New Planar Magic Items - Hellsguard, Mephrytis, Ring of Planar Vision, and Four New Potions

I've been busily working away on various projects since the end of April, including attending the North Texas RPG Con in Dallas from 5-10 June 2024 (and for which I will draft a recap soon!).

In the meanwhile, here are some new planar-related magic items (and a couple that aren't, but are related at least thematically, if not topically) that have seen use in my Greyhawk campaigns over the decades.  The two hellish items were wielded by one of my brother's PCs back in the 1980s and '90s in our planes-spanning Greyhawk/Mendenein campaigns, while the ring and potions are from my current pre-and post-COVID Greyhawk campaigns.

The bibliophage Rhodrar of _____ is no more.  Neither culminations nor agonies nor threats of her eternal demise would bend her to reveal the secrets sourced from her nullurë.  She even dared to mock me---her fonkin song will change when I call, bind, and wrack her!---flaying her soul layer by layer until the fragment echoes of her broken truename are all that remain, which I will scatter in ire across the Astral Wastes.  After ransacking her estate, all I find are ciphers and allusions---hints and references to contexts predefined and known, but unwrit, unexplained.  Neither keys nor resonances nor vorends did she yield.  Yet.

--- The Witch of Perrenland, The Demonomicon

Hellsguard, Armor of the Champion of Each of the Nine Hells

Physical Description:  A suit of iridescent and reflective platemail, beautifully-crafted of a dull ruby-red hue.  The plates are etched with fine detail, and depict scenes from The Rebellion, The Fall, the architecture and landscapes of the Nine Hells, and other Infernal designs and devices.  Each is also emblazoned with the standard of its arch-devil creator, while none bear the device of the Infernal Standard itself.  

Magical Description and Lore:  Hellsguard is a creation of the Dukes of Hell as a part of the Regalia of Hell (q.v.).  Each duke crafted one suit of Hellsguard to give to his or her chosen mortal champion; Hellsguard is bestowed only upon the most-high servant of the Nine Hells---each wielder is powerful, influential, competent, and trusted by their arch-devil.  Twenty mortals are known to have donned one of the nine suits.  

As one might expect from a devil's device, the nomenclature of Hellsguard is fraught with grammatical complexities:  some sages name it as Hells'guard (or Hell's Guard or Hells Guard), Hellsgard (Hell's Gard, Hells Gard), or Hellsgird (Hell's Gird, Hells Gird).  It is also known as The Champion's Gard or Garb or Gird, and sometimes named for its plane of origin, as "Nessus Guard" for example.  Sages who specialize in the Infernal Realms and devildom do know of some lore that curiously speaks of Hellsguard as The Hells' Garden, and speculates that it was forged before the founding of the Hells and before the Fall, by the Morningstar itself.  Such speculation is largely discredited as not only unlikely, but vastly improbable given the assumed power of the Twelve, relative to the bestowed powers of the armor.  A minority of sages (often among those who lend credence to the previous theories) also believe that a tenth suit was created, perhaps by by The Morningstar, Astaroth, or other of the past Overlords of Hell.  If such a suit exists, it is presumed to be bound to and represent the cross-planar Citadel of Hell.  

Magical Properties and Gameplay Notes:  

Forged from an arjale-tantulhor-Disiron alloy, Hellsguard is multi-planar platemail +4 that provides a base movement rate of 12".  It is incredibly strong and never nicks, dents, or scratches.  

When first donned, the armor flows in a liquid/molten state to conform to the body shape of its wielder, from pixie- to titan-sized.  It can accommodate tails, wings, gills, multiple limbs, et al, as required by its wielder's body type.  

When its powers are activated, its metallic iridescence brightens into a glow of ruby brilliance that can be seen clearly from hundreds of yards away at its brightest, when its greatest powers are invoked.  

While each suit of Hellsguard provides the following powers and abilities, common across all nine suits.  Each is usable at will, as long as the wielder is in contact with the suit (even if they are not wearing it, but are touching it):

1. Affect Normal Fires:  2/day
2. Burning Hands:  9 hp damage, 2/day
3. Heat Metal (Caina's suit provides Chill Metal):  2/ week, up to 1/day
4. Incendiary Cloud:  1/month
5. Plane Shift:  alone or with up to three others (by linking hands), once per day.  The planar transfer requires 9 segments.  The traveller(s) will always arrive safely anywhere within the suit's native plane of Hell that the wielder has personally visited before in person, while wearing the armor.  They can also plane shift to any plane in the multiverse if it is known to them by name, even if they have not previously visited it, although safe arrival outside the bounds of Hell is not guaranteed.
6. Produce Flame:  6/day
7. Protection from Fire:  90 hp damage or 9 turns of protection, whichever comes first; 2/month, up to 1/week
8. Pyrotechnics:  3/day

Hellsguard common abilities operate at 9th level or the minimum level required to cast the spell, with some exceptions noted below.

In addition, each suit of armor has special abilities imbued by its creator arch-devil, who dictated its unique designs and emblazons with the help and guidance of one of the Infernal Muses, and perhaps the Arch-Mage of the Hells.  The ninth power (or set of powers) for each suit are detailed below:

1. Avernus:  Forged by the now-deceased arch-devil Iranor, the historical powers of the Avernus suit were known to be tied to , but it will be reforged upon the promotion and appointment of a new arch-devil for the plane.  
2. Dis:  Created by Dispater, Secretary and Scribe of Hell, this armor commands the following defensive and divinatory powers:
• Blinking:  controlled within a 9" radius, 9 blinks/2 weeks, no more than 3/day
• Displacement:  3/week, 9 rounds/use, no more than 2/day
• Minor Globe of Invulnerability, 1/month for 9 turns
• the defensive capabilities of a Helm of Telepathy (only, no other functions)
• In addition, the Dis suit confers the abilities of a Helm of Comprehending Languages and Reading Magic, and provides the ability to read the written contents of a document protected by Secret Page or Encrypt (see "Pages from the Mages III" in Dragon #92 or the DM Sourcebook from the FR boxed set)
3. Minauros:  Enchanted by Mammon, this suit of Hellsguard confers immunity to poisons (from monsters, insinuative/contact, ingestive, gaseous), and allows the wearer to use:
• Fire Shield:  hot version only, up to 2/week and 1/day only, 9 round duration
• Possession:  as per magic jar, up to 3/year, but only 1/month
4. Phlethegos:  Created by Belial, this suit confers double-strength fire resistance to its wearer, but no protection from fire.  In addition, the wearer can:
• Fireball:  40 HD/month, up to 9 HD/day
• Illusion:  as devil, 1/month
5. Stygia:  Geryon crafted this suit for his prime servant, Lethólgon, who still wears it to this day.  It has these properties:
• Frost Giant Strength:  Strength 20 at all times while worn
• Produce Cold Fire:  range 5", affects up to 1-5 designated targets within 5" radius (roll d6, on 6 usage of the power is wasted), inflicts 0-10 damage/round for 0-5 rounds (roll d6, on 6 usage of power is wasted; use same type of roll for 2d5 damage)
• Resistance to Cold/Frost:  as fire resistance ring, and at all times while worn
6. Malbolge:  Among the least-powerful suits of Hellsguard, Moloch's confers these powers:
• Cloudkill:  2/month, up to 1/2 weeks
• Smoke Cloud:  as fog cloud, up to 2/day
• Stinking Cloud:  2/week, up to 1/day
7. Maladonimi:  Baalzebul's suit was recently destroyed, along with its wearer, Trillgar of the 17 Slayings, and another is being fashioned.  The old suit's powers were:
• Fire Resistance:  3/month, for 7 rounds per use, as ring
• Flame Shape or Stone Shape:  3/month, no more than 1/week each
• Stoneskin (on self only):  2/month, no more than 1/week
• Meteor Swarm:  2/year, no more than 1/3 months
8. Caina:  Mephistopheles enchanted a suite of vast power, breaking the guideline specifications as set forth by Asmoedus.  His suit's powers perform at 12th (not 9th) level, and allow these abilities:
• Cone of Cold:  12 HD, 2/month, but not more often than1/2 weeks
• Frost Resistance:  double strength
• Frost Shield:  1/week
• Frostweb:  1/day (see my Wand of Black Ice on Canonfire!)
• Ice Storm:  2/week, 1/day
• Wall of Ice:  not usable as an ice storm, 1/day
9. Nessus:  Also known as the Suit of the Overlord, The Overlord's 'Guard, and similar epithets, Asmodeus' Hellsguard suit confers:
• Azure Flame:  1/month (but not blue in hue)
• Fire Resistance:  triple strength; continuous while worn
• Fireball:  90 HD/month, but only up to 1/day at 9HD maximum
• Firestorm:  1/3 months
• Flameshroud:  1/2 weeks
• Serten's Spell Immunity:  continuous while worn
• Wall of Fire:  triple strength, as druid spell, 1/9 days

