Issue 23 – and you know what that means…
CONSPIRACIES!
Table Manners is about introducing conspiracies into your game
We introduce a new segment – the Adventure Construction Set
From the Dragon’s Hoard, we pull out the Sword of Sharpness
DM Nick runs the Creature Feature Theater
And in the Poll of the Week, we ask “is Animal Friendship just for ‘traditional’ animals?”
Show links:
For a great roundup of all things 23, try http://23-skidoo.com/
The creature in this week’s show is featured in Dragon magazine #91. While no longer being sold new, you can still find the Dragon Magazine CD Archive
Here’s some books we mentioned. If you use the Amazon links below, the show gets a little kickback, we appreciate it!
Behold a Pale Horse:
The Big Book of Conspiracies
Everything is Under Control
Nothing in This Book Is True, But It’s Exactly How Things Are
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Jayson played his first game of AD&D in 1983, and still plays with the books he bought from a musty secondhand gaming shop in Des Moines back then. 
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Alright a new show! Just in time for my morning jog. I thought of maybe a fun thing for the podcast. You three could teach someone that has never played to DM. This could be over several shows of course. Then they could run a few adventures for you guys, and test his/her skills. Could be a useful segment to the show. Keep up the great work men!
“Any creature viewing fools gold is entitled to a
saving throw which must be equal to or less than its intelligence score, but
for every level of the magic-user the creature must add 1 to his dice score,
so it becomes unlikely that fools gold will be detected if it was created by a
high level caster”
- the above is from the 1E PHB. Magic user spell “Fools Gold” – probably the first 1E AD&D reference to an ability check to determine the outcome of a spell/skill. Later this system was used in the Wilderness and Dungeoneers guides and also in some modules.
There have been some threads on DF about when ability checks entered the game.
Ability checks were introduced in AD&D 1E but 3E is where they became the norm for everything.
I know this has nothing to do about AD&D (well very little anyways)…but this pc game designer talks about meeting Gygax and D&D and GURPS in his inspiration for the fallout franchise:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgjd4i1o4UY
Ability checks show up in the Dungeoneers Survival guide (Page 12). Also of note, the forward by Mike Breault says “the chance of success of proficiencies depends upon the character’s
ability scores, restoring ability scores to their originally intended preeminence”.
I have used this check in my games to cover secondary skill checks, and most things attempted not covered by existing skills and known tables. You can also do a 4d6 check, and apply a bonus or penalty to adjust the percentage outcome to your liking.
i remember seeing William Cooper VHS dubs from a friend way back in the early 90s. they were probably dubbed about 30 times which made their already bad production even more scary. pretty fun back then as a teen and scared the hell out of you… and as conspiracy stuff is fun for stories a lot of the authors are too drenched in christian/nationalist agendas for me.
digging the Construction Set segment. cant wait to see what comes out of it.
and the interview of Tim Cain that DM bill posted was rad! old school PC games rock. also going back and listening to the Matt Finch interview was awesome. same with Margaret Weis. never a huge fan of the supplement realms provided but i love hearing how the stuff originated, the process and the TSR (and beyond) history.
(and the interview of Tim Cain that DM bill posted was “rad”)
Was that a play on words?…lol
Anyways glad you liked, I just thought It was kinda cool how influenced he was by D&D and role-playing games in general…
I know this podcast is about AD&D 1st edition..but for gamers looking for an old school style video game, they should really try:
Fallout
&
Fallout 2
The setting is post-apocalyptic but cool none the less…