This entry is actually a redirect from a web page which I wrote in February 2004. I copy it into my blog in its entirety.
My website gets, on average, probably 10 visits per month from people who are searching for Dungeons and Dragons adventure ideas. As a retired player of role playing games (though I am considering starting to work as a game master again), I haven't been to a game tournament in over 10 years. I now play chess, but I can sympathize with intelligent fellow travelers who happen to be wracking their brains out trying to come up with new ideas to keep their campaigns and milleus interesting for jaded players. Thus, after noticing the number of visits I was getting to this page, I decided to write some advice for people who happen to be looking for new ideas for role playing games (RPG's).
And what is that advice, pray tell? I would suggest that Game Masters start reading history and political science. No gentle readers, not Tolkien's, or Harry Potter, or Elric, or John De Chance, C.J. Cherryh, or any imaginary history written by any other fantasy or science fiction author to flesh out their own worlds. I'm talking about the history of Egypt, ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle Ages, Chinese history, or of the Indian subcontinent.
If you can afford to cough up the money, start reading Edward Gibbon's unabridged version of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Read the works of Livy, of Dion (if you can find Dion), of Herodotus, the Veneable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English people, Alfred the Great, or the Chinese classic The Dream of the Red Chamber (aka Hong Luo Mong in Mandarin or The Story of the Stone). Find a book on the history of the Roman Catholic Church (which has a incredibly fascinating 2000 year history!) for ideas regarding politics surround your Cleric playing characters. For that matter, why not read British religious author Karen Armstrong'sA History of God, Camille Paglia's Sexual Personnae, or revisit the Bible for ideas? As of this reposting, I am reading The Mammoth Book of Pirates by Jon E. Lewis.
Do you want a true adventure story? Why not try reading Olaudah Equiano's The Interesting Narrative. Equiano was an West African, who in the 18th century was taken into the slave trade, but eventually won his freedom and became a loyal British subject. Equiano's true life story will blow your mind. If you have slavery (or realms where slavery is part of the social fabric) in some of your campaigns (which you will find was quite common in the ancient world), this story will breathe some terrifying reality for what that sorry institution was like for those who suffered from it.
Once you get on a kick for reading history and political science, you'll find more titles that are to your taste. You can find these books at most major book store chains, as they are published by Penguin Classics (for that matter, you might want to visit Penguin's website and look for them there).
So why would I suggest you start reading real human history instead of imaginary works by sci - fi or fantasy authors? Well for one, most authors themselves have read quite a bit of history and political science and plunder the past for ideas to write about. Tolkien did (and Rowling does) this, so why not you? More to the point, if you find yourself wracking your brains out looking for names that don't sound phony for your characters, for twisted mind bending situations for your hungry players to solve, and for broad historical / political situations as to why things are the way they are in your world, then why not read history and political works. All of these things are found in unending abundance in the works of history and political science.
Moreover, once you have absorbed a big idea from the past, with some imagination (isn't that why you play role playing games to begin with?), you can easily flesh out the ideas you have read about and work them into your campaigns. I would be willing to bet big money that you will never run out of ideas for characters, adventures, and situations to embroil your characters with.
"But wait," you cry! I don't like reading history. We read it in high school and all there is to history is reading what the three causes of the French and Indian War were and writing them down on an exam. Not only that, history is dry and boring! Who wants to know about the past, when what happened long ago has nothing to do with anything? Moreover, these are works of heavyweights! They are way out of my depth! Don't laugh at this last statement. Once per month, I attend a Tolkien gathering group, and more than a few people I meet get intimidated when a bring a history book with me to the gathering.
Well, well, well, gentle readers, if you start reading Edward Gibbon, you will be in for a very rude shock. You will find yourself reading the words of a man who makes the pages turn effortlessly. Many of these men are very easy to read, you just have to pick up the book and start reading them! Don't get intimidated by the idea that these "weighty" works are only for professors of the classics. They can be enjoyed by everyone, not just college students and their professors!