XP Value:  9999

GP Value:  200,000

 

Mephrytis, The Runes-Graven Blade of the Champion of the Nine Hells   

The Red Sword is the Champion's Sword 
The Word of the Sword is the Champion's Law
The Blade of the Sword  bears the Runes of The Fall
The Dance of the Sword and the Hand are All

-- after Michael Moorcock, Phoenix in Obsidian (1970; published in the USA as The Silver Warriors) 

Physical Description:  Mephrytis is a longsword forged from a pale red metal, and inscribed or inset with with nine relief-raised runes that transfix the blade and are visible from each side.  Its design is otherwise plain, with a standard quillons guard, a grip of black and silver hide, and no ornamentation in the guard or pommel.  

Magical Description and Lore:  Sagely or bardic examination can determine that the hide is from a bulette (difficulty Specific), but the metal will resist easy identification without lower-planar expertise, as the metal is tantulhor, mined from within the Nine Hells (see Ed Greenwood's articles from Dragon Magazine # 74, 75, and 91).  Mephrytis detects as magic (intense conjuration/summoning and evocation, very strong alteration and invocation), evil (overwhelming), and lawful (overwhelming).  

Mephrytis and Hellsguard (q.v.) were forged together, with similar histories.  While they have most-often been wielded together, they have at times been employed singly, but not within recent memory.  

Magical Properties and Gameplay Notes:  Mephrytis is a multi-planar, dancing sentient longsword +2:  it's magical capabilities are fixed and do not change whether the blade is wielded in Hell, Greyhawk, or the Deep Ethereal planes.  Its to hit and damage bonuses cycle over nine rounds of continuous battle, increasing from +2 to +6 during rounds one through five (its height at +6) then down again to +2 over rounds six to nine:  1st round +2, 2nd round +3, 3rd round +4, 4th round +5, 5th round +6, 6th round +5, 7th round +4, 8th round +3, 9th round +2.  

Upon command by its wielder (spoken aloud or in thought), the sword can provide three forms of magical illumination, each of an unlimited duration:

• a baleful, rusty-red illumination in a 2" to 4" radius as dictated by the wielder's wishes; this light blocks usage of infravision, ultravision, x-ray vision, and other non-visible spectrums of light from functioning within its area of effect
• a bloody-magenta faerie-fire illumination in a 5-foot radius; this light prevents usage of ultravision but not other vision types within its area of effect
• a translucent ruby illumination in a 1" radis that blocks infravision within its area of effect but not other visual types

The Red Blade is sentient, with an Intelligence of 13 and an Ego of 16.  It is also telepathic, but does not speak aloud in any known manner.  The personality of the sword has never been described by its wielders, but it is known to serve and advance the causes of the Hells and its devilish masters.  

Mephrytis bears the Nine Sigils of Hell, each a symbol devised by one of the Nine Infernal Muses.  The Nine Sigils also appear in the Infernal Standard and other Regalia of Hell artifacts (q.q.v.), although they are not necessarily enchanted with identical effects.  As such, Mephrytis is also known as The Sword of Sigils, The Sword of the Nine Signs, and similar epithets.  

The runic powers of Mephrytis' Nine Sigils are detailed below, using the Common language command word required to invoke each Sigil's effects.  Legends suggest that the effects can be strengthened or otherwise augmented if a Sigil is invoked using the Infernal dialect native to each Sigil's home plane in Hell:

1. "Flamentine" causes the sword to erupt in hellish flame drawn from the depths of Avernus.  Flametine is usable twice per day, and lasts for 9 rounds, or until quenched.
• Each successful hit in combat inflicts an additional 1-6 points of fiery damage, which ignores non-Infernal fire protections and immunities.  As a flametongue, this will ignite flammable materials and objects.  
• While flaming, the wielder is protected from fire as an infernal ring of fire resistance. 
2. "Alcyon" causes the pale red hue of the blade's metal to exude a coppery-red aura drawn from Dis.  Alcyon activates the wounding power of Mephrytis, and usable up to four times per week.  It lasts for 1-9 turns per use.  Wounds inflicted by Alcyon can only be healed magically by demi-, lesser-, intermediate, or greater gods of any alignment or their divine agents and emissaries, or by mortal clerics of the various lawful evil gods or archdevils.
3. "Calamezxi" causes the pale red hue of the blade to deepen and to assume a repulsive, putrescent quality drawn from the fetid reeks of Minauros.  Any target struck in the next 9 swings of the blade must save vs. spells or be diseased with hell-rot, and die in agony over the next 1-9 rounds (1d10-1; a 1 rolled counts as 1 not 0) as their flesh falls from their bones, inflicting 1/x rounds full hit points of proportional damage each round of Calamezxi's duration.  This disease is only curable by 1/ neutralize poison and cure disease from a 9th+ level cleric, 2/ remove curse and cure diseas from an 11th+ level cleric, or 3/ dispel magic from a 16th+ level cleric.  Calamezxi is usable only once per month. 
4. "Angpheld" summons 1-2 bearded devils from the depths of Phlethegos, which will serve the wielder unquestioningly and exactly, for 9 rounds.  It is usable thrice per month, but no more than once per week.
5. "Rhynndalath" invokes a personal blessing of Geryon, ruler of Stygia, and raises the wielder's Strength to 19 (or provides a +1 to Strength if the wielder's natural strength is already 19 or higher) for 9 turns.  It is usable nine times per month, but no more than twice per day.
6. "Excorziastrindinities" is a 3 segment casting time curse, more colloquially known as "Blossoms of The Fall."  Devised personally by Baalzebul, this unique incantation cannot be learned or cast without Mephrytis, which also serves as the material component and focus for the spell (it is naturally not consumed; the somatic component consists of a sharp salute upward toward the Heavens, then pointing the blade downward toward Malbolge to draw the curse into the blade, which glows with a brick-red aura of hatred while holding the curse; then the curse-aura is fired at the victim, with a range of 3").  The target must save vs. spells at -5 or suffer the full effects of the curse, which turns the victim into a devil of appropriate HD (or otherwise transforms them into a fallen state if they are 14 HD/levels or higher).  If the victim Falls, they must make a second saving throw (at normal chances as a devil, and at -130% MR) or they are geased to seek the service of Baalzebul, otherwise they are geased to present themselves to offer service to the nearest enthroned arch-devil (exiles and independents do not count).  "Blossoms of The Fall" is usable up to nine times per millenium, but no more than once per century.  
7. "Drendipuir" calls forth a roiling cloud of poisonous vapors from Maladomini.  Treat this as a cloudkill+incendiary cloud cast at 21st level, although the vapors of Drendiuir cannot be moved by winds save those that originate from the Heavens or by the Winds of Limbo.  It is usable once per nine weeks.  
8. "Hellsblades" invokes a mobile arjale blade barrier 9 feet high, wide, and deep.  It moves at 9" at the mental command of its wielder, who may cast other spells and take other actions while Hellsblades do their work.  Creatures contacting the maelstrom suffer 18-63 points of damage per round of contact (9d6+9).  The Sigil  lasts for 9 turns, and is usable once per three months.  
9. "Noirethithiel" enables the wielder to scribe a symbol in the air, using Mephrytis as a stylus.  Available symbol options include hellfire (usable once per 9 years), hopelessness (once per 9 days), pain (once per 9 weeks), or persuasion (once per 9 months).  

