Here There Be Dragons...Year of the Dragon

"I love it when a plan comes together." - Hannibal Smith

Liam and I (well, mostly Liam) have been working really hard on "Here There Be Dragons..."

Early this year we sat down and went through every monster book I own and what Liam liked the best was the classic Monster Manual from 1st Ed AD&D.  Can't blame him, that book is what got me hooked.
We decided after gaming one day that HTBD should be stated out for OSRIC to capture that same feel.

Well here is the part where I take my own advice.

April 17, 2012 WotC will as you all know by now re-release the classic hardcover AD&D books.
April 23 is St. George's Day, the patron saint of England and of Dragon Slayers (ok that last bit I made up).

So given that this is the Year of the Dragon, I think it makes sense for Liam and I to double down and get this thing done.

I know I have other projects in the works and they are moving along.

There is a ton to do on it.  We have a few score new dragons lined up, some art.  Maybe some spells.
It is not going to be a big book.  No cover art as of yet. No publisher either.
But this is pure old-school DIY.  My son loves dragons and wants to see more of them in his game.

I hope we can make the deadline and get you "Here There Be Dragons..." in time for the 1st Edition releases.

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Quintessential D&D for D&D.Next

Remember my idea back from the late Summer, the one I was calling Quintessential D&D where there are five linked adventures that used all the rules of all D&D?

Here are the links to bring you all back up to speed.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/08/quintessential-d-half-baked-ideas.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/08/half-baked-adventure-idea.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/08/so-building-off-of-my-half-baked.html

With me?  Ok good.
It dawns on me that with what I am hearing about D&D5/D&D.Next that this is the perfect segue into the new rules.

So the characters play through the worlds, they collect the Three Great Books of Gax, fight the dragon guardians and reset the universe.  Reset it to what though?  Easy, reset it to 5th edition.

With the new change in the rules I am not 100% sure I am going to finish up my 4e game.  Or if I do, it will be largely altered to fit into the kinda game I want to run (I still want Drama Points in D&D.)

Stepping away from this for a bit it occurs to me that this would also make a great play-test platform for D&D5.

In the mean time here is an interesting retrospective bit on "Could WotC Support ALL D&D".  What a difference seven months can make.

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Here There Be Dragons...update

Working with my son right now on his dragon book.  He has a lot of cool ideas and I like how the book is shaping up.

After going around a couple times on the system we wanted to use, we decided today that the book will be stated up for 1st Edition Advanced rules.

We felt there are a ton of books out there for 3e.  We were not really interested in doing it for 4e though either.  Basic was my original choice since it can be translated well.  We even very, very briefly considered Savage Worlds (his new favorite).

I need to read over the OSRIC license IF I want to indicate compatibility with OSRIC (no idea if I want too or not yet).  Of course there is the Labyrinth Lord "Advanced Edition Companion" and that is also a good candidate.  They both represent the same era of play and are largely compatible with each other.

I think this is a good way to go to be honest.  His ideas are very much n the mindset of the earliest days of the hobby; when everything was permitted and no one said you couldn't have a blue dragon that had ice cold fire as a breath weapon.  HTBD will be a new point of view on these creatures, something I think we could all use after nearly 40 years.

Not sure on the deadline or when it will be out.  But the author is working on it when it is his turn to use the homework computer.

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