Also, if you happen to have some real money, try taking an actual vacation to Thailand, India, anywhere in Europe, Mexico, or some other far away place. Open your mind and it will feed your imagination!
As for the issue that history can be dry and boring, that is probably because the history you read in a public high school is in fact dry and sanitized history because public tax dollars are at stake and plenty of interest groups don't want you to read too deeply about the past. Moreover one of my own thoughts about public schools is that they are really there to keep you off the streets during the day and not necessarily to teach you anything interesting.
So take my advice to heart. Put down those Star Trek and Ursula Le Guinn books and dig into the real thing. Not only will your campaigns probably become more interesting, people might start looking at YOU as a more interesting person.
Regards... oh, and as for the Greatest Dungeons and Dragons adventure in history? Well gentle readers, read on!
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Today's writing regards the greatest Dungeons and Dragons adventure ever told. This is no idle boast either! I was one of the original crowd of Dungeons and Dragons players. It is well known that the game was first conceived and invented circa 1974 by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. I was first introduced to the game in 1977, the same year Star Wars first came out. There were two brothers with whom I grew up with down the street and the older of the two came home around the time the school year ended with the game.
When David, the younger of the two told me of this new game, he had a bit of a hard time explaining what Dungeons and Dragons was and how to play the game. I distinctly remember him telling me that this game was unlike any other game in existence and that I would simply have to play the game in order to experience what it was like. A week or two later, Steve, the older of the two guided me through creating my first character - a magic user named Gandalf (how original!). Like so many others, we all immediately got hooked by the incredible imagination involved in the game. I still have my first books and some of my stuff from way back then.
I played in 6 or 7 "campaigns" (a series adventues in an imaginary world involving a group of characters created by a group of players for those of you who have no idea of what I am talking about) over the years when I was an active D&D player. All of these campaigns lasted somewhere between 3 - 18 months. As time went on, I specialized in "running" (creating and role playing) Magic User type characters. Magic Users are weak in using weapons and could not wear armor to protect themselves, but as time went on, the spells which came within their grasp became very potent and much feared. I fell in love with Magic Users and specialized in their play. I knew their spells up and down and could often put such powers to interesting and unexpected uses.
I've long since forgotten most of the adventures we had, but I do have one memory that I will remain with me as long as I live. I was playing at Nancon, which was sponsored annually by Nan's Toys and Games in Houston. It was 1983 and I had made it to the last round of the tournament playing a magic user. This adventure would tax my powers of imagination at problem solving to their very limits. It was my greatest moment in D&D play. Unexpectedly, I was to find many years later that my game play at this tournament was to become the stuff that legends are made of.
When we received our characters that we were to play in the 3rd and final round of play in the tournament, I was stunned. I was given a 17th level magic user! I couldn't believe it! I had never played any character remotely that powerful before and it took me about 45 minutes just to write down the spells my character had at his disposal for the tournament round! In a similar vein, all of my fellow players (there were six of us in the party), had characters ranging from 14 - 17 levels in ability! We were also loaded with very powerful magical items and weaponry. We soon found out why.
We were told at the outset of the game round that we (the six of us) served as the sole armed forces for a small "Switzerland" type City State far up in the mountains of our fictitious world. Our kingdom was normally safe from invaders, but there was little in the way of agriculture to support ourselves, so our little city - state relied largely on trade with the outside world to support itself. However, there was only one road that led to our fair city from the plains and fields that surrounded the mountains in which we were situated. This road normally served as our access and trade route to the outside world. There was, however, a problem....
The world had turned dark you see. We could see the skies turn cloudy and full of omens. We heard rumors that 3 evil and chaotic gods had come to invade and conquer our world. We had heard rumor that the world was frothing with horrible plagues and pestilences, but nothing of these potents had yet visited our little realm - not yet...
One morning, the denizens of our fair City all arose to find that there were100,000,000 (yes that's 100,000,000!) little Orc like demons were lined up blocking the road to our little paradise! They stood, crowding the entire width and breadth road for 75 miles! They were three feet tall and had only 4 hit points each. They did not move, they just stood there. They were armed with swords and spears, but they did not brandish them or threaten us with them. All they were doing was waiting for the citizens of our fair City state to roll over and die of starvation. With a sense of awe and horror, we knew we were in TROUBLE...