XP Value:  7450
GP Value:  149,000

 

Ring of Planar Vision

What drove the Lord Mayor mad, in the end?  Was it his study of Yagrax's tome?; or his transvalent scrying of the Seas of Chaos---seeking islets in the Primal beyond The Wall of the Worlds' End?  Or did he follow al-Yasin's hooded footsteps one triptych too far, beyond even Eibon?; or pierce the veiled schalla between the verses with his reading and seeing rings, so that D--- guided him to U------------ or Y----------, or even A-------, at the center of all things?  

To sift these signs for causes or certitudes is seemly folly at best.  Perhaps sufficient portent is this:  Zagig's seeings ringed his learnings with non-sense, leaving Zagyg's insights circling wisdoms in the wondrous lands of the Red Queen and her dragonchess machinations. 

All of these myriad redes contain possible tendril portions of truths.  I quail before an infinity of infinities---can I interpret and navigate their thresholds, retain sanity, and ascend the chords to the higher scales---to a throne!---, or will I like Z. before me, see truths too terrible and stumble through madness and delusions forevermore?   

Experimentation is the only path and answer that I can fathom.

--- The Witch of Perrenland, The Demonomicon

Physical Description:  The ring appears to be a plain, burnished copper band, unadorned with ornamentation or gemstones.  A competent jeweller would value the ring at 3-5 gold pieces.

Magical Description and Lore:  The ring of planar vision is one of several magical rings that were reputedly enchanted by Zagig, as a set of "Rings of Seeing."  According to local lore among the mages of the City of Greyhawk, Zagig fashioned one of each of a ring of x-ray vision, ring of true sight (some believe that it was a ring of witch sight), a ring of far seeing (providing clairvoyance and wizard eye), and this ring.  

Before activation and attunement, detect magic reveals a faint alternation aura on the ring; after activation and attunement, detect magic registers multiple divination auras (very strong, strong, and moderate), and a strong alteration and moderate evocation auras.  Once detected as magical, this plain copper band will resize to fit the hand of its wearer.   

Magical Properties and Gameplay Notes:  This ring appears to be a simple ring of ultravision until its activation and attunement conditions are met.  Activation requires the ring to be worn by a magic-user for a full month, and attunement requires the MU to travel via blink, teleport, gate, or similar magics during that month (at the DM's option, attunement may require entrance into another plane, demi-plane, or extra-dimensional space, or something similar).

Once attuned, the ring confers the following powers to its wielder, all of which require one round of concentration to utilize (scanning in a 60-degree arc; see detect evil):

• peer beyond the veil (2.5" range) and regard the portal (6" range:  portal type, active/inactive, perm/temp, one-way/bi-directional) from The Multi-Faceted Portal-Penetrating Gaze, my new 4th level MU spell in The Twisting Stair #2.
• see extra-planar creatures auras as true seeing, at 6" range
• see ley lines, planar boundaries, etc., at 6" range
• detect gate, including teleporters, magic pool transporters, etc., at 6" range

In addition to its divinatory capabilities, the ring of planar vision enables its bearer to interact with (including the ability to attack) creatures requiring magical weapons to be hit due to their multi-planar nature.  This follows the same progression as monsters, so a wearer of 2nd level or 2HD can strike creatures that require silver, cold iron, nickel, or other non-magical weapons to be hit, 4th level or 4 HD can strike creatures that require +1 weapons to be hit, 6th level/HD strikes creatures requiring +2 weapons to hit, etc. (see DMG page 75, with the addition that +5 weapons require 12th level or 12+5 HD to hit, and +6 weapons require 14th level or 14+6 HD to hit).    

Lastly, the ring of planar vision also provides planar ubiety to its wearer (see below for potion specifics), granting +50% to base MR against unwilling teleportation or planar travel, and a base saving throw of 20 even if the spell or ability permits no save (q.v., scarab of protection).  

Similar to a gem of seeing, usage of the ring of planar vision taxes its wielder:  there is always an 8% non-cumulative chance when using any power to see/detect reversed conditions or hallucinations.  In addition, if the ring is employed more frequently than once per six turns, the wielder temporarily loses Constitution points (see ring of x-ray vision).  

XP Value:  4000
GP Value:  35,000

Four New Potions

The higher order schemas still elude.  Ubiety and transitions must not fail or all is lost:  without ubiety, summonings may invert; without transition, multichordal travel cannot survive the advent and intervals of passage.  Even girded by latency and mindbar, even augmented by faceted wisdoms, even sealed in contracted oaths, the arcs of passage may fail without surety of ubiety and transition....

--- The Witch of Perrenland, The Demonomicon 

Elixir of Planar Ubiety:  A variation on the standard potion of stability (q.v.), the elixir of planar ubiety prevents the alteration of its drinker's change in location through the effects of blink, dimension door, teleport, plane shift, gate, and similar travel spells.  It counters the effects of distance distortion and maze.  The potion's planar fixity affects all such spells  and effects, whether the imbiber would willingly accept them or not.  A full potion dose lasts for 5-20 hours, and it may be drunk in halves, or sipped in eighths like a potion of invisibility, with each sip lasting for 4-10 turns.  

XP Value:  650
GP Value:  1800

Potion of Senility:  Drinking this potion (even a sip to sample it) reduces the victim's Int and Wis scores to 4 each.  This change is permanent, but can be healed through the following spells:

• heal, restoration, alter reality, limited wish, or wish
• memory map cast by a 12th+ magic-user (see Rob Kuntz's MoZ4 The Eight Kings)
• remove curse cast by a 14th+ level cleric or magic-user
• Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer cast by a 16th+ magic-user

XP Value:  ---
GP Value:  400  

Potion of Shadow Form:  This potion transforms its drinker into shadow form (published in my "From Kuroth's Quill" column in Knockspell #6, and reproduced below for quick reference).  This potion must be consumed as a full dose, and is not efficacious when drunk in halves.  

Shadow Form (Alteration)

Level:  4

Range:  0

Duration:  1 turn + 1 round/2 levels

Area of Effect:  Caster only

Components:  S

Casting Time:  1 segment

Saving Throw:  None

This spell transforms the shadow master into a two-dimensional shadow, in a manner similar to both the third level illusions spell wraithform, and the seventh-level magic user spell duo dimension.  The caster may change his or her shape as per the spell distort shadow (q.v.).  Due to the extraplanar nature of the spell, the caster cannot be attacked directly by physical weapons (cold iron, silver, magical, or otherwise).  If attacked by the shadow of the weapon, the caster gains a +2 bonus to armor class and saving throws against such attacks, and if the attack is successful, normal damage and effects apply.  Most attack spells such as magic missile, fireball, lightning bolt, ice storm, cone of cold, etc. are similarly less effective (-2/die of damage rolled against magic missile; against other damaging spells, a successful saving throw reduces damage to one-quarter, while a failed save indicates half damage); non-damaging spells function normally against the caster.

