suggested that I'm O.C.D. and I think that might be a bit more on the mark.

Malevolent & Benign; Phasic Tumblr Archives

I was looking at my blog roll this weekend and discovered that, last October, Max of the Malevolent and Benign blog had posted a message about his new Tumblr account dedicated to Encounter Critical. He calls it the Phasic Archives and he's still updating it, almost daily. Malevolent & Benign is one of the oldest rpg blogs to mention E.C. and certainly out dates my sophomoric synopsizes.

I had to take a stroll through these pics and found this Walking Eye. I will definitely be using these in the E.C. campaign which I'm brewing up.

It also occurred to me today that it would make much more sense if the scale for the map of the Might Land, from the E.C. rule book, was 500 miles per inch, rather than, 50 miles per inch. I'm not advocating that the scale of the map be officially changed, this is just  food for thought during my design process.

I might as well throw in a few design notes; the theme of the campaign is, Assignment: Outpost 6986.
-- Outpost 6986 is an abandoned and forgotten Vulkin installation from before the Fall of the Sky Gods.
-- P.C.s are recruited to locate the outpost and recover any lost tech. it may hold.
-- Campaign will included at least one random element from; Adventure Time: Season 1, Epic Illustrated
     and  the Lionel Fanthorpe novel Time Echo.

So, stay out of the heat ya street urchins and I'll try to do the same.

Defining an OSR Elf

As I've have mentioned, I play a race as class Elf in our Labyrinth Lord game and leveled up this week. With my advance to 4th level I gain improved saving throws and improved to hit scores. I think these improved saves are where the mathematics of the game play a part in defining the "nature" of an elf.


For a 1st to 3rd level elf the save vs. poison target is 12 which is a pretty excellent saving throw. At 4th level all of my saves are 13 or lower, these are the stats that will eventually allow me to shed the plate mail and begin to feel like an honest elf. (My alignment is neutral so I can feel honest, in character, about nearly anything.)

I gain one second level spell at 4th level and can now use 2, 1st level and 2, 2nd level spells per day. This is all "old hat" to most of you but, I was getting by pretty well with a combination of Sleep, Charm Person and Shrink and now get to add another second level spell each day.

Now, to hire a henchman or two and get the Wand of Magic Missile recharged...!

No door on the west wall. (Polyhedral Newsbag)

Last night, my game group, the Adventure Capitalist, met to play Labyrinth Lord as we do nearly every Tuesday evening. We're in the middle of the game, I'm reading some old notes I had made when I was creating the name for the blog, and I hear our D.M. say, "there's no door on the west wall." I think, "that would be a good name for a blog too." One of the names on the list I was reading was "1d4+4" which is silly stuff but could be a fine name for a blog.


We are playing the Temple of Elemental Evil, yeah we use the Advance Labyrinth Companion. I've never visited the T.E.E. before and, if any of the other guys have they're not ruining it for the rest of us. My character, Leerc Sirc, a race as class elf, just reached level 4. My h.p. is 19 but my A.C. is 3 (plate, of course!) I mostly stay in the back of the party and use my Wand of Magic Missiles or a long bow and need to hire a body guard so I'm not the last guy in our line of adventures.

I've been trying identify what really defines my character as an Elf. I don't believe it's the ability to wear plate and cast spells. Perhaps it's the spell casting and archery and the smarts to use the bow thus improving his chances of survival? I am probably putting too much consideration into the psychology of an imaginary character. 

In other news: I'm still working on the layout for the E.C. fanzine #5 and progress is still slow, I'm not going to make my deadline of June 30. I think the middle of July is going to be a more realistic deadline.

But, the E.C. wheels are still churning up in the old noggin. I have had the idea of running an E.C. campaign for a few months and have written some notes to this effect. I'm not sure who I'll get to play this though? I don't think the A.C. will want to part with their Labyrinth Lord fun. But, they have been known to surprise me, our current D.M. might like a break too. More news as this develops, honest!

New Blogger thing-a-ma-bob, watch out!

So, we've had this new Blogger layout for a while now, all year I guess? And, now that I have some spare time to revisit the Blog-o-sphere, I've noticed at least two bugs. 1. Earlier this week some one hacked the blog Save vs. Spells and made it "Personal Financial Planing." I'm sure a few other folks noticed this too. The hacker basically hacked new info into the blog, thus filling up the blog roll.

Which leads to number 2: How do ya delete a blog from you reading list in this new format? I had to go back to the old format to remove Save vs. Spells. Today I found that Embrace the Dungeon was hacked a month ago and changed to "Animal Pets" and filled with advice concerning domestic pets.

 Guard your passwords gentlemen, change them early and/ or often. If you go on a hiatus, at least, log into your Blogger/ Google account from time to time to run off the vermin of the entree-net. 

Call for Illustrations...

Yes, the Polyhedral Dicebag has risen from it's late spring slumber! And thus, the production of  the Phasic Special, Damnation, Issue is back on track with a production deadline of June 30. But, I need some cover art for the old girl. I know many top-notch illustrators are out their surfing the inter-webs and I'm appealing to one, or two, of you to dedicate your lunch hour to a super doodle of a vehicle of destruction and mayhem on a level that can only be described as scientific realism. Forward any contributions to my e-mail address, which I believe you can find around here somewhere, thanks.

Damnation Vans I have known

Yeah, I've been away. Well, I've actually been right here  but my internet time has been all focused on work, the job, making the doughnuts, etc.About a month ago, I did announce on the Encounter Critical yahoo group  that I'll be doing a Special, Damnation, Issue of  phasic, the E.C. fanzine. I even read the novel, Damnation Alley by Roger Zelanzy in preparation for this special edition. Um, yeah, more on that later.

I've gotten a hand full of submission and haven't written a thing for this issue. The submissions include  material by a pretty heavy hitter in rpg writing and blogging circles. This is good, to have an issue of phasic in which I'm not the contributor of the majority of the material. I think I will do an illustration for the issue as my sole contribution.

If any of you Polyhedral readers would like to get in on the act, just write some nonsense about a transportation device for an rpg and e-mail it my way. (Do I need to give ya my e-mail?) By "an rpg" I mean, it needs to be  Encounter Critical  compatible. I feel that E.C. is pretty compatible with the early editions of Basic D&D and BRPG. (Isn't that the Ruin Quest system or somethin'?)  If you have ever played an rpg you're probably in the ball park for E.C. material creation.

So, for your viewing pleasure, here's a photo of a Damnation Van I've known. I took the photo, if that counts as "knowing" it.