Our first thought was that "we are the most powerful characters in the world! We can just hurl tons of spells and attack then with wild and hideous abandon!" They can't possibly do anything to us! However, the game master laughed hideously and quickly squashed such idiotic ideas! He started telling us stories such as if our fighting men attacked with all of their might while our spell casting characters fired off all of our magic spells like fireballs and lightning bolts, it would take 27 years to clear the road. We would have to do better than that...
It began to dawn on us how many of these creatures there really were...
My fellow players went into a group think. We tried to think of other ideas that would be able to deal with such a vast horde of monsters. It began to dawn on us that the framework of the game Dungeons and Dragons was set up such that even the most powerful characters in the game would find it impossible to deal with the destruction of such an awe inspiring horde of creatures. We could defeat hundreds, even thousands, of creatures. Millions however, were absolutely out of the question.
We tried many ideas. We tried thinking of having our clerics cast Blade Barrier spells which would destroy monsters that would dare to pass the gate. However, the monsters weren't moving. We tried to change the weather in the hope that such an event would chase these monsters away. No such luck. We tried to summon various monsters and undead with the hope of scaring them away. Nope.
Finally at one point, we decided to send our Thief character on a voyage / adventure (we all possessed magic flying carpets as part of our incredible, but seeming useless arsenal of items we had at our disposal) in the hope that there was some artifact or powerful talisman that could destroy the awesome horde of passive beasts that sat there, waiting for our starvation. The rest of us would remain as guards in case the fell bite - sized demons decided to invade our Fair City State. They never did, but our Thief came back empty handed.
All seemed lost...
The Game Master spoke of a few issues and then went through the process of describing how the Thief was coming back to our Fair City State. We took pains to make it clear that our Thief was flying high over the mountains, out of range of bow and arrow shot of the demons which lined the road. The Game Master said he understood and our Thief was soon safe and back at home with us. Still, we were no nearer to solving our horrible dilemma.
In the meantime, I had drifted off into a dream. In my mind's eye, I imagined our Thief flying high in the air, out of bow shot of our little enemies. I saw the thief flying along the road and following it back to find his way back to our Fair City State.
And then... I had a Vision!
I had an Angle...
And it just might work...
Suddenly, my mind raced like lightning! My powers of imagination were blazing with excitement! Inside I was jumping up and down with the possibility that I had glimpsed a way out of this impossible situation! Inside, I shook with the amazement that I was on to something that bordered on the verge of greatness!
Quickly, I took out my First Edition Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook. I looked up the Magic User spell, Wall of Fire. It was a 4th level spell, so it was easily with the power of my character to cast and wield such a spell. I read feverishly through the spell's description. I was looking for a prayer...
The description of the Wall of Fire spell read as follows:
Wall of Fire (Evocation)
...
...
This spell different from the fifth level Druid spell , Wall of Fire, ... (the difference between the spells was minimal).
So, I turned to the description of the Fifth level Druid Wall of Fire spell. It read as follows:
......
Only the side of the wall away from the spell caster will inflict damage. The opaque wall of fire lasts for as long as the character concentrates on it (or for a limited time if they do not - TMW). The spell could create an actual wall in front of the spell caster, or a ring of fire that surrounded the spell caster and moved with the spell caster if the spell caster decided to move somewhere.
I had my answer...
Quickly, I told my fellow players and Game Master of my idea. First, we would get all of my fellow players to get on to their magic flying carpets. Second, I would cast a "ring type" Wall of Fire spell on each of them so that the firewall would move along with them. Then, we would open the gates of Our Fair City and fly out of them on our flying carpets with the idea that we would mow these little Orc like demons down (like a Lawn Mower in Fact!) by flying right through them with our Wall's of Fire blazing a hellish and fiery trail in front of us.