XP Value:  450
GP Value:  1000

Potion of Stability:  This potion allows its imbiber to walk the narrowest of balance beams and tightropes with surety of footing and excellent control whether climbing, running, or otherwise navigating challenging environs.  Frictionless surfaces can be trod without slipping, and a successful saving throw vs. petrification prevents the drinker from falling into pits.  The potion also quells the effects of trip and fumble spells (and oil of fumbling) for the potion's duration, allows a saving throw against snare, and even grants a saving throw of 18-20 against Otto's Irresistible Dance (additional bonuses may improve the base 18 save).  While the potion provides secure movement, the DM's judgement will dictate movement rate; in general, tightropes and similarly-fraught conditions will reduce movement by half (see the Thief-Acrobat in Unearthed Arcana, page 23 for guidance).  The potion lasts for 6-36 turns, and may be consumed in halves.

XP Value:  350
GP Value:  650

Closing Notes

Recent planar discussion in Anthony Huso's new discord server prompted me to dig up my notes on Zagig's ring, while hellish discussion of his recent PDF releases for Avernus, Minauros, and Stygia reminded me of The Regalia of Hell artifacts from one of my college campaigns.  So here they are! :D

A few other notes:

• The PCs in my current Greyhawk campaign include a Savant (a magic-user sub-class from Trent Smith's Heroic Lengendarium; this PC will eventually be able to learn detect gate and identify gate) and they found the ring of planar vision in my version of Castle Greyhawk.  They sold the ring to Vistrion (my name for The Mage of the Striped Tower in the City of Greyhawk), but as part of the sale terms have access to rent it for use again if needed.
• The spells Memory Map (from Rob Kuntz's concluding Zayene adventure, The Eight Kings) and The Multi-Faceted Portal-Penetrating Gaze (from The Twisting Stair #2) are, alas, from print-only products (at this time; when we republish TTS#1-4-ish as a collection, we may offer it in PDF format too).  Neither are terribly difficult to find with some googling.
• The spell Azure Flame and the symbol of hellsfire are (I think) of my own creation, but I'm too tired to dig them up and add them further this post.  Maybe later!
• I think that Trillgar of the 17 Slayings was an NPC from my brother Phil's campaign, but I could be misremembering.  One of my brother Brian's PCs wielded both Hellsguard and Mephrytis for awhile, which served as a lawful counter-balance to the other PCs in the group serving Orcus, Zuggtmoy, and other demon princes....  
• I obviously used an alternative structure and hierarchy for the offices and functions of the arch-devils and the planes of the Nine Hells.  I'm not sure, offhand, that the named arch-devils are in fact current, since play has not been directed hellsward in three or more decades of real-life gaming.  Devilish sources of inspiration include Alexander von Thorn's "Politics of Hell" in TD#28, Greenwood's articles, Moorcock's Von Bek family ("Do the Devil's Work" is their crest and motto, while serving the Grail), and Dante and Milton (directly, and filtered through Melville).  Gygax also created an NPC EHP of Asmodeus in one of the Gord short stories in Night Arrant with a tattoo under his tongue indicating his cult status/membership---an interesting detail that always stuck with me, and inspired me during college to detail some revisions to the planar structure of the Nine Hells when I was first redefining and drafting Greyhawk's and Mendenein's planar architecture.  
  
  

Enjoy!

Allan.

grodog's Founders & Legends and GaryCon XVI Convention Reports - 14-25 March 2024 - Part 3

GaryCon XVI – Thank YOUs and Swag

Continued from Part 1 – Arrival through Founders & Legends and Interregnum Tuesday and from Part 2 - GaryCon XVI – 20-25 March 2024.

Founders & Legends convention logo

grodog's Thank YOUs and Appreciations!

My attendance at both Founders & Legends and GaryCon was supported by a number of important folks, without some of whom I would literally have not been able to be there*.  

GaryCon XVI convention logo

Therefore, I'd like to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to:

• Luke and Bochura Gygax, for managing both conventions, providing my F&L badge (and other folks in the Legio V who ran many games supporting the 50th anniversary extra weekend), and for making the conventions appear smooth and easy!
• Robert Brandon, for graciously inviting me to share his B&B for F&L, which was conveniently situated next door to Gary's old house at 330 Center Street, and without which I would not have been able to attend F&L at all
• Joe Kline, for graciously providing a PC for my use after the convention
• Rich Franks, for his unexpected help in manning the Black Blade booth, for wrangling the Legio V cats, and for delivering Joe's donated PC
• Victor Raymond, for yet-again splitting a room at GaryCon, continuing excellent company, and good conversations before, throughout, and after the conventions
• Jon Hershberger, my business partner in Black Blade Publishing over the past 15 years, for his hard work before, during, and after our conventions that goes largely unrecognized

Among the Greyhawk and convention communities, I'd like to thank: 

• Darlene, for her wonderful and continuing to inspire artwork, and for signing my now-five-year-old niece's coloring book (she loved it!! :D )
• Tony Rosten, for trekking down to Lake Geneva on Friday evening during F&L, inviting  and treating Robert and I to dinner, and for breathing a new hope into our mega-dungeon zine, The Twisting Stair (work on issue #4 begins in May!)
• Carlos Lising and the Wednesday night “Wolves of St. Cuthbert” crew---Greg, Danny, Triet, Dan, Nick, and Jeremy---for a fun off-grid game, picking up where we left off 2 years ago, and to Carlos for the gift of two of his unpublished modules, a casl Entertainment tote bag, and for all of the Greyhawk inspiration that he creates and shares with the community year-in and year-out
• The Lenard Lakofka Archive crew---Anna, Jay, Josh, Lee, Troy, David, Dan, Rich, and the rest of the Lakofka Archive crew for the two new Lakofka adventures modules, now freely available for download (with more in the pipeline!)
• Paul Stormberg of The Collector's Trove, TLB Games, and Legends of Roleplaying (and Wargaming!) and his ever-helpful partner in gaming, Kevin Maurice,  for squeezing me into the museum game (my 2nd time in Rob’s boreal level, 1st at NTX in 2019)
• Jay Scott (who streamed live throughout GaryCon, including the Legends & Lore seminar show with Mike and Anna), Kristoph Nolen, Mike Bridges, Joe Bloch, Troy Alleman's Cannibaal Publishing, and the multitudinous World of Greyhawk fan community for keeping the setting alive through continuing content creation, sharing, and support via Canonfire!, Greyhawk Online and The Oerth Journal, The Grey Grimoire, Visions of Greyhawk, Virtual Greyhawk Con (4-6 October 2024!), and so much more :D
• Jim Kitchen for securing the means for future grodog's escapes, and continuing to spread the good word!
• Ed Greenwood, for kindly signing my copies of The Grand History of the Realms, Secrets of the Sages, and The Dragon #37 (somehow I couldn't find my copy previously-signed by Gary way back at Lake Geneva Gaming Con #3 in 2007---I need to rummage around in my office more!); TD#37 contains Ed's seminal article, "From the City of Brass... to Dead Orc Pass... in One Small Step...:  The Theory and Use of Gates", which is one of my favorite articles ever published in Dragon Magazine
• GaryCon volunteers Jeff MacKay, Mark (first time attendee, flew in from Wales!), Dirk Collins and his son, and a couple other folks for loading up my minivan on Sunday afternoon while I finished the last of the booth breakdown!  Thank you all:  that was the quietest, easiest Sunday afternoon I've had at GaryCon in ages :D

A warm thank you to the many players who chose to spend their precious conventioneering time in my games, providing feedback on the playtests, and continuing to surprise an old grodog who sometimes thinks he's seen all the tricks:

• LEGIO V Presents: grodog's Castle Greyhawk
• Saturday night (The Black Reservoir):  Rich Franks, Scott Peterson, Jason Azze, Scott Hadaller, Scott Greig (Dog of War), Maurice Ktrejczyk, Greg Naughton, David Ferguson, Rich Bush
• Sunday night (The Heretical Temple of Wee Jas):  Robert Brandon (R.R. Brando), Rich Franks, Robert Kropiewnicki, Steven Danielson, Thomas Quigley, Rich Bush
• Monday night (The Black Reservoir):  Steven Wright, Robert Brandon (R.R. Brando), Michael Newman, Rick Winslow, Jim Stewart, Steve Jumper, Sharon Reed, Mitchell Clements, Dave "darjr" Rosser, Carlos Mondragon
• Legio V Presents: Abyssal Rift in Greyhawk Wilderness
• Thursday night:  William Meinhardt, Bill Meinhardt, Shiv Chopra, Steven Danielson, Raymond Fleming, Lee Capps; in absentia:  Kim George, Jim Kitchen
• Saturday night:  Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, Paul Wight, Dan Weiss, Joe Manganiello, John W. Roberts, Greg Joseph, Aron Clark
• Legends of Roleplaying tournament:  LR10 Nexus of Elder Evil
• Friday night, team #4:  Vince Lok, Devon Hibbs, Shawn Hibbs, Steve, Erika, Scott McKinley, Demos Sachlas, Joe, Zach Howard

Lastly, my eternal thanks to my family for supporting my fun and games, my publishing projects, and for putting up with my absence for a much longer time than usual this year!  All of my love to Heather, Ethan, and Henry (and Muffin and Felix too, who, being cats, probably didn't miss me very much ;) )!

The Glorious, the Goods, the Swag

Founders & Legends and GaryCon were fun and games, and some of that fun came home with me.  Highlights are pictured below, and included:

grodog's F&L and GaryCon loot!

• a swank and eminently useful casl Entertainment tote bag (and two unpictured and  unpublished books as well!)
• Forge of Ice miniatures catalog and encounter map from Alex Bates for his new zine adventure, The Corpse Eaters, as well as one figure from the adventure, two new crossbow-wielding sleestak, and three Bakshi goblin minis; it looks like he may still have a few of his awesome dragon turtles by John Dennett, too, so grab one before they're gone; the artist Shalya Sackinger was helping Alex with his booth, and gave me a copy of her artwork zine portfolio, as well as A Practical Guide to Xinevan Birds (volume 1, which suggests a volume 2 in the future!)
• Two of the newest Greyhawk community publications:  LA3 A Minor Threat and LA4 The Gift, from the Lenard Lakofka Archive (several other Greyhawk publications debuted at the show too but I did not get copies of all of them yet)
• Darlene's Color Me Fantasy coloring book (a birthday gift for Regina, my wonderful niece!), and her first volume kicking off The Story of Jasmine graphic novel series (which first appeared in The Dragon #37)
• Merle Rasmussen's newest design, I Choose to RISE---a card game released in February to honor Black History Month, and co-designed with Dr. Aritka Tyner "to support youth in developing their leadership skills and making a difference in the world around them"---for more information, see the Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute

grodog's F&L and GaryCon loot!

• Aron Clark's Holmes & Clark clone and new edition of Albie Fiorie's classic White Dwarf introductory adventure, "The Lichway" (look for an interview with Aron in the coming soon Fight On! Magazine #15)
• Jennell-Jaquays-dedicated DCC adventure #105 By Mitra's Bones, Meet Thy Doom! 
• Jay Scott's The Free City of Altimira (a promotional gazetteer preview)
• the F&L swag bag included a winter cap (made me think of Carlos Lising!), some soda/beer cups, dice, a chocolate coin, and a shot glass
• Victor Raymond's Doomground rules and setting booklet for his new OD&D+Greyhawk mega-dungeon campaign

And that's a wrap---until next year! =)

Allan.

==

* My job at Amazon Web Services ended in September when AWS moved my formerly-remote role to Seattle as part of their company-wide "return to office" policy changes, and I've not yet found new work.  

So, if you know of anyone looking to hire for remote roles in Knowledge Management, CRM, Customer/User Experience, Content Management, Taxonomy/Ontology, Information Architecture, Search Engines, Community Forums, Chat, Wiki, and similar self-help/customer support functions, please send them to my Linked In profile and let me know! :D

ATGj

Mega-Dungeon Monday - The Recessive Gallery Level

This is a presently-unfinished map that I designed primarily during the pre-COVID era:

The Recessive Gallery Level - 
map by Allan Grohe (grodog)

The map is drawn on 8 spi graph paper, so it represents a fairly large level environment---880' east-west by 640' north-south.  That places it solidly among the largest of my dungeon levels, and it's comparable in width to my original design for the first level of my Castle Greyhawk (which has been significantly enlarged more-recently, along with my second level).  

Unlike many of my maps, I didn't sign and date this one, so I'm not sure offhand when I created it during the past decade-ish, but I worked on it last in November 2019, probably as prep for running it as a convention game, but I didn’t get quite that far with the keying. 

As usual with my unfinished maps, various rooms are orphaned until I determine whether access to them will be via doors, archways, secret doors, or other more-esoteric means of entry.  

Some interesting (to me, anyway!) features to note:

• Entrances are via the 60’ circular shaft just right-of-center, ramps on the right side, a 20' wide corridor to the south, and a 20’ wide secret corridor on the far left
• The area just above the entry shaft is the levels titular Recessive Gallery---a recessed artwork gallery.  I haven’t decided exactly what type of art is represented in its exhibits, but I’m leaning toward statues and other physical/magical art emplacements (similar in style but not necessarily subject matter to those in my drowic sage of demonology's home in Erelhei Cinlu)
• You’ll notice some triangular doors drawn on the level, and they are in fact triangular in shape and placed in triangularly-shaped corridors, which complicate movement (the triangles are oriented with the point downward)
• A few of the rooms are moving, although only one is marked on this version of hte map:  the lower-right 40x40’ room
• Two multi-level complexes exist:  an octagonally-shaped one in the lower-ish left, and a square-ish shaped one in the lower middle right.  These extend upward and downward from the baseline elevation of the level, and may reach into other adjacent levels (I haven't determined that yet).
• The large skull/lightbulb-shaped room is likely a temple, perhaps to a god of death---perhaps Nerull or Wee Jas or a previously-slain god of death (two of my players' PCs are interested in the god of death:  one is from the Horned Society and has been actively worshipping Nerull, while another is a fey bard from another plane and is enamored with an aspect of the god of death from that plane, who may or may not also existing within the portfolio of one of Greyhawk's death gods)
• I placed a few repeating room-door mazes in the level, in the tradition of early Gygaxian and Kuntzian map designs
• At least two of the large rooms are inhabited by dragons!

More to come as I continue to work through older draft posts and as inspiration strikes! :)

Allan. 

Maw of the Beholder - A New Magical Ring for the World of Greyhawk

Maw of the Beholder is my new magic item inspired by John Popson's wonderful commemorative GaryCon XVI ring.  John runs Effincool Miniatures, and makes some excellent figures, including cool dungeon decor and the Court of the Sultana line, amongst many other great pieces! 

Here are a pair of images of the ring, from John's Facebook photos:

GaryCon XVI Commemorative Ring - head-on view,
crafted by John Popson of Effincool Miniatures

GaryCon XVI Commemorative Ring - rotated design view,
crafted by John Popson of Effincool Miniatures

Physical Description

A metal ring fashioned from green gold and carved in the shape of a beholder, with the open mouth of the beholder acting as the finger's hole.  The hole is ringed with 20 teeth, each a yellow-green chrysoberyl shard.  The beholder's central eye is a spectacular double-stone---a jacinth with an inset violet garnet---while each of the ten smaller eyes is a different precious stone worth 500 to 1000gp.  The top of the ring features a magical rune in raised relief.  

As an item of fine jewelry, the ring would command at least 12,500 golden orbs. 