It was impossible. My fellow players went wild! They absolutely could not believe that I had thought up such an idea. Seeing that nobody else had any other ideas, everyone agreed immediately to trying my plan.
At that point, the Game Master punched the clock that kept time as to how much time had passed during tournament play. We had 2 hours and 30 minutes of game time to complete the adventure, assuming that we would be able to get anywhere to begin with. We had already spent about 90 minutes trying to come up with an idea to destroy the 100,000,000 demons in front of us.
As we waited for the Game Master to return, we talked excitedly about what was to come just in case our plan worked. We didn't know what to expect next.
The Game Master came back. He said that he had conferred with the Tournament Director and that they had concluded that my use of these spells were in fact within the scope of the game rules. We immediately went into a celebratory frenzy - yelling, slapping each other's backs and giving each other "High Fives"! And so it was that we returned back to our Fair City having won the adoration of the populace and ruling classes.
The rest of the adventure was also memorable, but sadly we didn't complete the entire scenario. We ended up fighting one of the gods whom was visiting pestilence on our world, but time ran out while we were in the midst of combat. We never found out what else was to follow.
That tournament was the end of innocence for me. I went on to my adult life and gaming grew to be of less and less importance. I did go back to play 2 or 3 more tournaments in my adulthood, but they didn't have the excitement they had of my youth.
Ten more years passed before I went to my last game tournament. I was 27 years old and had just quit working for the much hated Oil Seismic Data Company. I had quit with no job lined up, but I had to save my sanity. I went to a game tournament with the hope of taking my mind off of my real life woes.
During the second round of the tournament, I found myself playing (yes!) a Magic User. We were six adventurers who were out trying to watch the son of a ruling monarch of a seafaring based empire. The City we were in was, naturally, a sea port and we were told to follow "Junior" while he went out on a night on the town. It was a good adventure and as usual, I came up with some timely solutions to some awful situations.
We were playing this round of the tournament at a very late hour, perhaps 11:30pm - 12:00am on a Saturday night. At one point during play, the Game Master, along with a long time Houston area gamer / Tournament Director whom I remembered from years gone by, had decided to order some pizza from a nearby restaurant. We all decided to join him. So we stopped the game when the food arrived.
As we sat eating our late night repast, several of my fellow game players had noticed my abilities at playing a Magic User character. At that point, I decided to tell them the story about my classic defeat of the 100,000,000 demons from 10 long years before. My fellow players were spell bound as they heard my now legendary story from years gone by...
And I was to discover that my story had indeed become a legend! While I told my story, both the Game Master whom was handling our game and the Tournament Director (who was lying down on a couch in the hotel room we were playing our game in) immediately broke in. They were buzzing with excitement and started laughing when I spoke! "Oh, my gosh, the Wall of Fire story!" yelled the Tournament Director as he laughed aloud. Clearly, they knew the story, but they said that they never had met anyone who had played the game! Some players had actually told them that they heard that the story was nothing but a myth and a legend! Both men said it was an honor to have met me and the game master actually shook my hand!
The Game Master then told me a very interesting fact about what had happened to Dungeons and Dragons after that tournament. During the years, the Game had gone through one of its changes and new rule books had been published. One of the rule changes in the new Game Players Handbook was that the Wall of Fire spell had been changed so that a magically created Wall could be avoided by adversaries. The Game Master told me that after that tounament I had played in 10 years before, word went out everywhere like wild fire about my classic solution to the impossible situation of destroying 100,000,000 monsters with this spell. Therefore, everyone who ever heard the story (and both the Game Master and the Tournament Director told me that the story had in fact been told far and wide) started using the spell in this way - if they were powerful enough to actually use the spell. This eventually resulted in a rewriting of the game rules regarding the powers of this spell.
I was dumbfounded. Nearly everyone who played Dungeons and Dragons claimed at one time or another that they had done something or another that resulted in a change in the game rules, but never offered any proof. I cannot be certain that my case was the reason the rules were changed regarding this spell, but it cannot be doubted that such an act made an incredible impression on my fellow players.