Magical Description and Lore

At least five variants of the Maw of the Beholder have been successfully identified, and all are believed to be the creations of the artificer-mage Oshonj-Opp'n.  Each features his personal rune atop the beholder's head.  Oshonj resided in the small riverine community of Port Nilonct, situated at the juncture of the Velverdyva and Att Rivers during the heyday of the Archclericy of Voll (now modern Veluna; the town was destroyed during the great floods of 57 CY).  It is not known when or where Oshonj first encountered the fearsome eye tyrants, but his surviving laboratory journals demonstrate both the deep familiarity and a certain fixation that can have only grown from direct, personal experience.  While a master craftsman and enchanter, Oshonj never received regular patronage, attracted few apprentices, and faded from the court's eye over time.    

Oshonj's rings were first recorded by the Baklhunish bard Zilepfe Saerrical, who observed the successful usage of a Tyrant's Crown while exploring the Rift Canyon in the company of Keoghtom and Quaal in 189 CY.  He recounted their exploits at the court of Viceroy Belkan I in Dyvers, which were duly  recorded by Endrrhen Y'laexa, sage for the visiting Prince Moranvich, and later also an associate of the court wizard Alphon.   

Oshonj eventually attained lichdom, and remained secluded in his forgotten tower in the westernmost timberlands of the Gnarley, until he was destroyed by The Company of the Thirsting Peryton in 224 CY.  They sold various mundane and magical treasures from the lair, including several of Oshonj's laboratory journals, and one of each of the five known ring types.  Widely believed to have retained additional rings and other unsold valuables, the adventurers found themselves hunted by wizards and beset by assassins, and they fled into the wilds of the Cairn Hills, never to be heard from again....     

Three additional pictures of the ring, from Brian Stillman, of Eye of the Beholder fame:

GaryCon XVI ring,
photo by Brian Stillman

GaryCon XVI ring,
photo by Brian Stillman

GaryCon XVI ring,
photo by Brian Stillman

Magical Properties and Gameplay Notes

The five known Maw of the Beholder ring variants and the magics imbued within each are detailed as follow.  The rings cannot be recharged---their secrets of creation and enchantment lost with the Oshonj's demise.  Prices and XP value are for a full-charged ring.  

1. Cursed Maw of Wounding (one known to exist):  This variant appears to provide magical capabilities similar to one of the other four rings, but when commanded into action during battle or in any other stressful situation, the ring's true nature is revealed as the beholder's mouth closes and its chrysoberyl teeth dig into the finger of the wielder's hand!  The ring cannot be removed, and the victim takes 1-3 points of wounding damage per round for ten rounds, and at the end (if still alive), they must succeed in a natural save vs. dragon breath (no bonuses permitted) or the finger is severed.  (If slain, the finger is severed as well).  Severed fingers cannot be reattached or healed save by regeneration or wish, and permanently reduce the character's Dexterity by 2 points.  Some sages speculate that all of Oshonj's rings become cursed when they run out of charges....  
   
   XP Value:  --  
   GP Value:  3000 (made of inferior materials compared to the others, which is only obvious after the ring's true nature is known)
   
   
2. Ring of Peering (four known to exist):  When activated by command, in four segments the eyestalks on the ring of peering elongate up to 16 feet in length, and actively gyre to look in all directions, peer around corners, and into nearby dimensions---seeing hidden, camouflaged, invisible, out-of-phase, ethereal, or astral creatures in a 6" radius.  Each charge expended lasts for 6 rounds, and while activated, the wearer cannot be surprised, backstabbed, or assassinated except by teleport, timestop, or similar tactics.  At least one ring of peering is also known to provide true sight (as the illusionist spell), and another x-ray vision.  Each ring has from 6 to 47 charges (6d12-25; minimum 6).
   
   XP Value:  2000
   GP Value:  15,000 (20,000 for true sight or x-ray vision versions)
   
   
3. Anti-Magic Eye (two known to exist):  Perhaps the most-puissant ring created by Ossonj, this variant has only one function:  when activated, in 2 segments it fires an anti-magic ray up to 8" at either a creature or an object.  Non-magical objects receive no saving throw and are automatically hit.  Magical objects save at base 15, with with an additional +1 for each plus above +1, and an additional +5 if they increase agility, or reflect or resist magical effects (including providing MR).  Creatures targeted must save vs. spells to determine if the ray hit (save fails) or missed (save succeeds).  If the ray misses the primary target it continues to maximum range and may hit a secondary target (who is also entitled to a saving throw, etc.; if the ray reaches maximum range without successfully striking a target, the ray vanishes and the charge is lost).  A target struck by the anti-magic ray is encapsulated in anti-magic for 8 rounds:  they cannot use magic weapons, spells, or effects as if they were in the radius of an anti-magic shell spell, and similarly cannot be targeted by magic weapons, spells, or effect (magical weapons will still function as normal weapons and can still damage an enveloped target).  Each ring has from 3 to 60 charges (5d12-2d10 where 10s count as 0s).        
   
   XP Value:  2500
   GP Value:  17,500
   
   
4. Ring of Replication (three known to exist):  Each ring of replication features 1d12-2 functional eyestalks; any result of 3 or less means that the central eye does not function.  Each functioning eye or eyestalk can fire a single beholder eyeray beam 2d3-1 times before its charges are fully expended.  Expanded eyebeam powers below are from my variant beholder rules:  
   
   
   1. death ray (5" range)
   2. disintegration (3" range, up to a 7'x10'x5' deep volume may be affected each round if targeted upon matter)
   3. charm monster (5" range, save at -2)
   4. anti-magic cone (6" range)
   5. fear (8" range) 
   6. cause serious wounds (6" range, 3d8+3 damage, save vs. poison for half damage)
   7. telekinesis (8" range, 2700 gp weight plus 10gp weight per hit point above 55)
   8. flesh to stone (5" range, 25% of beholders can also use stone to flesh with this eye ray as well)
   9. slow (6" range, 1 target for a number of rounds equal to hit dice, no save)
   10. hold monster (5" range, save at -3, duration 1 round per hit die, plus 2-7 rounds)
   11. sleep (8" range, affects up to 6 HD creatures per Wotinar's Advanced Sleep)
   12. ray of enfeeblement (7" range, 35% loss plus 3% per hit die)
   13. illusion (4" range, as per spectral force; remains for 1 round per 2 hit dice after concentration ceases; 10% of beholders may create permanent illusions with this eye ray)
   14. light burst (4" range, as per Eye of the Deep; very useful against drow, illithids, duergar, intellect devourers, etc.)
   15. pyrotechnics ray (5" range, ignites combustibles only) 
   16. blindness (6" range, permanent until cured; this will also negate the random power of a rival beholder's eye ray if the target beholder fails its saving throw)
   17. repulsion (4" range, lasts one round per HD, save at -1)
   18. fumble (7" range, lasts two rounds plus one round per two hit dice)
   19. vampiric ray (3" range, 3d8+6 damage, save vs. breath weapon for no damage [ray misses, and it may hit a secondary target]; if hit, victim rolls a second save vs. death magic or also loses one level; damage caused is transferred to the beholder as healing, and ten additional points of healing are transferred if the victim is energy drained; see my’s 4th level necromancer spell of the same name)
   20. ice ray (5" range, 5d4+8 damage, save vs. petrifaction for half damage)
   21. ray of rot (4" range, as per violet fungi touch, save vs. poison avoids the effects)
   22. reverse gravity (5" range, lasts on victim for 4 rounds + 1 round per HD of beholder)
   23. heat metal or chill metal (4" range, lasts for 8 rounds; 45% chance for either, 10% chance for both in the same eye)
   24. other DM nastiness (including ideas from the artifacts tables like transmute bones to jelly, transmute bones to green slime, animate dead, change alignment to that of beholder, imprisonment, temporal stasis, plane shift to a random plane, geas, eyebite, a two-eye combination for power word stun, random mutation powers from Gamma World, etc., etc.)
   25. Roll twice: the eye has two different powers that can be used one at a time. If you roll this result again, add a third power or allow the two eye beam powers from the first roll to be used simultaneously! 
       
       
   For duplicate results, either re-roll, or increase the number of charges (add another 2d3-1 charges), double the range, and/or penalize the saving throw by -2 (and reduce the total number of functional eyes by one with each such result).
   
   I also place all beholder eyes randomly, so players can’t count on disabling a beholder's anti-magic by hitting his central eye, for example.
   
   XP Value:  2500
   GP Value:  20,000
   
   
5. Tyrant's Crown (two known to exist):  This variant allows the wearer to speak with and to understand any beholder, including an eye of the deep, spectator, and similar beholder-kin (bleeder, etc.).  Beholders and kin will treat the wearer as if they have an 18 Charisma.  By expending a charge, the wearer can exercise rulership (as the rod), affecting up to 16 HD beholders with no saving throw (save negates for 17+ HD beholders), and up to a total of 60 HD of beholders and kin.  Rulership activates in 5 segments and lasts for 1 turn per charge.  The wearer may also attempt charm monster at 1 target within 4" (save at -4) or suggestion at up to 6 target beholders within 6" (6 targets save at +2, 4-5 save at normal, 2-3 at -1, and 1 target saves at -3).  Charm or suggest drain 1 charge each, and require 3 segments to activate.  Each Tyrant's Crown has from 4 to 48 charges (4d12-2d10 where 10s count as 0s).  
   
   XP Value:  2750
   GP Value:  25,000
   
   

Closing Notes

I used GVDammerung's Canonfire! article "Furyondy Reforged - A Brief History & Chronology" for timeline history of the Viceroys of Ferrond.  

I hope that the Maw of the Beholder may find its way into your treasure hoards! :D

Allan.

grodog's Founders & Legends and GaryCon XVI Convention Reports - 14-25 March 2024 - Part 2

GaryCon XVI – 20-25 March 2024

Continued from Part 1 – Arrival through Founders & Legends and Interregnum Tuesday.

With the shift to Wednesday, this required the changing of the badges over from Founders & Legends to GaryCon:

The changing of the guard....

Wednesday - 20 March 

Booth Setup

I came into Wednesday having spent the day before hanging out and gaming, rather than driving cross-country, and I could definitely get used to that!  Robert Brandon graciously agreed to help me unload the minivan, and we arrived at the Forum for the 8am start of exhibitor check-in.  With Robert’s help, I was able to cede my spot at the loading dock by 8:45am or so, and to begin building the booth.  

I had planned for a similarly-open booth design like how we’d set up last year, but this process is, unfortunately, more art than science, and it’s not something anyone who doesn’t know the planned layout and the products as a whole can really help much with.  So, after Robert and I rejockeyed the tables a few times, and with some reconfiguration and fine-tuning by swapping out tables with the able assistance of the hotel staff, the booth settled into its final form, and I thanked Robert and released him to rest of his day by 9:30 or 10am. 

The Forum was reorganized this year, which was a bit of a surprise---I’d seen changes in the layout design, but they hadn’t quite clicked, given the relocation of the GaryCon merchandise to the back-right corner of the hall.  The big surprise (and a hugely positive change overall!) was the shifting of the throughways in the Forum to run the full length of the hall---this really opened the chamber up, and allowed gamers to see down the full length of the halls from the main entry doors.  That in turn gave better line-of-sight to vendors along the throughways, and helped to showcase the breadth and depth of products available at the show. 

Black Blade Publishing and Our OSR Cornucopia

For those folks who are unfamiliar with Black Blade Publishing, we publish our own books (OSRIC, Monsters of Myth, Tales of Peril) modules (Rob Kuntz’s Bottle City, Cairn of the Skeleton King, Tower of Blood), and gaming tools (graph and hex paper pads from quarter-page size up to 17x22”).  However, our content only represents about 15% of the booth’s content footprint.  

The remaining 85% is provided by third-party, old-school publishers, many of whom are friends and fellow old-school designers, including works from The Tekumel Foundation, North Wind Adventures, Gabor Lux’s E.M.D.T., Carlos Lising’s casl Entertainment, Paul Stormberg’s TLB Games and Legends of Roleplaying, OSRIC sourcebooks like Trent Smith’s Heroic Legendarium and Matt Finch’s Tome of Adventure Design, Swordfish Islands and Third Kingdom Games’ hexcrawls, and adventures from Anthony Huso, Jennell Jaquays, G. Hawkins, Paolo Greco, Robert Conley, Expeditious Retreat Press, and Goodman Games’ Original Adventures Reincarnated, among many others!

This year we brought many new-to-our-booth publishers and products to GaryCon, including the D&D documentary films Secrets of Blackmoor and The Dreams in Gary’s Basement, Merle Rasmussen’s new ally-friendly card game I Choose to Rise, Aron Clark’s Holmes & Clark clone (and his conversion of the classic level 1 adventure, “The Lichway”), Knave 2nd Edition, and last but certainly not least, Kelsey Dione’s ShadowDark. 

I can't post a pictorial review of the booth because blogger's editor hates me, so here's one image from just before the opening on Thursday morning, about 9:15am or so:

Pre-opening Thursday morning!---
and who are those VIGs entering from the left!?!

To see the rest of the booth pictures, please use my publicly-visible Facebook album entitled "Founders & Legends and GaryCon 16 (March 2024)" at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10163493148909832&type=3, which includes many fun images from the conventions as well as booth pics.  

Allan (grodog) Grohe in the Black Blade booth
at GaryCon 2024

The back of the booth,
with our graph/hex pads and more OSR books

New Empire of the Petal Throne maps
from the Tekumel Foundation

Empire of the Petal Throne books
from the Tekumel Foundation

Front-left corner of the Black Blade booth

Holmes & Clark clone, Heroic Legendarium, and more!

Left-side corner of the Black Blade booth,
with OARs and OSRIC modules

Front of the Black Blade booth with OSR books
from EMDT, Anthony Huso, Jennell Jaquays, Hyperborea, and more!

G. Hawkins, Larry Wickman,
Plagmada/Tim Hutchings, and more!

OSR Indies united!---Jacob Hurst,
Ben Milton, Paolo Greco, and more!

To get an idea about the evolution of the OSR through the products in our booth over time, see John O’Neil’s wonderful photo-essays from Black Gate Magazine at https://www.blackgate.com/2023/03/26/gary-con-report-black-blade-publishing-and-limitless-adventure/ and https://www.blackgate.com/2018/03/13/the-1001-treasures-of-black-blade-publishing-and-goodman-games-gary-con-2018-report-part-ii/.

I wrapped up the booth setup by 4pm or so, leaving a few placeholders in the shelves for product that had not quite made its way to the booth yet.   

That left me free to finish moving out from 328 Center Street before the rest of Robert’s crew arrived, time to coordinate keys with Victor Raymond (my roommate again this year for GaryCon) and to bump into Carlos Lising and Erik Mona in passing at Jay Scott’s pre-con streaming show, and a peaceful interlude to find and eat some good food at the Chophouse while chatting with my wife and sons.  

"The Wolves of St. Cuthbert"

After eating, Carlos and the redoubtable Jeremy Breazeale hussled us offsite to the second (?) annual gathering of “The Wolves of St. Cuthbert”—a reunion of the GaryCon 2022 campaign crew, which Carlos eloquently recounted as part of his GaryCon 16 Patreon summary.  As usual, I had a great time playing with Gregory, Danny, Nick, Dan, Triet, Jeremy, and Carlos, and I managed not to lose any dice this year, too ;)

Thursday - 21 March 

The Exhibit hall opened early daily at 9am for special guests, VIPs, and Platinum+ badge holders, while exhibitors were able to enter to finish set-up starting at 8am.  I was able to visit for a bit with friends from the Acaeum (and Jim Kitchen graciously tracked down the last? set of GaryCon lockpicks at the main merch booth for me), and then the Forum doors opened wide.
The Thursday opening crowd proved to be the closest I’ve come to GenCon-level-chaos in nearly two decades.  On the plus side, Thursday morning was very busy from opening through about 12pm or so, which was great for business, but clearly showed the limits of what a one-human booth can manage.  Everyone was gracious and polite, but the long was long for quite some time….

We did sell out of some books even before opening on Thursday (two sets of Anthony Huso’s limited edition of Castle of the Silver Prince), which does happen when we have lower stock on more-expensive books, but I had to reshuffle the booth a few more times than usual during the rush.  ShadowDark flew off the shelves, quite literally, throughout the day, and the Knave 2e books arrived in time for opening too.  The rest of the day was thankfully less insane, and Rich Franks (our chief in the Legio V) lent a hand in the afternoon (and again on Friday and Sunday too), which was very appreciated!

Abyssal Rift 1

Thursday night I ran the first playtest for my high-level, aquatic “Abyssal Rift” adventure:  

Playtest grodog's newest high-level adventure, exploring an aquatic wilderness in the World of Greyhawk. Your mission is to pursue a set of aquatic foes into their lair beneath the waves of the Azure Sea. The ixitxachitl have captured a sea-elven princess and plan to sacrifice her to Demogorgon at the next new moons, in three day's time!  

Bring your hex and graph paper, dice, and a healthy dose of paranoid courage! 12th-17th level PCs will be provided, most with some form of aquatic survival (along with some house-ruled spell changes).

The GaryCon portion of the adventure used Mike Bridges' South Seas of Greyhawk map as the base adventuring environ, and I slapped together a quick hex grid on it using the overlay sheet from the Forgotten Realms grey box set:

Mike Bridges' South Seas of Greyhawk map + 
Forgotten Realms template = instant hex grid!

We played in Evergreen 2 in the dedicated Legio V and Legends of Roleplaying room, which ended up being where I ran all of my GaryCon games.  The PCs accomplished their mission in spite of a somewhat slow start on my part, and the noise level in the room making it difficult to hear at times (one of the players left early due to a noise-induced headache).  

Friday - 22 March 

More Booth

The craziness of Thursday morning opening did not reassert itself, and Friday remained steadily busy, which was wonderful on both counts---plenty of time to socialize with friends and to help customers find the X-level adventure or the new setting or the new zines or the documentaries, et al, that they sought.  

As with Thursday, Rich Franks came by and helped me out a bit, which allowed me to eat some food and take a bathroom break (not necessarily in that order; thanks Rich!).  

francisca and grodog in the booth
(with Dirk Collins' son foregrounded)

Sales were brisk, and some product definitely began to ran low or out completely---many of Melan’s newest zines and adventures, including Castle Xyntillan, and the leatherbound sets of Hyperborea 3rd edition.  And by the end of the day, we had both documentary films in the booth---Secrets of Blackmoor and The Dreams in Gary’s Basement---as well as The Lost Dungeons of Tonisborg, too.

Paul’s Legends of Roleplaying Tourney

Every year for the past several Paul Stormberg has run a large (the largest?) tournament at GaryCon.  The past few years have been themed around exploring the Temple of Elemental Evil, and this year’s tourney capstoned that series, as the PCs attempted to bring battle to the Elder Elemental God itself!  

Similar to previous years, this year’s scenario included some challenging puzzles, but the overall adventure was more streamlined, which allowed more time to work through its challenges, as well as more time to complete the adventure.  My crew of players were all veterans of both the tournament format and of the ToEE background and environs (several played last year).  They fared well during the initial encounters, but were stymied in a puzzle room that permitted three of the PCs to pass relatively unscathed, but which damaged the rest of the party when they attempted to follow.  In the end, they wisely decided to split the party while working through the logic of the puzzle, which permitted the first group to advance to the semi-final encounter.  They were joined by one of the other PCs toward the end of the round’s time, and those PCs were literally saved by the bell---my phone timer went off as I was picking up handfuls of d8s to hit the four PCs with three flamestrikes, which would have insured their doom (dead PCs aren’t worth points in the tourney scoring).  

In the end, they ranked in the middle of the teams, with 100 points.  Paul’s tournament summary and the final scoring results are posted to the GaryCon blog at https://garycon.com/the-legends-of-role-playing-tournament-results/.  

Saturday - 23 March

Yet-More Booth

Saturday saw more of books sell-through, including all of the copies of the ShadowDark rules and zines that we had available—we tried to finagle another shipment to the convention, but it wasn’t feasible, unfortunately.  They were gone by noon.  

On the plus side, Saturday brought a restock from Carlos Lising with new casl Entertainment adventures, and Merle Rasmussen brought copies of his new game, I Choose to Rise, just released in February 2024 for Black History Month. 

  

Abyssal Rift 2, Hollywood Style

My last game of the convention was my second run-through of Abyssal Rift.  I was able to tweak the introductory portion of the scenario a bit to provide more concrete guidance to the players, which got them started in earnest a bit more quickly than Thursday night’s crew.  

And what players!—I knew two of them already (Aron Clark, who plays in my regular group, and John Roberts, who I played Titan with during F&L), but five of the remaining six were Hollywood friends of Luke’s:  Vince Vaughn, Tom Morello, Paul Wight, Dan Weiss, and Joe Manganiello; with Greg Joseph rounding us out at eight.  

I was somewhat nervous about DMing celebrities, but it worked out fine in the end:  they all acquitted themselves well in the south seas of Greyhawk, and accomplished their mission to locate the ixitxachitl lair in time to prevent the sacrifice of the sea olven princess.  (They did employ some non-standard cooperative tactics inspired by 5e mechanics, which we improved within fine).  Afterward we hung around a bit chatting about Greyhawk and its history (including some basic questions about what is Greyhawk, that they had to reign me back a bit in my responses), and the history of Dave and Gary’s work together before they took a group picture with Luke and headed off.  

Sunday - 24 March

Closing Out the Booth

On Sunday the Forum was only open until 2pm (although I think I was still closing out the our last transactions around 2:30pm), and as with Friday and Saturday, sales were steady but not crazy.  The time went by quickly, all-in-all, and before I knew it the hall was starting to shut down.

Thanks to our voluminous sales, I was able to pack the booth up and—through the assistance of some very determined GaryCon volunteers who wouldn’t take “no really, I can manage” for an answer:  Dirk Collins and his son, Mark from Wales, and Jeff MacKay; they loaded my minivan completely!!-- get out of the hall by 6pm!  Perhaps a GaryCon first for me! :D

Empty booth!

The spoils of victory---empty boxes!

Afterward, I gratefully grabbed a burger at the Chophouse bar, and had a fun dinner discussion with another GaryCon attendee, who opened our chat with the gambit, “Your favorite and least-favorite mega-dungeons?”  Only at GaryCon :D :D

Legio V Board Meeting

While packing up the booth closed out the Black Blade books for the show, there was still business to attend to.  Each year after GaryCon the DMs of the Legio V gather to commune with the winds of GaryCons present, past, and future by invoking the Genevan mysteries through rituals of haruspicy and the sacrifice of slain character sheets, conducted by Dionysian celebrants.

This year’s meeting ran a bit longer than usual—from 7:30pm until 10pm or so—and I retired soon thereafter, as I was exhausted from the very busy long weekend, unfortunately missing out on both the celebration and the Hyperborea adventure that Del had prepared :-/

And that's a wrap!

I crashed early on Sunday night, and slept well into Monday, which closed out another fabulous GaryCon.  

I'll conclude in part three with my Thank You acknowledgements and convention loot and swag!

Allan.